33.)
Can’t one accomplish the same things which are advocated by the Sufis just by being a
Muslim?
Being
Muslim represents the minimum dimension of human spiritual potential. Human beings also
have the capacity to be Mu’min and Mohsin which entail spiritual understandings,
experiences and commitments that fall outside the realms of just being a Muslim.
The Sufi
path invites human beings to their highest and most essential spiritual potential.
Although one necessarily must begin by striving to be a good and dedicated Muslim,
nevertheless, the goal of the Sufi Path is to proceed further than the parameters of this
initial condition -- noble as this condition may be for those who, by the grace of God,
are able to reach the zenith of its possibilities.
One could
state the foregoing idea in a slightly different manner. If one dislikes the idea of using
terms other than Muslim to refer to a submitting individual's relationship with Allah,
then one needs to understand that the potential reality of one who is Muslim extends
across a vast spectrum of spiritual possibilities.
There are
all different manner of degrees, depths, and subtleties of spiritual submission.
Merely observing the five pillars in some minimally acceptable fashion is not necessarily
going to allow an individual to realize all that being a Muslim - in this extended sense -
entails.
The
Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was a Muslim, but what a different manner of Muslim
he was than an 'ordinary' sort of Muslim. Although A Sufi can never achieve the heights of
Muslim spirituality given expression through the life of the Prophet, a Sufi is,
nonetheless, interested in exploring, and, God willing, realizing more of the potential of
being all that a Muslim can be, than is exemplified in the spiritual himma or aspiration
of most people who call themselves Muslim.
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