4
As R. A. Nicholson, one of the greatest scholars of Sufism, said, the earliest Sufis were ascetics and quietists rather than true mystics. These early Sufis were inspired by Christian ideals, seeking salvation by shunning the meretricious delights of this world. Eventually, asceticism was seen as only the first stage of a long journey whose ultimate aim was a deep and intimate knowledge of God. Light, knowledge, and love were the main ideas of this new Sufism. "Ultimately they rest upon a pantheistic faith which deposed the One transcendent God of Islam and worshipped in His stead One Real Being who dwells and works everywhere, and whose throne is not less, but more, in the human heart than in the heaven of heavens."]
Sufis were undoubtedly influenced by certain passages in the Koran, but the historical development of Sufism owes as much or more to the influence of Christianity, Neoplatonism, Gnosticism, and Buddhism (the Sufis learned the use of the rosary from Buddhist monks, among other, more substantial matters).
In this chapter, what is interesting for us is the way in which later Sufis made a complete break with the formal system of Islamic law, asserting that the shackles of the law do not bind those who have attained knowledge.2 This was true of individuals as much as whole orders of dervishes. Many Sufis were good Muslims, but some were only nominally Muslim, while a third group were "Muslim after a fashion." One of the most important figures in the history of Sufism, Abu Said (d. 1049) had nothing but contempt for Islam and all positive religion, forbidding his disciples to go on pilgrimage to Mecca, and so on. Bayazid (d. c.1581) also set little value on the observance of the precepts of the Shari`a.
The Bektashi order seems to have come into existence around the beginning of the sixteenth century. Heavily influenced by Christian and Gnostic ideas, the Bektashis rejected as worthless all external ceremonies of Islam and all other religions. There was even a group of dervishes, collectively known as the mala- matiya, who deliberately committed the most outrageous acts possible to draw upon themselves the contempt of the populace. This in turn enabled them to show their own contempt for the contempt that others had of them.
The great achievement of the Sufis was their insistence that true religion had nothing to do with the doctrinal and legal system of orthodoxy, which only restricted man's religious horizon. In the mystic's vision there were no heavenly rewards and hellish punishments; the written word of God was abrogated by a direct and intimate revelation. Instead of being ruled by fear, the mystic is more concerned with the love and knowledge of God, detachment from the self, and "the divine service is regarded as a service of hearts," rather than the observance of external rules that have to be obeyed blindly.
The more Sufism moved toward pantheism, the more it produced
a series of works, which, under pretence of orthodoxy and devoutness, in reality substituted for the personal God and the future life of Islam notions that were irreconciliable with either and were supported by an interpretation of the Quran so far-fetched as to be ludicrous and irreverent. The most famous of these are the poem of Ibn al-Farid [1161-1235] ... and the treatise of Ibn `Arabi [11551240] ... "Gems of Maxims." Both these works at different times brought their owners into danger, and were the cause of riots (see Ibn Iyas, History of Egypt, ... where the latter book is described as the work of a worse unbeliever than Jew, Christian, or Idolater). Of the comments on the Quran which this work contains it is sufficient to cite that on the story of the Golden Calf; according to Ibn Arabi.... Moses found fault with his brother for not approving of the worship of the Calf, since Aaron should have known that nothing but God could ever be worshipped, and therefore the Calf was (like everything else) God.'
Sufi philosophy had the consequence of erasing the boundaries between the different creeds-Islam is no better than idolatry, or as one student of Ibn 'Arabi put it, "The Koran is polytheism pure and simple."4 Ibn 'Arabi himself wrote that his heart was a temple for idols, a Ka`ba for pilgrims, the tables of the Torah and the Koran; love alone was his religion. "I am neither Christian, nor Jew, nor Muslim," sings another mystic.' The Sufis did not lay much store by the different creeds and their particulars. As Abu Said wrote, "Until mosque and madrasa are quite effaced, the work of the dervishes will not be accomplished; until belief and unbelief are quite alike, no man will be a true Muslim."6 And, to quote R. A. Nicholson, "Hafiz sings more in the spirit of the freethinker, perhaps than of the mystic:
Several famous Sufis were, in the words of Goldziher, "subjected to cruel inquisition."' The early Sufis aroused considerable suspicion from the authorities and the orthodox, as can be seen from the history of the Sufi Dhu'l-Nun (d. 860 C.E.). This Sufi had many disciples, and such influence over the people that he was denounced as a =indiq by the envious. The caliph Mutawakkil had him put into prison, but later released him seeing his moral qualities.
Perhaps the most famous mystic put to death for what were considered blasphemous utterances was al-Hallaj (executed 922 c.E.).9 He spent many years in prison before being flogged, mutilated, exposed on a gibbet, and finally decapitated and burned, all because he advocated personal piety rather than dry legalism and tried to bring "dogma into harmony with Greek philosophy on a basis of mystic experience." Twelve years later, al-Shalmaghani was put to death, also on charges of blasphemy.
Al-Suhrawardi (executed 1191) was at first patronized by the viceroy at Aleppo, but his mysticism aroused much suspicion among the orthodox, who eventually demanded his execution. The viceroy dared not oppose the "true believers." and had al-Suhrawardi executed.
Badr al-Din, the eminent jurist, was "converted" to Sufism after his meeting with Shaikh Husayn Akhtali. He got involved with an underground communist movement, and was arrested, tried, and hanged as a traitor in 1416. He had openly developed his heretical ideas based on the views of the mystic Ibn 'Arabi.
Another heretical sect was the Khubmesihis, who taught that Jesus was superior to Muhammad, and seem to have been centered in Istanbul in the seventeenth century. Adherence to this sect was liable to lead to imprisonment and execution. The sect was said to be inspired by the heretic Qabid, who held similar views and was executed in 1527.
NOTES
I. R. A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam (London: Cambridge University Press, 1963), p. 8.
2. Cf. ibid., pp. 86-87; 1. Goldziher, introduction to Islamic Theology and Law (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1981), p. 147.
3. D. S. Margoliouth, "Atheism (Muhammadan)," in Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings (Edinburgh: T & T Clark Ltd., 1910), pp. 188-90.
4. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam, p. 93.
5. Ibid., p. 161.
6. Ibid., p. 90.
7. Ibid., p. 88.
8. Goldziher, introduction to Islamic Theology and Law, p. 156.
9. "al-Halladj," in Encyclopedia of Islam (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1913-1934), pp. 239-40.