Sufism - general Megathread for November 16th 2021

Islam is one of the major religions of the world, and within that there are many philosophical ranges of ideas and practises, as there are within any faith. A broad one within Islam is 'Sufism'. Sufism, generally, is seen as a more 'mystic' than mainstream Islam, with many concepts of the harmony of all living beings, a deeper spiritual dimension and practise with much metaphysical debate, and a very inward worship of Allah. Where much of mainstream Islam is focused on jurisprudence, the stick legalistic interpretation and debate of the Sharia to find the right way to live, Sufis look outside of that path, while still deferring to it, to find a way to live and worship. Sufism, in it's embrace of trying to find a deeper spiritual exploration to existence, has come to be known as a more tolerant and even syncretic form of Islam, with many of the melting pots of the Islamic world, such as the Indian Mughal Empire, containing a flourishing interfaith dialogue with other philosophical, spiritual, and metaphysical ideas and cross pollination.

One of the core concepts of Sufism is 'Wahdat' (Unity), the idea that the worshipper has some form of 'Unity' with Allah himself, with two main interpretation of Wahdat and what this 'Unity' is and means on a deeper level about us, and the nature of reality. These are Wahdat ash-shuhud, the unity of witness, and Wahdat al-wujud, the unity of being. The Unity of Being takes the position that the only True thing to exist in all of creation is Allah himself, and therefore, all things must exist within Allah and he is the total culmination of all that exists, and not merely a singular entity which one worships. Conversely, Wahdat ash-shuhud argues that this personal close connection with Allah is only subjective, and only exists within the mind of the worshipper, where through meditation, one can reach fana fillah and sublimate ones very own self into the will of Allah, and form a unity with Allah through this total destruction of the self in all forms. Although, it has been argued by many that the difference is semantical, and neither position means the other is wrong, many Sufis believe in both.

An analogy used by the Sufi scholar Ibn Arabi talks of Humans as reflectors of Allah. A mirror perfectly reflects the subject who stands in front of it, and yet the reflection is not independent, it cannot exist without the original 'true' form, it can never be without that original 'creator' standing in front of the mirror. A human is nothing without Allah for them to reflect through themselves, they are a blank nothing, and so this relationship shows the unity of Humans with Allah, but also a dependence on and clear hierarchy within the unity.

for those who wish to read further, Fusus Al-Hikam by the theologian and, arguably most influential, Sufi Abn Arabi goes in to the topic much deeper than I can for a megathread http://www.sufi.ir/books/download/english/ibn-arabi-en/fusus-al-hikam-en.pdf

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