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Whats your opinion of Sufi Islam?

Started by Ervin, September 30, 2012, 10:34:27 PM

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Ervin

I am personally attracted to my understanding of how Sufis see and understand Islam. One of my favourite quotes is by Rumi. The quote is: Wound is where light enters you. If you google Rumi quotes you can read his stuff. Aparently Rumi is one of the most widely read poets in the USA today.

I have spoken once to a Sufi leader here in Melbourne and I asked him about his understanding of hell as that of from the Quran and he said that we are all going to heaven and that hell is a place where your ego goes to burn up.

Now my personal deeper meaning that I see through my reading a bit into what people say is that that means this life.

Anyway, in a sense I might share some of the beliefs he presented to me but they are not quite identical.

So, yeah, what's your opinion of Sufism, as a mystical branch of Islam?

Do any of you see the Quran like this Sufi that I met in Melbourne?

Thanks
My real name is also Ervin

Karimah

I have read some of Rumi's stuff. It is pretty good. I was always drawn to Sufism because of their use of (trance) dancing and also music which is usually abstained from in other Muslim groups. I am actually a Native American and I could relate to how they do their trance dancing as a means of connecting with God as Native Americans have similar ideas about dancing/music etc.
...O my Lord! Lo! mine own folk make this Qur'an of no account.

huruf

Quote from: Karimah on October 01, 2012, 12:56:38 AM
I have read some of Rumi's stuff. It is pretty good. I was always drawn to Sufism because of their use of (trance) dancing and also music which is usually abstained from in other Muslim groups. I am actually a Native American and I could relate to how they do their trance dancing as a means of connecting with God as Native Americans have similar ideas about dancing/music etc.

What I have learnt through sufism, is that neither hell nor paradise are forever. Only God is forever, everything else passes and  destiny is to God. God is the beginning and the end of everything. We descend from God and to God return.
That is by the way what the Qur'an says repeatedly and clearly.

Like with everything else, sufism there is good and bad, because it depends on the people who practise it and those who lead. Either they are highly inspired or are deluded or finally have egos, just as everybody else. If you get a good inspired person to lead, that is a great find, indeed.

Salaam

mmkhan

Quote from: Ervin on September 30, 2012, 10:34:27 PM
I have spoken once to a Sufi leader here in Melbourne and I asked him about his understanding of hell as that of from the Quran and he said that we are all going to heaven and that hell is a place where your ego goes to burn up.

And what are the aayaats has he quoted from alQuraan? Will you please let me know?

Thanks,
mmKhan
6:162    قل إن صلاتي ونسكي ومحياي ومماتي لله رب العلمين
6:162    Say: My contact prayer, and my rites, and my life, and my death, are all to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

3:51

Released

Peace :)

I explored Sufism after falling off the Sunni wagon (good riddance). In particular, I love their way of showing dhikr through performing that whirling dance. Also, I've noticed that Sufis tend to be pretty laid back and very tolerant. The men and women tend to sit together while eating and discussing matters. I am going to say only nice things about them because I don't want to say anything that is inaccurate. There are topics such as, "sainthood", and following a set clergy (shaikh) that I do not understand. However, I don't have enough information in regard to these topics nor do I wish to pass judgement.

God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves (13:11)

mirjamnur

Salam mmkhan

QuoteIt is believed that Rumi created his poems in a state of ecstasy, accompanying his verses by a whirling dance. After Shams's death Rumi had started in his grief to circle a pole in his garden, and speak the poetry, which was written down by scribes. However, listening to music and ecstatic prayer rituals were already before Rumi features of Sufism. In the 12th century dervishes emerged throughout the Islamic world. Dance was a rhythmic expression of dhikr, an Arabic word meaning 'remembrance'. The repetition of religious formulas, the dhkir, was based on Gur'an: "O believers, remember God often and give him glory at dawn and in the evening."

In the simple reed flute Rumi saw the metaphor for himself: "Listen to the reed, how it tells a tale, complaining of separateness." The sama', the mystical dance, was for Rumi more than a technique for meditation, it was the cosmic truth, the manifestation of the secret power of God. The sun dances on the sky, the Eternal is the axis, and the entire universe is dancing and whirling around Him. "Whatever there is, is only He, / your foot steps there in dancing: / The whirling, see, belongs to you, / and you belong to the whirling."
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/rumi.htm

The ecstasy of the dance is to me totally foreign to me,  maybe you might have experiences with that?

I am fascinated by the idea that  Allah  can be achieved through the words energy . .. Although I would rather try this with the Quran, as with any other words as the word of Allah is the best zikr.

I read  the love ist like a black lion  poem that I find quite frightening:

QuoteLove's like a black lion, famished and ferocious, who only drinks the blood of the hearts of lovers. Love seizes you tenderly and drags you towards the trap. ...No one can escape his chains by trickery or madness; no sage can wriggle out of his nets by wisdom. ?Rumi (Teachings of Rumi, p. 81)

here the complete poem (translated with google translate) in german der schwarze Fuerst der Liebe

The black prince of love

Poem by Dschela ed-Din Rumi

Love has robbed me of sleep: The prince does love.
Prince does not care about love soul and reason.
A black lion, he is hungry and wild,
The only drinks the life-blood of lovers.
Prince love grabs you and drags you then gently
To the pit: crashes into you, he looks at left.
Prince Love is a despot, a heartless judge,
The innocent tortured and abused.
Case you give him, in the hands, and you weep streams
Escape an gefrierst him and you turn to ice.
At every moment he smashes one thousand cups.
Sews one hundred dresses and then she tears to shreds.
Ten thousand eyes he making you cry,
And him that makes you laugh.
He slaughters one thousand down, and they are the same to him.
No one escapes his chains by craft or madness,
No one escapes its networks, as well as he was.

rather describes the Shaytan or love??? :o
Salam

mmkhan

Quote from: Released on October 01, 2012, 07:03:39 AM
In particular, I love their way of showing dhikr through performing that whirling dance.
Peace,

Oh yeah, I can see that. You avatar shows something similar  ;)


mmKhan
6:162    قل إن صلاتي ونسكي ومحياي ومماتي لله رب العلمين
6:162    Say: My contact prayer, and my rites, and my life, and my death, are all to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

3:51

mmkhan

6:162    قل إن صلاتي ونسكي ومحياي ومماتي لله رب العلمين
6:162    Say: My contact prayer, and my rites, and my life, and my death, are all to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

3:51

Released

Peace

Indeed it does! She is a Sufi Kathak dancer.
God does not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves (13:11)

mmkhan

Quote from: Released on October 01, 2012, 08:31:43 AM
Peace

Indeed it does! She is a Sufi Kathak dancer.
Peace,

That's cool I was not knowing it is Sufi dance. What about "kathak" that use to dance in front of "Kali"? Was that also Sufi kathak or Kathak is different than Sufi Kathak?

Thanks,
mmkhan
6:162    قل إن صلاتي ونسكي ومحياي ومماتي لله رب العلمين
6:162    Say: My contact prayer, and my rites, and my life, and my death, are all to Allah, Lord of the worlds.

3:51