INTRODUCTION TO SUFISM, THE INNER PATH OF ISLAM [Eric Geoffroy].

242 Pages·2012·2.23 MB·English

by  Eric Geoffroy

Islam/Sufi sm
É Introduction to Sufi sm
Unveiling the hidden spirituality at the heart of Islam
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Why is Sufi sm so compelling to both spiritual seekers and schol-
c
ars? This, the fi rst book in English from an authority on Sufi sm,
The Inner Path of Islam
Éric Geoffroy, introduces Sufi sm from many angles and from its G
origins up to the present day. Geoffroy sees Sufi sm as a unique
lens through which we can view the spirituality that lies behind e
the forms of Islam. This book covers the history of Sufi sm from o
its earliest days up until our own times, touching on the many
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signifi cant people, practices, ideas, and controversies that have f
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shaped it. It also highlights Sufi sm’s universal aspects, which are
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a powerful antidote to various fundamentalisms. Geoffroy’s spe-
cial treatment of the subject balances the voices of long ago (e.g. y
Ibn ‘Arabī, Rūmī, Hallāj, and Ghazzālī) with many contemporary voices to cover a remark-
able scope of topics essential to a full understanding of authentic Sufi sm.
This book features:
• A comprehensive introduction to the movements and fi gures of historical Sufi sm I
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• A broad survey of Sufi sm’s origins, doctrines, practices, personalities, and terminology
• 2 maps of important places in medieval Sufi sm t
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• A glossary and index of technical terms and an index of proper names
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• Select bibliographies for further reading
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“Both seekers and scholars will fi nd that this book, besides being wide-ranging and well c
researched, has a rare attribute: by articulating so well the disputes between the scholars of t
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the letter of the divine Law and Sufi s, and then between different currents within Sufi sm
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itself, Dr. Geoffroy has given us a book that lends itself like few others to discussion and
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debate. We can easily imagine lively conversations, whether in college classrooms or in
readers’ living rooms, framed by the contents of this volume.”
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—Roger Gaetani, co-editor of Sufi sm: Love and Wisdom, from the Translator’s Foreword o

S
Éric Geoffroy is a specialist on Islam and Sufi sm who is currently Professor of Islamic Studies in the u
Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Marc Bloch-Strasbourg II University in France. He has
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already authored several books on Sufi sm in French.
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World Wisdom
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Introduction 
to Sufism
The Inner Path of Islam
by
Éric Geoffroy
Translated by
Roger Gaetani
Introduction to Sufism: The Inner Path of Islam
© 2010 World Wisdom, Inc.
All rights reserved.
No part of this book may be used or reproduced
in any manner without written permission,
except in critical articles and reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Geoffroy, Eric.
  [Initiation au soufisme. English]
  Introduction to Sufism : the inner path of Islam / by Éric Geoffroy ; translated by Roger 
Gaetani.
       p. cm. --  (The perennial philosophy series)
  Includes bibliographical references and index.
  ISBN 978-1-935493-10-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)  1.  Sufism.  I. Gaetani, Roger, 1954- II. Title. 
  BP189.G28713 2010
  297.4--dc22
                                                            2010011130
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CONTENTS
Translator’s Foreword               xi
Transliteration System for Arabic Characters      xv
Preface               xvii
CHAPTER 1: Fundamentals 1
DEFINITIONS AND OBJECTIVES   1
A Mysticism?    2
Knowledge and Love   3
Who is the Sufi?    4
A Reality without a Name    5
The Science of Spiritual States   6  
The Initiatory Path    8
Goals of the Sufi  11
• Purifying the Soul  12
• Knowing God  12
• Union with God, or “Extinguishing Oneself” in Him?  14
• Dying to Oneself, and Living Again Through Him  15
DIVERSITY IN SUFISM   16
A Rich Pallet of Spiritual Types  16
Sufi Literature  19
Inward Alchemy    21
SUFISM AND SHI‘ISM   22
Doctrinal Affinities  22
Two Rival Esoterisms  24
THE ROLE OF THE FEMININE IN SUFISM    27
The Eternal Feminine in Islamic Mysticism    27
The Effects of the Male Ambience  29

SOME PREJUDICES REGARDING SUFISM  29
Sufism is a Kind of Quietism, and is the Egotistical   29
Search for Individual Salvation
Sufism is a Popular Religion, Conceived as a Reaction to the  31
Legalism of “Orthodox” Islam
CHAPTER 2: Sufism and Islam 33
TWO NAMES FOR A SINGLE REALITY   33
The Fundamentally Koranic Character of Sufism   33
THE KORANIC MODEL     35
“To Combine One’s Flesh and Blood with the Koran”   35  
The Sufi Travels His Path Through the Book   37  
A Multitude of Meanings: Sufi Exegesis  38
The Hadīth Qudsī, or “Divine Utterance”    42
THE MODEL OF MUHAMMAD     43
“Sufis are Those Who Follow the Path of the Messenger  43
of God and Strive to Acquire His Noble Virtues”
The Prophet as Primordial Light    44
The Reality of Muhammad, Mediator between the   45
Divine and Human Realms 
The Inner Sunna    47
Sufism and Prophetic Tradition (Hadīth)    48
The Master of Masters  50
Devotion to the Prophet  53
THE ISLAM OF “EXCELLENCE”     54
Islam, Īmān, Ihsān 54
Sufism Illuminates the Five Pillars    56
Sufism, or Plenary Islam  58
THE LAW (SHARĪ‘A), THE WAY (TARĪQA), AND  59
 THE REALITY (HAQĪQA)   
A Law for Sufis Only?  60
The Science of “Unveiling”, the Science of Sharī‘a 62
A Living Law  64
CHAPTER 3: Sufism in Islamic Culture: Historical Perspective 65
THE PATH OF THE PIONEERS      65
A Foundational Attitude: The Ascetic Renunciation   65
of the World
The “Path of Blame” (Malāma): From Concealment  67
to Provocation
From Asceticism to Mysticism    68
Bistāmī, the Archetype of “Intoxication”  69
The Baghdad “School” of Sufism (Ninth-Tenth Centuries)  70
• Hallāj      70  
• Junayd             71
Hakim Tirmidhī: Between Prophecy and Sainthood  73
Persecutions  73
Successors of Junayd and Hallāj  74
The Four Founders of the Legal Schools and Sufism  75
THE CENTURIES OF MATURATION  78
(Tenth-Twelfth Centuries) 
Legal Scholars, Traditionnists, Sufis: Assertion of Identities   78 
Radiance from Khurasan (Tenth-Eleventh Centuries)  79
• Sufism and Shafi‘ism  79
• Manuals of Sufism  80
Ghazzālī: The Supremacy of Spiritual Intuition over Reason     83
The Persistence of the Mysticism of “Intoxication”    85

POETRY AND METAPHYSICS  87
Iranian Mystical Poetry (Twelfth-Fifteenth Centuries):  87
‘Attār, Rūmī, and Others  
Rūmī: Music and Dance    89
Turkish Mystical Poetry: Yūnus Emre  91
Arabic Mystical Poetry: Ibn ‘Arabī and Ibn al-Fārid    92
The Necessity of Interpreting Mystical Poetry  93
Sufi Terminology  94
Ibn ‘Arabī and the Metaphysics of Being    95
Ibn Sab‘īn, or Oneness Without Compromise  98
CREATING A STRUCTURE FOR SUFISM   99
(Twelfth-Fifteenth Centuries)    
The Formation of the “Initiatory Paths” (Tarīqa)  101
• Iraq  102
• Central Asia and Iran  104
• India  108
• Muslim Spain and the Maghreb  109
• Egypt and Syria  111
• Anatolia  114
• The Caucasus  115
INTEGRATION AND EXPANSION: “SUFISM, THE HEART   117
OF ISLAM”  
Recognition of Sufism by the Ulama 117
Sufism is Prominent as the Spirituality of Sunni Islam    120
Hanbalism and Sufism  121
Places of Sufi Social Interactions    122
The “Cult of Saints”   124 
The Esoteric Governance of the World  125
SUFISM AND REFORMISM (Eighteenth-Twentieth Centuries)  126
A Decline of Sufism?  126
The Search for Original Purity (Eighteenth-Nineteenth  127
Centuries): Sufism and Wahhabism
The Muhammadian Path    128
Renewed Paths and New Paths    129
Lesser Jihād and Greater Jihād    132
• The Sudanese Mahdī  133
• Emir ‘Abd al-Qādir  133
Sufi Reformism at the Beginning of the Twentieth  134
Century: Amadou Bamba and the Shaykh al-‘Alawī  
Sufism: A Fertile Ground for “Salafī” Reformism   136
Sufism and Islamicism in the Twentieth Century:  139
Politicization
“Sufi Scholars” in Contemporary Times  141
CHAPTER 4: Sufism As It Is Lived 142
MASTER AND DISCIPLE    142
A Necessary Relationship  142
An Excessive Veneration?     143
A Reciprocal Code of Conduct    145
A Single Master  146
A Second Birth   146
Sufi Psychology, or the “Science of the Soul”  149
Succession and Delegation of Authority    151
METHODS AND RITES OF AFFILIATION  153
Initiatory Rites  153
• The “Investiture of the Cloak” (Khirqa)  153
• “Making the Pact” (‘Ahd, Bay‘a)  154
• “The Secret Teaching of Formulas of  155  
  Invocation” (Talqīn) 
From True Aspirant to Simple Associate  155
A Fluid World: Multiple Affiliations  156
Uwaysi Initiation    157
CODES OF CONDUCT   158 
Correct Inner Attitudes  158
• Food  159
• Clothing  159
• Sleep  159
• Travel  159
Between Brothers    160
A Rule for Community Life  161
INITIATORY METHODS    162
The Invocation (Dhikr)  162
• The Highest Form of Worship  162
• Formulas of the Invocation  164
• From the Dhikr of the Tongue to that of “Inner  166
Consciousness”
The Invocation of the Tongue (Dhikr al-Lisān)  166
The Invocation of the Heart (Dhikr al-Qalb)  167
The Invocation of the Inner Consciousness  167
  (Dhikr al-Sirr)
• Aloud, or in Silence?  167
• Group Sessions of Dhikr 168
SPIRITUAL POETRY AND MUSIC: SAMĀ‘ 170
The Echo of the Divine Word  170
• Subtlety and Ambiguity of Samā‘ 171
• A Joyful and Widespread Practice  172
Litanies and Prayers  174
The Retreat (Khalwa)  176
• Rules of the Retreat  177
• Not to Stop at Supernatural Phenomena  179
• The “Retreat in the Midst of the Crowd”  180
CHAPTER 5: Sufism and Interreligious Openness 182
Religious Pluralism in Islam    182
The Transcendent Unity of Religions  183  
The Legacy of Prophetic Pluralism    188
The “Hidden Idolatry” of Common Believers  189
The Temptation of Syncretism    190
The Pressures of Exoterism and History  191
CONCLuSION: Sufism Yesterday, Sufism Today 194
The “Degeneration of Time”    194
The Illness of “Brotherhoodism”    195
Adapting to Cyclical Conditions  196
Towards a Restructuring of the Roles of Sufism  198
The Messianic Adventure   199
Sufism in the West  200
Maps  204
Glossary and Index of Technical Terms  207
Index of Proper Names   213
Biographical Notes  219