Sufi Corner


Culled from "The Hundred Steps" by Shaykh Abdalqadir al-Murabit (Kuala Lumpur:Madinah Press, 1998)
1. TASAWWUF
Sufism is the science of the journey to the King.
Its preferred etymology is that it derives from suf, wool. Shaykh Hasan al-Basri said,'I saw forty of the people of Badr and they all wore wool.' This means that the sufi-tasawwafa-has put on the wool. This is distinct from those who confirm the way of Islam with the tongue and by book of learning. It is taking the ancient way, the primordial path of direct experience of the Real.
Junayd said: ' The Sufi is like earth, filth is flung on it but roses grow from it.' He also said: 'The Sufi is like the earth which supports the innocent and the guilty, like the sky which shades everything, like the rain which washes everything'.
The Sufi is universal. He has reduced and then eliminated the marks of selfhood and allow a clear view of the cosmic reality. He has rolled up the cosmos in its turn and obliterated it. He has gone beyond. The Sufi has said 'Allah'- until he has understood. All men and women play in the world like children. The Sufi's task is to recognise the end in the beginning, accept the beginning in the end, arrive at the unified view. When the outward opposites are the same, and the instant is presence, and the heart is serene, empty and full, light on light, the one in the woollen cloak has been robed with the robe of honour and is complete.
The Imam also said: 'If I had known of any science greater than Sufism I would have gone to it, even on my hands and knees'.
** MY ADDENDUM
One of the arguments usually put forth on the controversial stance of Sufism is its etymology. Sufi literature is abound with different derivative words like safa(purity), safwah(choice), saf(rank), suffah(bench) and suf(wool). However, adequate morphological and semantical trace of all these words suggest that the word suf(wool) is best suit for the word. It is however apt to state that "Sufism is not wearing a robe that you patch...... Sufism is rather your serenity without distress and following the truth of the Qur'an and the religion.

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