Voices of Islam (44 page)

In contrast to the egoistic panegyrics and love poetry that were recited at the courts of political power, Sufi substituted the love of God and love of the Prophet. They recognized in the
Burda,
a poem composed by the Proph- et’s contemporary Ka‘b ibn Zubayr in praise of the Prophet, the basis for a lit- erary genre that praises God and the Prophet.
35
Some Sufis gave their poems additional artistic expression by accompanying the lyrics with music and per- forming them in their gatherings of divine ‘‘listening’’ (
sama‘
). God and the Prophet are invariably the two beloveds who are described and celebrated in these poems. The ‘‘hearing’’ of such poems, combined with sessions of invo- cation and remembrance of God (
dhikr Allah
), precipitates new states of con- sciousness (
wajd
) in the participant. In the course of the ninth century
CE
, the word
Sufi
became the term adopted to refer to the one who comes to ‘‘know’’ God in such a way.

What Is Sunni Islam?
207

An important forerunner of the Sufi tradition in Sunni Islam was Hasan al- Basri (d. 728
CE
). As a young man, he took part in the campaigns of conquest in eastern Iran. Thereafter, he lived in Basra until his death. His fame was based on the sincerity and uprightness of his religious personality, which had already made a deep impression on his contemporaries. He was known above all for his sermons and sayings, in which he not only warned his coreli- gionists against sin but also commanded them to regulate their personal lives by focusing on eternity, as he did himself. Among his famous sayings are: ‘‘Re-polish your hearts (the seat of religious feeling), for they very quickly grow rusty.’’ ‘‘Make this world a bridge over which you cross but on which you do not build.’’ In his sermons, Hasan al-Basri constantly warned against worldly attitudes and attachment to earthly possessions. People are already on the way to death, and those who are already dead are only waiting for the others to follow. He regarded the worldly individual as a hypocrite, whose faith sat lightly on him and who sinned without concern.
36
The truly alive person is therefore the spiritually alive and awakened.

The classical period of Sufism was between the ninth and the eleventh cen- turies
CE
. This was the era when the great textbooks that gave Sufism its final doctrinal contours appeared. Among these works were Abu Nasr al-Sarraj’s (d. 988
CE
)
Kitab al-Luma‘
(Book of Inspiration), Abu Talib al-Makki’s (d. 996
CE
)
Qut al-Qulub
(The Sustenance of Hearts), and Abu Bakr al-Kalabadhi’s (d. 990
CE
)
al-Ta‘arruf li-madhhab ahl al-tasawwuf
(Intro- duction to the School of the Sufi Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami (d. 1021
CE
), who in numerous comprehensive writings collected information about the Sufi and Sufism, was also infl , as was Abu al-Qasim al- Qushayri (d. 1074
CE
), the author of the well-known book
al-Risala fi ‘ilm al-tasawwuf
(The Treatise on the Discipline of Sufism).

Classical Sufi writing reached its peak in the works of Abu Hamid al- Ghazali and Muhyiddin ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240
CE
). Having originally been a theologian, Ghazali converted to Sufism after a crisis in his life. In his main work and magnum opus,
Ihya’ ‘ulum al-din
(Revival of the Religious Scien- ces), he recapitulates themes from earlier writers and accomplishes a synthesis of the outer theological sciences and the inner mystical life. His importance to Sunni Islam lay in his popularizing and making accessible to the public the endeavors of his Sufi predecessors and in firmly establishing Sufism within the normative practice of the
Ahl al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a.

The apogee of Sufi intellectual construction occurs in the writings of Ibn al-‘Arabi. In a tripartite division of ‘‘God’s people,’’ he places Sufi above the ascetics but below those who realize true knowledge of God (
al- muhaqqiqun
). In this highest category, he includes the Prophet Muhammad and the greatest ‘‘friends’’ of God (
awliya’ Allah
), a term we may render in English as ‘‘saints.’’ The basic activity of God’s friends is realization of the truth (
tahqiq
), which Ibn al-‘Arabi understands in terms of the Prophet’s command: ‘‘Give everything that has a reality (
haqiqa
) its right or claim

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(
haqq
).’’ Everything in existence has a
haqq
—a truth or reality, and therefore has a right and an appropriate claim—or else God would not have created it. The function of the realized Sufi is to discern the
haqq
in any situation and act accordingly. Ibn al-‘Arabi proceeds to set out principles by which every
haqq
can be discerned and acted upon. For him, the People of God approach real- ity on the basis of the Qur’an and the Sunna. Thus, they give each thing its due according to the Shari‘a, the Sunna, and the example of the People of God. Like most Sufi Ibn al-‘Arabi insists in his writings that the Shari‘a is organically inseparable from the
haqiqa,
the Higher Reality.

TAHAWI AND THE FORMALIZATION OF THE SUNNI CREED

By the ninth century
CE
, the Sunni creed had become formalized. Perhaps nothing can better demonstrate the knitting together of the ideas presented in the preceding portions of this chapter better than the popular exposition of Sunni doctrine written by the tenth-century Egyptian theologian and Hanafi jurist Abu Ja‘far Ahmad al-Tahawi (d. 933
CE
). Tahawi was a contem- porary of both Abu’l Hasan al-Ash‘ari (d. 935
CE
), who was the supreme authority for Sunni theologians, and Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 944
CE
), founder of the other Sunni school of theology, which fl shed in Samar- kand in the area of modern Uzbekistan. Tahawi is best known for his creed (
‘aqida
) in rhymed prose, known as
Bayan al-Sunna wa’l-Jama‘a
(Exposi- tion of Sunna and the Position of the Community). By his time, the political and theological issues that had created rifts within the Muslim community had been argued by scholars and theologians for more than two centuries, and the belief set of those who became known as Sunni had crystallized. Tahawi’s exposition of the Sunni creed is admired not only for its thoughtful delineating of the main principles of Sunni Islam but also for its poetic lan- guage and beautiful literary form. The following translation of portions of this creed is based on the translation of the entire work by E. E. Elder.
37
The reader acquainted with the historical disputes that raged over the first three centuries of Islamic history can detect how Tahawi stakes out the Sunni position on the political and theological issues that defined the controversies that led to the creation of a clarified Sunni theology.

SELECTIONS FROM TAHAWI’S CREED OF SUNNI ISLAM

We say concerning the unity of God, while trusting in the assistance of God— who is exalted in Himself—that Allah is one. He has no partner, and nothing resembles Him, nor does anything limit Him. There is no deity other than Him. He is eternal (
qadim
) without a beginning and ever existing (
da’im
) with- out an end. He is not destroyed nor does He perish. Nothing comes into being

What Is Sunni Islam?
209

but as He wills. Imaginative thoughts (
awham
) do not apprehend Him nor do intelligences comprehend Him. Creatures are not like Him. He is the Living that does not die, the Ever Wakeful that does not sleep, the Creator without a need. Allah is Independent, a Sustainer without provision; He is the One who fearlessly causes things to die and raises [others] from the dead without fatigue
...
.

He created all creatures through His knowledge and decreed for them their fates. He has set for them appointed times. None of their deeds was hidden from Him before He created them, and He knows what they will do before He creates them. He commanded them to obey Him and forbade them to disobey Him. Everything occurs by His Power and Will. Creatures have no will except as He wills. Whatever He wills for them comes into existence; whatever He does not will, does not.

He guides aright whomsoever He wills and preserves from error whomsoever He wills. He grants security to whomsoever He wills as an act of grace (
fadl
). He leads astray whomsoever He wills. He abstains from aiding and punishes whom- soever He wills as a matter of justice. Everything exists in His willing between His grace and His justice. No one can avert His destiny, replace His judgment, or prevail over His command.

We believe all of this and assure ourselves that everything is from God. Muhammad is His chosen creature, His particular faithful one, His favored Messenger, the Seal of the Prophets, the Imam of the God-Fearing, the chief of those who are sent, and the Beloved of the Lord of the worlds. Every claim to prophetic offi after him is a delusion and a vain desire. [Muhamamd] is the one sent to all the Jinn and humanity with truth and guidance, with light and radiance.

We believe that the Qur’an is the speech of God. From Him it began as an utterance without any modality. He sent it down to His Prophet as a revelation. As such, the believers assent to the Qur’an as a Reality.

They assure themselves that it is in fact the speech of God—who is mighty and majestic—and not something created like the speech of human beings. Whoever upon hearing [the Qur’an] asserts that it is the speech of human beings is thereby an unbeliever. Allah has admonished, rebuked, and threatened him with hellfi since God has said: ‘‘I will broil him in hellfi (74:26). When God threatened with hellfi the one who said, ‘‘This is only the speech of humankind’’ (74:25), we knew and were assured that it was the saying of the Creator of humankind, for human sayings do not resemble His.

Whoever qualifies [God] with any of the notions of humanity is therefore an unbeliever. The one who perceives this takes warning and refrains from anything that is like the sayings of the unbelievers, for he knows that God in His attributes is not like humankind
...
.

No one is secure in his religion but he who surrenders to Allah and to His Mes- senger—may God bless him and give him peace—and commits the knowledge of what confuses him to the One who knows. The foundation of Islam is fi established on surrender and submission alone. Whoever seeks knowledge about what is forbidden to him, and whose understanding is not content to surrender, will be precluded in his quest from declaring the absolute unity of the Deity, from pure cognition and sound belief. Therefore, he vacillates between unbelief

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and belief, assertion and contradiction, confession and denial, troubled by the whisperings of Satan, perplexed, rebellious, and separated from the community of the faithful, neither an assenting believer nor a contradicting denier.
...

He who is saved (
sa‘id,
literally, ‘‘happy’’) is saved through the destiny of God, and he who is damned (
shaqi,
literally, ‘‘miserable’’) is damned through the destiny of God. The principle of God’s decree is His secret in His creation. Neither an angel near to His presence nor a Prophet entrusted with a message has gained knowledge of this. Speculating deeply about this subject brings one near to desertion by Allah and is a step toward denial and disobedience. There- fore, be on your guard against this in thought, consideration, and evil sugges- tion. Verily God has concealed the knowledge of His decree from His creatures and has forbidden them to search for it. As He has said: ‘‘He shall not be ques- tioned about what He does, but they shall be questioned’’ (21:23). Whoever asks, ‘‘Why did God do this?’’ [i.e. questions God disapprovingly] has rejected the judgment of the Qur’an and becomes an unbeliever.
.. .

This is part of the covenant of belief, the fundamental knowledge and the confession of the unity and lordship of God, just as God said in His glorious Book: ‘‘He created everything and then decreed it absolutely’’ (25:2). He also said: ‘‘And the command of Allah was a decreed decree’’ (33:38). Thus, woe to him who becomes an adversary of God’s decree or brings to the consideration of it a diseased heart.
...

We say that God took Abraham as a friend and spoke to Moses in a voice (4:162) for the sake of belief, assent, and submission. We believe in the Angels, the Prophets, and the Books that were sent down to those entrusted with a message. We bear witness that they are all manifestly true. We call the people who follow our direction of prayer Muslims and believers, as long as they continue to confess to what the Prophet brought and assent to what he said and narrated.
...

We do not impute unbelief to any of the people who follow our direction of prayer because of sin, so long as they do not make it lawful, nor do we say that a sin that accompanies belief will not harm the one who does it. We hope for those Muslims who do good works, yet we do not feel secure about them, nor do we bear witness that the Garden is theirs [by entitlement]. We ask God to for- give the evildoers; we fear for them and ask forgiveness for them as we do for ourselves and we do not despair for them. Either feeling independent of God or despairing of God removes one from the religion of Islam. The way of Reality lies midway between these two for those who follow our direction of prayer. The creature does not depart from belief except by the denial of that which brought him to it.

Belief is confession by the tongue and assent by the mind that all God sent down in the Qur’an and in the Law and by way of proof is authentic and true regarding the Messenger of God. Belief is one, and people are fundamentally equal. Differences among people arise through their nature and godliness, through forsaking vain desires, and holding on to that which is best
.. .