What is it? (Sufi, Sufism, Tasawwuf)

[sudoku]

i am a layman, and i would like someone to explain in simple words what exactly is sufi, sufism tasawwuf etc?

I have tried reading some of the other threads but they go over my head. i have heard these words a lot, and i always thought a Sufi is a person who is extremely close to Allah because of all the Ibaadaat and spiritual cleanliness he has...but so many people are always saying negative things about it...

so, if someone could just explain to me i would be very thankful!

[Mossy]

I am a layman too. The impression I have received is that a sufi is someone who takes care to learn from qualified shaykhs the methods for reaching ihsan and how to purify his or her soul, possibly giving bayat to a shaykh for the purposes of this. Tasawwuf is a collective noun gathering together these methods.

[sudoku]

okay that made sense to me ... brother

so why do people have such negativity to this? is it maybe because of the Bay'at part?

[celt islam]

i am a layman, and i would like someone to explain in simple words what exactly is sufi, sufism tasawwuf etc?

I have tried reading some of the other threads but they go over my head. i have heard these words a lot, and i always thought a Sufi is a person who is extremely close to Allah because of all the Ibaadaat and spiritual cleanliness he has...but so many people are always saying negative things about it...

so, if someone could just explain to me i would be very thankful!

tassawuf [ sufism ] shaykh abdal qadir as sufi writes ; "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 wore wool"this means that the sufi tasawafa has put on the wool. This is distinct from those who confirm the of islam with the tongue and by book learning.It is taking the anceint way , the primordial path of direct experience of the REAL .
The sufi is universal.He has reduced and then eliminated the marks of selfhood to allow a clear veiw of the cosimc reality.
He has rolled up the cosmos in its turn and obliterated it, he has gone beyond,the has said ALLAH until understood."

sidi umar vadillio writes; sufism is the science of the journey to the KING, tasawwuf is knowledge of ALLAH, Acquiring this knewledge illuminates all aspects of our life including our understanding of the shariah in as much as it provides a higher meaning to the commands and obligations.There is no tasawwuff without islam or without shariah . The first obligation of the sufi is to see that the shariah is in place becasue without its shelter , knowledge of ALLAH is impossable. There is no ardent defender of the shariah that the sufi.

[Mossy]

okay that made sense to me ... brother

so why do people have such negativity to this? is it maybe because of the Bay'at part?

I think its more due to the method part. Due to its proximity to ibadah, queries must be made regarding the origin of the various dhikrs etc. Did you know a bidah is an anagram of ibadah?

The bayat is also a problem as this deals with internalised states and thus the shaykh is usually much closer and requiring of more respect than say a shaykh in fiqh.

Because of this, different perspectives on the nature of, well, everything, can be gleaned by a murid learning from the shaykh, some of which can be rather funky on first glance - the flowery prose usually conceals something which has quite a rational Islamic basis in understanding the universe. Our lay understanding and perspectives don't usually match with these more indepth understandings of the human spirit and the world, so we get averse.

For example:

"The sufi is universal.He has reduced and then eliminated the marks of selfhood to allow a clear veiw of the cosimc reality.
He has rolled up the cosmos in its turn and obliterated it, he has gone beyond,the has said ALLAH until understood."

My intial reaction: ???

I know enough sufis to know that this is just flowery prose for self purification though

[sudoku]

hmm okay...so what i had in mind was right after all... it mostly people misunderstanding and taking things literally...

So sufism is really tazkiyatun Nafs then, which any muslims should be doing!

[abuhajira]

Tazkiya tun Nafs!! I keep telling her.. but she needs to hear from sunniforum ! :P

[laughinglion]

okay that made sense to me ... brother

so why do people have such negativity to this? is it maybe because of the Bay'at part?

It is tazikiyatu'n-Nafs...It is fardh `ayn, according to Hujjatu'l-Islam, Imam 'Abu Hamid al-Ghazzali .

One of the reasons why some people are down on tasawwuf is that this is where the real strength of the Muslims lies, absolute reliance on Allah. The kuffar are well aware of this and they have found willing accomplices from among the Muslims to persecute and misrepresent the sufis and tasawwuf, using isolated cases of real or percieved deviation. Many examples of this can be found in the modernist movements in the Muslim world.

With Peace

[Yusuf]

Mufti Muhammad ibn adam delievered a lecture on this topic:

The talk can be downloaded here : http://www.uclisoc.com/site/index.p..._download&gid=5