What is Sufism?

by Martin Lings

Overview

Martin Lings provides an excellent and authoritative introduction to the mystical movement of the Sufis based on his lifelong interest in Islamic culture. His explanation derives from a profound understanding of Sufism, and extends to many aspects which are usually neglected. His illuminating answer to 'What is Sufism?' gives a taste of the very subject matter itself. What do Sufis believe? What do they aim at? What do they do? Unlike other writers on the subject, Martin Lings treats all the three questions with equal justice. He is thus able to give a wealth of answers to the main question 'What is Sufism?', each answer being from a different angle but all going to the root of the matter.

What is Sufism? has become a set book in colleges and universities on both sides of the Atlantic. It is now accepted as the authoritative statement on the subject of Sufism and it has been translated into French, German, Italian and Spanish. It has also been published in Sarajevo in Bosnian, and is available in Braille.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780946621415
Publisher:	Islamic Texts Society
Publication date:	12/01/1999
Series:	Golden Palm Series
Edition description:	New Edition
Pages:	134
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.50(d)

About the Author

The Book of Certainty and A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century, both published by the Islamic Texts Society. His Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, also published by the Islamic Texts Society, has been internationally acclaimed as a masterpiece.

Read an Excerpt

Sufism is central, exalted, profound and mysterious; it is inexorable, exacting, powerful, dangerous, aloof—and necessary. This last aspect has to do with its inclusiveness, which will be touched on in the next chapter; the other attributes are aspects of its exclusiveness.
   The first four could be summed up by the word 'sacred'. In excluding the profane, as the sacred does by definition, Sufism does not exclude only atheism and agnosticism but also an exoterism which claims to be self-sufficient and to comprise within its narrow compass all that is required of man by way of response to the Divine Revelation. Religion in itself cannot be called profane in any of its aspects but the majority of its adherents, at any rate in later times, form collectively a domain of profanity in which there is a tendency to take everything at its face-value, a domain as it were of two dimensions only. Profanity is a flat outwardness. Sufism's dismissal of it is expressed in the words of the Qur'an: Say Allah, then leave them to their idle talk. The Name Allah is, as we have seen, the good word which the Qur'an likens to a good tree. Idle or profane talk, that is, flat outward talk, is the bad word which the Qur'an likens to a bad tree sprawling uprooted across the ground for lack of firm foundation.
   Enough has already been said to make it clear that Sufism does not exclude the outward as such, nor indeed could it, given that the Outward is one of the Divine Names. But in Reality the Outward is One with the Inward. For the Sufi all outwardness must therefore be related to the inward, which is another way of saying that for him this world is the world of symbols. What Sufism excludes is the 'independent' outwardness of profanity in which the ego gives its attention to the things of this world entirely for their own sakes. But methodically, since such outwardness has become 'second nature' to man, it may be necessary to restore the balance by temporally excluding all outwardness in so far as may be possible. It was from this point of view that Hatim al-Asamm said: 'Every morning Satan saith unto me: What wilt thou eat and what wilt thou put on and where wilt thou dwell? And I say unto him: I will eat death and put on my shroud and dwell in the tomb.'
   Sufism has the right to be inexorable because it is based on certainties, not on opinions. It has the obligation to be inexorable because mysticism is the sole repository of Truth in the fullest sense, being concerned above all with the Absolute, the Infinite and the Eternal; and 'If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted?' Without mysticism, Reality would have no voice in the world. There would be no record of the true hierarchy, and no witness that it is continually being violated.

Table of Contents

Author's Preface
1 The Originality of Sufism
2 The Universality of Sufism
3 The Book
4 The Messenger
5 The Heart
6 The Doctrine
7 The Method
8 The Exclusiveness of Sufism
9 Sufism throughout the Centuries
Index
Index of Arabic Words

Editorial Reviews

'The discussion of Sufi aims, psychology, doctrine and method is original (many previously untranslated texts are cited), sensitive and readable. The mood of Sufism is conveyed here with a clarity that is rare, even unique, yet is done in a responsible, non-proselytizing manner.'

From the Publisher