Sufism and Sufi Poetry
Nov 18, 2002

Sufism began only a century or so after Mohammed's death. The Sufis were alarmed by the materialism represented by the silks and satins of the sultans and other wealthy patrons of Islam. Thus they emphasized spiritual purity by wearing coarse wool clothing (Ar. suf) and sought direct contact with God through contemplation and mystical encounter.  They followed spiritual leaders (sheikhs) who taught methods for mysticism and ecstasy. This path resembles that of ascetic monks in the Christian world except that Sufis normally marry and do not retreat to remote monestaries.

   POETRY

Sufi love poetry tends to be based on the metaphor that our love for God and our seeking contact with him is like seeking a departed lover.  Rabi'a, an 8th C woman poet believed that God's love is at the core of the universe and that we need to feel that love in all we do.  The pain of separation from a lover and the joy of meeting again is like the joy of reunion with God.  One of her poems goes:

  My God and my Lord: Eyes are at rest,
  the stars are setting,
  hushed are the movements of birds in their nests,
  of monsters in the deep.
  And you are the Just who knows no change,
  the Equity that does not swerve,
  the Everlasting that never passes away.
  The doors of kings are locked and guarded by their henchmen,
  but your door is open to those who call upon you.
  My Lord, each lover is now alone with his beloved
  And I am alone with you.
Jalal ad-Din Rumi is the most famous of all Sufi poets (and the most beloved of all Persian/Iranian poets).  One of his poems compares the life of the believer with the sad lot of the nonbeliever, again using the metaphor of lovers to make the distinction poignant.

            Two Companions

  I don't need
  a companion who is
  nasty and sour.

  The one who is
  like a grave,
  dark, depressing and bitter.

  A sweetheart is a mirror,
  a friend, a delicious cake.
  It isn't worth spending
  an hour with anyone else.

  A companion who is
  in love only with the self
  has five distinct characters:

  Stone hearted,
  Unsure of every step,
  Lazy and Disinterested,
  Keeping a poisonous face.

  The more this companion waits around
  the more bitter everything will get,
  just like a vinegar

  getting more sour with time.
  Enough is said about
  sour and bitter faces.

  A heart filled with desire for
  sweetness and tender souls
  must not waste itself with unsavory matters.


     The Garden of God's Love

The garden of
Love
is green without
limit
and yields many
fruits
other than sorrow
and joy.
Love is beyond either
condition:
without spring,
without autumn,
it is always fresh.
 

Art as Flirtation and Surrender

In your light I learn how to love.
In your beauty, how to make poems.
You dance inside my chest,
where no one sees you,
but sometimes I do,
and that sight becomes this art.
 
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Excerpts from The Essential Rumi, translations by Coleman Barks with John Moyne, 1995.


   DHIKR

The Koran advises us to keep God in our thoughts always. Sufis attempt to do this by attempting to keep God constantly on the lips and in the mind and by attempting to lose the awareness of the individual self.  The phrase `There is no god but God' is interpreted almost to mean there is no Self, but God. We need to lose our individual identities in God.  One Sufi poet wrote:

  I saw my Lord with the eye of the Heart.
  I said `Who are you?'
  He answered `You.'
One important practice for achieving this sense of unity with God is a ceremony called `dhikr' (Ar. remembrance). Typically, a group of men will get together to chant the name of God or an attribute of God over and over while doing a simple dance step - often accompanied by one or more drums. This is continued for several hours until a trance-like state is achieved and a sense of peace and unity is accomplished.

Sufism is controversial for many Muslims. Its emotionality and mysticism seem to many as borderline blasphemy. But this minority style of Islam has survived almost as long as Islam itself and may be growing at this point.