ORIGINS
Critic:-
The origin of Sufism are in Hinduism. It is a revolt against the sterile legalistic nature of Islam.
Answer:-
The essentials of Sufism are certainly to be found in the Quran and Hadith but also in an oral tradition.
This is perfectly clear from the writings of many Sufis who quote the Quran. It is also clear from my studies of the Quran and should be clear to those who have followed the articles I have posted here.
However, I know that there are persons hostile to Islam with sectarian minds who wish to deny this or anything good about Islam or wish that anything good is always connected with the particular sect, religion or ideology they happen to follow. It probably boost their own ego by association.
This tracing of Sufism to other non-Islamic sources is part of the more general tendency of trying to show that the Quran insists only of thing borrowed from others. To do this all differences have to be ignored or regarded as corruption and attention must be placed on similarities. But when it is pointed out that if Islam is similar to the whatever the critic himself accepts as true, then Islam must also be true, then the opposite procedure is adopted - the mind is concentrated on differences and similarities are ignored.
It is also a question of understanding the following:-
Religion is a single phenomenon, which has its origin in inspiration or higher conscious states (mystical or spiritual experiences). The founders of the religions do not belong to any sect, but separate religions do form because people follow different Prophets exclusively.
Islam is the name of the Universal Religion, which recognizes all prophets sent throughout the world. It includes and confirms their teachings, but not the corruption or misunderstanding which has arisen at the hands of misguided followers. It should not, therefore, be surprising that Islam should have mystical side and that this should resemble or include the mystical elements found in other religions.
This is a rather elementary feature of Islam, which one would have thought any one claiming to know Islam would know. But if they do not know this then their opinion about Islam is utterly valueless.
Originally, when the Prophet (saw) first taught Islam it was a unity in which spiritual, philosophical (theological) and social (legalistic) elements coexisted in a harmonious way. It is only later that these elements began to separate out. The result is that when people look at Islam, some look only at the legalistic element, others look at the various schools of theology and others look at Sufism. Still another group look only at the actions and practices of people , particularly at the small group they brand terrorist and ignore everything else.
What may not be clear to such people is that the various dispensations of Religion as brought by the different Prophets are brought in the language or conceptual system of the people to whom the Prophet comes. That is, it is formulated and presented differently according to the times, place and people. Therefore, people who form attachments to words and are literal minded in the narrow sense, tend to be quite unable to see the basic similarities. To illustrate this there is a story about Grapes. A Persian, an Arab, a Turk and an African were quarreling because, they had a limited amount of money and, though they wished to buy the same thing, they had different names for it.
There are a range of different shapes of chairs. But if the word "chair" which should have a general meaning, is identified with a particular instance of it, and different people identify it with different shapes, then the controversies which might ensue will surely be regarded as stupid by the more discerning.
Truth remains truth, and is, and ought to be, repeatedly mentioned and confirmed. It can be seen quite independently by those who have the capacity for perception. It is not necessary that the knowledge of the existence of the sun and moon, for instance, should be transferred from person to person or traced to someone else. But falsehood being based on fantasy can be of infinite variety and leads to many contradictions.
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