My servant draws near to Me through nothing I love more than that which I have made obligatory for him. My servant never ceases drawing near to Me through supererogatory works until I love him. Then, when I love him, I am his hearing through which he hears, his sight through which he sees, his hand through which he grasps, and his foot through which he walks.
"In the name of God, most Gracious, most Compassionate"
The writings that I found by Sufists were from a website called Dar-al-Masnavi. They have created a web page where you can look up the writings of Rumi, a writer of Sufism.
If you go to the website, the following will be helpful so you can have an inkling of what's going on:
- Books 1 and 2: They “are principally concerned with the nafs, the lower carnal self, and its self-deception and evil tendencies.”
- Books 3 and 4: These books share the principal themes of Reason and Knowledge. These two themes are personified by Rumi in the Biblical and Quranic figure of the Prophet Moses.
- Books 5 and 6: These last two books are joined by the universal ideal that man must deny his physical earthly existence to understand God’s existence.
There are many verses there so I'll just post one of them:
3494 A certain friend spoke to the Prophet (Muhammad), saying,
"In (doing) business, I'm liable to be deceived.1
3495 "(Because) the tricks of everyone who sells or buys are like
(the spells of) magic, and take me (away) from the road."
(The Prophet) replied, "When you are afraid of being deceived in
(doing) business, set a condition of (asking) three days for
(making) your own choice.
"Since deliberate slowness is from the Most Merciful,2 (but) your
being hasty is from Satan, the cursed one."
If you toss a mouthful (of food) in front of a dog, he smells (first
and) then he eats (it), O deliberate one!
He smells with the nose, (and) we (who are) with wisdom also
smell it3 by (means of) the discriminating intellect.
This is one of the less confusing verses. I can see how these were kept secret. It would take a lot of effort to get through the text and make sense of it. It was probably designed this way so the common man would not be able to understand.
Of course, you can't just read the words. Doing is a big part of Sufism. The "seeker" must pray five times a day, purify the heart through obedience to one who has already mastered the way, in short, they must become a "broken person". One who denies all for the love of God.
Thanks so much for these comments about what you guys touched on in class. I'm really sad I had to miss it. It's interesting how, through these records, we can see so many similarities in our own religion. Having a broken heart and following another's (Christ's) example are huge concepts in our Church. Like we are, they were so invested in what's behind the printed word.
ReplyDeleteI thought this was very interesting so I looked up the basic tenants of Islam. I learned some of the things they must do: acts of prayer, fasting, service, and sacrifice to the poor. I think it's fascinating how closely different religions can be related. Though Muslims do not believe in Christ as the Savior and Son of God, they still share many of our same beliefs and hold Christ in esteem as a great prophet and miracle worker. (Interesting lesson in tolerance, isn't it?)
ReplyDeleteAnd it's not just those two religions. You can often see similar themes and stories in a lot of different places. Example: Akkadia had a story about Moses and the Flood that a lot of other civilizations have had, there are just little twists to every story.
ReplyDeleteI like how all the cultures and their religions intertwine and relate to each other. Do you think we can learn more about our own culture by studying other cultures?
ReplyDeleteKimberly, I think that sometimes that is the best way to learn about our culture. When learning a subject for the first time you must study it differently, than when you look to learn a subject you already know something about. I had this experience with taking my first physics class in the university. I had never had physics before so I came at it entirely differently than my calculus class, I had no basis to lean on.
ReplyDelete