The Importance Of Sufism In Islam

Beginning with Muhammad’s age from the start of 7th century Islam, Islamic culture and politics have gone a great many events and occurrences. Throughout all of its years, it has boasted both a rich culture and technological/intellectual advancements. The preservation of the Quran, developments in mathematics, and the continued emphasis on respect and charitable nature are just some examples of Islamic achievement. However, as with any growing civilization, Islam has evolved beyond what it originated as. The cultural and political life of Islamic civilization beginning in the 7th century to the end of the Abbasids of the 13th century underwent many changes such as the deteriorating view of women in society and the shift from elected caliphates to dynastical caliphate. But, one aspect that persisted were the religious beliefs and traditions followed by the Islamic people.

In post-classical history, Islam was recognized for its loyalty to Allah and its precise rules of religion. Muhammad, founder of Islam, was born from a nomad-merchant class, giving a pulse to the traveling trait of Islam and its literal veins of expansion throughout the Eurasian borders. While keeping the classic code of Muhammad’s original law underway, Islam’s expansion during 600- 1200 C.E. introduced advanced authority and systems of economic control.

There are few different branches of Islam but the two most prominent branches are Sharia law and Sufism. Sharia law and Sufism both seem to contradict each other. Sharia laws are the Qur’anic rules for the tangible world. The law includes predetermined punishment and rewards for actions, clearly defined by the Qur’an. It also has a spectrum of the lawfulness of actions, ranging from required to forbidden. Sufism, however, takes a more mystical approach to the practice of Islam. Sufism focuses on rejecting the material world and becoming one with God through self-annihilation. Despite the difference, I argue Sharia law and Sufism can be reconciled because although one person cannot practice both at the same time, but both versions of Islam

The Sufi path is the means within the Islamic tradition of finding the ultimate answer to this basic question. And of discovering our real identity. Throughout the ages religions have sought to teach us who we are and through their inner teachings to provide the means of "becoming" our True Self. Islam is certainly no exception. It unveils the complete doctrine of our true nature and also the nature of the levels of reality issuing from the One, who alone is ultimately real, and provides teachings that, if put into practice, lead us back to the One through a path of spiritual effort combined with joy and felicity. The Quran asserts majestically, "Verily we come from God and to Him is our returning"(2:rs6). The One is of course that Supreme Source and End of all things whom Abraham, Moses, and Christ addressed as the One God and whom the Quran calls by his name in Arabic,

In this paper I will be discussing what I learned about Christianity and Islamic faiths. How that even though these two religions have differences that they have core similarities and history that show that they have more in common than they do not have in common. I will discuss my interview at a Christian church and what I learned from it. Then I will discuss how much all the religions I have studied in this class have in common. Touching on their philosophies, beliefs, virtues and traditions and any areas that show areas they have in common.

The book gives special attention to specific Sufi leaders as well as their followers in Tunisia and Algeria which have traditionally been linked

Mevlana Jalal al- Din Rumi is one of the most influential Islamic mystics of all times. It is no surprise that even seven hundred years after his death; he remains to be the best selling poet in North America. His poetry reflects the teachings of Islam and his opinions on various matters such as faith, prayer, love, free will etc. are assembled in a book called “The signs of the Unseen”. Occasionally, commentators dissociate Rumi poetry’s from Islam but the fact is that Rumi’s entire writings are inspired from the Quran and sayings of Prophet (PBUH) and represent the essence of Islam.

Lecture seven illustrated Islamic Sufism; provided a variety of manifestation regarding the terminology of Sufi-Islam. The word Sufism may be manifested from a negative perspective, which therefore perceived as a hocus pocus tradition or a fictional Islam. This portation on Sufism came from various polemics and negatived perspectives on Islam. Some claimants upon Sufism is that Sufi sheiks or practitioners function the principles of Islam differently than other Muslim sects. These perceptions attempted some people to manifest it in a derogative way; to accuse it of plagiarism. However, Professor Asani stated that these manifestations were perceived differently, because of the initial illustration of Sufism, which emerged from Western Scholarships

Muhammad Ibn Abdullah was born in 570 CE in the Arab trading city of Mecca. During this time, the people of the Arab world had just begun to explore the monotheistic ideas of Judaism and Christianity. 610 BCE is when Muhammad is said to have been contacted by Allah and commissioned to bring the Arab people a scripture in their own language. This scripture came to be known as the Quran, the holy book for Islam. Today, Islam is one of the most widely practiced religions on earth, with about a billion followers worldwide. Throughout its history, Islam has had countless impacts on the ancient world and into modernity. Islamic physicians, scientists and mathematicians all made incredible leaps in the areas of geometry, trigonometry, surgery, dentistry, optics and astronomy. As a culture, Islam connected vast areas of Eurasia and Africa and gave rise to trade and cultural diffusion. Islam also changed the prevailing social structures of pre-Islamic Eurasia and the culture of that area of the world. These factors and more serve to prove that Islam is the most impactful belief system from the period of 600 BCE-1450 CE into modern-day.

The Islamic vision of reality and truth, which is a metaphysical survey of the visible as well as the invisible world including the perspective of life as a whole, is not formed by gathering of other cultures. Moreover,

The book that we have chosen to review is titled “Lost History, the Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers and Artists”. The author of the book is Michael Hamilton Morgan. The book was published in the year 2007 and also holds the same copyright date. The book is a non-fiction. The main subject matter of the book is the history of the Islamic civilization from the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)

The region of the Middle East and its inhabitants have always been a wonder to the Europeans, dating back to the years before the advent of Islam and the years following the Arab conquest. Today, the Islamic world spreads from the corners of the Philippines to the far edges of Spain and Central Africa. Various cultures have adopted the Islamic faith, and this blending of many different cultures has strengthened the universal Islamic culture. The religion of Islam has provided a new meaning to the lives of many people around the world. In the Islamic world, the religion defines and enriches culture and as a result the culture gives meaning to the individual. Islam is not only a religion, it is in its own way a culture. It may be this very

Islam, now one of the major religions of the world, was found by a prophet, named Muhammad. The idea of Islam is the believer, called a Muslim, accepts surrender to the will of Allah, who is their God. Allah is viewed as the creator of the world. Islam is much like Christianity, as they are both monotheistic, potentially believing in the same God. Islam’s practices are written in the holy book, called the Qur’an, or Koran in English. Allah revealed the Koran to his messenger, Muhammad, who is considered the last of a series of prophets (Rahmin). Within the Islam religion, Muslims practice the Five Pillars of Islam, which is one of the most important practices. The Five Pillars of Islam are the five obligations that every muslim must satisfy in order to live a good and responsible life according to Islam (Five Pillars of Islam). Carrying out the Five Pillars demonstrates the Muslim is putting their faith first. The first pillar is called “Shahadah,” which focuses on reciting the Muslim profession of faith (Five Pillars of Islam).

     A Sufi tries to change the state in a person, to bring him closer to God.

Sufism has influenced many Muslims, and is, especially in the West, portrayed and regarded as a valuable and legitimate part of the Islamic faith. Fazlur Rahman, in his work Islam, says that “considerable ink has been spent by modern scholarship on the ‘origins’ of Sufism in Islam, as to how far it is ‘genuinely’ Islamic and how far a product, in the face of Islam, of outside influences, particularly Christian and Gnostic.”4 Rahman seems to hint that some of this ink has been wasted, as he concludes that “outside influences must have played an accessory role and these no one may deny, but they must have supervened upon an initial native tendency.” However, aside from a vague