There is a significant debate going on in the world of Islam concerning the Sufi or Islamic mystical movement. The Imam of one of our local mosques here in Columbia has even authored a short book on the topic entitled “Tawheed or Sufism”[i]. His point is that Sufism at best is a “Bid’a” (innovation) which indicates that it is heresy, or at worst, it is a violation of the doctrine of the unity of God (Tawheed) which would render the practitioner apostate from Islam. Having studied Sufism for 30 years I thought a few words on the controversy would be in order.
We may quickly dispatch the “innovation” issue. For orthodox Muslims any behavior or belief not practiced by the Prophet or his immediate followers becomes a problematic category. If Islam is a complete code of life brought down perfectly in the person of the Prophet, then there is no room for significant new behavior or belief patterns. This would call into question the very finality of Islam. This is why the word “bid’a” innocuously translated as “innovation” in English is anything but a neutral word. It would better be translated “heresy”. That the Sufis do something that Muhammad did not do is obvious to anyone who has studied both systems. Clearly Sufism is a Bid’a but one that meets a profound human need. We shall return to this.
What are we to make of the claim of “shirk” or ultimate sin in the behavior of the Sufis? Are they polytheists as some Muslim writers assert and our local imam certainly implies by the title of his book? To understand this question we have to understand the key point of Muslim theology. The concept of Tawheed, or the absolute oneness of God is expressed in the Qur’an as follows:
“There is nothing like unto Him; He is the Al-Hearing, the All-Seeing.”(42.11)
A.A. Tabari, a Salafi Muslim interprets this to mean,
“Ahlu al-Sunnah wa al-Jama'ah, on the other hand, are agreed that Allah is One Alone, qualified with all the attributes wherewith He has qualified Himself and named with all names whereby He has named Himself, without resembling creation in any respect; that His essence does not resemble the essences of His creatures nor His attributes resemble theirs.”[ii]
The issue here is none other than the image of God and its relationship to humankind. Several sub-points could be mentioned. This doctrine would deny any resemblance or image of God in humankind. Further, it would deny the possibility of any personal relationship to God. Finally, it would deny the possibility of any kind of theological immanence or presence of God in creation. As Ismail Faruki defined it,
“God does not reveal himself. He does not reveal himself to anyone in any way. God reveals only his will”.[iii]
That is to say, all we can know about God is His Shari’a. Sufism is all about experiencing the immanence of God. The ecstatic practices of the Sufis and the analogies they use are entirely conversant with God as knowable and experiential. Their practices are not merely innovative/heretical but a profound denial of primeval Islamic theology.
These are the very things that the Bible defines as essential to the nature of God in the very first chapters of the Bible. Humankind are made in His “image” (Genesis 1:26-28). This designation is repeated 3 times. Humankind is given “dominion” over creation in imitation of the ultimate dominion of God (Genesis 1:26-28)[iv]. This designation is repeated twice. God interacts with man in the garden. Man both converses with God personally and experientially and man also partakes of the creative process by naming the animals in God’s presence. (Genesis 2:18-20). The immanence of God in creation is implicitly affirmed throughout the text.
Humans were made for relationship with each other and with God. Sufis, created in the image of God, long for that relationship. As orthodoxy increasingly defines Sufis as heretics or even apostates, they are closing the door on the very thing all Muslims sense in their spirits is the reason for their existence; to know and experience God. This struggle is producing some powerful missiological opportunities.
[i] Adley, Muhammad, Tawheed or Sufism, Adly Publications, 2003.
[ii] http://www.qss.org/articles/sufism/sufi6.html under section “Development of Sufi Thought”
[iii] Al-Faruki, Ismail, Islamic Da’wah: Its Nature and Demands, American Trust Publications, p. 17.
[iv] Ultimately the Qur’an denies human dominion. This leads directly to it’s theocratic system which is both utopic and a religious apartheid.