Voices of Islam (165 page)

In the following narrative, Abu Nu‘aym al-Isfahani reproduces a dialogue between two famous early Sufi , Abu al-Hasan al-Farghani and Abu Bakr al-Shibli (d. 945
CE
). This narrative graphically illustrates the Sufi view of spirituality as an ethical journey of self-transformation based on a self-knowledge that results from an intimate knowledge of God:

I asked Shibli, ‘‘What is the sign of one who knows God intimately (
‘arif
)?’’ He said, ‘‘His breast is open, his heart bears wounds and his body is discarded [in the dust].’’ I said, ‘‘This is the sign of one who knows God intimately; who then is one who knows of God intimately?’’ He said, ‘‘He is one who knows God and His intent [for creation]; he acts in accordance with that which God commands and turns from that which God has forbidden, and he calls God’s servants to God.’’ Then I said, ‘‘This is a Knower of God, so who is a Sufi?’’ He responded, ‘‘He is one who has worked to purify his heart and has been purifi he has taken to the path of the Purified One (
al-Mustafa
) [Muhammad] and has cast the world behind him, making passion taste [the bitterness of] denial.’’ So I said, ‘‘This is a Sufi what is Sufi He said, ‘‘Being in harmony [with others], detachment, and avoidance of excess.’’ I said, ‘‘Better than this, what is Sufism?’’ ‘‘It is submitting to the purifi tion of the hearts at the hands of the All- Knowing of the Unseen.’’ I said to him, ‘‘And better than this, what is Sufism?’’ He said, ‘‘Exalting God’s command and compassion towards God’s creatures.’’ Then I said to him, ‘‘And better than this, what is a Sufi?’’ He said, ‘‘One who is clear of impurity, free of defilement, occupied with refl ; one for whom gold and clay are equal.’’
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THE SAINT-EXEMPLAR AS A TEACHER OF ETHICS

The key to understanding this process can be found within the basic sources of the Islamic intellectual tradition, the Qur’an and the Sunna.

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To understand, however, the manner in which these two sources of Islamic thought relate to Islamic ethics, it is necessary to gain an insight into the examples afforded to us by the spiritual teachers or mentors of the Sufi path. These men and women, based upon Qur’anic terminology, are known as ‘‘Friends of God’’ (
awliya’ Allah
). The stories of their lives, their teachings, and sayings have been preserved in the seminal works of Sufi m. In his life, the Prophet Muhammad holistically exemplified the Qur’an
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in such a way that he represented the foremost example of Islam for his community: ‘‘Indeed, in the Messenger of God you have the foremost example for the one who hopes for God’s blessings, the Final Day and remembers God much’’ (Qur’an 33:21). The Friends of God represent within their own com- munities the highest aspirations and ideals of the Qur’anic and Prophetic models. Their role, didactic in nature, has long served to defi Islamic spirituality. Herein lies their importance to our comprehension of Islamic ethics. The Friends of God are the embodiment of Islamic ethical teachings. They represent the fruit of such teachings and are a living testimony to the relevance of ethical conduct in daily life. They are mentors and teachers, who, by their example, restore their communities to the path of ethical conduct when people lose touch with the Qur’anic and Prophetic models. This role has earned them the high esteem in which they have been held in the traditional Islamic world. Their very presence in the community is considered a protection and a source of hope in the face of adversity. Their absence from a community is considered a sign that the community is turning away from God and His decrees.

The foundation of Sufi education is in compliance with the Qur’an and the Sunna, the example of the Prophet Muhammad. These two sources have long been considered the foundations of all religious knowledge and the keys to the direct and intimate knowledge of divine reality. In the early Sufi text
Darajat al-Sadiqin
(Stations of the Righteous), Abu ‘Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami affirms the ethical nature of the journey he portrays for the disciple. He assures him that there is no path without the Qur’an and the traditions of the Prophet: ‘‘There can be no successful completion of the journey through the spiritual stations without a propitious beginning. He who has not founded his aspirant’s journey upon the Qur’an and the Sunna of the Prophet will attain nothing of the knowledge of God.’’
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Submission to the religious law in Islam implies striving for perfect sincer- ity in the state of servanthood before God. This happens on two levels. On one level, it means perfecting servanthood outwardly as ethical conduct; on the other level, it means perfecting sincerity inwardly, as a set of ethical atti- tudes. In practice, this is accomplished by striving to imitate the Messenger of God through the Sunna, while never forgetting that in all spiritual states, the seeker is dependent on God. In a work dealing with the early Sufi of his native city of Nishapur, Sulami writes: ‘‘Among their tenets is that the state of servanthood is founded upon two essential things: the perfect

Sufi Foundations of the Ethics of Social Life in Islam
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awareness of one’s total dependence upon God, and perfect imitation of the Messenger of God. In these the soul finds neither respite nor rest.’’
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Adherence to the Qur’anic and Prophetic models was more than a code of conduct; it provided the journeyer on the Sufi path with a means of conform- ing to the normative state in which God had originally created humanity, the
fi t Allah.
From a Sufi perspective, this state mirrors God’s intentions in the world. Ethical conduct thus becomes a means of conforming to God’s will. Traditionally, the exemplar of ethical conduct within Islamic society was the Friend of God, for as a reflection of God’s goal for humanity he or she represented what was most central to the spiritual life of the community. Peter Brown, writing on the role of the saint-exemplar in late antiquity, finds this same centrality within the context of Christianity. He defi the saint-exemplar as a ‘‘carrier of Christ,’’ a fi e who distilled in concrete and accessible form ‘‘central values and expectations.’’ Brown also character- izes the relationship that binds the holy man as exemplar to his disciples as one of ‘‘esteem and love.’’
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These perceptions of the saint-exemplar ring as true for traditional Islamic society as they do for the Christianity of late antiquity and go far in creating a common ground for understanding the spiritual realities and relationships that have long characterized the faith communities of humanity.

Just as the Qur’an and the Sunna manifest themselves through the saint- exemplar, the Sufi path, characterized by the pedagogic relationship between the mentor and the disciple, is a model of ethical comportment. This model relates directly to the Qur’anic and Prophetic models but goes beyond the prescriptive rules that are often associated with the idea of ethical conduct. The inclusive term for correct comportment in Arabic is
adab.
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Perfect
adab
is characterized as an attitude of complete detachment from one’s individual inclinations and desires and a total commitment to self-effacement. For the Sufis,
adab
was the second of the two most important principles of spiritual transformation. It afforded the Sufi, so to speak, a ‘‘second wing’’ on his journey toward knowledge of God. In the following quotation by Sulami from
Darajat al-Sadiqin,
the perspective of
adab
as ethical comportment is well expressed:

The comportment (
adab
) that brought them to this [initial] station [on the path] and this degree consists of their imposing upon themselves various spiritual exercises. Before this, they began with true repentance, perfect detachment, turning from all other than God, from the world and its occupants, the abandonment of all they own, distancing themselves from their personal inclinations, departure upon long journeys, denial of outward passionate desires, constant watchfulness over their inner mysteries, deference towards the masters of the Path, service to brethren and friends, giving preference to others over themselves in worldly goods, person and spirit, perseverance in [their] efforts, and regarding all their actions or states that may arise from them inwardly or outwardly with contempt and disdain.
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This passage reveals that as an inner attitude,
adab
is a norm of ethical con- duct, although it is not directly derived from the Qur’anic and the Prophetic models. It comprises an inner dimension of ethical conduct that combines individual experience with the normative standards of self-evaluation that are central to the process of spiritual education. Normative ethical standards are a salient feature of Islamic ethics and have been characterized by some scholars as the rationale behind the religious disciplines. According to the Swedish Orientalist Tor Andrae, ‘‘The ethics of Islam consists of the obser- vance of religious discipline.’’
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Such conduct reflects the highest aspirations and values of Islamic society. Muslims see spiritual transformation as a central goal of their religious life. This attitude is not limited to an educated, urban elite. The Sufi teachings of Islam have had as much influence among the farmers and artisans of the Muslim world as they have had among the scholars.

Cultivating ethics in both its social and spiritual dimensions has far-reaching consequences. Inwardly, it is a means of counteracting the ego- self and its inclination toward pride, vanity, and self-satisfaction. Outwardly, ethical conduct occupies the ego-self with the demands of each moment in time, leaving it little time to indulge in momentary caprices. In the following quotation, Hamdun al-Qassar of Nishapur (d. 884
CE
) stresses the all-inclusive nature of ethical comportment (
adab
): ‘‘Sufism is made up entirely of ethical comportment (
adab
); for each moment there is a correct comportment, for each spiritual station there is a correct comportment. Whoever is steadfast in maintaining the correct comportment of each moment, will attain spiritual excellence, and whoever neglects correct comportment, is far from that which he imagines near, and is rejected from where he imagines he has found acceptance.’’
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Journeying or traveling on the Sufi path (
suluk
) was thus a commitment to religious discipline in accord with the Qur’an and Sunna and submission to ethical conduct, both outwardly and inwardly. The goal of Sufi teaching was to infuse the ethical and spiritual comportment of the aspirant with an in inner understanding of each moment as God decreed it in the world. Thus the famous Sufi maxim, ‘‘The Sufi is the son of the moment.’’ One’s outward comportment was reflective of one’s interior state. There could be no knowledge of God without ethically correct comportment and one’s comportment could not be fully correct without a corresponding knowledge of God.

The saint-exemplar, the mentor, or ‘‘Man of God,’’ is a key to the actuali- zation of ethical comportment, as ethical comportment is a key to the actuali- zation of knowledge of God. Finding a saint-exemplar is thus a major goal of the journeyer. The saint-exemplar’s role vastly exceeds that of a ‘‘good example’’ or a ‘‘patron saint.’’ As examples of ethical comportment, the ‘‘men of God’’ reflect an essential unity with all other saint-exemplars. In their very being, they reflect the inner unity that underlies outward diversity.

Sufi Foundations of the Ethics of Social Life in Islam
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As Brown points out for early Christianity, ‘‘ To be a ‘Man of God’ was to revive on the banks of the Nile all other ‘men of God’ in all other ages.’’
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The saint-exemplar is the key to the teachings he transmits; he is a sign of divine mercy for the journeyers on the path. In the following statement, Sulami accents the role of mercy as he describes the saint-exemplar, compar- ing his role in relation to his disciples with the role of the scholars of the Law in relation to the generality of believers:

[God] may reveal [the saint-exemplar] to people as an example and a refuge to which spiritual aspirants might turn in their quest of Him. In this, [God] permits the outward aspect [of the servant] to turn toward humanity as a mercy from Him to them. For were the saint’s knowledge, character, and spiritual disciplines lost to them [referring to the aspirants], they would stray in their endeavor and their quest and fall into illusion. By the lights of these exemplars, their path is illuminated and by their counsel, they are rightly guided on their path to their goal. [Those among the saints who are returned to live with people] are the mentors of the aspirants to divine reality. They are the masters of hearts and lofty spiritual degrees. They are reference points for the travelers on the path, in them they fi a guiding light and refuge. In the same manner, the generality of believers find a refuge in questions of law with the jurists.
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The saint-exemplar is the door through which the disciple passes on her way to God. Both while living and after death, these mentors are considered a means of realizing the fruits of the path to the knowledge of God. Thus, the memory of the saint-exemplars has been preserved after their deaths in the works of hagiography written on their lives and in the tombs and sacred pre- cincts that so distinctly mark the landscape of Muslim lands. These tomb complexes continue to be visited today out of reverence for the saint- exemplars of the past and for the blessings that the faithful obtain in the spaces that are sanctifi by their presence, where they taught, and where their teachings continue to be passed on from generation to generation. These sacred precincts are centers for spiritual transformation where Sufi meet to remember God, recite the Qur’an, and meditate. They often include hospices, schools, mosques, and soup kitchens for the poor and visitors. Such precincts draw men and women from all occupations. To the pilgrims, these precincts are locales of inner repose and peace, where, through the presence of the saint-exemplar, they experience God’s proximity.