On Sufiism / Mystisism

Keeping a complicated topic brief and to the point, I personally view sufisim as against the idealogy of the Glorious Quran. It's a lot more in line with the concept of monasticism in Christianity, and also somewhat similar to the mystic values of non-Divine religions like buddhism and hinduism.

On monasticism Allah mentions concerning the People of the Book

"But monasticism they invented - We ordained it not for them - only seeking Allah's pleasure, and they observed it not with right observance." 57:27 Al-Hadid

Broadly speaking, sufiism depicts the concept of retiring from worldly life into a
reclusive existence. Islam, on the contrary, upholds that religion/spiritualism and worldy responsibilities go hand in hand. Definitely, Islam commands a strict control on one's morals and ethics while indulging in worldly affairs. To prove one's worth and quality,it's incumbent upon every human being to maintain a balance between their responsibilities toward Allah Almighty and their duties towards family & community. After all, it's the challenges of this earthly life that carve our personality, determine our character and the level of our perseverence, which is eventually for Allah to judge. Obviously a person who is a recluse with the minimal of contact with the outside world has not given themselves as much opportunity to face the trials & tribulations of life as those who have been exposed to the harshness of the world and yet held on to their duties toward Allah.

There are certain Muslim societies where the concept of sufiism has deviated from a complete hermit like existence to something between seclusion and participation in worldly life. But it all depends upon their interpretation of merging both sides of
life to make it compatible in a broader sense with Quranic precepts.

I'm completely against the expression 'Islamic mysticism.' It's thoroughly inappropriate. The Glorious Quran underscores no such ideas. Keeping this in mind, the accusations against sufiism trying to distract Muslims from the Quran and move them towards the sevitude of the sheiks could have a big element of truth. And this is a good reason to discard Sufiism altogether. Already enough lies have been manufactured over the past centuries uptil present by our self-appointed leaders which have mercilessly hidden the truth and beauty of Islam based on the Quran alone. The last thing we need is another annexation.

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