Sufism is more than just "the inner or esoteric dimension of Islam," (Nasr 5). Sufism is one of the few spiritual paths that recognizes, embraces, and encourages a universal religious sentiment that transcends differences of gender, culture, and politics. Because of its universalism and incessant truth seeking, Sufism presents itself as a nearly perfect path to tread towards peace. Sufism plays, or at least can play, a major role in remedying many of the world's political, social, economic, and spiritual ills. As a practice bridge between the mundane and the Divine, Sufism also serves as a theoretical bridge that can link together seemingly disparate forces that struggle and wage war on a daily basis. Those struggles may be on the external or political levels such as conservative vs. liberal or Christian vs. Muslim. Or, the struggles that Sufism can moderate include those that bubble to the surface within the individual…...

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Works Cited

Attar of Nishapur. Conference of Birds. Excerpts on:  http://wahiduddin.net/sufi/sufi_poetry.htm#Attar 

Nasr, Seyyed Hossain. "What it Means to be Human." In The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition. New York: Harper Collins, 2007.

Rumi. Divan-e-Shams. Translated by " Shahriar Shahriari. Retrieved online:  http://www.rumionfire.com/shams/index.htm 

Schimmel, Annemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam.

For a Catholic salvation without God or Christ is unthinkable. Admittedly, this is a comparison of two outwardly very different religious structures and cultures but it serves to illustrate the fact that important differences do occur and this can also be applied to other more homogenous religious groupings.
While one may add dozens of similar examples of fundamental differences between religions, at the risk of over-simplification one could also assert that all regions and faiths have one central core and similarity. This can be very broadly and somewhat obliquely referred to as the search for reality and truth. This fundamental aspect can be described in many different ways; for example, as the search and encounter with the numinous, the transcendent and the mystical. On the other hand, religion as a threat to world peace can be ascribed as one or another religious grouping claiming sole right and knowledge of the…...

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References

Corbin H. (1997) Alone With the Alone. Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi. Princeton University Press.

Eliade Mircea (1963) Myth and Reality. Trans. Willard R. Trask. New York:

Harper & Row.

Ewen Robert B. (1998) an Introduction to Theories of Personality. 5th ed.

The third part is the development of teaching skills, and the fourth and final part is the attainment of the highest level of God-knowledge, in which the seeker-now a master-can actually aid others in making the transition from this life to the next at the time of death.
hile Hafiz spoke little about the fourth part, he spoke in great detail about the first three parts. In regards to annihilation, he wrote:

Love is

The funeral pyre

here I have laid my living body.

All the false notions of myself

That once caused fear, pain

Have turned to ash

As I neared God.

hat has risen

From the tangled web of thought and sinew

Now shines with jubilation

Through the eyes of angels

And screams from the gust of Infinite existence

Itself.

Love is the funeral pyre

here the heart must lay

It's body. (Ladinsky, 69)

Therefore by relinquishing one's ties to the physical realm, to the illusion of separateness from God, one annihilates "all the false…...

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Works Cited

Bayat, Mojdeh and Jamia, Mohammad Ali. Tales from the Land of the Sufis. Boston and London:

Shambhala Publications, Inc., 1994.

"Hafiz Biography." hafizonlove.com. Shahriar Shahriari, 1999-2005.

For instance, saints serve as intermediaries between the individual practitioner and God and can carry prayers to God. The saint is not endowed with any divine features, for such a view would most certainly conflict with the central tenet of Islam that only God is transcendent and that human beings cannot be endowed with divine qualities. Yet on a social level, the saint serves as a reminder of the power of the human being -- even the responsibility -- to develop a working relationship with God. Given that not all Muslims are Sufis, the saints fulfill a special role in daily life. The devotee does not worship the saint, even though it may seem so, notes Heck. hen the devoted visit a saint's shrine it is not to worship the saint but to receive intercession on saint's behalf. The saint's body cannot be rendered asunder as Christian saints can…...

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Work Cited

Heck, Paul W. "Sufism: What is it exactly?" Religion Compass 1/1 (2007): 148 -- 164, 10.1111/j.1749-8171.2006.00011.x

The litanies of the order are believed to have been taught to al-Tijani directly by the Prophet Mohammed. In these visions, al-Tijani was instructed to break ties with other orders, and followers of the Tijaniyyah path were restricted to affiliation with only the Tijaniyyah" (531-532). The Tijani order provides a good example of how different Sufis practiced different rites and held different beliefs, although there were some commonalities among the orders. For instance, Morgan notes that, "The Tijani order was founded in Fez in Morocco and spread chiefly into the Sudan. The Sufi orders resembled each other in their extreme love of the Prophet, their strictness in observing their religious duties, their application of the shari'a in as far as possible, their respect for their leaders, and their guidance of followers of the order until they could be promoted to the highest ranks" (1958, 248). Despite their similarities, the…...

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References

Abun-Nasr, Jamil. A History of the Maghrib in the Islamic Period. London: Cambridge

University Press, 1987.

-. The Tijaniyya: A Sufi Order in the Modern World. London: Oxford University Press, 1965.

Ahmed, Saladdin. 2008, "What is Sufism?" Forum Philosophicum, 13, 233-251.

" By making nearness the result of poverty, these words of God to the Sufi Abu Yazid Basami, often quoted by Ibn 'Arabi, imply that "the slaves" are, in fact, "the brought nigh." The same identity, which is in the nature of things, is also implicit in one of the first commands addressed to the Prophet: "Prostrate thyself and draw nigh" (XCVI, 19), and in his commentary, "The slave is nearest his Lord when he prostrateth himself," prostration being the posture of faqr. Moreover, nearness to God has a double significance analogous to that of slavehood. Metaphysically speaking, nearness, like slavehood, is an inescapable fact that concerns everybody." (Nasr: 226-227, 1987)
This excerpt actually gives very close study of slavehood and how it connects Shariah and Sufism. Prophet and his companions wanted nearness to God and so did Sufis. They wanted to be so close to God that they couldn't think…...

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References

Sufism and Shariah: A study of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi's Effort to Reform Sufism," by Muhammad Abdul Haq Ansari, pp. 221-2. Originally from Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi's letters, Vol. I:36.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr - editor. Islamic Spirituality: Foundations. Publisher: Crossroad. New York. 1987.

Victor Danner: The Early Development of Sufism. Seyyed Hossein Nasr - editor. Islamic Spirituality: Foundations. Publisher: Crossroad. New York. 1987.

This spiritualism is indicated in the following quotation:
it is to this inner dimension that one must turn in order to see, utter, and know the One. In Islam this dimension of inwardness is the domain par excellence of Islamic spirituality, and in fact the Spirit... is identified with this dimension, which is at once beyond and within the macrocosm and the microcosm.

Nasr, 1991, p. xiii)

He further explains the important difference between Sufi mysticism and the Shar?'ah or the law of ordinary Islam:

All of Islam is, of course, concerned with God and His Will as embodied in the Shar?'ah, the Divine Law of Islam, obedience to which is sufficient in order to live a life of balance and happiness in this world and to be saved at the moment of death. A study devoted to Islamic spirituality, however, could not be synonymous with one devoted solely to the Shar?'ah. While…...

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Bibliography

Bowering, Gerhard. "The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn Al-'Arabi's Cosmology." The Journal of the American Oriental Society 121.1 (2001): 161. Questia. 16 Dec. 2004  http://www.questia.com/ .

Burrell, David B.C.S.C. Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas. Notre Dame, in: University of Notre Dame Press, 1986.

Corbin, H. Alone with the Alone. New York: Princeton University Press. 1969/

Ed-Din, Abu Bakr Siraj. "12 the Nature and Origin of Sufism." Manifestations. Ed. Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. New York: Crossroad, 1991. 223-237.

Origination and Growth of Sufism
The word Sufism came in use in the second century of Hijrah. Historians have intensely contested the etymology and source of the word Sufi. Numerous people say that this word is used from Suffah.

Some Sahabah used to spend their time in Prophet's mosque devout to learning in regard to their religion and to prayers. Consequently, they claim that later people who succeed the People of the Suffah were given this name. There are others who say that the source of this word is in "Saff" which means the prayer line. There were some very religious people who used to come to prayers constantly and were regularly in the first line and so they were given this name. Some people say that the word is taken from "Safa" which means pureness and those who tried to keep themselves ethereally clean were given this name. It is also…...

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Works Cited

http://usinfo.state.gov/usa/islam/pw111300.htm

Islamic Publishing Is Poised for Growth

 http://www.naqshbandi.org/events/sufitalk/sufismeu.htm 

Sufism and its Influence on Europe lecture by Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel delivered at Stanford University, May 4, 1997 sponsored by CAIR

In Sufism anyone who is in a position to give out what they have has an obligation to do so. Through this giving they get an opportunity to purify their wealth and at the same time attain salvation. In Sufism there is strict adherence to the Quran and hence they follow what is stipulated within the Quran as what is to be subjected to the Zakat tax or the exact share of an individual's income that has to be paid at zakat. Therefore, it is expected that 2.5% of the wealth that one has should be used to benefit the poor within the society in Sufism. The fourth pillar is fasting; this is a practice that is followed in Sufism as it is stipulated in the Quran. In Sufism there is following of the three types of fasting which are ritual fasting, repentance fasting and ascetic fasting. In Sufism ritual…...

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References

Pecorino, a.P. (2001).Philosophy of religion; Islam. Retrieved April 29, 2013 from  http://www.qcc.cuny.edu/socialSciences/ppecorino/PHIL_of_RELIGION_TEXT/CHAPTER_2_RELIGIONS/Islam.htm 

Rahim, B.M. (2009).Sufism and Islam. Retrieved April 29, 2013 from  http://www.al-islam.org/beliefs/spirituality/suffism.html

Religion and Mysticism
Two of the world's major religions, Islam and Christianity seem to be very different belief systems. hen comprising a mental picture of a practitioner of one and then the other, they seem to have very different characteristics. However, when examined more closely, it becomes evident that the two religions are based on some of the same principles of kindness towards others, inherent goodness, and most specifically some sort of supernatural or spectacular being that is stronger than anything on earth. Sufism is the branch of Islam which is most comparable with Christian Mysticism, both of which look to some sort of spiritual power that has more strength than mere mortals.

Sufism stems from the Islamic religion. Muhammad is considered the prophet of both sects and this is why the two are so often linked, however Sufism teaches that the spirituality can be combined with any religion. "No one faith…...

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Works Cited:

"Sufism: The Mystical Side of Islam." Islamic Studies in Christian Perspective. Print.

"Sufism -- What is it?" All About Religion. 2002. Print.

Zuck, John. "What is Christian Mysticism?" Wild Things. 2008. Print.

Justinian
The formal name for Justinian I is Flavius Petrus Sabbatius Iustinianus Augustus. Iustinianus is the name from which Justinian is derived and after Julius Caesar added Augustus to his surname as a mark of his emperorship, all subsequent Roman leaders had Augustus at the end of their names. He was an empire of the Byzantine Emperor from 527 -- 565 AD. He was the last Roman Emperor to speak Latin as his first language and he is most known for the Justinian code of law, known in Latin as Corpus Juris Civilis, translated as the body of civil law. The Corpus Juris Civilis is known as the ultimate codification of Roman law. This body of law has been passed down through numerous generations including into areas of Western Europe and is the basis of law today.

Iconoclastic Controversy

This controversy occurred in the 8th & 9th centuries. The topic of the…...

Thus, these castes being born twice in Hinduism, the principles behind Karma and Reincarnation applies to them. Karma refers to the corresponding reaction to an action or deed that an individual had done to another living thing/s. This means that if the deed was bad or considered evil, the corresponding reaction or karma will also be bad or evil. A similar analogy is applied to goodness/good deeds. Reincarnation is the return of some metaphysical part of the self into a new body -- a process of rebirth for the individual, characteristic of the concept of two births exclusively only to members of the three higher castes.
Jainism is an old religion prevalent in India and other nations in the Asian region. Originally a part of the Buddhist religion, Jainism believes not in the concept of a God, but the authority of the saints or prophets. Its religious principles are simple…...

For example, in the 1920's the Dervish movement was banned form Turkey for many years "...out of fear that their religious roots would lead them to revolt against the new secular government." (Gulati)
In conclusion, understanding the dance of the Dervishes is very difficult in terms of ordinary language. It is in the first instance a mystical experience and like all mystical experiences is beyond words. However, the experience and rituals of the Dervishes forms an essential part of the Islamic faith and adds to the depth and richness of that religion.

ibliography

History of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes. 13 December 2006. http://www.whirlingdervish.org/history.htm

Friedlander I. The Whirling Dervishes. 13 December 2006. http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/dervish.htm

Gulati S. The insider's guide to Whirling Dervishes. December 13, 2006. http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/12/whirl.dervishes/index.html

Sufism and Dervishes. 13 December 2006. http://www.whirlingdervishes.org/whirlingdervishes.htm

SUFISM & WHIRLING DERVISHES. 13 December 2006. http://www.erowid.org/spirit/traditions/islam/sufism/sufism.shtml

The Sufis and Dervishes of Islam. 14 December 2006. http://www.roadjunky.com/religions/islamsufi.shtml

Weir A. The ektashi Order of…...

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Bibliography

History of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes. 13 December 2006. http://www.whirlingdervish.org/history.htm

Friedlander I. The Whirling Dervishes. 13 December 2006.  http://www.cassiopaea.org/cass/dervish.htm 

Gulati S. The insider's guide to Whirling Dervishes. December 13, 2006.  http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/europe/12/12/whirl.dervishes/index.html 

Sufism and Dervishes. 13 December 2006. http://www.whirlingdervishes.org/whirlingdervishes.htm

" (Syed, 2006)
The Two Views Debated

Whether one is following the Islamic or the Christian religious dogma, training, or theology the 'key' to the proof is just as suggested by Richard entall in his refutation of mystical experiences is that which is an 'inner' perspective of the individual. The Sufi follow a process referred to as 'Shagal' which is the closing 'off' of the five physical sense of self in order to look and listen 'inward' for a higher voice. In Christianity it is much the same as followers of the faith seek to find the 'inner door' of which Jesus spoke as being the place that the believer would find Him, or He who is "The Way," "The Truth." (Holy ible, n.d.) in the book of John Chapter 10 and verse 9 Jesus states: "I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and…...

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Bibliography

Syed, Ibrahim B. Ph.D. (2006) Sufism and Neurotheology. Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc. Online available at  http://www.irfi.org/articles/articles_301_350/sufism__and__neurotheology.htm .

Tart, Charles, (1996) State of the Art in Transpersonal Psychology - Charles T. Tart Consciousness Library. Online available at http://www.paradigm-sys.com/ctt_articles2.cfm?id=64

Holy Bible (n.d.) King James Version. Nelson Regency Publishers.

The "Spark' of the Sufi: Mystical Experiences Debate

They study the book of Jafaar al-Saadaq. They also believe Ali is the purpose of life and the divine knowledge of the prophet Mohammed, which actually rises him above the Prophet in their eyes. The religion is also very secretive, and they do not publish their texts or share them with other sects.
The Alawites recognize the Five Pillars of Islam, but do not believe that anyone can practice them because no soul is pure enough to practice them. They also do not believe in a back door entrance to heaven.

The evolution of political Islam actually began during the age of Imperialism, when there was widespread corruption and oppression in the Muslim world. The politicization of Islam was a result of Muslim fundamentalists and Islamic revolutionary movements rising up in protest over this treatment, along with protests against corrupt Muslim regimes in the region. These revolutionaries hoped to create a…...