Shariah and Tariqah
The Tariqah or spiritual path, which is usually known as Tasawwuf or Sufism, is the inner and esoteric dimension of Islam and like the Shariah has its roots in the Quran and prophetic practice. Being the heart of Islamic message it, like the physical heart, is hidden from external view, although again like the heart it is the inner source of life and the center which coordinates inwardly the whole religious organism of Islam.The Shariah is the Divine Law by the virtue of whose acceptance man becomes a Muslim. Only by living to it a man can gain the equilibrium, which is the necessary basis of entering upon the path of Tariqah. Only a man who can walk on flat ground can hope to climb a mountain. Without practicing the Shariah life of the Tariqah would be impossible. Only following the Shariah makes the possibility of having the door of spiritual life open and realized.
Finally at the center there is the Haqiqah or truth, which is the source of both the Tariqah and the Shariah. God who is the truth, has brought both the law and the way into being independently. According to the well known Sufi symbol Islam is like a walnut, of which the shell is like the Shariah, the kernel is like the Tariqah and the oil which is invisible yet present everywhere is the Haqiqah. A walnut without a shell could not grow in the world of nature and without a kernel would have no end and purpose. The Shariah without the Tariqah would be like a body without a soul, and Tariqah without the Shariah would be devoid of an external support and simply could not subsist and manifest itself in this world. For the totality of the tradition one like the other is absolutely necessary.
At the time of the prophet, when one might say the gates of heaven were open, the very intensity of the spiritual life and proximity to the source of the revelation did not permit of a total separation of the tradition into its exoteric and esoteric, or Shariah and Tariqah, components, although both existed in the essence from the beginning.During the first two centuries while the tradition was extremely strong there was neither a definitely codified school of law nor a clearly organized Sufi brotherhood or order. In the third century the schools of law or the Shariah became codified and at the same time Sufism began its manifestation. This century marks the advent of many famous Sufi figures like Dhu'l-Nun, Mohasibi, Ibrahim Adham and Bayazid bustami.
Toward the end of the third century the sober school of Baghdad headed by Junaid (Baghdadi) around whom such figures as Noori and Shibli assembled and with whom martyr of Sufism Hallaj was associated. During the 4th AH/11th AD century at the same time when the Islamic art and sciences reached their zenith, the Sufi tradition began to express itself in large didactic works as well as in the new vehicle of Persian poetry which hence forth became one of its main forms of expression.
Although Islam in its totality had been able to keep, throughout its history, a balance between the two dimension of the law and the order, or Shariah and Tariqah, there have been occasional^ those who have emphasized at the expense of the other. But Islam in its totality, however, have been able to keep this balance between the exoteric and esoteric or Tafsir and Tawil as for as the Quranic interpretation is concerned. The larger orthodoxy of the Muslim community has always been able to prevail and prevent either the law from stifling the way or the way from breaking the mode of the law and thereby destroying the equilibrium of Islamic society.
Many of the sayings of Sufi masters, which on the surface seemed to break or negate the Shariah must be understood in the background of the conditions that prevailed and the audience to whom they were addressed. If Hafiz wrote that one should throw away his prayer mat or Ibn-ul-Arabi wrote that his heart was the temple of idol worshipers it does not mean that these masters were negating the divine-law. Actually they were addressing an audience for whom the practice of the Shariah was taken for granted and they were inviting a man to transcend the world of forms by penetrating into the inner meaning of the Shariah.Ibn-ul-Arabi himself spent much of his life in praying the traditional Islamic prayers, in repenting before God for his sins, in reading the Quran, invoking the divine name and it was by means of these practices and not in spite of them that he came to realize that the divinity revealed paths led to the same summit and that to have lived one religion fully is to have lived them all.
The role of the Tariqah as inner dimension of the Shariah has been testified by some authorities and founders of the school of law who have emphasized its importance in purifying Muslim ethics. For example it is recorded words of Imam Malik who have said "he who learns jurisprudence and neglects Sufism becomes a reprobate. He who learn Sufism and neglects jurisprudence becomes an apostate and who combines both attains the realization of truth". Imam al-Shafai also has said "three things are dearer to me from your world, giving up of preference, tempering of the personality with kindness and following the path of the Sufis."The same should be said by Shi'a sources with even greater emphasis, because the sayings of the Imam particularly of Imam Ali are also basis of the spiritual path. Imam Ali as the representative of esotericism in Islam is after the prophet the direct source of the Tariqah in both Shi'a and Sunni Islam.
During the life time of the Imams, from the first to the eight, the contact between the Shi'ism and Sufism was very close. During the period there were intimate contacts between the Imams and some of the greatest early Sufis. Hasan al-Basri and Uwais-al-Qarani were disciples of Imam All, Ibrahim Adham, Bishr al-Hafi and Bayazid al-bastami (or Bustami) were associated with the circle of Imam Jafar al-Sadiq and M'aruf al-Karkhi was a close companion of Imam Rida. Moreover the earlier Sufis, before being called this name, were known as ascetic (Zulihad) and many of them were associated with the Imams and followed their example in the ascetic life. In Kufa such men as Kumayl and Maytham al'Tammar, all of them were among the early Sufis and ascetics belonged to the entourage of the Imam.
The "companions of the
Ledge" (Ashab-al-Suffah) before them like Salman, Abu Dhar and
Ammar al-Yasir were also both poles of early Sufism and the
early members of the Shi'a community.
Moreover, several Imams have left behind some most beautiful and exalted pages of Islamic gnosis of which the Nahj-al-Balagah of Imam Ali and Sahifa Sajjadiyyah of the fourth Imam, Zain-al Abdin which are called the psalms of the family of the prophet, are among the most notable treatises. Also the sayings of the Imams in the Usui al-Kafi of Kulayni outline a complete exposition of Islamic gnosis and have served in fact, as a basis for many latter gnostic and Sufi commentaries.
In fact, the roots of the Tariqah lie in the Quran; it is enough to read the Quran several times to realize that Sufism or the Tariqah issues forth from it. But the vast majority of western authors have come up with various types theories to explain the origin of Sufism outside of Islam, perhaps because they do not want to admit to the presence of a real spiritual dimension in Islam.
The Tariqah has its roots in the Quran and prophetic Hadith, in both doctrine and practice. Doctrinally the Sufi seeks to realize the meaning of the Shahadah, La Ilaha IIlal-Allah, and practically he seeks to emulate the life of the prophet who is the prototype ot Islamic spirituality and who realized the unity or tawhid implied in the Shahadah in its fullness. The Sufi begins by asking what does it really mean to say La Ilaha Illal-Allah. He discovers the answer by living a life in conformity with the example set by the prophet who had fully realized the importance of this statement,
The realization of unity as contained in the Shahadah is achieved only by the Sufis preciously through basing their lives on that of the Prophet (PBUH) who is the prototype of the spiritual life in Islam. No group of people in Islamic society have ever sought to emulate the life with the same rigour and intensity as the Sufis, Then the Sufi is one who seeks to transcend the word of forms, to journey from multiplicity to unity, from particular to the universal. He leaves the many for the one and through this very process is granted the vision of the one in the many. For him all forms become transparent, including religious forms, thus revealing to him their unique origin.
The doctrine is essentially the distinction between the real and apparent, the absolute and relative. Its cardinal teaching is that only Allah is absolutely real and consequently this world in which man lives is contingent. Between God, who transcends being and whose first dimension is pure being, and this world, which is farthest away from it, there are located a numbers of other in the scale of universal existence. Together they comprise the multiple states being, which all receive their being from God. Sufism is one such path, which is placed by God within the bosom of Islam in order to provide the possibility of spiritual realization for the billions of persons who over the ages have followed and continue to follow the religion of the Quran. In its essence it joins the paths of spiritual realization found in other traditions while in its formal aspect it shares the genius and particular features of Islam. It is the path within the Islam that leads from the particular to the universal forms multi discipline to unity from form to the supra-formal essence. Its function is to enable man to realize divine unity (al-tawhid), the truth that has always been and will always be.
Sufism serves essentially the function of reminding man of who he really is, which means that man is awakened from-this dream which he calls his ordinary life and that a soul is freed from the confines of that illusory prison of the ego which has its objective counterpart in what is called "the world" in religious parlance. By appealing to the true nature of man, Sufism fulfills the real needs of his nature. Sufism reminds man to seek all that he needs inwardly within himself, to tear his roots from the outer world and plunge in the divine nature, which resides at the center of his heart. Sufism removes man from his lowly state of asfal-ussafilin (اسفل السافلین ) in order to reinstate him in his primordial
perfection of ahsan-ut-taqwim (احسن التقویم) wherein he finds within himself all that he had sought outwardly, for being united with God he is separate for nothing.
"Sufism speaks essentially of three elements, the nature of God, the nature of man and the spiritual virtues, which alone make possible the realization of God and which alone can prepare man to become worthy of the exalted station of ahsan-ut-taqwim, of becoming the total theosophy of God's names and qualities. These are the eternal elements of Sufism as of every true mystical path. The end is God, the beginning is man in his terrestrial state and the way or path is that which links man to God. The mystical path as it exists in Sufism is one in which man dies to his carnel nature in order to be born in divine and hence to become united with the truth".
"Sufi teachings revolve around the two fundamental doctrines of the transcendent unity of being (wahadat-ul-wujud) and the universal or perfect man (al-insan-al-kamil). All things are theophanies of the divine names and qualities and derive their existence from the one being who alone is. And the man is the only creature in this world that is centrally and axially located so that he reflects the divine names and qualities in a total and conscious manner. To become a saint in Islam is to realize all the possibilities of the human state, to become the universal man".
"In fact the whole program of Sufism is to free the man from the prison of multiplicity, to cure him from hypocrisy, and to make him whole, for it is only in being whole that man can become holy. Men confess one God but actually live and act as if there were many gods. They thus suffer from the cardinal sin of polytheism or "Shirk". Sufism seeks to bring this shirk into the open and thereby to cure the soul of this deadly malady. Its aim is to make man whole again as he was in Edenic state. In other words the goal of Sufism is the integration of man in all the depth and breadth of his existence, in all the amplitude which is included in the nature of the universal man (al-Insan-al-kamil)."
Moreover, several Imams have left behind some most beautiful and exalted pages of Islamic gnosis of which the Nahj-al-Balagah of Imam Ali and Sahifa Sajjadiyyah of the fourth Imam, Zain-al Abdin which are called the psalms of the family of the prophet, are among the most notable treatises. Also the sayings of the Imams in the Usui al-Kafi of Kulayni outline a complete exposition of Islamic gnosis and have served in fact, as a basis for many latter gnostic and Sufi commentaries.
In fact, the roots of the Tariqah lie in the Quran; it is enough to read the Quran several times to realize that Sufism or the Tariqah issues forth from it. But the vast majority of western authors have come up with various types theories to explain the origin of Sufism outside of Islam, perhaps because they do not want to admit to the presence of a real spiritual dimension in Islam.
The Tariqah has its roots in the Quran and prophetic Hadith, in both doctrine and practice. Doctrinally the Sufi seeks to realize the meaning of the Shahadah, La Ilaha IIlal-Allah, and practically he seeks to emulate the life of the prophet who is the prototype ot Islamic spirituality and who realized the unity or tawhid implied in the Shahadah in its fullness. The Sufi begins by asking what does it really mean to say La Ilaha Illal-Allah. He discovers the answer by living a life in conformity with the example set by the prophet who had fully realized the importance of this statement,
The realization of unity as contained in the Shahadah is achieved only by the Sufis preciously through basing their lives on that of the Prophet (PBUH) who is the prototype of the spiritual life in Islam. No group of people in Islamic society have ever sought to emulate the life with the same rigour and intensity as the Sufis, Then the Sufi is one who seeks to transcend the word of forms, to journey from multiplicity to unity, from particular to the universal. He leaves the many for the one and through this very process is granted the vision of the one in the many. For him all forms become transparent, including religious forms, thus revealing to him their unique origin.
The doctrine is essentially the distinction between the real and apparent, the absolute and relative. Its cardinal teaching is that only Allah is absolutely real and consequently this world in which man lives is contingent. Between God, who transcends being and whose first dimension is pure being, and this world, which is farthest away from it, there are located a numbers of other in the scale of universal existence. Together they comprise the multiple states being, which all receive their being from God. Sufism is one such path, which is placed by God within the bosom of Islam in order to provide the possibility of spiritual realization for the billions of persons who over the ages have followed and continue to follow the religion of the Quran. In its essence it joins the paths of spiritual realization found in other traditions while in its formal aspect it shares the genius and particular features of Islam. It is the path within the Islam that leads from the particular to the universal forms multi discipline to unity from form to the supra-formal essence. Its function is to enable man to realize divine unity (al-tawhid), the truth that has always been and will always be.
Sufism serves essentially the function of reminding man of who he really is, which means that man is awakened from-this dream which he calls his ordinary life and that a soul is freed from the confines of that illusory prison of the ego which has its objective counterpart in what is called "the world" in religious parlance. By appealing to the true nature of man, Sufism fulfills the real needs of his nature. Sufism reminds man to seek all that he needs inwardly within himself, to tear his roots from the outer world and plunge in the divine nature, which resides at the center of his heart. Sufism removes man from his lowly state of asfal-ussafilin (اسفل السافلین ) in order to reinstate him in his primordial
perfection of ahsan-ut-taqwim (احسن التقویم) wherein he finds within himself all that he had sought outwardly, for being united with God he is separate for nothing.
"Sufism speaks essentially of three elements, the nature of God, the nature of man and the spiritual virtues, which alone make possible the realization of God and which alone can prepare man to become worthy of the exalted station of ahsan-ut-taqwim, of becoming the total theosophy of God's names and qualities. These are the eternal elements of Sufism as of every true mystical path. The end is God, the beginning is man in his terrestrial state and the way or path is that which links man to God. The mystical path as it exists in Sufism is one in which man dies to his carnel nature in order to be born in divine and hence to become united with the truth".
"Sufi teachings revolve around the two fundamental doctrines of the transcendent unity of being (wahadat-ul-wujud) and the universal or perfect man (al-insan-al-kamil). All things are theophanies of the divine names and qualities and derive their existence from the one being who alone is. And the man is the only creature in this world that is centrally and axially located so that he reflects the divine names and qualities in a total and conscious manner. To become a saint in Islam is to realize all the possibilities of the human state, to become the universal man".
"In fact the whole program of Sufism is to free the man from the prison of multiplicity, to cure him from hypocrisy, and to make him whole, for it is only in being whole that man can become holy. Men confess one God but actually live and act as if there were many gods. They thus suffer from the cardinal sin of polytheism or "Shirk". Sufism seeks to bring this shirk into the open and thereby to cure the soul of this deadly malady. Its aim is to make man whole again as he was in Edenic state. In other words the goal of Sufism is the integration of man in all the depth and breadth of his existence, in all the amplitude which is included in the nature of the universal man (al-Insan-al-kamil)."
