Portal:Sufism

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The Sufism Portal

Sufism is a mystic tradition that found a home in Islam encompassing a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to Allah/God, divine love and sometimes to help a fellow man. Tariqas (Sufi orders) may be associated with Shi'a Islam, Sunni Islam, other currents of Islam, or a combination of multiple traditions. It has been suggested that Sufi thought emerged from the Middle East in the eighth century, but adherents are now found around the world. Some Sufis have also claimed that Sufism pre-dates Islam and some groups operate with only very tenuous links to Islam.

Sufism is neither a new religion nor a cult, neither a doctrine nor a dogmatic institution. Perhaps one could say that Sufism is the same religion of the heart that has always been, ever since wisdom was wisdom. Esoteric schools can be traced as far back as the time of Abraham, and even earlier.

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Selected article

The Conference of the Birds (Persian: منطق الطیر, Mantiq at-Tayr, 1177) is a book of poems in Persian by Farid ud-Din Attar of approximately 4500 lines. The poem uses a journey by a group of 30 birds, led by a hoopoe as an allegory of a Sufi sheikh or master leading his pupils to enlightenment.

Besides being one of the most beautiful examples of Persian poetry, this book relies on a clever word play between the words Simorgh — a mysterious bird in Iranian mythology which is a symbol often found in Sufi literature, and similar to the phoenix bird — and "si morgh" — meaning "thirty birds" in Persian.

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Selected biography

Shaikh Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki

Dr. Al- Sayyid Muhammad ibn Alawi ibn Abbas al-Maliki (1947 - 2004) was a prominent Islamic scholar from Saudi Arabia. He was born in Mecca to a family of reputed scholars who, like himself, taught in the Sacred Mosque.The Maliki family is one of the most respected families in Makkah and has produced great scholars, who have taught in the Haram of Makkah for centuries. With his fathers instruction, he also studied and mastered the various traditional Islamic sciences of Aqidah, Tafsir, Hadith, Fiqh, Usul al-fiqh, Mustalah, Nahw …etc at the feet of other great scholars of Makkah, as well as Madinah, all of whom granted him full Ijazah (certification) to teach these sciences to others. Some of the scholars from whom he obtained ijazahs and chains of transmission from include: Shaikh Muḥammad Zakarīyā al-Kāndahlawī, Shaikh Ahmad Mashhur al-Haddad, Shaikh Hasanain Makhlouf, Dya al-Din al-Qadiri, and numerous others.

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Did you know...

...that a version of Sufism is practiced by non Muslims too.
...that Sufi whirling is a devotional dance by Sufis of the Mevlevi Order.
...that a sizeable population in central Asia, Southern Russia and Indonesia becam Muslim solely due to the missionary work of Sufi tariqas.
...that the Naqshbandi order is the only major order in Sufism which traces its spiritual lineage to Muhammad through Abu Bakr and not through Ali.
...Martin Lings a well known writer about Sufism also investigated the spirituality of Shakespeare.

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Related portals

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Selected picture

A Sudanese dervish in the 1920s

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Quotes

“ I wonder what was the place where I was last night,

All around me were half-slaughtered victims of love, tossing about in agony.
There was a nymph-like beloved with cypress-like form and tulip-like face,
Ruthlessly playing havoc with the hearts of the lovers.

”

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