A discussion of the relationship between the soul (nafs), the heart (qalb), the spirit (rūḥ), and the inmost secret (sirr), as understood in Sufi texts.
As someone who know nothing about this religion, it seems both very beautiful and practical. I'm going to listen to more of your teachings. Thank you for explaining this particular subject, as it's been something I've been searching to understand for many years.
Thanks is an insufficient word to appreciate your presentation explaining the much complex confusing terminology.May Allah bless you with long life with good health. With love from an Indian sufi student.🙏
Thanks Dr Lumbard. Hope you will do more discussions of basic concepts like this. What seems basic to you can be a huge piece of a conceptual puzzle to us.
Thanks Joseph for this interesting topic. Sufi literature though has different approaches to it. Imam Ghazali, for example, states thatقلب نفس روح and عقل all refer to a similar, if not the same, concept in terms of their metaphysical meaning that refers to the free-will and determination. whereas each word of those four refers to a different entities. the significant thing here is imam Ghazali method by which he accounts for sufi issues as he builds his proposition upon textual evidence and logic rather than personal spiritual impressionsذوق this method does not reject ذوق as a means to gain sufi knowledge, but it classifies this knowledge to two distinctive branches: علم المعاملة وعلم المكاشفة. Only the first could be articulated and thus rationally perceived.
One should not use the texts of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī for discussion of Sufi texts, as he very clearly states that he is focusing upon ilm al-mu'āmalāt rather than 'ilm al-mukāshafāt, the latter being the realm of Sufism. As regards his understanding of the knowledge received through divine inspiration, I address that in this lecture: th-cam.com/video/m5MS2YsqCO8/w-d-xo.html
@@jelumbard Many thanks for sharing this inspiring lecture with me. But firstly, can you provide me with a classical Sufi text by whichعلم المعاملاتis excluded from the realm of Sufism. Not to say that معاملات in this context has nothing to do with فقه. Secondly, It is worth mentioning that bothالمكاشفات علمand علم المعاملات الباطنةare in realm of أحوال الباطن whether it is قلب،روح، نفس…etc. What gives مكاشفات its unique definition is that it does not require any further action “ ما يطلب منه كشف المعلوم دون عمل يترتب عليه” unlike معاملاتباطنة that constitutes the second part of Ihyā`.Thus, the subject of نفس أمارة لوامة مطمنةis addressed by Ghazali since it requires a further action- theتزكية. Best Regards
Great content! In English I tend to favour a different translation of the three stages as: The Commanding Self, The Accusing Self, The Tranquil Self. EDIT: You did mention the soul that commands to evil. My bad 🙂
I hope Professor Lumbard will give another lecture on this very same topic. This one is great--I only wish it were a little more detailed. I find myself wondering if the heart is experienced as something like the will.
Assalamu alaykum. Today what I want to talk about is the relationship between The Soul (=al Nafs) as the nafs, The Heart (=al Qalb) or the Qalb and The Ruh or the Spirit. As well as, what is know as The Sirr, the Secret in classical Sufi psychology. Understanding the relationship between these dimensions of the humanbeing is considered by many Sufis to be the key to understanding the gradual process by which one moves closer to God. However, misunderstanding these tchnical terms leads many people to not understand classical Sufi texts. And what we will actually find in much scholarship on Islam that people sometimes translate for example, The Ruh and The Nafs as if they were the samw thing. And when that happens one has completely misunderstood the text and one will gain nothing from it except confusion. Now over time, the Sufis came to use these terms in order to identify the gradual Path by which one progressively moves closer to Allah Subahanahu Taala and closer to having a fully purified being and also closer to being able to understand the world of The Unseen that is what the Sufis often refer to as the rpocess of unveiling wherein they would say “Futuh of The G’aib” openings of the unseen come directly unto the purified heart. Now when one goes to classical Sufi texts, one will always find The Nafs or The Soul at the bottom wrong, then what one will find the heart. After this, some Sufi texts will say that The Ruh or the spirit is the next level and some will say that The Sirr or the secret is the next level. However some will, then, say that the sirr is what comes before the ruh. Now the only reason I am making this distinction now is so that if you do pick up a text, you won’t get confused between these, you have to look within the text and see how they are using the terms. Here it is important to follow the advice of Abu Hamid al G’azzaliy who says that those with minds make it the realities primary and the terms secondary. Whereas those who are somewhat advantic make it the terms primary and the realities secondary. So here we want to make it the realities primary and try to get it exactly what Sufis are talking about when they use these terms. Now the Heart is the place where, in a sense, we live. And this is the Heart refers to an organ within us that turns taqallub is they say that God One Who holds and turns our Hearts. The Heart can be very filthy and even hardened as we see in The Qur’an and in that case it is considered to be something that inclines towards the Nafs or the soul. Or the Heart can be purified and incline towards the upper realms which forposeses of our discussion here. We will talk about as the spirit. And this what you will find in more Sufi texts. Now the soul is considered to have, in a sense, three different levels; tho lowest level of the soul is “al-Nafs al-Ammara bi l-Su”“The Soul That Commands to Evil”, and then in the middle, you have “al Nafs al Lawwama” that is, “The Blaming Soul” and this is the soul having since kind of it is the intuition within you which knows what you should be, which knows the difference right and wrong and starts to hold you accountable for whether or not you are doing good or you are doing bad. Above the blaming soul is “al-Nafs al-Mutama’inna” that is, the soul that is at rest (The Soul at Rest) taken from of the Qur’an verse “O thou soul at rest, return unto thy Lord well pleased that is pleased with your Lord and well Pleasing”. And there is an important idea here which is that of contentment. So the soul that is at peace is the soul that is content, content with the degrees, decrees of Allah Subhanahuva Taala. Now, what is the relationship between The Soul and The Heart? The heart will incline towards the soul when the heart is considered to be more worldly. And you know in the Qur’an, you have verses that, for example, speak about hearts that have rust upon them and then other verses that speak about hearts that are hardened, other verses that speak about hearts that are ill. There is anb entire science of the particular degrees of the filth that one can have within the heart and the processes by which that heart can be polished and gradually moved away from the inclinations of the soul which is the part of us that loves the decoration of this world, that wants the things that sparkle, that wants reputation, that wants money, that wants to be able to boast of what it has. And then as the heart moves away from that, the heart moves according to Sufi texts towards the spirit, towards the ruh. The ruh, is here considered, to be something that is eternal, that dwells with God and that when the heart is completely integrated into the ruh, the heart will then be able to live in accord with the realities of the unseen realm, and the heart will be one that is open to the influences from the unseen realm, that is open directly to what the Sufis refer to as “al-Ilm al-Laduni” that is Knowledge by Presence. Again as I said before, some say that beyond this there lies the world of inmost secret- Al Sirr. And some even talk about the Sirr al Asrar - the secret of the secrets that lies beyond this. Why is it called sirr? Because, that particular relationship between each individual and Allah subahanahuva Taala is to some degree a mystery to many of us. But my realtionship with God is a secret that you don’t know. And your relationship with God is a secret that I don’t know. But the one who is aware of their true relationship with Allah subahanahuav Taala is one who is, in fact, living sense(since?) within that Sirr, within that inmost being of one’s self. Now, how? (3.17-8.02) how does one move from a soul that is inclined towards the world to dwell mor within the heart and purify the heart so that it inclines more towards the spirit so that it can be fully purified so that one then dwells in fact within inmost being. Now first, let me just say I don’t claim to know this. I am talking about this from the textual perspective and what the Sufis say is that this is the process that is done through mujahada (2.40) that is through spiritual striving. Many of the Sufi texts say that this has to be done through a process of doing khalva, that is, of sitting in seclusion alone with Allah subhanahutaala. But the most important part of this is zikrullah; the remembrance of God, so that one moves gradually from remebering God and just being tazaakir to the point where one is absorbed within zikr, that is the remembrance of God to the point where one is actually is absorbed within the mafkur - the one that is remembered, that is Allah in Allah’s Self so that there is a complete Unity between the zikr, the remembrance of God, tazakkir the one who remembers and the mafkur - the one who is remebered. As one goes through that process, one purifies the heart so that it ceases to incline towards the shahavat - the desires of the soul and starts to incline more towards the lights of the unseen realm. Now this is a process that according to the sufis very few actually succeed in this and even those who do, it is important to note that the nafs is still there. And that is one of the reasons why within classical sufism there is not considered to be a stage where one goes beyond the need for practicing the law. There have been some exceptions but the vast majority of classical sufi texts say there is no distinction between being at the level of a purified soul and being one who must in fact practice the outward requirements of the religion that are found within the sharia. So again, to review; it is the nafs, the soul, the heart, the ruh, the spirit, and then the secret. Or the inmost being that is beyond the secret. And some say that it is actually the expression or the reality of when the heart is in fact fully integrated within the ruh. I hope that this clarifies some aspects of this, for those who ask and please, let me know if you have questions, comments or other things that you (would) like me to do in a follow-up. I love the interaction and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.
Brother lumbard Nice explaination, there are some phases, where one can experience actual meeting with Allah, but no body can elaborate it in text form, like in namaz (prayer) you are in front of Allah it is mushahada (observing) phase. Some are in maraqba phase. As for as spirit is concerned, spirit has remained controverial in many religions, remember spirit is only a command of supreme and nothing else. Allah never reside in anybody heart, it is just metaphorical to show love for Allah. Overall good commentary. Regards
Thank you sir for the lessons . I just found your video , Although it is hard for me to understand that level of English . .I prefer Arabic but still I'm benefiting from your lessons . Q: Can I ask you a very difficult question i was looking for it's answer for nearly 4 years ? Thank you
Thank you Dr Lumbard from your concise explanation. May I ask further question, what is the relation between aql and qalb, and what about the term fuad which also related to the qalb?
بارك الله فيك 🤎 Do you thing that the country living with Allah's nature make seclusion more effective or it's just dependent on your soul ...does the country life considered best than modern or city life?
the Rooh is much complicated. but i Believe that the "Rooh" "الروح" is an entity from God's Command, the nature of the god's Command gives this Rooh it's Form , from creation, embodiment and Protection to his Messengers till they Deliver the Message. because in the Quraan the Rooh was never refered as somthing related to the Nafas or our heart.
Thank you, Dr. Lumbard. I've also noticed how many scholars in recent times speak of rūḥ and nafs as being synonymous. There seems to be the reductionist influence of modern humanism involved. The implications can be quite far-reaching for one's worldview. Some classical scholars also did so. However, as you said, in the end realities are more important than terms. Here are two sources on the subject. “Rūḥ never occurs in the Ḳur’ān with the meaning ‘soul’.” - Duncan B. Macdonald, The Development of the Idea of Spirit in Islam. Acta Orientalia, Vol. IX, 1931. [repr. in two parts in The Moslem World, Vol. 22, no. 1 and no. 2, 1932] Sarra Tlili, From Breath to Soul: The Quranic Word Rūḥ and its (Mis)interpretations [in Arabic Humanities, Islamic Thought: Essays in Honor of Everett K. Rowson, eds. Joseph E. Lowry, Shawkat M. Toorawa]
If the Quran and the Sunnah of prophet Mohammed is understood properly, as he has completed his mission who are we to correct and add our own thinking, If the main reason in Sufism is Zikr then why are deviations by different individuals differ with one another. Islams main focus is belief in One and only God Allah, so we are bound pray, remember and glorify Allah, as such do we need people start a new stream as Sufism?
I know that there are many Sufis who stick to the Sunnah and the Quran. Sufism is a term that arose later, the term which is known in the Shariah is ''Zuhd'' or Asceticism. But names don't matter that much I guess. I have a question though, is it true that the scholars at the time of Al Ghazali and scholars after him criticized him for his improper Aqeedah? I have also heard that his book ''Ihya Ulum ad-Din'' has many weak and fabricated ahadith in them. Perhaps not really related to the topic but would be nice if someone can answer.
@The Zen Muslim thats a circular argument, I can say the samething about any other sect of Islam. Follow the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) don't create your own stuff. This is biddah.
appropriately explained, mashaAllah
I have been struggling with the terminology, thanks for making very simple الحمدلله
MashAllah this lecture was brilliant and concise.
Never I understood these terms,and their relationship with each other, this clear before. May Allah SWT reward you with countless blessings Sir
Thank you
As someone who know nothing about this religion, it seems both very beautiful and practical. I'm going to listen to more of your teachings. Thank you for explaining this particular subject, as it's been something I've been searching to understand for many years.
I see the light of hidayah in your face Sir.
May Allah guide us all and keep us upon His Way.
This lovely and I’m new to your channel. I subscribed and look forward to tuning in. AlahummaBarikLahu
Thanks is an insufficient word to appreciate your presentation explaining the much complex confusing terminology.May Allah bless you with long life with good health. With love from an Indian sufi student.🙏
Thank you!
Very enlightening.
Thanks Dr Lumbard. Hope you will do more discussions of basic concepts like this. What seems basic to you can be a huge piece of a conceptual puzzle to us.
Beautiful explanation ❤
Very kind of you.
Great video--this is very clearly laid out, and it was exactly what I've been looking for. Thx.
beautiful words
Thank you.
Sublime!
Thanks Joseph for this interesting topic. Sufi literature though has different approaches to it. Imam Ghazali, for example, states thatقلب نفس روح and عقل all refer to a similar, if not the same, concept in terms of their metaphysical meaning that refers to the free-will and determination. whereas each word of those four refers to a different entities. the significant thing here is imam Ghazali method by which he accounts for sufi issues as he builds his proposition upon textual evidence and logic rather than personal spiritual impressionsذوق this method does not reject ذوق as a means to gain sufi knowledge, but it classifies this knowledge to two distinctive branches: علم المعاملة وعلم المكاشفة. Only the first could be articulated and thus rationally perceived.
One should not use the texts of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī for discussion of Sufi texts, as he very clearly states that he is focusing upon ilm al-mu'āmalāt rather than 'ilm al-mukāshafāt, the latter being the realm of Sufism. As regards his understanding of the knowledge received through divine inspiration, I address that in this lecture: th-cam.com/video/m5MS2YsqCO8/w-d-xo.html
@@jelumbard
Many thanks for sharing this inspiring lecture with me. But firstly, can you provide me with a classical Sufi text by whichعلم المعاملاتis excluded from the realm of Sufism. Not to say that معاملات in this context has nothing to do with فقه. Secondly, It is worth mentioning that bothالمكاشفات علمand علم المعاملات الباطنةare in realm of أحوال الباطن whether it is قلب،روح، نفس…etc. What gives مكاشفات its unique definition is that it does not require any further action “ ما يطلب منه كشف المعلوم دون عمل يترتب عليه” unlike معاملاتباطنة that constitutes the second part of Ihyā`.Thus, the subject of نفس أمارة لوامة مطمنةis addressed by Ghazali since it requires a further action- theتزكية. Best Regards
سلام خالد انت من فين؟
salam brother !!
Great content! In English I tend to favour a different translation of the three stages as: The Commanding Self, The Accusing Self, The Tranquil Self.
EDIT: You did mention the soul that commands to evil. My bad 🙂
I hope Professor Lumbard will give another lecture on this very same topic. This one is great--I only wish it were a little more detailed. I find myself wondering if the heart is experienced as something like the will.
Thank you very much. I do hope to make other videos in the not too distant future.
Assalamu alaykum. Today what I want to talk about is the relationship between The Soul (=al Nafs) as the nafs, The Heart (=al Qalb) or the Qalb and The Ruh or the Spirit. As well as, what is know as The Sirr, the Secret in classical Sufi psychology. Understanding the relationship between these dimensions of the humanbeing is considered by many Sufis to be the key to understanding the gradual process by which one moves closer to God. However, misunderstanding these tchnical terms leads many people to not understand classical Sufi texts. And what we will actually find in much scholarship on Islam that people sometimes translate for example, The Ruh and The Nafs as if they were the samw thing. And when that happens one has completely misunderstood the text and one will gain nothing from it except confusion. Now over time, the Sufis came to use these terms in order to identify the gradual Path by which one progressively moves closer to Allah Subahanahu Taala and closer to having a fully purified being and also closer to being able to understand the world of The Unseen that is what the Sufis often refer to as the rpocess of unveiling wherein they would say “Futuh of The G’aib” openings of the unseen come directly unto the purified heart. Now when one goes to classical Sufi texts, one will always find The Nafs or The Soul at the bottom wrong, then what one will find the heart. After this, some Sufi texts will say that The Ruh or the spirit is the next level and some will say that The Sirr or the secret is the next level. However some will, then, say that the sirr is what comes before the ruh. Now the only reason I am making this distinction now is so that if you do pick up a text, you won’t get confused between these, you have to look within the text and see how they are using the terms. Here it is important to follow the advice of Abu Hamid al G’azzaliy who says that those with minds make it the realities primary and the terms secondary. Whereas those who are somewhat advantic make it the terms primary and the realities secondary. So here we want to make it the realities primary and try to get it exactly what Sufis are talking about when they use these terms. Now the Heart is the place where, in a sense, we live. And this is the Heart refers to an organ within us that turns taqallub is they say that God One Who holds and turns our Hearts. The Heart can be very filthy and even hardened as we see in The Qur’an and in that case it is considered to be something that inclines towards the Nafs or the soul. Or the Heart can be purified and incline towards the upper realms which forposeses of our discussion here. We will talk about as the spirit. And this what you will find in more Sufi texts. Now the soul is considered to have, in a sense, three different levels; tho lowest level of the soul is “al-Nafs al-Ammara bi l-Su”“The Soul That Commands to Evil”, and then in the middle, you have “al Nafs al Lawwama” that is, “The Blaming Soul” and this is the soul having since kind of it is the intuition within you which knows what you should be, which knows the difference right and wrong and starts to hold you accountable for whether or not you are doing good or you are doing bad. Above the blaming soul is “al-Nafs al-Mutama’inna” that is, the soul that is at rest (The Soul at Rest) taken from of the Qur’an verse “O thou soul at rest, return unto thy Lord well pleased that is pleased with your Lord and well Pleasing”. And there is an important idea here which is that of contentment. So the soul that is at peace is the soul that is content, content with the degrees, decrees of Allah Subhanahuva Taala. Now, what is the relationship between The Soul and The Heart? The heart will incline towards the soul when the heart is considered to be more worldly. And you know in the Qur’an, you have verses that, for example, speak about hearts that have rust upon them and then other verses that speak about hearts that are hardened, other verses that speak about hearts that are ill. There is anb entire science of the particular degrees of the filth that one can have within the heart and the processes by which that heart can be polished and gradually moved away from the inclinations of the soul which is the part of us that loves the decoration of this world, that wants the things that sparkle, that wants reputation, that wants money, that wants to be able to boast of what it has. And then as the heart moves away from that, the heart moves according to Sufi texts towards the spirit, towards the ruh. The ruh, is here considered, to be something that is eternal, that dwells with God and that when the heart is completely integrated into the ruh, the heart will then be able to live in accord with the realities of the unseen realm, and the heart will be one that is open to the influences from the unseen realm, that is open directly to what the Sufis refer to as “al-Ilm al-Laduni” that is Knowledge by Presence. Again as I said before, some say that beyond this there lies the world of inmost secret- Al Sirr. And some even talk about the Sirr al Asrar - the secret of the secrets that lies beyond this. Why is it called sirr? Because, that particular relationship between each individual and Allah subahanahuva Taala is to some degree a mystery to many of us. But my realtionship with God is a secret that you don’t know. And your relationship with God is a secret that I don’t know. But the one who is aware of their true relationship with Allah subahanahuav Taala is one who is, in fact, living sense(since?) within that Sirr, within that inmost being of one’s self. Now, how? (3.17-8.02) how does one move from a soul that is inclined towards the world to dwell mor within the heart and purify the heart so that it inclines more towards the spirit so that it can be fully purified so that one then dwells in fact within inmost being. Now first, let me just say I don’t claim to know this. I am talking about this from the textual perspective and what the Sufis say is that this is the process that is done through mujahada (2.40) that is through spiritual striving. Many of the Sufi texts say that this has to be done through a process of doing khalva, that is, of sitting in seclusion alone with Allah subhanahutaala. But the most important part of this is zikrullah; the remembrance of God, so that one moves gradually from remebering God and just being tazaakir to the point where one is absorbed within zikr, that is the remembrance of God to the point where one is actually is absorbed within the mafkur - the one that is remembered, that is Allah in Allah’s Self so that there is a complete Unity between the zikr, the remembrance of God, tazakkir the one who remembers and the mafkur - the one who is remebered. As one goes through that process, one purifies the heart so that it ceases to incline towards the shahavat - the desires of the soul and starts to incline more towards the lights of the unseen realm. Now this is a process that according to the sufis very few actually succeed in this and even those who do, it is important to note that the nafs is still there. And that is one of the reasons why within classical sufism there is not considered to be a stage where one goes beyond the need for practicing the law. There have been some exceptions but the vast majority of classical sufi texts say there is no distinction between being at the level of a purified soul and being one who must in fact practice the outward requirements of the religion that are found within the sharia. So again, to review; it is the nafs, the soul, the heart, the ruh, the spirit, and then the secret. Or the inmost being that is beyond the secret. And some say that it is actually the expression or the reality of when the heart is in fact fully integrated within the ruh. I hope that this clarifies some aspects of this, for those who ask and please, let me know if you have questions, comments or other things that you (would) like me to do in a follow-up. I love the interaction and I look forward to hearing from you. Thank you very much.
Brother lumbard
Nice explaination, there are some phases, where one can experience actual meeting with Allah, but no body can elaborate it in text form, like in namaz (prayer) you are in front of Allah it is mushahada (observing) phase. Some are in maraqba phase. As for as spirit is concerned, spirit has remained controverial in many religions, remember spirit is only a command of supreme and nothing else. Allah never reside in anybody heart, it is just metaphorical to show love for Allah. Overall good commentary. Regards
Thank you. And thank you for your input.
@@jelumbard
الشكر موصول لكلاكما.
Thanx is extended to you, both.
Thank you sir for the lessons .
I just found your video ,
Although it is hard for me to understand that level of English .
.I prefer Arabic
but still I'm benefiting from your lessons .
Q: Can I ask you a very difficult question i was looking for it's answer for nearly 4 years ?
Thank you
Is the translation of alchemy of happiness by claud field sound in this regard ?
Thank you Dr Lumbard from your concise explanation. May I ask further question, what is the relation between aql and qalb, and what about the term fuad which also related to the qalb?
بارك الله فيك 🤎
Do you thing that the country living with Allah's nature make seclusion more effective or it's just dependent on your soul ...does the country life considered best than modern or city life?
Interesting, can you recommend books in English to read further on this topic
Everything from Idries Shah
G. M. Chishti
The Book of Sufi Healing
@@erfeyah1401 brother, do you have pdf copies ? please
@@twinsflamuri brother thank you for referring this book , excellent one.Do you have soft copy of G.M.Chishti's other books?
Assalamu Alaikum Wa Rahmatullah Wa Barakatuhu.
From :
Mujaddid Alf'a Sarasa Ima
Sahsufi Muhammad Jewel Mondall Naqshbandia Mujaddidia Yunusia
Jamalpuri ( Ma: Ji:Al:) .
Dewanpara.
Jamalpur -2000.
Bangladesh.
Nafi Asbat.
I was literally just thinking about this and then I got a notification of this video #spooky😮
This has always confused me as well.
What is the spirit?
has “nafs” any link with carnal desires?🙏
Yes. The Soul that commands to evil, al-nafs al-ammara bi l-su', is the one that is slave to carnal desires.
Joseph Lumbard thank you so much for this answer ✅keep up making this insightful videos
@@twinsflamuri Thank you
the Rooh is much complicated.
but i Believe that the "Rooh" "الروح" is an entity from God's Command, the nature of the god's Command gives this Rooh it's Form , from creation, embodiment and Protection to his Messengers till they Deliver the Message.
because in the Quraan the Rooh was never refered as somthing related to the Nafas or our heart.
Yes. It is very subtle indeed.
How Can I Purify My Soul ? Pls Tell me
Find a real shaykh
@@jelumbard ok
@@jelumbard Brother I Want to ask you something I'm ashamed to ask . Can I ask ? it's about one of my bad habbits
Tell the truth. Avoid lies. Have faith in Allah.
The soul is rouh (روح)
Thank you, Dr. Lumbard.
I've also noticed how many scholars in recent times speak of rūḥ and nafs as being synonymous. There seems to be the reductionist influence of modern humanism involved. The implications can be quite far-reaching for one's worldview. Some classical scholars also did so. However, as you said, in the end realities are more important than terms. Here are two sources on the subject.
“Rūḥ never occurs in the Ḳur’ān with the meaning ‘soul’.”
- Duncan B. Macdonald, The Development of the Idea of Spirit in Islam. Acta Orientalia, Vol. IX, 1931. [repr. in two parts in The Moslem World, Vol. 22, no. 1 and no. 2, 1932]
Sarra Tlili, From Breath to Soul: The Quranic Word Rūḥ and its (Mis)interpretations [in Arabic Humanities, Islamic Thought: Essays in Honor of Everett K. Rowson, eds. Joseph E. Lowry, Shawkat M. Toorawa]
Thanks for your input
ان اردت ان تعرف عن علاقة الصوفيه بالعقل والفقه ادرس العالم والتابعي الحسن البصري رضي الله عنه
If the Quran and the Sunnah of prophet Mohammed is understood properly, as he has completed his mission who are we to correct and add our own thinking, If the main reason in Sufism is Zikr then why are deviations by different individuals differ with one another. Islams main focus is belief in One and only God Allah, so we are bound pray, remember and glorify Allah, as such do we need people start a new stream as Sufism?
I know that there are many Sufis who stick to the Sunnah and the Quran. Sufism is a term that arose later, the term which is known in the Shariah is ''Zuhd'' or Asceticism. But names don't matter that much I guess. I have a question though, is it true that the scholars at the time of Al Ghazali and scholars after him criticized him for his improper Aqeedah? I have also heard that his book ''Ihya Ulum ad-Din'' has many weak and fabricated ahadith in them. Perhaps not really related to the topic but would be nice if someone can answer.
what has sufism gotta do with Islam? did the Prophet (pbuh) promote sufism?
sufi is the fruit of islam
Al Ghazali was a Sufi.
@The Zen Muslim thats a circular argument, I can say the samething about any other sect of Islam. Follow the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) don't create your own stuff. This is biddah.
we he did not promote ilm al-kalam either. lot's of stuff developed later that builds on earliest teachings. Don't get confused by names.