Explaining bAULIANA - ILM-E-Tussawuf

Babuji Bose replied to your post on July 10, 2009

Mac .. do elaborate and enlighten ... many of us here know Sufism mostly thru its poetry and music, not formally ... many of us, even less of orthodox Islam ... am trying to get Sumedha to anchor this thread ... from Adda experience, we know that some threads need involved anchoring to flourish ... she has the spiritual training to do it ... but in lady's privilege, has neither said yes or no ... just maybe ... keep shining ...

Dear Babuji,

In essence the word "Sufism" doesn't exist - it basically means "Ilm a Tsawwuf" which is complimentary to "Ilm a Sharia" - meaning you cant have either/or in denial of the other.

Now I can sense ears getting tomato red as you read the word "Sharia" cause it is misconstrued on the Western notion of stoning people to death for adultery or chopping off your limbs/organs for stealing or 'impropriety' :)

Quite on the contrary - the whole equation and order of things probably go this way:

Hakikat - The Reality Check - Tree growing - everybody say 'hey that's a beautiful tree coming up' or 'wow that's gonna be a skyscraper'...a point of common recognition of 'reality' which everybody accepts and nobody disputes.

Tarikat - The various branches of tree - call it 'religion, way of life' - whatever. The essence being in the natural state nobody can not control the direction of branches (unless you are making a Bonsai) - and likewise the variety of branches and their respective development - makes a tree - attractive, healthy and interesting. Same with cultures, races, HUMANITY. On the construction front - you have Masons, Plumbers, Electricians, Brick layers all working towards one 'Hakikat' goal.

Shariat - The Seed Truth (also called the foundation or base) - the seed creates the tree and no one can conceivably deny this reality - even when it comes to human - we are but creations of 'seeds' :) Likewise if we are to compare a building - it has to start from bottom up - the foundation, base and so on.

mA'AREFOT - The state of 'Extelligence' - i.e. beyond normal and perceived human Intelligence- one that is fed by stimuli in our sensory organs - even the sixth sense.

The flower in this case if we are to use the Tree analogy. Something we can see and smell essentially (pluck it and put in a vase for a few days, and maybe even eat it - like we do Banana flowers!) - but everything as in life - is 'short lived' if not short charged. What is unknown is the reverse back to the seed. How a flower develops seeds, and how they are pollinated by insects, eaten by Bats and spread over areas - where again from seed it comes back to the 4 stages of "llm e Tusawwuf".

Two pointers here :

1. The words ILM is taken from the first three words of the kORAN - ALIF, LAAM and MEEM - which simply means "knowledge", and "Sufis" 1500 years later are still trying to break the code of the 3 words. bAULs have so many explanation - each are mind boggling. No luck really....

2. There is also a possible state of 'super mA'AREFOT' ( sometimes referred to as "Wilayah" ) - as some "Sufis" take lessons from the kORANic text where it says "mAN can do whatever he thinks through knowledge and perseverance - even turn clay into gold".

So its up to mAN - if we can even 'think' of creating building 'top town' as opposed to 'bottom up' - its a doable possibility :)

To end: There is NO 'fundamentalism' in Islam other than the words of the kORAN which when read, practiced and inculcated in its essence should set humanity free and not entrap it into Man made dogmas and/or dictates of either self serving Mullahs or modern Western diktats of
who/what constitutes a good or bad Muslim.

It is the only religion which stresses on a direct communion with the Maker – the All In All – or ‘aLLAH’. Each Man is to himself and through practice and perseverance it can be achieved.

“The Koran possesses an external appearance and a hidden depth, an exoteric meaning and an esoteric meaning. This esoteric meaning in turn conceals an esoteric meaning (this depth possesses a depth, after the image of the celestial Spheres which are enclosed within each other). So mit goes on for seven esoteric meanings (seven depths of hidden depth). ”

Henry Corbin [1903-1978]

Please download and listen to "Cholona Kori fAKIRI" - a Sufi" song meant to teach sex and sexuality to children:

Dhaka, 4th August 2009