The relationship between Islamic cosmology and Sufism

Islamic Cosmology and Sufism

Islam and Sufism

In order to appreciate the relationship between Islamic cosmology and Sufism it is necessary to understand why the Sufi doctrine emerged and how it relates to the canon and philosophy of Islam. Sufism, known as tasawwuf in Arabic, is usually understood as the mystical or interior spiritual component of Islam. While there are some scholars who see Sufism as being outside the proper context of Islam philosophy, authorities like Seyyed Hossein Nasr claim that Sufism is an integral part of Islamic faith and cosmology and is the more esoteric or mystical dimension of Islam.

Nasr states categorically that Sufism is a part of the Islamic tradition that extends the spiritual and the ' esoteric' dimensions of the faith.

The truth and reality of the inner teachings of Islam became crystallized mostly in Sufism. Sufism therefore embodies more than any other facet of Islam the various aspects of Islamic spirituality." (Nasr, 1987. p 3) as such, Islamic Sufism also extends and adds to the understanding of the essential cosmological elements that characterize Islam. Sufism is related to these cosmological aspects as an extension and a deepening of the spirituality of Islam.

2. Islamic cosmology

Central to the Islamic faith is the concept of the One God as the certainty and the Way. "There is no reality save the one reality. (Schuon F. 106) Schuon also outlines the two essential statements of Islam. "... first 'there is no divinity or reality, or absolute) outside the only Divinity (or Reality or Absolute)'.... And 'Muhammad... is the Envoy, the Intermediary, the Manifestation, the symbol of the Divinity. " (Schuon F. p 16) Schuon also points out that these two essential statements represent the two opposites or central dimensions in Islamic faith. They refer to the "two levels of reality: the Absolute and the relative." (ibid)

The cosmology of Islam creates a complex and interweaving picture of dimensions and levels of attainment of the apprehension and understanding of the one God. In Islamic cosmology God is essentially unattainable and distant; however there are various worlds or levels of separation, and closeness, between God and man. One of the most basic aspects in understanding this cosmology is the realization of the importance of the numerous worlds and their relevance and relationship to one another.

In Islamic terms, any world only makes sense in relation to the worlds that surround it, whether spatially or temporally.... Islamic cosmology looks at our own experienced world as one of several worlds that exist simultaneously, and it also looks upon it as one in a series of worlds that come one after another.

(Murata and Chittick, p. 63)

For Islam, the Cosmos or al-'alam, is defined as 'everything other than God'. In one sense God is unattainable or distant from the cosmos - God is "incomparable" to anything else. This thinking forms part of the dogmatic Islamic philosophy known as 'Kalam'. This is also seen as a form of 'negative theology'. However, there is an apparent paradox in the essential cosmology as there is also another perception that stresses the relationship between God and man which is characterized as love and care. This is the view put forward in the Koran. While these two views may seem contradictory they form the fulcrum around which the Islamic spiritual understanding of the universe revolves. One could interpret this paradox as similar to the same way that the Chinese Yin and Yang philosophy functions. God and man are opposites but there is a reciprocity and connection between the two which engenders the spiritual center of Islamic cosmology. The aim of the spiritual search is to overcome the opposites and to transcend the apparent disunity and distance between man and God. Like many other mystical and spiritual complexes, the concept of the resolution of opposites forms the basic underlying meaning of Sufism. There is a sense in which Islamic mysticism strikes a delicate and subtle balance between these two opposites in the cosmology. The universe is seen as being created and having its impetus from the continual play of opposites which is also related to the opposition and congruence of man and God. This can be seen in the symbols and actuality of male and female, light and dark and many other opposites.

3. Sufism

Sufism can therefore be considered to be the process of the deepening of the essential spiritual dimensions of Islam. The reason for the emergence of Sufi mystics can be viewed as a natural development and reaction to the more dogmatic doctrinal side of Islam. The development of an esoteric dimension in contradistinction to the more formal and dogmatic approach is a common factor in all major religions.

It is conceivable that the inner life of Islam might have been suffocated in the ever-narrowing net of dogmatic definitions and scholastic methods, or in the external ritual and legal prescriptions which seemed to increase almost year to year. However, a new current mysticism appeared in the world of Islam and gave it, in many areas, a special form. This mystical current is called Sufism; a word derived from... 'wool'.

Schimmel, p. 101)

Early Sufism developed from an extreme esthetic movement within Islam who saw the 'Holy War' of Islam as a fight against the 'naf' or self-centered ego.

They constantly fought against the nafs, the lower soul principle that 'instigates to evil' (Sura 12/53), for according to a saying of the Prophet, struggle against the nafs is 'the greatest jihad', the true 'Holy War' in the service of God.

Schimmel p. 102)

This early Sufi esthetic movement can be seen as a natural extension of the Islamic cosmology of hell and the need to escape the binding and degrading force of the human ego in the search for God. "To understand the reason for the growth of such a movement, one has to remember that soon after Muhammad's death tension arose between the world-conquering Umayyad rulers and pious believers, who were deeply influenced by the terrible descriptions in the Koran of the Last Judgment..."

(Schimmel p. 101)

Later Sufi continued the principles but mot the extreme practices of these early mystics.

Nasr states that the foundations of Sufism rest on the essential cosmology of various worlds in Islamic spirituality. 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 taking into account the great significance of the spiritual dimension of everyday piety and the Shar?'ah, such a study must pay special attention to those aspects of the Islamic tradition which in the Islamic context itself would be most concerned with r-h?

niyyah and ma'nawiyyat... A study of spirituality, therefore, must turn most of all to the inner dimension of Islam. (ibid)

The undertaking of the Sufi doctrine is also explored in the work of Henry Corbin. Corbin, in his renowned work, the Man of light in Iranian Sufism propounds a view of which reveals the Sufi as an explorer and revealer of the great depth and extent of Islamic spirituality as well as the range of Islamic cosmology. Sufism is aligned to the concept that beyond the sensory world there exists another universe with a contour and dimensions and extension in a space, although these are not comparable with the shape and spatiality as we perceive them in the world of physical bodies. It is the 'eighth' keshvar. The mystical Earth of Hurqalya with emerald cities: it is situated on the summit of the cosmic mountains, which the traditions handed down in Islam cal the mountain of Qaf. (Corbin, H. p. xii)

The world of Islamic Cosmology is complex and requires intensive research and understanding. The emergence of Sufism can be seen as a natural development within the religion and as a necessary revelation of Islamic faith.