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G. Dastagir: Sufism as a Meeting Point for All Religious Traditions
Written by Dr. Golam Dastagir, Visiting Research Scholar, University of Toronto, Canada
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Melbourne, Australia, December 3-9, 2009
Peace is not a physical object that can be purchased; rather, it is a mental state, and the one who controls his mind is in the best state of tranquility. The cardinal beliefs of Sufism lie in controlling one’s lowly passions, desires, emotions, and egocentric attitudes. Sufism per se sets the world at naught. The Sufis crave God’s love and grace by surrendering to the will of God, who wants us to choose the path of virtues and shun the route to violence. If and when a Sufi controls his self and purifies his heart, can any mundane matters like money and might – the roots of evils – incite him to engage in conflicts?
The Sufi concept of jihad, the internal fight, tends to bring equilibrium in society. The Sufi ideal teaches us to find fault with ourselves first before we point fingers at others. For Sufism, a person's most violent enemy is his self, his ego, his nafs. A pure-hearted person is a true-tongued individual with whom God dwells; a person who is assisted by God is blessed by God. How can, then, this person become a terror?
The Sufi approach to establish peace is, therefore, to change the individual rather than change the society. The role of a Sufi Master (spiritual guide) can be compared to that of Rev. Sun Myung Moon, who guides us to establish peace in society by establishing peace first in the individual and then in family.
A Sufi is like a free bird, which can fly in the sky as high as it can, and the higher it flies the wider the horizon it sees. Likewise, a Sufi is not fettered by any particular tradition, his free spirit can earn wisdom by learning other traditions. Rev. Moon’s vision can be paralleled here. He said the higher you climb the better you see.
The Sufi approach to other traditions and cultures is not hostile but holistic. From the Sufi point of view, God is one and He creates diverse communities for our individuality and identity. But mankind is a single nation. The Qur’an says: “O mankind, surely We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes that you may know each other” (49:13). This is Unity within Diversity to which Sufism fully subscribes. Sufism, therefore, does not divide people based on cultures and traditions. Rather, being accommodative and assimilative in nature, Sufism embraces all differences of opinions, as its God is the God for all, not just for Sufis or Muslims.
East and west – God is everywhere, according to Islam. Wherever people go, wherever they are found, God will unite them. The Qur’an says: “Every community faces a direction of its own, of which God is the focal point. Vie, therefore, with one another towards all that is good. Wherever you may be, God will bring you together; for God has power over all things” (2:148). This leads the Sufis to love others as their brothers and live in a society in which the notion of chauvinism has no place.
To the Sufis, all people are equal. The One God created not only the universe but all humankind; the same One God creates human beings with His own Spirit. And not only that, His sign resides in us, our soul. I serve God by serving people, since God dwells in people. People possess God’s spirit, so to love people is to love God. And we cannot hurt any person or harm anyone – how can we kill a a person when we know that he possesses same blood, same soul and same humanity?
This is the core principle of peace in Sufism. It embraces all people regardless of color and creed. As the Sufi Ibn ‘Arabi stated,
“My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christians, and a temple for idols and the pilgrims Ka’ba and the tables of the Torah, and the book of the Koran. I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love’s camels take, that is my religion and faith.”*
* Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sufi Essays (London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972), p. 147.
A visiting research scholar at the University of Toronto, Dr. Dastagir holds a Ph.D. in Islamic philosophy. He has also been a Commonwealth Scholar in the United Kingdom and a Fulbright Nominee in the US. Dr. Dastagir has over 18 years of teaching and research experience in philosophy and world religions at Jahangirnagar University in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and is the former director of the Centre for Philosophical Research. For the New World Encyclopedia article on Sufism, click here.