Sufism is a way to connect with God

Sufis are Muslim Mystics. A Mystic is somebody who surrenders themselves to a God or religious ideology. Ever since the 800 AD, various Sufi orders have appeared with various holy men offering methods that promise to have Muslims increase their faith in God (Allah) and become closer to him. Sufis have a whole concept of Awliya (Sainthood) for Muslims who became so close to God that they became his “friends”. Generally these Saints become venerated. Take Morocco for example, a Sufi nation, where such Saints are common with cities even having local saints.

Who Are the Seven Immortalized “Saints” of Marrakesh? So is Sufism a sect? No. Sufism is not the third sect of Islam, it’s a name for the various orders in both Sunni and Shia Islam. Members of the Aissawa order playing in public as shown in the image above. The Darqawa order instead encouraged a simple lifestyle similar to that of the peasants of the countryside as well as charity. So instead of playing music, the Darqawa order encourages not focusing on material things like smartphones and computers and instead using your money to feed the poor etc.

So these orders exist to essentially serve as organized groups of Sunnis and Shia. Why do many Muslims hate Sufis or say Sufi Orders and their followers are non-Muslim? Sufi Orders encourage membership by promoting the belief in Sainthood, if you follow their instructions you can possibly become a Saint. Because of this, there tends to be “Cults” of Saints in the Islamic world among Sufis. To use a popular example from my city Meknes, we have the Sultan Moulay Ismail who is hailed as a Saint by local Sufis like my much of my family. Because of this, we pray at his tomb!

The Mevlevis whirling as shown in this image. The Bektashi Order is a military order and historically the Ottoman Janissaries (Elite soldiers of the Empire) were from this order. So we can say that the Mevlevi Order was pacifistic and tolerant. As the time they spent whirling, meant that the Mevlevi Order wasn’t all that focused on what Christians were doing or fighting wars. On the other hand, the Bektashi Order was connected to the Ottoman Army.

Sufism isn’t the third sect of Islam, it’s merely a name for movements in both Sunni and Shia Islam. When I say Morocco is a Sufi nation or a Sufi State this is in reference to the fact that the Moroccan Monarchy has a solid alliance with the Sufi Orders and works in tandem with them. Not to mention that Moroccan Society is overwhelmingly ok with Sufism (hence why we never have bomb attacks like Pakistan) and many, if not most, Moroccans are members of/associated with a Sufi Order.

Generally each Moroccan King supports, or sometimes joins, a specific Sufi Order. For the current King of Morocco, Mohammed VI, that’s the Boudchichia order. In 2002, King Mohammed VI appointed a follower of the Tariqa Boudchichia to head the Ministry of Islamic Affairs. Ahmed Toufiq, who is still in office, then presided over a takeover of the religious field to "immunize" Moroccan Islam from extremist ideas. Sheikh Hamza had bestowed his blessing on this promotion of a follower to the highest offices of official Islam.

So to put it simply, Islam in Morocco is currently regulated by a Sufi Order! However the Boudchichia order is part of Sunni Islam, as is Morocco. So Morocco’s official religion is still Sunni Islam as the Boudchichia and Sufism are not a sect. Sufism is the term generally used for a more mystical interpretation of Islam, its name believed to have been taken from the roof word “suf,” or wool, perhaps for the woolen robes worn by early Sufi ascetics, rejecting wealth and worldliness.

The label “Sufiyya,” rooted in the Arabic word “tasawwuf,” from which the English word “Sufism” is derived was first applied to a modern urban movement in eighth-century Baghdad. As one modern scholar of Sufism has speculated: “The term ‘Sufi’ had a certain ‘avant-garde’ or ‘cutting edge’ resonance among both renunciants and others…this ‘hip’ quality facilitated its application to the new movement.’ Starting from simple notions of clean living and exile from the luxuries of civilization,

Sufism exfoliated into a subtle theology, emphasizing a more intimate relation with God and the possibility of inner union, or reunion, with the divine. Sufis tend to favor verses of the Quran that emphasize closeness and accessibility over the sheer transcendence of God. Especially beloved is the fifteenth verse of Sura 50: “We indeed created man; and We know what his soul whispers within him, and we are nearer to him than the jugular vein.”

Rumi rarely used the term “Sufi” about himself directly. He preferred words such as “dervish,” the Turkish version of a Persian word for those who renounced the world, or for the poor in God. Sufi orders, organized much as monastic orders were organized in the West, were beginning to be codified during Rumi’s life, but were often still less formal. The Mevlevi Order of Whirling Dervishes, which is the lineage of Rumi, was only organized coherently after his death by his son Sultan Valad and then by his grandson. Like Saint Francis of Assisi and the subsequent development of the Franciscan Order, the establishment of the Mevlevi Sufi Order associated with Rumi mostly occurred after his death. His own mystical practice and whirling was less bound by rules.

A Sufi believes that god created us in his image and strives to be united with him. A very fundamental part of Sufism is Love. They regard it higher than anything in the world, even religions: You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for him: in the heart of a true lover. Sufis tend to find the meaning of life from within themselves. They believe that a person can do wonders if he/she realizes his/her true worth:

East, west, south, or north makes little difference. No matter what your destination, just be sure to make every journey a journey within. If you travel within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond. But this is not to be confused with realizing true worth which we conventionally talk about (leadership and similar areas). Sufis believe that self is only embodiment of Almighty. So they work on suppressing their ego because they do not exist or do not matter, there is only one reality: God.

The true Sufi is such that even when he is unjustly accused, attacked and condemned from all sides, he patiently endures, uttering not a single bad word about any of his critics. A Sufi never apportions blame. How can there be opponents or rivals or even “others” when there is no “self” in the first place? How can there be anyone to blame when there is only One?Sufism is more concerned with metaphysics. They disregard the conventional rituals of religions, the conventional notion of right and wrong and focus on one purpose: Ultimate love with God.

When a true lover of God goes into a tavern, the tavern becomes his chamber of prayer, but when a wine bibber goes into the same chamber, it becomes his tavern. In everything we do, it is our hearts that make the difference, not our outer appearance. Sufis do not judge other people on how they look or who they are. When a Sufi stares at someone, he keeps both eyes closed instead opens a third eye – the eye that sees the inner realm.