Sufi philosophy.

Byline: Syed Ali Imran

THE history of tasawwuf or Sufism is deeply intertwined with the spread of Islam in the subcontinent and it is generally accepted that the Sufis played a critical role in spreading the message of Islam across these lands. In fact, the subcontinent witnessed the very first wave of Sufis as early as 980 AD when Shaikh Safi Uddin Garzoni settled near present day Uch Sharif and Syed Ismail Bukhari arrived in Lahore in 1005, followed just a few years later by Syed Ali Hajveri, commonly known as Data Ganj Baksh, the author of perhaps the most definitive Persian treatise on Sufism, Kashful Mahjoob.

However, the authoritative work of those early masters was mostly written in Persian or Arabic, both languages being alien to the common people of the subcontinent. The latter-day Sufis recognised this disconnect and began writing in the local dialects; for instance, Baba Fariduddin Ganj Shakar used Punjabi as his mode of communication with the masses just as Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai used Sindhi. The primary aim of their work was to disseminate the true word of God in a manner that was easy to understand and to address the general public instead of the academics.

Many of those Sufi masters used the medium of poetry instead of prose and while their language was simple, the underlying message was truly profound and fully immersed in established Islamic philosophy. However, when their work was taken up and subsequently regurgitated by the common folk, it unfortunately began to lose its true meaning and their well-intentioned but otherwise uninitiated followers began ascribing curious terms like 'universal peace' and 'heavenly love' to their message without tapping into the true source of the wisdom of their masters.

The more recent Sufis grappled with this dilemma and realised that while the public was definitely in need of guidance, they lacked the requisite knowledge to understand the true nature of the Sufi message and would readily distort their philosophy. For instance, Hazrat Mian Muhammad Baksh (d 1907) beautifully alluded to this quandary which, loosely translated, means that discussing delicate matters among the common folk is as if one prepares a sweet pudding and then throws it to the dogs.

The underlying message was fully immersed in established Islamic philosophy.

Which brings us to the question: what is the underlying source of Sufi wisdom? One of my teachers, when I asked him this question, told me of his own experience...