Wikipedia: Sufism

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Sufism is an Islamic school of thinkers, philosophers and mystics. Sufism embraces the Quran and most of Shiite and Sunni Islam's beliefs. Like other Muslims, Sufis believe that Sufi teachings are the essence of every religion, and indeed of the evolution of humanity as a whole. The central concept in sufism is "love". Sufists believe that, love is a projection of the essence of god to the universe. God desires to recognize beauty, and as if one looks at a mirror to see oneself, god "looks" at itself within the dynamics of nature. Since everything is a reflection of god, the school of sufism practices to see the beauty inside the appearent ugly, and to open arms even to the most evil one. This infinite tolerance is expressed in the most beautifull way perhaps by the famous sufist philosopher Mevlana: "Come, come, whoever you are. Worshiper, Wanderer, Lover of Leaving; ours is not a caravan of despair. Though you have broken your vows a thousand times...Come, come again, Come."

Sufi is the Arabic word for "wool", in the sense of "cloak", referring to the simple cloaks the original Sufis wore, but the Sufi use the composing letters of the words to express hidden meanings, and so the word could also be understood as "enlightenment".

Sufi teach in personal groups, believing that the intervention of the master is necessary for the grouth of the pupil. They make extensive use of parables and metaphors, in such a way that the meaning is only reachable through a process of seeking for the utmost truth and knowledge of oneself.

A large part of Muslim literature comes from the Sufis, who created great books of poetry, which include for example The 1,001 nights, all of which contain the profound, and hardly graspable, teachings of the Sufis.

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Last edited December 14, 2001 4:45 pm (diff)