Suchergebnisse

Sufism is One of the Most Dynamic and Interesting Dimensions of Islamic religious and cultural expression. It is an umbrella term for a variety of philosophical, social, and literary phenomena occurring within the Islamic world. In its narrowest sense, the term "Sufism" refers to a number of schools of Islamic mystical philosophy and theology, to the phenomenon of religious orders and guilds (tarīqāt) that have exerted considerable influence over the development of Islamic politics and society, and to the varied expressions of popular piety and devotion to shrines found throughout the Islamic world. In a wider sense, Sufism is often seen as the spiritual muse behind much of pre-modern verse in the Islamic world, the idiom of much of popular Islamic piety, the primary social arena open to women's religious participation, and a major force in the conversion of people to Islam in Africa and Asia. The Sufi orders served as educational institutions that fostered not only the religious sciences but also music and decorative arts. Their leaders sometimes functioned as a challenge to the power of the juridic and theological establishment.

Human beings have will, but is it free? According to Sufism, which finds its grounds in religious texts and dominantly the Quran, the body is a cage, and the spirit is like a bird in it. Therefore, free will has dimensions. Sufism suggests going beyond the limits of senses with an effort to know the self and thus become one with the Divine to reach real freedom. This article aims to explain consciousness in terms of Sufism and science.

Basic concepts of Sufism are introduced along with pointing out that the
cause of occurrence of that original learning should be sought in gradual
distancing of the Islamic state and its leaders from the great moral ideals
and value system set by the Prophet Mohammed and the first caliphs. The
established periodization starts from the classical period dominated by
excessive influence of some scholars and the tendency of respecting local
traditions, continues with the medieval period marked by systematization and
achieving the peak of Sufi thought through acting of a number of great
mystics and ends with the modern period characterized by its prevalence and
enormous global impact, adapting to constantly changing conditions and
efforts for giving an adequate response to the challenges of colonialism,
which inevitably led to gradual weakening of Sufism. Overlapping between
mysticism, Hellenistic philosophy and other religious systems is also pointed
out, as an inexhaustible source of new, original and creative theological
syntheses, that significantly dynamized the already established Islamic
doctrine prone to repeating fixed patterns, as well as a great contribution
of Sufism to the spread of Islam in different parts of the world.

The article examines the phenomenon of "Western Sufi sm", the complex of spiritual practices and movements, widely spread in Europe and the US in the 1960–1970th. The history of the relationship between the Western society and the Muslim esoteric tradition dates back to the Middle Ages, when the Muslim world had a signifi cant impact on Europe, drawing inspiration and knowledge from the Islamic culture. During the colonial era, Sufi sm was viewed by Europeans primarily as "ethnographic exotics", but in the 1960–1970th together with the general interest in eastern mystical teachings and the advent of "alternative" religious movements, Sufi sm (or Neo-Sufi sm) acquires the status of Western cultural category, ceasing to be identifi ed with an exclusively Islamic tradition and taking an increasingly universalistic character. Its new adherents become people of diff erent religious beliefs and nationalities.