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Frithjof Schuon

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Extract from “Hikmah, Dhikr, Jamāl

How is Tasawwuf to be defined? One Sufi has said that Tasawwuf is “poverty”; another has said it is “fasting”; still another has said it is “the five prayers and awaiting death”. These are pious associations of ideas; they are not definitions.

If we were asked what Tasawwuf is, we would say it is (1) Discernment between the Real and the illusory, (2) permanent Remembrance of the Real, and (3) Beauty of soul, conformity to the Real.

Discernment between the Real and the illusory: between al-Haqq, the True, and al-hijāb, the veil; lā ilāha illā 'Llāh. This is Hikmah, the wisdom mentioned by the Koran: “He (Allāh) giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he hath truly received abundant good” (Sūrah “The Cow” [2]:269).

Permanent Remembrance of the Real: Dhikru 'Llāh. As the Koran says: “And the Remembrance of Allāh is of all things the most great” (Sūrah “The Spider” [29]:45).

Beauty of soul, conformity to the Real: for God loves all Beauty—Jamāl—since it reflects His Infinitude, His Harmony, His Goodness, and His Beatitude; and He particularly loves Beauty of soul since the inward takes precedence over the outward, and the immortal over the perishable. Hadīth: “Verily Allāh is beautiful, and He loveth Beauty.”

© World Wisdom, Inc / For Personal Use Only

How is Tasawwuf to be defined? One Sufi has said that Tasawwuf is “poverty”; another has said it is “fasting”; still another has said it is “the five prayers and awaiting death”. These are pious associations of ideas; they are not definitions.

If we were asked what Tasawwuf is, we would say it is (1) Discernment between the Real and the illusory, (2) permanent Remembrance of the Real, and (3) Beauty of soul, conformity to the Real.

Discernment between the Real and the illusory: between al-Haqq, the True, and al-hijāb, the veil; lā ilāha illā 'Llāh. This is Hikmah, the wisdom mentioned by the Koran: “He (Allāh) giveth wisdom unto whom He will, and he unto whom wisdom is given, he hath truly received abundant good” (Sūrah “The Cow” [2]:269).

Permanent Remembrance of the Real: Dhikru 'Llāh. As the Koran says: “And the Remembrance of Allāh is of all things the most great” (Sūrah “The Spider” [29]:45).

Beauty of soul, conformity to the Real: for God loves all Beauty—Jamāl—since it reflects His Infinitude, His Harmony, His Goodness, and His Beatitude; and He particularly loves Beauty of soul since the inward takes precedence over the outward, and the immortal over the perishable. Hadīth: “Verily Allāh is beautiful, and He loveth Beauty.”

© World Wisdom, Inc / For Personal Use Only




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