Bulleh Shah

umair,
thanks for your article on bulleh shah. nusrat fateh ali khan sang a lot of his poetry.
also, i`ve enjoyed the discussion that came out of your article.

escapist

But who is `Rabulaalimin` of the Quran Who is the only one to be praised, worshipped and asked for help (see Surae Faatiha, the Ummul-Quran). Allah as a `mohtasib` is the God of the Mullah, Allah as Rab who is `Rehman and Raheem` is the God of the humans. Allah is one but it has many `Sifaat`. It depends upon you how you recognize Him- Allah as the owner of hell which he has to fill up with `Jin-o-Ins` or Allah as Rab, the sustainer, the God of love and compassion.

Dear teshah, escapist, and echoboom

Although we failed to benefit from the undisputed scholarship and wisdom of Naqshbandi, you guys came through. Thank you.

I am certain the average reader is now more enlightened about Sufism, Islam, and the relationship between the two.

Regards.

Romair ( & others )

Here is the complete Masnavi of Rumi ( translations) , commentary & much more. A great comparison of various translations plus intro. to a new translation.

http://www.dar-al-masnavi.org/masnavi.html

For a sufi a diehard & fumdamentalist belief & love for Allah, Qura`an, Prophet & his progeny AND invoking of shariat and observing tariquat is an integral & unfettered obligation. A sufi is not some kind of Mharishi, or Chopra or pop-psycho charlatan, or quick-fixer feel-good Doctor.

No non-muslim can be a sufi and simply because someone from tinsle-town & tabloid has oohed & aahed over it , one should never ever consider oneself learned or even at the shoe-level of a maulana, a maulvi, or even a mullah.

Hope muslims as well as others would benefit from this site.

P.S: Romair; I understand about that `innocent` enquiry. This is not the time & place to talk about it. You are doing fine. May you excel in your business.

Everyone only ``sees`` the world according to ones own belief. The ``world`` is inside us , not ``outside``.

teshah

Whatever that meant.

Its not the Mullahs. Its the Quran itself which says,


The Meaning of The Holy Qur`an. Surah:23. Al-Mu`minun. Ayah 14

16.Say: ``Who is the Lord and Sustainer of the heavens and the earth?`` Say: ``(It is) Allah.`` Say: ``Do ye then take (for worship) protectors other than Him, such as have no power either for good or for harm to themselves?`` Say: ``Are the blind equal with those who see? Or the depths of darkness equal with light?`` Or do they assign to Allah partners who have created (anything) as He has created, so that the creation seemed to them similar? Say: ``Allah is the Creator of all things: He is the One, the Supreme and Irresistible.``

The Meaning of The Holy Qur`an. Surah:39. Az-Zumar. Ayah 62

62.Allah is the Creator of all things, and He is the Guardian and Disposer of all affairs.

Translated by Abdullah Yusuf Ali.

Ralph
`God is not God unless He is called Allah`

Mullah says Allah is the personal (zaati) name of the one who is generally called by the name of God, Rab, Khuda, etc.. It is, so to say, His `Signature` and accordingly the mullah-ridden PTV has virtually banned the name of Khuda from all its programs. It reminds me of a couplet of Akbar Allahabadi:

Raqeebon ne rappat likhwaae ja ja ke thhane mein
kih Akbar naam leta he Khuda ka is zamaane mein

They can`t say `khuda haafiz` on Ptv now when all urdu and persian litterature is full of the name of Khuda.

`God sends Prophets. But he told whatever he wanted to tell, now or for ever, to a man named mohammad, and shut down the prophet production line for ever.`

The production line is perhaps too busy producing Firouns and Hamaans (modern mullah) to have a time for producing a Musa or his like, even ignoring the age old wise saying `Har Firoun-e-ra Musa` (for every Pharao there is a Moses). This is obscurantism par excellence.
The mullah cannot tolerate even a false prophet what to speak of a real Prophet.

Ralph.

I admire Bullay shah as a great poet. But to consider him an Islamic figure would be unfair to both Islam and Bullay shah.

I dont hold Naqshbandi in utter and vicious contempt at all :)

I also think the writer has very wisely wrote ``the punjabi humanist``, instead of ``punjabi muslim sufi poet`` or what not.

Regards

Dear Ballukhan

Great point. Wish more of us were in your league, and `not scholars of such calibre.` :)

Regards.



Naqshbandi

I, and many other people like me, admire Sufism, but we don`t want to admire it in complete ignorance - admiring Y thinking it is X. Put simply, we don`t want to be misled. Your kind help in clarifying the following will be much appreciated.

1. Why does an orthodox Muslim like Escapist hold you in such utter and vicious contempt? Who has got Islam wrong?

2. What kind of spirituality or mysticism could one associate with a doctrine based on such dogmas as -

- God is not God unless He is called Allah.

- God sends prophets. But He told whatever He ever wanted to tell, now and forever, to a man named Muhammad, and shut down the prophet production line for good.


If we outright reject such foolish nonsense as unbecoming of any rational human being, did Bulleh Shah believe that we would all go straight to hell, while Muslims went on to enjoy the after-life wonders of heaven?

What exactly was Bulleh Shah`s doctrine? I am asking you in the hope that you know Bulleh Shah.

Thanks for your help, my friend.

escapist....sometimes!

***


Ballu ALL I am trying to convince you and Ralp and others of is that Sufism is nothing other than the spiritual, mystical, inner, dimension of orthodox Sunni Islam...


Name any well known Sufi and find out a bit about his doctrine, and education...every one will have been educated in a madrassah from Hasan al Basri in the 1st century of Islam to Pir Sayyid Mihr Ali Shah in the 20th and all in between from Rumi and Ghazali to Ibn Arabi and Shah Wali Allah...#

That`s all!

#43 by Ralph on September 17, 2004 6:18am PT
I am hardly a scholar of Naqshbandi`s calibre and I do not think you have to fear anyone trying to follow a tariqat. We should be just wary of those who try to `use` politics with the tariqat to score a few temporal points.
It is just that some follow the path blindly by counting the number of steps to the muqam- while some just run along the path with their eyes wide open.

Naqshbandi

I will be honest with you. Your association with Sufism changes the entire meaning of the term.

Why don`t you tell us, in a few short paragraphs, what the essence of Sufism is. What are the few principles without agreeing with which any sympathy with Sufism will be inappropriate? Thanks.

Also, I do not know Mr. Ling, and think extremely poorly of Ms. Anne Marie Schimmel. We would learn much by reading directly your own words.

Naqshbandi.

great to have you back. Are you still posting nudes pics on your i logs in another site in the name of art and beauty? I kinda lost the URL.

regards

Those skeptics who can`t accept Sufism is an integral part of Islam and nothing else but the practical application of the command to `worship Allah as if you see Him and if you do not see Him know that He sees you` should read any of the following renowned books in their field:

What is Sufism? by Martin Lings
Mystical Dimensions of Islam by Anne Marie Schimmel.

Also this website answers the question What is Sufism? from a practising Sufi:

http://www.livingislam.org/fiqhi/fiqha_e50.html


http://www.masud.co.uk/ISLAM/nuh/sufitlk.htm

Ralph & Bullukhan:
Fear not Naqshbandi, Contact Deepak Chopra: He agrees with Naqshbandi.
In the mean time chew on this:

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#20 by echoboom on September 13, 2004 11:14am PT
garam-chai:[ & others] 16

Just to throw cold water on your enthusiastic gloat about shariat. The context here is about intellectualism , bookishness, legal hair-splitting, social-sciencism, spin doctoring, analysis by Harvard harlots , anthropology-for-oil & minerals, `litterature` littorism, and such kind of moderatism.

Shariat and tareequat are an integral part of evey sage The word SUFI has become a polluted word, and I seldom use it now that it has been adopted by westernised vultures. They think it is a kind of gay-soul-, where sword is an alien concept: they forget Ali--the ultimate and unanimous source of all such sages

These sages whose reputation has survived the vagaries of Time & Space of whatever belief system were never sharabis, chursees, bhungees, haraamkaars, or haraam khores.

Ironically the ``muslims``[ or even a wayward-hindu or christian] who try to glean some lustre off from these sages are exactly the opposite in character , creed, and deed than that of these sages.

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There is no other refuge!