VIII.

A TREATISE ON SUFIISM, OR MAHOMEDAN MYSTICISM. By Lieutenant JAMES WILLIAM GRAHAM, Linguist to the 1st Battalion of the 6th Regiment of Bombay Native Infantry*.

Read 30th December, 1811.

Γνώθι σεαυτόν.

INTRODUCTION.

ALTHOUGH much has been said on the celebrated though little known subject of Sufiism by Sir William Jones† the president of the Asiatic Society, and by the learned and ever-to-be-lamented Dr. Leyden‡ that universal genius; yet there is an ample field for further discussion on this curious and important head: more especially as the illustrious President has written professedly on their poetry only; and though his discourse explains a number of their tenets, yet it does not fully convey the notions of this peculiar sect, which could not have been done without much digression, nor was primarily intended. Dr. Leyden again was similarly situated, by being confined to Bayezid Ansari and his sect, which was evidently Sûfi or a species of Sufiism, and the founder will come under the denomination of Mijězoob, or perhaps rather Mijězoob Sulik-terms which will be treated of hereafter.

Through my colloquial intercourse with natives of different classes, I have heard with some degree of pleasure many anecdotes of this wonderful order, though the greater part of them certainly bordering upon

* This paper was originally drawn up in a cursory manner at the desire of Brigadiergeneral Sir John Malcolm in 1811, and since corrected and enlarged.

+ See Mystical Poetry of the Persians and Hindoos. As. Res. vol. iii. See Asiatick Researches, vol. ii.

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the marvellous. I shall however relate a few of them in their proper place, although they may be thought by us, in the apparent natural order of things, not consonant to reason or human possibility: but still, as they are popular narratives, and accepted by the orthodox Mussulmans (Sooni) and also by the Sheeyâ, they may tend materially to throw a light upon this mysterious system, and consequently answer our purpose.

In order to avoid every tautology of circumstance, and create as little confusion as possible, I have endeavoured to arrange the subjects in a regular order and treat of them accordingly under their several heads, at the same time offering my remarks and explanations, where I have conceived requisite.

1. On the Meaning of the Term SUFIISM or SUFI.

In the first place the word sûfi implies wise, devout, spiritual, &c. derived from seƒā, meaning purity, clearness; hence saf pure, clear, sincere, candid; and sefi pure, clear, bright, just, upright, sincere. Again, by some the word sûfi is supposed to be derived from sûf, wool, on account of this peculiar order wearing woollen apparel, thereby evincing their contempt of luxury and worldly grandeur, and inuring themselves to a rigid austerity of manners; and from their exemplary life of wisdom, piety, and devotion, the term became transferred to an epithet implying the above.

The meaning of the term sufiism or sufi in this case may be wisdom, piety, fervour, ardent devotion; but from the doctrines and tenets subsequently explained, it will be admitted that the terms mysticism or quietism will be more applicable, as comprehending the whole system in one word, and being in some degree explanatory of the doctrine.

2. On the Religion or Doctrine of SUFIISM.

With regard to the religion (if it can be so termed in the general acceptation of that word) or rather doctrine and tenets of the sect of Sûfis, it is requisite to observe, first, that any person, or a person of any religion or sect, may be a Sûfi: the mystery lies in this;—a total disengagement of the mind from all temporal concerns and worldly pursuits; an entire throw

ing off not only of every superstition, doubt, or the like, but of the practical mode of worship, ceremonies, &c. laid down in every religion, which the Mahomedans term Sheryat, being the law, or canonical law; and entertaining solely mental abstraction, and contemplation of the soul and Deity, their affinity, and the correlative situation in which they stand: in fine, it is that spiritual intercourse of the soul with its Maker, that disregards and disclaims all ordinances and outward forms, of what sect or religion soever; such as observances of feasts, fasts, stated periods of prayer, particular kinds of meat to be eaten, ablutions, pilgrimages, and such-like other rites and ceremonies which come under the head of practical worship (Jismani âmul), being the deeds of the law, in contradistinction to mental or spiritual worship (Roohâni âmul), that is, as I take it to be, grace or faith. Thus, by the words of the apostle St. Paul in his Epistle to the Romans, ch. iii. ver. 28. “Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law." Such being the case, their sentiments and effusions are expressed in that enraptured and ecstatic style; in some places apparently speaking disrespectfully, or at least disregardingly, of the institutes of their former persuasion, and very appropriately alluding to, 1st, The little fervour used in performing that practical or pharisaical mode of worship, and those ordinances regarding external observances laid down and enjoined as highly requisite, which men most generally execute for the sake and name of acquitting themselves of the duty enjoined, and thus satisfying their consciences by the mere performance of the injunctions and precepts of religion. 2d, The inefficacy of such performance of worship to material bodies, or holding in veneration material bodies and subjects, which are but transitory like our own bodies;-in fact, it is from our too strong attachment to material substances that all our sin arises: thus, our concupiscence and covetousness after wealth and other people's goods, the satisfying our desires, indulging our senses; and thus also our passions arise from sensible and material objects. The Sûfi divests his mind of all these; he regards not the possession or loss of wealth, if given him by one and taken away by another; his sentiment is that first and beautiful one of Job, "Naked came I out of my mother's womb,

and naked shall I return thither; the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away: blessed be the name of the Lord." The Sûfi conceives himself and all nature to be an emanation from the Deity; the soul to be a portion or ray of his own blessed divine essence; animation to be the effect thereof, and matter to be produced from the Almighty by his omnipotent Fiat-koon feekoon, "Be, and it is." He may be said, in the words of a great poet of ours, "To look through nature up to nature's God." He conceives that by intense meditation on the divine perfection, and by totally abstracting the mind from every other consideration, he may see the Deity mentally, thereby have a knowledge of the essence and nature of his own soul; know things intuitively, past, present, and future: in fine, be possessed of omniscience and omnipotence. This is the wonderful system of the Yōgee or Indian Ascetic, and Dnani or person possessing divine wisdom or omniscience; from whom the Sûfis are supposed by some to have borrowed their doctrine.

Man, when he arrives to this ultimate state here below (previous to which he has to pass through three others to render himself that pure and perfect image of his Maker), then enjoys that supreme beatitude, ecstasy, and absorption of mind in contemplating the Deity, his own origin and essence; the intelligent soul is then supposed to collect together its pervasive power and power of ubiquity, to abstract itself from every terrestrial object, and to concentrate itself in the Brehmrundhrer or pineal gland, where it is absorbed and dissolved in supreme bliss; and remains in this voluntary trance, which is called in Sounscrút Semadhee. This union of the soul with the Deity, or ineffable beatitude, is also termed in Sounscrut Moksh, signifying literally "release" (from bondage and the dominion of sin), and in Persian, or rather Arabic, Wasil, literally "union" or "meeting."

By a series of practice and the most rigid austerities and mortification, it is believed to be attainable:-several learned men of the latter age have believed in this. We know very well that the fathers or saints of the third and fourth centuries, such as St. Jerome, St. Chrysostom, St. Anthony, and others, were strongly tinctured with this in all their thoughts and actions,

and to have supposed that the Scripture itself authorizes a belief of the ultimate union of the soul with the Deity, (vide St. Paul's Epist. to Eph. ch. ii. ver. 18, 19, 20, 21, 22; also ch. iv. ver. 6: and again 1 Cor. ch. vi. ver. 17; and Heb. ch. iv. ver. 9, 10.); and it evidently says, "God is in all," and that "ye are the temples of the living God." This is the doctrine too which the Sûfis hold forth. Nor were the ancient philosophers of Greece, as Plato, Socrates, Aristotle, Plotinus, &c. ignorant of this in the very height of idolatry. I will adduce two very remarkable passages in support of this, from the latter author and Platonic philosopher: "He passeth from himself as the image to the archetype, being already in possession or enjoyment of the end of his earthly pilgrimage." "Such is the life of gods, and of god-like, happy, highly-favoured men; a deliverance and separation from the low cares of mortality. It is a life which receives not its pleasure and satisfaction from the things of this world; an ascent or flight of the soul, which is one, simple, and uncompounded, to that being who is one and alone, in an eminent and incommunicable sense."

Eusebius speaks in the same language in his evangelic history. This will help in some degree to show how far human nature aided by divine grace is capable of going.

દ They who have thus fashioned their manners, God-like beings carried by devout aspirations to the heavenly regions, superintend the lives of all around them; they are set apart and sanctified unto God himself, who is above all, for the sake of the whole human race; by a spirit and disposition purified from every stain by the unerring doctrine of true and unfeigned piety, and by words and works according unto righteousness. By these and such actions they offer up a propitiation to the Deity for themselves and for those of the same common nature, and complete their hallowed ministry in full consummation."

I will conclude for the present upon this head with one more quotation, and that from the Koran:

"O thou soul which art at rest, return into thy Lord, well pleased with thy reward, and well pleasing unto God: enter among my servants, and enter my paradise.”