Main principles of Sufism

1. God

According to Sufism, God is one. The world is a reflection of God. Everything in the world is given by God. According to them, God is the only real being. Its form is eternal and everywhere. According to Sufi seekers, God is unique, absolute, imperceptible, infinite, and the ultimate truth. Apart from the ultimate truth, he is the ultimate welfare and supremely beautiful. Thus, the Sufi doctrine can be said to be based on Satyam Shivam Sundaram.

2. Soul

Sufi saints consider the soul to be a part of God. According to Sufis, the soul used to rule before it got imprisoned in the human body. That’s why Sufi seekers welcome death and thus the liberation of the soul. In the view of Sufi seekers, two qualities are predominant in the soul, Nafs and Rooh. Nafs is the source of all vices, pride, ignorance, anger, lust, fear. The Rooh or The spirit is the abode of God. The Nafs and Rooh are in a constant conflict.

3. Light (Noor)

According to the Sufis, when God had the desire to create the universe, he created light. The light is referred to as Noor e Muhammad (the light of Muhammad). God created the universe with this light.

4. Humans

Humans and helping fellow human beings are given the utmost importance in Sufism. According to Sufism, human beings are the best creation of God in the universe. According to Sufi seekers, man manifests all the qualities of God’s soul. Every human being should do good deeds. Good deeds bring man closer to God. Due to bad deeds, he turns away from God. A man can rise above the human condition and attain divinity. In this stage, he can listen to the teachings of God and put forth good ideas in front of the public.

5. Importance of teacher (Pir)

Pir has great importance in Sufism. Pir is the one who takes the seeker to God. A Sufi seeker cannot achieve anything without a spiritual master. Seeker always sees his Pir like God. Before being initiated into this religion, a person has to make certain vows in front of the Pir. The disciple had to do all the work like staying in the ashram, filling water, cleaning, etc. It is necessary to have a Pir to cross the difficult paths. With the help of Pir, a person achieves his real objective. Malik Muhammad Jayasi has written in this regard, “Don’t walk without your Pir, else you’ll do mistakes”.

6. Love

Love has great importance in the practice of Sufis. Love in the physical, mental, and spiritual sense is the driving force and the basis of Sufism is love. According to this God is uniquely beautiful and can be attained through love. The pleasure and benefit that comes from attachment to something is love.

Sufism: The medieval era saw a major social and religious movement in the Islamic world called the Sufi movement. In India, along with the Bhakti movement, in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, the Sufi movement also became popular and left its indelible mark on the hearts of the people. The Sufi movement was a symbol of Hindu-Muslim unity. The Sufi scholars traveling across continental Asia were instrumental in the social, economic, and philosophical development of India.

In addition to preaching in major cities and centers of intellectual thought, Sufis reached out to poor and marginalized rural communities and preached in local dialects such as Urdu, Sindhi, and Punjabi.

In this article, we will read about Sufism, the major beliefs of Sufism, and its practices in detail.