Sufism....

The root Sufi means “pure”. It corresponds to the essence of the Sufi teachings and spiritual appearance of its best representatives. The true masters of Sufism, the true Sufis* are indeed pure from the dogmatism and fanaticism, are free from confessional and national prejudices. A strong aspiration to the ethical purity and impeccability, peculiar to the Sufis, contributed to their receiving another name in the Arab world — Knights of Purity (Sahiba-i-Safa)

Thanks to large pliancy and openness to outer influence, Sufism at present is not a uniform system. Its different trends, directions, schools, groups differ from one another by methodological aspects they emphasize, by practical methods they prefer. Among Sufis, there are well-known orders with ancient traditions and also 12 main (“parental”) brotherhoods. In addition, there are many other structures in Sufism: smaller brotherhoods, communities, centers, circles.

Let us talk about the fundamentals of the Sufi teachings:

— Sufism holds a belief that the universe consists of 7 “planes of existence” This concerns multidimensionality of space.

— The subtlest dimension, which the Sufis call Zat, is the Abode of God in the aspect of the Creator. The Creator and the whole diversity of His Creation (Sifat, in Sufi terms) compose the Absolute. The Creator pervades the entire Creation with His Love.

— The multidimensional human organism, which is similar in its structure to the multidimensional structure of the Absolute, can reveal in itself more subtle forms of beingness. One realizes this by cognizing and perfecting oneself.

Thus only by knowing his true essence man can achieve the direct perception of God and union with Him. This is expressed very laconically in the hadith of Sunna* which reads: “He who cognizes himself cognizes God”. On the final stages of such cognition, the individual human consciousness merges with the Divine Consciousness. This final goal is described in the Sufi tradition as the highest state of consciousness Baqi bi-Allah (Eternity in God). Hindu and Buddhist synonyms of this term are Kaivalya, Mahanirvana, Moksha.

The foundation of Sufism is love (mahabba, hubb). The Sufis even say of their teachings as of “hymn to the Divine Love” and call it tassawuri — love-vision. Love is considered in Sufism as the power which strengthens one’s feeling of being contained in God. This process results in understanding that in the world there is nothing but God, Who is the Lover and the Beloved at the same time.

One of the tenets of Sufism is “Ishq Allah Mabud Allah” (“God is Lover and the Beloved”).

A truly loving Sufi gradually submerges, sinks, and becomes dissolved in the Creator — in his or her Beloved.

The principle of regarding God as the Beloved originated from the Sufi direct experience. The Sufis describe this in the following way. When man traverses a certain part of the Path of Love, God begins to help him more actively by drawing him to His Abode. And then man begins to feel more intensely God’s Divine Love.