Sufis were Muslim mystics. They rejected outward religiosity and emphasised love and devotion to God and compassion towards all fellow human beings. Islam propagated strict monotheism or submission to one God. It also rejected idol worship and considerably simplified rituals of worship into collective prayers. The Sufis often rejected the elaborate rituals and codes of behaviour demanded by Muslim religious scholars. They sought union with God much as a lover seeks his beloved.
Wahadat-ul-wajud
* Sufism sprang from the doctrine of Wahadat-ul-wajud or the Unity of Being. It means in plain language that God is the unity behind all plurality and the Reality behind all phenomenal appearance.
* It emphasises that “there is nothing in existence except God and union with God results from an intuitive contact with Him and a complete detachment from the world and all that is other than God.’’ This doctrine was propounded by Shaikh Muhi-ud-din Ibnul Arabi (1165-1240 A.D.) This doctrine became an acknowledged belief of the Muslim Sufis in India.
- In short, Sufism was a liberal reform movement within Islam. It had its origin in Persia and spread into India in the eleventh century. The first Sufi saint Shaikh Ismail of Lahore started preaching his ideas . He was the author of the celebrated manual on Sufism entitled Kashful Mahjub . The Sufis in India were successful in converting a large number of Hindus to Islam. They placed before the Hindus, particularly those belonging to lower castes, the message of equality of Islam. They learned the language of the people and their religion along with their practices. They laid the foundation of the Urdu language which became the medium of intercourse between them and the Indian People.
- Abul Fazl while writing in the Ain-i-Akbari speaks of fourteen silsilahs of the Sufis. These silsilahs were divided into two types: Ba-shara and Be-shara.
- Ba-shara were those orders that followed the Islamic Law (Sharia) and its directives such as namaz and roza. Chief amongst these were the Chishti, Suhrawardi, Firdawsi, Qadiri and Naqshbandi silsilahs.
- The beshara silsilahs were not bound by the Sharia. The Qalandars belonged to this group.
