mindful of God: praise Him morning and evening.” (33:41-42). The Sufis
gave
dhikr
a formal, well-defined shape by attaching greater importance to
its popular rather than the Qur’anic meaning. They invented a number of
ways for calling out the name of God—silently, loudly, and even accompanied
by music or the beating of drums—as a means of achieving their goal.
The Ulama, representing the orthodox point of view, objected to the
Sufis giving such great importance to the mere recitation or chanting of the
words of the Qur’an.They held that for the understanding of the message of
Islam, it is not the recitation of the words which is important, but rather the
spirit of prayer, the attachment to God, and the willingness to surrender
one’s will to His will by pursuing and reflecting upon the meaning of the
divine words.And that when the spirit is fully observed, the desired spiritual
benefit can be achieved from the words of the Qur’an.
Sufi links with Orthodoxy
The Sufis, like all other followers of Islam, consider the Prophet Muhammad
to be the most perfect embodiment of their ideas and beliefs, and trace the
roots of Sufism back to his life. Indeed, the life of the Prophet of Islam does
provide a Sufi with a perfect example to follow. The traditions narrate a
life of poverty, sincerity, submission to God’s will, deep devotion,
contemplation, nightlong vigils and prayers, nearness to God, divine
inspiration and other-worldly visions. Though there are also traditions that
tell us that the Prophet discouraged people from spending all their time in
ritual worship and admonished them for not taking any interest in worldly
activities, the Sufis do not consider these
hadith
very relevant. They rather
link themselves to those companions of the Prophet who lived in the porch
of the mosque of Madinah, more bent on total devotion than the pursuit of
