10
The Sufi Concept of Meditation
Introduction:What Is Meditation?
The word meditation is today a much-used word describing a plethora
of practices that are sometimes difficult to bring under one common
denominator.Hence the need for a short introduction that will put the subject
in its proper perspective. The context in which it is going to be discussed
here is religious, and the religion discussed is Islam. Islam, like Judaism and
Christianity, is a monotheistic religion, but there are other religions as
well which might be described as polytheistic, for example, Hinduism or
non-theistic, like Jainism or Buddhism, where meditation too is an accepted
practice. Therefore, it is necessary to construct a definition of meditation
that would do justice to the whole range of experiences taking place within
different religious frames.
Meditation might indeed encompass an extremely broad array of practices
connected to many of the world’s religious and philosophical traditions, but
there are certain traits that are common.These generally include refraining
from random, disturbing thoughts and fantasies, and aim at calming and
focusing the mind on some specific object. Sometimes meditation requires
a strenuous effort, while at other times it is an entirely effortless activity
experienced as ‘just happening’. Different practices involve concentrating
one’s attention differently. A variety of positions and postures might be
involved, for example, sitting cross-legged, standing, lying down, kneeling
and walking. At times certain devices like prayer beads (the Islamic
tasbih
and the Catholic
rosary,
for example), symbolic representations of the deity,
