A Sufi take on spirituality

Sumit Paul

At the outset, though the title of this book is: ‘It’s not just academic’, it ought to have been, ‘It’s pure academic.’ The contents are quite profound and analysis of Islam and its various facets is scholastic. Carl W. Ernst is a renowned scholar of Islam and despite his lucid style, the book caters to the cerebral needs of scholars and advanced students of Islam. The book delves into Sufism, Islamic calligraphy, art and literature and elucidates these aspects in a manner that only a man of Ernst’s calibre and understanding will be able to relate to it. This is not a minus point of the book. Rather, this adds to the depth of the book which becomes a reference book to those who want to know Islam, esp. Sufism, art and literature of Islamic world. The author brings out the hither-to unknown facts and fecundity of Islam’s very rich theo-spiritual legacy.

Understanding Islam is no less than a challenge. At this point of time, when Islam is much maligned and castigated, it’s imperative to know its ultra-refined side. That Islam’s not a ‘desert-religion’ is well understood when a serious reader or scholar bothers to flip through this book with a view to comprehending the contributions of Islam and especially of Sufism that comes as a whiff of fresh air with its all-encompassing philosophy and humane teachings.

Islamic spirituality includes a wide range of issues. Beginning, as always, with the Qur’an and traditions of Muhammad (called Hadith but pronounced as Hadis). Muslims have developed ways of reading and interpreting the sacred sources with an eye for references to God’s nearness. In addition, Muslim writers, poets, and artists across the world have evolved dozens of literary and visual forms by which to express their experience of God’s presence in everything from communal ritual prayer to glorying in a sunset to the tragedy of heartbreaking loss. Muslims can draw upon a rich repository of spiritual models as well, stories of men and women whose achievements mark them as especially favoured by God. Through books, pictures, and performance, their example continues to inspire, challenge, and entertain Muslims in search of greater depth to their faith.

Ernst has enumerated upon this very all-embracing, spiritual quality of Islam that’s far removed from the stereotypical image of this faith today. Islam is an Arabic word which connotes ‘submission’, submission to the Almighty. And when one submits oneself to the Almighty sans even a scintilla of doubt and resistance, only the very best is bound to blossom.

The mysticism of Islam in the form of Sufism has brought out the sterling essence of the youngest of the three Semitic faiths, viz, Judaism and Christianity. The mystic traditions of Islamic tasawwuf (Spirituality/Aadhyatma) are a subject that has always drawn Muslims as well as non-Muslims to the fold of Islam like moths to a flame. Jalaluddin Rumi, Hafiz Shirazi, Attar, Jami, among others, don’t just belong to the Islamic world. They are for the entire mankind with their luminous wisdom, coruscating brilliance, sparkling wit and unfathomable profundity. ‘Faqat ek lafz Rumi ka, badal sakta hai jahaan ko’ (Just one word from Rumi’s oeuvre can transform the whole world), aptly stated Dr Allama Iqbal.

Ernst dwelt upon the beauty and the feminine attribute of Sufism and extolled its transcendental quality and reach. To the god-inebriated Sufis, the whole world is Upanishadic Vasudhaiv Kutumbakam (the entire world’s a family). What Allama Iqbal stated in his Ramz-e-Bekhudi (The mystery of Bekhudi; state of being self-immersed), Ernst has brought that out through his masterly prose while discussing old, medieval and contemporary Sufism.

Ernst eruditely analysed the spiritual martyrdom of Mansur Al-Hallaj, who was excoriated for his ecstatic proclamation An-al-Haq (I’m the Truth) in 922 AD (he was born and crucified on the same date, March 26!). The metaphor of Hallaj in the realm of Islamic mysticism is elaborately explained in this book. The impact of his martyrdom and love for the Truth redefined Islam and mellowed it. Today, his so-called sacrilege is seen as an act of ultimate devotion. And his blasphemous declaration is considered to be an apogee of faith.

The Islamic (esp. Arabic) calligraphy finds a stronghold in Ernst’s treatise. Calligraphy is the sublimation, nay epitome, of Islamic fine arts. In a nutshell, a compassionate as well as dispassionate treatment of Islam was long overdue. Ernst did that in a fabulously unprejudiced manner, using all his experiences and years of research. The book bespeaks the author’s love for Islam and understanding of its different shades, strands and sects. A must-read for serious readers of Islam but the dilettantes may find it a tad too highfalutin and slightly incomprehensible. But that doesn’t lessen its significance and relevance.