The religion of Islam, founded by Muhammad (also spelled Mohamed: the Glorified) in the 7th century AD, is based on the Quran, which is considered by Muslims as the word of God transmitted through the Archangel Gabriel to the Prophet Muhammad, the last in the series of biblical prophets. This religion contains an outer or orthodox path and an inner or mystical path. The outer path is based on the Law revealed in the Quran and primarily focuses on the observance of rules, rituals, and devotional acts. On the other hand, the inner or mystical path, known as Sufism, deals with doctrine and the mystical path.
The mystical doctrine revolves around two fundamental axes:
1. The affirmation of divine unity (al-tawhid), and
2. The perfect and universal human being (ahsan taqwim) (al-insan al-kamil).
The doctrine of divine unity emphasizes the central goal of Sufism, which is the resolution of the duality of creator-creation into unity. This enables the realization of the absolute identity of all things: God, humans, and the entire creation are One. The Quran expresses the transcendent unity of Being by stating, “God is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden.” This explains the two aspects of God: His absolute transcendence from the created world and, simultaneously, His immanence or inseparability from the created world: God is both transcendent (hidden) and inseparable from creation (manifest).
Furthermore, the doctrine of the perfect and universal human being emphasizes, as we can read in Chapter 95 of the Quran, that humans were created with the most admirable proportions as a spiritual and divine archetype (ahsan taqwim), but later descended to the lowest degree of the scale (asfal safilin). It was then that veils appeared, preventing them from being aware of the divine world and their true spiritual nature. The fundamental role of Sufism is to awaken humans to their true spiritual nature, to what they have always been in essence, even though they are unaware of it in the state of asfal safilin (fallen human). By transitioning from the state of asfal safilin to ahsan taqwin (perfect or ascended human), individuals shed the veils that cover their spiritual nature and restore their perfect unity with the Absolute (al-tawhid).
The mystical path of Sufism, on the other hand, involves the complete realization of the two axes on which the doctrine rests: divine unity and the perfect and universal human being. To progress on this path, it is necessary to have a clear understanding of various theoretical and practical aspects of the teachings:
1. The veils that separate the soul from God;
2. the virtues of the perfect and universal human being;
3. the stations, states, and degrees of being or holiness; and finally,
4. the method.
Source: Shiva Shambho
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External Links: Islam / Sufism / Muhammad / Quran / Tawhid / Al-Insān al-Kāmil