THE DOCTRINE
The doctrine is articulated around two fundamental axes: the affirmation of divine unity (al-tawhid) and the perfect and universal human being (al-insan al-kamil).
THE AFFIRMATION OF DIVINE UNITY
The doctrine of divine unity emphasizes the central goal of Sufism, which is the resolution of the duality between the Creator and creation into unity. This enables human beings to realize the divine unity with which they are one. It allows for the awareness of the absolute identity of all things: God, humanity, and the entire creation are One. God is the only Reality, One and indivisible, without a second. The doctrine of divine unity (al-tawhid) in Sufism corresponds to the doctrine of non-duality (advaita-vedanta) in the Hindu tradition and the doctrine of buddhahood or the realization of identity with the Absolute in Buddhism.
The Quran expresses the transcendent unity of Being by saying, “God is the First and the Last, the Manifest and the Hidden.” This explains the two aspects of God: His transcendence and His immanence. God is both transcendent, separate from the created world and its limitations in time and space, and simultaneously immanent, inseparable from the created world. God is, at once, transcendent (hidden) and inseparable from creation (manifest). Ibn Arabi explains it as follows: “Whoever unites their knowledge of God from the perspective of transcendence with that of immanence, and attributes both aspects to God collectively, truly knows Him…”
The experience of divine unity was beautifully commented upon by one of the most important Sufi mystics, Shadhili, the founder of the Shadhiliyya Sufi order, which is undoubtedly the most celebrated in North Africa and one of the most important in the entire Muslim world, along with the Qadiriyya order: “The vision of truth entered me and did not want to leave me, and it was more than I could bear, so I asked God to put a veil between It and me. Then, a voice addressed me, saying, ‘Even if you were to implore Him as only His prophets, His saints, and His beloved Muhammad know how to implore Him, He would not separate you from It with a veil. But ask Him to make you strong enough for It.’ So, I asked for strength, and He strengthened me. Glory be to God!”
THE PERFECT AND UNIVERSAL HUMAN BEING
On the other hand, the doctrine of the perfect and universal human being emphasizes, as we can read in chapter 95 of the Quran, that humanity was created with the most admirable proportions as a spiritual and divine archetype (ahsan taqwim). However, humanity later descended to the lowest degree of the scale (asfal safilin). It was then that veils appeared, preventing human beings from being conscious of the divine world and their true spiritual nature.
It is clear from the above that, for Muslims, as well as for Jews and Christians, humanity fell from its perfection at a later stage; it plummeted into its purely earthly and human condition where it encountered the illusion of duality (what the Quran calls the lowest degree of the scale, asfal safilin, and what Jews refer to as Adam Belial, the fallen or expelled man from the Kingdom, in contrast to Adam Kadmon, the archetype of pure light, and what Christians refer to as the human being in a state of original sin, in contrast to the redeemed or ascended human being in the Kingdom).
It is precisely this fall from spiritual and immortal consciousness to earthly and mortal consciousness that gives meaning to the mystical search in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: humanity fell from a state of conscious union with God to a state of separation from God.
The fundamental role of Sufism, therefore, is to awaken human beings to their true spiritual nature, to that which they have always been in essence, although they are unaware of it in the state of asfal safilin. By transitioning from the state of asfal safilin (fallen human) to the state of ahsan taqwim (perfect or ascended human), individuals shed the veils that cover their spiritual nature and restore their condition of perfect unity with the Absolute (al-tawhid).
Source: Shiva Shambho
Documents on the Doctrine of Sufism
Books on the Doctrine of Sufism
External Links: Islam / Sufism / Muhammad / Quran / Al-Tawhid / Al-Insān al-Kāmil / Shadhili