Islamic fundamentalism with leadership election

David Charter in Brussels

The UK Independence Party is set to head in a fresh direction, fighting radical Islam, with the election today of a replacement for Nigel Farage as its national leader.

The two favourites to take over from Mr Farage are committed to adding the battle against Islamic fundamentalism to the party’s main goal of withdrawing Britain from the European Union.

Mr Farage resisted strong grassroots pressure during his three-year leadership to broaden UKIP’s focus to include actively campaigning against Islamism and immigration. But both Lord Pearson of Rannoch and the London MEP Gerard Batten - the two front-runners in a field of five candidates - say that they are determined to target Islamic fundamentalism.

The other three candidates are Mike Nattrass and Nikki Sinclaire, both MEPs, and Alan Wood, a councillor from Wiltshire and a senior party insider.

The result of the ballot of UKIP’s 16,500 members will to be announced today. Lord Pearson, 67, an Eton-educated self-made millionaire, was endorsed by Mr Farage as his only “serious” successor this month. Mr Batten called the endorsement an “insult” to the other challengers.

Lord Pearson invited the anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders to the House of Lords in February only for Jacqui Smith, then the Home Secretary, to issue a banning order so that Mr Wilders was turned away at Heathrow. The Dutchman travelled to Britain in October after overturning the ban.

Lord Pearson’s own outspoken views about Islam were recorded in Washington DC last month. Asked how much time Britain had before losing control of its cultural identity he said: “What is going to decide the answer to that is the birthrate. The fact that Muslims are breeding ten times faster than us. I do not know at what point they reach such a number that we are no longer able to resist the rest of their demands . . . but if we do not do something now within the next year or two we have in effect lost.”

He later insisted that his remark was directed at Islamists. “One is talking about the violent end of the spectrum,” he said.

Mr Batten, 55, has also invited Mr Wilders to speaking engagements and has called the Dutch politician “a brave man trying to defend western civilisation”. This year, writing in the magazine Freedom Today, Mr Batten addressed the notion of the confrontation of Islamism and the West. “It is a clash between civilisation and barbarism. It is a clash between everything that has made the modern world what it is and an ideology that wants to enslave us to a belief system that belongs in seventh-century Arabia and which was primitive and backward even then.”

Ms Sinclaire, 41, a newly elected MEP, has campaigned strongly and is regarded as having an outside chance of taking the leadership. Her main aim is to professionalise UKIP and organise a Shadow Cabinet to extend its appeal.

Mr Nattrass, 63, an MEP for the West Midlands since 2004, believes that UKIP’s main focus should be on winning votes in the next general election but has largely been absent during the campaign due to an illness in the family. Mr Wood is well known within UKIP as its nominating officer.

A UKIP source said that if Lord Pearson or Mr Batten were elected “You are going to see quite a lot stronger position from us. Nigel has always been afraid of the Islam thing backfiring. But the BNP are taking ownership of issues that have not been addressed by Labour, the Conservatives or the Lib Dems and they need addressing.”

Pluralism in Egyptian Religious

by MICHAEL SLACKMAN

The New York Times

CAIRO - Writing in his weekly newspaper column, Gamal al-Banna said recently that God had created humans as fallible and therefore destined to sin. So even a scantily clad belly dancer, or for that matter a nude dancer, should not automatically be condemned as immoral, but should be judged by weighing that person’s sins against her good deeds.

This view is provocative in Egypt’s conservative society, where many argue that such thinking goes against the hard and fast rules of divine law. Within two hours of the article’s posting last week on the Web site of Al Masry al Youm, readers had left more than 30 comments - none supporting his position.

“So a woman can dance at night and pray in the morning; this is duplicity and ignorance,” wrote a reader who identified himself as Hany. “Fear God and do not preach impiety.”

Still, Mr. Banna was pleased because at least his ideas were being circulated. Mr. Banna, who is 88 years old and is the brother of Hassan al-Banna, founder of the Muslim Brotherhood, has been preaching liberal Islamic views for decades.

But only now, he said, does he have the chance to be heard widely. It is not that a majority agrees with him; it is not that the tide is shifting to a more moderate interpretative view of religion; it is just that the rise of relatively independent media - like privately owned newspapers, satellite television channels and the Internet - has given him access to a broader audience.

And there is another reason: The most radical and least flexible thinkers no longer intimidate everyone with differing views into silence.

“Everything has its time,” Mr. Banna said, seated in his dusty office crammed with bookshelves that stretch from floor to ceiling.

It is a testament to how little public debate there has been over the value of pluralism, or more specifically of the role of religion in society, that so many see the mere chance to provoke as progress. But now, more than any time in many years, there are people willing to risk challenging conventional thinking, said writers, academics and religious thinkers like Mr. Banna.

“There is a relative development, enough to at least be able to present a different opinion that confronts the oppressive religious current which prevails in politics and on the street, and which has made the state try to outbid the religious groups,” said Gamal Asaad, a former member of Parliament and a Coptic intellectual.

It is difficult to say exactly why this is happening. Some of those who have begun to speak up say they are acting in spite of - and not with the encouragement of - the Egyptian government. Political analysts said that the government still tried to compete with the Muslim Brotherhood, a banned but tolerated Islamic movement, to present itself as the guardian of conservative Muslim values.

Several factors have changed the public debate and erased some of the fear associated with challenging conventional orthodoxy, political analysts, academics and social activists said. These include a disillusionment and growing rejection of the more radical Islamic ideology associated with Al Qaeda, they said. At the same time, President Obama’s outreach to the Muslim world has quieted the accusation that the United States is at war with Islam, making it easier for liberal Muslims to promote more Western secular ideas, Egyptian political analysts said.

“It is not a strategic or transformational change, but it is a relative change,” said Mr. Asaad, who emphasized that the dynamic was for Christians as well as Muslims in Egypt. “And the civil forces can unite to capitalize on this atmosphere and invest in it to raise it to become a more general atmosphere.”

Two events this summer highlighted the new willingness of a minority to confront the majority - and the overwhelming response by a still conservative community.

In June, a writers’ committee affiliated with the Ministry of Culture gave a prestigious award to Sayyid al-Qimni, a sharp critic of Islamic fundamentalism who in 2005 stopped writing, disavowed his own work and moved after receiving death threats for his writing.

Muhammad Salmawy, a committee member and president of the Egyptian Writers’ Union, said he thought Mr. Qimni had been honored in part because “he represents the secular direction and discusses religion on an objective basis and is against the religious current.”

What happened next followed a predictable path, but then veered. Islamic fundamentalists like Sheik Youssef al-Badri asked the government to revoke the award and moved to file a lawsuit against Mr. Qimni and the government.

“Salman Rushdie was less of a disaster than Sayyid al-Qimni,” said Mr. Badri in a television appearance on O TV, an independent Egyptian satellite channel. “Salman Rushdie, everyone attacked him because he destroyed Islam overtly. But Sayyid al-Qimni is attacking Islam and destroying it tactfully, tastefully and politely.”

But this time Mr. Qimni did not go into hiding. He appeared on the television show, sitting beside Sheik Badri as he defended himself.

A second development involved a religious minority, Bahais, who face discrimination in Egypt, where the only legally recognized faiths are Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Nine years ago the state stopped issuing identification records to Bahais unless they agreed to characterize themselves as members of one of the three recognized faiths. The documents are essential for access to all government services.

An independent group, The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, won a court order on behalf of the Bahais that forced the government to issue records leaving the religious identification blank. The first cards were issued this month. While the decision was aimed specifically at solving the problem faced by the Bahai community, the case tapped into the evolving debate, said the group’s executive director, Hossam Bahgat.

“It is an unprecedented move to recognize that one can be Egyptian and not adhere to one of these three religions,” Mr. Bahgat said. Still, he remains less than optimistic; most of the public reaction to the Bahais’ legal victory was negative, Mr. Bahgat said.

“It is known that you are apostates,” read one of many comments posted on Al Youm Al Sabei, an online newspaper.

But there has been at least a hint of diversity and debate in response to Mr. Banna’s remarks on belly dancers. Hours after they were posted, some readers began, however tentatively, to come to his defense. “Take it easy on the man,” an anonymous post said. “He did not issue a religious edict saying belly dancing is condoned. But he is saying that a person’s deeds will be weighed out because God is just. Is anything wrong with that?”

Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting.

Owned 9 Sword of the Prophet Muhammad SAW

These are the swords ever used by the Prophet Muhammad during his lifetime to preach, the total number of sword that was used was 9 units.

1. Al Ma'thur


Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami,
Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

Also known as 'Ma'thur Al-Fijar' is a sword held by the Prophet Muhammad before he received the first revelation in Mecca. This sword was given by his father, and brought the time migrated from Mecca to Medina until finally given together with other war equipment to Ali ibn Abi Talib.

This sword is now in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. Shaped blade with a length of 99 cm. The handle is made of gold with the form of a snake with 2 coated emeralds and turquoise. Close to the handle, there are carved Kufic Arabic script reads: 'Abdallah bin Abd al-Mutalib'.


2. Al 'ADB



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami, Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

Al-'Adb, the name of this sword, means "cut" or "sharp." The sword is sent to the Companions of the Prophet Muhammad just before the Battle of Badr. He used this sword in the battle of Uhud and his pengikutnnya use this sword to show loyalty to the Prophet Muhammad. Now the sword is in the Husayn mosque in Cairo Egypt.

3. Dhu al Faqar



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami, Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

Dhu al Faqar is a sword of the Prophet Muhammad as the spoils of war at the time of Badr. And reported that the Prophet Muhammad gave this sword to Ali ibn Abi Talib, who later Ali returned when the battle of Uhud with bleeding from his hands and shoulders, with a Dhu al Faqar in his hand.

Many sources say that this sword belonged to Ali Bin Abi Talib and the family. Shaped blade with two eyes.

4. Al Battar



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami, Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

Al Battar is a sword of the Prophet Muhammad as the spoils of the Banu Qaynaqa. This sword is called the 'sword of the prophets', and in this sword is engraved Arabic script that reads:

'The Prophet Daud AS, Solomon AS, AS Moses, Prophet Harun AS, Prophet Yusuf AS, Prophet Zachariah the U.S., Prophet Yahya AS, Prophet Isa AS, Prophet Muhammad'.

Figure engraving the names of the prophets in it:



In it there is also a picture of David when the U.S. cut off the heads of Goliath, people who have this sword in the first place. In the sword there is also writing identified as Nabataean writing.

This sword is now in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. Shaped blade with a length of 101 cm. It is rumored that the sword of the Prophet Jesus will use the U.S. later when he descended to earth again to defeat the Antichrist.


5. Hatf



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami,
Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992)

Hatf is a sword of the Prophet Muhammad as the spoils of the Banu Qaynaqa. It was narrated that the Prophet David, the U.S. took the sword 'Al Battar' of Goliath as the spoils when he defeated Goliath was on when he was 20 years old.

Allah SWT gives the ability to Prophet Daud AS to 'work' with the iron, making armor, weapons and tools of war, and he also makes his own gun. And is one of the Hatf-made, like Al Battar but bigger than that.

He uses this sword is then stored by Levita tribe (the tribe that held the weapons Israeli goods) and finally reached the hands of Prophet Muhammad. Now the sword is in Musemum Topkapi, Istanbul. Shaped blade, with a length of 112 cm and 8 cm wide.

6. Al Mikhdham



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami,
Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

There is word that the sword is from the Prophet Muhammad which was given to Ali ibn Abi Talib and forwarded to her children Ali. But there is another word that this sword came from Ali ibn Abi Talib as the spoils of which he led attacks on Syria.

This sword is now in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. Shaped blade with a length of 97 cm, and has carved Arabic script that reads: 'Zayn al-Din al-Abidin'.

7. Al Rasub



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami,
Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

Some say that the sword was kept at home by the Prophet Muhammad's family and relatives like the Ark (Ark) is saved by the people of Israel.

This sword is now in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. Shaped blade with a length of 140 cm, has a gold sphere in which there are carvings of the Arabic script that reads: 'Ja'far al-Sadiq'.

8. Al Qadib



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami,
Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

Al-Qadib shaped thin blade that can be said is similar to a stick. This is the sword for the defense when traveling, but is not used for war.

Written on the side of carving a silver sword, which reads the creed:

"There is no God but Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah - Muhammad bin Abdallah bin Abd al-Mutalib."

There is no indication in the historical sources that this sword was used in battle. The sword is in the house of Prophet Muhammad SAW and then only used by the Fatimid caliphs.

This sword is now in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. Its length is 100 cm and has a scabbard of dyed animal skins.

9. Qal'a



Photos taken by Muhammad Hasan Muhammad al-Tihami,
Suyuf al-Rasul wa 'uddah harbi-hi (Cairo: Hijr, 1312/1992).

This sword is known as "Qal'i" or "Qul'ay." Names that may be associated with a place in Syria or a place in India near China. Ulama other countries that the word "qal'i" refers to "lead" or "white lead" which in the mine various locations.

This sword is one of the three swords of the Prophet Muhammad as booty obtained from Bani Qaynaqa. There is also a report that the Prophet Muhammad's grandfather found the sword when he found the water of Zamzam in Mecca.

This sword is now in the Topkapi Museum, Istanbul. Shaped blade with a length of 100 cm. Inside there is the Arabic inscription reads: "This is a noble sword of the Prophet Muhammad's house, the Messenger of Allah."

This sword is different from the others because this sword has a wave-shaped design.

Sufism - the missing pearls now recalled (Tasawuf )

Tasawwuf - Sufism, Start pearls Remembered Again

By Abdul Hadi W. M.



Do not build your house on the land of others

Work for their own true ambition in this world

Do not get caught by the Lure Foreigners

Who was the stranger lust except the water?

He is the source of disaster and heartache you

During the only body you're patient and you treat

It will not be fertile soul, will not be too fast


This is just a grain of so many pearls of wisdom left by the Sufis in their treasury warehouse and many more are hidden from us. Wisdom cited above is one stanza from a poem Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-1273 AD) and Sufi poets of Persia. The poem was written when the Muslims were in chaos and the disintegration of large-scale, similar to what we experience now, as a result of the Second Crusade raids in the west (Arab land) and the capture of the Mongol army in the east (Persia, Central Asia). Strands of the above learned from the Sufi masterpiece Mathnawi, which literary scholars of Islam dubbed as Tafseer Qur `an in Persian literature the most valuable.




According to Peter Avery (1978) Rumi's works were written with the aim of "strengthening the Muslim community back to the soul-torn moyak massacres and looting due to massive Mongol soldiers, who spread pessimism and make the Muslims lost the confidence of his hidden power and religion dianutnya. "

But unfortunately after a long journey and hundreds of exhausting internal upheaval, including the dispute khilafiyah protracted, such pearls of wisdom finally buried the memories of many Muslims. Similarly, the positive goal of Sufism increasingly forgotten, and comes to us most is the sense of shallow and more wrong or confused.

Now the interest in Sufism and literature are encouraging revived among Islamic scholars. Rumi's words above can certainly restore our positive understanding of Sufism. With the beauty of Sufi classified as a row of lust stranger deceptive cunning and clever we are. This reminds us that, as the ideals and ideology of foreign, lust is not really our true selves. In his book describes Rumi's passion further:

Eve lust is the mother of all idols:

It is a snake idols, the idol is a dragon spirit.

It is easy to destroy idols, but considered easy

Beat lust is stupid.

O my son, if you recognize the form of lust like, read the description of

Hell with seven doors

From the lust each time emerging deception;

And of every hundred Pharaoh's guile and his hosts fall.


The Sufi wisdom tells us in various forms of literary pronunciation. Not only in prose like a treatise or khitabah. Form of aesthetic discourse among other selected parable (allegory), the epic of spirituality, adab, the frame story, humor, praise poems (diwan, Qasidah), love poems, mystical (ghazal), satire or sindirian (hija `), and so forth. Their work is read back relevant to justify our understanding, which already false and misleading and ahistorical about Sufism .. For example just in the West. There Sufism or the Sufi expert better known as a group of dancers who like to be ecstasy and work everyday just so. Such a picture, among others found in the book James Morier Haji Baba of Ispahan. In our own country the activities of the Sufis and the Sufi scholars often associated with pedukunan practice, the occult, psychic or fortune-telling. And that's not true Sufism.

Sufism is often also seen as a source of Islamic decline, a conclusion that naive and not based on clear arguments. In fact the factors that caused the decline of Islam is very complex and intertwined with each other. Among these factors, including cultural factors, political and economic. Sufism itself as a religious movement to take a variety of shades, there is an active and militant, some are passive and escapist. Some take the form of the Order of the movement, which took the form of a philosophy and culture movement. And is not fair if we forget the great contribution they are in the spreading of Islam, especially in the Islamic countries of east.

Was not fair to forget their contributions in arts, languages, literature, language, architecture and various expertise. The amount of donation is reflected in the fame name of the characters and the wide acceptance of the Muslim community of thinking and their actions in the field of spirituality. Among the famous figures that decorate the pages of history and culture of Islamic civilization is Mansur al-Hallaj, al-Ghazali, al-Qushayri, Ibn al-'Arabi, Ibn Sina, Omar Khayyam, Atar, Rumi, Jami ', Mulla Sa' in, Hafiz, Suhrawardi, Ghalib, Hamzah Fansuri, Mohammad Iqbal and others.

Sufi known by many names: darwisy, `urafa (science is called irfan) or expert mysticism, as is known in Java and Madura. Although their movement is often accused of deviating from the religion, especially by scholars and modernist jurisprudence, but they remain steadfast in their beliefs influence their teaching and do not lead to the existence of the Muslim community being disrupted for several centuries. Sufis active even lead the jihad movement, for example against colonialism in the colonial period. They also often appears as a reformer movement leader. Sheikh Junaid al-Baghdadi said: "The system we are bound to Sufism of Islam, the Qur'an and Sunnah."

Sufism is also often associated with Buddhism and Vedanta, Neo-Platonism and Christian asceticism. It's the truth they teach a lot like the teachings of the above. But the similarity is frequently due to the teachings of mysticism essentially everywhere similar. Mystical experience itself is universal, but how do I communicate to the device of religion and religious texts. But the root and source of Sufi teachings of the Koran is. Islam itself as al-din was never claimed to be teaching a truly new. Similarly, the Sufis have never claimed that the spiritual teachings of a completely new and totally different from other forms of other spirituality. In fact the leading Sufi, Ibn al-Arabi who dubbed al-Akbar Sheikh, said:

Sufism seeds have been planted at the time of Prophet Adam.

That is the miracle of life, kemaujudan.

At the time of Prophet Noah began to germinate.

That is the miracle of growth, saving

At the time of Prophet Ibrahim's forked branches.

That miracle efflorescence and maintenance

Moses era witnessed the fruit appears.

That miracle keranuman and fertilization

Time of the Prophet Isa fruits began to cook.

That is the miracle of fasting and cheer the soul.

Time of the Prophet Muhammad we see

Clear wine milking and filtering results.

That is the miracle of achievement and change in shape.


Sufism, as told by the characters, is "a clear Kalbu, not shabby clothes and a wild desire." Sufi goal is to achieve true knowledge and certain about God and ourselves. And this was achieved through the purification of the soul, purifying the mind and heart, all of which is the way of Love.

If modern people often say that the state depends on the person, the Sufis say that the state of a person is determined by the achievement of knowledge. Diverse knowledge. There is obtained outside of ourselves and others found in the search for trouble .. Seek knowledge for the Sufi is a journey and the most beautiful trip and give happiness is to travel to find themselves and gain knowledge about the nature of any substance. About this Sufi poet of the 12th century, Abu Sa'id al-Khayr writes in homely poem, but it touched a deep feeling:

All the way to You - beautiful

All the faces of your face - beautiful

Everything the eye can see your light - beautiful

Any words repeated in your name - beautiful

In the last line of his poem of Abu Sa'id al-Khayr tells wonderful spiritual experience gained in remembrance Sufis sincere and earnest. Turkish Sufi poet of the 13th century, Yunus Emre also writes with a similar tone:

Water flows luminous heaven

God's name is called over and over again

Thus the nightingale singing Islam

Allaah calls repeatedly

Tuba tree branches sway

All friends read Al-Qur `an

Roses in the garden murmur spread fragrance

Allaah calls repeatedly

Sufi journey is the journey to find God and nature itself. The greatest Sufi poet Hamzah Fansuri Southeast Asia to write a modest but beautiful expression and in:

Hamzah Fansuri in Mecca

Finding God in the Baitul Kaaba

From Barus to Qudus too hard

Finally found in the house

Since first until now people do not stop looking for the essence of himself, because only by knowing oneself to find happiness and be familiar with his spiritual home. In the poem was also stated that the journey is not just a Sufi in the world of travel horizontally-form shapes, but a travel vertical in nature nature. Jalaluddin Rumi wrote that the source of happiness that is the essence of self can not be found when people stare at the formal forms of worship:

Cross and Christians, shoots to the top check

Without him in the cross.

I went to a Hindu temple, the temple pagoda

long, not a shred of a sign there.

To the Kaaba and Mecca I'm coming.

There was also there.

Kujenguk itself into my soul.

Yes I saw him there.

Not elsewhere was i,m found.

The Sufi is like to wander from one place to another since until now. They walk with a lot of goals: to find a teacher, fellow traveler, a student who would listen and spread the teachings of religion and increase the number of Muslims. In the 13th century and 14 M. diharu Islamic world by the many wars blue, among others, the War and the Mongol conquests of the army. The Sufis had rescued the culture and Islamic civilization has been shattered. They went looking for places where safe as outposts stop in their journey. Halting stations serves many: as a surau, boarding schools, shelter the refugees and the protection of the traders. In the post-post this stops them consolidate power and spreading the message of Islam, candidates raise martyrs and scholars in the militants. In the posts that stops them establish precisely ta `ifa (trade organization) with the merchants, former soldiers who are not active anymore, craftsmen, artists, physicians, scientists, sailors, seaman and others.

But the travel and wanderings in the natural world is just a means to begin the journey higher. True human journey by Rumi is the "journey of self to self 'that is" From the low self, (ie lust) towards higher self (ie Spiritual Self). Trip like that "Like the way for sugar cane, travel grain of sand that deviate from the usual way and then go into the shell and later transformed pearls."

Someone who has found himself will feel closer to the One as it is said Hamzah Fansuri in the closing stanza poem strands:

Hamzah Syahr Nawi zahirnya Jawi

Ahmad inner light that safi

Although he humiliated identity

`Asyiqnya da'im will Dhat al-Bari

People who managed to know in depth the nature itself will receive the wisdom or the wisdom that high. He understands that although he was born as Zahir Malays, Javanese, Persian or Afghan, but in spirit the same, comes from the holy light. Or as is said Baba Kuhi of Shiraz in the 12th century:

In the market, in the monastery - only God I saw

In the valley and the mountain - only God I saw

Often he was there for me

At the time of disasters struck.

In love and fortune - only God I saw.

At the time of prayer and fasting

At the time of prayer and meditation

In the religion of Allah - only God I saw.

Is not the soul or body, not the occurrence or nature,

Not the nature or cause of i meet - only God I saw close.

I opened my eyes and with his face light

Which illuminates the darkness all around me

The terjumla eye in all - only God I saw.

Immeasurable amount of knowledge in this world. He ran in the universe and in man as the verses of his, which would signal the presence of His unseen but real through the work and actions of His creative. Thus God is seen that the Sufis refer to the fact that, not God in the flesh as a way lahiriyah creatures in nature syahadah or the senses. After all the other verses of al-Qur `an says that" Wherever you look at will appear face of God ". His face suggested it was not lahiriyah face of God, but the appearance and properties of his work in life, either in nature or in human beings. That is why also said in al-Qur `an that God closer to man than man's own neck veins. So if it's true that Baba Kuhi had felt haqq al-yaqin (sure really sure) said, "Often he was there for me when disasters struck."

It has been said that the Sufi seeker is the true nature of Self, and they believe that the experience is personal makrifat. They also believe themselves and their teaching aims to achieve self-realization in life that radiates truth godlike. Yet it does not mean they are happy to praise myself, being self-centered in action and selfless love. It is precisely through the quest that they want to reach a state faqir, kehapusan themselves from the interests of the world that is materialistic and egocentric.

The way they broadcast a distinct religion of the scholars and preachers ordinary jurisprudence. They used to take a cultural approach. They absorb the local culture, and then pumped with Islamic values and then transformed into new cultural forms. Through the art facilities such as music, literature and architecture of their menanampkan Islamic values in public life. If the inner consciousness of the community was ready to accept the teachings of Islam, the teachings of the Shari'a and fiqh are intensively as a form of liberation from the formality of the old life.

In this case very interesting what the Sunan Bonang own as it is spoken in the Wujil Conduct. On one day come to datangla day boarding Bonang a dwarf prince of Majapahit named Wujil. This former palace people are hungry for the truth. He was not satisfied with any form of formal teaching of religion such as Hinduism, Buddhism and flow. He had wandered around to see the priests, clerics and monks. But he was never able to find what he sought.

In Wujil Bonang received by the mayor and said that the essence of Hindu religion are virtually identical to the original Islam, and the second goal is the same religion. But in the Hindu religion people have meditated in the mountains and tortured bodies to gain redemption and perfection. Whereas in the Islamic religion can be the salvation of souls in the marketplace without the need to torture the body. Praying five times a day no less manjurnya in providing cleansing the soul. Then given a lesson Wujil shari'ah, aqidah principles of Islam, fiqh and Sufism.



Sufism stressed the importance of testimony in reaching the truth of heart. Heart's testimony called direct knowledge. According to their formal introduction to the truth, which is obtained by hearing or reading from the book is inadequate. Formal knowledge can not lead someone on the nature of truth when fixed on the formal forms. Shari'a does not mean anything without internalized the understanding of the nature and makrifat. The urge to convey his belief about the importance of this direct knowledge of the Sufis encouraged many birth poems and stories are interesting parable. Because only through the symbolic and figurative language literary views, ideas and experiences can be expressed more alive than described in the form of a scientific treatise.

Another term for direct knowledge is love and love is often identified with the faith. Direct knowledge is achieved when a person has been separated from the worldly self-interest. As written by a Sufi poet, more or less:

Love would be perfect if it had the date of her

Namely one with the goal of love

The purpose of love is the unity of the will or the existence

Compare with what is spoken by a Chinese Taoist hukama about the nature of truth (haqq): '

Those who say, do not know;

Those who know, do not say.

A Sufi saying more or less the same:

When secrets taught to a person's vision

Her lips were clenched against talk of Consciousness

The core problem in the above poem is the fact that mystical awareness is essentially achieved through the testimony of heart and experienced only in the mind. They contain real truth is not to described in words. Imam al-Ghazali tells us: "godlike knowledge so profound that he was only known by those who have it. A child will not be able to understand the knowledge gained adults. Similarly, a formally educated in science will not be able to understand the expert knowledge gained makrifat nature and before the person reaches the science of nature and makrifat "

Direct knowledge of Sufi thought and testimony about ultimate truth called haqq al-yaqin. The Sufis believe that this deep conviction that is the source of certainty, determination and faith. Unlike the rational philosophers and scientists who believe that formal knowledge achieved only through empirical investigation and rational evidence, the Sufis believe that the discipline of worship and spiritual exercise that actually is also a source of knowledge. This does not mean that the Sufis reject the importance of empirical experience and evidence rationally. According to their empirical and rational methods is very useful in terms of solving the problems of humanity and the world. But to know the secrets of the divine and the human spiritual happiness requires intuitive experience or witness and makrifat heart.

Sufis many stories bear an interesting metaphor. In addition to its sharpness and depth, the stories are interesting because it is rich in humor. Although the stories are interpreted varies, but there is a central idea in it. For example a popular story among the Order Chistiyah experts. The story warns us to beware the word get around someone who is not expert in the field diceburinya. Story include:

A man believed to have died, and when wrapped in a shroud, to put into the grave, that person alive again. 'He should die,' said the man who mourn, because he has announced dead by the experts. 'But look, you can see I'm still alive,' cried the dead who live again. "

A famous lawyer came to see crowds of people who were mourning. 'Now, you have heard what was said by people who thought to die, but what you see this is true? "

"He's dead," said one mourner.

"Kuburlah him," said legal experts.

And so the man was buried alive.

Another satire aimed at the scholars academy graduates who controlled much knowledge, but foreign to the nature of science.

He is the head cocky and arrogant like

Do not think will want to know and understand the truth

Or this speech:

Give money to the degree that they can learn more

However, an ascetic should not be given anything to stay ascetics.

Sufis like Imam al-Ghazali, Jalaluddin Rumi and Attar `Fariduddin often reminded that the essence of experts including the Sufi is not omniscient person .. Students to their Sufi teachers always need someone to teach how to do something that is believed to either continuously with faith, love and great expectations. So one does not despair. Sense of optimism is more beneficial than despair. Rumi said "Who's still knocking on the door will come a time the door opened." A different Sufi saying, "Why do you say the door will open? The door was never actually closed. "But to believe that the 'door is always open' requires a long process and a deep inner awareness.

The Sufism believe that the supreme or ultimate truth can never be formulated in a scientific concept. A similar view was also found among the wise Hindus, Zen Buddhism, Taoism and others. A Daoist hukama stated, "What seems true is often a distortion of objective truth." The nature of all things according to their beliefs are not obtained through the question 'How? and Why? "

Except not indifferent to self ownership, Sufis believe that the poor or humble attitude has the power that can lead one to enlightenment heart. The story associated with Sheikh Uthman al-Hiri is quite interesting following:

Sheikh Uthman al-Hiri been invited to dinner by an ignorant. When the sheikh arrived at the house the man, the man away. But just a few steps when he walked, people called him again. This happens to thirty times, until someone else showed up, deeply moved watching fortitude and tenderness of Sheikh Uthman, when he saw the sheik bowed and apologized.

"You do not understand, '" said al-Hiri. "What did I do nothing more than what is done by a trained dog. When you call, the dog came. When you are away so he went away. This is not the behavior of a true Sufi, and not too difficult to do.

Shakespeare is often given the role of the fool in order to achieve the right look. The Sufis often use the wisdom of a madman (bahlul) to gain awareness to the truth. Madness, as beauty, is in the eye of the vision; and truth, as commonly understood, is something that is relative.

Understanding the Sufis, the mystics as a true understanding of the East and West, the man and the universe often cause surprise us. We used to believe in modern science with his findings. Included in the field of psychiatry (psychology), the evolution and nature of matter and energy. However, evidence shows that modern conceptions of this has long been recognized by experts in environmental makrifat Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam and Taoism. A famous Sufi tells the following eight hundred years ago:

"As long as you originally clay. From minerals, are you up so the plants. From plants, you've got to be animals and from animals up to be human. During the climbing period is people do not know where he would go, but he had traveled a long journey. And you have been through hundreds of the world / nature different. "(Maulana Rumi)

"Heart split the atoms: from the middle will you see the sun shining ball. If you give all that you have in size, you will not feel the loss secercahpun. The soul goes through the heat of the fire of love makes you see life change. If you remove the narrowness of dimensions, and wanted to see the time from something that was taking place, you'll hear what you've never heard of and will see what you never see; so they let you into a place where you will see 'the world' and 'worlds' as one. You'll love the Unity (tawhid) with heart and soul; so, with real eyes, you'll see Tawheed ... "(Sheikh Ahmad Hatif)

Transcendent unity of all things becomes the main pressure makrifat experts. Artificial distinction made in the ordinary level of consciousness should be discarded to obtain a pure vision. Such awareness makes it possible that Ibn al-'Arabi argues that humans who think age will be calculated carefully to reach forty thousand years.



Psychological aspects of Sufi wisdom shown by the many stories presented in different ways. Knowledge up through a teacher to pupil through a manner consistent with the student's ability to understand a problem, according to the personality and temperament. A teacher rarely preach to more than a small group of students, often a teacher instead of teaching only one student. Many Sufi stories that show how they are taught how. Various methods, in addition to distinguish between a good student or a quick catch problems with the slow growth of the students mind. For example as told in this story:

"One day a man came to meet Sheikh Akbar Bahaudin, asking for spiritual guidance. Bahaudin told him to evade the study of spirituality, and left once majlisnya. The same visitor protested. 'You've got proof,' said Bahaudin. At the time a bird flew into the room, flapping the wings back and forth without knowing where he had to flee. Sufi Sanng wait until the bird is quiet near the window, and then suddenly clapped his hands. Given a warning, the bird flew straight out the window, to free themselves. For birds that claps sound was enough to cause turbulence; also makes it humiliated - no - not so? Bahaudin said.

This is just a small example, how the Sufi teachers are not easily accept a student, especially those not yet strong intention and ability to understand the issue in doubt. So they are so selective.

Our efforts to listen to their pearls of wisdom will not be sufficient if we forget the aphorism aphorisms, they are so sharp dive. Some of them we can point out:

- Those opposed to a view because it did not want to know about those views ..

- Speed is needed by a horse, but not all of the necessary speed and provide benefits.

- You have one thing that never lost when in a sinking ship.

- I've never seen someone who was in the straight road loss.

- Son, do not ask inbalan from A if you're working at home B.

- Do not be friends with an elephant keeper, if you do not have room to entertain an elephant.

- Tie two birds, they would not be able to fly once they have wings four.

- Justification of excessive self-criticism is worse than the original.

- Sinners to God is one thing; but sinners to humans is far worse.

- Candle light not to illuminate himself.

- We have written a hundred letters to you, and you did not write a single letter in reply. But no answer was an answer.

- Often a person gives false interpretation jik confront intelligent people and know.

- A sheikh was he who had a student who requires personal, not magic, sanctity and greatness.

- A Sufi is he who has left three kinds of word 'I' in his words: mine, my chest and my wealth. He has released something that allotment for himself.

Appeal of Sufism has universal characteristics. He is associated with every culture, every religion and every Babakan time in human history. For those who experience it does not require definition or definitions, and would never get the logic of all contamination twice two equals four. The essence of Sufism is always present in scattered words of the wise. Dictum presented Ibn al-'Arabi is perhaps the most brilliant examples:

"There are three forms of knowledge. First of intellectual knowledge, which in fact contains information and collection of mere facts, and if this knowledge is used to achieve the intellectual concepts that exceed the limit, so he called intellectualism. The second followed the knowledge of the circumstances, including both emotional feeling and strange feeling in which people thought they had perceived something higher. But he could not exploit for his own purposes. This is emotionalism. The third real knowledge, which is called Knowledge of the essence. In this form of man can perceive what is right, what is right, overcoming the limits of mind and sensation. Scholars and scientists to focus on the first form of knowledge. The emosionalis and experimentalists to use the second form. The others combine the two, or use one of the two interchangeably. However, people who have reached the truth is that those who know how to connect themselves with the nature that lies behind these two forms of knowledge. That is the true Sufi, dervish who have reached makrifat in the truest sense.

So this sketch, hopefully sufficient in explaining what

the essence of Sufism, the basis of philosophy and literary content.

Jakarta in December 1988