In this episode of FTD facts, we are venturing into the world of Islam once again this time
exploring the branch that's often seen as the wild child of Islam some don't even recognize it as being
Any part of Islam whatsoever, but I'm talking about Sufism or Sufi Islam
If you prefer that language
We're gonna dive right into the world of Sufism and uncover some of the facts and information
About it in hopes to better understand who the Sufis really are. Hey, what's happening everybody?
My name is Leroy Kenton and welcome back to another episode of FTD facts
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Alright guys, so let's just jump right in first thing I want to look at is what is Sufism?
Anyways, well the word Sufism was initially introduced in the European language in the 18th century
Sufism was mainly viewed as an intellectual doctrine and literary tradition at variance with what they say was sterile
monotheism of Islam in recent times many scholars have used other definitions of Sufism such as
Intensification of Islamic faith and practice some also defined it as a process of realizing
Ethical and spiritual ideals many people have even also defined Sufism as a spiritual quality instead in a more practical
Context Sufism is an Arabic word, which is called tasawwuf
Sufism is defined according to the Arabic as an Islamic
Mysticism the inward dimension of Islam Sufism is also a way of life in which deeper
Identity is discovered and lived out through the human experience
the deeper identity beyond the already known personality is in harmony with all that exists this deeper identity or
Essential self has abilities of awareness action
Creativity as well as being able to love far beyond the abilities of our superficial
Personality. So with that backdrop their Sufism is less a doctrine or a belief system that an experience and a way of
Life when we look back throughout history
We see that Sufis have often belonged to different
toric or orders these orders meet for spiritual lessons in meeting places known as
Zoe oz and what they do is to strive for perfection
And to worship Allah as if you see him face to face with the research that we have and the history that we have recorded
Sufism has been traced to the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad through his cousin and son-in-law Ali in modern history
there has been a lot of decline in Sufi order and criticism of some aspects of Sufism by
modernists and thinkers and
also conservative
Salafists have increased nevertheless Sufism has continued to play an important role in the Islamic world and has influenced various forms of
spirituality
when we look at the total population of Sufism
we see that it shows that only about 5% of the total population of Muslims say that they follow the
Sufism way of life according to the world general census body we have about 1.8 billion Muslims in the entire world
Therefore the total estimated population of Sufism is roughly 90 million now
Which country has the most Sufis in the world?
You see Turkey has the highest and growing population of Sufism in the entire world
Sufism is very popular in most Muslim countries and in Africa in places such as Egypt, Tunisia, Algeria
Morocco and Senegal in these countries Sufism is seen as a mystical expression of Islam now Sufism is traditional in
Morocco
But it has experienced a growing revival with a renewal under contemporary
spiritual teachers now I did mention that Sufism stems from the Prophet Muhammad according to
Research and some other people's points of view
however
according to others history shows that the earliest sufi was
Muhammad himself and his companions Sufi orders are based on the pledging of allegiance, which was given to the Prophet Muhammad by
companions by pledging allegiance to Mohammed means that the
Shahada or his companions has committed themselves to the service of God the Sufis believe that anyone who pledges allegiance
to Mohammed has created a spiritual connection between the seeker and
Mohammed yeah, that's a very interesting point and you see the Sufis aim to learn about
Understanding and connecting with God through the Prophet Muhammad. So they're very much really centered around the profit
however
Sufis just aren't so much into the
specific rules and regulations taken from the Quran or the hadith in the early stages of the development of
Sufism the practitioners of Sufism held on to the belief that it is nothing more than the internalization of
Islam as a mystic aspect of Islam it is considered as part of the Islamic teachings that deals with the purification
Of the inner self by focusing on the more spiritual aspects of the religion Sufis strive to attain a direct
experience of being connected with God by using their
emotional and intellectual faculties and really training and developing that in order for Sufism to be seen as a
Recognized and organized religion by most people in the 11th century
Sufism which had previously been a less codified trend in Islam began to be ordered which have
Continued until the present day
So that's how they sort of established themselves to be more credible in the public eye
towards the end of the first millennium a number of manuals began to be written that summarize the doctrines and teachings of
Sufism and two of the most famous of them all are available in
English and these are the cash Alma jube of Ali whose weary and there is Allah of
Alka swari now for all you people who are new here to have to be facts
You may not know that we do have a playlist of dedicated specifically to the religion of Islam
We have tons of videos in that playlist
I highly recommend that because in this episode we're just talking about
Sufism but we've discussed a lot more about the other branches of Islam
And we go into the history the teachings we even looked at how Islam differs from all the religions like Christianity
So I'll have the playlist link down below in this video description
I'll also link to it in the card section and I'll have an annotation to it at the end screen of this
Episode as well. So if you want to continue expanding your knowledge, I highly recommend checking out those videos
Okay, so when we look a little bit deeper now into the beliefs of Sufism
practitioners of Sufism believe in the truth of divine
Love and knowledge through direct personal experience with God. They attempt to reach a state of temporary
ecstatic
Intoxication of divine love as well as a lengthened condition of complete
human indwelling with God also I touched on this before but you know instead of
Really looking at the rules and regulations inside of the Quran Sufis decide on picking
poetry's and
Mystics to really devote a lot of their time to they believe that wherever you turn there is the face of God
Sufis also believe that the Ascension of Muhammad into heaven is to be a
model for all of us on how our souls can travel to God Sufis believe that the supreme
Mystical experience is thus achieved in union with God even if only momentarily for the Sufi Brotherhood's?
a 22nd century
most of the Sufis have organized themselves into different orders or Brotherhood's that follow the teachings of
particular Sufi masters one example of the Sufis Brotherhood is the
Mevlevi Brotherhood this Brotherhood is named after the founder
Mevlana and the members do a lot of rhythmic
Whirling of the body and they engage in this as a spiritual exercise
They do this as a way to get closer to God each member of the order or Brotherhood was placed at different levels
Depending on the instructions that they mastered the Brotherhood also served an important social function by providing
Educational and social welfare services know with that said so what sort of clergy are in the Sufi orders?
well
the Sufi orders or Brotherhood's are a lot more organized now and they are directed by a master known as a
peer a
sheikh and is Shawn a Murshid or anhu staad they refer to as teachers with divine connections to God and they offer a lot of
physical and spiritual guidance
dear follower as well as they're a source of inspiration to everyone that belongs to the order or
Brotherhood throughout the different lands
You'll notice that many Sufis are wandering travelers they travel from place to place
And they try to spread the word about their way of life. They're also very conservative when talking about themselves
So if you ask a Sufi where he is going where he comes from or how does he earn a living?
They'll say something like only Allah knows all that note that concludes this episode on the facts about Sufism
I hope you really learned something new in this episode
I know I did and as always leave your thoughts and comments down below your voice in your opinion really matters
You can leave a comment about anything that I mentioned in this episode
Or anything that I didn't mention that you may want to throw in there. Also. Hit me up on social media
Those links are below in the video description
And I can't wait to see you next time in another episode where we can learn about another topic, so don't forget
Yeah, leave your suggestions for other videos below as well. Okay, guys, that's it for me
My name is Leroy Kenton, and I'll see you all real soon
Hey everyone, thanks for watching this episode
now if you want to continue expanding your knowledge about Sufism and the world of Islam in general here is that
Playlist that is packed with videos. We also post videos on many different topics
So tune in every single day for more educational episodes