پژوهشنامه عرفان
سال هفتم شماره 14 (بهار و تابستان 1395)

There are some signs distinguishing a Sufi from non-Sufi. Some of these signs such as the style of clothing, represented a Sufi as a distinctive member of a group and some other signs were “behavioral” like the rites and rituals on eating.
This research work intends to answer the following questions: How were the eating rites and rituals like among the Sufis that gave them a Sufist prestige? What backgrounds were behind these behaviors? Were these behaviors confined to the monastery or they had to be observed in the outside world as a religious obligation? And finally, how far did the Sufis abide by the rites and rituals?
This paper intends to have a glance at and critical approach to the rites and rituals, and behaviors of the Sufi scholars on eating during the early years of the emergence of Sufism, i.e. at a time the Sufi rites and rituals were being shaped, settled and defined according to their certain order.

Prayers have been introduced into theoretical theosophy because the requests by the servants have been promised to be met by the Almighty God and because they affect the incidents and mishaps in the world of creation. Muslim theosophists have discovered the mystery behind prayers at the stage of permanent archetype or A’yan Thabita and within the inclusion of Allah attributions, thus they have made a distinctive response to a prayer and the realization of the desire of the servant. In this paper, upon determining the types of prayers and the clarification of the status of names and attributes of Allah, and discussing the permanent archetypes, we have shown how permanent archetypes are decisive in realization of various incidents such as desire and requests by the creatures, as the names and attributes of God.
Also we have shown that absoluteness of the response by God depends upon the fact that the seeker turns to God with an accurate knowledge and supposition, and prays with a pure heart while discarding anything other than truth from his heart and mind.

“Light”, meaning “transparency and making something clear” is the best keyword for understanding God and establishing links between the Divine realm and whatever other than God. In the Holy Quran, “Light” clearly refers to God: “God is the light of Heavens and the Earth” (Nour: 35). A tradition attributed to Imam Hussein (AS) says that the existence of God is so clear that encompasses all stages of appearance and clarity. “Is there a degree of appearance for the manifestations that you lack?” (Ibn Tavous, 1409, Vol. 1, Chapter on Fima Nazkoroh men Ad’iyah Yawm Orfa: 349).
“Light and its shadow” is the study of the quality of existential subjectivity of the Almighty God based on the keyword of “Light” and based on the eagerness of the lords of hearts and of course depending upon the Holy Quran and traditions.

In view of Ibn Arabi, the perceptive faculty of man is sometimes a true conception and some other times misconception by accident since it follows senses and wisdom. Mohi-ud-Din ibn Arabi believes that none of the perceptive faculties make a mistake except wisdom. Rational perceptions are of two kinds: self-evident and theoretical, and human err occurs in the latter only. However, based on theosophical observations, the rational self-evidence is not attributable to all situations and conditions, rather, in some ranks of the supernatural world, none of the self-evident features and rational necessaries possesses verity. Therefore, given the accidental nature of science attained through wisdom and senses and the limited verity of the rational necessaries, the only way for to find out truth is to imitate God and the non-corporeal intuition. In philosophical criticism of his views we must admit that: the preliminary self-evident qualities are true under any circumstances and in all places, so that they are not provable, deniable or subject to skepticism. Moreover, non-corporeal revelations are also subject to err. Due to personal divine revelation and intuition, the authenticity of the preliminary self-evident qualities and the rational statements can in no way be doubted upon. As far as the functional realm of the self-evident and theoretical wisdom is not revered no book or tradition, whatsoever, can serve as a criterion for the assessment of the personal divine revelation.

The status of Sufism in Sharia law has always been one key question for the Muslim scholars. Ever since the foundation of the school of Sufism, Sheikh Ahmad Sirhindi has allocated parts of his books on reintroduction of the relationship between Sharia law and Sufism, and on proving the fact that Sufism and Sufi instructions come from the Holy Quran and the traditions. The common point held by the majority of the Sufi thinkers was this that Sharia is the outer appearance of the religion, while Sufi order is the core of the religion. Ahmad Sirhindi, too, has reviewed this line of thought. He stressed on the need for following the religious order and avoiding any innovation in the religion. At the same time, according to him, theosophical practices and spiritual journeys are part of the religiousness that can help deconstruction and subduing of carnal whims. There is another stage after “vilayat (leadership) rank”, the last pass in a Sufi spiritual journey, that he calls “the rank of prophethood”. The rank is offered upon the descending path of spiritual wayfarer in which, the Sufi wayfarer needs Sharia order and various supplications to perform. Sirhindi is of the opinion that Sufi scholars would understand the fact that the ultimate goal of spiritual journey is the return to the rank of prophethood that is free of any belief in existential monotheism, anti-Sharia remarks, and inattention to the pillars of Sharia law if they freed themselves of the grip of leadership rank, that is characterized by intoxication, anti-Sharia remarks, belief in the union and incarnation and the unity of existence (Sufi metaphysics).

Since Islam has a special emphasis on marriage, so different opinions of the Sufi scholars is worthy to be studied. The Muslim scholars has studied the bachelorhood or monasticism and marriage from different aspects. There is an extensive discussion on the impression of the monastic life of Christians on Sufism. In this article, we have tried to study this impression briefly and on the other hand, review in detail the works by such great Sufi scholars as Hojviri, Mohammad Ghazali, Sohrevardi, Molavi and Molla Mohsen Feiz Kashani, in order to review their views on the influence of marriage on the mystics and their progress in their mystical ways. Some of these Sufis have preferred to live a bachelor’s life since they considered marriage as an obstacle to access to intimacy of the God. On the opposite, another group of married Sufi scholars say marriage is not an obstacle to attaining highest levels of theosophical ranks. These views can be classified as the advantages and disadvantages of marriage, advantages of bachelorhood, and recommendations on living a bachelor’s life. It should be noted that Sufi scholars have provided traditions attributed to the Prophet (PBUH) on each viewpoint they have maintained in order to show the unity of Sharia law and Sufi traditions.

Existence (life) and non-existence (death) are among the joint concerns of man in the past and present. The determination by self or other is a discussion that can be introduced under existence (life). This has been termed as “self-transcendence” by the existential psychologists. Frankl is one of these psychologists that we have compared and contrasted his views with those of Abu-Said Abul-Khayr. According to Frankl, self-transcendence is “moving beyond oneself” and “being able to self-forget”. Abul-Khayr, too, has similar interpretations such as “going beyond oneself” and “being absent in oneself that are close to self-transcendence”. Frankl considers instances of self-transcendence as realization of ideals, serving human beings and love of other people. Abul-Khayr, believing in these, adds avoiding cruelty to and suppression against others, forgiveness, and making donations. In this paper, the influence of Abul-Khayr’s self-transcendence has been categorized under three ethical (attaining modesty), psychological-mental (putting an end to spiritual suffering and being eternal) and social (avoiding violence) entries.