Tuesday, December 06, 2005

Nabi Isa's (as) sufi tariqa

“A Sufi leader by the name Abu Mansoor al-Hallaj went so far in disbelief as to claim he was god himself. He was crucified for his blasphemous claim, and for his defiance of shari'ah, or Islamic jurisprudence, in Baghdad, Iraq, in 309 A.H. (922 A.D.) He said,

"I am He Whom I love; He Whom I love is I; we are two souls co-inhabiting one body. If you see me you see Him and if you see Him you see me."(67)

Abdul-Karim el-Jili, Ibn Arabi's closest disciple, went a step ahead of his master, claiming that he was commanded by Allah to bring to the people his own book, The Perfect Man, the theme of which is pantheism. He claimed that the perfect man could represent all the attributes of God, even though Allah the Exalted is far above the qualities of men.

El-Jili went on to purport to prove that nothing in essence exists in the universe other than Allah, and that all other things, human, animal and non-living are only manifestations of God Almighty Allah. He further asserted in his book that the Prophet Muhammad is the perfect man and the perfect god. From these blasphemous theories, el-Jili went on to declare himself to be a god also, and exclaimed, "To me belongs sovereignty in both worlds." (68)”

On reading and reflecting on this, we see the correlation with how christians perceive the holy trinity and how early christian scholars could have seen Nabi Isa / Jesus (AS) as God himself.

But why would this have taken place?

Are there scriptures that reveal this?

Are there texts from early christian scholars that examine this?

Were there secret disciples that are not mentioned in the new testament of the Bible?

If we look to the above extract do Nabi Isa / Jesus (AS) strongly models what a sufi stands for and what people want to think a sufi is. He seemed to live a simple humble life with no real possessions.

If we will dwell into researching a topic like this it will have to be as balanced as possible.

We should take no sides and do it to benefit humanity in terms of being clearer about our past.

We also need to compare and reflect over the similarities between Islam and Christianity, not the differences.

We need to examine the way Nabi Isa / Jesus (AS) lived and compare that to a sufi way of life.

As muslims, we will try to research and write this from as neutral as possible and try to inspire non-muslims and Christians and alike to the way in which Nabi Isa / Jesus (AS) lived.

Our greatest role model as a prophet is Nabi Muhammad (SAW) which is why we are muslim but I feel as muslims we have neglected deeper study into the lives of the entire legacy of prophet hood which preceded our noble leader Rasullullah Muhammad (SAW). It is certainly not studied in great detail and accessible enough to the public.

Nabi Isa / Jesus (AS) was the Shaykh of the tariqa and the disciples essentially were the Mureeds. They lived in a rather difficult time where his people were persecuted by the Roman Empire quite severely.

Nabi Isa's / Jesus (AS) mother, Maryam / Mary (AS) is mentioned quite frequently throughout the Quran and the Bible.

Maryam(AS) was a woman of great saintly nature and the inspiration of many among today's christians and muslims.

Regarded as a prophet, she is of the Abrahamic lineage through her father Zakariyah / Zachariah (AS).

To be continued…

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