Bazilla and others have already said it brilliantly, but I just wanted to add this quote from Ethel Wilcox: "God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts."

Bazilla, dude, I really like what you said. Very concise and eloquent.

Sorry to hear about your experience. But you know, there is a chinese saying: the master appears when the student is ready. Maybe your last stint was to get you ready for the real deal. Don't forget, for every one step you are taking towards God, He is taking ten towards you. He has surrounded you, and will show up soon.

I think people are resorting to "Spirituality" these days because organized religion hold no attraction for many people (mostly because of the lack of humanity in many who are visibly "religious").

"Spirituality" can mean a number of things depending on who you are talking to. For some it is an excuse for not following the difficult aspects of a religion. I have even heard muslims who openly drink say that their family is more sufi (spiritual) than religious and this just seems odd to me because I would think that the sufi path of self discovery is a harder path than a simply religious path.

Spirituality to me is the essence of religion. Without it religion is an empty shell. Without spirituality a religious man can lose his humanity. Spirituality is the reason we have shariah... to protect and cultivate the soft inner self. Think of it as an egg... spirituality is the yolk and the albumen (the clear white stuff around the yolk) while shariah is the shell that protects it.

Sadly Sufism these days is something only to be found in books for the most part. Most Sheikhs cannot be trusted. Ive had my own personal experience with this. Not saying that true sufi masters dont exist but the sufi path is a path of trust between the mureed and the sheikh and wolves in sheeps clothing can exploit this. Many well respected sufi sheikhs can't even recognize the wolves in their midst.

The purpose of Tassawuf (Sufism) is to find your true self and experience God at a deep level in this life. It is a path of the soul within oneself and not an external path of living life just based on shariah. The sufi path is an inward path while shariah is an outward path.



Gone are the Philosophers stones
that turned iron hearts into precious gold.

The iron has blackened and become rusted?
Only the sweat of your own work can be trusted.

Clean and polish it remembering the One
This heart will reflect the colour of the Sun.

Sure. I don't think there is anything wrong with similarities. All religions share similarities. Just like all automobiles have a steering wheel and a driving seat. But some run on diesel and some run on gasoline. Islam is similar to many other religions in many ways. I think thats just natural.

BUT LOOK CAREFULLY AND MANY BELIEFS, WAYS OF PRAYING, MUSIC, DANCE IS ALL SIMILAR!!!

Missy: You are comparing two categories. Apples to oranges. It's hard to compare the two, but roughly speaking, Christianity is a religion, and Sufism is a school of thought. The two are very different from each other on what they preach.

WHATS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SUFISM AND CHRISTANITY???????

Misslondon: Thanks for the questions. To my understanding, there are several sufi orders in the world today. All of the orders go back to Prophet Muhammad, but they started from one of the four caliphs. The orders that started from Prophet and then Abu Bakr, are dominant in the Arab countries. Uthmani orders became famous in Turkey. Orders from Omer spread in Africa. In the Indian sub-continent, orders from Ali became famous. For example, Qadiri and Chisthi orders go back to Ali's chain. While Naqshbandi order goes back to Abu Bakr's chain.

Yes, you are right. Shia and Sunnis are referred to as school of thoughts. But they are more concrete as they lay out their own jurisprudence (Fiqh). Sufi orders don't put a fiqh that replaces any other fiqh.

Mysticlvr: Yeh, as Zaffy said, I was referring to a person who has memorized the Quran. I haven't been able to find a search engine that searches the Quran in Arabic. If you know of one, do tell. Whenever I need to lookup a verse in the Quran, I go talk to my Hafiz friends. They help me like a search engine :)

Ua120, I love the analogy. It's great!

Found this in my inbox today, thought i'd pass it on:

Religion is a guy in church thinking about fishing.
Spirituality is a guy out fishing thinking about God.

From the book: 'Truth from Fireman Joe'
Written by John Fischer

Hello Mysticlvr,

I don't have any preference about Mosque, either it is Sufi or Suni's or Shia's, they prostrate in front of God anywayz, I do prefer the one close to my home and work.

But about Meditation / Zikar , yes I do with my friend in between 2-3pm on every sunday at my home on Treasure Island and read the Versus from Koran and some Hadith and also some excerpt of the book written by Sufi Master, Khawaja Shamsudin Azeemi. www.Azeemia.co.uk)

Regards,

Mudassir Azeemi

San Francisco, CA

thanks, zaffy! :)

bongeek... i see you are in SF... what sufi mosque do you go to? I started going to one in Oakland but was wondering about others. I hear there is a large one in Navato that offers a lot of classes as well.

Yes, it is one of the Sufi Order among others.

IS NAQSHABANDI PART OF SUFISM??

Sufism in Islam also known as Tariqat is not something "different", Tariqat / Roohaniyat / Sufism actually a path to the Shariyat, in Tariqat / Roohaniyat / Sufism, they ask u to be practical and while being practical, u gain knokwledge and in Shariayat the "Knowledge" comes first and then Practical.

So it is not a "sect" as other villagers are define explicitly and very beautifuly. It is the "Path" to the Shariyat, coz we usually dont pray "with focus" when we stand for Prayer, coz we "think" about "college, job, family problem etc. etc". And the Sufi Master usually guide to concentrate , to build ur focus so then you can truly be a "Muslim" who is always connected to God, just GPS device constant connection with the Sattelite, thsi way the Driver won't get lost in to the maze of Freeways and Streets! the Sufi Master invoke that GPS kind of Navigation in ur heart, everyone got that Internal GPS, and now the thing we usually "dont charge" that device in our heart and we usually get lost in the labrynth of this world, so the Sufi master teaches u that "Activate your GPS, so u can always on the right path, by having the constant connection with God"

Take Care,

W'salam,

Mudassir

San Francisco, CA

INTERESTING RESPONSES,

WHAT IS A SECT??

SUNNI AND SHIA ARE KNOWN TO BE THE TWO SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS,

IE:UNDER SUNNI SECTS ARISES SUFISM, NAQSHABANDI, WAHABI AND MANY OTHERS!!

SHIA HAS AGAR KHAN, ISMALII(SOMETHING LIKE THAT) AND MANY OTHERS!!

AHMADI ARE CLASSIFIED AS NON-MUSLIMS BUT THEY WILL BE PUT IN ONE OF THE SCHOOL OF THOUGHTS!!

NOW, WHAT I HAVE MENTIONED ABOVE IS WHAT IS IN THE QURAN,,
THE OTHER DAY A PROGRAMMED ON SUFISM WAS ON TV WERE THEY SHOWNED MUSIC, PEOPLE IN TRANZE, POETRY AND MAINLY PLACES IN EUROPE WHERE THIS WAS PRACTISED,,,,, NOW IN THE QURAN I THOUGHT MUSIC(INSTUMENTAL) WAS FORBIDDEN!!!!

THIS IS WHY I AM CONFUSED!!!

ALSO YOU WOULD NOT WANT TO FEEL HELL FIRE,,,, SALIMAC!!

rparticle - what is a hafiz? (I only know the poet, hafez! lol ;) )

Mysticlver: Those states are mentioned in scattered verses in the Quran. A quick check would be grabbing a hafiz and asking him or her. But I can do the research for you and provide the exact locations in the book.

I agree with Grifter77 and Frosty: I just want to feel closer to Allah and this constant mindfulness is what I consider spirituality. :P