ISLAMIC PATTERNS
Often in the West Islam is depicted as a monolith, and little attention is paid to the rich diversity within both the religion and civilization of Islam. Recent events, however, have made the Islamic world the focus of much attention. Although the attempt by the media to deal more with Islam is laudable, what is presented is usually highly selective and politically charged, dominated by the Arab-Israeli conflict and extremism manifesting itself in threats or acts of terror.
Therefore, despite greater interest in covering matters pertaining to Islam, the reductionist message associated with extremism continues to dominate the scene, hiding from the Western public the great diversity of the Islamic world and the multiple interpretations of the Islamic religion.
The vast world of Islam is actually like a Persian medallion carpet; it has incredible diversity and complexity, yet it is dominated by a unity into which all the complex geometric and arabesque patterns are integrated. This complexity can be better understood if one views it as the superimposition of a number of patterns upon the plane of the carpet.
In the vast world of Islam also, one can gain a better grasp of the whole by separating the patterns and seeing how each is related to vertical and horizontal dimensions of the religion of Islam itself as well as to cultural, ethnic, and linguistic factors. Then reuniting the patterns and seeing how they all fit together yields a vision of the total spectrum of Islam, in which unity leads to diversity and diversity is integrated into unity.
FACTORS THAT CREATE UNITY
Before turning to the components of the Islamic spectrum and the question of diversity, let us first ask which factors have created and sustain unity in the Islamic world. Despite political fragmentation, theological differences, and ethnic distinctions, there is a strong sense of the unity of the Islamic community(ummah) and a constant desire for greater political unity within the “Abode of Islam” (dar al-islam ) in the hearts of all Muslims, and there is, of course, a visible unity in Islamic civilization.
The central factor in the creation of unity among Muslims is the Quran. For all Muslims, it is the very Word of God, with the same text, which is chanted as well as read and written, and the same message for all Muslims, although interpretations of that message differ among various Muslim groups and there are levels of meaning to the text.
Then there are theSunnah and Hadith of the Prophet, which are very powerful unifying factors, although again there are local variations of interpretation of certain facts and features of the Prophet’s life, actions, and words.
Despite these variations in the understanding of the twin sources of the Islamic religion, that is, the Quran and theSunnah (along with the H.adith), there are three central doctrines upon which all schools of Islam agree, namely tawhid, or Divine Oneness, nubuwwah, or prophecy, and ma‘ad, or eschatology, to which we shall turn in Chapter 6.
Only very small groups here and there have deviated from these basic principles, which are the source of Islam’s sapiential and practical teachings
and whose unifying power can hardly be overestimated. Those who have deviated from these basic doctrines have sometimes brought about civil and religious crises within the community and sometimes even violence.
Another unifying factor is Islamic Law, or theShari‘ah , which is interpreted according to different schools but the basic elements of which are the same throughout the Islamic world, especially as they concern the rites of the religion.
These rites, which consist of the five daily prayers performed in Arabic whether one is in Malaysia or Bosnia, the annual pilgrimage (h. ajj) made from all parts of the Islamic world, the fast of the month of Ramad.an carried out by all healthy adult Muslims throughout the seven climes, the tithe paid to the poor, and other religious acts, bind Muslims together wherever they might be. Over the ages the ethical norms related to theShari‘ah , the injunctions of the Quran and Sunnah, and the spiritual etiquette, or adab, associated with ethics and based on the Prophetic model have also acted as powerful integrating forces. To these must be added the presence of Sufi orders, which cut across confessional and ethnic boundaries and which, basing themselves by definition on the Unity that transcends all multiplicity, have been a major factor in the integration of Islamic society. Finally, on the plane of forms, one must mention Islamic art, from the chanting of the Quran to geometric patterns found on articles and structures, an art that, despite local differences, has its own unique genius and has played a very important role in bringing about unity on the physical plane while permitting local variations and cultural diversity.
SOURCES OF DIVERSITY: THE HIERARCHICAL LEVELS OF MEANING AND INTERPRETATION OF THE TRADITION
To understand the sources of diversity in the Islamic world, one must first of all turn to the hierarchy within the religion of Islam itself. The total religion called Islam may be said to consist of the levels of islam, iman, and ihsan, or surrender, faith, and spiritual beauty. The Quran refers often to the muslim, the possessor of surrender, the mu’min, the possessor of faith, and the muh. sin, the possessor of virtue.
Although the Quran emphasizes that all Muslims stand equally before God, it also insists that human beings are distinguished in rank according to their knowledge of the truth and virtue, as in the verses, “Are those who know equal with those who know not?” (39:9), to which the Quran gives the resounding answer of no, and, “Verily, those of you most close to God are those who are the best in conduct” (59:13). These verses refer to degrees of perfection of believers, as one sees also in Christianity, and do not imply in any way exclusion, ostracism, or support for violence against certain groups.
Later Islamic sages, especially the Sufis, have also spoken of the hierarchy of theShari‘ah , or the Divine Law, the Tariqah, or the spiritual path, the Haqiqah, or the Divine Truth, which is the origin of both. Islam is then envisaged as a circle whose center is the Haqiqah. The radii of the circle are the turuq (plural of Tariqah), later identified with the Sufi orders, and the circumference is theShari‘ah . Each Muslim is like a point on the
circumference, whose totality composes the Islamic community, or ummah. To reach the Haqiqah, one must first stand on the circumference, that is, practice theShari‘ah , and then follow the Tariqah, or Path to God, whose end is the Center, God Himself, or the Haqiqah.
In a famous tradition of the Prophet known as the hadith of Gabriel, this primary vertical structure and hierarchy, which does not in any way obviate the reality that each Muslim stands as his or her own priest before God, is made evident:
‘Umar said, “One day when we were sitting with the Messenger of God there came unto us a man whose clothes were of exceeding whiteness and whose hair was of exceeding blackness, nor were there any signs of travel upon him, although none of us knew him.
He sat down knee unto knee opposite the Prophet, upon whose thighs he placed the palms of his hands, saying: ‘O Muhammad, tell me what is the surrender(islam) .’ The Messenger of God answered him saying:
‘The surrender is to testify that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is God’s Messenger, to perform the prayer, bestow alms, fast Ramad.an and make, if thou canst, the pilgrimage to the Holy House.’ He said: ‘Thou hast spoken truly,’ and we were amazed that having questioned him he should corroborate him. Then he said: ‘Tell me what is faith(iman) .’ He answered: ‘To believe in God and His Angels and His Books and His Messengers and the Last Day, and to believe that no good or evil cometh but by His Providence.’
‘Thou hast spoken truly,’ he said, and then:
‘Tell me what is excellence(ihsan) .’ He answered: ‘To worship God as if thou sawest Him, for if thou seest Him not, yet seeth He thee.’ ‘Thou hast spoken truly,’ he said. . Then the stranger went away, and I stayed a while after he had gone; and the Prophet said to me: ‘O, ‘Umar, knowest thou the questioner, who he was?’ I said: ‘God and His Messenger know best.’
He said: ‘It was Gabriel. He came unto you to teach you your religion.’”1
It is clear from this hadith clarifying din, or religion, for Muslims that islam encompasses what is expected of all Muslims in the acceptance and performance of the “pillars”(arkan) of Islam, with which we shall deal later. Iman, or faith, involves not only belief in the ordinary sense in God, His angels, messengers, His revealed books, and the eschatological (end-time) realities, but also knowledge of these matters, and it was into this dimension of the Islamic tradition that intellectual disciplines such as theology and traditional philosophy were integrated. As for ihsan, it is obvious that not everyone can worship God as if they saw Him. This is the station of the saintly, and ihsan, which means both “virtue” and “beauty,” is associated with the spiritual path that leads to sanctity and is considered practically a definition of Sufism.
Not everyone who is a muslim is amu’min and not everyone who is amu’min is a muh. sin, but a muh. sin must also be amu’min and amu’min a muslim. Reference to this hierarchical distinction is also made in some sources as the exoteric, or outward (z.ahir), and esoteric, or inward (bat.in), dimensions of the tradition. In any case, throughout Islamic history there have been the ordinary believers, or muslims, those of intense piety, or
mu’mins , and those who have sought God here and now, or muh. sins, about whom the Quran says, “God loves the muh. sinin” (3:133, and many other verses). Ihsan later became crystallized almost completely but not exclusively in Sufism, which can still be found throughout the Islamic world. Serious attachment to Sufism also requires attachment to theShari‘ah , and therefore a person who is a Sufi must also be the follower of this or that school of Law. Some Shari‘ite Muslims may reject Sufism, especially today among both modernized and so-called fundamentalist or reformist circles, but the Sufis show the greatest attachment to theShari‘ah , whose inner significance they seek to reach. And they must of necessity follow one of its schools.
It is meaningless to ask, as many Western scholars and especially anthropologists have done, whether a particular Muslim is a Sunni or a Sufi, or for that matter a Shi‘ite or a Sufi. A Sunni or a Shi‘ite can be a Sufi or not a Sufi, but the situation is not one of alternatives, because these dimensions of the religion are not situated on the same level of reality. That is why the presence of Sufism has never been a cause for division in traditional Islamic society. In contrast, it has been a cause of integration and the return to that inner unity whose attainment is the goal of Islam. The first division in the structure of the religion must, in fact, be sought not in the difference between Shari‘ite Islam and Sufism, but in the separation of Sunnism and Shi‘ism from each other in the first century of Islamic history. The Sunni-Shi‘ite division is the most important in the formal structure of Islam, although even this division does not destroy the unity of Islam and both share the unifying elements already mentioned. Moreover, Sufism, representing the inner dimension of the religion, transcends this dichotomy. Not only are there Sunnis as well as Shi‘ites who are Sufis, but Shi‘ism and Sufism also share together the original inner message of the Prophet and the power of spiritual and initiatic guidance (walayah/wilayah), so that the situation is somewhat more complex than stated. But for the present discussion it suffices to say that Sufism, or the Tariqah, belongs to the inner dimension of Islam and transcends Shari‘ite differences, and Sunnism and Shi‘ism mark a division within Islam on the formal and legal level.
While on the subject of Sufism, it must be recalled here that Sufism has had the greatest role in the spread of Islam itself, in addition to its vital function in the preservation and purification of ethical life, the creation of the arts, and the exposition of unitive knowledge (ma‘rifah) and metaphysics within Islamic society. From the eleventh and twelfth centuries onward, Sufism became organized in orders usually named after their founders; older ones, such as the Rifa‘iyyah and Qadiriyyah, which still survive, were followed by many later ones, such as the Shadhiliyyah, the Khalwatiyyah, the Mawlawiyyah, the Chishtiyyah, the Naqshbandiyyah, and the Ni‘matullahiyyah. Some of the orders have died out over time and occasionally new ones are created, but they all rely on the continuity of the “initiatic” chain, or silsilah, which goes back to the Prophet.
There is hardly an Islamic country in which Sufi orders are not to be found, and since the beginning of the twentieth century some orders, beginning with the Shadhiliyyah, have spread into Europe and America. In
some countries, such as Senegal and the Sudan, the Sufi orders are so popular that people’s identification on the Shari‘ite level is often combined with their Tariqah affiliation. Such a situation is found, however, only in Sunnism and not in Shi‘ism, unless one identifies the Isma‘ili branch of Shi‘ism as a Tariqah in itself, as many Isma‘ilis themselves tend to do.
It is important to recall here the fact that, in contrast to the claim of those who only look at the quantitative aspects of things and consider the esoteric element of religion to be marginal and peripheral, the esoteric dimension actually lies at the heart of religion and is the source of both its endurance and renewal. We observe this truth not only in Islam, but also in the Kabbalistic and Hasidic traditions in Judaism and various mystical currents in Christianity. In Islam itself, Sufism has been over the centuries the hidden heart that has renewed the religion intellectually, spiritually, and ethically and has played the greatest role in its spread and in its relation with other religions.