Freedom, The Sufi vision

Arabist and islamolog, director of the Institut of Sufi Studies of Barcelona, Spain

Halil Brcena

Contrary to popular belief Islam has many approaches and a variety of current thoughts such as theological, philosophical, juridical, sapiential, etc.; which have been generated through time. One example to take into account is freedom and the responsibilities that this brings along with the Islamic sensitivity. In fact, neither the Islamic Philosophy (Falsafa) nor Theology (kalm) nor least Gnosticism (Tasawwuf or Sufism) have been able to unanimity interpret the alcoranic passages related to the freedom of the human being. While theologians (Mutazilies), characterized by their rationalism, defend freedom as one the natural atributes of the human being, on the other hand the theologians (Ashareis), for whom faith (Imn) is not other than rationalism that through time originated the Islamic orthodoxy, think that freedom is limited to follow divine rules, as the Qurn states Allh does not ask anybody more than their capacity (2, 286) , in other words men are free do to what Allh has commanded them to do, more explicit the Ashar theology makes presence the immensity of Allh.

At the same time humans are less (much less!) of what they think, according to Sufis doctrines egotism is the biggest ignorance, we tend to ignore the basic principle of Tawhd, the concept that holds Allh one and unique, according to this nothing could exist without the intervention of Allh in other words the doctrine of Oneness. In essence the principle of oneness in Sufism comes from the understanding that nothing exists more than Allh or simply everything is a sign Thinking out of the box and a bit further of him or ya in Arabic from which the Spanish than technicism, theological diatribes, or pious word aleya comes from; this word describes the nonsense what matters here is to offer (there Qurnic verses and also the divine signs of the can be others!) a Sufi vision about the human creation. So according to this we could state that freedom, ask ourselves about this freedom, which everything which exists is the Qurn, a universal conveys the message of what human beings truly Qurn which aleyas bring the necessary homogeneity to the world and respond to imminent logic are, therefore, we as humans are more (much more) than we think we are but less (much less) of the cosmos therefore we should interpret this than what believe, so here we can see a Qurnic in the same way as the very Qurn. synthetic version of the human being, the dimensions of Islam and its gnosis throughout the cenIn summary inside the human being resides turies. In fact, the human being, designed in the and intermingles the spirit of the rh our tranQurn as Jalfa which makes him a vicar or regent scendent dimension in which the divine spark of Allh in the earth, is much more of what he reflects and the ego of nafs which creates in
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Translation by Dany M. Capa, University of Fatih, Istanbul, Turkey

thinks. So men (of course, also women!) hold inside a divine spark which makes him a unique creature, a condition that unfortunately for some of us is just a matter of luck (quote from Henry Corbin); however we are all humans thanks to this mysterious divine spark which dwells inside. The human divinity, something that Aristotles has already glimpsed is what really humanizes us, so this divine man (not the modern rationalist deifying!) and just him, the Insn al-Kmil a universal man for the Sufis, can be considered a free man or as hindus would say a jivanmukta self-liberated while in the human body.

the ordinary men an individualistic illusion of the world, an underlying unity under multiplicity. A Sufi, in the other hand, is the one who has awoken from the dream of ego who will never identify with himself, a Sufi is conscious of his radical ontological indigence, knows about nothing and can live with fullness just with this. For a Sufi everything is relative nothing is absolute, so for him this is his truth and freedom. Rm (12071273), the poet and master of the dervishes, used to claim being nothing is the condition of being so be nothing to become everything, this is another way to express truthiness according to the Prophet Muhammed hadth thats says first we have to die before dying.

why the insistence of Sufism to link freedom and wisdom, one is only free knowing the nature of things, this is what the game of chess teaches us a real game a game that the Persians brought from India and implemented according to their Islamic conviction. According to Titus Burkhardt the chessboard, which mandalic shape represents the cosmic cycles, is a parable of real art, a mathematic parable wish represents the internal relation between a decision made freely and the inevitable destiny or Qadr.

Consequently the modern myth of freedom has little or nothing to do with what here has been said, while for a Sufi the supreme aim of life has always been to free from himself as Rumi Humans are beings with the word (in other has stated and we have mentioned here before, in other words what really counts is to assure, words the divine breath) this means we have to against all odds, our own freedom no matter what be as receptive as the whirling dervishes while performing their dance (Sam) so we can create the restrictions are, nowadays our behavior seems to be free but the truth is that we are prisoners the necessary conditions and be open to accept of our own self-deception and exterior manipulaand embrace everything as is expressed in the verses of Ibn Arab (1165-1240), the Murcian An- tion. As Rm says: The servant wishes to free dalus which is not a correct politic interreligious from his destiny, the lover never wishes to be declaration that has been taken wrongly through (Masnav V, 2720). the years, instead this is a sublime expression of Freedom as justice are often ignored as a realthe Sufi spiritual Tawhd, here its paroxysm: ity of human beings, freedom means to identify My heart takes all shapes: grass for the gazelles and a monastery for the monk yourself with it, to fight for it, freedom is not it is a temple for the idols, the Kaaba of the pilgrims from outside, it means to live from it, just followthe tablets of Torah and the sacred Qurn too ing this we can accomplish the Sufi imperative, I only follow the religion of Love to wherever it takes me not very different from the pindaric imperative of so Love is my only faith and religion. what we really are already and we have forgotten. According to Sufism to learn is to remember, For Sufism, human freedom is definitely atremember and act responsibly, therefore responsitached to wisdom, here as the fully understanding bility is our personal capacity to respond which is and acceptance of Tawhd which is the open door the whole core of Freedom, so being free does not to the divine. Embracing Tawhd means to know mean to emancipate from something more than the real nature of the things and do accordingly, respond, respond to the world, for example to so it is true that there are countless possibilities respond the world itself, it is not true that Sufism in life for humans, so we are free to choose from is a way to escape from reality or that Sufism them, for this reason none should be fooled by encourages quietism contrary Sufism invites to any action taken without wisdom which in the scape to the reality!, which what we know as real end it will only be a limitation in life, that is q is not always real.
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