Sufism and its Influence on Europe

Sufism and its Influence on Europe

a lecture by Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel

delivered at Stanford University, May 4, 1997

sponsored by CAIR

On May 4th, 1997, Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel, former Harvard Professor of Oriental Studies
and Sufism, presented a lecture entitled Sufism and its Influence on Europe at
Stanford University. Sponsored by the Stanford Islamic Society, the Council
for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and endorsed by the Muslim
Community Association's (MCA) newsletter, the lecture was extremely well-attended.
Many of the audience gave "rave" reviews after the talk, which covered the
effect of Sufi-Islamic thought on Europe and especially German intellectual and cultural
development. Emphasizing that Sufism is the mystical essence of Islam, without which Islam
would have no attraction to the West, Dr. Schimmel focused on the role of Sufi
intellectual thought and poetry on the leaders and philosophers of Western
Europe--especially those who brought Europe forth from the Dark Ages and lay the
foundations for the Renaissance.







Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, Chairman of As-Sunna Foundation of America,
and a large number of his students were happy to meet with Dr. Schimmel and attend her
talk. Shaykh Kabbani gave Dr. Schimmel a gift of his books on Sufism and Islam, for which
she was quite thankful, remarking about the book The Naqshbandi Sufi Way, "I
already have a copy of this book, given to me by your group in Germany."The talk
was introduced by Marghoob Quraishy, a Bay Area businessman, and one of the founders of
the Islamic Society of Stanford.



Dr. Anne-Marie Schimmel, of Harvard, with ASFA
Chairman, Shaykh Hisham Muhammad Kabbani
The opening invocation of al-Fatiha
was recited in a melodious form by Irfan Sa`ada, president of the Muslim Community
Association of Santa Clara. ASFA congratulates MCA and its leadership for their exemplary
change of heart vis-a-vis Sufism, and for their open endorsement of a Sufi event.





Dr. Hamid Algar of the University of California at Berkeley then introduced Dr.
Schimmel. In his introduction he mentioned Dr. Schimmel's prolific writing ability and her
massive output of books. He compared her to:


"...Turkish Sufi Ismail Hakki. Some of his murids were curious how he managed,
despite a very full regimen of daily activities and interactions with his murids, how he
could produce such a vast quantity of work. And it is said that one night, one of the
murids left his house and went up to the roof of a neighboring house and looked out over
the balcony to the roof of the Shaykh's house, and there he saw not one, but forty (40)
Ismail Haqqis, each at his writing desk, busy writing away. In other words, this shaykh
has miraculously multiplied himself for maximum efficiency."





After Dr. Algar's introduction, Dr. Schimmel ascended the stage, to the
loud applause of the audience, perhaps more than 50% of whom were non-Muslim. She spoke at
length about the advent of Islamic-Sufi thought in Europe, with translations of prose and
poetry beginning as early as 1680. She also spoke, in various digressions from the main
topic, on the principles of Sufism as an Islamic science, and more importantly as the
spiritual soul of Islam.Professor Schimmel described how Islam spread
from Africa to the Subcontinent not by fire and the sword but by the Sufis who knew how to
win the hearts of the people. She related inspirational stories of early Sufis such as
Hasan al-Basri.


The shaykh's opinion is requested by some of the
attendees.






She also related the famous story of Rabiah al-Adawiyah when she went
through town with a bucket of water to put out the hell fire and a torch to burn Paradise
so that people would devote themselves only to the worship of Allah for Allah’s sake
alone and not commit shirk by longing after His creation or running from His punishment.
This story reached Europe and became an integral part of European folklore. She also
related how the ideas of Sufis were so influential as to have an influence on European
Christian thought and not the opposite. She described how the Sufis taught people to draw
closer to God by self improvement. Professor Schimmel described the Sufis as those who
concentrated in their sermons and in their private lives on the constant meditation of the
Quran and constant repentance.




A capacity crowd filled the auditorium to hearthe lecture
entitled Sufism and its effect on Europe, sponsored by CAIR and other Islamic
organizations



"The Story of Rabi`a al-`Adawiya is really the moment that the
asceticism of the early Muslims in Basra turned in to mysticism, into true love of God.
The early ascetics who were disappointed by the change of life values in the times of the
Ummayyad caliphs when the great Arab conquest was going on, and the Arabs conquered the
wide world from East to West, this conquest brought the Muslim world greater interest in
worldly affairs and the ascetics of Basra, headed by the famous Hasan al-Basri, were
afraid that the essence of the Qur'an was lost. It was he and his contemporaries who
concentrated in their sermons and in their private lives, on constant reading of Qur'an
and constant repentance and repetition or Dhikr formulas, and live a life
completely turned off from worldly affairs."




Dr. Schimmel went on to describe the great growth of Sufism/Tasawwuf, as the expression
of the ruh or soul of Islam:


"Sufism, by the end of the 9th and beginning of the 10th Century, was already like
a big tree, with various branches and various birds singing in it.


"the spread of Islam was not
done by fire and sword

... but rather by the preaching of the Sufis who knew how to win the hearts of the
people."



We find poetry and prose in all the languages of Islam. We find that
Sufism permeated the countries from West Africa to India, and, in fact it was the Sufis
who brought Islam to the border countries of Asia and Africa. Sir Thomas Arnold in Sudan
told me the teacher of Muhammad iqbal in Lahore had published exactly 100 years ago his
famous book The Preaching of Islam, in which he shows that the spread of Islam
was not done by fire and sword as most of our sources are wont to say, but rather by the
preaching of the Sufis who knew how to win the hearts of the people. And the Sufis wrote
their poetry in the language of the people of their lands.
They taught the love of God, love of the Prophet, love of mankind to the illiterate,
simple people who were unable to understand the Arabic of the theologians. It was the same
in Europe with the introduction of mystic poems."


Professor Schimmel mentioned the resurgence of interest in the
Naqshbandiyya both in America and abroad.


"Studies, especially in the Naqshbandi Tariqa have proliferated
during the last few years. It is interesting that last year in Bukhara that we have a
conference at the mazar of Khaja Naqshband in which German and Uzbek scholars participated
and scholars from other Central Asian countries. It was highly interesting to see that
here the Uzbek interest in teaching the Naqshbandiyya became very visible because they
claimed, and I think they were right, that the old adage ‘the hand at work, the heart
close to the Divine Beloved’ is a very practical way of approaching modern science.
It gives you the possibility of constantly thinking of God, remembering God, as it is also
taught in the Quran and yet do your daily work successfully. The interest in the
Naqshbandiyya has grown considerably."



After the main presentation a member of the audience asked, "It is
clear that Sufism is a beautiful presentation of Islam—but why are some Muslims
especially the groups in the west opposed to it?

Dr. Schimmel replied that even some of the early Sufis were unjustly
persecuted by some of their contemporaries. The Sufis of Baghdad were accused of
emphasizing love of God and not obedience to God. In the end the Caliph himself personally
investigated the charges and "found them to be very good Muslims and innocent of all
charges of wrongdoing."



Organizers of the Stanford University lecture on Sufism discuss
preparing a series of lectures teaching Sufism with Shaykh Hisham Kabbani.







Following the brief question and answer session, Marghoob Quraishy,
concluded her portion of the program with praise of her academic achievements and
erudition. He then stated that "it requires another Sufi, Imam Hamza Yusuf, to
conclude this session."

Imam Hamza then
concluded with a lecture of his own, detailing the fact that Sufism is an integral
part of Islam, often envied by those who either have no aspiration or who are unable to
attain the level of faith and certainty characteristic of the Sufis.

Finally, As-Sunna Foundation of America would like to congratulate CAIR,
MCA and the Islamic Society of Stanford for taking the courageous stand to
promote Sufism as an Islamic concept, despite what the "Salafis" and their
agents might say. This stand took great courage and foresight, and Muslims in America,
though knowing that Sufism has always stood for the practice of Islamic Shari`ah, have
often kept quiet in the face of "Salafi" vocal opposition. It is high time that
the Islamic "establishment" in the US educate its audience, both Muslim and
non-Muslim, to the fact that Sufism/Tasawwuf is an integral and essential part of Islam,
without which Islam is as the late Mawlana Maudoodi said, 'like a body without a soul.'

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