{"id":26,"date":"2012-01-19T14:34:19","date_gmt":"2012-01-19T04:34:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/2012\/01\/19\/sufi-shemata-for-tazkiyat-an-nafs\/"},"modified":"2012-03-15T22:04:32","modified_gmt":"2012-03-15T12:04:32","slug":"sufi-shemata-for-tazkiyat-an-nafs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/2012\/01\/19\/sufi-shemata-for-tazkiyat-an-nafs\/","title":{"rendered":"Sufi Schemata for Tazkiyat an-Nafs"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span><\/em> <\/p>\n

Tazkiyat an-nafs<\/em> (\u2018Purification’\/’Augmenation’ of nafs<\/em>) can be taken as the essence of the Sufi tariqat<\/em>, and it has Koranic support:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>“By the soul and That which shaped it, and inspired it to its depravity and its godwariness. Prosperous is he who purifies it, and failed has he who buries it”<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>(91:7-10<\/a>, tr. W. Chittick Intro to Sufism<\/em>, p. 41. Note the alternatives \u2018corrupts’ or \u2018stunts’ to Chittick’s \u2018buries’)<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>On this small piece of worthy advice the Sufis have constructed a vast and elaborate schema of purification. The process has been regularized into sets of stages and stations that provided a usable guide to murshid<\/em>\/bureaucrats of the soul, and so standardised forms of the progress of the soul are described (with variations) in the charts that commonly appear in Sufi handbooks. The following example is given in Trimingham, J. The Sufi Orders in Islam<\/em> (OUP, 1971) p.152-4. (Ref. to As-Sanusi, M. ibn \u2018Ali, As-Salsabil al-ma’in fi \u2018t-tara’iq al-arba’in<\/em> p. 105, (section dealing with Khalwatiyya) on margin of his Al-masa’il al-\u2018ashar – <\/em>or Bughyat al-maqasid fi khalasat al marasid<\/em> – Cairo (1353\/1935.)) Interestingly enough, this was apparently devised for philosophical reasons by Ibn Sina in Risalat at-Tair<\/em> (L. Cheiko ed., in al-Mashriq<\/em>, iv (1901), pp. 882-7) and adapted to Sufic purposes by (probably<\/em> Ahmed) al-Ghazali \u00a0in Risala at-Tair <\/em>(L. Cheiko ed., op. cit.<\/em>, pp. 918-24.)<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
Soul<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nCarnal<\/font> <\/font>(ammara<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\nAdmonishing<\/font> <\/font>(lawwama<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\nInspired<\/font> <\/font>(mulhama<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\nTranquil<\/font> <\/font>(mutma’inna<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\nContented<\/font> <\/font>(radiyya<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\nApproved<\/font> <\/font>(mardiyya<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\nPerfected<\/font> <\/font>(safiyya wa kamila<\/em>)<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Journey<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nTo<\/em> God<\/font><\/td>\nBy<\/em> God’s power<\/font><\/td>\nUpon<\/em> God<\/font><\/td>\nWith<\/em> God<\/font><\/td>\nWithin<\/em> God<\/font><\/td>\nFrom<\/em> God<\/font><\/td>\nInto<\/em> God<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
World <\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nOf Evidence (the senses)<\/font><\/td>\nOf the Isthmus [Purgatorial]<\/font><\/td>\nOf the Spirits<\/font><\/td>\nOf Reality<\/font><\/td>\nOf Principles<\/font><\/td>\nOf the Unseen<\/font><\/td>\nOf Plurality and Oneness<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
State<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nInclination to Lusts<\/font><\/td>\nLove<\/font><\/td>\nPassion<\/font><\/td>\nUnion<\/font><\/td>\nPassing Away<\/font><\/td>\nBewilderment<\/font><\/td>\nAbiding in God<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Abode<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nBreast<\/font><\/td>\nHeart<\/font><\/td>\nSpirit<\/font><\/td>\nThe Mystery (of the Heart)<\/font><\/td>\nThe Mystery of the Mystery<\/font><\/td>\nThe Inmost<\/font><\/td>\nThe Covert (\u2018Ground’) of the Mystery<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
\u00a0<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nShari’a<\/em><\/font><\/td>\nTariqa<\/em><\/font><\/td>\nMa’rifa<\/em><\/font><\/td>\nHaqiqa<\/em><\/font><\/td>\nWilaya<\/em><\/font><\/td>\nDhat ash-Shari’a <\/em>(Essence of the Revealed Law)<\/font><\/td>\nDhat al-Kull<\/em><\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Light<\/strong><\/font><\/td>\nBlue<\/font><\/td>\nYellow<\/font><\/td>\nRed<\/font><\/td>\nWhite<\/font><\/td>\nGreen<\/font><\/td>\nBlack<\/font><\/td>\nColourless<\/font><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/font>Only three of these forms of the nafs <\/em>actually have Koranic support:<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>ammara<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>“Yet I claim not that my nafs<\/em> was innocent: Verily the nafs<\/em> of man incites to evil.”[12:53<\/a>]<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>lawwama<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/em>\u2018Self that blames (itself.)’ [75:2<\/a>]<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>mutma’inna<\/em>:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u2018Self that is at peace (with God.)’ [89:27<\/a>]<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/font>The rest are speculation.<\/font><\/p>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tazkiyat an-nafs (\u2018Purification’\/’Augmenation’ of nafs) can be taken as the essence of the Sufi tariqat, and it has Koranic support: “By the soul and That which shaped it, and inspired it to its depravity and its godwariness. Prosperous is he who purifies it, and failed has he who buries it” (91:7-10, tr. W. Chittick Intro […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[14],"class_list":["post-26","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-religion","tag-sufism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevewatson.info\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}