Who Are The Sufis ?

Sufis are like Prophets, each performing his own duty. There is no Prophet after Prophet Muhammad (sws) and he is the finality of Prophet Hood. Since no more Prophets are going to come, so Sufis perform their duties and continue their mission. They are responsible for helping people, running some affairs and showing people the right path and guiding them to the path of Light. There are different ranks and duties of the Sufis and mostly these saints do not expose themselves to the people. They directly follow Allah’s and Prophet Muhammad’s Orders. They are many times known to possess supernatural powers, gifted by Allah and can perform miracles.

Sufis are the greatest preachers of Islam, yet they remain in Silence. Sufism has great influences and contribution in spreading Islam in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Chechnya, Bosnia, Turkey and Africa. There are different chains in Sufism, each with its own ways and pioneers. All these chains meet up to Ali (R.A).
Ali (R.A) is the commander of the Sufis. He is a very close companion of the Prophet Muhammad (sws) and his son-in-law as well. It is from the great Caliph Ali (R.A) where the chain of the Prophet’s Family (known as Syeds) continues.

A Sufi may live among people or may live away in a jungle far far away from any mankind. Life histories of different Sufis imply that Sufis spend some time of their life in travelling, some time in loneliness and sometime in public. This all depends on what orders they receive from Allah and when. Many times Sufis are seen to be worshipping Allah day and night. They lose their love for the world, live in loneliness and just sit in a corner and praise and worship Allah in different forms called Zikr. Zikr maybe a prayer, reading the Quran or reciting other Holy scripts or portions of the Quran. Sufis and their students get together to offer collective Zikr as well.

A Sufi is like a teacher who teaches mysticism to his students and serves as a practical example for the student. He is like a doctor who examines his patients (students) detects their spiritual illness or weakness and prescribes them what is best for them. The teacher is usually known as the Skaykh (Shaikh) or Peer or Murshid and the student is known as the Mureed. When a student decides to join a Shaykh, he must whole heartedly submit to his teacher and follow him, no matter what happens. The Shaykh then decides whether the student can continue or not and adds the student to his chain or asks him to continue without becoming a permanent student. This declaration is called the “Baet”

A Sufi must act as an example for his students and act as a source of guidance and inspiration. Sufis practice all the things that Prophet Muhammad (sws) used to practice. In addition different Sufi orders have different methods to connect to Allah, to go in trance and to offer the Zikr. After the departure (death) of a Sufi his place as a Shaykh is taken by the eldest son or an appointed student. This keeps the order going on forever. The spiritual rank that a Shaykh may reach varies and may necessarily not be the same as the Sufi of the order or chain.

Many people consider Sufism to be an advanced and higher state of religion and spirituality. Most of the concepts are not discussed with ordinary people because of their low knowledge and wrong interpretation. It is not recommended to discuss the advanced Sufism with Non Muslims and Muslims with weak faith or no comprehension and understanding of spirituality. This can many times lead to wrong interpretation of concepts because the person may not be a strong believer. Belief is very important to understand the actual spirit of things.

In many articles on the internet, including some searches by Google and Wikipedia, Sufism is explained something as a religion. In reality it is just an advanced and dedicated stage of Islam with mere focus on spiritual perfection.