Experiencing Sufism: The Discipline of Ritual Practice

Abstract

Amid the shifting social and political landscape of twenty-first-century Pakistan and Malaysia, ritual practice anchors Chishti Sabiri identity. The Sufi path (suluk ) couples a distinct model of human psychology with practical techniques for self-transformation. In an informal, introductory letter written to a female Malaysian disciple, Shaykh Wahid Bakhsh Sial Rabbani outlines the Sufi model of the self and details how religious knowledge is experienced and actualized through ritual performance. His words encapsulate the Sufi spiritual journey, both in theory and in practice: I will tell you some of the basic spiritual exercises which will, if God the Most High wills, enable you to get spiritual knowledge and also keep you from evil influences. But before I go any further I would like to tell you something about the reality of man. Every man and woman is a combination of a body and soul. The body is of earthly origin and has a tendency to pull you downwards. The soul is of Divine origin, as shown by Allah in the Holy Qur’an. Therefore it has a tendency to pull you upwards to Divine nearness. Human life is therefore the name of a constant struggle, a tug of war, between the two forces: the beastly force, called al-nafs al-ammara bil-su ’ in the Holy Qur’an, and the spiritual force called al-nafs al-mutma’inna. If the lower self or beastly self gets stronger and overpowers the spiritual self, one is ruined. If, however, the spiritual self overpowers the beastly self, one is successful and realizes his true destiny of reaching Divine nearness and presence which is also called “salvation.” KeywordsRitual PracticeRitual PerformanceSpiritual ExerciseSpiritual GuideDaily PrayerThese keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.