dc.description.abstract |
Our study has focused on the phenomenon of mysticism by "Said Nawrasi", one of those who have been credited with the renewal of religious reform particularly in the Turkish society, and generally in the Muslim world, through shedding light on his autobiography and the conditions of his time to touch the trends affecting his intellectual and spiritual orientations, thus monitoring the features of renewal and reform in Sufism or Sufi Thought, which draws on the practical direction of the twentieth-century human life.
The Sufism is part of the field of Islamic thought; however, it is known for its multiplicity of approaches and methods for going through several stages. It, therefore, reflects these human efforts and interactive attempts within a specific spatial and temporal domain within the scope of revelation (Islamic thought). Although suspicions and doubts distorted the truth and substance and the extent of intellectual or methodological aspects as a practice and swung between the opposition and the support, between defenders and critics, there was in every era a surge of scientists and thinkers of the mystics and Islamic thought who work on renewing and formulating it in a new form and reject those suspicions and doubts of those who deviated from it for various purposes and purposes.
Nawrasi is believed to be among those who were devoted of the revival of Sufism to its essence, its true source and purposes, in which it grew up in its new manner and distinctive approach. Such a fact made it responsive to the recent requirements and without disconnecting it from society. However, he re-formulated it as a model and a way of life to be practised, activated, and applied. In other words, he revived the broad spiritual life with its broad moral meanings like: "union, solidarity, brotherhood, love, honesty, hope, consultation (Shura) ... etc” in a time, where atheism, secular currents, and Westernization overwhelmed, the attention of people was drawn towards the material life and enjoyment of it. In the midst of these dire and difficult situations, he transformed the Suffism Thought into a method and a behaviour despite his total denial of being a leader of the Sufi method. Nevertheless, this doesn’t mean that he hasn’t created an epistemological break with the Sufi Thought, but has taken advantage of Sufism as a method to rationalize his missionary speech for reform and change. The comprehensive Quranic approach in his call to address all groups and all social classes, and the honourable Sunna and the Companions’ (Sahabah) era as being the distinctive model of Sufism in practicing behaviours and actions embodied, on the ground, in their transactions and interactions with others even with the enemies of Islam. Sufism does not depend on the personal tastes and spiritual acts only. It rather extends that since it is an approach which does not meet the needs of the time as it represents an era of conflict and challenge of physical philosophies that proved to be hostile to Islamic religion.
Nevertheless, what is more important is how he was able to reproduce it in a new way away from the classic and far from the establishment of a Sufi method. In fact, it depends on the spiritual supplication and mental reflection to serve the faith truths directly, how he re-produced the truths that are the quest of all Sufis and restructured them as required through time and according to the needs of man today. Such a fact reflects the ability of Sufism to renewal, although it demonstrates the flexibility of development and renewal according to the requirements and needs of the time. It is, thus, valid for at any time and place. He also revived the spiritual life to its first era when the lifestyles practised were embodied in the social, political, economic, religious interactions and behaviours of the individual within his society rather than isolated from it. That’s to say, as a model reflecting the true spiritual education of ethics and a balanced spiritual building, facing the Westernizing trends and suspicion which achieve a spiritual and material balance. It is the model that constructs man morally and ensures the constant connection to God through worship, which in its meaning is the source of spiritual energy that awakens and revives the heart and makes him perform his worshipping function with total devotion to God. All this without forgetting the organizing and progressing of the spiritual raising that makes man rise to the top, and always push him to the best. In this way, Nawras introduced both of the approach of moderation and mind-heart duality, that reproduce values and spiritual life; and this is the essence of Sufism.
Sufism of Nawrasi is the true application of Islam in behaviour and all the different aspects of life, serving the individual and society, and achieving love, sincerity and solidarity at a time when materialism becomes the preoccupation of the modern man at the expense of his spiritual side. |
en_US |