April 21, 2009
Few people realize the huge impact the Sufi saints had in the shaping of philosophies in India and elsewhere and of how it defined many devotional Bhakti faiths. Its earliest inspiration may have been from the early doctrines of Buddha, especially the Abhidhamma Pitaka, and may have also later inspired the Bhagavat Gita that was much later interpolated into the constantly evolving sversions of the great legend of the Mahabharata. Even later they influenced Islamic thought and were the main contributors in bringing many people willingly into the fold of Islam.
Although Sufis are now widely considered to be a Muslim sect, their history goes back to long before the advent of Islam. When Alexander conquered Persia in 330 BC the Macedonians called Persia the `Land of the Great Sophy' after their scholars met these strange mystics. The word Sufi had originally simply meant a single length of rough unstitched woollen cloth that was to be a Man's only personal possession. It was to be the only material thing between their mortal bodies and the great cosmic spirit.
They believed that the individual could, by his own efforts and devotion, attain spiritual union with God in an ecstatic reunion. They believed that… "the human soul was an emanation of this cosmic essence and like a lighted taper is waiting passionately for its disengagement from earthly trammels to return to its only beloved.?. It was a purely spiritual faith that did not much concern itself with social or moral issues.
http://newageislam.com/the-gentle-power-of-the-sufi-tradition/islam-and-spiritualism/d/1703
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9:44 PM
Moderate Islamist here
