Islam: A Guide for Jews and Christians - Electric Scotland

252 t CHAPTER TEN
grace. For the Muslim no less than the Christian, progress through
the stations began as a jihad, a struggle against one’s worldly inclinations
that reflected the ascetic tradition of the earliest Sufism.
The sheikh led the novice through the stations by means of exercises
like the examination of conscience, meditation, and the constant
repetition of God’s name. Obedience was expected to be
prompt and total.
The spiritual master introduced the novice into two of the most
common practices of Sufism, what were called “recollection”
(dhikr) and the “hearing” (sama). The term dhikr has its spiritual,
internal sense of recollecting God’s name (Quran 18:24; 33:41)
and his blessings, but its more common form in Sufism is the ritual
repetition of set formulas, notably the Muslim profession of faith
or of the ninety-nine “Beautiful Names of God.” The dhikr was
generally a community exercise, though it could be performed privately,
and it was preceded by the tariqa’s distinctive litany, or
wird, the poetical prayers composed by the founder. The recollection
was performed in rhythmical unison by the brethren, and it
was often accompanied by controlled breathing, as was the Jesus
prayer used to the same end in Eastern Christianity.
The objective of the dhikr was the praise and worship of God,
but there was a practical end as well, the achievement of the ecstatic
state of annihilation (fana), which was for the Sufi a natural
antecedent of union with the Divine. There was also often an elaborate
ritual of singing and dancing with which the dhikr might be
commingled. This sama, as the latter was called, was a virtual
“spiritual concert,” and though it was highly characteristic of certain
Sufi associations such as the celebrated whirling dervishes
who followed the teachings of the Persian mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi
(1207–1273) at Konya in Turkey, the practice was not everywhere
approved or accepted. There were extravagances, to be sure, in
these rituals, and more than a few traditional and conservative
Muslims were scandalized at what had become, on the eve of modern
times, highly theatrical performances rather than spiritual
exercises.