Sufism- Origin, Growth, Eclipse, Resurgence

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Mr. RAVINDRA MOHAN CHOPRA (born 14th January. 1934 in Hafizabad, West Punjab) is a worthy son, inheriting dedication to social work and literary disposition from his worthy father Late Dr. Hira Lal Chopra, M.A.. (Punjab), D. Litt. (Tehran). The well-known litterateur and social worker of Kolkata.

Mr. Chopra had a brilliant academic career throughout culminating in his getting First-Class First in M.A., in Islamic History and Culture, from Calcutta University in the year 1956. In his professional field he had been a top executive with Turner Morrison Group of Companies which he joined in 1962. When in 1965 Industry Representatives were first taken in the top position of Shellac Export Promotion Council. Mr. Chopra joined it as the first elected Vice-Chairman. He was also Vice-President of the Indian Lac Exporters Association and, subsequently, a member of the Executive Committee of the Indian Mining Association and Chairman of the Calcutta Selected Coal Association. He is now well established in his own business of Millstore items, Hand Tools and Drilling Accessories.

Mr. Chopra is a social worker of repute and was District Governor of District 322-B of Lions Clubs International in 1981-82 and his slogan was REACH THE NEEDY. During his tenure considerable work was done for the benefit of the physically and visually handicapped persons in urban and rural areas.

Islamic mysticism, or Tasawwuf, also known as Sufism, is a belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal experience of God. It consists of various mystical paths that are designed to ascertain the nature of humanity and God and to facilitate the experience of divine love and wisdom in the world.

Sufism grew out of early Islamic asceticism and developed as a counterweight to the increasing worldliness of expanding Muslim community; it was only later that foreign elements that were compatible with mystical theology and practices were adopted and assimilated and made to conform to Islam.

By educating the masses and deepening the spiritual concerns of the Muslims, Sufism has played a significant role in the formation of Muslim society throughout the world. The Sufis have been further responsible for a large scale missionary activity all over the world which still continues.

The subject of Sufism has engaged the attention of scholars, orientalists and historians of religion from the eleventh century onwards and a lot of literature has appeared on Sufism since the thirteenth century. First it was in Arabic and then in Persian and, from the eighteenth century when it caught the imagination of European scholars and orientalists, in English and other European languages. It added to a great corpus of literature and knowledge on Sufism and its growth and development.

Mysticism is a constant and eternal phenomena of the universal yearning of human soul to have direct communion with the Creator. The mystic sentiment grows out of the human aspirations for personal and direct experience of the Supreme Lord. When strong spiritual emotion cannot be satisfied by the orthodox or formal approach to the Ultimate Reality, the mystic ideals are cherished and cultivated which are unvarying phenomena of the human spirit to achieve the objective. This tendency, in great mystics, gradually captures the whole field of consciousness; it dominates their life, and in the experience called mystic union, variously described as Ecstasy, the Absorption in God, the Fana of the Sufis, attains its end. Whether that end be the God of various religions, the World-Soul of Pantheism, the Absolute of Philosophy, the desire to attain it and the movement towards it is known as mysticism. It is essentially the same in all religions given to human Beings. Before we proceed further, let us discuss who are mystics.

WHO ARE MYSTICS ?

From time immemorial, people in general have tried to lead a pious, God-fearing life in conformity with the rules of the existing religion and morality-however the intellectuals are content with only rational explanation of religious truths with the help of philosophy. But, in every religion and region, there are individuals who yearn for direct contact or experience with God Himself, and are not content to be tied down to the externalities of religion, ethics and philosophy. And then there are people who consider the intellectual process too dry and slow, and whose hearts are so sensitive that nothing but the close and constant propinquity with the Lord can give them any impulse to work or realize any joy in life. Since people of the third category realize the presence of the Almighty intuitionally, they couldn't care to produce any proof or authorities. They convey their experience of the Divinity through their utterances, poetry, or even philosophical works, and some even end their days in silence and peace. Such people are known as mystics, or the chosen race of God and His true representatives, or the spiritual torch-bearers who lead the world, from the darkness of material world to the light of spirit and closeness to the Creator. By general terminology they are known as mystics who are found in almost all religions. The mystics of Islam are known as Sufis.

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