Mystic Mantra: Who is a true Sufi?

Hazrat Sari Sakti was one of the pioneers of Sufism. Many Islamic historians have asserted that he laid the foundations of Sufism in Baghdad. For him, Sufism was not an intellectual tradition. Rather, he conceived of it as an inner spiritual experience that is attained through “ibadat (worship), amal (action), ikhlas (sincerity), lillahiyat (sincerity to God) and al-khawf wal rajaa (fear and hope of Allah)”.

Hazrat Sari Sakti did not receive any formal education or conventional training in Sufism, nor did he embark on the Sufi path through the commonly practised ritual known as Rasme Sajjadgi. Rather, he stumbled on this spiritual path by sheer coincidence that turned out to be a turning point in his life. Afterwards, he devoted all his life to mysticism and tasawwuf (Sufism).

Nevertheless, spiritual Islamic terms such as tasawwuf and Sufi have got little mention in his edicts. Only one of his malfuzaat (spiritual utterances), Risalah Qusyairiyah contains the epithet of “Sufi”, and that too only once. It shows that Hazrat Sari Sakti and other Sufis of early times would seldom call themselves “Sufi”. In fact, a true Sufi would never tag himself/herself with this lofty epithet.
Hazrat Sari Sakti has precisely explained the epithet of a Sufi.

He said, “A Sufi is one in whose life and character, three qualities are manifest: the noor (light) of his ma’rifah (gnosis) does not extinguish the light of his wara (being cautious about the objectionable actions), s/he does not whisper any thought even to his heart that defies the divine injunctions, and s/he does not try to impress people with the karamat (miracles) that involve prohibited deeds.”

Tazkirat al-Awliya, a Sufi manual, relays a very interesting and educative incident that happened to Hazrat Sari Sakti in Baghdad. He was maternal uncle and spiritual mentor of a child that later became a renowned Sufi of Baghdad, Hazrat Junaid. In his childhood days, Junaid once found his father crying.

When asked, Junaid’s father said that he had gone to Hazrat Sari Sakti with some amount of zakat (alms), but the latter didn’t accept it. He said, “I am crying because I spent all my life earning these five-10 dirhams and yet they are not acceptable to a wali (friend of God).” Junaid asked his father to give him the amount so he would offer it to Hazrat Sari Sakti. While presenting the money, Junaid appealed to Hazrat Sari Sakti, “My dear uncle, kindly accept it in the name of Allah who exalted you and treated my father with justice.”

Hazrat Sari Sakti was astonished. He asked the child to explain what he meant by his ambiguous, yet meaningful sentence. Junaid replied, “God blessed you with mysticism and this is your exalted position, and similarly he engaged my father with mundane pursuits. And all this is God’s will. So whether you accept or decline this charity, it is left to your discretion. But my father is responsible enough to ensure that this money goes to a deserving person.”

Hazrat Sari Sakti appreciated his niece’s reply and said, “I accept it and I accept you too, my dear.” This story clearly tells that mysticism and material pursuit both have their own exalted positions. None of them can be underestimated.