Американский Научный Журнал HİSTORY OF TURKİSH SUFISM

4 American Scientific Journal № ( 25 ) / 20 19
ИСКУССТВОВЕДЧЕСКИЕ И ГУМАНИТАРНЫЕ
НАУКИ

HİSTORY OF TURK İSH SUFISM
Gulshan Aliyeva -Kengerli
Doctor of philological sciences, professor

Abstract
And relying on our love to Allah, we also have tried an amateur study around Sufism. We picked a flower
from the great sufis’ Mansur Hallaj, Bayazid Bestami, Junaid Baghdadi, Ahmad Yasawi, Mawlana Jalal ud -Din
Rumi, Yunis Emre, Haji Bektashi, Nizamaddin Mir Alishir Navai, Farid ud -Din Attar, Maraghayi Avhadi, Sheikh
Mahmud Shabustari, Seyyid Imadaddin Nasimi, Sha h Ismayil Khatai, great Mawlana Mahammad Fizuli’s garden
of divine beauty, divine love.
We couldn’t pass M.Fizuli further, got stuck on this divine zenith..
Keywords: Turkish sufism, Al -Ghazali, al -Arabi, Islamic culture, Turkish thinking

We should promptly state the most basic method-
ological outset: we are considering Sufism from the
prism of belles ‐lettres. In the theoretical thought of the
world this trend (for now) known as Sufism, tasawwuf,
mysticismhas very different theoretical and p hilosoph-
ical, historical and legal, poetic and esthetic strata, un-
studied layers, personalities and treatises. Thousands of
research works have been written on Sufism. From the
IX century to the XXI century Sufism has been in the
focus of attention of the Oriental, European as well as
world scholars. Sufism resembles a pit dug in the sand,
the more it is dug, the larger it becomes, and gradually
turns into a mystery. From generation to generation
there have been awliyas, sheikhs, murshids, murids and
ulamas , who dedicated their lives to the understanding
and interpretation of Sufism. Sufism remains incom-
prehensible even today. That is why we are going to
make an effort to cast a brief glance at Sufism only from
the prism of belleslettres, of literary thought , gratefully
making use of the valuable ideas of those who wrote on
Sufism and also the creative experience of the Azerbai-
jani literature, one of the ancient and rich literatures of
the world. Thus, we have to start from such a question:
Is Sufism a litera ry system, a literary trend, a literary
direction or a literary style…?!
This theoretical designation can be criticized from
different aspects. Andin this regard, it is impossible to
view Sufism as some literary system for the following
reasons: 1. Unlike Renaissance (though the Eastern and
European renaissances are based on the Greek philoso-
phy, the Greek science which has gone through a his-
torical approbation in the Arabic environment –
G.A.K), Sufismis a pure Eastern phenomenon. Sufism
has had an except ional part in the formation of scien-
tific (the antique Greek philosophy) bases of the East-
ern (rather disputable so far!) renaissance (especially
under the Abbasids who reigned for 500 years!). 2. Su-
fism is not only a phenomenon of literature, literary
tho ught, but a religious -mystic philosophical trend. It
isa trend that includes sects on the level of an independ-
ent trend. It is the system of systems not from the liter-
ary -artistic, but artistic -philosophical point of view. 3.
From the prism of belles -lette rs, Sufism is an artistic -
philosophical trend with its own perfect history, con-
ceptual theoretical structure, ethical, poetic, esthetic
and methodological peculiarities. However, Su-
fismcannot be restricted to all this. If any science has a
methodology, tha t means it has both its history and the-
ory. Given that, let us formulate our first (primitive) pri-
mary (methodological) idea on Sufism before casting a
brief glance at its history and theory. Sufismis a philo-
sophical doctrine on the creature’s (the human’s ) mys-
tic (divine) love to (merging into, thawing out in) the
Creator(Allah).
Two great personalities had an important part in
the historical fate of Sufism as a literary -philosophical
trend and historical -social doctrine. It is impossible to
accomplish the view on this doctrine without mention-
ing them. One of them was Abu Hamid al -Ghazali
(1058 -1111), and the other was Muhammad Ibn al -
Arabi (1165 -1240).
Al-Ghazali, who was promoted till having an hon-
our of bearing the title Imam, was born in the city of
Tu s near Khorasan. He took Sufi classes from al -Ju-
wayni who belonged to the sect of ash’ari and was
called “the Imam of two holy cities”. While al -Ghazali
was still young, he became famous in Khorasan, and
was advanced to the professoriate (ulamas) of the
Saljuq vizier Nizam al -Mulk, and a little later taught
law in the famous Nizamiyya madrasa established in
Baghdad. He was inflicted to the disease of nervous
system, experienced stresses while learning to medi-
tate, criticized the Islamiyya sect which murdere d Ni-
zam al -Mulk and soon afterwards deserted the ulamas
“за их алчность и отсутствие моральных принци-
пов ” ( А.Кныш ) – “for their avarice and lack of moral
principles” (A.Knysh). Living a poor life, al -Ghazali
got secluded and practiced reasoning and wrote his fa-
mous work – the treatise “Ihya’u Ulumiddin” (The Re-
vival of Religious Sciences). First of all, in his works
“Maqasid al falasifa” (Aims of Philosophers) and
“Tahafut al -Falasifa” (The Incoherence of the Philoso-
phers) Imam Ghazali criticized the schol astic Islam
philosophy prior to him and neoplatonizm. Further
Imam Ghazali realized a great reform in Sufism in his
work “Ihya’u Ulumiddin” consisting of four sections
with ten books in each section and in the work “Mishkat
al-Anwar” (The Niche of Lights) in which he inter-
preted his views clearly: he combined Sufism with Is-

American Scientific Journal № (25 ) / 201 9 5
lam theology! His work “Mishkat al -Anwar”, espe-
cially his ezocentric theory later opened a wide per-
spective for the evolution of Sufism and was developed
by Yahya Suhrawardi and Ibn al -Ar abi (bax: Аль -Га-
зали Абу Хамид . Воскрешение наук о вере (Ихйа
улум ид -дин). Избранные главы. М., 1980; Кныш А.
Мусульманский мистицизм. С. 158 – 168; Керимов
Г. Газали и суфизм. Баку , 1969). – (see: Al -Ghazali
Abu Hamid. The Revival of Science on Belief (Ih ya’u
Ulumiddin). The Selected Chapters. M., 1980; Knysh
A. The Islamic Mysticism. p.p.158 -168, Karimov
G.Ghazali and Sufism. Baku, 1969). Imam Ghazali
lived with his disciples till the end of his life in the
khanagah he had built in his native city Tus. Th e re-
searcher confirmed that “Ghazali had brought a mystic
love to the world of believers and removed two extreme
elements of Sufism: indifference towards the religious
rituals and pantheist ideals. He was unable to com-
pletely eliminate the second element, but restricted it
considerably... He made Sufism wiser and the devout-
ness more lively.
Having generalized the traditional elements, ra-
sionalism and tasawwuf elements, Ghazali virtually
recornated Islam” (H.Masse).
Ghazali was a great reformer and reconci liatory, it
was his works that defamed the Greek science – the Ar-
istotelism. He managed to remove the contradiction be-
tween the Greek science and religion in the Islamic
world. The outstanding Hungarian scholar on Islam
I.Goldziher wrote that if someone mi ght ever be a
prophet after Mohammad, that certainly would be al -
Ghazali. Ghazali said that Sufism consisted of sense but
not reasoning. In general, the clearest definition of Su-
fism was given by the XII century Arabic philosopher
Ibn Sabina. He said that while the antique philosophers
wouldn’t identify themselves with Allah, the Sufis
wanted to be united with Allah (H.Masse. Islam,
p.184). H.Masse wrote that the Sufism that had evolved
from asceticism reached monism in the middle of the
XIII century. This monism was later defined by Ibn
Arabi, the outstanding theoretician of Sufism.
Imam Ghazali solved the main contradiction of
Sufism. He combined the tasawwuf with the Islamic
theology. Beginning from 1091 he studied at Ni-
zamiyya madrasa in Baghdad which w as then at the
level of university, academy in the East. This madrasa
had long been the hearth of intrigues where terror -level
crimes were committed against the clever men. In his
youth Ghazali had suffered a psychological crisis and
experienced depression . Figuratively expressed, his
wits turned out to be too heavy to fit his mind. Within
a short period of time Imam Ghazali wrote 40 books,
his noblest work being “The Revival of Religious Sci-
ences” consisting of 4 volumes in the present sense.
The following was told about that book, “In the devel-
opmental history of Islamic religious doctrine Imam
Ghazali received the title Hujjat al -Islam (the proof of
Islam). The Moslems say even now that if the Koran
and all the writings disappeared, and only “The Revival
of Religious Sciences” were left, Islam could be re-
stored wonderfully through it” (Şukurov A. Ş ərq
fəlsəfəsi v ə filosofları. Bakı, 2005, s. 381) – (Shukurov
A. The Oriental Philosophy and Philosophers. Baku,
2005, p.381). His failure to try his knowledge i n prac-
tice drove Ghazali to despair, he became out of mood
and lost his appetite and speech. His very (extremely)
strong intellect led him to doubtfulness and scepticism.
He actually built his theory on the criticism of mystics,
theologians and philosopher s (A.Shukurov). On the one
hand he would say: “The exposure of the secret of the
divine reign is atheism”. On the other, he came to a con-
clusion that “relying only on the wits in search of the
truth leads to the destruction of morals and religion”
(A.Shuku rov).
Having systematized the writings about Ghazali in
his book “Al -Ghazali and Sufism” (Baku, ≪Elm ≫,
1968) written in Russian certainly under the pressure of
the Soviet ideology and through the Marxist principles
G.M.Karimov, the author of the valuable research on
Ghazali came to such a conclusion that he subordinated
the wits to belief (religion), and went against Aristotel’s
materialistic doctrine. According to the author, the re-
actionary character of Imam Ghazali’s philosophical
system was in his bein g also the follower of the Aristo-
tel’s materialism in the East and opposing Ibn Sina and
al-Farabi (p.5). The author who provided a summary
and assessment of the existing researches on Imam
Ghazali in the section “Brief Summary of Literature”
of his book ( see: p. 5 -71) actually turned out to fulfill a
scientific -enlightenment work. The author pointed out
the dual approach of the great, extremely controversial
philosophers – mystic philosophers whose names are
associated with the entire scientific historical epoch in
the Islamic East, “A group of scholars consider him a
relentless enemy of science, especially materialism
meanwhile referring to Ibn Rusha who wrote the work
“The Negation of the Negative” versus al -Ghazali’s
“Takhafum al falsafa” (the Negation o f Philosophers).
A second group of scholars consider al -Ghazali as a
Moslem theologist, the protector of the Islamic reli-
gious orthodoxism” (p.71).
Imam Ghazali considered the mystic sciences as
real sciences. In one of his remarks he wrote, “Accord-
ing to one of my fair friends, some scholars negate that
mystic Sufi who was believed by the selected sufis who
are sure of the manifold strength and depth of the divine
knowledge – the knowledge inherent to the human be-
ing over the ones acquired through studies , and by the
followers of the sufi educational course,” (“Khazar”
journal, 2005, № 3, p.10). Accordingly, Ghazali came
to some conclusions and formulated them, “Knowl-
edgeable is the one who reaches what he is aware of
and represents them. Known is that whi ch is revealed
as a result of imaginations and finds its imagination in
spirit”. Ghazali came to such a conclusion that a human
being can realize Allah only through Allah’s own help.
Ibn Teymiyya formulated Ibn Arabi’s doctrine as
follows, “The existence of the created things is nothing
but the Creator’s existence: everything is created from
the divine existence to return finally to this existence”.
This doctrine by Ibn Arabi gave impetus later to the dis-
semination of the tasawwuf literature, and virtually
turned into a literary -philosophical trend. To be more
precise, Ibn Arabi, who was famous under the pseudo-
nym “Ash -Sheikh al -Akbar” in the Medieval scientific -

6 American Scientific Journal № ( 25 ) / 20 19
theoretical thought, founded wahdati -wujud [the unity
of existence].
As a philosophical doctrin e the essence of
wahdatiwujud is known: “It presupposes understanding
the whole [kyull] in the particle [jyuz]”. And in Sufism
“wahdati -wujud is seeing in everything the Deity’s
might, grace and manifestation of His images and ac-
cepting that everything is nothing but a shadow, mirage
in comparison with His existence” (S.Khavari).
Ibn Arabi was born in Spain, in the city of Murcia
dwelt by Moslems, as a child moved to Sevilla where
he got his education and made a pilgrimage to Mecca
at the age of 37. ≪К это му времени он уже написал
около шестидесяти сочинений по различным аспек -
там эзотерической науки , по суфийской практике и
методам настав ничества ≫ (А.Кныш ). – “By that
time he had written some 60 works on different aspects
of esoteric science, Sufi practi ce and methods of tutor-
ship” (A.Knysh). However, these works did not earn
him great fame, he became famous only after he had
come to the East. Ibn Arabi’s most famous works are
“the Statue of Wisdom” (Fusus al -hikam”) written in
Damascus and the multi -volu med “Meccan Illumina-
tions” (Al -Futuhat al -Makkiya). A.Knysh confirmed
that both now and then these works have been evaluated
as the genuine masterpieces of “Sufi science” (p. 188).
Ibn Arabi was the author of some 300 works. His
works, especially “the Statue of Wisdom” was written
in a very compli cated style, in a clandestine and inex-
plicable language, thoughts were conveyed through
ambiguous symbols.
The great philosopher consigned the human in the
second place after Allah, and asserted an idea that man
joins Allah in a mystic way and becomes div ine. In his
famous tractate “The Interpreter of Desires” he moti-
vated the idea of the Absolute Reality.
Ibn Arabi said, “The Absolute Reality is above
names and absolute categories, at the same time is im-
minent to His own manifestation with their help. Th e
Absolute Reality cannot be realized dualistically the
way the object is realized by the subject. The human
consciousness is both the prism and mirror. In them the
undifferentiated Absolute Reality is manifested and
they separate Him into His attributes. Ibn Arabi also
noted that the Absolute Reality can be realized until the
level of the loss of human “ego”. At the point of the loss
of human “ego” the Absolute Reality is above the poles
of master and servant, and divine and non -divine in His
transcendent essence. The manifestation of the Abso-
lute Reality, whose name and attribute are materialized
in the things of the Universe, is a constantly dynamic
and controversial process. Ibn Arabi also pointed out
that the numerous and endless apostasies of the Abso-
lute Reality is understood exactly only by those people
who themselves are in the state of constant simultane-
ous change of the state of the realized Himself” (Şuku-
rov A. Ş ərq f əlsəfəsi v ə filosofları, s.455) - (Shukurov
A. The Oriental Philosophy and Philos ophers, p.455).
Ibn Arabi’s father was a close friend with the out-
standing scholars, philosophers and state leaders of his
time. He had learnt law and Islamic theology perfectly
well.
Comparing al -Arabi and al -Ghazali, Idries Shah
wrote that both of them were born in the Sufi families.
However, Ghazali first studied scholastic sciences, did
not suffice himself with them and came to Sufism. But
al-Arabi created the poetry of Sufism, of mystic love,
caroled the ideas of Sufism in a language understanda-
ble b y all, and further studied its theory (bax: Sufizm,
Moskva, 1994, s.166 – See: Sufism, Moscow, 1994,
p.166).
In the work “The Bezels of Wisdom” Muhyiddin
Ibn Arabi said that seeing Allah in woman is the great-
est perfection. In Spain Arabi got education fr om a Sufi
woman Fatima bint Ibn al -Muthanna and was exposed
to a serious psychic impact: “Some of his works were
written in the state of trance and their meaning became
clear to ibn al -Arabi himself only following some time
after writing them” ( Идрис Шах . Суфизм . C. 169) -
(Idries Shah. Sufism, p.169). He was writing at the ex-
pense of tense inner trepidation, and hence it was hard
to interpret his works. He said man should be able to
control his thinking and his nafs [temptation]. Such
alertness will allow man to be (to think) in different pa-
rameters (in the transfer of dream and alertness!). Eve-
rybody (a scholar) should work hard to be able to have
such an extraordinarily valuable ability.
Al-Arabi was esoteric. He lived the life of inner
world. On the oth er hand, he was intellectual. Because
of these features, the surroundings and orthodox Mos-
lems persecuted him. At last, he wrote commentaries to
the work “The Interpreter of Desires” and explained the
possibility of combining its system with the orthodoxal
Islam. In 1202 he made a pilgrimage to Mecca actually
to escape the persecutions and reprimands (in Syria he
was called a liar and trickster!) and here got acquainted
with Mukinuddin, the head of Iranian sufis, who over -
estimated him, and his beautiful da ughter Nizam by the
name. From then on all the poems by al -Arabi were de-
voted to this extremely beautiful girl (bax: İdris Şah.
Sufizm. S.171 - 173 - See: Idries Shah. Sufism. P.P.
171 -173).
Al-Arabi was always in the quest of truth. His role
in the Islamic civilization was very great. He was seek-
ing links between intellectual and spiritual contacts. An
individual evolution (retrieval inside) was basis for
him. And today al -Arabi’s doctrine confirms and ex-
pands the potentials of the Islamic civilizati on to live in
different environments.
Ibn Arabi wanted to see the world in a wholestic
way, i.e. as a complete unity. The modern man (the
youth of the globalization period), who is willing to
know the religious philosophy, needs Ibn Arabi’s doc-
trine.
Ara bi’s doctrine enables to realize, to elucidate the
general roots and contrasts of existence. He gave prior-
ity to apprehension, self -expression and self realization
as basic principles. Like other sufis, he also made such
an inference, “We should know what we cannot cover
(apprehend) with our mind”. According to Arabi, Su-
fism is worshipping before the truth (probably the ab-
solute truth!). Arabi explained the Prophet’s impact on
people, and actually considered Mohammad
Aleyhisselam ideal as a human being and saint as a
prophet. Ibn al -Arabi’s philosophy of Sufism teaches

American Scientific Journal № (25 ) / 201 9 7
“essences going beyond the logics” ( Лежа де Бистиза .
Испания ). (Leja de Bistiza. Spain). In reference to Ber-
tels we can say that the Sufism, which was never
unique, had made a complicated way within three cen-
turies (IX -XII) “from the secret social protest … to
scholastic philosophy”. This course consisted of three
stages of mystic self improvement: Shariat, tariqat,
haqiqat!
Shariat was not Sufism yet, it was the onset of the
course, its starti ng point. Every orthodoxal Moslem is
obliged to know the Islamic dogmas. Here starts the
course -tariqat (syuluk). Salik – the wayfarer should
pass the stages of this course to be united with Allah, to
attain the divine love. In Sufism these stages are called
maqams [points]. Their number is seven: tovba [peni-
tence], vara [caution], zuhd [abstinency], farq [pov-
erty], sabr [patience], tawakkul [maqam of tawakkul;
reverential trust] and rida [obedience] ( ətraflı bax: Бер-
тельс Е.Э. Суфизм и суфийская ли - тература . C. 36 –
37) – (See for more information: Bertels E.E. Sufism
and Sufi Literature, p.p. 36 -37). Only after having
passed these maqams with love, honour, belief and
faith, salik (a human being) can attain the third and the
last stage – the truth. “Having attained the truth, salik
realizes the true nature of intuitive divineness and unit-
ing with it” ( Y.E.Bertels).It is a complicated issue to
study the history of numerous sects of Sufism, their the-
oretical -philosophical essence, the correlations of these
sects. This wouldn’t be managed, even if a university
conducted an investigation for a century, let alone a
man who did it all his life long. If after very simple and
short notes we cast a brief -exclusive glance at these two
issues accomplishing each other, we might present Su-
fism as a literary -philosophical trend on the level of an
ordinary reader. Firs t, what is the role of fiction in the
evolution of Sufism; second, on what level did Sufism
(tasawwuf) improve the poetics of literature? Naturally,
in Sufi literature, basically in poetry the religious (mys-
tic) philosophical content required a poetic perf ection
for its expression. For, in Sufism (for a Sufi) poetry was
one of the main devices of getting delighted, attaining
ecstasy to merge with Allah. It is very difficult to ap-
proach the Sufi literature universally. However, there is
a literary -historical necessity stimulating, compelling
us to such an approach. The establishment and for-
mation of the religious -philosophical Sufism, mysti-
cism enjoy the same context with the common Islamic
culture in the East. To be more precise, the common
Islamic culture, which was established owing to the
cultural -historical unity of the mindset of the Arab, the
language of the Persian and the spirit of the Turk, also
covers the VIII -XIII centuries. And from the historical
point of view, it coincides with the period of the dyn-
asty of the Abbassids (758 -1275) who reigned in the
East for 500 years. No doubt, we would like also to ex-
press as a thesis one more idea the grounding of which
requires serious causes and evidences. The devastation
of the context of the common Islamic culture in the East
started from the time of the collapse of the Abbassids –
the end of the XIII century. It was after this event that
the inclination to the native -language poetry became
stronger in the literature of each nation, and the factor
of nation alism began to prevail the common Oriental
factor (the literary universalism) in literature. The
Oghuz -Saljug culture was founded – reached its zenith
in the XVI century. “In the establishment of the XI -XII
century -Islamic culture the Azerbaijani thinking was
also taking part as a Turkish thinking in general, how-
ever, it was not able to be realized in the Islamic culture
altogether; khamsas were created and disseminated on
the one hand, and oghuznames on the other. Naturally,
no matter what a differential p henomenon the Azerbai-
jani thinking was, it appeared in the Islamic culture in
its common Turkic context… ” The author of these
lines, Corresponding Member of the Azerbaijan Na-
tional Academy of Sciences N.Jafarov correctly stated
that the Islamic culture de veloped in the cities, while
the provinces maintained historical -ethnic values, and
there was mutual enrichment between them alongside
with the confrontation. It was “this process that conse-
quently formulated the XIII -XVI -century Azerbaijani
Oghuz - Saljug culture” (C əfərov N. Fuzulid ən Vaqif ə
qədər. Bakı, 1991, s. 5 -6) - (Jafarov N. From Fizuli to
Vagif. Baku, 1991, p.p. 5 -6).
SUFISM which has occupied the attention of all
the thinkers of the world – philosophers, writers, poets,
historians, theoreticians o f law and literary studies
since the IX century up to now is such a literary - phil-
osophical trend that it won’t yield to explanation. Su-
fism is endlessness among the numbers, and three dots
in the sentence. It is the problem of “Mankind and Lit-
erature”. Su fism will not end until the creature sees the
Creator. It won’t be solved. No one, neither prophet,
nor Sufi, nor thinker has seen Allah since the day the
Earth was created. That is why, Sufism – the creature’s
path of divine love to the Creator - continue s.

Literature
1. Аль -Газали Абу Хамид. Воскрешение наук
о вере (Ихйа улум ид -дин). Избранные главы. М.,
1980;
2. Кныш А. Мусульманский мистицизм. С.
158 – 168;
3. Керимов Г. Газали и суфизм. Баку, 1969
4. H.Masse. Islam, p.184
5. “Khazar” journal, 2005, № 3, p.10
6. Shukurov A. The Oriental Philosophy and
Philosophers. Baku, 2005, p.381
7. Idries Shah. Sufism. P.P. 171 -173
8. Bertels E.E. Sufism and Sufi Literature, p.p.
36 -37
9. Jafarov N. From Fizuli to Vagif. Baku, 1991,
p.p. 5 -6
10. Al-Ghazali and Sufism. Baku, ≪Elm ≫, 1968