گلشن حقیقت

by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, انشاءالله رحمتی (Translator)

کتاب «گلشن حقیقت» حاصل بیش از پنجاه سال تحقیق آکادمیک و مشارکت وجودی و عملی سید حسین نصر در تصوف است. مؤلف دستاوردهای تجربی و عملی ­اش را در حوزۀ تصوف، آشنایی با طریقت­ های گوناگون، دیدار با شیوخ و اساتید مختلف در این کتاب نگاشته است.

این اثر از چهار بخش، شش فصل و دو پیوست تشکیل شده است. پیش از شروع فصل­ ها کتاب مشتمل بر پیشگفتار مفصلی از مترجم است. انشاءالله رحمتی در این مقدمه به موضوعاتی چون معرفی امروزین عرفان اسلامی، تردیدهایی دربارۀ هویت عرفان، زدودن پاره­ای از کژفهمی ­ها، علم ادریسی، حدیث و جبرئیل، تشبیه و تنزیه و بهشت وصال پرداخته است.

بخش نخست این اثر «معنای انسانیت» نام دارد. نصر در این فصل دربارۀ موضوعاتی همچون پرسش ناگزیر، زندگی سفر است، عبودیت، تفسیر سورۀ فاتحه، انسان کامل، کسی بشویم؛ هیچ­کس بشویم نگاشته است. بخش دوم مشتمل بر چهار فصل است.

«حقیقت» عنوان فصل دوم است. مؤلف در این فصل به بررسی معنای حقیقت می­پردازد. او می­گوید: «عارف نام­آور قرن دهم/ چهارم، منصور حلاج گفت انا الحق، یعنی من حقیقت­ام، من حق­ام و جانش را بر سر این گفته نهاد، زیرا بسیاری معنای حقیقی این کلمات را غلط تفسیر کردند. در عین حال این کلمات بسان ترجیع­ بندی مکرر در طی هزار سال گذشته در تاریخ تصوف طنین ­انداز بوده است. چیست این حقیقت که حلاج از آن سخن گفت و جان خویش بر سر آن نهاد و همه صوفیه سعی کرده ­اند که به آن دست یابند و دست­یابی به آن را برترین غایت زندگی بشر دانسته ­اند؟ ص ۱۲۹».

مولف در فصل سوم به موضوعاتی نظری حقیقت الهی، وحدت وجود، خلقت و نظام تجلی، مشاهدۀ خلقت، عالم صغیر بشری، واقعیت شر و لزوم هدایت عالم می­پردازد. فصل سوم با عنوان «عشق و زیبایی» به نقش عشق و زیبایی در حیات معنوی، ماهیت عشق، عشق الهی، جمال الهی، انسانی، کیهانی، صلح و سلام می­ پردازد.

«خیر و شر» عنوان فصل چهارم است. نصر در این فصل به نسبت عمل با نفس، اعمال نیک و بد، اهمیت معنوی ادب، تأثیر روحانی علم می ­پردازد. مولف در فصل پنجم که آن را «چگونه به گلشن حقیقت برسیم» نامیده است بحث صراط مستقیم، طریقت، مرشد، مرید، سماع، آداب طریقت، دانش درمان نفس، احوال و مقامات و فضایل را طرح می ­کند.

بخش سوم «دست­یابی به مرکز تصوف، دیروز و امروز» نام دارد. نصر ذیل عنوان اولِ این فصل یعنی «اینجا و اکنون» چنین نوشته است: «مادام که در مرتبۀ بشری قرار داریم، صرف­نظر از این­که در کجا باشیم و در چه زمانی زندگی کنیم، همچنان از اینجا و اکنون جدایی ناپذیریم. اینجا و اکنون به واسطۀ پیوندی ناگستنی با آگاهی بشری پیوند یافته­ اند. ص ۲۹۷»

او در این بخش به ادبیات، موسیقی، اخلاق معنوی، شیوه ­های تحقیق معنوی، آموزه ­های مابعدالطبیعی و جهان­ شناسانه، ولایت، مقبره ­های صوفیانه، تصوف در جهان اسلام معاصر نیز می­ پردازد.

بخش چهارم مشتمل بر دو پیوست است. پیوست نخست با عنوان «سنت صوفیه و طریقه ­های صوفیه؛ تأملاتی در تجلی تصوف در زمان و مکان» و پیوست دوم «سنت تصوف و عرفان نظری» نام دارد. سید حسین نصر در این دو پیوست به معنای تاریخ تصوف، منشأ تصوف، نخستین صوفیه، مکتب بغداد، مشرق و مغرب جهان اسلام، تاریخچۀ سنت عرفان نظری، جهان عرب، کشورهایی چون ترکیه، هند، چین و ایران می­ پردازد.

Genres: Islam, Religion, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Spirituality, History, Mysticism

479 pages, Hardcover

First published September 18, 2007

About the author

Seyyed Hossein Nasr was born on April 7, 1933 (19 Farvadin 1312 A.H. solar) in Tehran into a family of distinguished scholars and physicians. His father, Seyyed Valiallah, a man of great learning and piety, was a physician to the Iranian royal family, as was his father before him. The name "Nasr" which means "victory" was conferred on Professor Nasr's grandfather by the King of Persia. Nasr also comes from a family of Sufis. One of his ancestors was Mulla Seyyed Muhammad Taqi Poshtmashhad, who was a famous saint of Kashan, and his mausoleum which is located next to the tomb of the Safavid king Shah Abbas, is still visited by pilgrims to this day.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr, currently University Professor of Islamic Studies at the George Washington University, Washington D.C. is one of the most important and foremost scholars of Islamic, Religious and Comparative Studies in the world today. Author of over fifty books and five hundred articles which have been translated into several major Islamic, European and Asian languages, Professor Nasr is a well known and highly respected intellectual figure both in the West and the Islamic world. An eloquent speaker with a charismatic presence, Nasr is a much sought after speaker at academic conferences and seminars, university and public lectures and also radio and television programs in his area of expertise. Possessor of an impressive academic and intellectual record, his career as a teacher and scholar spans over four decades.

Professor Nasr began his illustrious teaching career in 1955 when he was still a young and promising, doctoral student at Harvard University. Over the years, he has taught and trained an innumerable number of students who have come from the different parts of the world, and many of whom have become important and prominent scholars in their fields of study.

He has trained different generations of students over the years since 1958 when he was a professor at Tehran University and then, in America since the Iranian revolution in 1979, specifically at Temple University in Philadelphia from 1979 to 1984 and at the George Washington University since 1984 to the present day. The range of subjects and areas of study which Professor Nasr has involved and engaged himself with in his academic career and intellectual life are immense. As demonstrated by his numerous writings, lectures and speeches, Professor Nasr speaks and writes with great authority on a wide variety of subjects, ranging from philosophy to religion to spirituality, to music and art and architecture, to science and literature, to civilizational dialogues and the natural environment.

For Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, the quest for knowledge, specifically knowledge which enables man to understand the true nature of things and which furthermore, "liberates and delivers him from the fetters and limitations of earthly existence," has been and continues to be the central concern and determinant of his intellectual life.

Reviews

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

July 2019

I first read this book in late 2012, it was one of the first truly Islamic books (outside of a translation of the Qur'an) that I read and it was introduced to me by a mentor who was the single most influential person in showing me Islam. Coming back to it again after last encountering it over five years ago is an experience and the impression of great books is always conditioned on our mental state in a given time period. This is an amazing summary of Sufism and the appendices give an impression of how deep one can go in the Islamic tradition. The intellectual, spiritual and philosophical resources are endless.


Feb 2014

"The Knowledge to which the Prophet referred as light is not of course information or conceptual knowledge but the knowledge that illuminates both the subject that knows and the object that is known". (53)
"...the in-depth understanding of the truth that God veils Himself by what is none other than God can come only from spiritual realization" (45)

On the external level, we are at all times influenced by the sum total of our experiences, which can either veil or un-veil our knowledge of The Real depending on the attitude of the heart and the path we choose for ourselves. One of the practical truths I've gained from Islam is that we "grow" in particular directions - meaning that the individual actions we choose on a daily basis dramatically and accurately "aim" our innermost beings towards a certain end. There is an energy of the Real that very much coincides with the choices we make.

Nasr talks about this in relation to Sufi music: "There is a fire in the human soul. If the fire is that of love for God, Sufi music intensifies it, and if it is only the fire of passion, that too is intensified by music." In some, this passion is more intensified than others, so whatever direction we happen to attune our beings, whether it's externally on the world of forms or internally towards the "center", we find a proportionately intense focus.

Sufism is the path towards the center. It is inextricably tied to Islam. It requires deep commitment and intense practice. Any attempt to separate the "idea" of Sufism from the lived reality of the way, divine law or exoteric nature of Islam will result in failure. Sufism is nothing more than the esoteric nature of Islam, and the very title of "Sufism" can lead one to believe that it's somehow separate from the faith.

This reality has created a tension in my own life, for as Nasr says: "Sufism is one of the major paths that the Gardener has created, within the framework of Islam, to the Garden. Surely there are other paths and Sufism would be the first to attest to the universality of revelation." (158-159) It is the particular in the universal that comes about from the world of forms. When I first committed to Islam, and made that commitment public, I felt that I'd "cheapened" the experience somehow merely from the fact of putting it out there. Suddenly I felt as if I was carrying all the connotations of the word "Islam" both positive and negative and that this boxed me in to a certain degree. Over this past year, I have settled into the identity in a sense and been able to somewhat reconcile the particular with the universal. From my own experience, I see the path to the Garden of Truth as at times excruciatingly painful simply due to this world of forms, when the soul simply longs for release as it starts to attain longer glimpses of The Real that resides within.

Foundational to my own life has been what is also one of the foundational elements to this book, and that is the theoretical gnosis of Ibn Al-Arabi, which focuses heavily on the idea of "veils" covering up the real and the Self-Disclosure of The Real through the elimination of those veils. Nasr devotes an appendix to the historical process of this gnosis and its doctrinal aspects are delineated throughout. "The ultimate subject of gnosis may be said to be the Supreme Principle or Reality" (229). "This knowledge is contained deep within the heart/intellect or the Garden of Truth within, and gaining it is more of a recovery than a discovery. It is ultimately remembrance, the Platonic anamnesis". (228)

Sufism (and Islam as a faith) combines this gnosis (knowledge) with love and beauty as Nasr describes it. Peace, which as a concept in English is derived from the Arabic root Sin-Lam-Mim of Islam, is the result of walking a path (exoteric and esoteric) that combines knowledge, love and beauty. Islam provides that path, and Sufism can be said to be the heart of the path.

When walking a path as all-encompassing and intrinsic to the very nature of being, there can be no shortcuts. The highest standard in guidance is needed on the path, and this comes from Revelation through Prophethood. The Prophet Muhammad is the ultimate guide on the path in the human realm, representing as he does "The Universal Man" or the reality of perfection of humanity as seen on all the levels of being up to the Principle. Starting from Muhammad, we have a spiritual ancestry which comes to us in the present through an uninterrupted spiritual chain or lineage that can be traced back to the Prophet. Guidance in this sense is critical in finding truth. In Sufism, it's seen in the master/disciple relation, whether it's physical or spiritual.

Nasr writes from within this lineage, and has himself followed the path, uniquely qualifying him as a writer to delineate the "vision and promise" of Sufism. I'm personally grateful to him for being a light on the path. This book was one of the last I read before conversion, and it was recommended to me by one of my mentors in coming to Islam. Re-reading it just over a year later has increased my gratitude, has helped clarify directions/goals for the future, and has been confirming in many ways.

[Alex Kartelias · Rating 5 out of 5]

A classic exposition of the Sufi doctrine, ethics, metaphysics and history. It is by going within the Garden of Sufism that one can come to appreciate and respect Islamic practices as well as the Koran. As a recent convert to Islam and Sufism, Nasrs' well written book gave me the assurance that the fascination and love for Sufism which I first had two year ago while I was reading, "Essential Sufism", had root not just in my mind, but in my soul and heart.

Having said that, this book is really a spring-board for further reading and research for this book only touches the surface of what Sufism has to offer. While being a introduction to Sufism, it is filled with Nasr's tendencies towards being affiliated with the perennial philosophy: he is constantly making comparisons between different Sufi and Islamic concepts and symbols, with references to all the worlds spiritual traditions such as Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and others. Such makes this book an equally valuable source for seeing the transcendental unity of the worlds religions.

Having listened to many lectures and read many of his books, it's obvious to see Nasr's work is dedicated towards not just the Sophia Perennis, but towards making more manifest the value, importance and beauty of Islam in a world where as he puts it, "extremes prevail". He is one of the few scholars and metaphysicians whose clear Intellect has spread the salvic necessity of tradition and Gnosis.

No matter what level of Reality we happen to dwell in, whether we really understand Rumi's 'mysterious' poems or not and regardless of our religious affiliations-or lack thereof- this book presents a spiritual worldview whose metaphysical thrustings, ethical foundations and aesthetic traditions may very well change our lives. It has changed mine: would it for you?

[Davoud Taghavi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr.Nasr wrote this work in the classical method of how Sufi treatises were traditionally written. As such, it is a departure somewhat from his other more academic works. It marks a sentinel point in his writings, where he writes directly from his illumined spirit, and more openly than ever reveals his spiritual erudition and phenomenal understanding of spirituality and sufism/irfan from the traditional point of view.

Chapter one is titled "What it Means to Be Human: Who are We and What Are We Doing Here" and in it he lays down some of the foundational principles of Sufism and traditional metaphysics including some thoughts on Self-Knowledge, the Sufi conception of the Perfect man and also his commentary on the opening chapter of Quran.

Chapter two is titled "Truth: The Knowledge That Illuminates and Delivers from the Bondage of Ignorance" and deals with the concept of Divine Knowledge and Divine Wisdom (ma'arifa) in sufism, the concept of God as the Divine Reality, his qualities and names, and considers Sufi cosmology in relation to its hierarchy and grades of being. He also writes about the ontology of "evil" and deals with it's theological verses its metaphysical conception in Sufism.

The third chapter is titled "Love and Beauty: The Fire That Attracts and Consumes, the Peace That Calms and Liberates" and in it Dr.Nasr beautiful conveys the concept of Divine Love and human love as understood by Sufism as well as Sufi aesthetics of beauty. This chapter beautifully illustrates the centrality of Divine Love in Sufi mysticism.

The fourth chapter is titled "Goodness and Human Action: To Do His Will, to Conform to the Divine Norm" and in it Dr.Nasr deals with a range of different human virtues from chivalry, detachment, courtesy just to name a few and also considers the role of good action on the soul as well as the importance of prayer.

The fifth chapter is titled "How do We Reach the Garden of Truth?: The Path to the One" and in it Dr.Nasr discuses the role of sanctity, grace, the role of the Path, the role of the spiritual Master and student and their prerequisites to guide and be guided respectively. He also writes on the different practices of the sufis, including the role of remembrance(dhikr), spiritual concert(Sama) and other activities and their role in sufism. He also considers the emulation of the Prophetic wont(sunna), the stations of Sufism and how they are related to transitory states, and also he writes on the importance of the virtues in the spiritual life.

Chapter 6 is titled "Access to the Center: Sufism Here and Now" and deals with sufi literature, music, what sufism has to offer, and a number of other topics related to sufism.

The last two chapters include 2 Appedices, where Dr.Nasr deals with different Sufi traditions and orders and how they have manifested in time and space as well as the second appendix which deals with the history of the tradition of theoretical sufism and gnosis.

[رولا البلبيسي Rula Bilbeisi · Rating 5 out of 5]

“The book of the Sufi is not the black ink of written words
It is none other than an unblemished heart like snow”

هذا الكتاب من أجمل ما قرأت عن الصوفية ... تحفة أدبية

تقرأ وكأنك لا تقرأ... بل تشعر بنسيم الكلمات
يصمت العالم الخارجي تماما
تتناوب الروح بين الحد واللاحد ... بين المادة والظلال
بين الغامض والمبهم والعائم والحقيقي
فتذوب الكلمات في لحن موسيقي ودعاء
قد لا تسمعه الأذن ... ولكنه يفيض داخل القلب

أما الأشعار والأقوال المقتبسة فهي لا تزيدك إلا تحليقا

Who seeketh Me findeth Me"من يبحث عني يجدني
Who findeth Me knoweth Me ومن يجدني يعرفني
Who knoweth Me loveth Me ومن يعرفني يحبني
Who loveth Me, him I love ومن يحبني أحبه
Whom I love, him I slay ومن أحبه أفنيه"

وفي دوامات الحب والجمال نغرق مع الكاتب ووصفه لهذه النعمة التي تنزع أرواحنا من تربة الأنا الى فضاء بلا حدود، وكأننا كلنا في طريق البحث عن حقيقة ما تجعل للحياة معنى.

"When it comes to describing the nature of love,
the pen breaks and cease to write."

وفي وطأة هذا الضياع الذي ينتابنا ... نعيد اكتشاف الإنسانية
في رحلة تحملنا الى القلب، رحلة تحتاج الى التزام وتدريب وفناء
رحلة تمزج الحب والجمال بالمعرفة والأفعال
رحلة تُرسم بالرقص والموسيقى والأشعار
حقيقة لا تنصفها الكلمات ... حقيقة الانفصال عن الذات

فيقول الكاتب

“As modern psychology speaks of the freedom of the self
Sufi’s goal is the freedom from the self”

ويبدأ الكاتب بالسؤال..."ما معنى أن أكون إنسانا؟
من أنا؟ لماذا خُلقت هنا؟ من أين أتيت والى أين أذهب؟"

من منا لا يمر بهذه اللحظة
لحظة يقول فيها القلب للعقل...من أنا

ثم نتنقل بين الفصول من معنى الوجود، الى معنى الحقيقة الى الحب والجمال والفضيلة،
حتى نصل الى الأساليب المتبعة لدى الصوفية
للوصول الى الحقيقة الكامنة في قلب كل مريد يسعى للمعرفة.

وفي نهاية الطريق، يدرك الصوفي أن ثمرة رحلته الى "هناك" هي إدراكه لحقيقة أن "هناك" يكمن "هنا" ... في القلب... فيقول:

“We travel to There only to discover that it is Here, and to the future that is beyond earthly time only to see that it is Now. To make the journey to the Garden means to go from here to There, and the fruit of the journey is the realization that There is Here.”


في زمن الكراهية والطائفية،
يكون كل حديث عن الحب للوصول الى الحقيقة أمل نرتجيه

“What greater need is there today than being able to see the others as ourselves and not the enemy? How many of us yearn for love? How many yearn for intellectual clarity and unity? Sufism in its doctrinal aspect can provide the solution.”

هذا كتاب لا تحفظه فوق رف بعيد في مكتبتك بعد الانتهاء منه،
بل تبقيه في متناول اليد لتعيد قراءة أجزائه
عندما تهاجمك تلك الفوضى العارمة في قلبك.

[Tim · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Knowledge to which the Prophet referred as light is not of course information or conceptual knowledge but the knowledge that illuminates both the subject that knows and the object that is known". (53)
"...the in-depth understanding of the truth that God veils Himself by what is none other than God can come only from spiritual realization" (45)

On the external level, we are at all times influenced by the sum total of our experiences, which can either veil or un-veil our knowledge of The Real depending on the attitude of the heart and the path we choose for ourselves. One of the practical truths I've gained from Islam is that we "grow" in particular directions - meaning that the individual actions we choose on a daily basis dramatically and accurately "aim" our innermost beings towards a certain end. There is an energy of the Real that very much coincides with the choices we make.

Nasr talks about this in relation to Sufi music: "There is a fire in the human soul. If the fire is that of love for God, Sufi music intensifies it, and if it is only the fire of passion, that too is intensified by music." In some, this passion is more intensified than others, so whatever direction we happen to attune our beings, whether it's externally on the world of forms or internally towards the "center", we find a proportionately intense focus.

Sufism is the path towards the center. It is inextricably tied to Islam. It requires deep commitment and intense practice. Any attempt to separate the "idea" of Sufism from the lived reality of the way, divine law or exoteric nature of Islam will result in failure. Sufism is nothing more than the esoteric nature of Islam, and the very title of "Sufism" can lead one to believe that it's somehow separate from the faith.

This reality has created a tension in my own life, for as Nasr says: "Sufism is one of the major paths that the Gardener has created, within the framework of Islam, to the Garden. Surely there are other paths and Sufism would be the first to attest to the universality of revelation." (158-159) It is the particular in the universal that comes about from the world of forms. When I first committed to Islam, and made that commitment public, I felt that I'd "cheapened" the experience somehow merely from the fact of putting it out there. Suddenly I felt as if I was carrying all the connotations of the word "Islam" both positive and negative and that this boxed me in to a certain degree. Over this past year, I have settled into the identity in a sense and been able to somewhat reconcile the particular with the universal. From my own experience, I see the path to the Garden of Truth as at times excruciatingly painful simply due to this world of forms, when the soul simply longs for release as it starts to attain longer glimpses of The Real that resides within.

Foundational to my own life has been what is also one of the foundational elements to this book, and that is the theoretical gnosis of Ibn Al-Arabi, which focuses heavily on the idea of "veils" covering up the real and the Self-Disclosure of The Real through the elimination of those veils. Nasr devotes an appendix to the historical process of this gnosis and its doctrinal aspects are delineated throughout. "The ultimate subject of gnosis may be said to be the Supreme Principle or Reality" (229). "This knowledge is contained deep within the heart/intellect or the Garden of Truth within, and gaining it is more of a recovery than a discovery. It is ultimately remembrance, the Platonic anamnesis". (228)

Sufism (and Islam as a faith) combines this gnosis (knowledge) with love and beauty as Nasr describes it. Peace, which as a concept in English is derived from the Arabic root Sin-Lam-Mim of Islam, is the result of walking a path (exoteric and esoteric) that combines knowledge, love and beauty. Islam provides that path, and Sufism can be said to be the heart of the path.

When walking a path as all-encompassing and intrinsic to the very nature of being, there can be no shortcuts. The highest standard in guidance is needed on the path, and this comes from Revelation through Prophethood. The Prophet Muhammad is the ultimate guide on the path in the human realm, representing as he does "The Universal Man" or the reality of perfection of humanity as seen on all the levels of being up to the Principle. Starting from Muhammad, we have a spiritual ancestry which comes to us in the present through an uninterrupted spiritual chain or lineage that can be traced back to the Prophet. Guidance in this sense is critical in finding truth. In Sufism, it's seen in the master/disciple relation, whether it's physical or spiritual.

Nasr writes from within this lineage, and has himself followed the path, uniquely qualifying him as a writer to delineate the "vision and promise" of Sufism. I'm personally grateful to him for being a light on the path. This book was one of the last I read before conversion, and it was recommended to me by one of my mentors in coming to Islam. Re-reading it just over a year later has increased my gratitude, has helped clarify directions/goals for the future, and has been confirming in many ways.

[areebah · Rating 5 out of 5]

i think i will continue to read this book throughout my entire life. if there has been anything to continuously revive my faith it’s been sufism and i couldn’t be more grateful for that. this book is such a treasure in explaining / exploring it’s vast teachings, orders, and rich history - i loved it so so much

[Dina Kaidir · Rating 5 out of 5]

My personal copy is worn from frequent use. With much respect, I use it like a travel guide and it's always in my bag for that reason. In this book, many say his last, he addresses men and women in the quest of the Truth. In a language that is simple yet deep and meaningful, he reminds us that the spiritual path involves knowledge, love and beauty. I often refer to or use his translation of the Arabic language in my own studies.

For men and women from every corner of God's realm, who wish to wake up from the state of sleep that we call life, I highly recommend this Garden of Truth.

[SK CintaZeni · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salam,

Yang Baiknya:

1. Buku ini adalah sumber akademik yang agak baik dan mudah dihadam mengenai Sufisme, bagi mereka yang baru berjinak-jinak dengan tasawwuf peringkat tinggi dan ingin mengenal apa itu Sufisme dalam konteks mencari kebenaran. Cuma perlukan "Dictionary" untuk memahami beberapa perkataan canggih ;D

Yang Perlu Perhatian:

1. Memandangkan buku ini sedikit akademik, maka, Syeikh Nasr tidak pula menolak perbuatan seperti pengamal songsang hari ini yang membuat upacara jalan atas api, menusuk lidah dengan pedang dan sebagainya sebagai pseudo-sufi, sebagaimana kebanyakan awliya' dan ulama' sufi menolaknya.

2. Isu sensitif sedikit.
Perlu ditekankan bahawa Syeikh Nasr menulis buku ini secara akademik dan pemerhatian dibawah hanya untuk membawakan pandangan alternatif mengenai perspektif beliau dan bukan untuk menekankan perbezaan. Malah, Syeikh Nasr dikenali sebagai seorang yang menghormati perbezaan.

Memandangkan Syeikh Nasr adalah seorang Syi'ah, maka, telah dijangkakan bahawa beliau tidak akan menyentuh tentang Sufisme yang bermula daripada Saidina Abu Bakr r.a, Saidina Umar dan Saidina Uthman. Beliau hanya menyebut bahawa tasawwuf bermula daripada Saidina Ali r.a. Makanya, bahagian permulaan Sufisme hendaklah dibaca dengan minda yang terbuka.
Sekiranya anda hanya membaca daripada karya-karya beliau, makanya, anda tentu tidak akan "mendengar" bahawa ada ribuan thariqah/halaqah sufisme di serata dunia ang bermula daripada Saidina Abu Bakr r.a. pada hari ini.
Thariqah yang bermula daripada Saidina Umar r.a. dan Saidina Uthman r.a. memang tidak begitu meluas pengamalannya. Walaubagaimanapun, ada sebahagian mursyeed yang memegang keempat-empat thariqah yang diamalkan oleh para Khulafa' Rasyidin yang (seperti disebut oleh Sheykh Nasr sendiri) diijazahkan oleh Jibril kepada Rasulullah s.a.w. kepada para khulafa' ini. Kerana itu, sesiapa jua tidak boleh menidakkan kewujudan ke-empat-empat sumber sufisme dari Allah ini, kalau hanya membuat pembacaan dalam wilayah akademik yang sempit dan tidak pula turun padang dan berbicara sendiri dengan para penganut thariqah yang bersumber tiga khulafa' rasyidin yang lain ini.

3. Pernyataan Syeikh yang bersetuju dengan salah seorang Syeikh Thariqah Syi'i yang mengatakan bahawa Shiism dan Sufisme adalah satu dan sama juga adalah sebuah falasi (fallacy), kerana kalau dikaji berapa ramai awliya' sufi yang Sunni, tidakpun Syi'i. Contohnya, pendapat yang mengatakan bahawa Syeikh Hamzah Fansuri adalah Syi'i disangkal sama sekali oleh keturunannya hari ini (sama seperti tuduhan bahawa karya beliau "Syair Perahu" adalah semi-porno kerana menyebut tentang penyatuan adalah tafsiran yang paling sempit yang pernah didengar mengenai karya tersebut - menunjukkan kecetekan pemahaman pentafsir mengenai simbolisme sufi dan hermeunetika sufi).

Syeikh Nasr juga mengatakan bahawa Thariqah Naqsyabandi yang berkembang di AS dan nusantara ini membawa orthodoks sunnisme. Tetapi, Syeikh Ja'afar Shadiq, yakni Imam Syi'ah yang ke-empat, ada dalam silsilah Thariqah Naqsyabandi sebagai Mursyid Thariqah Naqsyabandi!
Juga seperti yang dimaklumi, Syeikh Ja'afar Sadiq r.a yang dikatakan imam Syi'i ini, juga adalah Syeikh awwal bagi empat mazhab Fiqh sunni yang masih wujud serata dunia, dan membawa sekurang-kurangnya dua Thariqah Sufi - yang bersumber daripada nendanya, yakni, Saidina Ali r.a. dan juga Saidina Abu Bakr r.a, dimana kedua-duanya mendapat ijazah dari Rasulullah s.a.w semasa hayat Baginda Rasul s.a.w (bukan hanya Saidina Ali r.a. seperti yang dikatakan oleh para Syi'i).

Jadi, berdasarkan Syaikhul-Kareem Ja'afar Sadiq yang disanjung kedua-dua Sunni dan Syi'i ini, maka, kita dapat merumuskan bahawa, apabila membicarakan perjalanan kebenaran menuju Allah, mazhab perundangan fiqh (sunni/syi'i) atau mazhab ideologi politik (menerima/menolak kepimpinan sahabat) tidak memainkan peranan langsung. Syi'i pula tidak bermakna Sufi. Sufi adalah sebuah perjalanan yang harus dilalui dengan cara yang dianugerahi Allah kepada Rasul s.a.w. (sepertimana yang disebut serba sedikit dalam buku ini) - sunni atau syi'i boleh melaluinya sekiranya berbai'ah dengan guru.

Cuma, NYATA sunnah suci mana yang paling diredhaiNya - bergantung pada keluasan pemikiran masing-masing dengan bersandarkan kembali kepada cucunda Baginda s.a.w. Syeikh Ja'afar Sadiq r.a mengenai sunnah Rasul s.a.w yang asli sejati - Cinta atau CintaBenci.

Wallahua'alam bissawab.

Wassalam.

[Ata A · Rating 5 out of 5]

A Sufic Masterpiece! His views certainly do not seem to represent the more orthodox branches of Sufism. His view of a non-dualistic (hence monistic) Reality was damned by many early Sufis and deemed heresy as well. Yet Nasr posits his view positively and without worry of blame. He voices his personal interpretation:

"Here, at the very center of the heart where the Divine resides, is found the root of the "I" and the final answer to the question "who am I?" Sufism seeks to lead adepts to the heart, where they find both their true self and their Beloved [...] Of course the phrase "both their true self and their Beloved" does not mean any ultimate duality, for as Rumi also said, in the heart there is room for only one I, which is both the root of our true self and the Self as such." [9-10]

It is certainly debatable as to whether or not Rumi was truly a monist. Nasr, without hesitation deems him to be and therefore deems Sufism to be too.

This work is intellectually stimulating, and there were moments I had to reread paragraphs to comprehend the subtle meanings Shaykh Seyyed was imparting upon the reader. If you haven't read the book, you should, but be prepared to wade in the rich pools of mystic thought and decode the spiritual nomenclature that few novices can grasp.

[Parsa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hits on so many different topics so elegantly. I've yet to read a book so intelligently exposing a topic as wide and controversial as sufism with such grace. You'll know what I mean when you get to the part where he casually explains Wahdatul Wujud in a couple paragraphs as a digression. It's the kind of book clearly written by someone overflowing with knowledge and the grace of tongue to express it. A great springboard for further studies while still offering its own depth.

[S. · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The experience of the Garden of Truth is the realization of the teachings of gnosis that are expounded on the theoretical level. It is for those who understand such teachings to tranform theoria into actual experience, the description of the Beloved into Her embrace."
- Insert Random Rumi Quote-
As far as I'm concerned, the appendixes were more informative than the core of the book, that was so often essentially dealing with the "exotic" side of Tassawuf (I have no idea why it is con-sensually called Sufi-ism, by perennials..). SHN tried all along to make a clear point about Tassawuf being a part of Islam not the other way round, which made me think that this book was for Westerners, seeking reasonable "understanding" of Tassawuf..
The appendixes as aforementioned are particularly interesting, tracking Tourouq and Zawayah in the four corners of the Muslim world ( back then and now). A full appendix is dedicated to Ibn Arabi and his Wahdat Al Wujud theory as well as the Insan al Kamil (universal man) : very informative..

[Thomas · Rating 2 out of 5]

Seems to be that trying to do mysticism in this analytic trans-traditional way is pretty meaningless, like reading Ken Wilber or Eckart Tolle. No point in talking about* mysticism, if there’s any point to any of this, one ought to speak as a mystic - from a mystic state of consciousness - and this ain’t it dog. Supreme being, oneness, the transcendent.. we can all say these words but they communicate little, it doesn’t transmit emotion, it’s not pregnant with meaning. It’s shallow, wrong formatet. The only way to do it properly is to be a poet, and this guy is unfortunately not a poet, wrong form for him. And me :) it’s like a critic talking about a book, it’s dead, he only describes, but is not. The critic is just an echo, an afterthought, so is the academic, and the so-called analytic.

(Harsh because he, at the outset, claims to have written a Sufi book, not merely about Sufism. But that’s what he did - he wrote a scholarly book about Sufism.)

[Elli · Rating 4 out of 5]

a very informative book on sufism, a sect (or well, more of an idea) in Islam that is currently under attack.

[Scriptor Ignotus · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Neither this body am I, nor soul,
Nor these fleeting images passing by.
Nor concepts and thoughts, mental images,
Nor yet sentiments and the psyche’s labyrinth.
Who then am I? A consciousness without origin,
Not born in time, nor begotten here below.
I am that which was, is and ever shall be,
A jewel in the crown of the Divine Self,
A star in the firmament of the luminous One.”

- Rumi

It is perpetually astonishing to discover the deep commonalities between the mysticisms of the world’s great religious traditions. One gets the sense that we all begin the spiritual life arrayed at various points around the base of a great mountain. At this lowest, most superficial level, we are the furthest apart; but the higher we ascend towards the summit, the closer we draw to one another. The most “perennial” aspects of Sufism may be overemphasized to some degree in this book, which appears to have been written with a Christian—or at least “culturally Christian”—readership in mind. Nevertheless, one reads of fundamental Sufi doctrines with a sense of the uncanny.

Like the other monotheistic faiths, Sufism teaches us that the real question is not whether God exists, but whether we do; that the reality of consciousness, which seems to encompass all of time and space while irreducibly standing beyond it, is intrinsically connected with the Absolute, with the One, with God. It cannot be reduced to our egoic, individuated subjectivities; nor indeed to any mutable or transitory phenomena. The self-possessive “I” is only a veil obscuring the true “I,” which is that of God Himself. In the Bible, the most recognizable self-definition of God comes when He addresses Moses from the burning bush: “I Am that I Am,”—or, perhaps better still, in translations from the Septuagint: “I Am the Existing One.” Our own existence is derivative of this One: we exist as “latent archetypes embedded in the Divine Reality,” existentiated as particular selves in our “fall” from the Universal One, which is in turn our entelechy as rational beings, as we awaken to our—to paraphrase Saint Paul in Colossians—“hiddenness in God.” The object of our life, for Sufis and Christians alike, is to awaken from our empirical selves as from a dream, to recall the loftiness of our origins and the tragedy of our exile, and to return to the Garden of Truth on the wings of love and knowledge.

Nasr tells us of a tenth-century Sufi mystic named Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj, who was condemned to death as a blasphemer by the Abbasid court for uttering the words “Ana'l-Ḥaqq”—“I am the Truth.” Noting the obvious parallels to Jesus, Christians can easily agree with Nasr’s observation that, properly understood, such statements do not reflect an egotistical self-inflation, as if one were making oneself a competitor with God, but rather the opposite: total self-renunciation (fanā); a state of such perfect submission to God (or, in the Christian context, to the Father) that the latter can be said to inhabit the empirical self. We can likewise agree that, ultimately, the true “blasphemer” is the one who does not say “Ana'l-Ḥaqq,” thereby positing his own substantial existence outside of the Truth, which necessarily unifies everything.

Sufis regard the practice of self-renunciation as a kind of “death before death”; as, of course, do Christians, who regard the rite of baptism and the Christian life as a death of the egoic, Adamic self, enslaved to the passions and to corruption, and a resurrection with Christ to eternal life in God. “Do you not know,” says Paul, “that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might walk in newness of life. . . . I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me.”

Sufis believe that the object of the spiritual life is to unify oneself with the Universal Man: the prototype of humanity and the cosmos, who reflects as in a mirror the Divine Names and Qualities. Christians recognize Christ as the Universal Man and identify Him with the uncreated Logos, through Whom all things were made. Christ is both the Logos of God—in Whom all things bear their original and final unity—descending into the deepest pit of individuated human insularity, and an individual human being ascending to His true identity as the Universal Man, seated (with our entire human nature) at the right hand of the Father. Sufis speak of the Essence of God, al-Dhat, in feminine terms analogous to the Christian Sophia, or Divine Wisdom.

While Muslims reject the Christian doctrine of the Holy Trinity, believing it to compromise the oneness of God, Sufis nonetheless hold that the Divine Essence entifies Itself in the form of the Divine Names and Qualities, which hold a position in Islamic thought roughly analogous to that of the Logos and derivative logoi of Christianity, with the all-important caveat that these self-determinations are both impersonal (at least at the highest level of reality) and subordinate to the One Essence. The Universal Man ideally unites these Names and Qualities in himself, as the Christian Logos does the logoi, likewise becoming a kind of icon of God; but the former cannot be said to be equi-divine with the Essence, as the Logos is with both the Essence of the Christian God and His other hypostatic self-determinations.

A Christian response to this might start with the notion that there can be no “I”—Divine or human—without personhood. To have an “I” is to concretize a nature or essence in a personal center of consciousness. If God is the true “I,” He cannot be impersonal at any level of analysis—nor can anything in creation, for that matter. In fact, if God is the Existing One, and if consciousness of self is irreducibly personal, then it must be said that it is we who are deficient in our personhood, cocooning ourselves as we do in the veil of our own insularity, subordinating ourselves to a superficial concept of self-sufficiency rather than transcending this illusion to realize our true life in personal communion with God and with one another.

And if God is personal, then His self-determinations must be personal as well. The Logos of God must be a personal Logos; and for Christians, this personal Logos must be none other than the Universal Man Himself, who is incarnate in Christ. If God (the Father) is truly One, then He must be One not only with His own personal self-determinations within His pre-eternal Essence, but also with creation. The Universal Man, Who is the underlying, unifying principle of created nature, must also be the Logos of God: the unifying principle of the Divine Nature: the self-revelation of the Father’s Essence. If creation is One with God in its deepest reality, then God Himself must be both creator and creature, divine and human.

Just some theological spit balling inspired by a stimulating read.

[Kaha Anwar · Rating 4 out of 5]

buku yang menarik, yang mengajak para pembaca untuk menemukan kembali kebenaran-kebenaran purba. kebenaran yang mungkin saja sekarang mulai hilang dari ingatan manusia. kealpaan bisa saja disengaja atau tidak, namun kenyataannya memang begitu: manusia lupa dengan dirinya sendiri. apalagi di tengah melimpah ruahnya materi kehidupan namun tidak dibarengi dengan penggalian makna akan dirinyas sendiri. di saat arus informasi melaju dengan kencangnya tetapi tak sedikit-pun menyerempet makna "AKU".
manusia kehilangan arah, kehilangan konsep tentang dirinya sendiri. bahkan kalau ditanya siapa dirimu? jawabannya biasanya akan dijawab berdasarkan materi pelajaran sekolah yang diterimanya. setuju atau tidak manusia perlahan kebingungan memburu jati diri. jika ada soal penggalian jati diri, pun ujung-ujung masih sebatas kulit, yang hanya berkaitan dengan kemampuan kognitif belum menyentuh tataran batini.
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, melalui buku ini, mengajak pembaca untuk mencermati tentang siapa diri kita, dari mana kita berasal, untuk apa kita ada di dunia ini dan kemana kita akan pergi setelah mati. sebetulnya ini merupakan pertanyaan purba yang tak kunjung habis dikupas dengan lintas disiplin ilmu. manusia memang menarik untuk dikaji oleh dirinya sendiri. manusia adalah pengagum manusia itu sendiri.
lantas bagaimana, kegaguman itu berujung rasa "sakinah", menemukan ketenangan diri sendiri da bisa meluber secara horizontal dan vertikal. cara terbaik untuk mencari jejak adalah meniru laku orang-orang suci seperti yang tersaji dalam buku ini.

[asra · Rating 4 out of 5]

This text was the perfect follow-up after reading Chittick's introduction on Sufism. Dr. Nasr is beautifully deliberate in defining something as seemingly abstract as Sufism; he basically defines the path of the wayfarer. Furthermore, he addresses the historical development of Sufism, which is quite useful. Having said all this, something totally separate has stayed with me after reading this therapeutic book: I believe the author is uncommonly wise, a doctor and pharmacist of the heart, in that he would "diagnose" one's spiritual condition and then provide the "medicine" necessary for its progress.

[Nadia Al-Bahar · Rating 5 out of 5]

كانت دايماً كتب التصوف تحديداً مكتوبة بلغة صعبة يصعب على القارئ العادي رغم أهمية الكتب لكن كان في حاجز يمنع متعة القراءة ويذهب الوقت في البحث عن شروحات وربما البحث قي المعاجم الصوفية لفهم جملة ما، مع حديقة الحقيقة الوضع مختلف تماماً فالمتعة حاضرة وبقوة في هذا الكتاب بلغته السهلة على القارئ العادي بالتالي الاستمتاع الحقيقي أثناء القراءة، احيي الكاتب وارفع له القبعة على هذه اللغة المنسابة واخيي دار النشر التي اتاحت للقارئ العربي الاستمتاع به شكراً بحق. كتاب مهم ومتتع الى ابعد حد.

[Motahareh Nabavi · Rating 3 out of 5]

I started this book many times throughout the years but couldn't get too deep into it because of the writing style that is characteristic of Nasr, but after immersing myself in his works this past while his writing has been a lot more accessible to me. This was my favourite book of his that I've read so far, although personally I feel the writing style creates a barrier between the text and the reader.

[Amir · Rating 5 out of 5]

یکبار کتاب را خواندم ولی دوست دارم چند بار دیگر با دقت این کتاب را بخوانم. کتاب برای مخاطب انگلیسی زبان نوشته شده لذا همه ی مفاهیم را به شکلی ساده و ابتدایی توضیح داده، ولی صاف و ساده بودن قلم نه تنها از ارزش کتاب فرونکاسته بلکه نقطه ی قوت کتاب است. اصل کتاب به انگلیسی است ولی ترجمه دقیق استاد رحمتی به زبان فارسی از اصل کتاب شیرین تر و دلنشین تر است. یکی از بهترین کتاب‌هایی بود که در موضوع عرفان اسلامی مطالعه کردم و مطالعه ی آن را شدیدا توصیه می کنم

[Edward Taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love learning about world religions, especially the more mystical sides of the 3 "major" (Christianity, Islam, Judaism) but this read more like a textbook than an inside view into the religion. I mean I did not go into it expecting the complete dummies guide to Sufism, but the subject matter, while good, was very dry and hard to keep my attention for too long.

[Mihir Chhangani · Rating 3 out of 5]

Was expecting a lot more from the book in terms of the philosophy, fables and genesis of Sufism. While the book touches upon a lot of aspects, it seems like a very superficial and, at times, a bit condescending or preachy. A good read but not too interesting. I'll look for other books to get a better understanding of the movement and philosophy of Sufism.

[Nawal · Rating 5 out of 5]

بعد أن فنيت خرجت
أنا الآن الواحد الأبدي، لكن ليس ك "أنا"
ومن أنا، يا أنا، إلا أنا

مقتبس من هذا الكتاب الرائع جدا.. منذ زمن بعيد لم أقرأ كتاب بهذه الروعة وبهذا الجمال وبهذه السلاسة في كتابات التصوف..

[shareefa · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب جميل لمن يهتم بالتصوف (عِلماً وليس تطبيقاً). واجهت بعض الصعوبة في استيعاب مضمون الكتاب في البداية، ولكن مع قراءة ماتبقى منه اتضحت صورة الكتاب. كنت اتمنى لو كانت هناك صور مرفقة للفن الصوفي لتعقب على كلمات الكاتب،ولكن ككل، كتاب ممتع وشيق.

[Jared Woods · Rating 5 out of 5]

The further you obsess about comparative religion, the deeper you'll inevitably dig into underlying mysticisms. I've spent a ton of alone time with Abrahamic esoterica and was profoundly captivated by the ancient Christian Gnostics and, even more so, by the Jewish Kaballah. However, Islamic Sufism was always lost on me, and for good reason.

Throughout widespread Muslim conquests, certain civilians were faced with a "convert or persecution" scenario, and many struggled to surrender their polytheistic traditions. But thanks to Sufism's broader scope of allowance and vaguer definitions of God, numerous syncretic faiths could safely sprout from the Islamic branch. Yet, under that same process, Sufism was diluted and left little discerning qualities for me to grasp.

Of course, any seeker of sacred wisdom will tell you that the journey is paved with steps that continuously disprove preconceived notions. Owed to this book, I finally comprehend the surprising distinctions of Sufism, and I will try to explain how I've come to understand them.

First of all, mysticism is, by definition, the quest of an individual to "merge" with God/The Absolute/Whatever, and I appreciate that both Kabbalah and Sufism provide practical ladders on how to get there. But where Kabbalah excels in intellectual teachings, Sufism focuses on emotional presence, which I believe is more powerful.

Within this understanding, specific components of devoutness rise in priority. This book advocates truth and knowledge, which are standard, but what pricked my interest was its extra emphasis on love and beauty. Indeed, so much of what has brought Sufism to global attention is their eye for art, from their signature calligraphy to their spinning dance moves; these are aesthetically pleasing methods to connect with divinity. However, nothing is more revered than their written prose, and I confess that I have cried to Sufi poetry before. Rumi alone has conquered Western minds with his heart-melting observations, and it's no surprise that he is quoted frequently throughout this publication almost as if a prophet himself. 

We can uncover an even sharper key within this desire for beauty, whereby one must see God in all things. As an extension/manifestation/emanation/however you want to interpret it: we, and the totality of everything else, are pieces of this holy "God" electricity. So if you practice adoring the miracle of existence in every direction you look—Beloved, I am so happy to see you!—your life will change in a measurable and gorgeous manner. I know mine has, if I can just remember to lock in.

Perhaps Sufism can't fully declare ownership of this idea, but they emphasise it as of utmost importance, and what's more, it connects to what I consider the most unique aspect of this schooling.

Whether Kabbalah, Hinduism, Buddhism, you name it, they share a common thread that asserts our material world as illusory and we must transcend it to see the superior truth. However, Sufism approaches this concept from a slightly but consequentially different angle. Instead of seeking paradise over there, realise it is right here. Instead of trying to amalgamate with God (an ego-based mission), humble yourself as the smaller force. Instead of trying to get rid of reality to reach a higher plane, use it to accentuate the differences between the phases of enlightenment. There's a comparative element to Sufism that the others are lacking. One where imperfections highlight perfection. One where removing the ground to float in space is less constructive than using the sturdy foundation as a launching pad. One where individuals can function in society while remaining inwardly detached from our immediately tangible dimension. We are able to exist in both contradictory realms, whereby the gorgeous physical hallucination and underlying spiritual consciousness can be unified once you master a particular viewpoint.

I have so much love for what author Seyyed Hossein Nasr has achieved here, offering his gift of education that covers Sufi history, locations, figures, orders, essential works, philosophy, and application. He is a proud Muslim, but his text never felt like it had an agenda, and let me assure you, when it comes to Islamic mysticism, only an Islamic voice can tell it. Even with Nasr's knack for simplifying the intricacies of such a complex topic, it's still a challenging read, not because of testing language or confusing concepts but because the information is so rich. Page after page dropped spiritual bombs into my brain, and I'd soon clog up, my mind wandering off due to the contemplative content. I'd regularly have to take breaks just to allow my thoughts to simmer, but what I always came back to was this: Sufism is the real deal. The Quran is the real deal. Islam is the real deal.

I finish this title with a sense of receiving secret knowledge and having inched ever closer to God. As a result, Sufism is the first mysticism that genuinely connects with me, which is an impact I shall treasure forever. I owe that to this work. If someone told me the Garden of Truth was a sacred holy book central to a world religion, I would believe it. I'd even tout it as one of the best.

THIS BOOK IS PART OF THE GREATER LAMB PROPHECY STUDIES, book 2 out in 2026!

[Farheen · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the best books I've read in a long time...

really soulfully engineered to bring out the best sufi practices

[Arthur Rosenfeld · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find interesting links between Sufism and Taoism. I wish there were more good books on Sufism in English. This is interesting reading if you have an appetite for the material.

[Edwin Setiadi · Rating 4 out of 5]

The mystical side of Islam

This book is 50 years in the making. It comprised of scholarly studies and existential participation in Sufism, where the author, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, also paid a respect to the predecessor books on Sufism and each of their strong points, which eventually contributes in shaping this one ultimate book on Sufism.

Like classical Sufism texts, the book is filled with Quranic citations, Hadiths (sayings of the Prophet (PBUH)), and poetry. And the title of the book refers to the traditional Islamic symbolism of the garden, where Dr. Nasr explains, “[t]he Quran refers to Paradise itself as the Garden. Moreover, the Sacred Text speaks of levels of Paradise. The Sufis have drawn from this symbolism and speak of the Garden as designating not only the various levels of paradisal realities but also the Divine Reality beyond Paradise as usually understood.”

And there are two main gates to the garden of truth: knowledge and love, in which Dr. Nasr remarks, “in Sufism the highest form of worship is knowledge of God, which is always combined with love”, and that “[t]he Prophet of Islam said, “Whosoever knows his self, knows his Lord”; that is, self-knowledge leads to knowledge of the Divine.”

Dr. Nasr then continues, “[a]lthough there is no way to enter into intimacy with God save through knowledge and love—which also require faith—action remains, therefore, of the greatest importance on the path to the Garden, action not in itself but in how it affects the soul and how it reflects its intentions, both hidden and manifest.” This, is ultimately the core approach of Sufism.

And according to Sufism, the first steps on the path to this Garden of Truth consist of “detachment from the world and surrender to God, which means attachment to Him. By world we mean here not theophanies and signs of God that surround us even in this terrestrial abode, but the world as the veil that covers the truth and disperses our soul.”

As you may have noticed with the last paragraph, Dr. Nasr has a certain writing style that, let’s just say, is not really my cup of tea, as I find it difficult to navigate around the main points wrapped under poetic words that distract us from the core messages. Another example, in other chapter he writes “[t]he book of the Sufi is not the black ink of written words, It is none other than an unblemished heart like snow.” Which is beautifully written, poetic, but with vagueness of what it actually means.

Moreover, for a book of everything about Sufi, one would think that its history is vitally important, but we only get to read about it at the very back of the book, in the appendix. Weirdly, the distinctive feature of the Sufi order and the Sufi gnosis (its codified philosophy) are also put in the appendix by Dr. Nasr, where he extensively cover the many orders spread across Iraq, Persia, Central Asia, Indian subcontinent, Arab East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa, the Balkans, South East Asia, China, and perhaps most iconically, in Turkey.

Had these 3 core features of Sufism written at the front, the book would’ve been much easier to read, with the essential background knowledge and the mapping of the spread of Sufism could give us the necessary context to proceed with the contents.

But perhaps the vagueness in the words is indeed within the Sufi nature, since in its core Sufi strips down all the power structures within Islam and focused directly on the spiritual (and we cannot really measure spiritualism). Hence, it may never intended to be something set on stone, but instead, just like Rumi’s poetries, they are a bunch of beautiful passages filled with possible multiple interpretations.

And to be fair, it’s not all blurry. The most fascinating revelation from this book for me is how the author shows Sufism is similar with other metaphysical religion like Buddhism, Hinduism, Kabbalah, or Christian metaphysics, with the language of love, compassion, and above all,
truth. Which reiterates that famous saying in Rig Veda “truth is one, the sages call it by different names.”

Sufism, in the end, is a beautiful spiritual fraction of Islam, one that are both mysterious and enigmatic at the same time. And this book gives justice to this, with its poetic words a true reflection of the religion.

[heidi · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book offers a comprehensive overview of what Sufism professes and what its goals are. Intended largely for a Western audience unfamiliar with Sufism, Nasr frequently makes comparisons with other faiths to aid in understanding.

Sufis seek to understand the divine through dissolving the boundaries of self, which otherwise inhibit connection with God's fellow creations and deep awareness of our interconnectedness. Similar to Buddhist and Hindu psychology, Sufi psychology is oriented towards "freedom from the self or the ego." Ego death precedes "the obliteration of all that separates us from the transcendent and immanent Reality." Spiritual practice — including meditation — and the acquisition of virtues are the tools used to cleanse the soul of impurities accumulated from the external world.

Nasr writes, "Virtue as understood in Sufism is not simply moral virtue but rather spiritual virtue with a noetic and existential dimension. For example, humility is not simply the sentimental attitude of humbling our egos before God and the neighbor. It is the metaphysical awareness that before the Absolute we are nothing and that the neighbor is not incomplete in the same way as we are and that even in his or her incompleteness possesses existence, which comes from God before which we must have an attitude of humility."

Sufism's three cardinal virtues are one, sincerity and truthfulness, two, charity and nobility, and three, humility. They are grounded in metaphysical truths and are not merely sentimental.

"In order for charity to be spiritually efficacious, it must be based on the metaphysical awareness that the other is in the deepest sense ourselves and that in giving we also overcome the walls of our own ego, which separates us from others, and consequently we also receive."

The adoption of these virtues is a lifelong pursuit, yielding inner peace and a heart which "becomes an illuminated instrument of the intellect, able to discern true knowledge and distinguish between truth and falsehood, substance and accidents, necessity and contingency, levels of existence, and, most of all, the Absolute and the relative."

As with Sikhism and the Baha'i faith, monasticism is forbidden in Islam, and by extension in Sufism. The Qur'an dictates that to invoke God throughout life "does not require formal and organized withdrawal from the world... it does require inner withdrawal and detachment from the world considered in its aspect as veil and not as theophany. Sufis are encouraged "to be in the world but not of the world", as in the Christian tradition.

Sufism encourages all forms of love, which involve sacrifice, giving, and going beyond one's ego. Conjugal and romantic human love is uniquely endowed with spiritual dimensions. "Something of the absoluteness of the love for God becomes reflected in such a human love that requires utter selflessness and unlimited giving... such a love is a gift from God to His creatures, whom He created in pairs."

In essence, this is a great beginner's book for those interested to learn more about Sufism.

[Traume · Rating 5 out of 5]

"The Heavens and the Earth cannot contain Me, but the heart of my faithful servant does contain Me."

I have always wanted to be a spiritual person because I think being truly in love with your Divine brings inner peace and I am very grateful that this book met my expectations.

Nasr's way of writing impressed me, it is easy to read and it never lets a reader get away from it. In simple words I would say that Nasr explained the basic teachings of Quran in this book which not only a Muslim should follow but everyone.

The Prophet Of Islam Said:
"Whosoever knows his self, knows his Lord."

"آسمان اور زمین مجھ پر مشتمل نہیں ہوسکتی، لیکن میرے وفادار بندے کا دل مجھ پر مشتمل ہے۔" میں ہمیشہ سے ایک روحانی شخصیت بننا چاہتی تھی کیونکہ میرے خیال میں صحیح معنوں میں آپ کے الہی سے محبت ہونے سے اندرونی سکون حاصل ہوتا ہے اور میں بہت شکر گزار ہوں کہ یہ کتاب میری توقعات پر پورا اتری۔ نصر کے لکھنے کے انداز نے مجھے متاثر کیا، پڑھنے میں آسانی ہوتی ہے اور یہ پڑھنے والے کو کبھی اس سے دور نہیں ہونے دیتا۔ میں سادہ الفاظ میں یہ کہوں گا کہ نصر نے اس کتاب میں قرآن کی بنیادی تعلیمات کی وضاحت کی جس پر نہ صرف ایک مسلمان کو بلکہ سب کو عمل کرنا چاہئے۔ پیغمبر اسلام نے فرمایا:
"جو کوئی اپنے نفس کو جانتا ہے، اپنے رب کو جانتا ہے۔"

[Joseph · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent presentation of foundational concepts in Sufism and connections with related spiritual traditions. Key figures and texts are noted with brief highlights. Concluding section on gnosis is a favorite: “…[supreme knowledge or gnosis] is contained deep within the heart/intellect or the Garden of Truth within, and gaining it is more of a recovery than a discovery. It is ultimately remembrance, the Platonic anamnesis. The faculty associated with this knowledge is the intellect (al-‘aql), the nous, not to be confused with reason. To function correctly, the intellect within us in most cases needs that objective manifestation of the intellect that is revelation. In any case, its attainment always requires intellectual intuition, which is ultimately a Divine gift, and the ability to 'taste' the Truth" pp. 228-9).