Published in : www.bhuvrihi.com

Sufism has to be seen as a love affair with the Almighty. It anticipates a relationship with the Ultimate. The closer you go to the Creator the more you evaporate. It is a world view but not a worldly view; it is transcendence but not a philosophy of transcendence. To some it wrongly appears as an escape from the realities of life. In fact it gives practical hints instead of preaching theories from the pulpit. In no case Sufism is speculative; rather it is realistic, pragmatic and practical. It is down to earth hence it is more close to the common mass. In the words of Junaid Baghdadi “a Sufi should have eight qualities: liberality such as that of Abraham, acceptance of lot as Ismael, patience as possessed by Job, capacity to communicate through symbols like Zachariah, estrangement from his own people as John, woolen garb like the shepherd’s mantle of Moses, journeying like the travels of Jesus, and humility as the prophet Muhammad had, the humility of spirit.