A Prelude to Nafsology by Aadil M. Pathan
Tasawwuf, while it may seem to connotate certain romantic fantasies in certain
imaginations, more correctly would denote a more holistic view of reality. That is, reality as al-Haqq (the Real) and the mazahir (manifestations) of al-Haqq. Reality, then, is genuinely a theophany, as in its deriving from the Greek theophaneia, theos for “god” and phanein “to manifest”.
Now, such a weltanschauung (or perhaps what would more correctly be characterized as their Seinsschauung–in the lexical meaning of the word and not in any Heideggerian sense–given the breadth of interest beyond the phenomenological and Kantian understood weltan) greatly informs how they operate within it – as all worldviews do. For the sufi, that means an interest in understanding reality in an unqualified and unrestricted sense; not simply what exists vis-à-vis mobility (physics) or quantity (math), for example. Rather, since reality is of the Real, everything concerns him equally.
To truly understand reality, one must be ordered within oneself. His senses must be sound, his intellect disciplined, and his sources of report authentic while being coupled with a rigorous hermeneutic. This internal order, an esoteric discipline, disallows internal chaos and anarchy. Desires do not override higher faculties, being relieved instead in more healthy expressions. Internal discipline further attracts Divine attention; for why would revelation of the All-Wise, Sublime become upon a foolish, degenerate? This ordering—this logic—ensures that knowledge mirrors what truly exists. In other words, he must observe the appropriate conditions that yield information that is congruent with reality. So, his senses must be sound, his intellect organized, and his reports genuine. Put another way: there must be a logic (in the sense of a genuine organization of the aforementioned capacities), for knowledge to soundly represent things as they exist. A sufi, then, is someone who seeks to understand reality–theophany–which requires (1) a wholesome consideration of what renders him any knowledge of reality and (2) a logic that allows the comprehensive former epistemic consideration to genuinely inform him of what exists.
Classically, the falāsifah grounded their metaphysics in especially rational and Hellenic premises, and the mutakallimūn sought to theologically domesticate those same principles: they sought to understand reality, especially through the intellect. This is while certain Sufis understood reality primarily through their kashfī insight. Thus, presenting a second axis for understanding reality–kashf–along with the initial axis of reason. Still, it was other sufis – such as Ibn Arabi, Mulla Jami, and Shah Wali Allah, for example – that more deeply and logically (as in the sense used above) related both rational and kashfī insight with revelation, each enriching the other.
From these broadly characterized historical, academic denominations, it is this latter group that developed a holistic tripartite consideration for understanding reality, unrestricted – that is, the intellect, kashf, and revelation. They were true sufis: individuals understanding reality holistically and logically through the senses, intellect, and reports. Their (1) senses perceived aspects of apparent reality, and their (2) intellect grasped aspects beyond the instantiated perceptions, uncovering universals and essences of them. Then, they also relied upon (3) reports about that which they did not perceive: the revelatory reports of other realities beyond man’s current sense perception, for example. Their kashf, if (a) an uncovering that allows sensual perception, was of the initial category of (1) sensual perception; and if (b) it was some information of an aspect of reality received through inspiration, it was of (3) the category of reports.
There are surely conditions for a sound kasfh; however, each capacity, we have seen, is conditioned with a particular organization – a logic – for it to yield genuine knowledge of reality: the senses by being healthy, the intellect by being structured, the report by being soundly transmitted – and in benefitting from the Divine Report that is Revelation, one must develop a deep, structured hermeneutic to truly draw from it. The presence of a condition alone, then, should not prevent one from seeking knowledge from it. Non-prophets rely upon prophets for the revelation they received, so non-recipients of kashf should at least consider those kashfs. This is especially when they are of true Sufis who holistically approach reality such that their statements, even if of kashfi origin, are rooted in revelation and rational expression.
Such a comprehensive vision of reality is not a later mystical construction but is, in
truth, Muhammadan. The Holy Prophet embodied the harmony of sense-perception,
sound intellect, and revelation. His experience of reality is the archetype: he
perceived with the senses, reasoned with the intellect, and received from the Divine.
Thus, the holistic Sufi project is, at its core, a continuation of the Prophetic way of
knowing, not a departure from it.
To be a Sufi, then, is to seek reality as the Holy Prophet: as theophany — through
disciplined senses, ordered intellect, sound reports, and purified soul. So, Shaykh
Amin Kholwadia tells us, “Logic brings out the genius of the intellect; Tasawwuf
brings out the genius of the soul.“
