Thoughts on General Sufism and Book Review on The Gift of Rumi by Emily Jane O'Dell

 

First and foremost, I definitely recommend this book if you are a fan of poetry & spirituality, and especially if you want to fill your personal notes with hundreds of deep spiritual poems. For Muslims who are reading this, this book talks about Sufism (duh), which is considered controversial nowadays and often attacked by laymen, students of knowledge, and scholars who maintain the consensus that it contains Kufr ideologies. Now I agree that, aside from the Quranic philosophy, all religious philosophies that exist on Earth today are definitely not immune to possessing Kufr, or freaky mystic and esoteric pathways that are so vague and specific that they confuse you as to whether they align with the Quran or Sunnah or not. Regardless, I'm just here to review a book, bro. To the extent of my knowledge, Sufism emphasizes individualistic closeness to God. In general, we all yearn to be closer to God, everyone has their own pathways to take to maintain Taqwa (consciousness of Allah).

To my surprise, Rumi's (Jalaluddin Muhammad Rumi)'s poetry has layers of depth, and it gets me reflecting on the creation of Allah and Satan's plots to astray mankind. If you're a person who hears the word "Sufi" and declares him a Kafir on the spot (takfeer),. Then let me remind you: do not ascribe godly powers to yourself and remain humble as a human being. Surely your Lord knows best who has strayed from His way and who is rightly guided [Quran 53:30]. I'm not a Sufi whatsoever, but this book contains genuine life advice.

However, at the same time, I do not recommend swirling and listening to music like a whirling Dervish with the aim of getting closer to Allah. There is an entire chapter in this book named "Whirling Dervishes.". I've always found that concept strange and weird; it also emphasizes the use of musical instruments such as the rabab or rabab, string instruments that independently spread via Islamic trading routes over much of North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, and parts of Europe. So, I assume you must have basic Islamic knowledge, prior to reading this book, as Music is definitely haram -- Sahih Bukhari 5590.

Let me say this one more time, apart from the Islamic- Quranic philosophy, every alternate/external spiritual or religious philosophy inevitably transposes some questionable ideologies that will directly hit your Aqedah or clash with the Quran and Sunnah. Thus, what I've learned is that you should take not necessarily what's good from each one, but what's right, and that it must conform with the Quran & Sunnah. As long as you don't extract concepts from this book that collide with the Quran & Sunnah (some do), you're safe. Alhamdulillah, by the mercy of Allah, from this book, I gained poetic and surface-level knowledge regarding the deeper perspective of Jihad Al Nafs (The War Against Your Own Soul), fighting desires, addiction, and excessive hedonism/materialism for demolishing all the barriers that separate us from Allah's remembrance.