SUFI, by sonic authors, is derived from the Greek Sophos. Others point to the Arabic Suf, wool, in allusion to the woollen robes worn by the majority of the darvesh. The Sufi philosophy is called Tasawwuf, and is based on some mystic verses in the Koran and Iladis. Its main principle is that there is no real existence except that of God, and that all the phenomena of the inaterial univense are but emanations from him, and tend ultimately to reabsorption in him. This form of doctrine is spoken of as a tariqat or path (to salvation), the disciple as a traveller (salik). and the maniizil are the various stages of spiritual development. It is a religion of the heart, as opposed to formalism and ritualism. Sufis talk of love to God, of union with God, of death to self, and life eternal in God ; of the indwelling in inan of the Spirit, of the nullity of works and cere monies, of grace and spiritual illinnination, and of the Logos.
Jalal-ml-Din says, in the Masnavi, In whatever place we set our foot, we are always, Lord, within thy resort.' The Sufi creed is a philosophy, a pantheism. The whole visible creation is the outward manifestation of tho invisible Bein,g whose spirit is diffused e.verywhere through it. The first stage of a Sufi disciple is styled Sharyat or Law, in which he practises all the external rites and ceremonies of religion. Tariqat, from Tariq, meaiiing a path, way, or direction, is the second stage, in which the disciple disciirds the ontward forms of reli.ofion, and devotes himself to the mental worship of the deity. The third stage is Haqiqat, from Hag, the All-Righteous. It means the state of truth, and is a condition accompanied by a preternatural knowledge or meditation, obtained by the devotee through a long meditation on God. The fourth stage is the Marifat, from Arif, to know, and is atbiined by long and painful fasts, dwelling in solitary deserts, seeing only his teacher. Few survive the severities of this stage. But when it is reached, the soul, absorbtid into the divine essence, is again with God. But the purified Sufi may partake of the nature of God, which is termed Jainal, and signifies that mild and gentle beauty hich loves to do good and hurts not. Or lie may be intoxicated with the wine of the divine love, and absorbed in the contemplation of the .1a151 or consuming glory of the deity ; in which state he is full of wrath with the iniquities of the world, and if provoked to imprecations, they take immediate effect. Or he may pass from one stage
to another, may at one time assert that God is in his sleep, and then fall back into the condition of ordinary mortals, trusting that God will forgive him his sins and make his latter days righteous. The Sufi spiritualist is often almost with views appropriate to eastern pantheistic ideas, but with many almost atheistic, a sort of esoteric doctrine. There are many sects, tracing their tenets to par ticular founders, whose views they are supposed to hold. Some of them have attained to the con dition of the highest spiritual exaltation ; but some of the darvesh or fakirs are degraded beings, and in British India are held in great disesteem. Also many of the educated classes in Persia accept Sufi doctrines, adopting a mystical pantheism and spiritual love in secret, outwardly conforming to 31inhammadanism.
Sufi spiritualism, though contrary to materialism, has in reality tnuch in unison. Sufi doctrines are principally held amongst the partisans of Ali, and out of it grew the belief in the infusion of divinity in Ali. Evidences of its antiquity may be found in the annals of almost every ancient and civilised race. The Sufi ivere called by the Guebres (Gabr), Wahia-daran, Roushan-dil, etc. ; by the IIindus, Gnaneshwar and Atma-gnani. Among the Greeks they became Platonists, aud have continued tip to the present time. The number of Muhammadan sects. is considerable. As a broad distinction, they are generally classed as Shiah and as Sunni, but the six bodies of sectarians who oppose the Sunni are classed by them as Itafziah, Kharjiah, Jabriali, Kadriah, Jahmiah, and Marjiall, each of whom are broken up into smaller bodies. Before the end of the 1st century, the ascetic turn and the theosophy inseparable therefrom, a combination styled among the Arabs Sufi, had arisen. This made rapid strides ; and in the end of the 3d century was already, itself, the subject of learned works, and the 'Muhammadan world has carried this system to the utinost extreme. Their Sufi outstrip in every point of view both the Hindu Jogi and the Christian inonks. The asceticism of the Sufi is more systematic, their pantheistic teaching deeper and more consistent, and their vices more enor mous, than those of any other people. Spinoza and Schelling are left far behind by Ibn Arabi.