In his Miraj Ibn Ajiba comments on the meaning of Sufism (tasawwuf).
Sufism is the science of how to journey into the presence of the King of kings. It is to inwardly purify ourselves from vice and beautify ourselves with virtue, to pass awway from creation through concsciousness of the Creator and then to return. Its beginning is knowledge, its middle practice, and its end its end a gift [from God].
The word tasawwuf is said to be derviced either from ‘purity’ (safa’) because it is centered on purifications, or from ‘attribute’ (sifa) beceause it leads to the attributes of virtue, or from ‘porch’ (suffah), that is, the porch outside the Prophet’s mosque, inasmuch as the Sufis, in their orientation toward God and their devotion resomeble the People of the Porch, or from ‘wool’ (suf), because the Sufis are wont to wear this material in their renunciation of the world, choosing it because it is the matierla from which were made the garmets of God’s prophets.
Linguistically, this last derivation is the most suitable and also most closely fits the literaly meaning of the word. [Referring to] a garment of wool is an external description based on appearence, and thus simplest and most direct, while the others are inner interpretations. Just as we say taqammasa to mean ‘he put on a shirt (qamis),’ we say tasawwafa to mean ‘he put on a garmet of wool,’ and the person so garbed is called sufi.
Sahl [al-Tustari] said, ‘the Sufi is one who is pure (safiya) of turbidity and full of reflection, one who has turned away from humankind in order to turn toward God. For the Sufis, gold and pebbles are of equal worth, for they desire nothing but the guardian Lord.’
And al-Junayd said, “The Sufi is like the earth: they case upon it what is vile and there blossoms forth from it what is beautiful, and upon it both the virtuous and the sinners tread.” The Sufi is like the sky which shades all, and like the rain from which all are given to drink.”
Furthermore, Ibn Ajiba in one of his correspondences, entitled ‘The Sufi and the Four Elements’ expands on the meaning of tasawwuf:
[In speaking of the Sufi], they have evoked the example of the four elements (al-anasir al-arba’a) upon which the physical world is based: air, earth, water, fire, also known as the four natures, and mentioned by Ibn Sina al-Hakim in the verses:
What Hippocrates said of them was sound:
They are fire, water, earth, and wind
And by ‘wind’ he means ‘air.’
All four of these elements can be found in [the nature of the Sufi]. He is like the air in the sublimity of his aspiration and rank. Also, air is hot and moist and so it is in the state of equilibrium which involves all physical bodies and in respect to which their perfections or deficiencies arise. Like the air, the Sufi is an equilibrium in respect to his actions: he neither falls short nor goes to extremes, but always seeks the middle way, “And in all matters, the middle way is the best.” Because of this equilibrium, all creatures are at ease with him and return to him, and both actions and reactions happen through him by God’s permission, while he, even as he the intermingles with creatures, remains above them just as air mixes with both earth and water yet still rises above them.
At the same time, the Sufi is like the earth: lowly, humble, and easy. He is there for both the virtuous and sinful, both the small and the great, like the ground upon which they tread. One of my teachers said, “We are like pathways: upon us pass the good people and the bad, the obedient and the sinful, and we make no distinction between them.”
Also, the nature of earth is cold and dry. By way of its coolness, it can be in contact with all the other elements. Were it hot and in contact with the air which is also hot, all that was upon it would be burnt up. And by way of its dryness comes its stability.
This too is the way with the Sufi: by the coolness and suppleness of his actions, creatures may be in contact with him and derive benefit from him, and by his firmness in what is true, his sincerity is proven.
He has a heart, too, which is like the earth. All manner of vileness might be cast upon it, yet from it there comes forth only what is beautiful: the more the refuse, the richer its goodness. Also with the Sufi, the deeper you search, the greater the benefit and wisdom that will come to you. Thus our master Jesus (as) said to his companions, ‘Where does a seed sprout forth?’ They answered, ‘In the earth.’ He said, ‘So it is with wisdom: it does not sprout except in a heart that is like the earth.’ And Sahl said, ‘This path of ours is for folk whose spirits have been swept up upon the rubbish heap.’
The Sufi is also like fire in burning up blameworthy qualities, giving light, and in lighting the lamps in others’ hearts.
Also, the nature of fire is heat and dryness, illumination and burning, and the Sufi is like this: there is an inward heat which never leaves him. The strength and warmth that arise from his awareness of his inner freedom burn up every egoistic trait which comes near him and allow him to look beyond it toward the gnostic truths and spiritual realities of existence.
The Sufi is also like water in the way he quenches the thirst of ignorance, and cools the heat of weariness that comes from being veiled from God. And even as the nature of water is cool and moist, so too is the Sufi’s. In his coolness he does not seek victory for his ego and in his moistness he is never proud toward another, but quenches the thirst of all who need him.
Source: al-futuhat al-ilahiyya fi sharh al-mubahith al-asliyya, p.67.
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