Week 6: Sufism Flashcards
Translate ‘kun faya kun’
Being. God speaks and things come to be
What are some definitions of spirituality?
Relationship to God, something beyond the self, transcendence, existential, summative
What are some linguistic roots of the word ‘sufi’?
Wool, wisdom, and purity
Who was Al-Ghazali?
A scholar and ambassdor to the king in Baghdad who was born in Persia in the 10th century
What was Al-Ghazali’s nickname?
Hujjat al-Islam (the Proof of Islam)
What was Al-Ghazali’s crisis?
Children of one religion typically grew up and died with that religion. If so many religions exist, which one is right?
What are the 3 models of faith?
- Talqueed and Talqeen
- Wager
- Abrahamic
What is the Talqueed/Talqueen model of faith?
Unconditional faith. Acceptance of education and authority
What is the Wager model of faith?
Nothing to lose but everything to gain. Faith grants a safety net in the afterlife
What is the Abrahamic model of faith?
The Sun, Moon, and stars change. God does not change
What is the Kalam cosmological argument?
Everything that exists has a purpose. The Universe began to exist, so it must have a purpose/creator
What are Al-Ghazali’s 2 critiques against reason?
- Argument From Dreams
- Argument From Experience
What is Al-Ghazali’s ‘Argument From Dreams’?
When dreaming, people believe it to be real. If life is a dream, then people awake after death
What is Al-Ghazali’s ‘Argument From Experience’?
Sensory information is not entirely reliable
What was Al-Ghazali’s cure to his doubt in reason?
Al-Ghazali accepted reason not through methodical argument, but through God’s light.
He does not explicitly tell readers how he came to this conclusion
What is ‘The Parable of Light’?
A passage in the Quran that compares God’s light to a niche, a glass, a tree, oil, and the lamp itself
Who was Rabi’a?
Rabi’a was a notable female Sufi figure who lived during the 8th century. Her piety liberated her from slavery, and she wrote very assertive and passionate poetry about her love for God
What is Rabi’a’s nickname?
The Second Mary
Who was Rumi?
Rumi was a poet, scholar, and mystic in the 13th century who is well known among Eastern and Western academics
What ritual did Rumi invent and why are the hands important in this ritual?
The Sama Ritual (the so-called ‘whirling dervishes’).
One hand points to the sky, the other to earth, connecting God to the hearts of Muslims
