The Sufi path
A spiritual path is, at heart, a road back to the centre of our being. Its purpose is to let each person realise all the possibilities inherent in the human state, by gradually restoring our perception of the Divine.
A living path is one whose spiritual guide is a realised being living among us, an isthmus or a bridge between the divine Reality and our own reality.
A tradition many centuries old and spread across the whole world, Sufism has given rise to numerous spiritual paths. Situated as it is at the heart of Islam, it is not a philosophy, still less a system of thought: it is above all a way of being in the world.
As a Sufi poem puts it: “O Friend, cease seeking the why and the how. Cease turning the wheel of your soul. Right where you stand, at this instant, all is given to you, in the greatest perfection. Accept this gift, press the juice of the passing moment.” Sufism aims to awaken our heart; not the physical heart, but the spiritual one, that fine tip of the being which is the seat of spiritual perception.
Sufism is practised under the direction of a living shaykh, who must satisfy the obligations of the Sufi tradition: possession of the spiritual secret that makes the work of purification effective in the disciple, a chain of transmission of that secret going back to the Prophet, may God’s peace and blessings be upon him, which validates the initiatic filiation, and an authorisation granted by a contemporary guide. The word “living” necessarily refers to these three conditions. Literally, shaykh in Arabic means “the Elder” or “the Guide”; it is often rendered as spiritual guide, or even master. The shaykh’s function is a spiritual guidance whose aim is to let us discover the divine Reality for ourselves. The guide is the one who has already travelled the path: he has been annihilated in God, and his heart has embraced the divine Reality. He has then received the mission of guiding men.
Through the countries and the ages, Sufism has always known how to adapt to the people it encountered, so as to reach their deepest being beyond the cultural forms that were theirs. Truth is one, but words are many. It is in this sense that the Sufis are called the “sons of the moment”.
Today, when recovering the meaning of our existence has become an urgent need for many people, it seemed important to us to present a living Sufi path in an accessible way.
Sufism is experience through and through, and it is in this sense that Sidi Hamza al-Qadiri Boutchich, the Sufi spiritual guide, could say: “It is preferable to experience things directly rather than to have a preconceived idea of them, which might even constitute a veil. True knowledge is only obtained when one truly asks for it, with humility. The approach for journeying towards it is comparable to that of a person who wants to drink from a stream: he must bend down to the stream to drink. Water is always found at the lowest point of a place. We must be like water. The one who relies solely on the writings of the Sufi masters merely follows their djellaba. The appropriate methods of teaching vary with the conditions of the age, and only the living Master holds the keys of initiatic progression. True knowledge will come to you from within, from your heart.”
It is not a question of wanting to change others, but of working on oneself. It is not a question of imposing anything on anyone (beyond the simple respect for everyone’s opinions), but of giving ourselves rules of life, intended to liberate us.
“Love all creatures, whatever their religions, their origins or their opinions. Each one is in the place where God has put him, and it is not for us to judge that. Avoid all hatred and every form of dissension: God does not visit a hateful heart”, Sidi Hamza advises us.
The disciple’s spiritual progress shows in his conduct growing more beautiful: more love, more respect, more tolerance, more altruism, more humility in his dealings with things and with created beings. Jesus said: “you will judge the tree by its fruits”. This is not about adopting an extra mask, one more label, or plastering behaviours and techniques onto the reality that is ours: it is about being transformed. That is the work of a lifetime, and the path has no limit. But only a living path can enable us to accomplish this transformation. And if the means employed may at first sight seem irrational, it is because the Sufi path does not address itself to reason.
In this sense, Sidi Hamza explains: “One must beware of mere mental understanding. There is a sensory mind and a luminous mind. The sensory mind has a limit. To go beyond it, one must work on oneself and keep the company of the men of God. God alone can transform the sensory mind into a luminous mind, a mind illumined by the light of the heart. Understanding is not acquired in books. It is not enough to stoop down and gather up all the books written on Sufism to acquire it. Only the heart understands. It understands that nothing is outside God. The path is pure spiritual experience through and through; that is, it is inscribed in the intimate and deep lived experience of whoever travels it. It is not conjecture, and still less erudition. It is a direct apprehension of the divine light by the heart.”
Text written by a group of disciples of the Qadiriya Boutchichiya path.
Next chapter: the spiritual guide in the Sufi path. Back to the contents: discover Sufism or presentation of the Tariqa Qadiriya Boutchichiya.
