Customer Reviews

The Shambhala Guide to Sufism

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This book's greatest strength is also its greatest weakness: Ernst writes his introduction to Sufism from a strong socio-historical standpoint with both eyes focused on Orientalism, that is, how the West has portrayed Islam (among other traditions) in ways that have been less than accurate. This is welcome. Yet, in focusing so much on socio-historical issues, Ernst ends up sacrificing the larger picture of what it is that Sufism is about phenomenologically and theologically.

Ernst does explain some things quite well, though, such as the development of Sufi orders, the role of the shaik to the disciple, art, dance, and meditation practices. Particularly fascinating is the brief discussion on the relationship between Islamic fundamentalism and Sufism. Sufism is viewed by the fundamentalists as a type of heretical pseudo-Islam, and the Sufis have been persecuted and killed in many places by over-zealous fundamentalists. What Ernst's book shows is that many of these supposedly heretical practices are actually rather traditional expressions of Islamic mysticism and spirituality, with roots stretching back quite far.

Socio-historical perspectives aside, though, you won't learn much about the spirit of Sufism. For that, I would recommend Annemarie Schimmel's _Mystical Dimensions of Islam_ as an excellent place to start. Then, for a greater insight into socio-historical issues, you may continue with reading Ernst's book.

THE SHAMBHALA GUIDE to SUFISM is a virtuoso performance in academic scholarship. The complex difficulties of the subject can be readily appreciated form the fact that the first 30 pages are devoted to an effort to define the meaning of the words sufi and sufism. It is a global misfortune that in our commonly received historical accounts political and religious forces have been conflated, leading Islam and Christendom to regard each other as enemy. Into these dark clouds of mutual misunderstandings Prof Ernst brings his brilliant light. His book needs to be widely read, for the benefit of both East and West; pace Kiplng, in Ernst the twain have met. He has rendered a public service. Star rating: 5X2.

It's probably easier to define what this book is NOT, rather than what it is. It is not a compendium of Sufic thought or Sufi lore, so if that's what you're looking for, look elsewhere. Fortunately, there are any number of other books that can satisfy your curiosity in these areas.
What this book tries to do is perhaps more difficult - sort out the various Sufi organizations worldwide and provide some intelligent guidance on their affiliations, origins and characteristic beliefs. Some may balk at the suggestion of approaching Sufism in this way; however, anybody who has spent some time in the Middle East can confirm that on a day-to-day level the Sufic brotherhoods often act as nothing more esoteric than any other faith-based fraternal organization you may find in the West, and most of their members are far from being spiritual masters.
On this basis the book purports to help the would-be spiritual seeker get his bearings. I would say there is a need for such a book, and anyone interested in Islamic spirituality as it is currently practiced would probably gain much from this guide.

Ernst I think gives a good overview of various Sufi mystical practices, orders, history, even music and poetry. I appreciate the extensive discussion at the beginning of the book regarding what does 'Sufi' or 'sufism' even mean? What are we meant to be discussing here? The book is certainly written in a dry academic tone but that didn't bother me - I've waded through many such texts before.

What bothers me is that as Ernst guides you along giving you a nice introduction to many aspects of Sufism (whatever that may be - he more or less leaves it open) and the ways in which it has interacted with the wider sphere of Islam itself, it becomes evident that he has a major axe to grind.

* He gets very condescending and derisive regarding his peers and predecessors in the field. He blasts the "Orientalists" for even suggesting Sufism may represent a flowering of the so-called 'perennial philosophy' (a (proposed) universal human yearning toward mystical union which inevitably leads to esoteric traditions alongside any religious tradition) and for suggesting that Sufi practices may have predated Islam - despite the fact that prominent Sufis themselves have made identical claims (e.g., Idries Shah) and that if these practices didn't predate Islam, it is awfully hard to understand what Muhammad was practicing and who taught him!

* He goes on to lament the fact that anyone would dare hurt Muslims' feelings by pointing out that Muhammad was, well, maybe not the paradigm of the 'spiritual life,' being as he was a warlord with a dozen wives. Further, how dare anyone suggest that Islamic civilization has 'declined'? The notion, for Ernst, of civilizations waxing and waning is just colonialist or fundamental hogwash - so Rome never fell, after all! It's really just a matter of opinion, you see. And if you think the liberalism and great cultural, intellectual and religious flowerings at earlier points in Islamic history were perhaps a more admirable point than the present situation - well then you too are a colonialist or fundamentalist.

* He also seems upset that anyone would deny or contest the efficacy of petitionary prayer - who are secular or rational people to comment on what other believe in? A similar 'logic' applies to the many (largely fanciful) 'lineages' within Sufi orders, always aiming to trace the teaching directly back to the Prophet. Ernst himself points out that most of these are of dubious historical authenticity - but that's not the point, you secular goof! The POINT is that these lineages provide the disciple with a direct spiritual connection, passing from mind to mind, master to disciple, all the way back to the Prophet! ... what? How can that be, if the lineage isn't real?

* He seems desperate to prove that Sufism was never influenced by any other religion or practice - ever. Most striking is that many of the Sufi meditations bear striking resemblances to various practices in the yogic tradition, even explicitly involving a system of subtle energy centers (chakras, for yoga) in parts of the body corresponding nearly to the identical points in yoga: navel, solar plexus, heart, third eye, crown, etc. Just coincidence! Ernst seems to conclude. No way was Sufism ever influenced by some other practices. How could it possibly have been? he rants. Then he goes on to mention that actually it is well known that (arguably) the single most important yoga text ever written, Patanjali's Yoga Sutras, was translated into Arabic and circulating in the Islamic world nearly a thousand years ago. But, he hastens to add, it had no real impact... ???

I don't mean to give the impression this is a bad book; though dry it is full of a lot of interesting information. But the (many) above examples of Ernst's bizarre bitterness and defensiveness regarding his subject are kind of bewildering and definitely detract greatly from the text. Overall one gets the impression of someone deeply knowledgeable about his subject but who's maybe been talked down at too many Religious Studies conferences and feels he has to prove that everything in Sufism is beyond reproach. A troubled book, but still recommended as an overview.

Actually--my title is a misnomer, there is no meditation here. This is quite nearly a pure scholarly, distant view of Sufism. As I read, I wondered if Ernst had any real positive feelings for -- or even interest in -- Sufism other than as s relatively new Western phenomenon. The husk of Sufism may be here, but the spirit of Sufism is not. His glorious Ph.D means nothing other than "piled higher and deeper" in intellectual mud; there is no feeling here, no emotion, empty of spirit. One would think after studying Sufism, one would feel its power and feeling; instead, Ernst sees it only as something to be studied, like a gnat.

For those studying Islam, Ernst's introduction to the "mystical" tradition of tasawwuf provides a well-rounded overview of the significance of Sufi practices, interpretation, and philosophy. He makes little attempt to solidify the term "Sufism," however, insisting that in orientalist usage it has been a construct of recent origin, with the aim of splitting the more highly respected esotericism from the dry legalism of Islam (partially in attempting to explain the Sufi tradition as an offshoot of other mystical traditions, rather then "native" to Islam). Ironically, many Islamicist reformers (which he traces to some extent from the puritanical 'Abdul-Wahhab, who ravaged shrines of Sufi saints and Shi'a notables in an effort to purify Islam of their perceived taint) attempting to excise perceived extraneous and thus corrupting influences to pristine Islam, have tried to do nearly the same thing. Though I find his post-modernist disavowal to dismiss the fantastical elements of Islamic and Sufi belief as tripe, and his over-reaching aim to find the most congenial face of Islam all too typical, I felt I profited by reading Ernst's book. His PhD training certainly didn't aid him in creative writing, however, and if his stated purpose was to reach those outside of his specialty, his style of writing is an abysmal failure. But I suppose I am just spoiled by those writers who are able to introduce novel angles towards longstanding subjects, who rather than writing merely from a skeletal outline, are able to infuse their pages with chutzpah. In other words, they provide a helping of entertainment with their edification. If he had gone so far as to get out of the library (other than the few short and dull remarks he makes about being present at a few Sufi functions), I thought that he could have interviewed Sufi personalities, fans of qawwali (a type of Sufi music), etc. But I would suppose that would abolish the pretenses of the "objective" scholar, disdainful of mere journalism, living solely in a dimension of pure thought energy, free from emotion of any stripe.