Essay Instructions: Instruction:
***Resources should only be from scholarly journal, book , or documentary (no internet news articles or website)-Do NOT use too many quotes from the sources that take up a lot of spaces in the paper. Thoroughly analyze the source and elaborate them.
****Make sure to have clear Intro, Body, and Conclusion sections. Don't get lost in the story.
*Topic: Comparison between Sharia and Sufism
**Comparison should include
1. Use of Qur'an and Hadith in Sharia and Sufism and how they differ (For example, Sharia depends on ‘sound’ Hadith)
2. Characteristics (For example, Sharia has more legalistic view and entails duties, ethics, law, how to obey God, tries to regulate out-ward, has Zahiri (exoteric) characteristic while Sufism is more spiritual and deals with interior path of Islam, has Batini (esoteric-inward understanding), stresses importance of loving, experiencing God in this world (not only obeying God like Sharia), night ascension is very important to sufis.
3. Human nature (matter of degree in Sharia and Sufism; for example, for sufis, love of god is an important factor since it brings human being feel closer to God)
4. Gender equality (For example, Sufism is more open to gender equality and has less gender division compared to Sharia. Please mention woman named Rabi’ah al-‘Adawiyah who introduced concept of love of god (mahabbah) in sufi way when giving examples of gender equality.
5. Spread of Islam (Due to Sufism mainly. Reasons should mention missionary of Islam, sufi understanding of Islam, adopting outside influences (Christians, Jewish religion), available to local, community, closer to the heart of common people, provide alternative way of Islam (more spirituality than only following Sharia), less gender division comparatively.
Extra info:
-Sufism stresses on inward over outward, contemplation over action, spiritual development ( include example of two Persians; Al-hallaj and Abu Yazid al-Bistami who represent drunken or intoxicated Sufism that is about spiritual experience with presence of God when people are trying to reach God, also especially, drunken sufis don’t follow strict structure (i.e., 5 pillars)) over legalism, cultivation of the soul carries more importance than social interaction, focuses tashbih (positive attributes of God, similarity of God with his creations, inner feeling of closeness, beauty, mercy) over distance of God (tanzih)
-Good words to mention in paper if needed:
Fana (annihilation of the self), Nafs (ego, self), Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (credit legal minded Islam), Tariqa (way, path), Ma’rifa versus ‘llm (when mentioning Sufism, Ma’rifa means intuitive knowledge which is an essential concept in Sufism. It is a spiritual truth and a perpetual remembrance of God and still remains up until today-Dhk al-Nun of Egypt introduced and defined this concept), Hasan al-Basri (regarded father of Sufism and preached ‘fear of God’), Dhikr (remembrance of God), Tawakkul (total religance on God; Sufis put more emphasis on this than Sharia does-matter of degree)
