Sufism Origins

The Origins of Sufism

The word “Sufi” in Arabic means “of wool,” most probably because in their early days, the Sufis wore a simple woolen garment. The other word used for a Sufi is the Persian “darwesh/darvish,” generally written “derwish” in English. In the Gathas, it is drigu, restrained, oppressed, a person who must be freed and rehabilitated. In Middle Persian, it is driyosh, poor, needy. In modern Persian it means a beggar.

The main points of Sufism are: Abandoning of personal desire, abstinence, asceticism, vow of poverty, begging, meditation, music, whirling dance, repetitive rhythmical prayers, peace and no aggression, and very important “fana-fi-Allah, annihilation-in-God.”

A close look on the above points makes one wonder how Sufism is called an Islamic order. It is not recognized by the religious leaders of most of the Muslim sects. Has it its roots in Zoroastrianism? Again a close look makes one wonder. Except peace and no aggression, no other point. Then what is the root?

Let us look at the Indo-Iranian history. While the Sasanian Empire (224-651 CE) covered central and western part of the Greater Iran, the contemporary Kushanian Empire (30-375 CE) included the eastern part plus the northern part of the Indian Peninsula. The Kushans were Iranian and originally they were Zoroastrians but with passage of time, they converted to Buddhism and became strong supporters of it so much so that the Chinese and other East Asians too converted to Buddhism through their propaganda.

When the Arab Muslims conquered the whole of the Persian Empire to the Chinese borders, they forced the peoples to convert to Islam. The Buddhists of the now-called Central Asia did convert but cleverly as Sufis. And if we study Sufism, we see that it is nothing but Islamized Buddhism. We have all Sufi points in Buddhism only, especially “fana-fi-Allah, annihilation-in-God” which is Islamized of “Nirvana, blown-out, extinguished,” freedom from rebirth circle.

Please note that it can be a long essay of around 20 pages, but I think, this is enough to prove that Sufism does not have its roots in Zoroastrianism but in Buddhism.

Ali A. Jafarey