Who then were those early Sufis? What kind of mysticism was theirs? Souls to whom a merely conventional religious life could bring no solace, souls longing to live a life quieter, deeper and purer than the one subservient to mere forms and dogma— these were the early Sufis. Theirs was a piety, and austerity springing not from grim apprehensions of an awful hereafter, but from their own hearts beating in unison with the Infinite, hearts that gave themselves up completely to the work and will of the Perfect Cause of Causes, the Perfect Providence transcending all and yet immanent in each. Asceticism, quietism, intimate and personal love of God and disparagement of mere lip-service or formal worship, these are the distinguishing characteristics of the first band of Sufis. Far, far away as they were from the wilderness of pantheism, their metaphysics were simple enough and devoid entirely of any philosophic element. Only a spirit of quietism was upon them. To live in a passive state of trustful quietude was all that they desired. Thus Ibrahim ibn Adham, “the Key of the (mystical) sciences,” as Junaid used to call him, and his contemporaries, and that celebrated woman, Rābiah, all renounced the things of the world, name, fame, everything, even the eight heavens. All that they held dear and cherished was God’s name and the greatness of His glory.
Such was the mysticism of these early Sufis, and it falls completely within the first of the three divisions into which Vaughan divides mysticism, viz. the theopathetic. Its theosophic and theurgic developments were then unknown. Let us illustrate this by a few sayings of the Sufis themselves.
“Sufism”, says Abdul Husain Nuri, “is neither precept nor doctrine, but something inborn. If it were a precept, it could be followed; if it were a doctrine, it could be learned; it is rather something inborn, and, as the Quran says, ‘Ye are created in the image of God’. Evidently, no one can, either by application or by teaching, possess himself in the likeness of God.”
Junaid’s definition is still simpler: “To liberate the mind from the violence of the passions, to put off nature’s claims, to extirpate human nature, to repress the sensual instinct, to acquire spiritual qualities, to be elevated through an understanding of wisdom, and to practise that which is good—that is the aim of Sufism”.