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TRIPOLI, November 28 (Mercy for Mankind) – The second morning
session of the third day of the seventh general conference of the
World Islamic Call Society witnessed the presentation of the third
working paper and discussing both second and third papers. The third working paper was presented by Sheikh Hassan Al-Shinnawy,
president of the Supreme Council of Sufi Tariqas (schools of
thought), entitled; "Sufism: A Call and an Education". Shekh Shinnawy first presented his paper, started with a quick
review of the various Sharia schools. "Hadith schools first appeared in Medinah and Iraq and Fiqh schools
emerged in Al Hijaz, Egypt, the Greater Syria and Baghdad. Then
schools of rhetoric, its rules and methods followed. Finally schools
of interpretation with their sciences and laws surfaced. "All these movements, important as they were, were scientific and
intellectual trends of which the main pillar was art and thought, as
well as the research, didactic and argument they gave rise to.
"These were schools which, although greatly beneficial, were more
like the schools of law, or medicine or architecture. With their
particular method and logic, they applied the rules to predetermined
curricula with little regard after that for the human being’s heart,
soul, senses, action and behavior." He used this logic as an introduction to the circumstances and needs
giving importance and urgency to the existence of Sufi schools of
thought. "For this sublime goal, the great men of Islamic Sufism emerged with
their message, targeting the heart, soul, senses and behavior of the
human being on his itinerary towards Allah and in his march through
life. "They have risen to preserve the spirit of worship and the essence
of Islam. They have emerged to make lofty ideals the divine way and
the human approach that leads to the perfect man, shapes the fervent
and immune believer who is fit for living and representing Allah on
the earth where he was created, and to become worthy of the Almighty
and worthy of the tremendous powers that He bestowed on man through
what was placed at his disposal in the heavens and the earth."
Sheikh Shinnawy continued explanation of how Sufi schools work, in
comparison with other various Sharia schools and trends. "In the same way that fiqh scholars innovated in their branches,
hadith experts in the rules of narration and attribution, and in the
same manner that interpretation ulemas (scholars) formed their
theories of the quest for the self, the attributes, the possible,
the causes and motives and of pre-destiny, the ulemas and sheikhs of
Sufism engaged in jurisprudence and formed their knowledge of rites
and morals, their behavior patterns, the diseases of the heart and
the soul, the pull of good and evil, the lights of dikr and
submission and the components of the perfect Muslim person." He then touched on the differences among various Sufi schools of
thought, finding only richness in such differences. "If ulemas have followed many paths in searching and inferring, in
the types of evidence and the arts of Qiyas, the paths of Sufism
varied in behavior and knowledge, in morals and traditions, in dikr
and wird, in revelation and in the secrets of the soul." Sheikh Shinnawy then touched on the most important Sufi schools in
Islam, tracking back their historical backgrounds and presenting
their most outstanding achievements in the field of Sufism in Islam. After Sheikh Shinnawy finished the presentation of his paper,
participants of the general conference started discussions of both
this paper and the second working paper presented in the first
morning session. The second working paper was prepared and presented by Abuzeid Al
Mukri Al Idrissi, Lecturer and Islamic researcher, and a member of
Moroccan parliament.
It is entitled; "Universality of the Call and of Mercy", and was
prepared by Idrissi to shed more light on the conference's slogan
and reasons behind that choice.
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