|
Hi Tom,
Sorry for the delay in replying but I got busy with finishing my Thesis. Anyways, Iqbal was really against the sufi movement. He was of the belief that the reason Islam became stegnent and difficult and complex to follow was because of the sufi movement. He was against the fact that sufis believed that the only way for man to get close to God was to reject himself complety and blindly accept whatever happenes to him as fate and will of God. He believed that God gave man personality and ability to choose and think so that he can make his own fortunes.
Let me illustrate the difference between the sufi school of thought and Iqbal's thinking.
A well know sufi poet says.....
I am not a kilogram nor gram .... I am but a speck and that too incomplete and can not be used to weigh anything without the will of God.
On the other hand Iqbal says.....
Raise your Self so high that before God writes your fortunes..... HE personally asks you what are your wishes.
Iqbal believes that the sufi movement caused all their followers muslim or otherwise to stop thinking or learning and blindly follow without questioning. He was very against it he believed that it is man's devine right to think, question and learn and make up his own mind.
I should point out that Iqbal was not against all the sufi's infact he was a great admirer of Romi and a few others.
Hope this answers your question. Please do let me know if something in unclear and I will try to further comment on it.
|