Religious ecstasy in classical Sufism
Göran Ogén
Scripta Instituti Donneriani Aboensis January 16, 2019 DOI: 10.30674/scripta.67143 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Interventions | psalmody listening to psalmody |
| Topics | Altered states of consciousness MDMA |
| Keywords | Mysticism -- islam Sufism |
| Key points | Argues that classical Sufism lacked a single generic term for religious ecstasy and relied on psalmody as the main external method for inducing ecstatic states until innovations appeared after the eleventh century. |
Abstract
The purpose of this essay is to shed some light on the phenomenon of religious ecstasy as met within Islamic mysticism and there particularly during its classical period. In this case, the expression "classical Sufism" refers to the period of Sufi history from about 850 A.D. until circa 1100 A.D. In the Sufi vocabulary there is even a rather differentiated terminology concerning these ecstatic experiences or states; whether different descriptions of one and the same experience are involved or whether the terms actually describe different experiences is a question that we must set aside for the present. There are, however, Sufis expressing the opinion that these different states of mind are based on one single experience in spite of the difference in terms. A generic term for these experiences or states is not to be found in the Sufi terminology however, so the problem of which of these phenomena must be present in order for ecstasy to be evidenced—or which of them would be sufficient— does not therefore arise for the Sufis. So instead of speaking of religious ecstasy in general, they either refer to the single specific terms in question or else use the plural of one of the words employed to designate one of the terms we include in "religious ecstasy". They thus speak of "ecstasies", mawagid from the singular form wagd—if one should at all attempt a translation of this plural. This plural is a genuine Sufi construction and does not otherwise seem to occur in the Arabic language, except as a later borrowing. Psalmody based on the Koranic vocabulary remains the main procedure for putting oneself in ecstasy. If we add 'and listening to psalmody', we then obtain a fairly satisfactory picture of the external conditions for the Sufis' ecstasy until the eleventh century, when various innovations begin to appear. As far as the darwiš-dance is concerned, it is not until the thirteenth century with Rumi that it becomes transformed from an expression of ecstasy—and as such, quite a controversial one—into an expedient for ecstasy.
Comparable studies
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| Differences Between the Mechanism of Action of MDMA, MBDB, and the Classic Hallucinogens. Identification of a New Therapeutic Class: Entactogens | 1986 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Background and Chemistry of MDMA | 1986 | Historical analysis | |
| The origin of MDMA (ecstasy) revisited: the true story reconstructed from the original documents* Original documents in Merck's historical archive in Darmstadt, Germany, years 1900–1960 | 2006 | Historical analysis | |
| Distinct neural mechanisms for the prosocial and rewarding properties of MDMA | 2019 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| How could MDMA (ecstasy) help anxiety disorders? A neurobiological rationale | 2009 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |