Morocco: Sufism, or spirituality serving the individual

[From the French language press]:

Maroc: Le soufisme, ou la spiritualité au service de l'individu.

Faouzi Skali, fin connaisseur du soufisme, tenait jeudi une conférence intitulée «Soufisme et connaissance de soi»

Libération (Casablanca) Maroc/AllAfrica - Lundi, 22 Janvier 2007 - par Antony Drugeon

Faouzi Skali, fine expert of Sufism, held Thursday a conference entitled “Sufism and self-knowledge”.

The room was full, but what especially stroke was the atmosphere of extreme attention, of meditation almost, which testifies to fascination that always sufi spirituality exerts. Faouzi Skali, University professor, anthropologist, and writer - author of many works on Sufism- gave a conference centered around the definition of Sufism itself.

Since Sufism is integral part of Islam, why speak about Sufism? Because Sufism is to religion what grammar is to the language.

Citing Hamid al-Ghazali [d. 1111], Faouzi Skali said that this famous scholar, which to some extent invented the methodical doubt before Descartes, ended up finding the justification of religion and spirituality as being another body of perception which it is advisable to place not in confrontation with the Reason but beyond it.

Spirituality, for the sufi, is the intelligence of the heart, which corrects rational wisdom by supplementing it without replacing it. Consequently, spirituality becomes necessary to all, one by one, since it is a love affair.

But the conclusion of such a reasoning appeared as revolutionist and subversive: in the field of sciences, it is possible for certain men to specialize and share their knowledge. When it comes to spirituality, the division is impossible. Nobody can replace anyone when it comes to the heart.

A travelling exhibition about Sufism is held in the French Institutes. It will be in Rabat, then in Kénitra in February, then in Marrakech in March.