The Comparison of The Two Founders of The Schools of Fear and Love That Formed in The Period of Asceticism Cover Image

Zühd Döneminde Teşekkül Eden Korku ve Sevgi Ekollerinin Kurucusu İki Sûfî ve Zühd Anlayışlarının Mukayesesi
The Comparison of The Two Founders of The Schools of Fear and Love That Formed in The Period of Asceticism

Author(s): Muhammed Ali Yıldız
Subject(s): Islam studies, History of Islam, Qur’anic studies
Published by: SD Yayınevi
Keywords: Sufism; Asceticism; Hasan Basrî; Rabiatü'l Adeviyye; Fear; Divine Love;

Summary/Abstract: Asceticism and seclusion means staying alone with Allah by not mixing too much with people. In fact, real asceticism is spending most of one's time in quiet and peaceful places, away from society, in order to worship in a more sincere manner. Human desires and desires are unlimited. Asceticism, on the other hand, is not completely abandoning pleasurable legitimate desires, but not turning them into goals. Ascetic time, one of the sufi configurations; the century of bliss is an important period of the foundations of Sufism and includes the periods of tabi’in and tebe-i tabi’in. In the period of the companions, your side is lived as much as your tabi'in. As worshipers and devotees, they will be able to form a living unity within themselves. As the worldly inclination of progress increases among the Muslims, a community that we can call the ascetic movement, led by hitler and lice, seems outwardly. During this period, many schools emerged. The most prominent school is the Basra school, which is famous for Hasan Basrî and his followers, Rabiatü'l-Adeviyye and his followers. Basra school is divided into two as "fear and sorrow" under the leadership of Hasan Basrî and "for God's sake" under the leadership of Rabiatü'l -Adeviyye. The similarities and differences between the lives of Hasan Basrî and Rabiatü'l Adeviyye, their understanding of zühd and their mysticism will be revealed. Sufism is an institution that has played an important role in the lives of Muslims with its ascetic life form, although not directly under the name of Sufism since the first years of Islam. In every era, Muslims who are fond of their spirituality have sought different ways to further develop their spiritual world. In addition to supererogatory worship, they wanted to enrich their spirit world with different numbers or innumerable dhikrs. They built ascetic houses in order to discipline their souls with seclusion. All these efforts have affected the shaping in the formation process of the history of Sufism. The formation process of Sufism from the beginning to the present is historically evaluated in three periods. These are respectively; period of asceticism, the period of sects and the periods of mysticism. At this point, asceticism is to stay away from all thoughts other than Allah and to place only the love of Allah in the heart. Although it was stated that ascetic life was lived individually during the first two centuries of Hijri, the pre-sufi movement was shaped as ascetic schools based on regions rather than individuality. In this context, Hasan Basrî, who lives in Basra, emerges as an important personality. With the dhikr assemblies and lodges established by the ascetics organized under his leadership, the evolution of this period into the Sufi period has also gained momentum. Hasan Basrî is one of the early Sufis. He is regarded as the founder and first leader of the fear-based ascetic school in Basra. The childhood of Hasan Basrî among the Companions enabled him to engage in science at a young age. In addition to this, the sadness he felt from these events because he witnessed the wars between the Companions and lived in times when some political events were taking place, was one of the biggest factors in his sad ascetic life in Basra. In this period of intense internal turmoil, he recommended silence and entrusting matters to Allah. He always advised to preserve the unity and order of the ummah. He lived a moderate ascetic life. According to him, asceticism is built on the principle of standing against worldly things and those who work for worldly things. His understanding of asceticism is to live in the way of life drawn by the prophet, to give up on whims and whims, and to show patience for things that are not pleasing to the soul. Seeing the world as a sole purpose is a great disaster for him. His Sufi views are based on contemplation, self-purification, fear and sadness. He and his supporters are notorious for crying. Rabiatü'l-Adeviyye is one of the first female Sufis who was born when Hasan Basrî was about 70 years old. She is one of the leading figures of the ascetic period, who was shown as an example in terms of science and morality. She lost his family at a young age and started working as a slave. She continued his life as a sufi who did not pursue any goal other than Allah's consent, rejected marriage proposals and tried to avoid everything that he thought would hinder divine love. She endured all kinds of difficulties and sought only Allah's approval. She worshiped neither for the love of heaven nor for the fear of hell. Her worship is based on loving Allah because He is Allah. Reaching the beauty of Allah has been his greatest goal. According to her, since the blessings of the world and the love of God cannot be found in the same place, her asceticism was shaped in the direction of his choice to leave the world. In her sufi views, she emphasized the concepts of love, hope and optimism rather than fear and sadness. According to her, the lover should obey the order of the loved one and be patient in fulfilling the prayers. For her, there is no obligation more important than serving God. Worship done with love gives peace to the servant. According to her, divine love is the result of the servant’s sincerity to Allah. As a matter of fact, even Rabiatü'l-Adeviyye, who came to the fore with the love of Allah, shed tears during worship and dhikr out of fear of Allah. It should be accepted that these schools, built on the love of God and fear of God, which came to the fore with Hasan Basrî and Rabiatü'l-Adeviyya who lived in the period of Zühd, are two schools that complement each other. Because the feeling of hesitation felt by the people of mysticism while loving Allah reveals the fear of Allah. Therefore, although Hasan Basrî and Rabiatü'l-Adeviyya seem to represent two different understandings, we predict that these two schools are interconnected.

  • Issue Year: 7/2023
  • Issue No: 32
  • Page Range: 152-169
  • Page Count: 18
  • Language: Turkish