14 AN INTRODUCTION TO SUFI DOCTRINF

exotericism, which can in this case be much more readily
defined as the common “Law.”!

Every complete way of contemplation, such as the
Sufi way or Christian mysticism (in the original meaning
of that word), is distinct from a way of devotion, such

e ——————————————————————————

as is wrongly called “mystical”, in that it implies an
active intellectual attitude. Such an attitude is by no
‘means to be understood-in-the sense of a sort of in-
dividualism with an intellectual air to it: on the cont-
rary it implies a disposition to open oneself to the

‘essential Reality (al-haqigah), which transcends discur-.

sive thought and so also a possibility of placing oneself
“intellectually beyond all individual subjectivity.

That there may be no misunderstanding about what
has just been said it must be clearly stated that the Sufi
also realises an attitude of perpetual adoration moulded
by the religious form. Like every believer he must
pray and, in general, conform to the revealed Law since
his individual human nature will always remain passive
in relation to Divine Reality or Truth whatever the
degree of his spiritual identification with It. “The
servant (i.e., the individual) always remains the servant”
(al-‘abd yabqa-1-‘abd), as a Moroccan master said to the
author. In this relationship the Divine Presence will
therefore manifest Itself as Grace. But the intelligence
of the Sufi, in as much as it is directly identified with
the “Divine Ray™, is in a certain manner withdrawn,

1. The structure of Islam does not admit of stages in some sense
intermediate between exotericism and esotericism such as the Christian monas-
tic state, the original role of which was to constitute a direct framework for the
Christian way of contemplation.