Lives And Sayings Of Sufis - Book Report/Review Example

Lives And Sayings Of Sufis Oveys of Qaran is a member and figure in the traditional Sufi tradition; he has been given a description in the book that qualifies to give him credit since it has his description as the exemplar of the forty tribes and the hidden sun. In this book by Attar, Oveys is portrayed and described as the Canopus of Yemen, this also gives the idealism that he is exemplary to the other characters like Hasan of Basra Rsbe’a-ye Adaviya or Fozeyl ebn Aysz who were also friends of God. The book describes Oveys as being much virtuous compared to the other friends of God, this is denoted from the excerpt that states, and ‘the most Virtuous of my followers is Oveys of Qaran’. Despite Ovey’s peculiar lifestyle, God had kept him closer to him due to his devotion. In the book, there is use of passive voices, which denote the thoughts of personalities like God and Muhammad. The writer brings out the features and the spirituality of Oveys by acknowledging that even a prophet is not worth describing because he is a person who, even the master of the prophets himself praises. As the Canopus of Yemen, the writer has the reason why God himself has compassion for the World portrays Oveys. Oveys enjoys the protection from the highest God. This is because after the death of Oveys, God will create seventy thousand angels that look like Oveys so that no creature will be able to do him any harm after his resurrection and none will be able to identify him from the seventy only by the will of God. The description of Oveys of Qaran spirituality is denoted as that of secrecy whereby when he is in the world, he worships God under secrecy and ensures that he keeps away from people. For this reason, God promises that in the afterlife, he will also keep him in secrecy and none shall know him. With this description of secrecy, there is illustration that none so ever knows who God’s friends are because He keeps them under His dome. Oveys has been given the dominance of secrecy and there is a description that denotes the level. God will keep him under the dome that the master of prophets himself will not be able to see him. This articulates that the relationship that God shares with Oveys is closer than the relationship he shares with Muhammad the greatest prophet. Muhammad teaches that those friends that God loves the most are the ones who worship God in secrecy and with devotion. Oveys is a camel herder who lives with his mother, a blind and fragile woman. From the wages that he gets looking after the camels, he uses to take care of his mother. This goes on to portray Oveys, as a very humble person from a humble background but God loves him very much. From the above characteristic of Oveys, there is the teaching that one should ensure that he is humble and appreciate whatever kind of life just as Muhammad teaches his companions to walk in the footsteps of Oveys. Despite the founder of the Law Muhammad having never seen Oveys but only heard of him, he had faith in the God that he was real. On his death, Muhammad sent Omar and Ali to the people of Nejd to see if there was anyone from Qaran there and knew of Oveys. Muhammad directive for the companions to follow the footsteps of a man that himself he never saw showed the level of trust that he had in God and the people who were close to God. One of the people in Nejd tells Omar that he has heard of Oveys, he postulates that Oveys is too contemptible to be sought after by the commander of the faithful. This portion gives the in discriminatory feature that God has. The man further illustrates that Oveys is a foolish lunatic and a wild creature. The people who knew of Oveys did not understand why the prophets of God would be searching for a person that is despised by many. The teaching being brought out here is that God is a God who establishes friendship despite what elements one has even as extreme as that many hate you, this, as long as one remains faithful to him. Oveys received favors from God because of his spirituality and the devotion that he showed he had in God. When Omar and Ali went looking for Oveys in the Valley of Urana, they found Oveys praying to God and he had left his camels to graze while he ventured into prayers. God had summoned one of his angels to look after Oveys camels as he was in prayers. This is exemplary, as God would direct his angels to undertake a task such as looking after the camels. The writer postulates,’ When Oveys sensed the humans’, he cut short his prayers, this depicts the fact that Oveys had gotten used to being alone for so long that he became animal like in the wilderness and had grown instinctively sensitive to people around. In the valleys that Oveys was, praying there is indication of the level of closeness that Oveys shares with God. Oveys uses an unusual tone when he gets to a secluded place away from Omar and Ali and tells God ‘that he refuses to wear the robe unless God gives him all of Muhammad’s people. This is a commanding tone that is unusual to the prophets, thus, one can say that God and Oveys shared a unique relationship (Aṭṭar, 56). On the response, a hidden voice answers Oveys and offers to give him some of the people that he was requesting. An outstanding feature on the favor that God had given Oveys is that since he was being favored, God favored the whole world. In saying that ‘I find that the breath of compassionate comes from Yemen’ this connotatively means that God was seeing all of the injustices that were happening in the world and had contemplated punishment to the wrong doers. Due to the friend that is Oveys, God had the compassion and forgave them (Attar, 56). The generalization of Ovey’s life is that God undertakes certain responsibilities on people that he considers intermediaries between Him and His people. Muhammad sends Omar and Ali to go find Oveys so that he could pray to his people. Ovey’s response by acknowledging this shows that he had accepted the position as the intermediary between God and his people (Attar, 56). This then shows that God had a level of people that were around him. Ovey being a close friend to God can be said was among the inner circle friends of God, this compared to Omar and Ali who Muhammad sent to find Oveys. Several principles can be established from this abstract ideal, these principles include the idea that God can choose to establish close relationship to anyone despite what his background is. Another principle that is manifested is that God speaks through His prophets and whatever word the prophet of God directs is the truth and should not be discredited since He is unpredictable. The depictions of Ovey’s humility is brought out as a principle, Oveys is a close friend to God but comes from a poor back ground he do not use this as a chance to better himself in the riches and never questions but continues serving God. Oveys accepts to pray for Muhammad’s people, some who despise him without hesitation. This feature stipulates how one should put other people interest before theirs. It should then be clear to all from the teachings here that the nature of God is unpredictable and no one should question why. God’s directives should be followed be it from religious leaders who are the modern day prophets and through different ways God talks to them. Work cited ʻAṭṭār, Farīd -D, and Paul E. Losensky. Farid Ad-Din ʻattār's Memorial of God's Friends: Lives and Sayings of Sufis. New York: Paulist Press, 2009. Print. Read More