Sufism

An Academic Paper

Concept and Doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud in
Sufism Tradition1

Yossy Suparyo
Writer is Student of Library and Information Science Dept.
Islamic State University Sunan Kalijaga, Yogyakarta

‫ﺳﺒﺤﺎن ﻣﻦ اﻇﻬﺮ ﻧﺎﺳﻮﺗﻪ‬
‫ﺳﺮﺳﻨﺎﻻ هﻮ ﺗﻪ اﻟﺜﺎﻗﺐ‬
‫ﺛﻢ ﻧﺪاﻟﺨﻠﻘﻦ‬
‫ﻓﻰ ﺻﻮرة اﻻ آﻞ واﻟﺜﺎ رب‬
Syaikh Mansur Al-Hallaj on Kitabul Thawasin

T
he concepts of Wahdat al-Wujud, the transcendent Unity of God are
seen as fundamental doctrines in Islamic Sufism2. In etymology
approach, the wahdat al-wujud refer to the Oneness of Being (in Java
called Manunggaling Kawula Gusti). The doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud asserts
that everything that exists can only exist because it is an aspect of Divine
Reality, hence an aspect of Divine Unity itself. God is the ground of all being and
there is nothing except Him. Thus our goal is to go back and be absorbed in
Him. It is believed that there is essential unity between humanity and God. 3
In Indonesia, the doctrine of wahdat al wujud spreadwide by Path of Sufi
that it called tariqat, i.e. Nasyabandiyah, Sammaniyah, Sattariyah,

1 This paper presented on Akhlak Tasawuf Studies, Library and Information Science Dept. with
Guide Lecturer by Ali Sodiqin MSi.
2 Sufism (tasawuf) derived from suf or wool, the coarse material these people used for clothing

as a sign of asceticism and renunciation. Some suggest that Sufi comes from the root safa, to be
pure or from suffa, the raised platform in the Prophet's mosque in Madina where poor people
used to sit and exercise devotion. Some scholars identify it with Sophos in the sense of
"theosophist". In Arabic literature shown on al-Shuhwawardi Work. ‫ﻗﺪادرآﺖ ﺳﺒﻌﻴﻰ ﺑﺪرﻳﺎآﺎن ﻟﺒﺎﺳﻬﻢ‬
‫ اﻟﺤﻮف‬See, Amin Syukur, Menggugat Tasawuf: Sufisme dan Tanggungjawab Sosial Abad 21,
Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 1999. p. 9
3 This assumption based on ‫ إﻟﻬﻰ اﻧﺖ ﻣﻘﺼﻮدى ورﺿﺎك ﻣﻄﻠﻮﺑﻰ اﻋﻄﻨﻰ ﻣﺤﺒﺘﻚ وﻣﻐﻔﺮت‬See, Muslih

Abd al_Rahman on Syukur, Ibid p. 49.

1

Khalidiyah, and the others.4 The famous path leader consist of Syaikh Hamzah
Fansury, Syam Al-Din Al-Sumatrani, Nur Al-Din Al-Raniri, ‘Abd Al-Rauf Sinkel
(Aceh), Syaikh ‘Abd Al-Shamad Al-Palembani (South Sumatra), Syaikh Siti
Jenar, Ronggowarsito (Java), Syaikh Yusuf Makasari (South Sulawesi), M.
Arsyad al-Banjari, Syaikh Abdul Hamid Abulung, Nafis al-Banjari (South
Kalimantan) and others. Wahdat al-Wujud may be interpreted that Sufism see
the face of God everywhere, it does not mean that it has reduced God to
everything.5 Sufism speaks of advancement in the spiritual life as a journey and
the seeker after God as a salik or a traveller.6 Its teaching is intended to guide
the traveller to the attainment of the perfect knowledge, marifat of God, the
only Reality diffused through all things. A believer is led onwards by slow stages,
maqamat and through the experience of certain stages, ahwal, along a Path, at-
tariqat, to the desired goal of union with God called fana f'il-haqiaqat,
absorption in Reality.7
Sufism interpreting and other writings quote Qur'anic passages to support
and elaborate their doctrine.8 In just two hundred years from the beginning of
Islam, the ascetic movement gave way to mysticism proper, that is, experiences
which might be described as ecstatic leaps of the spirit into Oneness with God
(Manunggaling Kawula Gusti), 'passing away (fana) into God'. The way to this
ultimate goal of the Sufi life was by self-denial, purifying the soul and mystical
knowledge of God, as distinguished from formal knowledge. But fana was
thought of in various ways: in the extreme, some would abandon themselves to

4 Martin van Bruinessen, Kitab Kuning, Pesantren dan Tarekat: Tradisi-tradisi Islam di
Indonesia, Bandung: Mizan, 1995. p. 55-88. Also see Alwi Shihab, Islam Sufistik, Bandung:
Mizan, 2001 p.37-49
5 This concept is as same as with emanation theory. According to Plato Being and existence are

all one and are combined in God; being which is apart from God exists only by virtue of His will,
but was, prior to its being made separate. Abdul Munir Mulkhan, Syekh Siti Jenar: Pergumulan
Islam-Jawa. Yogyakarta: Bentang Budaya, 1999. p 4.5.
6 Please incubating following statement: ‫ . إن اﷲ ﺧﻠﻖ ادم ﻋﻠﻰ ﺹﻮرﺕﻪ‬Syukur, Opcit. p.61.
7 In Fahruddin Iraqi term, Islamic theology consist of three categories includes (1)
mutakallimun say tauhid must be refer to Holy Quran and Hadits; (2) philosopher
(musysyaiyun) belief tauhid may receive by mind (‘aql), and (3) Sufism argue tauhid can be
direct vision by the Oneness of Being. Fahruddin Iraqi, Lemaat:Kilau-kemilau Ilahi, Jakarta:
Gramedia Pustaka Utama, 2001. Indeed, Annemarie Schimmel, Jiwaku Adalah Wanita: Aspek
Feminin dalam Spiritualitas Islam, Bandung: Mizan, 1999.
8 'Everything will perish except His own face' (Surah 28:88; 55:26-7). 'whithersoever Ye turn,

there is Allah's countenance' (Surah 2:115). Indeed 'Everything will perish except His own face'
(Surah 28:88; 55:26-7). 'whithersoever Ye turn, there is Allah's countenance' (Surah 2:115).

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be filled with the Glory of God.9 This transcendental bliss of abandonment was
called 'intoxication', a dying-to-self. In the progress towards fana, some mystics
described their experiences in such extravagant language as to appear heretical
and un-Islamic to the orthodox ulema.10
For instance, Abu Yezid al-Bistami (d. 875) used to utter in a state of trance
'Glory be to Me! How great is my Majesty!', and claimed to have ascended to
Heaven in a dream.11 It was a spiritual union with God, attained through
ecstasy, in which the Sufi claimed to become God himself. To distinguish
between 'I' and 'God' is to deny the unity of God. However, the more sober Sufis
such as Muhasibi (d. 857), Dhul Nun (d. 861), Kharraz (d. 899) and al-Junaid
(d. 910) expressed their mystical experiences in less intemperate language and
thus avoided giving fatal offence to the orthodox, although even they did not
entirely escape suspicion and disapproval.12
According Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240)13, the concepts of Wahdat al-Wujud linked
to the doctrine of Tawhid and thus in Sufi Islam Tawhid means, first, faith and
belief in the unity of God; second, discipline of the internal and external life in
the light of that faith; third, experience of union and oneness with God; and
fourth, a theosophical or philosophical conception of reality in the light of the
mystical experience.14 The first two senses are accepted by all Muslims.
However the third and fourth senses are the particular teaching of Sufi Islam.
For them Tawhid in the third sense is to have the perception of the One Being

9 Karen Amstrong, Sejarah Tuhan: Kisah Pencarian Tuhan yang Dilakukan oleh Orang-orang
Yahudi, KriSten, dan Islam Selama 4.000 Tahun, Bandung: Mizan, 2001. p.302-304.
10 According to Alwi Shihab, Islamic Sufism classified on two terms, they are philosophy and

sunni Sufism. Intoxication—a dying to self spread wide by philosophy Sufism. Opposite of this,
sunni Sufism doctrines based on Holy Qoran and hadist. Alwi Shihab, Islam Sufistik, Bandung:
Mizan, 2001 p. 37.
11 See, ‫ ﺧﺮﺟﺖ ﻣﻦ اﻟﺤﻖ ﺡﺘﻰ ﺹﺎح ﻓﻰ ﻳﺎﻣﻦ اﻧﺖ اﻧﺎ ﻓﻘﻮﺕﺤﻘﻘﺖ ﺑﻤﻘﺎاﻟﻔﻨﺎء‬Syukur, Opcit. p.9
12 Syukur, Opcit. p. 56-59.
13 He was an influential Sufi mystic and writer. Ibn Al-Arabi is known as 'the greatest shaykh' al-

shaykh al-akbar. "His thought and terminology have formed the foundation of most subsequent
Sufi intellectual discourse, and his voluminous literary output, as famous for its abstruseness as
for its content, has been the subject of numerous commentaries in many languages.' He wrote
some 400 works. His major contribution was in the field of tasawwuf. Of his 20 main Sufi
works, the most important two are: (1) al-Futuhat al-Makkiya fi asrar al-malikiyya wal'l-
mulkiyya (The Meccan revelations). The autograph text in 37 volumes is preserved in Istanbul;
and (2) Fusus al-hikam wa khusus al-kilam (The Bezels of Wisdom). These two collections
constitute the standard Sufi encyclopaedia on mystical doctrine. William C. Chittick, The Sufi
Path of Knowledge: Hermeneutika Al-Quran Ibnu ‘Araby, Yogyakarta: Qalam, 2001.
14 Chittick , Ibid. p.56-59.

3

through mystical experience. It is the highest experience of the unity of God. In
the fourth sense, one loses his own identity and becomes one with the One
being. In this sector, though several formulations exist, the most elaborate and
forceful formulation of the doctrine of Tawhid wajudi or wahdat al-Wujud is
from Ibn Al-Arabi.
In Sufism all doctrine is related to the mind. The divine name Allah is the
synthesis of all truth and therefore the root of all doctrine. Though the doctrine
of Wahdat al-Wujud has been developed and extended over the period of
several centuries, Sufi Muslims believe that it has its origins in Qur'anic
passages, as interpreted by Sufi exegetes. In the circumstances of the second
and third centuries (hijria), the Muslim religious intelligentsia was divided into
two groups: the Ulema or pure theologians and jurists on the one hand, and on
the other those who gave to religion a more personal basis in religious devotion.
The materialistic ways of those in power and later the various debates and
controversies between groups, for example, Mutazila and the Hanbalites
encouraged further development of Sufi ideas.15
For the first two centuries of Islam Sufi doctrine and practice was a
spontaneous phenomenon which had its beginning in the activity of individuals
who themselves were influenced by the earliest believers known as 'ascetics
(zuhhad). It is believed that the first and greatest sufis were the first and the
fourth caliphs, Abu Bakr, the Prophet's close friend and father in-law, and Ali
the Prophet's cousin and son-in-law.16 Similarly the development of the formal
disciplines of Islamic law and theology, there gradually grew up, with them, the
"knowing ones" Ulema. They rapidly developed into an institution with
tremendous power. It appears that with growing divergence between Sufi
practice and its implicit ideology on the one hand and the emerging orthodox
system on the other, Sufis, in order to justify their stand, also started to refer
more to Qur'anic verses and statements from Muhammad and some of his
companions. Thus from the third century onward there arose a whole series of

15 Carl W. Ernst, Ekspresi Ekstase dalam Sufisme, Yogyakarta: Putra Langit, 2003. p.139-141
16 Ernst, Ibid, 144.

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important innovative Sufis who both by their practice and teaching sought to
integrate orthodoxy and Sufism in this way.17
During the third and fourth century of Islam Sufism developed a doctrine
of Gnosis (marifa), of an inner experiential knowledge. The 'unity of God' was
transformed through the Sufi mystical experience into 'union' with God. The
term tawhid was taken to mean both 'regarding something as one' and also
'unification of something with something else'. Sufis propagated the doctrine
that God alone really exists and from there on moved to the belief that 'God is
the sole reality of everything.'
After Al-Ghazali, in Spain, Muhyi al-Din Ibn Al-Arabi (d. 1240) was an
influential Sufi mystic and writer. According to Ibn Al-Arabi, the being of all
things is God: there is nothing except Him. He argued for the doctrine of
Wahdat al-Wujud, where certain implications seem hard to avoid.18 For
example: Being and existence are all one and are combined in God; being which
is apart from God exists only by virtue of His will, but was, prior to its being
made separate, one with God; the perfect human (al-insan al-kamil) is the one
who knows oneness with God, who loves God and who is loved by God.
In his writing Ibn Al-Arabi seems to be concerned with mysteries being
unveiled but some think that his line is too abstruse for anyone to understand
who has not shared his experience in some degree. His interpretation made him
a radical humanist and rationalist almost three full centuries before any such
advanced thinking was established in Europe during the peak of the
Renaissance. Ibn ‘Arabi believes God remains supremely transcendent, even
though everything which arises and exists resembles him. He resembles nothing
but himself (tanzih). This concept is as same as with theory of nadha-riatul
faidl: God is pure; from the mystical and devotional point of view He is
Absolute Beauty, of which earthly beauty, whether it be of form, or thought, or
action, is but a dim reflection. Wallahualam bi as-Showab.

17Syukur, Opcit. p.29-30.
18 Even though by some the doctrine of Wahdat al-Wujud is ascribed to him, there are
indications in the Sufism history that this has been the fundamental and central doctrine of all
Sufism throughout the Muslim era. What Ibn Al-Arabi did was to respond to the needs of his age
by writing down and making explicit what was taught before him orally.

5

Bibliography

Abdul Munir Mulkhan, Syekh Siti Jenar: Pergumulan Islam-Jawa. Yogyakarta:
Bentang Budaya, 1999.
Alwi Shihab, Islam Sufistik, Bandung: Mizan, 2001
Amin Syukur, Menggugat Tasawuf: Sufisme dan Tanggungjawab Sosial Abad
21, Yogyakarta: Pustaka Pelajar, 1999.
Annemarie Schimmel, Jiwaku Adalah Wanita: Aspek Feminin dalam
Spiritualitas Islam, Bandung: Mizan, 1999.
Carl W. Ernst, Ekspresi Ekstase dalam Sufisme, Yogyakarta: Putra Langit,
2003. p.139-141
Fahruddin Iraqi, Lemaat:Kilau-kemilau Ilahi, Jakartas: Gramedia Pustaka
Utama, 2001.
Karen Amstrong, Sejarah Tuhan: Kisah Pencarian Tuhan yang Dilakukan oleh
Orang-orang Yahudi, KriSten, dan Islam Selama 4.000 Tahun,
Bandung: Mizan, 2001.
Martin van Bruinessen, Kitab Kuning, Pesantren dan Tarekat: Tradisi-tradisi
Islam di Indonesia, Bandung: Mizan, 1995.
William C. Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Hermeneutika Al-Quran Ibnu
‘Araby, Yogyakarta: Qalam, 2001

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