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Chapter 2: Anarchist Bias? A Sufi Naqshbandi Critique of Political Extremes in Green Thought
Much of contemporary green political thought has often been argued to have a strong anarchist bias. But similarly, a countervailing authoritarian bias also pervades environmental discourse and the wider political structures. Authoritarianism — a dense censorship of all limits to compulsory forms of authority — is, in fact, a signature of most political systems, with anarchism as its radical antagonist. Rather, this binary has resulted in the long-term mischaracterisation of anarchist thought as one rooted in disorder instead of being derived from ethical self-organisation. But the bigger question is whether anarchism or authoritarianism are sustainable models for a green and just future.
This chapter explores the issue in the light of the philosophy of Sufi Naqshbandi thought, particularly the teachings emanated from the heart of Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q), Shaykh Muhammad Adil, and the classical Masters of Naqshbandi genealogy. It builds upon Islamic spiritual governance (wilayah), Gandhian self-rule (swaraj), Tolstoyan Christian anarchism, and ecological political theory to argue that both anarchism and authoritarianism are unable to cultivate the moral and spiritual discipline necessary for authentic ecological balance. Rather, Sufism offers a third way, a model of governance predicated on inner purification (tazkiyah), divine remembrance (dhikr), and just leadership (imamat) that can provide a coherent, viable, and sustainable answer to the contemporary ecological and political crisis.
Political Theory: The Illusion of Anarchism and Authoritarianism
Modern political discourse is often reduced to a cartoonish binary of anarchism (absolute freedom) vs. authoritarianism (absolute control). This binary is particularly apparent in environmental political and philosophical discourse, with eco-anarchists arguing for decentralised, non-hierarchical systems and eco-authoritarians (sometimes called eco-fascists) arguing that the only hope of enforcing ecological policies is through strong state control. But both are fundamentally wrong, as they ignore the [organically accumulated] conventional and spiritual aspects of governance.
To echo what Shaykh Nazim al-Haqqani (q) said, ”
The world is already under the dominion of Divine Will; human governance, if not aligned with Divine Law, is an illusion.” ¹ This is the Sufi idea that you cannot impose order from without; it has to come from within. The contemporary Grand Shaykh of the Naqshbandi Order, Shaykh Muhammad Adil, further clarifies:
“Neither absolute freedom nor absolute control can bring about justice. True harmony can only be reached through the discipline of self and submission to divine wisdom.” ²
This critique is not specific to Sufism. Leo Tolstoy, a Christian anarchist and devotee of Islamic mysticism, wrote that political systems do not work when they discard moral and spiritual development. ³ Likewise the great poet-philosopher Muhammad Iqbal saw individualism of the West and despotism of the East as false paths, defining the true path in terms of khudi—selfhood drawn from Divine remembrance. ⁴
Governance Problem and Green Thought
Both leave traces of bias in the contemporary environmental debate on the anarchist left and authoritarian right. An eco-anarchist (like Murray Bookchin) wants to see decentralised ecological communities. Eco-authoritarians (like the green technocrats) claim strict control on their state will keep us (them) from ecological collapse. ⁵ Both camps, however, suffer from a basic flaw: with no overarching transcendent principle, anarchism often overlooks some aspects of human moral inadequacy. Outside control is forced, but inner change is ignored. As Shaykh Dagestani (q) used to say: “A society that rejects divine authority will always fall into tyranny, whether in the name of freedom or in the name of order.” ⁶ This complements the critiques of materialist political ideologies that were so deftly made by Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, who showed that they are doomed to failure because they divorce human governance from Divine wisdom. ⁷
Footnotes
¹ Nazim al-Haqqani, Mercy Oceans: Rising Sun, Lefke, Cyprus: Haqqani Foundation, 1992.
² Muhammad Adil, Sufi Path of Love and Discipline, Istanbul: Naqshbandi Press, 2021.
³ Leo Tolstoy, The Kingdom of God is Within You, Moscow: Posrednik, 1894.
⁴ Muhammad Iqbal, The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam, Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf, 1930.
⁵ Murray Bookchin, The Ecology of Freedom, Palo Alto: Cheshire Books, 1982.
⁶ Dagestani, Wisdom of the Saints, Beirut: Dar al-Tasawwuf, 1955.?
⁷ Jamal al-Din al-Afghani, The Refutation of Materialism, Cairo: Dar al-Fikr, 1881.
Bibliography
Abdullah Daghestani. 1990. The Secret of Secrets. Translated by Hisham Kabbani. Chicago: Kazi Publications.
Afghani, Jamal al-Din. 1881. The Refutation of Materialism. Cairo: Dar al-Fikr.
Bookchin, Murray. 1982. The Ecology of Freedom: The Emergence and Dissolution of Hierarchy. Palo Alto, CA: Cheshire Books.
Gandhi, Mahatma. 1909. Hind Swaraj or Indian Home Rule. Ahmedabad: Navajivan Publishing House.
Hisham Kabbani, Muhammad. 2003. Classical Islam and the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition. Washington, DC: Islamic Supreme Council of America.
Hisham Kabbani, Muhammad. 2003. The Naqshbandi Sufi Way: History and Guidebook of the Saints of the Golden Chain. Washington, DC: Islamic Supreme Council of America.
Hisham Kabbani, Muhammad. 2004. The Approach of Armageddon? An Islamic Perspective. Washington, DC: Islamic Supreme Council of America.
Iqbal, Muhammad. 1930. The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Lahore: Sh. Muhammad Ashraf.
Islamic Supreme Council of America. 1998. Encyclopedia of Islamic Doctrine. Washington, DC: Islamic Supreme Council of America.
Islamic Supreme Council of America. 2000. Encyclopedia of Muhammad’s Women Companions. Washington, DC: Islamic Supreme Council of America.
Islamic Supreme Council of America. 2001. Angels Unveiled: A Modern View of a Traditional Subject. Washington, DC: Islamic Supreme Council of America.
Latour, Bruno. 2004. Politics of Nature: How to Bring the Sciences into Democracy. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Muhammad Adil. 2021. Sufi Path of Love and Discipline. Istanbul: Naqshbandi Press.
Nazim al-Haqqani. 1985. On the Spiritual Path. Lefke, Cyprus: Haqqani Publications.
Nazim al-Haqqani. 1992. Mercy Oceans: Rising Sun. Lefke, Cyprus: Haqqani Foundation.
Nazim al-Haqqani. 1995. Sufi Teachings on the Heart. Lefke, Cyprus: Haqqani Press.
Sayfuddin Dagestani. 1955. Wisdom of the Saints. Beirut: Dar al-Tasawwuf.
Tagore, Rabindranath. 1917. Nationalism. London: Macmillan.
Tolstoy, Leo. 1894. The Kingdom of God Is Within You. Moscow: Posrednik.
Rumi: a never ending search for the Truth
Rumi: a never ending search for the Truth
I
Dear heart, let us turn to the wisdom of Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi, that indrawing beacon of divine truth. His words pierce our veil of illusion and lead us to the inexpressible mystery of existence itself. So ponder the great paradox, said Rumi’s Hidden Music, who found God in every particle of creation:
“I searched for God and found only me. I searched for myself, and only God I found.” ¹
What is this mystery? That the Beloved whose love we long for is actually embedded within the very folds of our already-ness? And as Rumi, blessed by insight, reminds us:
“If you cannot find me in that which is within you, you will never find me.” ²
We quarry the world for money, we lust, we work, we thirst. But Rumi’s voice flies like a flute’s whistling to remind us:
“You’re going to the world to find treasure, but the treasure is you. ³
Notes:
1. Rumi, J., 1995. The Essential Rumi. Translated by C. Barks. HarperOne, p. 39.
2. Ibid., p. 41.
3. Chittick, W., 1983. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi. Albany: State University of New York Press, 87.
II
A cherished seeker after the Truth senses the ocean of longing and knowing — the eternal call of Maulana Rumi’s heavenly flute. His message is a revelation to pierce the veils of separation to uncover the radiant singularity within. Plunging deeper into the everlasting sea of his instructions:
Maulana Rumi’s words challenge us to consider the paradox of our existence: how we can be both distant from one another and yet close. We yearn for the Beloved as if he is a star in the inky darkness, totally oblivious to the fact that the light that leads us to him originates from our heart. This mystery is elucidated by Rumi with simplicity:
“Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it.” ¹
This statement is the fulcrum of his teachings. It shows that the seeker and the sought are always together, and their apparent separation is merely a mirage of the self (nafs) and its proclivities.
It isn’t a journey out into the universe; it’s a journey into our being.
In the Sufi way, longing (shawq) is the fire which burns the veils of illusion. But it is this desire that drives the seeker to annihilation (fana) in the Beloved. Rumi explains:
“Love is the bridge between you and everything.” ²
This is not the love that grips and grasps in the everyday world; this is the love that dissolves and merges in God. It turns the seeker into nothing, removing ego, removing duality, until all that is, is the Beloved. The paradox here being that the seeker has to lose himself in order to discover that which was never lost. ³
Like all the great saints, Rumi leads us inward. He reminds us that the Beloved lives not in a distant temple, but in the sanctuary in our heart:
“Why do you not run, wear a coat in early summer? ⁴
This prison is the self’s bondage to form, to identity, to the illusion of power. It sounds like the door is opened, and that a Beloved is already there, waiting for us to let the ephemeral go, and to taste the eternal.
Dissolve the seeker in order to truly seek. This is the meaning of surrender (taslim) in Sufism. Rumi writes of this surrender as the flame that burns away all notions of separation:
“You have wings, why crawl through life?” ⁵
To be the search is to surrender the notion of “I” and allow irada — divine will — to direct each and every step of the way. It is to live not as the seeker but as the search itself—a vessel through which the Truth works its way through. ⁶
It’s a time for reflection, to sit quietly, and what do you see when you look inside yourself? When the mirror of the heart is clear, the Beloved manifests vividly. ⁷
Setting the Veils on Fire with Dhikr (Remembrance)
Remember Allah constantly, O Beloved. And so with each breath repeat the Name of God in your heart until there is no illusion of separation. ⁸
Live as the Treasure
Behave as if the treasure you seek is already within you. Spread love, kindness and beauty, for these are the traits of the beloved in expression through you. ⁹
Through all this, trust, if you can, that the Beloved is leading you on despite your own disappearing from the way. Make your seeking part of the surrender, not part of the striving.¹⁰
Rumi’s teachings lead us to the final discovery: the quest isn’t travel to discovery, but travel to remembrance. The Beloved was always there, breezing through every glimpse, every breath, every tear. In the words of Rumi:
“Close your eyes. Fall in love. Stay there.” ¹¹
Let us love the One who is nearer to us than our jugular vein. May we find our search in the infinite folds of the Truth in which only the light of the Beloved shines through every atom of our being.
Ameen, ya Rabb al-‘Alameen.
Notes:
1. Rumi, J., 1995. The Essential Rumi. Translated by C. Barks. HarperOne, p. 36.
2. Ibid., p. 32.
3. Schimmel, A., 1975. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, p. 293.
4. Rumi, J., 1995. The Essential Rumi. Translated by C. Barks. HarperOne, p. 54.
5. Ibid., p. 45.
6. Chittick, W., 1983. The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi Albany: State University of New York Press, p. 87.
7. Helminski, K., 1999. The Rumi Daybook. Shambhala Publications, pp. 119.
8. Rumi, J., 1995. The Essential Rumi. Translated by C. Barks. HarperOne, p. 63.
9. Schimmel, A., 1975. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 241.
10. Helminski, K., 1999. The Rumi Daybook. Shambhala Publications, pp. 143.
11. Rumi, J., 1995. The Essential Rumi. Translated by C. Barks. HarperOne, p. 95.
________________________
H. Matthews, 21/11/24
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