Sufism-From the Path to God to the Path to Ego

Sufizam – Od Bozijeg puta do puta Ega

Sufism – From God’s Path to Ego’s path

Ovaj tekst istrazuje odnos izmedu sufizma i ega, i kako se put vremenom promijenio. Sufizam je nekada bio licni put – traganje za istinom, lomljenje ega, predaja Bogu. Znanje se prenosilo tiho, od ucitelja do ucenika, zivo i skriveno u srcima onih koji su trazili.

Danas se, medjutim, cesto sveo na zatvorena drustva i bratstva. Tekije su vise postale mjesta pripadanja nego mjesta unutrasnje vatre. Cesto sejhovi ne ruse ego — ni svoj ni murida svojih — nego grade zidove oko sebe i njih. Ti zidovi ne donose zastitu, nego izolaciju. A izolacija nikome ne koristi — ni drustvu ni zajednici. Ako se ego ne rusi, ni ljudi ni drustvo ne rastu. Iza tih zidova ostaje samo „muski razgovor“, isti obrasci moci i samopotvrdjivanja. Jasno je da se danas sufizam i ego sve vise preplicu.

Ako sufizam ne otvara srca, nego ih zatvara, zar nije skrenuo sa puta?

Zene, naravno, ostaju po strani. Kao i u vecini islamskih struktura — izbacene iz prostora, znanja i blizine. Ali postavlja se pitanje: kako neko moze biti sejh ili dervis i istovremeno vjerovati da je zena tu samo da sluzi njegovoj „velicini“ i njegovom putu ka Bogu? Ili da je njen zavjet vezan za njegov? Ako je tako, onda to stoji u direktnoj suprotnosti s Kuranom, gdje jasno pise da svaka dusa stoji sama pred Bogom i da nema posrednika izmedju stvorenja i Stvoritelja.

Cesto se cak misli da je zenin duhovni put u pokornosti i sluzenju — da, dok pere sudje ili obavlja kucne poslove, ona time odrzava vezu s Bogom. I ta veza zaista postoji, jer se zena radja s njom: na ovoj zemlji ona je su-stvaratelj, nosilac i cuvar zivota. Ali zamislimo samo sta bi zena mogla postici kada ne bi bila svedena na sluzenje muskarcu, kada bi njen put bio oslobodjen tih okova.

Mozda je zato i dobro da zene nisu uvucene u te zatvorene krugove. Jer zenski put nikada nije bio da unisti “ja”, nego da ga pronadje. Nas zadatak nije da nestanemo, nego da se otkrijemo.

A prava svrha sufizma? Ostala je tamo gdje je oduvijek bila: u tisini unutrasnjeg putovanja, u stajanju nasamo pred Bogom, u rusenju iluzija i otvaranju srca. To je sufizam koji oslobadja. Sve drugo je samo ritual i klub za odabrane.

This reflection explores the relationship between Sufism and ego, and how the path has shifted over time. Sufism was once a deeply personal journey — a search for truth, the breaking of the ego, the surrender to God. Knowledge was passed quietly, from teacher to student, alive and hidden in the hearts of those who sought it.

Today, however, it has often shrunk into closed societies and brotherhoods. Tekkes have become places of belonging rather than places of inner fire. Too often, sheikhs do not break the ego — neither their own nor their murids’ — but build walls around themselves and their followers. These walls do not protect, they isolate. And isolation serves no one — not the community, not society. If the ego is not broken, neither people nor communities grow. Behind those walls remains only “men’s talk,” the same patterns of power and self-affirmation. Sufism and ego are often intertwined in modern practice.

If Sufism does not open hearts but closes them, has it not lost its way?

Women, of course, remain on the margins. As in most Islamic structures, they are excluded from spaces, from knowledge, from closeness. But the question must be asked: how can a sheikh or dervish believe that a woman exists only to serve his “greatness” and his path to God? Or that her oath is bound to his? If so, this stands in direct contradiction to the Qur’an, which states clearly that every soul stands alone before God, with no intermediary between creation and the Creator.

Some even claim that a woman’s spiritual path lies in obedience and servitude — that while she washes dishes or performs housework, she maintains her connection to God. And indeed, she can, for she is born with that connection: on this earth she is a co-creator, bearer and guardian of life. But imagine what a woman could accomplish if she were not reduced to serving a man — if her path were freed from those chains.

Perhaps it is even better that women are not drawn into these closed circles. For the female path was never to destroy the “I,” but to discover it. Our task is not to disappear, but to be revealed.

And the true purpose of Sufism? It has remained where it always was: in the silence of the inner journey, in standing alone before God, in breaking illusions and opening the heart. That is the Sufism that liberates. Everything else is only ritual — and a club for the chosen few.