Moral Conduct and Sufism
Na'eem Fatima Alavi | October 15, 2026
Moral Conduct and Sufism
Author: Na'eem Fatima Alavi
Love, affection, devotion, tolerance, humility, forbearance and endurance: had these qualities been available for purchase in the marketplace, people would have bought them and made them part of their character, and the formation of nations would have become a far easier matter. There would have been confidence in the restoration of peace. As the poet Ghalib observed:
اور بازار سے لے آئے اگر ٹوٹ گیا
"And from the market we could bring another, if it broke."
But it does not work that way. If there is anything in this universe that genuinely bewilders the mind, it is the human being. The person who walks, converses, and moves before you is one thing on the surface; beneath that, there is another self within you, a hidden double of your own being.
The entire life of the outer self is spent in understanding, refining, and nurturing the inner person. This restless process continues, without pause, for as long as one lives.
Our Sufi masters, through the light of deep reflection and contemplation, arrived at the understanding that a human being must transform his negative tendencies into positive ones, for he has come into this world to make it beautiful, not ugly. The beauty of the world lies in serving humanity and in doing good to others. Baba Bulleh Shah expressed this very truth:
"Demolish the mosque, demolish the temple, demolish whatever you want to demolish. But do not break a single human heart, for God dwells within hearts."
When the pain of humanity and the stirring of love awaken within a person, he becomes truly worthy of holding the station of the noblest of creation (asharaf al-makhlūqāt).
This very perspective is the fundamental message that our Sufi masters set out to spread. Although more than four centuries separate the eras of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi and Sultan Bahoo, there is a profound intellectual kinship between the two. Neither of these Sufi masters excluded anyone from their circle of love. They issued no edicts of condemnation. Facing contradictions squarely, they drew everyone together. Not the slightest trace of racial or regional bias is visible anywhere in their teachings. One may also consider that Mawlana Rumi witnessed nothing but bloodshed throughout his entire life, yet nowhere in his vast poetic work is there a mention of hatred: only love and peace. In his poetry, he spoke of light rather than darkness.
In his view: "If knowledge is acquired for the sake of outward existence, it becomes like a serpent. But if knowledge is acquired for the sake of the soul, it becomes a true companion."
In a similar way, Sultan Bahoo likened the lower self (nafs) to a serpent and said: "Just as a serpent can be brought under control through an incantation, so too can the lower self (nafs) be brought under control through the remembrance of Allah Almighty (dhikr Allah)."
According to these masters, negative thoughts such as hatred and greed lead toward violence and become an obstacle in the way of the human being's capacity to reach his own true origin. Such negative thoughts, which are also understood as the dark side, need to be extinguished so that the true meaning of human life can be grasped. There is a sacred Prophetic tradition (Hadīth Qudsī):
"O Muslims! Cultivate within yourselves the attributes of Allah Almighty. Through this means, the more a person develops within himself a resemblance to that uniquely singular Being, the more unique and matchless he himself becomes."
Mawlana Rumi also insists that there must be openness and humility for mutual understanding. He discourages scholarly self-conceit, which leads to stagnation, and in its place this great master teaches his followers to seek what is common among people. He holds that all these quarrels among human beings arise from an excessive focus on the material dimensions of life.
Mawlana Rumi further maintains that in order for the human soul to reunite with its source, it needs to forge a strong bond with Allah Almighty and with His creation. To love the Creator, one must first learn to love what He has created. In other words, without loving human beings and humanity itself, no one can receive the divine outpouring (fayḍ-e-Ilāhī).
Mawlana Rumi began his Mathnawi with the story of a reed flute as a symbol of the human soul. In the Mathnawi-e-Ma'nawī he used poetry as his medium of expression, and in his narrative fables (Ḥikāyāt-e-Rūmī) he used prose. Through those fables too, he not only revealed the mysteries and secrets of life but also provided moral guidance for ordinary people.
Mawlana Rumi and Sultan Bahoo neither preached monasticism nor became heedless of the Glorious Qur'an and the blessed Prophetic traditions, nor did they in any way fan the flames of sectarianism. In the words of Sultan Bahoo:
نہ میں سنی نہ میں شیعا، میرا دوہاں توں دل سڑیا ھو
مک گئے سبھ خشکی پینڈے جدوں رحمت وچ وڑیا ھو
"I am neither Sunni‘ nor Shia’ my heart is disgusted with both of them - Hoo,
As I entered the ocean of Oneness all the journey came to an end - Hoo, ."
The lives of these great masters were not marked by any contradiction between word and deed. They lived their lives among ordinary people. Whatever the circumstances may have been, they kept their inner selves pure of every impurity and defilement. Had there been any gap between their words and their conduct, we would not be remembering them today with such heartfelt love, nor would we be speaking, in this age of despair and decline, of drawing light from their thought and carrying it forward.
Loving the creation of Allah Almighty, sharing in their joys and sorrows, treating them with love and guiding them with the strength of their own character: that was their greatest achievement. Allah Almighty bestowed spiritual power upon their poetry and prose, increased their effectiveness and influence, and an entire world drew benefit from them.
Sultan Bahoo laments the intellect of those people to whom the One who dwells near them appears very far away, and who always search for Him outside themselves. He declares all such outward searching to be meaningless and fruitless, and urgently counsels the seeker to look for Allah Almighty within his own being. He says:
دِل دریا سمندروں ڈُوگھے، کون دِلاں دیاں جانے ہُو
وِچّے بیڑے وِچّے جھِیڑے، وِچّے ونجھ موہانے ہُو
چوداں طبق دِلے دے اندر، جِتھے عشق تمبو ونج تانے ہُو
جو دِل دا محرم ہووے باھوؒ، سوئی رب پچھانے ہُو
"Heart is deeper than rivers and oceans; who can fathom Heart - Hoo,
Seamen, boats and oars all are inside ocean of Heart - Hoo,
All the fourteen Realms (Spheres) are open in Heart like a tent - Hoo,
Those who fathom Heart Bahoo, are the ones who recognize Lord - Hoo."
The ultimate destination of ardent love ('ishq) is that the lover, through loving, becomes the beloved, and the beloved becomes the lover. Concerning this, Sultan Bahoo writes in his book Light of Guidance (Nūr al-Hudā):
"The station of spiritual excellence (faqr) is the station of the beloved. Whatever the beloved desires, the lover provides. Indeed, whatever thought passes through the beloved's heart, the lover becomes aware of it and, through his spiritual gaze alone, blesses him with all his aspirations."
According to his teachings, love ('ishq) is that spiritual force which unites the creation with the Creator. It is through this very love that a person, turning away from the pollutions of the lower self (nafs), the whisperings of the devil, and both major and minor sins, becomes annihilated in Allah Almighty (fanā fī Allah). In the words of Sultan Bahoo:
'عشق جنہاندے ہڈیں رچیا اوہ رہندے چپ چپاتے ھو
لوں لوں دے وچ لکھ زباناں اوہ پھردے گنگے باتے ہو
اوہ کردے وضو اسم اعظم دا تے دریا وحدت وچ ناتے ہو
تدوں قبول نمازاں باھو جداں یاراں یار پچھاتے ہو
"Those whose spirit has imbibed love till bone marrow, they remain silent - Hoo,
Though thousands of tongues in every hair yet they wander about speechless - Hoo,
They perform ablution with Glorious Name (Isme-Azam) and bath in the River of Oneness - Hoo,
The prayers were accepted Bahoo, only when friends recognized each other - Hoo. "
In a translation from his quatrains (Rubā'iyyāt), Sultan Bahoo says:
"A Muslim is one who consecrates his wealth, his children and his very life in the name of Allah Almighty. This is the very essence of faith."
And at another place he says:
"Do not allow even a particle of arrogance or self-conceit to enter your heart, for no one has ever reached an honoured station through arrogance. Make the state of a broken heart your way of being, like the curling locks of the beloved, so that you too may make thousands upon thousands of hearts devoted to you."
Sultan Bahoo also declares:
پڑھ پڑھ عالم مشائخ سداون کرن عبادت دوہری ھو
اندر جھگی پئی لٹیوے تن من خبر نہ موری ھو
"With education they claim to be spiritual lots (Mashaikhs), they do multiple prayers - Hoo,
Their inner self is being robbed, but their carnal desires are unaware - Hoo,"
And at another place:
"Bahoo is a seeker of spiritual excellence (faqr) and is intimately connected with that same spiritual excellence. This spiritual excellence was granted to Bahoo by the Beloved of Allah, the Exalted Prophet (ﷺ)."
To fail to draw benefit from the teachings of Mawlana Rumi and Sultan Bahoo is tantamount to an ingratitude toward one's own intellectual heritage. It is precisely because the connection with the teachings of the Sufi masters has weakened that extremism, hatred, and bigotry are growing in society. We must therefore return to this very foundation.
Looking at the matter from the perspective of language: the entire body of Mawlana Rumi's poetry is in the Persian language, while Sultan Bahoo expressed himself both in his mother tongue, Punjabi, and in Persian. Both of these perfected masters of divine recognition ('ārif-e-kāmil) fulfilled all the demands of poetic subtlety and literary grace across both languages with consummate artistic mastery, presenting their exalted thoughts in poetic form. If the themes common to both of these perfected masters are examined closely, the greatest lesson that emerges from them is the concept of the oneness of humanity (waḥdat-e-insānī).
Let us all come together to spread this message of peace, love, and tolerance, so that our coming generations may be saved from going astray.
Finally, I would like to suggest to the readers: serious, substantial work needs to be done to bring the thought of our Sufi masters to ordinary people. Translations of their poetry should be undertaken, and documentaries should be produced. Reaching ordinary people through the medium of music set to their poetry is also a possibility. Their message can also be disseminated through other digital platforms, so that by making their thought widely accessible, the thinking and reflective capacities of the younger generation may be illuminated and sharpened.
Reference
This article was originally published in Urdu in the Monthly Mirrat ul Arifeen International Magazine.
To cite the original article
Alavi, Na'eem Fatima. "Moral Conduct and Sufism." Mirrat ul Arifeen International Magazine, December 2024. https://www.mirrat.com/article/91/1540