ISLAMABAD, Dec. 29: A Sufi is one who knows his own self and, as a consequence, others. Shaykh Fadhlalla, a British scholar of Iraqi origin, made Sufism look so easy by giving this definition in a talk on “The Relevance of Sufism Today” at the Council of Islamic Ideology here on Friday.

His talk was arranged on the 800th birth anniversary of the great Sufi, Maulana Jalaluddin Rumi.

“Everybody wants to be a Sufi. A Sufi is one who knows his own self. He discovers that he did not know and by means of this discovery he can fathom the meaning of self-respect and value of social cohesion. The Sufi must reach out to help others,” Shaykh Fadhlalla explained.

In his view Sufism should be the quest of every human being “because it teaches mankind to balance the outer activity with the inner one”.

Sufi movement took place in the very early period of Islam and is of greater relevance today than any age as materialism and consumerism is tightening its grip on a world reduced to a global village, he observed.

“True Sufis have always followed the guidance of the Quran and the way of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and have always understood that their vocation in this world is to witness the divine reality and to guide people in the name of Allah,” the Shaykh said.

He illustrated his lecture with quotes from Maulana Rumi’s poems, read out by Mona Bilgrami.

Shaykh Fadhlalla said the Sufis presented the most tolerant face of Islam. “Sufis gave a human face to religion as they took man as a whole - with all his passions, emotions, imagination, excesses, weaknesses and failures.”

Peace was their slogan and they dismissed violence as a necessary condition for the imposition of good. “It had to be cultivated so as to come from within the individual self.

“In this age, the crucial significance of love for all and tolerance of other and the integration of spirit and matter are the values that need to be promoted,” he said.

Shaykh Fadhlalla advocated a discussion on Shariah and how it can be used to unite than divide people. “We must use the commonality of Islamic values amongst Muslims to build harmony and tolerance,” he said.