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I've been told that I should call myself a "sufi initiate" or an "inititate of a sufi order" rather than a "Sufi," because the label Sufi implies a certain degree of realization. If one claims that degree of realization, the very act of claiming casts doubt on it. I've also heard that only those of a certain degree of initiation or higher should be called Sufis, but I forget what degree that is. What do y'all think?
Interesting question.
I've spent a lot of time in recent months thinking about labels ~how I use them, both how I label myself & others; how others label themselves & how they might label me. Like any tool labels are useful & have limitations.
I'm not much for hierarchies.
I would take a fluid approach ~while at present I am never a 'sufi initiate' -I do have moments of being a 'Sufi' and moments of being 'just me'.
Just who is them's making the distinctions of what a sufi is or aint anyway? It is all built on assumptions all ways, and we's been doing mayhem and harm to each other for eternity, all over differences, many of them imagined, misunderstanded, or of just plain ignorance (if there even is a difference).
Much can be made and said of adab, and taking care of others feelings, and much can be said of just being natural, and letting others make their own assumptions, of our assumptions of what they assume we think they mean we said. It can get pretty messy. As Joe Miller said "you can get more stinking from thinking than you can from drinking, but to feel is for real."
Call yourself a sufi in some places and you may get strung up, and in other places you may get something different.
The label "Sufi" likely means something different in every ear.
no offense meant, so how can offense be taken
how quickly the differences and distinctions divide
I think that if one spends a lot of time thinking about whether she is a sufi or not then she probably isn't. And, if someone says you are a "sufi initiate" rather than a true "sufi" & you believe them...then they are probably right. And if neither one of these apply because you know who and what you are then you may be Sufi para sum.
"Sufism is the religion of the heart. The religion in which the most important thing is to seek God in the heart of mankind." Hazrat Inayat Khan
Gathekas
"The Sufi not only prays to God, the Sufi represent God. By this I mean that one not only asks for Love and Wisdom and Joy and Peace, one does everything possible to awaken Love and Light and Wisdom and Joy and Peace in others.
Sufism used to mean 'Divine Wisdom' and so far as Sam is concerned it still does. It means that the Divine Voice constantly comes from within. It still means 'speaking the word that is put into thy mouth.' It still means growth in the states and stages of consciousness nto ever-growing Divine Awareness; and it still means one single Family in the Parenthood of God." Murshid Samuel Lewis (Sufi Ahmed Murad Chisti) Diary, December 1,1967
ah.... what a breath of fresh air!
i just arrived here, having been invited by a dear friend.
alhamdulillah!! this is uber-cool.
Monkeymind Salin, did you know Joe Miller? What a sweet guy. Never had more than a handful of things to say, and he said them over and over. But what a HEART!! To walk with him thru Golden Gate park was one of the highlights of my life... and i didn't really appreciate it then. He and Frieda Waterhouse kept that SF khanka together after SAM was gone and I owe a lot to both of them.
ohhellyeah we're sufis... i've always said i'm "on the sufi path", and many have said to me that to identify as a Sufi is to miss the point. yeah, probably. but if you're in the water you get wet, doncha??
Shamsuddin Jim Norton
created this social network on Ning. 
