Disability in Islam: a Sufi perspective

Abstract

In Islam, the issue of disability and vulnerability has only been addressed at the sociological or theological-legal level. The studies mainly highlighted the societal nature of disability and the legal issues faced by vulnerable groups, with theological issues thus remaining intimately linked to legal issues. Vulnerability is a positive notion present in the Qur’an and hadith, generating legislation for deficient individuals that insist on the duties that fall to the society. The objective of this communication will thus be to examine precisely the possibility based on the spiritual dimension of making a theology of vulnerability in Islam. Sufism in particular appears to be a fundamental reading key and remains a broad field of investigation to be explored in the investigation of the question. Sufism places the vulnerability of human beings at the heart of their spiritual journey since it participates in their ontological condition as servants, the only guarantee of the emergence of God’s power and presence among us. The interest will therefore be to understand to what extent the teachings of Sufism can offer a contribution for disability discourse.

Keywords:

• disability
• Islam
• Sufism
• vulnerability

Notes

1 Grand Master of Nishapur, who died in 910, and more broadly of Khurāsān, representing several currents that he synthesized and conciliated.

2 This article seeks to summarize and make accessible to a non-Muslim audience my reflection on the notion of vulnerability. A more in-depth study will be published in which the exact quotations of the Sufi masters will be mentioned, as editorial requirements do not allow it here.

3 (4) Truly We created man in the most beautiful stature, (5) then We cast him to the lowest of the low, (6) save those who believe and perform righteous deeds; for theirs shall be a reward unceasing.

4 (1) He frowned and turned away (2) because the blind man came to him (3) and what would apprise thee? Perhaps he would purify himself (4) or be reminded, such that he reminder might benefit him (5) as for him who deems himself beyond need (6) to him dost thou attend (7) though you art not answerable, should he not be purified (8) but as for him who came to thee striving earnestly (8) while fearful (9) from him thou art diverted.

5 Specially those of Ṭabarī, Qurṭubī, Ibn Kathīr, Bayḍāwī, al-ʿImādī, Suyūṭī, Alūsī (Ghaly, 2010, p. 14).

6 Q 24:61; 48:17; 80:2.

7 Have they not journeyed upon the earth, that they might have hearts by which to understand or ears by which to hear? Truly it is not the eyes that go blind, but it is hearts within breaths that go blind.

8 According to the hadith linked to the verse “In the body there is a lump of flesh: when it is healthy, the whole body is healthy, and when it is rotten, the whole body is rotten. Yea, it is the heart.” (Bukhārī, 22, 20 ; Nasr, 2015, p. 841)

9 There is no fault against the blind, nor fault against the lame, nor fault against the sick.

10 They said, “O Shuʿayb! We do not comprehend much of what you say, and verily we consider you to be weak among us. And were it not for your clan, we would surely stone you, for you have no power over us.”

11 But not so the truly weak and oppressed among the men, women, and children, who neither have access to any mean nor are guided to any way.

12 And what ails you that you fight not in the way of God, and for the weak and oppressed – men, women, and children – why cry you, “Our Lord! Bring us forth from this town whose people are oppressors, and appoint for us from Thee a protector, and appoint for us from Thee a helper.”

13 Sixth Shi’ite imam, he is the descendant of the prophet Muḥammad. He spent the longest time of his life in Medina where he formed a circle of disciples as a theologian, transmitter of hadith, and jurist. The figure occupies a very important position in the Sufi tradition for his many commentaries on the spiritual path. He is also associated with the initiatory chain of the Sufi brotherhoods.

14 A Sufi originally from Persian Iraq, where he lived and where he received his spiritual formation (Reinert, 1982).

15 Fanā’ and Baqā’ are two important notions in the Sufi way. They signify respectively the experiences of annihilation of consciousness in God and the return to oneself transformed by this annihilation. However, the definitions evolve and differ according to the masters.

16 As defined by the modern scholar Saʿdī Abū Jayb. (Ghaly, 2010, p. 21).

17 Kabira Masotta, Naissance et développement du soufisme d'après la Ḥilya d'Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfāhānī (Gorgias Press, forthcoming).

18 Specially, al-Qushayrī, Ibn Taymiyya and Ibn al-Qayyim al-Jawziyya.

19 More precisely from the Naqshbandiyya.

20 Even when struggle comes with pain, in Sufism struggle is a positive concept and should be lived in joy (article forthcoming).