The substance of Sufism is the truth and the meaning of Sufism is the selfless experience and actualization of it. The practice of Sufism is the intention to go towards the truth, by means of love and devotion. This is called "Al Tariqa", the spiritual path or way towards God. A Sufi is one who is a lover of truth, who by means of love and devotion moves towards it, and towards the perfection. As necessitated by love's jealousy, Sufi is taken away from all except just that, the truth. Like the moth I fixed my eyes on Him; Then I realized, I was all consumed. Sufism love begins with an encounter - our conceptions and descriptions of the person we love come later. Descriptions help us be connected with the person we have come to love only after it has been ignited through the encounter. Without an encounter with the divine, there can be no divine love, as one cannot engage and participate in divine love through descriptions of the divine alone - even if they happen to be the "right" sort of descriptions. An encounter with the divine is the precondition of divine love. It comes first: afterwards one may choose whatever descriptions one wants to refer to the divine-just as the shepherd did. But how does the divine encounter happen? There is no recipe or formula for such an encounter. It may happen suddenly through any ordinary experience in the world such as seeing the smile of a friend, hearing a melody, grasping the meaning of a love poem, receiving kindness from a stranger, or watching the gentle movement of a caring person. I've thought of you so much that I've become you head to toe; Little by little ‘You' arrived and ‘I' departed. The point is that once the encounter happens, one begins his or her journey on the path of divine love. How is this love different from love between fellow human beings? In Rumi's story, God tells Moses that what he wants is a "burning heart" not mere words and expressions. If we take the expression of "burning heart" to be our guide here, then divine love refers to a mode of loving rather than a love that is defined in terms of its object. What makes our love divine is not what we love, but the way we love it. Al Tariqa has been implemented in major social organizations by the twelfth century and had mass popularity by the fifteenth or sixteenth century. Orders range in form from simple preservation of the Al Tariqah as a set of devotional exercises to vast interregional organizations with carefully defined structures. Historically, Sufi orders have facilitated interregional interaction, education, and travel, and have supported reform, spiritual revival, and missionary activities. They have also provided organization and support for movements resisting foreign rule throughout the Islamic world. Tasawwuf should, therefore, govern the internal or spiritual world to rid the internal world of evil and impurity. The outward effect of this remembrance is that God's attributes become gradually manifested in the Sufi's conduct, where the poet says: God sat so long with my impressionable heart, that it absorbed His ways and temperament, through and through In the first stage, which is the beginning of the journey towards God, the attainment of unity, the Sufi is harmless towards everyone, as the poet says: Do not harm others whatever you do, for on our path, there is no sin but this In the second stage, upon arrival at the threshold of unity, the Sufi is not offended by others, where the poet says: Let's keep the faith, put up with blame, and be content, for on our path to take offense is unbelief In the third stage, which is an entry into the domain of Unity, the Sufi responds with love and kindness towards those who harm him, for he sees everything in himself and himself in everything, where the poet utters: Be like a tree spreading shade – Yielding fruit to whomever throws a stone So we find Sufism in all religions, not only in Islam, most prominent Sufis of which are Al Halaj, Ibn Araby, Ibn EL Romy and Raba'a Al Adwia.
