Presented at Sacred Journeys 12th Global Conference, Canberra, Australia. JUNE 3-6, 2025
Within Islam generally, and Sufism in particular, journeying (safar) takes on a great importance. There are many types of journeys, from the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) to the vertical night journey (almiraj), the well-trodden path (shari’ah) to the narrow path (tariqa), all of which are ultimately understood as being in the path of Allah (fi sabillillah). Central to these journeys is understanding and engaging Allah’s signs (ayat) for the realisation of Truth. In support of this, the traveller (salik) can be seen to benefit from a shift in their engagement from the world of forms to the meaning inherent within these signs of/from Allah. This is not to be considered an ontological shift, for the Truth of Allah alone is an immutable truth. Rather the traveller undergoes an epistemological shift, realigning the perception of multiplicity with the ontological Unity (tawhid).
Travel within Islam and Sufism
Within Islam generally, and Sufism in particular, journeying (safar) takes on a great importance. There are many types of journeys, from the pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj) to the vertical night journey (almiraj), the well-trodden path (shari’ah) to the narrow path (tariqa), all of which are ultimately understood as being in the path of Allah (fi sabillillah). Central to these journeys is understanding and engaging Allah’s signs (ayat) for the realisation of Truth. In support of this, the traveller (salik) can be seen to benefit from a shift in their engagement from the world of forms to the meaning inherent within these signs of/from Allah. This is not to be considered an ontological shift, for the Truth of Allah alone is an immutable truth. Rather the traveller undergoes an epistemological shift, realigning the perception of multiplicity with the ontological Unity (tawhid).
Travel within Islam and Sufism
The Qur’an opens with encouragement to supplicate to be guided along the straight path (sirat al-mustaqim) and the pillars of Islam culminate with the performance of pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj). Islam requires adherence to the well-trodden path (shari’ah) and, for those able to, taking up the spiritual psychology (tasawwuf) of the narrow path (tariqa). Of the many kinds of journeying within Islam, all are ultimately understood as being in the path of Allah (fi sabillillah). Common to all types of journeying is an engagement with Allah’s signs (ayat) “on the horizons and within themselves” so that, correctly understood, this will support the realisation of Truth. As Allah states,
سَنُرِيهِمْ ءَايَـٰتِنَا فِى ٱلْـَٔافَاقِ وَفِىٓ أَنفُسِهِمْ حَتَّىٰ يَتَبَيَّنَ لَهُمْ أَنَّهُ ٱلْحَقُّ أَوَلَمْ يَكْفِ
بِرَبِّكَ أَنَّهُۥ عَلَىٰ كُلِّ شَىْءٍ شَهِيدٌ
We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it will be manifest unto them that it is the Truth. Doth not thy Lord suffice, since He is Witness over all things?
(Holy Qur’an 41:53)
A prerequisite of realising the meaning inherent in the signs stems from an intention (niyya) to do so. This is evident from the hadith,
Actions are but by intentions, and each man will have but that which he intended. Whoever emigrated for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, his emigration was for the sake of Allah and His Messenger, and whoever emigrated for the sake of some worldly gain or to marry some woman, his emigration was for that for which he emigrated (Sahih Bukhari)
Without an intention that is “for the sake of Allah and His Messenger,” the individual is merely engaging with the form, sometimes represented as the husk of things, travelling from form to form, whether “on the horizons or within themselves,” externally and internally, without realising the purpose of such things, or the meaning inherent in the forms. As Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah (d. 709AH/1309CE) recommended, “travel not from creature to creature, otherwise you will be like a donkey at the mill: roundabout he turns, his goal the same as his departure” and suggested that meaningful travel is to “go from creatures (al-akwan) to the Creator (al-Mukawwin).”[1] It is suggested the highest form of journeying (safar) is movement “from the multiplicity of the periphery to the Unity at the Centre,” which “commences when the heart is turned towards Allah through His Remembrance,” and “is the Spiritual Journey through the various stations, from the self to the Self.”[2] When the intention (niyya) is to realise “the Truth” (al-Haqq), in concordance with the Qur’anic injunction, engagement with the multiplicity of signs (ayat) shifts towards knowing the meaning they contain for the realisation of the Oneness of Allah (tawhid).
One journeying towards the realisation of “the Truth,” in the terminology of the science of Sufism (tasawwuf), is deemed a traveller or wayfarer (salik). A salik is one “who has the necessary qualifications for spiritual travel from his lower self, through the various spiritual stations, to his Higher Self and Unity.”[3] This is most frequently achieved through affiliation with a Sufi Order (tariqa), under the guidance of those versed in the spiritual psychological teaching of Islam, though this does not mean all who associate with a Sufi Order (tariqa) are necessarily a traveller, as “some are content with the blessings of being connected to the spiritual chain (silsilat) and feel no intensity of need to travel.”[4] The salik is required to maintain the correct intention (niyya), otherwise they will fall short in their journeying (safar), remaining with the mundane, as ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dabbagh (d. 1132AH/1719CE) stated, “You see the seeker (student) travel from country to country to acquire science (religious learning) with the intention of attaining status, influence, worldly possessions and other things that are false goals … But God the Sublime deprives him of the light of science and he never becomes one of those firmly established in science.”[5] While there is no guarantee for the individual to engage the highest form of journeying (safar) and be considered a salik, it can be seen that doing so requires a refinement of intention (niyya) that is oriented towards soteriological development.
Soteriological Semiotics and Journeying the Spiritual Path
The refining of intention for realising the Truth, as outlined within the Qur’an, can be seen to involve the development of engaging the totality of creation as signs carrying meaning that, correctly understood, support this realisation. For this to occur the traveller (salik) can be seen to need to develop a methodology that accommodates a shift their engagement from the forms of the world to the meaning these forms contain as signs of/from Allah. Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah captures this aim in stating, “do not stretch out your hand to take from creatures unless you see that the Giver (al-Mu’ti) amongst them is your Lord.”[6] This requires an approach which “takes all signs to be signifiers from Allah and the signified to be Allah.”[7]For this to occur, it is proposed it becomes necessary for the traveller (salik) to develop a soteriological semiotics, where
soteriological semiotics is, in a way, a hermeneutics of tawhid which takes all things within creation as being signs from Allah as a method of communication for the individual able to perceive them, drawing them towards the affirmation of tawhid.[8]
The affirmation of Allah’s Oneness comes through engagement with the meaning inherent in the “signs,” which reciprocates with knowledge of one’s degree of conformity with “the Truth.”
From an Islamic perspective, this is not considered an ontological shift, for the Truth of Allah alone is an immutable truth, rather it is understood to require an epistemological shift that realigns the traveller’s perception with the Reality that is. Allah states,
وَنَحْنُ أَقْرَبُ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ حَبْلِ ٱلْوَرِيدِ
We are nearer to him than the jugular vein.
(Holy Qur’an 50:16)
The reality of this closeness remains irrespective of the individual’s awareness of it. The ontological “closeness” of Allah to creation requires an epistemological shift within the individual in order to develop the ability to perceive this. In this sense, distance or separation from Allah is “a reference to creation without Truth,”[9] that is an engagement with the signs (ayat) without engaging their meaning.
Within Islam generally, and Sufism specifically, there is a focus on the character of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as the example par excellence. It has been stated the traveller “must occupy his time and devote his efforts towards purifying his intentions and actions so that they conform to those of the Holy Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who is our Beautiful Model (uswa hasana).”[10] For this reason, nearness to Allah has been conceived as “the consummation of obedience.”[11] This is derived from the Qur’anic statement,
لَّقَدْ كَانَ لَكُمْ فِى رَسُولِ ٱللَّهِ أُسْوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ لِّمَن كَانَ يَرْجُوا۟ ٱللَّهَ وَٱلْيَوْمَ ٱلْـَٔاخِرَ وَذَكَرَ ٱللَّهَ كَثِيرًا
Verily, in the Apostle of God you have a good example (uswa hasana) for everyone who looks forward [with hope and awe] to Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah unceasingly
(Holy Qur’an 33:21)
One prominent understanding of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ being a beautiful model and good example comes from the statement that “the character of the Prophet of Allah was the Qur’an” (Sahih Muslim). This is read as indicating a total embodiment of the Qur’anic teachings. Central to this alignment is the affirmation of Allah’s Oneness (tawhid), evident in repeated affirmation of tawhid in the Qur’an, the acknowledgement of Allah’s Lordship before the herenow, in the purpose of human creation for worship, and in the character of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
Sacred Travel
To travel this form of sanctified journey requires walking a tightrope. All of creation is seen as purposeful only in so far as it is a carrier of meaning from Creator to creation and is therefore of no consequence in and of itself. Yet, as the carrier of meaning, creation is indispensable and cannot be denied, for “to deny creation through outward actions, supposedly for the sake of Allah, is to deny Allah’s communication with creation.”[12] This is evident from the Hadith Qudsi, a Divine saying on the tongue of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, wherein Allah states,
O son of Adam, I asked you for food and you fed Me not. He will say: O Lord, and how should I feed You when You are the Lord of the worlds? He will say: Did you not know that My servant so-and-so asked you for food and you fed him not? Did you not know that had you fed him you would surely have found that with Me?[13]
Herein it becomes evident that creation cannot be denied, for its denial is seen to be in reality a denial of Allah. At the same time, creations’ value comes from the evidence of Allah it carries. As Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah stated, Allah “appears even in those entities through which He is veiled,”[14] and Ivan Aguéli’s (1869 – 1917) statement, “I consider the world to be a book of God, like any other. Its signs are everywhere, and we are among them,”[15] amongst others. Within these quotes is an evident utilisation of what is here being called soteriological semiotics and an acknowledgement of the importance of seeing all of creation as being forms carrying meaning for the realisation and affirmation of Truth.
From a perspective of soteriological semiotics, the purpose of accessing the meaning within the forms of creation is to turn all things into an object of remembrance through its function of informing the traveller about their relationship, and thus their degree of metaphorical closeness, to Allah. It is important to keep in mind that it is only a metaphorical closeness because the ontological closeness between Creator and creation is constant despite the variegated epistemological awareness of it. Whilst the world’s traditions all contain sanctified acts that support the traveller to increase their epistemological closeness, there is also those acts of mundanity that, if correctly understood, open such an awareness. Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah states, “one of the signs of relying on one’s own deeds is the loss of hope when a downfall occurs.”[16] Any sense of loss of hope can in fact be seen to be a loss of meaning, where the traveller, wanting things to be other than they are, is cut off from the meaning inherent in the signs presented to them in that moment due to the desire for other signs to be present.
Soteriological semiotics utilises the signs (ayat) within creation as a means of drawing metaphorically, or epistemologically, “nearer” to Allah. Ibn ‘Arabi states that understanding and accessing the indications (isharah) given through the meanings inherent in creation exist “in [the state of] nearness to Allah, along with presence of the heart; and it [also] comes about with distance from Him”[17] Accessing these meanings within/through the forms can only occur if the traveller is in a state of receptivity to the Creator of the meanings and their forms, which indicates a state of nearness. Conversely, being with the meanings and their forms also indicates a degree of distance. This is because remembrance only occurs for that which is also forgotten. This somewhat paradoxical situation has been expressed as “in knowing one’s distance, one is brought nearer.”[18] This constant interplay between distance and nearness has the protective function of precluding a supposed deification of the self, where the traveller does not move beyond their self-awareness as slave (‘abd) and never asserts themselves as Lord (Rabb). Furthermore, this preclusion also undermines all antinomian tendencies, for the maintenance of the state of servitude (‘ubudiyya) requires constant adherence to the requirements of worship, as laid out in the aforementioned Qur’anic injunction (Holy Qur’an 51:56).
The traveller, whether perceived or not, is in a constant state of movement and flux. Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 638AH/1240CE) states, “since the principle of existence is movement there can be no stillness in existence because, were it to be still, it would return to its root, which is nonexistence.”[19] As movement is a condition of our existence, such movement will constantly involve an exposure to the influx of signs (ayat). Journeying amongst these signs furnishes the individual with a choice, to journey amongst the mundane or to engage a transformative mystical journey through the world of forms in pursuit of the realisation of Truth. Thus, in the pilgrimage from the herenow to the hereafter, from the circumference to the centre, from the outside to the heart, is a performative pilgrimage, a continuous sacred journey, that is played out day by day, in each and every moment. The participation in such sacred travel increases perspicacity and awareness and is most accessible through adherence to the salvific model. The utilisation of such a soteriological semiotics has the potential to transform even the most mundane journey, irrespective of time or location, into sacred travel that affirms and reaffirms the unicity of Allah (tawhid).
[1] Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, Sufi Aphorisms, trans. Victor Danner (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1973), 27.
[2] Murshid F. A. Ali ElSenossi, Language of the Future (Broken Hill: Almiraj Sufi Press, Forthcoming).
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] In Ahmad b. al-Mubarak al-Lamati, Pure Gold from the Words of Sayyidi ‘Abd al-‘Aziz al-Dabbagh, trans. John O’Kane and Bernd Radtke (Leiden: Brill, 2007), 531.
[6] Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, Sufi Aphorisms, 50.
[7] Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, “Soteriological Semiotics within the Qur’an.” darulfunun ilahiyat 31, 2 (2020): 428.
[8] Abu Bakr Sirajuddin Cook, Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, Muslim Sufi Saint and Gift of Heaven (Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2017), 43,n.6. See also Cook, “Soteriological Semiotics,” 419–433.
[9] Ibn ‘Arabi, What the Seeker Needs, trans. Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi and Rabia Terri Harris al-Jerrahi (Kuala Lumpur: Threshold Books, 1994), 95.
[10] Murshid F. A. Ali ElSenossi, Language of the Future.
[11] Ibn ‘Arabi, What the Seeker Needs, 96.
[12] Cook, Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, 95.
[13] In Ezzedin Ibrahim and Denys Johnson-Davies, trans., Forty Hadith Qudsi (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1997), 88.
[14] Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, Lata’if al-Minan, trans. in Nancy Roberts, The Subtle Blessings in the Saintly Lives of Abu al- Abbas al-Mursi and His Master Abu al-Hasan (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2005), 49.
[15] In Gregory Vandamme, “Akbarian Anarchism: Ivan Aguéli (d. 1917) on Islam, Freedom and Shari‘a,”Religiographies, vol. 3, no. 2 (2024): 16.
[16] Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah, Sufi Aphorisms, 23.
[17] Ibn ‘Arabi, What the Seeker Needs, 108.
[18] Murshid F. A. Ali ElSenossi, Language of the Future.
[19] Ibn ‘Arabi, The Secrets of Voyaging, trans. Angela Jaffray (Oxford: Anqa Publishing, 2015), 42.