SHATTARIYAH

Sufi (Muslim mystic) order deriving its name from either a 15th-century Indian mystic called Shattari or the Arabic word shatir (breaker), referring to one who has broken with the world. Most Muslim mystics emphasize the servantship of man and the lordship of God, the fana (dissolution) of self and the baqa' (subsistence) of God. The Shattariyah, on the contrary, stress the self, personal deeds, personal attributes that make a person godlike, and personal union with God. They maintain that fana would imply two selves, one that is to be annihilated and another that is to be readied for the final stage of the vision of God; and that such duality is opposed to the tawhid (unity) on which Sufism is based. They also reject the Sufi practice of mujahadah (struggle with the carnal self), saying that excessive focusing on the self distracts from the more important goals of knowledge of God through personal experience and ultimate union.