The Sufi belief has parallels in Vedic thought

Say Allah Allah, when with a Muslim, Ram Ram, when with a Hindu! — Rumi

The holistic words spoken by Sufi philosopher-saint Rumi confirm that he and India have an inseparable link, serving as a bridge between tasawwuf and the Vedantic philosophy. According to Rumi, even the theoretical knowledge or discussion of Vedanta enables one to get the peace or bliss one yearns for, because each and every word of the Vedanta helps one come a step nearer to practical experience.

Renuka Narayanan notes that most Sufi orders in India were primarily concerned with spiritual nourishment, and came to be mainly associated with an attitude of skepticism towards secular life (or renunciation of it).

The admirers of the Sufi path, such as 20th century Indian commentator Sheikh Idris Shah, maintain that the ideal Sufi alternated between detachment and identification with life.

But unlike the absolute retreat from the real world advocated by certain Vedantic and Buddhist trends, Sufis do not encourage a complete withdrawal. Instead, they are encouraged to participate in the real world, even as they are supposed to inculcate the ability to be detached from it.

The ideal Sufi is supposed to find a balance between detachment and participation and between logic and mysticism.

Even in Rumi’s writings, one can find numerous passages that glorify detachment and retreat from the physical and material world. And, there were Vedantists who adopted a dualist position — stressing the superiority of the “spiritual world”, yet granting some validity to one’s experiences in the material world.

Just as there were Sufi schools that encouraged the pursuit of secular activities, there were others that discouraged such pursuits.

In fact, many aspects of Sufi belief systems and practices had their parallels in Indian philosophical literature, but often, amongst the more conforming streams of Sufi discourse, these had to be circumscribed within the boundaries of what Islam could politically tolerate.

Most Sufis (like many Hindu Vedantics) considered formal religion a shell, but agreed that for the average practitioner, day-to-day rituals and traditional religious practices could play a useful role. Sufis were much less likely to approve of rigid and literalist interpretations of the Koran.

Words cannot be used in referring to religious truth, except as analogy,” Hakim Sanai echoed what is most immediately evident in the Kena and Chandogya Upanishads. 

The Sufis attach great significance to the love of God, and their sole concern is to be lost in the love of God. They hold that if men wish to draw near God, they must seek Him in the heart of men.

They carried their teachings to the lower ranks of people and provided emotional revivalism for self-purification. They provided valuable social service and comforted man when he was crestfallen.

Rumi, like our all-encompassing Indian tradition, includes everyone under his umbrella. The world of Rumi is neither exclusively the world of a Sufi, nor the world of a Hindu, nor a Jew, nor a Christian; it is the highest state of a human being — a fully evolved human. A complete human is not bound by cultural limitations; he touches every one of us.

As Bulle Shah, the revered Sufi mystic, wrote:

“Not a believer inside the mosque, am I Nor a pagan disciple of false rites Not the pure amongst the impure Neither Moses, nor the Pharaoh!”