Sufism and Challenges of Modern and Secular Philosophy: Nasr’s Perspective

Sufism is a broad and diverse movement within the history of Islam. Anatolia, among the other Muslim lands, has been home to many Sufi orders such as Alevi-Bektashi, Rufā’ī, Khalwatī, and others. All the mentioned order played significant roles during the Ottoman Empire and up to the modern era. It is clear that facing the Modern and secular world view, at least epistemologically challenged all Sufi orders. Considering such a considerable shaking encounter raises questions such as the relationships between Sufi creeds and modern science in the viewpoint of Sufism. Sufism maintains that “knowledge” (ʿilm) is an essential foundation in the Spiritual path. If the universe is defined as a manifestation of the Divine in the Alevi-Bektashi and other Sufi thoughts, what are their responses to modern dominant philosophy and science that is fundamentally secular and leaves no space for the Sacred? This paper will study the question of philosophical assessment of modern science and technology from a Sufi perspective. In particular, it will examine the phenomenon of modern science and technology from the perspective of the Sufi and traditionalist school of Islam. It mainly focuses on the claim of the rediscovery of Sacred Science and assesses the way how Sayyed Hossein Nasr (b.1933) – a Shādhīlī Sufi- suggests reviving it. Furthermore, this paper investigates Nasr’s critiques of modern science’s fundamental philosophical principles as determining its secular nature in opposition to the notion of sacred science and world view in Sufism.