#self-flagellation

Alright, I talked about this yesterday already - but let me get a bit more into it.

First, let me reiterate once more: Sufism is often called Islamic mysticism. Asceticism is a very core part of it, but whether or not self-flagellation is part of this practice is a topic of much religious debate. While the general core of sufism is to use tazkiyah (self-purification) to get to reaching ihsan ("beauty of the soul") and ultimately fitra (purity).

Usually the parts and stages of this are:

Repentance (tawbah)

Abstention (wara)

Asceticism (zuhd)

Poverty (faqr)

Patience (ṣabr)

Confidence (tawakkul)

Contentment (riḍā’)

And as I said before: In Islam, like in many other religions, there are generally two very contradicting views on what the body is to the soul. Either the body is a thing that was given to us by God and hence should not be altered (at least not unnecessarily - some argue not at all, some say at least to treat illness is okay), or the body is just a temporary vehicle for our soul. Folks with the second opinion generally see it as more permissable to commit stuff like self-flagellation, while folks who hold the first view will usually not.

For this we should probably first talk about tatbir. Now, is this just another Arab vocabel that I am throwing at you? Yeah, it absolutely is, but this is not completely random - because as so often, religions have specific names for their practices.

Tatbir is a practice among Shia Muslims mainly, going back to the death of Husayn ibn Ali and his men in the early years of Islam, during one of those battles that established the religion. Some Shia Muslims commit to this practice on the day of Ashura (remembrance), which to them is about remembering those who died in the early time. (Mind you: In Sunni Islam Ashura is about remembrance of the old Prophets like Moses and Noah.) And some of those Shia Muslims then perform tatbir to themselves feel the pain that those matyrs have suffered. This tatbir is usually performed through beating themselves either with a chain and a sword until they bleed. There are some more extreme practices, but for my own well-being and yours I will not go further into them.

Those of you, who have read my blog yesterday, will note one thing: "But did you not say, that Sufism came from Sunni-Islam?" Yes, I did. But I also said that it is considered to be a lot closer to Shia Islam these days.

In Shia-Islam it is a very theological discussion on whether or not Tatbir should be permitted, given that in general self-harm is prohibited.

But again, Sufism is in the end a practice that is apart from Shia and in general is neither Shia nor Sunni fully. So how is this connected.

Well, it is complicated. Generally speaking tatbir is not that typical in Sufism - at least not outside of India/Pakhistan. In India and Pakhistan, tatbir has a similar tradition as in Shia: there was a philospher and religious Sufi man, who became a matyr and on the day of his death Sufi in India and Pakhistan usually will do some form of tatbir (again, do not google it, please, because this specific practice is quite gruesome) to remember him. However, Isaac quite clearly is not Indian.

And because I am fully misusing this to get you to learn stuff, I am once more evading the topic to talk about sama.

You remember the Captain when Isaac says he is a Sufi? He says: "The spinning kind or the self-flagellating kind?" So, we need to talk about sama.

These are also Sufi. Whirling dervishes to be exact. It is a Sufi-practice that was quite widely spread in the Ottoman Empire and is even today quite widely practiced in Turkey. You probably have seen this in some "Travel Turkey" advert at some point.

And this is the moment where I can finally talk about Rumi. While Rumi (full name Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī) only lived in the 13th century, he was very, very influential to Sufism from then on. And chances are that Isaac is quite aware of at some of Rumi's writing.

I might note: Reading Rumi's writings is something I can really recommend to anyone, because it really is quite interesting at the very least. But the long and short of it is: He was raised as a Sufi and was a fatma, just like his father. He was quite educated in it, but according to himself never found himself quite in it, until he met Shams-e Tabrizi, a dervish and philospher, who became his master and closest friend, until he mysteriously vanished. (To this day we do not know what happened to him. A lot of people assume he was murdered.) He taught Rumi about the importance of the loss of self because only those who gave up on the self could find their way to God. And in some way him disappearing allowed Rumi to find this exact kind of loss of self that he had been teaching about.

And this is what sama - the whirling - is about. It is a religious praxis meant to put the practitioner into a sort of ecstasis that allows them to loose the self.

Again, please note: I am breaking this down as shortly as I can, because frankly... otherwise this is going to be a whole essay.

This brings us back to the self-flagallation again. Because here is the thing. I really poured through papers and books on the topic, but I cannot find anything other than the Indian Sufis who have a practice of self-flagallation, though some Sufi still practice it in the same way that the Shia do.

However, I do not think that really in Isaac's case his self-flagallation is linked to some respect for martyrdom. Rather I would argue this is very much about the loss of self - so similar to sama. Especially as he does seem to practice it almost daily, which given that he is living at a time without antibiotics... is most certainly not quite the best idea.

The only series I am aware of that has self-flagellation is  Taking a Journey Together by @lady-divine-writes. I highly recommend reading the entire series. These are the stories that has the specific act. - HKVoyage

Self-flagellation (part 7)

After buying a new flogger for his sub, Kurt realizes how much he’s been neglecting his own needs.

Written as part of my more realistic D/s relationship storyline, this explores Kurt’s slightly masochistic side, and features masturbation in the form of light self-flagellation with a medium intensity flogger. (Mainly focuses on Kurt, with Blaine showing up in the end.)

~~~~~

Exhaustion (Part 14)

Blaine passes out after a particularly vigorous, stress-relieving session, and Kurt takes care of him.

Me: wait what? who wrote this?

Me: omg why so pretentious

Me: I thought this one was pretty good though. WHY SO FEW LIKES

Me: how come everyone likes that other fic that I hate?

Me: oh god. just bury me now. what was I even thinking trying to write smut

Butter boy? 😞