A dictionary of Sufi Terms

``Burooz --- The turning of a perfect knower or accomplished spiritual leader towards a deficient person, giving him spiritual benefit, and making him into his manifestation by making him like him. In this sense it is said, such and such a saint has appeared in the form of such and such other saint. The meaning is that the image of the perfect saint was cast perfectly upon the second one, and the essential form of the two of them became the same.''

(Sirr-e Dilbaran, Dictionary of Sufi terms, Karachi, 1400 A.H., p. 90)

Translation of Fusus al-Hukam: In an Urdu translation of Fusus al-Hukam, the famous Sufi work written by the great Shaikh Muhiy-ud-Din Ibn Arabi, the translater Maulana Muhammad Abdul Qadeer writes in an introductory note:

``Burooz means that the nature of some of the saints (auliya) resembles the nature of a particular prophet. Many saints are made to journey through the attainments of the great prophets, and the saints become dyed with the colour of the prophets. To put it another way, the image of the attainments of the prophets is cast upon them. Or one could say that the special characteristics of the prophets are manifested and projected (burooz) through them. But after the completion of the journey, each of them remains at his original position of natural affinity. For instance, the saint who aids the cause of the faith is known as having the nature of Noah, or being in the footsteps of Noah, or one who manifests Noah, or the burooz of Noah. The saint who accepts the will of God is known as one having the nature of Moses, he who annihilates himself is known as one having the nature of Jesus, and he who is a perfect servant, combining all these, is known as one having the Muhammadi nature. Sometimes it is said that such and such a saint is the burooz of such and such a prophet, just as the moon is the burooz of the sun. In short, the prophet is the original, and the saint is his copy.''

(Urdu translation of Fusus al-Hukam, published by Nazir Sons, Lahore, 1979, p. 24)

Khawaja Ghulam Farid of Chachran (d. 1904 C.E.): This much-loved saint who lived in the Bahawalpur area, now in Pakistan, gives the following definition:

``Burooz is that a soul gains benefit from another one which is perfect. When it receives the benefit of Divine illumination, it becomes its manifestation, and says: I am that one.''

(Isharat Faridi, Collection of Sayings of the famous Punjabi saint, Khawaja Ghulam Farid, Islamic Book Foundation, Lahore, p. 418)

Shaikh Ahmad of Sirhind (d. 1624 C.E.):

``The burooz spoken of by some spiritual Shaikhs has nothing to do with re-incarnation. In re-incarnation, a soul forms a connection with another body as the means of its life, and to give it sensation and movement. In burooz, a soul forms a connection with another body, not for this purpose, but to make that body acquire attainments and reach high grades.''

(Maktubat, Daftar II, Letter no. 58, p. 191)

Regarding the concept of burooz, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad writes:

``Sometimes the coming of a soul into this world, which resembles the soul of some righteous person of the past, and not only has a connection with that soul but derives benefit from it as well, is considered as the coming of the original soul itself. In the terminology of the Sufis this is known as burooz.''

(Sat Bachan, p. 49)

``The Sufis believe that the nature, disposition and moral qualities of a person from the past come again in another. In their terminology, they say that so and so is in the footsteps of Adam, or the footsteps of Noah. Some also call this as burooz.''

(Malfuzat, vol. i, p. 239)

``God always employs metaphors and gives one person's name to another on account of nature, qualities, and abilities. He whose heart is like that of Abraham is Abraham in the sight of God, and he who has the heart of Umar is Umar in His sight.''

(Fath-i Islam, p. 16)

``All the Sufis and the elders of the Muslim nation hold this belief. In fact, they even say that no one can be a perfect follower until he acquires the accomplishments of the Holy Prophet Muhammad in the sense of burooz. When a person shows such perfect obedience of the Holy Prophet that he is, as it were, absorbed and effaced to the extent of being lost in that obedience, his condition at that time is like a mirror showing the image fully and perfectly.''

(Tafsir Sura Fatiha, p. 261)

``The heart of the devotee is a mirror which is so polished by trials and tribulations that the qualities of the Prophet are reflected in it.''

(Manzur Ilahi, p. 37)

``As a person's face is seen in the mirror, though that face has its own independent existence; this is called burooz.''

(Tafsir Sura Fatiha, p. 330)

``The whole Muslim nation is agreed that a non-prophet takes the place of a prophet as a burooz. This is the meaning of the hadith: Ulama ummati ka-anbiya Bani Israil [`The godly learned ones of my community are like the prophets of Israel'].''

(Ayyam as-Sulh, p.163)