Dhikr as Mindfulness: Meditative Remembrance in Sufism

Mindfulness practices adapted from Theravada Buddhism have become widespread among many in Western societies who seek stress reduction and greater present-centeredness. Less well-known is the mindfulness practice in Sufism–the mystical path of Islam–known as meditative remembrance ( dhikr). While mindfulness is often understood as a self-help technique, the aim of Buddhist and Sufi meditative paths is not limited to enhancing the well-being of a self that is envisioned as strictly bounded. Rather, both meditative paths aim at unitive mystical experience, which is held to profoundly transform the meaning of the practitioner’s selfhood as such. Whereas Buddhism’s non-self-doctrine is generally understood to hold that personal selfhood is an illusion, this is not the case for Akbari Sufism. This inquiry takes a phenomenological approach, exploring the varied meanings of being or “having” a self in the context of mindfulness, and contrasting these with the humanistic psychology of Abraham Maslow. I contrast Theravada and Akbari Sufism’s understandings of the aim of meditation and the meanings of selfhood and compare both traditions with Abraham Maslow’s view of self-transcendence.