Difference Between Bhakti movement and Sufi movement

The Bhakti and Sufi movements are the movements that influenced Hinduism and Islam. The Bhakti movement believes in Hinduism and the Sufi movement believes in Islam. Both movements connect to the god and spread peace and love in nature. In this article, we will look into the differences between Bhakti and Sufi movements. Apart from differences, we will also cover the causes, principles, and effects of Bhakti and Sufi movements.

What is the Bhakti Movement?

The Bhakti movement is a movement that influenced Hinduism. It was introduced in South India during the seventh to tenth century C.E. Some Indians followed the Hindu religion in the medieval period. In this period, the people worshiped the god which was very tough and more ritualistic. In this period Hinduism worshipped Shiva or Vishnu. There were two groups in Hinduism, Nayanars, and Alvars. Nayanars are the group of 63 saints that worship lord shiva and Alvars are the Tamil saints that worship lord Vishnu. The Bhakti movement believes that the god is one, everyone in various castes worships a god. Adi Shankaracharya was one of the famous philosophers in the 8th century that spread the bhakti movement.

Causes of the Bhakti Movement

The following are some of the causes of the Bhakti Movement:

1. Caste System: The caste System in Hinduism had developed unhappiness among the Hindus. Caste breaks into the lower and upper castes. People from lower castes were untouchable and were discriminated against by the upper caste.
2. Complexity of Religion: The philosophy of Vedas and Upanishads was tough to read for the simple or common people because people wanted to worship the god simply. So, the bhakti movement gives an easy way of worshiping god.
3. Impact of Islam: Similar to the bhakti movement, the Sufi movement was also popular for spreading the love for god and brotherhood between the people.
4. Believe in Guru: Saints such as Guru Nanak, and Kabir believe that without a guru one cannot achieve salvation or moksha because a guru guides his disciple and provides the right direction.
5. Simplicity in Religious Activities: Saints believed that god can only be achieved by singing bhakti songs in his praise. It reflects the love and feelings for the god.

Principles of the Bhakti Movement

The following are the principles of the bhakti movement:

• The Bhakti movement believes that the god is one.
• They spread equality and brotherhood.
• They believe that salvation or moksha can be achieved by worship of god.
• They are against the caste system.

Effects of Bhakti Movement

The following are the impacts or effects of bhakti movement:

• It did not believe in violence.
• It helped poor people to provide free hostels.
• It spread the cultural dance.
• It provided flexibility in the caste system.
• It spread and promoted the regional language.

What is the Sufi Movement?

A movement that influenced the Muslims is known as Sufi Movement. The Sufi movement entered India between the 11th and 12th centuries. The word Sufi means long woolen clothes. They say that god is “mashuq” and Sufis are “Ashiqs”. They believed in worship or devotion more than the Roza or fast. The Sufi movement rejects the caste system. Sufi believes that god and soul are same. Sufi categorized into two orders Ba-shara and Be-shara. Ba-shara are those who followed the laws of Islam and Be-shara are those who are not bound by the law of Islam. Unlike bhakti movement, who believed to impress the god by singing bhakti devotional song, Sufi believed to impress the god by singing Qawwali songs. Sufi spread the unity between Hindu and Muslims. They believed that our heart is pure while worshipping the god.

Causes of Sufi Movement

The following are some of the causes of the Sufi Movement:

1. The main cause behind Sufi movement was restriction for women to worship and attending religious activities in some places. After the launch of the Sufi movement, people started believing that men and women are equal and all the people of different religions could attend any religious activities without any restrictions.
2. Spiritual books were very complicated to understand. The language used was very tough for the general people. Sufi movement made people to believe that rather than reading books, god can be achieved through hearts.
3. Most of the people felt unhappy or stressed about doing religious activities such as prayer. So the Sufi movement started, where people directly connect to god through their pure hearts.

Principles of Sufi Movement

The following are the principles of the Sufi Movement:

• They believe in the oneness of god.
• They believe in love and devotion.
• They believe that salvation can be achieved by worship of god.
• They were against the caste system.

Effects of Sufi Movement

The following are the impacts or effects of Sufi movement:

• It spread brotherhood between Hindu and Muslim.
• It made bhakti movement popular because the bhakti movement also has the same principles. They both believe the god is one.
• Sufis are against the caste system.

Differences Between Bhakti and Sufi Movement

The following table lists the differences between Bhakti and Sufi Movement:

Characteristics	Bhakti Movement	Sufi Movement
Religious	Bhakti movement influenced hinduism.	Sufi movement influenced muslims.
Devotional songs	The song of the bhakti movement is bhajans which expresses love for god.	The song of the sufi movement is Qawallis which expresses love for Sufism.
Worship	In hinduism, people worship various gods such as shiv, vishnu etc.	In sufi movement, people believe in one god i.e Allah.
Language used	In Bhakti movement, regional language was used based on religions.	In Sufi movement, Arabian, persian and local languages were used.
Art contribution	Made contribution on regional art.	Made contribution on islamic art.
Poets	Poets of bhakti movements who made contribution in bhakti movement includes Kabir Das, Meera Bai, Tulsi Das etc.	Sufi poets who made contribution in the sufi movement includes- Rumi, Hafez, Attar etc.
Supporters	Supporters of Bhakti movement are Guru Nanak, Kabir Das, Meera Bai.	Supporters of Sufi movement are Khusrau, Moinuddi Chisti.

FAQs on Bhakti and Sufi Movement

1. What are the common features of Bhakti and Sufi movement?

Common features of Bhakti movement and Sufi movement includes:

• God is one.
• Spread equality and brotherhood.
• Both movements did not believe in the caste system.
• Bhakti and Sufi movement believed that the people will speak their own mother tongue.

2. What is the Difference between Bhakti and Sufi?

The difference between the bhakti and Sufi movements is that the bhakti movement influenced Hinduism and the Sufi movement influenced Muslims. In the bhakti movement, the people worship the Shiv, Vishnu etc. and in the Sufi movement, people worship Allah. But both movements believe in equality and brotherhood and reject the caste system.

3. What is the Bhakti and Sufi Movement?

Bhakti movement directly connects to Hinduism. It was introduced in South India during the seventh to tenth century C.E. Shankaracharya, Ramanuja, Madhavacharya, Nimbarka, and Vallabhacharya are the famous philosophers of the Bhakti movement. Sufi movement directly connects to the Muslims. The Sufi movement entered India between the 11th and 12th centuries. They believed in worship or devotion more than the Roza or fast. Khawja Moin-uddin Chisti and Nizam-ud-din Aulia are the famous philosophers of the Sufi movement.

4. What are the teachings of Bhakti and Sufi movement?

Teachings of Bhakti movement includes

• They believe god is one
• All men and women are equal.
• They believe in true worship of god.

Teachings of Sufi movement includes:

• They did not believe in fasts and ritutals to believe or connect to god.
• They believe all people are children of god.
• They spread equality and brotherhood

5. How do Bhaktis and Sufis Compare?

The movement that influenced hindus known as Bhaktis and the movement that influenced muslim known as Sufis. A comparison of bhaktis and sufis is that in bhaktis, the saint of bhakti movement sang the bhajans and in sufis, the saint of sufi movement sang qawwali’s.