Notes On Tasawwuf As Opsec

In Anglophone Islamic discourses starting in the late 90s due to efforts of a new generation of Muslim convert scholarship, there was a genuine cultural movement coalescing around tasawwuf. This tasawwuf discourse was not attached to any institutionalised forms and was without the baggage of metaphysical controversy. This wasn't necessarily a novel development as it had been done multiple times before, as Sherman Jackson would surmise in his translation of Ibn Ata'allah's work titled "Sufism for Non-Sufis":

The Bride-Groom’s Crown might be read as essentially an inspirational and practical Sufi guide to self-refinement for non Sufis. Its aim is neither to introduce new concepts, practices, or terminology; nor is it to convert or placate those who oppose Sufism in principle. Rather, its aim is simply to inspire and provide instruction on personal piety and self-refinement for those who, for historical or other reasons, have not or may never have any formal association with Sufism in any institutionalized form.

Disseminating the practical art of tasawwuf without the stigma of institutionalised forms was part of the genius of the Ibn Ata'allah endeavour. Additionally, other Muslim sages spread tasawwuf not just through treatises and abstract discourse but through the realisation of emobided social forms (guilds, travel taverns etc) and "non-elite" discourses through folkloric and poetic oral traditions. The genius was transmitting sensible cognitive and spiritual defences through popular mimetic forms as a way of providing immunity to society at large.

There is a connection to be made with tasawwuf as a form of cognitive and spiritual opsec against nation-state and mercenary actors waging unending digital cognitive war. NATO have been discussing this possibility candidly in their publications as have other American and vassal state organisations. NATO in their 2021 report define "cognitive warfare" (CW) as:

“a combined arms approach that integrates the non-kinetic warfare capabilities of cyber, information, psychological and social engineering in order to win without physical fighting. It is a new type of warfare defined as the weaponization of public opinion by external entities. This is carried out for the purpose of influencing and/or destabilizing a nation.”

In 2022, the Alliance would go further describing it in even more stark terms, stating that the human brain was now a battlefield:

“…the most advanced form of human mental manipulation, to date, permitting influence over individual or collective behavior, with the goal of obtaining a tactical or strategic advantage. …the human brain becomes the battlefield. The pursued objective is to influence not only what the targets think, but also the way they think and, ultimately, the way they act.”

NATO indeed have been focusing on cognitive warfare, regularly publishing openly about the threat it poses, with Commander van der Klaauw writing in 2023:

Unlike psychological operations, cognitive activities are not directed at our conscious mind, but at our subconscious mind, the main drivers of our behaviour: emotions. This takes place through hyper-personalized targeting integrating and exploiting neuroscience, biotechnology, information and cognitive techniques (NBIC), mainly using social media and digital networks for neuro-profiling and targeting individuals. We need to realize that individuals are at the centre of all military operations and strategic-political decision-making.

What's more interesting is a discussion by the Commander about the vulnerabilities that allow for cognitive war to be waged mercilessly:

Who becomes a target for cognitive attacks? Some people are more vulnerable than others. The most vulnerable are individuals who feel a lack of belonging, feel marginalized, think they lack the ability to express their grievances or believe they are deprived of their rights. Usually this is combined with a lack of trust in governance and social structures. These perceptions can stem from ethical, racial, religious, economic or even historical reason. Vulnerabilities are also the key when it comes to understanding how we can protect ourselves against a cognitive attack

This unwittingly describes the state of the Old Islamicate biomass, completely left open and vulnerable to all manner of cognitive decimation by foes. Although, it doesn't necessarily require external foes, as now increasingly with time every other week there is a mass riot, pogrom or spontaneous anarchic violence in some Old Islamicate nation or the other.

There is a clear realisation that the Digital Age has opened up a pandora's box where not just big nation-state actors but even small groups of cognitive mercenaries can wage mimetic war online bringing a state of paralytic anarchy across entire societies. There is a lot of open cognitive but also deep spiritual weaknesses that can be exploited tremendously by small groups of dedicated actors and agents either independently or at the behest of nation-states.

NATO for their part, have recognised the enormity of the situation and have decided through a course of peace through censorship, by working with its American Imperial benefactors to create large disinformation and misinformation industries to digitally monitor for any abnormalities and act swiftly to shut them down through various tools and mechanisms. This is a very blunt approach.

Tasawwuf on the other hand emphasizes responsibility on the individual by asking the believer to not consider the gaze of creation, digital panopticons, monetizing algorithms or attention-hacking corporations but to consider the gaze of God. The gaze of God eclipses and replaces the gaze of all other perishable entities, and thus the Son of Adam can act with true sincerity and true clarity. God alone is worthy of such Sovereign Omniscience. In such a schemata, Muslim sages devised typologies of not just action, but also thought and speech to provide a homeostatic regulation all in the pursuit of achieving closeness to God. The limbs, the sexual organs, the eyes, the ears etc - all these organs endowed to humanity require constant vigilance and guarding lest they become manipulated and corrupted. The cypherpunk ethos of "Don't trust, verify" was the basis of the Islamic sciences for centuries.

Fifth generational warfare will use cyberspace to shape meatspace to achieve strategic goals.

It is time, long overdue to purify the heart ultimately for the sake of God but also to give people a fighting chance to adopt simple but powerful spiritual and cognitive opsec in an increasingly dystopian world.

And God knows best