Concept

Sufism

Overview

Sufism or Sufi Islam (Arabic: التصوف‎, romanized: al-Taṣawwuf) is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam that is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, and asceticism.

Practitioners of Sufism are referred to as "Sufis" (from صُوفِيّ, ṣūfīy), and historically typically belonged to "orders" known as tariqa (pl. turuq)—congregations formed around a grand wali (saint) who would be the last in a chain of successive teachers linking back to Muhammad, with the goal of undergoing tazkiyah (self-purification) and the hope of reaching the spiritual station of ihsan. The ultimate aim of Sufis is to seek the pleasure of God by endeavouring to return to their original state of purity and natural disposition, known as fitra.

Sufism emerged early on in Islamic history, partly as a reaction against the expansion of the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750) and mainly under the tutelage of Hasan al-Basri. Although Sufis were opposed to dry legalism, they strictly observed Islamic law and belonged to various schools of Islamic jurisprudence and theology. Although the overwhelming majority of Sufis, both pre-modern and modern, remain adherents of Sunni Islam, some strands of Sufi thought transferred over to the ambits of Shia Islam during the late Middle Ages. This particularly happened after the Safavid conversion of Iran under the concept of irfan. Important foci of Sufi worship include dhikr, the practice of the remembrance of God. Sufis also played an important role in the spread of Islam through their missionary and educational activities.

Despite a relative decline of Sufi orders in the modern era including attacks and accusations from fundamentalist Islamic movements (such as Salafo-Wahhabist groups) who view the Sufis as those who have deviated from the deen, Sufism has continued to play an important role in the Islamic world. It has also influenced various forms of spirituality in the West and generated significant academic interest.

Overview adapted from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0; see the article history for authors).

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But even when we are deprived of the advantage of their society, we can comprehend the possibility of this state (revelation by means of ecstasy) by a chain of manifest proofs. We have explained this in the treatise entitled _Marvels of the Heart_, which forms part of our work, _The Revival of the Religious Sciences_. The certitude derived from proofs is called “knowledge”; passing into the state we describe is…
Ghazzali, The Confessions of Al Ghazzali
The chapter “SUFISM” is titled for Sufism; states what Sufism is.
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But by sacred things one must not understand simply those personal beings which are called gods or spirits; a rock, a tree, a spring, a pebble, a piece of wood, a house, in a word, anything can be sacred. A rite can have this character; in fact, the rite does not exist which does not have it to a certain degree.
Émile Durkheim, The Elementary Forms of the Religious Life
States what Sufism is.
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Other methods of deliverance from evil are in the excessive acts of penance performed by the Indians, to which a retreat within themselves is added. Now when the Indian thus internally collects himself, and retreats within his own thoughts, the moment of such pure concentration is called Brahma, the one and the clearly supersensuous state, which the understanding calls the highest possible existence. When this is so…
Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, Hegel's Lectures on the History of Philosophy
States what Sufism is.
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Sufism

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