Sufism [sOO'fizum]
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Sufism , an umbrella term for the ascetic and mystical movements within
Islam. While Sufism is said to have incorporated elements of Christian
monasticism, gnosticism, and Indian mysticism, its origins are traced to
forms of devotion and groups of penitents (zuhhad) in the formative period
of Islam. The early pious figures, later appropriated by Sufism, include
Ali, Hasan al-Basri (d. 801), and Rabia al-Adawiyya, a woman from Basra
(Iraq) who rejected worship motivated by the desire for heavenly reward or