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
the fear of punishment and insisted on the love of God as the sole valid
form of adoration. The word Sufi first appears in the 8th cent., probably
in connection with the coarse wool that many ascetics wore.

Two central Sufi concepts are tawakkul, the total reliance on God, and
dhikr, the perpetual rememberence of God. Al-Muhasibi (d. 857) and his
disciple Junayd (d. 910) are representative early figures. The introduction
of gnostic elements (marifa) into Sufism is often attributed to Dhu-n-Nun
al-Misri (d. 859). Sufism nonetheless faced growing opposition from
orthodox clerics. The scholastic and ecstatic paths further diverged with
the concept of fana, the dissolution into the divine, advocated by
al-Bistami (d. 874), and used by Hallaj in the declaration of his unity
with God, which eventually led to his execution in 922. Islamic orthodoxy
and Sufism were not unreconcilable, as attested by the attempt by
al-Ghazali (d. 1111) to infuse conformist Muslim religious life with mysticism.

The evolution of Sufism in the post-Ghazali period was influenced by Ibn
al-Arabi and Ibn al-Farid. Their theoretical contributions led to the
development within Sufism of a complex system of initiation and progression
toward the Divine and set the stage for the emergence of organized Sufi
orders. This phase of literary Sufism was also characterized by the
prominence of Persian works, notably those of Shihab ad-Din Suhrawardi (d.
1191), Farid ad-Din Attar, and Jalal ad-Din Rumi, and the subsequent
development of Persian, Turkish, and Urdu mystic poetry. Important Sufi
figures elsewhere in the Islamic world include Muin ad-Din Chishti in India
and Baha ad-Din Naqshband (d. 1390) in central Asia.

Sufi orders, which assimilated aspects of native religious traditions more
readily than more dogmatic versions of Islam, played a major role in the
expansion of Islam into sub-Saharan Africa and central, S, and SE Asia. The
oldest extant order with attested historicity is probably the Qadiriyya,
founded by Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166) in Baghdad. Other important
orders include the Ahmadiyya (notably in Egypt), Naqshbandiyya (Central
Asia), Nimatullahiyya (Iran), Rifaiyya (Egypt, SW Asia), Shadhiliyya (N
Africa, Arabia), Suhrawardiyya and Chishtiyya (S and central Asia), and
Tijaniyya (N and W Africa).

The work of Idries Shah has been instrumental in introducing Sufism to the
West; see his The Sufis (1964) and The Way of the Sufi (1968). Although
Sufism has made significent contributions to the spread of Islam and the
development of various aspects of Islamic civilization (e.g., literature
and calligraphy), many conservative Muslims disagree with many popular Sufi
practices, particularly saint worship, the visiting of tombs, and the
incorporation of non-Islamic customs. Consequently, in recent centuries
Sufism has been a target for Islamic reformist and modernist movements.

See A. J. Arberry, Sufism (1970); L. Lewin, ed., The Diffusion of Sufi
Ideas in the West (1972); A. Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (1975)
and As Through a Veil (1982).