| • Science | • People | • Locations | • Timeline |
| Contents | ||
| This article forms part of the series Islam |
| Vocabulary of Islam |
| Five Pillars |
| Profession of faith |
| Prayer – Alms |
| Fasting |
| Pilgrimage to Mecca |
| Holy Cities |
| Mecca – Medina |
| Jerusalem |
| Najaf – Karbala – Kufa |
| Events |
| Hijra – Islamic calendar – Eid ul-Fitr |
| Eid ul-Adha – Aashura – Arba'in |
| Buildings |
| Mosque – Minaret |
| Mihrab – Kaaba |
| Islamic architecture |
| Functional Religious Roles |
| Muezzin – Imam – Mullah |
| Ayatollah – Mufti |
| Interpretive Texts & Practices |
| Qur'an – Hadith – Sunnah |
| Fiqh – Fatwa – Sharia |
| Sects |
| Sunni: Hanafi – Hanbali Maliki – Shafi'i |
| Shi'a: Ithna Asharia Ismailiyah – Zaiddiyah |
| Others: Mu'tazili – Kharijite |
| Movements |
| Sufism |
| Wahhabism – Salafism |
| Non-Mainstream Sects/Movements |
| Ahmadiyyah – Nation of Islam |
| Related Faiths |
| Druze – Bahá'í Faith |
Sufism (Arabic تصوف taṣawwuf) is the esoteric aspect of Islam. In modern language it might also be referred to as "Islamic spirituality".
Many Sufi practitioners are organized into a very diverse range of brotherhoods and sisterhoods. Although many orders ("tariqas") can be classified as Shi'a or Sunni or even both, there are a few that are clearly not either Shiah or Sunni and so constitute a separate sphere of Islamic faith.
Sufis believe that their teachings are the essence of every religion, and indeed of the evolution of humanity as a whole. The central concept in Sufism is " love". Dervishes -- the name given to initiates of sufi orders -- believe that love is a projection of the essence of God to the universe. God desires to recognize beauty, and as if one looks at a mirror to see oneself, God "looks" at itself within the dynamics of nature. Since everything is a reflection of God, the school of Sufism practices to see the beauty inside the apparently ugly, and to open arms even to the most evil one. This infinite tolerance is expressed in the most beautiful way, perhaps, by the famous Sufi philosopher and poet Mevlana (also known as Rumi) : "Come, come, whoever you are. Worshiper, Wanderer, Lover of Leaving; ours is not a caravan of despair. Though you have broken your vows a thousand times...Come, come again, Come."
Suf (صوف)is the Arabic word for " wool", in the sense of " cloak", referring to the simple cloaks the original Sufis wore. Given the Sufis use of composing letters of words to express hidden meanings, the word is simultaneously taken to mean 'occlusion' and 'enlightenment'. This reflects the fact that Sufism is at once a popular yet occult form of Islam. In fact the Greek terms Sofos /Sofia literally imply "wisdom" or "enlightenment" . Then there is the Arabic root in certain languages - 'Saaf' which literally means "pure," "clean," "blank."
Sufis teach in personal groups, believing that the intervention of the master is necessary for the growth of the pupil. They make extensive use of parables and metaphorThere are broad categories of figurative language which are classified as metaphorical (see Literal and figurative language). The more common meaning of metaphor is a figure of speech that is used to paint one concept with the attributes normally associats, in such a way that the meaning is only reachable through a process of seeking for the utmost truth and knowledge of oneself.
Although philosophies vary between different Sufi sects, Sufism as a whole is primarily concerned with direct personal experience, and as such is often compared to Zen Buddhism and GnosticismGnosticism is a blanket term for various religions and sects most prominent in the first few centuries A. General characteristics Many elements of gnosticism are pre-Christian, and it is generally accepted that orthodox Christianity and its canonical text. The following metaphor, credited to an unknown Sufi scholar, helps describe this line of thought. "There are three ways of knowing a thing. Take for instance a flame. One can be told of the flame, one can see the flame with his own eyes, and finally one can reach out and be burned by it. In this way, we Sufis seek to be burned by God."
A large part of Muslim literature comes from the Sufis, who created great books of poetryPoetry is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which language is used in a manner that is felt by its use (which include for example 1001 Arabian Nights, the Rubaiyat of Omar KhayyamThe Rubaiyat is a collection of poems (of which there are about a thousand) by the Persian mathematician and astronomer Omar Khayyam ( 1048- 1122). Rubaiyat" means " quatrains": verses of four lines. Translations The nature of a translation very much depe, the Conference of the BirdsConference of the Birds (Manteq at-Tair, 1177) is a mystic poem by Farid ud-Din Attar of approximately 4500 lines. The poem uses a journey by a group of birds as an allegory of sufism. and the MasnaviThe Masnavi or Masnavi I Ma'navi ( in Persian), also written Mathnawi or Mesnevi is a six book collection of texts, poems, teaching stories and prayers written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the well known Persian Sufi saint and poet. It is con), all of which contain the profound, and hardly graspable, teachings of the Sufis.
Offshoots of Sufism in Africa include, for example, the Muslim brotherhoods of Senegal.