Sufism (Taṣawwuf) — the Mystical Path

Sufism is the mystical tradition of Islam — a path of inward purification, love and remembrance aimed at direct experience of God.

At a glance

Sufism, or taṣawwuf, grew from an early ascetic reaction against worldliness and against a religion reduced to outward law. Its practitioners sought to move beyond mere observance to the purification of the heart, the disciplining of the ego, and a felt nearness to God cultivated through the constant remembrance (dhikr) of His name. Figures such as Rābiʿa al-ʿAdawiyya gave it the language of selfless love; al-Junayd of Baghdad gave it a sober, orthodox framework; and the ecstatic al-Ḥallāj gave it a martyr.

In its maturity Sufism produced a vast literature and a metaphysics — above all in Ibn al-ʿArabī — and organised itself into orders (ṭarīqas) gathered around masters and transmitting spiritual method through chains of teachers. Through these orders and the shrines of their saints, Sufism became the everyday devotional face of Islam across much of the world and a great engine of its spread.

The relationship between Sufism and the scholars of law and theology was often creative and sometimes tense; the towering al-Ghazālī is remembered in part for reconciling the mystical path with mainstream orthodoxy.

Related in Chronicle

Curated reference on Islamic belief and thought. On matters where traditions differ, positions are attributed rather than adjudicated; verify points of doctrine with qualified scholars.