Sufism By: Ian Worthington

Basic Tenants The Spiritual Journey to God: Less of a doctrine then a way of life Way of life that a deeper identity is discovered and lived Harmony with all that exists Seeks a way out of the path of “worldliness” Developed out of Islam Ibn Khaldun, the 14th century Arab historian, described Sufism as:... dedication to worship, total dedication to Allah most High, …. (Ibn Khaldun, quoted in Keller, Nuh Ha Mim, The Place of Tasawwuf in Traditional Islam) A Gathering of Dervishes - India, 17th century A Gathering of Sufis, Persian 19th century miniature

Span of Influence The tomb of Khoja Afāq, near Kashgar, China Sudanese Sufi ceremony Sufism expanded vastly throughout the Islamic Empire and beyond to many places not under Muslim control A Qadiri Sufi village in Dongxiang county, Linxia prefecture, Gansu province. The tower is a Sufi tomb

Dervishes Dervishes are a very ascetic form of Sufi mystics known for their extreme poverty. Dervishes: Mevlâna mausoleum, Konya, Turkey A Persian dervish, Qajar era درویش Persian or Arabic for Dervish Dar is Persian means ‘door.’ A Darvesh is one who goes from door to door Dervishes in Turkey became known for the whirling dances they performed

Sufism in Turkey and Central Asia Sufism laid the ground work for the Ottoman Empire in Turkey Sufi presence in Transoxania and Khorasan since its conception A Sufi dervish, they spread Islam throughout Anatolia Muslim presence in Iran and Afganistan

Sufism in South and Southeast Asia Tomb of Shaikh Salim Chisti, Uttar Pradesh, India Sufi singers in Indonesia Chisti Sufis and Seljuk invasions helped the spread of sufism into India 18 th Century Dutch map of Java, prominent religious groups included Sufi mystics

Spread of Sufism Sufism spreads into Africa and establishes a community in the larger already present Islamic community 3. Sufism moves with the expansion of seljuks into India 4. Sufi mystics move along trade routes into China and SouthEast Asia 5. Sufism spreads into Indonesia 1.Sufism spreads from Arabian heartlands and moves into Anatolia

Literature In order to guide spiritual travelers and to express the states of consciousness experienced on this journey, Sufis produced an enormously rich body of literature, often using a specialized technical vocabulary The Mathnawī of Rūmī "The Concourse of the Birds" painted by Habib Allah Comprising six books of poems that amount to more than 50,000 lines, it pursues its way through 424 stories that illustrate man's predicament in his search for God.

Bibliography Nasr, Syed Hossein. (1991). Islamic Spirituality II: Manifestations. New York: Crossroad. Dr. Alan Godlas, University of Georgia, Sufism's Many Paths, 2000, University of Georgia: Dr. Zubair Fattani, "The meaning of Tasawwuf", Islamic Academy. See: Haddad, Gibril Fouad: Sufism in Islam LivingIslam.org: Geaves, Theodore Gabriel, Yvonne Haddad, Jane Idleman Smith: Islam and the West Post 9/11, Ashgate Publishing Ltd., p. 67 Muhammad Emin Er, Laws of the Heart: A Practical Introduction to the Sufi Path, Shifâ Publishers, 2008 " Ṣ ūfi literature." Encyclopædia Britannica Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 07 Oct <