SUFI

The Mystical Movement within Islam that began in 8th and 9th centuries, partly as a call to return to a simple ascetic life with devotional practices (eg. the dervish rituals of using the name of God), and partly as a reaction against the excesses of the jurists, the thoelogicans and the philosphers. They developed many Sufi orders (similar to Christian orders or communities), which kept Islam very much alive among the people and became a strong missionary movement. Two well known Sufis are al-Junayd (d.908) and al-Hallaj (d. 922). The latter was crucified for heresy. Another famous sufi is ibn al-Arabi (d. 1240). Perhaps the most famous is al-Ghazali who managed to establish sufiism within orthodox Islam.

The following quotations are taken from this article exploring Sufism in Islam.


Further reading: The Mystics of Islam by Reynold A. Nicholson


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