eBooks - Politics & Government - Politics - Stephen Schwartz - The Other Islam
The Other Islam eBooks
by Stephen Schwartz
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The Other Islam Summary
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1 The Great Age of Early Sufism The Sufi search for closeness to God began early in Islamic history. For a long time, it was pursued by individuals who had retired from worldly life. Among several interpretations of the word Sufi, the most convincing derives it from the Arabic word for wool (suf), referring to rough clothing worn by self-denying mystics. While all Sufis find the origins of their collective vocation in the Qur'an and hadith, the most basic Islamic religious sources, the later, organized Sufi orders, or tariqas, draw their heritages from one teacher to another until the present day in a silsila, or chain of transmission through the lives of Muslim saints. The scholar Itzchak Weismann has pointed out a detail obvious to any observer of Sufism: the silsilas of Sufi orders are invented and reinvented by latter-day teachers to conform to their own interpretations, and are idealized legacies based on admiration rather than historical or religious documentation. The silsilas of all Sufis begin with two of the outstanding companions of the Prophet Muhammad: Abubakr and Ali Ibn Abi Talib. Both were among the four original successors to Muhammad, or caliphs, in governing the Muslim community. Abubakr is also considered the progenitor of Sunni Islam, and Ali that of the Shia tradition. The great majority of Sufis, however, claim authority from Imam Ali alone. In this way, the Sufis assert their theological legitimacy as well as their continuity in history. While Sufis may formally be either Sunni or Shia, some claim to have transcended the difference, and many Sunni Sufis honor Imam Ali, the hero of the Shias, as the... |
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eBooks - Titles - Authors - Politics & Government - Politics - Stephen Schwartz - The Other Islam