Sufism - general

Cairo stories
Parable of the elephant
Alastu
Name and reality
Reason and controlled observation vs. experience
Ineffability of mystical experience and knowledge
Sufism as a return to origins
Sufism as the mystical dimension of Islam (Annemarie Schimmel)
- Qur'an
- Hadith
- Non-sectarian
Sufism as devotion to saints, intermediaries
Sufism as turuq, social orders

What is Sufism?

What is Sufism? Doctrinal, social, ritual, discursive aspects
A critical view: Sufism as created, foreign...
- Sufism, Sufi, tasawwuf
- Fundamentalism, Salafism
- Orientalism
- New Age popularity (e.g. Rumi)
Sufism of...
- Asceticism
- Adab (ethics, humility)
- Devotion & Remembrance
- Love as Submission
- Ecstasy
- Knowledge of Unity (wahdat al-wujud)
- Self-perfection (al-insan al-kamil)
Islamic core
- Mystical practices, visions and journeys of the Prophet (Hira, Mi`raj)
- The Awliya or saints: holy men and women of Islam
- Non-sectarian nature: supererogatory practices
Neoplatonic elements
- Christian ascetic elements (monk Buhayra)
- Ancient Middle Eastern religion (Egyptian, Persian...)
Unity (tawhid)
- Inner unity (reality)
- Outer multiplicity (illusion)
Division
- Islam - Iman - Ihsan: outer to inner
- Zahir - Batin: symbolism (signifer to signified)
- Sharia - Tariqa - Haqiqa
- The maqamat, as a series of parallel oppositions (fear/hope, contraction/expansion, baqaa/fanaa)
Order and disorder
- Social: turuq vs. darwish
- Emotional: closeness vs. ecstasy (hal, jadhb, shath)
- Ritual: hadra vs. hal
Manifestations of the Sacred
- Nature
- Traditional arts