Ihsaan
William Chittick, Mysticism in Islam, 2003
What then is Sufism? There is no simple answer. It is
certainly not a sect within
Islam. It has nothing to do with the two major
denominations, Sunnism and
Shi'ism, since it has been found in both from
earliest times. Both men and
women and women engage in Sufi practice, and it is
common for some
members of a single family to be Sufis, and for others not to
be. A husband
may be a Sufi, while his wife may not, or vice versa. Certainly,
not every Muslim
is a Sufi, but Sufism has been present wherever there have
been sizable
Muslim populations. This is especially obvious from about the
thirteenth century,
when clearly defined institutions associated with the word
came to be established
Click here to read this essay.
