Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam

Sufism, the mystical movement within Islam, in a thousand years of history has influenced powerfully the life, art and literature of the Muslim peoples. It has supplied the element of personal devotion and direct apprehension and practical character of Divine Realities which the more formal and practical character of orthodox ritual tended to overshadow. Thinkers like Ghazali and Ibn al-Farid, Rumi, Hafiz and Jami were greatly inspired by the lives and sayings of the early Sufis. In this volume, Professor Ar berry has written the first short history of Sufism to appear in any language, illustrating the development of its doctrines with copious quotations from its literature.