Sufism: The Essentials

For more than a millennium, Sufism has been the core of the spiritual experience of countless Muslims. As the chief mystical tradition of Islam, it has helped to shape the history of Islamic societies. Although it is the Sufi face of Islam that has often appealed to Westerners, Sufis and Sufism remain mysterious to many in the West and are still widely misunderstood. In this new edition, a scholar with long experience of Sufism in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Europe succinctly presents the essentials of Sufism and shows how Sufis live and worship, and why. As well as what Sufism is and where it comes from, the book discusses Sufi orders not only in the Islamic world but also in the West. The political, social and economic significance of Sufism are outlined, and the question of how and why Sufism has become one of the more controversial aspects of contemporary Islamic religious life is addressed. The book assumes no prior knowledge of the subject. It is a penetrating and concise introduction for everyone interested in Islam and Islamic studies.

About the Author :
Mark Sedgwick took his doctorate from the University of Bergen, Norway, in Islamic history. He has been teaching at the American University in Cairo, working on and with Sufis, for more than ten years.

Review :
"Commonly associated with the poetry of Rumi and frequently equated with whirling dervishes, Sufism has often been viewed as a development quite apart from mainstream Islam. Although partially eclipsed in the Middle East, Sufism remains vital in some areas and is gaining popularity in the West, through both the expansion of traditional Sufi orders and the development of 'alternative' practices bearing questionable resemblance to Sufism. Given this situation, a publication introducing the 'essentials' of Sufism seems timely indeed. Sedgwick, an instructor of Islamic history at the American University in Cairo, has written such a book, outlining Sufism's origins, leadership and practices, as well as its changing role in relation to larger communities and nations. The book's greatest strength lies in the author's thesis that Sufism developed within mainstream Islam. He traces reasons for misconceptions about Sufism's origins to racial theories that a religion as 'spiritual' as Sufism could not have derived from the 'Arab mind,' commonly characterized as 'legalistic.' Sedgwick importantly explains that Sufism was marginalized by Muslims, including fundamentalists, who sought to change Islam as a whole by challenging Sufi practices. Not surprisingly, the book's greatest weakness is that it neglects important differences between Sufism and Islam, for instance as expressed in Rumi's language of wine and 'intoxication.' However, the author includes a selection of Sufi hakim, or sayings; left uninterpreted, these effectively provide a certain insight into the spiritual path of Sufism."—Publishers Weekly