Sufi studies: a particular branch of comparative studies that uses a.o.the technical lexicon of the Islamic mystics, the Sufis, to exemplify the nature of its ideas; hence the frequent reference to Sufi Orders. It may be divided into two main branches, the orientalist/academic and the spiritual. Orientalism is the study of Near and Far Eastern societies and cultures, by Westerners. ... Plato is credited with the inception of academia: the body of knowledge, its development and transmission across generations. ...

Early Sufi studies in France

The earliest Europeans to study Sufism were French, associated (rightly or wrongly) with the Quietist movement. They were Barthélemy d'Herbelot de Molainville (1625-1695), a professor at the Collège de France who worked from texts available in Europe, François Bernier (1625–1688), the physician of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb who spent 1655-69 in the Islamic world (mostly with Aurangzeb), and François Pétis de la Croix (1653–1713), a diplomat who spent 1674-1676 in Isfahan, where he studied Rumi's Masnavi-ye Manavi and visited the Bektashi order. Quietism is a term with multiple meanings and definitions. ... Barthélemy dHerbelot de Molainville (December 14, 1625 - December 8, 1695), French orientalist, was born at Paris. ... Courtyard of the Collège de France. ... François Bernier (1625 – 1688) was a French physician and traveler, born at Joué-Etiau /Anjou. ... The Mughal Empire (alternative spelling Mogul, which is the origin of the word Mogul) of India was founded by Babur in 1526, when he defeated Ibrahim Lodi, the last of the Delhi Sultans at the First Battle of Panipat. ... Aurangzeb (Persian: (full title: Al-Sultan al-Azam wal Khaqan al-Mukarram Abdul Muzaffar Muhiuddin Muhammad Aurangzeb Bahadur Alamgir I, Padshah Ghazi) (November 3, 1618 – March 3, 1707), also known by his chosen Imperial title Alamgir I (Conqueror of the Universe) (Persian: ), was the ruler of the Mughal Empire from... François Pétis de la Croix (1653 - 1713) was a French orientalist. ... Part of Shah Abbas large urban project in his new capital, the Chahār Bāgh Four Gardens, is a four-kilometer avenue in the city of Isfahan. ... Rumi (born November 29, 1982) is a Persian-Canadian Singer-songwriter and a Photographer who is currently based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. ... The Masnavi or Masnavi I Manavi (مثنوی معنوی in Persian), also written Mathnawi or Mesnevi, is a six book collection of texts, poems, teaching stories and prayers written in Persian by Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi, the well known Persian Sufi saint and poet. ... The Bektashism (Turkish: BektaÅŸilik) is an Islamic Sufi order (tariqat). ...

D'Herbelot's great work, the Bibliothèque orientale (published posthumously in 1697), included an entry on Sufism (as tasawwuf) and detailed entries on Al-Hallaj, Najmeddin Kubra, and Abd-al-karim Jili. There were a number of references to the Masnavi and to Rumi (as Gellaledin Mohammed al Balkhi), and there may also have been entries on them. Sufism is a mystic tradition within Islam that encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to Divine love and the cultivation of the elements of the Divine within the individual human being. ... Al-Hallaj (c. ... Sheikh Najmeddin Kubra was a 13th century famous Persian Sufi from Khwarezmia and was the founder of the Kubrawiya Sufi order. ... عبدالكريم جيلى Abd-al-karim Jili (* 1365; † 1424[1]), was the Sufi author of Al-Insan-ul-Kamil (The Perfect Man). ...

Bernier published an article on Sufism entitled "Mémoire sur le quïetisme des Indes" in the periodical Histoire des Ouvrages des Savans in September 1688. Following this article, there is said to have developed in France a view that the French expression of the creed of Pure Love (Pur Amour/Quietism) was in fact a disguised form of Islam. The debate over Quietism between the bishops Fénelon and Bossuet was remembered as the "Querelle du Pur Amour". Many Quietists (including Jeanne Marie Bouvier de la Motte Guyon) were imprisoned. Others exercised caution and self-censorship. Quietism is a term with multiple meanings and definitions. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... François de Salignac de la Mothe, more commonly known as François Fénelon (1651 - 1715), was a French Roman Catholic theologian, poet and writer. ... Jacques_Benigne Bossuet (September 27, 1627 - April 12, 1704) was a French bishop, theologian, and court preacher. ... Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon Jeanne-Marie Bouvier de la Motte-Guyon (April 13, 1648 - June 9, 1717) was a French mystic and one of the key advocates of Quietism. ...

Pétis de la Croix did not publish himself, but his son (writing later under a pseudonym) gave reasons why he thought "the Mevlevi are perfect Quïetists" (Ahmed Frangui, Lettres critiques de Hadgi Effendi à la Marquise de G... au sujet des mémoires de M. le Chevalier d'Arvieux, Paris, 1735). Whirling Dervishes perform near the Mevlevi Museum in Konya, Turkey. ...

D'Herbelot de Molainville's Bibliothèque orientale went through several editions, one of the last of which was the 1777 edition printed in the Hague. It has been suggested that some entries on Sufi topics that were present in the 1697 edition were absent from the 1777 edition. The word "Sufi" appears (vol 3, p. 329).

Early translations

In 1671, Edward Pococke (1648-1727), the son of Oxford professor Edward Pococke (1604-1691), published a Latin translation of the Hayy Ibn Yakhthan of Ibn Tufayl. This led to a number of other translations, including the English translations of 1674 (by George Keith) and 1686 (by George Ashwell), and a Dutch translation of 1701. The anonymous Dutch translator, "S.D.B.," gave a concise biographical review of the philosophers related to the text: Al Farabi, Avicenna, Al Ghazali, Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Rushd, Junayd, and Mansur Al-Hallaj (with a description of his death and a reference to his famous "Ana al-Haqq"). Hayy Ibn Yakhthan may have partly inspired Robinson Crusoe. Edward Pococke (1604-1691) was an English Orientalist and biblical scholar. ... Ibn Tufail (c. ... Abū Nasr Muhammad ibn al-Farakh al-Fārābi[1] (Persian: ) or Abū Nasr al-Fārābi (in some sources, known as Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzlagh al-Farabi[2]), also known in the West as Alpharabius, Al-Farabi, Farabi, and Abunaser (c. ... For the lunar crater, see Avicenna (crater). ... Abu Hāmed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzālī (1058-1111) (Persian: ), known as Algazel to the western medieval world, born and died in Tus, in the Khorasan province of Persia (modern day Iran). ... Ibn Bajjah ابن باجة Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn al-Sayegh أبو بكر محمد بن يحيى بن الصايغ was an Andalusian Muslim philosopher and physician who was known in the West using his latinized name, Avempace. ... Averroes (1126 - December 10, 1198) was an Andalusi philosopher and physician, a master of philosophy and Islamic law, mathematics and medicine. ... Junayd ibn Muhammad Abu al-Qasim al-Khazzaz al-Baghdadi (830-910) was one of the great early mystics, or Sufis, of Islam. ... Mansur al-Hallaj (Arabic: منصور الحلاج - Mansūr al-Hallāj; Persian: - Mansūr-e Hallāj) (c. ... For other uses, see Robinson Crusoe (disambiguation). ...

In 1812, Joseph von Hammer-Purgstall published a translation of the divan of Hafez, which was received with delight by Goethe, who was inspired by it to publish in 1819 his Westöstlicher Diwan. A Sufi appears in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing’s play Nathan der Weise, first produced in 1779, though it is not clear from where Lessing learned of Sufism, perhaps through his association with Johann Jakob Reiske. Joseph Freiherr von Hammer-Purgstall (June 9, 1774 - November 23, 1856) was an Austrian orientalist. ... Hafez, detail of an illumination in a Persian manuscript of the Divan of Hafez, 18th century. ... Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (pronounced [gø tə]) (August 28, 1749–March 22, 1832) was a German writer, politician, humanist, scientist, and philosopher. ... Gotthold Ephraim Lessing (22 January 1729 – 15 February 1781), writer, philosopher, publicist, and art critic, was one of the most outstanding German representatives of the Enlightenment era. ... Nathan the Wise (original German title Nathan der Weise) is a play by Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, published in 1779. ... Johann Jakob Reiske (December 25, 1716- August 14, 1774), German scholar and physician, was born at Zorbig in Electoral Saxony. ...

In 1821, F.A.G. Thölluck published Ssufismus sive Theosophia persarum pantheistica in Berlin (in Latin).

Early sociological studies

One of the earliest sociological treatments of Sufism is to be found in Sir John Malcolm's 1825 work, The History of Persia, From the Most Early Period to the Present Time, Containing an Account of the Religion, Government, Usages and Character of the Inhabitants of that Kingdom. Malcolm's treatment, though interesting, is not well informed. Sir John Malcolm (1769‑1833) was a Scottish soldier, statesman, and historian, born at Burnfoot, Dumfriesshire on the 2nd of May, 1769. ...

In An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians written in Egypt during the years 1833-1835 (1836) Edward William Lane noted, and illustrated with his own woodcuts, his close observations of the Rifa'i derwishes while living in Cairo "in disguise". The success of his work also introduced the success of the "disguise". Sir Richard Burton's Personal Narrative of a Pilgrimage to El-Medinah and Meccah (3 vol.1855-1856) was undertaken while travelling as a Qadiri, and Armin Vambéry reached Baveddin near Bokhara to visit the shrine of Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari in 1863 in the guise of a murid. Voyage dans l'Asie Centrale, de Téhéran a Khiva, Bokhara et Samarkand, par Arminius Vambéry, savant Hongrois déguisé en derviche was the subject of four instalments of the popular and copiously illustrated "Le Tour Du Monde, Nouveau Journal Des Voyages (Edouard Charton)" Paris, Londres, Leipzig 1865, deuxième semestre -Hachette et Cie ed. Edward William Lane (1801 - 1876), Arabic scholar, son of a prebendary of Hereford, where he was born, began life as an engraver, but going to Egypt in search of health, devoted himself to the study of Oriental languages and manners, and adopted the dress and habits of the Egyptian man... The Rifai (also Rufai) are a Sufi order most commonly found in the Arab Middle East but also in Turkey and the Balkans. ... Richard Burton, portrait by Frederic Leighton, National Portrait Gallery, London Sir Richard Francis Burton (March 19, 1821 - October 19, 1890), British consul, explorer, translator, and Orientalist, was born at Barham House, Hertfordshire, England. ... Qadiriyyah, one of the oldest Sufi tariqa, derives its name from Abd al-Qadir al-Djilani (1077-1166), a native of the Iranian province of Gilan. ... For other uses, see Bukhara (disambiguation). ... Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari (1318 – 1389) was the founder of what would become one of the largest and most influential Sufi Muslim orders, the Naqshbandi. ... Murid (Arabic: مريد ) is a Sufi term meaning committed one. It refers to a person who is committed to a teacher in the spiritual path of Sufism. ...

The "disguise" was by no means superficial and necessitated a variety of resources in linguistics and social integration that left marks far beyond the mere popular success of travelogues. Travel literature is literature which records the people, events, sights and feelings of an author who is touring a foreign place for the pleasure of travel. ...

Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the resistance to the European conquest of North Africa was often led by Sufis, notably Abd al-Qadir and later the Sanusi order. This drew further attention to Sufis and Sufism, and a number of studies were performed and published. These generally suffered from their authors' preoccupations with security. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... The Senussi or Sanusi are Muslim nomads who live in the Libyan Desert, many of whom raise camels and goats. ...

Aguéli to Guénon

One line of 20th century Sufi studies that came to fruition in the West appears to have been born from many colors in a painters workshop.[1] It was the Swedish painter Ivan Aguéli [2] who -inspired by the quasi occult tradition (Symbolist painters, Les Nabis) developing en marge of the great workshops of Paul Gauguin and Emile Bernard- took his intellectual search into the realm of Sufism proper. This culminated into his initiation, in Egypt, by Sheikh Rahman Elish Kabir into the Shadhili tariqa. Color is an important part of the visual arts. ... Ivan Abd Al-Hadi Aguéli (Johan Gustaf Agelii or Sheikh Abd Al-Hadi Aqhili), (Sala, Kingdom of Sweden May 24, 1869 - Barcelona, Spain October 1, 1917) was a Swedish-born Impressionist painter and Sufi scholar. ... Symbolist painters were part of a 19th century movement in which art became infused with mysticism, and by the closely allied Symbolist movement in literature. ... Nabis (or Les Nabis; the prophets, from the Hebrew term for prophet) was a group of young post-impressionist avant-garde Parisian artists of the 1890s that influenced the fine arts and graphic arts in France at the turn of the 20th century. ... Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin (7 June 1848 – 8 May 1903) was a leading Post-Impressionist painter. ... Émile Bernard (1868-April 16, 1941) was a French painter who worked with such artists as Vincent van Gogh, Paul Gauguin and Paul Cézanne. ... Sufism is a mystic tradition within Islam that encompasses a diverse range of beliefs and practices dedicated to Divine love and the cultivation of the elements of the Divine within the individual human being. ... The Tariqa ash Shadhiliya is a Sufi order founded by Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili. ... This article is in need of attention. ...

When he returned to Paris from his travels in the East in 1909, he found a mind receptive to his own spiritual affiliation in the person of René Guénon whom in turn he initiated into the Shadhili Order (1912).René Guénon -who finally settled in Cairo where he died (1951) a convert to Islam under his adopted name of Abdel Wahid Yahia- had an enormous influence on a circle of friends centered around the periodical "La Gnose", that he had started in 1909. This circle pooled the resources of a.o. Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt, Marco Pallis, Ananda Coomaraswamy, Martin Lings e.a., each with his own focus on Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism ... (see also: Gershom Scholem on Judaism, Kabbalah) This article is about the capital of France. ... For other uses, see Person (disambiguation). ... René Jean Marie Joseph Guénon (November 15, 1886 – January 7, 1951) also named Sheikh Abd al-Wahid Yahya upon his acceptance of Islam, was a French-born author. ... The Tariqa ash Shadhiliya is a Sufi order founded by Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili. ... René Jean Marie Joseph Guénon (November 15, 1886 – January 7, 1951) also named Sheikh Abd al-Wahid Yahya upon his acceptance of Islam, was a French-born author. ... For other uses, see Cairo (disambiguation). ... Frithjof Schuon (June 18, 1907 – May 5, 1998) is a metaphysician, poet, painter, and a leading figure of traditional metaphysics. ... Titus Burckhardt, a German Swiss, was born in Florence in 1908 and died in Lausanne in 1984. ... Marco Pallis (1895-1989) was a British-born mystic, mountaineer, and author with close affiliations to the Traditionalist School. ... Dr. A.K. Coomaraswamy // Life of Dr. A.K. Coomaraswamy Ananda Kentish Coomaraswamy (22 August 1877 Colombo - 9 September 1947 Needham, Massachusetts) was the son of the famous Sri Lankan legislator and philosopher Sir Mutu Coomaraswamy and his English wife Elizabeth Beeby. ... Martin Lings Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din) (January 24, 1909 – May 12, 2005) was a lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon and a British scholar of Sufism. ... For people named Islam, see Islam (name). ... Buddhism, a Dharmic faith, is usually considered one of the worlds major religions, with between 230 to 500 million followers. ... Hinduism is a religious tradition[1] that originated in the Indian subcontinent. ... Gershom Scholem (born December 5, 1897 in Berlin, died February 21, 1982 in Jerusalem), also known as Gerhard Scholem, was a German-born Jewish philosopher and historian. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... This article is about traditional Jewish Kabbalah. ...

René Guénon focused on a measure of criticism towards what he called "solidified" (petrified) forms of initiation in the West; Freemasonry in particular which he sought to revive in reference to Emir Abd Al-Qadir whose name was widely respected among Masons. René Jean Marie Joseph Guénon (November 15, 1886 – January 7, 1951) also named Sheikh Abd al-Wahid Yahya upon his acceptance of Islam, was a French-born author. ... Freemasons redirects here. ... This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ...

If one looks at the aspect of Sufi initiation proper the following background to René Guénon's brand of "Perennial Tradition" emerges. Through his affiliation with the Shadhili Order he was branched to the Akbari chain, going back to the "Greatest Sheikh" -Shaykh Al-Akbar- Ibn Arabi. René Jean Marie Joseph Guénon (November 15, 1886 – January 7, 1951) also named Sheikh Abd al-Wahid Yahya upon his acceptance of Islam, was a French-born author. ... The Tariqa ash Shadhiliya is a Sufi order founded by Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili. ... For the Maliki scholar, see Ibn al-Arabi. ...

Abd Al-Qadir and al-Tijani

The Akbari already had a history of initiation in Western Europe in the person of Emir Abd Al-Qadir, the noble opponent of the French in their colonial struggle over Algeria, who they had held sequestered at the Château d'Amboise (1848-1853). In 1858 the Imprimerie Nationale (Paris) had printed his "Rappel à l'Intelligent; avis à l'Ignorant", an essay he had sent to the Société Asiatique in 1855. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... it doesnt exist ...

The Emir Abd Al-Qadir had been initiated into the Naqshbandi by Sheikh Diya al-Din Khalid Al-Sharazuri and into the Qadiri by his own father Sidi Muhiuddin who led a North African branch of the Qadiri Order. In 1863, during his Hajj, he met with Muhammed al-Fasi al-Shadili, who became his last living teacher, in Mekka. Muhammad al-Fasi al-Shadili's proper teacher had been initiated into the Shadhili by al-Arabi ad-Darqawi, some of whose letters were translated by Martin Lings (1961); they form the background to Martin Lings' outline of the autobiographical writings of Ahmad al-Alawi, who was linked to the Shadhili through ad-Darqawi. Sheikh Ahmad al-Alawi died in 1932. This article or section does not cite any references or sources. ... Naqshbandi (Naqshbandiyya) is one of the major Tasawwuf orders (tariqa) of Islam. ... Qadiriyyah, one of the oldest Sufi tariqa, derives its name from Abd al-Qadir al-Djilani (1077-1166), a native of the Iranian province of Gilan. ... The Tariqa ash Shadhiliya is a Sufi order founded by Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili. ... Martin Lings Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din) (January 24, 1909 – May 12, 2005) was a lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon and a British scholar of Sufism. ... Martin Lings Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj Ad-Din) (January 24, 1909 – May 12, 2005) was a lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon and a British scholar of Sufism. ... Ahmad ibn Mustafa al-Alawi (1869–14 July 1934), (Arabic: أحمد بن مصطفى العلاوي), was the founder of one of the most important modern Sufi Muslim orders, the Darqawiyya Alawiyya, a branch of the Shadhiliyya. ... The Tariqa ash Shadhiliya is a Sufi order founded by Abu-l-Hassan ash-Shadhili. ...

An approach from a different angle may be traced to Sheikh Ahmad al-Tijani who died in Fez in 1815 and was said to be the inheritor of the "paths" of his time, a.o. Qadiri and Shadili. The Tijāniyyah (Arabic: الطريقة التجانية, transliterated: Al-Ṭarīqah al-Tijāniyyah, or The Tijānī Path) is a sufi ṭarīqah (order, path) originating in North Africa but now more widespread in West Africa, particularly in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Northern Nigeria and Sudan. ... Fes redirects here. ...

Sheikh Hammalah ben Mohammed ben Sidna Omar, who died in forced exile to France, lies buried in Montluçon, France. He was the former Qutub al Zaman of the Tijaniyyah. A moving account of the circumstances of his death is given by the great African traditionalist and cultural ambassador Amadou Hampâté Bâ, himself a Tijani, in the biography of his own sheikh, Tierno Bokar. The Tijāniyyah (Arabic: الطريقة التجانية, transliterated: Al-ṬarÄ«qah al-Tijāniyyah, or The TijānÄ« Path) is a sufi á¹­arÄ«qah (order, path) originating in North Africa but now more widespread in West Africa, particularly in Senegal, Mauritania, Mali, and Northern Nigeria and Sudan. ... Amadou Hampâté Bâ (January or February 1900 or 1901 in Bandiagara, Mali – May 15, 1991 in Abidjan, Ivory Coast) was a Malian writer and ethnologist. ...

Massignon to Nasr

Thus the current into which the friends of the Traditionalist School had tapped proved to be a lively one. René Guénon's wish to edit a series of Sufi translations was frustrated, but in the meantime Louis Massignon had prepared himself for the task. By 1922, his introduction to the technical lexicon of Sufism and the Passion of Al-Hallaj initiated the first line of textual study, translation and publication of sources that developed into the watershed of which the chief engineers were Henry Corbin and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. The Traditionalist School of thought (not to be confused with Traditionalist Catholicism), attained its current form with the French metaphysician René Guénon, although its precepts are considered to be timeless and to be found in all authentic traditions. ... René Jean Marie Joseph Guénon (November 15, 1886 – January 7, 1951) also named Sheikh Abd al-Wahid Yahya upon his acceptance of Islam, was a French-born author. ... Louis Massignon (July 25, 1883–October 31, 1962) was a French scholar of Islam and its history. ... Al-Hallaj (c. ... Henry Corbin (14 April 1903 - October 7, 1978) was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. ... Nasr is an internationally acclaimed scholar [1]. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, (Persian: سيد حسين نصر) A lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, Persian philosopher and renowned scholar of comparative religion, is a prominent authority in the fields of Islamic esoterism, sufism, philosophy of science, and metaphysics. ...

Since the observation is pertinent that thus far the watershed is fed from a distinct French sphere of influence, a mental exercise is needed to broaden the view. It is clear that Seyyed Hossein Nasr's participation in the collaboration with Henry Corbin infused this field with a genuine consideration for some of the finer aspects (Irfan) of Islamic culture as seen from a proper native source – Iran – and adding a distinct contemporary sting to ecology. Nasr is an internationally acclaimed scholar [1]. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, (Persian: سيد حسين نصر) A lifelong student and follower of Frithjof Schuon, Persian philosopher and renowned scholar of comparative religion, is a prominent authority in the fields of Islamic esoterism, sufism, philosophy of science, and metaphysics. ... Henry Corbin (14 April 1903 - October 7, 1978) was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France. ... Irfan (Arabic/Persian: عرفان) literally means knowing. ... For the journal, see Ecology (journal). ...

It may be interesting to compare two contributions to Sufi studies from this same angle -1°)Seyyed Hossein Nasr "Revelation, Intellect and Reason in the Qu'ran" in "Sufi Essays" -London and Albany, New York 1972. -2°)Reza Arasteh:"Psychology of the Sufi Way to Individuation." in "Sufi Studies East and West" Rushbrook Williams ed. New York 1973. Both describe the control over the "nafs", the spiritual "breaths" that color man's essential character; a study comparing intelligence in its western and eastern traditional form. Pr. Arasteh had already introduced this "Sufi Way" in his academical work on psychiatric theory ("Final Integration in Adult Personality" Brill Leiden 1965).

Idries Shah

Professor Reza Arasteh M.D.(remembered for his correspondence [3] with Thomas Merton) wrote in honour of Sayyid Idries Shah, whose stature as a scholar was as fiercely disputed as his communication to a general public was successful. Nevertheless Sayyid Idries Shah caused the English feed of the watershed to be explored – through his own accessible style of writing, by providing affordable publications of great classical texts, and rebelliously askew on the niceties of an Oxford/Cambridge kind of rivalry over Pr. Nicholson and Pr. Arberry – and to exactly what extent can now easely be verified by the student willing to compare for himself the 11 naqshbandi Rules/Exercise-aims listed by Sayyid Idries Shah in "Oriental Magic"(chapter VII) in 1957(!) with those presently divulged through the proper channel [4]. They are indeed the same. Thomas Merton (January 31, 1915 – December 10, 1968) was one of the most influential Catholic authors of the 20th century. ... Idries Shah (16 June 1924–23 November 1996) (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayyid Idris al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس الهاشمي), was an author in the Naqshbandi sufist tradition on works ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies, and was descended from the revered family, the Sadaat of... Idries Shah (16 June 1924–23 November 1996) (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayyid Idris al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس الهاشمي), was an author in the Naqshbandi sufist tradition on works ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies, and was descended from the revered family, the Sadaat of... Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (born 1868 in Keighley, Yorkshire, died in 1945, Chester, Cheshire) was a British orientalist. ... Arthur John Arberry (1905 - 1969) was a respected scholar of Arabic and Islamic studies. ... Idries Shah (16 June 1924–23 November 1996) (Persian: ادریس شاه), also known as Idris Shah, né Sayyid Idris al-Hashimi (Arabic: سيد إدريس الهاشمي), was an author in the Naqshbandi sufist tradition on works ranging from psychology and spirituality to travelogues and culture studies, and was descended from the revered family, the Sadaat of...

"Oriental Magic" was read as a comparative study at the London Ethnological Institute. [N.B. The claim on the English book jacket that Shah was a member of an unidentified 'Institute of Ethnology' has not been verified – see also [5]. Sufi studies in general are directed as comparative studies of human understanding, and can be read as essays in psychosociology (see: Albert Hourani on "Marshall Hodgson and the Venture of Islam" in "Islam in European Thought" – Cambridge University Press 1991). Ethnology (greek ethnos: (non-greek, barbarian) people) is a genre of anthropological study, involving the systematic comparison of the folklore, beliefs and practices of different societies. ... Albert Habib Hourani (Arabic: ألبرت حبيب حوراني) (March 31, 1915 – January 17, 1993) was a prominent scholar of Middle Eastern history through much of the 20th century. ... Marshall G.S. Hodgson (1922 - 1968), was an Islamic scholar and a world historian at the University of Chicago. ...

Margaret Smith

Special note could be taken of the little cited but brilliant academic Margaret Smith who wrote (1925-1935) on the history of mysticism in the Near and Middle East from a woman's perspective leading to classic pages on early Christian mysticism, women in the early Christian Church, Christianity and Islam at the beginning of the Islamic era (see:Hanif), the rise of Sufism and the early ascetic ideal. Two exemplaries of her subject matter she studied in closer detail: Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya and Harith al-Muhasibi. Margaret Smith was a woman academic writing on early Christian and Muslim mysticism from an openminded Christian perspective. ... (Arabic , plural حنفاء) is an Arabic term that refers to pre-Islamic non-Jewish nor Christian Arabian monotheists. ... Rabi’a al-‘Adawiyya (717-801 C.E.) was an 8th c. ...

The summary of her work reposes in her:

" Studies in Early Mysticism in the Near and Middle East. Being an account of the rise and development of Christian mysticism up to the seventh century, of the subsequent development of mysticism in Islam, known as Sufism, and of the relationship between Christian and Islamic Mysticism with references, a bibliography and two indexes "

Dedicated to the memory of Thomas Walker Arnold

London, 1931 -The Sheldon Press; reprinted 1973 by Philo Press cv, Amsterdam.

Sir Thomas Walker Arnold (1864-1930) was an eminent British orientalist who taught at MAO College, Aligarh, and Government College, Lahore. ...

Later academics

By the end of the twentieth century, the academic study of Sufism was well established in university departments of religious studies. Religious studies is the designation commonly used in the English-speaking world for a multi-disciplinary, secular study of religion that dates to the late 19th century in Europe (and the influential early work of such scholars as Friedrich Max Müller, in England, and Cornelius P. Tiele, in the...

The perspectives of these later scholars varied. Some were purely scientific, while some followed in the line of Massignon, or (sometimes privately) in the line of Guénon and the Traditionalists, modified somewhat for an academic environment. Louis Massignon (July 25, 1883–October 31, 1962) was a French scholar of Islam and its history. ... The Traditionalist School of thought (not to be confused with Traditionalist Catholicism), attained its current form with the French metaphysician René Guénon, although its precepts are considered to be timeless and to be found in all authentic traditions. ...

For a contemporary academical "state of the art" see: " Sufism in the West", bibliography pp 190-202 ( Jamal Malik and John Hinnells ed. Routledge: London and New York, 2006 )

References

• Robin Waterfield: "René Guénon and the future of the West" -Crucible/The Aquarian Press, 1987
• Abd Al-Qadir: "Lettre aux Français" (=Avis à l'Ignorant) -ed.du Seuil, 1982
• Martin Lings: "A Muslim Saint of the XXth Century" -Allan and Unwinn, 1962
• Martin Lings: "Letters of a Sufi Master" -Perennial Books, ?
• Amadou Hampâté Bâ: "Vie et enseignement de Tierno Bokar" ed.du Seuil, 1980
• Ernst Bannerth: "Aspects humain de la Shadhilliya en Egypte" -M.I.D.E.O. 11, le Caire 1972
• René Guénon: "Aperçus sur l'esoterisme islamique et le Taoisme" -Gallimard, 1973
• Idries Shah: "The Sufis" -Doubleday New York, 1964 (introduction by Robert Graves)
• Idries Shah: "Oriental magic" -Paladin, 1973
• Seyyed Hosseyn Nasr: "Sufi Essays" -London and Albany New York, 1972
• Prof. L.F.Rushbrook Williams ed. "Sufi Studies: East and West" -The Octagon Press, 1974
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr: "Islamic Countries" in Handbook of World Philosophy -John Burr ed. London, 1980
• Laleh Bakhtiar: "Sufi: expressions of the mystic quest" -Thames and Hudson, 1976
• Thierry Zarcone: "Mystiques, Philosophes et Franc-Maçons en Islam" -Jean Maisonneuve ed. Paris, 1993
• Butrus Abu-Maneh: "The Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya in the Ottoman lands in the early 19th century" in "Die Welt des Islams XXII (1982 erschienen 1984)
• Jamal Malik and John Hinnells ed: "Sufism in the West" London and New York: Routledge, 2006

External links

• Sergio Fritz Roa: *Estudios sobre Sufismo Sitio web dedicado al Tasawwuf (Sufismo), con material acerca de las diversas turuq (cofradías sufíes).