developing an institute designed to promote and
implement its vision of a humanity that is tolerant,
just, and unified in spirit, if not in the particulars of
traditional beliefs and practices.
The Sufi Order International is not recognized
as a traditional Islamic Sufi order, because its
membership is open to people of all faiths and it
does not promote traditional Islam. Most of its
members are white, middle-class Europeans and
Americans, many of whom have been affiliated
with the order since the 1970s. The order is a
prototypical New Age religion, with its eclectic
embrace of traditional religious practices, its desire
to synthesize science and religion, its expectation
of a dawning New Age of spiritual unity, and its
interest in both Eastern and Western methods of
psychological, physical, and spiritual healing.
J. Gordon MeltonFurther reading: Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan, Awakening: A
Sufi Experience (New York: Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam,
1999); ———, The Message in Our Time: The Life and
Teaching of the Sufi Master, Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan (San
Francisco: Harper and Row, 1978); ———, Toward the
One (1974. Reprint, New York: Harper and Row, 1995).
Sufism
The mystical traditions of Islam are known by the
general term Sufism. This term, which was first
coined at the end of the 19th century by British
scholars in India, refers to the Islam of inward
vision and individual religious experience, but
it also encompasses an assortment of outwardly
oriented doctrines, practices, social organizations,
and literary works that spans many centuries,
regions, and cultures.
The Arabic term on which the word Sufism is
based is tasawwuf, and the individual who follows
this brand of Islam is called a Sufi. Both terms
have been derived from the Arabic word for wool
(suf), unrefined material from which the gar-
ments worn by ascetics in the Middle East were
made. Sufis, however, proposed other etymologies
for the term, including the word safa “to be or
become pure” and suffa, in reference to the bench
on which poor, pious members of Muhammad’s
community in Medina were accustomed to sit
when they gathered in his mosque. Sufis referred
to themselves in other terms as well, such as abid
(slave, devotee), zahid (ascetic), dervish or faqir
(impoverished ascetic); arif (knower of spiritual
truth), salik (spiritual traveler), and ashiq (lover).
They also made differentiations between spiritual
masters, called shaykhs, pirs, or murshids (guides),
and their disciples, known as murids (seekers). A
Sufi saint was known as a wali or friend of God.
Although European scholars once claimed that
Sufism had been mostly borrowed from Eastern
Christian mysticism or Buddhism, the Sufis them-
selves considered Muhammad as their forerunner
and the exemplar for spiritual and moral excel-
lence. They also looked to the most pious members
of the early Muslim community. Such men were
known not only for piety, but also for their ability
to achieve closeness to God through renunciation
of worldly attachments. Historically, Sufism began
with individual ascetics living in Iraq and Iran
during the eighth and ninth centuries. During the
10th and 11th centuries, Sufi adepts began to orga-
nize into groups of masters and their disciples that
developed into mystical orders known as tariqas
or “paths,” each with its own distinct doctrines,
practices, and spiritual genealogy (silsila), which
all members had to study and memorize. Sufis met
in mosques, homes, and madrasas, but their chief
centers were hospices and retreat centers known as
khanqahs, ribats, tekkes, and zawiyas. These usually
contained tombs of former shaykhs and members
of the order, and often became popular shrines that
would attract devotees from near and far seeking
blessings (baraka) from the saint. Conservative
ulama would intermittently attack Sufis for such
practices, considering saint veneration in particular
to be a form of idolatry (shirk) or at best a corrupt
innovation (bidaa). They also condemned the Sufi
dhikr, an ecstatic form of ritual chanting and rhyth-
mic movement that Sufis practiced during their
assemblies, as well as the samaa, a musical form of
dhikr, such as that performed by members of the
mevlevi sUFi order, also known as the Whirling
Dervishes. Sufis for their part criticized jurists forSufism 639 J