is banned in Saudi Arabia, and Sufi orders have
also been banned from Shii iran, where they had
flourished for centuries. Sufi theosophy, known
as irfan, has been embraced in Iran, and has had a
significant influence on Iranian religiosity. Ayatol-
lah rUhollah khomeini (d. 1989) was an enthu-
siastic student of this brand of Islamic mysticism.
Meanwhile, Sufism has found new devotees in
Europe and the Americas among spiritual seekers.
Many, including those not affiliated with any form
of organized Sufism, enjoy reading translations
of the mystical poetry of Jalal al-din rUmi (d.
1273) and watching Mevlevis perform their samaa
dances on stage in concert halls and churches.
See also abd al-qadir al-Jilani; asceticism;
baWa mUhaiyaddeen FelloWship; chishti sUFi
order; colonialism; al-hasan al-basri; ibn al-
arabi, mUhyi al-din; mUllah sadra; murid; mur-
shid; mUsic; rabia al-adaWiyya; shaykh; tariqa;
Wahhabism; ziyara.
Further reading: Carl W. Ernst, Shambhala Guide to
Sufism (Boston: Shambhala, 1997); Carl W. Ernst, ed.,
Teachings of Sufism (Boston: Shambhala, 1999); Ahmet
Karamustafa, God’s Unruly Friends: Dervish Groups in
the Islamic Later Middle Period (Oxford: Oneworld,
2006); Javad Nurbakhsh, Sufi Women, 2d ed. (New
York: Khaniqahi Nimatullahi, 1990); John Renard,
Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment, and
Servanthood (Berkeley: University of California Press,
2008); Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of
Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press,
1975); Abu Abd al-Rahman al-Sulami, Early Sufi Women
(Dhikr al-niswa al-mutabbidat al-sufiyyat). Translated by
Rkia E. Cornell (Louisville, Ky.: Fons Vitae, 1999); J.
Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders of Islam (Oxford:
Oxford University Press, 1971); John O. Voll, Islam:
Continuity and Change in the Modem World (Boulder,
Colo.: Westview Press, 1982).
suicide
A nearly universal aspect of human existence
addressed by religion is that of death and its mean-
ing. In Islam, the most widely accepted view is
that death is a matter that lies in God’s hands—he
determines all things and is the giver of both life
and death. Suicide, the willful taking of one’s own
life is therefore often considered to be morally
wrong and an offense against God in Islam. In
Arabic, it is called intihar and qati nafs. Muslims
believe that suicide victims will be punished in the
aFterliFe. They base this view partly on the Quran,
but mainly in the hadith and the consensus of
Muslim jurists and theologians. Religious tradi-
tion aside, suicide is a phenomenon that occurs
for a variety of different reasons—psychologi-
cal, sociological, and political. Since the 1980s it
has become an urgent matter in many countries
because of the marked increase in the number
of incidents in which Muslims have conducted
deadly attacks on military and civilian targets that
also involved the loss of the attacker’s life. In many
cases explosives are strapped to the attacker’s body
or placed in a vehicle driven by him (or her). They
have therefore been called by their proponents and
opponents “suicide bombings,” “suicide attacks,”
and more recently “martyrdom operations.” al-
qaida’s assaults on the World Trade Center and
the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, are the
most infamous suicide attacks executed in recent
years, involving the deaths of nearly 3,000 people.
Although religious ideology has been involved in
these attacks, the degree to which it has been a
decisive factor is highly disputed.
Suicide was not a significant issue in the Quran
and hadith, and only became so among Muslims
relatively recently. Nevertheless, the issue was
addressed in Islamic tradition. The most relevant
verses in the Quran are Q 4:29–30 and 2:195.
These verses are ambiguous in their meaning,
however. The former, dated to the Medinan period,
includes the command, “Do not kill yourselves....
Whoever does that in enmity and wrongfully, we
will roast him in the Fire.” Traditional commenta-
tors have said that this can be either an injunction
against suicide, or against Muslims killing each
other. The second passage occurs in a section of
Q 2 (also dated to the Medinan period) concern-
ing warfare; it states, “Spend [of your wealth?] on
God’s behalf and do not throw [yourselves] into
danger.” Commentators disagree about what thissuicide 641 J