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Aspect of Islamic history
Sufism

Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam in which Muslims seek divine love and truth through direct personal experience of God. This mystic tradition within Islam developed in several stages of growth, emerging first in the form of early asceticism, based on the teachings of Hasan al Basri, before entering the second stage of more classical mysticism of divine love, as promoted by al Ghazali and Attar of Nishapur, and finally emerging in the institutionalized form of today's network of fraternal Sufi orders, based on Sufis such as Rumi and Yunus Emre.

The exact origin of Sufism is disputed. Some sources state that Sufism is the inner dimensions of the teachings of Muhammad whereas others say that Sufism emerged during the Islamic Golden Age from about the eighth to tenth centuries. According to Ibn Khaldun Sufism was already practiced by the Sahaba, but with the spread of material tendencies, the term Sufi was just applied to those who emphasize the spiritual practice of Islam.

Abu Bakr Muhammad Zakaria states in his book "Hindusiyat wa Tasur" that Kamel Amiel al Shaibi and Abdullah Waris Bin Ishaq in separate texts say that the first person to use the word Sufi was Abu Hashem al Kufi (2nd century AH), and Ibn Taymiyya said in his Majmual Fatwa that Basra was a center of Sufism at that time. Ahmet Karamustafa describes renunciation (زُهد zuhd) as a widespread form of piety in Muslim communities in the first century of Abbasid rule.

A distinct practice of piety associated with introspection, drawing from different practices and ideas, took form in Baghdad in the second half of the ninth century. Members of the first generation of Sufis in Baghdad included Harith al Muhasibi, Abu Hamza al Baghdadi (Sufi) [ar], Abu Sa'id al Kharraz, Abu al Husain al Nuri, Junayd al Baghdadi, Ruwaym, and Khayr an Nassaj [ar]. A following generation included Abu Bakr al Shibli, Al Jurayri [ar], Rudbari, and Ja'far al Khuldi [ar]. According to the late medieval mystic Jami, Abd Allah ibn Muhammad ibn al Hanafiyyah (died c. 716) was the first person to be called a "Sufi". Two of al Ghazali's greatest treatises, the "Revival of Religious Sciences" and the "Alchemy of Happiness," depicted Sufism as the complete fulfilment of Islamic Law. This became the mainstream position among Islamic scholars for centuries, challenged only recently on the basis of Orientalism and Wahhabism. All Sufi orders claim a direct chain of leadership to Muhammad, through Ali, with the exception of the Naqshbandis who claim a direct connection to Muhammad through Abu Bakr. In the eleventh century, Sufi orders (Tariqa) were instrumental in the institutional spread of Sufism.

Beginning in the ninth century and continuing throughout the tenth century, al Andalus was home to fairly strict, orthodox beliefs and practices. Quranic studies and jurisprudence (fiqh) were the accepted and promoted types of scholarship that shaped the region's beliefs and practices. Early fuqaha in Spain were somewhat skeptical of philosophical thought as well as of Sufism. In later centuries, especially the twelfth and thirteenth, Sufism became more accepted and somewhat assimilated into Andalusi Islam. Scholars have generally seen this later flourishing in two different ways. For some, it reflects the influence of the mystical tradition in Cordoba attributed to Ibn Masarra. Others give exclusive credit to the influence of eastern mystics, most often including al Ghazali's thoughts and teachings. One figure in particular has often been credited as being the earliest introduction of Sufism to Spain: Ibn Masarra. He lived from 883 to 931 and was born outside of Cordoba. Many consider him to have established the first Sufi school in the province; however, his teachings were outside of the so called "mainstream" Sufism that was more common in the East during his lifetime. With Ibn Masarra there was a “brief flowering” of Sufism in Spain, and later Spanish Sufis reflected his influence on them. After Ibn Masarra's death, in 940 his followers fell under heavy persecution under the jurists who destroyed Ibn Masarra's works and also forced his followers to recant. The effects of his thought and that of his disciples would appear again in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries amidst later Sufis such as Ibn Arabi. By the twelfth century, shifts towards the acceptance—or at least tolerance—of philosophy and Sufism into what had previously been strictly orthodox beliefs were occurring. Many people began to read and translate the works of philosophers such as Aristotle and Plato. At the forefront of the philosophical movement in Spain were Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Tufail, Ibn Rushd, and a Jewish scholar named Ibn Maimun. Ibn Tufail introduced the element of Sufism into this philosophical way of thinking. Andalusi Sufism was at its peak at this time. Also at this time, eastern Sufism was developing more as a communal movement, whereas that of the West (including in al Andalus), it remained largely an individual pursuit. A group of Sufi masters who defended the works of theosophists such as Ghazali and al Qushayri began emerging in the late eleventh and early to mid twelfth centuries. Abu l ‘Abbas ibn al ‘Arif (1088 1141) was one of the most prominent Sufis in Spain and one of the earliest ones during Sufism's peak in the peninsula. Ibn al Arif was one of the first to interpret Ghazali in the West, and he also founded a method of spiritual training called tariqah. Ibn Barrajan (d. 1141), who a student and friend of Ibn al ‘Arif, lived and taught in Seville but was originally from North Africa, has been called the Ghazali of the West. Ibn Barrajan and Ibn al ‘Arif were both tried for heresy because their views conflicted with those of the Almoravids in power; however, Ibn Barrajan appears to have been more active in using Sufism as a means of challenging Quranic scholars and jurists. Ibn Arabi, another key figure of this period of Sufism in the region, was born in Murcia in 1165 at the beginning of the Almohad reign. He is one of the most important Sufis of Spain, although he like many other Andalusi Sufis would eventually leave the peninsula and travel throughout North Africa and the East. His works in Andalusia focused mainly on the perfect human individual, monastic metaphysics, and mystical path to spiritual and intellectual perfection. Central themes of Ibn 'Arabi's were the unity of all beings, or “wahdat al wujud,” and also how God reflects God's self in the world. According to Ibn ‘Arabi, the main practices of Andalusi Sufis included ascesis, poverty, and devotion to the Qur’an. Not long after the death of Ibn ‘Arabi, al Andalus experienced a “spiritual aridity” in the mid fourteenth century. The one exception to that trend was Ibn Abbad al Rundi (1332 1390), a member of the Shadhiliyya order who was born in Ronda and whose scholarship brought together mystical and juridical paths. His work helped Sufism become more accepted within the Islamic sciences. Although Sufism would no longer directly be a part of Andalusi life after the Catholic Monarchs reconquered all Spain, some have seen Sufism's lasting influence in Spain.

In the medieval period, Islam and Sufism were practically synonyms and a distinction between Sufism and Islamic orthodoxy virtually absent. The heterodoxy of mysticism, in contrast to formal theology, enabled Islam to survive during the Turko Mongol period in the thirteenth Century. Under Turko Mongolian rulership, Sufi authors and teachings such as those of Ahmad Yasawi, Abu al Najib Suhrawardi, Rumi and Sultan Walad, a leading interpreter of the ibn Arabi, flourished throughout the Islamic world. Authors such as Ahmad Yasawi and Yunus Emre spread Sufism and Perso Arabic ideas through Anatolia and Central Asia. Sufism was an important factor in the historical spread of Islam, and in the creation of regional Islamic cultures, especially in Africa and Asia. Recent academic work on these topics has focused on the role of Sufism in creating and propagating the culture of the Ottoman world, including a study of the various branches of the Naqshbandi and Khalwati orders, and in resisting European imperialism in North Africa and South Asia.

Muslims of South Asia prominently follow the Chishtiyya, Naqshbandiyyah, Qadiriyyah and Suhrawardiyyah orders. Of them the Chishti order is the most visible. Khwaja Moinuddin Chishti, a disciple of Khwaja Usman Harooni, the propounder of this order, introduced it in India. He came to India from Afghanistan with the army of Shihab ud Din Ghuri in 1192 AD and started living permanently in Ajmer from 1195. Centuries later, with the support of Mughal rulers, his shrine became a place of pilgrimage. Akbar used to visit the shrine every year. Turkic conquests in South Asia were accompanied by four Sufi mystics of the Chishtiyya order from Afghanistan: Moinuddin (d. 1233 in Ajmer), Qutbuddin (d. 1236 in Delhi), Nizamuddin (d.1335 in Delhi) and Fariduddin (d.1265 in Pakpattan now in Pakistan) During the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq, who spread the Delhi sultanate towards the south, the Chistiyya spread its roots all across India. The Sufi shine at Ajmer in Rajasthan and Nizamuddin Auliya in Delhi, Ashraf Jahangir Semnani in Kichaucha Shariff belong to this order. The Suharawardi order was started by Abu al Najib Suhrawardi, a Persian Sufi born in Sohrevard near Zanjan in Iran, and brought to India by Baha ud din Zakariya of Multan. The Suhrawardiyyah order of Sufism gained popularity in Bengal. In addition, the Suhrawardiyyah order, under the leadership of Abu Hafs Umar al Suhrawardi (d. 1234), also bequeathed a number of teachings and institutions that were influential in shaping other order that emerged during later periods. The Khalwati order was founded by Umar al Khalwati, an Azerbaijani Sufi known for undertaking long solitary retreats in the wilderness of Azerbaijan and northwestern Iran. While the Indian subcontinent branches of the order did not survive into modern times, the order later spread into the Ottoman Empire and became influential there after it came under persecution by the rise of the Safavid Shahs during the sixteenth century.

Sufism in Bangladesh is more or less similar to that in the whole Indian subcontinent. India, it is claimed, is one of the five great centers of Sufism, the other four being Persia (including central Asia), Baghdad, Syria, and North Africa. Sufi saints flourished in Hindustan (India) preaching the mystic teachings of Sufism that easily reached the common people, especially the spiritual truth seekers in India. Sufism in Bangladesh is also called pirism, after the pirs or teachers in the Sufi tradition (also called Fakir). The Sufism tremendously influenced local population and thus these Sufi masters were the single most important factor in South Asian conversions to Islam, particularly in what is now Bangladesh. Most Bangladeshi Muslims are influenced to some degree by Sufism. The conversion to Islam of the population of what was to become Bangladesh began in the thirteenth century and continued for hundreds of years. Muslim pirs who wandered about in villages and towns were responsible for many conversions. A majority of Bangladeshi Muslims perceive Sufis as a source of spiritual wisdom and guidance and their Khanqahs and Dargahs as nerve centers of Muslim society These majority of Muslims in Bangladesh are Sunni, who mainly follow the Hanafi school of thought (madh'hab).

Current Sufi orders include Ba 'Alawiyya, Chishti, Khalwati, Naqshbandi, Nimatullahi, Oveyssi, Qadria Noshahia, Qadiria Boutshishia, Qadiriyyah, Qalandariyya, Sarwari Qadiri, Shadhliyya, Tijaniyyah, and Suhrawardiyya. Sufism is popular in such African countries as Morocco and Senegal, where it is seen as a mystical expression of Sunni Islam. Sufism is traditional in Morocco but has seen a growing revival with the renewal of Sufism around contemporary spiritual teachers such as Sidi Hamza al Qadiri al Boutshishi. Sufism suffered setbacks in North Africa during the colonial period; the life of the Algerian Sufi master Emir Abd al Qadir is instructive in this regard. Notable as well are the lives of Amadou Bamba and Hajj Umar Tall in sub Saharan Africa, and Sheikh Mansur Ushurma and Imam Shamil in the Caucasus region. In the 20th century some more modernist Muslims have called Sufism a superstitious religion that holds back Islamic achievement in the fields of science and technology. A number of western converts to Islam have also embraced Sufism, sometimes resulting in considerable syncretism or generic spiritualism detached from Islam, as in the case of "Universal Sufism" or the writings of René Guénon or G. I. Gurdjieff. One of the first to return to Europe as an official representative of a Sufi order, and with the specific purpose to spread Sufism in Western Europe, was the Ivan Aguéli. Other noteworthy Sufi teachers who were active in the West include Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, Inayat Khan, Nazim Al Haqqani, Javad Nurbakhsh, Bulent Rauf, Irina Tweedie, Idries Shah and Muzaffer Ozak. Currently active Sufi academics and publishers include Llewellyn Vaughan Lee, Nuh Ha Mim Keller, Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee, Abdal Hakim Murad, Syed Waheed Ashraf and the Franco Moroccan Faouzi Skali.

Orientalists proposed a variety of origin theories regarding Sufism, such as that it originated as an Indo European response to Semitic influence, Buddhism, Neo Platonism, and Christian ascetism or Gnosticism. Modern academics and scholars however, have rejected early Orientalist theories asserting a non Islamic origin of Sufism, Carl Ernst states that the tendency to try and disassociate Islam from Sufism was an attempt by Orientalists to create a divide between what they found attractive within Islamic civilization (i. e. Islamic spirituality) and the negative stereotypes of Islam that were present in Britain. Hosein Nasr states that non Islamic origin theories are false according to the point of view of Sufism. According to William Chittick, Sufism can simply be described as "the interiorization, and intensification of Islamic faith and practice."