Sufism Overview
I’ve been asked some questions via email about what Sufism is. Quite a tricky question and one probably best not addressed to me but it got me thinking about ways of addressing it and the only appropriate way would seem to be to let the Sufis themselves answer it.
But rather than just post a string of quotes I thought we could do something a bit more ‘organic’ so I’ve come up with an idea. Basically it is to attempt an ongoing chronological overview from the time of Muhammad to (say) the 16th century CE, through individual appraisals of specific Sufi masters.
It would be an ongoing series where each post would be devoted to a brief biog of the Sufi in question, some historical data, quotes and an overview of their teaching. Also they could be placed in relation to other Sufis and reference data could be added - weblinks, academic references etc. The idea is that it would be like a mini Wiki (we could even make it a real one if it took off) and people could add impressions, data and quotes on the Sufi in question via the comments. Also perhaps some sort of discussion may evolve around aspects of an individual’s thought or teachings.
Anyway, here is my preliminary list of 25 teaching Masters - dates are date of death. I will kick off in the next few days with Uways as he is certainly the starting point being a contemporary of Muhammad, but I welcome suggestions of individuals I have forgotten or left out - even feedback as to whether we should extend this past the 16th C to the present day. Let me know what you think:
1. Uways al-Qarni (657)
2. Hasan of Basra (728)
3. Jabir al-Hayyan (790)
4. Rabi’a al-Adawiyya (801)
5. Dhu’l Nun al-Misri (860)
6. Bayazid of Bistam (875)
7. Junayd (910)
8. Mansur al-Hallaj (922)
9. Ali al-Hujwiri (1072)
10. Abudaillah Ahrar (1089)
11. Al-Ghazali (1111)
12. Omar Khayyam (1131)
13. Yusuf Hamadani (1140)
14. Hakim Sanai (1150)
15. Abd’al Qadir Gilani (1166)
16. Najmuddin Kubra (1221)
17. Farid’ud-din attar (1221)
18. Shahabudin Suhrawardi (1234)
19. Ibn Arabi (1240)
20. Jalaludin Rumi (1273)
21. Saadi (1291)
22. Bahauddin Naqshband (1389)
23. Hafiz (1389)
24. Hakim Jami (1492)
25. Muhammad Gwath Shattar (1563)
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