What Muslims believe
Sufism
Sufism (tasawwuf) is Islam's mystical tradition: the search for nearness to God through remembrance (dhikr), discipline and devotion to a spiritual master.
What Sufis seek
Sufis seek inward purity and love for God, often through an order (tariqa) led by a shaykh: the Qadiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, Shadhiliyya and the Mevlevi order founded by Rumi's followers are among the best known. Al-Ghazali's Revival of the Religious Sciences joined Sufi devotion to Sunni law and theology.
Many Muslims who are drawn to Sufism are really longing for what Jesus offers: to know God, not only to obey him from a distance.
3This is eternal life, that they should know you, the only true God, and him whom you sent, Jesus Christ.
John 17:3 (WEB) · context
15No longer do I call you servants, for the servant doesn’t know what his lord does. But I have called you friends, for everything that I heard from my Father, I have made known to you.
John 15:15 (WEB) · context
Sources
- Earliest source Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (University of North Carolina Press, 1975).