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Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam, has been cloaked in secrecy for most of its existence, having been forced underground by Ottoman rulers in the 13th century.
Corboy: According to conventional chronology, the Ottoman Empire began with Osman 1 around 1300 CE. Prior to that time, the most famous of the Sufi sects, the Mevlevis began with Rumi in the city of Konya, with the benevolent support of a Seljuk sultan.
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There are actually many Sufi sects and subsects throughout the Islamic world, not just in Turkey. They had little trouble under the Ottoman Empire, which preferred to work through local institutions, which included Sufi lodges.
Newly arrived conquerors sought legitimacy by patronizing Sufi sects already in the area. Had the Sufis been secretive, this alliance would not have been possible.
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Sufis cluster into tarikas, or spiritual orders, that are headed by a grand sheikh who may live in Cairo, but are led day to day by a local sheikh who could live in Queens.
2) Corboy: Not quite. So leaders of Sufi sects live elsewhere than in Cairo. If a senior disciple is given authorization through a formal ijaza granted by head of a Sufi tariqua, that disciple can create a lodge and teach disciples.
(For further information read Mark Sedgwicks and Nile Green, The Sufis: A Global History.)
Sufi Sect of Islam Draws ‘Spiritual Vagabonds’ in New York
By ADELA SULIMAN SEPT. 23, 2016
[www.nytimes.com]
People have quite different perspectives on Sufism.
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“Sufism has never been embraced by mainstream Islam,” said Daisy Khan, founder of the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality and one-half of the couple who in 2010 sought to open a community center in Lower Manhattan, mislabeled the “ground zero mosque.”
For Ms. Khan, the ethereal buzz of Sufism is its great appeal, a faith that is “beyond the realm of this world,” dealing with the “supernatural, the magical and love.”
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This kind of unorthodox approach, said Marcia Hermansen, director of the Islamic world studies program at Loyola University Chicago, is both the root of Sufism’s appeal and its weakness. Charismatic leaders like Sheikha Fariha have spurred Sufism’s growth in America, she said, with New York in particular attracting “loosey-goosey liberal Sufism.”
And yet for all its liberal trappings, Sufism cannot be detached from Islam. “Sufism isn’t just a label you wear; it’s a state of being,” said John Andrew Morrow, an Islam scholar and author. “You can’t pick and choose parts of Islam, and you can’t mislead sincere people, drawing them into Sufism without telling them this is fundamentally linked to Islam.”
Part of this problem, he said, is the American tradition of “spiritual vagabonds.”
“They bounce around from one spiritual tradition to another,” he said, “like going to a buffet.”