The Decay of Sufism

The age of Ibn al-Fārid, Ibn ‘Arabī and Rūmī represents the climax of Sufi achievement, both theoretically and artistically. Thereafter, although through the numerous and ever multiplying Religious Orders the influence of Sufi thought and practice became constantly more widespread, and though sultans and princes did not disdain to lend the movement their patronage and personal adherence—a striking example is the noble and pathetic figure of Dārā Shikoh, son of the Mogul emperor Shāh Jahān, who wrote a number of books on Sufism, in one of which, the Majma’ al-bahrain, ¹ he sought to reconcile its theory with the Vedanta—the signs of decay appear more and more clearly, and abuse and scandal assail and threaten to destroy its fair reputation.