ABSTRACT
By the eleventh century when Hujwcrc was composing his Kashf al-MaWjEb Sufism had become so integral to Persian society that he cited the famous words of Abe ’l-rasan Feshanja:1 “today Sufism is a name without a reality, but formerly it was a reality without a name.”2 Hujwcrc then remarked that the pretence of Sufism was prevalent, and indeed this hints that Ibn Jawzc’s negative opinion of the tradition of futuwwat which he associated with Sufism (and which was mentioned in the previous chapter) may have had an element of truth. Even if the pretence was rampant, the idealised image of the “ayyAr and the attribute of futuwwat or jawAnmardC suggest why the “genuine” Sufis were interested to investigate this concept in their writings.
