ABSTRACT
Sufism is a term very loosely used to cover a vast variety of thinkers and their thoughts, and some have even argued that it is more a construction of orientalists than a real category of Islam. Many reject the idea that it is Islamic mysticism since they may either think that Islam does not have any mystical tendencies, or because they think that Islam is closely connected to mystical ways of thinking and acting and so there is no separate area for mysticism in the religion. The former object to the rather radical things that some Sufis say about Islam, and about religion in general, and regard Sufism as a perversion of genuine Islam. There is also a tendency in some forms of mysticism to be antinomian, i.e., to be generally unenthusiastic about following the laws and rituals of religion, and this is also likely to lead to a negative reaction by literal minded religious authorities. The contrary view is that Sufism is in fact the heart of Islam, a term which is often used, and should alert us immediately to danger, since it is very much the thesis of this book that religions do not have hearts in the sense of essences. Sufism for this group is merely a deeper aspect of Islam, it is something that really has to be grasped by the Muslim as expressing an aspect of Islam without which life as a Muslim cannot be complete.
