ABSTRACT
This chapter situates the field of contemporary Sufism in historical context by mapping knowledge production on Sufism in the West, academic and otherwise. After highlighting pre-modern European encounters with Sufi texts and traditions, the chapter considers how Orientalist scholars would, through translation and commentary, create a base of knowledge on Sufism in European languages filtered through a Romantic and Perennialist framework, fostering a broader sense of Sufism as a wisdom transcending religion and Islam. This largely de-Islamicized Sufism would then act as a resource for later Western artists, interpreters, and Sufi teachers.
