Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book provides an investigation into Awhad al-Din Kirmani the individual, but the story has significance that extends much further. The controversy of his form of Sufism occurred at a crucial time in the evolution of Sufi piety and theology. The book outlines several features that had brought Sufism to the forefront of Islam as a religion and its relationship with theology, society and politics. It assesses the few comments written about Kirmani by his contemporaries, and subsequently it provides a translation from this Persian hagiography, which was written in the generation after his death. The book focuses specifically upon Kirmani himself, and his "rise and fall". It also assesses the hagiography written about Kirmani. Hagiographical materials can provide a wealth of historical information, if they are mined carefully and thoroughly.