ABSTRACT
Sufism was first introduced into Western culture in the nineteenth century as a religious tradition detached from the Islamic tradition by some British Orientalists. It was only at the beginning of the twentieth century that actual Sufis began to appear in the West as a result of translated texts and research made by some European—and later American—converts about the esoteric doctrines of the East. The introduction of Sufi doctrines and techniques into the West in the first half of the twentieth century was characterized by an intellectual and spiritual interest in Oriental traditions which resulted in two main directions: the Traditionalist movement and Universal Sufism. In the last stage of the rooting of Sufism in the West, the Internet has played a decisive role as a medium of proselytizing.
