ABSTRACT
Throughout the early source texts there are scattered references to ritual behaviour, such as mass ‘risings in ecstasy’, other movements, dancing, or the tearing of clothes under the influence of samAW. It is only in the later texts, beginning with Hujwirc’s Kashf al-MaSjEb, that specific discussion on these subjects is found. Jean During argues that the earlier texts were more concerned with questions of the legality of samAW, perhaps a more fundamental issue since it affects the very existence of the practice. Questions of rules, behaviour and organisation, covered by the concept of AdAb, only arise later in the history of Sufism, once the practice is firmly established.1 During also argues that this concept of AdAb was necessitated by the rise of spurious, debased or non-authentic samAW activities which challenged the credibility of the genuine practice.2
