ABSTRACT
According to the generally accepted etymology, the word ṣūfī derives from the Arabic ṣūf, meaning wool, in allusion to the distinctive Ṣūfī custom of wearing garments and a cloak of white wool {the khirqah). Etymologically, therefore, the word contains no apparent reference to the spiritual doctrine which distinguishes the Ṣūfīs in Islam, and its usage is no less secular. The term Ṣūfīs designates the body of mystics and spiritual men who profess the taṣawwuf. The word taṣawwuf is the verbal noun of the fifth form derived from the root ṣwf; it means to make a profession of Sufism, and is used when speaking of Sufism pure and simple (cf. the words tashayyu', to make a profession of Shiism; tasannim, to make a profession of Sunnism, and so on). Another explanation of the word, and at first sight a more satisfactory one is that it transcribes the Greek sophos, meaning sage. Although Orientalists in general do not accept this explanation, al-Bīrūnī in the fourth/tenth century (see above, IV, 6) made a case for it (cf. the word faylasūf, which is a transcription of the Greek philosophos, although in the one Arab word there is a ṣād, in the other a sīn). However that may be, we should bear in mind the extraordinary skill with which Arabic grammarians in general could discover a Semitic etymology for any word imported from outside.
