ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book describes themes of creative agency in each person's Sufi journey, Senegal's ideals of diversity and interfaith respect, and social and political implications of everyday life choices. It describes these orders' historical growth, the early Sufi scholars who influenced them, and their present-day popularity. The book argues that deference to a spiritual guide as not passiveness but a deliberate choice. Choosing a spiritual guide and individual choice does not contradict, but co-exists as believers develop their self-identities. The book explores how discipleship influences everyday lives and highlights three personal narratives of people who describe their work and family life as practices of their faith: a computer systems analyst, a community health worker, and a manager of a family artisanal business. The book concludes with an argument, that individuals creatively define and inform their selves through their everyday practices.
