ABSTRACT
Christianity, and Islam, especially because the overall tradition has been influenced by the radical dualism of Manichaeism, with its distrust of the material world. Muslim arguments on the subject revolve around the citation of the Quran and elements of the hadith and the Sira, the life story of Muhammad, which indicate the possibility, if not the positive encouragement and enactment, of the ascetic ideal. The ninth century was marked by a rapid progression of mystics, each famous for adding a certain element to the emergent mystical viewpoint and creating the central tenets of Sufism. The eleventh century brought greater systematization to the theoretical basis of Sufism in the writings of al-Qushayri. The tendency towards increased intellectual support and systematization of Sufism was developed even further in the Sufi orders, which were based on the principle of the relationship between the master and the pupil. Muhyil-Din ibn Arabi represents the culmination of another strand within Islamic Sufism.
