Translator's Foreword | p. xi |
Transliteration System for Arabic Characters | p. xv |
Preface | p. xvii |
Fundamentals | p. 1 |
Definitions and Objectives | p. 1 |
A Mysticism? | p. 2 |
Knowledge and Love | p. 3 |
Who is the Sufi? | p. 4 |
A Reality without a Name | p. 5 |
The Science of Spiritual States | p. 6 |
The Initiatory Path | p. 8 |
Goals of the Sufi | p. 11 |
Purifying the Soul | p. 12 |
Knowing God | p. 12 |
Union with God, or "Extinguishing Oneself" in Him? | p. 14 |
Dying to Oneself, and Living Again Through Him | p. 15 |
Diversity in Sufism | p. 16 |
A Rich Pallet of Spiritual Types | p. 16 |
Sufi Literature | p. 19 |
Inward Alchemy | p. 21 |
Sufism and Shi'ism | p. 22 |
Doctrinal Affinities | p. 22 |
Two Rival Esoterisms | p. 24 |
The Role of the Feminine in Sufism | p. 27 |
The Eternal Feminine in Islamic Mysticism | p. 27 |
The Effects of the Male Ambience | p. 29 |
Some Prejudices Regarding Sufism | p. 29 |
Sufism is a Kind of Quietism, and is the Egotistical Search for Individual Salvation | p. 29 |
Sufism is a Popular Religion, Conceived as a Reaction to the Legalism of "Orthodox" Islam | p. 31 |
Sufism and Islam | p. 33 |
Two Names for a Single Reality | p. 33 |
The Fundamentally Koranic Character of Sufism | p. 33 |
The Koranic Model | p. 35 |
"To Combine One's Flesh and Blood with the Koran" | p. 35 |
The Sufi Travels His Path Through the Book | p. 37 |
A Multitude of Meanings: Sufi Exegesis | p. 38 |
The Hadith Qudsi, or "Divine Utterance" | p. 42 |
The Model of Muhammad | p. 43 |
"Sufis are Those Who Follow the Path of the Messenger of God and Strive to Acquire His Noble Virtues" | p. 43 |
The Prophet as Primordial Light | p. 44 |
The Reality of Muhammad, Mediator between the Divine and Human Realms | p. 45 |
The Inner Sunna | p. 47 |
Sufism and Prophetic Tradition (Hadith) | p. 48 |
The Master of Masters | p. 50 |
Devotion to the Prophet | p. 53 |
The Islam of "Excellence" | p. 54 |
Islam, Iman, Ihsan | p. 54 |
Sufism Illuminates the Five Pillars | p. 56 |
Sufism, or Plenary Islam | p. 58 |
The Law (Shari'a), The Way (Tariqa), and The Reality (Haqiqa) | p. 59 |
A Law for Sufis Only? | p. 60 |
The Science of "Unveiling", the Science of Shari'a | p. 62 |
A Living Law | p. 64 |
Sufism in Islamic Culture: Historical Perspective | p. 65 |
The Path of The Pioneers | p. 65 |
A Foundational Attitude: The Ascetic Renunciation of the World | p. 65 |
The "Path of Blame" (Malama): From Concealment to Provocation | p. 67 |
From Asceticism to Mysticism | p. 68 |
Bistami, the Archetype of "Intoxication" | p. 69 |
The Baghdad "School" of Sufism (Ninth-Tenth Centuries) | p. 70 |
Hallaj | p. 70 |
Junayd | p. 71 |
Hakim Tirmidhi: Between Prophecy and Sainthood | p. 73 |
Persecutions | p. 73 |
Successors of Junayd and Hallaj | p. 74 |
The Four Founders of the Legal Schools and Sufism | p. 75 |
The Centuries of Maturation (Tenth-Twelfth Centuries) | p. 78 |
Legal Scholars, Traditionnists, Sufis: Assertion of Identities | p. 78 |
Radiance from Khurasan (Tenth-Eleventh Centuries) | p. 79 |
Sufism and Shafi'ism | p. 79 |
Manuals of Sufism | p. 80 |
Ghazzali: The Supremacy of Spiritual Intuition over Reason | p. 83 |
The Persistence of the Mysticism of "Intoxication" | p. 85 |
Poetry and Metaphysics | p. 87 |
Iranian Mystical Poetry (Twelfth-Fifteenth Centuries): 'Attar, Rumi, and Others | p. 87 |
Rumi: Music and Dance | p. 89 |
Turkish Mystical Poetry: Yunus Emre | p. 91 |
Arabic Mystical Poetry: Ibn 'Arabi and Ibn al-Farid | p. 92 |
The Necessity of Interpreting Mystical Poetry | p. 93 |
Sufi Terminology | p. 94 |
Ibn 'Arabi and the Metaphysics of Being | p. 95 |
Ibn Sab'in, or Oneness Without Compromise | p. 98 |
Creating A Structure for Sufism (Twelfth-Fifteenth Centuries) | p. 99 |
The Formation of the "Initiatory Paths" (Tariqa) | p. 101 |
Iraq | p. 102 |
Central Asia and Iran | p. 104 |
India | p. 108 |
Muslim Spain and the Maghreb | p. 109 |
Egypt and Syria | p. 111 |
Anatolia | p. 114 |
The Caucasus | p. 115 |
Integration and Expansion: "Sufism, The Heart of Islam" | p. 117 |
Recognition of Sufism by the Ulama | p. 117 |
Sufism is Prominent as the Spirituality of Sunni Islam | p. 120 |
Hanbalism and Sufism | p. 121 |
Places of Sufi Social Interactions | p. 122 |
The "Cult of Saints" | p. 124 |
The Esoteric Governance of the World | p. 125 |
Sufism and Reformism (Eighteenth-Twentieth Centuries) | p. 126 |
A Decline of Sufism? | p. 126 |
The Search for Original Purity (Eighteenth-Nineteenth Centuries): Sufism and Wahhabism | p. 127 |
The Muhammadian Path | p. 128 |
Renewed Paths and New Paths | p. 129 |
Lesser Jihad and Greater Jihad | p. 132 |
The Sudanese Mahdi | p. 133 |
Emir 'Abd al-Qadir | p. 133 |
Sufi Reformism at the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Amadou Bamba and the Shaykh al-'Alawi | p. 134 |
Sufism: A Fertile Ground for "Salafi" Reformism | p. 136 |
Sufism and Islamicism in the Twentieth Century: Politicization | p. 139 |
"Sufi Scholars" in Contemporary Times | p. 141 |
Sufism As It Is Lived | p. 142 |
Master and Disciple | p. 142 |
A Necessary Relationship | p. 142 |
An Excessive Veneration? | p. 143 |
A Reciprocal Code of Conduct | p. 145 |
A Single Master | p. 146 |
A Second Birth | p. 146 |
Sufi Psychology, or the "Science of the Soul" | p. 149 |
Succession and Delegation of Authority | p. 151 |
Methods and Rites of Affiliation | p. 153 |
Initiatory Rites | p. 153 |
The "Investiture of the Cloak" (Khirqa) | p. 153 |
"Making the Pact" ('Ahd, Bay'a) | p. 154 |
"The Secret Teaching of Formulas of Invocation" (Talqin) | p. 155 |
From True Aspirant to Simple Associate | p. 155 |
A Fluid World: Multiple Affiliations | p. 156 |
Uwaysi Initiation | p. 157 |
Codes of Conduct | p. 158 |
Correct Inner Attitudes | p. 158 |
Food | p. 159 |
Clothing | p. 159 |
Sleep | p. 159 |
Travel | p. 159 |
Between Brothers | p. 160 |
A Rule for Community Life | p. 161 |
Initiatory Methods | p. 162 |
The Invocation (Dhikr) | p. 162 |
The Highest Form of Worship | p. 162 |
Formulas of the Invocation | p. 164 |
From the Dhikr of the Tongue to that of "Inner Consciousness" | p. 166 |
The Invocation of the Tongue (Dhikr al-Lisan) | p. 166 |
The Invocation of the Heart (Dhikr al-Qalb) | p. 167 |
The Invocation of the Inner Consciousness (Dhikr al-Sirr) | p. 167 |
Aloud, or in Silence? | p. 167 |
Group Sessions of Dhikr | p. 168 |
Spiritual Poetry and Music: Sama' | p. 170 |
The Echo of the Divine Word | p. 170 |
Subtlety and Ambiguity of Sama' | p. 171 |
A Joyful and Widespread Practice | p. 172 |
Litanies and Prayers | p. 174 |
The Retreat (Khalwa) | p. 176 |
Rules of the Retreat | p. 177 |
Not to Stop at Supernatural Phenomena | p. 179 |
The "Retreat in the Midst of the Crowd" | p. 180 |
Sufism and Interreligious Openness | p. 182 |
Religious Pluralism in Islam | p. 182 |
The Transcendent Unity of Religions | p. 183 |
The Legacy of Prophetic Pluralism | p. 188 |
The "Hidden Idolatry" of Common Believers | p. 189 |
The Temptation of Syncretism | p. 190 |
The Pressures of Exoterism and History | p. 191 |
Conclusion: Sufism Yesterday, Sufism Today | p. 194 |
The "Degeneration of Time" | p. 194 |
The Illness of "Brotherhoodism" | p. 195 |
Adapting to Cyclical Conditions | p. 196 |
Towards a Restructuring of the Roles of Sufism | p. 198 |
The Messianic Adventure | p. 199 |
Sufism in the West | p. 200 |
Maps | p. 204 |
Glossary and Index of Technical Terms | p. 207 |
Index of Proper Names | p. 213 |
Biographical Notes | p. 219 |
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