Sufism, also known as Tasawwuf, is a mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic purification, spirituality, ritualism, asceticism, and esotericism. It has been variously defined as "Islamic mysticism", "the mystical expression of Islamic faith", "the inward dimension of Islam", "the phenomenon of mysticism within Islam", the "main manifestation and the most important and central crystallization" of mystical practice in Islam, and "the interiorization and intensification of Islamic faith and practice".
Sunni Islam is the largest branch of Islam, followed by 85–90% of the world's Muslims, and simultaneously the largest religious denomination in the world. Its name comes from the word Sunnah, referring to the tradition of Muhammad. The differences between Sunni and Shia Muslims arose from a disagreement over the succession to Muhammad and subsequently acquired broader political significance, as well as theological and juridical dimensions. According to Sunni traditions, Muhammad left no successor and the participants of the Saqifah event appointed Abu Bakr as the next-in-line. This contrasts with the Shia view, which holds that Muhammad appointed his son-in-law and cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib as his successor.
Mālik ibn Anas ibn Mālik ibn Abī ʿĀmir ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Ghaymān ibn Khuthayn ibn ʿAmr ibn al-Ḥārith al-Aṣbaḥī al-Ḥumyarī al-Madanī, commonly known as Malik ibn Anas, was a Sunni Muslim scholar, theologian, jurist, traditionist, and writer. Born in Medina, Malik rose to become the premier scholar of narrations in his day, seeking to apply to "the whole legal life" in order to create a systematic method of Islamic jurisprudence which would only further expand with the passage of time. Referred to as the Imam of Medina by his contemporaries, his views in matters of jurisprudence became highly cherished both in his own life and afterwards, becoming the founder of the Maliki school, one of the four major schools of Islamic jurisprudence. His school became the normative rite for Sunni practice in much of North Africa, al-Andalus, a vast portion of Egypt, some parts of Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Iraq, and Khorasan, and the prominent Sufi orders, the Shadili and Tijani. Other honorific names of his include the Imam of the Believers in Narrations and Shaykh of Islam.
The Salafi movement or Salafism is a revival movement within Sunni Islam, which was formed as a socio-religious resistance to European imperialism during the late 19th century and has remained influential in the Islamic World for over a century. The name "Salafiyya" refers to advocacy of a return to the traditions of the "pious predecessors", the first three generations of Muslims, who are believed to exemplify the pure form of Islam. In practice, Salafis maintain that Muslims ought to rely on the Qur'an, the Sunnah and the 'Ijma (consensus) of the salaf, giving these writings precedence over later religious interpretations. The Salafi movement aimed to achieve a renewal of Muslim life and had a major influence on many Muslim thinkers and movements across the Islamic world.
Al-Qāsim ibn Muḥammad ibn Abī Bakr was a jurist in early Islam.
Abu 'Abd Allah Muhammad ibn al-Khafif (882-982) known as al-Shaykh al-Kabir or Shaykh al-Shirazi was a Persian mystic and sufi from Iran. He is credited with bringing Sufism (tasawwuf) to Shiraz.
Al-Sayyid Muhammad al-Hasan bin ‘Alawi bin ‘Abbas bin ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (1944–2004), also known as Muhammad ibn Alawi al-Maliki, was one of the foremost traditional Sunni Islamic scholar of contemporary times from Saudi Arabia. He is considered to be the Mujaddid of 20th-21st century.
Shaykh al-Islām was used in the classical era as an honorific title for outstanding scholars of the Islamic sciences. It first emerged in Khurasan towards the end of the 4th Islamic century. In the central and western lands of Islam, it was an informal title given to jurists whose fatwas were particularly influential, while in the east it came to be conferred by rulers to ulama who played various official roles but were not generally muftis. Sometimes, as in the case of Ibn Taymiyyah, the use of the title was subject to controversy. In the Ottoman Empire, starting from the early modern era, the title came to designate the chief mufti, who oversaw a hierarchy of state-appointed ulama. The Ottoman Sheikh al-Islam performed a number of functions, including advising the sultan on religious matters, legitimizing government policies, and appointing judges.
Abū Bakr Aḥmad ibn Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Mūsā al-Khusrawjirdī al-Bayhaqī, also known as Imām al-Bayhaqī, was a Sunni scholar widely known for being the foremost leading hadith master in his age, leading authority in the Shafi'i school, leading authority on the foundation of doctrine, meticulous, a devoted ascetic and one of the notable defenders of the Ash'ari school. Al-Dhahabi said: "Unequalled in his age, unrivalled amongst his peers, and the Ḥāfiẓ of his time."
The Ba'Alawi tariqa, also known as the Tariqa Alawiyya is a Sufi order centered in Hadhramawt, Yemen, but now spread across the Indian Ocean rim along with the Hadhrami diaspora. The order is closely tied to the Ba'Alawi sadah family.
Abdullah Nooruddeen Durkee was a Muslim scholar, thinker, author, translator, and the Khalifah (successor) for North America of the Shadhdhuli School for Tranquility of Being and the Illumination of Hearts, Green Mountain Branch. Nooruddeen Durkee became a Muslim in his early thirties in Al-Quds, Jerusalem. He was one of the co-founders of Lama Foundation and founder of Dar al-Islam Foundation.
Al-'Aqida al-Tahawiyya or Bayan al-Sunna wa al-Jama'a is a popular exposition of Sunni Muslim doctrine written by the tenth-century Egyptian theologian and Hanafi jurist Abu Ja'far al-Tahawi.
Since the classical era, two major scholarly movements have been influential within Islamic societies: Sufi-Ash'arism represented by Ghazzali (1058-1111) and Salafism represented by Ibn Taymiyya (1263-1328). The dispute between these two schools of thought dominated the Sunni world, splitting their influence across religious communities and cultures, with each school competing for scholarly authority via official and unofficial religious institutions. The relationship between Salafism and Sufism – two movements of Islam with different interpretations of Islam – is historically diverse and reflects some of the changes and conflicts in the Muslim world today.
Anwar al-Tanzil wa-Asrar al-Ta'wil, better known as Tafsir al-Baydawi, is one of the most popular classical Sunni Qur'anic interpretational works (tafsir) composed by the 13th-century Muslim scholar al-Baydawi (d.1319), flourished especially among non-Arab Muslim regions. This work is based on the earlier work of al-Zamakhshari's al-Kashshaf. Al-Kashshaf, which has Mu'tazilite views, some of which al-Baydawi has amended, and some omitted. Tafsir al-Baydawi is also based on al-Raghib al-Isfahani's Mufradat Alfaz al-Qur'an and his tafsir, as well as al-Tafsir al-Kabir by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi.
Shaykh Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn al-Hāshimī ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Tilimsānī was an Algerian and Syrian Sufi saint and scholar, considered by some to have been the “renewer (mujaddid) of religion” and also the Shaʿrānī of his time.
Gibril Fouad Haddad is a Lebanese-born Islamic scholar, hadith expert (muhaddith), author, and translator of classical Islamic texts. He was featured in the inaugural list of The 500 Most Influential Muslims and has been called "one of the clearest voices of traditional Islam in the Western world", a "prominent orthodox Sunni" and a "staunch defender of the traditional Islamic schools of law." He holds ijazas from over 150 scholars across the Muslim world. He was a visiting fellow (2013-2015) then senior assistant professor (2015-2018) at the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Center for Islamic Studies, Universiti Brunei Darussalam. He is also a staunch critic of Wahhabism and Salafism.
Al-Risala al-Qushayriyya fi 'Ilm al-Tasawwuf, mostly known as al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, is one of the early complete manuals of the science of Sufism, written by the Shafi'i-Ash'ari scholar Abu al-Qasim al-Qushayri. It was written in 438/1045–6 and has been published in several editions and translated in various languages, including English, French, German, Persian, Turkish, and Urdu. It became the most widely disseminated handbook of Sufism in the Islamic world.
Sa'id 'Abd al-Latif Foudah is a Shafi'i-Ash'ari scholar of Islamic theology (kalam), logic, legal theory, and the Chief Theology and Philosophy Advisor to the Imam al-Razi Chair at the King Hussein bin Talal Mosque in Amman, Jordan, who is best known for his criticism of the Salafi-Wahhabi movement and Ibn Taymiyya and his followers.
Tanbih al-Ghabi bi-Tabri'at Ibn 'Arabi is a booklet written by the Shafi'i-Ash'ari scholar Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti as a response to the book Tanbih al-Ghabi ila Takfir Ibn 'Arabi by Burhan al-Din al-Biqa'i in which al-Suyuti defended Ibn 'Arabi against his critics in general, and against accusations of heresy and unbelief by al-Biqa'i in particular. Al-Suyuti said:
The scholars past and present have differed concerning Ibn 'Arabi, one group considering him a wali of Allah - and they are correct - such as Ibn 'Ata' Allah al-Sakandari and 'Afif al-Din al-Yafi'i, another considering him a heretic - such as a large number of the jurists - while others expressed doubts concerning him, among them al-Dhahabi in al-Mizan. Two opposed verdicts are reported from Shaykh 'Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam, one attacking him, and one describing him as the Spiritual Pole (al-Qutb). What reconciles them is indicated by Shaykh Taj al-Din ibn 'Ata' Allah in Lata'if al-Minan, namely, that Shaykh 'Izz al-Din at the beginning acted in the fashion of jurists in passing quick judgment on the Sufis. When Shaykh Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili went to pilgrimage and returned, he came to Shaykh 'Izz al-Din before entering his own house and conveyed to him the Prophet's ﷺ greeting. After that, Shaykh 'Izz al-Din humbled himself and began to sit in al-Shadhili's gatherings...
