Anti-Ṣūfī polemics - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Radtke, Bernd R.
Leiden
Brill
(1,585 words)
Anti-Ṣūfī polemics have existed nearly as long as Ṣūfism itself. Ṣūfism has been an element of Islamic history almost from the beginning and forms an integral part of Islam, but it has also faced opposition throughout its history. That opposition has frequently been expressed in clichés, as, for instance, in the charge of antinomism. As Ṣūfism has evolved, so have the objects of criticism. Although little is known of the earliest history of Ṣūfism and little scholarly attention has been paid to it, the issues that were necessarily to