Thread by @Jawnmard1

What I have said might suggest a rare—even rarified— minority interest of little concern to the mass of believers, so it is important to emphasise that Sufism has penetrated the whole body of Islam.
(1/)

A Sufi brotherhood is called a tariqah (its plural is turuq), meaning “path” or “way”. Whereas in Christianity mysticism has been largely confined to the monasteries, the turuq have played an important role in Islamic history.
(2/)

In the main it was Sufis who converted the Turks to Islam (with tremendous historical repercussions) and also the Indo­nesians (who make up the largest Islamic nation today).
(3/)

In the Middle Ages, and particularly in times of political disorder, it was the turuq that kept society together; and the spiritual life even of people who have had no direct contact with any Sufi order has been enriched
(4/)

and deepened by Sufi teachings throughout the ages. Sufism is indeed the inward way, but its repercussions have extended outwards through the whole body of believers.
(5/5)

#sufism
#tasawwuf
#islamicmysticism
#Islamichistory