The Mystical Movement within Islam that began in 8th and 9th centuries, partly as a call to return to a simple ascetic life with devotional practices (eg. the dervish rituals of using the name of God), and partly as a reaction against the excesses of the jurists, the thoelogicans and the philosphers. They developed many Sufi orders (similar to Christian orders or communities), which kept Islam very much alive among the people and became a strong missionary movement. Two well known Sufis are al-Junayd (d.908) and al-Hallaj (d. 922). The latter was crucified for heresy. Another famous sufi is ibn al-Arabi (d. 1240). Perhaps the most famous is al-Ghazali who managed to establish sufiism within orthodox Islam.

The following quotations are taken from this article exploring Sufism in Islam.

• ayas used to justify Sufism, al-Baqarah 2:156; an-Nur 24:35; Qaf 50:6.

• Prince Dara Shikoh, sufi son of Moghul Emperor Shar Jahan, affirms that Sufism and Advaita Vedantism (Hinduism) are essentially the same, (Martin Lings, What is Sufism?, London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd., 1975, p. 99 )

• Hossein Nasr acknowledges that "many Sufis in India called Hinduism the religion of Adam," and, "[the] orthodox Naqshbandsaint Mirza Mazhar Jan Janan considered the Vedas as divinely inspired." (Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sufi Essays, London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972, p. 139)

• Mansur al-Hallaj (d.922): "I saw my Lord with the eye of the heart. I said: Who art Thou? He answered: Thou."

• Abu Maydan (d. 1197): "Everything outside of God is unreal, everything taken individually or collectively, when you truly know it ... Whatever does not have root in his Being, can in no wise be real."

• Muhammad al-Harraq (d. 1845): "Seekest thou Laila [Divine Reality], when she is manifest within thee? Thou deemest her to be other, but she is not other than thou." (Stoddart, 83-84)

• Jalal al-Din Rumi (d.1273): "Though the many ways [diverse religions] are various, the goal is one. Do you not see there are many roads to the Kaaba?" (Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Sufi Essays, London: George Allen and Unwin Ltd., 1972, p. 149)

Further reading: The Mystics of Islam by Reynold A. Nicholson

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