What is the meaning of Sufism?

The mystical and devotional tradition within Islam, focused on direct experiential knowing of the Divine. Sufis call themselves the inward path of Islam, complementing the outward path of law and ritual.

Is Sufism the same as Islam?

Sufism is a dimension within Islam, not a separate religion. Almost all Sufis throughout history have considered themselves Muslims first. The framing of Sufism as separate from or opposed to mainstream Islam is a Western reading that most Sufis themselves reject.

Yes, devoutly. Rumi was a Muslim scholar and jurist whose poetry is inseparable from his Islamic faith. Popular Western translations have sometimes removed the Islamic content. Reading Rumi without his Islam misses most of what he was actually doing.

The Sufi practice of remembrance, usually involving the repeated recitation of the names of God or short phrases of remembrance. Dhikr can be silent or vocal, individual or communal. It is the central Sufi devotional practice across orders.

What are the main Sufi orders?

The major historical orders include the Qadiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, Mevleviyya (associated with Rumi), Chishtiyya, Shadhiliyya, and several others. Each carries its own lineage, practices, and poetic tradition.

What does it mean?

What does Sufism mean?

By Kamlesh Sharma Last updated 10 July 2026 Contact

Sufism is the mystical and devotional tradition within Islam, rooted in the direct experiential knowing of the Divine rather than in legal-theological argument alone. Sufis call themselves the inward path of Islam, complementing the outward path of law and ritual. The tradition has produced some of the world's most translated poetry (Rumi, Hafez, Ibn Arabi) and a distinctive set of practices around remembrance (dhikr), spiritual companionship (suhbat), and the polishing of the heart.

Where it comes from

Rumi · Hafiz · Attar · Ibn Arabi · Al-Ghazali · the Sufi tradition · 8th century onward. The word belongs to the broader lineage of practice practice, but the shape of it is distinctly Persia. That shape is part of the answer.

What the practice actually is

Rumi is the bestselling poet in America. Hafiz is quoted at weddings and on coffee mugs. Yet almost no one in the West has practiced what they were writing about. Sufism, the mystical heart of Islam, with branches in Persia, Anatolia, Khorasan, and Andalusia, is the longest unbroken mystical tradition in the world. The…

Where the word comes from

Two main candidate origins are debated. The most widely accepted is from the Arabic "sūf" (صوف, "wool"), referring to the rough woollen garments worn by early Muslim ascetics as a sign of detachment from material display. A less likely candidate is from "ṣafā" (صفاء, "purity"). The Arabic term for Sufism itself is "taṣawwuf" (تصوف), which can be translated as "the practice of becoming a Sufi" or "the cultivation of inwardness."

The traditional context

Sufism emerged in the first centuries of Islam as some Muslims turned toward intensive ascetic practice and direct experiential knowing of God. The early Sufis were never separate from the developing legal and theological schools, since virtually all major Sufis were also legal scholars. Foundational figures include Hasan al-Basri (8th century), Rabia al-Adawiyya (the first widely-recognised female Sufi mystic, 8th century), Junayd al-Baghdadi (9th to 10th century), and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (11th to 12th century), whose synthesis Revival of the Religious Sciences brought Sufism into mainstream Sunni orthodoxy. The major Sufi orders (turuq, singular tariqa) formalised in the 12th to 13th centuries: the Qadiriyya, the Naqshbandiyya, the Mevleviyya (associated with Rumi), the Chishtiyya (most influential in South Asia), and many others. Each carries its own lineage, practices, and poetic tradition.

How it travelled to the modern world

Western awareness of Sufism began through 19th-century translators (Edward FitzGerald's Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, 1859, was the early gateway) and grew through 20th-century scholars including Reynold Nicholson, Henri Corbin, and Annemarie Schimmel. The American poet Coleman Barks's loose 1990s to 2010s versions of Rumi made him the bestselling poet in the United States for several years running, though Barks's renderings have been criticised for stripping the explicit Islamic content from the original Persian. Contemporary Sufi orders maintain active communities globally: in Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Senegal, Pakistan, Bosnia, the United States, and many other countries. The 2010s saw renewed academic interest in restoring the Islamic context that popular Western Rumi anthologies had often removed.

Common misunderstandings

The biggest is Rumi-without-Islam. Popular Western anthologies of Rumi often present the poetry as universal mysticism while quietly removing or softening the explicitly Quranic and Muhammadan content. Rumi was a deeply observant Muslim scholar and jurist whose mysticism was inseparable from his Islamic faith. The second misunderstanding is treating Sufism as a separate religion from Islam. With very rare exceptions, Sufis have always considered themselves Muslims first. Sufism is a dimension of Islam, not an alternative to it. The third is the romantic Western framing of Sufism as the "tolerant" or "good" Islam contrasted with a supposedly "literalist" mainstream. The framing is reductive and politically loaded. Most Sufis would reject it.

Related traditions on this site

Tonglen The heart-polishing practice in Sufism (dhikr al-qalb) parallels the Tibetan Buddhist heart practices in surprising ways.
Hoʻoponopono Both treat repetition of phrases addressed to the Divine as a central daily practice.
Bhagavad Gita The Krishna-Arjuna relationship has a structural similarity to the Sufi murid-murshid (student-teacher) relationship.

A small practice for today

Pick one short phrase of remembrance. A name of God in any tradition you find honest, or simply "thank you." Repeat it silently for the time it takes to make a cup of tea. Not as a wish. Not as a meditation technique. As a small ongoing turning of the attention. That is the smallest possible unit of dhikr, the central Sufi practice.

Questions people ask about Sufism

What is the meaning of Sufism?: The mystical and devotional tradition within Islam, focused on direct experiential knowing of the Divine. Sufis call themselves the inward path of Islam, complementing the outward path of law and ritual.
Is Sufism the same as Islam?: Sufism is a dimension within Islam, not a separate religion. Almost all Sufis throughout history have considered themselves Muslims first. The framing of Sufism as separate from or opposed to mainstream Islam is a Western reading that most Sufis themselves reject.
Was Rumi a Muslim?: Yes, devoutly. Rumi was a Muslim scholar and jurist whose poetry is inseparable from his Islamic faith. Popular Western translations have sometimes removed the Islamic content. Reading Rumi without his Islam misses most of what he was actually doing.
What is dhikr?: The Sufi practice of remembrance, usually involving the repeated recitation of the names of God or short phrases of remembrance. Dhikr can be silent or vocal, individual or communal. It is the central Sufi devotional practice across orders.
What are the main Sufi orders?: The major historical orders include the Qadiriyya, Naqshbandiyya, Mevleviyya (associated with Rumi), Chishtiyya, Shadhiliyya, and several others. Each carries its own lineage, practices, and poetic tradition.

Sources

Schimmel, A. (1975). Mystical Dimensions of Islam. University of North Carolina Press.
Chittick, W. C. (2000). Sufism: A Beginner's Guide. Oneworld.
Nicholson, R. A. (1914). The Mystics of Islam. G. Bell.
Ernst, C. W. (1997). The Shambhala Guide to Sufism. Shambhala.
Rumi, J. (13th century). Mathnawi. Trans. Mojaddedi, J. (2004 to 2019). Oxford University Press.

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