Sufism and Early Islamic Piety: Personal and Communal Dynamics
Cambridge University Press, 11/8/2018
EAN 9781108422710, ISBN10: 1108422713
Hardcover, 330 pages, 23.4 x 16 x 2.3 cm
Language: English
Sufism and Early Islamic Piety: Personal and Communal Dynamics offers a new story about the formative period of Sufism. Through a fresh reading of diverse Sufi and non-Sufi sources, Arin Shawkat Salamah-Qudsi reveals the complexity of personal and communal aspects of Sufi piety in the period between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Her study also sheds light on the interrelationships and conflicts of early Sufis through emphasising that early Sufism was neither a quietist or a completely individual mode of piety. Salamah-Qudsi reveals how the early Sufis' commitment to the Islamic ideal of family life lead to different creative arrangements among them in order to avoid contradictions with this ideal and the mystical ideal of solitary life. Her book enables a deeper understanding of the development of Sufism in light of the human concerns and motivations of its founders.
Part I. Personal Narratives
Early Sufis and Family Ties
1. Celibacy, marriage and familial commitments among early Sufis
2. Female Sufis
3. Maternal narratives
female Sufis as mothers
4. Sufis as maternal uncles
Part II. Communal Narratives
Early Sufis' Modes of Operating in the Framework of Sufi Communal Lives
5. Consensually acclaimed Sufis and lenient approaches
6. Marginal piety
the case of Niffari
7. Controversies and quarrel
8. Companionship with youth (Suhbat al-Ahdath).