ردپاي آفتاب

A study of Sufism through its definitions

One way to study Sufism and its development is to study its definitions presented by the Sufis themselves. Through this study, we can not only explore the Sufiʹs thoughts and tendencies, but to describe the effects of political and social systems on Sufism. In this article, the writer first classifies the definitions of Sufism presented from the first to the fifth centuries, under nine topics in terms of the content of the definitions. The writer then classifies the definitions in terms of the people who have presented them. These people belong to four major Sufi schools: Khorassan, Baghdad, Fars and Damascus schools. But because of the importance of the two Baghdad and Khorassan schools, the writer confines himself to these two schools. The third part is devoted to the structural study of the definitions found in Helyatol Oʹliya. The article concludes with an alphabetical list of the definitions taken form Sufi texts.