Islam
Mysticism

Sufism (Arabic: تصوف, tasawwuf), is a mystical - ascetic approach to Islam that seeks to find a direct personal experience of God. Classical Sufi scholars defined tasawwuf as "a science whose objective is the reparation of the heart and turning it away from all else but God", through "intuitive and emotional faculties" that one must be trained to use. Ahmad ibn Ajiba defined tasawwuf as "a return to the tradition, and its beginning is knowledge, its middle is action, and its end is a gift." It is not a sect of Islam, and its adherents belong to the various Muslim denominations. Isma'ilism, whose teachings are rooted in Gnosticism and Neoplatonism as well as by the Illuminationist and Isfahan schools of Islamic philosophy, has developed mystical interpretations of Islam. Hasan al-Basri, the early Sufi ascetic often portrayed as one of the earliest Sufis, emphasized fear of failing God's expectations of obedience. In contrast, later prominent Sufis, such as Mansur Al-Hallaj and Jalaluddin Rumi, emphasized religiosity based on love towards God. Such devotion would also have an impact on the arts, with Rumi still one of the bestselling poets in America.
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