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r a personal engagement with the Divine Reality.

The Arabic term f, however, has been used in a wide variety of


meanings over the centuries, by both proponents and opponents of Sufism, and this is reflected in the primary and
secondary sources, which offer diverse interpretations of the term. Western observers have sometimes obscured the
issue by referring to Sufism as Islamic mysticism or Islamic esotericism. Such terms are vague and often imply a
negative value judgment, and they encourage people to consider as non-f anything that does not fit into
preconceived categories.The original sense of f seems to have been one who wears wool (f ). In the eighth
century the word was sometimes being applied to Muslims whose ascetic inclinations led them to wear coarse and
uncomfortable woolen garments. Gradually it came to designate a group who differentiated themselves from others
by stressing certain teachings and practices of the Qurn and the sunnah. By the ninth century the gerund form
taawwuf, which means literally being a Sf or Sufism, was adopted by some representatives of this group as an
appropriate, though by no means the only, designation of their own beliefs and practices. Other terms were and
continue to be used (on the Western preference for Sufism, see Ernst, 1997, chapter 1)

As a Qurnic name for the phenomenon that often came to be called Sufism, some authors have chosen the
term isn, doing what is beautiful, a divine and human quality about which the Qurn says a good deal,
particularly that God loves those who possess it. In the famous adth of Gabriel, the Prophet describes isn as the
innermost dimension of Islam, after islm(submission or correct activity) and mn (faith or correct
understanding). Isn is a deepened understanding and perception that, in the words of this adth, allows you to
worship God as if you see him. This means that fs strive to be aware of God's presence in both the world and
themselves and to act appropriately. Historically, islm became manifest through the sharah and jurisprudence,
whereas mn became institutionalized through kalm and other forms of doctrinal teachings. In the same
way, isn revealed its presence mainly through f teachings and practices (see Murata and Chittick)

Through methodical concentration on the face of God as revealed in the Qurn, fs attempted to
remove the as if and to achieve unveiling (kashf), the generic term for suprarational vision of God
in the world and the soul. Ibn al-Arab asserts that unveiling is superior to reason, but he also insists
that reason provides the indispensable checks and balances without which it is impossible to
differentiate among divine, angelic, psychic, and satanic inrushes of imaginal knowledge.

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