The growth of Sufism

In the early centuries of Islam, some religious-minded people turned to asceticism and mysticism, in protest against the growing materialism of the Caliphate, and against the dogmatic definitions and scholastic methods of interpreting the Qur'an used by theologians. They were called sufis.

Sufis sought union with God through intense devotion and love for Him, following His commands and the example of the Prophet Muhammad. They interpreted the Qur'an on the basis of their own personal experience.

By the eleventh century, Sufism became a well-organised movement. Sufis organised communities around the hospice, or khanqah, controlled by a teaching master, the shaikh (also called pir or murshid). He enrolled disciples (murids), and appointed a successor (khalifa).

Sufi orders were called silsilas, meaning 'chain': a continuous link between master and disciple, stretching back as an unbroken spiritual chain to the Prophet himself. When a shaikh died, his tomb-shrine (dargah) became a centre of devotion; pilgrims gathered there especially on his death anniversary, the urs (marriage, signifying the union of his soul with God).

Some mystics, the be-shari'a groups (like the Qalandars, Madaris and Malangs), ignored the shari'a and lived as wandering ascetics. Most sufis were ba-shari'a: they complied with it. A chain of masters back to the Prophet.