Sufism – A Social History

3 Credits · Level: Undergraduate

This is an upper-level seminar on the Islamic spiritual tradition known as Sufism. It surveys the history of Islamic mysticism at a global level, its sources, and its literary, cultural, and social deployment in Arab, Persian, Indic, Turkish, and African regions. In addition to contextualizing beliefs, practices, and the development of multiple Sufi traditions, the course also introduces students to historiographic debates and methodologies, interpretive frameworks, and critical analysis of primary and secondary sources. Lectures and readings also bring theologies and philosophies in dialogue with social history. The opening sessions introduce students to the concept of Sufism, the early Sufi archetypes, and provide a historical outline of the development of Sufism. We will also consider mystical practices and cosmology, and the relationship between Sufism and other core Islamic sciences. The course will then turn to reading and interpreting hagiographies, with a special emphasis on women as Sufi masters, practitioners, and devotees, both in the past and within Muslim societies today.