What is theoretical Sufism: The relationship between theoretical and practical Sufism

Abstract

Mystical heritage in Islam is firmly grounded on the holy teachings of Qur'an, which is why it relatively quickly established itself as a popular cultural trend in early Muslim societies. However, until the 13th century, Muslims had developed exclusively the teachings of practical Sufism in their mystical schools, and in that period theoretical Sufism did not take the form of an independent discipline. It was not until Ibn ʻArabī and his influential disciples began to write about a systematized ontology based on the credibility of mystical intuition that theoretical Sufism became a new discipline in the educational centers of classical Islamic knowledge. Finally, in the 17th century, Mullā Ṣadrā masterfully united the two schools -theoretical Sufism and Islamic philosophy -and they have had the same method and content to this day. This paper will not talk about the periodization of the history of theoretical Sufism, but here we explain in detail what exactly theoretical Sufism means. We will analyze internal elements of this discipline and the way in which they are interconnected. First, we will explain why we divide Sufism into theoretical and practical Sufism, and after analyzing their mutual influence, we will offer a precise definition of these two mystical disciplines in Islam. Respecting the methodological practice of Muslim scholars in their introductory studies on various Islamic disciplines, in the second part of the paper we answer questions about what is the subject of theoretical Sufism and what problems are discussed in this discipline. Finally, we will also analyze the criterion in this discipline, with the help of which we check the truth and falsity of judgments about mystical experiences.

Keywords

• sufism
• theoretical sufism
• practical sufism
• mysticism
• religion
• ontology
• metaphysics
• philosophy
• intuition
• reason