RT Article
T1 The Emergence and Development of Persianate Sufism: Khorasan, Ninth to Twelfth Centuries
JF Journal of Persianate studies
VO 13
IS 1
SP 1
OP 35
A1 Arjomand, Saïd Amir
LA English
PB Brill
YR 2020
UL https://www.ixtheo.de/Record/1817479342
AB Abstract This paper examines the emergence of Sufism and its differentiation from other religious trends in early Islamic Khorasan and Transoxania and traces the influence of Buddhism and Manichæism on the development of Sufism. The corresponding professionalization of the Sufi sheikhs in this formative process went hand in hand with the elaboration of Sufi mystical theory. The theoretical elaboration of Sufism consisted in the development of a theory of divine love culminating in the masterpieces of Farid al-Din ʿAttār on the eve of the Mongol invasion. The paper highlights the strong connection between Sufism and fotovvat (urban brotherhoods) during the emergence of Sufism in Khorasan and its gradual weakening that resulted from the increasing professionalization of Sufism and the formation of a distinct Persianate Sufi identity. The appropriation and transformation of royal symbolism in the Sufi texts is then analyzed in the last section.
K1 ʿayyār
K1 Manichæism
K1 royal symbolism
K1 urban associations
K1 fotovvat
K1 ʿAttār
K1 Khorasan
K1 Sufism
DO 10.1163/18747167-BJA10005