Scholars speak of Sufism to encompass a variety of mystically-inclined voluntary societies and traditions in the Islamic world. Tracing their origins to the earliest Muslims, Sufi aspirants seek unity with the divine by esoteric teachings and ecstatic experience under the careful shepherding of a master. While Sufi communities have often lived in tension with the religion of worldly authorities, their spirituality has left its mark on more mainstream forms of Islam. For this reason, distinguishing Sufi from non-Sufi isn't always easy. In recent times Sufism has attracted a great deal of interest from non-Muslims around the world, who are drawn especially by Sufis' exquisite poetry and trance-inducing whirling dance. The writings of Jalal ad-Din Rumi, for instance, show up so regularly in the "spirituality" sections of bookstores these days that one might mistake him for a prolific Northern California guru rather than a 13th century Persian.
Sufism