Arabic · noun · Spirit & the Divine
Sufi
सूफ़ी
said SOO-fee
also written: sufi, soofi, sufiyah
Meaning
A Muslim mystic who seeks direct experience of the Divine through purification of the heart and love of God.
Literally: a Muslim mystic
Usage & notes
A practitioner of tasawwuf, Islamic mysticism — one who seeks inward purification and nearness to God. Iqbal's stance is double-edged: he draws deeply on the Sufi heritage of love, gnosis and inner experience, and reveres masters like Rumi, yet he sharply criticizes the later, decayed Sufism of escapism, world-denial and idle shrine-piety. He calls, in effect, for a Sufism reformed into an engaged, life-affirming spirituality of the strong self.