Following the period of Rumi the process of the development of the Sufi brotherhoods continued apace. Starting with the Qadiriyya (associated with ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani, 1077–1166), which today is both the oldest of the brotherhoods as well as the one that has the broadest reach throughout the Muslim world, brotherhoods became prominent in the Islamization of many regions. Each brotherhood has some specific characteristic that sets it apart from the others, but, with one major exception, all of them claim a spiritual link (known as a silsila, a “chain”) that leads from the founder of the brotherhood back to one of the prominent companions of the Prophet Muhammad (usually to ʾAli b. Abi Talib, his cousin, son-in-law, and fourth successor). Thus, the followers of a brotherhood claim spiritual continuity with early Islam as they claim to be the heirs of spiritual and esoteric knowledge that will have passed down this “chain” to the founder of the group, and from him to the rest.

Characteristics that set different brotherhoods apart are difficult to quantify. Sufis run the range from militancy (e.g., the Sanusiyya) to pacifism (e.g., the Shadhiliyya or the Chishtiyya), from being extremely close to mainstream Sunnism (e.g., the Naqshbandiyya) to groups that almost diverge entirely from Muslim practice (the Muridiyya and present New Age variants of Sufism in Europe and the United States). In general, the Naqshbandiyya has been closely associated with Central Asia and South Asia, and it has been a comparatively mainstream organization, very attractive to elites. The Chishtiyya, on the other hand, has been very much a vehicle of popular Islam, and in its practice in India it is strikingly similar to popular Hindu practices. In Africa many of the Sufi brotherhoods have been of a militant character, and some, such as the Qadiriyya under the leadership of Shehu Usuman Dan Fodio (1754–1817), spearheaded jihads against Muslims and non-Muslims alike. All major Sufi brotherhoods at one time or another fought against European encroachments during the 19th and early 20th centuries.

Some specifically African organizations include the Tijaniyya, whose founder, Ahmad al-Tijani (1735–1815), claimed to have seen the Prophet Muhammad in the flesh, and it is the only major brotherhood to eschew the silsila entirely. The Tijaniyya, in claiming what amounted to a new revelation, has proved to be very popular throughout West Africa. Similarly, the appearance of Ahmadu Bamba, associated with the Muridiyya in Senegal at the beginning of the 20th century, heralded a complete reinterpretation of the Sufi heritage. Ahmadu Bamba tied the idea of salvation closely to practical work (especially in the ground-nut culture of Senegal) and removed or allegorized many of the mainstays of Islam, such as prayer and pilgrimage. The Muridiyya cultivated a social order that was conducive to the development of song, dance, and art. Even today pictures of Ahmadou Bamba form a major component in the street art of Senegal.10

Opposition to Sufism

Without doubt, the majority of Muslims at the beginning of the 20th century were heavily influenced by Sufism. Additionally, most converts to Islam, including those of European extraction, have tended to convert to Islam through Sufism. However, hostility and antagonism toward Sufis and Sufism have been consistent throughout Muslim history. In general, this opposition has focused on the Sufi beliefs in an intercessory role for holy men (the baraka noted above), the veneration of the relics associated with these holy figures (which smacks of idolatry for many mainstream Muslims), and the indifferent attitude that Sufis can display toward strict observance of the Sharia. Anti-Sufis have shown a striking lack of gratitude toward the role that Sufism has played in the conversion of non-Muslims, and on a number of occasions Sufis or Sufi movements have been the targets of jihad on the grounds that they were not “true Muslims.”

These trends have their current roots, first, in the thought of Ibn Taymiyya (1263–1328), a polemicist and iconoclast living in Syria and Egypt who was largely rejected during his own time, but who today is seen as a prominent Muslim thinker by radical Muslims (Wahhabis or Salafis). Ironically, the best evidence is that while Ibn Taymiyya was critical of Sufi practices, especially the veneration of holy men, he was himself most likely associated with a Sufi order (Makdisi). These charges were revived and amplified by Muhammad b. ʾAbd al-Wahhab (1703–1792), who founded the theological–political tendency known as radical Islam (or Wahhabiyya). Again, he cited the position of intercessors within Sufism to classify it as shirk, or “polytheism,” a grave sin, and he listed it within his most famous document, “The Ten Nullifiers of Islam.”11 Many other Sufi practices were also placed within the categories of major sins. Ibn ʾAbd al-Wahhab, while viewed as an iconoclast by many Muslims during his own time, through this classifications of major sins nullifying one’s belief in Islam has had a normalizing effect upon the faith as well. Even if many Muslims do not agree with his harsh categorization of Sufism as polytheism it is backed up by Qur’anic verses and not easily refuted.

Sufism faced another attack at the beginning of the 20th century launched by Muslim liberals and reformers such as Muhammad ʾAbduh (1849–1905) of Egypt. Liberals and reformers identified Sufism as the primary factor contributing to the backward social and structural status of the Muslim world (vis-à-vis European domination). They usually accused Sufis of being otherworldly, anti-technological, and passive (from a military point of view). While this critique is not necessarily fair, especially given the fact that many of the anti-European jihad movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries were led by Sufis, these were characterizations that have tended to stick to Sufism until the present day, especially in the opinions of Muslim elites. For these elites, the Sufis were the primary collaborators with European colonialists—their passivity and otherworldliness encouraged foreigners to take advantage of Muslims in general. Toward the end of the 20th century both liberal and radical critiques of Sufism tended to join together in a doctrinal opposition to Sufism, in many cases claiming that Sufis are either non-Muslims or even anti-Muslim.

In the face of these attacks Sufism has demonstrated remarkable resilience. While the social prestige of Sufism remains low within the Arabic-speaking Middle East (the core lands of Islam), many Arabs remain associated with Sufi brotherhoods. Throughout other Muslim regions, such as South Asia, Southeast Asia, and Africa, the strength of Sufism remains phenomenal, and in many cases it can be compared in its dynamism to the concurrent growth of Pentecostal Christianity. It has usually been Sufis who have reached out to non-Muslims in dialogue, and a great many Islamic ideas have passed into common religious discourse in Europe and the United States (through the medium of New Age religion) from Sufism. As globalization proceeds apace, it has become more and more evident that Sufism is not only an Arab or a Persian phenomenon, but also equally an Indonesian and an African one.

This tendency toward a somewhat ecumenical outlook was common in Sufism in the Middle Ages, as one finds both Jewish and Christian Sufis in Egypt and elsewhere. Europeans, such as Louis Massignon (1883–1962), his student Henri Corbin (1903–1978), and Frithjof Schuon (1907–1998), have engaged in Sufi practices or converted to Islam themselves and have led Sufi movements. This tendency is especially strong in Europe, but it is also present in Sufi groups in the United States. Beginning with the teachings of Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882–1927), who founded an International Sufi Movement in Switzerland, and continuing on through the intellectual followers of Ibn al-ʾArabi (both in the United Kingdom at the Muhyi al-Din Ibn ʾArabi Society at Cambridge University and in France through the followers of Michel Chodkiewicz and others) and the devotees of the Haqqani Foundation (associated with the Naqshbandiyya brotherhood) Sufism has proven consistently attractive to Westerners.