Sufism is nothing other than Islamic mysticism, which means that it is central and most powerful current of a tidal wave which constitutes the Revelation of Islam.
As to the thousands of men and women in the modern Western world who, while claiming to be ‘Sufis’, maintain that Sufism is independent of any particular religion and that it has always existed, they fail to notice that by robbing it of its particularity and therefore of its originality, the also deprive it of all impetus.
Being totally dependent upon one particular Revelation, Sufism is totally independent of everything else. But while being self-sufficient it can, if time and place concur, pluck flowers from gardens other than its own. The Prophet of Islam said: ‘Seek knowledge even it be in China’.
(Martin Lings. The Originality of Sufism. In: What Is Sufism? University California Press, California. 1975. p. 15-16)
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