Ma'ruf Karkhi is the pioneer of Sufism in Baghdad. He played a significant role in shifting Sufism from asceticism to mysticism. A study of his words and ideas shows that he was the first to define Sufism. He defines Sufism as perceiving the truths, expressing the subtlelties, and keeping off the people. His definition has attracted scholars such as Nicholson who studied Sufism. The present pap...

   Due to the constant presence of mystical attitude in the individual and social conscience of Iranians, in the flowology of Iranian cultural events, the nature and functions of the school of Sufism must always analyzed. Orientalists in the study and analysis of Iranian-Islamic Sufism have used various comparative studies, approaches and research methodologies. Mysticism, from the perspective...

The phenomenon of Western Sufi teachers is unique, not just because of the individuals themselves, though they are certainly fascinating, but because of what they represent: the flowering of the Western genius, which has discovered Eastern traditions, absorbed them and in the process changed them and been changed by them. This paper is a primary outline of the main contours of this phenomenon, ...