Sociologists and Sufis

Abstract

Western sociologists have often viewed Sufi saints and Islamic mysticism in general through lenses that obscure the vibrant and multi-faceted sociological role long played by Sufi saints in Islamic societies. Sociologists have, thanks in part to the influence of Max Weber (d. 1920), often greatly underestimate the place of saints in Islamic tradition. Two of Weber’s most important later disciples—Ernest Gellner (d. 1995 CE) and Clifford Geertz (d. 2006 CE)—corrected some of Weber’s more serious errors, but in doing so have each in their own way injected other own misconceptions into scholarly discussions of Sufism. A review of core tenets of Sufism on sainthood as developed and elaborated on by the great medieval mystics Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī (d. 910 CE) and Ibn `Arabī (d. 1320 CE) reveals important limitations to Weberian categories vis-à-vis Islamic mysticism and highlights the need for more holistic and less Eurocentric approaches to sociological studies of Islam and Sufism.