Abbasid Sufi Schools and Their Impact on the East

Abstract

The schools of Abbasid Sufism and their impact on the East are among the important topics in the history of Islamic thought, as true Islamic Sufism is based on the Qur’an, the Sunnah, and the conditions of the Prophet, and with the passage of time, some of its branches changed color and headed to different doctrines due to the influence of Indian, Persian, and Greek translations and philosophies, especially in the era of Al-Ma’mun and the Abbasid caliphs that followed. Despite these transformations, pure Sufism remained based on the Qur’an and Sunnah in the souls of its men and in the writings of its notables such as Al-Hasan Al-Basri, Al-Qushayri, Abu Talib Al-Makki, Al-Karkhi, Al-Junaid Al-Baghdadi, Al-Ghazali and others. The scholar Ibn Khaldun emphasizes in his introduction that Sufism is essentially one of the legal sciences emerging in the religion, and that its method was followed by the Companions, the Successors, and the Salaf. It is the path of truth and guidance, based on devotion to worship, devotion to God Almighty, turning away from the trappings of the world, asceticism from what people accepted of pleasure, money, and prestige, and being alone in solitude for worship, which was common in the lives of the Companions and Salaf. The subject of our study was divided into two sections: the first: on the concept of Sufism linguistically, terminologically, and etymologically, in addition to its importance, the topics of Sufism, and the emergence of Sufism. As for the second, we discussed the Iraqi school of Basra Sufism, Kufiism, and Baghdadism, and their impact on the Arab and Islamic East.