Expansion of Sufism across the Islamic World

Name: Expansion of Sufism across the Islamic World
Start: 1351
End: 1360

Type Event Region Asia Time 1351–1360

In the 1350s Sufi brotherhoods (tarīqa) spread widely from Anatolia to Persia and the Mamluk domains in Egypt, embedding Islamic mysticism deep into …

Timeline

1351–1355Cairo · CairoCairo under the Mamluk sultanate became a center of Sufi activity; lodges of the Shadhiliyya and Rifa'iyya received sultanate patronage and built large religious complexes, while Sufi sheikhs presided over zikr (remembrance) ceremonies and spiritual instruction, attracting large numbers of urban and rural followers to the tarīqa path.
1356–1360Konya · AnatoliaIn Anatolia the whirling dervish tradition represented by the Rumi (Mawlawi) brotherhood continued to develop, while in Persia, influenced by Ibn Arabi's wahdat al-wujud (unity of being), Sufi poetics and philosophical writings circulated widely, with brotherhood networks crossing Ottoman frontiers and the remnants of Ilkhanid domains, promoting the regional synthesis of Islamic mysticism.

Sources

Sufism: The Formative Period — Ahmet T. Karamustafa (2007)
The Mantle of the Prophet: Religion and Politics in Iran — Roy Mottahedeh (1985)