A few etymologies for the word Sufi have been suggested. One etymological theory states that the root word of Sufi is the Arabic word saaf (صاف), meaning pure, clean or blank. This etymology refers to the emphasis of Sufism on purity of heart and soul. Another view is that the word originates from Suf (صوف), the Arabic word for wool, implying a cloak and refers to the si ...

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Sufism, Sufism - Etymology, Sufism - History of Sufism, Sufism - Origins, Sufism - The great Masters of Sufism, Sufism - Formalisation of Philosophies of Sufism, Sufism - Propagation of Sufism, Sufism - Modern Sufism, Sufism - Influences, Sufism - Basic beliefs, Sufism - Sufi Concepts, Sufism - Lataif-e-sitta The Six Subtleties, Sufism - Sufi cosmology, Sufism - Sufi practices, Sufism - Muraqaba, Sufism - Dhikr, Sufism - Qawwali, Sufism - Sama, Sufism - Nazar ill'al-murd, Sufism - Orders of Sufism, Sufism - Traditional orders, Sufism - Non-Traditional Sufi Groups, Sufism - Traditional Islamic schools of thought and Sufism, Sufism - Sources

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Sufism, Sufism - Etymology, Sufism - History of Sufism, Sufism - Origins, Sufism - The great Masters of Sufism, Sufism - Formalisation of Philosophies of Sufism, Sufism - Propagation of Sufism, Sufism - Modern Sufism, Sufism - Influences, Sufism - Basic beliefs, Sufism - Sufi Concepts, Sufism - Lataif-e-sitta The Six Subtleties, Sufism - Sufi cosmology, Sufism - Sufi practices, Sufism - Muraqaba, Sufism - Dhikr, Sufism - Qawwali, Sufism - Sama, Sufism - Orders of Sufism, Sufism - Traditional orders, Sufism - Non-Traditional Sufi Groups, Sufism - Traditional Islamic schools of thought and Sufism, Sufism - Sources

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Islam traditionally consists of a number of madhhabs (i.e of Sunni, Shi'a and of their subdivisions). Sufis do not define Sufism as a madhhab. What distinguishes a person as a Sufi is practicing Sufism, usually through association with a Sufi order. Belief in Sufism is not sufficient for being recognized as a Sufi. These facts lead to some ambiguity because Sufism has characteristics of a tradition and, for example, use of the term "Sufi Islam" is generally accepted. W. Chittick explains the position of Sufism and Sufis this way: ...

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Sufism, Sufism - Etymology, Sufism - History of Sufism, Sufism - Origins, Sufism - The great Masters of Sufism, Sufism - Formalisation of Philosophies of Sufism, Sufism - Propagation of Sufism, Sufism - Modern Sufism, Sufism - Influences, Sufism - Basic beliefs, Sufism - Sufi Concepts, Sufism - Lataif-e-sitta The Six Subtleties, Sufism - Sufi cosmology, Sufism - Sufi practices, Sufism - Muraqaba, Sufism - Dhikr, Sufism - Qawwali, Sufism - Sama, Sufism - Nazar ill'al-murd, Sufism - Orders of Sufism, Sufism - Traditional orders, Sufism - Non-Traditional Sufi Groups, Sufism - Traditional Islamic schools of thought and Sufism, Sufism - Sources

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Islam History of Islam Oneness of God Profession of Faith Prayer • Fasting Pilgrimage • Charity Muhammad Ali • Abu Bakr Companions of Muhammad Household of Muhammad Prophets of Islam Qur'an • Hadith • Sharia Jurisprudence Biographies of Muhammad Sunni • Shi'a • Sufi Art • Architecture Cities • Calendar Science • Philosophy Religious leaders Women in Islam Politi ...

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Sufism - Etymology Sufism - History of Sufism
Sufism - Origins Sufism - The great Masters of Sufism Sufism - Formalisation of Philosophies of Sufism Sufism - Propagation of Sufism Sufism - Modern Sufism
Sufism - Influences Sufism - Basic beliefs Sufism - Sufi Concepts
Sufism - Lataif-e-sitta The Six Subtleties Sufism - Sufi cosmology
Sufism - Sufi practices
Sufism - Muraqaba Sufism - Dhikr Sufism - Qawwali Sufism - Sama
Sufism - Orders of Sufism
Sufism - Traditional orders Sufism - Non-Traditional Sufi Groups
Sufism - Traditional Islamic schools of thought and Sufism Sufism - Sources

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Esotericism refers to knowledge suitable only for the advanced, privileged, or initiated, as opposed to exoteric knowledge, which is public. It is used especially for mystical, occult and spiritual viewpoints. Esotericism - Etymology. Esoteric is an adjective originating in Hellenic Greece under the domain of the Roman Empire; it comes from the Greek esôterikos, from esôtero, the comparative form of esô: "within". Esoteric refers to anything that is inner and occult. It ...

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Esotericism - Etymology Esotericism - Esoteric vs. Esotericism Esotericism - Nuances Esotericism - Scope Esotericism - Historical sketch Esotericism - Esoteric themes Esotericism - Traditions Esotericism - Esotericism in popular culture

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There are a number of Islamic religious denominations, each of which has significant theological and legal differences from each other but possess identical essential belief. The major schools of thought are Sunni and Shi'a, with Sufism considered as a mystical inflection of Islam. Islam - Sunni. The Sunni are the largest group in Islam (80%– 85% of all Muslims are Sunni). In Arabic, as-Sunnah literally means princi ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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In Arabic, Islām derives from the three-letter root Sīn-Lām-Mīm (س-ل-م), which means "submission; to surrender; to obey; peace". Islām is a verbal abstract to this root, and literally means "submission/obedience," referring to submission to Allah. Compare that roo ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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The basis of Islamic belief is found in the shahādatān ("two testimonies", Arabic: لا إله إلا الله محمد رسول الله ): lā ilāhā illā-llāhu; muhammadur-rasūlu-llāhi—"There is no god but The God; Muhammad is the messenger of God." In order to become a Muslim, one needs to recite and believe in these statements under witness. One who wishes to convert must be truly willing, and must have given thought to the meaning of the shahāda before reciting ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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Islam - Religious authority. There is no official authority who decides whether a person is accepted into, or dismissed from, the community of believers, known as the Ummah ("family" or "nation"). Islam is open to all, regardless of race, age, gender, or previous beliefs. It is enough to believe in the central beliefs of Islam. This is formally done by reciting the shahada, which should be made sincerely from the heart, the statement of belief of Islam, without which a person cannot be classed a Mus ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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The following groups consider themselves Muslims, but are not considered Islamic by the majority of Muslims or Muslim authorities: The Nation of Islam (based in the United States) The Zikris The Ahmadiyya Movement (Also called Qadiani) The following consider themselves Muslims but acceptance by the larger Muslim community varies: The Druze The Alawites (Alnusairiya) The following religions are said by some to have evolved or borrowed from Islam, in almost all ca ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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The Qur'an contains injunctions to respect other religions. It also asks the followers to fight and subdue unbelievers in times of war and "evict them whence they evicted you" (Al-Qur'an 2:191). Some Muslims have respected Jews and Christians as fellow "peoples of the book" (monotheists following Abrahamic religions), while others have reviled them as having abandoned monotheism and corrupted their scriptures. At different times and places, Islamic communities have been both intolerant and tolerant. The classical Islamic solution was ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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Modern Islamic history begins in Arabia in the 7th century with the emergence of the prophet Muhammad. Within a century of his death, an Islamic state stretched from the Atlantic ocean in the west to central Asia in the east, which, however, was soon torn by civil wars (fitnas). After this, there would always be rival dynasties claiming the caliphate, or leadership of the Muslim world, and many I ...

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Islam, Islam - Etymology, Islam - Beliefs, Islam - Six articles of belief, Islam - The tenets of Islam, Islam - God, Islam - The Qur'an, Islam - Islamic eschatology, Islam - Organization, Islam - Religious authority, Islam - Islamic law, Islam - Islamic calendar, Islam - Schools denominations, Islam - Sunni, Islam - Shi'a, Islam - Sufism, Islam - Others, Islam - Religions based on Islam, Islam - Islam and other religions, Islam - History, Islam - Contemporary Islam, Islam - The demographics of Islam today, Islam - Symbols of Islam

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Their Muslim contemporaries were extremely suspicious of them; in fact they were described in terms (Batini) which suggested they were only nominally Islamic. This constant religious estrangement would eventually see them go so far as allying with the Occidental Christians against Muslims on a number of occasions. It is even suggested that they attempted to negotiate their own conversion to Christianity with Amalric I of Jerusalem, but were foiled by Templar machinations, perhaps on the basis that this would exempt them from onerous taxes on ...

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Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Description, Hashshashin - Etymology of the word assassin, Hashshashin - History of the Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Methodology, Hashshashin - Modern parallels, Hashshashin - Influence, Hashshashin - Notes

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The name "assassin" is commonly believed to be a mutation of the Arabic "haššāšīn" (حشّاشين, "hashish-eaters"). However, there are those who dispute this etymology, arguing that it originates from Marco Polo's account of his visit to Alamut in 1273, in which he describes a drug whose effects are more like those of alcohol than of hashish. It is suggested by some writers that assassin simply means 'followers of Al-Hassan' (or Hasan-i Sabbah, the Sheikh of Alamut (see below). Others suggest that since hashish-eaters were gen ...

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Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Description, Hashshashin - Etymology of the word assassin, Hashshashin - History of the Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Methodology, Hashshashin - Modern parallels, Hashshashin - Influence, Hashshashin - Notes

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Although apparently known as early as the 8th century, the foundation of the Assassins is usually marked as 1090 when Hasan-i Sabbah established his stronghold in the mountains south of the Caspian Sea at Alamut. A Yemeni emigrant and an Ismaili Shiite, Hasan set the aim of the Assassins to destroy the power of the Abbasid Caliphate by murdering its most powerful members. Hasan ibn Sabbah was also known as "The Old Man of the Mountain", however, this is likely to have been a mistake in translation, since "Old Man" is the literal trans ...

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Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Description, Hashshashin - Etymology of the word assassin, Hashshashin - History of the Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Methodology, Hashshashin - Modern parallels, Hashshashin - Influence, Hashshashin - Notes

Read more here: » Hashshashin: Encyclopedia II - Hashshashin - History of the Hashshashin

Although legend states that Hasan-i Sabbah, original leader of the Nizari Isamailies, used Hashish to grant "visions" of paradise to his followers, it is highly unlikely, given the fact that the use and effects of Hashish were well known during that time period, and frequent subjects of Imams in the Mosques. Marco Polo, who traveled through the area, gave an account similar to this: Recruits were promised Paradise in return for dying in action. They were drugged, often with materials such as hashish (some suggest opium and wine as ...

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Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Description, Hashshashin - Etymology of the word assassin, Hashshashin - History of the Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Methodology, Hashshashin - Modern parallels, Hashshashin - Influence, Hashshashin - Notes

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Some commentators make comparisons between the historical Assassin movement and Al Qaeda, noting the similar tactics of terror, political assassination, the promise of reaching paradise, as well as the cult-like mysticism around Osama Bin Laden. Al Qaeda is also a secret society, with its leaders purportedly hiding in mountain hideouts. Martyrdom is also a key aspect of Al Qaeda's tactics. Unlike Al Qaeda, however, the Assassins did not generally target innocent civilians. F.W. Bussell believed the later Kizilbash, militant supporters of the Shia Safawiyah-Sufis of Persia, to be an offspring of the Assassi ...

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Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Description, Hashshashin - Etymology of the word assassin, Hashshashin - History of the Hashshashin, Hashshashin - Methodology, Hashshashin - Modern parallels, Hashshashin - Influence, Hashshashin - Notes

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Esoteric is an adjective originating in Hellenic Greece under the domain of the Roman Empire; it comes from the Greek esôterikos, from esôtero, the comparative form of esô: "within". Esoteric refers to anything that is inner and occult. Its antonym is exoteric, from the Greek eksôterikos, from eksôtero, the comparative form of eksô: "outside". Plato (427-347 BC) uses in his dialogue Alcibíades (aprox. 390 BC) the expression ta esô meaning «the inner things� ...

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Esotericism, Esotericism - Etymology, Esotericism - Esoteric vs. Esotericism, Esotericism - Nuances, Esotericism - Scope, Esotericism - Historical sketch, Esotericism - Esoteric themes, Esotericism - Traditions, Esotericism - Esotericism in popular culture

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Esotericism largely overlaps with occultism which simply means "hidden knowledge." However, in the 20th century many esotericists avoid the latter term owing to negative connotations associated with it (for example, the presumption that it involves devil-worship or black magic). For the same reason, many (predominantly Christian) opponents of esotericism prefer the term "occultism." Much overlap exists as well between esotericism and mysticism. However, many mystical traditions do not attempt to introduce additional spir ...

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Esotericism, Esotericism - Etymology, Esotericism - Esoteric vs. Esotericism, Esotericism - Nuances, Esotericism - Scope, Esotericism - Historical sketch, Esotericism - Esoteric themes, Esotericism - Traditions, Esotericism - Esotericism in popular culture

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Many religious movements in various parts of the world claim to possess a higher, truer, or better interpretation of the wider religion of which they are a part. Whether they are correct is inevitably a matter of controversy. Not infrequently, the claims of one esoteric group may be rejected by the wider religious culture, or by other esoteric groups which make their own rival claims. While esotericism tends to focus on personal enlightenment and internal spiritual practice, organized religion or exotericism tends to focus on outer sp ...

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Esotericism, Esotericism - Etymology, Esotericism - Esoteric vs. Esotericism, Esotericism - Nuances, Esotericism - Scope, Esotericism - Historical sketch, Esotericism - Esoteric themes, Esotericism - Traditions, Esotericism - Esotericism in popular culture

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