One of the teaching tools of the Sufi Master is the art of storytelling with a moral. Depicted here is one of the moments when a Master imparts knowledge through storytelling.
Sufism is the Western term for the mystical proponents of the Islamic faith. Sufi masters seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through a direct, personal experience of God. Sufis are not unlike the gurus, swamis, ascetics, professed religious, and monks of other faiths. They have disciples who they lead to a closer relationship with Allah through various paths. Not all Muslims claim Sufis as a part of the Islamic faith, but all Sufis claim themselves as being Muslim.
Further information regarding Sufism:
Sufism has historically been mistaken as a sect of Islam, when it is, in fact, a religious order for any Islamic denomination.
Although the overwhelming majority of Sufis, both pre-modern and modern, were, and are adherents of Sunni Islam, there also developed certain strands of Sufi practice within the ambit of Shia Islam during the late medieval period, particularly after the forced conversion of Iran from majority Sunni to Shia. Traditional Sufi orders during the first five centuries of Islam were all based in Sunni Islam. Although Sufis were opposed to dry legalism, they strictly observed Islamic law, and belonged to various schools of Islamic jurisprudence and theology.
Sufis have been characterized by their asceticism, especially by their attachment to dhikr, the practice of remembrance of God, often performed after prayers. They gained adherents among a number of Muslims as a reaction against the worldliness of the early Umayyad Caliphate (661–750), and have spanned several continents and cultures over a millennium, initially expressing their beliefs in Arabic, and later expanding into Persian, Turkish, and Urdu, among others. Sufis played an important role in the formation of Muslim societies through their missionary and educational activities. According to William Chittick, "In a broad sense, Sufism can be described as the interiorization, and intensification of Islamic faith and practice."
Despite a relative decline of Sufi orders in the modern era and criticism of some aspects of Sufism by modernist thinkers and conservative Salafists, Sufism has continued to play an important role in the Islamic world, and has also influenced various forms of spirituality in the West.
