تصوف
taṣawwuf
The inner, devotional dimension of Islam, centred on remembrance of God and purification of the heart.
What it means
Sufis take as their model the hadith of ihsan, to worship God as if you see Him (Sahih Muslim). The early ascetics and teachers such as al-Hasan al-Basri, al-Junayd and al-Ghazali stressed the law and inward sincerity, and brotherhoods (tariqas) later spread across Africa and Asia. Practices include dhikr, the repeated remembrance of God.
What the sources say
Some scholars criticise practices such as saint-veneration as innovation, and others defend them. Al-Ghazali’s Revival of the Religious Sciences is the classic attempt to unite law and heart.