The Doctrine of Sufis

This 1935 English translation of a classic Arabic text in Sfsm, the mystical aspect of Islam, by A. J. Arberry preserves the beauty and simplicity of the original without departing from a literal translation. Little is known of the author of this treatise Ab Bakr al-Kalbdh, except that he was a lawyer and died in Bukhr in about AD 990. This book is the work on which his fame rests, and is important because it is the earliest extant text to reconcile the position of Sfsm and orthodox Islam. The book consists of five parts: a general introduction to the term Sf and an enumeration of the names of the great Sfs; a statements of the tenets of Islam, as accepted by the Sfs; a discussion of the various 'stations' of the Sfs; and a discussion of the various phenomena of Sfsm. This is a superb English introduction to Sfsm.