A Commentary on “What Is Tasawwuf ?”
By directly addressing the nature of Tasawwuf, this anonymous Persian poem, “What is Tasawwuf ?” contains a number of essential concepts that are helpful in gaining an understanding of Tasawwuf. Direct statements about the nature of Tasawwuf (also known as Sufism) are an important aspect of Sufi literature. The renowned scholar Abu Nu’aym al-Asbahani (Isfahani) (d. 430/1038) included one-hundred and thirty-four such assertions (often in rhymed prose) in his encyclopaedic biographical collection, the Hilyat al-Awliya’.
The great English scholar of Sufism, Nicholson, collected and translated seventy-eight of these sayings. Most recently, Tamar Frank has devoted an article to studying Abu Nu’aym’s sayings of this kind. The poem that is the object of this study, in answering the question “What is Tasawwuf ?” makes a number of pithy assertions about the central concepts of Tasawwuf by means of its technical vocabulary. Consequently, in this article we have sought to explain those concepts that may not be obvious even to the educated reader. In explaining these terms, we have relied mainly upon authoritative Islamic sources such as the Qur’an, hadith, and highly regarded Sufi authors.
