Mysticism as Morality

The Case of Sufism

Bibliographic Data

ID14760404
AuthorsPaul L Heck (Georgetown University, corresponding author)
Year2006
Volume34
Issue2
Pages253-286
Publication date2006-06-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueJournal of Religious Ethics (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0384-9694 • E-ISSN: 1467-9795
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1467-9795.2006.00268.x
OpenAlexW1935115748
LanguageEN
Citations received18
References cited20

Sufism—spiritual practice, intellectual discipline, literary tradition, and social institution—has played an integral role in the moral formation of Muslim society. Its aspiration toward a universal kindness to all creatures beyond the requirements of Islamic law has added a distinctly hypernomian dimension to the moral vision of Islam, as evidenced in a wide range of Sufi literature. The universal perspective of Sufism, fully rooted in Islamic revelation, yields a lived (and not just studied) ethics with the potential to view and embrace all creatures through a single ethical vision, regardless of religious or other affiliation. This side of Islam, both acknowledging and surpassing the outlook of the legal heritage, offers important insight into understanding the nature of Muslim society as both Islamic and meta-Islamic in religious orientation. Sufism, still significant in today's Islamic world, thus offers important material for locating Islam as part of an international order with principles and standards that resonate deeply with the moral vision of Islam itself

Aesthetics · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Islam · Islamic studies · Kindness · Morality · Morality and religion · Mysticism · Revelation · Sociology · Sufism · Theology · Education and Islamic Studies · Islamic Studies and History · Medieval and Classical Philosophy · Philosophy · Religious studies

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