Recent Reads: Women of Sufism

photograph of rainbow prayer beads draped around a book that sits on a multicolored geometric carpet. the book is called women of sufism: a hidden treasure: writings and stories of mystic poets, scholars and saints. it was edited by camille adams helminski. the cover features a sufi woman clad in white robes, head bent in prayer while holding a veil above her head. a metal pedestal rests on the carpet before her and upon it is an incense holder. the smoke wafts up and blends with her robes.

SUMMARY

The first section "In the Heart of the Prophet," traces a history of women's active participation in the early Muslim community and highlights the example set by three women of the Prophet's (PBUH) family: Khadijah, Fatima, and 'A'isha. Helminski explains, "Because the original impulse of Sufism is classically understood to have opened with the example of Muhammad and the revelation of the Qur'an, even though these women lived before anyone used the term 'Sufi,' we might consider them to be foremost among the first Sufi women" (Helminski 2003, 3). 

Having explored accounts of the first Sufi women, the book turns to early Sufi women. Helminski describes this transition as follows: "After the death of the Prophet Muhammad and the first four caliphs who followed him, the spiritual authority he initiated became fragmented. These early Sufis sought to clarify and deepen that interior spiritual connection that they saw as the essence of Islam" (20). Many of these accounts have been compiled from historical biographies, some of which have been made accessible through the efforts of contemporary Sufi women scholars.

Helminsky describes Sufism as "popular Islam" that, in contrast to "official Islam," was instrumental to the spread of the religion across the world. (I am a little skeptical of this division since many leading Muslim othodox theologians were Sufis, and tasawwuf is a central Islamic practice, but I digress.) Attributing Sufism's greater role to its higher tolerance of local customs and promotion of more egalitarian relationships, she writes: "The resulting social integration of essential Islamic principles occurred as Sufism not only spread to farther lands but also repenetrated the heartland of Islam, enabling the 'heart's blood' to flow more freely throughout the whole body of Islam" (75). From the 12th century onwards, there was a shift from mystics practicing autonomously to mystics clustering around and following particular saints around whom tariqas formed.

REFLECTION

Opa gifted me Women of Sufism 11 years ago when I first decided to major in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. It feels appropriate that this is the book that welcomes me back into doing scholarship.

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