The Popularisation of Sufism in Ayyubid and Mamluk Egypt, 1173-1325, by Nathan Hofer

Abstract

First Paragraph: Sufism as we know it today – the Sufism of organized brotherhoods and the veneration of saints – was formed in the later Middle Ages, specifically during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was then that Sufism became also a mass movement, not on the margins of the religious and social landscape of medieval Muslim societies but capturing a central role in the experiences of Islam for a majority. In the context of Egypt and Syria, it was under the Ayyūbids and the early Mamlūks that Sufism truly became popular.