Infidelity and faith in one body: Ecstatic expression and the boundaries of devotion in early sufism

Document Type

Article

Department

Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Abstract

The early Islamic mysticism was defined by a tension between orthodox jurisprudence (shari'a) and the radical mystical experience. This paper examines how the ecstatic expression in early Sufism navigated and dismantled the boundaries between faith(iman) and infidelity(kufr). Focusing on the teachings and sayings of Rabi'a al-Qaysiyya, Bayazid Bistami, and Mansur al-Hallaj, this study analyzes how early mystics utilized paradoxical language, ecstatic utterances(shathiyat) and radical self-negation(fana’) to articulate divine love. While legal authorities saw this as a claim of heresy, for the mystics it was the purest form of monotheism. Ultimately, this paper demonstrates that the utterances that these mystics made were not claims of heresy(shirk) but an ultimate form of oneness with God which requires annihilation of one’s own self.

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Publication (Name of Journal)

Tehzib: Undergraduate Research Journal

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