A Note on Interior Conversion in Early Sufism and Ibrāhīm b. Adham’s Entry into the Way
In the early Sufi tradition tawba was conceived not simply as repentance, or returning to God from a particular sin, but as a broader and much more encompassing process of “interior conversion” in which a nominal allegiance to the religion of one’s birth was replaced by a complete and unwavering com...
| Published in: | Journal of Sufi studies |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2016
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| In: |
Journal of Sufi studies
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| Further subjects: | B
Asceticism
conversion
Ibrāhīm b. Adham
mysticism
repentance
sin
Sufism
tawba
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| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | In the early Sufi tradition tawba was conceived not simply as repentance, or returning to God from a particular sin, but as a broader and much more encompassing process of “interior conversion” in which a nominal allegiance to the religion of one’s birth was replaced by a complete and unwavering commitment to the spiritual life. Ibrāhīm’s b. Adham’s (d. 161/778–9) tawba remains perhaps the most well-known of such accounts. Found in virtually all the major biographical and hagiographical sources which deal with the formative period of Sufism, it contains elements both uncannily similar to that of Buddha’s own conversion intertwined with distinctively Islamic motifs, whether they involve a scrupulous concern for lawful sustenance, hearing a Qur’anic admonishment through the words of an invisible caller (hātif), an over-riding concern for final Judgement and the welfare of the soul after death, or an encounter with Khiḍr through whom certain mysteries of the Way are disclosed. |
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| ISSN: | 2210-5956 |
| Contains: | In: Journal of Sufi studies
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/22105956-12341290 |