The Impact Of Sufism On Egyptian Society During the Mamluk state -Historical study- (658-923 AH)

Abstract

The Sufi movement did not organize itself until the beginning of the fourth century AH, but after this date, especially in Islam-friendly countries, it began organizing different methods, as the great Sufis followed special methods and teachings, and their followers gathered around them, so they lived in groups in khanqas and takiyas following those methods, and followers After them they establish branches in other lands, cities and countries. The Levant and Egypt included a share of that activity, and the formation over time (Akhawati) large or small, with its own sheikhs, independent schools, dress, rituals, hospices, and rivers, who do not receive knowledge except from the sheikhs of their way, and do not refer except to them for spiritual guidance. Their beliefs, arranged for a particular religious philosophy. And before this philosophy was concentrated in the monotheistic views of Muhyi al-Din ibn Arabi al-Andalusi (d. 638 AH), it fluctuated between several dangers. Scholars differed about the definition of Sufism, and it has many meanings taken from the substance (wool), and the name Sufism is the well-known name that includes all of their sects. Political factors contributed to the growth and emergence of Sufism during the Mamluk era and its development. It penetrated the circles of the people and the private alike, and its names multiplied and the state recognized it. Each Sufi order has its own rules, but they all agree to compete to attract followers and believers, and vows are given in different ceremonies, and followers and followers engage in those methods, with dancing, remembrance, and special dress for each method to be distinguished from the other. Examples of these Sufi orders are: the Qadiriyya, Rifa’iyya, Shadhiliyya, Badawiyyah, Dasuqiyya, Naqshbandiyyah, and Qalandariyya orders. They were places of Sufi presence, cultural centers, and a tool for spreading the intellectual movement. And with the entry of the common people into Sufism as sheikhs and disciples, and their formation of Sufi orders, there was an exaggeration in sorcery and claims of dignity, and in conferring the qualities of sanctification and deification on the Sufi sheikh as much as they neglected theoretical and philosophical mysticism