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Sufism: The Mystical Doctrines of Islam Paperback – May 1, 1998
by William Stoddart (Author)
4.8 4.8 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
3.4 on Goodreads
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Text: English, Arabic
Publisher : Paragon House; 2nd,Revised edition (May 1, 1998)
Language : English
Paperback : 94 pages
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William Bagley
4.0 out of 5 stars Good Introduction to SufismReviewed in the United States on May 25, 2009
This book is a good study of Sufism and of comparative religion. The writing is concise, a lot is said with few words. The author does not always spell everything out, but leaves the reader to draw some conclusions. There are extensive quotes and beautiful pictures. I found that the book does show a deeper side of Islam. I do feel that Sufism predates Islam, in accord with the understanding of Idries Shah and his writings on Sufism. However, Sufism took home in Islam for a part of its life and shaped the traditon from within. This book, like many, holds the belief that Sufism is the inner mystical side of Islam. While this is not completely untrue, it is not the whole story. However, within the limits of the premise that Sufism is mystical Islam, the author does a wonderful job expressing What Sufism has been when it took home in Islam. There is a lot of history about Islam, Judaim, and Christianity from this vantage point that I enjoyed reading. I would recommend, for a fuller picture of Sufism that one read THE WAY OF THE SUFI by Idries Shah and CHASM OF FIRE by Irina Tweedie.
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Thomas F. Ogara
5.0 out of 5 stars The Best IntroductionReviewed in the United States on July 1, 2004
When I first encountered this little book I thought that it was some sort of book for children - it was so short, I reasoned, that it couldn't be anything else.
After reading it I realized that if I were to recommend one book on Sufism to an interested beginner on the subject, I would recommend this. Not that it's superficial - far from it! But it is concise, precise and extremely well-written. It ties together ideas that you would otherwise need to read several books to grasp. Most interesting was the section on how Sufism relates to Christianity and Judaism. Highly recommended.
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Joshua West
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October 7, 2014
This book is less of an introduction to sufism than it is an argument for sufism's place in orthodox Islam. At least that is what the first 2/3s are about while last third is oddly enough an argument for sufism's universalism and commonality with all religions. Some interesting theology is discussed along the way but it seems only incidental to the author's purposes. The book, however, lacks any substantive information on the history and practices of sufism.
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Erik Graff
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March 22, 2012
This is a good general introduction to Sufism. There is discussion not only of its relationship with Islam, but also of its relations to Judaism and Christianity.
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Reza Honarvar
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December 11, 2013
Its introduction to sufism (islamic esoterism). He also speaks about Islamic exoterism and Perennial philosophy (religio perennis).
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