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Sufism
Sufism, for those who may never have heard the term, is called ‘the way to the heart’, which of course means the centre. It is the way of the pure, as Sufi may derive also from the word Sata or saaf meaning cleanliness or pure. Another viewpoint has the word being derived from the Arabic word for wool – suf – thus implying the cloak worn by the Sufi or the fact that every Sufi was seen to be a shepherd. It may also come from the Ashab al-Suffa or Ahl al-Suffa, meaning ‘companions of the veranda’ or ‘people of the veranda’. The veranda spoken of is the one on the Prophet Muhammad’s mosque, and these ‘people of the veranda’ were said to spend their days in prayer and meditation during the Prophets lifetime. These special adherents were from many lands, including Persia, Ethiopia, Egypt and even Rome, bringing a great many diverse beliefs and interests with them. There is, however, a more telling term from which the word Sufi may be derived – Sophia. This is the concept of wisdom spoken of again and again in esoteric literature and which has come down to us today via all-manner of faiths and creeds, even into secret societies such as the Freemasons. This version of the name was espoused by Abu Raihan Niruni, a Persian mathematician, astronomer, scholar, philosopher, historian and much more, of the late tenth and early eleventh century – a veritable Renaissance man before his time. The fact that a Persian stated this belief relates to something Springett said in his book Secret Sects of Syria:
“the Sufees are a secret society of Persian mystic philosophers and ascetics, whose original religion may have been that of the Chaldeans or Sabeans, who believed in the unity of God, but