Quora Answer: Are Sufi Muslims a part of Sunni Islam or Shi’ah Islam?

بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ 

The following is my answer to a Quora question: “Are Sufi Muslims a part of Sunni Islam or Shi’ah Islam?” 

Sufism is not a sect.  Sufism, spirituality, also known as taswawwuf, ihsan, and ‘irfan, is a field of the religious sciences, just like fiqh, jurisprudence; ‘aqidah, theology; and tafsir, exegesis. 

Just as a scholar who is an accredited authority in the field of fiqh, jurisprudence, is called a faqih, jurist; a scholar accredited in the field of Sufism is colloquially known as a Sufi.  The people who practice it, but are not masters in its sciences are called muhibbin, or muridun.  They are not Sufis.  As such, a Sufi may be Sunni, Shi’ah, or otherwise, since a sect is based on theology, and Sufis belong to the myriad Muslim theological traditions.



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