Sufism and Early Islamic Piety: Personal and Communal Dynamics offers a new story about the formative period of Sufism. Through a fresh reading of diverse Sufi and non-Sufi sources, Arin Shawkat Salamah-Qudsi reveals the complexity of personal and communal aspects of Sufi piety in the period between the ninth and thirteenth centuries. Her study also sheds light on the interrelationships and conflicts of early Sufis through emphasising that early Sufism was neither a quietist or a completely individual mode of piety. Salamah-Qudsi reveals how the early Sufis' commitment to the Islamic ideal of family life lead to different creative arrangements among them in order to avoid contradictions with this ideal and the mystical ideal of solitary life. Her book enables a deeper understanding of the development of Sufism in light of the human concerns and motivations of its founders.

‘By expanding the scope of inquiry about the relationships of early Sufis beyond the celebrated shaykh-disciple bond, Sufism and Early Islamic Piety makes an undeniable contribution to scholarship on early Sufism. Among other achievements, Salamah-Qudsi highlights figures who have previously been marginalized in European-language scholarship, argues persuasively for the application of gen-der theory to early Sufi texts, and translates for the first time a great deal of material into English …’

Jeremy Farrell Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society