Sufism and cities. There is no obvious relationship between these concepts. Do Sufis have any special interest in cities? Do cities contribute to Sufism in any particular way? The story of Sufism is well-known. Its most common themes include the intellectual speculations of theosophists, the spiritual intoxication of poets, and the diffusion of various institutionalized Sufi orders. Therein, the relationship between Sufis and cities is an ambiguous one. Sufi practice commends detachment from worldly affairs, abstinence, and renunciation (zuhd) of appetites for things other than God. The material world, its physical and social requirements, and its corporal temptations constitute obstacles on the Sufi path to love of God alone. City life especially, characterized by a plethora of mundane social encounters, economic transactions of dubious quality, distractions and temptations hardly seems conducive to spiritual detachment. Yet, while ascetic retreats in the wilderness are not unknown to Sufi practice, Sufi thought clearly argues that spiritual detachment is possible in this world. It is precisely in situations of greatest compromise, when the soul is most bogged in matter, that detachment is most necessary.