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Blackwell Brief Histories of Religion
Sufism: A Global History
Since their beginnings in the ninth century, the shrines, brotherhoods and doctrines of the Sufis held vast influence in almost every corner of the Muslim world. Offering the first truly global account of the history of Sufism, this illuminating book traces the gradual spread and influence of Sufi Islam through the Middle East, Asia, Africa, and ultimately into Europe and the United States.
288 pages, Hardcover
First published February 20, 2012
8 people are currently reading
169 people want to read
About the author
Nile Green
21 books31 followersNile Green is Professor of History at UCLA, with an interest in the multiple globalizations of Islam and Muslims. He was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2018.
In pursuit of the patterns of both global and local Islams, he has traveled and researched in India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Chinese Central Asia, the Caucasus, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Morocco, South Africa, Myanmar, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
His seven monographs, seven edited books, and over seventy articles have traced Muslim networks that connect South and Central Asia with the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, Africa, Japan, Europe and the United States. His most recent book, The Love of Strangers: What Six Muslim Students Learned in Jane Austen’s London, was selected by the New York Times Book Review as Editors’ Choice. An earlier book, Bombay Islam: The Religious Economy of the West Indian Ocean, received both the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Award and the Association for Asian Studies’ Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Award. His other books include Terrains of Exchange: Religious Economies of Global Islam; Sufism: A Global History; and, as co-editor, Global Muslims in the Age of Steam and Print, 1850-1930.
He served for eight years as founding director of the UCLA Program on Central Asia, as well as on various editorial and advisory boards, including the International Journal of Middle East Studies. He has held several visiting positions, such as at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and fellowships, including the Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs. Before moving to the United States from his native Britain, he was Milburn Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University. He holds degrees from London and Cambridge.
In pursuit of the patterns of both global and local Islams, he has traveled and researched in India, Pakistan, Iran, Afghanistan, Chinese Central Asia, the Caucasus, Syria, Turkey, Egypt, Israel, Yemen, Oman, Jordan, Morocco, South Africa, Myanmar, Malaysia, Uzbekistan, and Kazakhstan.
His seven monographs, seven edited books, and over seventy articles have traced Muslim networks that connect South and Central Asia with the Middle East, the Indian Ocean, Africa, Japan, Europe and the United States. His most recent book, The Love of Strangers: What Six Muslim Students Learned in Jane Austen’s London, was selected by the New York Times Book Review as Editors’ Choice. An earlier book, Bombay Islam: The Religious Economy of the West Indian Ocean, received both the Middle East Studies Association’s Albert Hourani Award and the Association for Asian Studies’ Ananda K. Coomaraswamy Award. His other books include Terrains of Exchange: Religious Economies of Global Islam; Sufism: A Global History; and, as co-editor, Global Muslims in the Age of Steam and Print, 1850-1930.
He served for eight years as founding director of the UCLA Program on Central Asia, as well as on various editorial and advisory boards, including the International Journal of Middle East Studies. He has held several visiting positions, such as at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales in Paris, and fellowships, including the Luce/ACLS Fellowship in Religion, Journalism & International Affairs. Before moving to the United States from his native Britain, he was Milburn Junior Research Fellow at Oxford University. He holds degrees from London and Cambridge.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 21, 2023
Sufism is an interesting topic. Nile Green rightly moves away from the solely mystical dimensions of Sufism and emphasizes its worldly, practically inclined aspects. I mostly enjoyed reading the book as it gave a broad overview of the development of Sufism as a movement throughout the centuries.
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December 15, 2023Godverdomme da was ff taai
June 16, 2024
Green makes an arbitrary decision that Sufism is a tradition rather than a practical system of self-development. Then he (as other reviewer noticed) describes the “Sufi” folklore in various types and places.
He misses the well accepted fact that Muhammad was a renewer of Sufism, that his inner circle was a group seeking enlightenment. If so, Green misses the beginnings of the Islamic Sufism by over two centuries. This is what happens when one looks at the subject only from the outside, himself not being a Sufi.
It might be pretty boring for the reader to go into details, it is not an academic but a popular book. To make a long story short: anybody wanting to learn IN Sufism (as opposed to focusing on folkloric and diluted local groups which may or may not be aware about an INNER meaning of the Sufi Path) will learn more by reading Idries Shah’s “The Sufis”. Shah knows while Green merely guesses.
If “The Sufis” is too much for any reader, then one may try to find a more introductory and smaller book by another CONTEMPORARY Sufi, the late professor of psychology, Dr. Stuart Litvak: “Seeking Wisdom: The Sufi Path”. Green’s limitations come from the fact that he is a historian rather than a psychologist or at least a philosopher. How can he fully understand a phenomenon which goes so much deeper than its outside manifestations. Can one become a scientist by describing various buildings, labs or clothing of scientists. Of course, some people may still prefer to stop at reading about the daily life of, say, Einstein, rather than try to fathom his science.
He misses the well accepted fact that Muhammad was a renewer of Sufism, that his inner circle was a group seeking enlightenment. If so, Green misses the beginnings of the Islamic Sufism by over two centuries. This is what happens when one looks at the subject only from the outside, himself not being a Sufi.
It might be pretty boring for the reader to go into details, it is not an academic but a popular book. To make a long story short: anybody wanting to learn IN Sufism (as opposed to focusing on folkloric and diluted local groups which may or may not be aware about an INNER meaning of the Sufi Path) will learn more by reading Idries Shah’s “The Sufis”. Shah knows while Green merely guesses.
If “The Sufis” is too much for any reader, then one may try to find a more introductory and smaller book by another CONTEMPORARY Sufi, the late professor of psychology, Dr. Stuart Litvak: “Seeking Wisdom: The Sufi Path”. Green’s limitations come from the fact that he is a historian rather than a psychologist or at least a philosopher. How can he fully understand a phenomenon which goes so much deeper than its outside manifestations. Can one become a scientist by describing various buildings, labs or clothing of scientists. Of course, some people may still prefer to stop at reading about the daily life of, say, Einstein, rather than try to fathom his science.
July 24, 2025
هذا الكتاب قدَّمَ أقصرّ توضيح للتطورات الأساسية التي ستتناولها الفصول القادمة» فإنه يجب أن يكون واضحا أن الهدف الأساسي للسرد هو تقديمٌ تاريخ الصوفية وفقًا لتكوينها على يد مجموعة من العمليات «الطويلة الأمد», التى من خلالها تشكَّلَ التقليدٌ تدريجيًا وانتشارا أعيد تشكيله بالنسبة إلى كثيرين في القرن العشرين بسبب المنافسة مع الأشكالٍ البديلة الكثيرة من الإسلام والمطروحة في السوق الدينية العالمية.
يَتجاوَزُ الكِتابُ وصْفَ المُعتقَدِ الصُّوفيِّ ويَضَعُ الصُّوفيةَ فِي سِياقِها الاجتِماعيِّ والثَّقافيِّ والتَّاريخِي، وهُوَ يُحطِّمُ الأَفكارَ النَّمَطيةَ عَنِ الصُّوفيِّينَ باعتِبارِهِم أُنَاسًا يَعتَزِلونَ المُجتمَعَ ولا يَهتمُّون إلَّا بأُمورِ الآخِرَة. ويَستَعرِضُ الكِتابُ الرَّوابِطَ الصُّوفِيةَ معَ المُوسيقَى والشِّعرِ والعِمارةِ والتَّقالِيدِ الشَّعبِية، ويَتَناولُ العَوامِلَ الاجتِماعِيةَ والسِّياسِيةَ التِي اكتَسَبَ بِها الأَولِياءُ الصُّوفيُّونَ (الأَتبَاع)، ليسَ فَقطْ بَينَ رِجالِ القَبائلِ والفلَّاحِين، ولَكِنْ بَينَ رِجالِ الحُكْمِ أَيضًا.
فقد اعتنت الصوفية بأعمال القلوب وتوجيه القلوب والأذكار، وتوجيه القلوب إلى الله، والعناية بالأذكار، وابتلوا بطرق أحدثها لهم مشايخهم تخالف شرع الله؛ فصاروا بذلك على أقسام، وعلى فرق كثيرة، كل فرقة تدعي أن شيخها وإمامها وصاحب طريقها أولى من الآخر.
يَتجاوَزُ الكِتابُ وصْفَ المُعتقَدِ الصُّوفيِّ ويَضَعُ الصُّوفيةَ فِي سِياقِها الاجتِماعيِّ والثَّقافيِّ والتَّاريخِي، وهُوَ يُحطِّمُ الأَفكارَ النَّمَطيةَ عَنِ الصُّوفيِّينَ باعتِبارِهِم أُنَاسًا يَعتَزِلونَ المُجتمَعَ ولا يَهتمُّون إلَّا بأُمورِ الآخِرَة. ويَستَعرِضُ الكِتابُ الرَّوابِطَ الصُّوفِيةَ معَ المُوسيقَى والشِّعرِ والعِمارةِ والتَّقالِيدِ الشَّعبِية، ويَتَناولُ العَوامِلَ الاجتِماعِيةَ والسِّياسِيةَ التِي اكتَسَبَ بِها الأَولِياءُ الصُّوفيُّونَ (الأَتبَاع)، ليسَ فَقطْ بَينَ رِجالِ القَبائلِ والفلَّاحِين، ولَكِنْ بَينَ رِجالِ الحُكْمِ أَيضًا.
فقد اعتنت الصوفية بأعمال القلوب وتوجيه القلوب والأذكار، وتوجيه القلوب إلى الله، والعناية بالأذكار، وابتلوا بطرق أحدثها لهم مشايخهم تخالف شرع الله؛ فصاروا بذلك على أقسام، وعلى فرق كثيرة، كل فرقة تدعي أن شيخها وإمامها وصاحب طريقها أولى من الآخر.
October 26, 2025
My review is that of an interested layperson with theological and scientific training. I read the book as it is intended, I think, as an history based on some fact and some anecdote. As such it is a useful work, perhaps not academic enough for philosophers and not spiritual enought for those who feel they can discern such insights from print. I was drawn to such detail as Sufis practicing 'conversion by the plough' in Bengal, for two reasons; 1) it provides an overlap of two fields of human activity that I study, and 2) it takes Sufism out of the realm of being special or elite and indicates that it is another expression of human's search for meaning. Overall, the book is as advertised on its back cover as 'requiring no knowledge of Islamic history or doctrine', and for that reason does not deserve to be downgraded by pundits. Professor Emeritus Lindsay Falvey
June 7, 2024
This is not bad (as another reviewer already said) as something written by a pedestrian sequential thinker. He collected as much as an outsider could and he organized it as well as he could, although even this was found to be inadequate by yet another reviewer.
What bothers me is that it gives only information about secondary or tertiary aspects without demonstrating any REAL understanding of Sufism. It is like a book about, say, physicists, which focuses on how they lived and dressed, what diet and other behavior they displayed, but saying next to nothing about the nature of their discoveries, how their minds worked. As the real Sufis say, it is the difference (obviously invisible and incomprehensible to Professor Green) between describing the container vs finding the content. In other words, it is a study ABOUT appearances and folkloric aspects of people from other cultures (who happen to be Sufis) without understanding the core and the function of their activity. For some reason Green thinks that Sufism starts with Islam, when it was present much earlier in many other cultures. From the Sufi point of view all prophets of all religions were seers of Truth = Sufis. So were the Greek philosophers so well known as founders of the Western civilization, or Egyptian priests. The Sufi guidance was available to humanity since we started being human. No need to limit it to Islam. Of course Muhammad was also a Sufi, and projected it to the point accessible to the common man, but the most crazy Islamists of various types are vehemently opposed to Sufism. If Green wants to learn IN Sufism, he would do better if he learned from such Sufis as Idries Shah and his father, or Dr. Robert Ornstein. Or Doris Lessing or Tahir Shah. But this would require a flexible and sophisticated mind, something which is not available to everybody, like not everybody can be a modern physicist or a pioneer in other areas truly moving humanity forward. Authors like Green may be well meaning but it does not make them experts in anything beyond superficialities. Still, his book is better than nothing for linear thinkers who in any case would not fathom the Sufi method of thought and action. It is therefore not any worse or any better than so many books in so many areas of human thought where people do not really know much, but still feel a need to exchange views. It certainly earns my two stars, perhaps even 2 plus. I wonder why the Shahs sold tens of millions of copies in over 30 languages, and still going stronger. Green holds a Chair named after Ibn Khaldun, who developed his mind thanks to several Sufi influences. This is the way to go forward.
What bothers me is that it gives only information about secondary or tertiary aspects without demonstrating any REAL understanding of Sufism. It is like a book about, say, physicists, which focuses on how they lived and dressed, what diet and other behavior they displayed, but saying next to nothing about the nature of their discoveries, how their minds worked. As the real Sufis say, it is the difference (obviously invisible and incomprehensible to Professor Green) between describing the container vs finding the content. In other words, it is a study ABOUT appearances and folkloric aspects of people from other cultures (who happen to be Sufis) without understanding the core and the function of their activity. For some reason Green thinks that Sufism starts with Islam, when it was present much earlier in many other cultures. From the Sufi point of view all prophets of all religions were seers of Truth = Sufis. So were the Greek philosophers so well known as founders of the Western civilization, or Egyptian priests. The Sufi guidance was available to humanity since we started being human. No need to limit it to Islam. Of course Muhammad was also a Sufi, and projected it to the point accessible to the common man, but the most crazy Islamists of various types are vehemently opposed to Sufism. If Green wants to learn IN Sufism, he would do better if he learned from such Sufis as Idries Shah and his father, or Dr. Robert Ornstein. Or Doris Lessing or Tahir Shah. But this would require a flexible and sophisticated mind, something which is not available to everybody, like not everybody can be a modern physicist or a pioneer in other areas truly moving humanity forward. Authors like Green may be well meaning but it does not make them experts in anything beyond superficialities. Still, his book is better than nothing for linear thinkers who in any case would not fathom the Sufi method of thought and action. It is therefore not any worse or any better than so many books in so many areas of human thought where people do not really know much, but still feel a need to exchange views. It certainly earns my two stars, perhaps even 2 plus. I wonder why the Shahs sold tens of millions of copies in over 30 languages, and still going stronger. Green holds a Chair named after Ibn Khaldun, who developed his mind thanks to several Sufi influences. This is the way to go forward.
December 11, 2014
This book is very detailed and very dry in introducing the concept of Sufism. Although it wasn't my most favorite book ever, I did learn a lot about the historical background of Sufism and how it shaped the history is Islam as a whole. Good book but boring.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews