Al-Hallaj, Rabia, and the Origins of Sufi Mysticism

Sufism (tasawwuf) did not appear as a finished doctrine but grew out of the ascetic piety (zuhd) of the first two Islamic centuries, a reaction among some believers to the rapid wealth and worldliness that followed the Arab conquests. Hasan al-Basri (642–728), a preacher active in the garrison city of Basra in southern Iraq, is widely regarded by later Sufi biographical literature, such as Farid al-Din Attar's Tadhkirat al-Awliya (Memorial of the Saints, late 12th century), as a forerunner of the movement: he stressed fear of divine judgment, constant self-examination (muhasaba), and renunciation of worldly comfort. The very name "Sufi" is generally traced to suf, the coarse wool (suf) worn by these ascetics in imitation of earlier Christian desert monks, though the etymology has never been fully settled and alternative derivations, including one linking it to safa (purity), circulated even among medieval Muslim scholars themselves. By the 9th century, Basra and Baghdad had become centers where ascetic renunciation increasingly shaded into a positive doctrine of love and mystical experience rather than mere fear of hell.