In early Sufi literature, Sharia and spirituality were usually viewed as an inseparable whole. Sufis tried to interpret Sharia from a spiritual perspective in order to show that Sufism remains within the boundaries of official Islam. During the early Abbasid period (750–861), the hermeneutic unity between Sufis and jurists was broken. Sufi authors of the 10th–11th centuries emphasized in their works that their views fully comply with the principles of Sunni Islam and a certain madh’hab. Islamic faqihs also lamented the decline of formal jurisprudence and called for taking into account the spiritual aspect. At the same time, the faqihs called on the Sufis to study the basic provisions of fiqh. They believed that jurisprudence and mysticism should complement each other for the benefit of society. In conclusion, the article examines Sufism and jurisprudence as understanding of Islamic law from two different perspectives.
Islamic jurisprudence; Sharia; Sufism; madh’hab; interpretation; Sufi; Ahl al-Ra’y; Ahl al-Hadith; political power; Sufi sources.