The Relationship between Seeker and Spiritual Guide as portrayed in contemporary Western Sufi Autobiographies

Authors

  • Kate Zebiri School of Oriental and African Studies

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.v5i2.297

Keywords:

Sufism, autobiography, shaykh/pir, murid/disciple

Abstract

This article aims to explore the Shaykh-murid (disciple) or teacher-pupil relationship as portrayed in Western Sufi life writing in recent decades, observing elements of continuity and discontinuity with classical Sufism. Additionally, it traces the influence on the texts of certain developments in religiosity in contemporary Western societies, especially New Age understandings of religious authority. Studying these works will provide an insight into the diversity of expressions of contemporary Sufism, while shedding light on a phenomenon which seems to fly in the face of contemporary social and religious trends which deemphasize external authority and promote the authority of the self or individual autonomy.

Author Biography

  • Kate Zebiri, School of Oriental and African Studies
    Dr Kate Zebiri is a Senior Lecturer in Arabic and Islamic Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London (UK). Among her publications are British Muslim Converts: Choosing Alternative Lives (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 2008), Muslims and Christians Face to Face (Oxford: Oneworld Publications, 1997) and Mahmud Shaltut and Islamic Modernism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993). She has also written on modern Islamic thought and scholarship, the literary qualities of the Qur’an, and Islamophobia.

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Published

2011-11-03

Issue

Section

Articles

How to Cite

Zebiri, K. (2011). The Relationship between Seeker and Spiritual Guide as portrayed in contemporary Western Sufi Autobiographies. Comparative Islamic Studies, 5(2), 297-332. https://doi.org/10.1558/cis.v5i2.297