Editing Sufism (section)

===Formalization of doctrine===
[[File:A_Sufi_in_Ecstasy_in_a_Landscape_LACMA_M.73.5.582.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8|''A Sufi in Ecstasy in a Landscape''. [[Isfahan]], [[Safavid Persia]] (c. 1650–1660), [[Los Angeles County Museum of Art|LACMA]].]]

In the eleventh-century, Sufism, which had previously been a less "codified" trend in Islamic piety, began to be "ordered and crystallized" into [[tariqa|orders]] which have continued until the present day. All these orders were founded by a major Islamic scholar, and some of the largest and most widespread included the [[Suhrawardiyya]] (after [[Abu al-Najib Suhrawardi]] [d. 1168]), [[Qadiriyya]] (after [[Abdul-Qadir Gilani]] [d. 1166]), the [[Rifa'i]]yya (after [[Ahmed al-Rifa'i]] [d. 1182]), the [[Chishti Order|Chishtiyya]] (after [[Moinuddin Chishti]] [d. 1236]), the [[Shadiliyya]] (after [[Abul Hasan ash-Shadhili]] [d. 1258]), the Hamadaniyyah (after [[Mir Sayyid Ali Hamadani|Sayyid Ali Hamadani]] [d. 1384]), the Naqshbandiyya (after [[Baha-ud-Din Naqshband Bukhari]] [d. 1389]).<ref>Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ''The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr'', ed. William C. Chittick (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2007), p. 76</ref> Contrary to popular perception in the West,<ref name="Martin Lings 1983, p.16">Martin Lings, ''What is Sufism?'' (Lahore: Suhail Academy, 2005; first imp. 1983, second imp. 1999), p.16</ref> however, neither the founders of these orders nor their followers ever considered themselves to be anything other than orthodox Sunni Muslims,<ref name="Martin Lings 1983, p.16"/> and in fact all of these orders were attached to one of the [[maddhab|four orthodox legal schools]] of Sunni Islam.<ref name="themuslim500.com">{{cite web |title=Profile of Sheikh Ahmad Muhammad Al-Tayyeb on ''The Muslim 500''|url=http://themuslim500.com/profile/sheikh-al-azhar-ahmad-altayyeb|website=The Muslim 500: The World's Most Influential Muslims|access-date=2017-06-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170606040251/http://themuslim500.com/profile/sheikh-al-azhar-ahmad-altayyeb|archive-date=2017-06-06|url-status=dead}}</ref> Thus, the [[Qadiriyya]] order was [[Hanbali]], with its founder, [[Abdul-Qadir Gilani]], being a renowned jurist; the [[Chishti Order|Chishtiyya]] was [[Hanafi]]; the [[Shadiliyya]] order was [[Maliki]]; and the Naqshbandiyya order was [[Hanafi]].<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|author=Massington, L.|author2=Radtke, B.|author3=Chittick, W.C. |author4=Jong, F. de |author5=Lewisohn, L.|author6=Zarcone, Th.|author7=Ernst, C.|author8=Aubin, Françoise |author0=Hunwick, J.O.|date=2012|title=Taṣawwuf |encyclopedia= Encyclopaedia of Islam|edition=2nd |publisher=Brill|editor=P. Bearman|editor2=Th. Bianquis|editor3=C.E. Bosworth|editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1188}} ''q.v.'' "Hanafi," "Hanbali," and "Maliki," and under "mysticism in..." for each.</ref> Thus, it is precisely because it is historically proven that "many of the most eminent defenders of Islamic orthodoxy, such as [[Abdul-Qadir Gilani]], [[al-Ghazali|Ghazali]], and the Sultan Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn ([[Saladin]]) were connected with Sufism"<ref name="Titus Burckhardt 2008, p. 4">Titus Burckhardt, ''Introduction to Sufi Doctrine'' (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2008, p. 4, note 2</ref> that the popular studies of writers like [[Idries Shah]] are continuously disregarded by scholars as conveying the fallacious image that "Sufism" is somehow distinct from "Islam".<ref>Martin Lings, ''What is Sufism?'' (Lahore: Suhail Academy, 2005; first imp. 1983, second imp. 1999), pp. 16–17</ref><ref name="Titus Burckhardt 2008, p. 4"/><ref>Rozina Ali, "The Erasure of Islam from the Poetry of Rumi," ''The New Yorker'', Jan. 5 2017</ref> Nile Green has observed that, in the Middle Ages, Sufism more or less was ''Islam''.<ref name="Peacock"/>{{rp|style=ama|p=24}}