Editing Sufism (section)

===Growth of influence===
[[File:Jahangir with sufi.jpg|thumb|upright=0.8| A [[Mughal miniature]] dated from the early 1620s depicting the [[Mughal emperor]] [[Jahangir]] (d. 1627) preferring an audience with Sufi [[saint]] to his contemporaries, the [[Ottoman sultan]] and the [[king of England]], [[James VI and I|James I]] (d. 1625); the picture is inscribed in [[Persian language|Persian]]: "Though outwardly shahs stand before him, he fixes his gazes on dervishes."]]

Historically, Sufism became "an incredibly important part of Islam" and "one of the most widespread and omnipresent aspects of Muslim life" in [[Islamic Civilization during the European Renaissance|Islamic civilization]] from the early medieval period onwards,<ref>{{cite web|title=Is orthodox Islam possible without Sufism? – Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad (Dr. Timothy Winter)|date=13 May 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQWNeGyRu0k |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/uQWNeGyRu0k| archive-date=2021-12-11 |url-status=live|publisher=youtube.com}}{{cbignore}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=June 2022}} when it began to permeate nearly all major aspects of Sunni Islamic life in regions stretching from India and Iraq to the [[Balkans]] and [[Senegal]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Jonathan A.C. Brown – What is Sufism?|date=13 May 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpFatRwdPm0|publisher=youtube.com}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=June 2022}}

The rise of Islamic civilization coincides strongly with the spread of Sufi philosophy in Islam. The spread of Sufism has been considered a definitive factor in the spread of Islam, and in the creation of integrally Islamic cultures, especially in Africa<ref>For the pre-modern era, see [[Vincent J. Cornell]], ''Realm of the Saint: Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism'', {{ISBN|978-0-292-71209-6}}; and for the colonial era, Knut Vikyr, ''Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge: Muhammad B. Oali Al-Sanusi and His Brotherhood'', {{ISBN|978-0-8101-1226-1}}.</ref> and Asia. The [[Senussi]] tribes of [[Libya]] and the [[Sudan]] are one of the strongest adherents of Sufism. Sufi poets and philosophers such as [[Khoja Akhmet Yassawi]], [[Rumi]], and [[Attar of Nishapur]] (c. 1145 – c. 1221) greatly enhanced the spread of Islamic culture in [[Anatolia]], [[Central Asia]], and [[South Asia]].<ref>Leonard Lewisohn, ''The Legacy of Medieval Persian Sufism'', Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi Publications, 1992.</ref><ref>Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ''Islam: Religion, History, and Civilization'', HarperSanFrancisco, 2003. (Ch. 1)</ref> Sufism also played a role in creating and propagating the culture of the [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] world,<ref>Dina Le Gall, ''A Culture of Sufism: Naqshbandis in the Ottoman World, 1450–1700'', {{ISBN|978-0-7914-6245-4}}.</ref> and in resisting European imperialism in North Africa and South Asia.<ref>Arthur F. Buehler, ''Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: The Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Sufi Shaykh'', {{ISBN|978-1-57003-783-2}}.</ref>
[[File:Blagaj – Vrelo Bune 5.jpg|upright=0.8|thumb|[[Blagaj Tekke]], built c. 1520 next to the [[Buna (Neretva)|Buna]] wellspring cavern beneath a high vertical [[karstic]] cliff, in [[Blagaj, Mostar]], [[Bosnia and Herzegovina|Bosnia]]. The natural and architectural ensemble, proposed for UNESCO inscription,<ref>{{cite web|title=The natural and architectural ensemble of Blagaj |url=https://whc.unesco.org/en/tentativelists/5280/ |publisher=UNESCO World Heritage Centre – Tentative List of Bosnia and Herzegovina |date=11 December 2007 |access-date=2 May 2020}}</ref> forms a spatially and topographically self-contained ensemble, and is a [[List of National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina|National Monument of Bosnia]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tekke in Blagaj on the Buna Spring, the natural and architectural ensemble of Blagaj |url=http://old.kons.gov.ba/main.php?id_struct=50&lang=4&action=view&id=2558 |publisher=Commission to Preserve National Monuments of Bosnia and Herzegovina "Tekke in Blagaj on the Buna Spring, the natural and architectural ensemble of Blagaj" |date= 9 May 2005|access-date=2 May 2020}}</ref>]]

Between the 13th and 16th centuries, Sufism produced a flourishing intellectual culture throughout the Islamic world, a "Renaissance" whose physical artifacts survive.{{citation needed|date=October 2017}} In many places a person or group would endow a [[waqf]] to maintain a lodge (known variously as a ''zawiya'', ''khanqah'', or ''tekke'') to provide a gathering place for Sufi adepts, as well as lodging for itinerant seekers of knowledge. The same system of endowments could also pay for a complex of buildings, such as that surrounding the [[Süleymaniye Mosque]] in [[Istanbul]], including a lodge for Sufi seekers, a [[hospice]] with kitchens where these seekers could serve the poor and/or complete a period of initiation, a library, and other structures. No important domain in the civilization of Islam remained unaffected by Sufism in this period.<ref>Victor Danner, ''The Islamic Tradition: An introduction''. Amity House. February 1988.</ref>