Which of the following is/are correct regarding Sufi traditions? A) Sufis sought an interpretation of the Qur’an on the basis of their personal experience B) Sufis maintained austerity while maintaining absolute isolation from political power and the state. C) A teaching master enrolled disciples and also established rules for spiritual conduct among the Sufis. Select the correct answer using the code given below

Which of the following is/are correct regarding Sufi traditions? A) Sufis sought an interpretation of the Qur’an on the basis of their personal experience B) Sufis maintained austerity while maintaining absolute isolation from political power and the state. C) A teaching master enrolled disciples and also established rules for spiritual conduct among the Sufis. Select the correct answer using the code given below Correct Answer A and C

• It is a form of Islamic mysticism that emphasizes introspection and spiritual closeness with God.
• In the early centuries of Islam, a group of religious-minded people called Sufis turned to asceticism and mysticism in protest against the growing materialism of the Caliphate as a religious and political institution.
• They were critical of the dogmatic definitions and scholastic methods of interpreting the Qur‘an and Sunnah (traditions of the Prophet) adopted by theologians.
• Instead, they laid emphasis on seeking salvation through intense devotion and love for God by following His commands, and by following the example of the Prophet Muhammad whom they regarded as a perfect human being.
• The Sufis thus sought an interpretation of the Quran on the basis of their personal experience. Hence statement A is correct.
• By the eleventh century, Sufism evolved into a well-developed movement with a body of literature on Quranic studies and Sufi practices.
• Institutionally, the Sufis began to organize communities around the hospice or Khanqah (Persian) controlled by a teaching master known as shaikh (in Arabic), Pir or Murid (in Persian). He enrolled disciples (murids) and appointed a successor (khalifa).
• He established rules for spiritual conduct and interaction between inmates as well as between laypersons and the master. Hence statement C is correct.

• A major feature of the Sufi tradition was austerity, including maintaining a distance from worldly power. However, this was by no means a situation of absolute isolation from political power.
• The Sufis accepted unsolicited grants and donations from the political elites. The Sultans, in turn, set up charitable trusts as endowments for hospices and granted tax-free land (Inam). Hence the statement B is not correct.
• The Chishtis accepted donations in cash and kind.
• Other Sufis such as the Suhrawardi under the Delhi Sultans and the Naqshbandi under the Mughals were also associated with the state. However, the modes of their association were not the same as those of the Chishtis.
• In some cases, Sufis accepted courtly offices.