Distinguishing Islamic Sufism from Universal Sufism

In present times, the word ‘Sufism’ is very loosely used to define a large cadre of people who have vastly different beliefs from what the core of ‘Sufism’ essentially stands for. This article aims at demystifying the term ‘Sufi’ and elaborately distinguishing between Islamic Sufism and mysticism (also being referred to as Sufism by the masses) of most of the philosophical polytheistic faiths. For this purpose, Sufis can be represented in two major categories, namely, Islamic Sufis and Universal Sufis. Islamic Sufis follow the beliefs and tenets of Islam as enshrined in the Quran, Sunnah and Islamic Sharia. Universal Sufis (though might appear to have a Muslim background), mainly teach theories of a form of ‘mysticism’ which is a culmination of the mystical teachings of many religions excluding Islam. In this paper, we have distinguished between the two by giving brief information about heads of these orders in the world.