Journal of Studies in Language, Culture and Society (JSLCS)
Volume 9, Numéro 1, Pages 354-366
2026-04-30
Western Research On Islamic Sufism Through The Work Of Annemarie Schimmel
Authors : Tahir Mohamed Amine .
Abstract
Islamic Sufism is among the branches of Islamic knowledge that have exerted a profound influence on European intellectuals and Orientalist scholars, owing to the elevated spiritual values it embodies. As one of the most significant Islamic traditions, Sufism attracted sustained attention in Orientalist studies because of the intellectual role it has played in the historical development of Islam. Many Western scholars were influenced by prominent Sufi figures within Arab and Islamic mysticism, engaging with their thought through research and translation. The German scholar Annemarie Schimmel represents an important figure within this scholarly tradition due to her extensive engagement with Islamic mysticism and Sufi poetry. She has drawn considerable academic interest and may be regarded as a genuine exemplar of an Orientalist scholarship that attempts to reflect Islamic values and Muslim ethics. Therefore, this research aims to investigate how Western thinkers, particularly German Orientalists, have approached Islamic Sufism, and to examine the extent of Schimmel’s interaction with Sufi mysticism and Arabic Sufi poetry. To do so, the study adopts a critical textual and interpretive approach based on Orientalist scholarship and selected Sufi poetic texts as mediated through Schimmel’s readings. The analysis focuses on identifying the interpretive framework underlying her engagement with Sufi poetry of Ibn ʿArabī, Rūmī, and Ibn al-Fāriḍ. The findings reveal that Annemarie Schimmel’s scholarship is characterized by a strong emphasis on symbolic, objective and aesthetic interpretation, privileging experiential and metaphorical dimensions of Sufi poetry, while engaging less extensively with doctrinal and exegetical contexts within classical Islamic tradition
Keywords
Equity ; Germans ; Heritage ; Orientalism ; Schimmel
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