<小特集 スーフィズム・タリーカ・聖者信仰複合現象の解明に向けて>スーフィズム理解の模索と展望 --三極構造論と四象限論--

Abstract

I have been interested in the topic of understanding Sufism for almost twenty years. After pointing out the difficulty of the definition of Sufism, I proceeded to construct a new framework to help our understanding of Sufism. Following the “Three-Layer Framework” theory (2002), consisting of mystical, ethical, and popular layers, I advocated a “Three-Axis Framework” for Sufism (2002), composed of mystical, ethical, and popular axes. This paper traces my subsequent attempt to construct a better framework for Sufi sm. It presents a “New Three-Axis Framework” (2005), which replaced the popular axis with a “popular-guidance” axis. This new axis showed the Sufi s’ role in guiding common people. After introducing the two “Four-Quadrant Theories” (2017 and 2020), a “Three-Dimensional Framework” (2021), and a “Hexagon Framework” (2021), made up of the “elite, ” “people, ” “ḥaqīqa-orientation, ” “sharī’a-orientation, ” “Islamicity, ” and “universality, ” I produced a new “Four-Quadrant Theory” (2022) for Sufi sm. This is composed of two opposites, namely, “mysticism–ethics” and “elite–people.” At the end of the paper, I discuss the prospects of a “Sufism-Tariqa-Saint Veneration Complex” theory, utilizing the afore-mentioned “Three-Axis Framework, ” which this time is applied not to Sufism itself but to this complex in general. I believe this framework shows the subtle relationship of the three elements of the complex, which sometimes overlap with one another and sometimes do not.