Impact of Sufism movement in contemporary India

Abstract

Sufism was characterized in the one hand as a phenomenon of expressing love towards almighty and on the other hand spreading the message of truth. The Sufis in India became the Ambassadors of cultural integrity and social harmony. It is a mystic dimension of Islam formally originated in the Middle East between ninth and tenth centuries AD.Safa means wisdom or Purity."Suf" refers to Wool. It was said that the development of Sufism was highly influenced by various mystic philosophies of Judaism, Christianity and Hinduism. The early spread of Islam to India was strongly influenced by the Arab traders who were responsible to the arrival of Sufi saints to Western and Eastern cost of Indian Sub-Continent. The political situation in North India was in favor of the spread of Sufism in these regions. Later the political changes in the Caliphate empire paved the way for the vast migration of Sufis in the mainland’s of South India and Ceylon. The Qadiriyya and Chistiyya orders of Sufism were the prominent Sufi orders of having many Dargahs throughout India. The Sufi Saints have contributed a lot for the Literature, philosophy and theological ideas.The main objective of this research article is to identify and analyze the impact of Sufism movement in Contemporary India.I have followed the descriptive and analytical research methods as a methodology and consulted the secondary source materials as main sources to write this article.