Enacting Mysticism in the World: Practical Sufism in the Tariqa Karkariyya and Alawiyya

Mysticism requires ethical work to cultivate experiences of the divine, and those experiences in turn enable new ethical relationships with oneself, others, and the divine. The article connects ascetic practices (zuhd) with Sufi mystical experiences through the concept of tarbiya, understanding taṣawwuf as an ongoing process rather than an end. It argues for an 'inner-worldly' mysticism absent from Weber's analysis, which does not fit his passive–active distinction between mysticism and asceticism. Drawing on fieldwork with two related Shadhiliyya Sufi orders in Morocco—the Karkariyya and the Alawiyya—the author examines how direct experiences of the divine are made possible by ethical work and how those experiences enable ethical engagement and action, showing mystics as deeply concerned with changing their social worlds.

Study at a glance

Abstract

In this article, I will touch on the ethical and moral possibilities of mysticism. On the one hand, I discuss the kinds of ethical work required to open and cultivate experiences of the divine. On the other hand, I look at how those experiences of the divine create new opportunities for kinds of ethical relationships to oneself, to others, and to the divine. In doing so, I connect the practices of asceticism—zuhd—with the types of experience characteristic of Sufi mysticism through the concept of tarbiya. Understanding taṣawwuf as an ongoing process in which experiences of the divine are a part, not an end, helps us grasp the intransitive nature of the term taṣawwuf itself. The goal in doing so is to think through what an ‘inner-worldly’ mysticism might look like—a category noticeably absent from Weber’s analysis. Part of its absence, I would suggest, is due to the fact that it does not map onto the passive–active distinction between mysticism and asceticism he tends to draw. But rather than merely critique Weber’s model, which, of course, is grounded in ideal types, and therefore nothing ever fits solely into one of his categories, my goal is to consider what an active inner-worldly mysticism might look like. In other words, what are the modes of ethical engagement and action made possible by those experiences which are considered to be direct experiences of the divine and how are those direct experiences in turn made possible by different kinds of ethical work? In this article, I will consider each of these in relation to two Sufi orders based on my fieldwork in Morocco—the Karkariyya and the Alawiyya. These are two closely related orders that are part of the Shadhiliyya, and they share several members within their spiritual lineages, with the split dating only to the 20th century. Through an analysis and comparison of the two groups, I investigate what an active mysticism could look like in the world today and hope to create new spaces for comparative mysticism that would see mystics as deeply concerned with changing their social worlds.