Treatises on the Sufi Way

Treatises on the Sufi Way is a translation into English of five of Sulami’s treatises that portray the breadth of classical Sufi wisdom and the extent of Sulami’s own contribution in preserving and teaching this wisdom: The Ways of Companionship and Good Fellowship Proper Comportment in the Presence of Sufi Masters and Maintaining Reverence for Them Treatise on the Essence of Poverty and its Ways Explanation of the States of the Sufis Treatise on Shame Taken together the treatises present an introduction to Sufism including the relationship between the aspirant and the spiritual master, good fellowship between companions on the Sufi path, the centrality of spiritual poverty before God, the proper sense of shame and remorse for sin that mark true piety, and the different ecstatic states that Sufis undergo. The five treatises, translated into English for the first time, combine theoretical and mystical elements of Sulami’s teaching with his concrete and practical advice for Sufi aspirants. In Treatises on the Sufi Way, Dr Jason Welle provides a general introduction to: the life of Sulami, the Sufism practised in Khurasan during the fifth/eleventh century, the importance of Prophetic traditions for this school of Sufism and Sulami’s own literary corpus. In addition, Dr Welle includes an introduction to each of the five treatises and extensive notes.