Why Did Sufism Spread So Rapidly In The Mamluak Period

Finally, another explanation for why Sufism spread so widely in the Mamlūk period, is the consolidation of an institutionalised identity from the Sufi brotherhoods, most conspicuously the Shādhilīya order. Hoffer argues that the creation of an institutionalised Shādhilī identity was just as one of the many outcomes of the institutionalisation of Sufi philosophy and religious practice. It was these institutionalised creeds and religious activities which gave a sense of allurement to charismatic individuals and the equipment to allow Sufism to become feasible with society and daily live on a much grander scale. This is largely due to the Shādhilīya order being uniquely and fundamentally different from other Sufi orders; it did not require silsila for the sanctity of the eponym, nor special dress requirements such as the Sufi cloak (khirqa), additionally, the
Such lack of restriction and withdrawal from the material world, may possibly explain why the Shādhilīya had in particular become so popular in the Mamlūk period. One could infer that because the Shādhilīya order were certified and not sponsored it allowed the populace to interpret the Shādhilīya as a brotherhood which was for the common people, thus permitting Sufism to flourish on every level of society and to become a religious, social and cultural identity which the populace could claim as their own. Eric Geoffroy suggest that Sufism alone was a force of revitalisation of Islamic intellectual life, attracting more and more of the faithful. Sufism appeared to change the attitude of popular piety and religious life, moving the agent of active piety to the individual directly, rather than having a meditator which would make the individual passive in their religious