Abstract

The present study examines the foundations of mystical epistemology in al-Luma fi al-Tasawwuf by Abu Nasr al-Sarraj al-Tusi and clarifies its continuity and influence within the theoretical tradition of Islamic Sufism. The central question of the study is how al-Sarraj al-Tusi succeeded in organizing the scattered mystical experiences of the early centuries into a coherent epistemic system, and what contribution he made to the formation of the theoretical language and conceptual structure of Islamic mysticism. The significance of this question lies in the fact that al-Luma may be regarded as one of the earliest methodical efforts to provide a rational and scripturally grounded defense of Sufism and to transform it into a systematic body of knowledge; a body of knowledge that, alongside jurisprudence and kalam, concerns the “realities of faith” and the inward dimension of religion.

The findings of the study show that al-Sarraj al-Tusi, by distinguishing between exoteric knowledge and esoteric knowledge and by proposing the threefold structure of “stations, states, and etiquettes,” systematized the theoretical foundation of mystical wayfaring and, for the first time, explicated mystical experience within a conceptual and hierarchical framework. They also indicate that, through his elucidation of the degrees of tawhid, the theory of knowledge, and the concept of “the language of those who find,” al-Sarraj understood mystical knowledge to lie beyond rational cognition and language, defining it instead at the level of unveiling, taste, and contemplation. Based on the present study,