The Vitality of Sufism: A Contextual Analysis

Corresponding to the increasing studies on Sufism in South Korea, this paper analyzes the modern discourse on Sufism to present that Sufism needs to be examined contextually in changing modalities. By employing a method of contextual analysis in the line of Clifford Geertz and Seyyed Hossein Nasr, this paper specifically demonstrates that 1) many of modern studies theorized and predicted disappearing Sufism toward its extinction in the face of modernity, 2) contrary to this prediction, Sufism is still vibrantly alive in most parts of Muslim majority countries today and spreading over the world along the line of the globalization, 3) the theory of disappearing Sufism failed to grasp this reality of vitality of Sufism due to its assumption of homogeneous Sufism, and 4) contrary to homogenous Sufism, the vitality of Sufism is owed to changing modalities in Sufism. By demonstrating these four points contextually, this paper draws out contextual and considerable reasons why the studies failed to grasp the vitality of Sufism and why Sufism remains alive even vibrantly. With this analysis, this paper hopes to add a considerable piece to the studies in Sufism in South Korea.