Religious Underpinnings The

etymologies of the term Sufi are various. The obvious root is suf (wool), referring to the wool robes that the early mystics wore. The term has also been connected with safa (purity) or safwa (the chosen ones), emphasizing purifying of the heart and the role of divine grace in choosing the saintly. Another link is with suffa (bench), referring to a group of poor Muslims (contemporaries of the Prophet Mohammad) known as the People of the Bench, signifying a community of shared poverty. In practice, the term “Sufi ” was reserved for ideal usage, and Sufis referred to themselves in other terms such as abid (slave, devotee), zahid (ascetic), dervish or faqir (impoverished), arif (knower of spiritual truth), salik (spiritual traveler), or ashiq (lover). They also made differentiations between spiritual masters, called sheikhs, pirs, or murshids (guides), and their disciples, known as murids (seekers). A Sufi saint was known as wali or friend of God. While acknowledging that the term “Sufi ” was not current at the time of the Prophet, Sufi theorists maintained that this specialization in spirituality arose i