Sufism in Europe
Islam, Esotericism and the New Age
Honourable mention by the International Society for the Sociology of Religion Book Awards 2025
Examines the development of Sufism in Western Europe in the 21st Century
- Proposes a unique, bottom-up method focusing on rituals and everyday life practices
- Explores how Western esotericism and the New Age influenced Sufism
- Challenges the 'universal' label applied to Sufism in Western countries by showing the plurality of universalistic discourses
- Spotlights the complex relationship between Islamic normativity-particularism and ethical and universal dimensions
- Offers insights in three different fields: socio-anthropology of religion, Islamic studies, and religious studies
- Presents rich 3-year-long ethnographic fieldwork: three Sufi orders in Paris, three Sufi orders in Milan, 70 in-depth interviews and several pilgrimages in Morocco, Algeria, and Cyprus
Sufism, the spiritual, mystical and esoteric dimension of Islam, is experiencing a renewal in the 21st century. Charismatic Sufi masters have been able to revitalise their language, attracting new disciples and going beyond their cultural-geographic framework. This book describes the development of Sufism in Western Europe, particularly in France and Italy, through extended empirical research based on participant observation in four Sufi orders. The author illustrates the different forms of hybridisation between the Islamic-Sufi tradition and Western esoteric discourses, in particular the Guénonian-Traditionalist and the New Age discourse. These hybridisations often involve the creation of new doctrines, rituals and organizational structures, and produce different universalist discourses, which imply different Sufi politics in Europe, such as a lack of interest due to an imminent eschatology, civic engagement, and metapolitical elitism.
Foreword by Mark Sedgwick
Introduction
- Sufism as Mysticism – Scientia Experimentalis and as Discursive Tradition – Sacra Doctrina
- Sufi Pioneers in Europe
- Qādiriyya Būdshīshiyya
- Shādiliyya Darqāwiyya ʿAlāwiyya
- The Naqshbandiyya-Ḥaqqāniyya
- Aḥmadiyya-Idrīsiyya Shādhiliyya
Conclusions
Epilogue
Bibliographical references
Glossary
Through closely observed case studies of four contemporary Sufi orders in Italy and France, Francesco Piraino reveals remarkable cross-fertilisations of ritual, doctrine and organisation. The resulting picture shows a lively Euro-Sufism shaped by the selective absorption of New Age and Western esoteric teachings no less than debates with secular humanists and Islamists.
A vital contribution to the growing field of Sufism in the Global North...The historical depth of this study, and the layered ways that Sufism is part of European religious, spiritual, and cultural history should not be underestimated as an important contribution.
This book is the result of a PhD project and additional postdoctoral research in Italy and France. It stands out as an innovative and extensive exploration of European Islam in the context of modernization and individualization. This vast volume is based on extensive fieldwork among four Sufi brotherhoods using the dynamic relation between Sufism as mysticism and Sufism as discursive tradition as the main heuristic tool. Thus, the book does not only offer a sharper view on Sufism than previous authors, but it also contributes to the study of the social organization of charisma and spiritual experience. Although readers with a primary interest in sociology may sometimes get distracted by the wealth of entertaining field notes the book contains and may wish for an explication of the systematic composition of the book, we consider Sufism in Europe a superb early career book.
