Mysticism in Religion

While going over the reading for tomorrow, I was stuck by the passage about mysticism in Islam. While  I had some knowledge of the concept from previous religion classes, I never realized how philosophical in nature it is. I always believed that Islam was much more of a fundamentalist religion, in the sense that  most muslims followed the Qur'an literally, without much interpretation. Coming across the passage about Sufism was quite a shock. What stuck me the most about Sufism what the fact that sufi scholars focus heavily on the nature of human existence and its relation to god. I found that to be fascinating, especially as much of islam  focuses on the, "political, legal, and worldly dimensions."(Saeed 206) For me, this makes much more sense than blindly following a religious text without contemplating the relationship between god and ourselves. Mysticism in religion is a pretty far out concept, especially today, but also is one of the coolest and most interesting pieces of the exegesis of a religious text. 

Andrew