Abstract
Sufism is a trend of Islam that puts the stress on experiencing God, by trying to find direct and intimate knowledge of God. The etymology of the Arabic word "suf" which means "wool" because of the garments worn by the first Sufis, is a good illustration of the ascetism they adopt to purify their soul and prepare themselves to the ultimate goal of this path: annihilation and continuance in God.
To follow the tariqa, the path to God, Sufis have to pass by stations and states and to perform some practices that are not mentioned in the Shari'ah that does not say anything about Sufism. As a result, the new concepts and attitudes introduced by Sufis have sometimes been criticized as unorthodox and occasionally in early Islam, even the very premises of Sufism were rejected as outside the realm of Shari'ah. It is thus is legitimate to wonder if these allegations were founded, especially considering the fact that after the 11th century Sufism became considered as central to Islam.
To discuss the question of the compliance of Sufis to Shari'ah, we need to study the behaviour of Sufis, the allegations against them and the way they replied to them. But we also need to consider the complexity of the Shari'ah itself, whose the bases (i.e. the Qur'an, the Sunnah, the consensus and analogy) have given rise to different interpretations. I am going to demonstrate that: 1/ Sufism is born as a way for Muslims to be more respectful of the Sunnah and is based on Qur'anic verses, as a result it respects the main bases of Shari'ah. 2/ If some concepts or utterances of early Sufis have been considered as contrary to the Shari'ah, we should not forget that the flexibility of Shari'ah permits to integrate these concepts. 3/ There has been a watershed in the 11th century, essentially thanks to Al-Ghazali, which has led Sufism to be considered as central to Islam.
