Sufism Between Legal Foundation and Spiritual Aesthetics — A Comparative Study Between the Thought of Hamza Al-Tuwair and Anna-Marie Schimmel

Abstract

This study seeks to explore the horizons of Islamic Sufism through a comparative approach that brings together two perspectives differing in methodology yet converging in reference: the vision of the Libyan scholar Hamza Masoud Al-Tuwair and the German thinker Annemarie Schimmel. The study is grounded in a central problem concerning how to reconcile ''maqāṣid-oriented Sufism,'' associated with the regulation of Sharia and the flexibility of ijtihād as proposed by Al-Tuwair, with ''aesthetic Sufism,'' based on existence, divine love, and the feminine dimension as embodied by Schimmel. The researcher adopts a descriptive, analytical, and comparative methodology to deconstruct this duality. The study concludes that, for Al-Tuwair, Sufism represents a necessary extension of Sharia and a means of deepening the understanding of Qur’anic objectives through practical pedagogical models. In contrast, for Schimmel, it manifests as an inner insight that transcends material interpretation to reach the essence of ''ultimate truth'' through art and poetry. The comparison reveals fundamental points of convergence in the veneration of the Qur’anic text and the defense of the authenticity of Islamic Sufism, despite methodological differences between the ''centrality of jurisprudence'' and the ''centrality of aesthetics.'' The significance of this research lies in presenting a model of intercultural exchange that restores Sufism as a cognitive bridge linking legal discipline with spiritual transcendence, thereby contributing to the development of contemporary Sufi studies and opening new horizons for understanding the ''unknown unfamiliar'' within religious experience.