Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism: The World of al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi and his Contemporaries

The mystical literature of this period exhibits a richness, diversity and fluidity that has been blurred or ironed out in later Sufi compilations and hagiographies. This work offers a new perspective and revealing insights into the cultural horizon of pre-Sufi mystical Islam which, especially in the Eastern regions of the Islamic Caliphate, still retained traces of pre-Islamic esoteric traditions.