Prof. Abdulaziz Sachedina
Professor of Religious Studies
University of Virginia
The spiritual journey of the Sufi mystic is described in terms of practices, such as Koranic recitation, piety, virtue, and conceptual analysis. The status of the wali is given to a holy person by the general public and is manifest in the relationship between a wali and his students. The tension between the “ulama”, or Muslim jurist, and the “sheik”, as Sufi mystic is also discussed.
