Note 42 — HISTORY OF NASSAR, THE SON OF KHOJA HUMAYUN, THE MERCHANT OF BAGHDAD. (continued 2)

The Súfís are the mystics of Islám, and profess to have attained, by meditation, so advanced a stage of spiritual perfection as to render the teachings of the Kurán and the ordinary religious observances quite unnecessary to them. They are generally considered by the “orthodox” as arrant infidels. For an interesting account of some of their public “religious” performances, see the chapter on the Dancing Darveshes in Lane’s Modern Egyptians.