Pathology of Research on Islamic Mysticism

Importance of mystical studies based on Islam, which stems from increased demands in modern societies, richness of Islamic mysticism and the risk of promotion of deviant spiritual ideas, which are not compatible with the Islamic culture and ideas, calls for more attention to this field and taking measures to make up for the existing shortcoming.Taking underlying conditions, motivations and individual performance of researchers into consideration, major problems with studies on Islamic mysticism can be divided in three categories: underlying problems, researchers’ problems, and problems resulting from performance of researchers. However, all researchers are expected to do their best to overcome obstacles and increase their endeavors in every one of three aforesaid fields. Most problems that have been studied stem from incorrect ideas and insufficient information, cultural obstacles and problems with research methodology. This paper the most important related topics will be discussed.