There are many conflicting stories about the origin of the word "Sufi"; for example, the name has been associated with the Arabic word for "wool" or, according to Sufi teacher Idries Shah, linked to a meditation-word used by Sufis ("SUF").
Sufi teaching practices are similar to Zen Buddhism in many ways. For example, Sufis often emphasize that their teachings are often nonverbal and require direct transmission from master to student in face-to-face situations. Again, like Zen, Sufi teaching stories and poems can be deliberately paradoxical, humorous, crude, or even heretical (by Islamic standards).
Unlike Zen Buddhism, which usually relies on several traditional teaching methods--the monastic lifestyle, meditation, and the posing of koans--Sufis seem to use a wider range of teaching methods, including meditiation, chanting, various rituals (including the dance of the Whirling Dervishes), and anything else that a Sufi master devises.
The false Sufis, who abandon the Sunnah, are people of deviation within the ummah.
From http://www.haqq.com.au/~salam/sufishar/sufishar.html:
The Shari`ah is of fundamental importance to the Sufi path. This point is very strongly made by the great Naqshbandi Sufi, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi (also known as Imam ar-Rabbani), in his letters. Here is a small excerpt from one of his letters, where he clarifies this topic:
The Shari`ah has three parts: knowledge, action, and sincerity of motive (ikhlas); unless you fulfil the demands of all these parts, you do not obey the Shari`ah. And when you obey the Shari`ah you obtain the pleasure of God, which is the most supreme good in this world and the Hereafter. The Qur'an says: "The pleasure of God is the highest good." Hence, the Shari`ah comprehends all the good of this world and the next, and nothing is left out for which one has to go beyond the Shari`ah. The tariqah ("way") and the haqiqah ("reality") for which the Sufis are known, are subservient to the Shari`ah, as they help to realize its third part, namely, sincerity. Hence they are sought in order to fulfil the Shari`ah, not to achieve something beyond the Shari`ah. The raptures and ecstasies which the Sufis experience, and the ideas and truths which come to them in the course of their journey, are not the goal of Sufism. They are rather myths and fancies on which the children of Sufism are fed. One has to pass over them all and reach the stage of satisfaction (rida) which is the final goal of suluk ("travelling", i.e. the Sufi path) and jadhbah ("overwhelming love"). The purpose of traversing the stages of of tariqah and haqiqah is nothing other than the realisation of ikhlas which involves the attainment of rida. Only one out of a thousand Sufis is graced with the three illuminations (tajalliyat sih ganah) and gnostic visions, given ikhlas and elevated to the stage of rida.
The tariqah ("way") and the haqiqah ("reality") for which the Sufis are known, are subservient to the Shari`ah, as they help to realize its third part, namely, sincerity. Hence they are sought in order to fulfil the Shari`ah, not to achieve something beyond the Shari`ah. The raptures and ecstasies which the Sufis experience, and the ideas and truths which come to them in the course of their journey, are not the goal of Sufism. They are rather myths and fancies on which the children of Sufism are fed. One has to pass over them all and reach the stage of satisfaction (rida) which is the final goal of suluk ("travelling", i.e. the Sufi path) and jadhbah ("overwhelming love"). The purpose of traversing the stages of of tariqah and haqiqah is nothing other than the realisation of ikhlas which involves the attainment of rida. Only one out of a thousand Sufis is graced with the three illuminations (tajalliyat sih ganah) and gnostic visions, given ikhlas and elevated to the stage of rida.
Su"fi (?), n. [From the name of a dynasty of Persian kings, Safi, Safavi; said to come from name Safi-ud-din of an ancestor of the family, confused with sfi pious.]
A title or surname of the king of Persia.
© Webster 1913.
Su"fi, n. [Ar. & Per. sfi, wise, pious, devout.]
One of a certain order of religious men in Persia.
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