APPROACHES TO PROXIMITY AND DISTANCE IN EARLY SUFISM – Mohammed Rustom

Abstract:

“There is a famous tradition in Islam in which an unknown man, fully clad in white and evincing no signs of travel, approaches the Prophet Muhammad and begins to ask him several questions. Prior to his last question,  which has to do with eschatology, the man asks the Prophet to define three  terms: Islam, Iman, ihsan, meaning “submission,” “faith,” and “doing what is beautiful” respectively. The Prophet tells his interlocutor that”