Formation process of sufism in Hujwiri's (d. 465/1072) approach

Along with the development of the language of science towards the end of the 4th century AH, Sufism entered into the process of codification. In this sense, Sufi authors who had tried to reveal in many aspects that Sufism is a religious science, built literature by providing Sufism with its main sources. Considering that the process of codification ended with Al-Ghazali, 'Ali Bin 'Usman Al-Hujwiri (d. 465/1072), whom we can call the last link of these authors, included Kashf Al-Mahjub (The Revelation of the Veiled) that he compiled in Persian in the literature, which had been mostly written in Arabic. Ali Hujwiri, who draws attention by starting his work with the issue of The Affirmation of Knowledge and being the first person to divide the Sufi orders, has, in this sense, a privileged place among other authors. In our study, respondents and opponents of Sufism in the process of codification and the approaches developed by Hujwiri against them will be classified into various headings, and the impacts of these on the emergence of the Sufi understanding of him will be investigated. While doing so, almost every subject will be handled comparatively with the authors before Hujwiri, in consequence of them being followers of a tradition, and ultimately, it will be tried to reveal the impact of them on the Sufi understanding of Hujwiri and the process of the formation of Sufism. In the first chapter of our study, which is composed of three chapters, we tried to determine the importance of Hujwiri, as a Sufi historiographer, in Sufi thought and his contributions to the period of codification specific to the issues of tabaqat and orders. In the second chapter, after revealing the opinion of Hujwiri, who acknowledges Sufism as a religious science, on the existence of knowledge and the point that it can be known, we determined that he evidenced this acknowledgement by the existence of the subject, issue, and method of Sufism. In the third chapter, we tried to address the use of the concept of Sufism and criticisms faced by Sufis on their piety, and the issues discussed by Hujwiri in response to these criticisms.