Sufism is a vast domain encompassing a wide range of social, philosophical, and literary developments in the Muslim community. In its broadest sense, the word refers to a collection of schools of Islamic mystical theology and philosophy and religious orders and factions that have had a major impact on the upsurge of Islamic society and politics and the various utterances of popular piety found across the Islamic world. Sufism is often regarded as the spiritual source underlying much of the Islamic world's pre-modern poetry, the vernacular of much widely Known piety, the principal social arena available to women's religious practice, and a key factor in the conversion of populations to Islam throughout Asia and Africa.

In the Quran, Sufism is described as Tazkiya Nafs (purity of soul). The meaning of this verse is well known among Islamic academics and those who have studied the Quran with interpretation. "On the Day when neither money nor sons will suffice, only he who submits to Allah with a pure heart will prosper". Sufi organizations were educational institutes that promoted religious studies and musical and ornamental arts.