Etymology and Origin of The Term
Two origins of the word sufi have been suggested. Commonly, the lexical root of the word is traced to ṣafā (صَفا), which in Arabic means "purity". Another origin is ṣūf (صُوف), "wool", referring to the simple cloaks the early Muslim ascetics wore.
The two were combined by the Sufi al-Rudhabari who said, "The Sufi is the one who wears wool on top of purity." The wool cloaks were sometimes a designation of their initiation into the Sufi order. Others have suggested that word comes from the term ahl aṣ-ṣuffah ("the people of the bench"), who were a group of impoverished companions of Muhammad who held regular gatherings of ḏikr.
According to the medieval Iranian scholar Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī, the word sūfi is derived from the Greek word sofia (σοφία), meaning wisdom.
Read more about this topic: Sufism
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