Esotericisation and De-esotericisation of Sufism: The Aḥmadiyya-IdrÄ«siyya ShÄdhiliyya in Italy

Abstract

In this article I will analyse the Sufi order Aḥmadiyya-IdrÄ«siyya ShÄdhiliyya based in Milan, ­established by Abd al-Wahid Pallavicini in the 1980s. This is one of the most important Sufi ­orders in Italy, and it is engaged in interreligious dialogue activities and institutional relations with Italian political actors. I will argue that this Sufi order has experienced a process of ­esotericisation, ­“Westernâ€-style, in the sense that: 1) it was shaped by the “forms of thought†of the French ­esotericist René ­Guénon; 2) following Hanegraaff’s and von Stuckrad’s definitions, it embodies both a rejected and an ­absolute knowledge; and 3) it is characterised by a sectarian organisational structure, which has distanced it from other Islamic communities. Starting from the 2010s, this Sufi order has been living through a process of “de-esotericisation,†following the same sense outlined before, in that the absolute knowledge is gradually opening up to other forms of esoteric knowledge and the sectarian dimensions are gradually fading, allowing a dialogue with other Islamic communities.