Sufism its Essence & the Traits of its People

This work by Habib Umar bin Hafiz takes up a question many seekers carry quietly: what is Sufism, really, and how would you recognize it in a person rather than in a label? The book presents Sufism as the essence of Islam itself, inseparable from the sincerity and inward discipline that give the outward practice of the deen its life.

The heart of the book is a clear framework: the ten most important traits that mark those who are truly upon this path, as taught by the author. For readers who have long heard Sufism discussed—sometimes defended, sometimes dismissed—but rarely defined with this kind of clarity, it offers a grounded starting point for understanding what the term actually means and demands.

This edition comes from Dar al-Turath Al-Islami, a fitting home for a text concerned less with argument than with definition—naming, plainly, what sincerity in this path looks like. It belongs on the shelf of anyone who wants to think carefully about tazkiyah, not as an abstraction, but as something with recognizable traits and a real teacher standing behind them.