A literary history of Persia

ETYMOLOGY OF " StfFf'' 417writings of some of his contemporaries if not of his predecessors.A number of derivations have been proposed at differenttimes for the term Suff, but it is now quitecertain that it isderived from the word "suf, wool," which view isderivation of the confirmed by the equivalent pashmina-push. " wooltermSufi.,. . , Dwearer, applied to these mysticsm Persian.From the earliest times woollen raiment was regarded astypical of that simplicity of life and avoidance of ostentationand luxury enjoined by the Prophet and his immediatesuccessors, as clearly appears from Mas'udPs account of the11Orthodox Caliphs" in the JMuruju'dh-Dhahab.* Theterm Suff was therefore in later times applied to thoseascetic and pious devotees who, like the early Quakers inEngland, made the simplicity of their apparel a silent protestagainst the growing luxury of the worldly.It does notappear to have come into use till about the middle of thesecond century of the Flight (end of the eighth century of ourera), for Jamf expressly states in his Nafahdtul-Uns (ed.Nassau-Lees, p. 34) that it was first applied to Abu Hashimthe Syrian, a contemporary of Sufyan ath-Thawri, who died inA.D. 777. This derivationmay be regarded as quite certain,and it is sufficient merely to mention the attemptsmade toconnect the word with the Greek