The Dialectical Relationship between Sufism and Existentialism in the Thought of Abd al-Rahman Badawi

Abstract

Anyone familiar with the life of Abd al-Rahman Badawi will notice his repeated attempts to promote or establish a connection between existentialism and Sufism through his works, such as (Humanism and Existentialism in Arab Thought), and occasionally in his book (Anxious Personalities in Islam). For some time, he has striven to elucidate the relationship between the approaches of certain pantheistic Sufis, who possess their own unique methods of worship and life, sometimes aligning with existentialist views. This research, therefore, aims to reveal the dialectical relationship between Sufism and existentialism in the thought of Abd al-Rahman Badawi. The study is divided into four main sections: Existentialism as a Path to Sufism in Badawi's Thought; a Reading of Badawi's Concept of Man; Towards an Existential Freedom of Human Origin; and Beyond Formal Freedom in Badawi's Thought. The research findings reveal a close and similar relationship between Sufism and existentialism, both in their Islamic and Western existentialist forms, such as the connection between rationality, emotion, and subjectivity in both existentialism and Sufism. Existentialism arose within the context of religion.