Encyclopedia of Islam

Further reading: Vincent Cornell, Realm of the Saint: 

Power and Authority in Moroccan Sufism (Austin: Uni-

versity of Texas Press, 1998); Gerald T. Elmore, Islamic 

Sainthood in the Fullness of Time: Ibn al-Arabi’s Book of 

the Fabulous Gryphon (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1999); Valerie J. 

Hoffman, “Muslim Sainthood, Women, and the Legend of 

Sayyida Nafisa.” In Women Saints in World Religions, edited 

by Arvind Sharma, 107–144 (Albany: State University of 

New York Press, 2000); Lamin Sanneh, “Saints and Virtue 

in African Islam: An Historical Approach.” In Saints and 

Virtues, edited by John Stratton Hawley, 127–143 (Los 

Angeles: University of California Press, 1987).