Maqam and Hal:
The Mysticism of Ordinary and Extraordinary
Life in Sufism (2001)

This paper proposes that a comparison between classical Sufi descriptions of a mystical state (hal) and mystical station(maqam) with modern and post-modern concerns about a "mysticism of everyday life." The experience of a hal denotes a state of grace that descends upon a Sufi practitioner, but which is only temporary and facilitates a new "station" in life that represents the ability to bring a visionary state into everyday life (Schimmel 1975, Nasr 1991, Ernst 1997). This functional dialectic can be usefully compared to various concepts of in the writings of humanistic psychology (Maslow 1968, 1993; Reich 1948, 1949). In both the classical Sufi terminology and practice, as well as that in the evolving theories of humanistic psychology, one finds the attempt to contextualize "everyday life" itself within a mystical framework, that is, not only is there a mysticism of everyday life, but everyday life is a type of mysticism in itself.

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