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Four characteristics of Sufism, or Islamic Mysticism, reveal the Sufi’s legacy on the Islamic community. Al-Basri, al-Adawiyyah and others like them attracted followers who shared their ideas and came to learn from them. These individuals, in turn, attracted students of their own. And in this way, the ideas of asceticism and absolute devotion to God spread through the Islamic community. (Islam: World Religions; Islam: Faith, Culture, History) One characteristic for the Sufis is that nothing was more important than the presence of God in the world. The Sufis saw life as a kind of journey in which one was constantly seeking a direct experience of God. Many of them believed that they way to seek that experience was to study the Koran and Hadith and to pray regularly. In short, to live the simple and disciplined life of a devout Muslim. Other Sufis disagreed, however. They felt that although prayer, the study of the Koran, and other duties of Muslims were necessary to a religious life, these things were not enough. A second characteristic is that they sought a more direct and emotional experience of God. As ideas and ritual practices devel