114 Spirituality Studies Table 5 Modalities of Recursive Temporality Author Mode of Recursion Domain Function al-Qushayrī Ethical-recursive Practice Stabilization / Ethical formation al-Ghazālī Ethical-recursive Practice Stabilization Ibn ʿArabī Ontological-recursive Being Infinite unfolding Rūmī Poetic-recursive Expression Experiential intensification Recursive temporality in Sufism thus appears not as a homogeneous structural principle but as a modal logic manifesting differently across ethical, ontological, and poetic registers. What unites these registers is a shared resistance to definitive closure: spiritual life is sustained through renewal rather than completion. 4.3.6 Metamodern Interpretation in Relation to Alternative Frameworks The metamodern framework adopted in this study offers several advantages in comparison with other dominant approaches to Sufi spirituality. First, psychological interpretations of mysticism tend to focus on individual experience and altered states of consciousness. While such approaches illuminate the experiential dimension of Sufi practice, they often isolate mystical states from the ethical and communal structures in which they are embedded. The recursive model identified in the present study demonstrates that spiritual states are sustained through disciplined practices and ethical self-regulation rather than through isolated moments of experience. Second, sociological and institutional approaches emphasize the organizational structure of Sufi orders and their role within Islamic societies. Although these perspectives provide valuable insights into the historical development of Sufi communities, they frequently overlook the internal temporal logic through which spiritual transformation is conceptualized in the texts themselves. Third, classical phenomenological interpretations of mysticism often emphasize the culmination of spiritual experience in states such as fanāʾ or union with the divine. In many cases this leads to the implicit assumption of a teleological progression culminating in a final mystical realization. The metamodern framework allows these perspectives to be integrated while avoiding their limitations. Rather than privileging either experience, doctrine, or social structure, it focuses on the processual dynamics through which spiritual life unfolds over time. The recursive temporality identified in the analyzed corpus demonstrates that spiritual transformation is not oriented toward definitive completion but toward continuous renewal. In this sense, the metamodern perspective provides a conceptual vocabulary capable of describing the oscillatory and unfinished character of Sufi spirituality, where ethical practice, mystical experience, and communal life remain dynamically interconnected.
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