Ibn Khaldun's Criticism of Sufism

Ibn Khaldun was critical of thinkers like Avasana who tried to give naturalistic explanations of prophecy. But he admires the early Sufis, who led lives of simple asceticism and kept to themselves any supernatural insights they achieved. He even proposes a general critique of rationalistic philosophy that could help vindicate mysticism. We'll be exploring rational Aristotelian philosophers as well as neoplatonists in figures like Ibn Gabi.