Across families
Sikhism and Sufism
Different families with 11 axes in close agreement — the sort of pairing a quiz weighting only the divine axes would never surface. Mean distance across all seventeen axes: 0.18 (0 would be identical).
One formless creator present in everything, remembered in daily practice and served through honest work and shared food. Rejects both caste and asceticism: the householder’s life, lived attentively, is the path.
Islamic practice turned toward direct experiential knowledge of God, with the divine understood as present in everything rather than only beyond it. Keeps the law and the ritual; adds dhikr, a master, and an inclusivism unusual for the family.
Where they agree
A1 Divine reality
Both sit at a divine reality certainly exists — a gap of 0.00.
B3 Institutional authority
Both sit at leaning clergy and tradition decide — a gap of 0.00.
A2 Personhood
Both sit at leaning a personal being one can address — a gap of 0.02.
E4 Standing of nature
Both sit at between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred — a gap of 0.02.
A3 Plurality
Both sit at strictly one — a gap of 0.03.
A4 Locus
Both sit at fully present within it — a gap of 0.03.
E3 Locus of belonging
Both sit at between a people, inherited and an individual choice — a gap of 0.05.
C1 Survival of the self
Both sit at continues in some form — a gap of 0.06.
E1 Exclusivity
Both sit at leaning many valid paths and between one true path and many valid paths respectively — a gap of 0.10.
D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good
Both sit at leaning given as grace and between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight respectively — a gap of 0.10.
C3 The human condition
Both sit at leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound and between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound respectively — a gap of 0.12.
Where they part company
C2 Shape of time
Sikhism: leaning cyclical return. Sufism: one life, then judgment. A gap of 0.70 on an axis running from “one life, then judgment” to “cyclical return”.
E2 Origin of the cosmos
Sikhism: between an intentional act and beginningless or natural. Sufism: an intentional act. A gap of 0.52 on an axis running from “an intentional act” to “beginningless or natural”.
B1 Source of truth
Sikhism: leaning revealed and fixed. Sufism: leaning reason and direct experience. A gap of 0.43 on an axis running from “revealed and fixed” to “reason and direct experience”.
All seventeen axes
| Axis | Sikhism | Sufism | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| A1 Divine reality | a divine reality certainly exists | a divine reality certainly exists | 0.00 |
| A2 Personhood | leaning a personal being one can address | leaning a personal being one can address | 0.02 |
| A3 Plurality | strictly one | strictly one | 0.03 |
| A4 Locus | fully present within it | fully present within it | 0.03 |
| B1 Source of truth | leaning revealed and fixed | leaning reason and direct experience | 0.43 |
| B2 Reading of sacred text | leaning literal and binding | between literal and binding and metaphorical, or no text at all | 0.37 |
| B3 Institutional authority | leaning clergy and tradition decide | leaning clergy and tradition decide | 0.00 |
| C1 Survival of the self | continues in some form | continues in some form | 0.06 |
| C2 Shape of time | leaning cyclical return | one life, then judgment | 0.70 |
| C3 The human condition | leaning ignorant but fundamentally sound | between fallen and in need of rescue and ignorant but fundamentally sound | 0.12 |
| D1 Mechanism of the ultimate good | leaning given as grace | between given as grace and achieved by effort or insight | 0.10 |
| D2 Centrality of ritual | leaning essential and prescribed | essential and prescribed | 0.23 |
| D3 The body | between to be disciplined and to be celebrated | leaning to be disciplined | 0.23 |
| E1 Exclusivity | leaning many valid paths | between one true path and many valid paths | 0.10 |
| E2 Origin of the cosmos | between an intentional act and beginningless or natural | an intentional act | 0.52 |
| E3 Locus of belonging | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | between a people, inherited and an individual choice | 0.05 |
| E4 Standing of nature | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | between creation, given for use and animate and itself sacred | 0.02 |
Positions for Sikhism rest principally on Guru Granth Sahib and the Rehat Maryada; for Sufism, on Ibn ʿArabi, al-Ghazali’s Ihyaʿ, and Rumi’s Mathnawi. Per-cell sources are listed on each tradition’s own page.
The questionnaire places your answers on these same axes and ranks all 65 traditions by how closely they match. Take it.