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In Arabic its name literally means "man of wool." What Islamic sect is it?



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Answer: the Sufis

The word Sufi means "man of wool" in Arabic. It ultimately derives from the Arabic suf, wool.

The Sufis are a Muslim sect of ascetic mystics (i.e., they are not shop-aholics) who got their name because they wear woolen garments (labs-as-suf) as one demonstration of their religious devotion.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the first known appearance of the word in English writing is from 1653 -- from Greaves Seraglio "Those Turks which would be accounted Sofees ... do commonly read, as they walk along the streets."

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