Attaining felicity or happiness is among the most common ideals that people belonging to
different religious traditions or schools of thought have pondered on from early ages.
Although they assumed different stances as to the quiddity of felicity, it can be inferred from
their views that some of the philosophers thought it to be a reality pertaining only to this
world whereas a large group of people, including Muslim thinkers, consider happiness as a
necessary goal to be achieved in the Hereafter. Sufis also emphasize the importance of
otherworldly happiness or bliss, but the works of many of them such as al-Ghazālī (d.
505/1111), Ibn ʿArabī (d. 638/1240), and Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1050/1641), which are based on
both speculative and transcendental Sufi theory and practice, emphasize the importance of a
happiness based on māʾrifāh. According to these Sufis, the goal of felicity is closeness to
God (qurb) in the Hereafter. Therefore, happiness or felicity is not just “happiness” as
conceived in the modern understanding that reduces it to a worldly matter. In this respect, the
Sufis have adopted a way of thinking and practice that leads people to spiritual realization
(taḥqīq) that will lead them to happiness in the essential sense on both the material and
spiritual levels. In this article, the general understanding of happiness, which gives the
impression of a hedonistic nature, will be compared with the conception of happiness or felicity envisioned especially by the Sufis who express remarkable observations on morality. In this framework, the views of early Sufi authors such as al-Ḥujwīrī (d. 465/1072?) and al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072), who generally prioritized otherworldly happiness, as well as the views of later Sufi authors such as al-Ghazzālī, Ibn al- ‘Arabī, and Mullā Sadrā, who combined rational principles with spiritual attainments on happiness, will be discussed in the context of an understanding of happiness focused on being virtuous along with attaining perfection and Divine knowledge or gnosis in Sufism.