"Examining the role of the Demirdashiya in Egypt's history as well as its visionary piety, this book explores the dialectic between reform and vision in a stable Sufi order. It also probes how these competing ideals are incorporated into the physical world of the zawiya, mosque, and living quarters, and the extension of its influence in Europe through its most famous daughter, Qut al-Qulub, noted author and mother of the order's current shaikh."--Jacket.