The Other Islam ought to have a chapter entitled “Jesus in Sufism,” but it hasn’t. I actually own a book called “Jesus in the Eyes of Sufis” by Dr Javad Nurbaksh, a Shi’ite Sufi.I also have a copy of Tarif Khalidi’s “The Muslim Jesus” which quuotes many sayings and anecdotes used in Sufi literature. Jesus often comes across as an extreme ascetic, having nowhere to lay his head, someone who has truly abandoned the world. A few of the sayings are reminiscent of material found in the New Testament and some has parallels in non-canonical texts. The problem for me was that these two excellent books tell us what was written and taught in classical texts but not what the ordinary Sufi-orientated Muslim might know or believe.
I find that even mureeds (committed disciples) are hesitant about answering questions like “what do they teach you about Jesus?” It may be a reluctance to present oneself as an authority, it may be a fear of getting something wrong or perhaps a fear of appearing ignorant. It was not a subject that I was researching and I think it would take a careful sructured piece of research to really find out what place Jesus has in any particular Sufi tradition. Some Sufi masters undoubtedly do make use of sayings attributed to Jesus. The followers accept them because they are part of the message of the shaykh or pir and do not necessarily file them in their memory as relating to Jesus. It would be an interesting subject to explore further.