Nicholson first presented Sufi experience as genuinely valid

Evidence

However, for all his limitations, he was a learned, accurate, diligent scholar who did a huge amount to introduce the Western world to the classics of Arabic and Persian literature. His work on Sufism was particularly valuable as he was one of the first to present Muslim mystical experiences as valid rather than drug-induced hallucinations or disguised atheism. — Robert Irwin, For Lust of Knowing, 370

Categorization

• XREF: Contrasts with the objectifying stance of his canonical histories — an internal tension in the man’s scholarship worth pursuing.
• ADDENDUM: Sufism as genuine rather than drug-induced mysticism parallels how ‘On Sacrifice’ treated ritual forms as authentic religious practice rather than pathology.