%0 Journal Article %T Introducing Sufism to International Relations Theory: A preliminary inquiry into epistemological, ontological, and methodological pathways %A Deepshikha Shahi %J European Journal of International Relations %@ 1460-3713 %D 2019 %R 10.1177/1354066117751592 %X One of the most commonly treaded pathways to address the widely recognized Eurocentric biases in International Relations has been the initiation of intellectual efforts toward the incorporation of non-Western world views. However, the greater assimilation of knowledge produced by non-Western scholars from local philosophical-experiential vantage points ¡ª that is, the integration of Chinese, Indian, or Brazilian outlooks expressed under the rubric ¡°non-Western International Relations¡± ¡ª cannot make International Relations less Eurocentric or more ¡°Global¡± if the following slippery grounds are overlooked: (1) if non-Western International Relations theories employ non-Western philosophical resources for generating a derivative discourse of Western/Eurocentric International Relations theories, thereby failing to transcend the conjectural boundaries of Western/Eurocentric International Relations; and (2) if non-Western International Relations theories manufacture an exceptionalist discourse that is specifically applicable to the narrow experiential realities of a native time¨Cspace zone, thereby failing to offer an alternative universalist explanation that grants a broad-spectrum relevance to Western/Eurocentric International Relations. In the light of these realizations, the present article aims to explore if ¡°Sufism¡± ¡ª as a non-Western intellectual resource ¡ª is capable of offering a fertile ground for crafting a non-derivative and non-exceptionalist Global International Relations theory. In order to do this, the article employs the insights gained from the poetry of a 13th-century Sufi scholar, Jal¨¡l ad-D¨©n Muhammad R¨±m¨©. The article draws the conclusion that Sufism, as an established philosophy with a grand temporal-spatial global spread, upholds a ¡°threefold attribute¡± ¡ª namely, epistemological monism, ontological immaterialism, and methodological eclecticism ¡ª which gives it a unique foundational status to formulate a non-Eurocentric Global International Relations theory %K Epistemology %K Global International Relations %K International Relations theory %K Methodology %K Ontology %K Sufism %U https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1354066117751592