I had no idea that Sufism played a role in increased literacy. I had the oppossite view as a matter of fact. Well, I guess we do learn something new every day.
2:56 "have a direct relationship with God" - so, ASU is a state institution and I get that discussing religion in such institutions is sometimes a tricky thing. But the phrase I quoted is repeated *as if it is a real thing.* I find that a bit disturbing coming from an allegedly secular institution. A better way to present it would be something like: _what they believed would give them a direct relationship to their god._
This is such a nitpick. A) it's clear from the context he's speaking from their perspective and B) your "correction" is extremely clunky to say out loud.
