Orientalism emerged in the 19th century as an academic dis-cipline in Europe and is the general name of the Western movement that aims to research Islam and its sciences. One of Orientalists’ general appro-aches is to argue that Islam, particularly its sciences, has external origins. In this respect, Orientalists have never accepted Islam’s internal sources and originality. As is known regarding Islam’s spread from the Hijaz to the Eas-tern Mediterranean, Islam, as an illiterate society encountered literate socie-ties. According to Orientalists’ general approach, the literate societies chan-ged Islam entirely. While Orientalists put forth this claim concerning fiqh, kalam, philosophy, and many other sciences, they maintained their studies in relation to the field of tasawwuf in particular. Because of the strong con-nection between the doctrine and field of tasawwuf, it is a discipline close to folk religiosity. As a result, the Orientalist approach from the beginning resulted in them explaining tasawwuf in reference to an external source. However, some contradictions emerged in the Orientalist claims over time. Based on these contradictions, Orientalists have moved toward a new un-derstanding of tasawwuf. One of the most important names this study will refer is Reynold Alleyne Nicholson (d. 1945). Nicholson drew attention as the researcher most focused on the development of tasawwuf among modern Orientalist researchers. Although a particular change was witnessed in his views, following these views will illuminate the history of the contact and in-teraction Islam and, in connection with this, tasawwuf, had with the mystical and gnostic religious-philosophical movements/communities encountered in the Eastern Mediterranean during Islam’s formation. This study will first discuss Orientalist researchers’ general views and approaches regarding the origin of tasawwuf. Then, following Nicholson’s claims about the origin of tasawwuf, the study will present a general assessment of the Orientalist ap-proaches. In this way, it will reveal the Orientalist contradictions regarding the issue of the origin of tasawwuf through the example of Nicholson.