Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
VOLUME 1
Islamic Mysticism
A Short History
By
Alexander Knysh
LEIDEN BOSTON
2000
99-41321
CIP
ISSN 1389-823S
ISBN 978 90 04 10717 5 (Hardback)
ISBN 978 90 04 19462 5 (Paperback)
Copyright 2000 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
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CONTENTS
Acknowledgements ...................................................................... ix
A Note on Transliteration .......................................................... xi
List of Abbreviations .................................................................. xiii
Introduction ..................................................................................
5
5
8
10
13
16
18
26
32
36
36
39
43
43
48
52
56
60
68
83
vi
contents
Ibn Karrm and the Karrmiyya ........................................
The Path of Blame ................................................................
Why Susm? Some Observations Regarding Susms
Ascendancy During Islams Golden Age ..........................
88
94
99
125
128
130
132
135
140
150
152
156
161
163
169
179
179
192
207
218
234
239
116
118
121
123
245
245
251
264
contents
vii
280
286
289
294
301
301
303
309
311
314
326
328
334
351
354
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
I would like to express my profound gratitude to the following contributors to the Encyclopaedia of Islam for granting me permission to
use their articles on various aspects of Susm:
H. Algar, Nashband, Nashbandiyya, Ni'matallhiyya
C. E. Bosworth, Karrmiyya
G. Bwering, Sahl al-Tustar and al-Sulam
J. During, Sam'
A. Hartmann, al-Suhraward, Shihb al-Dn
P. M. Holt, al-Mahdiyya
J. O. Hunwick, Kunta and Taawwuf in Africa
C. H. Imber, al-Malmatiyya
F. de Jong, Khalwatiyya
A. H. Johns, Shams al-Dn al-Samatr"
H. Landolt, Khalwa
B. Lawrence, Makhdm al-Mulk Manr
I. M. Lewis, Muammad b. 'Abdallh assn
P. Lory, al-Shdhil and al-Shdhiliyya
Y. Marquet, al-Tirmidh al-akm
R. S. OFahey, ara in northeastern and eastern Africa
B. Reinert, Sar al-Saa
F. Sobieroj, al-Suhraward , Abu l-Nab, al-Shibl, alSuhrawardiyya
W. M. Watt, al-Ghazl
Th. Zarcone, ara in the Turkish lands
I bear full responsibility for any mistakes that may have crept into
this volume. I owe a special debt to my wife Anya, who spared neither time nor eort seeing this book through. Finally, I dedicate this
book to my parents, Dmitri Knysh and Alexandra Knysh, in gratitude for their love and kindness.
A NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION
LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
EI
BEO
JAOS
JRAS
MIDEO
StI
ZDMG
INTRODUCTION
introduction
vigorous anti-Su campaigns launched by various groups and parties within Muslim societies and the profound changes in the traditional economies and social make-up of Middle Eastern, Central
Asian and North African societies, and to a lesser extent those of
sub-Saharan Africa, resulted in Susms dramatic loss of appeal in
the eyes of many Muslims. Its erstwhile institutional grandeur was
reduced to a few low-key lodges that were staed by Su masters
with little inuence outside their immediate coterie of followers. At
one time, it seemed that the very survival of the centuries-old Su
tradition and mode of piety was jeopardized by the sweeping social
and economic changes which came on the heels of modernization.
And yet, against all odds, not only did Susm survive, but also, in
recent decades, has been making a steady comeback. Su lodges
sprang back to existence in many countries of the Middle East, South
East Asia and North Africa as well as in Europe, in the United
States and in the republics of the former Soviet Union. Basing themselves on the spiritual genealogies, doctrines, moral precepts and
training techniques of the traditional Su orders they are working
towards what may soon turn into a full-blown Su revival. Alongside
traditional arqas, we witness the emergence of the so-called NeoSu movement seeking to bring Su values in tune with the spiritual and intellectual tastes of modern men and women. Some
Westernized Su groups go as far as to divest Susm of its Islamic
garb, presenting it as an expression of a supraconfessional, universal
truth that animates mystical quest in all religious traditions.
The aim of this book is to provide an accessible historical overview of Susms evolution from a simple world-renouncing piety to a
series of highly sophisticated doctrines that circulated within a formal
and highly hierarchical institutional framework known as the arqa.
The arqa institution emerged in the sixth/twelfth century, ourished
in the seventh/thirteenth-thirteenth/nineteenth centuries, suered a
profound spiritual and institutional decline at the beginning of the
fourteenth/twentieth century, and, more recently, is experiencing
an incipient revival. This study seeks to supplement and update
the general surveys of Islamic mysticism by Fritz Meier,1 Louis
Massignon,2 Margaret Smith,3 Tor Andrae,4 Georges Anawati and
1
introduction
Louis Gardet,5 Arthur J. Arberry,6 Marjan Mol,7 Annemarie Schimmel,8 and Julian Baldick.9 Of these, the latter two often serve as
textbooks in both graduate and undergraduate courses on Islamic
mysticism in English-speaking universities. Written by scholars specializing in Persian and Urdu literature and culture, these books are
primarily concerned with the history of Susm in the eastern parts
of the Muslim world, while giving short shrift to developments in
the central lands of Islam, the Caucasus and the Muslim West. I
will attempt to rectify this bias by focusing on the geographical areas
neglected by my predecessors. While earlier historians of Susm have
tended to concentrate on the evolution of Su doctrines and practices, my concern here is to furnish a picture of Islamic mysticism
that is rmly rooted in the historical and socio-political contexts
within which it developed. In my survey of Susm I will avoid, so
far as possible, delving into numerous controversial issues of Su
studies. To spring them upon the reader with no prior knowledge
of the subject would result in nothing but confusion. In the footnotes I will, however, occasionally alert my readers to the various
possible approaches to one and the same phenomenon or personality of Susms history, inviting them to undertake a further inquiry
if they so wish. I will also be very sparing in providing readers with
broad theoretical generalizations that quickly become outdated as
scholarship on Susm advances. Nor shall I try to force this variegated material into any ready-made conceptual framework, although
I cannot deny that, like any scholar, I have my own methodological
preferences and incipient intellectual biases. They will of necessity
determine how I present the facts and interpret the sources at my
disposal.
5
Mystique musulmane: Aspects et tendences, expriences et techniques, 3rd edition, Paris,
1976.
6
Susm: An account of the mystics of Islam, 5th ed., London, 1969.
7
Les mystiques musulmans, Paris, 1965.
8
Mystical Dimensions of Islam, Chapel Hill, NC, 1975.
9
Mystical Islam: An introduction to Susm, London, 1989.
CHAPTER ONE
THE BEGINNINGS
The Name
Most accounts of Susm, including those written by Sus themselves,
open with a discussion of the etymology of this term. Here I will
mention only the most common theories of its origins. The word
susm is a Latinized derivation from the Arabic root -(w)-f, the
meaning of which was disputed already in early Su literature. Muslim
mystics often trace it to the root af with the general meaning of
purity; to the phrase ahl al-ua (the People of the Bench), that
is, the pious and indigent companions of the Prophet who lived in his
mosque; or to the ahl al-aa, i.e., those who occupy [the First]
Rank/Row [in the mosque or in the eyes of God]). However, the
most common, if less romantic, etymology points to the Arabic word
for wool (f ).1 The Arabic verb taawwaf, which is derived from this
noun, means to put on or to wear a woolen garment. Hence the
verbal noun taawwuf, the practice/habit of wearing woolen garments,
which is the native Arabic equivalent of the Latin S(s)usmus and its
analogues in various European languages, Su(i)sm (Eng.), Sutums
or Suk (Ger.), sousme (Fr.), suzm (Rus.), etc. The Muslim
mystic is usually called f or mutaawwif, pl. yya or mutaawwifa.
The normative literature of Susm routinely describes the Prophet
and some of his Companions, who were dissatised with the outward observance of the religious law and engaged in self-imposed
strictures, as the rst Sus. However, the term does not seem to
have gained wide currency until the rst half of the third/ninth century, when it came to be applied to the Muslim ascetics and recluses
in Iraq, Syria and, possibly, Egypt. Among the rst ascetics in the
Prophets immediate retinue, whom the Su tradition presents as
Sus avant la lettre, are Ab Dharr (d. 32/652), Ab l-Dard" (d. 32/
652), his wife Umm al-Dard", Salmn al-Fris (d. 35/655 or 37/
657), udhayfa b. al-Yaman (d. 37/657) and 'Imrn b. al-usayn
1
See, e.g., A. J. Arberry, The Doctrine of the Sus, Cambridge, reprint, 1991, pp.
511.
chapter one
al-Khuz' (d. 53/672 or 54/673). To tie them rmly to the Su movement, its later exponents credited all of them with wearing wool,2 an
assertion that critics of later Susm, e.g., Ibn al-Jawz (d. 597/1201),
vigorously denied.3
In Islamic literature not directly aliated with Susm, these individuals as well the pious men and women of the Umayyad and early
'Abbsid era (ca. 51/670ca. 185/800) were commonly referred to
as nussk (devout [men]), zuhhd (world renouncers or ascetics), 'ubbd
(worshipers)terms that roughly correspond to the Latin concept of
viri religiosi. More than just fullling their religious duties, they paid
close attention to the underlying motives of their actions and sought
to impregnate them with a deeper spiritual meaning. This goal was
achieved through a meticulous contemplation on the Qur"nic revelation, a thorough imitation of the Prophets piety, introspection as
well as voluntary poverty and self-mortication. Strenuous eorts
aimed at self-purication and self-improvement ( jihd, mujhada) were
sometimes accompanied by voluntary military service in the ArabByzantine frontier region (al-thugr), where many renowned early
ascetics settled in search of a pure life and licit livelihood or, as the
case may be, martyrdom in the path of God. The acts of penitence and self-renunciation, which their practitioners justied by references to certain Qur"nic verses and the Prophets utterances,4 may
be seen as a reaction against Islams newly acquired wealth that
often led many faithful to abandon the frugal ways and heroic selfdenial associated with the original Muslim community in Medina.
The secular pastimes and lavish lifestyles of the Umayyad rulers and
their ocials were seen by many as contrary to the original Islamic
ideals. While some religio-political factions, such as the Khrijs and
the militant wing of the Sh ' movement, tried to topple the impious government through armed struggle, others opted for a passive
resistance and a quietist attitude that they presented as a complete
surrender to the will of God. Even though their exemplary piety and
scrupulosity were sometimes interpreted as a challenge to the secular or military authorities,5 they were by and large tolerated as long
2
See, e.g., Ibrhm Basyn, Nash"at al-taawwuf al-islm, Cairo, 1969, pp. 1112.
Ibn al-Jawz, Talbs Ibls, Cairo, n.d., pp. 161165.
4
For a ne selection of such verses and prophetic logia see, e.g., Smith, Early
Mysticism, pp. 125152; cf. Arberry, Susm, pp. 1530.
5
E.g., 'mir b. 'Abd Qays al-'Anbar, whose deant uprightness, frugality and
unconventional vegetarian diet aroused the suspicions of his superiors, who reported
3
the beginnings
as they did not agitate against the state. They argued that the truly
God-fearing person should try to save himself by withdrawing from
the overbearing world and its sinful and unjust ways. As an outward
sign of this pietistic withdrawal, some of them adopted a distinct
dress code, which often featured a rough woolen robe. This robe
set them apart from people wearing more expensive silk or cotton.
Wittingly or not, the early Muslim religiosi thereby came to resemble
Christian monks and ascetics, who also donned coarse woolen clothes
as a symbol of penitence and contempt for worldly luxuries.6 In view
of its strong Christian connotations, some early Muslim authorities
sometimes frowned upon the wearing of wool. Others condemned
it as an ostentatious display of poverty, which, they argued, implied
that God was not adequately providing for the needs of his servants.
In spite of their protests, the custom of wearing a woolen robe caught
on with many piety-minded Muslims in Syria and Iraq. By metonymy,
the name of the material was transferred onto those who made the
habit of wearing it. Originally applied to itinerant outsiders (possibly in a derogatory sense), by the end of the eighth century C.E.,
in the central lands of Islam the nick-name yya (wool-people or
wool-wearers) became a self-designation of those given to ascetic
life and mystical contemplation. This term did not, however, meet
with a quick and universal acceptance. Thus, in Khursn and
Transoxania, mystics of speculative slant were for a long time known
as the wise men (ukam"; sing. akm), those who know [God],
or gnostics ('rifn; sing. 'rif ). As for the more practice-oriented
individuals, in the eastern lands of Islam, as in Iraq and Syria, they
were called the poor (Arab. faqr; Pers. darwsh) or the devotees
(zuhhd ). In the East, ascetic discipline and world-renouncing piety
were cultivated by some local sects, most notably, the Karrmiyya
of Khursn and Transoxania and the Malmatiyya of Nshpr,
which were suppressed by, or incorporated into, the Iraqi-based Su
movement under the Saljuqs.7
him to the caliph Mu'wiya, Josef van Ess, Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. Und 3.
Jahrhundert Hidschra, Berlin and New York, vol. 2, 1992, pp. 8788.
6
See Arthur Vbus, Syriac and Arabic Documents Regarding Legislation Relevant to
Syrian Asceticism, Stockholm, 1960, pp. 20, 58, 59, 101, etc. cf. van Ess, Theologie,
vol. 2, pp. 88, 94, 610, etc.
7
J. Chabbi, Rexions sur le sousme iranien primitif, in: Journal Asiatique, vol.
266/12 (1978), pp. 3755; B. Radtke, Theologen und Mystiker in ursn und
Transoxanien, in: ZDMG, vol. 136/1 (1986), pp. 536569.
chapter one
the beginnings
10
chapter one
11
G. Bwering, The Mystical Vision of Existence in Classical Islam, Berlin, 1980, pp.
145165.
the beginnings
11
chapter one
12
I could have everything that lies between the two bridges for a basketful of earth, that would not please me. Al-asan referred to the
worldling, whose faith sat lightly on him and who sinned without
concern, as hypocrite (munq)one who hovers midway between
faith and unbelief. He judged sins strictly (tashdd al-ma' ) and considered the sinner to be fully responsible for his actions. Hence he
denied that one can exculpate himself by saying that God created
all actionsa position that was interpreted by some as his support
of the doctrine which emphasized human free will over against divine
determination of events (qadariyya). However, his exact stance on this
hotly debated issue remained elusive. In his famous letter to the
caliph 'Abd al-Malik, who supported the predestinarian view which
implicitly justied the rule of his dynasty, al-asan shows a remarkable ability to skirt potentially divisive problems, without, however,
overtly sacricing his basic principles. Duly respectful of the caliphal
authority, he reserved the right to criticize it for what he saw as violations of the divinely ordained order of things. He exhorted his listeners to practice humility and self-scrutiny. The latter was necessary
in order to bring out the real motives of ones words or actions and
thus to make them more sincere. This psychological analysis was to
become the cornerstone of Su self-discipline and introspection which
were brought to fruition in the work of al-Musib (d. 243/857).12
Al-asans brotherly feeling towards his contemporaries (ukhuwwa)
and his altruism (thr) were also appropriated by later Sus as an
attitude conducive to the mystical goal. They became the foundation of the doctrine of chivalry ( futuwwa)a hallmark of many Su
associations in the subsequent epochs. Another feature that made alasan so attractive to later Sus was his relative disregard for the
exacting standards of adth transmission, which, in the eyes of pedantic adth experts, determined the overall worth of a Muslim scholar.
His own sayings were sometimes circulated as adths, and he did
not protest. Nor was he interested in reconstructing and documenting the chain of transmitters of any given statement attributed to
the Prophet or his Companionsan attitude that caused some later
adth scholars to treat him as a weak authority prone to bbing
(tadls). Since many later Sus were themselves accused of carelessness in this matter, they argued that al-asan was, like themselves,
interested in the kernel rather than the husks of religion. No
12
the beginnings
13
14
chapter one
the beginnings
15
20
Ab Nu'aym al-Ifahn, ilyat al-awliy" wa-abaqt al-ay", Cairo, 19321938,
vol. 4, 221222; cf. Ch. Pellat, Le milieu basrien et la formation de ]i, Paris, 1953,
p. 101.
21
Arberry, Susm, p. 35.
22
Ab Nu'aym, ilya, vol. 7, p. 33 and van Ess, Theologie, vol. 1, p. 224.
23
Margaret Smith, An Early Mystic of Baghdad, London, 1935, p. 69.
24
Vbus, Syrian and Arabic Documents, pp. 20, 58, 101, etc.; Ogn, Did the Term
f . . ., pp. 4045.
16
chapter one
the beginnings
17
chapter one
18
the beginnings
19
ascetic movement and what the sources describe as the rib and jihd,
that is, residence and voluntary military service on the borders of
Islam. In addition to martyrdom, life in the Thughr oered a welcome escape from the increasingly overbearing caliphal state for the
knights of the prayer niche ( fursn al-mirb) who were anxious
to dissociate themselves completely from the tyranny of its impious rulers. The fervid atmosphere of self-denial and martyrdom that
characterized life in the frontier territory produced a class of warrior-monks who combined warfare against the Byzantine enemy with
spectacular acts of harsh worship, charity and self-imposed poverty.34
It was there that the piety of the ghters for faith reached its peak:
their incessant search for purity, especially in dietary matters, caused
them to reject even those things which are usually permitted under
the Divine Law.
Ibrhm Ibn Adham
A typical representative of this extreme world-renouncing piety is
Ibrhm Ibn Adham.35 A native of Balkh (presently in Afghanistan),
whom later legends portray as heir apparent to the local ruler,36
he had experienced a sudden conversion during a hunting trip.
Shaken by the heavenly voice that commanded him to abandon his
sinful ways, Ibn Adham is said to have abandoned kingship for the
life of a vagabond and set out on a journey to the west. During his
life-long peregrinations, he was eating [what he earned from] the
labor of his own hand, that is, reaping, gleaning or grinding corn,
or tending orchards. When he was unable to procure a licit livelihood, he fasted.37 In addition to ascetic precepts, his teaching emphasized a constant meditation (murqaba), contrition, sadness (kamad ),
Divine friendship (khulla), and gnosis (ma 'rifa).38 They were to become
standard in the later Su tradition. Having settled in Syria, on the
border with Byzantium, Ibn Adham took part in several naval and
land expeditions, on the last of which he died [of a decease] of the
34
M. Bonner, Aristocratic Violence and Holy War, New Haven, CT, 1996, pp.
107134.
35
For his biography and teaching see Gramlich, Alte Vorbilder, vol. 1, pp. 135282.
36
According to his earliest biographers he came from a pure Arab stock, Radtke,
Theologen, p. 539.
37
Bonner, Aristocratic Violence, p. 126, cf. al-Sulam, abaqt, p. 13.
38
Smith, An Early Mystic, p. 73.
20
chapter one
39
Arberry, Susm, pp. 3637 and Bonner, op. cit., pp. 128129.
Ibid., p. 130 and pp. 159184.
41
For, in my view, an unsuccessful attempt to establish a crisp chronological and
conceptual borderline between the two see C. Melchert, The Transition from
Asceticism to Mysticism at the Middle of the Ninth Century C.E., StI, vol. 83/1
(1996), pp. 5170.
40
the beginnings
21
Ibn al-Mubrak
A more accommodating, inner-worldly oriented type of piety is
exemplied by the Khursn devotee 'Abd Allh b. al-Mubrak,42
who is credited with great feats of arms in the holy war against the
Byzantine Christians. Although his later biographers invariably stressed
his exemplary piety and abstinence from worldly delights, he was
primarily famous for his active striving on the path of God ( jihd )
and superior physical strength. These qualities made him a formidable warrior and a popular military leader. A role model and a
source of inspiration for his numerous friends and comrades-in-arms,
who insisted that his virtues were never united in any man of learning of the epoch,44 Ibn al-Mubrak represents an activist, innerworldly oriented asceticism that was quite distinct from that pursued
by Ibn Adham and his followers. Not only did he disapprove the idle
and slothful ascetics he encountered in Baghdad, he also actively
encouraged his followers to engage in a gainful employment, especially in trade and the crafts. He himself was a successful merchant,
who generously lavished his wealth on the Muslim volunteer ghters
of the frontier and provided for indigent Muslim pilgrims to Mecca.44
A prolic writer and adth collector (muaddith), Ibn al-Mubrak is
famous for his Book of Renunciation [Asceticism] (Kitb al-zuhd ),
one of the earliest, and probably the most comprehensive, works of
this genre. Kitb al-zuhd is a collection of the adth and pious dicta,
which are carefully selected to emphasize the world-renouncing attitude of the Prophet, of his family, of the Companions and the
Successors as well as of those Muslim devotees who came in their
wake. Similar to the zuhd collections by Z"ida b. Qudma, Wak '
b. al-Jarr (d. 197/812) and Asad b. Ms (d. 212/827), this work
contains hundreds of pious aphorisms, moral and ethical precepts
which became the building blocks of the later Su tradition. As the
other works of this genre, Ibn al-Mubraks Kitb al-zuhd praises
humility, patience, penitence, trust in God, hospitality, vigils, silence,
poverty and weeping, while strongly condemning avarice, envy, anger,
selshness, and other vices. Yet Ibn al-Mubrak was careful to steer
42
Some sources described him as a native of Marv (Central Asia), see Reinert,
Die Lehre, p. 309; Arberry, Susm, p. 40.
43
Bonner, Aristocratic Violence, p. 120.
44
Van Ess, Theologie, vol. 2, p. 552.
22
chapter one
45
46
47
the beginnings
23
48
This legend was apparently unknown to Fuayls earliest biographers, see
J. Chabbi, Fuayl b. 'Iy, un prcurseur du anbalisme (187/803), in: BEO, vol.
30 (1978), pp. 331345.
49
Ab Nu'aym, ilya, vol. 8, p. 84.
50
Ibid., pp. 105107.
51
J. Chabbi (see note 48 above) views him as a typical representative of the Sunni
revival that culminated in Amad b. anbal (d. 241/855).
24
chapter one
forfeited their right to guide the community to salvation. To dissociate themselves from this herd of learned renegades, Fuayl and his
likes (e.g., Dwd al-" )52 adopted a moderate ascetic lifestyle and
withdrew from the ranks of professional men of religion ( 'ulam" ).
This nonconformist, anti-establishment position found an eloquent
expression in his vigorous defense of the Prophetic precedent (Sunna)
against all manner of innovations (bid'a) under which its proponents understood doctrines and practices either unknown to, or not
explicitly endorsed by, the Prophet and his immediate followers.
Although critical of the excessive luxury and ill-gotten wealth of the
rulers and their ocials, Fuayl insisted that man should support
himself and his family53 through the toil of his own hands rather
than rely on charity or begging.54 Nor was he opposed to gainful
employment, including trade, as long as it did not distract the Muslim
from the worship of God and from fullling his religious obligations.
Although Fuayl consistently shunned the rulers and rejected their
gifts, he had no compunctions about accepting money from the pious
merchant Ibn al-Mubrak.55
Conclusions
While later Su literature tends to represent all three devotees we
have just discussed as the soul-mates and the founding fathers of the
Su movement, one cannot but notice substantial dierences in their
religious attitudes and devotional styles. Ibrhm b. Adham and his
followers adhered to an extreme, exclusivist type of piety. Its stringent requirements inevitably set them apart from the Islamic community as a whole. Ibn al-Mubrak, on the other hand, demonstrates
a much more inner-worldly, community-centered religious attitude.
Not only did he recognize the ascetics obligations towards his
family and the society around him, but he also encouraged his adherents to be actively involved in the aairs of this world. This position found its expression in two distinct domains: his mercantile
52
the beginnings
25
56
57
58
59
60
26
chapter one
61
Pellat, Le milieu basrien, p. 104; cf. van Ess, Theologie, vol. 3, p. 101.
J. Baldick interprets this legend as a reminiscence of the celebrated converted
prostitutes of early eastern Christianity, see Mystical Islam, p. 29.
62
the beginnings
27
male visitors were still held down by aectation and egoism.63 When
'Abd al-Wid had proposed to her, he was greeted by a scornful
rebu, O the sensual one, seek another sensual like thyself. Hast
thou seen any sign of desire in me? Another suitor, the governor
of Bara, who tried to entice her into marriage by a dowry of a
hundred thousand golden dnrs, also got the brush-o. Other oers
of marriage, including the improbable one from al-asan al-Bar
who had died more than seventy years before her death, were also
rejected. In Rbi'as words, she was completely unable to tolerate
any suitor who would distract her from God for a single moment,
not to mention commit herself to him for life. For it was God whom
she considered to be her only genuine Bridegroom.64
In another episode she shows her disregard for the professional
adth collectors. For her, their profession was but a sign of vainglory and a distraction from contemplating God, which, in her mind,
was even worse than the accumulation of capital and the bringing
up of children.65 This attitude was shared by many of her ascetic
contemporaries.
Rbi'as whole life was marked by extreme asceticism and selfdenial. Many of the statements attributed to her by later Su authors
emphasize her self-suciency and unwillingness to depend on anyone save God. When her friends suggested that her kinsfolk purchase
her a servant to look after her needs, she said, Verily, I should
be ashamed to ask for this worlds goods from Him to Whom they
belong! How should I seek them from those to whom they do not
belong?66 Interestingly, the great Arab writer al-Ji (d. 256/869),
a native of Bara, who was possibly the rst to record this anecdote,67 makes no mention of the numerous miraculous deeds ascribed
to Rbi'a by later authors. His silence indicates that, in the third/
ninth century, her legendary image was still in the making. On the
other hand, al-Jis story is at odds with the evidence that she did
have a servant, Maryam al-Bariyya, to whom she communicated
her doctrine of pure love ('ilm al-maabba). That Rbi'as legend
took at least two centuries to crystallize is evident from the fact that
it was not known to the tenth-century Su biographers al-Sarrj
63
64
65
66
67
M. Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism, New York and Mahwah, 1996, p. 153.
Ibid., pp. 1013.
Ab lib al-Makk, Qt vol. 1, pp. 156157.
Smith, Rabi'a, pp. 2021.
Al-Ji, Al-Bayn wa l-tabyn, 3d edition, Cairo, 1960, vol. 3, p. 127.
28
chapter one
(d. 378/988), al-Kalbdh (d. ca. 384/994), and al-Makk (d. 386/996),
who, however, were aware of her existence.68
Rbi'as unshakable trust in Gods generosity and solicitude for
his servants is attested by her following statement: Will God forget
the poor because of their poverty or remember the rich because of
their riches? Since He knows my state, what have I to remind Him
of ? Oblivious of mundane comforts she was often seen sleeping on
an old rush mat with a brick under her head to serve as a pillow.
She drank and made her ablutions from a cracked jar.69 Placing her
trust in Gods providence, Rbi'a gratefully accepted illness and
suering as signs of Gods attention to her persona. In line with this
belief she endured her aictions and pain with fortitude, refusing
treatment and medicine oered to her by her fellow ascetics.
Later Su writers, such as Far al-Dn 'Ar (d. ca. 627/1230),70
credited her with numerous miracles. Food was miraculously served
to her guests and she herself was provided for by mysterious visitors
and donors: a camel (or a donkey), which died when she was on
pilgrimage, was restored to life for her use; the lack of a lamp in
her house was compensated by the light which emanated from her
body during the night; God himself protected her house and elds
from looting; she could y in the air on her prayer-mat.71
However, by far the most striking feature of Rbi'as piety is her
single-minded focus on God whom she viewed as the only worthy
object of desire, love and worship. Before God all other concerns
and commitments were allowed to fade into insignicance. For Rbi'a,
even love for ones children and the Prophet as well as fear of hell
and Satan were but distractions that should not interfere with ones
worship of God. This attitude is brought into a sharp focus in the
famous story in which Rbi'a publicly announces her intent to put
to the torch the gardens of paradise and douse the ames of hellre, so that no one would serve God out of desire for his reward
and fear of his punishment.72 Questioned about her love for the
68
The Kitb al-luma' l-taawwuf of Ab Nar . . . al-Sarrj al-s ed. by R. A.
Nicholson, 2d edition, London, 1963, p. 322; A. Arberry (tr.), The Doctrine of the Sus,
Cambridge, 1991, pp. 83, 93, 159; al-Makk, Qt, vol. 1, pp. 156157.
69
Smith, Rabi'a, p. 25.
70
A. Arberry, Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya" (Memorial
of the Saints) by Farid al-Din Attar, reprint, London, 1990, pp. 3951.
71
Smith, Rabi'a, pp. 3138.
72
Michael Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism, p. 151.
the beginnings
29
73
Ibid., p. 154
30
chapter one
the beginnings
31
The verse often ascribed to her74 speaks of the two types of love:
one that seeks its own ulterior ends, and one that is directed toward
God alone. It is often quoted as evidence of the dual nature of her
all-consuming passion for the Divine Lover:
I love Thee with two loves: a selsh one and one of which Thou
[alone] art worthy.
The selsh love makes me oblivious of all that is not Thou and causes
me to think only of Thee
As for the love of which Thou [alone] art worthy,
Thou raisest the veils for me so that I may see Thee.
In neither love have I any merit, for the praise for both loves is wholly
Thine.
chapter one
32
Rbi'as semi-legendary gure has inspired a number of her romantic biographies and at least two Egyptian lms. In the West, she became
associated with the story of the torch and water with which, as mentioned, she sought to burn paradise and put down the res of hell.
This motif, which goes back to the Persian work Manqib al-'rif n
by the eighth/fourteenth century Anatolian writer Ak, resurfaces
in an almost word-for-word rendition in the Mmoires du sieur de
Joinville (Paris, 1854, p. 195). In that work the story is placed in a
dierent geographical and chronological setting: a preaching friar
named Yves the Breton, who was sent to Damascus by the King of
France Louis IX (the future Saint Louis), meets en route an old
woman carrying re and water, and so on. It is not certain that the
heroine of this story is our Rbi'a al-'Adawiyya, since the scene is
set in Damascus. This city was home to yet another holy woman of
the second/eighth century, who was also named Rbi'a bint Ism'l
al-'Adawiyya.75 It is surprising that the oldest textual evidence of this
story in the Islamic world goes back no further than the eighth/fourteenth century, while the French chronicle mentions it a century earlier. Somewhat later, the French bishop Jean-Pierre Camus (15821653)
avails himself of the same motif to illustrate the notion of pure love
in his book La Carite ou le pourtraict de la vraye charit, histoire dvote tire
de la vie de Saint-Louis (Paris, 1641).
75
76
Baldick, Mystical Islam, p. 25; cf. van Ess, Theologie, vol. 1, p. 144, note 42.
Radtke, Theologien, p. 540.
the beginnings
33
34
chapter one
was an itinerant ascetic who is said to have a following of 120 students (murdn). Of these, according to later Su authors, only two
were able to withstand the rigors of ascetic training and to become
established Su masters.80 The high drop-out rate may indicate
that, despite the popularity of individual ascetics, their stringent standards of asceticism remained the domain of a few spiritual athletes who were capable of maintaining their vows throughout their
lifetimes. The gure of Ab Turb is important in yet another regard.
His itinerant lifestyle, which replicates that of many early devotees
(notably, Ibrhm b. Adham and Fuayl b. 'Iy), permitted him to
bring the teachings of Shaqq and tim to Iraq and Syria, where
he successfully disseminated their ideas of tawakkul among local ascetics
and mystics. As his predecessors, he thus served as a vital intellectual bridge between the Eastern and Western traditions of ascetic
spirituality.81 One may argue that the activities of Ab Turb and
his likes facilitated the convergence of the two strands of Islamic
ascetic piety during the following century, when the Susm of the
Baghdad school became predominant. Perhaps even more signicant
was Shaqqs contribution to what came to be known as the science of the mystical path ('ilm al-arq)the all-important symbol
of the Su lifestyle and worldview. While earlier ascetics did sometimes refer to various levels of spiritual attainment they had experienced in the service of God, no one, it seems, had tried to classify
them or present them in a hierarchical order. In his treatise The
Rule of Worship (Adab al-'ibdt), for the rst time Shaqq attempted
to do just that: to describe the various stages or dwelling stations
(manzil ) of worship and the levels of experience associated with
them. If authentic,82 this short work can be viewed as an important
borderline between asceticism and nascent mysticism.83 In any event,
Shaqqs teaching stands in sharp contrast to, say, Fuayls, who had
considered renunciation (zuhd ) and complete resignation to the will
of God (ri) to be the highest stages of spiritual progress, beyond
80
Al-Sarrj, Luma', p. 209; al-Sulam, abaqt, p. 136; Gramlich, Alte Vorbilder,
vol. 1, p. 327.
81
Ibid., pp. 325332.
82
For proofs of its authenticity see P. Nwyia, Exgse coranique et language mystique,
Beirut, 1970, pp. 213216.
83
I personally doubt that any crisp line can be drawn chronologically or conceptually without skewing the process of the organic, gradual growth of mystical
ideas from the simple piety of Islams rst devotees.
the beginnings
35
84
E.g., he argued that patience (abr) and resignation, or satisfaction [with
the Divine Will] (ri), should be the beginning and the end of each pious act,
see al-Sulam, abaqt, p. 66.
85
Nwyia, Exgse, pp. 213231; idem (ed.), Trois ouevres indites de mystiques musulmans, Beirut, 1973, pp. 1721.
CHAPTER TWO
37
chapter two
38
those reported about her namesake from Bara.9 One even wonders
whether we are dealing with a oating motif that eventually led to
the emergence of Rbi'as narrative twin. In any event, it appears
that, in the world of early Islamic piety, Rbi'a al-'Adawiyya of Bara
was far from unique. Nor was the presence of female ascetics conned
to Bara and Iraq.10
It is noteworthy that, contrary to his image in the later Su tradition, Ab Sulaymn hardly considered himself a Su. Although he
did apply this term to other ascetics, namely to Mlik b. Dnr, he
was wary of identifying himself with this group.11 Given Mliks Iraqi
background and Ab Sulaymns ascetic training in Bara and in
'Abbdn early in his career, one may surmise that when he spoke
of Susm he referred primarily to the Iraqi ascetic and mystical
tradition which by that time must have become rmly associated
with the practice of wearing a woolen robe. On the whole, Ab
Sulaymns teaching, as systematized by Ibn Ab l-awr, reveals
a worldview that is more ascetic than mystical in character. His sayings consistently emphasize fear of God and humility as the root
of all that is good in this life and the next. Although he did occasionally describe love of God as the mystics ultimate objective or
mention the souls progress through several stages (darajt) to what
he identied as divine gnosis (ma'rifa), he left no systematic account
of this progress on the lines of Shaqiqs. It fell to his followers
to bring his nascent mysticism to fruition.12 Apart from Ibn Ab
l-awr, this task was taken up by Amad b. 'im al-Ank
(d. 220/835) of Antioch. Amad is credited with the authorship of
several treatises that bear a close resemblance to the mystical psychology of the great contemporary thinker al-rith al-Musib
(d. 243/857) of Baghdad. Although the attribution of these treatises
remains uncertain13 and there is little evidence to support A. Arberrys
statement that al-Ank converted contemporary asceticism from a
way of life taken up as a protest against the worldliness prevalent
Ibid., 142144.
On the pious women of Bara see Pellat, Le milieu basrien, pp. 103106; cf.
Smith, Rabi'a, pp. 143149.
11 Ab Nu'aym, ilya, vol. 9, pp. 275 and 276.
12 See, e.g., R. A. Nicholson, An Historical Enquiry Concerning the Origin and
Development of Susm, in: JRAS, 1906, pp. 308309.
13 There are indications that at least two of his three known works may have
been written by al-Musib, van Ess, Theologie, vol. 1, p. 146.
9
10
39
in high places into a theory of existence and a system of theosophy, there is little doubt that the ascetic and mystical thought in
Syria was not conned to Damascus and its immediate environs.
Internal evidence from al-Anks Book of [Spiritual] Retreat (Kitb
al-khalwa) suggests that he addressed it to a wide audience, including, possibly, the town-folk of Antioch and the pious volunteers of
the Arab-Byzantine Marches.14 If authentic, many of al-Anks statements mark him out as a true mystic.15 This, for example, is how
al-Ank described the state of the mystical lover:
When others look at the lover, he does not see them; when he is
called, he does not hear; when misfortune comes upon him, he is not
grieved; and when success looks him in the face, he does not rejoice.
He fears no one and has hope of no one . . ., as if there were no one
on Earth but yourself and no one in Heaven but God.
Al-Anks preoccupation with mystical psychology and introspection is further attested by his nickname Explorer [lit. Spy] of the
Hearts ( jss al-qulb), which is said to have been given to him by
his teacher Ab Sulaymn.
40
chapter two
ascetics on the Egyptian social scene, but also of their active political stance; it nds no contemporary parallels in the other parts of
the Muslim world.
This episode notwithstanding, the earliest representative of ascetic
and mystical thought in Egypt known to us was a rather quiet, retiring man named Dhu l-Nn al-Mir (d. 245/860). Born of a Nubian
family at Ikhmm (Akhmm), Upper Egypt, he received his initial
theological training in Syria and in the ijz, where he studied,
among others, with the founder of the Mlik school of law Mlik
b. Anas (d. 179/795) and Fuayl b. 'Iy. In theological matters, he
was a bona de traditionalist who advocated the doctrine of the
create Qur"n. This doctrinal position nearly cost him his life when its
opponents gained the upper hand at the caliphs court in Baghdad
and unleashed a campaign of persecutions against those who disagreed
with their creed of the created Qur"n. Dhu l-Nns mystical sayings, which were handed down to us by later Su authorities, as
well as by his contemporary al-rith al-Musib, demonstrate his
intimate familiarity with the vocabulary and ideas of eastern ascetics
and early mystics. During the infamous inquisition (mina) under the
caliph al-Ma"mn (d. 219/833) and his immediate successors, Dhu
l-Nn was arrested on charges of upholding the view that the Qur"n
was uncreated, brought to Baghdad and interrogated. However, he
was released by the order of the caliph al-Mutawakkil who, in
241/855, reversed the religious policy pursued by his predecessors.
In Egypt, he was also persecuted for teaching mystical ideas publicly, but we know nothing about the exact charges brought against
him on that occasion.18 A humble man, who sought to devote himself wholly to the worship of God, Dhu l-Nn gathered around himself a small circle of followers at Ikhmm, and possibly at Gza, to
which he retired at the end of his life. Most of what is known about
his teaching was preserved by later Su writers, such as Ab Nu'aym
(d. 430/1038), 'Ar (d. ca. 627/1220) and Jm (d. 898/1492), who
quote many of his prayers and homiletics as well as his mystical
poems of considerable literary merit.19 Later Su authors credit him
with the introduction of a systematic teaching about the mystic states
(awl ) and the stations (maqmt) of the mystic path. Thus, accordVan Ess, Theologie, vol. 2, p. 728.
For a discussion of Dhu l-Nns literary talent see Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions,
pp. 4546.
18
19
41
ing to Jm, he is the head of this sect [i.e., the Sus]; they all
descend from him and are related to him. There were Shaykhs
before him, but he was the rst that explained the Su symbolism20
and spoke concerning this path. In some of his statements, Dhu
l-Nn indeed talks about seventeen stations (maqmt ) on the path
to God. He identied the rst of these with the servants response
to the call of God; as for the last station, Dhu l-Nn described it
as mans total surrender to, and trust in, God (idq al-tawakkul ).21
Dhu l-Nns utterances exhibit the erotic symbolism which afterwards became so prominent in the religious language of the Sus.
He often speaks of God as the mystics intimate Friend (ans) and
Lover (abb), who causes him to love what God loves and to hate
what He hates and to do good always and to shun all that distracts
from God.22 In one famous saying, he addresses God in the following manner, O God! In public I call Thee My Lord, but in
solitude I call Thee My Beloved! Closely linked to the notion of
intimacy with the Divine is Dhu l-Nns teaching about the privileged, intuitive knowledge, or gnosis, of God (ma'rifa). This knowledge sets its possessors, the gnostics ('rifn), apart from other believers.
For him, the gnostics are not themselves, but in so far as they exist
at all they exist in God. Dhu l-Nn distinguishes three kinds of
knowledge: that of the ordinary Muslims; that of the scholars and
sages; and that of Gods friends (awliy"), who see God with their
hearts. The latter, in his view, are the select men of God; as such,
they are endowed with the esoteric gnosis that must not be spoken
about, lest it come to the ears of the profane. In Dhu l-Nns discourses, this higher knowledge is presented as a primeval, pristine
faith that God bestows upon his elect servants from eternitya divine
spark that is cast into mans physical body in order to guide him
aright.23 This notion is probably the closest Dhu l-Nn comes to
Coptic Gnosticism and neo-Platonic ideas which have been routinely
ascribed to him by some Muslim and Western writers who portrayed
him as a theurgist procient in hieroglyphics, alchemy, astrology
and magic. Apart from the mystical elements outlined above,
Dhu l-Nns teaching features traditional ascetic precepts, such as
20
21
22
23
42
chapter two
preponderance of ones fear of Gods wrath over ones hope for his
mercy,24 the duty of repentance, self-renunciation, and sincerity in
word and deed which he eloquently describes as the sword of God
on earth which cuts everything it touches. In other words, there is
simply not enough evidence to view his work as marking the decisive transition from ascetic to mystical piety.25
24
25
CHAPTER THREE
44
chapter three
45
Ibid., p. 83.
Al-Musib, Al-Ri'ya li-uqq Allh, ed. by 'Abd al-alm Mamd and 'Abd
al-Qdir 'A, 2d edition, Cairo, 1970, pp. 5253.
10
46
chapter three
47
14
Die Gedankenwelt des rit al-Musib, Bonn, 1961; idem, Theologie, vol. 4, pp.
200209.
15
Fuyl b. 'Iy, passim.
16
Smith, An Early Mystic, pp. 89, 2743, 256257.
48
chapter three
(d. 253/867) reveals his underlying indebtedness to al-Musibs ethical teachings, which hinge on introspection and a meticulous analysis of ones true intentions. Sars outward hostility to his eminent
contemporary may thus be attributed, apart from the fear of the
anbals, to a natural rivalry between the two popular preachers
who by and large addressed the same constituency.17 Although alMusib was primarily a theologian, his tenets do include many
elements, e.g., discourses on divine love,18 which can be safely identied
as mystical. Whether he can be classied as a Su depends on our
denition of Susm. Should we view Susm as synonymous with the
mystical and ascetic tradition that ourished in Baghdad in the second
part of the third/ninth-early fourth/tenth centuries, then al-Musib
no doubt can be seen as one of its major exponents.
49
Gramlich, Alte Vorbilde, vol. 1, pp. 288290; cf. Massignon, Essay, pp. 158159.
Ab Nu'aym, ilya, vol. 8, p. 366.
22
Gramlich, Alte Vorbilde, vol. 1, p. 285.
23
Massignon, Essay, p. 158.
24
C. Melchert, The anbila and the Early Sus, an unpublished article that
was kindly presented to me by the author.
21
50
chapter three
25
26
27
51
28
29
30
Ibid., p. 119.
Ibid., p. 127; B. Reinert, Sar al-Saa, EI, vol. 9, p. 57.
Idem, Die Lehre, pp. 118, 123, 131, etc.
52
chapter three
31
53
32
Ab Nu'aym, ilya, vol. 10, pp. 7475; Junayd, Enseignement spirituel. Trans.
and annotated by R. Deladrire, Paris, 1983, p. 22.
33
Ibid., pp. 1315; according to one tradition al-Junayd requested that upon his
death his works be buried together with him in order to prevent outsiders, i.e.,
non-Sus, from looking into them; van Ess, Theologie, vol. 4, p. 281.
34
Melchert, Transition, p. 67.
35
Arberry, Susm, pp. 5657.
36
Ibid.
54
chapter three
37
55
56
chapter three
tumultuous age. Time and again, al-Junayd explicitly advised his disciples against challenging the temporary and religious authorities of
the age. He viewed political and social activism as a sign of spiritual and intellectual immaturity and an attempt to rebel against the
divine order. His cautious attitude comes to the fore in his disavowal
of the overpowering drunkenness of ecstasy that permeated the sayings of his contemporary Ab Yazd al-Bism.44 Al-Junayds glosses
on Ab Yazds ecstatic utterances (shaat) clearly show his preference for the state of sobriety over mystical intoxication.45 His discourses are rmly rooted in the Qur"nic notions of Gods uniqueness
and absolute transcendence. He is careful not to present the relationships between man and God in terms of a union of two essences
(ittid ).46 On the contrary, he never tired of stressing the purely
experiential nature of this phenomenon.
Al-Junayds age was rich in charismatic and mystical talent. Among
his associates and disciples we nd such consequential gures of the
Su tradition as Ab Sa'd al-Kharrz (d. ca. 286/899), Ab amza
al-Khursn (d. between 290/903 and 298/911), 'Amr b. 'Uthmn
al-Makk (d. 291/903 or 297/909), Ab l-usayn al-Nr (d. 295/907),
Ruwaym b. Amad (d. 303/915), Ab Bakr al-Shibl (d. 334/946),
Ab Muammad al-Jurayr (d. 312/924), Ab 'Al al-Rdhbr (d.
322/934), Ja'far al-Khuld (d. 348/959), to name but a few. Theirs was
the time which witnessed an unprecedented eorescence of virtuoso
religiosity. No wonder that students of Islamic mysticism often describe
it as the golden (or classical) age of Susm. Considerations of space
do not allow me to include but a brief account of the leading gures,
each of whom left his distinctive imprint on the tableau of Islamic
mysticism. These individuals of varied ethnic and social backgrounds,
who resided in dierent parts of the Muslim Empire, articulated
what came to be termed the science of Susm ('ilm al-taawwuf ).
57
placed this man, who earned his living mending shoes,47 above alJunayd on account of his versatility and eloquence which earned
him the title the Tongue of Susm (lisn al-taawwuf ).48 He was
initiated into Susm by the same spiritual masters as al-Junayd
(namely, Bishr, Sar, and Dhu l-Nn, among others). Yet, unlike his
eminent contemporary who spent most of his life in Baghdad, alKharrz traveled widely from an early age. He visited Ramla,
Jerusalem, and ayda, and lived in Mecca for eleven years. His nal
departure from Baghdad was probably occasioned by the wave of
prosecutions against a group of Baghdad Sus instigated by the
anbal ascetic Ghulm Khall (d. 275/888) in 264/878.49 During
or shortly after this event, he took refuge in Bukhr. Later, he settled in Mecca, where he spent some eleven years, before the local
governor expelled him from that city for slighting the goodness of
ordinary believers.50 He ended his days at Fus (Old Cairo). Later
Su accounts, notably those by al-Anr (d. 481/1089), credit him
with the elaboration of the fan"/baq" theory which was discussed
in the section on al-Junayd.51 For al-Kharrz, it was said, annihilation
and subsequent survival in God are the mystics ultimate goal.52
This report implies that al-Junayd should have been his student, at
least as far as this particular concept is concerned. Al-Kharrzs writings are directed at two dierent audiences. As most Su masters,
he was concerned with instructing the beginners on the Su path.
To this end he composed his Book of Truthfulness which encouraged Su novices to subject their actions and thoughts to a close
scrutiny with a view to establishing their truthfulness (idq) and sincerity (ikhl). The goal of such a scrutiny, according to al-Kharrz,
was to purify the novices acts and words of the slightest trace of
egoism or complacency. Combined with patience and perseverance
in the service of God (abr), these qualities were deemed to assure
the Su beginner a quick and smooth progress along the mystic
path.53 In his more esoteric works, al-Kharrz addressed the needs
47
58
chapter three
of a maturer audience. They may have become pretexts for his expulsion from Baghdad and Mecca. In the rst, titled The Book of
Luminosity, al-Kharrz deals with seven classes of advanced seekers of God. Each of these classes strives to attain God through a
special type of devotional practice and of meditative techniques. In
accounting for their experiences the seekers of each class avail themselves of a distinctive language that reected their particular image
of God. Only those who reach the highest stage of the mystical path
are capable of transcending this plurality of visions and of arriving
at a comprehensive knowledge of God. In the process, their personal attributes fall away and are supplanted by those of the Godhead.
As a result, they nd themselves on a superior plane of awareness
that eludes ordinary mortals. Al-Kharrz dened their experience as
that of essential union ('ayn al-jam' )a term that gures prominently in al-Junayds writings.54 Here is how Ab Sa'd describes
this experience:
The servant of God who has returned to God and attached himself
to God . . . has completely forgotten himself and all other than God.
Therefore if you were to say to him, Where are you from, and what
do you seek? he would have no other answer but God.55
This statement could well have brought upon him the wrath of
some Sunn scholars. In his Book of Unveiling and Elucidation
(Kitb al-kashf wa l-bayn) al-Kharrz sets out to discuss the relationships between the prophets (anbiy") and the friends of God (awliy")
with a view to repudiating those who place the former above the
latter. In al-Kharrzs argument, sainthood and prophethood fulfil
complementary functions. The principal dierence between them lies
in their respective orientations. Whereas the prophet is entrusted by
God with spreading and enforcing the Divine Law among his community, the awliy" are absorbed into the contemplation of the divine
majesty, which makes them oblivious of the world around them. In
other words, for al-Kharrz, prophethood and sainthood seem to
represent two distinctive, if complementary, types of relationship between man and God, that is, ones that correspond respectively to
the outward, or exoteric ( hir), and the inward, or esoteric (bin),
aspects of the Revelation.56 At the same time, al-Kharrz is ever
54
55
56
59
Ibid.
See M. Chodkiewicz, Seal of the Saints: Prophethood and sainthood in the doctrine of
Ibn 'Arabi, Cambridge, 1993.
59
Nwyia, Exgse, pp. 243310.
60
Van Ess, Theologie, vol. 4, p. 286; cf. Melchert, Transition, pp. 5960.
58
60
chapter three
61
view, [true] Susm consists not of [outward] appearances and sciences but of high moral qualities (akhlq).66 In line with this precept he vigorously attacked all deviations from the Divine Law. On
one occasion, he even assumed the role of a vigilante censor of
morals (mutasib) and boldly smashed the jars of wine prepared for
the caliphs table.67 This behavior is in sharp contrast to the disarming dissimulation of al-Junayd, who taught his students in the
privacy of his home and strove to remain on good terms with the
religious and secular authorities of the capital.68 A true proponent
of divine love, al-Nr advocated a highly emotional type of mysticism. In expressing his intense feeling of love for God he frequently
availed himself of profane erotic poetry, viewing it as a natural vehicle of this sublime experience. To alert his fellow believers to the
inner, subtle dimensions of faith, he often resorted to scandalous
utterances on account of which he was charged with heresy and
had to stand trial. Stories abound of his persecution by the caliph
and his religious advisors, such as Ghulm Khall and the chief q
of Baghdad Ab Isq al-ammd. These stories are for the most
part pious legends meant to emphasize his advanced spiritual state.
They follow same pattern: the Su is apprehended by the secular
authorities or by concerned scholars for making seemingly outrageous statements (e.g., responding with the remark Deadly poison!
to the cry of the mu"adhdhin or exclaiming Here I am [God!] Blessings to you! on hearing a dog bark); however, he is soon released
after having provided a perfectly orthodox explanation of his blasphemies.69 Al-Nr emerged unscathed from the famous trail instituted against seventy ve proponents of divine love by the literalist
ascetic Ghulm Khall who was enraged, among other things, by alNrs use of the words desire, or passion ('ishq), to describe
Gods relationship with his select creatures. For Ghulm Khall, a
bona de representative of the old ascetic school of Bara, the possibility of reciprocal intimacy between God and man, which was
asserted by al-Nr and his companions, amounted to a pure heresy
that called for capital punishment.70 Using his inuence with the
66
62
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63
64
chapter three
That mountain, trembling at its height,
Would vanish, like a headlong star
And evermore be lost to sight.79
In the ecstasy of love he chafed his legs down to the bare bone during supererogatory prayers; it is said that he aspired to ll the whole
world with his cry of love. At one point, Sumnn asked God to test
his resolve by aicting him with a painful tribulation. Taken up by
God on his challenge with urine retention, he pitifully failed the test.
Since that moment, he referred to himself as Sumnn the Liar,
instead of Sumnn the Lover.80 His all-the-way mentality nds
a dramatic expression in his adoption of extreme forms of worship
and self-imposed suerings, which constitute the hallmark of his piety.
According to later hagiographic accounts, so moving and intense
were Sumnns public sermons on divine love that they aected not
only humans but animals and even inanimate objects as well.81
Our gallery of love-lorn mystics would be incomplete without the
portrait of Ab Bakr al-Shibl (d. 334/946). A man of a ery temperament, his whole life-story is enveloped in thick layers of legend
that make any accurate reconstruction of his personality dicult, if
not impossible. He was born in either Baghdad or Samarra of the
family of a state ocial from Transoxania who was employed by
the caliph al-Muwaaq. A son of the caliphs chamberlain (jib), he
himself was promoted in the imperial service. Simultaneously, the
young and ambitious al-Shibl distinguished himself as an expert on
the Mlik law and an assiduous transmitter of adth. His mundane
career reached its peak when he was appointed to the post of the
governor of Demavend (Dumbawand) in Persia. However soon afterwards, at the age of forty, following a brief encounter with the famous
Baghdad Su Khayr al-Nassj (d. 322/934), he experienced a sudden conversion and joined the Su circle of al-Junayd who, from
that moment onward, became his spiritual advisor and friend.82 The
intimate, and at times ambivalent, relationships between the two
great Sus are detailed in scores of later hagiographic elaborations.
They turn on several chief motifs, namely, al-Junayds negative attitude toward al-Shibls excesses in expressing his love for God and
79
80
81
82
65
his disapproval of the blatant disregard for social and religious conventions exhibited by his overly emotional disciple.83 Al-Junayd propensity for secrecy caused him to condemn al-Shibls public preaching
at the mosques of Baghdad, which eventually set him on collision
course with some local jurists.84 While al-Junayd was alive, he managed to keep al-Shibls ery temper under control. However, following his death in 297/910, al-Shibl gave free reign to his eccentric
nature and began to indulge in outrageous behavior and scandalous
statements. His inclination toward a drunken type of mysticism
endeared him to its major exponent in Baghdad, usayn b. Manr
al-allj (d. 309/922), with whom he felt a close emotional anity.
However, during al-alljs trial and execution he kept a low prole
and is said (incorrectly it seems)85 to have publicly disowned his former friend at the foot of the scaold.86 A later legend even holds
him partly responsible for al-alljs cruel death. This report does
not ring true, since in the aftermath of al-alljs execution al-Shibl
seems to have continued to preach the ideas that bear a close resemblance to those of the great Su martyr.87 Furthermore, he carried
on with his bizarre ways and scandalous utterances. When faced
with the prospect of persecution, he aected madness. Al-Shibls
indulgence in eccentrics, such as burning precious aromatic substances under the tail of his donkey, tearing expensive garments and
tossing gold coins into the crowds88 repeatedly landed him in the
lunatic asylum. His seemingly blasphemous allusions, which described his intimacy, or even complete identication, with God enjoyed
wide circulation and were even considered to be one of the three
wonders of Baghdad. He often presented his experiences in the
imagery and language borrowed from bacchic and erotic poetry,
which he was fond of citing. Apart from many mystical paradoxes
and poetic lines, al-Shibl left after him a large group of disciples
many of whom became leading Su masters and Sunn scholars of
their epoch.89
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
66
chapter three
90
91
67
CHAPTER FOUR
69
chapter four
70
This unusual religious experience exemplies a famous state of consciousness which can be described as the reversal of roles, that is, a
state in which the worshipper plays the part of God and God that
of the worshipper. In such a state, the personal identity [of the
mystic] is put in question and yet at the same time [his] consciousness is extraordinary intense.11 In this and many similar ecstatic
utterances (shaat; sing. sha),12 al-Bism describes himself as confronting God, after having peeled o all of his self-centered preoccupations by means of spectacular ascetic feats. In this state nothing
8
71
13
14
15
16
17
72
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73
allj was, for a short time, aliated with a clan that supported
the Sh'-based rebellion of the Zanj, the predominantly black slaves
who were employed in the sugar plantations and salt marshes of
southern Iraq. This episode loomed large in the later accusations
against al-allj. His accusers presented him, inaccurately it seems,
as a missionary (d' ) on behalf of the Ism'ls, or Qarmas, who
operated in Arabia and Southern Iraq. Although he may have been
inuenced by some Sh' or Ism'l ideas, he remained profoundly
loyal to Sunnism and continued to lead, at Bara, the life of an
ascetic and devotee. Shortly before the Zanj rebellion was quashed
by the caliphal troops, he departed for Baghdad, where he struck
up friendship with al-Junayd and became a disciple of al-Nr.20
After the brutal suppression of the Zanj rebellion by the caliphs
forces, he set o for Mecca on a pilgrimage.
On reaching the holy city, al-allj made a vow to remain for
one year in the courtyard of the sanctuary, subjecting himself to
spectacular acts of penitence and perpetual fasting. Throughout that
period, he observed a vow of silence and engaged in arduous ascetic
exercises and intense meditation. These extraordinary ascetic feats
soon bore fruit as he began to feel that he had achieved a spiritual
union with God. Contrary to the discipline of secrecy recommended
by sober Su masters, he made his experience public. As a result,
he was disowned by his former teachers, including 'Amr al-Makk,
who had warned him that such experiences should not be divulged
to the uninitiated. Although al-alljs fellow Sus rejected him, his
ery preaching of divine love won him a broad popular following.
On his part, to demonstrate his total break with his former Su
teachers and associates, upon returning to Iraq, al-allj gave up the
traditional Su dress and adopted a lay habit (qab) that was usually
worn by soldiers. This was a symbolic gesture that was deemed to
demonstrate that al-allj no longer considered himself bound by
the Su conventions which strictly prohibited a public discussion of
the union between man and the Divine. In his public sermons alallj called upon his audience to nd God within their hearts, the
idea that earned him the nickname allj al-asrr (The Carder of
the Consciences). His public ministry aroused the hatred of the religious and temporary authorities of the age and further alienated
20
74
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from him his former associates and masters among the Sus of
Baghdad. At the same time, he made friends with some powerful
'Abbsid courtiers who responded to his teaching with enthusiasm
and became his disciples. Their patronage of the controversial Su
caused resentment among an inuential faction of Mu'tazil and Sh'
leaders who accused him of deception and of practicing false miracles. His powerful foes incited the mob against him, causing him to
leave Iraq for Khursn. Undeterred by his exile, al-allj continued to spread his message among the Arab settlers of Khursn for
ve years. For some time, he resided in the fortied ascetic lodges
which housed volunteer ghters in the holy war against the pagan
populations of eastern Iran and Central Asia. Upon his return to
Iraq, he moved to Baghdad together with his family.
His fame now had grown so that when he set out on a pilgrimage to Mecca for a second time, a cohort of four hundred disciples
joined him. Soon after al-allj had arrived in the holy city, he ran
afoul of the local scholars and Sus who accused him of magic and
sorcery as well as of making a pact with the jinn. These accusations
do not seem to have detracted from his popularity among the common folk. After returning from his second ajj, he undertook a long
journey to India and Turkestan, where he may have been exposed
to the inuence of Hinduism, Manichaeism and Buddhism. About
290/902, al-allj returned to Mecca for his third and last pilgrimage. Clad in the muraqqa'a, a piece of patched cloth thrown
round his shoulders, with an Indian loin-cloth round his waist, he
prayed God to reduce him to nothingness, to render him despised
and rejected. At the same time, he called upon God to proclaim
himself through the heart and the lips of his servant.
Upon joining his family in Baghdad, al-allj behaved erratically.
At night he prayed in the cemeteries and in the daytime he proclaimed in the streets and the bazaars his burning love of God and
his desire to die at the hands of his fellow believers. On several
occasions, he called upon his listeners to save him from God by
putting him to a cruel death. Furthermore, he provoked a public
scandal by setting up in the yard of his house a model of the Ka'ba
sanctuary and by circumambulating it during the pilgrimage season.
Al-alljs actions and preaching aroused popular emotion and caused
anxiety among the educated classes. The famous hir scholar
Muammad b. Dwd strongly denounced his statements that asserted
the possibility of mutual love between God and man and demanded
75
his execution.21 His legal ruling was contested by the Sh' jurist
Ibn Surayj, who maintained that mystic inspiration fell outside the
jurisdiction of the courts. It was in this period that, according to a
hostile account, al-allj replied to al-Shibl, in the mosque of alManr, by probably the most famous ecstatic utterance: an l-aqq,
I am the Truth [i.e., God], implying that he had achieved a complete identication with the Divine.
Al-alljs public preaching set on foot a broad popular movement aimed at a moral reform of the community. His condemnation of social inequities and injustices had long-ranging political
implications which irritated the religious and military authorities of
the 'Abbsid capital. At the same time, those who believed in his
mission proclaimed him the hidden spiritual Pole of his epoch ( qub
al-zamn). Apart from the masses of Baghdad, who continued to
respond to his preaching with great enthusiasm, he was able to win
the powerful viziers, Ibn amdn and Ibn 's, over to his cause.
His involvement in the courtly intrigues made him many inuential
enemies as well. In 296/908, following an unsuccessful coup dtat
and the restoration of the infant caliph al-Muqtadir, al-allj found
himself among the enemies of the newly appointed vizier, the powerful Sh' nancier Ibn al-Furt. Although initially he was able to
escape Ibn al-Furts wrath by eeing to Ss in the province of Ahwz,
three years later he was apprehended and brought back to Baghdad.
This time he fell victim to the hatred of the Sunn governor of Wsi,
mid, who would later preside over al-alljs last trial. Accused
of claiming divine lordship and preaching incarnationism (ull ), he
was thrown in prison in Baghdad, where he remained for nine years.
In 301/913, the cultured vizier Ibn 's, cousin of one of al-alljs
disciples, threw out evidence against al-allj as fabricated and
ordered his imprisoned supporters to be released. Nevertheless, succumbing to pressure from al-alljs enemies, including the chief of
the Baghdad police, the vizier was unable to forestall a public humiliation of his Su protg: al-allj was exposed on the pillory for
four days, while the crier announced, Behold, here is the missionary of the Qarmas! In the following years he remained imprisoned, mostly at the caliphs palace, where he preached his message
to other prisoners. Further attempts to put him on trial oundered
21
Ibid.
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22
23
24
25
Ibid., p. 104.
Qur"n, 53:9.
On him see Nwyia, Trois oeuvres, pp. 25182.
Ernst, Words of Ecstasy, pp. 105106.
77
78
chapter four
al-Furt and, later on, his Sunn successor mid. Al-alljs appeals
for a moral and spiritual reform of Islam, combined with his advocacy for social justice struck fear in the hearts of the upper classes
of the capital. His preaching in the streets and bazaars of Baghdad
was interpreted as sedition and rabble-rousing by many high-ranking secular and religious ocials, especially the Mliks and the
anafs, who were instrumental in bringing about his execution.
Surprisingly, al-alljs strongest supporters seem to have been the
anbals who had considerable inuence on the common people
of Baghdad. Their support helps to explain why al-allj survived
several earlier trials. At the same time, his bold rejection of prudence and discipline of secrecy in dealing with the uninitiated members of the community led to his disavowal by his fellow Sus, who
were anxious to keep a low social prole following the trial against
the proponents of divine love instigated by Ghulm Khall. Likewise,
many Su leaders saw al-alljs indulgence in public miracles as a
quest for cheap popularity and an irresponsible use of the divine
powers which God bestowed upon His elect friends.27 Al-alljs
detractors, including some inuential courtiers of a Mu'tazil slant,
blamed him for staging his miracles in order to achieve ulterior
goals.28 Finally, his bold proclamation of his union with God insulted
many mainstream scholars, who accused him of blasphemy and of
claims to ull (a substantial union with God similar to the Christian
theory of incarnation). In a similar vein, his emphasis on the inner
signicance of ritual acts, such as the ajj and the prayer, was interpreted by some literalist scholars as an attempt to abolish the acts
themselves.
Even more crucial for al-alljs tragic death was the troubled
political atmosphere of the epoch which witnessed grave threats to
the 'Abbsid state. On the home front, the dynasty was faced with
a broad popular discontent that was fuelled by the irresponsible social
and scal policies of the increasingly shaky government in Baghdad.
Externally, the caliphate had to deal with the secession of the provinces
and the rise of various chiliastic movements that operated on its very
doorstep, in Lower Iraq, Eastern Arabia and in the Syrian Desert.
Through his wife, al-allj was linked to the Sh' rebellion of the
Zanj; his travels to the distant lands were interpreted as being related
27
28
79
Little wonder that such declarations made al-allj liable to accusations of incarnationism (ull ) which were indeed cited during his
trial. Whether he was referring here to the union of two substances,
the human (nst) and the divine ( lht), or simply to the union of
the human and divine will remains unclear.32
29
30
31
32
Ibid., p. 162.
Ibid., pp. 162163.
Baldick, Mystical Islam, p. 53.
L. Massignon, Akhbr al-allj, Paris, 1936, passim.
80
chapter four
Qur"n, 38:7185.
P. Awn, Satans Tragedy and Redemption: Iblis in Su psychology, Leiden, 1993,
p. 126.
35
Ibid., p. 124.
36
L. Massignon, The Passion of al-allj. Vol. 2. The Survival of al-allj. Trans.
by H. Mason, Princeton, 1982.
34
81
82
chapter four
41
42
CHAPTER FIVE
I would like to begin my survey of regional trends in Islamic mysticism with the ascetic and mystical school of Bara, which, at that
time, was intimately associated with Sahl al-Tustar, his disciple
Muammad b. Slim (d. 297/909) and the latters son Amad b.
Slim (d. 356/967). Although many representatives of this school
maintained close ties and an active dialogue with their contemporaries in Baghdad, they were anxious to assert their separate identity in matters of doctrine and practice. Any systematic comparison
between the two schools is impossible in the absence of a reliable
documentation and due to the disparate intellectual and practical
strands within each of them. Generally, the teachings of the Baran
Sus were more conservative and less speculative than those of their
counterparts in Baghdad. Ghulm Khall, a scholar of Baran background who instituted the famous trial against some proponents of
erotic mysticism in Baghdad, was probably a typical representative
of this conservative and predominantly ascetic devotional style. His
prior aliation with the ascetic movement of Bara may help to
explain why, upon his arrival in Baghdad, he took exception to the
theosophical speculations of the local mystics, which he found improper
and oensive.1 If this suggestion is correct, we are dealing here with
a dramatic example of the tensions between two regional expressions
of ascetic-mystical piety and the distinctive imagery employed by
their respective exponents. As we shall see, such tensions burst into
the open whenever the proponents of the Baghdad school attempted
to spread their mystical worldview among provincial ascetics and
mystics. In any event, prior to the concerted systematization and
consolidation of the ascetic-mystical tradition by the Su apologists
of the late fourth/tenth-fth/eleventh centuries we witness numerous regional strands of mystical piety, which were sometimes dierent
84
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85
citys Sus. Another group, of which the stern anbal preacher alBarbahr (d. 329/941) was the most notable representative, settled
in the Muawwal quarter of Baghdad. Those of al-Tustars followers who chose to stay in Bara formed a distinct theological school,
the Slimiyya. It derived its name from its leader Amad b. Slim,
the son of his lifelong companion Muammad b. Slim. The tenets
of the Slimiyya received their nal articulation in the work of
Amads disciple, Ab lib al-Makk (d. 386/996), whose monumental book Nourishment for the Hearts had a profound inuence
on al-Ghazls Revivication of the Religious Sciences.3 In the
rst half of the fth/eleventh century, the schools theological propositions (related mostly to the beatic vision and to other events on
the Day of Judgement) come under the attack of some anbal theologians. Since these theological debates have no direct bearing on
al-Tustars mysticism, they need not be discussed here.4 One should,
however, point out that al-Tustars admission that the mystic can
experience a contemplative witnessing of God (mukshafa) in this life
through the light of certitude (nr al-yaqn), which God grants to
him as a reward for his loyalty and self-abnegation,5 exposed him
to accusations of blasphemy. Such accusations were leveled at him
and at his followers by those conservative scholars who interpreted
his statements about nr al-yaqn as contrary to the mainline Muslim
doctrine that a beatic vision cannot be experienced by the faithful
until the Day of Resurrection.6 In the later heresiograpic literature,
we nd the mention of the ulmniyya sect, which allegedly pushed
the doctrine of the Slimiyya to its logical conclusion by claiming
that God can dwell in any beautiful object or individual. Basing himself on this idea, the founder of the sect, Ab ulmn al-Fris
(ourished in the second half of the third/ninth century), a Persian
mystic who resided in Damascus, called upon his followers to prostrate themselves before handsome individuals, beautiful plants, animals, or other objects. He argued that the perfection of their forms
was a corporeal reection of Gods eternal beauty, and, as such,
must be worshiped by all believers. Whether the ulmniyya was
in any way related to the Slimiyya7 or to an ascetic and mystical
3
4
5
6
7
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86
movement of Damascus (e.g., Ab Sulaymn al-Drn and his disciples)8 is impossible to ascertain. It may, after all, have been a
simple elaboration of the doctrine that admitted that, already in this
life, Gods faithful servants could contemplate him in the hearts in
the same way as they will see him by their naked eyes in the hereafter. This idea was vigorously opposed by many Sunn ulema as
well as some prominent Sus of the Baghdad school.9
The central idea of al-Tustars mystical teaching is the constant
recollection of God (dhikr). Practiced continually, dhikr assures the
faithful servant passage into the immediate presence of his Lord. The
practice of dhikr will be discussed in detail in the last chapter of this
book. Here it suces to point out that al-Tustar regarded it as a
means for the mystic to re-live the experience of the Primordial
Covenant between God and humanity, when the human race in its
entirety was made to bear testimony to his lordship.10 Eventually,
the mystic reaches the point at which God begins to eect his own
recollection in the heart of his perfected servant. On the practical
level, al-Tustar recommended incessant repentance and complete
trust in God, which, in his mind, were to divest the mystic from occupying himself with any mundane concerns. Al-Tustars theology and
mystical ideas take their origin in a thorough contemplation on the
Qur"nic word in an eort to bring out its hidden, inward meaning (bin). This contemplation results in an exegesis that draws on
the allegorical or symbolic potential of the Revelation and thereby
illuminates, and gives meaning to, the mystics elusive experiences
and associations. In contemplating the famous light verse of the
Qur"n (24:35) al-Tustar presented God as a pure light. From this
divine light derives the luminous essence of the prophet Muammad, the embodiment and prototype of the perfect worshipper,
who had stood in primordial adoration of God before humanity was
brought into existence.
As mentioned, al-Tustars disciples in Bara formed a school called
the Slimiyya. Named after Amad b. Slim, son of his foremost
follower Muammad b. Slim, the Slimiyya was associated with the
local Mliks. This may have pitted it against the rival anbals and
Sh's, who constituted the majority of the citys population. Although
8
9
10
87
88
chapter five
propaganda of its values and authorities by its itinerant representatives in the provinces inevitably ran into the sti resistance of the
local ascetic and mystical groups whose positions were threatened by
the newcomers. Faced with this resistance, the Sus had no option
but to either integrate or dislodge their rivals.
Ibid., p. 174.
J. Chabbi, Remarques sur le dveloppment historique des mouvements asctiques et mystiques au Khurasan, StI, vol. 46 (1977), pp. 30 and 41, pp. 4849.
16
Ibid., p. 49.
15
89
90
chapter five
22
Ibid., p. 43.
Chabbi, Remarques, p. 50.
24
Idem, Rexions, in: Journal Asiatique, vol. 266 (1978), pp. 5253; Bulliet,
The Patricians, p. 43.
25
Massignon, Essay, p. 175.
23
91
92
chapter five
30
See, e.g., Massignon, Essay, p. 180; Arberry, Muslim Saints, p. 179; cf. Meier,
Abu Sa'd, pp. 148184.
31
Chabbi, Remarques, p. 30.
32
Al-Qushayr, Al-Risla al-qushayriyya 'ilm al-taawwuf. Ed. by Ma'rf Zurayq
and 'Al Balarj, Beirut, 1993, p. 414; Massignon, Recuiel, pp. 24 and 26.
33
Al-Khab al-Baghdd, Ta"rkh Baghdd, reprint, Beirut, no date, vol. 14,
p. 208.
34
Ibid., p. 209; Ab lib al-Makk, Qt, vol. 1, p. 166; cf. Meier, Ab Sa'd,
p. 173.
93
94
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42
Ibid.; cf. B. Radtke, Al-akm at-Tirmi: Ein islamischer Theosoph des 3./9.
Jahrhunderts, Freiburg, 1980, p. 95.
43
Meier, Abu Sa'd, pp. 178179.
44
Ibid., pp. 183184 and passim.
45
Nicholson, The Kashf, p. 62.
46
Gramlich, Alte Vorbilde, vol. 2, pp. 155168.
95
one should add Ab 'Uthmn al-r (d. 298/910), an erstwhile disciple of Yay b. Mu'dh, who is credited with giving Khursn
mysticism its nal shape.47 All these men were known for their modesty and desire to conceal their true spiritual state, which the sources
described as being extraordinary advanced. The founding fathers of
the Malmatiyya discouraged their followers from engaging in public preaching, from performing acts of piety in public and from donning a distinctive dress. According to their teaching, piety and godly
devotion should not be reduced to a single vocation out of many in
social life but should instead infuse its very aspect.48 To this end,
the exponents of the Malmatiyya recommended that their followers conceal their inner spiritual state and earn their livelihood by
the sweat of their brows. Simultaneously, they frowned upon begging which was widely practiced by the Karrmiyya and other ascetics.
Any external manifestation of piety, including the wearing of a
patched frock or a woolen robe, was denounced as vainglorious pretence meant to impress the ordinary believers. At the same time,
the founders of the Malmatiyya advised their followers to make
anonymous donations to the poor, to engage in intense ascetic exercises and to wear hair shirts in the privacy of their houses. This was
to be done in order to keep secret their advanced spiritual state from
potential admirers and to avoid slipping into hypocrisy.49 It is noteworthy that one of the Malmat trio, amdn al-Qar, was a
disciple of Slim al-Brs, who went on record as an outspoken
critic of the ostentatious public devotions of the Karrmiya ascetics.
In an oft-cited story al-Brs suggested that the pious externals of
Ibn Karrms disciples are in conict with the vainglorious pretenses
that they harbor in their bosoms.50 It is therefore quite feasible that
the deliberate concealment of their piety, which was the hallmark
of the Malmatiyya, came as a reaction against the Karrmiyya
rather than the yya. This fact would explain why the Malmatiyya
were eventually integrated into the Su movement which, however,
remained staunchly opposed to Ibn Karrms version of ascetic piety.
47
96
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97
the precepts of the Malmatiyya were not conned to the population of Nshpr is attested by an anecdote that presents Ysuf b.
usayn of Rayy (d. 304/916) as a better Malmat than Ab 'Uthmn
al-r.58 Generally, the teachings of the Malmatiyya exhibit the
same values, notions and technical terms that were propounded by
the Iraqi Sus, namely, gratitude toward God, maintaining a balance between fear and hope (contrary to Yay b. Mu'dh), obedience to God and his Command, the all-consuming concentration on
God, and a sincere love (maabba) and passionate longing (shawq) for
God. All these and similar tenets were aimed at perfecting the seekers
inner self and leading him to a better knowledge of his Creator.59
If the leaders of the Malmat movement ever criticized Su-style
piety as one that gave too much weight to the outward indications
of ones internal state, all evidence to this eect was later carefully
expunged from Su literature by the pro-Su writers who followed
a ready-made conception of how Susm developed in time and
space.60 On the other hand, most of the Iraqi Sus found the Malmat
focus on the evil whisperings of the lower soul (nafs) uncongenial in
so far as it presented the human soul as a self-sucient reality that
may oppose God.61 For Su theorists, the reproach of the nafs, which
lay at the heart of the Malmat self-discipline, associated with a relatively early stage of self-awareness, one that characterizes beginners
on the mystical path rather than its accomplished masters. The latter
are no longer aware of their nafs and of its evil suggestions, engrossed
as they are in the contemplation of the Divine.
Al-Sulam, who was the rst to provide a sympathetic account of
the Malmat tenets,62 consistently linked them to the futuwwa clubs,
which brought together young professionals of urban middle class
background.63 The ideals of futuwwa, which may be loosely dened
as spiritual chivalry and altruism, dovetailed neatly into the Malmat
doctrine that forbade its followers to elevate themselves above the
common crowd or to display contempt for laymens shortcomings.64
58
Arberry, Muslim Saints, pp. 290291; cf. Mol, Mystiques, pp. 7576.
Gramlich, Alte Vorbilde, vol. 2, pp. 192217.
60
Chabbi, Remarques, pp. 6869 and passim.
61
Arberry, The Doctrine, p. 91; cf. Ibn al-Qayarn, afwat al-taawwuf. Ed. by
Ghad al-Muqaddam 'Adra, Beirut, 1995, p. 96.
62
On him see Chapter 2 of this book.
63
Bulliet, Patricians, p. 43.
64
Al-Sulam, abaqt, pp. 125129.
59
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In a like vein, both the Malmat and the futuwwa leaders urged their
adherents to give preference to other people, no matter how sinful
and lowly, over their own selves (thr) in order to avoid vainglorious pretensions.65 On the practical level, the members of both the
Malmatiyya and the futuwwa associations seem to have practiced
common initiatory ceremonies and adhered to a special, albeit lowkey, dress-code. They also took a common negative stance vis--vis
the extreme manifestations of reliance on God (tawakkul ) that were
not uncommon among the Karrmiyya and some Su masters. Since
the membership of the futuwwa organizations and of the craft guilds,
which were also permeated by the Malmat principles, consisted
mainly of small-time merchants, artisans and shopkeepers, their leaders could ill-aord to demand that their adherents should abandon
gainful employment. However, at least some of the movements leaders may have been full-time ascetics, at least toward the end of
their careers.66 This did not prevent them from emphasizing selfeacing probity and fair dealing, anonymous charity, moderation
and good works, all of which tallied well with the values of the
responsible middle class citizenry. The exact nature of the relationships between the futuwwa and the Malmatiyya traditions is hard
to establish due to their secretive character. According to R. Bulliet,
while the futuwwa conception of the ideal young man ( fat) as a convivial and loyal squire who was as adept at poetry as at archery
was not in consonance with the [Malmat] mystics vision of a
chaste and fraternal disciple following his master on the mystic path,
neither was there dissonance between them. They coexisted.67 The
exact extent of the interpenetration between these traditions and their
respective practices and institutions remains obscure.
With time, however, some antinomian-minded drifters and tricksters, who actively sought the blame of others instead of being ready
to humbly accept it, adopted the name Malmat. The subsequent
unfolding of the libertarian and antisocial potential inherent in the
Malmat teaching is associated with the activities of the wandering
dervishes who brought the entire movement into disrepute. A revival
of some of the original Malmat ideals and practices, especially the
avoidance of a distinctive garb and a loud dhikr, the prohibition of
65
66
67
99
ceaseless voyaging and the cultivation of close ties with the people
of the bazaar, is sometimes associated with the Naqshband brotherhood, which was active in Central Asia and India in the ninth/
fteenth-thirteenth/nineteenth centuries and which falls outside the
chronological scope of this chapter.
68
69
100
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70
Massignon, Passion, vol. 3, passim; cf. Chabbi, Rexions, pp. 4853 and
idem, Remarques, passim.
71
Nicholson, The Kashf, p. 154.
72
Gramlich, Alte Vorbilde, vol. 2, pp. 267411.
73
E.g., al-Qushayr, Al-Risla, p. 439, concerning the necessity to maintain a balance between fear and hope (cf. Yay b. Mu'dh, above).
74
He was probably referring to the Manichean concern with perfecting ones
piety through ascetic exercises. At that time Manichaens were still active in both
Mesopotamia and Persia.
101
102
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Isolated Cases: al-Niar, al-Tirmidh and Ibn Masarra
103
As we can see from the passage just quoted, al-Niar puts staying above both ordinary mystical gnosis (ma'rifa) and the formal,
84
85
86
87
88
89
104
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traditional knowledge found in the scriptures and in their commentaries ('ilm). In fact, he sees the former two as veils between God
and man. Waqfa, on the other hand, is the light (nr) of God, with
which darkness cannot dwell; it is also the destroying hand of
God, which eliminates everything upon which it comes.90 The
mystic in the state of waqfa (wqif ) is nearer to God than any other
thing; he almost transcends the condition of humanity (bashariyya) by
removing one after another the veils that separate him from God:
He alone . . . is separated from limitation, for he is beyond every
limit.91 In a beautiful metaphor, al-Niar describes waqfa as the
wind (r) of God that carries the mystic to his Divine Master.92
Through this lofty experience the mystic becomes the channel of
Gods will and grace and thus may acquire the creative powers pertaining to his Master. In such a state, he can bring things into temporal existence just by repeating the divine at Be!93 In the end,
the wqif is granted a direct vision of his Creator.94 Contrary to the
view of the majority of Muslim scholars,95 al-Niar not only admitted
that the perfected mystic can contemplate God in this world, but
also considered it to be essential for the beatic vision in the world
to come. According to al-Niar, whoso sees not God in this world,
will not see Him in the hereafter.96 Some elements of al-Niars
teachings, namely that God can be seen in a human form and that
he has secrets that must not be disclosed to each and every one,
resemble the doctrines of the Slimiyya.97 His indebtedness to this
theological and mystical school is quite feasible both chronologically
and geographically. However, in admitting it we are entering the
realm of conjecture, for there is not enough evidence to either support or disprove it. Despite the undeniable originality of al-Niars
insights, we can detect the elements already familiar to us from the
teachings of al-Junayds circle and, especially, those of al-allj.98
This impression is further conrmed by several eschatological passages in al-Niars works in which he appears to identify himself
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
Ibid., p. 14.
Ibid., p. 16.
Ibid., p. 14.
Qur"n, 2:117; Nwyia, Exgse, pp. 386387; cf. Baldick, Mystical Islam, p. 54.
Nwyia, Exgse, p. 359.
Van Ess, Theologie, vol. 4, pp. 411424.
Arberry, The Mawqif, pp. 1819.
Baldick, Mystical Islam, p. 54.
Nwyia, Exgse, pp. 386387.
105
99
According to A. Arberry, Niar was not interested in Mahd pretensions:
his kingdom was of the next world, not of this, The Mawqif, p. 7; cf. ibid., pp.
198 and 215.
100
Radtke, Theologen, pp. 562563; idem. Al-akm, pp. 9495; S. Sviri, akm
Tirmidh and the Malmat Movement in Early Susm, in: L. Lewisohn (ed.),
Classical Persian Susm, London and New York, 1993, pp. 583613; van Ess, Theologie,
vol. 2, p. 565.
101
Van Ess, ibid.
102
Radtke, Al-akm, pp. 1215.
103
Ibid., 16.
104
Ibid., p. 34.
105
Ibid., 17 and 36.
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106
Ibid., p. 83.
Ibid. 16.
Ibid., p. 18.
Ibid. 59.
107
108
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109
entities that pertain to the light of the pact (nr mthq ). Every
mans senses and intelligence recognize it by analogy with the light
of destinies of which all of mankind partake to some extent.
Ibls refused to bow before Adam, whose body and soul were
made from a soil that he himself had trampled underfoot. He challenged Adam to prove his superiority over him. In the aftermath of
mans fall, God declared that Ibls should be able to rule only over
the wicked. He would be leading them astray by appealing to their
appetites and passions of the moment, which inhere in their fallible
souls. God however accepted the repentance of Adam and promised
to send prophets to the faithful in order to help them to vanquish the
evil drives of their souls by appealing to a hundred virtuous traits of
their character (which derive from the corresponding divine attributes),
through reason, gnosis and the ve components of intelligence.112
The fundamental duality of human nature, which springs from
the conflict between mans heart/spirit and his soul/ego, results, in
al-Tirmidhs anthropology, in a multiplicity of organs and faculties.
Thus he speaks of the external soul (which is nothing other than the
body with its members and organs and which, due to its senses,
already has some embryonic knowledge). In addition, al-Tirmidh
describes the internal soul which is located in the lung and which
was fashioned by God from the soil trampled underfoot by Ibls. AlTirmidh distinguishes the heart (both the organ and the faculty);
reason (located in the brain); and the spirit (located in the head,
below the ears). Finally, he speaks of the ve components of intelligence (located in the chest): intelligence proper (dhihn), memory
(if), understanding ( fahm), perspicacity (dhak") and knowledge. All
the faculties, which Adam and his descendants received on the Day
of the Pact, form their inborn nature ( ra).
Thus, according to al-Tirmidhi, all men are endowed at the outset with natural reason ('aql al-ra), which, in theory, should make
all of them faithful servants of God. Their duty is to use this natural reason in combination with the ve components of intelligence.
The intelligence proper (dhihn), with the help of understanding ( fahm),
receives exterior knowledge (sensible awareness) in bulk. It then conveys it to the breast, upon the lining of which each idea leaves an
imprint of its form. After that the dhihn communicates the ideas to
the memory, which is also located in the breast. When the heart is
112
110
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111
Ibid.
112
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113
of the saintsthat is, the supreme saint of all times who brings
to an end the cycle of universal sainthoodhas proved to be both
the most controversial and the most consequential. Al-Tirmidh
may have borrowed this idea from contemporary Sh' theorists, who
assigned the status of the ultimate messiah and world-restorer to their
hidden imm, viewing him as the channel of divine grace to this
world. The Sh' concept, in turn, was probably formulated in response
to the Sunn doctrine that presented Muammad as the last link in,
or the seal of, universal prophesy, which precluded any possibility
of direct communication between God and his community after his
demise.
Al-Tirmidhs legacy left a deep imprint on the subsequent history of Islamic thought. His inuence is perceptible in the works of
the great later mystic and preacher 'Abd al-Qdir al-Jln. In many
respects he can be seen as a precursor of Ibn 'Arab, who quoted
him extensively in his works. Finally, the Sh' elements of his teaching, which have just been pointed out, are an eloquent evidence of
the common roots of Su and Sh ' esotericism.
In Ibn Masarra al-Jabal (d. 319/931) we nd another isolated mystical thinker without any known spiritual or intellectual aliation.
This fact, together with the originality and obscurity of his teaching, eectively placed him outside the mainstream Su pale and into
the realm of heresy and freethinking. As a result, he was practically
unknown to the creators of the Su tradition, most of whom hailed
from the eastern lands of Islam and had little notion of mystical
movements west of Egypt. Ibn Masarras relative obscurity is akin
to that of al-Tirmidh. Yet, there are dierences as well. Unlike alTirmidh, most of Ibn Masarras works have been lost or destroyed
by his persecutors, when he was posthumously accused of heresy and
anti-government sedition (bid'a wa haw wa tna wa zaygh).116 Passages
from his works quoted by later authors show him to be a practitioner of an extreme asceticism who constantly engaged in a subtle
self-analysis ('ilm al-bin) with a view to eliminating complacency and
purifying his acts of worship of any extraneous concerns. Together
with a group of devoted disciples he withdrew into a mountainous
retreat in the vicinity of Cordoba, where they engaged in acts of
harsh worship and in theosophical speculation. His puritanical
116
114
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fervor is evident from his rejection of things that were normally permitted by the Shar'a. Combined with his acute interest in cosmology and metaphysics, his ideas made him a natural suspect in the
eyes of his learned contemporaries.117 Given the intolerant religious
attitude that prevailed in his native al-Andalus, it is no wonder that
he came to be portrayed by local Mlik scholars as an out-and-out
heretic. Some European scholars uncritically accepted this polemical
image of Ibn Masarra and declared him a bona de neo-Platonist,
a follower of Pseudo-Empedocles and an Ism'l missionary. Recent
studies have dispelled these misconceptions118 and they need not
detain us here. From the scant details about his life scattered throughout Andalus chronicles one can conclude that from a very young
age he was exposed to various eastern Islamic inuences, including
Mu'tazil theology and, more importantly, to the ascetic and mystical tradition of al-Tustars school. His long trips to Mecca and Iraq
later in his life point in the same direction. The exact sources of his
views, however, cannot be ascertained. His interest in cabalism and
numerology may have been ignited by his study of al-Tustars Book
of the Letters, 119 but the dubious attribution of this work makes the
link between the two thinkers somewhat tenuous.120 Ibn Masarras
fascination with rational sciences and, especially, with the inductive
method (i'tibr), which he used in order to establish the general laws
that govern the universe, does not necessarily render him a fullyedged philosopher. Rather he hews closely to the inspired wisdom
of the ukam" sages on the lines of al-Tirmidh and his soul-mates
in Khursn and Transoxania.121 For Ibn Masarra, such sages, who
combine rational method with divine inspiration, were identical with
the the friends of God mentioned in many passages of the Qur"n.
The sages obtain their gnosis both through rigorous ascetic exercises
and a thorough contemplation of Gods creation. The fact that he
adopted some Mu'tazil ideas, especially those that emphasized mans
freedom of choice and his responsibility for his actions, hardly makes
117
D. Urvoy, The 'Ulam" of al-Andalus, in: ibid., pp. 855856; cf. Radtke,
Theologen, p. 553.
118
Ibid. and S. M. Stern, Ibn Masarra, Follower of Pseudo-Empedoclesan illusion, in: Actos do IV Congresso de Estudios Arabes e Islmocos, Coimbra-Lisbon, 1968,
Leiden, 1971, pp. 325339; van Ess, Theologie, vol. 4, pp. 273274.
119
C. Addas, Andalus Mysticism and the Rise of Ibn 'Arab, in: The Legacy
of Muslim Spain. Ed. by S. K. Jayyusi, Leiden, 1994, vol. 2, pp. 915917.
120
Bwering, Vision, pp. 1718.
121
Radtke, Theologen, passim; cf. Addas, Andalus Mysticism, p. 917.
115
122
123
124
125
CHAPTER SIX
The late fourth/tenth century was above all a period of construction and consolidation of the Su tradition. It witnessed the rise and
growth of the vast corpus of apologetic Su literature that continues to shape our understanding of Susms evolution across the ages.
In less than one century, between 356/967 and 465/1074, there
appeared dozens of treatises, histories and manuals that covered all
the major aspects of the Su science ('ilm al-taawwuf ).1 They discussed such topics as the technical terminology of Susm, the nature
of saintly miracles, the rules of companionship and collective worship.
Such discussions were supported by the authoritative statements attributed to those who were seen as the founding fathers of the Su tradition, including those whose lives almost surely predated its formation.
The exemplary biographies of these revered early individuals provided later Su authors with a vast pool of data from which they
drew in an eort to articulate authoritative patterns of behavior and
ready responses to concrete moral and ethical dilemmas which their
readers encountered in everyday life. Apart from preserving and
handing on the teachings of the early Sus, the authors of normative Su treatises, manuals and biographies pursued a clear apologetic agenda. First, they were anxious to justify the movement in
the eyes of its critics, especially those Sunn scholars who were
apprehensive of its potential to disrupt Muslim communal life. In
response, the advocates of Susm tried to demonstrate that the statements of the Su classics were in full agreement with the doctrines
of the founding fathers of Islamic law and theology, such as al-asan
al-Bar, Sufyn al-Thawr, Ab anfa, al-Sh' and al-Ash'ar.
Characteristically, the Su writers of the fourth/tenth and fth/eleventh
centuries routinely open their works with a set of doctrinal propositions which were meant to prove their loyalty to the correct creed
of Sunn Islam. Obviously, their understanding of Sunn orthodoxy
117
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118
119
to a wide variety of regional and doctrinal trends in the early mystical movement. In spite of his Khursn background, in his book
al-Sarrj presents himself as an exponent of Iraqi Susm with its
regional variations (primarily Baghdadi and Baran). His high renown
in the eyes of contemporary Iraqi Sus is attested by the fact that,
at one point in his career, he was entrusted with the education and
supervision of the ascetics and mystics who were associated with the
Shnziyya mosque in Baghdad.
Al-Sarrjs Luma' diers in character from the works of Ab Sa'd
al-A'rb and al-Khuld who by and large limited themselves to providing the biographical sketches and disparate sayings of the authoritative Su masters of the past. In the Luma' we nd a fully-edged
critical analysis of the doctrines and practices of various Su groups
of the time. Al-Sarrj saw his chief task in demonstrating Susms
rootedness in primeval Islamic tradition. Hence his attempts to trace
its origins back to the time of the Prophet and his Companions at
the beginning of the book. Here and throughout the subsequent narrative, he presents the heroes of early Islam as paragons of piety
whom every true Su should try to imitate. After quoting Muammads
famous statement that proclaimed the scholars ('ulam") of his community to be his only legitimate heirs, al-Sarrj then proceeds to
divide them into three subgroups: adth experts (ahl al-adth), jurists
( fuqah") and Sus.6 In his mind, this division is based on three types
of religious wisdom which each of these subgroups is supposed to
exemplify, that is, the knowledge of the Qur"n and the Sunna, the
knowledge of the legal interpretation and application of these sources,
and the knowledge of the true realities of faith (aq"iq). In the subsequent narrative, al-Sarrj not only seeks to place the Sus on an
equal footing with the other two groups of the learned, but also tries
to convince his reader of the preeminence of the Su masters over
all other groups of learned men. He, for instance, claims that only
the Su masters are capable of living up to the high standards of
personal piety and worship that are laid down in the Qur"n and
in the Prophets Sunna. The members of the two other groups, in
his view, do little more than skim the surface of the divine dispensation or rehash its precepts mechanically, without trying to implement
them in real life. Conversely, the Sus, in his view, have fully
realized the noble character traits and qualities laid down in the
6
Al-Sarrj, Luma', pp. 710 (Arabic text); cf. pp. 35 (English text).
120
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Scriptures in their own lives. They have thus achieved the exemplary piety and serenity which set them apart from the common
herd of believers.7 Not only are the genuine Sus in complete conformity with the Divine Law, they are, in fact, the spiritual lite (alkha) of the Islamic Community.
After this apologetic introduction, al-Sarrj sets out to elucidate
the ideas, practices and terminology accumulated by Sus over the
centuries. He devotes several chapters to the discussion of the states
and stages of the mystical path, the rules of Su companionship,
saintly miracles, and the controversial ecstatic utterances of some
early mystics. He also addresses what he sees as the theoretical and
practical mistakes which some of them are guilty of. In the words
of A. Arberry, al-Sarrjs Luma' is extraordinary well-documented,
and abounds in quotations not only from the sayings and poems but
also from the letters of the mystics.8 Al-Sarrjs denitions of the
Su technical terms are precise and subtle, giving his readers a valuable clue to understanding sophisticated mystical texts. Each chapter of his work forms an autonomous treatise on a given aspect of
Su theory or practice. At the same time, in an eort to categorize
the personal mystical experiences of individual Su masters, al-Sarrj
has the tendency by put their accounts into a number of prefabricated conceptual pigeonholes. This tendency comes to the fore in
his analysis of the stations and states of the Su path which attempts
to set them in neat triads, sometimes rather articially. An honest
and well-informed thinker, al-Sarrj does not conceal his own views
which place him squarely into the tradition of sober mysticism
personied by al-Junayd.9 At the same time, he is not opposed to
such controversial Su practices as listening to mystical poetry and
music during Su sessions, provided that no prohibited musical instruments be used by the participants. Al-Sarrjs broad-mindedness is
also evident from his defense of the ecstatic utterances of al-Bism
against his critics, including Amad b. Slim who held the mystic
of Bism to be an indel (kr).10 This does not prevent al-Sarrj
from denouncing what he perceived as Su errors and excesses,
thereby demarcating the limits of Su orthodoxy.11
7
8
9
10
121
Ab lib al-Makk
A less theoretical view of Susm, which sets great store by practical self-discipline and a strict observance of Islamic rituals, is taken
by Ab lib al-Makk (d. 386/996). A native of Persia, he grew
up in Mecca, where he attached himself to Ab Sa'd al-A'rb, a
Su writer of Baran background who belonged to the circle alJunayd. As a young man, Ab lib left Mecca to join the Slimiyya
of Bara, whereupon he went to Baghdad to study with al-Sarrj.
Possibly on account of his Slim propensities, his rst public preaching was greeted with a sharp rejection and even stirred up a
popular riot that caused him to temporarily withdraw from public
view.12 Ab libs fame rests on his massive Su manual titled The
Nourishment for the Hearts (Qt al-qulb). Modern scholars view
this work as a detailed exposition of the moral and ethical precepts
of the Slimiyya school, which, as we know, was founded by alTustars disciples Muammad Ibn Slim and Amad Ibn Slim.
Ab libs indebtedness to the Slimiyya is attested by the frequency with which he quotes al-Tustar and Amad Ibn Slim,
whom the author describes respectively as the master of our master and our master.13 The apologetic thrust of the Nourishment
is even more obvious than that of al-Sarrjs Luma': Ab libs book
simply brims with long-winded quotations from the Qur"n, the adth
and the respectable mainstream Sunn opinions which are meant to
underscore the perfectly orthodox nature of Su piety and customs.
According to A. Arberry, the pattern of the Qt al-qulb is a little
reminiscent of the standard manuals of religious jurisprudence, with
its minute discussion of the ritual practices of Islam, which are however treated from the mystical standpoint.14 In Ab libs work,
meticulous discussions of standard Islamic rituals (such as ritual purity,
various prayers and supplications, Qur"n recitation, funeral procedures, the ajj, the giving of alms, the fast of Raman, etc.) and
of mainstream beliefs (the punishment of the grave, the intercession
11
12
13
14
Ibid.
Al-Khab, Ta"rkh, vol. 3, p. 89; cf. Bwering, Mystical Vision, p. 26.
Ibid., pp. 2627.
Arberry, Susm, p. 68.
122
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Ibid.
Ibid., pp. 6869; apud al-Makk, Qt, vol. 1, p. 160.
Bwering, Mystical Vision, p. 27.
123
primordial light and the covenant between God and the human
souls. However, in comparison to the Nourishment, the impact of
this work on the later Su thought was much more limited.
Susm on the Eastern Fringe: al-Kalbdh
The fame of another Su author of that period, Ab Bakr Muammad
al-Kalbdh (d. 380/990 or 385/995), rests mostly on his treatise
titled Introduction to the Doctrine of the Sus (Al-Ta'arruf li-madhhab ahl al-taawwuf ). He is credited with a few other works on adth
and ethics, but they seem to have sunk into obscurity. The wide
acceptance of al-Kalbdhs mystical manual, which sought to bridge
the chasm between orthodox theology and Susm, which the execution of al-allj greatly widened, is due in large part to its brevity
and lucidity. Unlike the works just discussed, al-Kalbdhs Doctrine
seems to have originated in Bukhr, that is, at some distance from
the traditional Su centers in Iraq and Khursn. It is therefore all
the more surprising that the author not only demonstrates an intimate knowledge of Iraqi-style Susm, but also presents himself as a
champion of its most controversial exponent, al-allj.18 Al-Kalbdhs
familiarity with the Iraqi tradition indicates its wide diusion among
the Muslims of the eastmost fringes of the crumbling Muslim Empire.
As with his predecessors, al-Kalbdhs principal purpose is frankly
apologetic. He takes great pains to explain the origins, theological
doctrine, concepts and practices of Susm to the uninitiated in order
to convince them of its legitimacy vis--vis Sunn Islam. In the rst
section of his book he focuses on doctrinal issues. He tries to prove
that the Sunn teachings, which circulated in Transoxania under the
name of Ab anfa, were shared by every notable early Su master of the past.19 Simultaneously, he attacks a number of Mu'tazil
precepts as being contrary to the teachings of the leading Su authorities. The peculiarity of al-Kalbdhs approach lies in his acceptance of both the Sh'/Ash'ar and anaf theological positions
as being equally orthodoxa view that Su writers of Sh'/Ash'ar
background, e.g. al-Sulam and al-Qushayr, would hardly have subscribed to. Otherwise, the views laid down in the Doctrine are
18
One of his teachers was Fris b. 's al-Dnawar (d. 345/956), a student of
al-allj who ed from Iraq following his teachers execution, Chabbi, Rexions,
pp. 45 and 49.
19
Arberry, Susm, p. 69.
124
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125
126
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127
Ibid., p. 56.
Chabbi, Remarques, p. 69.
Bwering, Mystical Vision, p. 28.
Chabbi, Remarques, p. 70.
Ibid., pp. 7172.
Ibn al-Qaysarn, afwat al-taawwuf.
Bwering, Mystical Vision, p. 29.
128
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Ab Nu'ayms Decoration of the Saints
129
43
44
45
46
130
chapter six
in mind that he put the typical Su precepts and maxims into the
mouths of Islams pious forebears (al-salaf ), that is, the exemplary
Muslims of the rst two centuries of Islam.
Al-Qushayrs Su Manual
From Khursn came another great Su writer of the fth/eleventh
century, 'Abd al-Karm al-Qushayr (465/1072). He was born in
376/986 in the region of Ustuwa into a wealthy family of Arab
descent. He received his early education in Arabic and polite letters
(adab). A son of the country squire, he was also trained in marshal
arts, horsemanship and archery. At the age of fteen, he came to
Nshpr in hopes of reducing the taxes on a village he owned.
While there, he developed a taste for religious studies and joined the
circle of the famous mystic Ab 'Al al-Daqqq (d. 405/1015), who
was the head of a popular religious school (madrasa). Not only did he
become the foremost disciple of al-Daqqq, but eventually married
his daughter and succeeded him at the head of the madrasa. Additionally, al-Qushayr studied Sh' law and Ash'ar theology under
leading scholars of Nshpr, including such luminaries of his age
as Ibn Frak and al-Isfarin.47 Later on, he struck up friendship
with younger Sh' leaders and assumed the position of a leader
of the Sh'-Ash'ar party in Nshpr. He traveled widely in search
of adth reports and is said to have visited Merv, Baghdad and the
ijz. After al-Daqqqs death, he joined the circle of al-Sulams
disciples. They introduced him to the tradition of Iraqi Susm, which,
in Khursn, was represented by al-Shibls disciple al-Narbdh.
After Nshpr fell under the control of the edgling Saljuq dynasty
in 429/1038, al-Qushayr was embroiled in the struggle between the
anaf and Sh' factions of the city. In 436/1045 he asserted his
position as a leader of the Sh'-Ash'ar party by issuing a manifesto in defense of the orthodoxy of al-Ash'ar and his followers. His
activities as the head of the Sh' faction aroused the ire of its anaf
opponents. When in 446/1054 the powerful Saljuq vizier al-Kundur
threw in his lot with the opposing anaf faction, al-Qushayr was
arrested and imprisoned in the citadel of Nshpr. Before long
however his followers released him by force of arms. In 448/1056
47
131
48
49
50
51
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132
133
Persian Su of the anaf denomination was born at Hujwr, a suburb of Ghazna, in present-day Afghanistn. The few facts that we
know about his life come mainly from his own references to it in the
Kashf. He studied Susm under Ab l-Fal al-Khuttal through whom
he is linked to the circle of al-Shibl and al-Junayd. Additionally, he
frequently mentions many other Su shaykhs from whom he beneted
in the course of his long travels across the Islamic Empire. He appears
to have spent a time in Iraq, where he rst grew rich but later ran
deeply into debt. His married life was brief and unhappy. At the
end of his life, he was taken prisoner by an invading force and carried o to Lahore, where he ended his days. After his death he was
revered as a saint and his tomb became a place of pilgrimage.53 Of
the ten or so works which he states to have written,54 there remains only The Unveiling. Although scholars disagree over the exact
date of its composition, it was, in all likelihood, written at Lahore,
during the last years of al-Hujwrs life, in reply to the questions of
a certain Ab Sa'd al-Hujwr. Its aim was not to put together a
great number of sayings by dierent shaykhs, but to discuss and
expound the doctrines and practices of the Sus.55 Although The
Unveiling contains a conventional biographical section, biographical details of the Sus and of their pious forerunners are largely
omitted in favor of a careful examination of their theoretical positions. Before giving his own opinion, the author usually cites the
opinions of earlier writers on the subject, refuting them if necessary;
discussions of the problems of mysticism are illustrated by examples
drawn from the writers own experience. This personal element distinguishes al-Hujwrs work from al-Qushayrs Risla, whose method
of presentation is much more academic and formal.56 The general
plan of al-Hujwrs book was inuenced by al-Sarrjs Luma'. In his
narrative, al-Hujwr makes frequent references to the writings of
al-Sulam and al-Qushayr.57 As these and other Su writers of the
age, al-Hujwr was anxious to demonstrate the compatibility of Su
precepts and moral values with the doctrines of Sunn Islam. Therefore,
in presenting some controversial issues of the Su science that
could irritate his non-Su readers, he carefully watered them down.
53
54
55
56
57
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134
135
however, every reason to believe that he often mingled his own personal views with the doctrines which he attributed to the founder of
each mystical school. In discussing their tenets he tended to isolate
the concept that he saw as emblematic of a given school (e.g., sobriety in the case of al-Junayds school), whilst giving short shrift to
the other elements of its Weltanschauung.61
In summarizing the role of the Kashf in the history of Su thought
R. A. Nicholson has this to say: Though Hujwr was neither a profound mystic nor a precise thinker, his work on the whole forms an
admirable introduction to the study of Susm: it . . . has the merit . . .
of bringing us into immediate touch with the author himself, his
views, experiences, and adventures, while incidentally it throws light
on the manners of dervishes in various parts of the Moslem world.
His exposition of Su doctrine and practice is distinguished not only
by wide learning and rst-hand knowledge but also by the strongly
personal character impressed on everything he writes.62
136
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137
traditionally detested on account of their reliance on logic and syllogistic argumentation. As a result, he soon ran afoul of a number
of inuential Ash'ar theologians who had him exiled from Herat on
several occasions. Undeterred, he continued to denounce Ash'arism
and Mu'tazilism in front of his students in the Su lodge which he
inherited from his Su master Yay b. 'Ammr. His high renown
as an orator and mystic was acknowledged by the Saljuq rulers and
the 'Abbsid caliphs who declared him to be the greatest religious
authority of the age (shaykh al-islm) and showered him with expensive gifts and attering praises.
In spite of his vast knowledge of the Su tradition, al-Anr was
a preacher and orator rather than a writer. It was only at the end
of his life and under the pressure from his disciples that he agreed
to dictate his principal works to his secretaries. Several of his treatises present detailed accounts of the mystics spiritual itinerary. Of
these, al-Anrs Stations of the Travelers (Manzil al-s"irn) is by
far the most renowned. Written in response to the requests of his
disciples, it provides a brief account of one hundred way stations on
the path to God. They are classied under ten dierent rubrics: the
beginnings, the gates, the actions, the virtuous morals, the roots,
the valleys, the mystical states, the principalities, the realities and
the ultimate [stations].69 Al-Anrs way stations enumerated under
these rubrics correspond to both the states and the stations of the
traditional Su path. Each station of al-Anrs scheme falls into
three levels of realization that correspond to the level of self-perfection
peculiar to the individual mystic. Al-Anrs spiritual itinerary posits
awakening ( yaqa) as the rst and divine unity (tawd ) as the last
stage of mystical life. At the furthest reaches of the last station, God
himself bears witness to his unity, whereupon he imparts his testimony to the chosen few.70
In the treatise titled The Deciencies of the Mystical Stations
('Ilal al-maqmt), al-Anr deals with the shortcomings of the traditional Su stations. He shows that they all are inevitably tainted by
duality as well as by the mystics self-centered impulses, which disappear only when he has reached the stage of tawd. At that point,
all these deciencies and veils fall away, and the mystic becomes
completely absorbed into the direct contemplation of God.71
69
70
71
138
chapter six
Al-Anrs Classes [or Generations] of the Sus (abaqt alyya) was written in the Persian dialect of Herat. It was based on
the oral lectures he delivered to the students residing in his khnaq.
Modeled on al-Sulams abaqt, it is, however, more prolix and
includes numerous personal judgements by the author (which are
absent from al-Sulams prototype) along with numerous digressions,
poems and rhymed invocations of God. Al-Anrs comments on
the Su masters of old bear a vivid testimony to the originality of
his mind. In discussing the chief representatives of the Baghdad Su
school, he gives preference to Ab Sa'd al-Kharrz and Ruwaym
b. Amad (d. 303/916)72 over the great al-Junayd.73 Four centuries later
the great Persian mystic and poet 'Abd al-Ramn Jm (d. 898/
1492) used al-Anrs abaqt as the foundation of his magisterial
biographical collection of the Sus titled The Breaths of Intimacy
(Nafat al-uns). Up to this day Jms work remains the greatest in
its genre.
Since al-Anr fell heir to the line of spiritual succession that
included al-alljs supporters Ibn Khaff and al-Narabdh, he suspended judgement with regard to this great Su martyr. As with many
later Sus, al-Anr acknowledged the authenticity of al-alljs
experience. However he did not condone al-alljs alleged betrayal
of the divine mystery.74 Unlike his more circumspect predecessors,
al-Anr did not mince words in stating his personal preferences
concerning the status of individual Su shaykhs or some moot theological issues. With regard to the latter he remained rmly in the
anbal camp throughout his eventful life, as his polemical vituperations against the Ash'ars and the Mu'tazils eloquently demonstrate.75 At the same time, he was appreciative of Sus regardless of
their theological aliations. His attempt to develop Su piety within
the framework of anbal Islam is quite remarkable and belies the
obstinate notion of the incompatibility between them, which springs
from the critical attacks on Susm launched by some renowned anbals, such as Ibn al-Jawz (d. 597/1200), Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328),
and, in modern time, Ibn 'Abd al-Wahhb (d. 1206/1792).
One could give a few more examples of Su literature from this
epoch. However, the ones that have already been cited give us a
72
73
74
75
139
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140
141
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142
143
him, which he did not write. In other cases, the same book appears
under dierent titles, and a great deal of work has still to be done
on manuscripts before scholars know exactly what is extant and what
is not. Further, at least from the seventh/thirteenth centuries allegations have been made that books have been falsely attributed to
al-Ghazl.81 The works whose authenticity has been doubted are
mostly ones expressing advanced theosophical and philosophical
views that appear to be at variance with the teaching of al-Ghazl
in the works generally accepted as authentic.82 There are diculties,
owing to the richness of his thought, in establishing conclusively the
existence of contradictions. Already in the Middle Ages, some Muslim
scholars, who were well aware of these contradictions, suggested that
al-Ghazl wrote dierently for ordinary people and for the elite, or,
in other words, that he had esoteric views which he did not wish
to divulge to everyone. If this indeed was the case, al-Ghazls circumspect attitude further complicates the problem of authenticity,
but there is no reason for thinking that, even if al-Ghazl had
dierent levels of teaching for dierent audiences, he never in the
higher levels directly contradicted what he maintained at the lower
levels.83 In the present state of scholarship the soundest methodology is to concentrate on the main works of undoubted authenticity
and to accept other works only in so far as the views expressed there
are not incompatible with those in the former.84
As mentioned, a year or two before his death al-Ghazl wrote
his famous Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh min al-all ), which
provides an account of the development of his religious opinions and
of his arduous quest for truth. Although its biographical value is
sometimes called in question by Western scholars, it is often described
as his autobiography. Most of the details about al-Ghazls life given
above are derived from the Munqidh. This book is of particular relevance to our present purpose, since it describes how, upon examining several inuential systems of thought available in his epoch
(i.e., speculative theology, the messianic doctrines of Ism'lism and
81
M. Watt, A Forgery in al-Ghazls Mishkt?, in: JRAS, vol. 54 (1949), pp.
522; idem, The Authenticity of the Works Attributed to al-Ghazl, in: JRAS,
vol. 57 (1952), pp. 2445.
82
H. Landolt, Ghazl and Religionswissenschaft, in: Asiatische Studien, vol.
55/1 (1991), pp. 1972.
83
G. F. Hourani, The Chronology of Ghazls Writings, in: JAOS, vol. 79
(1959), pp. 22533.
84
M. Watt, The study of al-Ghazl, in: Oriens, vols. 1314 (1961), pp. 12131.
144
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Hellenistic philosophy) the author arrives at the idea of the superiority of mystical experience. In al-Ghazls view, together with a
meticulous observance of the ordinary rules and routines of Muslim
piety, Su moral and spiritual discipline is essential in leading the
believer to religious truth, intellectual serenity and, eventually, to
salvation.85
After the period of skepticism described in the Munqidh, al-Ghazl
in his quest for certainty made a thorough study of philosophya
subject to which he had been introduced by his teacher al-Juwayn.
This study occupied the entire earlier part of the Baghdad period.
What he learned was chiey the Arabic neo-Platonism (diluted by
elements of Peripatetism) of al-Frb (d. 339/950) and Ibn Sn
(d. 428/1037). Though his nal aim was to show in what respects
their doctrines were incompatible with Sunn Islam, he rst wrote
an exposition of their philosophy without any criticism. This work,
The Aims of the Philosophers (Maqid al-falsifa), was much appreciated in Spain and in the rest of Europe throughout the twelfth
and thirteenth centuries C.E. This he followed by a criticism of the
philosophical doctrines entitled The Incoherence (or Inconsistency)
of the Philosophers (Tahfut al-falsifa), which he nished at the
beginning of 488/1095. In this monumental work, al-Ghazl noted
twenty points on which the philosophers views were objectionable
to Sunns or inconsistent with their own claims. In respect of three
of these they were, according to the author, to be adjudged unbelievers. In the Tahfut, al-Ghazl seeks to demonstrate the inconsistencies of the philosophers and does not argue for any positive views
of his own. Because of this he has been accused of having remained
something of a skeptic. This accusation fails to notice that the Tahfut
was written just before the crisis which caused him to leave Baghdad;
it is therefore possible that at the time he was somewhat uncertain
of his positive beliefs. However, a few years later, when he was writing the The Revival of the Religious Sciences, he was in no doubt
about what he believed. What impressed al-Ghazl most of the various branches of philosophical studies was logic, and in particular
the Aristotelian syllogism. For the sake of Sunn jurists and theologians to whom philosophical books were not easily accessible or,
because of their technical language, not readily understandable, he
wrote several tracts on Aristotelian logic. While full of enthusiasm
85
145
146
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perfectly save by following the Su way.86 At the same time, alGhazl was acutely aware of the dramatic dierence in human temperaments and therefore recommended that Su spiritual discipline
be followed by each person in accordance with his individual ability and inclinations.
The text of the Iy" is divided into four quarters dealing with
cult practices and worship ('ibdt); social customs and personal behavior ('dt); vices, or faults of character leading to perdition (muhlikt);
virtues, or qualities leading to salvation (munjiyt). Each quarter
consists of ten books that intricately combine mainstream Sunn piety
with the introspective and ascetic discipline fostered by Susm.87 The
Iy" is thus a complete guide for the devout Muslim to every aspect
of the religious life, that is, worship and devotional practices, conduct in daily life, the purication of the heart, and advance along
the mystic way. The rst two books deal with the necessary minimum of intellectual knowledge. Although al-Ghazl pays due tribute to the traditionalist knowledge and received wisdom of mainstream
Sunn scholars, he implicitly gives preference to the divinely inspired,
mystical knowledge that allows its possessor to unveil the true meaning of the Scriptures and to arrive at an absolute certitide and condence that preclude any doubt.88 Tucked away (perhaps deliberately)
amidst the ethical and doctrinal banalities of mainstream Sunnism,
such statements may indicate that al-Ghazl was far more fascinated
by Islamic neo-Platonism, gnostic theorizing and the more esoteric
aspects of Susm than is commonly believed.89 These esoteric aspects
of al-Ghazls thought come to the fore in his Niche for the Lights,
which will be discussed further on. This whole stupendous undertaking arises from al-Ghazls feeling that in the hands of the ulema
of his day religious knowledge had become a means of worldly
advancement, whereas it was his deep conviction that its goal is the
attainment of salvation in the world to come. He, therefore, while
describing the concrete precepts of the Shar'a in some detail, tried
to show how they contribute to the believers nal salvation.
Al-Ghazl wrote a number of lesser works dealing with the same
issues. Bidyat al-hidya is a brief statement of a rule of daily life for
the devout Muslim, together with counsel on the avoidance of sins.
86
87
88
89
147
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
92
Ibid.,
93
Ibid.,
in Avicenna
91
p. 27.
p. 46.
pp. 2426.
p. 54; cf. Hodgson, Venture, vol. 2, p. 314; P. Heath, Allegory and Philosophy
(Ibn Sina), Philadelphia, 1992, passim.
chapter six
148
94
149
ground that had been explored before him by Su classics, especially Ab lib al-Makk. His own Su credentials remain rather
slim. There is, however, little doubt that his personal example and
his enthusiastic advocacy of Su morals and ethics contributed in
signicant ways to making Susm a respectable and laudable option
for mainstream Sunn ulema and the masses from his time on.
Al-Ghazls versatility and breadth of intellectual interests aptly
reect the complexity and sophistication of Islamic culture, in which
Susm played an increasingly important role. He was instrumental
in fusing elements of various Islamic and non-Islamic teachings into
a distinctive world-orientational system and a respectable lifestyle that
came to be practiced in the Su institution called arqa.
Table 3. Chapter VI. The Systematization of the Su Tradition
Ab Sa'd al-A'rb (d. 341/952), a student of al-Junayd, author of abaqt
al-nussk
Muammad b. Dwd Prs (d. 342/953), author of Akhbr al-yya
Ja'far al-Khuld (d. 348/959), a Su of al-Junayds school, author of ikyt
al-mashikh
Ab l-Faraj al-Warathn (d. 372/982), author of abaqt al-yya
Ab Bakr Ibn Shdhn al-Rz (d. 376/986), author of ikyt al-yya
Ab lib al-Makk (d. 386/996), author of Qt al-qulb
Anonymous (second half of the 4th/10th century), author of Adab al-mulk
Ab Bakr al-Kalbdh (d. 380/990), author of al-Ta'arruf li-madhhab ahl
al-taawwuf
Ab 'Abd al-Ramn al-Sulam (d. 412/1021), author of abaqt al-yya,
aq"iq al-tafsr and many minor treatises on Su science
Ab l-Qsim al-Qushayr (d. 465/1074), author of Risla f l-taawwuf, a
Su classic
Ab Nu'aym al-Ifahn (d. 430/1038), author of ilyat al-awliy"
'Al b. 'Uthmn al-Jullb al-Hujwr (d. between 465/1073 and 469/1077),
author of Kashf al-majb, the rst known Persian manual of Susm
'Abd Allh al-Anr (d. 481/1089), author of several treatises on Susm,
including abaqt al-yya, Sad Maydn, and Manzil al-s"irn
CHAPTER SEVEN
151
152
chapter seven
'Ar
153
nma) and The Heart of the Essence ( Jawhar al-dht). To the third
belongs The Arena of Marvels (Mahar al-'aj"ib) and The Language
of the Unseen (Lisn al-ghayb). There is, in addition, a fourth group
of works which includes a number of works attributed to 'Ar.
Their authorship is generally seen as doubtful. The same goes for
some works in the third group. The books in the rst group are
generally modeled on the following pattern: there is a clear, wellconstructed main motif, which is interspersed with numerous short
subsidiary tales. Despite their auxiliary character, such tales are told
with great skill and deal with a great variety of subjects. They sometimes constitute the main charm of the works in this group. In the
second group, the number of such secondary tales is much smaller.
Inward looking and visionary by character, they rarely deal with the
external world. Here a few principal ideas are pursued with intensity and great emotion. To drive his point home 'Ar often repeats
them over and over. Among such recurring ideas and themes are:
the complete annihilation of man in God ( fan") that sometimes leads
to a physical death; the underlying unity of all being (there is nothing other than God, and all things are of one substance); the knowledge of ones self as the key to the vital mysteries of God and of
the Universe. In the stories that constitute the second group, God
often manifests himself in the guise of various human individuals, but
is nevertheless recognized by some perceptive observers. The narrative of such symbolic tales is usually poorly structured and abounds
in tiresome repetitions. Frequently one is at a loss as to who is speaking or who is being addressed. Here 'Ar makes extensive, and at
times excessive, use of anaphora: on occasion a hundred consecutive lines begin with the same phrase. Some scholars regard the works
of this group as spurious and place them in the third or even in the
fourth group. Their authorship is tentatively attributed to his namesake, a man of Sh' propensities who lived at s (near present day
Meshhed, Iran) in the ninth/fteenth century. In the absence of a
conclusive evidence, most scholars continue to view 'Ar as the
author of the works in the second group, especially since the use of
anaphora and many of the themes that dominate the second group
are similar to, or identical with, those in the rst one. The works
in the second group are full of allusions to Su gnosis, which the author presents as superior to all other types of cognition. Of the Su
mystics of the previous centuries 'Ar was particularly fascinated
by al-allj, who gures prominently in many of his mystical works.
154
chapter seven
155
she advises him to seek the answer in his own self (soul). Only after
having traversed the forty stages of the path, does the wayfarer discover his Lord in the sea of his own soul. The theme of the Mubatnma is typical of 'Ars Weltanschauung: deliverance from spiritual
anguish and doubt is to be found in embarking on the mystical path
under the guidance of an experienced master. In the Book of God,
'Ar depicts a king who asks his six sons to designate the object
of their aspirations, but is disappointed when he learns that all of
them are aspiring after material goals to the detriment of their spiritual needs. In the process, the king explains the esoteric meaning
of each sons longing: the fairy princess desired by the rst son symbolizes his quest for his puried soul; the magic ring of Solomon,
which was requested by the second son, stands for his desire to achieve
peace with his soul, etc. In general outlines, the Ilh-nma carries
essentially the same message as Maniq al-ayr: the answer to the
seekers quest lies in the knowledge of his own self.
The Book of the Mysteries (Asrr-nma) lacks any visible structure. It presents loosely strung reections on the worlds transience,
vanity, and on the depravity of human nature. One theme that
stands out is the gnostic notion that the human soul is entangled in
the trappings and allures of the material world, which distract it
from its real objective. According to a popular legend, 'Ar presented a copy of this book to the young Jall al-Dn Rm, who
further elaborated it in his Poem of Inner Meanings (Mathnaw-i
ma'naw ).
The rest of 'Ars authentic legacy consists of moralistic and
didactic treatises, such as the Book of Spiritual Advice (Pand-nma),
which instructs the reader as to how best to cope with the world, and
of a number of philosophical parables along the lines of the Ushturnma. The latter portrays God as a puppet-master, who deliberately
smashes the gures he has so carefully crafted and tears the curtain
down from his stage. When a wise man asks him about the meaning of such outrageous actions, God sends the inquirer on a futile
journey beyond the seven curtains. Having witnessed macabre and
meaningless events, the seeker leaves the scene empty-handed and
frustrated. The story contains numerous allusions to the experiences
and life-stories of the early mystics, especially to the tragic fate of
al-allj, whose voluntary martyrdom is presented as the culmination of spiritual quest.
Our survey of 'Ars work would be incomplete without mentioning
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chapter seven
Rm
The family of Jall al-Dn Rm, whom his followers usually call
Our Master (mawln), migrated from Balkh near the Oxus river
to Anatolia (Konya) on the eve of the Mongol invasions. His father
was a popular Su preacher in Balkh, who died when Rm was
still a young boy. His fathers students and friends made sure that
he received a good education.7 Rms rst shaykh, Sayyid Burhn
al-Dn Muaqqiq was an old pupil of his father, who had come to
Konya to visit his former master only to nd that he was no loner
alive. He took Jall al-Dn under his wing and educated him in the
fundamentals of the Muslim Law and the Su path. When Burhn
al-Dn died nine years later, Jall al-Dn did not aliate himself
with another master and remained on his own for ve years. A turning point in his whole life was the arrival in Konya in 642/1244 of
the wandering dervish Shams al-Dn Muammad Tabrz (Shams-i
Tabrz), a wildly unpredictable man who deed all conventions and
preached the self-suciency of each individual in his search for the
divine.8 However, in the eyes of Konyas religious establishment,
Shams-i Tabrz was a disreputable drifter with neither family nor
permanent home. His restless wandering life won him the nickname
of the ier ( paranda). During their rst meeting, Shams-i Tabrz
5
6
7
8
157
Ibid.
158
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159
160
chapter seven
are arranged in diering combinations by Gods arbitrary and unpredictable will. God jolts non-existent things into existence by
murmuring into their allegorical ears the words of his creative
command. Rm saw the material world as created by God in preparation for the creation of man, whom the poet presented as the
ultimate goal and culmination of Gods creative plan. All individual
beings aspire toward their creator. A symbol of this eternal aspiration is the trees that rise from the dark soil and extend their branches
and leaves toward the sun. Gods creative plan culminates in the
creation of man who, by his very nature, aspires to rise above his
material environment in order to attain a union with his creator.
For Rm, man is not a simple compound of body and soul. The
human organism consists of a physical body, a soul, an intellect, and
a subtler spirit that is linked to divine inspiration. While all humans
share the former three in various degrees, the latter is conned exclusively to prophets and saints, who are dierent from ordinary humans.
Rm likens them to Gods falcons10 whom their Lord periodically sends to humans in order to remind them of his laws and of
the exalted status of mankind in the divine plan. As the mouthpieces
of God, the prophets and messengers stand above the generality of
humans. They are the manifest signs and living reminders of Gods
wisdom and majesty. In a sense, they are above the normal human
standards which Rm considered to be binding for the rest of
mankind. Mans diligent performance of his religious duties is a tangible demonstration of his loyalty to his Lord. Rm likens acts of
piety and worship to the precious presents that the faithful lover
sends to his beloved. Rms position on the perennial problem of
human free versus divine predestination is elusive. He draws a distinction between the act of God and its concrete result, between the
irrevocable divine command and its concrete realization in the contingent world. When mans spiritual eyes are open, he sees no contradiction between the two. He views himself as being moved by
Gods inscrutable will, yet enjoying a freedom that surpasses the illusory freedom that is claimed by ordinary believers. To reach this
higher state of freedom/dependence one has to actively exert oneself in the service of God and not to wait until it is granted to him
by his divine Master. Rms vision of the relations between
10
161
God and his servant is subtle. For him, the process of the mystical
annihilation of man in the divine Essence ( fan") is never complete.
As the ame of a candle continues to exist despite being outshined
by the radiance of the sun, so does a mystical man retain his identity despite the overpowering presence of his Lord. In this state he
can claim to be both human and divine, although in some instances
he is tempted to declare his complete identity with the Divine Essence.
The style of Rms poetic works is determined by the fact that
the poet used to sing them in the process of composition on the
assumption that they are likely to be sung by his followers. According
to a famous legend, Rm improvised his odes while gently dancing
around a pillar in his khnaq. In a similar vein, Rms rst encounter
with his favorite disciple, the goldsmith al al-Dn Zarkb, occurred
when he began to move to the rhythm of al al-Dns hammer,
while passing by the latters shop. His sense of rhythm was not always
matched by his attention to the conventions of Persian metrics, which
he often ignores. In the Mathnaw, the conventional narrative ow
of poetry is occasionally interrupted by a sudden poetic or stylistic
deviation that may have been produced by a mystic rapture experienced by the author. Due to the intensely personal and ecstatic
features of his poetry, it found practically no successful imitators in
later Persian poetry. In Rm we nd the paragon and the ultimate
manifestation of Su artistic creativity, which combines organically
mystical experience with poetic inspiration.
Jm
Nr al-Dn 'Abd al-Ramn Jm was born in 817/1414 in the district of Jm near Herat (present-day Afghanistn). As a youth he
entered a prestigious religious college at Herat, where he excelled in
Arabic rhetoric. To pursue his education further, he traveled to
Samarqand, where he studied, among other subjects, astronomy and
mathematics.11 In the course of his studies he developed a deep passion for mysticism and decided to embark on the mystical path. His
rst spiritual director was Sa'd al-Dn Muammad Kashghr, a foremost disciple of, and the organizational successor to, the founder of
11
N. Heer (ed.), The Precious Pearl: Al-Jamis al-Durrah al-Fakhirah, Albany, N.Y.,
1979, p. 1.
chapter seven
162
Ibid., p. 2.
163
Susm titled Nafat al-uns (The Breath of Divine Intimacy) that draws
on 'Ars Tadhkirat al-awliy" and the works of earlier Su biographers.
Jms Arabic treatises on various dicult issues of Su philosophy, Law"i (Flashes of Light) and al-Durra al-fkhira (The Precious
Pearl), are masterpieces of lucidity and concision.13 In the al-Durra,
Jm discusses the respective positions of the speculative theologians,
the Sus and the philosophers on eleven major issues of the Islamic
creed, including the nature of Gods existence, Gods knowledge and
attributes, and the origin of the universe in space and time.14 In the
Law"i, Jm summarizes, in a nutshell, the intellectual development
of Islamic mysticism from its inception up to his own time. He also
wrote commentaries on the Qur"n, on the mystical poetry of Ibn
al-Fri and on Ibn 'Arabs Fu al-ikam. Jms indebtedness to
the school of Ibn 'Arab and his philosophically minded followers is
to the fore in his Epistle on Existence (Risla f l-wujd ). Here he
identies God with an absolute being that is not conditioned by anything. He then proceeds to describe this absolute being as the only
existent reality outside our minds. In this scheme, the universe is
presented as a mere manifestation or particularization of the absolute
being, which in and of itself has no independent reality. According
to Jm, this perception of reality is derived from mystical insight or
unveiling (kashf ) and, in particular, from the mystical experience
of fan", or annihilation, in which the entire universe, and the Sus
own individuality, disappears, and only God remains as the sole true
existent reality.15
As we can see, Jms work recapitulates the major themes that
were developed by the mystical tradition in the preceding centuries.
His writings intricately mingle mystical poetry with didactic, biographical and metaphysical narratives, providing a helpful summation of various stands within contemporary Susm.
164
chapter seven
165
chapter seven
166
Ibn 'Arabs Doctrine
20
21
22
167
168
chapter seven
Ibid., p. 315.
Morris, How to Study the Futuhat, 73.
CHAPTER EIGHT
170
chapter eight
were but foreign implants grafted onto the pristine body of the classical Su tradition. It seems more productive to treat them as a natural development of certain tendencies inherent in the Islamic religion
from the outset, which in turn reected the growing sophistication
of later Susm. Already in the classical Su tradition God was seen
as the only real agent in this world, to whose commands and actions
man must submit willingly and unconditionally. In the post-classical
period of Susms history, which began in the fth-sixth/eleventhtwelfth centuries, this perception of God evolved into a vision of
God as not just the only agent but also the only reality that exists.
This conception, which may somewhat loosely be termed monistic,
was rebued by the great anbal scholar Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/
1328), who condemned its Su adherents as out-and-out heretics.
Ibn Taymiyya and those ulema who came in his wake laid the foundations of the anti-monistic polemical literature which was to play an
important role in the Islamic intellectual discourse from the eighth/
fourteenth century until today.2
In addition to non-Islamic philosophical systems, later Susm integrated and institutionalized a number of special spiritual exercises
and meditation techniques that have become its distinctive hallmarks.
They included such practices as spiritual retreat (khalwa), the remembrance of God (dhikr ) and the mystical concerts (sam' ) during which
formulas of dhikr were performed to the accompaniment of various
musical instruments. Su theorists saw these rituals as a means to
intensify relations between the mystic and his divine Master and to
release the spiritual energies that the mystic accumulated in the
process of direct contemplation of mysteries or even of God himself. It is with this end in mind that Su masters allowed music to
be played and love poetry to be recited during the sam' gatherings.
In the process, the mystics encounter with his divine Beloved acquired
a recognizable ritual and artistic expression that set Sus aside from
the commonality of the believers. During such gatherings, mystics
often fell into a state of ecstasy (wajd ) that could force them to perform a spontaneous dance or to make frantic rhythmic gestures to
the accompaniment of music. As time went on, these practices became
more and more rigidly ritualized. On the psychological level, they
allowed the mystic to enter changed states of consciousness during
2
See A. Knysh, Ibn 'Arab in the Later Islamic Tradition: The making of a polemical
image in medieval Islam, Albany, New York, 1998.
171
172
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173
pline and doctrine pursued by the followers of a Su master within the framework of a Su institution. In Western literature such
institutions came to be known as Su orders, a term that implied
their underlying anity with the monastic orders of Christian Europe.
They were usually named after their founders, although the credit
for the shaping of the disciples of a given shaykh into a structured
social and religious organism usually went to his immediate successors. These successors put the teacher-disciple relationship on a formal foundation which came to serve as the rule of communal life
within the order. Upon completing his training under a renowned
master, the novice obtained from his teacher a license to instruct his
own disciples (ijza) and, as an external sign, a rough cloak (khirqa).
A typical Su outt also included a prayer rug (sajjda), a rosary
(misbaa) and a beggars bowl (kashkl ).
Throughout the late sixth/thirteenth-early tenth/sixteenth centuries
the ruling dynasties of the Middle East were generously supporting
both Su brotherhoods and individual mystics, including such unconventional gures as Yay al-Suhraward, Ibn Sab'n (d. 669/
1269), Ibn Hd (d. 699/1299), Ibn 'Arab, and 'Abd al-Karm al-Jl
(d. 832/1428), who ourished under the Ayybids of Egypt and Syria
and under the Raslids of Yemen. The institutionalization of Susm
that had begun under the Saljuqs gained further impetus under their
successors in the eastern lands of Islam. In spite of the disruptions
caused by the Mongol invasions of the middle of the seventh/thirteenth centuries, the Mongol rulers, who gradually embraced Islam,
tended to extend patronage to renowned Sus masters in hopes of
beneting from their popularity among their Muslim subjects and
in order to secure their blessings (baraka) in political and military
ventures. It is often argued that the network of Su organizations,
which developed around that time, cemented the unity of eastern
Islamdom following the fragmentation of the Caliphate and the emergence of numerous mutually hostile Muslim principalities.
In Egypt and Syria, the Mamlk rulers continued the pro-Su
policies of their predecessors. Many Mamlks were fascinated with
charismatic Su visionaries, whose blessing and charisma they highly
valued and were anxious to secure. At the same time, religious ocials in the Mamlk administration found this fascination disturbing.
They felt that freewheeling mystics with no formal education were
ill qualied to provide counsel to their royal patrons, who often had
a very vague notion of the Shar'a norms and their application.
174
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175
176
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177
of Muammads behavior (imitatio Muhammadi ) but also to keep Muammads image always present in his thoughts and feelings. This
practice was intensied to such an extent that many Sus claimed
to have witnessed Muammad in person by their own eyes. In the
course of such encounters the Prophet communicated to them some
valuable advice or a solution to a dicult moral dilemma or theological problem. Many Su orders claimed to have derived their
training techniques and moral and ethical precepts from what they
called the path of Muammad (arqa muammadiyya).
In later Susm, we nd two principal types of aliation between
the master and his adherents. According to the rst type, the seeker,
or aspirant (murd ), attached himself permanently to the shaykh of a
arqa, who thereby assumed full responsibility for his education and,
at the end of his study, invested him with the so-called robe of discipleship (khirqat al-irda), which can be seen as the equivalent of a
Su diploma. The second type was far less formal. It presupposed
a temporary aliation of the disciple to a Su master with a view
to beneting from the latters blessing and charisma which he in
turn derived from his initiatory lineage stretching back to the Prophet.
After a short period of instruction and counseling, the disciple could
obtain the robe of blessing (khirqat al-tabarruk) from the master and
leave him to join another one.6 This type of aliation was open not
only to full-time Sus, but, in principle, to any Muslim, thereby
dramatically expanding Susms popular base and facilitating the
recruitment of new members. Frequently, such aliated members
of the order came from a royal or princely background or occupied
high oces in the state hierarchy. They were therefore in a position to lavishly reward their Su mentors for their spiritual counsel
and charisma by assigning them revenues from their properties.
Multiple aliations became a common feature of later Susm, although some Su leaders (e.g., those of the Tijniyya) prohibited their
followers from seeking blessing outside their order.
Throughout the eighth/fourteenth and ninth/fteenth centuries
the Su arqas grew more complex. They developed into hierarchical social and economic structures, making it impossible for their
heads to dispense spiritual advice and training directly to all of their
followers. Consequently, the shaykh of a large arqa came to rely
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on a group of deputies (called muqaddams or khalfas), who were authorized to preach and teach on his behalf at the regional branches of
the brotherhood, which were sometimes located at a considerable distance from the central lodge. Such deputies, who often enjoyed considerable independence and had the right to initiate new members
into the order, were often tempted to establish an independent order,
especially when they disagreed with the shaykhs appointment of his
organizational successor. This situation led to a rapid proliferation
of subsidiary localized brotherhoods that were run by their leaders
as independent organizations. Compared to the Christian monastic
orders, which were organized around the papacy and had to comply with xed constitutions, the Su brotherhoods were more loosely
structured and decentralized. The lack of a rigid subordination accounts for the ssiparous nature of arqa Susm and for the resultant
tendency on the part of local branches to acquire independence
vis--vis the mother order. To regulate their activities, secular
rulers tried to bring the orders under state control with various degrees
of success. In the Ottoman Empire, each major city had the master
of the orders (shaykh al-shuykh). Appointed by the local governor,
he presided over the activities of Su institutions in the area under
his jurisdiction. In 1227/1812, the Viceroy of Egypt Muammad
'Al established a similar oce in Cairo. Its holder was granted authority over all the mystical communities of Egypt as well as over
the countrys numerous Su shrines and hostels. The competition
among later Su orders for spheres inuence and new members
encouraged exclusivity and resulted in the emergence of clearly dened
borderlines between a given order and its competitors or between
dierent organizational branches of the same order. In modern times,
each order was characterized by distinct colors and a specic dress
code, which set its adherents apart from other Su institutions.
As mentioned, the physical and institutional spread of Susm was
accompanied by the diversication of its doctrines and sources. The
spiritual and intellectual needs of Susms increasingly diverse constituencies were no longer met by the simple pietist principles outlined by the semi-legendary gures of the rst centuries of Islam.
Responding to the varied needs and intellectual levels of its audiences Susm evolved into a complex and heterogeneous system. Thus,
the famous Maghrib Su Amad Zarrq (d. 899/1493) could identify ten distinctive stands within the Su tradition of his epoch. Each
of these strands, according to Zarrq, had its own set of ascetic and
179
spiritual exercises, theoretical assumptions, textbooks and authoritative exponents.7 In the section that follows I will examine the life
and work of the greatest Su masters of the later period who established lines of teaching and inuence that persisted for centuries to
come. In undertaking this task one inevitably encounters the problem of Susms denition, which arises precisely out of the diversity
of its elements. Authors and scholars who are now known as Sus
may or may not have applied the term to themselves. Throughout
the later Middle Ages and in modern times, one nds a broad spectrum of doctrinal opinions, beliefs and practices that have been
labeled as Susm by both Muslims and outside observers. Nevertheless, their relevance to the Su tradition in the original sense of
the word is far from straightforward in so far as later Susm served
more than any other movement to draw together all strands of intellectual life.8
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11
181
12
13
Ibid., p. 209.
Arberry, Susm, p. 85.
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14
15
183
Similar misgivings are expressed by J. Chabbi. She viewed 'Abd alQdir as a preacher and director of a religious college par excellence,
who was later appropriated by the mystics of Sh' background and
portrayed as a model Su master and the founder of the Qdir
brotherhood.17 A more recent study of his written legacy has revealed
that 'Abd al-Qdir had an intimate knowledge of the early Su tradition and the teachings of its major exponents. Throughout his writings, he made frequent references to the ideas of al-asan al-Bar,
Ibrhm b. Adham, Sufyn al-Thawr, al-Musib, Rbi'a al'Adawiyya, Ma'rf al-Karkh, Fuayl b. 'Iy, al-Bism, al-Tustar,
and the Sus of al-Junayds circle.18 Furthermore, he showed a good
command of the Su terminology current in his age.19 Finally, his
position as the head of a Su lodge was shown to have been quite
feasible, if we consider the rapid proliferation of such institutions in
his epoch and the frequent references to his Su disciples (murdn;
fuqar") in contemporary sources, including his own sermons.20
16
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184
185
23
24
186
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187
their existence. The men on the other hand chiey go to the khalwa
when they are ill. Some Sunn scholars, especially Ibn Taymiyya
and his followers in Syria and Egypt, attacked such practices. The
Qdiriyya consists of loosely structured communities that dier from
other orders mainly in ritual, but again this varies widely from one
locality to another within the same Qdir movement. It is, therefore, hardly appropriate to speak of a unied Qdir order. Perhaps
the only feature such disparate regional communities share in common is their allegiance to the saintly founder. Furthermore, though
the founder was a anbal scholar, membership is by no means
conned to that school, and the order is theoretically both tolerant
and charitable.
Since historical and geographical works rarely distinguish between
the dierent Su uruq in their accounts of religious buildings, little
can be said with certainty of the date at which the rst Qdir lodge
(zwiyya or khnaq) was established in any country save Iraq. The
teachings of the order is said to have been introduced into Fez by
the posterity of two of 'Abd al-Qdirs sons, Ibrhm (d. 592/1196 in
Wsi, Lower Iraq) and 'Abd al-'Azz (who died in Jiyl, a village
of Sinjr, Upper Iraq). Their descendants reportedly had migrated
to Spain and shortly before the fall of Granada (897/1492) ed to
Morocco, where they still reside. The khalwa of 'Abd al-Qdir in
Fez is mentioned as early as 1104/16923.
The order was introduced into Asia Minor and Istanbul by Ism'l
Rm, founder of the khnaq known as the Qdirikhnah at the
opkhne. This personage (d. 1041/1631), who is called P r thn,
Second Master, is said to have founded some forty lodges (tekiya
or tekke) in these regions. The Yemeni scholar li b. Mahd alMaqbal mentioned a Qdir lodge (rib) in Mecca27 about 1180/
1767. The assertion that a branch was established there during the
lifetime of 'Abd al-Qdir28 is not improbable, since Mecca has a natural attraction for the Sus.
The Qdiriyya order is mentioned as one that is highly respected
but is not included among those recognized in India. It spread into
the Subcontinent from Uch, northeast of Multn, in the late ninth/
fteenth centuries; from there it was carried by the Qdir missionaries
27
28
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189
In Africa, according to L. Rinn, each muqaddam names his successor; in the event of one dying without having nominated anyone,
an election is made by the members of a given branch during a collective Su worship (ara). The approval of the head of the order
in Baghdad is then solicited, and has never been refused. The organization of the order in North Africa is described somewhat fully by
L. Rinn, O. Depont and X. Coppolani in the works cited in the
footnotes. The system appears to be in general congregational, that
is, the zwiyas are by and large independent, and the relation between
them and the central institution in Baghdad is very loose and sometimes nonexistent. The principle whereby the headship of a zwiyya
is hereditary is generally recognized, but not always followed.
In Anatolia, the sign of the Qdir brotherhood was said to be a
green rose adopted by its local propagator Ism'l Rm. The candidate for admission to the order after a year brought an 'araqiyya,
or a small felt cap, to which if the candidate be accepted the shaykh
attached a rose of eighteen yellow, red, white and black petals,
arranged in three rings of ve, six and seven respectively, with
Solomons Seal in the center. This cap is called by them crown
(tj ). The symbolism of this is explained by L. Garnett34 and refers,
respectively, to the virtues one acquires by joining the order, the
indispensable elements of faith, and the number verses in the rst
Qur"n chapter, the Ftia. The Turkish Qdiriyya preferred the
color green, though they allowed others. In nineteenth-century Egypt
on the other hand the turbans and banners of the Qdiriyya were
white; most members of the order were shermen, and in religious
processions they carried upon poles nets of various colors.35 There
are festivities in honor of 'Abd al-Qdir on 11 Rab' II, and pilgrimages are made in many places in Algeria and Morocco to the zwiyas
and shrines of the saint.36 The birthday of the founder (mawsim),
celebrated by the Jlla at Sal commences on the seventh day of
the muld (mawlid ), that is, the Feast of the Prophets birthday, and
lasts four days 1720 Rab' I. Sheep and oxen are presented to the
descendants of 'Abd al-Qdir. French observers in Morocco distinguished between the ceremonies of the Qdiriyya, who recite the
34
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orders litany (izb), and the Jlla, who recite the dhikr to the accompaniment of drums and tambourines; and again between the Jlla
of the country, who use slightly dierent musical instruments. A performance executed with these instruments sometimes leads to ecstasy.
The collective worship of the Jlla of the country contains neither
the izb nor the dhikr instituted by the founder of the brotherhood,
but a plain dhikr of improvised words chanted to the ceremonial
rhythm of the tambourines without bells (bandir). These improvisations always terminate with the words Thus spoke Mawly 'Abd
al-Qdir or O Mawly 'Abd al-Qdir.
Various collections of rituals, which are ascribed to 'Abd al-Qdir,
have been published in Egypt, Turkey and India. In the Qdir
manual The Divine Outpourings (al-Fuyt al-rabbniyya), the murd
who is about to enter upon khalwa (retreat) is advised to fast in the
day and keep vigil at night. The khalwa lasts forty days. If, during
the vigil, a gure reveals itself to him saying I am God, he should
say Nay rather thou art in God, and if it be for probation, it will
vanish; but if it remain, then it will be a genuine revelation (tajall ).
Reduction of food during the forty days should be gradual till for
the last three days fasting is complete. At the end, the murd returns
by degrees to his former diet.
The Jlla of Tangier in Algeria, who make vows to 'Abd al-Qdir
in the hopes of securing his assistance in a dicult undertaking or
in distress, are in the habit of depositing in the zwiyya white cocks,
which are called muarrar.37 They do not kill them, but leave them
free to rove about the zwiyya, where however they do not long survive, since the descendants of the Prophet who live hard by take
them for their food. The head (muqaddam) of this zwiyya conducts
the ceremonies at which the Qur"n is repeated without 'Abd alQdirs litany (izb) being pronounced, and where some ritual dances
are performed. Circumcisions are made at the zwiyya on the rst
day of the Prophets birthday (mawlid ). A nightly meeting called layla
is held on the eve of this day, at which the izb of 'Abd al-Qdir
is recited. In some localities of the Maghrib, all the potters belong
to the Jlla, among whom the richer members of the community
are to be found.
The rst time that the Qdirs appear to have played an active
political part was during the French conquest of Algeria in the 1830s,
37
191
when the chief of the local Qdiriyya, Muy l-Dn, having been
oered the leadership in the war against the indel, permitted his
son 'Abd al-Qdir to accept it. A born leader of men, 'Abd al-Qdir
was able to utilize the mobilizational resources and the shaykh-murd
discipline of his brotherhood to establish his authority over many
regions of Algeria. When his power was threatened by the French,
he made astute use of his rank as the muqaddam of his order to win
fresh recruits and consolidate his authority over the Algerian countryside. After his fall and subsequent exile to France in 1847, the
followers of the African Qdiriyya seem to have lost their militancy.
From that time onward they often lent their support to the French
colonial government of Algeria. During a local insurrection in Aurs
in 1879, the shaykh of the Qdiriyya of Men'a, S Muammad b.
'Abbs, displayed unimpeachable loyalty. The same branch of the
order helped the French to extend their inuence to the Sahara at
Wrgla and to El-Wad. Their leader S Muammad b. ayyib, fell
on the French side at the battle of Charouin on March 2, 1901.38
General Observations
The various branches of the Qdiriyya present a typical example of
the evolution of Susm in the later periods. It was no longer simply the individual piety of a few religious virtuosi, but an elaborate
lore and custom based on the relation of disciple and master that
eventually acquired its own organization, the arqa Su order. From
that time on the arqa has existed side by side with the mosques
and madrasas of the regular ulema scholars.39 The social potentialities of organized Susm were fully realized with the emergence of
the Su cloisters and lodges, which gradually became the important foci of social cohesion and popular religiosity. As 'Abd al-Qdirs
example clearly demonstrates, the great Su preachers and visionaries enjoyed enormous popular respect. Living in poverty . . . and
scorning the niceties of courtly fashion and the competition for
nancial and social advantage of the urban tradesmen . . ., they
fullled the long-standing Irano-Semitic dream of a pure life over
against the injustice that seemed built into city life . . .40 The moral
38
39
40
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192
respect which Sus and their leaders enjoyed among the masses gradually transformed into a wide popular belief in their miraculous powers and in their ability to intercede before God on behalf of the
ordinary believers. Mixed with the pre-Islamic religious and cultural
substrata of the areas where Susm was by now rmly implanted,
such popular beliefs produced the peculiar combinations that have
just been described. From then on, Su institutions were increasingly
catering to the needs of popular religiosity with its insatiable craving
for the miraculous and the extraordinary. Endowed by the popular
imagination with supernatural therapeutic and intercessory powers
Su shaykhs came to provide the much needed spiritual comfort
and ministry to the populations in the rural hinterland as well as in
cities. Their role was especially vital at the time of the decline or
outright collapse of the central authorities in the aftermath of various social cataclysms or natural disasters. In accounting for the new
social role of Susm one Western scholar wrote:
The Su ties at once deepened the local moral resources, and tied
them in a system of brotherhoods in some ways as universal as the
old caliphal bureaucracy had been, which had disappeared. . . . Thus
Susm supplemented the Shar'ah as a principle of unity and social
order, oering the Muslims the sense of spiritual unity which came to
be stronger than that provided by the remnant of the caliphate. They
developed . . . a picture of the world which united the whole Dr alIslm [i.e., the Abode of IslamA.K.] . . . under a comprehensive hierarchy of pirs . . . The individual khniqhs and saints tombs to which
the faithful could come for spiritual guidance and consolation from
God-dedicated men were part of an inclusive holy ordernot merely
the order of a given arqah, but that of Gods chosen men throughout the world.41
Ibid., p. 221.
193
194
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195
196
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54
H. Algar (trans.), The Path of Gods Bondsmen from Origin to Return: A Su compendium by Najm al-Dn Rz, Delmar, New York, 1982.
197
55
C. Addas, The Quest for Red Sulphur, Cambridge, 1993, pp. 240241; cf.
A. Knysh, Ibn 'Arab in the Later Islamic Tradition: The making of a polemical image in medieval Islam, Albany, New York, 1998, p. 134 and passim.
56
Hodgson, Venture, vol. 2, p. 281.
57
Ibid., p. 282.
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198
Ibid., p. 283.
Ibid., p. 282.
199
200
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201
60
202
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treated with suspicion by mainstream Sunn theologians. His cosmology describes a hierarchical series of beings that emanate from
Gods primordial creature through the Divine Command (amr). In
an obvious parallel to the prima causa of the philosophers, he describes
this creature as the greatest spirit (al-r al-a'am) that sets in motion
the multi-stage process of origination culminating in the emergence
of the rst man. Al-Suhraward places God far above creatury
existence (wujd ). In line with his cosmological scheme, Gods rst
and most beloved creature, the greatest spirit, assumes the task
of the necessitator (mjib) of the world. The rst to originate from
the necessitator is the primordial intellect, which al-Suhraward
identied as the director of the missions of the prophets. He identied the second intellect with the cosmic soul, which he put in
charge of the deeds of the saints. Next comes the creative intellect ('aql khalq ), which presides over the thought of the philosophers. The sphere of the third intellect is followed by the heavenly
spheres, down to the sphere of the moon. This theology is in many
respects similar to that of al-Ghazl, which could have been its
source of inspiration.61
Although his later works are focused on metaphysical issues, they
nevertheless evince the same political and religious agenda as we
observed in the 'Awrif. Al-Suhraward attempts to weave together
dierent and at times contradictory trends of theological thought
and to create a reformed traditionalist doctrine. This doctrine was
explicitly designed by him to strengthen the ideological foundations
of the decaying 'Abbsid caliphate. On most theoretical and practical issues al-Suhraward steers a middle course (wasa, tawassu). The
only concept on which al-Suhraward was not prepared to compromise is the unicity of God (wadniyya), which constitutes the fulcrum
of the traditionalist creed. In defending Gods unity and transcendence al-Suhraward mounts an attack on the philosophers with their
doctrine of causality which, in his opinion, has made them susceptible to polytheism (shirk), that is, to the sin of absolutizing secondary causes. Based on this assumption, al-Suhraward declared
them the principal enemies of the Muslim Community (umma). At
the same time, he was rather lenient toward other heretics, including the Sh's and the Ism'lis. This reconciliatory trend comes to
61
203
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The caliph had a lodge built for him and designated him as a patron
of the futuwwa clubs. Upon his death, al-Suhraward was succeeded
by his son 'Imd al-Dn Muammad Suhraward (d. 655/1257), who
presided over the Su lodge al-Ma"mniyya. Upon completion of
their Su education his numerous disciples returned to their homelands or settled in new areas, where they propagated the teachings
of the Suhrawardyya order as expounded in the 'Awrif al-ma'rif.
This book thus can be rightfully regarded as the teaching manual
of the order.
In the Indian Subcontinent, the Suhrawardiyya was one of the four
major orders, besides the Chishtiyya, the Qdiriyya and the Naqshbandiyya. It gained a foothold there at the beginning of the Dehli
Sulnate (sixth/thirteenth century) thanks to the eorts of three disciples of Shihb al-Dn al-Suhraward. Each of them later founded
a regional branch: mid al-Dn Nagawr (d. 673/1274) in the area
of Dehli, Ab l-Qsim Jall al-Dn Tabrz (d. 6412/1244) in
Bangala, and Bah" al-Dn Zakariyy" Multn (d. 661/1262) in
Multn. Bah" al-Dn, who joined Shihb al-Dn in Baghdad after
spending some time at Bukhr, proved to be the most successful
propagator of the orders teachings. Under his successors his residence in Multn became the orders principal center in India. Shihb
al-Dn al-Suhrawards contemporary and disciple, Mu'n al-Dn
Chisht of Sstn (Iran), also disseminated the orders doctrine in
India. Having settled at Ajmer, he laid the foundations of the popular Chishtiyya order whose members used the 'Awrif as their manual of instruction. The Shariyya order, which had strong links to
the Suhrawardiyya, was introduced to India at the end of the
ninth/fteenth century.
Of Bah" al-Dns disciples mention should be made of Sayyid
Jall Bukhr (d. 690/1291) who migrated from Bukhr to Uch,
where he founded the Jall branch of the order. The famous Sh'
dervish order of the Khksr seems to be a Persian oshoot of this
Jall suborder. Bah" al-Dns most famous disciple was the Su and
poet Fakhr al-Dn Ibrhm 'Irq, a native of Hamadn in Persia, who
studied in Multn with Bah" al-Dn and later served as one of his
lieutenants (khalfa). Since the appointment of adr al-Dn Muammad
'rif (d. 684/1286) as his fathers successor at the head of the order,
its Indian leadership has adhered to hereditary principle. Thus, despite
the fact that adr al-Dn had many illustrious disciples, including
the great Su scholar Amr usayn usayn (d. after 720/1320),
205
upon his death the headship of the order devolved upon his son
Rukn al-Dn Ab l-Fat (d. 735/1335). The latter, in turn, was succeeded by either his nephew or, according to the Maghrib traveller
Ibn Baa, his grandson Shaykh Hd. Following Hds execution
on the orders of the sultan of Delhi, who suspected the shaykh of
embezzlement, the fortunes of Bah" al-Dns imposing khnaq in
Multn suered a decline which eventually led to its dissipation. The
orders other regional branches, however, continued to ourish in
Uch, Gujarat, the Punjab, Kashmr and at Dehli.
In Uch, Jall al-Dn Bukhr, also known as Makhdm-i Jahniyn, succeeded in infusing the arqa with new life. In addition
to his aliation with the Suhrawardiyya, Makhdm was also initiated, by Chirgh-i Dihl, into the Chishtiyya order. Although Bah"
al-Dn prohibited his disciples from joining any other order, from
the eighth/fourteenth century on many Indian Sus were members
of both the Chishtiyya and the Suhrawardiyya orders. The religious policy of a given branch of the Suhrawardiyya order was usually determined by the personal religious views of its leader. Thus
Makhdm, who was famous for his puritanism, opposed the inuence
of Hindu customs on his fellow Muslims; he also disapproved of
invoking God in Hindi. His brother and successor adr al-Dn Raju
(d. after 800/1400) earned the name of slayer [of Hindus] (qattl )
on account of his unrelenting hostility toward Hinduism.
Whereas various disciples and descendants of the Makhdm family established themselves in the provincial kingdoms of Kalpi and
also in Gujarat, the Suhrawardiyya branch in Dehli was established
by Sam" al-Dn (d. 9012/1496), a follower of Raju Qattl. Unlike
most of the leaders of the Suhrawardiyya who sought to steer clear
of mystical metaphysics, Sam" al-Dn was noted as an exponent of
the tradition of wadat al-wujd, personied by the Su gnostic Ibn
'Arab and his numerous followers in the eastern parts of the Muslim
world. The leading gure among Sam" al-Dns disciples was mid
b. Jaml Dihlaw (d. 942/1536), a widely known poet and traveller.
The Indian Suhrawardiyya had the greatest impact, however, in
Kashmr. This was partly due to the support they received from
migrant Sus of the Kubrawiyya order and from the local temporal rulers. Rinchana, the king of Kashmr and former Buddhist chief
from Ladakh, who embraced Islam in the eighth/fourteenth century,
is said to have been converted by Sayyid Sharaf al-Dn who was a
disciple of Shihb al-Dn al-Suhrawards emissary (khalfa) in Turkestan.
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62
207
cations of the dhikr exercises along the lines of Yogic mysticism, which
were practiced by the members of the Chishtiyya, were absent from
the Suhraward rituals. The practice of prostration before the shaykh
(zamn-bs), which was common among the Chishtiyya, was rejected
by the leaders of the Suhrawardiyya.
With regard to the sam' concerts, the Suhrawardiyya shows little
appreciation of poetry or music. Already the founder, Shihb alDn al-Suhraward, had taken a reserved stance toward the use of
music and dancing during Su gatherings. Shihb al-Dn also criticised Awad al-Dn Kirmn for his contemplation of beauty in sensible objects, especially in the unbearded youth, which was often
practiced during sam' assemblies.63 Nevertheless the poet 'Irq, who
studied with Bah" al-Dn, adopted the latters favorable attitude
toward this practice, known as shhid-bz. Many later Suhraward
leaders also viewed sam' to be licit, although they restricted it to
the orders spiritual elite. These conicting approaches to sam' among
the orders leadership have persisted up to the present day.
While in recent times the Suhrawardiyya has largely disappeared
from such Arab countries as Syria, it continues to enjoy a modest
following in Iraq. The leaders of the contemporary Suhrawardiyya
in that country traditionally belong to the li al-Khab family.
Some of them served as professors at the religious college named
after Shihb al-Dn Suhraward or as public preachers at the mosque
attached to it. At one point, one Suhraward shaykh is said to have
served as the ocial prayer-leader (imm) of the Iraqi army.
Al-Shdhil and the Beginnings of the Shdhiliyya
In the Muslim West, the fortunes of Islamic mysticism were inextricably tied with the personality and teachings of Ab l-asan 'Al
al-Shdhil (593/1196656/1258). This Maghrib Su launched a
arqa which gave birth to numerous dynamic ramications in Egypt
and North Africa. Later on, the oshoots of the al-Shdhiliyya arqa
spread throughout the Islamic world, as far as India and Indonesia.
Accounts of al-Shdhils life are known to us through the works
of his disciples. These works usually follow a standard hagiographic
canon that makes it hard to distinguish his historical personality from
63
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64
209
locals came to credit him with numerous miracles and his prayers
were thought to be granted by God. His popularity irritated the
Mlik ulema of Qayrawn who hastened to accuse him of harboring messianic tendencies (on account of his descent from 'Al and
Fima) and of claming to be the pole of his age. Despite the support of the afid sultan Ab Zakariyy", al-Shdhil nally decided
to leave Ifrqiya with a departing pilgrimage caravan. Upon arriving in Egypt, he settled in Alexandria in 642/1244 or perhaps only
as late as 650/1252. His preaching attracted to him not only the
populace but some established scholars as well. Numerous pupils
ocked to his lodge in Alexandria from far and wide to attend his
lectures and partake of his blessing.65 A meticulous and uncompromising observer of the duties of Islam, al-Shdhil made the point
of performing a pilgrimage to Mecca as often as he could. It was
on one such journey that he died at al-umaythira, a village in the
Upper Egyptian desert on the Red Sea coast.
Al-Shdhil left behind no doctrinal writings, except for a few letters to his followers,66 litanies and prayers. The core of his teachings was transmitted and systematized by his pupils in the form of
collections of sayings, witticisms and edifying and miraculous anecdotes. They demonstrate his indebtedness to the precepts of classical Susm as well as his solicitude for the spiritual and material
needs of his disciples. The pivot of his teaching is the strictest possible observance of the of Shar'a law which he prescribes equally
to the Sus and to the ordinary believers. By fullling the requirements of the Divine Law the Muslim, in the words of al-Shdhil,
puries the mirror of his soul and becomes t to undertake a mystical journey to his Lord.67 No person who is remiss in implementing the rulings of the Shar'a can be seen as a Su ( faqr). When
faced with mystical experiences, the Su should exercise humility and
caution. If, says al-Shdhil, your mystical unveiling (kashf ) diverges
from the Qur"n and the Sunna, hold fast to them and take no
notice of your unveiling; tell yourself that the truth of the Qur"n
and the Sunna is guaranteed by God Most High, which is not the
case with unveiling, inspiration and mystical perceptions.
65
Ibid., p. 48.
Ibid., pp. 4849.
67
This idea was not original to al-Shdhil; we nd it in the works of earlier
Sus, including al-Ghazl.
66
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at the same time keeping union with Him present in the secret recesses of your heart.
Al-Shdhil set great store by the prayers (ad'iy) and litanies (azb)
the texts of which he passed on to his disciples. Most of these prayers
relate to specic situations, e.g., spiritual anguish, fear, uncertainty
or distress. Of these by far the most popular among the members
of the order are the izb al-bar, which is said to have been communicated to al-Shdhil directly by the Prophet, the izb al-kabr
(or ijb sharf ), the izb al-barr, the izb al-nr, the izb al-fat
and the izb al-Shaykh Ab l-asan [al-Shdhil]. The liturgical functions of these prayers were often overshadowed by their magical
usage. The ordinary members of the Shdhil arqa believe in their
miraculous power to heal from illnesses or to protect from misfortunes. This usage is contrary to al-Shdhil who opposed popular
superstitions, including worship at the tombs of saints, which he condemned as a form of idolatry. In his opinion, the fact that the saints
prayers are sometimes granted by God simply shows that in that
particular moment he happened to be the locus of divine mercy that
operates continually among mankind. Intrinsically, however, no human being, except the Prophet, can claim to be able to intercede on
behalf of ordinary believers. Nevertheless, already in his own lifetime, al-Shdhil acquired the reputation of a miracle worker. Upon
his death, the members of his order came to attribute thaumaturgic
powers to his tomb where prayers are believed to be especially benecial and ecacious.
One issue on which al-Shdhil seems to have departed from mainline Sunnism is sainthood. He saw the Sus as the true heirs to the
Prophets legacy, which most of the Sunn scholars held to be their
exclusive preserve. In al-Shdhils view, the accomplished saint can
achieve the same degree of knowledge as the prophets (anbiy") and
the messengers (rusul ). However, he is inferior to them in two respects:
on the one hand, his knowledge is, in most cases, less complete than
theirs; and on the other, his mission is neither to bring a new version of the Divine Law, nor to abrogate the old one. Nevertheless,
in time, al-Shdhils teaching came to perceived by his followers as a
continuation of Muammads prophetic mission. Closely allied with
this notion is the idea of the invisible hierarchy of saints presided
over by the head of the Shdhiliyya brotherhood. As we have seen,
from the outset, al-Shdhil was preoccupied with the search for the
spiritual pole of the universe. Later on, his disciples came to treat
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him as the qub of the agea belief that he not only did not try to
dispel, but may have actively promoted. Shortly before his death, he
designated his chief disciple Ab l-'Abbs al-Murs as his successor.
Since that time the Shdhil tradition insists that the qub of the age
should of necessity belong to their brotherhood, until the Judgement
Day. In al-Shdhils teaching, the function of the qub acquired universal dimensions in that it was not conned to a specic religious community or a people, but to the human race as a whole. Al-Shdhil
provides a list of fteen characteristic features of the oce of the
spiritual pole. They include infallibility, clairvoyance and knowledge
of the unseen.
Even though al-Shdhil may have not planned to form a Su
brotherhood, objectively his teaching responded to the need for a
Su teaching that would serve as a foundation of communal life.
The subsequent success of the order was secured by al-Shdhils
successors, the Andalus Ab l-'Abbs al-Murs (d. 686/1287) and
the Egyptian Ibn 'A" Allh al-Iskandar (d. 709/1309). They expanded the popular base of the order through active recruitment in
the masses, rened and systematized al-Shdhils tenets, codied
the ritual of the dhikr, and founded a number of Shdhil khnaqs
which came to serve as centers of recruitment and training of new
followers. The Shdhil order soon spread throughout Egypt, Ifrqiya,
Morocco, al-Andalus as well as Syria and the ijz. This process
continued during the subsequent centuries which witnessed the emergence of numerous branches and subdivisions of the order. As for
the founder, he is commemorated during the annual festivals at his
tomb in the eastern desert of Upper Egypt, as well as in Ifrqiya,
at Sd Belassen (on the outskirts of Tunis), Menzel Bouzelfa (Cape
Bon) and on the mount Zaghwn.
The Shdhiliyya
As an institution the Shdhiliyya owed its existence to the organizational skills of al-Shdhils disciples who considered him to be the
pole (qub) of the Universe in his age. Upon the death of the founder,
the leadership of the nascent order devolved upon his deputy, the
Andalus mystic Ab l-'Abbs al-Murs (d. 686/1287). The latter
was able not only to maintain the cohesion of the Shdhil community but also to expand its base among the Egyptian population.
Al-Murs was succeeded by another able and dynamic leader, Ibn
213
'A" Allh al-Iskandar, who was also a prolific writer. Ibn 'A"
Allhs works gave a distinctive articulation to al-Shdhils spirituality, forming the ideological basis of the expanding Shdhil brotherhood. Especially popular among the followers of the order was his
Delicacies of the Divine Gifts (La"if al-minan), the principal statement of the Shdhil teaching. Equally important is his collection of
pious dicta, the [Words] of Wisdom (al-ikam). Its readership was
not restricted to the members of the order; the ikam was studied
and memorized all over the Muslim world and became an object of
several commentaries by such eminent Su scholars as Ibn 'Abbd
of Ronda (d. 792/1390), Amad Zarrq (d. 899/1493) and Ibn
'Ajba (d. 1224/1809).68
The formative period of the brotherhood remains somewhat obscure.
Throughout the eighth/fourteenth centuries it secured a foothold
in Egypt and the Maghrib. Although in the ninth/fteenth centuries
it became the major North African Su order, it did not acquire a
centralized and hierarchical structure. Rather it was dissolved into
a multitude of local subdivisions that were rarely connected with one
another. Each of these was led by a spiritual master who emphasized a specic strain within the rich and variegated Shdhil tradition. Some of these branches were conned to a particular region,
while others had their centers in dierent areas. But in all cases, the
Shdhil tradition presented itself more as a school of spirituality
than as a rigidly structured and cohesive organization. This feature
greatly facilitated its adaptation to diverse ethnic and regional contexts, while preserving the integrity of its formative ideas in the face
of the inevitable vagaries of leadership succession. The original Shdhiliyya was born into an urban milieu (Alexandria, Cairo, Tunis)
and counted among its members many renowned scholars such as
the Andalus faqh Ibn 'Abbd of Ronda (d. 792/1390) and the outstanding ninth/fteenth-century Egyptian polymath Jall al-Dn alSuy.69 However, as time went on, it made inroads into rural areas,
especially in the Maghrib. There it was often represented by popular charismatic leaders with little or no formal education, such as
the tenth/sixteenth-century mystic 'Al al-Sanhaj and his pupil
'Abd al-Ramn al-Majdhb. In the Maghrib as well as in the Nile
68
P. Nwyia, Ibn 'A" Allh et la naissance de la confrrie dilite, Beirut, 1972; Eng.
tr. V. Danner, Ibn Ataillahs Su Aphorisms, Leiden, 1973.
69
P. Nwyia, Ibn 'Abbd, un mystique prdicateur la Qarawiyin de Fes, Beirut, 1961.
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215
added to the Shdhil-Jazl tradition shamanistic practices reminiscent of the Rif'iyya. Members of the 'swiyya had a totem animal, practiced faith healing and, in a trance, devoured snakes or
pierced their own bodies with sword blades.72 The members of the
related Moroccan order amdshiyya practiced similar spectacular,
if controversial acts.73
The Shdhil Path owed its historic success to several factors. In
the ssured and often acephalos society of North Africa, which was
going through a protracted economic and political crisis, it provided
the local population with a much needed sense of solidarity and
belonging. Cognizant of the popularity of the Shdhiliyya among the
urban and rural masses, the Marnids of Morocco and the afids
of Ifrqiya actively supported the order by patronizing its leaders
and by building and endowing new Shdhil lodges (zway; sing.
zwiyya) in the territories under their control. Paradoxically, with
time these lodges became seats of opposition to the central power,
as was the case of the al-Dil" zwiyya in Morocco, which almost
succeeded in wresting power from the local sultan in the middle
of the eleventh/seventeenth century. However, on the whole, the
Shdhil lodges usually served as centers of social stability by securing the allegiance of local tribes or villages to one or the other
Shdhil leader. As a result, the Shdhil leaders could keep a lid
on internal factional strife. These regulatory and mediatory functions
no doubt added to the prestige of the Shdhil leadership in the eyes
of the local communities. The historical success of the Shdhiliyya
was also due to the specicity of its rituals and ideology. Its emphasis on the strict observance of the Shar'a and its inconspicuous social
prole (namely, absence of a distinctive garb or of spectacular public festivals as well as discouragement of mendicancy) secured the
Shdhil brotherhood a wide acceptance among dierent sections
of the society, from the peasant communities to the sophisticated
scholars in urban centers. This acceptance was further enhanced by
the active role of the brotherhood in resisting European encroachments on Muslim lands. Thus the Shdhiliyya-Jazliyya branch
of the order distinguished itself by organizing resistance to the Portuguese invasion of Morocco in the ninthtenth/fteenthsixteenth
72
73
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74
See, e.g., B. G. Martin, Muslim Brotherhoods in Nineteenth-Century Africa, Cambridge,
1976, pp. 152158.
75
J.-L. Michon, Le Sou marocain Amad ibn 'Ajiba et son mi'raj, Paris, 1973.
76
M. Lings, A Su Saint of the Twentieth Century, 2d edition, London, 1972.
217
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and glorious spiritual tradition that stretched back to its semi-legendary founding father.
Bah" al-Dn Naqshband and the Naqshbandiyya
Bah" al-Dn Muammad b. Muammad Naqshband (71891/1318
89), the eponymous founder of the Naqshbandiyya order, derived
his name from the craft of embroidering. He is said to have assisted
his father in weaving the embroidered Bukhran cloaks known
as kmkha. More commonly, however, his name is taken to refer to
the practice of the xing, in the puried tablet of the heart, of the
imprint of the name Allh by means of a silent and permanent recollection (dhikr). To the people of Bukhr, whose patron saint he
became, Bah" al-Dn was known posthumously as hja-yi bal"-gardan (the averter of disaster). This name referred to the protective
powers bestowed upon him during his years as a Su novice. Elsewhere, especially in Turkey, he is popularly called Shh-i Naqshband.
Descent from the sixth Sh' Imm Ja'far al-diq has been attributed to Bah" al-Dn, but although the Imm does always appear
in his spiritual genealogy (silsila), contemporary and near-contemporary sources make no mention of his kinship with the Prophets family. They stress rather the position of Bah" al-Dn as the seventh in
a series of Central Asian masters (khwjagn) of Susm that was
inaugurated by Ab Ysuf 'Al Hamadn (d. 534/1140 in Merv).
Soon after his birth in Muarram 718/March 1318 in the Bukhran
hamlet of Qar-i Hinduwn (later renamed Qar-i 'rifn, i.e., the
Castle of the Gnostics, out of deference to him), Bah" al-Dn was
adopted as the spiritual son ( farzand ) of Khwja Muammad Samms,
the fth descendant of Hamadn. Samms immediately assigned the
infants spiritual training to his principal disciple (murd ), Khwja
Amr Kull, a spiritual advisor to Tmr, who enjoyed the rulers
complete trust.79 In the Naqshband tradition, Amr Kull counts as
Bah" al-Dns immediate predecessor in the silsila, for it was he who
transmitted to Naqshband the essentials of the mystical path: the link
of companionship (nisbat-i ubat), instruction in the customs of the
path (ta'lm-i db-i arqat), and the inculcation of dhikr (talqn-i dhikr).
79
T. Graham, Shh Ni'matullh Wal, Founder of the Ni'matallh Su Order,
in L. Lewisohn (ed.), The Legacy of Medieval Persian Susm, London and New York,
1993, p. 180.
219
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from Bukhr and its environs. He left the region himself only three
times, twice to perform the ajj and once to visit Herat. There he
met with the ruler, Mu'izz al-Dn usayn, and explained to him
the principles of his path.
He died in 791/1389, and was buried at Qar-i 'rifn. Surrounded
by a continually expanding complex of buildings, the tomb became
a place of pilgrimage for Muslims from all over Asia as well as the
site, for Bukhrans, of spring festivities known as ' d-i gul-i surkh (red
rose festival).
Bah" al-Dns principal successors were Khwja 'Al" al-Dn 'Ar
(d. 802/1393), whom he had honored with marriage to his daughter; Khwja Muammad Prs (d. 822/1419), a prolic author who
counts as founder of the learned traditions of the Naqshband order;
and Mawln Ya'qb Charkh (d. 851/1447), who originated in the
region of Ghazn. 'Ar was the leading gure among these three,
but it was Charkh who proved the most important for the continuation of the Naqshband line; he was the preceptor of Khwja
'Ubayd Allh Arr (d. 896/1490), under whose auspices the Naqshbandiyya established its supremacy in Central Asia and began its
expansion in the wider Muslim world.
Bah" al-Dn left behind no writings (with the possible exception
of the litany named after him, Awrd-i Bah"iyya), and he even discouraged his disciples from recording his sayings. The precise outlines of his teachings are, then, hard to discern, not because of the
profusion of hagiographic legend that enshrouds so many Sus, but
because of the exiguous and sometimes elliptic nature of the sources.
It is particularly dicult to establish why he should have become
an eponymous gure, the central link in the silsila of which he is a
part, instead of, for example, Ghijuwn. The eight principles of
spiritual conduct (kalimt-i qudsiyya) rst enunciated by Ghijuwn
have, after all, been reiterated in Naqshband handbooks down
to the present; precisely the fact that Bah" al-Dn added three further principles to the eight would seem to reinforce the primacy
of Ghijuwn. These three were: wuqf-i zamn (temporal awareness), the constant examination of ones spiritual state during dhikr;
wuqf-i 'adad (numerical awareness), the enumeration of the times
dhikr is performed in order to discourage the intrusion of distracting
thoughts; and wuqf-i qalb (awareness of the heart), the direction
of attention to the physical heart in order to make it participate in
the work of dhikr. All three principles relate, then, to dhikr; combined
221
with the fact that Bah" al-Dn set himself apart from the other disciples of Amr Kull through insistence on silent dhikr, this suggests
that the question of dhikr was crucial for the early coalescence of the
Naqshband order.
Other features of early Naqshband practice were also linked to
the concern for sobriety and anonymity implied by the choice of
silent dhikr. Among them are the repudiation of music and dance
(sam' ); the deprecation of charismatic feats and saintly miracles (karmt); the avoidance of retreats in favor of the keeping of pious company (ubat); and the shunning of distinctive forms of dress. As with
the Shdhiliyya, all these features are highly reminiscent of the
Malmat movement of Nshpr, and it may be suggested that
Bah" al-Dn Naqshband was an heir to the traditions of the Malmatiyya although not in a formal, initiatic sense.
Other recurrent features of the Naqshband path, such as delity
to the Shar'a in the political and social spheres as well as in devotional life, and a marked hostility to Sh' Islam, were established in
later periods; they cannot be traced directly to Bah" al-Dn. Similarly,
the mildly critical attitude to Ibn 'Arab adopted by some Naqshbands
of the Mujaddid line cannot be attributed retroactively to Bah" alDn and his circle. Although there is no trace of acquaintance with
the concepts of Ibn 'Arab in the dicta of Bah" al-Dn, both 'Ar
and Prs were enthusiastic exponents of his work.
The Naqshbandiyya in Persia
It is a paradox of Naqshband history80 that although this Su order
rst arose among Persian-speakers and virtually all its classical texts
are written in the Persian language, its impact on Persia has been
relatively slight. This statement requires qualication only for the
period of the genesis of the Naqshbandiyya movement when, it might
be argued, Transoxania and the eastern reaches of Khursn still
counted as parts of the Persian world. The rise of the Naqshbandiyya
to supremacy in Transoxania appears to have begun already in the
time of the founder, Bah" al-Dn Naqshband himself, although the
nascent order did not yet exercise political inuence. Furthermore,
80
For a comprehensive account of the orders history and doctrines see M. Gaborieu,
A. Popovic and T. Zarcone (eds.), Naqshbands: Cheminements et situation actuelle dun
ordre mystique, Istanbul-Paris, 1990.
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223
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he founded at Karrkh, outside Herat, continued to exercise an inuence across the frontier among the anaf Sunns of Persian Khursn.
Six years after the death of Su Islam, Khwja Ysuf Kshghr, a
Naqshband master from Eastern Turkestan, led an unsuccessful
uprising of the Yomut and Gklan Turkomans against Qjr rule.
A similar Naqshband-led Turkoman revolt was quashed in Astarbd
in 1257/1841. It was also in the rst half of the century that Khwja
Muammad Ysuf Jm established a still active center of the
Mujaddid branch of the order at Turbat-i Jm near the Afghan
border.
Innitely more important than all these developments in the
east was the rise of the Khlid branch of the Naqshband order,
established by Mawln Khlid Baghdd (d. 1243/1827), a Kurd
from Shahrzr. The Khlidiyya supplanted almost entirely all other
branches of the Naqshbandiyya in the Middle East, and in Kurdistn
it wrested supremacy from the powerful Qdiriyya to become the
chief order of the region. Although the principal Kurdish khalfas of
Mawln Khlid all resided in Ottoman territory, their inuence was
considerable among the Kurds of Persia, not least during the great
Kurdish uprising of 1880. Led by Shaykh 'Ubayd Allh of Shamdnn, it engulfed much of Azerbaijn as well as most of Kurdistn.
In addition, the Khlidiyya expanded from Kurdistn to lish, the
Sh' enclave on the shores of the Caspian: Shaykh 'Uthmn Sirj
al-Dn of Tawlaa khalfa of Mawln Khlidinitiated into the
order a certain Mull 'Abd al-aqq Qizilj from the village of
'Anbarn in central lish and instructed him to spread the order
in his homeland, which he did with great success. Most Sh's in
lish retain to this day an allegiance to the Khlid Naqshband
order.
In 1958, after the overthrow of the Iraqi monarchy, a namesake
of 'Uthmn Sirj al-Dn quit Biyra to establish himself at the village of Dur on the Persian side of the frontier. With the active
encouragement of the Pahlaw court, he sought to bring under his
sway all three areas of Naqshband presence in PersiaKurdistn,
lish and Turkoman ar. In this he had some success, but his
activities were brought to an end by the Islamic Revolution of 19789.
Shaykh 'Uthmn organized an army to combat the revolutionary
government, but it was soon defeated and he withdrew to Iraq.
Despite this removal of Shaykh 'Uthmn, the Naqshband order
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arrived from Bukhr during the reign of sultan Murd III. Also
famous was 'Abd Allh Nid", an eleventh/seventeenth-century
migrant from Kshghr who established a tekke near Eyyb.
In general, however, the history of the order in Turkey came to
reect the developments it underwent in India, which was its principal intellectual center from the time of Shaykh Amad Sirhind,
the Renewer (mujaddid ) (d. 1034/1624), whose contribution to the
Naqshband tradition will be discussed further on. The Mujaddid
branch of the order established by Sirhind was rst transmitted to
Turkey by shaykh Muammad Murd Bukhr (d. 1141/1729), a
murd of Khwja Muammad Murd Ma'm, Sirhinds son and
principal successor. Muammad Murd spent about ve years in the
Ottoman capital toward the end of the eleventh/seventeenth-century,
during which time he gained numerous ulema, including the Shaykh
al-Islm Fay Allh Efend, as his followers. The next thirty years
were spent primarily in Damascus, but he returned to Istanbul in
1141/1729, dying shortly thereafter. The tekke that was established
next to the tomb of Muammad Murd Bukhr in the Nishnj)
Pasha district became a fountainhead for the Mujaddidiyya, not only
in Istanbul but also in Anatolia and the Balkans.
A second transmission of the Mujaddidiya to Turkey came by way
of Mecca, which remained until the late nineteenth century an important center for the diusion of the Naqshbandiyya among pilgrims
coming from Turkey as well as many other regions. The representative of Khwja Muammad Ma'm in the Holy City was shaykh
Amad Jryn Yakdast, who initiated into the Mujaddidiyya shaykh
Muammad Amn of Tokat (d. 1158/1745). When Muammad Amn
returned to Istanbul in 1129/1717, he took up residence at one of
the lodges founded by Amr Amad Bukhr and began initiating
members of the Ottoman bureaucracy. Particularly noteworthy among
the murds of Shaykh Muammad Amn was the polymath Sulaymn
Sa'd al-Dn Mustaqm-zde (d. 1202/1787), who translated the letters of both Sirhind and Khwja Muammad Ma'm into Ottoman Turkish. The letters of Sirhind have remained popular among
Turkish Naqshbands down to the present, although it is now more
commonly an Arabic translation that is used. Several of the early
Turkish Mujaddids also had aliations with the famous Mawlaw
order of Whirling Dervishes, among them being Pertew Pasha and
let Efend, both of whom exerted considerable political inuence
during the reign of sultan Mamd II. An entirely new era in the
227
81
For a history of the Khlidiyya see B. Ab-Manneh, The NaqshbandiyyaMujaddidiyya in the Ottoman Lands in the Early 19th Century, in: Welt des Islam,
N.S., vol. 22 (1982), pp. 136.
228
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229
230
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82
F. Rahman, Akbars Religion, in: Journal of the Asiatic Society of Pakistan
(Karachi), vol. 10 ( June 1965), p. 126.
231
83
84
232
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233
234
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Su path, Kubr undertook to write a monumental Su commentary on the Qur"n. When he died without completing it, the project was carried on rst by his murd Najm al-Dn Rz and then by
another Kubraw shaykh, 'Al" al-Dawla Simnn.92 Of all these
works Kubrs Faw"i al-jaml is by far the most famous. It can be
described as a spiritual dairy that its author designed as a guidebook to help the Su wayfarer to progress successfully along the
mystical path. Here Kubr provided a detailed description of the
psychological phenomena and spiritual states that the seeker experiences on the way to God, with special reference to the ocular and
auditory perceptions one encounters during retreat and meditation.
In describing his own progress toward the mystical goal, Kubr gave
the Su novice a helpful clue to the meaning of such experiences
and phenomena. He also highlighted the possible pitfalls of such
sensations. In his shorter treatises, especially in The Ten Principles,
Kubr laid down the code of behavior to be followed by the novices.
Expanding on the eight Su principles outlined by al-Junayd, Kubr
recommended that his disciples practice ritual purity, fasting, silence,
seclusion, the constant remembrance of God, a bare minimum of
sleep and observe moderation after the breaking of the fast. In addition, the novice was expected to concentrate fully on the personality of his spiritual master and to discard all vain thoughts and impulses
the instant that they appear.93 Such works formed the foundation of
the Kubraw spiritual discipline.94
The teaching of Kubr was perpetuated by his disciples. Sayf alDn Bkharz (d. 658/1260), a native of Bkharz in present-day
Afghanistn, established a well-endowed Kubraw khnaq in Bukhr,
where he spent his whole life preaching to his numerous followers.95
His popularity, however, spread far beyond his immediate circle
of his disciples. He was held in great esteem by the population
of Bukhr, which referred to him as The Master of the Universe
92
H. Corbin, En Islam iranien, Paris 1972, vol. 3, pp. 175176 and 276 n. 90.
M. A. Waley, A Kubrw Manual of Susm: The Fu al-adab of Yay alBkharz, in: L. Lewisohn (ed.), The Legacy of Medieval Persian Susm, London and
New York, 1992, pp. 289290.
94
Ibid., p. 290.
95
Documents relating to this khnaq were published by C. D. Chekhovich,
Bukharskie dokumenti XIV v., Tashkent, 1965; cf. Waley, A Kubrw Manual of
Susm, p. 291.
93
237
Ibid., p. 292.
J. Richard, La conversion de Berke et les dbuts de lislamisation de la Horde
dOr, in: Revue dEtudes Islamiques, vol. 35, (1967), pp. 1739.
98
Published by Mol under the title Kitb al-Insn al-kmil, Tehran and Paris
1962; cf. H. Landolt, Le paradoxe de la face de Dieu, in: StI (Paris), vol. 25/2
(1996), pp. 163192.
99
Trimingham, Su Orders, pp. 5657.
100
H. Landolt, Die Briefwechsel zwischen Kn und Simnn, in Der Islam,
vol. 50/1 (1973), pp. 2981.
101
Trimingham, Su Orders, p. 58.
97
238
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102
D. DeWeese, Sayyid 'Al Hamadn and Kubraw Hagiographical Traditions, in: L. Lewisohn (ed.), The Legacy of Medieval Persian Susm, London and New
York, 1992, p. 124.
103
J. Teufel, Eine Lebensbeschreibung des Scheich 'Al-i Hamadn, Leiden, 1962.
104
R. Gramlich, Die schiitischen Derwischorden Persiens, Wiesbaden, 1965, vol. 1, pp.
1426.
105
For a list of works produced by the shaykhs of Saktari, see A. A. Semenov,
Sobranie vostochnykh rukopisei Akademii Nauk Uzbekskoi SSR, Tashkent 1955, vol. 3, pp.
3278.
239
Dede is recorded to have fought in the ranks of the army that conquered Constantinople, but no lasting implantation of the order
appears to have taken place either in Turkey or in the Arab lands.
Only a nominal existence of the Kubrawiyya persisted in the western Islamic world as one of the multiple secondary aliations claimed
by Naqshbands of the Mujaddid-Khlid line.
240
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107
108
241
242
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authority with the newcomers. Ma'um 'Al Shh fell victim to their
hostility in 1212/1797, when he was captured and executed en route
from Najaf to Meshhed on the instance of the inuential Sh' scholar
Bihbahn, who was popularly known as Su killer (kush).
Ma'm 'Al Shhs principal companion was Nr 'Al Shh of
Ifhn, a prolic author in both poetry and prose. His works are
replete with ecstatic paradoxes similar to al-Bisms and themes
characteristic of extremist Sh'ism. In addition, Nr 'Al Shh
severely criticized the exoteric Sh' ulema who were responsible for
the death of his master. The presence of these radical elements in
the resurgent Ni'matullhiyya indicates that it must have departed
from the mystical precepts of its founder, Shh Ni'mat Allh Wal and
his immediate descendants and embraced the ideology of extreme
Sh'ism. Particularly disconcerting for the ulema was Nr 'Al Shhs
assertion that the perfect Su master is the true deputy (n"ib) of the
Hidden Sh' Imm. Eventually, the ulema succeeded in putting Nr
'Al Shh out of the way. He was poisoned by the agents sent to him
by Bihbahn.
Following the death of Bihbahn four years later, the antagonism
between the Ni'matullhiyya and the their learned opponents among
Sh' ulema began to decline. The rapprochement between the two
groups was facilitated after the Ni'matullhiyya leadership prudently
adopted more circumspect doctrines and practices. As it was no
longer seen as subversive by the Sh' scholarly and political establishment of the age, the Ni'matullhiyya ourished under the Qjr
rulers of Persia. One of them, Muammad Shh, himself became an
initiate of the order. Its inuence on the Persian masses and lite
continued to grow throughout the thirteenth/nineteenth centuries.
However, its physical and numerical expansion was accompanied by
its division into mutually hostile branches only the more important
of which will be mentioned here.
Muammad Ja'far Majb 'Al Shh (d. 1238/1823) was the last
leader to exercise undisputed control over the whole order. Three
separate claimants to the leadership arose after his death: Kawthar
'Al Shh (d. 1247/1831), Sayyd usayn Astrbd, and Zayn
al-'bidn Mast 'Al Shh (d. 1253/1838). The rst founded a suborder known as the Kawthariyya, which has survived down to the
present, although with a very small membership. Its most famous
leader in modern times was Nir 'Al Shh (still living in the late
1970s). The line that descended from Astrbd also reached into
243
244
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CHAPTER NINE
246
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247
248
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249
250
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10
R. S. OFahey, The Enigmatic Saint: Amad Ibn Idrs and the Idrs Tradition,
Evanston, IL, 1990.
11
See K. Vikr, Su and Scholar on the Desert Edge: Muammad b. 'Al al-Sans and
His Brotherhood, London, 1995.
251
252
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253
B. Radtke, Ijtihd and Neo-susm, in: Asiatische Studien, 48/3 (1994), p. 915.
C. Snouck Hurgronje, Mecca in the Latter Part of the 19th Century, Leiden, 1931,
pp. 1112.
15
Martin, Muslim Brotherhoods, p. 69.
14
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254
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
Ibid.,
p. 68.
p. 79.
pp. 8182.
pp. 9798.
255
during his retreats (khalwa). He was also credited with the knowledge
of Gods Greatest Name and clairvoyance. A renowned religious
scholar, he wrote a number of works that are held in high regard
by the adherents of the Tijniyya arqa. His nephew, Muammad
al-Hshim b. Amad b. Sa'd, known as Alfa Hshim (d. 1349/1931),
ed French colonialism and established a base in the ijz that
catered to African Tijns; because of its location in the lands of pilgrimage, it was instrumental in the propagation of the Tijniyya
among Muslims from other areas of the world (e.g., Indonesia, Iraq
and the Balkans). In the fourteenth/twentieth century, the chief
African propagandist for the order has been the Senegalese shaykh
Ibrhm Niasse (d. 1396/1975), who has made the Tijniyya an
order of mass participation not only in Senegal but also in northern Nigeria and Ghana. His teachings, which emphasize spiritual
training and growth under the tutelage of an accomplished Sufi
master, have also found favor with the populations of Mauritania,
Chad and the Western Sdn.
The Idrs Tradition
Equally inuential and widespread in sub-Saharan Africa were the
brotherhoods that derived their identity from the teachings of Amad
b. Idrs. The Sansiyya established a network of zwiyyas in eastern
Libya and throughout Chad as far as Kano in northern Nigeria.
The Khatmiyya, founded by Muammad 'Uthmn al-Mrghn (d.
1268/1852), a Meccan who came to Africa from Arabia to propagate the teachings of Amad b. Idrs, gained many adherents in
the Sdn and Eritrea. Another brotherhood stemming from Ibn
Idrs, the Rashdiyya-liiyya, was also successful in the Sdn, and
in Somalia, where it was propagated by the anti-colonial leader
Muammad 'Abd Allh assn, whom his British opponents called
Mad Mulla. This Somalian equivalent of the famous Mahd of
the Sdn deserves special mention. Born of the Ogaden clan, which
inhabits the presently disputed area of eastern Ethiopia-western
Somalia, Muammad received a traditional religious training. Still a
young man, he manifested signs of extreme piety and religious zeal.
He traveled widely in search of religious instruction, visiting Harar,
Mogadishu and, according to some sources, also the Sdn. In
131112/1894, he went on a pilgrimage to Mecca, where he joined
Muammad b. li al-Rashds order, called the liiyya. Through
256
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this order he was linked to the spiritual tradition associated with Ibn
Idrs.20 On his return home, Muammad 'Abdallh began to preach
Ibn Idrss ideas among his countrymen. His activities drew the hostile attention of the established Qdiriyya order and of the British
colonial regime that controlled the Somalian coast. Their opposition,
combined with the increasing Ethiopian encroachment on the lands
of the Ogaden tribe, prompted Muammad to proclaim a holy war
( jihd ) against the Christian intruders and to storm a recently established Ethiopian post in the Ogaden region. During 1321/1904
Muammad and his followers, who came to known as Dervishes,
had to wage war against the British expeditionary force. Although
not decisively defeated, the Dervishes prudently withdrew to the
Italian sector of Somalia, where they signed a peace treaty with the
Italians. By 132526/1908, the Dervishes had recovered their strength
and pursued their campaign with increasing ferocity during World
War I, until their nal defeat by a concerted air, sea, and land operation in 1338/1920. The leader of the movement died
later that year at the age of fty-six. Paradoxically, the end of this guerilla
war waged to free Somalia of foreign domination found the British,
Ethiopian, and Italian colonizers more rmly entrenched than they
had been at the start. While Sayyid Muammad, as the Dervish
leader styled himself, sought to unite his countrymen in defense of
their freedom irrespective of their clan allegiances, he inevitably drew
heavily upon traditional kinship and marriage ties in forming alliances.
He was bitterly opposed by the Sus of the Qdiriyya order, whose
leader in southern Somalia was assassinated by a party of his dervishes.
His strongest support came from his own clan, while the western
Somalian clans, more rmly under British inuence, never rallied
fully to his call and in fact denounced him as a tyrant and fanatic.
All, however, recognized his qualities as the leading Somalian poet
of his epoch and admired his brilliant command of Somalian rhetoric.
Sayyid Muammad left behind a legacy of patriotism that inspires
Somalians to this day. He is often seen by his countrymen, somewhat anachronistically, as the leader of the movement for national
liberation and even as the founder of the Somalian nation.21
20
Muammad b. lis father was a disciple of Ibn Idrs; see Martin, Muslim
Brotherhoods, p. 179.
21
Ibid., p. 180.
257
258
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259
him in 1881 was soundly defeated, did they recognize his power.
In the meantime, al-Mahd and his anar, retreated into the Nuba
Mountains. The remote location and rugged terrain of his new headquarters rendered them nearly impregnable to the government forces.
From his mountain fastness, al-Mahd sent raiding troops to Kordofan.
He found an eager support among the Arab pastoralist tribes known
as Baqqra, whose propensity to raiding settled populations found a
religious justication when al-Mahd declared his war against the
government to be a jihd. In a series of successful military campaigns,
al-Mahd captured a number of governmental strongholds in Kordofan and established his own state with El Obeid as its administrative center. After the British occupied Egypt in September 1882,
they sent an Egyptian expeditionary force against al-Mahd. When
it was wiped out by the anr in November 1883, al-Mahd became
the undisputed master of the western provinces of the country. At
that juncture, General Gordon was sent to Khartoum to protect the
capital from the impending assault of al-Mahds army. However,
after a long siege, the city fell to the rebels in January 1885 and
General Gordon was killed in the battle. With the capital rmly in
the rebels hands, al-Mahd was now the master of most of the
Egyptian Sdn. His career, however, was cut short by his untimely
death after a short illness, in June 1885.
Following al-Mahds death, the leadership of the movement devolved
upon his closest lieutenant, 'Abdallh b. Muammad. Anxious to
whip up support among the war-like Baqqra tribes, 'Abdallh emphasized the parallel between his succession to al-Mahd and the rule
of Islams rst caliph, Ab Bakr. He called upon his followers to
keep faith in al-Mahds cause and to continue his eorts to restore
Islam to its original purity. On the practical level, he continued warfare against the neighboring Christian kingdom of Ethiopia, while
at the same time pursuing a jihd against Egypt, now rmly under
British rule. A massive invasion of Egypt, however, ended in disaster in 1889, when a Mahdist force was annihilated at Toski. Some
provinces under the caliphs rule made a bid for independence, which
had to be suppressed by military force. The year 1889 marks the end
of the military phase of the Mahdiyya movement. In the subsequent
years the caliph attempted to consolidate his authority over the state
that consisted of the Muslim regions of the northern Sdn. He
succeeded in putting down several revolts against his rule, one of
which was led by the caliph 'Al, that is, Muammad Sharf. The
260
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261
262
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263
264
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265
266
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267
268
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269
33
270
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dier considerably between dierent branches. One common element of the ritual that is shared by all branches of the Khalwatiyya
is the reading of Yay al-Shirwns Wird al-sattr during set times
and occasions. It consists of three sections that glorify the oneness
of God, the Prophet and his mission, and the Companions. The
Khalwat reformer Muaf Kaml al-Dn al-Bakr viewed it is the
pivot of the Khalwatiyya ritual. It should be read aloud by a single
person to an audience of devotees; this is held to be more benecial
than a collective reciting. It equals the silent dhikr, which is called
the dhikr of the heart. The sense of communion that the members
of the congregation experience on these occasions is believed to lead
to an internal union, which, in its turn, allows them to experience
a direct witnessing of God (mushhada). In other words, its is through
participation in the communal rites and rituals that one reaches a
more advanced stage of awareness, one that the theorists of the order
described as a face-to-face encounter with God. Here lies a basic
dierence between the Khalwatiyya and other arqas, such as the
Naqshbandiyya, in which the novice is deemed to achieve the mushhada
through the guidance of his shaykh. Some Khalwatiyya groups hew
closer to the latter position, e.g. al-Jdiyya, whose members believe
that the murds spiritual progress is proportionate to his trust in
his shaykh. In Turkish Khalwatiyya branches, notably within the
Qarbshiyya, the role of the shaykh in guiding the murd is conceived of as necessarily a passive one. He is for the murd what the
spirit (r) is for the body. If it departs, the body dies too. However,
the shaykh is not expected to actively interfere with the murd s
progress, nor to approve or disapprove his behavior, even if the disciple were to fall away from Islam and to become an unbeliever. Some
branches of the order placed restrictions on the qualications of the
potential member. Thus the Amadiyya and its branches refused to
initiate the illiterate on the assumption that illiteracy may diminish
the light of gnosis that God pours into the heart of the devotee.
The present situation of the order varies from region to region.
In 1945, the government of Albania recognized the principal arqas
as independent religious communities with their own leaders. For
some time, 'Al Hormova was head of all the Khalwat branches in
that country. This arrangement came to an end after the Albanian
Cultural Revolution in early 1967. In Macedonia and Kosovo twentyve Khalwatiyya tekkes were attested in 1939. As late as 1971 Khalwat
gatherings (aras) took place regularly in tekkes in Ohrid, Struka,
271
272
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were chanted during Yasaw assemblies which were often accompanied by frantic dances and ecstatic behavior.35
Emissaries and disciples of Amad Yasaw, such as akm Ata
(d. 582/1183) and Sa'd Ata (d. 615/1218), spread his teachings in
the regions of Syr Darya, Volga, Khwrazm and as far as Eastern
Turkestan. The expansion of the Yasawiyya went hand-in-hand with
the Islamization of the Central Asian Steppes.36 However, following
the Mongol invasions of the Steppes in the seventh/thirteenth century a number of prominent leaders of the Yasawiyya arrived in
Anatolia, eeing from Mongol rule. Already in Central Asia and later
in Anatolia the Yasawiyya became associated with the free-booting
Qalandariyya movement.37 In Anatolia, it was particularly close to
the branch of the Qalandariyya known as the aydariyya. From the
tenth/sixteenth century on, the Central Asian Yasawiyya lost its
inuence to the powerful Naqshbandiyya order with which it was
closely associated. The principal branch of the Yasawiyya, called
'Azziyya, was established by Jaml al-Dn 'Azzn (d. 912/1507) in
the region of Samarqand. It lacked a rigid hierarchical structure that
was common to more centralized arqas and was focused on the
tombs of the Yasaw shaykhs scattered across Central Asia, especially in the southern areas of Kazakhstan, Dasht-i Kipchaq, Turkestan
and Chimkent.
The Qalandariyya
Already in the sixth/twelfth-seventh/thirteenth centuries we nd
references to wandering dervishes (qalandars) who had become part
and parcel of the local religious landscape in both Central Asia and
Anatolia. The Qalandars usually did not organize themselves in centralized orders; however, they donned distinctive garments, practiced
itinerancy and followed the unwritten rules that set them apart from
the rest of the Sus. By the tenth/sixteenth century, the Qalandariyya
groups disappeared from Anatolia, yet they survived in Central Asia
and in Eastern Turkestan until the beginning of the twentieth century C.E.38
35
T. Zarcone, Le Turkestan Chinois, in: A. Popovic and G. Veinstein (eds.),
Les Voies dAllah, Paris, 1996, p. 270.
36
D. DeWeese, Islamization and Native Religion of the Golden Horde, University Park,
Pennsylvania, 1994.
37
Zarcone, Le Turkestan, p. 270.
38
Ibid., pp. 268270.
273
Although the Qalandariyya movement originated and spread primarily in the eastern lands of Islam,39 they asserted themselves as a
recognizable trend within Susm in Damascus and Damietta (Egypt)
in the early decades of the seventh/thirteenth century. The founder
of the movement, the Persian Jaml al-Dn Sw or Sv (d. ca.
630/1223), provided his followers with a distinctive identity that
rested on such practices as shaving the hair, beard, moustache, and
eyebrows and leading an itinerant life. Jaml al-Dn started his
career as a conventional Su master, preaching Susm from a golden
pulpit richly studded with jewels in a generously endowed Su
lodge in Iraq.40 Later, Jaml al-Dn grew disgusted with the trappings of institutionalized Susm, abandoned his comfortable position at the khnaq and began to roam the land in the company of
forty dervishes. In accordance with the famous prophetic dictum die
before you die, Jaml al-Dn turned his back on this world, gave
up his property and severed himself from both the rights and duties
of social life, including gainful employment, marriage and even
friendship.41 Contrary to the individualistic message preached by
Jaml al-Dn and his reclusive lifestyle, his disciples formed a community of wandering dervishes. In the process, concessions were
made to the exigencies of everyday life and the necessity to sustain
the nascent Qalandar community. Contrary to Jaml al-Dns early
advice that encouraged the Qalandars to survive on wild weeds and
fruits and to go around naked with only leaves to cover the loins,
he later issued a dispensation that allowed his numerous followers
to accept pious donations and to wear heavy woolen garments to
cover their private parts. At the end of his life, Jaml al-Dn, who
was no longer willing to take care of the growing number of his disciples, left them under the cover of the night and settled at a cemetery in the vicinity of Damietta, where a Su lodge (zwiyya) was
later built around his tomb.42
Jaml al-Dns legacy, transmitted mainly in an oral form, stressed
a reclusive lifestyle, an extreme asceticism, the unimportance of
learning and a deep contempt for all established patterns of social
39
J. Baldick, Les Qalenderis, in: A. Popovic and G. Veinstein (eds.), Les Voies
dAllah, pp. 500501.
40
A. Karamustafa, Gods Unruly Friends, Salt Lake City, 1994, p. 40.
41
Ibid., p. 41.
42
Ibid., pp. 4344.
274
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life and for both secular and religious authorities. His followers
eschewed hypocrisy, despised precious metals and valuable objects,
but worshipped beautiful faces, which they, in line with the doctrine
of the ulmniyya, viewed as manifestations of the eternal divine
beauty in a human guise. Jaml al-Dns followers in Anatolia came
to be known as the wearers of sack-cloth ( jawlaqiyya). Since the movement was anti-establishment by its very nature, it formed a number
of small localized groups that were found, apart from Anatolia, in
Persia and India. In India, a few famous Su leaders and intellectuals, such as the poet Fakhr al-Dn 'Irq (d. 686/1287) and Amr
usayn (d. 718/1318), were, at some points in their lives, attracted
to the uncompromising piety of the Qalandariyya and embraced
their anti-establishment attitudes. An extreme version of Qalandar
piety is represented by the aydariyya brotherhood that ourished in
the Ottoman domains in the ninth/fteenth and tenth/sixteenth
centuries. They covered themselves with sacks, coarse felt, or sheepskins and wore iron rings on their ears, necks, wrists, and genitals.43
They took a dim view of the ocial religion and regularly outed
all rules of social conduct. Ottoman scholars routinely accused them
of such vices as pedophilia, the smoking of cannabis and drunkenness.44
The Bayramiyya and the [Neo-]Malmatiyya (Melamilik)
Closely related to the Qalandariyya in spirit and in body is the Bayramiyya arqa that was founded in the ninth/fteenth century at
Ankara by jj Bayram (d. 833/1429), who presented himself to
his followers as a spiritual descendant and restorer of the Malmatiyya
tradition of Khursn. In line with the precepts of the original
Malmatiyya, he prohibited his followers from engaging in a public
dhikr. Although his teaching gained some popularity among the population of Central Anatolia, it failed to conquer the Ottoman capital, which placed it at disadvantage vis--vis the orders with a foothold
in Istanbul. A splinter group of the Bayramiyya, led by 'Umar (mer)
the Cutler (Sikkn; d. 880/1476) refused to recognize the authority
of jj Bayrams successor, Aq Shams al-Dn, and formed an independent branch known as Malmatiyya-Bayramiyya. This split found
an outward expression in 'Umars abandonment of the distinctive
43
44
Ibid., p. 68.
Baldick, Les Qalenderis, p. 501.
275
garment, namely the khirqa and the crown (tj ) that had so far characterized the followers of the Bayramiyya. Apart from that, little is
known about the disagreement between the two branches of the
Bayramiyya. It may have been caused by the personal rivalry between
two groups of jj Bayrams disciples. Later sources tended to
describe this disagreement in doctrinal terms. While the followers of
Aq Shams al-Dn adopted a mainline Su doctrine that stressed the
vast gap between God and his creatures, the Malmatiyya seem to
have upheld al-alljs idea that God can manifest himself in the
personalities of some perfect friends of God, namely in the leaders
of the Malmatiyya sect. This concept aroused the suspicions of
many mainstream Sunn ulema of the Ottoman Empire, who interpreted it as an implicit denial of the Shar'a and the blurring of the
all-important line between what is permitted and what is prohibited
by the Muslim Law. Some statements of the Malmat masters show
their apparent indebtedness to the teachings of the uryyaa
cabbalistic sect whose leaders claimed to have achieved divinity, to
have superceded the Muslim revelation and to have instituted a new,
esoteric religion. As a result, the Malmatiyya fell victim to persecutions that provided them with their rst martyrs. These persecutions forced the Malmatiyya to go underground and conceal their
true beliefs from the uninitiated masses, including the ruling class,
who were proclaimed mere animals undeserving of the higher
truths that were known only to the Malmat shaykhs. Leaders of
the Malmatiyya insisted that their followers refrain from any external display of piety; they wore regular dresses and practiced no rites
that would identify them as members of the same religious group.45
Until the rst quarter of the tenth/sixteenth century the Malmatiyya
was conned to Central Anatolia. However, the dynamic new leader
Oghln Shaykh began to preach the Malmat teachings among
the soldiers and civilians of the Ottoman capital, until he was apprehended, accused of heresy and put to death in accordance with a
condemnatory fatw of the great Ottoman scholar and statesman
Keml Pashazde (d. 940/1534). Another Malmat, Shaykh Amad
the Cameleer (d. 952/1545), introduced the Malmatiyya into the
Balkans. The order became especially deep-rooted in Bosnia, where
it adopted an anti-government stance by refusing to recognize the
45
T. Zarcone, Muammad Nr al-'Arab et la confrrie Malmatiyya, in:
A. Popovic and G. Veinstein (eds.), Les voies dAllah, p. 480.
chapter nine
276
46
Ibid., p. 481.
277
his teaching a number of members of the Ottoman ruling lite, including the Young Turks. Due to its lack of a complex institutional superstructure that characterized the other arqas of the late Ottoman Empire,
the Malmatiyya emerged practically unscathed from Ataturks 1925
campaign to abolish Su organizations and to conscate their property. Muammad Nr al-'Arabs disciples continued to spread his
teaching among those who were eager to hear it. Even today, some
representatives of the Ottoman artistic and religious lite continue
to identify themselves as Malms.47
The Bektshiyya
The history of the Bektshiyya begins with the arrival in Anatolia
from Khursn of its semi-legendary founder jj Bektsh Wal in
the middle of the seventh/thirteenth century. Little is known about
his background, although some researchers associate him with the
bbs, that is, the itinerant preachers who spread Islam in Anatolia
among the recently immigrated Turkic nomadic and seminomadic
tribes.48 According to some reports, jj Bektsh was a follower of
Bb Ilys and Bb Isq, who led a popular revolt that shook the
Saljuq State in 638/1240. When the rebel troops were demolished by
a Saljuq army in 638/1240, jj Bektsh was one of the few survivors, who continued to propagate his version of Islama peculiar
mixture of Susm, Sh'ism, and Turkic folk beliefs49among the
nomadic and settled Turkic tribesmen of Anatolia. Despite the overall obscurity and unreliability of the sources, his links to the Turkic
tribal milieu do not cause serious doubts. While jj Bektsh provided the movement with his name, its true organizational founder
was Blim Suln, who was appointed as the head of the chief
Bektsh tekke by the Ottoman sultan Byazd II in 907/1501. Around
that time or later, the order split into two factions. One faction, the
oyn, was associated with the presumed descendants of jj
Bektsh, called Cheleb, who occupied the orders main lodge between
Qirshehir and Qayseri. The other faction, known as Bbgn, was
ruled by the so-called Dede-Bb (grand master), who was elected
47
Ibid., p. 483.
I. Mliko, Lordre des Bektachis et les groupes relevant de Hadji Bektach,
in: A. Popovic and G. Veinstein (eds.), Bektachiyya, Istanbul, 1995, p. 3; cf. S. Faroqhi,
The Bektashis: A report on current research, in: ibid., pp. 9 and 1315.
49
Mliko, Lordre, p. 4.
48
278
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279
280
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cheese, wine and bread) as well as in its everyday practices (e.g., the
confession of sins before the spiritual leader). Others have traced its
beliefs back to Sh'ism, pointing to the Bektsh veneration of 'Al
and the other 'Alid martyrs as well as to the Bektsh secret belief
that 'Al, Muammad and God form a trinity. Still others have
emphasized the similarity between Bektsh teachings and the secret
cabbalistic speculations of the heretical uryya sect and the orders
anity with the radical groups of the Kizilbsh Turkomans that
believed in the divinity of their leaders.59 Finally, all investigators
agree that the Bektshiyya integrated many pre-Islamic Turkic cults,
which were current among its rst Turkoman followers, with various Su trends, for instance, a belief in the Su path as a means
to attain perfection and to enter into the presence of God. This intricate intertwining of diverse elements has given the Bektshiyya its
recognizable Turkic character and its unique syncretism.
281
61
C. Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, history, and politics at a South Asian Su center,
Albany, NY, 1992.
282
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service of the poor and the needy over against engaging in formal
prayers and spiritual exercises. His own lodge became a welfare center where free meals were served to all visitors. He also distributed
money to the poor and the needy on a very large scale. His charitable activities and sympathy for the needs of the masses earned
him great popularity in the Delhi sultanate and beyond. Nim alDn left many disciples, who propagated his ideas in various provinces
of India: shaykh Chirgh in Delhi, shaykh Munawwar in the Panjab,
Burhn al-Dn Gharb in the Deccan, Mawln usm al-Dn in
Gujarat, and Mawln Sirj al-Dn in Bengal.
The Suhrawardiyya arqa, which was introduced into India by
Shaykh Bah" al-Dn Zakariyy" (d. 661/1262), reached the peak of
its popularity under Shaykh Rukn al-Dn Ab l-Fat (d. 735/1334)
and Sayyid Jall al-Dn Makhdm-i Jahniyn (d. 788/1386). Though
both Indian arqas looked to Shaykh Shihb al-Dn Suhrawards
'Awrif al-ma'rif as their guide, they diered in their organization of
communal life and relations with the state. While the early Chisht
shaykhs refused to accept endowments of land or donations from
the government and relied exclusively on the pious gifts of private
individuals, their Suhraward counterparts had no compunctions about
mixing up with the members of the ruling class and beneting from
their largesse.62
The Firdawsiyya arqa, which traced its genealogy back to the
Kubrawiyya of Central Asia, was introduced into India by Shaykh
Badr al-Dn of Samarqand. Initially, its shaykhs were based in Dehli,
but later moved to Bihr Sharf. There the order enjoyed great popularity under shaykh Sharaf al-Dn Yay Manr (d. 782/1381),
who was both a meticulous collector and transmitter of adth and
a sophisticated exponent of Su categories and concepts. His most
comprehensive work was a commentary on the popular Su catechism, the Adab al-murdn by Ab l-Najb al-Suhraward, which was
discussed earlier in this study.
The Qdiriyya arqa was established in India by Sayyid Muammad
Makhdm Gln (d. 923/1517), and ourished under shaykh Dwd
Kirmn (d. 982/1574), Shh Qumays Gln (d. 998/1584), Miyn
Mr (d. 1045/1635) and Mull Shh (d. 1072/1661).
The Shariyya arqa was introduced into India by Shh 'Abdallh
(d. 890/1485), a descendant of shaykh Shihb al-Dn al-Suhraward.
62
283
284
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285
286
chapter nine
Susm In Indonesia
For a possible date of his death see S. M. Al-Attas, The Mysticism of Hamza
Fansuri, Kuala Lumpur, 1970, pp. 1114.
64
Ibid., pp. 14 and 142175.
65
Ibid., pp. 1011.
287
288
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289
290
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291
was an almost total disaster, showing that the Imm had learned
well the lessons of Akhulgo and adjusted his strategy accordingly.
With his prestige at its peak, Shmil endeavored to extend his rule
to Kabarda and to unify the mountain tribes of the Caucasus against
the Russians. His ambitious plans, however, were frustrated by the
brilliant strategy of general Freytag, the inaptitude of his lieutenant
Nr 'Al, and the resultant failure of the Kabardians to join his
army. More importantly, this campaign demonstrated the vast disparity between Shmils resources and those of the Russian Empire
a disparity that would eventually lead to his undoing. Having realized
the futility of the one-blow strategy, the Russians started to implement a more methodical, if less oensive strategy, known as the
system of the axe. It consisted in steadily encircling Shmil by a
network of defensive lines and military posts aimed at cutting him
o from Chechnyahis major source of food supplies and manpower. Throughout 18461849, the Russians were erecting fortications
in, and cutting roads through, the impenetrable forests of Greater
Chechnya. Simultaneously they pacied the population of the fertile Chechen plains, chasing those who refused to submit into the
barren mountains. In the meantime, another Russian force attempted
to destroy Shmils strongholds in Central Dghestna goal for
which they paid an enormous price in money, ammunition, and
human lives. The Russian successes, however, proved short-lived.
Once the Russian troops had withdrawn, the Imm quickly rebuilt
his fortications and invaded Southern Dghestn, where he found
support among the local free communities that hoped to get rid of
the oppressive Russian rule. In a dramatic reversal of roles, Shmil
invested several Russian fortresses, and was poised to achieve a decisive victory. However, his plans were frustrated by the heroic stand
of a small Russian garrison at Akhty, whose dogged resistance gave
the Russians the opportunity to regroup and to repel Shmils levies.
On the Chechen front, Shmil tried to forestall Russian clearing
operations by strengthening his line of defense and by deploying
against the Russian troops his cherished regular infantry corps built
on the model of the Ottoman nim-i jadd. The latter were soundly
defeated on March 11th, 1851 by colonel Baryatinskii, forcing Shmil
to revert to the tried guerilla tactics and to relinquish any hope of
defeating the Russian army in a pitched battle. Turning his attention to Dghestn, Shmil sent his best military commander and lifelong rival ajj Murd to Russian-controlled Qaytaq and abasarn
292
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293
294
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295
67
R. S. OFahey and B. Radtke, Neo-Susm Reconsidered, in: Der Islam, vol.
70 (1993), passim.
296
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297
68
69
298
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299
well-organized structure of the arqat, which allegedly made it a natural rallying point for the Caucasian national fronts,70 we nd remarkably few traces of Su ideology in the recent Russo-Chechen war.
Apart from the ubiquitous presence of Shmils portraits, Islamic
headbands, spirited Qdir dances, and collective prayers what we
actually see is nothing but trappings of a Su movement. Its political and military potential seems to have been blown out of proportion by the overenthusiastic Western Sovietologists who were anxious
to secure government funding to support their obsessive quest for
clandestine Su movements. Furthermore, the same conspicuous scarcity
of references to Susm strikes anyone who cares to consult the chronicles of Shmils wars written in Arabic by indigenous authors such
as Muammad hir al-Qarkh.
And yet, Western investigators continue to adhere to the nineteenth century European stereotypes about the intrinsically subversive potential of Su-based movementsa potential that they hoped
to exploit to topple their Cold War adversary. One thinks primarily of Ch. Lemercier-Quelquejay, A. Bennigsen, S. Enders Wimbush,
and M. Bennigsen-Broxup whose half-a-million strong army71 of
Caucasian dervishes existed only in their imagination and failed to
materialize during the recent war that was led by professional, if
highly motivated, soldiers and secular intellectuals. Their lip service
to Susm in oral interviews, essays as well as in a spate of revisionist
historical studies published shortly before the war reveal a remarkable ignorance of both Susm and Islam as a whole. This is hardly
surprising given the seventy years of a thorough atheistic brainwashing and the recurrent purges of local men of religion, who, in
Chechnya at least, embraced Islam too late to make any signicant
contribution to Islamic learning.
In sum, the explanatory paradigm that emphasizes the Susm/
muridism factor in launching and sustaining movements of popular
resistance is too crude and narrow to account for the complex dynamics of Susms interaction with Muslim societies in crisis. Neither in
the Caucasus and North Africa nor in the Sdn and Somalia do
we nd a homogenous and recognizable Neo-Su movement with a
readily identiable set of characteristics. Likewise, we are hard put
70
300
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CHAPTER TEN
302
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Ibid., p. 29.
303
304
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signies dierent modalities of action, which are essentially instantaneous and transtemporal. When applied to Su analysis of the
mystical consciousness, the word state may describe the subjective
condition of a human subject that is confronted with a higher reality or an awareness that comes directly from God.
In Su manuals, the term l is often juxtaposed with the opposite and complementary notions of station (maqm), instant (waqt)
and xity or stability (tamkn). Especially pervasive in Su literature is the juxtaposition of l and maqm. These two notions form
a pair in which the transience and eeting nature l is contrasted
with the stability and constancy of maqm (pl. maqmt). The latter
are usually described as a series of progressive stages that the Su
wayfarer must conquer in order to reach the terminus of the mystic path. Most Su authors insist that one obtains or conquers
the maqm through his own eort and strenuous self-exertion. The
l, on the other hand, is bestowed upon him by God regardless of
his degree of spiritual or intellectual attainment. In spite of the obvious similarities between the l/maqm dichotomy of Su theorists
and the active as opposed to passive states of Christian mysticism, the equivalence is never total. Generally, the stations and the
states can be seen as two parallel series of mystical experience. The
stations are acquired by the sweat of ones brow, while the states
are received gratis from God. Perhaps this is why in the manuals
and in descriptions of the souls ascent, the stations often precede
the states. But the dierence between them is one of perspective.
Some writers, e.g. 'Abdallh al-Anr (d. 481/1089) and his commentators, lump the states and stations together under name of
abodes or resting-places (manzil ) along the way. Others consistently mix up states and stations, implying that the borderline
between them is elusive. The maqm is often described as the travelers halt, which he was free to revisit at any moment. In fact,
once conquered, the station remained his possession throughout
his life. Furthermore, reaching a new maqm does not automatically
abolish the preceding one. Conversely, the l is by its nature instantaneous and cannot co-exist with any other state or sensation.
There can, however, be a succession or alternation of states. Under
certain conditions they may stabilize and become quasi-stations.
However, there can be no concomitance of several dierent states:
the heart possessed by a l is seized entirely, even though it can be
succeeded by another one that either brings it to perfection or totally
denies it. In fact, the states often come in pairs: fear/hope,
305
4
5
6
306
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Ibid., p. 369.
307
308
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Likewise, Ibn 'Arab included idq in his list of the nine principal
conditions of the mystical path together with hunger, vigil, silence,
retreat, trust in God, patience, determination, and certainty, which
he dubbed the Mothers of Virtue.
The centrality of sincerity and truthfulness for Su piety is further attested by such statements as nothing beaties man more perfectly than idq, and sincerity is the sword of God on the earth
that cuts everything it touches, that is, mans attachment to this
world par excellence. In the latter dictum, as elsewhere, sincerity/truthfulness are associated with sturdiness (shidda) and rmness (alba)
qualities which, according to Su writers, rendered it both an eective
oensive weapon in attaining self-perfection and a reliable shield
against devilish temptations.
As time went on, Su psychology provided increasingly detailed
accounts of sincerity and truthfulness. A typical example is al-Ghazls
treatment of these concepts in the special chapters of his momentous Revival of the Religious Sciences. In dealing with the notion
of idq he identied six dierent types of truthfulness: in word, in
intention and volition, in determination, in commitment, in deed,
and nally, in fullling the requirements of the mystical path (arq).
Yet, despite its overriding importance for Su self-disciple, adherence
to truthfulness was not considered absolute. According to al Ghazl
and Ibn 'Arab, it is always contingent on concrete circumstances.
For instance, telling truth about someone in his/her absence amounts
to backbiting and will be judged accordingly in the hereafter.
The same goes for those who speak publicly of their sexual life,
although their accounts may be accurate. On the other hand, a
pious lie that helps to save the life of a Muslim or to protect a state
secret may, in Gods eyes, be a meritorious deed.
Basing themselves on Qur"n 5:108120 and 3:81, some Su
exegetes mused over the question of sincerity (su"l al-idq) which
God poses to Qur"nic Jesus ('s) on the Judgement Day. In response,
's squarely disowns his misguided worshipers who took him and
his mother for deities. In so doing he successfully passes the test,
showing both pure sincerity and saintly humility.
Although man shares the attribute of idq with God, who is sometimes described as Truthful (al-diq), human sincerity is of an imperfect, inferior nature, unless, in accordance with the famous hadith,
the mystic has reached the exalted spiritual state in which God
becomes his hearing . . ., his sight . . ., his hand . . ., and his foot
309
that is, his sole raison dtre and mover. This is, in the view of Ibn
'Arab and some other later Sus, the utmost degree of sincerity and
truthfulness that signies that the wayfarer has reached the stage of
perfect servanthood (al-'ubdiyya).
A. Louth, The Origins of the Christian Mystical Tradition, Oxford, 1981, p. xv.
For details see Gardet and Anawati, Mystique musulmane, pp. 97106.
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311
Su Epistemology: Kashf
At the center of Su epistemology lies the notion of a supersensory,
revealed knowledge that is conned to the select few. In Su manuals, this kind of knowledge is variously described as direct vision
(mushhada), ashes (lawqi), gnosis (ma'rifa), illumination (ishrq),
direct tasting (dhawq), verication (taqq), etc.10 Here I will limit
my discussion to the type of cognition known as unveiling (kashf ).
Frequently invoked in Su writings from dierent periods, it denotes
the act of tearing away the veil that separates man from the extraphenomenal world. This meaning appears to be an elaboration of
the Qur"nic usage of the verb kashafa in the sense of to uncover
[part of the body] or to prevent [an impending misfortune, evil,
danger, or torment]. However, it was the following two Qur"nic
passages that proved to be particularly conducive to the later elaboration along mystical lines: We have lifted thy covering o thee
(kashafn), and today thy sight is sharp (50:22); and The Last Day
is near at hand; short of God, there is no one to unveil it (53:578).
Once the veil of ignorance has been drawn apart, one becomes
aware of the ultimate mysteries of being and of ones human condition without the intermediary of a reection or of a sacred tradition. In fact, one can now dispense with all the intermediaries, because
one acquires direct access to the very source of divine revelation.
Su authors describe this unmediated knowledge as a light which
God throws into the heart of whomsoever He will.11 The experience of kashf brings about mukshafa, that is, the lifting of the veil
in the sense of illumination or epiphany. These two notions are
10
W. Chittick, The Su Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-'Arabs metaphysics of imagination,
Albany, N.Y., 1989, pp. 147170.
11
Ibid., p. 170.
312
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12
Arberry, The Doctrine, pp. 117119 (The Doctrine of Revelation and Veiling).
313
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314
the eyes, without any possible grounds for doubt.13 In other words,
for al-Ghazl, kashf is a light, a grace from God, which grants its
possessor a sure knowledge of God. Similar concepts of kashf can be
found in the works of later Su theorists, including those who adhered
to a Sh' version of Susm, e.g., aydar Amol (the eighth/fourteenth century). They also viewed kashf as a superior cognitive method
that allowed its possessors to unravel the mysteries of being encoded
in the Scriptures and in the world around them. In accord with
their Sh' convictions, Sh' mystics ascribed kashf to their leaders
(imms) or to their representatives in the contemporary Sh' community. A similar understanding of this concept can be also found
in the Ism'l doctrine that emphasizes that the Qur"n is nothing
but a collection of symbols that hides the authentic, hidden meaning of the divine of revelation.14
315
of Christian asceticism exercised a certain inuence on the formation of this ideal, there is no doubt that it was actively promoted by
many heroes of early Islam. One can cite the example of Sufyn alThawr (d. 161/778), who reportedly championed a life in separation from society and, especially, the avoidance of any contact with
the corrupt temporal rulers.15 Similar ideas were often expressed
by early Sufis. Thus, Dhu l-Nn al-Mir (d. 245/860) is said to
have learned from a Syrian hermit about the sweetness of seclusion, the invocation [of Gods name] (dhikr) and the intimate conversations with God in the privacy of ones retreat (al-khalwa bimunjtih).16 He is also frequently quoted as saying that he knew
of no better incitement to bring about spiritual sincerity (ikhl) than
khalwa. Another celebrated Su, Ab Bakr al-Shibl (d. 334/945),
is said to have given the following advice, Cleave to solitude, abolish your name from the [memory of the] people, and face the wall
[of prayer] until you die! Generally, the statements of the classical
early Sus quoted by al-Qushayr and al-Ghazl reect a wide spectrum of opinions as to the virtues of solitude as opposed to the life
in a community (uba, mukhlaa). Spiritual isolation and mental aloofness from the world was considered higher than a mere physical
seclusion. Most Sus practiced periodic retreats rather than permanent seclusion. Su writers tried to strike a delicate balance between
the necessity of seclusion and the exigencies of communal life. Although
they recognized the merit of the former, they encouraged their readers to form small ascetic communities and to take into account the
interest of society at large. According to an early mystic Ab Ya'qb
al-Ss of Bara (. ca. 300/900), only the strong ones are able to
support solitude, whereas life in a community (ijtim' ) is more benecial
for people like us, so that each individuals behavior could be controlled by his fellow.17 The communal tendency grew particularly
strong following the formation of the rst Su orders in the seventh/
thirteenth centuries. According to Ab af al-Suhraward (d. 632/
1234), it is communal life that distinguishes the Sus from the ascetics.
He claims that the Sus prefer community because, by virtue of
their spiritual health, they are free from the temptations that the
ascetics try to combat by adopting a solitary lifestyle. Moreover, even
15
16
17
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18
M. Mol, Traits mineurs de Na[m al-Din Kubra, in Annales Islamologiques,
vol. 4 (1963), p. 25.
317
Qur"n 7: 141142.
H. Ritter, Das Meer der Seele, Leiden, 1955, pp. 1820.
318
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21
319
23
320
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syllables, the rst of which consists of the amza (i.e., the sound a)
and the second of the llh. The articulation of these syllables is
accompanied by the rhythmical raising and lowering of the head
down to the navel and back.24 Another popular formula of dhikr,
which is traced back to al-allj and his followers, elides the al in
the name of Allh, thereby reducing it to the exclamation lha, lhi,
or lhu. Al-Sans warns that this formula is to be practiced with
caution and only by those who are aware of its possible result.
The other dhikr formulae usually consist of one of Gods beautiful
names, namely Huwa, al-aqq, al-ayy, al-Qayym, al-Qahhr, and
so on.25
The duration of dhikr is regulated either by the shaykh, who presides over the session of dhikr, or, by the individual Su himself, with
or without the help of a rosary (suba). It may include varying numbers of repetitions, such as 300, 3,000, 6,000, 12,000, 70,000. With
time, the reciter may loose track of the number of invocations, whereupon his dhikr may become unceasing and spontaneous.
The nature and specicity of dhikr as an individual experience
receives an exhaustive treatment in the Mift al-fal (Key to
Salvation) of Ibn 'A" Allh of Alexandria, the third Grand Master
of the Shdhil order.26 His discussion of dhikr, in turn, summarizes
the lore on this practice that was accumulated by the earlier generations of Su masters from al-Kalbdh to al-Ghazl. Most Su
writers distinguished three main stages of invocation. First, the dhikr
of the tongue with intention of the heart; the absence of the proper
intention and concentration invalidates dhikr, which becomes a senseless routine. At this stage, the reciter tries to implant the One who
is mentioned (i.e., God) into the heart by following closely the rules
and procedures prescribed by the shaykh. Once this has been achieved,
the recitation becomes spontaneous and continues without any eort
on the reciters part. One can still discern three elements involved
in the performance of the dhikr: the subject conscious of his experience (dhkir), the recitation (dhikr), and the One mentioned (madhkr).
After the rst stage has been passed, one enters the stage of the
dhikr of the heart. Here, according to al-Ghazl, the Su reaches
a point where he has eaced the trace of the word on his tongue;
24
25
26
321
it is now his heart that takes over as the enunciator of dhikr. This
stage falls into two substages. At rst, the reciter has to apply his
eorts in order to make his heart articulate the prescribed formula.
This exercise may result in a pain felt in the physical heart. Subsequently, the same eect is achieved without any eort, as the formula becomes integrated into the beating of the physical heart.
The name of God now pulsates in unison with the pulsation of the
blood in the veins and the arteries without nding any perceptible
verbal or mental expression. This is the state of Gods necessary
presence in the heart of the reciter who becomes completely oblivious of the surrounding world. This state lays the groundwork for
the third stage, that of the dhikr of the inmost heart (sirr). As the
seat of divine knowledge, the heart is best suited of all human organs
to become the arena of the direct vision of God (mushhada). Here
the experience of divine unity (tawd ) and of the unication of the
human self with the Divine Essence reaches its apogee. Su writers
often associate this third stage of dhikr with the state of spiritual perfection (isn) that comes on the heels of the state of external submission [to Gods will] (islm) and that of internal faith (mn). For
the Su who has attained this sublime condition, dhikr becomes the
essential part of his identity. Moreover, his whole being becomes,
sometimes against his wish, the tongue that utters dhikr. As a result,
a union between the reciter, the recitation and the One whose name
is recited, is eected. All duality disappears in the act of the voluntary self-annihilation of the reciter in the presence of God ( fan" 'an
al-dhkir bi- llh). The personality of the Su is thus dissolved in the allencompassing divine unity that no longer allows any duality within it.
Some Su manuals describe the audio and visual phenomena that
correspond to various stages of dhikr. In one such description, the
dhikr of the heart is likened to the buzzing of the bees that is
accompanied with various ocular and colored sensations. Thus, alGhazl spoke of the apparition of lights, which sometimes pass
like a ash of lightning and sometimes stay, sometimes last and sometimes do not last, sometimes follow one another . . ., and sometimes
blend into a single mood. He explains them as gleams of truth
that are released by Gods good will. However, later Su authors
describe them as being intrinsically and obligatorily bound up with
the dhikr experience. They also argue that the luminous phenomena
are more resplendent at the stage of the dhikr of the innermost heart,
of which they become a characteristic feature. Here, according to
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322
Ibn 'A" Allh al-Iskandar, the re of dhikr does not go out, and
its lights do not fail . . . You see some lights going up and others
coming down; the re around you is bright, very hot, and it burns.27
These rising and falling lights are held to be a divine illumination
which is instigated by dhikr. In this context, the dhikr of the inmost
being can be seen as liberating the divine element in the human
spirit directly (the trace of the One of Plotinus).
Su writers provide varying explanations of the place of dhikr in
Islamic spirituality. Thus al-allj and al-Kalbdh describe dhikr
as a method of reminding oneself of God and of helping the soul to
live in Gods presence. Al-Ghazl portrays dhikr as the way of the
Sus that prepares the murd for the outpourings of divine mercy.
For Ibn 'A" Allh al-Iskandar, it is not just a preparatory stage
of the mystical path, but also an eective technique that gives the
mystic direct access to the domain of divine mysteries (lht). Later
works pay more attention to the technical aspects of dhikr, such as
voice, breath control, bodily posture, and so on.
On the psychological plane, the objective of dhikr lies in instigating and sustaining monoideism, that is, a total and undivided concentration of ones thoughts and aspirations on the object of recollection.
This, in turn, should lead the mystical seeker to a direct encounter
with God followed by an intuitive realization of the mysteries of
being. As time went on, certain brotherhoods sought to replace the
complicated rules and requirements of dhikr, described in classical
Su manuals, by convenient shortcuts that rested on purely physical procedures aimed at inducing altered states of conscience. As
examples of this phenomenon one can mention the ecstatic dances
of the Mawlawiyya, the pitched cries of the Howling Dervishes of
the Rif'iyya brotherhood as well as the use of stimulating and stupefying drugs by some marginal Su groups. Such practices became
targets of the attacks on the Su lifestyle, teachings and practical
excesses that were launched by some nineteenth- and early-twentieth century Muslim reformers, including Muammad 'Abdh and
Muammad Rashd Ri.
Sam'
This term is derived from the Arabic root s-m-' which signies the
act and process of hearing. By extension, it often denotes that which
27
323
is being heard, for example music. The word sam' is not found in
the Qur"n, but it is often employed in pre-Islamic Arabic with the
meaning of song or musical performance. Although frequently used
in many Islamic disciplines, such as grammar and theology, it plays
a special role in Susm. Here it generally denotes the hearing of
music or audition, especially a Su spiritual concert that follows certain ritual conventions. For many Sus, sam' is the nourishment
of the soul, in other words, a devotional practice that, according
to Su authors, can induce intense emotional transports (tawjud ),
states of grace (awl ), and direct encounters with the Divine Reality
(wajd; wujd ). These may be accompanied by ecstatic behavior and
visions.
Such spiritual phenomena often nd outward expressions in movements, physical agitation or dance which could be performed individually or collectively and which often follows certain ritual conventions.
The wide spread of sam' in the medieval Muslim world is richly
attested by Persian miniatures that depict the various forms it took
in dierent epochs and geographical areas.
On the theoretical level, the term sam' implies more than a simple hearing of poetry or music, accompanied by a dance or other
bodily movements. It refers rst and foremost to the understanding,
comprehension and acceptance of the Revelation by its practitioners. Not just a simple ecstasy or rapture, it is described by some Su
authors as an unveiling of mysteries and a means of attaining a
higher spiritual state and awareness.
Sam' in the Su sense of the term did not appear until the middle of the third/ninth century. Registered for the rst time among
the Sus of Baghdad, its origins in the ecstatic rites and practices
of the earlier Middle Eastern religions cannot be ascertained. Within
Islam, sam' can be seen as a natural development of the devotional
practices associated with the public recitation of the Qur"n. Its subsequent development was determined, in part, by the secular concerts (arab) and artistic declamations of secular poetry which were
cultivated by the caliph and by provincial rulers in Ifahn, Shrz
and Khursn. Initially, sam' appears to have been an oriental
phenomenon which was promulgated by the Persian disciples of alNr and of al-Junayd. By the same token, almost all of the early
writers on sam' were Persians, with the exception of Ab lib
Muammad al-Makk (d. 386/996). Subsequently, sam' spread to
the other areas of the Muslim world and found an eager and enthusiastic acceptance among Arab, Turkish and Indian Sus. The rst
324
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325
28
GENERAL CONCLUSION
general conclusion
327
is that it ignores the astounding diversity of religious and intellectual attitudes that fall under the blanket category of Susm. As a
result, diverse ascetic and mystical trends in Islam may appear much
more monolithic and unchangeable than historical evidence shows
them to be. If this study has succeeded in alerting the reader to the
internal diversity of Islamic asceticism and mysticism, which contained vastly disparate if not diametrically opposed views and principles, then it has achieved its task. It cannot however pretend to
have exhausted this vast topic which will continue to be re-assessed
and re-examined in scores of academic and popular articles and
monographs.
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Abdel-Kader, A. H. The Life, Personality and Writings of al-Junaid. London, 1962.
Ab l-'Al 'Aff. Al-Malmatiyya wa l-yya wa-ahl al-futuwwa. Cairo, 1945.
Abu-Manneh, B. The Naqshbandiyya-Mujaddidiyya in the Ottoman Lands in the
Early 19th Century, in: Welt des Islams, N.S., vol. 22 (1982), pp. 136.
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GENERAL INDEX
'Abdak [al-f], 15
Abdl, Amad Shh, 232
'Abduh, Muammad, 322
Abraham (prophet), 322
Ab 'Al al-Daqqq, 130
Ab 'Al [al-]Frmadh
Ab 'Al al-Rdhbr, 56, 132
Ab 'Al al-Sind, 69
Ab Bakr (caliph), 193, 258, 259
Ab Bakr al-Kalbdh. See
al-Kalbdh, Ab Bakr
Ab Bakr Muammad Prs, 117
Ab Bakr Shdhn al-Rz, 117
Ab Bakr al-Shibl. See al-Shibl,
Ab Bakr
Ab Bakr al-Wsi, 10001, 124,
126
Ab Bakr b. 'Abd al-Ramn, 16
Ab l-Dard", 5, 26
Ab Dwd al-Sijistn, 84
Ab Dharr, 5
Ab l-Fal al-Khuttal, 133
Ab l-Faraj al-Warathn, 117
Ab l-Fat, Rukn al-Dn, 205,
282
Ab af al-addd, 94, 96, 132
Ab amza al-Baghdd, 47
Ab amza al-Khursn, 56
Ab anfa (founder of the anaf
school of law), 32, 91, 116, 123,
135, 203
Ab Hshim [al-f], 15
Ab ulmn al-Fris, 85
Ab l-usayn al-Nr. See al-Nr
Ab Isq al-Hamadn (q), 61
Ab Madyan [Shu'ayb], 45, 164,
239, 246
Ab Muammad al-Jurayr. See
al-Jurayr
Ab Nar al-Sarrj. See al-Sarrj
Ab Nu'aym al-Ifahn, 40, 127,
12830, 135, 140, 148, 307
Ab l-Qsim al-Narbdh, 125
Ab Sahl al-u'lk, 125
Ab Sa'd, Shh, 233
Ab Sa'd al-A'rb, 117, 119, 120
Ab Sa'd al-Hujwr, 133
general index
Ab Sa'd al-Kharrz, 51, 5660, 63,
125, 126, 307; and al-Junayd, 57,
58, 59; and school of Baghdad, 57,
138; union with God in teaching of,
58, 71; relationship between
prophethood and sainthood in
teaching of 5859; and Primordial
Covenant, 59
Ab Sa'd Muammad b. 'Al
al-Khashshb, 126
Ab Sa'd-i Thn, 223
Ab Sa'd Ibn Ab l-Khayr, 81, 94,
148, 172
Ab Sulaymn al-Drn, 18, 369,
47, 86
Ab lib al-Makk, 13, 28, 45, 117,
12122, 145, 148, 149, 182, 201,
307, 323, 324
Ab Thawr, 53
Ab Turb al-Nakhshab, 34, 105
Ab 'Umar Ibn Ysuf (q ), 76, 77
Ab 'Uthmn al-r, 95, 96, 97, 100,
101, 125, 132
Ab Ya'qb al-Aqa', 72
Ab Ya'z, 246
Ab Yazd al-Bism, 68, 6972, 80,
93, 120, 157, 183, 271, 309;
intoxicated mysticism of, 53, 55,
81, 120, 136, 181, 242 and
al-Junayd, 53, 55, 56, 80; and
al-Niar, 103
Ab Ysuf, 32
Ab Zakariyy" (sultan), 209
Acheh. See Atjeh
Adam, 9, 154; in teaching of al-akm
al-Tirmidh, 108109
Afghanistn, 19, 88, 92, 133, 136,
161, 223, 236, 240
'Aff al-Dn al-Tilimsn. See
al-Tilimsn
Ak, 32
Africa, 2, 185, 188, 233, 245, 246,
250, 251, 253, 254, 255, 263. See
also sub-Saharan Africa; North
Africa; Maghrib; West Africa
Agra, 230
Amad the Cameleer, Shaykh, 275
Amad al-Hujaym, 18
Amad Sa'd, Shh, 233
Amad Shh Bahmn, 241
Amad Shahd of Re Barl, Sayyid,
233, 234, 283
Amad s, 324
Amad b. Ab l-awr, 37, 38, 60
335
336
general index
Athos, 318
Atjeh, 286, 287
'Ar, Khwja 'Al" al-Dn, 220, 221
'Ar, Fard al-Dn, 28, 29, 40, 151,
15256, 159, 171, 235
Aurs, 191
Avars, 289, 290
Awadh, 281
Awad al-Dn Kirmn, 203, 207
Awliy", Nim al-Dn, 281, 282, 285
Awrangzb (emperor), 231
'Aydarsiyya, 280, 281
'Ayniyya, 263
Ayybids, 164, 165, 173, 199
Azad, Ab l-Kalm, 231
Azerbaijn, 224, 239, 264
'Azz Kk, Mrz, 231
'Azzn, Jaml al-Dn, 272
'Azziyya, 272
Baalbek, 184
Bb Khursn, 77
Bba Faraj Tabrz, 234
Bba Ilys, 277
Bba Isq, 277
Bba Kaml Jand, 235
Bba Rejeb, 279
Bbgn, 277, 278
Bbur (emperor), 229, 283
Badakhshn, 238
Bdmyr, 'Al-Jn, 223
Badawiyya, 214
Baghdad, 16, 21, 34, 40, 43, 44, 47,
48, 49, 57, 58, 62, 64, 65, 66, 71,
74, 75, 76, 83, 84, 85, 87, 93, 118,
119, 121, 124, 125, 126, 130, 131,
136, 139, 141, 142, 144, 162, 171,
179, 180, 182, 183, 184, 188, 189,
193, 194, 196, 198, 199, 203, 204;
Su school of, 4648, 60, 63, 66,
81, 82, 83, 86, 87, 88, 92, 100,
118, 119, 138, 323; trial of al-Hallaj
in, 7578, 81
Baghdd, Majd al-Dn, 235
Bah" al-Dn Zakariyy" Multn, 200,
204, 205, 206, 282, 285
Barabd, 237
Bkharz, 236
Bkharz, Sayf al-Dn Yay, 235,
236, 302
al-Bakhsh al-alab, Muammad, 268
Bakhshiyya, 268
al-Bakk", Amad, 261
Bakr b. Khunays, 48
general index
al-Bakr, Kaml al-Dn Muaf, 266,
267, 268, 270
al-Bakr family, 188
Bakriyya, 267, 269
Bk, 264
Baldick, J., 3, 47
Baldwin (king of Jerusalem), 194
Blim Suln, 277, 278
Balkans, 217, 226, 245, 255, 267,
275, 276, 279
Balkh, 19, 106, 156
Bamba, Amad, 262, 263
Bangala, 204
Bangladesh, 240
Bq Bi-llh, Khwja, 229, 233,
283
Bqiyya, 271
Baqqra (tribesmen), 259
al-Barbahr, 85
Barkyrq (sultan), 142
Baraytinskii (prince), 291, 293
Barzishabd, 'Abd Allh, 238
Bara, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18,
26, 27, 36, 38, 43, 48, 50, 72, 73,
84, 85, 102, 105, 118, 119; ascetic
and mystical movement in, 49, 51,
61, 66, 82, 83, 87, 121
al-Bar. See al-asan al-Bar.
Bay b. Sd 'Umar, Sd, 261
Byazd II (sultan), 265, 277
al-Bayw, 287
Byqar, Mrz usayn, 162, 222
Bayram, jj, 274
Bayramiyya, 27475
Beirut, 271
Bektsh, jj Wal, 277, 278
Bektshiyya, 27780
Bengal, 200, 282, 283
Bennigsen, A., 299
Bennigsen-Broxup, M., 299
Berbers, 247, 260, 297
Berke Khn, 237
Beshr Agha, 276
Bb Zulaykha, 281
Bihr, 281, 282
Bihbahn, 242
Bishr al-f, 18, 49, 51, 57, 132
Bism, 69, 120, 136
al-Bism. See Ab Yazd al-Bism
Biyr, 91
Bonner, M., 20
Bornu, 254
Bosnia-Herzegovina, 267, 275, 276
Britain, 248, 293
337
338
general index
general index
al-Ghazl, Muammad Ab mid,
30, 31, 45, 85, 122, 14049, 159,
169, 171, 176, 181, 193, 202, 203,
286, 307, 308, 313, 314, 315, 318,
319, 320, 321, 324
al-Ghz Ghumuq, Jaml al-Dn,
289, 295, 300
Ghz Muammad, 289, 290, 293,
294, 295
Ghz Muammad (son of Shmil),
292, 294
Ghazn Khan, 237
Ghazna (Ghazn ), 81, 118, 133,
220
Ghaznavids, 92
Ghijuwn. See 'abd al-Khliq
[al-]Ghijuwn
Ghoro (village), 254
Ghulm 'Al, Shh, 227, 232, 233,
234, 283
Ghulm Khall: prosecution of Sus
by, 57, 6162, 63, 78, 83, 93
Ghunaym, Fay al-Dn, 267
Ghr, 88
Ghrids, 92
Gln ( Jln), 179, 264
Gln, Muammad Makhdm, 282
Gln, Qumays Shh, 282
Gimrh (Gimry), 289, 290
Gsdarziyya, 281
Gza, 40
Gnwa, 186, 253
Gnosticism, 41, 147, 169
Gklan Turkomans, 224
Golden Horde, 237, 271
Granada, 187
Gunon, R., 248
Guinea, 186, 188, 251, 252, 253
Gujarat, 205, 206, 281, 282
Gulshn, Ibrhm, 265
Gulshniyya, 265
Gumm, Ab Bakr, 264
Gmshkhnew, iy al-Dn, 228
Gunbdiyya, 243
Grj Nejb Pasha, 227
Gwliyr, 281, 283
afids, 209, 215
al-ajj 'Umar, 252, 25354
ajjj (governor of Iraq), 11
al-ajj, Muammad
ajj Khall, 266
ajj Murd, 291, 292
akm Ata, 272
339
340
general index
general index
Ifrqiya, 208, 209, 212, 215
al-j, 'Ad al-Dn, 239
Ikhliyya tekke, 268
Ikhmm (Akhmm), 40
Ilh, 'Abd Allh Mull, 225
lkhnids, 237
Iltutmish (sultan), 206
'Imrn b. al-usayn al-Khuz', 5
India, 74, 99, 185, 187, 190, 200,
204, 206, 207, 226, 229, 230, 231,
232, 234, 237, 241, 245, 274, 280,
281, 283, 284, 285, 318. See also
Indo-Pakistan Subcontinent;
Pakistan
Indians, 18
Indonesia, 188, 207, 217, 255, 271,
28688
Iran, 1, 10, 49, 74, 84, 124, 128, 153,
204, 273, 238, 289. See also Persia;
Khursn; Shrz; Fars
Iranian [Islamic] Revolution, 224, 240,
243, 244
Iraq, 5, 7, 10, 11, 15, 30, 34, 38, 48,
50, 51, 66, 73, 74,78, 84, 87, 96,
97, 101, 102, 105, 114, 118, 123,
125, 133, 140, 164, 180, 187, 188,
207, 208, 224, 239, 255, 273
'Irq, Fakhr al-Dn, 204, 207, 274
Irbl, 228
's. See Jesus
's b. ab al-Mudrr, 16
Isaac of Nineveh, 17
'swa. See 'swiyya
'swiyya ('swa), 214, 215, 217, 248,
249, 253
Ifahn, 128, 193, 241, 242, 323
Isfarin, 130
Iskandar Muda, 286
Islamic Revolution. See Iranian
[Islamic] Revolution
Ism'l (vice-roy of Egypt), 294
Ism'l al-Qar, 234
Ism'l Rm, 187, 189
Ism'l al-Shm, 51
Ism'l b. Ja'far (Sh' imm), 238
Ism'l b. Nujayd, 125, 127
Ism'ls(m), 73, 141, 202, 239, 314;
and Ibn Masarra, 114; al-Ghazls
criticism of, 143, 145, 148
Istanbul, 162, 182, 187, 222, 223, 225,
226, 227, 228, 265, 267, 268, 274,
276
Istighthiyya, 237
Italians, 256, 263
341
342
general index
Khartoum, 257
Kh Muammad al-Shrwn, 294
Khatmiyya (Mrghniyya), 251, 255,
263
Khattu, Amad, 284
Khayr al-Nassj, 64
Khayra, 10
Khazn, 225
Khva, 234
Khursn, 7, 16, 51, 74, 81, 88, 89,
91, 93, 99, 100, 101, 105, 114, 118,
123, 126, 127, 130, 131, 139, 140,
142, 221, 224, 234, 237, 238, 243,
265, 274, 277, 323
Khuttaln, 238
al-Khuttaln, Isq, 238
Khzistn, 84
Khwrazm, 171, 234, 235, 238, 272
Khwrazm Shh ('Al" al-Dn
Muammad II), 199, 200
Kiev, 294
Kirmn, 240, 241
Kirmn, Dwd, 282
Kitchener, 260
Kizilbsh, 278, 280
Khne-Urgenj, 235
Konya, 156, 157, 158, 197, 228
Kordofan, 259
Kosovo, 270, 276
Kotku, Memed Zhid, 229
[al-]Kubr, Najm al-Dn, 171, 194,
196, 203, 23437, 324
Kubrawiyya, 174, 203, 205, 222, 234,
23639, 280, 282, 316
Kfa, 11, 15, 16, 36, 44, 48, 105;
ascetic movement in, 48, 51
Kulb, 238
Kulan, 32
al-Kumlayal, Idyayj, 264
al-Kundur (vizier), 130, 131
Kunta (Kounta) tribe, 188, 260, 261,
262
Kunta jj Kishiev, 297, 298, 300
al-Krn, Ibrhm, 287
Kurdistn, 224, 227
Kurds, 223, 224, 225, 227, 228
al-Krdumr, Ism'l, 294
Kzakunn, un' Allh, 223
Ladakh, 205
Lahore, 133
Lr, 'Abd al-Ghafr, 222
Lebanon, 271
Lemercier-Quequejay, Ch., 299
general index
Libya, 251, 252, 255, 258, 262, 263,
319
Lobbo, Amad, 262
Louis IX (Saint Louis), 32
Luf Pasha (vizier), 265
M" al-'Aynayn, 252, 263
Macedonia, 270, 276
Madriyya, 280, 281
Magiansim (majsiyya), 100.
See also Zoroastrianism
Maghnisa, 268
Maghrib, 164, 188, 190, 207, 208,
213, 214, 216, 245, 246, 247, 249,
252
Maghribiyya, 284
Mahbd, 225
Mhn, 240
al-Mahd (caliph), 18
al-Mahd, 'Abd al-Ramn, 263
Mahd of the Sdn, 255, 25760,
263
Mahdiyya, 25960
Mahmashdh, 91
Mamd II (sultan), 226, 227, 279
Mamd Amad, 260
Mamd Subuktegin, 128
al-Majb, 'Abd al-Ramn, 213
Majbiyya-Shdhiliyya, 262
Majlis, Muammad Bqir, 223
Majnn and Layl, 162
Makhdm-i Jahniyn. See Bukhr,
Jall [al-Dn]
al-Makk. See Ab lib al-Makk
Maktadr, 'Al" al-Dn, 223
Malmatiyya, 7, 9499, 125, 127, 132,
134, 274, 275, 276, 277; and
futuwwa, 9798; and Karrmiyya, 95;
and yya, 96, 99, 101
Malaya, 196
Malay language and literature, 172,
216, 287
Malaysia, 188, 251
Mali, 251, 252, 260, 262
Mlik b. Anas (founder of Mlik
school of law), 40, 50
Mlik b. Dnr, 13, 14, 15, 26, 38
Mlikism (Mlik school of law), 40,
50, 64, 78; in al-Andalus, 114; and
Slimiyya, 86, 87; and Susm, 209
Mamlks, 173, 174
al-Ma"mn (caliph), 40
al-Ma"mniyya (Su lodge), 204
Mandu, 281, 283
343
344
general index
general index
[al-]Najaf, 162, 242
Najm al-Dn [Dya] al-Rz, 196, 197,
203, 235, 236
Nakhshab, 219
Naqshband, Bah" al-Dn, 162,
218221, 222
Naqshband, Muammad, 231, 232,
302
Naqshbandiyya, 99, 162, 174, 188,
200, 204, 218, 219, 220, 22134,
237, 238, 239, 240, 270, 272, 276,
279, 280, 281, 283, 284, 285, 286,
288, 289, 290, 294, 295, 297, 298,
300, 302, 317
Nasaf, 'Azz al-Dn, 237
al-Nir (caliph), 197
and 'Umar al-Suhraward, 197200,
201, 203
Nir 'Al Shh, 242
Nir al-Dar', 216
Niriyya, 214, 216
Nar (great chamberlain), 77
al-Narbdh, 130, 138
Nas, Memed, 266
Nasiyya, 266
neo-Platonism, 41, 80, 82, 107, 114,
144, 146, 147, 169, 200
Neo-Susm, 2, 295, 299
New Testament, 45
Nicholas I (tsar), 290
Nicholson, R. A., 20, 135
Nid", 'Abd Allh, 226
al-Niar, 10205; and al-Bism,
103
Nigeria, 251, 255, 262, 264
Nile, 213, 252, 260
Ni'mat Allh Wal, Shh, 23941,
242
Ni'matullhiyya, 174, 239, 24044
Nippur, 102
Nirvana, 310
Nshpr, 7, 88, 89, 91, 92, 93, 96,
99, 101, 106, 125, 128, 130, 130,
136, 140, 141, 142, 152, 221; as
center of Malmatiyya movement,
94, 96, 97, 100
Nim al-Dn. See Awliy", Nim
al-Dn
Nim al-Mulk (vizier), 131, 141, 142
Nimiyya (madrasa), 141, 142, 193,
194, 196
Nimiyya (arqa ), 281
North Africa, 2, 186, 188, 207, 215, 217,
263, 296, 299. See also Africa; Maghrib
345
346
general index
Rayy, 97
Red Sea, 209
Reiske, 82
Ri 'Al Shh Tabanda, 243
al-Rif'i, Amad, 108
Rif'iyya, 174, 208, 210, 215, 322
Rinchana, 205
Rinn, L., 189
Riy b. 'Amr al-Qays, 26
Rukniyya, 237
Rm. See Anatolia
Rm, Jall al-Dn, 151, 152, 155,
15661, 171, 286
Rshn, 'Umar, 265
Russia (Russians), 233, 28994, 295,
296, 297, 298, 299
Russo-Chechen War, 298, 299
Russo-Ottoman wars, 228, 292, 294
Ruwaym b. Amad, 56, 138
Rzbihn Baql, 79, 324
Sa'dat 'Al Shh, 243
Sabians, 48
abiriyya, 281
Sa'd al-Dn Muammad Kshghr, 161
Sa'did dynasty, 246, 247
diq 'Al Shh, 244
adr al-Dn Ibrhm, 237
adr al-Dn al-Qnaw, 164
af 'Al Shh, ahr al-Dawla, 243
afawids, 223, 238, 239, 240, 241
af 'Al Shh, Mrz asan, 243
af-'Al-Shhiyya, 243
af al-Dn, Shaykh, 239
Sahara, 191, 249, 250, 261
Sahel, 254
Sahl al-Tustar, 18, 66, 72, 8386, 87,
121, 122, 125, 126, 132, 139, 183,
201, 307; and Ibn Masarra, 114
Sa'd Ata, 272
Sa'd of Palu, 228
Sa'd Bek (grandson of Shmil), 294
Saktari, 238
al al-Dn Zarkb, 158, 161
Sal, 189
a 'Al Shh, 243
li al-Khab family, 207
li b. al-Mahd al-Maqbal, 187
liiyya, 251, 255
Slim al-Brs, 95
Slimiyya, 84, 85, 104, 118, 121, 134,
182
Saljuqs, 7, 130, 137, 141, 142, 164,
173, 193, 197, 198, 199, 200, 277
general index
Salmn al-Fris, 5
Sam" al-Dn, 205, 206
al-Sam'n, 194
Samarqand, 23, 161, 225, 272, 282
Samarqand, Bba aydar, 225
Samarqand, Badr al-Dn, 237, 282
Samarra, 64
al-Samatr", Shams al-Dn, 286, 287
al-Sammk, 51
al-Sammn, 'Abd al-Karm, 267, 287
Sammniyya, 256, 267, 271
San", 159
Sanjar (sultan), 142
al-Sans, Amad al-Sharf, 251
al-Sans, Muammad b. 'Al, 250,
252, 319, 320
Sansiyya, 250, 255, 258, 262, 263, 318
Sar al-Saqa, 18, 47, 48, 5052, 57,
60, 63, 69, 132, 139
al-Sarrj, Ab Nar, 27, 117, 11820,
121, 122, 125, 127, 132, 145, 195,
201, 305, 307, 324
Satan, 26, 76, 80. See also Iblis
Saudi Arabia, 250
Sawa, 273
Sw (Sv) Jaml al-Dn, 27374
ayda, 57
Sayf al-Dn, Khwja, 231
al-Sayyf, 247
Schimmel, A., 3
Schuon, F., 248
Selm II (sultan), 265
Senegal, 251, 252, 253, 254, 255,
262, 263, 300
Seville, 164
Sez", 265
Sez"yya, 265
Sha'bn Wal. See al-Qastamn
Sha'bniyya, 266, 267, 268
Shdhila, 208
al-Shdhil, Ab l-asan 'Al, 20712,
302; and doctrine of qub,
21112
Shdhiliyya, 174, 188, 207, 208, 211,
21218, 221, 245, 247, 248, 249,
302, 316, 318, 319, 320
Shdhiliyya-Jazliyya, 215, 216,
24748, 249
al-Sh'i, Amad b. Idrs, 43, 116
Sh'ism (Sh' school of law), 53,
77, 84, 86, 87, 123, 129, 130, 131,
132, 135, 141, 193, 196, 224, 287;
opposition to Karrmiyya of, 8991,
92
347
348
general index
general index
Tchavtchavadze, 292
Tehran, 244
Termez. See Tirmidh
al-Tha'lib, 261
Thrace, 225, 271
al-Thughr (Arab-Byzantine frontier),
6, 18, 19, 39, 50, 51, 60
Tis, 292
Tigris, 49, 72, 77, 193, 196
al-Tijn, Amad, 249, 252, 253,
254, 263, 264
Tijniyya, 177, 214, 249, 25355,
261, 262, 263, 264, 288, 300
al-Tilimsn, 'Aff al-Dn, 102, 105
Timbukt, 188, 261
Tmr, 239, 240
Tmrids, 162, 219, 222, 238, 241
Tinkisso, 254
Tirana, 279
Tirmidh (Termez), 105
al-Tirmidh. See al-akm al-Tirmidh
Tlemsen, 247
Tokolor, 249, 253
Tolstoy, A., 292
opkhne, 187
Torah, 15
Toski, 259
Touba, 188
Transoxania, 7, 16, 23, 33, 64, 66, 68,
88, 91, 99, 101, 114, 123, 124, 221,
222, 225, 238, 239, 240, 271
Triminghan, J. S., 183, 271
Tuaregs, 261, 262
Tughluq, Muammad, 281
Tunis, 208, 212, 213
Tunisia, 249, 253, 271, 318
r, 72
Turbat-i Jm, 224
Turkestan, 74, 185, 205, 224, 271,
272
Turkey, 190, 217, 218, 225, 226, 227,
228, 229, 233, 238, 239, 267, 270,
279
Turkish language and literature, 172,
226, 228, 274, 276
Turkish Republic, 228
Turkomans, 224, 225, 280
Turks, 32, 33, 189, 219, 225, 277,
280
s, 118, 136, 140, 142, 148,
153
Tustar, 72, 74, 84
al-Tustar. See Sahl al-Tustar
Tutush (emir), 142
349
350
general index
352
353
INDEX OF TERMS
index of terms
l; pl. awl (mystical state; ecstasy),
40, 54, 30306, 323
aqqa (ultimate goal and nal stage of
the mystical path to God), 30102,
312
al-aqqa al-muammadiyya (primordial
and eternal reality of the prophet
Muammad), 252
al-aqq (the True Reality; the Real,
God), 70
ay" (shame; decency), 52
hayba (reverence; awe [of God]), 52
hidya (right guidance), 111
izb; pl. azb (litany of a Su order),
190, 211, 318, 319
ull (Gods dwelling in a human body;
incarnation of God in man), 78, 79,
129
ikhl (sincerity), 51, 57, 30609, 315
'ilm (traditional or rational knowledge
as opposed to intuitive, supersensory
perception), 105
'ilm al-bin (internal, esoteric
knowledge), 16, 17, 113
'ilm al-arq (science pertaining to the
mystical path), 34
'ilm al-taawwuf (Su science), 10, 56,
116, 125, 132
'ilm al-tawd (knowledge of Gods
oneness; the ultimate knowledge of
God), 54
'ilm al-hir (external knowledge), 17
imm ([prayer] leader), 13, 207
'ishq (desire; passion for God), 61, 79
isnd (chain of authorities conrming
the authenticity of a given report or
statement), 129
thr (altruism; giving preference to
others over ones own self ), 12, 98.
See also futuwwa
ittid (union between God and a
human being), 56, 79
jam' (underlying unity of all created
beings; joining with God), 54, 79, 309
jihd (self-exertion; striving on the path
of God; holy war), 6, 18, 19, 21,
25, 37, 50, 181, 254, 256, 259, 261,
293, 294, 298, 300, 316. See also
mujhada
kalm (speculative theology; rationalist
discourse), 87, 106, 122, 196, 234,
289, 303
355
356
index of terms
index of terms
shaykh al-uruq (grand master of the
Su orders [in Mecca]), 188
iddqn (veracious ones; accomplished
Su masters), 106, 112, 313
sidq (truthfulness; sincerity), 41, 42, 57,
195, 30609
silsila (spiritual genealogy of a Su
master of a Su community), 13,
175, 203, 218, 220, 229, 262, 265,
268, 280, 288
f (wool), 5, 15
f (wool-wearer; Su), 5, 15.
See also mutaawwif
yya (wool-people; Sus), 7, 39
sulk (Su way), 303. See also tariqa
abaqt (generations or classes of
individuals belonging to a religious
group or a professional guild), 117
tbi'n (the generation of early Muslims
who came after that of the
Prophets companions), 10
tadls (bbing [in adth]), 12
tafrq(a) (dispersion; plurality of the
empirical world), 54, 309. Cf. jam'
tajall (self-revelation of God; epiphany),
31, 190, 312
talwn (inconstancy of a spiritual state
or sensation), 306
tamkn (xity or steadiness of a mystical
state), 134, 304, 306
taqashshuf (mortication of the esh;
asceticism), 88
arqa; pl. uruq or ar"iq (method of
spiritual education practiced by a
Su master; Su order), 1, 2, 149,
172, 177, 185, 187, 188, 191, 198,
199, 205, 207, 208, 211, 216, 217,
246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 254, 255,
262, 263, 266, 267, 268, 270, 272,
274, 277, 280, 288, 294, 297, 298,
299, 30103, 308
tarqa-yi Muammad (path of the
prophet Muammad; method of
spiritual training in later Susm),
233, 280, 283
taawwuf (Susm), 5, 48, 198, 199
tawahhum (pious meditation on the
events of the Last Day), 46
tawakkul (trust in God; reliance on God),
23, 33, 34, 36, 41, 46, 51, 89, 98
tawba (repentance; return to God), 107
tawd (ultimate realization of Gods
unity and oneness), 62, 122, 137,
303, 307, 321
357
358
index of terms