"Mysticism" in Iran: the Safavid Roots of a Modern Concept

“MYSTICISM” IN IRAN Studies in Comparative Religion Frederick M. Denny, Series Editor “MYSTICISM” IN IRAN The Safavid Roots of a Modern Concept ATA ANZALI THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA PRESS © 2017 University of South Carolina Published by the University of South Carolina Press Columbia, South Carolina 29208 www.sc.edu/uscpress 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data can be found at http://catalog.loc.gov/. ISBN 978-1-61117-807-4 (hardcover) ISBN 978-1-61117-808-1 (ebook) Front cover photograph: Imam ‘Ali with Hasan and Husayn, nineteenth century, by unknown artist, Harvard Art Museums/Arthur M. Sackler Museum, Alpheus Hyatt Purchasing Fund, 1958.137, photograph courtesy of Imaging Department © President and Fellows of Harvard College تقدی مهب فهیمه، همدم و همراه، سنگ صبور ورنگس و اسرا، دو فرشته زندگی To Fahimeh, Narges, and Esra CONTENTS Series Editor’s Preface ix Acknowledgments xi Notes on Translation and Transliteration xv Introduction: The Question of ʿIrfan in Contemporary Iran 1 Chapter 1. ʿIrfan in the Pre-Safavid Period 10 Chapter 2. The Safavid Opposition to Sufism 24 Chapter 3. The Sufi Response 69 Chapter 4. The Invention of ʿIrfan 117 Chapter 5. The Institutionalization of ʿIrfan 157 Chapter 6. Modernization of ʿIrfan 196 Epilogue: ʿIrfan as Mysticism? 229 Bibliography 237 Index 259 SERIES EDITOR’S PREFACE This deeply researched book provides a detailed history and analysis of the ways in which Iranians have defined and understood Shiʾite Muslim beliefs and practices from their origins in early Islamic history down to the present. Central to the study is how the broad modern concept of “mysticism” relates to the traditional Muslim concept of ʿirfan, a term that is widely expressed in English as “Islamic mysticism.” The study explains the traditional termSu - fism, also widely translated as Islamic mysticism, and the ways it is thought to relate to ʿirfan as the two traditional terms have been understood. The two terms are thoroughly compared by the author as he leads us on an enthralling tour of how Sufism can be understood with respect to the central beliefs, values, and practices that Muslims have universally embraced since the earliest history of Islam. We also learn of the serious differences Muslims have experienced between those who have deep mystical dimen- sions in their beliefs and practices and those who regard mysticism as essen- tially unIslamic. Ata Anzali has brought the contemporary understanding of Islamic mysticism and Muslim beliefs and practices generally to a rich new level that will be a true blessing for the study of Islam globally as well as in Iran. Frederick Mathewson Denny ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My adventure with ʿirfan started long before the research for this book, beginning eighteen years ago, when I moved to Qum to follow a rigorous course of study in the traditional Islamic disciplines. I had the good fortune to find an erudite mentor there who graciously accepted me into his circle of students. He was a generous and kind human being and an undisputed master of Islamic philosophy and ʿirfan. With his help, I immersed myself for four years in the writings of Suhravardi, Ibn Turka, Ibn ʿArabi, Mulla Sadra, Tabatabaʾi, and other great masters. My education took a sharp turn when I moved to the United States to begin graduate studies in religion at Rice University, but my fascination with ʿirfan did not subside. In fact, the strong emphasis on the study of mysticism in the religion department at Rice broadened my scope significantly and allowed me to view ʿirfan from a comparative perspective. I am very grateful to the people who taught me there. I was as encouraged by their continuous support as I was educated by their breadth of knowledge. They introduced me to a new way of looking at religion, one that I found troubling and at the same time profoundly liberating. For that liberation, I am indebted most of all to Jeffrey Kripal, my adviser and mentor. He is among the most generous and insightful human beings I have ever known. The support that I received from Rice University’s Humanities Research Center was also instrumental at the initial stages of the research project that culminated in the publication of this book. The HRC provided funding that helped me spend two years in full-time research and writing at Harvard University’s Widener Library. I am also grateful to Professor Carl Ernst for his continuous support and encouragement over the course of my research. Special thanks go to Pro- fessor Bruce Lawrence, who, without having met me in person, kindly provided immensely helpful feedback. I am also profoundly grateful for the help of Professor Alireza Doostdar and Professor Matthew Melvin-Koushki. Both were extremely generous with their time, carefully reading the entire manuscript at different stages and giving invaluable feedback. I extend my gratitude to my fellow Iranian academics as well, first and foremost to Professor Shahram Pazouki. I am thankful to have had the opportunity to discuss my xii ♦ Acknowledgments ideas with him in the early stages of formulating my questions about ʿirfan, and he provided much-needed guidance. I would also like to thank the peer- less scholar Rasul Jaʿfariyan, whom I have never had the pleasure of meeting in person. His vast, unrivaled scholarship and his leadership at the Majlis Library facilitated and guided my research agenda in important ways. The library’s amazingly rich manuscript collection was put online through his initiative, making it possible for me to browse a treasure trove of archival material from half a world away, in the OL section on the sixth floor of Wid- ener Library. This material was critical for my research, and the world of Ira- nian studies has few better friends than Professor Jaʿfariyan. The generous support of my new institutional home, Middlebury Col- lege, has been instrumental in ensuring that the present book is the best possible scholarly work that I can offer my audience. I am grateful for that support and, more important, for the friendship, support, and collegiality of my religion department colleagues, who have been nothing short of exceptional. Special thanks go to Laurie Pierce, who generously agreed to help smooth out the rough edges of my English prose. I am fortunate to have had her be- side me as an editor on the long road to publishing a work that I hope read- ers will find clear and coherent. I have also been very fortunate to have en- joyed a close friendship with the Pierce family, especially Matthew, who has been a constant source of support. I would also like to thank Jim Denton, the acquisitions editor for the University of South Carolina Press, who has pa- tiently worked with me to ensure the proper publication of this work. I am, of course, solely responsible for the content of this book. Although this project was carried out at a great distance from my family, their support and love have been crucial. I am thankful for my dear brother Amin, always the first person to whom I turn with my problems, technical and beyond. Mom and Dad, thank you for your endless support, for your un- conditional love, and for forgiving me for taking your sweet grandchildren to the other side of the world, where you can’t experience the joy of holding their hands and telling them the stories you told me. Finally, the most important thank you, the attempt to express an inef- fable gratitude. I feel obliged by convention to say these final words, even though saying them does not feel right. Acknowledgments in a book are usu- ally accompanied by the assumption that the written work belongs to the person whose name is on the cover. But another person is behind every sen- tence of this book as much as I am, despite not having written the words her- self. I have had the great blessing of spending the past nineteen years of my life with this person. She and I began our journey together in a humble base- ment in Qum, with little money and much love. Nothing looked impossible or even difficult in the face of our passion for learning and our deep love for Acknowledgments ♦ xiii each other. When we decided to embark on a new adventure and come here to the United States, she became a sang-e sabour not only for me but for our two wonderful daughters, Narges and Esra. All the while, she graciously put up with a perfectionist graduate student turned novice teacher who was a less than perfect husband. I thank you, Fahimeh, for all of this and so much more. NOTES ON TRANSLATION AND TRANSLITERATION The termʿirfan has been translated into English by scholars variously and often inconsistently as Islamic “mysticism,” “mystical knowledge,” “Islamic theosophy,” “gnosis,” and “gnosticism.” The semantic field of the termʿirfan can overlap, sometimes significantly, with all of these, depending on the con- text in which it is used. Given, however, that the subject of this book is the history of the use of the term ʿirfan and the formation of ʿirfan as a concept, I have kept the word untranslated throughout the work for clarity and to help the reader better understand the rationale of scholars who choose to trans- late it using the English terms listed. With the same rationale and for the sake of consistency, I have leftʿarif (pl. ʿurafa or ʿarifin) and other cognates of the root ʿ-r-f untranslated throughout the book as well.

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