GINĀN AS TAFSĪR LITERATURE The Exegetical Dimensions of a Tradition Stephen CÚRTO Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
[email protected] The Ginān tradition holds a special place in devotional and religious life in the Shia Imami Ismaili Tariqah. Ginān recitations are ubiquitous in Ismaʿili devotional life; they are played in homes, cars, and recited on auspicious religious occasions. Ginān recita- tion likewise comprises a central element of the congregational life of the Shia Imami Ismaili community within the jamāʿat-khāna (congregation house). The vast corpus of the Ginān literature has long formed part of the spiritual heritage of the South Asian Ismaʿili community, especially in Sindhi, Khoja, and Gujarati South Asian communities. This study uses the genre of the Ginān to critically engage the boundary frameworks that can be considered tafsīr literature and argues that the ginānic narrative provides not only liturgical but theologically complex examples of a Subcontinent vernacular Shiʿi exegetical tradition. KEYWORDS: Shia Imami Ismaili Tariqah, Qurʾan, tafsīr, taʾwīl, Ginān, Satpanth ‘In the Ginans that Pir Sadradin has given you, he has explained to you the essence of the Qurʾan in Indian languages.’ ― Sir Sultan Muhammad Shah, Aga Khan III, Zanzibar Farman, 5 July 1899 THE GINĀN TRADITION: SITUATING THE VERNACULAR WITHIN A GLOBAL DISCOURSE The Ginān tradition holds a special place in the devotional religious life of the Shia Imami Ismaili Tariqah.1 Ginān recitation likewise comprises a central element of the congregational life of the Shia Imami Ismaili community within the jamāʿat-khāna.2 The vast corpus of the Ginān literature has long formed part of the spiritual heritage of the South Asian Ismaʿili community, especially in different Sindhi, Khoja, and Gujarati South Asian communities.