NAQSHBANDIS IN WESTERN. AND CENTRAL ASlA CHANGE AND CONTINUITY Papers Read at a Conference Held at the Swedish Research Institute in Istanbul June 9-11, 1997 Edited by Elisabeth Özdalga SWEDISH RESEARCH INSTITUTE IN ISTANBUL TRANSACTIONS VOL. 9 The khaf i, J ahri Coritroversy in Central Asia Revisited İSENBİKE TOGAN T his paper is less a presentation of the res~ l ts of an investigation than an exploration of an issue that had previously seemed to me ınore or less settled. The question is whether it is appropriate to associate the silent dlıikr with the Naqshbandiyya. Although I myself come from a family in which affiliation with Naqshbandiyya played an im portant role, ı I was exposed to these issues by working w ith the Iate Joseph F. Fletcher in the Iate 1960s and early 1970s. What I had Jearned about the issue was that the Naqshbandiyya perform the silent dlıikr,ı where there is an empha­ sis on silence and control of eınotions and thoughts, something which is a reflection of Naqshbandi principles.3 Jürgen Paul, writing in the early 1990s, says "Die ijwii.ğagan übten vor allem den sti llen <likr."4 Against such a backdrop, the Iate Joseph F. Fletcher drew attention to a controversy between the adherents of the silent dlıikr and those of the vocal dlıikr in Eastem Turkestan and northwest China.5 At a time when there were not ınany previous studies on Islam in Eastern Turkestan and China, one of Joseph Fletcher's major tasks was ro deseribe the situation, define ıhe 1 Hamid Algar, 1992, pp. 127-128. 2 Ham id Algar states that other aspects "never bccame a distinctive feature of the Naqshbandi order­ even of its Mujaddidi branch-comparable to i ts insisıence on the silenl dlıikr and concern for the useen­ daney of the slwri'a'· ( 1990, p. 21 ). For aspects of Naqshbandi dlıikr see Algar ı 976A. A discussion of dlıikr among sufis p l ;ıced in to a larger conıexl of ınysıism in gl!neral and religioııs pnıcıice can be found also in Gilsenan, 1973, pp. 156-161. 3 The principles of the Naqshbandiyya are referred to as kalimiit-i qud.ri_ı~va (the Sacred Words). According to tradition eight of thcse were transmitted by ·Abd al-Khaliq Ghijduwani as the following: ı. luis/ı dar dam c·awareness white breathing'") 2. na;ar bar qadam ("watching the steps") 3. safar dar ıı·aıan ("joumeying in the homcl:ınd") 4. klıa/ı·at dar anjuman ("solitude in the assembly") 5. yiid-kard ("remembrance") 6. biiz-gaslıt ("restraint'') 7. nigalı-dosfıt ("watchfulness") 8. yiid-daslıt ("recollec­ tion"). Saha' al-Din Naqshband, on the other hand, added three more principles: 9. wuqıif-i ıamiini ("temporal pause") 1O. wuqıifi 'adodi ("numerated pause'') ll. ll 'uqıif-i qo fbi ("heart pause"). The trans­ lations inıo English are by Bo Utas, from a handout that he distributed at his talk at Harvard University in Iate ı 980s. As Ham id Algar says, ıhese werc formulated originally in Persian and are to be found in all the books on the Naqshbandiyya (1976, p. ı 33). For instance, in Turkish they are to be found in Mehmed Zahid Kotku. [n.d.]l. pp. 95-99, also Rashahat, Cawnporc: 20 and Istanbul: 25. Algar etaborates on na;ar har qadom and safar dar l'lltOJı in 1976a, pp. 43-44; kltaf;·at dar anjuman in 1976b, p. 133. A most detailed description or these principles, based on the most important Naqshbandi sources is given by AJ:ımad Tahiri 'Iraqi in his introduction to MuJ:ıammad Parsa's work Qudsiyya: Koliimiit-i Bafıii 'af-Din Naqslıband, Tehr.ın, 1354h.sh/1975, pp. 50-64. 4 Jürgen Paul, 1991, p. 22, n. 5. 5 In a posıhumously publishcd art icle, Joscph F. Fletcher ( 1995, XI, p. 33), states (paraphrasing the original to avoid mentioning names): Medilation at saints' tombs nıay have been one of the points at issue, but the quarrt!l itself centered on the performunce of the dlıikr. Ma Ming-hsin insisted on the per­ missibi lity ofjalır, and the Old ıeaching masıers (the Chinese Afaqiyya) i nsisıed w ith equal vchemence on the traditional Naqshbandi silenı dltikr. İsenbike Togan 17 problem, and try to understand whether they belonged to the Naqshbandiyya, the Yasawiyya or to the Yasawl groups, who more and more came to be associated with the Naqshbandiyya. He found that both practices were present in all groups. He also studied the social cantext of these controversies. His unpublished work and papers6 show how sensitive he had been to shades of different ioterpretations, since he had prepared many translations of many different passages canceming siınilar issues. In same cases, he prepared translations of the same passage in both its Persian original and its translation into Arabic. Locking at the manuscripts and the translated passages, one realizes that he wanted to bring all these interpretations together. Unfortunately, an early death left this tremendously important task incomplete. The passages that he chose are important not only ina histarical sense but also in the way they serve to guide analyses of current developments in both the Islamic and non­ Islamic worlds of taday. I have also examined the social and econoınic background of the two disputing groups of Naqshbandis in Eastem Turkestan in earlier papers.7 These groups were known as the Black and White Mountain or Isl)iiqiyya and Afiiqiyya, respectively.s Previous studies carried out include those of Joseph F. Fletcher, Saguchi Toru from Japan9 and Jonathan Lipman from the United States,ıo who studied these groups from an histarical perspective, and Dru Gladney, ll who d id so from an anthropolo­ gical one. lt was, in fact, Saguchi Toru's study in Japanese that had opened the way for Joseph Fletcher's studies. Jonathan Lipınan and I were students of Fletcher. During the Iate sixties and early seventies, I was ınore interested in finding the truth than in dealing with perceptions. This was especially so in regard to the neglected and misrepresented people of Inner Asia who always had been seen from the van­ tage point of the surraunding sedentary civilizations. S ince then a lot has been written on the different Inner Asian peoples, whether namadie or sedentary; and their history is now better known in its own right. However, there is stili the important question as to how certain issues were perceived at different times. Today it seems that new s on· T. V. from different sources and channels is one of the ways through w hi ch we are exposed to different kinds of perceptions of the same issue on a daily basis. lt was Lev Gumilev who fırst drew my attention to the "perception of reali­ ties and expressian of feelings" as a way of interpreting the meaning of history for the nomads.l2 My reaction was to question why this applied only to the nomads. Just at that juncture, in relation to canversion to Islam, Devin DeWeese stated in his book that he was not so much interested in what had happened, but in how it was perceived when it happened.l3 Similarly, since 1995, I have been doing micro-stud- 6 Information on these can be found in Beaırice Forbes Manz, "Preface," in Joseph F. Fleıcher. 1995. His unpublished papcrs are localed aı the Harvard University Archives. Here in this pa per some of them have been consulıed. In some cases I have quoıed J. F. Fleıcher's ıranslaıions (courıesy of Harvard University Archives). See noles S, 31, 39, 56, 73, 79, 80, 84 below. 7 isenbike Tosan, 1989, 1992. S They have enıered the lileraıure as Qara Taglıliq thal is "Black Mounıain" and Aq Taghliq thal is "White Mounıain" (Fieıcher, 1995, XI, pp. 10-11. See furıher 1. Togan, 1992, pp. 140 and 14. See also Ch'en, 1971). Bul there is also indicaıion that in some manuscriplS they were referred ıo as Aq Tughlıq thal is "those wilh a white standard" and Qara Tughlıq "those w ith a black standard" (personal comnıu ­ nicaıion by Lhe Iate Abdülkadir İnan in the year 1970). In Chinese sources, on Lhe other hand, they are refcrred to as Black and White Cap Muslims. Asimilar explanaıion is found among the papers of lhe Iate Zeki Yelidi Togan who says that the begs of Easıem Turkestan explain Qara Taghlıq and Aq Taghlı4 as derived from Qara Taqyalıq [i.e. black capped] and Aq Taqyaliq [i.e. white capped). 9 Toru Saguchi, 1963. ı O Jonathan Li pm an, 1995, I 998. ll Oru Gladney, I 99 ı. 12 Lev Gumilev, 1987, p. 3J. 13 DevinDe Weese, 1994, p. 12. 18 İsenbike Togan ies, demonstrating how the same pro~Jem is perceived differently in different his­ tarical contexts.14 The emphasis in this paper, too, will be more on perception. The issue is one of determining how thesilentand vokal dlıikr wete perceived at different times. Within such an endeavor, I would like to raise certain questions, especially in terms of how we historians of the twentieth century perceived certain issues in the past. It seems that in the Iate sixties and seventies, and even well into the eighties we were more concemed ~th strict documentation. In the days of the Cold W ar, with definite lines drawn between the two ways of looking at and perceiving the world, we wanted more to see on which side cenain issues belonged. Many of us were trying to understand by pinning down, defıning, determining or by categorizing. At present we are using more or Jess the same source material perhaps with some additions.