Journal of Sufiji Studies 1( 2012) 245–254 brill.com/jss

Book Reviews

Gavin Picken. Spiritual Purifijication in Islam: The Life and Works of al-Muḥāsibī. Routledge Sufiji Series, vol. 11. New York: Routledge, 2011. xii + 248 pages, appendices, bibliography, index. Cloth. ISBN: 978-0-415-54822-9. US $130.00.

In this book, Picken has presented an erudite study of the famous spiritual exponent and scholar Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Ḥārith b. Asad al-Muḥāsibī (d. 243/857) as well as in-depth analy- sis of tazkiyat al-nafs (“purifijication of the soul”), a concept of great importance for wider traditions of Islamic spirituality. The book consists of an introduction, fijive chapters, and a brief, yet insightful summative conclusion. Two appendices containing maps appear afterwards, each providing spatial context to Picken’s treatment of Abbasid Iraq as well as Baghdad. Overall, the study is systemic with each chapter structured to lead into later ones resulting in a cogent and well-rounded biography of a prominent, early Muslim scholar. The author’s methodical approach is immediately apparent in the introduction. Here, Picken provides a detailed review of the literature on Muḥāsibī, which consists of twenty- four preceding studies. Not only does the author duly note the signifijicance of the scholarly contributions produced in European languages, like the works of Margaret Smith and Josef van Ess, he also includes the Arabic secondary literature, which is a valuable but often- neglected body of research. This extensive accounting prepares the reader well for Picken’s own foray into the study of Muḥāsibī. For the sake of completeness, I would add the 2008 English translation and commentary of Muḥāsibī’s Risālat al-mustarshidīn by Zaid Shakir to Picken’s already thorough survey. The remainder of the book is essentially divided into two sections. Chapters 1, 2 and 3 detail the background and substance of Muḥāsibī’s life and written works. Chapters 4 and 5 more specifijically address the issue oftazkiyat al-nafs, both within the larger Islamic tradi- tion (chapter 5) and then according to Muḥāsibī (chapter 6). As the subtitle of the former chapter indicates, Picken ambitiously seeks to investigate “the concept of tazkiyat al-nafs in Islam,” a formidable task given the historical extensiveness of the religious tradition. In chapter 1, the larger historical context is given. While Picken paints the intellectual landscape of that period with fairly broad brushstrokes, he appropriately gives greater attention to the movements that manifested in the two cities in which Muḥāṣibī primarily resided, Basra and Baghdad. Due consideration is also given to the miḥna, which the author rightfully connects with Muḥāsibī’s theological concerns. Chapter 2 logically follows with an attempt to (re)construct the life of Muḥāsibī. However, as the author notes, there is a dearth of biographical material. As a result, Picken does his best to glean information from a handful of reports taken from works such as Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī’s Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ and al-Hujwīrī’s Kashf al-maḥjūb. But Picken is also quick not to claim facticity. Recognizing the hagiographical nature of these sayings, the biography of Muḥāsibī is cast more as a life portrayed rather than as a biographical account of a life lived. Additionally, Picken turns

© Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2012 DOI: 10.1163/22105956-12341234 246 Book Reviews / Journal of Sufiji Studies 1( 2012) 245–254 to the historical circumstances of Basra and Baghdad in order to reasonably speculate on the nature of Muḥāsibī’s education and intellectual formation. Given the limited material available, the author has done an admirable job of bringing Muḥāsibī’s life into plausible relief. With chapter 3, the author has done the fijield a great service by providing an extremely thorough survey of Muḥāsibī’s written works: eighteen published texts, two misattribu- tions, eleven works in manuscript, and seven works that are apparently lost. Picken does not simply enumerate these titles, but he describes the contents of the works, essentially providing his reader with a useful, preliminary analysis of them. Moreover, in the endnotes all the known editions and manuscripts of each title are copiously and generously detailed. This chapter alone makes the book a critical reference point for all future research involving Muḥāsibī. As for the second half of the book, the author fijirst explores the larger tradition’s engage- ment with tazkiyat al-nafs in chapter 4 before delving into Muḥāsibī’s understanding, the subject of chapter 5. Thus chapter 4 serves to establish a baseline against which Muḥāsibī’s expressly unique “scholarly methodology in dealing with the deep, moral introspection of the human soul” (61) can be appreciated. Picken’s methodical investigation begins philo- logically and progresses through the numerous attestations found in the Qur’an and Hadith before ending with the opinions of the ulama. The endeavor is as enlightening as it is exten- sive. Particularly helpful is his careful consideration of the Qur’anic verses that appear to address three stages of the nafs, which became an important element in Sufiji thought: al-nafs al-ammāra bi-l-sūʾ (“the soul inclined to evil”), al-nafs al-lawwāma (“the self- reproaching soul”), and al-nafs al-muṭma⁠ʾinna (“the tranquil soul”) (135–9). The rich analysis, however, would have been better attuned had more attention been paid to historicizing the various opinions of the religious scholars that were consulted. For example, in what amounts to the author’s exegesis of key verses (Qur’an 91:7–10), a number of Qur’an commentaries are referenced in the endnote, but no explanation is given as to why these particular works are insightful or relevant as opposed to others. Greater insight might have been gained, for instance, by investigating the opinions of earlier commentators, especially those closer to the time period of Muḥāsibī, or of spiritual exegetes like Tustarī and Sulamī. After all, the opinions of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī and Abū Saʿīd al-Kharrāz are later cited in Picken’s discussion of the views of the ulama. A similar treatment could have accompanied the Qur’anic investigation. Since one of the stated objectives is to discuss how the notion of tazkiyat al-nafs is understood in “Islam,” it would have strengthened Picken’s interesting examination even more if the contours of his conceptualized “Islam” were better defijined or if some justifijication had been given as to why certain scholars and not others are considered representative of “Islam.” An acknowledgement of particular regional, historical, sectarian and/or ideological preferences would have clarifijied the apparent arbitrariness of his selection. This, however, in no way detracts from the larger objective at hand, which is an exposition of Muḥāsibī’s position on tazkiyat al-nafs, the subject of the fijinal chapter. The results are a testament to the author’s deft mastery of the pertinent texts. Combing through the various works for relevant discussions, Picken impressively distills Muḥāsibī’s engagement with taz- kiyat al-nafs into several key aspects: “knowledge of the soul” (maʿrifat al-nafs), “observance of God” (murāqaba), “combating the soul” (mujāhada), and “introspective examination” (muḥāsaba). This carefully conceived analysis is then concluded by the author’s argument