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Zeitgeuosseu,wo er es gerade haiidlichfaiid, so von al-(L7iii?iri,da in der ihm vorliegenden tabaqat-Literatur kcine Vita des Qarasunqur zu linden war. - In einem kurzen Schluss- wort, das als "Conclusions"bezeichnet ist, stellt D. P. Little in sechs Satzen die Ergebnisse seiner Untersuchunguber die Biographicnund ihr Verhaltnis zu den Annalen zusammen. L?scheint Ref., dass die Unterschiedezwischcn "Biographien" und den Darstellungender Annalen fiir die Mamluhenzeitzu stark betont werden. Wie eng sic tatsachlich verbunden sind zeigt z.B. die schriftstellerischeTätigkeit des ad-Dahabi: er verfasst den Talrih al- islim und davon nicht nur einen Auszug,sondern stellte auch die Todesanzeigendaraus unter dem Titel al-Ilbar fi ahbar al-basar zusaimnen.Daneben verfasste er aber noch zahl- reiche echte tabaqat-Werke, wie die Tadkirat al-huffaz, al-Ij31bafi tagrid as-sahaba und Tabaqat al-qurrä) al-mashurinund endlich die einzigartigenSiyar acl£inaa-nubala'. Aber auch andere Historiker zeigen die gleiche Verbindung, so der voni Verf. ausfiihrlich behandelte Ibn Tagribirdi (lanhal und Nuguin az-zahira). Auch al-Maqrizischrieb ausser den historischenWerken (as-Sulukund ihrem Vorldufer,dem Ittildz al-l.1unafâ)bi-ahbar wa-l-hulaf5') und dem al-Hitat cin unvollendctes biographisches Werk al- Muqaffä. Es sollte 80 (!) Bände urnfassen,eine Nachahmungdes Tarih Dimašq von Ibn cAsâkir,den er noch ergqtizeiiwollte durch eine Biographiensammtungder Zcitgenossen Durar al-'uqfid al-farida fi taranim al-aCy3nal-mufida. Deingeniass ist der 6. Satz "Though biographyand annals overlap, the formeris not based on the latter but on originalinforma- tion or data commonto both. For this reason, not because of irreconcilabledifferences in the genre, identical material is rarely found in both" kaum zu halten. Sehr lehrreich sind die als Appendix zusamniengestellten"Master Tables", aus denen man ersieht, welcheEreignisse etc. sich fur die drci untersuchtenJahre bei welchenQuellen finden. Eine iibersichtlicheBibliographie (es fehlt bei al-Qalqasandidie unentbehrliche Arbeit tV. Björkman's, unter den SecondarySources C. H. BeckersBeitrage und O. Spies Beitrdge zur arabischen Literaturgeschichte)und zuverlassige Indizes beschliessendas W'erk, fiir das wir dem Verf. trotz gewisser Kritik gern unsern aufrichtigen Dank und Anerkennungaussprechen. Prof. Dr. Hans L. Gottschalk, Oriental. Institut Universitätsstrasse7/V A 1010Wien I

THE SUFI IDEAS OF SHAYKH AHMADSIRHINDI1 We are most pleased to announce the appearance of the first condensedstudy about Ahmad Sirhindi to be publishedin the West; until now,in the Subcontinent,B. A. Faruqi's study on The Mujaddid's Conceptionof tccuh.id,1940, was one of the few comprehensive books about the theologicalproblems of the Naq,?band-iyamugaddidiya. A somewhatmore detailed reviewof Friedmann's book may therefore be useful. As is well known,Sirhindi (d. 1624),the mugaddid-ialf-i fänï, is usually regarded as the leading figure of the 'Naqšbandi reaction' agains Akbar's syncretistic trends; his fame as Ï1nämrabbcini is still alive not only in orthodox circlesof the Subcontinentbut largely also in Turkey. Y. Friedmann, an Israeli scholar trained at McGill,sets out to discussSirhindi's religiousideas and to show that they were not as widely accepted in the yth century as modern Muslimwriters, particularly in Pakistan, tend to make us believe. His prime source are Alimad's famous 534 letters which were lithographed several times in India, and were also translated into Arabic, Turkish, and Urdu. It was intended, as Friedmann states (p. 2 note 7) that each of the three volumes'contain letters in a numberhaving some signif- icance in the Islamic tradition'. That is a well-knowndevice of Indo-Mus1imwriters- suffice it to mention the numericalspeculations of the i8th century Naqsbandi mystic Mir Dard in his Persian prose works with their I I resp. 341 parts. That letters are intended to be circulated outside the addressee'splace is known from earlier Sufi practices: thus, the maktubat of Indian Sufi leaders form a special literary genre. We may well agree with 1 Yohanan Friedmann,Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi. An Outlineof His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity. McGi]]Islamic Studies, Vol. 2. Montrealand London 1971. 200

Friedmann's remark that some secrets were revealed only to certain persons while other inforrnatiottwas meant for the comnton Muslim. In his criticism of the modern image of Ahmad Sirhindi, the author attributes much value to a letter of 'Abdul Haqq Dihlawi, the traditionarian and representative of the Qddirlya,in which the Muhadditstrongly disapprovesof someof Al.itnad'sideas; he further reliesupon a number of Arabic writings which were mainly produced during the later yth century in the Higaz,a resort for many scholarswho had left India for politicaland religious reasons. However,he comparativelyrarely utilizes the positive evaluations of the as written by his numerous followers. In the 2nd. chapter, the author discussesthe concept of taapdidand that of the willenium. Here, we meet with most surprisingclaims of the mugaddidwho said that Muharnrnadhad in his lifetime two individuations,"the bodily-humanand the spiritual-angelic,symbolized by the loops of the two nzimsof his name". Within a millenium,the bodily manifestation had disappeared,the first mim was replacedby an al.if,standing, in the traditional Islamic letter-mysticism,for ulfihiyat,so that'Mul.1ammad'became 'Al.1mad'.It wouldbe tempting. to think of a possibleconnection of this disappearenceof the first mïm with the ls.aditqudsi knownamong Sufi circlessince at least 'Attdr's days:anti A,honadbilrz mim = Ahczd'One' which, then, would mean the complete evanescenceof the historical Mul.1ammad;this fiadit is, however,as far as 1 can see, never used openly by the Naqšbandiya.-Islam had become a stranger in the world, as another ltadït foretold; therefore man has the duty to reinstal the Propheticsuitna in the secondmilleniutn. The 'perfectionsof prophecy' which ?have been gradually disappearingsince Muhammad'stime, will reappear in personswho deserve this blessingbecause they are the Prophet's heirs and followers'(p. 18). This idea, probably formulatedfirst in this poignantform by Sirhindi,has been preached,one century later, MuhantrrzadNasir 'Andallb and his son Mir Dard, stemmingfrorn the Naqsbandiya mugaddidïya;Nnsir CAndalibfourtded a new trzriqain which the 'propheticperfections' were most beautifullyrevealed: Since he was both a sctyyirl,e.g. related by blood to the prophet, and completelyannihilated in him, his (arïqa was regarded as the one whose adherents are saved ... Accordingto Sirhindi, it is the so-calledmugaddid who is called upon to fulfil sotne of the prophet's tasks with regard to his community; a 'commonbeliever', 'a man from the umina' is trusted with this task. The way how Sirhindi,in this connection,builds relations betwecn the sanctity of Abraham and that of Muhammadand their combinationat the hand of this 'commonbeliever' (whateverthat may mean) is highly intricate, and has been interpreted quite lucidly by Friedmann. That the 'mugaddid' himself felt the danger inherent in such ideas is understoodfrom the fact that he dealt with them only in letters to those closest to hint. In the 3rd chapter The Self-Imageof AlzmadSirhindi is criticallyanalyzed, among other aspects his claim that he had passed, formerly, a state of 'intoxication' (sukr) before reaching illumination. But, as Friedmann shows, none of his earlier letters contains any statement whichwould prove the truth of AI.1mad'sassertion to have written 'intoxicated' verses in his beginning; the lines which we would,by any standard, consider'intoxicated' are more often found in letters from his last years. It is howevercommon that mystics of the Naqsbandi persuasionclaim to have passed through such a period-which would be calledtechnically kufy-i (arïqat-before reachingth; 'sccondsobriety' of perfectillumination; the same phenomenonis found in Mir Dard who gives a long psychologicalexplanation of this experienceand tells his way from the childish words of intoxication and the love- enthusiasmof adolescenceto the mature quietudeof later age ('Ilm ul-kitdb,Bhopal 1309h., p. 122). cAlä'uddaulaSininfini, the Kubrawi mystic of the early i4th century, and first critic of Ibn 'Arabi's wahdatal-zeu?ud, and thus oneof the favoritesaints in the Naqšbandiya, has describedhis own spiritual progresssimilarly. The mitkaddidhad magnificentspiritual insightsand achievements again,; we may think of Mir Dard's almost incredibleclaims to have been granted the fulness of certitude and, after passing the stations of all the prophets, having been invested by God with the name al-gdmil'The Comprehensive.'We would therefore certainly agree with Friedmann that Ahmad Sirhindi took the sentenceMuhammad Alawad §ud as a hint to his own name. That the most striking points of his self-imageare expressedin letters to his son and successor