Saving Grace: Saqshbandi Spiritual Transmission in the Asian Sub-Continent, 1928-1997

Item Type text; Dissertation-Reproduction (electronic)

Authors Lizzio, Kenneth Paul

Publisher The University of Arizona.

Rights Copyright © is held by the author. Digital access to this material is made possible by the University Libraries, University of Arizona. Further transmission, reproduction or presentation (such as public display or performance) of protected items is prohibited except with permission of the author.

Download date 04/10/2021 09:49:29

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/10150/270114 INFORMATION TO USERS

This manuscript has been reproduced from the microfilm master. UMI films the text directly from the original or copy submitted. Thus, some thesis and dissertation copies are in typewriter face, while others may be from any type of computer printer.

The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. Broken or indistina print, colored or poor quality illustrations and photographs, print bleedthrough, substandard margins, and improper alignment can adversely affect reproduction.

In the unlikely event that the author did not send UMI a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if unauthorized copyright material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.

Oversize materials (e.g., maps, drawings, charts) are reproduced by sectioning the original, beginning at the upper left-hand comer and continuing from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. Each original is also photographed in one exposure and is included in reduced form at the back of the book.

Photographs included in the original manuscript have been reproduced xerographically in this copy. Higher quality 6" x 9" black and white photographic prints are available for any photographs or illustrations appearing in this copy for an additional charge. Contact UMI directly to order. UMI A Bell & Howell Infonnatioii Company 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Aiiwr MI 48106-1346 USA 313/76M700 800/521-0600 NOTE TO USERS

The original manuscript received by UMI contains pages with slanted print. Pages were microfilmed as received.

This reproduction is the best copy available

UMI SAVING GRACE: NAQSHBANDI SPIRITUAL TRANSMISSION

IN THE ASIAN SUB-CONTINENT, 1928-1997

by

Kenneth Paul Lizzio

Copyright © Kenneth Paul Lizzio 1998

A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the

DEPARTMENT OF NEAR EASTERN STUDIES

In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements For the Degree of

DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

In the Graduate College

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA

1998 UMI Nxunber: 9912127

Copyright 1998 by Llzzio, Kexineth Paul

All rights reserved.

UMI Microform 9912127 Copyright 1999, by UMI Company. All rights reserved.

This microform edition is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code.

UMI 300 North Zeeb Road Ann Arbor, MI 48103 2

THE UNIVERSITY OF ARIZONA ® GRADUATE COLLEGE

As members of the Final Examination Committee« we certify that we have read the dissertation prepared by Paul T.i y.zin entitled ga^o^^ng Spiritual Transmission

in hhP Asian Sub-Continent. 1928-1997

and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement for the Degree of p>,^ i nqr>pTiy

Charles D. Smith r Bate y/f. G/jaaA/H- dlrvStC //ho [tf\ yu^iia A. Cl,aqfcy-jB^mitl^ Date

Ludwig Adamec DateMM * 4/rF Da6e

Date

Final approval and acceptance of this dissertation is contingent upon the candidate's submission of the final copy of the dissertation to the Graduate College.

I hereby certify that I have read this dissertation prepared under my direction and recommend that it be accepted as fulfilling the dissertation requirement.

/I / /g /9/^ pissertation Director Charles D. Smith Date/ Julia A. Clancy-Smith 3

STATEMENT BY AUTHOR

This dissertation has been submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for an advanced degree at The University of Arizona and is deposited in the University Library to be made available to borrowers under rules of the Library.

Brief quotations from tnis dissertation are allowable without special permission, provided that accurate acknowledgement of source is made. Requests for permission for extended quotation from or reproduction of this manuscript in whole or in part may be granted by the copyright holder.

SIGNED 4

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Field research tends to be more of a collaboration than the product of a single individual. First and foremost, I wish to thank Pir Saiflir Rahman and his disciples. They accepted me unquestioningly into their fold and gave generously of their time and themselves. Through instruction and example, they showed me an approach to human development grounded in the ecstatic and mysterious life of the spirit. I would also like to thank the Fulbright Foundation/Pakistan, which made this research possible during the academic year 1996-97. That no other funding agency would support such a study reflects the Foundation's open-mindedness and courage. From the design to completion of this project, I was both expertly guided and morally supported by my adviser. Dr. Julia Clancy-Smith. A historian. Dr. Clancy-Smith has such a broad view of the issues surrounding Sufism—anthropological, philosophical, historical—that she was able to be many things to me at once. Extensive gratitude is also due to committee members Dr. Charles D. Smith and Dr. Richard M. Eaton. Despite the many other demands on their time, they reviewed the text with an attention to detail that was much appreciated. Their comments were always insightful, prompting me to clarify ambiguous points or re-examine overlooked details of my own data. The result is a greatly improved dissertation. Thanks is also due to Dr. Ludwig Adamec for graciously agreeing to sit on the committee on short notice. In the field I had so much support that 1 could not possibly thank everyone involved. Dr. Azmat Hayat Khan, Chair of the Department of Central Asian Studies at Peshawar University, gave generously of his time, and his personal contacts were indispensable. Sayyid 'Umar Mujaddidi, a member of the Mujaddidi family, worked with me painstakingly with many of the Persian texts, responding calmly and thoughtfully to my sometimes impatient questions. He and many other Afghans like him helped sensitize me to the richness of Afghan social, cultural, and religious life. Megan Camahan gave the graphics a decidedly professional appearance; Jim Gessler carefully proofread the text. During the crucial early transmission of the draft from the field, Ba^ara Cook, secretary of the Department of Near Eastern Studies, dealt deftly with the task of converting the manuscript diskette from an incompatible software program. I also wish to thank the National Geographic Society for permission to use their map of South Asia. Finally, in spite of the help of so many, the responsibility for errors in fact or any other shortcomings is, of course, entirely my own. 5

NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION

Transliteration of technical terms in Arabic, Persian, and Pashtu follows the conventions of the International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. When quoting another writer, however, I have been obliged to use his or her system. I have tried to remain consistent with the spelling of personal names but did not feel justified in rewriting an author's name for the sake of consistency. Similarly, with regard to transliteration of other persona] names, I have made exceptions where transliteration would have substantially altered the manner in which it is pronounced in the sub-continent. Generally, this applies to names in which the Arabic article "al" is elided. Thus, while the name "Saifur Rahman" properly transliterated is "Saif al-Rahman," I have retained the spoken form of the name. 6

TABLE OF CONTENTS

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 4 NOTE ON TRANSLITERATION 5 LIST OF FIGURES 9 ABSTRACT 10

INTRODUCTION 12

CHAPTER ONE INTERPRETING SUFISM 16 The Literature: 1988-1998 16 Methodology 39 Conclusion 57

CHAPTER TWO THE NAQSHBANDI ORDER, PAST AND PRESENT 59 Revival, Reform, and Radicalism 60 Revival Islam: The Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya TarTqa 64 Afghanistan: Responding to the Secular State, 1919-1929 75 The Mujaddidiyya Family and Political Islam, 1929-1997 80 Islamic Radicalism: the Taliban, 1994-1997 86 Reform in the Sub-continent, cl750-1997 90 Conclusion 104

CHAPTER THREE EMBODYING HISTORY: PORTRAIT OF A NAQSHBAIMDI SHAIKH OF AFGHANISTAN, 1928-1997 107 Early Life, 1928-1947 107 Migration to Kunduz and the Start of Spiritual Education, 1948-1970 116 Expanding the Order, 1971-1978 128 The Communist Take-over and the War, 1978-81 134 A Guest of the Afiidi, 1982-1997 141 Conclusion 142 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued

CHAPTER FOUR BETWIXT AND BETWEEN: THE SAEFIYYA KHANAQAH 146 Social Setting: the Khyber Tribal Agency 146 The Khdnaqah: Physical Layout and Characteristics 159 Organizational Structure 166 Econoniic Aspects 180 Qufb al-Irshdd 184 Conclusion 192

CHAPTER FIVE THE BLESSING PRESENCE OF MUBARAK SAHIB 194 The Spiritual World of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya 194 Spiritual Ascent: the LatS 'if. 201 Activating the Laid 'if 208 The Opening of the Laid 'if 223 Conclusion 233

CONCLUSION 236

APPENDIX A LIST OF INTERVIEWS 240

APPENDIX B LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE MUJADDIDTYYA/SAIFrfY\KHANAQAH ... 242

APPENDIX C THE MURAQABAT OR NAQSHBANDI CONTEMPLATIONS 243

APPENDIX D DESCRIPTION OF A NAQSHBANDI INITIATION CEREMONY (BAY'A) 250

APPENDIX E PERMISSIONS 253 s

TABLE OF CONTENTS - Continued

GLOSSARY 254

REFERENCES 260 LIST OF HGURES

FIGURE 2.1, Spiritual Genealogy of the Naqshbandi JarTqa FIGURE 2.2, Map of Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan FIGURE 2.3, Genealogy of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya in Afghanistan.... FIGURE 3.1, Provinces of Afghanistan FIGURE 3.2, The Khyber Tribal Agency FIGURE 4.1, Site Layout of the Bara KhOimqOh FIGURE 4.2, Geographic Distribution of the Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya Order ... FIGURE 5.1, The Naqshbandi Cosmology FIGURE 5 .2, The Spiritual Morphology of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya 10

ABSTRACT

This dissertation is an ethnohistorical study of an Afghan branch of the

Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya order, the Saifiyya. The problem this study addresses is how

the Saifiyya order is able to sustain and perpetuate itself over time. Recent historical

studies attribute the survival of the orders to oflBcial patronage or an ability to adapt, in a

variety of ways, to changes in the social and political environment. These analyses,

however, stress mainly adaptation to social change. Few scholars have examined how

social forces interact with spiritual practice such that the order remains the same in

important respects. Because the reason for this oversight is chiefly methodological, this

study uses broader methods, combining textual analysis with participatory field work.

The Saifiyya identity is informed mainly by the renowned Naqshbandi religious

reviver of the seventeenth century, Ahmad Sirhindi. Sirhindi preached the inseparability of

shari'a and tarTqa and the continued validity of taqlld or imitation of Islamic norms

accumulated in the first ten centuries of Islam. Beginning in the eighteenth century,

however, many spiritual heirs of the Naqshbandiyya rejected taqlld, in order to address the social crises overtaking the Asian sub-continent. For some, reform eventually led to outright rejection of mysticism. In Afghanistan, government efforts to modernize prompted lineal Mujaddidiyya shaikhs to adopt political Islam, a strategy that similarly led to a loss of its mystical fimction. 11

By contrast, the Saifiyya branch of the order continues to adhere to taqlld. Until

recently, the relatively stable society of northern Afghanistan was conducive to this approach, because it was somewhat removed from the social crises affecting the sub­ continent and Afghanistan's urban areas. The result has been the preservation of a powerful baraka embodied in the order's shaikh, Saifur Rahman. Although forced to relocate to Pakistan, the Saifiyya order thrives, despite the presence of anti-mystical reform movements there. Saifiir Rahman attracts a growing number of disciples with the ecstatic and transforming power of his baraka. While the order's success is due partly to its ethnic and linguistic compatibility with the region, more than anything, it is the Pir's baraka that explains the order's growing social appeal today. 12

INTRODUCTION

The various branches of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya constitute one of the most widespread and important Sufi orders in Asia. From its appearance as a revival movement in India in the 1600s, the Mujaddidiyya branch spread rapidly throughout

Central and South Asia, eventually supplanting rival Naqshbandiyya turuq. For the most part, however, study of the historical evolution of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya in

South Asia has received little attention. In Afghanistan, however, it has been completely ignored, even though that country has long been a stronghold of Naqshbandiyya/

Mujaddidiyya Sufism. Only fairly recently has it attracted cursory attention, largely because of the important political/military role the order played in the war against the

Soviets.'

Recent historical analyses of the orders in other parts of the Islamic world emphasize mainly an ability to adapt to changing social, political, and cultural conditions.

In some cases, survival of some lines has entailed establishing opportunistic ties to ruling elites, while in others alterations in organizational, leadership, or educational styles are cited. Although these factors often play a part in the survival or expansion of the orders, few scholars have examined the relationship between spiritual practice and social and

' See the works of Olivier Roy cited in the bibliography of this dissertation. historical processes in the evolution of the orders. This oversight is egregious given that cultivation of spiritual life is the raison d'etre of Sufism.

In examining a contemporary branch of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya in

Afghanistan, the Saifiyya, this study seeks to explore this relationship. From the perspective of the Saifiyya, the twentieth century was one of momentous internal social and political crises. The attempts to convert Afghanistan from a tribal federation to a more centralized state, the gradual secularization of elites, the devastating Soviet invasion of

1979, and the growth of militant anti-Sufi movements are all events that at times challenged the very existence of some Sufi groups. In the face of these crises, time and again Naqshbandi shaikhs were forced to define their role vis-a-vis political authorities and society while struggling to maintain their essential fimction as spiritual educators. This study examines the faaors that shaped responses of some Naqshbandi leaders to these events and the consequences their decisions had for the development and expansion of the

Saifiyya branch in particular in the latter decades of the twentieth century. While some

Naqshbandis were undertaking major reforms of their teachings, the Saifiyya branch chose instead to retract from traditional areas of influence. Focusing chiefly on spiritual education, this branch advocates taqlld or imitation of norms accumulated during the first millennium of Islam. To some degree, the environment of northern Afghanistan, where the shaikhs of this branch lived and taught, was conducive to this approach, as it was flirther removed from the social changes occurring more rapidly on the sub-continent and in

Afghanistan's urban areas. The equilibrium engendered by the interaction of these two 14 factors helped the Saifiyya branch to preserve a powerful form of baraka or spiritual blessing power emanated by the shaikh. This spiritual power, in turn, has been the key to the Saifiyya order's expansion in the sub-continent today despite vigorous opposition from reform movements and other obstacles.

Methodologically, this study employs a broader approach to data gathering, combining textual analysis with field research. Archival research was condurted at the

Saifiyya lodge in Bara and at public libraries in Pakistan, and was supplemented with interviews with Pakistani and Afghan government, tribal, and religious leaders. In order to get beyond the limited perspective of the outsider, field work was based on the author's own participation in the order between September 1996 and May 1997 at the field site in

Pakistan's Khyber Tribal Agency and in other parts of the North-West Frontier Province.^

As a quasi-insider account, this study seeks to avoid the pitfalls of analyzing the evolution of the orders chiefly in terms of social or economic factors while neglecting the inner dimensions of the order. It incorporates a wider perspective, examining the modalities of spiritual practice and their impact on the ability of the order to sustain and perpetuate itself

As an ethnographic account, this research is also a study in Naqshbandi self- identity. To the extent possible for a quasi-insider, it seeks to re-create the native worldview of the Naqshbandiyya as a profoundly moving, lived experience, one that is

^ Although this study concerns an Afghan branch of the Naqshbandiyya, since 1978 the branch has been based in Pakistan as a result of the ongoing civil war in Afghanistan. 15 both coherent and complete to its practitioners. Hopefully, this perspective will convey a better understanding of Naqshbandi spirituality and a deeper appreciation of the moral and practical dilemmas of the problems they now face. Finally, by providing a better understanding of the historical evolution of a contemporary Sufi order, this study aims to shed light on the far-reaching influence the orders exercise today in Islamic society.

Chapter One reviews the recent literature on Sufism and identifies current problems and questions that this study attempts to resolve. Chapter Two compares the evolution of the social and political roles of the Saifiyya shaikhs with those of other

Naqshbandi leaders as they struggled to cope with the sub-continent's changing socio­ political environment in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Chapter Three provides a biographical analysis of the life of the current head of the order, Pir Saifiir Rahman. It explores the intelleaual and spiritual influences on his life and how they shape his particular leadership style in terms of social action and spiritual education. Chapter Four explores the lodge's social setting, organization, economy, and other institutional aspects with a view to assessing their role in the order's continued growth and expansion. Chapter

Five examines Pir Saifiir Rahman's philosophy and methods of spiritual teaching. It will explore why, more than any other single factor, it is this aspect of his work that accounts for the order's survival and expansion. 16

CHAPTER ONE

INTERPRETING SUHSM

The Literature, 1988-1998

The appearance of several new studies on Sufism over the past decade is indicative

of a renewed interest on the part of scholars. Scrutinizing the orders in particular are

researchers from a broad spectrum of disciplines; anthropology, sociology, political science, Islamics, history, musicology, and religious studies. The research topics reflect

this disciplinary diversity as well as the multivalent nature of Sufism itself Some

historians, jettisoning old colonial and nationalist perspectives, are using newly discovered sources to revise outmoded interpretations.' Similarly, ethnographers are getting beyond past positivist assumptions or obstacles in the field to uncover profound philosophical and religious systems. Islamic specialists are applying interdisciplinary approaches to elicit broader data sets. Others are investigating relatively neglected aspects such as musicology or psychology. Notwithstanding these developments, reductionistic approaches persist, as some scholars continue to view Sufi charisma as resulting merely fi'om social crisis

The resuh has been a diverse collection of works, which alternately complement and contradict one another. When interpretations conflict, methodological or theoretical

' For a meticulously researched account of the Rahmaniyya order's response to the French invasion of North Africa from an indigenous perspective, see Julia Clancy-Smith, Rebel and Saint: Muslim Notables, Populist Protest, Colonial Encounters (Algeria and Tunisia, 1800-1904) (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1994). 17

shortcomings may be to blame, for Islamic mysticism defies easy access or categorization

by social scientists. Historians working with textual materials, for example, occasionally

express fhistration with the lack of field data on the inner workings of the Sufi lodge.

Conversely, anthropologists are sometimes unwilling to supplement field data with

hagiographic and other written materials, deeming them biased and therefore unreliable.

The following review of the recent American, British, and French literature on Sufism

highlights the salient issues.

Valerie Hoflftnan is one of several scholars who studied Sufism in North Africa.^

Although a non-Muslim, Hofihian's close relationship with Shadhili Shaikh 'Izz provided

the basis for an intimate, richly detailed portrait of current ritual practice and social life in

Egyptian Sufism. Methodologically, Hoffman combined ethnography and history,

buttressing the observations of her fieldwork with copious references to literary and

historical sources. Her approach is at once personable and informative, and goes a long

way toward conveying the depth and vitality with which Sufism informs the social and

personal lives of adherents today.

If there is a thesis to her voluminous work, it is that the "classical Sufism" of the historical texts, far fi-om being moribund, is a living reality in Egypt today. Yet HoflSnan, an Islamicist, is so determined to link the text with the field, the past with present, that she ends up privileging the text. If Egyptian Sufis are faithfully reproducing the text in

^ Valerie J. Hoffinan, Sufism, Mystics, and Saints in Modem Egypt (Columbia, S.C.; University of South Carolina Press, 1995). 18

mystical experience, from where or what does the text originate? Indeed, Sufism regards itself chiefly as an oral, direct tradition and secondarily a literary one. Moreover, the idea of "classical Sufism" is predicated on a static notion of history that ignores the evolution of Sufi thought and practices across different historical periods and geographic locales.^

Missed, then, was the opportunity to investigate how Sufism has moved with the modem age in terms of adaptation of its cultural institutions, ritual practice, leadership styles, or other factors.

Two other studies of the orders in North Africa show that ritual practice and organizational style often run in tandem with changing social and historical conditions.

Utilizing both newly discovered documents and oral interviews, Sudanese historian 'Ali

Karrar offers an account of the evolution of the orders in his native region of northern

Sudan in the nineteenth century."* As in South Asia and India, the period 1780-1830 witnessed a new style of Sufism that marked a break with the past. The older orders, such as the Qadiriyya and Shadhiliyya, locally based and decentralized, were unable to respond to new pressures for reform and mission emanating from Arabia. Those which did were the newly arrived, younger, more dynamic offshoots of these brotherhoods, the

^ For another example of notion that text determines rinial action and belief, see Mark R. Woodward, Islam in Java: Normative Piety and Mysticism in the Sultanate of Yogyakarta (Tucson: University of Arizona Press, 1989). An ant^pologist. Woodward combined study of Sufi texts with ethnographic fieldwork in a quest to identify the roots of traditional Javanese religion. He posits culture as a "set of axioms" that, if accepted, explains how culhiral variation is the result of a "divergent interpretation of a common set of axioms." By pointing to similarities between Sufi iiterahire and Javanese religion, he concludes that Javanese religion is entirely Arab-Islamic in origin. This &ils to explain inter alia the social and culhual similarities Java shares with neighboring countries that did not experience Islam.

* 'Ali Salih Karrar, The Sufi Brotherhoods in the Sudan (Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1992). 19

Sairananiyya, Khatmiyya, and Shaqiyya. These orders were organizationally and ritually

different from their antecedents. Their membership transcended social classes and ethnic

boundaries, and they operated in larger areas. Also, Karrar found that with expansion

came greater centralization, reflecting a shift in Sudanese Sufism from one dominated by

individual holy men to a Middle Eastern style characterized by organized brotherhoods.

The broad ethnic base of these orders eventually paved the way for the country's first

quasi-nationalist movement, the Mahdiyya. Karrar's work demonstrates that, even though

Sufism may traffic in timeless and universal truths, its success often depends on agility in

adapting to social and historical contingencies.

In stressing organizational and ritual adaptation, however, Karrar neglects, to

some extent, the importance of the shaikhs' spiritual power {baraka) in the orders'

success. He observes that Muhammad 'Uthman al-Mirghani (d. 1852), who established the

Khatmiyya in the Sudan, appealed to Sudanese scholars and religious families for his

personality, knowledge, and "abilities as a Sufi," though he does not elaborate on the nature of these abilities or how they contributed to the order's expansion. Mirghani was a leading disciple of the renowned Moroccan saint, Ahmad ibn Idris (d.l837) in whose powerful spiritual presence disciples wept, shouted, and convulsed much to the disapproval and consternation of the "ulama in Mecca.^ Just as Idris's baraka had attracted

* For a shufy of the life of Idris, see Rex O'FahQf, Enigmatic Saint: Ahmad Ibn Idris and the Idrisiyya Tradition (London: Hurst and Co., 1990). 20

disciples from all over the Islamic world, so too did Mirghani's lead to an ethnically

diverse foUo>ving within the Sudan.

Knut Vikor analyzes the background and early development of Muhammad ibn

'Ali al-Sanusi (d.l859) and the Sanusiyya brotherhood in North Africa.® An Islamic

scholar, Vikor challenges Evans-Pritchard's earlier study which emphasized the political

and organizational accomplishments of Sanusi.' Drawing on recently discovered textual

sources, Vikor separates the early Sanusiyya from the order's later representation as a

highly political, anti-colonial institution. He finds "no overtly political element" in Sanusi's

writing and activities. So anxious is Vikor to revise the earlier image of Sanusi, that he

treats the religious and political as mutually exclusive spheres. To the contrary, the

shaikh's dual role as spiritual guide and exemplar of Prophetic sunna necessarily has socio­

political dimensions, as Vincent Cornell points out.* As a defense of Islam against outside

aggression, Sanusi's political leadership should be construed as merely one dimension of

his spiritual authority.

In contrast to colonial perspectives, Vikor sets his discussion of Sanusi's

accomplishments as an organizer, reformer, and scholar within the prevailing Islamic

^ Knut S. \^or, Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge: Muhammad b. 'Ali al-SanOsT and His Brotherhood (Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1995).

' E.E.Evans-Pritchard, The Sanusi of Cyraentca (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949). For a French revision of Sanusi's life and woric, see Jean-Louis Tiiaud, La ligende noire de la Sanusiyya: une confrerie musulmane saharian sous le regard Franqais (1840-1930), 2 vols. (Fondation maison des sciences de rhonune: Paris, 1995).

* Vincent J. Cornell, "Mystical Doctrine and Political Action," Al-Qan(ara 13 (1992): 201-231. 21

social, political, and intellectual cunents of his day. The somewhat reclusive Sanusi moved

to the centers of learning (Fez, Cairo, Mecca) to obtain spiritual inspiration and returned

to the desert to nurture his own organization, one that emphasized "the centrality of the

lodge and the necessity of work."' He concludes that "the scholarly activity was a way to

produce icnowledge, and the brotherhood was established to teach it."'" Like Karrar,

noticeably absent from this discussion is a description and analysis of Sansui's spiritual

power or baraka, which was probably a key factor in the order's appeal. Like Mirghani,

Sanusi, too, was a disciple of Ahmad ibn Idris, in fact, the only khalifa the

uncompromising saint ever designated.

One of the most radical aspects of Sanusi's teaching was his advocacy of ijtihad or

independent reasoning in Islamic law. The principle of ijtihad was the subject of a vitriolic

debate between the 'ulama of the major centers of learning. Vikor acknowledges the

enormous importance of ijtihad, "not only for the study of Islam in the nineteenth century,

but even for the current discussion of how Islam may adapt in the modem world.""

The manner in which an Egyptian order negotiates modem pressures is the subject

of a sensitive account by Julian Johansen.'^ An anthropologist, Johansen combined a broad

' Vikor, Sufi and Scholar, 269.

Ibid.. 273.

" Ibid., V. Indeed, as the current study shows, ijtihad is one of the major issues of contention between the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya order and reformist groups in the Asian subcontinent

Julian Johansen, Sufism and Islamic Reform in Egypt: The Battle for Islamic Tradition (0.\ford; Clarendon Press, 1996). 22 mix of sources—newspapers, personal observation, and books—to explore how Shaikh

Muhammad Zaki Ibrahim defends his mystical conception of Islam against those who attack him on legalistic grounds. Johansen is careful to balance the need to historicize his subject with a sensitive appreciation for the "quality of grace" inherent in Sufism, though his position as outsider does not permit him to investigate this aspect. In his exploration of the tension between reform and tradition, he poses the question that most concerns custodians of that grace: "if we can speak of a reformed tradition, at what point does it lose its identity."'^ Shaikh Ibrahim, who lives today in Cairo, has devised a means of safeguarding the tradition of grace while minimizing the affront to reformers by creating an order that is muhidimensional. The 'Ashira/ Muhammadiyya is an informal grouping of non-initiates who attend Friday prayer and the twice weekly lectures. Within the general membership lies the core of initiates, the Muhammadiyya/Shadhiliyya, the true tarlqa. In short, the outer organization acts both as a buffer against critics and a nurturing ground for those who can read the teachings as an esoteric "sub-text" and eventually qualify for membership in the inner order. As we will see, Shaikh Ibrahim's flexible attitude toward his critics contrasts sharply with the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya of this study largely for historical, geographical and cultural reasons.

French historian Nathalie Clayer conducted two rigorous studies of the orders in southeastern Europe. In her study of Sufism in Albania, she investigates the reasons for

Ibid., 31. 23 the persistence of the brotherhoods in Albania after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.'"*

In the Balkans the emergence of predominantly Christian nations prompted minority

Muslims to migrate to Turkey. By contrast, in Albania, where Muslims constituted seventy percent of the population, the old network of furuq established under the Ottomans remained extremely dense. According to Clayer, the country's economic and social stagnation during the first half of the twentieth century also contributed to the orders' strength, as they were relied on to fill traditional social and economic roles in daily life.

The Bektashis developed such a massive following that the state officially recognized the order in 1920. After World War 0, the orders survived, she notes, because they served as centers of resistance to Communism.

Clayer applies a similar socio-economic interpretation to explain the rise to prominence of the Halvetiyya order in the Balkans after the sixteenth century.She contends that the rapid expansion of the order was due to the collusion of Halveti shaikhs with Ottoman political authorities. Using Halveti Sunni Islam to ensure the stability of the state, Ottoman sultans sought to contain the external threat posed by Safavid Iran and by

Christians on the western fiinges of the empire. They also wished to contain the internal threat posed by heterodox religious groups. A second phase of Halveti expansion occurred between 1700 and 1900 in response to the increased pressure on its western frontier by

Nathalie Clayer, L'Albanie, pays des derviches: Les ordres mystiques musulmanes en Albanie a I 'ipoque post-Ottomane (1912-1967) (Berlin: Harrassowitz, 1990).

Nathalie Clayer, Mystiques, etat, et societe: Les Halvetis darts I 'aire Balkanique de la fin du XVe siecle a nos jours (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1993). 24

Christian Europe. Ottoman sultans intensified their support for Halveti lodges, which were instrumental in Islamicizing the local populace and reinforcing the existing Muslim element. By the end of the eighteenth century, the order stretched from Crete to Hungary, firom the shores of the Black Sea to the mountains of northern Albania.

Clayer's analysis is decidedly top-down, viewing the Halveti expansion from the perspective of the sultans and their political objectives.'® However, in the chain of influence that extended down from sultan to shaikh to local adherent, she neglects the one aspect so essential to the order's expansion: the modalities of the conversion process. In other words, what explains the power of Halveti Sufism to win the minds and hearts of individual men and women? She herself concedes that, in contrast to the abundance of sources on the suhan-shaikh relationship, there was little evidence to shed light on "what was happening on the ground." Paradoxically, Clayer abandons her approach when forced to explain the survival of the Halveti order in the Balkans after the collapse of the

Ottoman Empire. Muslims, who became minorities in the emerging Christian nations, found solace and solidarity in the community afforded by the lodge. In a similar vein, she predicts the order will endure into the twenty-first century because of its ability to respond to the needs of its adherents, though she does not elaborate further on what this need is or

In a work of manire historical analysis, Carl Ernst shows that reliance on either a particular set of te.xts or texts of a particular historical period can be misleading. Ernst examined the medieval manuscripts at a Chishti shrine in KhuJdabad, India. He found that the image of the shaikh depicted in the texts changed to reflect the ways in which certain groups expressed their own relationship to Islam. Whereas courtly literature portrayed shaikhs as willing agents in its imperial program of expansion and legitimizatioo, Sufi writers depicted them as unwilling participants in the state's designs. See Carl Ernst, Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History and Politics at a South Asian Center (Albany; State University of New York Press, 1992). 25

how it is being fulfilled. As for the mtemal workings of the lodge she concedes that

"teaching and charisma" play a role, but her sources do not invite her to analyze this

aspect of the order.

In her smdy of the Naqshbandiyya, another juristic Sunni order in Turkey, historian

Dina Le Gall refutes the idea that the expansion of the order was due to official patronage

of the Ottomans against the Safavid challenge of the sixteenth century.'^ She maintains

that Naqshbandi expansion in Turkey under the Ottomans owed primarily to devotional

considerations. In keeping with the religious basis of its appeal, its financial strength

derived not from the state but from the generosity of its devoted following. Despite her

insights, Le Gall seems unable to pinpoint the factors underlying this devotion. She notes

that Ubaydullah Ahrar's effectiveness in sustaining the order "appears to have been

predicated...on Ahrar's own sense of mission and commitment to transmission, on his

practice of training and sending off khalifas who were not sons, kin, or countrymen, and

on his ability to bequeath both these attributes to his spiritual descendants. While this

may have been the case, it explains the conversion process largely in terms of institutional

factors.

Dina Le Gall, The Ottoman Naqshbandiyya in the Pre-Mujaddidi Phase: A Study in Islamic Religious Culture and its Transmission," (PhJD. diss., Ftoceton University, 1992).

Ibid., 234. 26

Historian Alexander Popovic has spearheaded much of the French research on Sufi orders in the Balkans." Between 1979 and 1985, he spent a total of sixty days in various provinces of the former Yugoslavia studying the Rifa'iyya order.^" Popovic conducted an inventory of the lodges, organization, leadership, and holy sites of this little known order.

A minor order in the region, the Rifa'iyya arrived relatively late in the Balkans (the earliest known lodge dates to 1818). Subsequently, it split along two major ethnic and linguistic lines, Turkish and Albanian, and a minor "gypsy" line. The Albanian line expanded rapidly from 1850 to 1920, owing to the leadership of Shaikh Musa of Djakovica and his successors. Aiter a period of decline, it is ascendant once again. The Turkish Rifa'iyya, however, gradually vanished after 1850 chiefly because of the flight of Turkish Muslims to

Turkey after the break-up of the Ottoman Empire.

Composed mostly of uneducated artisans, Rifa'is tend to be less educated than members of other orders and are low in social status. For this reason, Popovic facilely concludes it would be useless to use the "classical texts" of the great saints to shed light on what is occurring "sur le terrain." Popovic's distinction between a classical and popular

Another work on the Rifa'iyya order was produced by French ethnographer Liliana Masulovic-Marsol. She studied the (arTqa in the Yugoslav city of Skopje for two months in 1981. Masulovic-Marsol offers a phenomenological account of the group and its practices. In an analysis reminiscent of Durkheim, she emphasizes the firatemal, collective function of the order "Us ont besoin d'etre ensemble, de se realiser en oonunun, de se poner estime munielle et de se sentir reli^ au tout, au cosmiques..." Masulovic-Marsol interprets the order's history, myth, rituals, and material supports as forming a "cultural patrimony." The term derives from a 1980s UNESCO plan to protect cultures from extinction. In championing the Rifa'iyya as one of many cultures on the brink of extinction, she fails to properly valorize what is unique to it as mystical association; access to the transcendent dimension of human consciousness. See Liliana Masulovic-Marsol, Les Rifa'is de Skopje: structure et impact (Istanbul: Editions Isis, 1992).

*° Alexander Popovic, Un ordre de derviches en terre d'Europe: la Rifa'iyya (Lausanne: Age d'homme, 1993); see also Popovic, Les derviches balkaniques hier et aujourd'hui (Ist^bul: Editions Isis, 1994). 27

Sufism is reminiscent of the now-debunked dichotomy between a rural, folk Islam and an urban, scholarly one.

In fact, in a remarkable study of the Gnawa order in Morocco, ethnographer

Viviana Paques found a socially inferior order that possessed a profound spiritual and philosophical system.^' A student of the renowned French ethnographer. Marcel Griaule,

Paques conducted her research of the order's psychology, philosophy, and spirituality.

After preliminary field studies of Gnawa orders throughout Morocco, she selected the lodge near Marrakech because it represents "the best of the Gnawa." Unlike the major orders which claim descent from a scholar-saint, the Gnawa claim descent from Bilal, the

Prophet's Ethiopian-Christian slave. Although they have low social standing, they consider themselves good Muslims. Paques stated that it took her a long time to get beneath their surface roles as dancers, healers, and entertainers, an illusion, she notes, to which so many other ethnographers had fallen prey.^ Over a prolonged twenty-year period of research, she discovered that this group of former Moroccan slaves and their descendants possessed a secret; a profound philosophical and religious system, virtually all of it oral. This

•' Viviana Paques, La religion des esclaves: recherches sur la confririe marocaine des Gnawa (Bergamo, Italy; Moretti and Vitali, 1991).

^ For an example of an earlier ethnographic study of healing in a Moroccan order, see Vincent Crapanzano, TTte Hamadsha: A Study in Moroccan Ethnopsychiatry (Berkeley; University of California Press, 1973). 28

buttresses Eickelman's contention that Morocco is the last bastion of orally transmitted

knowledge.^

In the course of her research, Paques witnessed many paranormal events that she

could not explain, such as miraculous healing, and soul possession by living Gnawa. In

many cases, those healed were westerners whose ailments medical doctors could not cure

and who were not well disposed to the unconventional methods of the Gnawa. The central

activity of the order is the all night ritual that employs dancing, chanting, music, and use of

perfume. During the ritual, the adepts are possessed by seven genies or colors, signifying

their spiritual transport through the various realms, culminating in the mystic union with

God represented as white. Paques's research shows that even when one attempts to study

"what is occurring on the ground," it often eludes easy access by outsiders and may

require painstaking years of study.

Another scholar who challenges a strictly historicist view of Sufism is Islamicist

Earle Waugh. He asserts that "what controls the identity and explains the growth [of the

orders] is the internal dynamic based on religious motivations."^'' He studied the Egyptian

munshidln (sing, munshid), especially those in Cairo. The munshidln perform music and

song during the Sufi dhikr ritual, though they themselves do not participate in the dhikr.

Waugh uses Weber's model of verstehen to analyze the singers' own perception of the

^ See Dale F. Eickelman, Knowledge and Power in Morocco: The Education of a Twentieth-Century Notable (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985).

Earle H. Waugh, The Munshidln of Egypt: Their World and Their Song (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1989), 190. 29 meaning of their role and tradition. The munshidin combine religious and secular love poetry with technically refined music that builds to a crescendo, culminating in fond' or the extinction of the self in God.

In his analysis of the dhikr ritual, Waugh focuses on the themes, sources, style, and musical structure of the performance. Even though the munshidin coalesce around a shaikh, in whom they must first achieve fond', Waugh does not adequately address the shaikh's role in the performance. His analysis of the ritual dynamics is chiefly, and at times obscurely, on the emotive level in which "the material tensions are set, experienced and transcended."^' There is also little attempt to link the experience offand' to Sufi doctrine or intellectual thought because it is mainly a study in the liturgical structure of the dhikr fi-om the perspective of musicology.

Another scholar who attempts to explore the inner dimensions of the Sufi experience is Frances Trix.^® For more than twelve years she has been a student of

Albanian Sufi emigre, Baba Rexheb in Michigan. A linguistic anthropologist, Trix tries not to impose her own theoretical fi'amework on Baba's own cultural system but, mstead, she seeks to remain open and sympathetic to his spiritual worldview. Trix chose to examine the relationship between teacher and disciple, murshid and tslib (sic), because it is a

^ Ibid, 207.

^ Frances Trix, Suft Discourses (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991). 30 metaphor for the relationship between man and the divine. Employing the participant- observation method, she analyzes the nefes or Bektashi spiritual poem, the chief vehicle of

Baba's teaching, according to Trix. The nefes is not a narrative in the Western sense, but a subtle linking of Persian motifs and forms. Trix believes that the language of the nefes, as a shared reference system, is the method whereby murshid and tslib come together, a process she termed "linguistic convergence." (Linguistic convergence is the merging of individual identities through the coming together of two languages or two varieties of the same language in the speech variations of different individuals.) Despite some valuable insights, her assertion that Sufi learning is essentially a linguistic process is based on pedagogy and not on Sufi gnosis, ma'rifa, and its attendant spiritual states and experiences. In fact, her book contains not a single reference to baraka, the essential catalyst in Sufi spiritual transformation. As such her book is a socio-linguistic study of transmission of the Sufi worldview. She herself concedes that after twelve years of study with Baba, she learned only one thing: "to come back."^'

Nonetheless, Trix's study raises an important question for the current investigation; what qualifies a Sufi to become a teacher? This is the subject of a novel study by Islamic historian Jonathan Katz.^' Katz analyzes the dreams and visions of a fifteenth-century Egyptian Sufi, Muhammad al-Zawawi al-Bija'i (d.l477), who had

Ibid., 3.

^ Jonathan Katz, Dreams, Sufism and Sainthood: The Visionary Career of Muhammad al-Zav/awi (Leiden: E.J. BriU. 1996). 31 recorded over one hundred dreams in a logbook over his lifetime. Zawawi later published his book in the expectation that it would authenticate his saintly status as a wall, or friend of God. However, he was unable to win public recognition for his claims or develop a large following.

Using psychoanalytic theories of Karen Homey and Heinz Kohut, Katz explores the reasons for Zawawi's failure as a saint. He shows that Zawawi suffered from a narcissistic personality disorder of which self-aggrandizing "dreams and fantasies" were a defense mechanism against social rejection. Katz places Zawawi's behavior in socio- historical context, explaining the Prophet's frequent appearance in his visions as the result of the importance a Shariiian lineage held for legitimate sovereignty in Morocco from the fifteenth century onward. Insofar as the public role of the individual was traditionally constrained, visions of the Prophet also provided a means of self-glorification that did not previously exist. Thus, individual psycho-dynamics interacted with socially held religious beliefs and reinforced one another.

Katz's thesis, convincing though it is, founders when he attempts to apply it to other Sufi saints. Indeed, he contends that all saints suflFer from narcissistic personalities; the difference between Zawawi and a successful saint is "the difference between a narcissistic patient and a charismatic leader."^ Apart from a passing reference to Weber, however, Katz does not elaborate on the exact nature of charisma, despite its importance to his theory. In tautological fashion, he says one who has charisma becomes a leader and

^ Ibid., 33. 32 one who lacks it doesn't; the ultimate proof of a waifs charisma is his large following and there his discussion ends. Thus, the reader is left in the dark as to the nature of Sufi

"charisma," and, to some extent, the riddle of Bija'i's failure.

The significance of the dream-vision and charisma are the subjects of two separate studies. Islamic scholar Carl Ernst analyzes the significance of the dream-vision in the writings of Persian mystic Ruzbihan Baqli (d.l209).^° During his spiritual development,

Baqli experienced many visions of the Prophet Muhammad and other prophets and saints.

He was moved to making other grandiose claims and outrageous ecstatic utterances that contravene Islamic law. In contradistinction to Katz, Ernst notes that these events, far from signalling pathology, constitute a "rhetoric of sainthood." The purpose of such hyperbole is "that unabashed boasting of sainthood is permitted and even encouraged as a means of indicating one's direa contact with God."^' It affirms "the mystical perception that is the characteristics of the saints."^^ The Naqshbandi saint, Ahmad Sirhindi, for example, claimed to have surpassed the spiritual state of such mystical luminaries as Ibn

'Arabi (d.l240) and Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d.874). As Katz himself acknowledged, one of the outward confirmatory signs of such inner mystical vision is baraka, usually translated as "charisma" by social anthropologists, a term which this study will re-define.

^ Carl Ernst, Ruzbihan Baqli: Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism (Surr^" Curzon Press, 1996).

Ibid., 146.

Ibid., 18. 33

Charisma is the focus of a four-year Franco-British collaborative project on Islam

in black Africa.'^ Although the team is partly aware of important differences between

Weber's model of charisma and baraka (e.g., baraka resides in inanimate objects as well

as humans), the team uses it as a working model nonetheless. A social anthropologist,

Donal Cruise O'Brien (who wrote the book's introduction) equates charisma with

"miracle-working." Miracle working can be almost anything such as literacy among an

illiterate population. In the team's view, typically a clientele in the grip of a severe social crisis is moved to recognize miraculous powers. In unequivocally Weberian terms. Cruise

O'Brien writes: "The chosen time of sainthood is one of social and political crisis."^'*

Accordingly, the several articles in the book link the rise of Sufism in North Africa in the eighteenth century to the devastating effects of European colonization and the slave trade.

Subsequently, the brotherhoods underwent a routinization of charisma, as the entombed founding saint became the anchor, which held the brotherhood in place and was preserved by rituals surrounding the sacred tomb.

This historical-evolutionary model of charisma is problematic for several reasons.

First, it fails to account for the existence of baraka in a lineage both prior to and long after death of the founding miracle-worker. Nor does it explain why Sufis shaikhs are publicly recognized as saint during periods of social and political prosperity. Shaikhs often assume more active (hence visible) social roles during times of crisis out of a sense of social

Donal B. Cniise O'Brien and Christian Colon, eds. Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988).

^ Cniise O'Brien, Introduction to Charisma and Brotherhood^ 11. 34 obligation their saintly status confers, as Vincent Cornell has shown in his analysis of the life of Spanish-Moroccan Sufi Abu Maydan (d.ll98).^^ Historically, Cornell notes, Sufis have not been merely withdrawn ascetics but "full and integral members of their social environment." This study shows that the apparently sudden appearance of the saint during times of crisis is partly a fiinction of the anthropological observer's position as outsider. It also demonstrates the inadequacy of the Weberian concept of charisma, with its reductionistic causal linking between individual receptivity and social crisis, to account for baraka in all its dimensions.

One of the few monographs on South Asian Sufism in recent years is by historian

Sarah Ansari.^® She examined the role played by pirs in Sind Province in sustaining the

British colonial empire between 1843 and 1947. A hereditary landed elite; pirs willingly acquiesced to a system of colonial control to protect landed interests perceived as threatened under the changed circumstances of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In return for preservation of their interests by the British, pirs worked to control their substantial local follovnng. The British-pir alliance involved a balancing act in which each party constantly maneuvered to protect their own interests. From time to time, pirs were forced to come into direct conflict with the British in order to retain the support of their

Vincent J. Cornell, The Way of Abu Maydan: The Works of Abu Maydan Shu 'yab (Cambridge; Islamic Texts Society, 1996). See also Cornell, Tlie Logic of Analogy and the Role of the Sufi Shaikh in Post- Marinid Morocco," IntemationalJoumal of Middle Eastern Studies 15 (1983): 67-93.

^ Sarah F. D. Ansaii, Sufis, Saints and State Power: The Pirs of Sind, 1843-1947 (Cambridge: C^bridge University Press, 1992). Another recent work on South Asia analyzes the evolution of Islamic religion and culture in pre-modem Bengal, a process in which Sufis played an important part, see Richard M Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1706 (Berkeley: University of California Press. 1993). 35 followers. By the time of Pakistani independence, pirs had become adept at the new forms of political activity introduced by the British and were poised to play a major political role.

Today they occupy seats in both the provincial and national assemblies.

That pirs in Sind function as self-interested power brokers suggests that the pir- mushid relationship is largely, if not exclusively, socio-politicaJ in nature. Indeed, in his study of Naqshbandi Sufism in South Asia, Islamicist Arthur Buehler observes that there are Sufis, and there are mystics, and the two are not always the same. Using hagiographic literature, correspondence, and recorded discussions in Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, Buehler attempts to trace the transformation of leadership styles of Naqshbandi shaikhs in the

Asian sub-continent.^' According to Buehler, during the height of Islamic power, between

900 and 1800, Sufi shaikhs functioned as "directing-shaikhs," using their liminal positions as holy persons to mediate the old, pre-Islamic societies and the deepening Islamicate order. After Ahmad Sirhindi's revival of Islam in the 1600s, Naqshbandi directing-shaikhs used juristic Sufism to mediate the shari'a and mysticism, enabling the order to spread rapidly.

Pursuing this broad generalization, Buehler notes that with the advent of the

British in the sub-continent in the nineteenth century, directing-shaikhs experienced a drastic loss of power; the relatively unchanging Islamic worldview on which the directing- shaikh's authority depended was caUed into question psychologically and socially by the

Arthur F. Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: The Indian Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Shaikh (Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1998). 36 modem scientific worldview and reformist versions of Islam. Yet, the introduction of secular education, for example, affected only a minority of elites, not the vast majority of

Muslims. In addition, his belief that the British separation of religion and politics eroded much of the patronage on which directing-shaikhs depended, does not explain the persistence today of powerful "directing-shaikhs" such as those mentioned in this study.

Buehler notes the geographic epicenter of this crisis of authority was in the northern Punjab, which had become the center of Naqshbandi activity in British India.

There a new form of Sufi leadership emerged, the "mediating-shaikh." According to

Buehler, mediating-shaikhs abandoned the "spiritual practices and displays of spiritual energy used by their directing-shaikh predecessors."^® Moreover, they dispensed with rigorous personal discipline, relying instead on love of the shaikh alone in order to gain salvation. A figure who exemplified this new mediating style was Jama'at 'Ali (d.l951), whose leadership style became "the norm among his successors and among the recognized institutional successors of the other notable Naqshbandis in British India and in many other parts of the Islamic world."^^ Whereas the directing-shaikh occupied the lodge with his circle of adepts to simulate the ideal community of the Prophet and his companions, the mediating shaikh operated in "an imaginary macro-community" created through the dissemination of a monthly Sufi magazine, which reflected the emerging modem nation- state as imagined community. 'Ali also employed a voluntary association (anjuman), an

^ Ibid, xviii.

Ibid., xxii. 37

institution that coincided with the appearance of an English-speaking middle class in India

after 1880. ,^cf ording to Buehler, Jama'at 'Ali's style completely changed the nature of

Naqshbandi lo(^..c. 5 in the Punjab, as the rational political norms of the emerging nation-

state became nurrored in an increasing impersonal style in the master-disciple relationship.

Although Buehler's typology is useful in delineating different teaching styles

among Sufis in the sub-continent, his approach tends to be ahistorical. The dichotomy

does not allow for the fact that these teaching styles may occur simultaneously or that a

Sufi may be both a directing or mediating shaikh, depending on the circumstances. Nor

can it account for the fact that the pirs in the Saifiyya line continue to teach in the manner

of the "directing-shaikh." This study will show the styles of Sufi leadership are more

complex than suggested by Buehler's typology, and will identify some of the

circumstances which may dictate a particular teaching style.

Although each of the studies above addresses different themes and at time reaches

divergent conclusions, they do share a number of commonalties. To begin with, American,

British, and French scholarship concentrates largely on North Afnca and, increasingly

among the French, the Balkans. The various issues they take up—reform and modernism,

change in ritual, organization, and leadership styles—can be finiitflilly applied to study of

orders in other parts of the Islamic world to yield interesting comparisons.

The foregoing studies occupy a continuum between extremes of historicism on the one hand and obscurantism on the other. Clayer and Cruise O'Brien typify the historicist

view that the role and expansion of the orders is chiefly a function of social factors that have little to do with spirituality. There is no question that the orders support governments 38

sympathetic to them, oppose hostile ones, provide material and economic support,

communal solidarity, education, and other social and cultural functions. Yet, too often

their essential purpose—to preserve the means of access to the spirit and to awaken it in

others— is assigned subordinate status, or worse, none at all.

On the other end of the spectrum are studies attempting to address just this

dimension of Sufism, the spiritual. Some of these oflfer valuable insights such as Paques's

analysis of the mystical experience among the Gnawa and Ernst's discussion of the

heuristic function of the dream-vision. However, on important issues such as the nature of

the dream-vision and charisma, (Katz), the teacher-disciple relationship (Trix), and the

spiritual modalities of dhikr (Waugh), scholars lapse into obscurantism.

The work of Karrar, Vikor, Buehler, and Johansen occupy the middle ground

between historicism and obscurantism. Increasingly, Sufi scholars are turning their

attention to the relationship between spiritual practice and social and historical processes.

However, revisionist scholars, who set out to correct the limitations of earlier studies,

nonetheless tend to place too much importance on organizational, ritual, and scholarly

achievements to the neglect of spirituality as such. There is a related focus on the orders'

ability to respond to changing social and political conditions through the adoption of new forms and styles. Johansen is among a few scholars to explore the relationship between spirituality and socio-historical processes in Islamic societies. By virtue of his position as outsiders, however, he focuses largely on how the form of the teaching has changed, with little assessment as to the effect such change has had on spiritual practice. Indeed, Bemd

Radtke goes so far as to say, "it should be possible and ftuitful to study the social and 39

political history of one or more brotherhoods without any consideration of their mystical

experience."^ This study questions this assertion.

This dissertation investigates the relationship between spirituality and socio-

historical processes using the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya order in Bara,

Pakistan as a case study. Specifically, it examines how the particular social and historical conditions of northern Afghanistan, its country of origin, helped to accommodate the

Saifiyya's particular response to social and historical change in the modem period.

Concerned above all with the need to preserve and transmit spiritual grace amidst vast social change, the Saifiyya order has generally resisted new forms and styles, emphasizing adherence to taqlTd. The emphasis on taqlTd has led to a circumscribed role for the order as traditional roles in state and tribal relations are subordinated to the moral and spiritual perfection of the individual. Continuity and consistency, not borrowing of new cultural forms or styles, is the chief reason for the order's growing popularity and diffusion in

South Asia.

Methodology

Sociologist Norman Denzin has observed that each sociologist generates a different line of action toward the object of study."** He believes that it is naive to assume that research

^ Bemd Radtke, "Between Projection and Suppression: Some Considerations Concerning the Study- of Sufism," in Shi 'a Islam, Sects and Sujism: Historical Dimensions, Religious Practice and Methodological Considerations, ed. Frederick de Jong (Utrecht: Stichting, 1992), 72-82.

•" Norman Denzin, The Research Act (Chicago: Aldine Press, 1970), 298-300. 40 methods are neutral tools in scientific research. In &ct, they reflect the same kind of symbolic processes that the anthropologist seeks to study. In order to move the social sciences closer to what he describes as "the status of a mature, self-aware science that understands its own activities and subject matter," Denzin says that research should examine a problem fi'om as many dijSferent perspectives as possible, a technique he calls, "multiple triangulation." Denzin recommends triangulating sources of data, as well as methods for gathering the data, and theories to analyze them. Such an approach generates the broadest possible data, and a wider use of data in analysis. It also wards against particularist explanations of data."*^ Clayer, for example, might have gained deeper insight into the expansion of the Halvetiyya had she been able to supplement her textual sources with field data.

Data Source. In order to avoid source bias often dictated by particular theoretical approaches, this project employed triangulation in data source. It drew fi-om textual sources as well as field research, thus combining the strengths of both the ethnographic and religious studies approaches.

Textual sources. Textual sources for this study drew from primary and secondary sources. Documents in Persian were examined in the Peshawar City Library, NWFP Tribal

Archives, the various libraries of the University of Peshawar, and the Indian OflRce

For example, Gilsenan found that because the socially disenfianchised can &bricate the Sufi shaikh's extiaordinai>' powers (karOmat), he used this as evidence to support stniauialist/fiinctionalist propositions that the imputation of such poweis to the shaikh is merely a fimction of their need to &bricate a sense of hope, a divine theophany which the poor will somed^ be compensated for their suffering. As &r as Gilsenan is concerned the matter is closed and he warns the anthropologist not to wander tq) an alley blindly in search of further data. See Michael Gilsenan, Recognizing Islam: An Anlhropologist's Introduction (London: Croom Helm, 1982), 75. 41

Archives of the British Museum in London.*^ In addition, a particularly useful source was the khdnaqSh bookstore, which offered several books published by the order on its history and leading personalities.^

Field data and methods. Field data consisted of the behavior and actions of the Pir and his disciples, rituals, exercises, lectures, conversations, interviews, and other directly observable and directly experiential phenomena. Even though anthropologists no longer treat their representations as objective reflections of an external reality, they nonetheless often place too much importance on methodologies for gathering field data. Anthropologist Charles Briggs cautions the ethnographer to avoid reifying the subject/object duality. He notes that the "stuff out there" that is presumed to exist is neither stable nor perfectly observable."*' Indeed, field methods can often be influenced negatively by the theoretical framework employed.

In such cases, regardless of their presumed sophistication, methods are only as good as the theory employed. Thus, while there are clearly methods better suited than others for gathering data on a particular subject, no method is without some degree of imperfection.

With this caveat in mind, methods used to collect data in the field fall into three broad

On the whole, astonishing little information on the Naqshbandiyya order was produced during the colonial period. Ine.\plicably, the British did not commission the kind of systematic study of the orders as the French did in North AMca, even though some of their chief foes in the tribal area in the nineteenth centiuy were Sufis.

Since this material was written in the difficult, fiee hand sQ^le of Persian known as nastalTq. I commissioned a bilingual Persian/English assistant In this way, I was able to obtain clarifications not only on language but historical and cultural references as well.

Charles Briggs, "Questions for The Ethnographer A Critical Examination of the Role of the Interview- in Fieldwork," Semiotica 46 (1983): 254. 42 categories: participant-observation, observation, and interviews (structured and informal interviews and focus groups). While gathering data, care was taken to note the context, setting, social status of members, goals, register, and my own epistemological assumptions.

Participant-observation. H. Russell Bernard has stated that participant- observation is not a method but "a strategy that facilitates data collection in the field.

Indeed, as a means of gaining access to the internal dimension of the lodge, participant- observation may be considered a strategy. For it is this aspect of the orders that has stymied outside investigators. Although the Pir initially welcomed me, it was clear that I would not be permitted regular access to the order unless I converted to the Islamic faith.

Indeed, in contrast to the relatively open attitude of Hoffman's Egyptian shaikh, I would not have been allowed many more visits to the khSnaqSh at all had I not converted."" Nor would I have been able to participate in meetings or have access to disciples.

On the other hand, in the case of Sufism, participant-observation is also explicitly a methodology in the sense that participation is the essential means of gaining access to mystical states of consciousness. While the failings of classical anthropology argue for greater use of participant-observation, ethnographers are nonetheless ambivalent about its use in this sense. They express a constant fear of "going native," though this rarely occurs.

^ H. Russell Bernard, Research Methods in Cultural Anthropology: Qualitative and Quantitative Approaches (Newterrj- Park, CA.: Sage Publications, 1988), 150.

Despite having been non-Muslim, Hoffinan was permitted to anend ritual sessions. 43

The implication, Barbara Tedlock notes, is that "a subject's way of knowing is

incompatible with the scientist's way of knowing and that the domain of objectivity is the

sole property of the outsider."" Even Valerie Hoffman, otherwise sympathetic to Sufism,

was not immune to this bias. She writes; "Of course, the very nature of my identity as a

researcher precluded the possibility of giving in to a purely spiritual or emotional

experience, and I maintained a certain amount of critical distance."^' The anxiety over

deep immersion often masks a subtle ethnocentrism, which may be the very obstacle the

ethnographer is trying to surmount. Consequently, the use of participant-observation

should be construed as an attempt to get beyond epistemological biases in order to grasp

the subject's conception of life.

Increasingly, anthropologists have recognized the importance of using participant-

observation in this sense. In his discussion of Dene Tha religion, Jean Guy-Goulet points out that because Dene epistemology is grounded in personal experience, it required him to engage in experiential investigation of the religion.^" His journey into the Dene world led to his experience of the waking vision and a more complete understanding of their system.

Other anthropologists have reported similar insights gained from participant-observation.

Paul Stoller's bizarre experiences of witchcraft as an apprentice to a Songhay sorcerer.

^ Barbara Tedlock, "From Participant-Observation to the Observation of Participation: The Emergence of Narrative Ethnography,"-/b«rn(3/q/Vln/Aropo/og/ca/^ejearcA 47, no 1 (Spring 1991); 69-94.

Hofbian, Su/is, Saints, and Mystics, 42.

^ Jean Guy-Goulet, "Ways of Knowing: Towards a Narrative Ethnography of Experiences Among the Dene Ibz,"" Journal of Anthropological Research 50, no 1 (Spring 1994): 113-139. 44

Lederman's trance experiences as an apprentice to a Malay shaman, and Fernandez's prophetic dream following his ritual participation with a Zulu diviner are noteworthy examples.^' These examples show that the ethnographer often cannot occupy an entirely neutral position in relation to the subject. In my own case, while I maintained a critical posture, I became one of the Pir's disciples, participating in all formal rituals and activities at the khamqQh. On the other hand, there was no attempt to deceive. Upon my arrival, I had informed the Pir that I was a doctoral student interested in writing about the

Naqshbandiyya. I was also genuinely interested in experiencing first-hand Sufi states of consciousness.

To my dismay, Sufi practice was far more rigorous than I had anticipated. From dawn to dusk, long hours were spent performing spiritual exercises that were both physically and mentally exhausting. After an hour of sitting, my back and legs became so painful that I could not sit straight let alone concentrate. The difficult physical conditions of the khOnaqSh only added to my discomfort. We ate meals seated on the floor from a single communal bowl. Meals were usually bland and unnourishing consisting mostly of rice and bread. The first time I ate in this manner I contracted strep throat. Compounding these difficulties were my strong reservations about some of the order's social conventions

" See Paul StoUer and Cheryl Olkes, /n Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988); Charles Lederman, "Wayward Winds: Malay Archetypes and Theory of Personality in the Context of Shamanism," Social Sciences and Medicine 27, no 8 (1988): 799-810; James W. Fernandez, "Afterword: The Study of Divination, Present and Past" in African Divination Systems: IVays of Knowing, ed. P.M. Peek (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991): 213-221. 45 such as its strict seclusion of women. Try though I might to find some rationale for purda, it struck me as a benighted and medieval practice. The effect of all of these diflBcuhies was to diminish my enthusiasm for practice. Nevertheless; I persisted in the hope that my attitude would change. No doubt this ambivalence hindered me fi-om accessing the states of consciousness that other members were experiencing. My participation did lead to a deeper intellectual understanding of Sufism than that afforded by textual research or classical ethnographic approaches.

Use of a particular method in this study was guided by two considerations; 1) what was permissible or appropriate in terms of the social rules governing interaction and communication inside the khGmqOh, and 2) linking the method to the type of data being sought. While my status as a practicing murld gave me direct access to the order and its members, data gathering was nonetheless problematic. First, as a disciple myself, it was understood that I did not know about the Naqshbandi system and was there to learn.

Questions about anything other than one's practice (sulak) were deemed irrelevant and unworthy of a serious practitioner. Moreover, insofar as Naqshbandis were not engaged in a form of discourse but in bringing about a direct apprehension, (i.e., something that could not be mediated by language), there was a patent refusal to talk about mystical experience.

I also faced another obstacle that was completely unforeseeable. A few years earlier, an

American researcher had been at the hospice. According to disciples, as a disciple of the

Pir, he came fortnightly to the khanaqdh but never exhibited any signs of dhikr. When he departed, the Pir in no uncertain terms upbraided him. "You came," he said "merely to 46 write a book." The experience gave both the Pir and some of his disciples a slightly unfavorable impression of academics and sensitized them to those who asked a lot of questions but practiced little. In view of these obstacles, I was forced to pay greater attention to everything that was said or done in the hope of gleaning one small iota of information that might attach itself to another small bit acquired later on. As I painfully learned, unlike textual work where one can dictate the extent, time, and place of research, in fieldwork the ethnographer is at the mercy of the field. One can only work with what the field offers so that the art consists in making something out of, if not nothing at all, then at times very little indeed.

Observation. Since Sufism, as practiced by the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya, is not a form of discourse but a set of practices designed to open one to a transcendental domain, observation was a particularly suitable method for collecting data on ritual, mystical practice, and the behavior of disciples and the Pir. What mitigated any potential for distortion was; 1) that I was a disciple and enjoyed the same status as other members; and 2) there were three foreigners living at the khdnaqdh, thus paving the way for general acceptance of foreigners. Indeed, all three were highly regarded for their Islamic learning or steadfastness as disciples. Thus, my appearance, while inevitably noticeable, was by no means unique. 47

Informants. As Michael Agar notes, typically, informants are cultural brokers

straddling the border between two cultures.'^ Since 1990, three foreigners had taken up

residence at the khOnaqOh. One, a Canadian, had an impressive knowledge of Naqshbandi

philosophy as well as the Islamic religious sciences in general. Usually recalcitrant,

occasionally he would acquiesce to my persistent questions, providing articulate and

thoughtful answers. Unfortunately, he was not present at the kh&mqah during the entire

period of my study. There were two other foreigners residing at the hospice, a German

and an Austrian both well educated (the Austrian was a physician) and proficient in

English. As foreigners, they provided a unique perspective on life in the khdnaqdh. One

element missing from this study is the near total lack of female respondents. Although

there are roughly forty female disciples residing at the khSnaqSh, segregation of the sexes

is strictly observed. I was thus unable to obtain a female perspective on the Pir's work.

Eflforts to elicit comments from married men about their wives produced little in the way

of data. Finally, unlike many field situations, I was not in the field long enough to have a

key informant.

Life history. Watson and Watson-Franke are among an increasing number of

anthropologists who endorse the use of life history to elucidate culture. They posit that in

any given society exists an "ideal self," a set of norms concerning ideal or proper

Michael Agar, The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography, 2nd ed. (San Diego: Academic Press, 1996), 140. 48 behavior." These norms may be measured in terms of the statements a person makes about himself and his role as an agent of social change and cultural transmission. This concept is particularly appropriate in the study of Sufism, for the shaikh is the archetype of the perfect man (insdn al-kOmal). In addition to serving as shaikh of the order, he is the living moral and spiritual par excellence of the community.

Although we disciples spent three to four hours a day in his company, these moments were usually in the context of prayer or spiritual exercises. While there were brief moments for discussion, the Pir entertained only those questions pertaining to the teachings or one's individual practice. I was directly admonished from asking personal questions of the Pir. (This is in marked contrast to the Egyptian context where Earle

Waugh, a non-Muslim, actually lived in the shaikh's house for a time.) Not wishing to engender his disapproval, I was forced to look elsewhere for data about his life.

Fortunately, a number of alternatives were available. First, and most important, were separate biographical sketches written by two of his disciples. Obviously this material is hagiographic, intended to portray the Pir in a favorable light. Nonetheless, as Hammersley and Atkinson point out, looked at from another perspective, such sources of bias are data in themselves. They note that, "As important as the 'accuracy' or objectivity of an account is what it reveals about the teller's interests, perspectives, and presuppositions."'^' They

Lawrence C. Watson and Maria B. Watson-Franke, Interpreting Life Histories: An Anthropological Inquiry (New Brunswick: Rutgers University Press, 1985), 185-206.

" Martin Hanunersley and Paul Atkinson, Ethnography: Principles in Practice. 2nd ed. (London: Routledge. 1995). 49

also note that such accounts can, when used with appropriate caution, serve as sources of

data for comparative purposes. Thus, I was often able to verify the accuracy of claims

made in the texts with direct observation or discussion with disciples. With disciples I

faced the same problem eliciting data as I did with the Pir. Although they came in

fragments and required constant cross-verification, such data helped enormously in

fleshing out incipient facts and filling in gaps.

Interviews. In light of the rules governing communication within the khSnaqGh

mentioned above, neither the formal, structured interview nor the informal interview were

appropriate methods for obtaining data. As Hammersley and Atkinson note, in cases

where such questioning has to be avoided, it is possible to elicit data through modification

of the way in which questions are asked.'' Some data, for example, could be elicited by

posing questions in informal settings. Generally, these related to clarification of certain events, instructions, or comments. In this connection, although the khdnaqSh was structured hierarchically pir-khalifa-/nttrft/, virtually everyone was accessible, and there were no secret meetings or events to which I was denied access.

More formal, structured interviewing (i.e., question-answer format) was possible outside of the order and was used extensively with religious notables and tribal elders (see

Appendix A for a list). What made these interviews formal was the fact that the respondents were busy individuals who held important positions, and I would probably not

" Ibid., 128. 50

get the chance to interview them more than once. The qualitative interview, as Holstein

and Gubrium observe, is not simply the act of mining information. Rather it is a social

production in which both the interviewer and respondent participate.'® As one who

"activates the narrative production," I was acutely aware of my ability to positively shape

the course of the interview process. To the extent possible, I was Informed beforehand as

to the respondent's background and ideological orientation so as to draw out the

respondent in meaningful conversation. I also appealed to shared knowledge as a means of

eliciting more detailed responses.

Despite the need to be cognisant of my role in the interview, I was aware of the

different kinds of knowledge I was seeking in the interview. Generally, these were of three

types; the dialectical, the phenomenological, and the hermeneutic.^^ In the first case, I

sought verification of data I had gathered and so was more attentive to contradictions in

certain statements. In the second, my task was to interpret intended meanings, or "read

between the lines" as anthropologist Asta Olesen once advised me to when interviewing

Afghan political and tribal figures. Finally, in the phenomenological, I focused on the need

for empathetic grasp of the subjea's life world. Often interviews involved shifting

templates of one or more of these fi-ames.

^ James A. Holstein and Jaber F. Gubrium, The Active Interview: Qualitative Research Methods Series ^37 (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 1995).

For discussion of these, see Steiner Kvale, Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications. 1996). 51

As Michael Agar points out, there is not a neat dichotomy between the formal and

informal interview: the issue is the degree of control the interviewer has over the

process." In this sense control was shared and negotiable. Interviews in Peshawar were

usually conducted at the individual's ofiBce or residence. Although I was free to take notes

on the spot, virtually all respondents refused to have their statements recorded, perhaps

concerned that in a society plagued with religious sectarianism, their statements could be

misconstrued or used against them. Similarly, questions were always prepared in advance,

though additional questions arose in the course of the interview. In questioning the

interviewer, I usually began with questions the respondent would feel comfortable

answering and progressed to more sensitive issues. Structured interviews usually lasted

sixty to ninety minutes.

In light of the sensitive nature of some of my questions, I was cognizant of the fact

that respondents could not always be frank. Responses in the form of circumlocutions

ofren indicated that I had hit upon a sensitive topic that begged further investigation. In

such cases, my strategy was to pursue answers to these issues with intimates of

respondents. For example, I once asked the head of the Sipah tribe how long the Pir

would be their guest. His reply was, "Only God knows." I sensed in this something of a

hedge, so the day after the interview I put the question to his nephew who had arranged the interview. He told me that the Sipah leader had confided to him that the Sipah were, in fact, thinking of asking the Pir to leave.

^ Agar, The Professional Strange, 140. 52

Ethnographers, as anthropologist Paul Stoller once observed, rarely discuss their

competence in the native's language." Five languages are spoken at the khamqSh.

Pashtu, Persian, Arabic, Urdu, and English. Having studied Persian formally for over three

years, I had little difficulty conversing and posing questions in the language. The Pir

addressed me in Dari, and I had little difficulty communicating with him. However, most

of the persons with whom I came into contact were Pathans, who preferred to speak in

their native Pashtu. Consequently, apart from being aware of the topic of the discussion, I

was usually in the dark as to its contents. Since the Pir himself usually spoke Pashtu to the

other disciples, I missed a great deal of valuable material, which would have shed light on

his personality and opinions on a wide variety of subjects. This must stand as a

shortcoming of the field data.

Despite the difficulty of gathering data, I was struck at times by the manner in

which it could come serendipitously from totally unsolicited or unexpected sources. For

example, afrer 1 had written a draft on the Pir's life, one of my Afghan colleagues

informed me that one of his neighbors, a septuagenarian in the Nasr Bagh refugee camp,

had served in the military with Saiflir Rahman. Since there was no mention of military

service in the hagiographies, this man's testimony, although brief, went a long way toward

filling a gap in the chronology. So frequently did this occur that fully one-fourth of the

data came in this manner. Even in the serendipitous and accidental there was a method: to

" Paul Stoller, The Taste of Ethnographic Things: The Senses in Anthropology (Philadelphia: Universit>' of Peniis>'l\-ania Press, 1989), 50. 53

remain open to anyone willing to share their ideas, to take nothing for granted, hunt down everyone, and pursue every lead.

Recording field notes. Here again, given the sensitive nature of the subject, note taking had to be conducted as unobtrusively as possible. When at the khdnaqdh, this

meant taking "scratch notes," phrases designed to elicit recollection in more detail later.*"

I usually made jottings during free time in the early morning and late evening. If time

permitted, jottings were fleshed out on the spot. Otherwise, I had to wait until returning to

Peshawar to transcribe these mnemonic prompts into proper fieldnotes on my computer.

Transcription was actually description, the product of a dialectic process between "scratch notes" and what Simon Ottenberg calls "head notes," the detailed memory of the event or discussion.®' No doubt some data was lost in the process, but the loss was insignificant when weighed against my need to maintain privacy in this regard.

There was very little reciprocity involved in my relationship with the khdnaqdh.

The Pir generously gave me his hospitality and the opportunity to benefit from the teaching. He allowed me to come to the khSnaqSh whenever I wanted, for as long as I wanted, and he never asked for anything in return. Even when it appeared that I was lax in my practice, he showed interest in me. His only requirement was that I make an honest

^ For a discussion of this method, see Roger Sanjek, "A Vocabulary for Fieldnotes," in Fieldnotes: The Making of Anthropology, ed. Roger Sanjek (Ithaca; Cornell Universit}- Press, 1990): 92-121.

Simon Ottenberg, "Thirt>' Years of Fieldnotes: Changing Relationships to the Text." in Fieldnotes. 139- 160. 54 attempt to study and apply the teachings to my life. For him this was the only true way to express one's gratitude to him."

Access to the field site. The mother lodge of Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saiflyya order is located in the Khyber Tribal Agency of Pakistan (see Chapter 4). The Khyber is an extremely dangerous region plagued by constant internecine fighting. For this reason, it has long been a policy of the govemirent to limit foreigners' access to the area. An incident in July 1996, however, prompted the government to prohibit foreigners from the

Khyber altogether." The Pakistani Commissioner of Income Tax was kidnapped and held for ransom by the Bara Khyber Khel. Ostensibly, the Khyber Khel had not intended to harm him, but, being of frail health, he died while in their custody. In the wake of the incident, the local Afridi community refused to cooperate with the government in the arrest of the culprits.®"* For this reason, tensions were high in Bara during the entire period of this research (September 1996-May 1997).

Despite the perils of entering the Khyber, I decided to proceed with my original site seleaion for several reasons. First, unlike most anthropologists who enter the field for the first time, I was ah-eady familiar with the region as well as with the Saifiyya order.

Moreover, with so many Afghan refugees, Peshawar is ethnically and linguistically more

Periodically, I did make small financial contributions to cover the expenses of m>' stay.

" The only exceptions to this were those development workers and journalists uaveling to Afghanistan along the relatively safe Khyber Pass.

^ Dr. Masud Akram, Political Counselor. U.S. Consulate/Peshawar, conversation with author. 22 October 1996. 55 like Afghanistan than Pakistan. This dovetailed with my own academic training in Persian and Central Asian history. Moreover, I was confident that my acquaintance with several of the Pir's disciples would provide an easy entree upon my return. Equally important, in order to investigate the relationship between spirituality and society, it was imperative to find an order committed to spiritual education. This meant identifying an order for which political, social, and cultural roles were subordinate to the cultivation of mystical states.

Observations made during three weekend visits in 1990 convinced me that this was just such a community. Practitioners exhibited some of the outward, somatic signs of spiritual development mentioned in the literature such as uncontrollable shaking, weeping, and laughter. Furthermore, my investigation of other Sufi leaders at that time suggested that orders possessing such spiritual vitality were sufficiently uncommon to warrant sticking with what appeared to be a promising group for investigation.

My resolve to study in Bara was sorely tested at the outset as regards access to the site. Although foreigners were required to obtain formal permission to enter the Khyber, 1 feared that a formal request might give the government an opportunity to deny me permission. Even if this was not the case, I anticipated having to wade through a morass of bureaucratic red tape to obtain one. For these reasons, beginning in late September

1996, I decided to forego the application process and enter with disciples as I previously had. This approach was successfiil until the third trip in mid-October when I attempted to enter alone by taxi. Halfway through the Bara bazaar, I was spotted by the police and arrested. The fact that I was wearing a turban and robes raised suspicions that I was a foreign spy. (In the nineteenth and twentieth centuries British spies commonly 56 masqueraded as religious teachers.) Anticipating a mild reprimand, I did not offer to bribe my way out of the situation. After some angry interrogation, however, I was summarily thrown into the Khyber Rifles Jail where I languished incommunicado for three and a half days along with a motley assortment of drug traflRckers, refugees, and murderers also apprehended in Bara. Conditions were appalling, eighteen men crowded into a cement cell, a hanowing experience I resolved never to repeat. Duly chastened, I agreed to apply for a permit that, as I had feared, required six weeks of exasperating delays and interminable office waits. The dismissal of the Bhutto government in early November sent shock waves of uncertainty through the bureaucracy, further delaying my permit. During the long wait, I conducted literature searches, gathered background data on the area, and established contacts. I also interviewed a number of individuals, including university teachers, tribal chiefs, Afghan politicians, and representatives of other religious groups.

In mid-November 1996,1 finally received a permit to spend one week living at the site each month for the first three months. Initially, my intention was to spend short periods of time at the khdnaqSh and return to write up my notes, follow up with contacts on questions raised by my notes, and take stock of my situation. However, the process of entering and exiting was laborious and time-consuming. Each time I entered I was given two guards armed with Kalashnikovs, who accompanied me directly to the khSnaqSh. On the day of departure, guards arrived to accompany me back. With their loaded weapons on their lap, they often smoked chars, a powerful mixture of hashish and tobacco. These guards were selected on the basis of their aflBliation with the clan whose territory we 57 passed through so that, from the Peshawar line to Bara police station, I was accompanied by Khyber Khel guards, from Bara to the khdnaqSh I was accompanied by the Sipah.

Growing concern for my safety in the hands of these dubious guards was allayed in

December when the Pir insisted that I dispense with formal government permission and come directly to the khanaqGh with his disciples. The Afridi had begun to chafe at the foreign presence at the khdmqdh, and he wished me to keep a low profile. At first, I feared being thrown back into jail. However, the Pir assured me that if I was always accompanied by at least one of his disciples no harm would come to me. In time, I worked out a system whereby, when I wished to visit the khSmqSh, I would telephone one of the resident disciples to meet me at a mosque outside Bara and accompany me in my car. In this way, I was able to visit the hospice each week on Thursday and leave Friday or

Saturday. For the return trip, I never had difficulty in finding disciples seeking a ride to

Peshawar.

Conclusion

Recent historical analyses of the evolution of the Sufi orders emphasize primarily an ability to adapt to changing social, political, and cultural conditions. In some cases, survival of the orders has entailed establishing opportunistic ties to ruling elites, while in others alterations in organization or leadership styles are cited. Although these factors often underlie the survival and expansion of the orders, few scholars have examined the relationship between spiritual practice and social and historical processes in the evolution 58

the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya from Afghanistan, the Saifiyya, this study seeks to

explore this relationship. It shows how continuity and coherence in spiritual education has

been crucial to maintenance of the branch's spiritual authority and power, which in turn,

drives its expansion on the sub-continent today.

MethodoIogicaJly, this study combines textual analysis with participant-observation

in order to get beyond the limited perspective of the outsider. As a quasi-insider account,

incorporates a wider perspective by examining the modalities of spiritual practice and their

impact on the ability of the order to sustain and perpetuate itself Fieldwork was

supplemented with archival research at the Saifiyya lodge in Bara and public libraries, and interviews with government, tribal, and religious leaders. 59

CHAPTER TWO

THE NAQSHBANDI ORDER, PAST AND PRESENT

A visitor to Saifur Rahman's khOnaqOh in Bara, Pakistan is immediately struck by the presence of armed guards at the lodge. On a twenty-four hour basis, there is at least one disciple patrolling the grounds in and around the hospice, an AK-47 slung over his shoulder. In addition, there is always an armed guard at the Pir's side, especially in the mosque where virtually anyone can approach him. As we will see, the situation is in marked contrast to the halcyon days in northern Afghanistan, where Sufi pirs were numerous and as accepted a feature of Af^an society as the mosque itself Saifur's relocation in Pakistan has placed him within the sphere of religious reformers who vehemently oppose Sufism, especially pirs. The tension between the Naqshbandiyya and these refonn groups is exacerbated by the rigidity with which each defines its approach to Islam.

This chapter first explores the historical evolution of the social and political roles of the

Naqshbandi shaikh in Afghanistan. Faced with the growing power of the secular state, lineal

Mujaddidi Sufis chose reform of Islam, a decision that had profound consequences on its ability to impart spiritual education. Saifur Rahman's branch, on the other hand, has adhered to a revivalist approach to Islam articulated by the seventeenth-century Naqshbandi saint, Ahmad

Sirhindi. Second, this chapter shows how social, geographical, and historical differences between Pakistan and Afghanistan have shaped identities and further sharpened ^It lines 60 between the revivalist Saifiyya and Pakistani reform groups. It is in Saifur's opposition to these reform groups and vigorous defense of his own position that his own identity comes through.

Revival, Reform, and Radicalism

Since the Prophet's death in 632, there periodically have been dynamic responses to conditions created by political or social change or a perceived decline in the moral status of the

Islamic community, John Voll notes that generally these responses have taken two forms; revival and reform.' Each form has its own historical genesis, sociopolitical environment, and conceptual frame of reference. Of course, revival and reform are not in themselves mutually exclusive options or approaches, though their adherents do regard them as such.

Revivalism denotes certain Islamic movements that emerged in the pre-modem period in response to internal developments within the community. The idea derives from a Prophetic utterance that on the eve of every century God will send to the community an individual (or individuals) to renew its religion. Revivalism signifies a renewal of the fundamental principles of

Islam in accordance with the Qur'an, sunna, and four schools of law, the cornerstones of Sunni

Islam.^ Whether the concern is the community's moral decline and/or changes in the social and

' John O. Voll, "Renewal and Reform in Islamic Histoi)-: Tajdtd and in Voices of Resurgent Islam, ed. John L. Esposito (New York: O-vford Universit>' Press, 1983), 32-47. For a further treatment of these concepts, see John L. Esposito, Islam: The Straight Path (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991).

^ Naqshbandi Sufism \iev\'s itself in fiill accord with Sunni Islam, its mysticism being a deeper interiorization of Sunni precepts. Nonetheless, many Sunni 'ulama rejea Sufism on antinomian grounds. Because of doctrinal compaUbility, however, the tension between these 'ulama and Sufis is periodically reconciled for a time by outstanding religious leaders. In fact, the reconciliation between the strictly leg^ (shari'a) and mystical (farTqa) aspects of Sunni Islam is often one of the special achievements of revival leaders (mujaddid). Perhaps, the most renowned mujaddid was the mystic-theologian Abu Hamid al- Ghazali(d. 1111). 61 political structure, it entails no reformulation of the teachings. ^ Rather, it is simply a renewal of practices that have fallen into disuse. As John Esposito notes;

Pre-modem revivalism was primarily a response from within Islam to the internal socio-moral decline of the community...In contrast to later Islamic modernism, pre- modem revivalism simply sought to restore and implement an existing ideal, not to reformulate or reconstruct new Islamic responses to modem change.'*

As such, revivalism is an uncompromising reassertion of Islam in traditional terms. The idea of regeneration is contained in the term itself: tajcM, renewal (or ihyQ' al-sunm). The person who renews Islam is called a mujaddid John Voll points out that in addition to the continuities in revivalism, there are "some significant reformulation which give the...movements a distinctive intellectual action and fi^ework."^

In contrast to tajdld is isldh or reform. The term isloh appears abundantly in the

Qur'an and refers to striving for the moral perfection of individuals.® As Voll notes, "/5/dA is

^ There is little consensus among scholars as to whether ijtihad forms a necessan' component of revivalism and a precise t>polog>' of revival and reform movements has yet to be formulated. Both Esposito and Voll maintain that revivalists advocate ijtihad as a means of radical reform of the community. However, as this chapter will demonstrate, in the sub-continent it was precisely ijtihad, which opened the way to alteration of Sirhindi's revival movement. Sirhindi himself adhered to the Hanafi school. In the Mujaddid's conception of Sunni Islam, one is enjoined to follow one of the mujtahids for they are merely sound guides to better understanding of the Qur'an and sunna. Thus, the better the imitation (i.e., of the mujtahids), the better the reform mission accomplished.

John L. Esposito, Islam and Politics (S>Tacuse; Syracuse Universitj- Press, 1984), 32, 35.

^ John O. Voll, "The Revivalist Heritage," in The Contemporary Islamic Revival: A Critical Survey and Bibliography, ed. Gary E. Gorman (New York: Greenwood Press, 1991), 27.

® Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. "'IslOh." 62 directly related to the task of the long line of God's messengers whose works are described in the Qur'an...those who work for the mu^lihun, are frequently praised in the Qur'an, and they are described as being engaged in the work of God."^ In its early application, isloh represented a total allegiance to the Prophet's traditions and a rejection of Sufism as innovation. In the modem period, islsh refers to urban-based reform movements of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that arose in reaction to European expansion.

Although i^lah also advocates a return to first principles of the Qur'an and sunna, in practice it involves a reformulation of Sunni teachings accumulated during the first ten centuries of Islam. Inasmuch as reformers seek to address changes in the broader environment, arguments put forth by reformers sound less a moral and spiritual note than a socio-cultural one. What makes reform possible is reformers' rejection of the four schools of law. They are critical of Muslims who practice taqlTd for their blind adherence to antiquated practices. To deal eflfeaively with the new challenges facing the Islamic community, reformers underscore the need for ijtihsd or individual interpretation of the Qur'an and sunna, provided one has sufficient education to do so. As A Murad points out;

In their attempt to reform Muslim educational and legal systems and religious practice, the supporters of i^lsh were well aware that they were attacking the traditional structures of society, yet they felt it was essentially to renovate these stmctures so that a new much-needed social and cultural dynamism should be given to the

' John Voll, "Renewal and Reform in Islamic History," 33. 63

community...Nevertheless, neither the traditionalist Sunnis nor the members of the brotherhoods were disposed to recognize the legitimacy of their efforts.*

In sum, while both taqM and i?ldh aim at reform of the Islamic community, taqlld does so through an afiBrmation of Sunni Islam; on the other hand, attempts to accomplish similarly stated objectives through reform of the tradition itself' While this dichotomy niay be simplistic, it does help to understand the way in which the Saifiyya view themselves vis a vis their opponents. The utility of this dichotomy notwithstanding. Middle East historian Youssef

Choueiri has offered a third category to distinguish earlier movements from a new kind of refbmti movement; Islamic radicalism. Just as revivalism and reform occur in a particular historical context. Islamic radicalism has its genesis in the emergence of sovereign states in

Muslim lands after World War n. As an attempted solution to the failure of both reformism

(e.g., political Islam) and traditional Sunni Islam to stem the tide of secularism. Islamic radicalism offers the totalitarian Islamic state.

* Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v.

^ Despite his succinct discussion of revivalism and refonn, John Voll tends to use the two terms in a confusing manner, as do many scholars. Dra\Aing from Fazlur Rahman's spurious characterization of revival movements as "neo-Sufism," Voll states that revivalist movements such as the (arTqa Muhammadiyya (of which the Mujaddidiyya was one) represent "a new emphasis on the role of the Prophet as a model for moral conduCT...the reformed [my ital.] /i/ru9...maintained a positi\'e attitude toward direct involvement in the affairs of this world instead of a more mystical, otheruorldly orientation." To the contrary, Naqshbandi emphasis on the Prophetic model had pre-dated Sirhindi as did direct involvement in worldly afi&irs. See Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Renewal and Reform in Islam, ed. John O. Voll and Nehemia Levtzion (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1987), 9-10.

Youssef M. Choueiri, Islamic Fundamentalism (London; Pinter Publishers, 1990), 9-10. 64

Revival Islam: the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya Tariqa

Like other Sufis, Naqshbandis trace their origin to the Prophet Muhammad, the mystic exemplar par excellence}^ He is at once the messenger of God (who conveyed both the exoteric and esoteric practices), the archetype of the ideal man QnsOn al-kOmal) whom Sufis seek to imitate in all respects, and the channel for divine grace {baraka). Sufis maintain that this grace is passed down through various generations of spiritual preceptors in an unbroken chain or silsila. This grace, first transferred fi-om shaikh to disciple during the ritual of spiritual initiation {bay'a), gives the disciple access to a transcendent sphere. Sufis maintain detailed biographies of the teachers in their silsila who exemplified the Prophetic ideal and serve as repositories, living and deceased, of baraka. The accounts of their lives also contain didactic tales and instructive sayings to be applied in everyday life. In these ways, Naqshbandi Sufism constitutes a cumulative tradition, orally, literally, and experientially.

Naqshbandis have two chains of transmission (see Fig. 2.1). A minor one goes back through the Prophet's grandson 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (d.661), and is the one used by most Sufi orders. The dominant Naqshbandi silsila, rare among the other orders, is that

" For a brief history of the Naqshbaiidiy>a order, see Hamid Algar, "The Naqshbandiyya Order; A Preliminaiy Survey of its History and Significance," Siudia Islamica, 44 (1976): 123-197. Algar notes the best single work on the lives of the early Naqshbandis and the histoiy of the order is Fakhr al-Din 'Ali Safi's Rashahat 'exyn al-haydt [Flows of life's Spring). Another key source written in 1503 is the Nafahat al-uns min ha^arUt al-quds {Fragrances of Intimacy from Saintly Presences) by Maulana 'Abd al- Rahman Jami, a brother-in-law of "^Ali Safi. See also Hamid Algar, "Biographical Notes on the Naqshbandiy>'a Tar Tqa " in Essays in Islamic Science and Philosophy, ed. George Hourani (Albany; State University of New York Press, 1975). 254-259.

In the sub-continent the term silsila is used interchangeably with tarTqa. 65

Figure 2.1 Spiritual Genealogy of the Naqshbandiyya TarJqa "

Prophet Muhammad (d. 632)

Abu Bakr Siddiq (d.634) 'Ali ibn Abi Talib (d.661) I Salman Farsi (d. 655-57)^ Husain ibn 'Ali (d. 680) Hasan Basri (d.728) I QasiinibnMuh abu Bakr (d. 727) 'Ali Zain al- 'Abidin (d.712) I I Ja'faral-Sadiq (d. 765) Muhammad al-Baqir (d.731) Habib 'Ajami (d.738) I Musa al-Kazim (d.799) Dawud Tayyi (d.780-81) I 'Ali al-Rida (d.818)

Ma'rufKarkhi (d.815) I Abu Yazid Bistami (d.875) Sari Saqati (d.867) I Junaid Baghdadi (d.9I0)

Abu 'Ali Rudabari I Abu 'Ali Katib I Abu al-Hasan Kharraqani (d. 1033) Abu al-Qasim Qusha>Ti (d. 1076)

Abu 'Ali Farmadi (d. 1084) 'Alauddin 'Attar (d.l400) Muhammad Parsa I I (d.l419) Abu Ya'qub Yusuf Hamadani (d. 1140) Ya'qub Charkhi (d. 1447) I I 'Abd al-Khaliq Ghudjuwani (d. 1220) Ubavdullah Ahrar (d. 1490) other Naq. lines I I 'Arif Rewari (d. 1219) Muhammad Zahid (d. 1529) I I Muhammad Anjir Faghnawi (d. 1317) Muhammad Harwish Muhammad (d. 1562) I 'Ali Azizan Ramatini (d. 1321) Maulana^Khwajagi Aminkinki (d. 1600) I Muhammad Baba Sanunasi (d. 1354) Muhammad Baqi Billah (d. 1603) I I Sayyid Ajmir Kulal (d. 1371) Ahmad Sirhindi (d. 1624) I Baha al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389) * dotted lines indicate Uwaysi initiations

Marijan Mole. "Autour du dare Mansour: I'apprentissage mystique de Najm al-Din Kobra," Revue des Etudes Islamiques (1958): 35-66. 66 traced back through Abu Bakr (d.634), the first khalifa in Islam.The different chains are said to reflect the two aspects of Naqshbandi practice: the 'Alid chain represents the esoteric spiritual practices, while the Bakri link signifies strict adherence to the shari'a and the exemplary behavior of the Prophet. The Bakri isndd thus marks one of the chief features distinguishing the Naqshbandiyya from the other orders: a thoroughgoing adherence to Islamic law. Although the other major orders also adhere to the law,

Naqshbandis go to great lengths to stress its importance. The supererogatory prayers, for example, are obligatory on the Naqshbandi path.

Among the most influential of the early Naqshbandi shaikhs was 'Abd al-Khaliq

Ghujuwani (d.l220). He articulated eight of the order's eleven precepts." An important precept, khatwa dar anjuman or "solitude in a crowd" enjoins Naqshbandis to serve the world by exercising political influence among rulers so that the religious law can be implemented in all aspects of life.'® This precept represents an ongoing attempt to recreate the conditions that prevailed in the original umma of the Prophet. Baha' al-Din Naqshband

(d.l389) consolidated the teachings and organized them into a genuine movement.'' He also formulated three additional precepts. Like Ghujuwani, Baha' al-Din emphasized the

A Turkish order, the Bektashi, also uses the Bakri chain.

For an outline of these, see J. Spencer Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (Oxford: O.xford University Press, 1971). 203.

For this reason, Ghujuwani may be considered the real founder of the Naqshbandi>ya order.

According to Le Gall, the order was not named after Baha' al-Din until a centui}- after his death. See Le Gall, "The Ottoman Naqshbandiyya in the Pre-Mujaddidi Phase,"" 12-13. 67 centrality of the Qur'an and sunna and sobriety in mystical experience. Enacting the khabva principle, Baha' established close and enduring ties with the ruling Timurids, and his order followed on the heels of their rapid expansion. By the end of the fourteenth century, the Naqshbandiyya had become the dominant order in Central Asia.

By the seventeenth century, the order was well established in India, too. However,

Muslim adoption of popular Hindu practices there threatened Islam with complete dissolution.

To counter the threat, a Naqshbandi shaikh, Sayyid Ahmad al-Sirhindi (d.l642), led a far- reaching intellectual and spiritual revival movement.'* Enacting khahva dar anjumcm, Sirhindi undertook a crusade for the restoration of Sunni mystical Islam." On the basis of his own spiritual experiences, Sirhindi claimed to have rediscovered that the true mystic path lay in strict adherence to Islamic law and the exemplary behavior of the Prophet.^" These norms were encoded not only in the Qur'an and hadith but in the other major components of the Sunni mystical tradition: law, theology, philosophy, and mysticism. In Sirhindi's view, shari'a and tarTqa formed aspeas of a single synthesis, though he clearly valued the inner, essential aspect of the shari'a above its outward or formal one.^'

The single best study of Sirhindi's life and work is by Yohanan Friedmann, Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity (Montreal; McGill-Queen's University P^, 1971).

" His Maktabat or collection of 536 letters to the members of the royal court, other influential individuals, and his disciples contains the substance of his revival teachings.

™ Indeed, a later Naqshbandi, Mir Dard (d. 1785), would call this path (arTqa Muhammadiyya.

Friedmann. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi, 48. 68

Sirfiindi's restoration of the primacy of the Qur'an and sunna to Sufi doctrine and ritual

was at least partially successful in cleansing Islam of Hindu influence. For this he earned the

title of "'Mujaddid 'Alf al-ThSni" or "Renewer of the Second Millennium." Significantly,

Sirhindi was a renewer not merely of the century but of the millennium. He appeared at the end of a cycle of spiritual decline that lasted almost one thousand years. For this reason, in the eyes

of adherents his appearance assumes the magnitude of prophethood. Although, strictly speaking, Sirhindi cannot be a prophet, "prophetic perfections" were bestowed on him.

Yohanan Friedmann observes that with the advent of Sirhindi, "the perfections regained their splendor to such an extent that the millennial period is barely distinguishable fi'om the prophetic one. The religious situation has been changed for the better, and the Day of Judgment has been postponed again."^ So important is Sirhindi to the thought and practice of the order today that it would not be an exaggeration to say that he occupies a place in it second only to the Prophet himself Aziz Ahmad sums up his legacy thus;

There is no doubt his writings and his influence checked the process of Indian Islam's disintegration into syncretic heresies... But, on the other hand, his easy victory...gave to Indian Islam the rigid and conservative stamp it bears today. In a way, he was the pioneer of what modem Islam is today in the hido-Pakistan sub-continent-isolationist, self-confident, conservative, deeply conscious of the need of a refonmation but distrustful of innovations, accepting speculation in theory but dreading it in practice, and insular in its contact with other civilizations.^

~ Yohanan Friedmann, "The Idea of Religious Renewal {TajdTd)," in Prophecy Continuous: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought and Its Medieval Background (Bericeley; University of California Press, 1989), 100-101.

^ Aziz Ahmad, Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment (Oxford; Clarendon Press, 1964). 189. 69

The MujcuMcU Revival in Afghanistan, c.1650-1928. Sirhindi's practice of dispatching his khalifas back to their home regions to cany on his missionary work led to the implantation of the Naqshbandi/Mujaddidi teaching in Afghanistan (see map Fig. 2.2). Fourteen of the twenty khalifas he designated were from Afghanistan and Central Asia.^^ Siiliindi's third son and successor, Ghulam Muhammad Ma'sum (d.l668), designated over seven thousand khalifas, further accelerating its difiusion. Many of these khalifas were from Afghanistan and, after being deputized, returned home to conduct missionary work.^^ The order's strict observation of the shari'a and the absence of a major institutional center of Islamic learning in

Afghanistan helped mitigate potential opposition from the 'ulama.^^ Finally, the rapid spread of this branch of the order attests to its rejuvenated spirituality, one of Sirhindi's most important and enduring legacies (see Chapter Five). In time, the Mujaddidiyya branch supplanted rival

Naqshbandiyya turuq, becoming the most influential and widespread order in Afghanistan.

These early Mujaddidi khalifas, however, were not direct descendants of Sirhindi.

Family representatives of the lineage did not begin arriving in Afghanistan until the reign of

Three of his leading Afghan shaikhs were Maulana Ahmad (d.l617). Shaikh Yusuf (d. 1624-25). and Shaikh Hassan, all of whom had originally come £rom Bark south of Kabul, returning there as Sirhindi's khalifas in the early seventeenth century. Shaikh Hassan was particularly active in eradicating religious innov-ation in the Kabul-Qandahar region. Other khalifas went to Balkh. Kabul and Badakhshan, Kohistan. Laghman, Chorband. and Logar. Asta Olesen, Islam and Politics in Afghanistan (London; Curzon Press, 1995), 48.

^ For a discussion of Sirhindi's khalifas, see Sayjid Athar Abbas Rizvi. A History of Sufism in India (New Delhi; Munshiram, 1978), 2; 223-240.

Da\id Edwards, "Charismatic Leadership and Political Process in Afghanistan," Central Asian Survev, 5 (1986); 274. Figure 2.2 Map of Afghanistan and Northern Pakistan National Geographic Society March 1997

Ch«heA((;

r.mb

CAMlNcXii

•wi >L:

&«wr«

r«/vi rpuf, MJ»v • Hh4 • BhAtt ii '* Spin BoH^r^jlMSnr* "On^-^^rrT^y*^^ Mltkeiy*r ,« 1^^.,* r I e. nJJi'S'lvS nllAdJu/^^M" ^Ind^L *'\\ , «^n*J ,*tH^KdhKi .r''' %5,r SlEI" ^ BfcrtWun •^Jlc J 116 MILES ***i9 „ . , STATUTE MIIXS O too 200 (WIA6«( KiLOMrrcRS O 71

King Ahmad Shah Abdali (r. 1747-1772), the founder of the Afghan state. As the King was

preparing to launch an attack on India, one of his ministers went to Sirhind to consult with his

pir, Ghulam Muhammad Ma'sum-i Thani, a grandson of Sirhindi. Ma'sum informed him that

the time was not auspicious. Ignoring the warning, Ahmad Shah went ahead with the campaign

and was defeated. The next time he planned to invade, the King himself went to the Pir for

advice. The Pir correctly predicted that he would be victorious. When Ahmad Shah returned to

the capital in Qandahar, he invited Ma'sum to accompany him. Ma'sum chose to stay in

Sirhind, but dispatched one of his sons and khalifas in his stead, Hazratji 'Izzat-Allah.

The close patronage that developed between the Mujaddidi family and the Afghan court continued under Ahmad Shah's son, Timur (r. 1772-1793). When Timur moved the capital to Kabul, he granted the family land and a residence in the Shur Bazaar district of the city. There the Mujaddidis set up a khSnaqSh and madrasa. At about this time Hazratji's brothers, Hajji SaifuUah (d.l833) and Ghulam Muhammad (d.l799) also migrated to Kabul from Sirhind.^' According to SebghatuUah Mujaddidi, the current head of the Afghan branch of the family:

The idea was that ...our family was going to act as a controller on the governments of Afghanistan...We were going to be in the capital so that [we] could control the

The version provided me by a Mujaddidi family historian differs slightly from Senzil Nawid's account though both draw chiefly from the authoritative history of the Naqshbandiyya, 'Umdat al-maqatnat by Muhammad Fadullah. She writes that all three brothers settled in Qandahar at the same time. According to the family, the other two brothers did not arrive in Afghanistan until Timur's time. Ghulam Muhammad spent most of his time doing missionaiy woilc around Peshawar where he is buried. See Senzil Nawid, "The State, the Clerg>' and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan during the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries," IntemationalJoumal of Middle East Studies 29, no. 4 (November 1997): 581-605. 72

government, the kings and ministers and others. And nearly all the time we were advising. Sometimes we were fighting with them, discussing with them: 'This is true. This is good. This is bad.'^*

Despite the femily's close proximity to the royal court, the Mujaddidis played little role in political life in the nineteenth century, content to remain apart fi"om government so long as the interests of Islam were not threatened. Indeed, Asta Olesen notes that during this period,

"one may assume that the Hazrats had devoted themselves exclusively to the spiritual aspects of pirhood."^ Whether the khSmqGh in Shur Bazaar served as the mother lodge for all branches of the Mujaddidiyya in the region is uncertain. However, evidence indicates that until well into the twentieth century many shaikhs recognized the Hazrat of Shur Bazaar as a leading spiritual representative of the Mujaddidiyya tarlqa.

After Hajji SaifiiUah the silsila of Pir Saifiir Rahman (see Fig. 2.3) follows a different

Mujaddidi family line than that of the Kabuli Hazrats, though there is no evidence of a split at this stage. A figure who played a central role in the transmission of the lineage was a woman,

Bibi Sahiba Mujaddidi (d.l798). Bibi was a maternal niece of Hajji Saiiullah. Both Saifullah and

Ghulam Muhammad served as her spiritual mentors; Saiiullah was her pw-i ^hba, who bestowed her with with baraka, Ghulam Muhammad, her pir-/ talqdi, or formal instructor in

® David B. Edwards, '^Charismatic Leadership," 287.

^ Asta Olesen, Islam and Politics, 163. 73

Figure 2.3 Genealogy of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya in Afgiianistan^°

Shaikh Ahmad Siihiixli, Mujaddid-i 'Alf al-ThOnl (d.1642), Sirhind.

Khwaja Muhammad Ma'sum, Ha al-KhaliqUn (d. 1668), Sirhind.

Khwaja Muhammad Sebgiiatullah, QayyQm-i ZamSn (d. 1708-09), Sirhind.

Khwaja Muhammad Ismael, Imam al- 'Ariftn, d. Sirhind.^'

HaJji Ghulam Muhammad Ma'siim-i Thani Qutb al-Aqtab, d. Siiiiind.

Hazrat Shah Ghulam Muhammad (d. 1799), Peshawar.

Hajji SaifiiUlah, QayyGm-i Jahan (d. 1833), Yemen

SUsila of Mujaddidi family in Afghanistan SUsila of Pir Saifiir Rahman

Shah Abdul Baqi, d. Kabul MuhJZia al-Haq, IshUn Shahld (d.l835), Mazar-i Sharif Khwaja Ghulam Siddiq, d. Kabul Mia Ji Sahib (d. 1896), Laghmani Shah Ghulam QayyOm Jan Agha Shams al-Haq Kohistani Fazl Muhammad al-Mujaddidi (d. 1930), Gulbahar Siams al-Mashayakh {Hashim Samangani Muhammad Ibrahim Mujaddidi (d.1971), Pir-i Sabeq Zia al-Mashqyakh (eKcajLted 1979), Kabul Akhundzada Saiiur Rahman

" Mujaddidi family inter\iew by author, Peshawar, 5 May 1997; Balkhi, TOrtkh-i emliya138.

Olesen notes from this point the silsila for the Mujaddidi family does not correspond to others, suggesting rivalry for succession may have already begun. See Olesen. Islam and Politics. 74

the shari'a.^^ Later, she married Ghulam Muhammad's grandson. Shah Ghulam Nabi" Bibi

Qayyumi, as she was known, gave birth to two sons, Muhammad FaizuUah and Muhammad

Zia al-Haq Mujaddidi (d.l83S). Although FaizuUah was the elder and possessed more

scriptural knowledge, the younger is said to have been spiritually more advanced. For this

reason, Zia al-Haq was selected to succeed Saifiillah as head of this branch of the tccrlqa.

Zia al-Haq, commonly known as IshSn Shahld, studied first with Saifiillah. Upon the

death of another of his teachers, the family was so stricken with grief that they embarked on a

pilgrimage to shrines and other holy places.Accompanied by his mother and elder broiher,

Zia traveled first to Marwar al-Nahar, then to Bukhara and Balkh. In 1798 while in Mazar-i

Sharif, Bibi suddenly took ill and died. She was buried in the Hazrat 'Ali garden.^^ In the

person of Bibi we see the crucial, albeit overlooked, role often played by women in the lineage.

She was not only spiritual mentor to her children. She was a khalifa in her own right who

possessed titles used for pirs, hcarat (lord) and sGhiba (master). She was doubtless held in high

In #221 of hxsMaktabat, Sirhindi distinguishes three types of pir: pTr-i a^li gives initiation; pTr-i talqJn or ta'tim teaches both the shari'a and farXqa and, for this reason, deserves the most respect. The plr-i suhba performs spirinial exercises with the disciple. According to Sirhindi, if one can find a pir who performs all three functions, then it is the highest blessing for the murTd. Othenvise, one is enjoined to seek all three for a complete education. Sayyid Ahmad Sirhindi, Maktabat-i Imam-i Rabbanl ed. Nur Ahmad (Peshawar; universitj' Book Agency. 1984), 1; 322.

" Balkhi, Tankh, 138.

^ Balkhi does not identify this murshid. It may have been Ghulam Muhammad who died in 1798-99.

" Balkhi, Tankh. 128-131. 75 regard by the other members of the Mujaddidi family and served as spiritual guide to many female disciples.

Zia eventually returned to Kabul. After his death there in 1835, he was succeeded by one of his sons, Mia Ji Sahib Mujaddidi (d.l896). During Mia Ji's time, the Afghan branch of the family continued to maintain close relations with the family in Sirhind. After the British crushed the Great Rebellion in India in 1857, one of possibly a number of

Mujaddidi family members to migrate north was Pir Aziz Ahmad. In Kabul, Aziz met with Mia Ji who took him to Kohistan, introducing him to Naqshbandi disciples there as

"the son of your Pir." (The reference was to Aziz's father. Shaikh Fida Ahmad, who was still living in Sirhind at the time.) Aziz settled in Deh Nau in Panjshir, becoming murshid to disciples there who addressed him as ''"'PTrzdda" (the son of a pir). Aziz later married one of Mia Ji's daughters. The third of seven children she bore him was Shams al-Haq

Kohistani Mujaddidi, bom in 1863. Shams would become the next shaikh in the initiatic chain, the last member of the Mujaddidi family to do so.

Afghanistan: Responding to the Secular State, 1919-1929

Direct Mujaddidi involvement in political affairs by both branches began with the sons of Qqyyum Jan Agha Mujaddidi during King Amanullah's reign (1919-1929). Amanullah had accelerated a reform process first initiated by Amir Abdur Rahman (r. 1880-1901) who had

^ Inexplicably. Aziz's wife and two children migrated to Medina. 76

attempted to transform Afghanistan from a tribal confederacy to a modem state.'' The Amir's

policies, however, had been purely pragmatic. Seeking simply to make the state more efficient,

the Amir undertook limited economic and administrative reforms and was uninterested in

changing traditional sodety as such. Despite their limited scope, his policies nonetheless

initiated a trend toward modernization that would only accelerate with time.'^

With the reign of King AmanuUah (r. 1919-1929) modernization as a social process

acquired a momentum that was irreversible. The immediate impetus for AmanuUah's reforms

grew out of the threat posed by the British presence in India. Initially, AmanuUah's strategy had

been to declare jihad against the British in 1919. The leading Hazrat of Shur Bazaar, Fazl

Muhammad {Shams al-Mashc^/akh), enjoyed close personal relations with the King whom he

had crowned during the nation's coronation ceremony. Fazl and his younger brother, 'Umar

(Ntir al-Mashayakh), helped enlist support for the Amir's jihad among their tribal followers.

For this the King rewarded the family with several thousand acres of land in the Koh-i Daman

region just north of Kabul.

Having failed to thwart the British, however, AmanuUah tried a new strategy:

strengthening the state apparatus through the adoption of Western legal, judicial, and educational reforms. Unlike his predecessors, however, AmanuUah sought to bring about a

For a detailed study of this period, see MH. Kakar, Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir 'Abd al-Rahman (Austin, University of Te.\as Press, 1979).

^ Under Amir Habibullah (r.I901-1919), the state assumed control of the y/aqf, or religious endowment. 77

complete revolution in Afghan society.Inter alia he established secular schools, enia;icipated

women, abolished pirs and disciples from the aimy, and prohibited the 'ulama from attending

the Deoband Seminary in India (see below). In protest over these reforms, Nur went into exile

in British India. His younger brother, Muhammad Sadiq, who remained in Kabul along with the

other members of the family, served as acting Hazrat. While in India, many of Nur's adherents

among the Qiilzai tribe (ntukhlis) came to see him during their winter migrations, an

association that later proved beneficial in the installation of a more acceptable monarch.'*"

In a marked departure from their previous role as political and religious advisers to the

royal court, the two Hazrats eventually spearheaded the opposition to the King."" In September

1928, following the adoption of the last of AmanuUah's reforms by the National Assembly, Nur

embarked for Paktia province where he planned to rally the tribes against the government. In

his possession was a manifesto signed by four hundred religious leaders protesting the King's

reforms and declaring him an infidel. Before he reached his destination, however, government

forces intercepted the mission and subsequently arrested and executed many of the religious

leaders. Muhammad Sadiq was arrested and imprisoned for a time.

The action only exacerbated popular discontent with the government. By November

1928, the dispute came to a head in Nangarhar, Saiilir Rahman's native province. Initially, the

His liberalizing reforms were based on the ideas of Mahmud Tarzi, a disciple of Jamal al-Oin Afghani (d-1898).

^ Edwards, "Charismatic Leadership,** 290.

For a detailed and lively account of the events leading to AmanuUah's downfall, see Rhea Tally Stewart, Fire in Afghanistan 1914-1929: Faith, Hope, and the British Empire (New York: Doubledav. 1973). 78

Shinwari tribe revolted to protest government interference with the badragi or highway toll system.'*^ After capturing the military outpost in nearby Achin, other tribes joined in, including the Nangarhari Mohmand. In a rare coalition, religious elements allied with the tribes around a

Persian-speaking Tajik, Baccha-i Saqqao, "the son of a water-carrier." Baccha had been something of a Robin Hood in his home region of Shamali, Koh-i Daman, robbing highway caravans and distributing the booty to the poor."*^ After a failed attempt to seize the throne in late 1928, he succeeded in January of the following year.

Although Baccha was deposed within a year, his brief reign signifies much more than a bizarre episode in traditional Afghan politics as some historians believe. Olivier Roy points out that the appearance of Baccha represents an underlying structure of 'ulama and Sufi brotherhoods within Afghan society.''^ Usually politically quietist, they have surfaced twice this century—in 1929 and again in 1978-79."*® When Baccha seized the throne, it was his father's

Pir, Shams al-Haq Kohistani Mujaddidi, who recognized his rule by tying a cloth belt

Leon B. Poullada. Reform and Rebellion in Afghanistan, 1919-1929 (Ithaca, NY; Cornell Universitj' Press, 1973), 162-163.

Ibid., 172.

Olesen, for example, calls it, "yet another case of social banditry in the 'Hobsbawm-ian' sense." Islam and Politics, 149. Poullada saw little of reh'gious significance in the entire affair, citing tribal conflicts as the chief dynamic.

Olivier Roy, Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 66.

^ Residents of Shamali had earlier played a significant role against British incursions into Afghanistan during the second Anglo-Afghan war (1879-80). Two Naqshbandi shaikhs, Mir Majedi and his brother Mir Darvish, led attacks on the British cantonment in Kabul. Baccha's own father had taken part in these hostilities. 79 ikamerband) around Baccha's waist.^' Baccha may also have been Kohistani's murid** While

historians may never reach a consensus on the significance of the movement, from the

perspective of religious leaders, the power of the tribes had been harnessed to achieve essentially religious objectives, i.e., the reversal of AmanuUah's reforms and restoration of shari'a.

Shams al-Haq was a direct descendant of Sirhindi and a pir from a rural branch of the family. The third pir of this branch after Hajji Saiflillah, he was also the murshid of

Saifiir Rahman's first teacher, Shah Rasul Taloqani. Like many Naqshbandi pirs outside of

Kabul, Shams had a strong aversion to contact with the government and other forms of modem political activity.'" He was antagonistic toward AmanuUah's government because of its anti-religious reforms though, apart from the coronation ceremony, he did not actively oppose them. As a singular act, Shams's coronation of Baccha is emblematic of his lineage's attitude toward the emerging secular state: only when the very existence of

Islam is in jeopardy is one obligated to assume an explicitly oppositional role vis a vis the state. Otherwise, its shaikhs have followed a policy of neutrality.

There is some disagreement as to who crowned Baccha king. The version provided by a Mujaddidi family historian essentially agrees with Edwards' assertion that it was Shams al-Haq and not Muhammad Sadiq who performed the investiture. The Mujaddidi family, interview by author, S May 1997. See also Edwards, "Charismatic Leadership," 298.

Klaus Jakel, "Reform und Reaktion im Afghanistan," WWo/w NOmeh 3 (Februaiy 1977): 39. The Mujaddidi family, howeser. disputes the claim that Baccha was a Sufi.

Afqar 'Aibadila. Danat al-bayan (N.p.. 1992), 144-146. 80

Despite recognition by a Mujaddidi shaikh, as a Tajik Baccha was unacceptable to the numerically and politically dominant Pathan tribes. Baccha attempted to obtain their acceptance by soliciting Nur al-Mashayakh's support. Nur, however, who had remained in

Lahore during the entire period of unrest, was neutral toward Baccha, perhaps aware that a Tajik usurper would have little staying power. Ostensibly, Nur was biding his time until he could identify a more durable successor to Amanullah. When Baccha began to imprison some of the Mujaddidi leaders over differences with them. Shams al-Haq and the acting

Hazrat withdrew their support. Disillusioned, Shams withdrew from the scene.'® His lineage does not resurface again in national politics until the events of 1978-79.

The Mujaddidi Family and Political Islam, 1929-1997

For his part, however, the Hazrat of Shur Bazaar continued to work for a more malleable successor to Amanullah.'' He quickly set about to secure tribal support for a leading

Pathan, Nadir Khan. In 1929 the combination of tribal and Mujaddidi support secured Nadir

Khan's enthronement. Two years later, the King created the first national organization of

'ulama, the Jami'at-i 'Ulama. Located within the Ministry of Justice, its task was to ensure that legislation was in conformity with the shari'a. Nur became Minister of Justice, marking the first

" In his later years. Shams became completely estranged firom public life. He felt too few people were interested in Suflsm and he may have withdrawn altogether from teaching. He died in 1930 at about 68 years of age. He is buried in at his birthplace in Deh Nau near Gulbahar, thirty miles north of Kabul.

" For a discussion of the family's role in politics in this century, see Olesen, Islam and Politics: Roy, Islam and Resistance. SI time that a pir occupied a position within the government." Other Mujaddidis as well as pirs of other orders also accepted government jobs, especially in the National Assembly. In an abrupt departure from previous Mujaddidi pirs, Nur was not merely content to influence political activities, but, as Olesen notes, "he used his pirhood to acquire political power."" Nur resigned his post in 1932, however, satisfied he had secured a position for Islam within the state.

Today, Sebghatullah Mujaddidi notes with pride that his uncle promptly withdrew from the government, once a mechanism to implement the shari'a was in place.^' Nonetheless, Nur represented "a new generation of religious leaders in A^hanistan who sought to incorporate the 'ulama into the state apparatus."'^

The modus vivendi reached between religious leaders and the government had effectively removed Islam as a subject of debate for the next three decades. Furthermore, by establishing a national organization of 'ulama, the government had been able to co-opt many religious leaders." The more conservative religious elements in the country, as well as

" Nur's younger brother became Ambassador to Egj-pt.

" Olesen, Islam and Politics, 164.

^ Nur was replaced by his brother, Fazl Ahmad, who later became Chairman of the Senate. After the assassination of Nadir Khan in 1933, Nur crowned Nadir's young son, Zahir Shah, King of Afghanistan. The Mujaddidis went on to estabUsh matrimonial links mth the King's family.

" Sebghatullah Mujaddidi, interview by author, 16 November 1996.

^ Asta Olesen, "The Islamic Movement in Afghanistan," in Questioning the Secular State: The World- Wide Resurgence of Religion in Politics, ed. David Westerland (New York: St. Martin's Press, 1996), 396.

Olesen, Islam and Politics, 193. 82

Naqshbandi shaikhs, were mollified by the &ct that after Amanullah no leader attempted to

enact reforms that would have jeopardized the role of Islam in society.

Political Islam. By the late 1950s, however, the persistent trend toward secularization

led some religious figures, including members of the Mujaddidi family, to adopt an entirely new

tactic to preserve the interests of Islam. The Islamist movement began in Afghanistan in 1958

in the Faculty of Theology at Kabul University. Its teachers had studied at Al-Azhar in Cairo

where they came into contart with the Muslim Brotherhood {al-IkhwOn al-MuslimTn).^^

Islamists represent an entirely new generation of religious leaders in Afghanistan. Whereas

traditional Afghan 'ulama were educated in the private Deoband and Brelwi madrasas of the

sub-continent and the NWFP, Islamists are produas of the state madrasas. Their roots lay not

in the old, private religious networks, but in the modem sectors of society. They also owe more

to the intellectual ferment of Egypt than to the revival or reform movements of the sub­

continent. Their new. Western orientation is reflected in the term they use to describe

themselves- not an 'alim but a roshOnfikr or intellectual.'' A number of "ulama joined the

Islamic movement, including all of the maulawi fi-om Nuristan.®"

Islamism is a modem term for a modem phenomenon; the attempt to define Islam as a political ideology in line with the major ideologies of the twentieth century. The concept of Islamism derives chieily from the ideas of two Eg>ptian thinkers, Sayyid Qutb (d 1966) and Hassan al-Baima, the founder of the Muslim Brotherhood. In theory and practice, Islamism has many variants ranging from the totalitarian state to more moderate forms of government For a typology of the various usages, see William E. Shepard, "Islam and Ideoiog\'; Towards a Typology," International Journal of Middle Eastern Studies 19 (1987): 307-335.

Roy, Islam and Resistance, 43.

" Ibid., 72-73. 83

Echoing the ideas of the Muslim Brotherhood, Afghan Islamists advocate a political form of Islam based on the political ideologies of the West. They reject as ineflFectual the revival approach that relies solely on religious education to counter Western influence. While some Islamists are sympathetic to Sufism, they believe the political quietism and religious conservatism of the shaikhs are themselves obstacles to modernization. Islamists thus represent a complete break from traditional Afghan society. Like many other Islamists, SebghituUah, the current head of the Mujaddidi family, studied Islamic law at al-Azhar. He has been active in the

Islamist movement in Afghanistan to the detriment of his role in the Naqshbandiyya tarTqa^^

Although he does not claim to be a pir, his religious authority is clearly threatened by those who are. He decries Saifiir Rahman's system of designating khalifas. "It used to be," he said,

"that an individual had to wait years just to be accepted as a disciple. Now he [Saifiir] makes khalifas after only four or five months of training. What kind of pir is this?" he asks sardonically. For his part, Saifiir has said Sebghatullah is not a Sufi because he shows no signs of possessing the lats 'if, an important basis of Naqshbandi religious authority (see Chapter

Five). Despite the mutual disdain, Sebghatullah does attend Saiflir's 'urs each year.

When he returned from al-Azhar to Kabul in 1952, Sebghatullah refused offers of government jobs. He chose instead to maintain the authority of Islam among the young by teaching at the government Habibiyya Lyceum. Accused of conspiracy in 1959, he n-as imprisoned for four and a half years by the Daoud government. Upon his release, he was exiled to Egypt. In 1972, to counter the growing influence of the Communists in Afghanistan, he founded a political party, the Jami'at-i Islami. The following year he went to Denmark where he established several mosques in various parts of the country. After the Communist coup in 1978, he went to Peshawar where he established a new party, the Nation^ Liberation Front. From 1989 to 1992 he served as President of the Afghan Interim Government. Today he resides in Peshawar where he plays a leading role in the current negotiations for a settlement to the ci\'il war. 84

Olesen is among a number of scholars who speculate that Sebghatullah's activities are an expression of "radical Islamic tendencies," which resuhed in a division within the family.

While Nur epitomized Sunni Islam and Naqshbandi Sufism, SebghatuUah represents a new kind of activist 'alim who operates through the modem political party Indeed, SebghatuUah

himself has acknowledged that Nur (d. 1956) was the last real pir in his family even though

Nur's successor, Muhammad Ibrahim, is popularly viewed as having been the last pir " Had

Nur become so involved in political affairs that he neglected the one function so essential to the

Mujaddidiyya order's survival- that of preparing a khalifa? And if Muhammad Ibrahim was in fact a pir, might not SebghatuUah's inability to succeed him be viewed as a consequence of the very secular influences SebghatuUah struggled against?" After Nur, but certainly after Ibrahim's assassination in 1979, no one in the family line was prepared to serve as the recipient of the silsila's baraka passed down for centuries from shaikh to disciple. Another consequence of the

Mujaddidi family's close association with the state was its estrangement from the

Naqshbandiyya turuq in the north. The link, spiritual and famUial, between the Hazrat in Kabul and many of the northern branches was severed permanently. WhUe the famUy insists it

^ Olesen, Islam and Politics, 234.

" Inasmuch as SebghatuUah is the son of Nur's brother, Muhammad Ma'sum, SebghatuUah's political activities may also have been an e.Npression of rivalry for leadership within the family.

" For this reason, Roy writes, "contradictory influences are at woiic within the Mujaddidi family. The}- are linked to the royalist establishment but view the Westernization of the country's customs and legislation with distaste; they are wealthy, but stand outside the capitalist forms of development; the}- occupy official posts, but they form part of the political opposition; they are conservative, but are also link^ to certain radical currents (political Islamism) within Islam." Roy, Islam and Resistance. 43. 85 represents all of the Naqshbandis in Afghanistan, many Naqshbandis, including the Saifiyya, reject this claim.

Revivalism: the Saifiyya branch. In contrast to the political activism of the Mujaddidi

&nuly, the branch of Saifiir Rahman pursued a policy of non-association with the state. Such political detachment is particularly striking in view of Ghujuwani's fomiulation of the principle of khahva dor anjuman. The principle, it will be recalled, enjoins Naqshbandis to exercise influence among rulers in order to create conditions that prevailed during the original umma of the Prophet's time. Successfully applied by Sirhindi to revive an Islam on the brink of extinction, the principle was also used as a mandate for political action by the Mujaddidi family in Afghanistan.^^ Explanation for the Saifiyya branch's departure fi'om this practice lay in the changed political and social context of the modem period. During Sirhindi's time, the imperial state was Islamic and the authority of shaikhs was generally recognized by its leaders.®^ In twentieth-century Afghanistan, however, as an evolving Western construa, the nation-state represents an illegitimate bifurcation of the world into secular and religious spheres. Such a

In fact, the khalwa principle was operative well before Ghujuwani's time. The spiritual forebears of the Naqshbandi>ya, the Malamativya, were the first to emphasize worldly involvement. See Jacqueline Chabbi, ""Remarques sur le ddveloppement historique du movements ascetiques et mystiques au Khurasan," Studia Islamica 46 (1962): 5-72.

^ Warren Fusfeld notes that in nineteenth-century India, British rule in India increased limitations on the shaikh's mediational role with the government. Instead of direct contact, Naqshbandi shaikhs used Afghans to meet with the British on their behalf, a tactic he calls "mediation against boundaries." According to Fusfeld. in India this realm of activity (political function of the shaikh) was totally eliminated by the late nineteenth century in India. However, he maintains it was a de facto decision forced on them by virme of the secular state's refusal to recognize the authority of shaikhs. On the contrar>-, in Afghanistan the Mujaddidi family's role in national politics illustrates to what extent the state continued to rely on Sufis and other religious leaders to legitimate their authority. See Warren Fusfeld, "Naqshbandi Sufism and Reformist Islam," in Ibn Khaldun emd Islamic Ideology, ed. Bruce B. Lawrence (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1984), 89-110. 86

distinction is alien to Saiflir Rahman's Sunni conception of the state whereby religion informs

all aspects of life conceived as an integral whole. Saiilir Rahman regards Islamists as a product

of the West, not an Islamic defense against it. It is a capitulation to the West in the cultural and

religious sense. Moreover, from his perspective, the ultimately corrupting influence of the West

on Islamic values and institutions is confirmed by the fate of the Mujaddidi family in the second

half of the twentieth century. In an effort to incorporate a place for Islam within the modem

state, it relinquished the most vital component of that teaching, the ability to provide individuals

direct access to a transcendental ground. Saiiiir Rahman's reflisal to engage the state or its

institutions stems largely from a rejection of the state's bifurcation of secular and religious

spheres. Fundamentally, it is a refusal to accept the state's claim to moral authority over the

individual, for that authority ultimately comes from God alone.®'

Islamic Radicalism: the Taliban, 1994-1997

The change of government in Kabul in September 1996 from the Islamist Jama'at-i

Islami to the Taliban's explicitly shari'a-oriented one for the first time has afforded the Pir a

religiously-sanctioned context within which to exercise his religious authority in Afghanistan on

a wider scale. The TaUban (Islamic students) surfaced as a militant religious movement in

For this reason, within the sphere of Pakistani politics, today Saifiir Rahman confines his remarks to the religiosity of paitictilar politicians. In an interview with a jouraalist in May 1996, for example, he bluntly described the head of the Awami National Party of Pakistan, Abdul Gha£^ Khan, and all of the part>-'s members as kafir. He has also publicly stated that Pakistan's President as well as all government ofiicials are legally bound (/ar<0 by the precepts of Islam to accept his religious authorit>'. "The False Prophet Has Entered the NWFP," Shahafat (Islamabad), 23 May 1996.1. 87

1994.^^ Initially, it consisted of Afghan mujahidin trained in madrasas in refugee camps in the

NWFP and Baluchistan. (The Taliban also recruited members from the clerical party of

Muhammad Nabi Muhanunadi, a disciple of Saiilir Rahman.) A major clerical Pathan-based party in Pakistan, the Jama'at-i 'Ulama-i Islam (JUI) set up many of these refugee schools.®'

Insofar as Pakistan has been the conduit for Saudi support for the establishment of Wahabi schools in Afghanistan, it is probable that many, if not most, of these refugee schools are also

Wahabi in orientation.™ After capturing Qandahar in 1994, the Taliban's subsequent rapid success prompted Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to flmnel arms and assistance directly to the movement."

At first, Afghans viewed the Taliban with favor. The movement had not been involved in the feuding which had so discredited the foreign-backed resistance parties in Peshawar. Nor

" Despite the importance of tJie Taliban, there has been not a single serious study of the movement's origins and de\'eiopmem. A brief discussion of the international implications of the Taliban is given in. Bamett R. Rubin, "Afghanistan's Proxy Wars," International Affairs 73, no. 2 (1997): 283-296.

^ The JUI is a splinter group of the Jama'at-i 'Ulama-i Hind, established in India in 1919 by Deoband 'ulama seeking restoration of the Ottoman khalifate. The JUH opposed calls for a separate Muslim state and argued Muslims could co-exist with other religions in a society where they were not the majority-. Shortly before Pakistan's independence in 1947, a Pathan-based splinter movement broke an-ay to establish itself in Pakistan as a political party allied with Muhammad Ali Jinnah's Muslim League. Since then, the JUI has undergone a number of organizational and political changes. It is strongest in Baluchistan and the NWFP and holds several seats in the national legislature. See Hassan N. Cardezi. "Religion, Ethnicity, and State Power in Pakistan; The Question of Class," in Religion and Political Conflict in South Asia, ed. Douglas Allen (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press. 1992), 69-82.

Olivier Roy, Afghanistan: From Holy War to Civil iVar (Princeton: Darwin Press, 1995), 82. There has been little research on the origins and ideology of these refugee schools. Apart from Roy, scholan generally fail to distinguish between Ahl-i Hadith and Deoband schools, tending to refer to them collectively, and quite erroneously, as Deoband. See, for e.\ample, Ralph H. Magnus and Eden Naby, Afghanistan: Marx, Mullah, and Mujahid (Boulder; Westview Press, 1998).

In supporting a Sunni government in Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia seeks to check Iran's expansionism in Central Asia; Pakistan hopes a stable Taliban government will open a secure economic route to Cental Asia. 88 did it have ties to the Communist regime even though they accepted former Communists within its ranks. Moreover, its call for the restoration of strict shari'a government appealed to Afghans seeking a return to Islamic society after years of oppressive Communist rule. On the surface at least, these factors served to legitimize the Tabljan as an indigenous Afghan movement. On the military front, the largely Pathan Taliban met with little resistance in the tribal areas of the south and east as residents of one province after another laid down their arms and surrendered. Once under Taliban control, residents were disarmed and villages enjoyed peace, stability, and justice to a degree not seen in almost two decades.

In the khOnaqOh disciples from across the ethnic spectrum echoed this favorable opinion. Indeed, the movement began to take on millenarian overtones as disciples spoke of taking their Islamic revolution all the way to Bukhara, the site of Baha' al-Din Naqshband's shrine. For his part, the Pir privately supported Taliban efforts to establish control over the entire country. Although he refrained from public recognition or outright assistance, he offered

"moral guidance and support" to those disciples who are members of the government. In addition, he had begun to openly express a desire to return to Kabul, suggesting he sees the possibility of a wider social role for himself under a strictly shari'a government.

After the Taliban seized Kabul, however, the latent tribalism and religious radicalism of the movement became more apparent. Bamett Rubin, a political scientist and long-time observer of Afghan politics, points out that as the movement grew, it "provided a vehicle for many tribal Pashtun youths with no religious training to reassert Pashtun honor after the 89

country's domination by a Tajik-led government."'^ Once in power, the largely Pathan Taliban

began to implement their version of the shari'a, introducing draconian measures such as jailing

men without beards, barring women from educational opportunities and the workplace, and

banning television. After a woman was stoned to death in Afghanistan for adultery, one of the

Pir's khalifas complained that there had been only two witnesses of the alleged crime whereas

the shari'a specifically requires four. As one excess after another came to light, initial

enthusiasm in the khOnaqSh gave way to mixed opposition, particularly among educated

disciples, Pathan and non-Pathan alike. It also became apparent that a number of senior Taliban

officials are hostile to Saiftir Rahman, suggesting once again a Wahabi orientation (see below).

As of this writing, few disciples are privy to the Pir's attitude toward Taliban. He

appears to be unaware of the movement's ideological roots, covert Pakistani and Saudi

support, or growing record of human rights abuses. In part, this is because those closest to

him are controlling unfavorable news about the government, particularly his sons, who

seek positions in the government.'^ Given the regular flow of visitors to the hospice from

Afghanistan, however, eflforts to control the information he receives are doomed to fail."

'• Rubin, "Afghanistan's Proxy Wars," 290.

The chief of police in Jalalabad, for example, is a Tablighi who promised one of the Pir's sons a job as Minister of Public Works in a new government, a rather ineffectual position but one nonetheless alluring to his worldly son. One wonders whether in fact a Tablighi would make good on his promise to the son of a Sufi pir.

The ability of those around the Pir to control the information he receives points to his political naivete. It was a naivete I had experienced first-hand. I was arrested and jailed by the Pakistani police in October 1996 for attempting to reach the hospice without the necessary entry permit for the Kh>-ber Agency (see Appendix A). Subsequently, to facilitate my visits to the hospice, the Pir instruaed a mid-level Bara commander to escort me to the Khyber Agencv' to explain that 1 u-as his disciple and to request special 90

Sooner or later, he will apprehend the Taliban are yet another perversion of Sirhindi's teachings. When he does, he will likely respond in the same way that he has toward similar groups, drawing the line of true Islamic faith sharply between the kafir and himself In the meantime, the Pir will continue to do what he has done before and through ail the years of his country's vicissitudes: to pray, preach, serve as a moral exemplar and guide, and most importantly, as a living fount of grace to his disciples. Meanwhile, the world outside the khQnaqah becomes more tumultuous, the Islamic community more divided as each group attempts to impose its brand of Islam with ever-greater force.

Reform in the Sub-continent, c. 1750-1997

Neo-scripturalism: the Ahl-i HadTth. While Afghanistan had remained largely immune to outside influence down to the twentieth century, the sub-continent was undergoing a profound social upheaval as early as the eighteenth century. With the collapse of the Mughal dynasty and the rise of the British, 'ulama and Sufis witnessed a devastating loss of power. There was also continued pollution of Islam by popular Hindu practices. Prescriptions for restoring Islam invariably called for a return to the pristine age of the Prophet and the original period of revelation. Yet, interpretations varied widely as

dispensation to enter the Agency freely. As I suspected, nothing came of this attempt Indeed, we only got as far as the Bara police station where I met with the chief of police who had been involved in my arrest. He received us coolly, reiterating that, disciple or not, if I was ever again caught in Bara without a permit, he would throw me back in jail. 91

to what this meant in terms of doctrine and practice.'^ For some, tlie Prophet was a model

of human behavior, for others he was an also object of contemplation, or even a mediator

with God. The central question revolved around the extent to which Sunni Islam should be

reformed in order to address the new challenges facing the community.

The first major reform movement in the sub-continent was spearheaded by a

Naqshbandi/Mujaddidi shaikh. Shah Wali Allah (d.l762). Despite being a spiritual heir of

Sirhindi, Wali Allah nonetheless sought limited reform of the old traditions. He believed that because the four schools of law were based on legal decisions formulated during the first three centuries after the Prophet, they were prone to inauthenticity.'® From his studies in the Hijaz,

Wali Allah had brought back an emphasis on hadith as a means of determining Islamic behavioral norms. Although he did not rejea taqlld entirely, he gave hadith primacy over fiqh, thereby re-opening the gates of ijtihsd to those capable of exercising sound legal judgment.

Ironically, Wali Allah's emphasis on ijtihsd had been to reconcile various opposing groups in

Islam, including the four schools of law." Over time, however, the reverse occurred.

" Barbara Day Metcalf, Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband 1860-1900 (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982), 5-6.

Muhammad Daud Rahbar, "Shah Wali Allah and Ijtihad," The Muslim World 45 (October 1955): 346- 358. In mystical philosophy, too, Wali Allah deviated from the Mujaddid, believing the wijad position to be legitimate (see Chapter Five).

" Christine Noelle, "The Anti-Wahabr Reaction in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan," The Muslim World 85, no. 1-2 (January-April 1995); 23-48, 92

Reformers inaeasingly relied on "adherence to scriptural Islamic norms in defining Islamic

identity," an approach that would gravely divide Muslims in the sub-continent.'*

The reformist impulse notwithstanding, by the late nineteenth century Sirhindi's revival

movement was still intact in many quarters of the sub-continent. In the wake of the quietude

that followed the British victory in the Great Rd)ellion of 1857, some 'ulama and Sufis

organized madrasas to disseminate knowledge of Sunni doctrine and praaice. The most

renowned of these madrasas was the Deoband Seminary established in 1867. Deoband

eschewed politics and dedicated itself to educational and scholarly activities. Barbara Metcalf

writes that, between 1860 and 1900, many 'ulama pursued

a strategy of turning within, eschewing for the time all concern with the organization of the state and relations with other communities. Their sole concern was to pursue the religious heritage... and to disseminate instruction in authentic religious practice and belief. They sought to be and to create in others personalities that embodied Islam. To this end, they preached, wrote, ofifered legal opinions and acted as spiritual guides to their followers.''

A fundamental aspea of this heritage is Sirhindi's synthesis of shari'a and tarfqa:

the eflfectiveness of the Deobandis was judged to rest in their synthesis of the two main streams of the Islamic tradition, that of intellectual learning and that of spiritual experience. They themselves understood this unity of shariat (the Law) and tariqat (the Path) to be firmly within the bonds of Islamic orthodoxy, for they took the Law and the Path to be not opposed but complimentary.*"

David Gilmartin, Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan (Berkelej" Universitj' of California Press. 1988), 61.

" Metcalf,/j/am/c/?ev»va/, 11-12.

Ibid.. 139. 93

Furthermore, although Chishti Sufis predominated at Deoband, all three of its founders were

Mujaddidi shaikhs." In contrast to Wali Allah, Deoband was strirtly Hanafi in law. In theology, its 'ulama generally followed the Ash'ari school. Deoband thus tried to shut tight the door to

///7/K&/Wali Allah had re-opened.

Although Metcalf offers no evidence of ideological conflias during the early years of the school, Wali Allah's influence seems to have been present nonetheless.*^ Like Wali Allah,

Deoband emphasized textual sources, particularly hadith, in establishing Islamic norms. In time this orientation would become extreme, escalating into a full-blown movement. Less than twenty-five years after Deoband's establishment, two of its students, Siddiq Hassan Khan

(d. 1890) and Maulana Nazir Hussain (d. 1902), founded the Ahl-i Hadith. A reform movement, the Ahl-i Hadith was a reaction to the persistence of polytheistic and animistic practices in

Islam.*" Both men were Sufis whose families had been brought into the reformist milieu by

Wali Allah.'"* They denied the validity of the schools of law and also rejected philosophy and theology. Endorsing ijtihod, they believed every Muslim is fi-ee to arrive at his own interpretation of the Qur'an and sunna provided he or she had sufScient education to do so. To

Two of its founders, Muhammad Qasim Nanautawi (d.l877) and Rashid Ahmad Gangohi (d.l905). were disciples of the third, Imdad Allah (d. 1899). See Metcalf, Islamic Revival, 174-175.

Metcalf, Islamic Revival; see also, Barbara Metcalf. "The Madrasa at Deoband; A Model for Religious Education in Modem India." Modem Asian Studies 12, no. 1 (Febniarj- 1978): 111-134.

Fazlur Rahman calls the Ahl-i Hadith "a right-wing extreme of Deoband" when, in fact, it represents an abrupt departure from original Deoband doctrine. See Fazlur Rahman, Islam and Modernity- Transformation of an Intellectual Tradition (Chicago; Universit)' of Chicago Press, 1982). 41-42.

Metcalf, Islamic Revival, 275-276. 94 achieve its reform mission, the Ahl-i Hadith built an extensive network of madrasas to teach the

Qur'an and sunna to the exclusion of other sources of Islamic law and thought.

In addition to their advocacy of ijtihsd, from the start the two men also exhibited a marked ambivalence to Sufism. Siddiq was a Naqshbandi though he believed Sufism should be kept private. He also disapproved of the ^vc-murld relationship (rdbita) (practiced in a highly devotional form in the Punjab), and held worship at tombs to be un-Islamic.*' Hussain, who helped establish the movement in the NWFP, also included Sufism in his teachings. However, the movement as a whole rejected Sufi esoteric interpretations of the Qur'an and sunna, as well as mystic claims to possession of hidden knowledge ('Urn al-ghaib).

In its emphasis on a single standard of interpretation based exclusively on the

Qur'an and hadith, the movement became more rigid with time. All three of Nazir

Hussain's leading students omitted Sufism from their teachings.*® One of Hussain's students, Maulana Tahir, was instrumental in spreading the movement in the NWFP in this century.*' In the NWFP the Ahl-i Hadith is commonly known as Panj Pir, the name of

The appearance of the Ahl-i Hadith as well as another reform movement, the Tabligh-i Jama'at (disoissed below), can be linked to the corruption of Sufism in the Punjab in the nineteenth centur>-. There the pirs lacked personal piety, their authority having derived from the shrines of their ancestors. Because of their considerable lo(^ influence, Muslim states were quick to harness the shrine-based pirs to the power of the state with offers of land, ofBces, and honors. The British established similar ties to these pirs as a way of establishing control o\'er the rural areas. See David Gilmartin, Empire and Islam, 45-49.

Bruce Lawrence points out that the appearance of new sects occurs with generational changes in leadership. See Bruce B. Lawrence, Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against the Modem Age (1989; reprint. Columbia; South Carolina, I99S), 118.

In Pakistan today, the Ahl-i Hadith tend to be stronger in the modem, commercial centers, notably the northern Punjab and Karachi. Jamal Malik enoneously believes they have no ambitions to spread into the Tahir's native village.'* It is deeply ironic that the Ahl-i Hadith, which today opposes

Sufism, is called Panj Pir. For the name of Tahir's native village conunemorates five such pirs, underscoring the esteem villagers held at one time for Sufi shaikhs.

The growth of Panj Pir schools paralleled the rapid spread of Deoband madrasas in the NWFP and Baluchistan after partition in 1947.*' In the NWF? today there are about two hundred Panj Pir madrasas, each with 500 to 2,000 students.®® In the Khyber Agency,

Panj Pir efforts to spread their teaching initially met with resistance. The tribes systematically persecuted them, and their homes were razed in periodic tribal uprisings

(Jashkar). Buoyed by reformist zeal and Saudi financing, however, Panj Pirs persisted and today make up roughly ten percent of the population of the NWFP." One of Tahir's

NWFP. See Jamal Malik. ''Eh-namics among Traditional Religious Scholars and Their Institutions in Contemporai>- South Asia." The Muslim World %1 (July-October 1997); 199-219.

^ Although the}- are not directly related to the so-called Wahabis, the hadith-based reform movement that took hold in the Arabian Peninsula in the eighteenth centui>-, Pakistanis make little distinction betAveen that reform movement and those of the sub-continent, referring to them collectively as "Wahabi."

Afghanistan had successfully resisted refomi influences percolating from the sub-continent. As early as the eighteenth century, Afghan Kings perceived a threat to the socio-political order posed by so-called "Wahabi" doctrines emanating from Pakistan. To thwart their advance, they commissioned religious leaders to write pamphlets against them. Amir 'Abd al-Rahman (r.1880-1901) supervised a groups of thirteen 'ulama to compose a treatise refuting Wahabi doctrine and setting forth the principles of Hanafi law. See Christine Noelle, The Anti-Waliabi Reaction in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan," Muslim World 85 (January-April 1995): 23-48. It was not until the 1950s that Panj Pirs made any inroads into the country as a result of the rapid growth of Ahl-i Hadith madrasas in the NWFP after partition where increasingly young, Pashtu-speaking Afghans studied See Olivier Roy, Afghanistan, 82.

^ Sayyid Abdul Salaam al-Da'ruf, interview with author, 23 April 1997. Da'ruf was a student of Maulana Tahir.

This estimate is based on conversations with religious scholars at Peshawar University and local Panj Pir leaders. 96 student's, Sayyid Da'ruf, heads a madrasa near Bara, which is a large well-appointed structure, atypical for private madrasas in the region, which tend to be under-financed.

Like most reform movements, the Panj Pirs regard the pir-disciple relationship as reprehensible polytheism {shirk) and a superstitious vestige of the past. They openly criticize Saifiir Rahman as being a "magician" who wields a kind of hypnotic power over gullible individuals in order to enrich himself The also reject the Sufi claim to hidden knowledge {'ilm al-ghaib), maintaining such knowledge is reserved for God alone.

Conflict between the Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya and Panj Pirs over these issues is constant and periodically spills over into public fora. In one incident, a khalifa of Saifur Rahman in

Lahore, Hajji Abdul GhafiFur, had sent some documents to the printer. In them Ghafiur referred to Saiflir as qayyum and qutb. The documents came to the attention of a Panj Pir journalist there, Fazal Rahim, writing under the pen-name, "Shari'a YSr" (fnend of the shari'a) for an Afghan weekly newspaper, $urat^^ In a series of articles, Rahim vilified

Saifur Rahman for appropriating some of the ninety-nine names of Allah to describe himself, an act he deemed blasphemous. Rahim argued that, as God's aaive attributes, such terms as al-karlm (the generous) and al-rahTm (the merciful) are reserved exclusively for God alone, (evidently he was oblivious to the fact that his own name was Rahim.)

^ Surat (Lahore). 6 September 1986. The paper is now defunct. 97

Saiflir Rahman responded to these charges in a book published in Urdu on Islamic faith, Fatwd-i Saifiyya^^ In FatwS, he points out that God's active attributes are qualities

shared with humans;

One of Allah's names is i^qq (right). But it is used in relation to many things, in many ways. For example, we say, "he is right, it is your right to do so, the right of a wife, of a husband, and so on. If Wahabis and Panj Pirs think it is shirk to share these qualities and characteristics [of God], then there would not remain a single Muslim on earth from Adam up to the present time.®^

In Kataghan and Badakhshan and Turkmenistan, even in Afghanistan's eight northern provinces, each head of a village is called arbab. So the people say that he is the arbab of this or that village. In Nangarhar, Kunar, Laghman, Paktia, and throughout Pakistan the head of a village is called malik, which is also the qualification of Allah."

Saifur's tone is one of moral outrage as he lashes out at the author of these attacks on him:

I hear that Shari'a Yar's original name is Fazal Rahim Karim and that Shari'a Yar is his title. He is either a jealous Wahabi, Panj Piri, or related to another perverted sect, or he is ignorant and uneducated. He does not understand or does not want to understand.^®

^ Saifiir Rahman, Fatwa-i Saifiyya (N.p.. n.d.).

^ Rahman, Fatwa, 28.

Ibid., 39-40.

Ibid.. 36. 98

That most of his polemics on faith are mostly in Pashtu (one in Urdu) indicates his revival mission targets primarily the tribal belt of West Pakistan." In support of his argument, the

Pir draws heavily from the texts of Sunni mystical Islam, in particular the Qur'an, hadith,

Hanafi fiqh, Rumi'sAYa/Awavr, and Sirhindi'sA/aArt/M/.

In Bara some of the mosques in the vicinity of the khSnaqdh are Panj Pir. One of the Pir's khalifas described the ongoing conflict with them as "a cold war" in which each tried to upstage the other with sermons broadcast over loudspeakers. In 1996 the conflict had become so intense that, fearing they were on the brink of a lashkar, Afridi leaders intervened, asking both sides to tone down their rhetoric. The Pir acquiesced, though he continues to broadcast over loudspeakers the Thursday evening ceremonies (dhikr) in which the disciples' ecstatic utterances and chanting to the Pir can be heard from a half- mile away. The Friday sermon {khutba) is also broadcast, as are the calls to prayer.

The popularization of Islam: TablTgh-i Jam&'&t. Another Pakistani group hostile to the Pir is the Tabligh-i Jama'at. Although it is one of the most important grassroots movements in the Islamic world, relatively little is known about it.'* It has thousands of adherents in the NWFP and over a million worldwide. The Tabligh was founded in 1924 by Maulana Ilyas Kandhalawi (d. 1944), a graduate of Deoband. Like the Ahl-i Hadith, the

For a list of publications of the Saifiy>'a khsnaqoh, see Appendix B.

^ General studies are: Mumtaz Ahmad, ''Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia: The Jama'at-i Islami and the Tabligh-i Jama'at," in Fundamentalism Observed, ed. Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleb>' (Chicago: Universit>' of Chicago Press, 1991), 457-530; Oxford Encyclopedia of the Modem Islamic World. s.v. Tabligh-i Jama'at." 99

movement arose in northern India as a reaction to both a weakening of Islamic faith by

Hindu influence and British colonization. In an effort to re-Islamize Muslims, Uyas established mosque-based schools in the area around his native Mewat in northern India.

The failure of his mission to reach the rural masses, however, led Ilyas to abandon the institutional approach to reform of Islam. In 1930 he quit teaching and undertook missionary -work around Delhi with rural peasants who had little knowledge of Islam and could not even recite the shahada properly. Initially, Ilyas organized mobile units of at least ten persons and sent them into villages {jamQ'at) to preach {tablTgh) and teach peasants the basics of Islam.

Reflecting in part Sunni Islam, the Tabligh adheres closely to the law and to taqlTd

(imitation). In its devotional aspects, too, it draws from Sufism and teaches a form of dhikr. However, there are notable deviations from Deoband teachings. The Tabligh rejects saint veneration and the visiting of shrines, and on the whole rejects institutional Sufism.''

Moreover, unlike Deoband, it does not look to the 'ulama for its religious leadership. Its method of preaching requires little scholarship or formal education. Once one masters the basics of Muslim doctrine and ritueil, each Muslim is required to do missionary work in villages for a period of forty days. Called a chilla, it derives from the forty-day solitary

^ Miuntaz Ahmad says that while the Tabligh rejects popular forms of Sufism, the movement "can be considered to be a continuation of the reformist fundamentalist tradition of Shah Waliullah of Delhi with its approval of purified Sufism [my ital.) combined with rigid observance of the sunna." To the contrai>-, the conflia between the Bara hospice and the Tabligh shows the Tabligh of the NWFP at least to unequivocally anti-Sufi. This orientation suggests, as in the case of the Ahl-i Hadith, fiirther permutations of the mo\'ement over time and space. See Mumtaz Ahmad, "Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia." 100 retreat practiced by some Sufi orders (though not the Naqshbandiyya). It is this popular, non-hierarchical nature of the Tabligh that has led Metcalf to observe that "it is very much a modem movement."'*"

After his son succeeded Ilyas, the Tabligh movement rapidly took root in Pakistan.

Originally strong among the poor and uneducated, it has in recent years gained a following among the middle class and the army. Nevertheless, because it takes no stand on social or political issues, its social impact has been slight. In the NWFP today it is often referred to as "Riwandiyya" after the village of Riwand near Lahore, the site of a major Tabligh center and an annual conference.

The conflict between the Bara khSnaqSh and Tablighis is no less intense than it is with Panj Firs."" In spring 1997, for example, Tablighis undertook a disinformation campaign to discredit Saifiir Rahman. As part of that effort, they circulated brochures alleging that forty French paratroopers were residing at the Bara hospice in preparation for an airdrop into Kabul to prop up the embattled government of President Burhanuddin

Barbara D. Metcalf, "Living Hadith and the Tablighi Jama'at," Journal of Asian Studies 52, no. 3 (August 1993): 584-608. In pointing to parallels between Sufi and Tablighi doctrine and ritual, Metcalf, too, fails to register the animosity that actually exists between these groups on the ground.

In 1995, conflict between one of the Pir's zealous khalifas in Bajtir Agency and Tablighis led to an exchange of gunfire in which one murxd was killed. Government intervention was required to defuse the tensions. 101

Rabbani. A subsequent investigation by the NWFP Home Secretariat and local police concluded that the charge was baseless.'"^

The Pir's response to attacks from reform groups is informed by his perception of the current status of Islam in the region. During most of the nineteenth century, the

Islamic community was more homogeneous than it is today. Because of the British presence, fault lines were drawn between Muslims and non-Muslims, not between

Muslims themselves. In their preaching, religious leaders appealed to the community's solidarity vis-a-vis the British.'"^ In the late twentieth century, the absence of colonizers and the proliferation of Muslim reform groups necessitate a different approach to safeguard the purity of Sirhindi's teachings. As Voll and Levtzion note, one of the central themes of revival is the call to judge existing society:

The mission of renewal involves an act of judgement which identifies existing practices and faith of Muslims as not being in accord with the original pure form of Islam. Essentially, this involves the act of identifying a person, group, or institution as being 'unbelieving' or kSfir.^^

As to why French were used in this attempt at misinfonnation is unclear since there were no French living at or visiting the hospice at the time. However, France's partialit}' to Rabbani's niilitaiy commander, Ahmad Shah Masud, is well known among observers of the current situation in Afghanistan.

In his study of Mujaddidi Shaikh Shah Abu al-Khair of Delhi, Warren Fusfeld notes, '^vhile the role of a Sufi shaikh is to lead Muslims closer to God and to produce in them the qualities which will make them bener Muslims, Abu'l Khair stressed those aspects of Islamic behavior which led to an increasing awareness of the unity of the Muslim community and the intrinsic solidarity of all Muslims. See Warren Fusfeld, ''Naqshbandi Sufism and Reformist Islam."

Veil and Levtzion, Eighteenth-Century Renewal, 25. 102

In defending Sufism against these groups, the Pir also enacts a form of jihad, jihad al-da'wS. An educational form of struggle, it involves an effort to spread Islam among unbelievers by peaceful means usually in speech or writing.'"^ Related to this is jihad al- tarbiyya, the spread of Muslim values and institutions within Islamic society as a struggle against corruption and decadence.'"^ In his struggle with sectarian groups, Saifur Rahman maintains that he takes no side, not even with the Deoband school in which he studied. He characterizes his position strictly in Sunni revivalist terms: "I am an imitator of Hanafi in law and an imitator of Maturidi in opinions."'"

In his writings and in interviews with joumalists, Saifur Rahman condemns as ksfir virtually all Muslims not in general accord with at least the exoteric teachings of the

Mujaddid.^'^^ He has publicly condemned a number of religious leaders, such a Maulana

Khabadshah, as well as the leading Ahl-i Hadith madrasa in the NWFP at Akhura Attock as kafir. Just as Sirhindi had done three centuries ago, he dispatches his disciples to

For a discussion of the various forms of jihad in an Afghan context see M. Nasif Shahrani, "Marxist Revolution and Islamic Resistance," in Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan, ed. M. Nasif Shahrani and Robert L. Canfield (Berkeley; Institute of International Studies, 1984), 2-57.

Ibid.

Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (d. 944) was a Hanafi jurist and founder of one of the two Sunni schools of theolog>- that bears his name. His theology is associated with only one legal school, the Hanafi. Maturidi's doctrine is somewhat more rationalist that the other school of theology, Ash'arism. He believed that man is ""obliged and able to gain knowledge of God and to thank Him by using reason independent of revelation." On other maners, he held to an unquestioning acceptance of the Qur'an. With regard to free will, man's acts were both created by God and in another respect the product of man's own choosing. See Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed.. s.v. "al-Maturidi."

Shohajit, "The False Prophet" 1. 103 engage his enemies in debate on the radio and in public fora such as mosques. The Pir also concurs with fatSwl condemning these movements. In these religious edicts, the Pir restricts himself to those issues that concern belief, ritual or personal behavior, and ignores conduct of state. According to Barbara Metcalf, this approach has been the traditional one in the sub-continent.

In the Pir's view, there can be not the slightest tolerance of reformist ideas for that would invite an insidious dilution of the teachings. While showing tolerance toward laxness in matters of practice, he makes no allowance for those who would actually alter

Sunni teachings:

The learned of the Ahl-i Sunna are united with regard to the person whose actions are to be called non-Muslim. The person with ninety-nine percent the actions of a non-Muslim and only one percent of those of a Muslim, then that person should be called a believer. But Khwarijis, Panj Pirs, and Wahabis with only one-percent of the work of a non-Muslim is an unbeliever {ksfir)... Allah save us from them.""

Despite opposition from reform groups, the Pir does not necessarily side with other Sufi shaikhs if he finds they, too, are at variance with Sirhindi. In one fatwS, for example, he rejected the fatwa of the late Golra Sharif (d.l997), a prominent Sufi in

Rawalpindi, prohibiting a female of a sayyid family from marrying outside of it. He has also described to local journalists Maulana Sufi Muhammad's militant farTqa as "a bad

Metcalf, Islamic Revival, 148.

Rahman, Fflfwa, 20. 104

/orfiya.""' Given the great number of enenies he has, the Pir's life is constantly in danger, even at the relatively isolated khdnaqdh.

Conclusion

While reform groups once rooted in Naqshbandi Sufism have been transformed beyond recognition, the Saifiyya branch has retained its identity and fimction as providers of spiritual education. The reasons for this lie partly in geography and history. Because of its relative isolation, Afghanistan remained somewhat immune to the crises that spawned so many reform movements in the sub-continent. While reform leaders were trying to cope with the welter of problems besetting Islam in the sub-continent-British colonialism, Hinduism, secularism—in northern Afghanistan the Saifiyya branch remained removed fi-om the full intensity of these influences. Nor had reform movements such as Panj Firs made any significant inroads into

Afghanistan until the 1950s. Too, the Saifiyya branch lay b^ond the reach of a weak state whose two grand efforts at modem reform were poorly planned and quickly faltered in the face of religious and tribal opposition. Consequently, until relatively recently, these Afghan religious leaders did not have to grapple with the myriad political and social transformations that their

Pakistani counterparts did.

In November 1994, Maulana Sufi Muhammad, leader of the Nifaz-i Islam, led an uprising in Swat, Malakand Agency against govenunent attempts to replace local law with uniform civil codes. They demanded the restoration of Islamic law. Eventually, the govenunent suppressed the uprising in which a number of thbal and government forces were killed. For more details, see David Busby Edwards. Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier (Berkeley; UniversiK of California Press, 1996). 221-223. 105

From its perspective, the Saifiyya order's revival approach to Islam is validated by the

radical transformation reform groups have undergone in attempting to adapt Islam to changes in the sociopolitical environment. In its attempt to incorporate the shari'a into the state apparatus, the Mujaddidi family relinquished its defining function, the ability to facilitate access to a transcendental sphere. In emphasizing a scriptural basis for God's unity, the Ahl-i Hadith eventually came to reject the possibility of transcendental experience and, paradoxically, contributes to the very communal divisiveness they sought to redress. In popularizing Islam as a means of thwarting Hindu influence, the Tabligh rejects the principle of hierarchy on which spiritual realization is based. Although the roots of these movements lie in the teachings of

Sirhindi and Deoband, most of them have become so radically transformed over time and space as to now be the enemies of Sufism.

Another key to the longevity of the Saifiyya is in the role it defined for itself in

Afghanistan after 1800. Traditionally concerned with afifairs of state, this branch avoided association with political authorities. Instead, it chose to focus mainly, though not exclusively, on spiritual education. That such an approach did not entail complete political withdrawal is evidenced by the militant Naqshbandi response to the national crises of 1928 and 1978.

Nevertheless, it does entail a lessened political role for Saifur Rahman vis-a-vis the ruling authorities at least until such time that, in their estimation, an acceptable shari'a government is fijlly restored in A%hanistan.

Even though Saifur Rahman refuses to adapt the teaching to more modem forms of political expression, he does play an important social role in the discourse on reform of 106

Islam. Equally concerned with addressing the perceived decline of Islam since the eighteenth century, he maintains that the response to modem change is to seek refuge within a Sunni mystical tradition renewed by Sirhindi three centuries ago. The Saifiyya believe the very idea of adapting Islam to modem political structures contains the seeds of true Islam's demise. Paradoxically, the outcome is not a victory for "true" Islamic norms and values but a triumph for its adversaries. For this reason, he draws the fault lines sharply between his conception of Islam and that of modem reformers. They are outside the pale of Islam, kdfir. Unlike Johansen's Egyptian shaikh, Saifur does not attempt to mollify his opponents. Rather, he goes on the offensive. The next chapter provides a closer look at the intellectual and spiritual development of this extraordinary shaikh. 107

CHAPTER THREE

EMBODYING HISTORY: PORTRAIT OF NAQSHBANDI SHAIKH OF AFGHANISTAN, 1928-1997

After a visit to the Bara hospice in spring of 1988, Arthur Buehler came away with the conviction that Pir Saifiir Rahman is the quintessential example of the Sufi directing-shaikh.'

Yet, he failed to question how this could have been possible given his assertion that directing- shaikhs were predominant fi-om 900 to 1800. In portraying Saifiir Rahman's life and spiritual career, this chapter shows that the directing-shaikh, broadly defined, is not a pre-modem phenomenon. Indeed, it persists well into the twentieth century. This chapter will also examine whether the typology of the directing-shaikh, with its image of a shaikh sequestered in his lodge, is too limited to account for the myriad roles Saifur Rahman has been called upon to play in his career.

Early Life, 1928-1946

Akhundzada Saifur Rahman was bom around 1928 in the village of Baba Kilai in southern Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan (see Fig. 3.1). Located in Rohdat district,

Baba Kilai is one of a cluster of villages huddled along the left bank of the Papin River, a seasonal stream whose headwaters lie in the Sulaiman Mountains to the south. Farming is

' Buehler, Sufi Heirs. Figure 3 .1 Provinces of Afghanistan

kwmi 250 Km Seal* I saa2820 1 Nanaarhar Districts"! 109

Still the major occupation of the region, and the Kot valley where he grew up continues to be an important agricultural area for the production of rice and wheat. In the late 1920s,

Baba Kilai was connected to the provincial capital of Jalalabad by a passable road.^

Produce and other goods from the Kot valley were thus easily transported to markets in the capital.

The Akhundzada family belongs to the Musa Khel clan of the Baezai section of the

Mohmand tribe of the Pathan.^ The Musa Khel have long been known as successful wood traders, harvesting the trees on the northern slopes of the Sulaiman Range for lumber.

Living neither among the kindred hill Mohmand who inhabit the Mitai and Suran valleys northeast of the Kabul River, nor the settled Mohmand who occupy the south-west plain of Peshawar District, the Mohmand around Kot have formed an enclave amidst the

Shinwari tribe for four centuries.'* Historically bitter enemies, the two tribes today enjoy good relations and even intermarry.'

" Ludmg Adamec. Gazetteer of Afghanistan (Graz: Akademesche Dnick v. Verlagsanstalt. 1975). 4;724.

^ For a discussion of Pathan social life, see Chapter Four.

'' According to Mohmand oral history, the Mohmand originally settled in the Kot valley during the reign of Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni (r.998-1030). Tirahis, who themselves had migrated there from the area south of the Sulaiman Range, offered the hill Mohmand land in Kot in renun for protection against harassment by Shinwaris. In pushtunwali, this practice of obtaining tnbal protection in return for payment is called lokhai.

^ About sixty- thousand Mohniand live in the Kot valle>- today. North of the Kabul River relations betu een the Mohmand and Shinwari are quite different In the summer of 1996, for instance, a number of Mohniand and Shinwari were killed in a land dispute. 110

Little is known about Saiflir's father, Qari Sarfaraz Khan, or the family's origins.®

A relatively small landholder, Qari owned several acres of hilly, stony land on the

Sulaiman slopes. From this he probably eked out little more than a subsistence living from

farming and lumbering. As a khan, he occupied a seat on the village tribal council or jirga.

He was also a religious scholar or akhund (pi. akhundSri). In Afghanistan the term akhund

usually denotes a family descended from several generations of religious scholars. For this

reason, akhund&n are highly revered in Afghanistan. As an 'alim, Qari's knowledge of

Islam was more extensive than that of the local mullah. He could recite the entire Qur'an

by heart (hence the title qUrX), and possessed extensive knowledge of hadith, fiqh, and

lafsXr (Qur'anic exegesis). In his capacity as Qari, he led the communal prayer customarily

recited before the village jirga met to discuss tribal issues. This suggests he played an

integral part in tribal affairs. His religious position nonetheless allowed him to transcend

his tribal identity, placing him above or outside tribal conflicts.

Qari was also a Sufi, a khalifa of Hajji Sahib Pachir, a prominent Qadiri shaikh.

The Qadiriyya is the dominant order in the Pathan tribal area. Pachir lived in sub-district of

Pachir Agam and maintained a kMnaq&h in Chaparhar located to the West of Qari's village. Pachir later served as Saifiir's teacher in the Qadiriyya order.^ He also lectured in

^ The family does not claim 5a>v«/status, that is, descent from the Prophet Muhammad.

^ Hajji Pachir was a disciple of a khalifa of Hadda-i Sahib, who in turn was a khalifa of the Akhund of Swat. After he n-as deputized in 1835, Hadda moved to the village of Hadda in Nangarhar where he started a mosque and kh&naqdh on the site of an ancient Buddhist monaster^-. He soon became the most Ill

Islamic sciences at the state-mn Najmuddin Madrasa in Jalalabad. Former residents of the

region remember Hajji Pachir as a colorful and outspoken 'alim who rode about town on a

donkey.' When conservative Pakistani Panj Pirs began to proselytize in Nangarhar in the

1950s, Pachir helped spearhead the opposition to them. He would travel fifteen miles by

donkey to Jalalabad to debate them in the main mosque, his religious books strapped

comically in great heaps on his donkey's back.

Saifur, then, grew up in a respectable religious and tribal family, albeit of modest

means. In keeping with the family tradition of producing religious scholars, he and all four

of his older brothers were started on religious careers. Sociologically, it is often assumed

that those who pursue such a career come from poor landless families. Religious

education, it is held, affords them the means to rise to a respected position in society and

to escape the narrow confines of kinship and poverty into which they have been bom.' To

the contrary, as scions of an akhimd family, Saifur and his brothers were, first and foremost, carrying on a family tradition. It was a career to which his father, and most

famous pit of his time in Afghanistan largely because of his reputed ability to perform miracles. Hadda was known for having opposed the reforais of Amir Abdur Rahman, refusing government attempts to co- opt him with offers of a stipend. Eventually his conflict with the government forced Hadda and his disciples to seek refuge in the Mohmand Agency, an act the Saifiir himself would repeat in the Kh}-t>er a hundred years later. In the Mohmand Agency, Hadda mobilized popular opposition to the growing influence of the British in the tribal areas. In 1897 he and several other Sufi pirs led a short-lived uprising against the British invoKing Pathan m'bes on both sides of the border. Hadda deputized a number of khalifas, one of whom became the murshid of Hajji Pachir. For more on the life of Hadda, see Edwards. Heroes of the Age.

' Former residents of the area say Hajji Pachir's son now runs the khOnaqah in Chaparhar. though his following today is much reduced in size.

' David Edwards, for e.\ample, attnbutes the reUgious career of Najmuddin of Hadda to just such socio­ economic imperatives. See Awards, Heroes of the Age, 134. 112

likely his father's father, had dedicated his life. Its value lay not in flight from poverty but

in the meaning and purpose it conferred on life. The religious career also represented a

sense of moral responsibility, a deeply felt social imperative to preserve and transmit the

values and institutions of Sunni Islam. From the time of the Mullah of Hadda, this mission

was increasingly frustrated by government reforms and foreign interference.

Saiflir Rahman began his formative religious education with his father and other

maulawiQn in Kot valley. When he was seven years old, his father began to instruct him in

the Qur'an and the life of the Prophet. The elder Qari is said to have been himself so

devoted that he was often moved to tears when recounting the events of the Prophet's life.

As part of his son's education, Qari also brought him regularly to local mosques where he

introduced Saiflir to religious notables. Saifur particularly enjoyed there the na'at kfmanT

or melodious chanting of passages from the Qur'an. One day, at one of these recitals, he

was introduced to a well-known Pakistani Naqshbandi shaikh, Hajji Muhammad Amin.

Upon meeting Saifur, Amin placed his saliva on the young boy's mouth, prompting the

latter to fall into a state of ecstasy." Saifur also experienced childhood visions in which he

A Pakistani Pathan from Charsadda, Haj^i Muhammad Amin, was a disciple of a khalifa of the Mullah of Hadda. When he visited Nangarhar, he usually stayed at the hospice in Hadda. Informants say the hospice has since been convened into a government school.

" Balkhi, Tarlkh, 160. Lings gives a similar account of transmission of baraka by mouth from a shaikh to his disciple. On his deathbed, the shaikh stuck out his tongue and asked his disciple to suck it as a means of conferring him with succession of the tarXqa. See Martin Lings, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad al-'Alawi (Los Angeles; Uni\'ersity of California Press, 1961). 113 saw heaven and hell, jnQn, and other invisible creatures. Believing him to be disturbed,

Qari instructed his son to ignore these experiences in the hope they would go away.

Saifiir's father died when he was about ten years old. It was to be the first in a series of painful losses and sudden upheavals in his life. His mother already deceased,

Saifur was subsequently sent off to Peshawar to continue his education. He studied at several makStib (sing, maktab) in and around the city including, Mashu JGiail near Bara,

Shahab Khail, Bala Manai, Mazo Grale, and Takhali Payan.'^ The latter maktab was established in the late nineteenth century by Hajji Sahib Turangzai (d. 1937) to counter the proliferation of British niissionary schools in the region.'^ As they do today, private makatib provided room and board at no charge to the student. Yet they are poorly endowed, their funding dependent on donations from the community often in the form of zakat. For this reason, living conditions are spartan and the quality of food poor. At that time, a talib was required to read several Persian texts before undertaking the more diflBcult study of the Qur'an and hadith. There was Nizami's Panj KitSb (Five Treasures), a book of aphorisms and his SikandSr NSma on ethics, and BustSrt and Gulistan by the mystic poet Sa'di, which contained morally edifying fictive stories. After mastering these,

'Aibadila, ZJa/Tfl/, 15-16.

A khalifa of the Mullah of Hadda, Hajji Sahib Turangzai was a co-leader in Hadda's struggle against the British. He traveled widely in the border areas attempting to unite the tribes in jihad and to counter the influence of a pro-British Sufl, Mulla Manki. 114

a student would move on to the Qur'an and some of the basic religious subjects. Typically,

a t&lib moved from one school to another to work with a teacher deemed strong in a

particular subject: one for the Qur'an, another for hadith, fiqh, and so on.

Upon completion of primary school at the age of twelve, Saifur went on to higher

religious studies. Normally, ambitious and gifted students went to the Deoband seminary

in India. After partition in 1947, however, Afghans, mostly those from Nangarhar and

Kunar provinces, went to study in one of the growing number of Deoband schools in the

NWFP. Saifur attended a Deoband madrasa in the village of Babara near the town of

Charsadda. Alternatively, Saifur could have returned to his own country to attend one of

the many new state-sponsored madrasas springing up.''' That he did not return to attend

the new state-run Najmuddin Madrasa in Jalalabad reflects his rejection of secularized

education. It also underscores the importance he placed on religious teachings over and

above the promise of a government job. Accordingly, he studied nahwa (Arabic grammar) mantiq (logic), tqfsir, hadith, and fiqh.

During the 1930s, the Afghan government had revived former King AmanuUah's (r. 1919-1929) poliq- of establishing state-run madrasas to provide trained cadre for work in the bureaucracy. B>- the late 1940s, there was a state madrasa in virtu^y every province in the country. Amanullah had designed their curricula after the modernist College of Aligarh in India, which had been modeled in the 1920s along lines of the French lyc&. As a consequence, the curricula in these state schools were more secular and centered around modem subjects such as math and physics to the detriment of religious subjects. Moreover, whereas in private schools the (alib proceeded individually with a subjea at a time, state schools employed modem methods such as use of teaching plans and standardized curricula. Graduates of public madrasas were eligible for government emploj-ment, while those from private madrasas had to obtain certification in order to become eligible. 115

Once the capital of the ancient Buddhist Gandhara Kingdom, Charsadda continues to be a major center of religious learning under Islam down to the present day. In the

1940s a number of prominent 'ulama taught there, the most eminent being Saifur's teacher, Muhammad Sandani (d.l988), known as Maulawi Babara.'' A Pakistani Pathan,

Sandani was regarded as an expert in all of the religious sciences. He was particularly renowned for his knowledge of fiqh and hadith. During the 1970s, he was summoned to

Islamabad to brief Supreme Court justices on his interpretation of shufa, disputes concerning property rights.

The dar al- 'ulQm where Sandani taught still sits on the Western edge of the largest cemetery in Asia. The school has been greatly expanded since Sandani's time with study rooms and student lodging. Students in the late 1940s, however, slept in the mosque, which served both as classroom and living quarters for some sixty to eighty students. For the most part poor, they were supported by local residents. For this reason, the mosque generally did not accept more students than the village could reasonably support. Each night students took turns going from door to door canvassing food, clothing, and other items of necessity. A student of Sandani typically required ten to twelve years to obtain a certificate (sanact) authorizing him to teach. Sandani taught in the Deoband tradition, there being ahnost no Brelwi schools in the NWFP at the time.'®

Two other 'ulama of the area were Abdul Ghaffiir (d.l968) and Nasniddin (d.l947).

Brelwi Sufism is a late nineteenth-century religious movement that grew out of debates on the nature of God. Eventually, these debates crystallized around a Sufi shaikh, Ahmad Reza Khan Barlewi (d. 1921). The son of Afghan immigrants to the Punjab. Reza Khan was a Qadiri who spent much of his life 116

Upon completion of formal studies in 1946, Saiflir was conscripted into the army.

At the time, young Afghan men without a formal university degree were required to

perform two years of unpaid military service.'' Saifur was assigned as a private to the

district of Chowki in Kunar Province. His service there seems to have been uneventful,

consisting of the usual routines of a soldier's life. A former member of his regiment

described him as quiet soldier who did not stand out in any way from his compatriots.

Migration to Kunduz and the Start of Spiritual Education, 1948-1970

In 1948, his military obligation fulfilled, Saifur went north to Kunduz Province to join his older brothers who had already moved there. During this period, he took his first of four brides. A number of considerations seem to have prompted the family's move north. Although Turkmen and Uzbeks originally inhabited the region, Pathans had been

attacking Wahabis and the excessive legalism of the Deoband school. His teaching found fenile ground in Sind and the Punjab, areas permeated \\ith Hindu bhakti devotionalism. Brelwis dispense mth personal responsibilitv-, stressing enlightenment through intercession of pirs rather than rigorous spiritual education. In Pakistan today, many madrasas are Brelwi, and armed conflict betv^een its students and those of the Ahl-i Hadith is not uncommon. For more on the origins of Brelwis, see Metcalf, Islamic Revival. 307-310.

Before promulgation of a constitutional law in 19S4, the government employed a draft s>'stem first introduced by Amir Habibullah. Dubbed hasht nafri (one-eighth), one out of eight men between the ages of twenty and forty was called up for service from village lists maintained yearly by the government. The ratio seems to have varied depending on the army's needs in a given year. In some cases, families wishing to spare their sons military service would pool finances and pay the equivalent of two years' salar\- in advance to someone willing to enlist. That Saifiir was recmited somewhat prematurely at the age of eighteen or nineteen may be explained b}' the little importance Afghans ascribe to exactitude in age.

His biographers differ as to the year of his first marriage. Balkhi states that he was still single and used his free time to frequent the shrines of saints. 'Aibadila, on the other hand, says he married after his military discharge. The latter seems more plausible as Pathan males marry around the age of t\vent>--one. Also, there were few eligible brides in Kunduz at the time. 117 living there since the late nineteenth century." Beginning with Amir 'Abdur Rahman, the government had encouraged migration of Pathan tribes to the sparsely populated north as a means of breaking their power and stimulating economic development of the region.

After World War II, the government enticed several thousand more Pathan families to relocate there, mostly Shinwari. Initially, Saifiir's brothers may have worked as sharecroppers {dehqQn) while waiting for title to their land. During 1948-53 Saifur had moved several times around the province, suggesting that he, too, may have been working

" Benveen 1882 and 1892, se\'eral thousand of the eastern and southern Ghilzai Pathans migrated to the northern, principally Turkmen areas along the border. Initially, Amir 'Abdur Rahman had forcibly relocated them in an attempt to strengthen the state. At the same time, he aimed to stop the advance of Russian settlers already in Mar\v and Sarakh. Since the Turks were demoralized by defeat at the hands of the Russians, the Amir belie\'ed the Pathan the tribe least likely to countenance the Russian ad\-ance. After 1885 in an effort to hasten economic de\'elopment of the region, the Amir adopted a less draconian approach by encouraging Pathan to take up migration voluntarily. One of the richest agricultural areas of the countrj-, the lands along the Amu Dar>'a River were nonetheless sparsely populated as a result of famine and Turkmen raids in the late nineteenth centiu>'. The government offered those willing to relocate financial incentives such as tax relief and free land. The relatively high population densit}- in the tribal belt made the Pathan in particular eager for land. By 1907 several thousand Pathan families had taken up residence there. At first, the Pathan settled in villages apan from their Uzbek and Tajik neighbors. In time, however, the scarcit>' of eligible Pathan brides led men to marry into Tajik and Uzbek households. (The Pathan, however, seldom reciprocated b>' allowing their own women to many non- Pathan men.) As a result of these intermarriages, the clan system evolved into a smaller, nuclear or e.\tended family called a sib. The sib was not only smaller but lacked territorial unit>'. Later, the Amir's governors moved these extended families from their territorial base, further attenuating the clan system. Nevertheless, Pathan quickly rose to prominence in the region and served as maliks or heads of inter-tribal coimcils. In the 1920s, a wave of entrepreneurial activity further boosted the development of the area. The lowlands along the Amu Darya River had long been little more than malarial swamps. One of the country's leading entrepreneurs, Abdul 'Adz Londoni had initially purchased one thousand acres of swampland, drained the swamps and began raising cotton for sale to the Russians. A further impetus to the region was given in 1929-30 when King Nadir Shah forced wealthy merchants and landholden to purchase additional land in order to raise mon^ for a national treasury depleted years of civil war and corruption. Later, 'Aziz built a cotton gin there, the Kunduz Cotton Company, which was nationalized in 1953. See Nancy Tapper, " 'Abd al-Rahman's North-West Frontier; The Pushtun Colonization of Afghan Turkistan," in The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan, ed. Richard Tapper (London; Croom Helm, 1983), 233-261; Louis Dupree, Afghanistan (Princeton; Princeton University Press, 1973). 188, 471-474. 118 as a sharecropper. After six months at an unnamed location in Kunduz, Saifur moved to

Qataghan and then Ludin where he stayed for three years.^

Another reason for the move was that the young 'alim and his brothers were probably looking for a place to start a madrasa and mosque in an area free of the tribal skirmishes that traditionally plague the eastern border area. With its rapid influx of

Pathans, northern Kunduz was thus a promising place, as the new immigrants needed schools to educate their children. Another explanation for the move was that, unlike the tribal belt, the north was a particularly fertile region for those interested in Sufism. In some cases, entire villages there consisted of disciples of a particular shaikh. Also, Kunduz lay beyond the reach of the central government in Kabul.^'

By 1953 Saifur and two of his four brothers obtained enough government land to start a small farm in Nahr-i Jadid, Dasht-i Archi. Archi is a sub-district of Kunduz

Province on the Amu Darya River. In time, their cluster of houses formed a village, which they named Sra-Mata {Pushtu: red earth). They set up a mosque and madrasa and it was here that Saifur began teaching and religious counseling. Initially, his congregation may

^ 'Aibadila, Darrai, 19.

'' Anthropologist Nasif Shahrani, who conducted fieldwork in the region in 1980, says of the pirs for the most part Naqshbandis; '^inlike historically militant movements to the north of the Amu Darya, the Sufi orders...have been neither militant nor political...these pirs do not dabble in mediation or powerbrokerage, and as a rule political problems are not taken to them." See M. Nasif Shahrani, "Causes and Context of Responses to the Saur Revolution in Badakhshan," in Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological Perspectives, ed. M Nasif Shahrani and Robert L. CanHeld (Berkelej" Instimte of International Studies, 1984), 131. 119

have been predominantly Pathan, for his following is described as "the tribals"

(qawmiyya), though in this context the term probably signifies "the people.

It was in Archi in I960 where Saifiir met his first Sufi teacher, Maulana Sahib Rasul

Taloqani. Taloqani was a native of Hisi-i Tagab in Kohistan. After completing his formal

education there, he went on to study Sufism with Akhundzada Sahib-i Tagab, who later

bestowed him with the khalifate in three orders, the Suhwarardiyya, Qadiriyya, and Chishtiyya.

Subsequently, he studied the Naqshbandi path under Shams al-Haq Kohistani Mujaddidi. When

Shams first encountered Taloqani, he noticed that his disciple's spiritual work was incomplete

as he was still working on his nqfs latJfa (for a discussion of latJja, see Chapter Five). To

hasten his development. Shams made his disciple walk alongside while he rode on a horse,

bestowing him with baraka during the process. Before he died. Shams bestowed him with the

exalted rank of qutb al-irshSd^ One of Taloqani's literary contributions to the order was to formulate a more complete set of contemplations {murSqabSt), originally written by the branch's founder Sayyid Ahmad Sirhindi (see Appendbc C).

Taloqani's appointment marks the first time that the head of this branch of the order was not a direct descendant of Sirhindi. The designation of someone outside the family, even though Shams had several sons, points to the importance placed on moral and

~ 'Aibadila, Darrat, 19.

^ According to Sirhindi (Letter #260), the quffb al-irshad or "pole of the masters" is the highest li%ing Sufi master of his time who appears once ev-ei>- few- centuries. Sirhindi, Xfaktabat. 6; 84-94. 120

Spiritual qualities in the selection of a successor. At the same time, selection of a non-

family member undercut the family's ability to accumulate wealth and power, which often

leads to the routinization of charisma.

After Shams's death, Taloqani became so popular that the local inhabitants would

applaud him as he passed through the streets. Angered by this public adulation, a number

of individuals wrote a letter to the Minister of Justice and Hazrat of Shur Bazaar, Nur al-

Mashayakh, the leading Naqshbandi shaikh in Afghanistan.^"* They complained that

Taloqani had never received formal authorization to succeed Shams and therefore, he was

unfit to serve as his sqjjada nishln^ Nur responded by publicly recognizing Taloqani's

appointment. He also sent him a letter. Although the contents of the letter are not known,

Nur may have urged him to leave the family's khdnaqdh in Kohistan. For shortly after this

incident, Taloqani migrated to Bihark near Taloqan, the provincial capital of Takhar. The entire affair underscores the close ties that still existed between the Hazrat of Shur Bazaar and this non-lineal northern branch of the Mujaddidiyya.

It was on one of his periodic trips to nearby Archi to visit his disciples in 1960 that Taloqani met Saiflir for the first time. During this initial encounter, Taloqani said he saw a light {nur) in Saifiir's forehead. That same year, at the age of thirty-two, Saifijr took bay'a, the oath of allegiance, with Taloqani and was initiated into the Naqshbandiyya

These unnamed mdi\i(luals may well ha\-e been Shams's sons or other members of the Mujaddidi family.

^ Literally, "the master of the prayer rug," the present head of an order. 121 order. It was Taloqani whom Saifur credits with opening his heart latlfa^ Saifiir's spiritual tutelage under Taloqani was cut short, however. About two years after Saifiir's initiation, Taloqani became gravely ill. Aware that he was near death, Taloqani sent word to his disciples that he was designating Maulana Hashim Samangani as his sajjSda nishJn}^ He died in 1963.

Maulana Hashim, a Turkmen from Ghaznigak village in Samangan Province, would become Saifiir's most important murshid. Known to his disciples as Maulawi Bozorg (great teacher), Hashim was both an 'alim and Sufi. He began study of the exoteric sciences under

Imam Bokhari at the rather late age of twenty-five, finishing in fourteen months. By then, he could recite the Qur'an from memory in the astonishingly short time of five hours. While a student of Bokhari, he often took leave to visit the tombs of holy men, especially that of Sultan

Muhammad Tagabi. He claims that while visiting Tagabi's tomb, he had a vision in which the deceased murshid imparted a vast body of esoteric knowledge to him.

Maulana Hashim was an unprepossessing character who nonetheless loved to wear colorfiil clothes. His turban, for example, was green and black, not the traditional white worn

^ Saifur Rahman, BS vujad-i Saifiyya (Peshawar, n.p., 1996), 5.

Despite Taloqani's directive, many of the thirty other khalifas he had named, who were older than Hashim, refused to accept the laner as Pir and a bitter rivalry ensued. Even Taloqani's own son, UbaiduUah Akhundzada, had been passed over in the succession. Upset at being passed over by his father, Ubaidullah went to Aibek to see Hashim. When Hashim placed his hand over Ubaidullah's, he found coldness {sardi) in all five subtle centers. Subsequently, Ubaidullah became Hashim's and later Saifiir's disciple.

® Balkhi, Tankh, 155. 122 by Naqshbandis. He was spiritually intense, once having extended his observation of the fasting month of Ramadan for five years in order to hasten his spiritual development. His baraka was said to be so powerfii as to affect even animals.^ He dispensed it liberally until his later years when, weakened by a chronic illness, he limited access only to those who could profit fi"om being in his physical company.^" He wrote several books of instruction, one of which was the

KJC^ ibn-i hajdb.

Following his former master's instructions, Saifur went on to complete his mystical education with Maulana Hashim, whom Taloqani praised as a murshid whose heights few would attain in the centuries to come. When Maulana Hashim first met Saifur, he noticed that he was wearing a cloak to hide the visible beating of his heart characteristic of the

Naqshbandi dhikr^^ When asked the reason for his secrecy, Saifur said it was so as not to arouse the criticism of those mullahs and 'ulama who believed the phenomenon to be the product of witchcraft (jSdu). Hashim ordered Saifiir to remove the robe and never to wear it again. He cited a verse from the Qur'an, which enjoins Muslims to "Show the gifts of

God to the people.

^ Ibid. Usually, this implies an ability to calm wild or aggressive animals.

^ This refers to the spiritual practice oisuhba discussed in detail in Chapter Five.

For a discussion of dhikr, see Chapter Five.

'Aibadila, Darrat, 46. 123

Under Hashim's tutelage, Saifur's spiritual development progressed rapidly.

Hashim initiated him in the Suhrawardiyya, Chishtiyya and Naqshbandiyya orders.^^ After sitting only twenty times in ^hba with his murshid, Saifur was bestowed with the idialifate. During this time, Saifur requested permission to go to Nangarhar for training in the Qadiriyya order with Hajji Pachir, his father's murshid}* In their first sitting, Hajyi

Pachir gave Saifur "all nine lessons" and deputized him in the Qadiriyya order. Pachir also designated him mazum, one that is empowered to act on behalf of the pir. When Saifur returned to Archi, he resumed his education with Hashim, this time studying the Chishti path. Although they were living over a hundred miles apart, Saifur frequently traveled to

Hashim's house in Aibek. Maulana Hashim would in turn visit Dasht-i Archi. Eventually, as Pir of the silsila, Hashim decided to open a formal khSnaqSh in Zar Kharid, Kunduz.

At about this time Saifur had fallen into dire financial straits, possibly as a result of a poor harvest. To make ends meet, Saifur began skipping visits to the khanaqdh in order to work. His absence, however, met with Hashim's disapproval. To free his murTd to

In Central Asia the Naqshbandiy}'a and Qadiriyya orders are very closely linked because of their close adherence to the shari'a and emphasis on sobriety in mystical experience. In addition, Qadiris maintain that Baha' al-Din was aided spiritually b>' 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani during his development. Hamid Algar, "Some Notes on the Naqshbandi Tarlqa," Die Welt deslslams 134 (1971): 190.

^ Typically, in Afghanistan a Sufi teacher will have mastered two or more luruq. In the Naqshbandiyya order a student is enjoined to study the other three orders once one has completed the basics of Naqshbandi practice. This is done to benefit firom the different dhikrOt used and to participate in the beiraka inherent in each silsila. Whether a similar practice is encouraged by the other orders is imcertain. 124

attend the mosque, Hashim began paying the family bills." Furthermore, even though

Saiflir worked as an 'alim in a village mosque, Hashim forbade him from receiving

emoluments for his work. Eventually, Saiilir had to sell some of the family land in Baba

Kilai in order to pay his debts. Somewhat prophetically, Hashim remarked that he would

not always be around to create such difficulties conducive to his disciple's spiritual

development. Around 1966, he contracted a serious illness, possibly tuberculosis, which

rendered him too weak to perform all of his functions.^® To assist him in the education of

his murOd, Hashim asked SaifUr to move into his khdnaqdh with him. His young khalifa

obliged.

Saiilir was not in Zar Kharid very long when a serious problem arose between him

and his brothers, who seem also to have been Hashim's disciples. The issue concerned his

brothers' involvement in politics. Afghanistan in the 1960s witnessed a period of

heightened political activity in the country. There were violent debates in parliament and

on the campus of Kabul University over issues ranging from the liberalism of the regime

and an independent Pushtunistan to the American involvement in Vietnam. Whereas many

Naqshbandi and other religious leaders remained aloof from these and other political and

'Aibadila, Darrat, SO. 'Aibadila says that the monthly debt was sLx thousand Afghanis, a rather large sum. Hyperbole aside, such a figure might indicate Saiiiir's brother were also in debt.

^ In having so much contaa with tndi\iduals who are often poor and lack access to medical faciUties. a murshid risks higher than normal exposure to diseases prevalent in this region. Often such diseases go unnoticed or unattended. Just before my arrival in Bara. a case of tuberculosis was discovered at the khdnaqah, but only after the affected murTd had already resided there for several weeks. 125 social issues, some 'ulama, especially Islamists, were very much in the center of these debates.

Like most Sufis of the north, Saifur eschewed contact with government officials and other modem forms of political activity. So angered was he at their behavior that in

1969 he absconded fi"om Zar Kharid for parts of Afghanistan and Pakistan. His first stop was the village of Pir-i Sabeq in the NWFP. There he consulted with a Naqshbandi pir,

Abdul Salaam, who operated a khdnaqdh in the village.^' Then he traveled to eastern

Afghanistan, possibly to see his old murshid, Hajji Pachir. He may have been thinking of returning to his native village. While in eastern Afghanistan, Saifur received a message from Hashim asking him to return to run the Zar Kharid khdnaqSh so that he could seek treatment for his illness in Kabul. Staunchly, Saifur refused, complaining that his older brothers "met with high ranking officials of the government so propagation of the teaching is impossible." To mollify his murshid, Saifur offered instead to go to Jalalabad, Mazar-i

Sharif, or Faryab to teach. Hashim rejected this. Finally, Hashim decided to mediate the conflict between Saifur and his brothers. At the conclusion of the meeting, Hashim instructed the brothers (all of whom were older) to obtain Saifur's approval before talking at assemblies (majlishd) and public gatherings (JjtimOhQ), terms which have secular, political connotations in Afghanistan. Hashim chided the brothers saying;

The khOnaqah has since dosed. 126

Don't know him [Saiflir] by his name. Rather, look at him as you look at me. Your brother has attained a high degree, and darkness retreats from him wherever he goes. If you respect your brother, you will be respected, and if you treat him with disrespect, you will be defamed in the other world.^'

Hashim's mediation was partly successful. Saifiir returned to Kunduz, though not to the khOnaq&h in Zar Kharid. Instead he went back to Archi, a cause of some regret for

Hashim.^' Saiflir's decision to reside there occasioned the following letter from Hashim in

March 1971:

My dear brother.

You are in the chain of my perfection and honesty, Akhundzada Sahib. Give my sympathetic and loving regards to Bachalala [Saiflir's other brother] and all of your relatives. Praise to God, I wear the cloak of health. But the distance from you is very sorrowful, and I don't know the reason for it. So cry when you read this letter because I cried very much when I wrote it.'*"

So intimate were the master and his khalifa that Hashim, against the protests of his disciples, wanted to go and live in Dasht-i Archi in order to be closer to Saifur. When

Hashim's illness worsened, he named Saifur his successor and moved in with him.

If there was any doubt in Hashim's mind as to which khalifa to designate, it was dispelled by a number of visions both he and some of his disciples were experiencing at the

Balkhi, TOrXkh, 162.

That Hashim issued an order to Saifiir's brothers suggests they, too, were Hashim's disciples and residents of the Zar Kharid khanaqdh, which may explain why Saifur did not return there.

Balkhi, TOrlkh, 163. In the absence of a formal ijOza nOma, this letter is one of several such commimications cited as ^^-ritten evidence that Hashim had designated Saifur as his successor. 127 time. The first one occurred one evening after Friday prayer when Hashim saw Baha' al-

Din Naqshband standing next to Saifur. Saifiir also saw the figure but did not recognize who it was. Hashim interpreted this as a sign (3ya) that Saifur should succeed him. Shortly after this vision, Saifur and his sons were sitting in the presence of Hashim when the eldest son, Muhammad Haideri, had a vision. Hashim asked him to describe what he saw."*'

Haideri said that he saw a box in the house, which was divided into two cells. In the right cell was a note that read, "Saifur, son of Qari Faraz Khan, aJ-mashrdb "*^ On the left side of the box the note read "Maulana Hashim Samangani, al-mashrdb " Interpreting the note,

Hashim said the left side represented his own inner nature as that of Moses, or Hebraic mashrdb, indicating anger and sharpness of temper. By contrast, the right side signified

Saifur was gentle and kind, "Muhammadan mashrdb "

In the manner of transmission from the Prophet's time down through the lineage of

Naqshbandi shaikhs, Maulana Hashim transferred his spiritual power to Saifur. In conferring him as his successor, Hashim said, "What I have in my body {yujud), I transfer to the body of Akhundzada in the maimer that has been observed since the first khalifa of

In Lener #292 of the Moktabat, Sirhindi wrote that a disciple is obliged to share any visions (wakia) with his pir.

The term mashrab literally means disposition or nature. For further e.xplanation, see Chapter Five. 128 our Subsequently, Hashim embarked for Noushera to seek treatment, staying with

Abdul Salaam in Pir-i Sabeq. The disease had progressed beyond remission, however, and within a year he died at the age of forty. When informed of his murshid's death, Saiflir and the other disciples went to Pir-i Sabeq where they built a shrine in his honor. A large, green-domed structure adjoined by a small mosque, the ziySra today sits imposingly in the middle of the village cemetery. Many of Saifiir's disciples testify to the powerful baraka at his tomb site. One khalifa, a scholar at the prestigious Iqbal Academy in Lahore, related that when he approached Hashim's ziydra, the baraka "came rushing into my heart like a great wave."

Expanding the Order, 1971-1978

Although Maulana Hashim had named Saiflir to succeed him in the Naqshbandiyya order, he had not given him formal permission to teach the Chishtiyya tarlqa.^ To obtain permission, Saifiir went to Hashim's shrine in Pir-i Sabeq. As he knelt at the foot of his master's grave, Saiflir was seized by a vision. In the vision Hashim appeared, but instead

Balkhi, TOrTkh, 163. Balkhi also cites a hadith of Muhammad: "^What I have in my heart, I transfer to the heart of Abu Bakr." He notes that most of the disciples accepted Saifur as head of the order. However, one khalifa, Muhammad Lai, refused. Citing Sirhindi's Letter #292, he stated that a disciple was permined to disagree with his shaikh if he had achieved a higher degree than the khalifa.

** T>pically, the shaikh bestows the khalifa with a signed, one-page document (ijaza nOma) which sea-es both as formal authorization and recognition of the khalifa's spiritual attainment It is such formal written permission that is referred to here. While sitting in the mosque, Saifur Rahman often signed several ijOza namagdn after which they were presented to recipients. He took great care when signing these documents. Using a green felt pen he always carried with him, he would sign his name in full, finishing nith his distinctive trademark: a large circle around the name with a double line underneath. 129 of giving his assent, he instructed him to seek permission at the shrine of Maulana

Taloqani. Hashim told him that he was obliged to do the same when his own murshid died. Accordingly, Saifur went to Taloqani's shrine in Bihark. When he arrived, Saifur saw him standing near his tomb, a broad smile on his face. He then gave his assent to Saifur. At the same time, Saifur claimed to have received direct spiritual initiation from Hajji Sahib

Pachir who gave him permission to teach the Qadiriyya tarTqa as well. The initiation by the spirits of deceased saints is a mystical tradition in Central Asia called Uwaysi."*'

Indeed, Saifur's spiritual biographer refers to the incident as an example of the "tarTqa

Uwaysi.'"*®

As Hashim's sajjdda nishTn, Saifiir set about to better organize and expand the order. His success in this endeavor attests as much to his organizational abilities as to his

The term Uwaysi derives from a Yemeni, Uways Qarani (d.657), who is said to have visited the Prophet in such a spirinial encounter. Arthur Buehler believes that Sirhindi's later "reform" of Naqshbandi Suflsni, which emphasized sobriety in spiritual experience and adherence to the shari'a. led to invalidation of Uwaysi initiations. However, the persistence of the Uwaysi phenomenon down to the present time shows this analysis to be inconect. One possible explanation may be that during periods of crisis in the Islamic conununit)-, such experiences are de-emphasized in order to avoid charges of antinomianism by 'ulama. Similarly, legal concerns stress outward sobriety even though it does not alter the essentially ecstatic nature of the divine encounter. See Arthur Buehler, "Charisma and Exemplar; Naqshbandi Spiritual Authority in the Punjab, 1847-1947" (Ph.D. diss., Harvard University, 1993). 88-91.

^ Balkhi, TarTkh, 166. Balkhi, who was head of the khanaqoh in Mazar-i Sharif, relates another example of a Uwaysi phenomenon. One of his own disciples came to him one day to report a vision he had in which Hazrat Uways appeared. Uways handed the disciple a Qur'an, which the Prophet Muhammad wished him to give to Saifur Rahman. To illustrate the modalities of yet another mode of spiritual instruction, Balkhi relates a dream of a disciple in which he saw Hashim approaching. Fearing Hashim was going to strike him, he became frightened. Hashim told him not to be a^d. He climbed on his back and told him to run with one foot. The disciple took off slowly but soon found himself gaining speed and soon was nmning fast. When asked the meaning of the dream, Saifur said it was an example of "{arTqa qawmiyyoT (the people's path). Balkhi, TSrlkh, 178. 130 spiritual power. That many persons came to the hospice in Archi to join the order was taken as a sign (tfya) of Saifiir's spiritual exaltedness. As word of his baraka spread,

Afghans from most of the country's provinces came to take initiation from him:

Nangarhar, Laghman, Faryab, Qandahar, and Baghlan. The "Pir of Kunduz," as he came to be known, also attracted Persian-speaking Tajiks from neighboring Tajikistan. Saifur's disciples came from the entire spectrum of society: teachers, government officials, military officers, artisans, and peasants. He also won av/ay many disciples of a leading Qadiri shaikh in Mazar-i Sharif, Lai Baccha."" Some individuals actually came to the khSnaqSh in order to discredit Saifur, leaving instead as his disciples. Some became khalifas after only one meeting with Saifur."*' These visitors turned disciples then returned to their native villages to teach the Naqshbandi path. Miracles (kardmdt) were attributed to him during this period."" In one instance, a disciple had written a paean to Saifur, which he intended to recite for him in the mosque. But when the time came, he became self-conscious and decided against it. Saifur then prompted him by asking, "Why don't you recite that poetry you wrote for me."^°

Lai Baccha fled Afghanistan during the ^^ar and now resides in Saudi Arabia.

Balkhi. Tankh. 164.

Anempts to get disciples to talk about miracles attributed to Saifur Rahman were repeatedly rebuffed. As a rule they never discuss such matters, not necessarily because few miracles are attributed to him. but because such talk is regarded as sensationalist and a distraction from spiritual work. The exceptions to this are stories concerning the workings of his baraka (see Chapter Five).

^ Balkhi, Tankh, 169. 131

It was during this period that Saifur had a another dream-vision confirming his

spiritual stature as that of a wa/r.'' One Friday after evening prayer, Saifur returned to his

house. After reciting his supererogatory prayers (du'S) one thousand times, he went to

bed. Then he had the following dream:

He was standing in an open field next to a close friend. The two of them were facing west [the direction of Mecca] and noticed a stream flowing from that direction. Over the stream was a small bridge and on the other side of the bridge was a large river. Then his friend remarked, "I have never seen a flood." Just as he said this, the river surged and a great wave rushed at them. Suddenly, some of the local landowners appeared, anxious that the flood would sweep away their livestock. One of the landowners started to approach them angrily. Saifur tumed to his fnend and said, "It's all due to you, because you thought about the flood and created it." Then Saifur left the scene and came upon a large crowd. All of the Prophets were in the crowd. Abraham, the first Prophet, was speaking softly and his face was gentle and white. Moses by contrast was angry and his face was red. Although Muhammad was also in the crowd he could not be seen. Then a voice addressed Saifur; "There's one wall here whom you cannot see." With this, Saifur shook hands with Moses and Abraham who received him warmly. Then Saifur walked around Abraham in a circle. Abraham said, "Let us leave this worid." Standing under the roof were the two persons responsible for the eschatological destruction of the world. But before they began their work of destruction, Abraham instructed Saifur to remove all the names of Allah that were put on the wall so that they would not be destroyed. Saifur became worried that Abraham would become angry with him because some of the divine names were still affixed to the walls of his bedroom. Then he woke up."

The term watt (pi. awliya") derives from the Arabic root "V-l-y" meaning "to be close to." In the context of holy persons it refers to those who are close to God. The Qur'anic verse commonly referred to is, **Verily, no fear shall come upon the friends of Allah (awUya' Allah), neither shall they grieve" [10; 62]. For a discussion of the term wall, see Michael Chodkiewicz, Le sceau des saints: prophetie et saintete dans la doctrine d'Ibn 'Arabi (Paris: Gallimard, 1986), 35-39.

Maulana Aminiillah, Hidayat al-salikXn (Peshawar n.p.. 1996), 182-183. 132

Islamic scholar Jonathan Katz notes that dreams have long played important roles-

-predictive, prophetic, and confirmatory—in the careers of Sufis." Yet, the dream of the

Prophet is not a symptom of a narcissistic personality who seeks a following, as Katz believes. Essentially creative symbolic events, dreams of the Prophet are a sign of God's favor {ni'ma)}* Saifiir's circumambulation of Abraham symbolizes the circling of the

Ka'ba, which was reconstructed by Abraham. According to Carl Ernst, in the dream- vision the Ka'ba signifies the mystical experience of contaa with God." For Saifijr, then, his dream validated his spiritual stature as a wall or fiiend of God."

Inwardly, Saifiir's life was deepening. Yet, outwardly he was buffeted by the growing turmoil in the country's political affairs. In July 1973, Muhammad Daoud Khan overthrew King Zahir Shah (1933-1973) in a bloodless coup. The coup had been carried out with the support of the Parcham faction of the Communist Party.'' Although the average Afghan did not view Daoud as pro-Communist, both the Islamists and 'ulama

The ritual handshake {mu$afaho or mushabakS) is a conunon leitmotif in such dreams. Katz speculates that the handshake is the same used b>' shaikhs in initiation during formal transmission of baraka. See Katz, Dreams, Sufism, and Sainthood, 225.

^ For a broader psychological analysis of the mystical dream-vision than the Freudian perspective, see Michael Washbum, Transpersonal Psychology in Psychoanalytic Perspective (Albany; SUNY Press. 1994).

" Carl Ernst, "Vertical Pilgrimage and Interior Landscape in the Visionary Diary of ROzbihan Baqlr (d.1209)" The Muslim World U, no. 2 (April 1998): 129-140.

^ In another of Saifiir's dreams, he appears in the sky as the sun and 'Abd al-Qadir al Jilani as the moon, which reflects Saifiir's illuminating presence.

The Communist Party in Afghanistan was founded at its first Congress on January-1, 1965. Two yean later differences over strateg}- led to a split into Parcham and Khalq factions. The Parcham bas^ its strategy on control of the state apparatus while the Khalq sought to instigate mass uprisings. 133 were becoming increasingly concerned over the degree to which Communists were infiltrating the state. Encouraged by the favorable turn of events in Kabul, Communists began taking to the streets to muster support for issues ranging from a free Pushtunistan to the Daoud regime.

On February 22, 1974, Communists turned out in the Archi bazaar. The next day,

Saiflir and several 'ulama led a group of armed disciples to break up the demonstration.

For two tense days, they marched in the bazaar, gathering local support. Although armed demonstrations were illegal, the Kunduz District Governor, Muhammad Hassan, was sympathetic toward religious leaders and did not intervene. By the end of the second day, the Governor of Kunduz phoned Hassan and ordered him to remove Saifiir and his disciples from the bazaar. By that time, the Communists had realized they were outnumbered and had begun retreating to their homes. Some left Archi altogether, settling in nearby Khwaja Ghar in Taloqan Province. Satisfied that they had driven the

Communists fi'om the bazaar for good, Saiflir and his disciples acquiesced to Hassan's order.

In early 1978, Saiflir performed the hajj. In Mecca, he made the acquaintance of an

Afghan Naqshbandi shaikh from Balkh, Muhammad Muqim Shah. On his return, he visited

Muhammad Muqim while on a lesser pilgrimage to the shrine of Hazrat 'Ali.'* After stopping off in Zar Kharid to visit some disciples at Hashim's khOnaqdh, he returned to

^ For a discussion of the history of this shrine and its activities, see Ri). McChesney, Waqf in Central Asia: Four Hundred Years in the History of a Muslim Shrine. 1480-1889 (Princeton; Princeton Universit>' Press, 1991). 134

Dasht-i Archi. He would not stay there long, however, for a coup led by Nur Muhammad

Taraki brought the Communists to power in April 1978.

The Communist Take-over and the War, 1978-1981

The first few months Taraki was preoccupied with purging his Marxist rivals fi"om the government. Having accomplished this in late summer of 1978, Taraki then proceeded to undertake three types of reform: land tenure/agrarian, educational, and administrative (designed to strengthen the state apparatus). The refomis proved unpopular with all sectors of the rural population. Despite the broad nature of the opposition, the regime identified its main enemy as the religious establishment. According to Roy,

Those who led the first revolts were religious leaders, people of influence such as village headmen, or other individuals who were usually elderly. The revolt usually took the form of a mass uprising preceded by preaching and followed by an attack on the government post of the principal town of the district, using small arms. The post was usually captured with heavy causalities on both sides. The communist militants were executed, non-communist soldiers and oflBcials allowed to go. Then the revolt would spread to the whole area in which there was tribal solidarity."

Of all the religious groups, the government identified the Sufi brotherhoods as its chief nemesis. Sufis had been among the leaders of the resistance against government reform in 1929. The regime may also have learned fi-om the Soviet experience in Central

Asia. Faced with Communist repression there, the orders had gone underground.

Olivier Roj', Islam and Resistance, 106. 135 operating a highly effective resistance.®® Sufis in the USSR had also been less amenable to co-optation than the 'ulama. By fall of 1978, the government began a pre-emptive

campaign of systematic repression and outright extermination of Sufis. That the government targeted both political and non-political turuq indicated that "it was Sufism as such that was its objective."" Accordingly, seventy-nine of the male members of the

Mujaddidi family and their families were imprisoned in Kabul's Pul-i Charkhi prison. They

were executed in January 1979, along with the Hazrat of Shur Bazaar, Muhammad

Ibrahim. Other potential opposition leaders in the villages were led away in great numbers

by "security groups" fi-om the provincial capitals and were never heard fi-om again. That so many pirs allowed themselves to be taken in this manner indicated that, not being engaged in anti-government activities, they were not anticipating arrest. One Naqshbandi disciple reported that in Badakhshan Province, several dozen pirs and their disciples were bound and thrown into the Kokcha River to drown. Villages where brotherhoods were particularly strong were shelled outright. Those who were not imprisoned or killed took refiige in Iran and Pakistan.

^ Ro>', ''Sufism in the Afghan Resistance." Central Asian Survey 2 (1983): 69. For a discussion of Sufi resistance activities in the former Soviet Union, see Alexander Bennigsen, Islam in the Soviet Union (London; Huist, 1986).

Roy, "Sufism in the Afghan Resistance," 69. 136

Initially, Saiflir did not openly oppose the Taraki regime, as he and his murdd were

under close government surveillance." In early August 1978, however, Saifiir received a

tip from a government ofiBcial, perhaps a disciple, of his imminent arrest. Under cover of

darkness, he fled to the NWFP along with his family. As Roy notes, to flee a Muslim land

occupied by infidels without fighting, while not actually recommended by the Qur'an, is at

least permitted;

Those who believed and left their homes and strove for the cause of Allah. These are the believers in truth. We were oppressed in the land. [8:74] Then the Angels will say; 'Was not Allah's earth spacious that ye could have migrated therein' [4;97]."

In fleeing his homeland, Saifiir notes he reenacted hijra, the flight of the Prophet Muhammad

from Mecca to Medina. At the same time, he declared jihad against the Communist government in Kabul."

In 1979 the rebellion had spread to all parts of the country, prompting Soviet intervention in December of that year. The response of the brotherhoods to the invasion was swifl, as pirs hitherto quiescent hastened to declare jihad on the invaders. Because of its numbers and extent, the Naqshbandiyya order became the most active tarTqa in the resistance.

Rahman, Ba vujad, 6. Saifiir, who has been attacked by critics for remaining in the country after Taraki seized power, defends his actions on the grounds that he was temporarily moiliiied by Taraki's public statement. Those who pray two rak'a previously, may now pray twenty."

" Roy, Islam and Resistance. 165, quoted in Muhammad M. Pickthall, trans.. The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (London: Allen and Unwin, 1930).

Balkhi, TOrlkh, 174. 137

According to Roy, in and around Kabul and Mazar-i Sharif Naqshbandis tended to

acknowledge the leadership of the Mujaddidi &nily and adhered to SebghatuUah's resistance

party, the National Front for the Salvation of Afghanistan.*^ From Mayama east, Naqshbandis followed Pir Saifiir Rahman."

In the nineteenth century, in an attempt to legitimize their efforts to subjugate the

populace, the British dubbed Sufis who opposed them, "mad mullahs." In a similarly self- serving manner during the war against the Soviets, the Western press referred to the Islamic

resistance {ntujahidiri) as "fi-eedom fighters." But it was not in Western terms of individual democratic fi'eedoms that Sufis and other Muslims fought. Rather, the concept of jihad must be understood in Islamic terms. Tihad is an armed defense of the Islamic conception of the world against the imposition of what is perceived to be a corrupt or immoral system. Thus, Saiflir's declaration of jihad was an expression of his political role as imam of the community, a defense of Islam against foreign penetration.®' In rejecting the term "fi-eedom fighter," Robert Canfield emphasizes the religious element implied in the term jihad;

For the sincere Muslim in Afghanistan takes it for granted that fi'eedom entails the right and responsibility to command good and oppose evil according to the truth of

Roy's assertion that the Mujaddidi family had a strong following in Mazar-i Sharif is questionable. While I have no direa evidence to the contrai)', I have talked to a number of Naqshbandis, including two pirs who were living in Mazar at the time who professed no allegiance to the Mujaddidi family. In fact, these pirs regard the family as politically not religiously prominent. See Roy, "Sufism in the Afghan Resistance," 63.

^ In the east, where maraboutism is strong, the orders were not particularly represented. The exception to this was the traditional Mujaddidi femily tie with the Sulaiman Khel tnbe.

For a discussion of the dual role of the shaikh, see Vincent J. Cornell, '^Mystical Doctrine and Political Action." 138

God as it has been revealed in Islam. If the quest for freedom is the mujShid's motive, it is the freedom to obey God and direct others to obey God.^'

The hierarchical structure of the orders made them highly adaptable to the exigencies of resistance warfare. In general, pirs, especially those who were elderly, fled the country leaving their disciples to fight. In such circumstances, the pir would delegate his military authority to one of his older khalifas. Although each pir commanded the allegiance of several hundred or thousands of disciples as the case may be, at times the wider tarTqa identity provided an overarching framework for resistance activities. The khalifa-/WMrfii relationship thus carried over easily into a political-military one,®' Because of the close fraternal ties among disciples, the orders also tended to be resistant to penetration by outsiders.

With the invasion of the Soviets, it became necessary for religious leaders to join one of the dozens of political parties that were springing up in Peshawar in order to obtain foreign aid and weapons. Saifiir joined the Harakat-i Inqilab-i Islami (HII)(Movement for the Islamic Revolution) headed by Muhammad Nabi Muhammadi, one of his disciples. The

Hn was the clerical party of the resistance, consisting of 'ulama, mostly Pathan, who had been educated in private madrasas.'" For the first three years of the war, the HU was the

Robert L. Canfield, "Islamic Coalitions in Bamyan: A Problem in Translating Afghan Political Culture," in Rx)bert L. Canfield, ed.. Faction and Conversion: Religious Alignments in the Hindu Kush (Ann Arbor University of Michigan, 1973), 226.

® Roy, "Sufism in the Afghan Resistance," 63.

™ Roy. Islam and Resistance, 235. 139 leading resistance party. It lacked a rigid structure or ideology, tending to view itself as a

"clerical association." It favored a return to the shari'a but without desiring an Islamic republic as did the Islamists. It thus viewed the former monarchy as compatible with

Islam." It was strong in the north where it employed madrasa networks in the guerrilla campaign.

Saifiir assigned one of his brothers, Fazalul Rahman, the task of organizing and recruiting disciples in Afghanistan. For the next several months Fazalul and an 'alim,

Maulawi Abdul Hai Zafarani Sahib, the regional HII director, secretly shuttled between

Peshawar and the eight northern provinces to recruit members and distribute membership cards. In autumn of 1980 sixty of Saiflir's disciples including Maulana Hasliim's brother,

Juma Gul, were at the Hotel Babur in Qala-i Zal, Baghlan Province when government forces stormed the hotel. They were arrested and never heard from again. Another major figure who disappeared at that time was Rahmatullah Taloqani, the khalifa of Taloqan

Province. Later, several more khalifas in Mazar-i Sharif disappeared, including Saifiir's brother, Fazalul.'^

By the early 1980s, the HII was coming apart. Non-Pathan clerics in the HII, especially Tajiks, were complaining that the bulk of weapons, which the HII was obtaining on credit, were going to the Pathan. Another complaint of party members was that many

" Ibid., 114.

A list of some of Saifiir's other khalifas who disappeared at that time shou-s the geographic extent of his following; Malawi Abdul Ghafiiir, Farjab; Muhammad Amin, Laghman; Malawi Abdul Khaliq. Kunduz; Mulla Say^id Habib. Nangarhar, M^awi Khan Gul, Qandahar. 140

of these weapons were being sold for profit on the blacic market." For these reasons, by

1983, many Tajiks in the HII had begun to defect to the leading Islamist party, the

Jami'at-i Islanii (JI).''* What had initially been the chief appeal of the HII, a party of

clerics, proved in time to be its chief liability: the lack of strong leadership or a clear

organizational structure. These weaknesses made it possible for both Maoists and Afghan

government intelligence agents (KhAD) to infiltrate the party. A Naqshbandi pir, Ghulam

Mahiddin, known as the Pir of Obe, had created a dissident movement within the HII.

Known as the Jami'at-i 'Ulama, it quickly became the rallying point for former Maoists.

Disputes with other parties became so acute that one of the Maoists betrayed the leaders

of the JU to the government, prompting the party's collapse. Subsequently, Saifur and

several other Naqshbandi shaikhs also switched allegiance to the JI.'®

When Saifur fled Afghanistan he first went to stay at Pir Abdul Salaam's khSnaqSh

in Pir-i Sabeq in the NWFP. While in Pir-i Sabeq, Saifur continued to teach, attracting not only his Afghan disciples but an increasing number of new Pakistani disciples as well. In fact, his baraka was so powerful that Abdul Salaam became jealous, claiming that the

" Bamett R. Rubin, The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1986), 213.

One of Saiiiir's eldest sons, Muhanunad Hamid, was involved in this activity. An HII official, he obtained weapons and sold them in the Bara market for personal gain A number of khalifas alluded to a scandal in the Bara hospice during the 1980s, which may have concerned these unethical activities. Whatever the precise nature of the scandal, no one has forgotten and some disciples still do not trust those who were involved.

Between 1983 and 1993, the JI was ascendant party because it lay at the confluence of three religious traditions in Afghanistan; the 'ulama, Sufi, and Islamist. Nevertheless, because most of its members were 141 dramatic physical reactions of the murOd in the presence of the two pirs was due not to

Saifiir but to himself'® After eighteen months, relations between the two became so strained that Saifur was forced to leave. In 1980 he accepted an invitation to become

Imam of the Del Aram mosque in Noushera about twenty kilometers north of Pir-i Sabeq.

Before taking up his position, however, he traveled to India to seek inspiration at the shrine of Ahmad Sirhindi. It was no doubt a time of great trials for him. He had already lost a brother and hundreds of disciples. His disciples continued to perish en masse in the war or came to the khQmq&h dismembered or disfigured by Soviet land mines. "These were my moral offspring," he later lamented. "How much I have suffered for their martyrdom, for the loss of the Harakat-i Inqilab, broken into pieces, and all the disunity among the mujahidin."'' His country overrun by Communists, he was without a permanent home or place to teach.

A Guest of the Afndi, 1982-1997

In Noushera Saifur once again experienced difficuhies stemming from his baraka.

This time the tribal elders had become upset with the behavior of his disciples in the mosque during the dhikr ceremony. They complained that running, shouting, and laughing

Persian-speakiiig Tajiks firom the north, the JI never achieved wide acceptance among the Pathan. See Roy, Islam and Resistance.

Typically this involves involuntary movements such as shaking of the limbs, spasms of the torso, or loud utterances. For a detailed description, see Chapter Five.

B^bman, Bd vujad, 10. 142 in the mosque was blasphemous behavior. So in 1982 Saiflir moved to the Bara district in the Khyber Tribal Agency, his present location (see Fig. 3.2). Three of his Afridi disciples.

Sultan Muhammad Khan, Haj[ji Mir Ashghar, and his nephew Hajji Muhammad Yusuf, offered him a house and thirty acres of land on which he could start his own khdnaqSh.

Initially, disciples built a simple, one-room structure, which served as mosque and madrasa. Saifiir dubbed it Murshid Abad, "abode of the murshid"

Conclusion

Throughout his life, Saiflir Rahman moved both culturally and spatially within the more traditional sectors of Pakistani and Afghan society. His early education took place in private Pakistani madrasas whose spartan conditions contrasted sharply with state- sponsored madrasas springing up in Afghanistan's urban areas. His higher pedagogic training in the Deoband tradition, still strong in Pakistan's rural areas, was based on religious knowledge developed in the first ten centuries of Islam.

As a spiritual disciple and teacher, Saiflir chose to live in northern Afghanistan.

Living in the Afghan hinterlands placed him somewhat beyond the reach of an increasingly secular but weak central political authority. It also placed him outside the sphere of the powerful Pathan tribes. Though bom Pathan, he has shunned the role of tribal arbiter often played by Pathan Sufis, including his own father. During the relatively halcyon days in

Afghanistan after World War n, the parameters he imposed on his social and political life went largely unchallenged fi'om without. He was free to pursue his own spiritual riguic 5 2 riie Kliyber Tribal Agency

Kahu! Jalnlabad liiver Mohmand Agcncy

Khvbcr Pass Landi Kotal Cliarsaddn ^ Afghanistan

'All Masjid Achin

A lUtzar A A A A Peshawar Pabbi

Dara Hiver Peshawar District Kara li

Pakistan Kurrnni KJuliUKiilh Agency

Orakzai Acenrv Legend Road Scale lin-approx 12 miles National Boundary ZII~~ River Provincial Boundary V///////A Sipah Tribe 144

development and the development of others according to taqlJd precepts reaffirmed by

Sirhindi.

By the 1960s, however, increasingly political turmoil encroached on the relatively

peaceful society of northern Afghanistan. At first, Saifiir seems to have been uncertain as

to how to respond to these developments. When he discovered his brothers' involvement

with local ofBcials, for instance, he absconded, seeking counselling from another

Naqshbandi, Abdul Salaam. When he returned to Kunduz, Saifiir continued to follow a

policy, not of opposition, but of simply turning his back on political authority. By the late

1970s, however, politics came to find him for good, as Communists, first from within

Afghanistan, then from without, threatened the very existence of Islam, and by extension

his moral authority. In response, he assumed the role of mujahidin leader, joining two

Afghan political parties. These parties were not parties in the modem sense of the term:

they lacked a clear political ideology and their organization and affiliation tended to follow

religious lines. Thus, they were extensions of his religious authority and philosophically in

keeping with it. The image of a directing-shaikh sequestered in his lodge engaged solely in spiritual education is clearly too limited a framework to capture the muhivalent roles

Saifur Rahman, as imam of the community, has played, especially during times of crisis.

In taking refuge in Pakistan, Saifur Rahman ironically found himself thrust into a different kind of social and religious crisis in the form of reform groups hostile toward

Sufis. Hampered by social dislocation on the one hand and religious opposition on the 145

Other, one may ask how the Saifiyya order manages to survive and propagate its teaching.

The next chapter addresses this question. 146

CHAPTER FOUR

BETWIXT AND BETWEEN: THE SAIFIYYA KHANAQAH

In her study of the Halvetiyya under the Ottomans, Nathalie Clayer attributed the

order's strength and diffusion largely to official patronage. In North Africa Knut Vikor

found that the Sanusi order's strength lay largely in a high degree of organizational

regulation and hierarchy. Sarah Ansari showed that the social appeal of pirs in Sind stems

from the ability to play mediating roles between their constituency and ruling elites. This

chapter examines the social setting, membership, organizational structure, economy, and

other institutional facets of the Saifiyya order in order to establish what role, if any, they

play in its perpetuation and expansion.

Social Setting: the Khyber Tribal Agency

The mother lodge of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya order is located in

the Bara District of the Khyber Tribal Agency in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province

(NWFP). The Khyber Agency lies in the heart of the Pathan tribal belt that straddles

Afghanistan and Pakistan from the thirty-second parallel in the Hindu Kush range south to

Baluchistan. The roughly fifteen million Pathan who inhabit the area constitute the largest group of its kind in the world. 147

The Khyber Agency is geographically contiguous and covers an area roughly one

thousand square miles. The historic Khyber Pass borders it on the north and the Orakzai

Tribal Agency on the south. To the west lies Afghanistan; east is Peshawar District, the

only settled area on its borders. The land is rugged with high mountains and barren, stony

plains. In the mountains, where altitudes reach 15,000 feet, the climate is alpine; snow

blankets the higher elevations in winter. In summer the plains are hot and dry with

temperatures reaching 40-45 degrees centigrade. Annual rainfall, occurring mostly in late

winter and summer, is fairly high for the region, twenty inches.' Largely devoid of natural

resources, the Khyber does have several marble deposits, the Mullagori being one of the world's largest marble mines. In 1993 the estimated population of the Khyber Agency was

422,738. Its literacy rate is one of the lowest in the NWFP: 11% overall (1% for females).

Bara District suffers from the lowest rate in the Agency.^ The population is almost entirely

Sumii Muslim with a small number of Christians, Hindus, and Sikhs scattered about the

Agency.

The Khyber is inhabited chiefly by the Afndi (Pashtu; Apriday), one of a number of a sub-tribes of the Pathan. An additional 18,000 Shinwari Pathans live in the north along the Khyber Pass. The Shinwari and Afridi traditionally have had good relations. If Pathans have a well-deserved reputation as warriors, then the Afridi are Pathans par excellence.

' Pakistan, Government of Punjab, Gazetteer of The Peshawar District 1897-98 (Lahore; Sang-E-Meel Publications, 1898), 9-10.

U. S. Agency for International Development. Socio-Economic Profile of the Khvber Agency (Islamabad. 1993), 17. 148

Even tribes of the other agencies fear their ferocity. In part, this bellicosity was nurtured

by their geographic circumstance as "guardians of the Khyber Pass," the vital gateway

from Central Asia to India. Virtually every trader and would-be conqueror has been forced

to deal with the Afridis who resisted outside incursions and periodically plundered trading

caravans along the Khyber Pass.^ Neither the Sikhs (1818-49) nor the British (1849-1919)

were able to check their periodic banditry along the Pass, nor their persistent raiding of

settled areas. In retaliation for these intrigues, the British first skirmished with the Aiiidi in

the First Afghan War (1839-42). Periodic conflict over the next fifty years eventually led

the British to seek an accommodation with them. By the terms of the Treaty of Gandamak

(1879) between the British and the Amir of Afghanistan, Afndis and Shinwaris accepted

responsibility for safe passage along the Khyber in return for British recognition of their

independence and an annual stipend.'' The toll system is still in effect today, the Pakistani government paying the Afridi on a bi-annual basis.

The independent status of the Khyber (and other tribal agencies) under the British was retained after Pakistan's emergence as a state In 1947. Today, the Khyber is the oldest of the seven Federally Administered Tribal Areas of the NWFP. Neither Pakistani civil or criminal law applies in these areas, nor are taxes collected. The Pakistani government does, however, maintain a political agent for each district. The agent acts as

' David M. Hart, Guardians of the Khyber Pass: The Social Organization and History of the Afridis of Pakistan (Lahore; Vanguard Books, 1985), 23.

* The British weren't always at war with the A&idi and enlisted many of them in their Indian armies. 149 arbiter between regularly feuding clans to ensure, to the extent possible, tribal peace along

Pakistan's sensitive borders. In the past few decades, government and tribal relations have improved somewhat thanks to government sponsorship of health and education projects in the Khyber. In 1996, for example, the goverrunent funded $500,000 toward the building of schools and health units. ^ Development efforts such as these, albeit modest, have resulted today in the cessation of tribal raids on the settled areas around Peshawar. A further concession was extended in December 1996 when Pakistan granted individual suffrage to agency tribes. This right, however, was extended only to males.

The Afndi are hill tribes {nang) whose economy is essentially pastoral.

Transhumant, they move twice a year, once in spring into the high valleys of Bara Bajgal and the Tirah to the south and in autumn down to the Bara and Bazaar valleys. Owing to the poor soil and feeble agricultural development of the Khyber, only one-fifth of the arable land is cultivated. Most farms are privately owned; the average land holding per household is two acres.^ Agriculture is at subsistence level for most families and is carried out chiefly by women. Women also engage in animal husbandry.

Bara District is one of the few areas irrigated by an extensive network of concrete canals built originally by the Mughals and today maintained by the agency. The canals draw water from the nearby Bara River, which drains the Rajgul and Maidan valleys south of Surghar Range. Farther east the Bara picks up the Tirah River, eventually draining into

^ The Frontier Post (Pesha\«'ar), 3 November 1996,6.

® U. S. Agenc>' for International Development, Socio-Economic Profile, 23. 150 the Kabul. The Bara River is venerated as sacred, especially at Shekhow, the place where the waters are diverted for irrigation. The Afridis control the headwaters of the Bara; water distribution follows local custom and is complex. In late summer just before the monsoon season, the Bara may be reduced to a trickle giving rise to water disputes.

Socially, the Afridi are organized into "patrilineal and segmentary descent groups that correspond to known territorial boundaries."' One or more of these descent groups form the core of a sub-tribe. Generally, sub-tribes are clusters of two or three villages consisting of roughly 100 to 150 families. While elders hold achieved status, Pathans are acephalous; the only recognized head exists within the family. Most marriages occur within the sub-section or clan. About one-fifth of these occur with one's patrilineal parallel

(i.e., first) cousin. Women must strictly observe the practice of seclusion from public life called purda. If required to go out in public to shop or visit relatives (which men strongly discourage), they must be completely covered. Increasingly, Pathan women have voiced their opposition to this custom. Confinement to the home is perceived as a form of bondage fi-om which, owing to the male-dominated nature of Pathan society, there is no escape. It also serves as a huge brake on the development of all sectors of the society.

Khyber Afndis are divided into six clans (there are two other Afndi clans) seven of which are represented in Bara District. The Zakka Khel (the term khel denotes a lineage segment) have a much-deserved reputation for bellicosity. They were notorious for

' Akbar S. Ahmed, Pukhtun Economy and Society: Traditional Structure and Economic Development in a Tribal Society (London: Routledge. 1980). 74. 151 kidnapping British subjects for ransom, a practice otherwise common to all the Afridi, which continues to this day. The Saifiyya khOnaqah lies squarely within the territory of the

Sipah clan. Little research has been done on the Sipah, and there seems to be little that distinguishes it from other Afridi clans.

Social order is regulated through a system of tribal norms called pushtumvali.

Pushtunwali is based on the concept of nang or honor that stresses values of "male autonomy and aggressiveness."* Disputes are generally settled by a tribal council or jirga, an egalitarian body composed of tribal elders and directed by a khan or malik. Given the acephalous nature of Pathan society, the khan has no authority over the jirga but acts as a kind of primus inter pares, directing and moderating the decision-making body. Decisions by a jirga are usually binding and give the aggrieved party the right to revenge in kind

{badaf). If, for example, a man is guilty of killing another man's sheep, then he must allow one of his sheep to be killed. If the man refuses to oflFer up one of his sheep, the conflict can quickly escalate. If the decision calls for blood money {sSz\ it is rarely accepted in the case of murder. In the case of lesser offenses, if the guilty party cannot afford to pay, the law of talon is generally observed. Since revenge is incumbent on every male member of the aggrieved lineage, murder can quickly escalate, drawing the entire segmentary group into the feud. The result is that tribes are often in a constant state of conflict with family against family and clan against clan. Anthropologist David Hart reported in the 1980s that

' Ahmed, Pukhtun Economy, 56. 152

there was a murder at least every six months among an Afridi sub-tribe.' This suggests the

total number of feud-inspired deaths in the Khyber may be on the order of one every three

weeks. Feuds may persist for several decades, too.'*' One factor that serves to mitigate the

extent, if not the intensity of feuds, is that most feuds are intra-clan. Fighting thus tends to

be confined to a particular village." As a result of this constant fiiction, private property and roads are unsafe. Houses are usually fortified as protection against attack or

retaliation. The fact that women generally work the fields, as opposed to men, is said to be

because the latter feel vulnerable when working outdoors in daylight. Once on the

property of the khdmqah, disciples never wander far on the footpaths leading to other farms. If, for example, a disciple is caught crossing Afiidi land, especially when women are working in the fields, he could be shot for trespassing. Nor do disciples ever attempt to transit the agency at night for fear of being kidnapped or robbed.

' Hart, Guardians of the Khyber Pass, 66.

Hart relates one case that first erupted in 1875 when two men cut off the tail of the horse belonging to the guest of a khan. Since the act violated Pathan hospitality, the khan's sons retaliated by killing two men from the offending lineage. As of 1977 the feud was still going strong with a total of sL\ty-one casualties to date. See David M. Hart, "The Afiridi of the Khaibar Tribal Agency," in Pakistan: The ^cial Sciences Perspective, ed. Akbar S. Ahmed (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1990).

" During my work in Baia, an account of a typical feud was related to me first-hand by an Afridi male, Ibrahim A^, whose farm was contiguous to the khSnaqdh. According to Ibrahim, two men had abducted and raped his paternal aunt. Ibrahim's older brother partially avenged the crime by killing one of the guilty men but was killed in the process. Ibrahim was then obliged to avenge two men: the killer of his brother and the rapist still at large. For this purpose, he was never without an AK-47 strapped to his shoulder. Four weeks later, he encountered the two men in Bara town and gunned them down in a shoot­ out on the spot. T}pically, the police remain aloof from these conflicts. 153

Like other Pathans, Afridis are Sunni Muslim of the Hanafi rite. They claim

descent from a putative ancestor, Qa'is ibn Rashid, who was allegedly converted by the

Prophet himself.'^ Qa'is is said to have married the daughter of the illustrious General

Khalid ibn Walid who bore him three sons: Sarban, Bitan, and Ghurghust. All Pathan

tribes trace their origin to one of these three sons. Like other hill tribes, the Afridi claim

descent from Karlani who is said to have been adopted into the family of Ghurghust, the

third son of Qa'is. Every Pathan thus identifies with a line of unilineal descent that takes

him to the very beginning of Islam.

This unity of pushtunwali and Islam is symbolized in village life by the physical

juxtaposition of the mosque and the hujra or tribal guesthouse. These two institutions are

usually built simultaneously and often share a wall or courtyard.'^ Generally, each village

has its own mosque and is responsible for its upkeep. In Bara mosques are in the

"gingerbread" Mughal style of architecture common to the sub-continent: green and white

with narrow minarets and swollen domes. Today there are three shrines and two major

mosques in the Khyber. One mosque built within the last century, the 'Ali Masjid,

commemorates the place where the Prophet's grandson is alleged to have stopped and

prayed. Despite the proximity of mosques, with the exception of Friday, most Khyber

Muslims prefer to pray in the safety of their homes at night. Despite the pervasiveness of

Akbar S. Ahmed, Millennium and Charisma among the Pathan: A Critical Essay in Social Anthropology (London; Routledge, 1976), 7.

Ahmed, Pukhtun Economy, 106. 154

Islam, the shari'a, as Olivier Roy notes, is subordinate to the practice of pushtunwali}*

Thus, whenever the shari'a conflicts with tribal law, the latter will prevail in a judgment.

Pathans do not as a rule subordinate themselves to religious leaders. When they followed religious leaders into jihad against the British in the nineteenth century, the alliance was always temporary. However, as Akbar Ahmed points out, in his own mind the Pathan does not consider himself any less Muslim."

Pathan devotion to Islam notwithstanding, Akbar Ahmed, who once served as

Political Agent for the Khyber, observes that the Pathan view Sufism as an alternative to

Islam and for this reason consciously reject it. According to Ahmed, Islam as practiced by the Afridi takes the form of "everyday tribal lore and descent memory."'® In addition, the

Pathan notion of ghairat or self-determination prevents Pathans from subordinating themselves to any system or individual." More than anything else, ghairat explains the lack of pir veneration among them and the dearth of Sufi centers in Afndiland.'* For these

'•* Roy, Islam and Resistance, 34-36.

Ahmed, Millennium and Charisma, 6.

'® Ahmed, Pukhtun Economy, 113-114. While in the Khyber jail in October 1996,1 met a Shinwari who admined to gunning down three Sunni men who had insult^ his honor. When asked why he did it he replied, "It was God's will."

Ghairat informs an illustrative Pathan story, probably apocryphal, reading pirs. A holy man went to the Afiridi of the Tirah and chastized them for not possessing a single saint's shrine. The A^di wasted no time in coming up with a solution; they killed the holy man on the spot and constructed a shrine over his remains. Ahmed, Millennium and Charisma, SO.

Historically, one of a number of exceptions to this was an A&idi Sufi, Sa>-yid Akbar. A Naqshbandi, he participated along with Hadda-i Sahib in the uprising against the British in 1897. Through i^ormants, I was able to confirm the existence of at least two other Sufis currently living in the Khyber one in the remote Tirah, the other near Landi Kotal is a khalifa of Saiiur Rahman. 155

reasons, Afridi practice of Islam does not go beyond simple observance of basic Islamic

practices. Indeed, it is often tinged with a simple conservatism that makes them more

receptive to scripturalists such as Panj Pirs.

Aside from the clannish nature of Pathan society, a number of other factors make

the Khyber the most unstable of the tribal agencies in the NWFP. Criminals seeking to get

beyond the reach of the law often take advantage of a Pathan custom (panQ), which

requires a landlord to grant asylum to anyone who requests it." Once inside the agency,

fugitives customarily enter into a client-patron relationship with their sponsors. There is

also the huge illicit market in consumer goods destined for Pakistan. The Khyber serves as

a major conduit for these goods smuggled into Afghanistan from Dubai and Central Asia

and then into Pakistan. Another problem is the lively trade in guns, which is a kind of

Pathan national pastime. Virtually every able-bodied Pathan male carries a rifle (lopak). To

satisfy the great demand, small weapons factories in the Khyber excel in replicating the

latest sidearm or rifle. One of the legacies of the Soviet-Afghan war has been a huge

proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, further fueling instability in these areas. In

October 1996, for example, the Aka Khel Afhdis fired sixteen rockets at their southern

" The only exception to this is in the case of adultery. See M. Ibrahim Atayee, A Dictionary of the Terminology of Pushtun's Tribal Customary Law and Usages, trans. A. Shinwary (Kabul; Academy of Sciences, 1979), 73.

^ A U.S.-sponsored program to eliminate Stinger missiles from the black market has been largely unsuccessful, and they- are traded clandestinely. The head of the Sipah clan in Bara told me that for the right price I could obtain one of these Stingers. 156

neighbors, the Orakzai in a tribal dispute.^' This level of fighting occurs on a regular basis

in the Khyber.

In recent years another element has been added to the equation; narcotics, chiefly

heroin. Although opium has been cultivated in the region for centuries, the Khomeini

regime's crackdown on the drug trade in Iran forced many heroin processors to relocate

to Pakistan's tribal belt where they now operate with relative impunity. Poppy cultivation

and processing occur chiefly in the remote southern part of the Khyber known as the

Tirah. Heroin is processed in makeshift "bathtub" laboratories. From there it is smuggled

through Pakistan and onward to Europe and the U.S. Periodically, under pressure from

the United States, the Pakistani government conducts armed raids on suspected heroin

labs in the Khyber. One such raid in December 1996 was supported by 8,000 soldiers and

resulted in the bulldozing of a number of houses where heroin labs were believed to be

operating. The Afridi may retaliate against these measures by kidnapping a foreigner in

order to embarrass the government in the international community. In a few cases, when

payment is refused, foreigners have been executed.^ As the major tribal town on the

border of Peshawar Distria, Bara is a chokepoint for weapons trading, criminals. Illicit

•' The International Mews (Islamabad), 29 October 1996, 1.

~ Although Pakistanis ma}' also be kidnapped, foreigners are usually targeted in the belief that; 1) their governments can afford to pay the exorbitant ransom demanded, or 2) it mil reveal to the international community Pakistan's weakness and lack of control over the tribes. 157

consumer goods, and narcotics. As a consequence, it is a most dangerous area for

Pakistanis and foreigners alike.^

Bara town is a rude stand of adobe and clapboard stalls straddling the main road.

The town is boisterous and noisy by day and somnolent by night. Occasionally, when the

Pir's disciples come to town to shop, they may overhear sneers of disapproval from

passers-by, but they are otherwise unmolested. The shops consist of welders, charcoal

venders, crude mechanics, metal workers, and other craftsmen. The bazaar is segregated

on the basis of clan so that one clan may not own or operate a shop in another clan's

precincts. There is also a fruit and vegetable bazaar where produce from the Bara valley is

sold. Mule and horse-driven carts, buses, cars, push slowly and chaotically through the

narrow streets. What makes this image different from most Third World scenes is that the

myriad clandestine activities going on produce a palpable tension that can erupt into

violence at any moment. The ubiquitous Pakistani police in Bara, when not on the lookout

for suspicious activity, are likely participants in it.

The Afiidi have given the Fir refuge on the basis of two tribal customs that form

the cornerstones of Pathan social life. One is pondthe right of refuge which must be

granted to anyone who requests it. Another is melmastT, the granting of hospitality to a

guest. Normally, when pond' is granted, the recipient enters into a patron-client

^ Most of the information on the drug trade in Pakistan I acquired in Peshawar in 1990-1991 while serving as research direaor for a U.S.A.IJ).-sponsored project to control opium production in Afghanistan. 1S8 relationship with the landlord or khan. Because the Pir, as a religious leader, cannot by definition subordinate himself to Pathan custom, his status is that of a guest. He lives in

Afndiland so long as the Afridi tolerate his presence there.

At first glance, Saifiar's decision to settle in Bara among an unfriendly tribe and in a lawless region may seem fraught with the potential for trouble. Furthermore, Pakistani law prohibits foreign ownership of property in either the settled districts or the tribal agencies. Thus, his residence, the buildings, and other fixed assets would never have any permanent, legally protected status. Despite these drawbacks, the Khyber offers a number of unique advantages. During the war, it placed him closer to his disciples who were fighting in the jihad. His hospice provided mujahidin a place they could come for spiritual guidance, or merely to find temporary respite from the horrors of the war. In addition, since the khSmqdh is located in the farming district of Bara, its relative isolation affords a degree of privacy and protection fi"om the kind of hostile, conservative religious groups he had encountered in Noushera and which occur in Pakistan's urban areas.^"* Finally, his refugee status precludes a tribal role for him, nor is he called upon to play such a role among Afghans in his nearby native region. The Pir's relocation to the Khyber Agency has provided him a liminal place reminiscent of the Mullah of Hadda.^^ Saiflir has been able to

'* For a discussion of the spatial distribution of these groups in Pakistan, see Jamal Malik, "Dynamics among Traditional Religious Scholars."

^ This liminal status recalls the career of a nineteenth-centuiy pir in Saifiir's Qadiri line, Najm al-Din Akhundzada or Hadda-i Sahib. After being conferred with the khalifate by the Akhund of Swat, Najm went off to establish his own hospice, not in his native region, but in eastern Nangarhar Province. Da\id Edwards points out that Najm created "a unique ideological and sodal niche for himself" In Nangarhar. 159 set the terms of his engagement. Betwixt and between the political turmoil in Afghanistan and the religious sectarianism of Pakistan's settled areas, he can operate a madrasa and khOnaqdh and concentrate relatively unhindered on the spiritual education of his murad.

The KhanaqQh: Physical Layout and Characteristics

In his brief study of Sufism in Afghanistan, anthropologist Bo Utas notes that the khdnaqdh (pi. khawSniq) typically performs four functions: it is a hospice for disciples and

visitors, the site of a mosque and madrasa, the seat of the pir and his family, and lastly, the

shrine of his forefathers.^® There is no shrine at the Bara khSnaqdh because of its recent establishment and also because succession is non-lineal. Taken together the three other functions of the Saifiyya hospice give a picture of Sufism that is anything but in decline or disarray, in part because of the profound social dislocations wrought by nearly twenty years of civil war in Afghanistan.

The mother lodge is located about eight kilometers north-west of Bara. A large green and white sign posted along the main road announces Murshid Abad, nestled amid

Afiidi farms at the end of a kilometer-long private drive. The hospice is styled in the manner of an Afndi kilai or fortress home (see Fig. 4.1); the buildings face inward so that

he had no kinship connections, lying beyond the complex matrix of kinship and uibe that defined his native society. See Da\id Edu-ards. Heroes of the Age.

^ Bo Utas, "Notes on Sufi Orders and KhanaqOs" Afghanistan Journal 7, no. 2 (1980): 60-67. Fi^re 4.1 Site Layout of the Bara KhamqSh

1. Pir's house 2. Pir's yard 3. mosque 4. langar 5 disciples'quarters 6. khalifa house 7. showers 8. kitchen 9. parking 10. apartment 14 11. stable 12. Afridi house 13. bazaar 14. latrines 15. ablution deck 16. drainage pond 17. woodshed 18. miluab DD •D Road to Landi Kolal 13

Road to Bara Key: gate < stone wall road 12 Tootpath * canal scale: 20 yds. •U] 12 OOS 161 the rear walls of outlying structures serve as fortification fi-om the outside. When the three large metal gates of the khdnaqdh are closed at night, it becomes virtually impenetrable.

Through the visitors' entrance on the left side sits the mosque, greatly expanded in the past five years. In view of the continuing internecine fighting in Afghanistan, the Pir has decided to settle here for the long term, thus necessitating the creation of a more elaborate structure to accommodate the growing number of Pakistani disciples. Formerly a small, one-room affair that opened onto a concrete platform, today the mosque is a large, three-story adobe structure. The mosque proper is on the ground level, its expansive floor carpeted handsomely in blue felt. Pillars of white marble from the nearby Mullagori mine support a high ceiling. Save for the mihrab, which recently acquired a facade in blue tile, the walls of the mosque are for the most part windowless and unadorned. The second floor, still unfinished, has another prayer hall to accommodate visitors during annual festivals, such as 'urs, when for three days upwards of ten thousand people a day may be present. On each level of the building are several outlying rooms. Some are living quarters for permanent residents or visitors. An important room in the mosque is the madrasa/day- care center for the roughly twenty male and female toddlers at the hospice. Others rooms serve as both bedroom and office. One such room, for example, houses a book repository for the order's dozen publications as well as other books on Islam. In another room, a disciple runs a store of audiocassette tapes. These office/bedrooms are small—ten by fifteen feet—and may be shared by up to five disciples. Despite the cramped conditions, disciples, whether novice or advanced, are always willing to make room for newcomers. 162

The top floor has an open air common area and a small apartment and library containing several hundred books. The library is managed by a Canadian khalifa, a permanent resident, who a few years back began a project to build a complete library for the kh&naqSh. An 'alim, he travels to the Middle East periodically to collect works in Arabic and Persian on fiqh, kalOm, hadith, tafsTx, and ta^awwuf (mysticism), as well as scholarly

Western literature on these subjects.

Across from the mosque are two rows of showers, an ablution area, and a crude adobe dugout with several small cells for resident murSd. It was in one of these cells that I stayed when I first arrived. They are extremely small and partly subterranean which makes them damp and dark in winter but relatively cool in summer. Some disciples affix newspaper or colored paper to the walls and ceiling, this as much to dress up the room as to reduce the dust from constant cracking of the adobe. I slept on the floor and occasionally in the dark of night could hear mice crawling about the room.

There is little discernible rank or social order in terms of the housing arrangements.

Many elder khalifas share their tiny cells with visitors, another khalifa, or a resident novice. Some of the more scholarly khalifas share their rooms on a permanent basis with boys and the arrangement is striking by the near complete absence of friction among them.

If a visitor comes to the khSmqSh for a few days or even months, a place will always be made for him in one of these rooms. On weekends when dozens of disciples come from 163 distant areas, most of them sleep and take their meals in the mosque. They are provided bedding, which is stored in large bins in various parts of the hospice.

Despite the congenial atmosphere, not everyone in the khOnaqQh gets along. As in the larger world outside, disciples tend to form their own cliques. These cliques seem to be occasioned more by differences in personality than education, wealth, or standing in the community.^' As an example, one evening one of the elder idialifas, Malang Sahib, invited me to his cell to perform spiritual concentration (tawajjuh) on me while I ate dinner. I failed to appear, later telling my offended host that 1 had gone to someone else's room to eat (where I would be more comfortable). He chided me saying, "Why did you go to

Kohistani's room? That old man talks too much! Right now, you should be in tawajjuh as much as possible." Scholars often make too much of the notion of brotherhood and the collective sense of belonging. Indeed, there are disciples who fraternize little at the lodge.

On the north side of the mosque is a large open-air kitchen where at mealtime huge twenty-five gallon pots simmer over wood fires. Here too, animals are butchered and cleaned. Generally three disciples take turns preparing the meals, one a teenage disciple, the others khalifas. To the west of the mosque, are two small rooms (langar) adjoining the backside of the Pir's house. One of them contains another small library. These rooms are important, as they are used fi-equently for a variety of purposes: dining, receiving guests, or conducting informal spiritual exercises.

^ One might expect that Europeans in a foreign land would tend to cluster together. In fact, just the opposite was the case; their relations with each other were cool at best. 164

Across from the langar and separated by a courtyard is a shelter open on one side.

When the weather favors (roughly February to November), the Pir often sits with his

disciples here or receives visitors especially during festivals. Since some of the visitors are

opponents of Sufism who come to engage him in debate, the Pir has placed his own

substantial library on the wall behind his chair in an effort to impress upon them the extent

of his religious knowledge.^* The display of the library is partly symbolic, part of the

construction of his public persona. It also serves a polemic function. To his opponents

who cite Sunni source-texts to support their argument, he is signaling that he, too, is

steeped in the texts. To the rear of the common areas are two single room apartments,

originally buih by Austrian disciples, who have since relocated permanently in

Afghanistan. A stable housing six milking cows is adjacent to the apartments. A rear gate

leads to the latrine and farm fields.

The khSnaqSh also comprises several outlying residences. The largest is a duplex owned by the senior resident khalifa. He rents half of the unit to a German family now permanently residing at Murshid Abad. On the north side of the Pir's house is a modest adobe home of a Nangarhari family of disciples. Father and sons are dehqdnSn, sharecroppers for an Afridi landlord. They work several acres of land adjacent to the hospice and in Aka Zhel a few kilometers to the west. Farther West is a large, walled

^ These meetings are cordial with the Pir animatedly leading the discussion and quoting copiously from the Qur'an. hadith, and other sources to prove a point. At these times the Pir would often send for me as evidence that his influence was so great it drew Westerners to his khdnaqah. 165 compound owned by a wealthy young Afghan khalifa and his family. Attached to the southeast comer of the khSnaqSh is the only structure older than the khdnaqdh itself: the house of an Afridi sayyid family, also his disciples. (There are also four other houses near the khOnaqHh, which are owned by Afiidis who are not disciples of the Pir.)

The only area of the khdnaqSh proper that is strialy off limits to disciples is the

Pir's house. Adjacent to the mosque, it is occupied by his own family of four wives and twenty children, and by some of his adult offspring and their children, so that there are usually thirty persons in the house at a given time. Functionalists readily interpreted this kind of distancing as a symbolic strategy used to maintain authority. Quite the contrary, the Pir is highly accessible, spending several hours a day with his male disciples alone.

Restricting access to the Pir's house affords him a degree of privacy from what is, in fact, a highly public life. A more practical reason is that his house is the one place in the khdnaqdh where female disciples can conduct spiritual exercises with the Pir while maintaining the required segregation {purda) fi-om men.^ Apart fi-om visits by female disciples, at no time during my stay did I ever see anyone but family members entering or leaving the Pir's house. With few exceptions, even visiting senior khalifas are housed in vacant rooms in the mosque.

^ So strictly is purda observed that only once did 1 see a woman entering the Pir's house e\'en though married women from within the khOnaqah came almost daily. 166

Overall, the hospice was laid out with a thoughtful attention to the Pir's security.

As one approaches the hospice from the main road, the first structure one encounters is that of the Afndi family, symbolically signifying the Pir's protected status. Next come the public facilities of the khSmqah, the mosque, rooms, and so forth. At the end of the road and last in the sequence is the Pir's house, securely ensconced between the mosque and the outlying homes of his disciples.

Organizational Structure

The mother lodge outside Bara is the seat for all of its satellite khawQniq (see map

Fig.4.2). Many of these are still in major cities of Afghanistan, particularly the north;

Mayama, Mazar-i Sharif, Jalalabad, and Kabul. Some of the hospices in Afghanistan, such as the former seat in Archi, were completely destroyed during the war and have not been rebuilt. The khdnaqdh in Mazar-i Sharif has many Tajik and Uzbek murGd who periodically visit the mother lodge. There is also a substantial number of Sunni Hazara disciples from central Afghanistan.^" Whether the Bara khdnaqdh maintains ties with other lineal branches of the Mujaddidi family (if they still exist) is uncertain; however, as noted in Chapter Two, there is no formal link whatever between Saiflir Rahman and the main branch of the family.

^ An ethnic minorit}-, the Hazara are predominantly Shi'a. 167

Figure 4.2 Geograhic Distribution of the Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya Order

TATOaSTAN

jliwilpindi. •GHANISTAN'

Lahore

PAKISTAN

INDIA

• Indicates known lodges of the Saifiyya order Indicates disthbution of Saiii>ya disaples 168

In Pakistan, two large khawOniq in Lahore and Peshawar serve the provinces of the Northwest Frontier and the Punjab primarily. The khOnaqQh in Lahore is said to have between five and ten thousand disciples owing to the reputation of its khalifa, Mia Ahmad

Sahib, for possessing powerfiil baraka. There are also many small khawaniq in secondary cities of Pakistan and Afghanistan, many of which lack living, educational, and eating facilities, and serve simply as a gathering place to pray and conduct spiritual exercises.

Finally, in the past decade hospices have been established in Singapore, Japan, Austria, and France.^' Significantly, the Pir's following crosses not only tribal and regional lines, but international ones, too. It is customary {adab) for disciples living far fi-om the mother lodge to visit the Pir at least once a year. Disciples who have the means, however, visit the mother lodge a few days each month to obtain the baraka afforded by his physical company.

The order's hierarchy is highly informal, loosely structured, and decentralized.

Saiflx Rahman's spiritual supremacy is recognized on the basis of three criteria; 1) lineage

(he is the designated successor of Maulana Hashim); 2) the extent to which he exemplifies the Prophetic sunna; and 3) the power of his baraka. Beneath Saifur Raliman are a number of other pirs, and even pirs of pirs (pfr-/ pTrSn), linked to the khOnaqQh. Many of these

The hospices in foreign countries have insignificant foUowings. The French khanaqah south of Paris, for example, has fourteen disciples. When I expressed surprise at the small number, a French murtd replied; "^You know how it is today. The very word 'Islam' in France suggests notions of fundamentalism 169 pirs do not have their own hospice; nor do they desire one, preferring the life of householders.^^ These pirs have their own coterie of disciples whom they meet in a variety of formal and informal settings. There is a very definite correlation between the size of a pir's (or khalifa's) following and his reputation for spiritual power. Because these disciples work with their own pirs, they may vish the Bara khQmqah infrequently. If pirs do possess a modest khdnaqsh, it is used mainly as a gathering place for performing prayer and spiritual exercises. Otherwise, disciples may call on their pirs (or khalifas) at their homes at any time.

At the next level of the hierarchy are the khalifas. There are two kinds of khalifa in the Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya order. The mukhlid {"plMukhSlid) is an unconditional khalifa, authorized to teach the suliik of inner development and the practice of dhikr (see Chapter

Five). Depending on the means at his disposal and the size of his following, he may have his own khanaqSh. One mukhlid khalifa lives at the Bara site and functions as the Pir's deputy. A few mukhdlid often have their own contingent of disciples who function as orderlies. They prepare their murskid's lodging and bring him water for ablutions, food, and otherwise tend to his welfare. I never witnessed this phenomenon among Afghans or or terrorist activities. And when you stop to consider how many persons are really searching for the truth, it is not surprising how few we r^ly are,"

Although many disciples, pirs or otherwise, held professional jobs in Afghanistan before the war. in Pakistan, a country with severe economic woes of its own, they have been forced to take up a living as merchants of one sort or another. 170 northern Pakistanis, but I did among the murOd of the Punjab, suggesting strongly the influence of the highly devotional style of Brelwi Sufism "

Unlike the mukhlid, the muqayyid is authorized to teach only the dhikr and may not instruct the disciple in any other way without guidance from the Pir. The muqayyid is often designated after as little as four or five months of practice so that today there are roughly twenty-five to thirty thousand such khalifas of Saifijr Rahman in Pakistan and

Afghanistan.^'* To keep track of these deputations,, the mother lodge maintains a hand­ written register. Each time a khalifa is deputized, the secretary records by hand the individual's name, address, and type of investiture in a small notebook. The register serves a number of purposes. First, given the possibility for fraudulent claims or disputes over spiritual commissions, the register permits the khdnaqdh to verify that those teaching the tarrqa have been properly authorized. Second, the register is a handy reference, providing an Afghan who plans to move to Baghlan province, for example, the names of disciples and teachers who live in the area.

Upon investiture of the khalifate, each khalifa receives a document (//dra ndma) elaborately signed in green ink by Saifur Rahman authorizing him/her to teach. In a few

In keeping with the devotional tone of Breiwis, some Punjabi khalifas prefer disciples to kiss their hand upon greeting. Once when I greeted a Punjabi khalifa with a handshake, he responded by taking my hand and kissing it, therdiy commimicating his preference for this act of obeisance. This practice seems to be used with more discretion among khalifas north of the Punjab or shuimed altogether.

" Ostensibly, the first to distinguish the two kinds of khalifas n-as Ahmad Sirhindi. His son, Muhammad Ma'sum was the first to designate khalifas in large numbers; he had over seven thousand. 171

cases, the Pir has given the ijOza nSma to khalifas inunediately after they have taken

initiation (bay'a). When asked about the practice of designating so many khalifas, one

disciple explained it as the Pir's way of addressing the perceived urgency of contemporary

life with its decline in moral values and increasing secularization.

Significantly, while ail of the adult male descendants of the Pir are khalifas, the

most senior khalifas are not members of the family. His elder sons are khalifas, but they

have little or no personal following in the order. Therefore, they will unlikely be chosen

for succession and will have little basis for contesting their father's choice of successor.

Succession will very likely be non-lineal as it has been since Shah Rasul Taloqani. Non-

lineal succession would underscore the importance the Pir places on identifying a qualified

individual to carry on the lineage. Disciples believe that two individuals currently stand out

as potential successors largely because of the force of their baraka. These khalifas

represent a bifurcation of the order along national, regional, and linguistic lines; Afghans follow Ruhani Sahib in Peshawar. Pakistanis, especially those of the Punjab who do not speak Pashtu or Dari, follow Mia Ahmad in Lahore.

In Afghanistan and Pakistan today there are an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 disciples of the Saifiyya branch. The means of their introduction to the order are as diverse as the individuals themselves. Some are following the practice of their fathers, though not necessarily the same pir or silsila. Others come to the Saifiyya lodge out of dissatisfaction with other pirs. One murJd from Lahore said, "I visited many so-called pirs but received little from them in the way of grace. They did not have a life of the hean (hayydt-i qalbt). 172

Since they themselves are not spiritually alive, how can they awaken someone else? You should avoid such persons."

Less frequent cases involve premonitory dreams in which Muslims (non-Sufis) encounter the Pir or are instructed to go to him. For example, a Pakistani, Muhammad

Abid Hussein, was living in Medina where he used to frequent the tomb of the Prophet.

His city visa had expired and the Saudi government refused to renew it. Distraught at the prospect of being unable to visit the Prophet's shrine, he went to it and prayed for guidance. That night he had a dream in which the Prophet appeared to him saying, "Don't be upset. In your country there is a Pir, Saifiir Rahman, who is my khalifa. Go and take bay 'a and sit with him. Sitting {suhba) with him is like sitting with me."^'

This dream-vision tends to contradict Katz's assertion that shaikhs claim such privileged dreams of the Prophet in order to carve out a leadership role in society. To the contrary, many disciples, who harbor no ambitions to lead, also experience dream-visions.

Moreover, they serve many purposes, including leading an individual to his or her shaikh.

Consider the following case of a European khalifa, who is now a permanent resident of the khSnaqdh. He believes his move to Bara was presaged in a series of dreams his wife had years before they had any interest in Islam. In his words;

We were still living in our house in Europe. One night my wife had a dream in which a flying carpet arrived at the house. Both of us climbed on it and we were

Aminullah, Hidayat. 225-227. 173

taken a greirt distance toward the east. When she looked down she could see a mountainous, arid land with camels on the landscape. At that point, the carpet started to descend to a house. In front of the house was standing a man in a large white beard and turban.^^

An extraordinary case, by no means unique according to disciples, concerns a

German. A non-Muslim living in Germany, he heard Saifur Rahman's voice on a cassette tape and was seized by ecstasy (jadhba). Determined to meet the holy man who had such a profound effect on him, he traveled to the Bara khanaqSh. When the Pir walked into the mosque and came into the German's physical presence, the latter again went into ecstasy, tearing so violently at his clothing that he ripped open his stomach flesh in the process. He stayed in Bara a few weeks during which time he was invested with the mukhlid khalifate.

From time to time, disciples cite stories such as these as evidence of Saiflir

Rahman's spiritual distinction. Contrary to Cruise O'Brien's assertion, these stories do not play a significant role in the furtherance of his reputation or maintenance of his authority."

To begin with, "'baraka stories" are not much discussed inside or outside the khSnaqSh.

To do so would be redundant, for the effects of the Pir's baraka (or faid) are evinced every day in the mosque. Furthermore, if a disciple does not respond to the Pir's faid, he is readily encouraged to work with other pirs or khali&s who are also recognized as

^ Since taking initiation, the woman's premonitoiy dreams occur regularly. (See also her first e.xperience of dhikr descnbed in Chapter Five).

Cruise O'Brien, Introduction to Charisma and Brotherhood. 174

possessors of powerful fai^ themselves. Discussion of miracles, which Cruise O'Brien

believes are used to further a shaikh's reputation, is, in fact, eschewed as a distraction

from one's sulak.

On what basis does a disciple chose a teacher? Mystical literature asserts that it is

the shaikh who finds his disciple by drawing him near with the power of his spiritual

attraction or fai^i. While the some of the stories cited above may exemplify just such an

attraction, more commonly disciples exercise a great deal of choice in whom they choose

to follow as pTr-i ^hba and pTr-i talqln. A number of obvious practical considerations

guide the khalifa-wwrif/ relationship: proximity, age, language, ethnic group, nationality, to

name some. Yet, the fact that many associations are not formed on the basis of these

factors alone, or in spite of them, suggests other dynamics at work. Two factors

sometimes interrelated are personal affinity and the disciple's sensitivity to the khalifa's

faid. A salient example is that of a young French khalifa who resides in France but visits

his own pir in Peshawar once a year. The French khalifa has a number of Afghan disciples,

some of whom are much older than himself Why would an Afghan choose a khalifa he sees infrequently over Saifur Rahman himself or other pirs whom he could see on a daily basis? Between the French khalifa and one of his disciples. Mama Jan, there was a bond that transcended these strictly practical considerations. When the khalifa complained of aches induced by his long flight to Pakistan, Mama Jan attentively massaged his back and 175

legs. When Mama Jan had finished, the French khalifa reached over and slapped Mama

Jan's left breast, instantly activating his heart dhikr (see Chapter Five).^'

Generally, Pir Saifur Rahman and his khalifas give bay'a to most everyone who

requests it. However, some aspirants are rejected as unsuitable. In one case, a German had

traveled to Bara to take initiation with the Pir who flatly refused. Disciples say reasons for

the Pir's refusal are known only to him. Conversely, some individuals come to the khSnaqah, take bay'a, and within a matter of days leave dissatisfied, never to return.

In his treatment of disciples, be they pirs or novices, the Pir is an impeccable, if demanding, egalitarian. However, early in my tutelage, when I was growing a beard, the

Pir told me to shave my mustache. I looked around the room at the other disciples and voiced my observation that all of the other disciples (except the librarian) had mustaches.

"Of course," said the librarian as if I had overlooked the obvious, "they're illiterate." This distinction suggests the Pir expects more of his educated disciples in terms of their imitation of the sunna than he does uneducated ones.

At the outermost margins of the khdnaqdh's sphere of influence are those Muslims who are not disciples of Pir Saifur Rahman. Non-Sufis, these Muslims limit their religious engagement to observance of the shari'a and have no formal ties to the order. This is an

^ While this kind of behavior might indicate homose.xuality, I did not witness anything even remotely suggesting homosexual relations at the khanaqoh which would certainly have led to the dismissal of the murad involved as the shari'a prohibits it. I myself was frequently hugged even kissed on the neck by some disciples. However, as these acts always occurred immediately after dhikr seances, I interpret them as a spontaneous expression of a non-sexual love. 176 amorphous group whose attendance is so irregular as to defy estimates as to their number.

A few dozen come regularly to the hospice for Friday prayer, a day made more sacred by the presence of a holy man. Beyond these regular attendees, there are several hundred individuals from the Peshawar area who will visit the khOnaqOh at least once in their lives to pay homage to a holy man. These individuals cover a wide spectrum of social classes and occupations. In some cases, their attitude toward the Pir and his disciples may be analogous to that of some lay Christians toward monks of their own faith: that is, they recognize a depth and commitment to their religion that they themselves do not have, nor wish to cultivate. In other cases, responsibilities of work or family shed later in life provide the freedom to pursue a latent interest in Sufism. For example, after retiring from his job as Political Counselor for the U.S. Consulate, a Pakistani, who holds a Ph.D. from the

University of Pennsylvania's Wharton School of Finance, began to attend the musical concerts {samO *) of the Chishtiyya order.

A final category of visitors concems travelers who use the kh&naqdh as a caravanserai, usually Afghans traveling between Pakistan and Afghanistan. Hospitality is always provided to wayfarers, and no requirements are made on them though donations are accepted. A few of these wayfarers are engaged in illegal activities such as smuggling antiquities from Afghanistan into Pakistan. Given the strict rules of comportment at the khOnaqdh, if such activity ever came to light, it would be frowned upon to say the least. 177

Like private madrasas in the region, instruction at the Saifiyya madrasa is highly

individualized and informal. Novices are required to begin study of basic texts on fiqh, the

systematic elaboration of legal prescriptions of the shari'a. One of the first texts assigned

to a novice is The Light of Explanation and the Salvation of the Spirits (Nur al- Idah wa

Najat al-Arwah) by an Egyptian 'alim, Shaikh Hassan ibn 'Ammar ibn 'Ali (d.l659).

Written in Arabic in the seventeenth century, the text is a compendium of Hanafi

prescriptions on ritual ablution. On a daily basis about ten to fifteen disciples are engaged

in such formal study. Generally, one goes to an individual who specializes in a particular

subject such as calligraphy, Arabic, or theology. A student then works individually with his

or her teacher, each day reading and discussing small portions of the text. When the book

is finished, a student may continue with the same teacher or move on to another. In the

beginning, I used to sit on a cushion on the top floor of the mosque reading early Sufi

texts in Arabic or some of Sirhindi's letters in Persian along with a khalifa. These readings

were always intended to drive home a point in my understanding or praaice. Textual study that did not enhance one's personal development (suluk) is regarded as fiivolous.

For the young, a day-care center is run by one of the khalifas who teaches the basics in

Arabic grammar and the Qur'an. Most of the toddlers at the khanaqdh are children of resident disciples. In a few cases, older children of single parents have been sent to the hospice to live and study fiill time. 178

Publications. The khQnaqQh publishes books in Arabic, Persian, Pashtu, and Urdu on the history of the Naqshbandiyya order, biographic sketches of key figures in the lineage, polemics on Islamic faith, and topics on Islam. A general analysis of these publications reveals more than the Pir's doctrinal orientation or position vis-a-vis his critics. To begin with, the Pir has not written a single one of these publications. Works attributed to him are actually transcriptions of impromptu talks, which typically occur during the practice of suhba (see Chapter Five). This underscores the emphasis he places on spiritual practice over and above the production of literature. Indeed, as the next chapter will illustrate the Pir spends most of his available time in spiritual exercise with male and female disciples.

The publications fall into two broad categories: polemic and historical. The polemic works, which make up the bulk of the order's publications, are mainly in Pashtu and aim at the tribal belt of Pakistan and Afghanistan. Clearly, what has occasioned these writings is the perceived need to refute his critics. These refutations, written mostly in

Pashtu, tend to be redundant with the same material appearing in two or more books. On the whole, the arguments in these works are poorly edited and organized, and reflect the overall lower standard of learning among Pathans. Texts take the form of the Pir's monologues with the discussion shifting randomly from one topic to the next often having

For a complete list of publications, see Appendix A. 179

little to do with the book's title. What comes through all of these works is the undisguised

vehemence with which the Naqshbandis regard their Wahabi opponents.

Not surprisingly, the more scholarly works on the history of the order are written

in Arabic and Persian. Though brief, these two works, Darrat al-bayan and TQrlkh-i

awliyQ\ aim at better-educated and wider audiences beyond the sub-continent. The

purpose of these works is to demonstrate the existence in Islam of a special group of men

referred to variously as pir (old man), shaikh (chief), tshdn (them), hazrat (lord), and

miSn (between). Their uniqueness lies in their ability to project a powerful blessing grace,

handed down from one shaikh to another since the time of the Prophet, which is the

gateway to perception of the spiritual realms. Both books contain detailed siisilas of its

preceptors, placing Saifiir at the confluence of all four of the orders in the sub-continent.

As Vincent Cornell notes, the exaltation of lineage "has the effect of rendering all other

bases of temporal authority irrelevant."""'ZPa/ra/ also contains brief biographies of some of

the recent foreign converts to Islam, who serve as evidence of the Fir's formidable role as qutb in attracting even non-Muslims to the fold. As Cornell observes, implicit in the concept of qutb or qudwa is the shaikh's role as the leader of a mass movement, an

Islamic revival to restore the original message of the Prophet.*' Notwithstanding these

** Cornell, The Logic of Analogy," 88.

•" Cornell, "Mystical Oocuine and Political Action," 230. 180 observations, the lack of co-ordination between authors of these works, their redundancy, and lack of systematic treatment of doctrinal and other issues suggests that the Saifiyya order does not accord a high priority to writing.

The Saifiyya also distribute cassette tapes (reproduced on a small recorder) of the order's dhikrQt and na'at khwanl, recitations by the Pir of Rumi's MaihnavT, and his lectures in Persian and Pashtu. In addition, two of the resident foreigners are fluent in

Arabic, Persian, and Urdu, and from time to time the Pir requests them to translate instructional material into English or another European language for the benefit of foreign visitors to the compound. Disciples also perform outreach activities. Typically, these involve refutations of the Tabligh-i Jama'at or Panj Pir in various formats, from the dissemination of posters to public debates. One day I saw the Pir listening to a heated debate on the radio between his murSd and Tablighis. It was held at a police station in

Peshawar so as to preclude the potential for violence. Apart from these activities, there are no efforts to recruit new members, nor is the murJd, once initiated, pressured in any way to come to the khSnaqQh.

As with living arrangements, work arrangements at the khdnaqSh are flexible. The assignment of chores follows no fixed rules or pecking order. Educated disciples tend to gravitate toward like activities such as running the library or the bookstore, but there are many exceptions to this rule. For example, some of the most scholarly khalifas at the hospice may often be found cleaning out the stables, completely soiled by the unsavory 181

task. Novices, on the other hand, are expressly asked not to work so as to have as much

time as possible to attend the many dhikr and ^hba sessions offered during the day in

order to awaken their dhikr.

Whether novice or khalifa, residents view the many chores involved in running the

hospice as their own, part of the responsibility of living and studying there. In some sense,

too, work provides a welcome respite from the intensity of spiritual practice, though

disciples are enjoined to be constantly in dhikr during their work. The alacrity with which

disciples assume their tasks and the number of available workers means that there is no

shortage of hands for everything from electrical re-wiring and machine repair to farming

and cooking. If there is need of a particular skill that cannot be found at the khdnaqdh, it

can almost always be found among disciples living in Peshawar. The result is a hospice

that is efficient, clean, tidy, and prosperous.

Economic Aspects

In discussing Shaikh al-'Alawi's zOwiya, Gellner observed that "there cleariy is a flow of goods and services upwards compensating for the spiritual flow downwards...'"*^

Spiritual flow indeed, yet Gellner failed to mention the material flow downward as well, for there are enormous expenses involved in running the khdnaqdh. A visitor to the

*' Ernest Gellner, Muslim Society (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), 146. Moreover Gellner stated that Shaikh al-'Alam guarded against abuse of this system for fear of engendering "puritan criticism." There is a latent cynicism here, for Gellner implied that the Shaikh's prudence in financial matters nas motivated more b>' fear of criticism than by innate honesty. 182

hospice, for instance, customarily receives three meals a day and is housed free of charge.

For short-term stays nothing is required; for long term ones they are expected to

contribute by assuming some of the daily chores. The Pir's burden of hospitality is greatest

Thursday to Friday when there are usually one hundred to one hundred and fifty disciples

present. Furthermore, electricity is sporadic in Bara— almost non-existent in summer— so

a diesel-powered generator must be run to light the mosque during exercises and prayer.

Finally, during investiture of the khalifate, the Pir often gives cash gifts of two hundred

rupees (five dollars) to disciples.*^

Based on the minimal income generated by the khamqah, it is difficult to see how

the Pir can bear these expenses. The absence of a shrine, so common a feature of hospices

in the sub-continent, deprives it of a major source of income. Income in the form of

donations from disciples is minimal, as the average Afghan or Pakistani disciple has little

disposable income. Usually upon arriving at the khdnaqQh, a disciple offers the Pir a cash

gift of five to ten rupees (12 to 25 cents). On Thursday evening a collection basket (a

recent invention of one of the sons) is passed around the mosque; not every one gives and

those who do contribute a few rupees so that the total take may be three to five hundred

rupees. Another means of income is that generated by the kh&naq&h itself through sale of

its literature and other products. On Friday morning after prayer, an open-air bookstall is set up offering the order's publications as well as other books. Because it is produced in-

While this sum may seem trifling, it represents about a week's wage in Afghanistan. 183

house, much of the literature sells for modest prices (i.e., one dollar). Cassette tapes of dhikr, na 'at khwanT, and some of the Pir's lectures and recitations are also for sale. Also, a

kiosk outside the mosque sells food, clothing, and other items of necessity. Some income is also received during the major festivals such as 'urs and hajy. Lastly, the thirty-acre farm disciples operate produces several tons of potato, com, and squash, which is sold in the

Bara market. Taken together the income generated by these activities may be sufficient to run the khdnaqah, but it is doubtfiil whether it could support the khdnaqdh's impressive expansion, other major capital expenses such as the tractor and the Pir's own large family.

Ostensibly, income is supplemented by donations from the Pir's wealthier disciples.

MateriaJs for the new mosque, for example, were paid for by such a disciple (the labor

provided by disciples) as was the Pir's new, all-terrain vehicle.

The Pir oversees all of these activities—the farm, the khdnaqdh, and construction projects—with an efficiency and energy that is astonishing. That he refuses to delegate these tasks entirely suggests a concern to guard against the potential for financial abuse to which his sons and even some of his khalifas have been prone. If a few disciples view these assets as opportunities for exploitation, the vast majority of disciples nonetheless consider them the necessary financial and logistical supports for the far more central and demanding task of spiritual development. 184

Qutb al-lrshod**

In his daily work with disciples lies the core of Pir Saifur Rahman's teaching mission. To them he is known as ''Mubdrak $3hib" "Blessed Master." An exemplary model of Prophetic behavior and the source of baraka, he fulfills his office with an energy that belies his seventy years of age and a host of serious ailments that include rheumatism, arthritis, high blood pressure, gastrointestinitis, peptic ulcer, sciatica, and migraine headaches. As Buehler notes, one of the features of the directing-shaikh is that he is like "a king in his court.'"*' He rarely leaves the hospice and seekers must come to him. Indeed, during the nine months I spent coming to the khQnaqQh, he left only once: to visit the shrine of his murshid, Maulana Hashim, on the anniversary of his death.

His routine varies little from day to day. Each day Mubarak Sahib wakes before dawn, performs ablutions {wudtl') and recites twelve rak'a of supererogatory prayers known as tahqjjud. He also performs two rak 'a after every ablution known as {tahiyya al- masjid). He then recites istighfSr six hundred twenty six times.^ If he misses istighfSr he

The qufb al-irshad (pole of the right v^ay) is a rank that Saiiiir has claimed. Another roughly equivalent rank is that of qayyUm, literally "the eternal," one of the ninety-nine names of God. The Mujaddidiyya/Saift}-}^ recognize three such figures since Sirhindi: Sirhindi himself, his son, Muhanunad Ma 'sum, and Muhammad Zubayr. Saifiu' has been called qayyOm by Sufi shaikhs of other orders.

Arthur F. Buehler, "Current of Sufism in Nineteenth-and Twentieth-Century Indo-Pakistan: An Overview," The Muslim World %1 (July-October 1997): 299-314.

^ An Arabic prayer formula meaning, "1 ask forgiveness fi'om (3od." 185 will make it up sometime during the day. Then, with his copper-plated walking stick in hand, he crosses the narrow drive that separates his house from the mosque to lead the morning prayer. He is always impeccably clad in an immaculate white turban and a colorful robe or khirqa. The khirqa symbolizes the time when the Prophet enclosed himself, 'Ali, Fatima, and their two sons in his own mantle {'aba)*^ At this hour he is usually solemn and, except to issue instructions to his attendants, he does not engage in conversation. He takes his place in front of the qibla to lead prayer. After prayer he recites either the Sura Ayat al-Kursi thirty-three times or the Sura Fatiha forty-one times which he requests his muradxo do as well.

After the Sura Yasin is read by the qari, a large white chair is drawn from one side and placed directly in front of the mihrab for one to two hours of ^hba.*^ Until few years ago, the Pir always sat on the floor, but in recent years, age and increasing weight have forced him to use a chair most of the time. During ^hba, the Pir is a tireless orchestrator, directing disciples to form a more even circle in front of him, correcting their posture, or calling for adjustment of the lights. On weekends when many more disciples are present, he will often eat breakfast in the mosque so as to extend the time for suhba. If he returns to his house to eat as he does during the week, he conducts ^hba with his female

AJgar. "Some Notes on the Naqshbandi TarTqa" 193.

^ $uhba is a practice of obtaining the Pit's baraka or blessing grace by gazing at his physical form, particularly his face. For more detailed discussion of this practice, see Chapter Five. 186

disciples who are not permitted in the mosque. When the sun rises, he performs four rak 'a

(Jshraq).

By late morning, if not at home with special visitors or family, Mubarak Sahib can

usually be found in the larger langar again conducting ^hba. The purpose of these

informal gatherings is not to socialize, and the conversation rarely takes the form of casual

conversation. Occasionally, a visitor may come to request a special dispensation from the

Pir such as a prayer or counsel. The Pir regards these ?uhba sessions as serious business,

an opportunity for the disciple to furthering his/her spiritual advancement. Once, when I

decided to forego ^hba and go for a walk, he chastised me for missing the session.

Despite the purposeful nature of suhba, the Pir is relaxed, talking animatedly about a

variety of issues: trouble he is having with the Panj Pirs, how he was betrayed by a

disciple, doctrinal points of hadith or fiqh, all the while fi-eely quoting from the Qur'an,

MathnavT, or Sirhindi's MaktubQt. Sometimes he sends an assistant to fetch a text he

wishes to consult. He always seems to know precisely the page he wishes to cite and his

knowledge of the texts is prodigious. Once during suhba, a disciple was reading from the

A/a/Artovr while the Pir was talking with us. Whenever the disciple misread a word, the Pir

never failed to notice, correcting the disciple so quickly as to not break stride in his

conversation. 187

At lunch time, Mubarak Sahib returns to his house where he will read three suras

from the Qur'an. Then he may spend time with his large family. After a short rest, he

prepares for the noon prayer (zuhr). After this prayer, he recites either the Sura Nur or the

Fatiha. This prayer is usually followed by an intense one to two hour formal dhikr session.

As with the morning ?uhba, the Pir is constantly at work during dhikr, directing someone

to move closer to him, others to spread out and make room for late arrivals, giving bay 'a

to newcomers, or chiding those looking around when they should be focusing on him or

one of the khalifas. Usually, these dhikr sessions are so long that they stretch into the

afternoon prayer ('osr). After prayer, he recites Sura Amma. Then, along with the

advanced disciples, he recites the khatm-i khwajagSn as well as individual prayers to

Ahmad Sirhindi, Baha' al-Din Naqshband and 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani."*' At the conclusion

of dhikr, he returns to his house where he performs six more rak 'a, then recites the Sura

Yasin and Sura Wakia.

He returns to the mosque for evening prayer imaghrib). Then he may call for another session of dhikr. On Thursday nights, he always eats dinner with disciples so that

The khatm or recitation signifies the complete recitation of the Qur'an. The khatm-i khwajagan, or "recitation of the masters" is used to designate a partial recitation of those chapters which are considered to embody the essence of the Qur'an. They were not part of early Naqshbandi practice and var>- considerably from one order to the ne.\t. The complete Mujaddidi/Saifi formula consists of the following; seven repetitions of the Sura Fatiha, istighfitr (lOO), durHd-i sharTf (100), Sura 'Alam Nashrah (79), Sura Ikhlas (1,000), Sura Fatiha (7), and durlld-i sharJf (100). This may be followed by khatm-i Abu Bakr: durOd-i sharTf (100), istighftr (5(X)), and durOd-i sharTf {lOOy, followed b>' the khatm-i khulafi'-i silsila ('Umar, 'Uthman, and 'Ali): durad (100), istighfiJr (500) and durSd (100); followed by khatm-i Xiujaddid 'Alf al-ThOnT: duiHd (100). istigh/ilr (500), and durSd (100). 188

those visiting for the weekend can get as much time as possible in ^hba with him. Dinner

is followed by the night prayer. One never knows at what time the night prayer will take

place so that the disciple is kept in a state of readiness until the alert is sounded chat he is

heading for the mosque; the call, "SalQtP' reverberates throughout the khGnaqOh. Several

years ago, when he was healthier, the Pir would wait until midnight to lead the prayer.'"

After prayer he recites Sura Malik or Sura 'Alam. Before retiring for the night, he recites

thirty-six muraqabdt, the Naqshbandi prayers of contemplation (see Appendix C). Three

times a year such as on the twenty-seventh day of Ramadan, he prays all night. During

Ramadan he will also recite the entire Qur'an.

In the beginning, I would always look for Mubarak Sahib to abandon his formality

toward us. In time I came to realize that I was projecting my own model of role behavior onto him. I assumed that there were two sides to his personality; an outward "role model" and an inner self at variance with this socially-constructed self Yet he lives so fully the sunna of the Prophet that there is in reality only one person: the living embodiment of the teaching. He never forgets the slightest thing said in passing or jest. Indeed, in time I learned he said very little that was not intended in some way to edify or instruct. Once, for example, some poorly dressed Iraqi students came from Lahore to meet the Pir about whom they had heard so much. When the Pir was introduced to them after night prayer,

^ A khalifa told me that several years ago. when the great pirs were younger, the>' would stay up all night in the mosque with disciples, counseling, answering questions, and bestowing baraka. I witnessed just such an all night affair during my 1990 Nisit to the khanaqSh. 189 whereas the rest of us were tired and anxious for bed, the Pir began to lecture them on the proper dress for a Muslim.''

Even though each disciple is at a different stage on their sulUk, the Pir plays no favorites. His treatment of others is consistently measured by the extent to which they live up to the teachings. Perhaps, for this reason, he is harsher toward more advanced practitioners than beginners. I once saw him delay dhikr for twenty minutes while he berated one of his most senior khalifas in front of the entire congregation for mistakes the latter made in the Friday sermon.

So much is Mubarak Sahib at the disposal of his disciples, male and female, that it leaves little time for his family. His youngest children, anxious to see more of their father, often wander into the mosque during ^hba. Standing behind his chair, they playfully touch the tail of his turban while murSd shake and groan on the floor in front of him. By now the children have become inured to disciples' behavior. The Pir never displays any affeaion or attention to his children in public, and his spiritual work with disciples is always uppermost in his mind.

The distracting demands of his office and the privileged life his children enjoy has made his adult sons, who are khalifas, spoiled and corrupt. Yet he has not hesitated to berate them in front of the congregation as "worthless to me." He makes this indictment in

Although the Iraqis may have visited Sufis in their o^»'n country, judging from their wide-eyed consternation at the disciples' behavior in the mosque, they clearly had never before seen anything like it. 190

his capacity as a religious leader, publicly acknowledging their failure to live up to the

shari'a. Despite his dissatisfaction with his sons, as a father he refuses to disown them.

"What can I do?" he asks, "They are my family." Given his exacting standards, their

shortcomings must be a sore point in his life.

Although the Pir lacks a public facade, there do seem to be two dimensions to him.

One is the stem lawgiver, who brooks no laxness in observance of the sunna. In this he is

an indefatigable ombudsman, chastising murOd for carelessness in their dress, length of

turban, or beard. Whenever I came to the mosque, he never failed to scrutinize my

appearance and to comment. My pants were too long, my turban too small, my visits too

brief He once ordered a man out of the mosque who had entered improperly, leading with

his left foot instead of his right. Another time an old Afghan, impoverished and decrepit,

came into the mosque during siihba. He crawled on his belly toward the Pir, sobbing. I

expected the Pir to take pity on this old man, but instead he chided him for his pathetic

behavior. Later, I was told that this kind of behavior is called pir worship {pTr parastT). It

is forbidden by the sunna and the sort of thing for which his critics attack him. Another

time a disciple came to ask him to make an amulet (^tawlz) to improve his relationship with

his wife. Whereas he freely makes them for persons who are ill, in this instance the Pir

refused, for such an amulet is majriih, or undesirable meddling, according to the sunna.

This stem, demanding aspect of Mubarak Sahib, is an expression of a teacher who is, in fact, gentle, compassionate, and thoroughly devoted to his disciples. Early on, when 191

I complained to a khalifa that the Pir was constantly criticizing me, he said, "don't you

understand, he loves you?" Indeed, if I was absent more than two weeks from the

khdnaqa he would, upon seeing me again, inquire as to my health and reasons I was not

coming more often. This, despite the fact that in the intervening period he might have seen

over a thousand individuals. He is so attentive to each murJid that each feels he is the

object of the Pir's special attention. During suhba he intuitively knew when I wanted to sit

in front with the khalifas when there were dozens of other disciples in the mosque

clamouring for the same attention. At these times, he would beckon me to the front with a

warm smile. If he is demanding of his disciples, it is because he struggles ceaselessly to

close the gap between where they are and where they need to be in order to participate

fiilly in a life of the spirit.

A few years ago, Mubarak Sahib went to a village in Afghanistan to seek treatment for an ailment. When villagers heard that he was in town, they flocked to his house in the hope of sitting with him in ^hba. Even though he was sick, he not only sat with his disciples but also did so into the wee hours of the morning. His life is one of constant service to his disciples whom he calls "my moral children." The title, "Mubarak Sahib," is not a mere honorific given to a religious authority, but a titular afBrmation of a being who bestows a real, tangible blessedness on all who approach him sincerely and avail themselves of it. An impeccable exemplar of his religion and an inexhaustible source of 192 baraka, disciples say that when he passes, there is no Naqshbandi pir alive capable of matching his formidable spiritual power or exacting moral standards."

Conclusion

With his own country in the throes of a protracted civil war, in the Khyber Saiflir

Rahman has found a liminal place from which to conduct his teaching mission. Afridi disdain for pirs obviates a tribal role for him, which seems to suit his own preference for focusing on the spiritual education of his disciples. In addition, by moving to a rural area he keeps spatially apart from Pakistan's urban areas where more secular and Wahabi influences predominate. Yet, that the Pir rarely leaves his lodge may be dictated by factors beyond his control such as his advanced age and the numerous threats to this life. Thus, while Buehler's typology of the directing-shaikh is usefial, one must avoid applying it too rigidly.

Despite the Pir's tenuous position in the BChyber, his order not only survives but also thrives. Institutional factors often cited to explain such success are a high degree of centralization, regulation, and hierarchy. However, these attributes are noticeably absent in the Saifiyya order. Economic factors commonly cited are also absent, as the Saifiyya does not benefit from ofScial patronage, substantial land holdings, or shrine visitation. In part, the order's continued strength is attributable to its linguistic and cultural compatibility

Roy has noted that, as a result of the alienation of young Afghans from Sufism, there are too few- Afghans willing to succeed pirs. To the contrary, it stems not from an absence of willing replacements so much as a lack of truly qualified ones. Roy, ''Sufism in the Afghan Resistance,'" 61. 193 with the Khyber region. While the increase in new Afghan members may be attributed in part to the social upheaval in Afghanistan, significantly the order does not fulfill traditional social and economic needs in this regard. More importantly, the rapid training and dispatching of khalifas and the designation of larger numbers of junior khalifas are instrumental missionary tools for gaining adherents within and outside the region. These disciples, moreover, are able to operate apart fi-om and outside the mother hospice. They are held together by intense person-to-person relationships. However, these relationships are not built on fi-atemal solidarity, a fijnction usually implied in the terms, "brotherhood" and "lodge." Rather, they are built on intense devotional ties between men as well as between women and their chosen murshid. As Le Gall found in her study of the

Naqshbandiyya in Turkey, it is this devotion that inspires the modest but cumulative financial support of its followers. The fans et origo of this devotion is the subject of the next chapter. 194

CHAPTER FIVE

THE BLESSING PRESENCE OF MUBARAK SAHIB

By the time Islamic scholar Arthur Buehler first arrived at the Bara lodge in 1991, he had already toured many Punjabi lodges in a fruitless search for a "real" Naqshbandi shaikh. The Saifiyya lodge in Bara, he wrote, "was the only one where I witnessed

Naqshbandis praaicing the spiritual exercises according to the long-established

Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi tradition described in books."' Plr Saiflir Rahman, he observed, had not abandoned the spiritual practices and displays of spiritual energy used by his predecessors. This chapter will explore Pir Saifur Rahman's spiritual teaching style and other components of the Naqshbandi/Mujaddidi/Saifiyya universe. As the core component of the Pir's religious mission, it accounts for the order's continued popularity and growth not only in the sub-continent but also around the world.

The Spiritual World of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya

Sirhindi's synthesis of shari'a and tarTqa. As mentioned in Chapter Two, Sirhindi is the pivotal figure in the thought and practice of the Naqshbandiyya order in the sub­ continent today. It was Sirhindi who provided the most elaborate analysis of mystical states as well as more specific methods for attaining them. Significantly, his insights were

' Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet, xviii. 195

based on his own mystical experiences, which, he claimed, took him beyond ontological

levels previous Sufis had attained. On the basis of his own spiritual experiences, Sirhindi claimed that the true mystic path rests on three mutually interdependent pillars; acceptance of the credal dogma {'aqlda), adherence to the law (shari'a), and mystical education

{tarlqa). In synthesizing these three elements, Sirhindi maintained he was merely reafBrming the original Prophetic revelation, underscoring the primacy of the Prophetic ideal as the model sine qua non for spiritual development.^ Instead of self-mortification (a common practice of Hindu sadhus), the disciple should cultivate both a desire to perform the shari'a and a devotion to the exemplary behavior of the Prophet. In modeling themselves after the Prophetic ideal, the Saifiyya order believes it is recreating in minute detail the historical era when the Prophet instructed his own companions. In my own study at the khOnaqSh, the unity of shari'a and tarlqa was repeatedly stressed in various ways.

Reading Arabic manuscripts of early Sufis with a khalifa, I was struck by the number of early writers who went to great lengths to convey that performance of shari'a is the central aspect of Sufi spiritual life, not merely a support to it.^ Early in my apprenticeship,

I complained of the amount of detail involved in observance of the shari'a in daily life.

^ A later Naqshbandi, Mir Dard (d. 178S), would call this path farXqa Muhamadiyya.

^ Buehler, whose view is representative of scholarly thinking on the subject, suggests that the shari'a is merely a foundation for the work of spiritual development, but Sirhindi would disagree with this. See Buehler, "Charisma and Exemplar," 112. 196

When word of my frustration was conveyed to the Pir, he said, "Tell A.imad that it is in the attention to detail that this path lies."

Philosophically, one of the reformulations common to revival movements concerned

Sirfiindi's opposition to the doctrine of yvahtka al-wujud or oneness of being. First formulated by the thirteenth-century Spanish/Arab mystic Ibn al-'Arabi (d.l240), the doctrine defines the relationship between God and creation. Through the writings of the Persian mystical poets, the doctrine made its way into India where it found common ground in the Hindu philosophy of

Advaita Vedanta or existential monism.'* According to the wujud position, creation is i"usory, therefore the mystic must annihilate himself in God who alone exists. For such Identity to be possible, however, humans must be a direct emanation of the divine. Combined with Vedanta, the emanationist philosophy of wujud threatened to turn into full-blown pantheism, thereby opening the way to antinomian behavior.

To counter what Sirhindi perceived as the pantheistic tendencies of wujud, he formulated the philosophy of wahdat al-shuhud, or unity of witness.^ According to this doctrine, the entire universe is pervaded by a common existence, an existence at once immanent and transcendent. Beyond this, however, lies the original and uncreated existence of God, which is beyond the reach of the mystic. Sirhindi attacked Sufis who declared unitive experience to be the highest and most complete stage of spiritual life,

•* Metcalf, Islamic Revival. 39. 197 arguing that such a state was incomplete and partly illusory. He maintained that the wujud position actually denied God's oneness and encouraged believers to be lax in matters of law. On the basis of his claim to have discovered still higher levels of awareness, Sirhindi maintained Ibn al-'Arabi's philosophy reflected the lesser stage of sainthood or fanQ'.

Beyond fanCi' lay the higher stage of baqd \ a stage to whose heights only a few had ever reached. In haq&' the Sufi returned to the created world transfigured to guide others in the mystic path. Beyond this stage lay the uncreated oneness of God {ahadiyya) and His formless essence ('ay/; al-dhst) both of which are unattainable by man.® The shuhud position is seen as a qualified duality necessary for realizing divine oneness.' These differences are reflected in Naqshbandi cosmology.

According to Naqshbandi cosmology (see Fig. 5.1), the world is created by God's eternal and uncreated formless essence ('apj-i dhdt)} Sirhindi maintained that although

God created the world, there was nonetheless no relationship between the world and His

^ Mole speculates that Naqshbandi resistance to Ibn 'Arabi's doctrine may be an expression of its Malamati heritage. See Mold, "Autour du Dard Mansour."

^ The belief that both oneness and formless essence are beyond man's conscious reach is at variance with other Sufi theosophical systems, including those of some Mujaddidi thinkers themselves. The differences may owe more to theological than mystical differences.

^ Sirhindi's argument is not entirely consistent intellectually, maintaining that the ecstatic utterances of Sufis like Ba)'azid al-Bistami (d.848) and Mansur al

' For the elaboration of Naqshbandi cosmolog>\ I am inddited to Ahmad Javaid, Iqbal Academy, Lahore. 198

Figure 5.1 The Naqshbandi Cosmology

Formless Essence ('ayn-i dMt)

quality of wholeness {sha 'n-i jSmt)

Oneness {ahadiyya)

stage of baqQ' or wilQyat al-kiibrS

differentiated attributes Uniqueness {al-asmS' wa al-sifQt) and {wahidiyya) forms of creation in source of first four lata 'if divine knowledge

Circle of Contineent Existence (da 'ira-i imkOn ) 199 formless essence. Formless essence gives rise to four levels of manifestation, each level descending from subtle qualities (latTfa) toward gross material existence {kathTf). The first level of manifestation is called oneness {ahadiyya) or essence (dh&t). It is connected to the formless essence by a transitional realm called the quality of wholeness isha 'n-i pml), which acts as a bridge between the uncreated and created realms. The second level of manifestation, wahdat, has two levels: unity of essence represents the oneness of the divine self whose attributes at this stage are undifferentiated. At the lower level of wahdat is the unity of being, which contains the principles or seeds of the divine attributes

{j^ifQt). The third level of manifestation, the wahidiyya, contains the differentiated attributes. The eight divine attributes {?ifSt-i dhdt-i haqTqt) qualify God through affirmation, (i.e., life, power, and knowledge), while the attributes of negation {sif&t-i salbiyya) deny all imperfections in God while affirming His otherness (i.e.. He has no equal, no beginning, or end); the positive attributes (sifQt-i fi Tiyyd) describe Him in terms similar to the eight attributes: merciful, lifegiver, creator, and so forth. The fourth level of manifestation contains man and the created worid together called the circle of contingent existence (diJ "ira-i imkSn). On the upper level of the circle lies the 'Qlam al-amr, or world of divine command. Insofar as the '&lam al-amr is linked to the higher levels of manifestation, it represents the macrocosm. Its direction is one of ascent and God's unity 200 of essence is the goal or end of the journey. On the lower level of the circle is the 'alam al-khalq, or world of creation, the gross physical world which comprises the four elements and man's nqfs or lower nature. The'dlam al-khalq represents the microcosm, and its direction is one of descent.'

Between these two worlds is the 'Qlam al-mithal. It is a world of ideas or images where abstract forms exist prior to their creation in material form. These abstract ideas are identical to the Platonic archetypes. They represent a creative, imaginal realm that gives form to the material world. As a deeper realm of consciousness, 'Slam al-mithal is also the source of Sufi visions, dreams, and spiritual contaa with teachers. They play an important role in spiritual life, providing guidance, spiritual commissions and initiations, and directing disciples to their choice of shaikh.

The two worlds of divine command and divine creation, of ascent and descent, macrocosm and microcosm, have their confluence in man. For man simultaneously inhabits all three dimensions of created existence: body, mind, and spirit. The relationship may be depicted as such;

Man Creator < spirit—mind—body > Created 'Qlam al-amr rSh 'aql jism 'Slam al-khalq

' Marcia Hermansen notes that these two worlds are based on Qur'anic tenninolcgy and have a long history in Sufi thought. See Marcia Hermansen, "Shah Wali Allah's Theory- of the Subtle Spiritual Centers {lata'ij): A Sufi Model of Personhood and Self-Transformation," youma/ of Near Eastern Studies 47, no. 1 (1988); 1-25. 201

Most individuals (i.e., non-Sufis) are aware only of the first two domains; body and mind.

Each of these domains has its own modes of perception and relational exchange or association. The body, rooted in time and subject to processes of growth and decay, employs the five senses to mediate the external world. The mind, too, lies in the temporal domain and its function is to interpret or attach meaning to what the bodily senses convey.

It does this using its own five "senses": memory, imagination, thinking, hallucination, and desire. Insofar as body and mind are subject to temporality, they caimot perceive divine reality. However, they do employ symbols to represent it. While man creates these symbols, he does not create the reality that is independent of these symbols.'"

Spiritual Ascent: the LatS 'if

The Saifiyya believe that each tarTqa has its own unique principle or method for ascent to the divine. The Chishti method, for example, is based on the principle of going beyond "I am-ness" or sense of a separate self Their methods emphasize activities that provoke ecstasy such as the spiritual concert {soma") and total submission to the shaikh.

The Qadiri technique, on the other hand, seeks to undermine self-structures with rigorous ascetic practices such as fasting and long prayer vigils.

The Saifiyya shun such practices, maintaining that theirs is the best and fastest path to God. Whereas mystical experience is the end point of the other orders, in the

Ahmad Javaid, interview b\' author Iqbal Academy, Lahore, 20-21 January 1997. 202

Naqshbandi system, the disciple receives a taste (dhawq) of mystical experience at the outset of apprenticeship. Sirhindi called this "indirdj-i nihOya dar bidSya" (inclusion of the end in the beginning). As one khalifa put it, "in the Naqshbandiyya order you get the grace right at the outset of practice and not at the end like the others." Naqshbandis do not begin the process of spiritual transformation in the world of creation. To begin the process there would entail a struggle with one's nqfs or lower (i.e., non-spiritual) nature through self-mortification. While Sirhindi believed that self-mortification could cleanse the nqfs, the process alone could not lead to the world of divine command. Spiritual ascent begins with infijsion of baraka in the heart {qalb) latTfa, which is located in the world of divine command. Sirhindi claimed that the significance of the heart in spiritual discipline was affirmed by Baha' al-Din Naqshband." The term "Naqshband" signifies the shaikh's imprinting or fixing {band) the sign (naqsh) "Allah" in Arabic in the disciple's heart.

In the Naqshbandi system the essential technique for attaining the transcendental realms is "the permanent remembrance of God" or dhikr. Through the practice of dhikr, the seeker is able to transcend mind and body and attain awareness of God. A network of seven subtle centers in the body called lata'if (sing. latT/a) form the basis of the

Naqshbandi spiritual path, for they serve the purpose of this permanent remembrance or dhikr. The term latlfa derives fi-om the Arabic word latTf, meaning "sensitive or subtle."

First mentioned by Sufi contemporaries of Ahmad ibn al-Junaid (d.910), it was more

" Sirhindi, A/fflfcrfffwir. 1: 104-137. 203

systematically developed by the Central Asian Kubrawi Sufis especially 'Ala Uddawla

Simnani (d. 1336).'^

The lata 'if have been alternately described as subtle centers, sheaths, fields, or

bodies. To describe them as subtle centers, however, can be misleading, for the latS 'if

have no real fixed location and could be anywhere in the body." Logically, If they were

fixed, they would be bound by the temporal worid.'*' Furthermore, while dense matter is

subject to the laws of time and space, the lata 'if are subject only to laws of space. The

lata'if are trans-temporal. As Warren Fusfeld observes, the latQ'if are "local

manifestations of identically named parts of a higher realm of the cosmological structure

which is above the realm of created things."" In providing a fi-amework to facilitate the disciple's reception of divine grace, the latQ'if provide a morphology for the spirit's

For a brief and interesting discussion of the historical development of the lafa'if see Buehler, "Charisma and Exemplar," 116-120. While Buehler notes that it is not possible to determine which shaikhs developed the system of lafa% he fails to consider Prophetic origins. Although difficult to establish historically, logically, if the grace necessary for spiritual transformation originates with the appearance of the Prophet, then the lafa'if may have originated mutatis mutandis with him as well. Indeed, Naqshbandis maintain that in principle the lata 'if existed at the time of the Prophet and were later more thoroughly articulated.

Ahmad Javaid, interview by author, Iqbal Academy, Lahore, 20-21 January 1997.

The one exception to this may be the heart, which is the only subtle center linked to a particular organ of the body. Similarly, in Hinduism the heart is the location of one of the chakras.

Warren Fusfeld, "The Shaping of Sufi Leadership in Delhi: The Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiy>a, 1750- 1920," (Ph.D. diss.. University of Pennsylvania, 1981), 91. 204 descent and attachment to the human frame.Naqshbandis maintain that the lat&'if form the morphological basis for Sufism found in some form in all Sufi orders and without which it cannot be Sufism.

The lata'if represent ontological levels which, like the body/mind, possess their own inward senses {hawds bstint). The thirteenth-century Iranian Kubrawi Sufi, Najm al-

Din Razi (d.l256) warned not to conflate the functioning of the lata'if with that of the other senses:

In the same way that none of the five outer senses can interfere with the functioning of another, hearing being unable to perceive the visible... so too none of the five inner senses can interfere with the functioning of another. The intelligence cannot perceive that which is visible to the heart...Thus when those who survey the rationally comprehensible with the gaze of the intelligence {'aqt) wished to survey the world of the heart, the mystery, the spirit, and the arcane, again using their fettered intelligence in ignorance of that which the heart beholds and the other degrees of perception, inevitably their intelligence fell into the trap of philosophy and heresy.''

The first five lata'if (see Figure 5.2) are located within the world of divine command. The last two lata 'if are located in the world of creation. The first four lata 'if

Compare the similarit}- of Suii morpholog}' with the subtle centers found in the Hindu chakra system. There are seven chakras arranged along the spinal line, the last, the sahasrara also occurs at the crown of the head. A Naqshbandi scholar told me the lata 'if were directly analogous to these Hindu chakras.

" Najm al-Din Razi, The Path of God's Bondsman from Origin to Return, trans. Hamid Algar (Delmar. New York: Caravan, 1982), 138-139. 205

Figure 5.2 The Spiritual Morphology of the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya

World of Divine Command {'Slam al-amr)

lafifa: Location Domain Prophet Color

qalh below left breast Divine actions, Adam Yellow (bean) Divine attributes

nlh below right breast AflBrmative anributes Abraham Red (spirit) Noah

sirr above left breast Essential attributes Moses WTiite (mystery) khqft above right breast Negative attributes Jesus Black (arcanum) akhfa' sternum Divine self Muhammad Green (higher arcanum)

World of Creation {'Ulam ai-khaiq) nqfs center of forehead egoic self, passions or soul (soul) qQlab crovkTi of head the four elements air, fire, water, earth (physical body) 206 are linked to God's differentiated attributes in wahidiyya from which they receive their baraka. The fifth originates in wahdat. Each latlfa is associated with a particular color and prophet who is believed to have specialized in that particular latTfa}^ The first latlfa is the heart ifialb) located two inches below the left nipple; its color is yellow, and its prophet is

Adam, the first man. The second, spirit (rffA), is located two fingers below the right breast opposite the heart; its color is red, and its prophet is Abraham. On the left side of the breast above the heart lies the mystery (5/rr); its color is white, and its prophet is Moses.

On the right side opposite the sirr is the arcane (khaft), its color is white, and its prophet is Jesus. The vertical passage between the four latG'if corresponds physically to the sternum and is called the higher arcane (akhfS), its color is green, and its Prophet is

Muhammad. Muhammad thus represents the apex of the world of divine command. The next latlfa is the soul {nqfs) located in the middle of the forehead between the eyes. The last latlfa, the qdlab, corresponds to the physical body and is composed of the four basic elements; water, air, earth, and fire. Each successive latTfa both includes and transcends

Disciples say that the dominant color of the latlfa can be seen at each stage when the ejes are closed. When two centers are activated at the same time, a mbcture of their respective colors appears. However, not all disciples experience colors, and it is thought to be an experience in a realm inferior to the spiritual called the "psjchic." 207 the previous one. Thus, the first four centers are enfolded and completed in the fifth or akhfa^^

Each la^Tfa has a particular set of moral and contemplative practices required for its mastery to "brighten" it, as one khalifa said. Qalh requires the disciple to cultivate humility, perform long prayers, and prayers of repentance (istighfSr). The domain of nth enjoins the murld to ignore this world {tasbih) and to fast. At this stage, the disciple may experience visions {mushShadOt). In the domain of sirr, the murfd follows the law

(shari'a) and is morally steadfast (mustaqmi') within. In khaft one must be God-fearing and avoid things which are permissible for other Musluns. The murld should also recite the divine negation and reject all doubts {mushtSbihS). One feels the love of God at this stage. In akhfS one follows the inner sunna and recites personal prayer {du'd). At this stage, the disciple gains ma'rifa or gnostic wisdom. The akhfS stage in wahdat marks the stage of a wall or saint. Wahdat is thus the highest attainable stage for man. Beyond this lies God's essence, which is experientially unattainable though conceivable. Formless essence, on the other hand, lies even beyond man's ability to conceive. Humans can come

" The akhfi laflfa was added by Najm al-Oin Razi. 'Ala al-Dauia Simnani added the last two. See Razi. The Path of God's Bondsman, 18. 208

to know only the divine self but never God's formless essence.^" The last two lats 'if, nqfs

and qSlab, are rooted in the physical world. Within qQlab are four additional latQ 'if which

have their origin in the four spiritual latS 'if. Water derives from ruh, fire from sirr, air

from khafl, and earth from akhfS. The origin of the nqfs is in the qalb. It is always possible

for the disciple to backslide, and once achieved no stage is fixed or permanent.

Activating the Lata 'if

The lata'if are activated by God's original divine effulgence {baraka) through the

agency of the shaikh. This effulgence passed down from God to the shaikh via Muhammad

and the silsila of Naqshbandi preceptors. While many Sufi manuals adduce the specific

qualifications of a true shaikh or pir, none is more important to the process of spiritual

transformation than his possession of baraka, faid, or tawajjuh, it provides the catalyst for

the disciple's spiritual transformation.^' Without the Pir's faid the aspirant cannot progress

on his/her own devices, for such action lies within the created world. For this reason, the

dominant value in the Saifiyya order is tawajjuh, the ability to project baraka. While baraka emanates from all of the khalifas, it emanates most forcefully from the Pir.

^ Naqshbandi writers distinguish many more degrees or stages along the way. For a more detailed elaboration of these, see Fusfeld, The Shaping of Sufi Leadership," 94-103.

*' Although these terms have slightly different meanings, they essentially refer to the Pir's emanation of divine grace. Originally the term baraka appeared in the Qur'an but only in the plural signi^ing "blessings." In addition to its presence in the bo(^' of the shaikh, baraka is also found to varying degrees in the tomb sites of saints and holy men. In Hinduism, the term used to describe this power is shakti. 209

Obtaining baraka is the reason for visiting and residing at the hospice and accounts in large measure for the authority and reverence the Pir commands among his disciples. As important as baraka is, no one lays claim to controlling baraka. Rather, Naqshbandis say baraka originates from God, khalifas and pirs serving both as repositories and conduits for its transmission to others.

Cruise O'Brien explained the reverence for the shaikh as motivated by anxious individuals in the grip of social crisis. Robert Canfield, too, noted that the reason for the pir's pivotal role is that he is "thought (my ital.) to possess special spiritual or moral qualities." Canfield adds, "this belief (my ital.) in walls was the ultimate cultural basis for the pir's Influence."^^ What ever he understands the true nature of baraka to be, Canfield's implication is that the wall's power cannot be demonstrated empirically. Both he and

Cruise O'Brien assign the operative principle to belief, failing to grasp the radical transformative power inherent in baraka. Indeed, as the data below indicate, baraka is a spiritual force that exists prior to ideation.

In the Naqshbandiyya tarTqa, typically the Pir first bestows this baraka in the disciple's heart at the time of initiation {bay'a) by placing his four fingers on the heart latlfa and pronouncing the name "Allah." three times.^ At this stage, the disciple is to

" Canfield, '^Islamic Coalitions in Bamyaa," 216.

^ In my own e.\perience, Salfiir Rahman began the process the day I arrived at the khonaqah before I had taken fornial initiation, an act one of his khalifas said he had never seen done before. I attribute this to the 210 some extent a passive recipient in the process. Subsequently, the murld is given training and instruction designed to attract and to become more sensitive to the Pir's efiRiigence.

He/she receives guidance in observance of the sunna (with the aim of subduing or controlling the nqfs)\ the disciple is also required to progressively perform more advanced spiritual exercises in order to open the latS 'if. The Pir always begins with the heart latTfa, and one cannot advance on the spiritual path until it is first opened. Thus, the qalb is the first and most important latlfa. Thereafter, the Pir initiates each latTfa when he deems the disciple is prepared to undertake the next step.^'*

Tawajjuh. The term tawajjuh comes from wajh or face in Arabic and means

"facing" or "confi-ontation." It was originally used to denote the act of facing the qiblah during prayer.^ The Qur'anic basis of the term is the statement by Abraham, "I have turned my face towards Him who created the heavens and the earth" [VI]. In the

Naqshbandi system, tawajjuh signifies the khalifa's projection of baraka in order to

fact that I had been there five years before and had returned for the express purpose of studying at the khOnaqah. For a description of a Naqshbandi initiation, see Appendix D.

*** Not all such initiations are in the Pir's physical presence, however. One khalifa/scholar related the story of Niu* Muhammad who. after his first initiation, received akhJS initiation. Surprised the Pir had forgotten the intervening three lata'if, Nur pointed this out to him. The Pir replied, "Don't you remember I gave them to you in a dream." Upon hearing this, Nur suddenly recalled the dream and fell into a state of ecstasy (wq/"rf).

^ Trimingham, The Sufi Orders, 213. 211

awaken the disciple's Metcalf has written that tawqjjuh does not produce as

dramatic results as does ta^caruf, but can create an immediate spiritual experience, a

perception of the higher realms, in the person involved.^ To the contrary, tawqjjuh is the

principal exercise for awaking dhikr in the disciple's heart. Not only does Pir Saiflir

Rahman perform tawqjjuh, but khalifas and even advanced disciples also perform it. As an

aid to tawqjjuh the khalifa may envision his own heart filled with the Muhammadan light

via the silsila of Naqshbandi teachers which in turn is directed outward toward the

disciple. Others simply concentrate their gaze on the disciple's heart latTfa or whichever

latlfa the latter is working on.

Tawqjjuh can take place at any time or place and there is nothing intrinsically formal about the process. Once I went to the khdnaqdh in Pabbi Station to see Ruhani

Sahib. Upon greeting me in the parking lot, he smiled broadly and said, "'Insha 'llah, we will get your dhikr going this weekend." Then, reaching over with his right hand, he

placed it on my heart and began tawqjjuh while we stood waiting for our car to arrive.

Often the khalifa performs tawqjjuh on the disciple during casual conversation between them. The khalifa often alternates his concentration from one latTfa to another in an effort

According to Balkhi, Shah 'Abdul 'Aziz Dihlawi distinguished four kinds of tawajjuh-. inversion {nakasT), infusion {qa 7), improvement {saioht), and Snal unity Qttihadt antihO)

Ta$arruf indicates application or expenditure. Oflen used interchangeably with tawajjuh, more precisely, it signifies the concentration of the shaikh's attention to affea those at a distance. Often it is 212

to Stimulate them. Usually, the practice occurs when the disciple is in casual conversation

without either one even once mentioning the practice. Whenever possible, the disciple

should focus his gaze on the khalifa's eyes or face and eliminate distracting thoughts.^^

An integral part in awakening the lafa'if, tawajjuh also cleanses the disciple of

impurities in the form of destructive habits or undesirable behavior, that is, actions not in

conformity with the shari'a. During tawajjuh it is not possible for the khalifa to absorb the

murTefs destructive habits. However, insofar as faitj is projected outward from khalifa to

disciple, it is possible for the murJd to absorb lingering impurities in the khalifa.

Notwithstanding the one-way nature of the transference, khalifas sometimes experience

symptoms of nausea, intense headaches, or fatigue following tawajjuh. The Pir, too, is said

to suffer these unpleasant after-effects. Indeed, some of his health problems are attributed

to the negative effects induced by tawajjuh. From the disciple's perspective, I found it not

so much mentally as physically exhausting. After an hour's practice, I was so exhausted

that I was forced to lie down for an hour. One day I communicated my fatigue to a khalifa,

he said, "Yes, in the beginning it's like this. I got very tired too. This is the Naqshbandi

way, lots of tawajjuh, and ^thba followed by plenty of rest and huge quantities of food."

used to bring persons to the regular practice of Islam or to compliment the instruction of disciples. There was little mention of this practice in the Saifiyya order. See Metcalf, Islamic Revival, 172,175.

^ In his discussion of Naqshbandi practices, Michel Chodidewicz fails to mention the disciple's active role in tawajjuh. See Michel Chodkiewicz, Techniques spirituelles," 69-82. 213

Dhikr. As in most other Sufi orders the organized seances of the Naqshbandiyya

order are completely separate from the ritual salat^ The first and most essential practice

by which the murTd seeks to awaken the lafU 'if is through the practice of dhikr. Dhikr

derives from the Arabic root dhakara, which occurs frequently in the Qur'an as believers

are enjoined to "remember" God. Among the many Qur'anic verses cited by Sufis to

support this practice is; "Remember God with frequent remembrance and glorify Him

morning and evening" [33:41], Although used by early Sufis as a means of excluding

distractions and drawing nearer to God, with the development of the orders in the twelfth

century it became a fixed ritual.^" There are basically two types of dhikr: dhikr jSlT (vocal)

and dhikr khqft (silent). Naqshbandis perform silent dhikr exclusively. They believe the

Prophet instructed Abu Bakr in this method while he and the Prophet were secluded in a

cave during the migration from Mecca to Medina.^' The practice was later regularized by

Baha' al-Din Naqshband." Of importance in dhikr are the divine names used in the

remembrance of God. The Mujaddidiyya employ two basic types of dhikr khafi formulae.

^ However, ecstasies produced during dhikr do spill over into ritual prayer, often with disruptive consequences.

^ Trimiiighanu The Sufi Orders, 194.

Hamid Algar, "Some Notes on the Naqshbandi Tartqat in Bosnia," Die IVeit des Isiams 134 (1971), 18S.

Baha' al-Din claimed to have received silent dhikr directly from the disembodied spirit of Ghujuwani. 214

The first, dhikr-i ism-i dhat, entails pronouncement of one of the names of God alone,

"Allah," or "HQ " (He) considered the essence of the divine name "

Because dhikr 5eeks to blot out all contents of awareness except the name of God alone, anthropologist Richard Tapper has characterized it as an activity that induces a kind of trance state.^"* To the contrary, dhikr is methodologically sophisticated and seeks to intensify awareness, not dull it. The disciple should sit cross-legged, his hands joined together, usually the left hand clasping the right wrist. He should not recline against anything or on his hands." He should relax, clear his mind, and try to open himself to the shaikh's faid. Ideally, dhikr is performed in the physical presence of a pir or anyone emanating ^/f/. The optimum position is to sit directly across and as close as possible to the shaikh. One gazes at his visage {tasawwur-i shaikh) while silently repeating the divine

" Buehier belie\'es AJgar has confused dhikr qalbl (heart) Hith dhikr khaft (silent). Yet, when the disciple is woridng on the heart laflfa, the t^^o practices are synonymous.

^ This argument sounds simplistic, yet it is precisely the one Richard Tapper used to explain Suflsm in the tribal area. Tapper dichotomized between the learned 'ulama and mystics whose pursuit of ecstatic e.xperience he characterized as irrational. In classic structuralist style, Tapper said it is the poor and ignorant who pursue ecstatic practices, which are related ''partly to ethnic and historical self-conceptions and partly to social organization." For this reason, "men with secular power or social claims to religious piety and learning take an ambivalent attitude to Sufi activities." To the contrary, many Sufis are 'ulama and respeaed as such for their learning. Tapper's argument fails to account for the Pir's following among the Afghan elite and the increasing number of educated Westerners coming to the khanaqah to pursue "ecstatic practices." Consequently, while the dichotomy between the prosperous/leamed/rational versus indigent/ignorant/ecstatic may well be valid in certain cases, it clearly does not hold up in the case of the Naqshbandijya/Saifiyya order. See Richard Tapper, "Holier Than Thou: Islam in Three Tribal Societies," in Islean in Tribal Societies: from the Atlas to the Indus, ed. Akbar S. Ahmed and David M. Hart (London; Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984), 244-263.

This position is analogous to those used in Hindu Yoga and Zen Buddhism. The difference lies mainly in the position of the hands and their emphasis on a perfectly erect spine. 215 name "Allah, Allah, Allah," concentrating it on the region just below the left breast defined as the heart latlfa. Additionally, one may picture the name "Allah" inscribed in Arabic on the heart. When not in the Pir's physical presence, one may focus on a mental image of him."

In the Bara khGnaqdh, formal dhikr seances are held two or three times every day for about an hour to two hours at a time.'^ The Pir is always present at these sessions. In fact, during the nine months of this study, I did not see him absent from a single one.

Apart from formal sessions, dhikr is considered a constant process, and murQd must endeavor to be constantly in dhikr as the Pir is said to be. The reason for this is that dhikr is an ongoing, cleansing process designed to overcome the appetitive self {nafs) and activate the lata 'if, thereby bringing the disciple closer to God.

In keeping with the precepts of their lineage, the Naqshbandi/Saifi shun the use of musical instruments or dancing during dhikr, distinguishing it from many other orders. The only voluntary movement permitred is a rocking from side to side, or other subtle, rhythmical movement of the body used to attune one to the dhikr's inner rhythm. Strictly speaking, there is no samS' or spiritual concert. However, during the Thursday evening dhikr, disciples chant na'at khwOnT and hymns of praise to the Pir, joined by a chorus of

^ Representations of the Pir in photos or drawings are shunned. The rejection of such images likely stems fix>m the Islamic proscription against visual representation of the Prophet.

The only exception to this is during the month of Ramadan when, because of the rigors of fasting, the schedule is reduc^ 216 five disciples, chanting, Hu, Hu, HHP'' Despite the absence of musical instruments, the efifect is very much like a concert. Nonetheless, the rhythmic exuberance generated by such activities are no more than supports to dhikr, as evidenced by the fact that many seances are completely devoid of them.

Dhikr al-ha^a. Following is a description of a formal dhikr al-hadra, or communal seance, in the presence of the Pir.^* After noon prayer {zuhr\ the Pir takes his seat facing the congregation with his back to the qiblah. With the Pir forming the top center, disciples form an oval stretching out from him. The khalifas (i.e., those with the most faid) sit at the top of the oval on both sides of the Pir. If other pirs or senior khalifas are present, they sit closest to Mubarak Sahib. On Thursday disciples are constantly drifting in so that the oval is constantly expanding, eventually reaching the perimeter of the mosque. This circular formation does not signify a turning away from the world. Rather, mursd face khalifas in order to obtain their faid. Marbles are distributed to the advanced murad and to Mubarak Sahib as a device to aid the counting of prayers.^' The qari sits to the left and several persons removed from the Pir. He begins melodiously chanting verses from the Qur'an as disciples begin dhikr. For their part, khalifas shift their gaze from one disciple to another, usually those whom they know or are instructed by the Pir or another

^ This session occurred on 9 February 1997. Compare this with the somewhat mechanical performance in Algar's account of a dhikr seance in Bosnia in Algar, "Some Notes on the Naqshbandi TarTqat in Bosnia," 168-203.

These are the khatm-i khwajagOn. 217 khalifa to assist. In a few minutes the silence is broken by several shouts: "Yd'llahP' or

"Hu! Allah! Har Others begin hissing, weeping, or laughing.

As the intensity of the seance builds, some disciples are now on their feet. One is in the comer biting his nails, nervously pacing back and forth, his fist held tight to his mouth as if to suppress some overwhelming inner pain. Another is on all fours. He begins crawling toward the Pir, moans and rolls sideways over and over on the floor until he reaches the perimeter of the circle where he subsides. One murld standing in the middle of the circle picks himself up and drops his body sharply onto the hard floor. Over and over again he does this, seemingly oblivious to pain. Some disciples are running full bore around the mosque. Many, however, are still seated in their cross-legged position with their heads nodding rhythmically. Occasionally their arms will fly up abruptly into the air or their torso will jerk suddenly, but apart from this, those seated are relatively subdued.

Periodically, disciples shift position by drawing their feet beneath them to recite the khatm-i khw&jagQn silently. (Those who are in 'wajd of course are excused from this.) The session continues for an hour at more or less the same pace. It does not necessarily build to a crescendo. The Pir will signal the end has arrived by lifting his palms up and leading disciples in prayer. If it is not time for the formal salat, some disciples leave while others stay for an additional hour of ^hba.

Suhba. The practice of ^hba is a special feature of the Naqshbandiyya. $uhba signifies companionship and refers to the benefits the early companions received fi'om 218

being in the Prophet's company. Sufi scholar Annemarie Schimmel believes ^hba is "a conversation between the master and disciple on a very high spiritual level.'""* This vague description misleadingly implies a kind of verbal discourse. Actually, ^hba is a more informal setting for the practice of dhikr. Novices are always expected to attend these sessions in order to hasten the awakening of the latS'if. During ^hba the Pir may be discussing a particular aspect of the teaching with visitors or disciples. Rarely does the conversation takes the form of "chit-chat" but always centers around a particular problem or topic. As in formal dhikr, in ^hba disciples repeat the name of God while gazing at the face of Mubarak Sahib.

The mhba seance. Following is a description of a suhba session that typically occurs on Thursday evening. About a dozen disciples gather in the larger langar adjoining his house. They are seated on mats along the perimeter of the room. They sit facing each other but are angled slightly toward the fi"ont of the room where the Pir will sit. If khalifas are present, novices sit across from them. Within a few minutes the Pir enters and takes his place in his cushioned chair at the head of the room. He is fastidious about the seating, and if someone is angled too far toward the front or is leaning against the wall, he will instruct him to adjust himself accordingly. (Many times I tried to cheat by using a cushion to support my painful lower back. Ever vigilant, the Pir never failed to notice, motioning with

Annemahe Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975), 366. 219 a wave of his hand to move from the wall.) The atmosphere is relaxed, and the Pir usually converses with those sitting nearest to him. All the while murOd are in dhikr, repeating

"Allah, Allah, Allah," as they gaze at the face of the Pir. Some disciples may suddenly shout, "Yd'llah! "or "HuP' so violently as to send shock waves through the room. Others may begin rolling on the floor or heaving suddenly. No notice is taken of these outbursts and the conversation continues without interruption.

When dinner is served, those in ecstasy quickly recover. We dine on bread, rice, and a little meat followed by green tea. With dinner out of the way ?uhba resumes, this time more intensely. Within several minutes, someone begins chanting, "//w, Allah! " Soon others join in. Those who are responding to the Pir's /aid are now on their feet chanting

"//w, Allah! Hu, AllahP' moving toward the Pir and back again in unison like an undulating wave. Others not so inclined continue to sit on the floor. The Pir is smiling now, his head gently inclined to his heart side. From time to time, he jerks strenuously to his left side to project his faid more forcefully. Both sides of his chest, qalb and nlh, are beating so vigorously that it is visible through his tunic. Ninety minutes into the suhba, the

Pir rises unceremoniously to prepare for the night prayer.

Another type of ^hba occurs in the mosque usually on Thursday evening when many khalifas attend expressly for the benefit of disciples. For this reason, Thursday ^hba is the longest and most intense of the week lasting between two and four hours. Khalifas 220

form a long row at the head of mosque with the Pir at the center. Usually the most senior

khalifas sit next to the Pir. The optimal position for obtaining/a/(/ is to sit directly facing

and as close to a khalifa as possible or about a meter away. Since there are usually over

one hundred disciples in the mosque at this time, the others cluster behind the head row of

disciples to get as close as possible to the khalifas. During the session, the Pir constantly

supervises, moving murQd about so that everyone has an opportunity to sit with khalifas.

The Pir always gives priority to those whose heart latTfa has not yet been aaivated. For

this reason, he makes certain to seat novices across from spiritually powerful khalifas or

himself

The Pir's own relaxed behavior clearly reflects the informality and ecstasy of the

?uhba. As several murad chant over a microphone set on one side of the qiblah, he is

tapping his foot and snapping his fingers to the rhythm, smiling broadly. It is the Pir at his

most animated self From time to time, he or his khalifas make a showering motion with

their arms to dispense the blessing in greater abundance. MurSd swoon in response. Once,

the Pir did this while a blind man was seated across from me, his back almost to the Pir.

He reacted instantly with a cry that bordered on pain.

Nisba. An essential aspect of the disciple's suluk is nisba or the establishment of a

close spiritual link between the Pir and disciple. It is nisba that enhances the disciple's

ability to obtain the Pir's faid. One of the cornerstones of nisba is observance of the sunna

discussed above. The Pir requires disciples to learn the sunna in every detail. In terms of 221

appearance this means having a four-inch beard and a turban of seven meters in imitatio

Muhcanmadiyya. Disciples must maJce sure their shalwar kameez is always clean and the

pants neither too short nor too long/* As the disciple matures in the path through more

rigorous imitation of the Prophet, his behavior becomes pleasing to the Pir. He draws

nearer to the Pir in a spiritual sense, thereby obtaining baraka in greater amounts.

Another basis for nisba is the observation of a strict code of behavior toward the

Pir called adab. Adab aims to establish a correct relationship between Pir and disciple, one

built on respect, obedience, and love. Indeed, in Letter 292, Sirhindi noted that without

adab, ^hba with the Pir has no effect. Adab requires the disciple who visits the khSnaqdh

to present himself immediately to Mubarak Sahib (if he is available). The disciple bows

and idsses his hand. Usually a small gift is presented at this time. When the Pir rises to

stand, one must also rise. When leaving the Pir's presence, one never turns his/her back to

the Pir. The Pir is very strict about observance of adab and does not hesitate to educate or

correct a disciple when his behavior is bT-adab or incorrect.

For example, initially when I arrived, I used to shake the Pir's hand and offer a gift of Suit. A few weeks later, I came to the khSnaqSh to stay a few days. On the second day of my stay, I had been sitting with Mubarak Sahib in suhba and waited for everyone to leave so that I could give him two kilos of oranges. When I presented the gift, I was

The national dress of Afghanistan and Pakistan, the shalwar kameez is usually made of cotton and consists of loose fitting pantaloons tied with a cummerbund and a long-tailed shirt worn over the pants. The term kameez is a corruption of the French word for shirt, chemise. 222

surprised to see he was displeased. He then asked me, "Ahmad, where did you get these

oranges?" I replied, "I bought them in the market." "No," he said, "I mean did you bring

them from Peshawar or did you buy them today in Bara?" I said that I had brought them

from Peshawar the previous day en route to the khSmqQh. Mubarak Sahib said, "When

you come to the khSnaqSh you come to greet me immediately. This is cuktb. If you have a

gift, you present it to me at that time, not later. If you present it later, it is wasted, has no

effect, is not adab. Do you understand, Ahmad?" I replied that I did and he nodded with

satisfaction. Thereafter, I always made sure to greet him the moment I arrived though I

did not kiss his hand. One day, when I went into the mosque to greet him, I shook his

hand, bowed, and began to move on. However, Mubarak Sahib refused to release my

hand. He drew me back and said, "From now on, when you greet me, kiss my hand. Right

here." He pointed to an area on the back of his hand next to his right thumb. Then he said,

"When you come, you give me something." I don't care what it is. Even if it is only five or ten rupees, you bring me something. This is adab"

Similarly, upon leaving the khdnaqdh, adab obligates the disciple to ask the Pir's permission iijdza). Usually this is a formality, and I never saw him refuse anyone permission. However, he does not hesitate to voice his displeasure if he feels someone is departing too soon. Toward the end of my stay after three days at the khSnaqdh, I requested permission to leave. "Where are you going?" he asked surprised. I stammered that I had to prepare for my imminent departure from Pakistan. "What do you mean? 223

Everything is closed. Really, what do you have to do that is so important? I'll tell you.

Nothing. You just want to go home and rest, don't you?"

In daily interaction with the Mubarak Sahib, adab also requires the disciple to avoid asking personal or frivolous questions. In fact, the disciple usually speaks only when spoken to though it is not considered impolite to ask a question. This rule applies to everyone, including his closest khalifas.

The Opening of the Lata 'if

The intense mental effort required of the disciple at the beginning is only temporary. When dhikr al-qalblhQcom&% activated, it is said to operate automatically with much less mental effort required on the disciple's part. Disciples say that it is Mubarak

Sahib who places the dhikr in the heart; the murfd need only open his heart in order for the process to occur. A distinct somatic sign attends to this process of awakening. Describing the mystic career of a contemporary Naqshbandi shaikh from Rawalpindi, Muhammad

Sadiq (d.l993), Ishfaq AJi writes.

Before master Muhammad Sadiq went to Saudi Arabia, he had been initiated into the line of Tariqat by Dr. Abdul Hamid Qureshi, a renowned physician of Jhelum. It so happened that one day...Sadiq had gone to see Dr. Qureshi. He knew him to be a very pious and God-fearing person, but that day a strange sight fascinated him. While he was conversing with the doctor, he noticed the visible flutter of his shirt on the left. It was the heavy pounding of a heart busy at 'Zikr'. He inquired from where he had got that and he said: ^'from Mian Muhammad Din"[his shaikh].

*' Syed Ishfaq 'Ali, The Saints of the Punjab (Pap Board; Rawalpindi, 1994), 122. 224

Once established in the heart, dhikr manifests as a regular beating of the heart so

pronounced that the organ itself appears to be beating outside the body. Recall from

Chapter Three how Saifiir Rahman used to hide this curious phenomenon until Maulana

Hashim ordered him to remove his cloak/^ Virtually every murki and khalifa in whom the

dhikr al-qalbT is activated exhibits this sign. Its origin is attributed to Baha' al-Din

Naqshband. The name "Naqshband" denotes one who embroiders, and Baha' al-Din

himself is said to have woven the embroidered Bukharan cloaks known as kinkha. But in

the spiritual sense, Naqshband signifies "the fixing, in the purified tablet of the heart, the

imprint of the divine name "Allah" by means of silent and permanent dhikr"** In some

cases, disciples may experience the opening of the heart latTfa during initiation. (In a few

rare instances, all the lat3'if may open simultaneously.) One European disciple reported

that;

After taking 6qv'a, the next day I phoned my wife in Europe to tell her. Although she was not Muslim and had never met Mubarak Sahib, she said that the previous night she had become alarmed when her heart began beating right through her clothing."*^

In Saifiir Rahman's case, both sides of his chest beat alternately, qalb, then rUh and back to qalb.

** Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd ed., s.v. "Nakshband."

This is the same woman who believes her com'ersion to Islam was presaged in a dream years before. Since she became a disciple, the number of her dreams and visions has increased. 225

Although the vast majority of initiates experience nothing during initiation, the

process is regarded as ongoing even if there are no tangible signs. Typically, with intense

practice of dhikr, the /aWV/begin to open one week to one year after initiatioa No one,

not even the Shaikh, claims to know the reason some individuals respond more quickly

than others. Most disciples say that the process depends on close adherence to the shari'a,

regular prayer, constant dhikr, and nisba. Still, some disciples never succeed in

manifesting the dhikr. One foreign disciple came every fortnight for over a year but never showed any signs of dhikr. In this connection Mubarak Sahib has said, "I cannot open every heart. You must first believe."

The opening of the heart latTja is often dramatic as the following account related to me by a European physician indicates;

When I first came here I was repulsed by the conditions. They were much worse than they are now. We had no bathrooms and we had to go out into the fields to go to the bathroom. The khSmqSh was small in those days, and it was so crowded you couldn't even sit on the floor. At mght we slept shoulder to shoulder on the floor. I awoke in the morning covered with insect bites. I was so repulsed by the conditions not to mention the food that I went back to Peshawar resolving never to return. But I came back, six times in all. Each time I felt close to a nervous breakdown. Nothing happened. Everybody seemed to be getting it but me. I began to doubt I would ever get it. Then one day I was sitting in a small room in ^thba with a few khalifas and all of a sudden the next thing I knew I was on the floor in wajd (ecstasy).

As alluded to above, during dhikr sessions disciples may experience any number of involuntary reactions fi-om vocal outbursts to physical movements. Naqshbandis distinguish between voluntary sounds and movements that are forbidden and involuntary 226 ones that are permissible. Vocal reactions cover a range of sounds from monosyllabic utterances to intelligible words: "Hur '"Yd!" or "Ya'llah! " They may also groan, sigh heavily, laugh, weep, hyperventilate, or scream. One murHd, who always sat next to me during dhikr, invariably laughed hysterically, an act that would be considered sacrilegious under any other circumstances.

More dramatic are the physical reactions. Generally, these consist of uncontrollable jerking of the limbs or sudden spasms in the torso. A few disciples run about or roll uncontrollably on the floor. One murld would literally roll all over the mosque for an entire hour, screaming and weeping. Others might suddenly take off running through the mosque at full speed over other disciples. (During 'i/rs last year one murld hurt himself slightly when he ran directly into one of the walls of the mosque.) When asked why some disciples responded more violently than others, a khalifa replied, "It is probably their way of responding to the magnitude of what they are witnessing."

In the beginning I was fascinated by this wild behavior. In time however, I came to view these dramatic reactions as annoying and disruptive to my own practice, as did others. A Pakistani khalifa, a research scholar, pointed out that several years ago disciples were more subdued during dhikr than they are today. He attributes some of the extravagant behavior to the influence of Brelwi Sufism from the Punjab. In the nineteenth century, Brelwi Sufis redefined the relationship between shaikh and disciple in the Punjab.

Whereas Sirhindi emphasized rigorous mental and moral discipline supplemented by the 227

shaikh's fai

personal responsibility entirely, placing sole emphasis on the intercession of the shaikh in

order to gain salvation. Reflecting Hindu bhakti influence, Brelwis believe the shaikh's

intercession can be gained through love of the shaikh alone. In practice, this devotion is

expressed in visiting of shrines, writing poetry, attending the annual 'urs, donating money

to the pir, and presumably, the kind of histrionic behavior witnessed in Bara. Since the

arrival of Brelwi Punjabis, many Afghans have been quick to imitate them.''®

As a rule of thumb, those who are most demonstrative in dhikr tend to be the less

educated. Low in social status and self-esteem, they may engage in extreme displays in

order to gain standing in the khdnaqdh that they lack in the wider community. This is

supported by the fact that educated Afghans tend to be more sedate. Their movements are

confined to a bobbing of the head, a spasm of the torso, or vocal outbursts. Western

disciples are the least demonstrative, attributing their reserve to the emphasis placed upon

individual self-control in Western cultures. Khalifas recognize that some extravagant

displays are the result of performance or emotionalism. Yet, they insist that because so

many somatic reactions are genuine, they follow an admonition by the ninth-century

mystic, Ahmad Ibn al-Junaid, not to interfere with the process. Only in rare cases does a

disciple become so uncontrollable that he must be restrained. Furthermore, not all

^ Despite Buehler's insightful analysis of Brelwis in the Punjab, he tends to dismiss the importance of lo\'e of the shaikh as a fundamental element of the Naqshbandi path. See Buehler, "Charisma and Exemplar," 280-346. 228

openings of the lats'if are dramatic or ecstatic. A senior khalifa said he had never

experienced wajd. In some disciples, the opening of the latQ'if may result instead in a

sudden change in undesirable or destructive behavior. The different responses are

attributed to one's essential spiritual nature (mashrdb).*^ Apart from the visible flutter of

the heart neither the Pir nor his senior khalifa exhibit any dramatic physical reaaions.

Senior khalifa may often utter, "Yd'llahV or emit a heavy sign but such generally is the

extent of their involuntary reactions during dhikr. This suggests that the spirit's descent

initiates a purgative process in the body, a process that clearly stabilizes with maturing

practice. Finally, not all involuntary movements are indicative of the awakening of the

latS 'if, however. In fact, wild movements are often considered indecent and imperfect and

relate to the "psychic," a transitional realm between the individual and spirit.

When two or more /a/<5 7/become activated, dhikrdt borrowed fi-om the Qadiriyya

order are used to stimulate them. The Naqshbandi disciple silently recites the name "Allah"

while focusing attention on the heart lafT/a then "//« " while focusing on the ruh latTfa,

alternating so rapidly that the two words merge together.Another dhikr employs "//w, "

No one takes much notice of these displays, and any attempt to discuss them is dismissed. Occasionally, the Pir would evince a smile of amusement when a murld who had shaken his hand would be thrown violently to the floor, rolling backn-ards so uncontrollably that he seemed as if he were a leaf bom on the wind. The Fir's smile conveyed his pleasure at this outward validation of his spiritual authority.

There is a varietj- of these Qadiri dhikrat: I) "'Allah, jala-jalala-hn" (May God His majest>' be e.\alted) recited one hundred times followed by ""Jala jalala-ha" one thousand times; 2) following the afternoon and 229

which is circulated vigorously in a circular motion around in the lata'if one hundred

times. 49

Nqft wa ithbat. When all of the subtle centers are opened, a more advanced dhikr

technique is used to stimulate all of them simuhaneously, nqft wa ithbat or "the

recollection of God though negation and affirmation." The mysterious figure Khidr is

alleged to have instructed Ghujuwani in this technique while he was submerged in water.'"

The disciple may not undertake the practice until instructed to do so by the Pir. The murtd

must set aside at least one hour of solitude in the morning or evem'ng for this practice.

While there are a number of variations on this technique, it consists essentially of the

evening prayers, one sits a little to the right of the qibla. With the tongue placed to the roof of the mouth. e}'es clos^ and the breath drawn, the disciple uies to connect with the heart of Shaikh 'Abd al-Qadir al- Jilani and repeats, "Allah, Allah" until a breath is needed. The cycle is repeated. 3) recite aloud. "Ha. Allah.'' Ha is pronounced in the spirit and Allah on the heart lap/a. AAer one hundred repetitions, close with '"Jala Jalala-ha." 4) "'Antal hOdT (You are the guide) pronounced in the heart, "Antal haqq" (You are the truth) in akhfa, ""Laisa al-hadl 'ilia" (There is no guide but You) again in heart and "Ha" in spirit.

Compare the similarit)- of this formula with the instructions of a nineteenth-century Naqshbandi shaikh. Muhammad Ya'qub Nanawtam; "In the morning, sit quietly with your eyes closed and your tongue fi.\ed on the ridge of the roof of your mouth. Draw your breath in and fix it so that there be no motion. Bow your head toward the heart and pull VO" toward the right shoulder cap and think ""ilaha": then bring the head back to the left, giving a mental emphasis to "ilia 'llah" which is to be implanted in the heart. At first do this three times in one breath, then quickly exhale through the nose, so that if someone is sitting close by, he will not notice what you are doing. Then Jicrease the number by one each day up to two hundred. If you cannot control the breath in this way. exhale when pulling "Id" toward the right shoulder, whether your repetition is silent or voiced or secret, and with your next breath impress "ilia 'llahT on the heart. Metcalf, Islamic Revival. 187-88.

^ Khidr, meaning "the green one," is a mysterious figure in Sufi mytholog>', who represents the esoteric source of wisdom. He appears to Sufis in those moments when their souls bear mtness to the transcendent. 230 following: the disciple places his tongue on the roof of the mouth and is not to exhale through the mouth. Silently pronouncing the divine negation, "/d" the murTd then draws the sound from the area of the navel to the crown of the head (qdlab). Then, while pronouncing ""ilahS" concentration is directed in a line running from the crown of the head to the right shoulder cap. From there the murld drives the final refrain, "/Vto 'llah'' forcefully into the heart. The formula is repeated one hundred times and is closed with

""Muhammad rasul Allah, rasul Allah wa salQm 'alaihi ("Muhammad is the messenger of

God, messenger of God, and peace be upon Him").''

Once the lats'if are completely opened the disciple has attained the rank of muqayyid khalifa. According the Shah Wali Allah, having completed his journey through the lata if, the disciple is then dominated by the latlfa that is strongest in his nature." For instance, one whose heart latTfa is dominant will experience states of ecstasy and longing.

Since each latTfa corresponds to a particular Prophet, the disciple's spiritual character or mashrSb will be said to be AdamT mashrSb, or Muhammadan mashrdb, as the case may

Naqshbandis also employ variants of najt wa ithbat of the Qadiriyya order. One such variant calls for the disciple to pronounce while focusing attention on the heart; from there ^illaha" is taken to the right shoulder. The final refrain '"iUa'llafT is taken from the right shoulder over the crown of the head with the final sjllable directed to^^'ard the heart.

Hermansen. "Shah Wali Allah," 20. 231 be." Recall from Chapter Three, Maulana Hashim's characterization of himself as Musoui mashrSb and Saifur Rahman as Mufiammadcm mashrdb.

Muraqabat. Once the seven lata'if are opened through dhikr and completely cleansed through nqftM/a ithbQt, with the teacher's permission, the disciple undertakes the last stage of practice: repetition of the KiurSqabdt or Naqshbandi contemplations.^"*

Originaily twenty-four in number. Shah Rasul Taloqani expanded them to thirty-six. The murdqabdt are advanced spiritual exercises designed to lead the disciple to the higher realm of wahdat. They are performed for an hour usually after the afternoon prayer ('a^) often in the presence of the Shaikh. They may also be performed alone at night and for this reason the murdqib is cautioned of the pitfalls of falling asleep during the exercise. As with obligatory prayer, the disciple must perform ablutions before murSqabSt. The murSqib remains on a contemplation for a number of days determined by the Pir and may not lessen the time required for each contemplation. Nor can he proceed to the next one without the Fir's permission." At each stage he must inform the Pir as to his experiences.

Fusfeld, "The Shaping of Sufi Leadership," 94.

^ For a complete translation of Taloqani's Muraqabat, fee Appendix C.

'Ali Muhammad Balkhi, Ma 'malat-i Saifiyya (n.p., 1987), 19. 232

In the first contemplation, the disciple contemplates oneness (ahadiyya), then proceeds to contemplate the differentiated attributes. In contemplating the various qualities and attributes of wahidiyj>a, the murdqib^s task is to invite baraka fi"om the source of each latTfa by way of the Naqshbandi silsila. The objective is to return each latTfa to its origin and thereby achieve annihilation in it. Once the disciple aiinihilates the first four lata 'if, he enters the stage of wilQyat al-sughrd or lesser sainthood. This stage marks pirhood. It is here in the unity of being that the disciple will lose interest in worldly things and experience the annihilation of the ego or fana'. Sirhindi maintained, however, that this stage is an unstable condition marked by uncontrollable fits of ecstasy. When the remaining akhf5 latlfa is annihilated in the unity of being, he then enters the stage of wilOyat al-kubrO or unity of essence. The state of wilOyat al-kubrO. is represented by the concept of wahdat al-shuhud. The disciples abides in a state of calm and quiet union with

God's unity of essence {baqd"). Buehler notes that wilSyat al-kubrS "is the station

(maqdm) of 'the expanded breast' {sharh-i sadr), pointing to the perfection of the akhjQ subtle center, which expands to fill the entire chest, forming a single unit of light."'® As

Warren Fusfeld notes, the contemplations performed in mlQyat al-kubrQ produce benefits

^ Buehler, "*€1131151113 and Exemplar," 152. 233 in the nafs leading to a total elimination of bad habits and desires." The state is analogous to that of the boddhisatva in Buddhism: the M/alT returns or descends to the world transfigured, actively serving as a moral and spiritual guide to awaken others. By virtue of the twin criteria— the overwhelming power of his fai4 and his exemplary behavior—Saiftir

Rahman is believed to have attained this stage. In keeping with his stature as the greater wall, Saifur Rahman has returned to the world spiritually transfigured. Not only does he

"show the gifts of God to the people," but through the eflfulgence of his baraka he dispenses them as well.

Conclusion

The Saifiyya insistence on the inseparability of tarTqa and shari'a as defined by

Sirhindi has had a two-fold efFea. On the one hand, in establishing a bulwark against dilution of Islam by external influences, it fosters an inability to adapt creatively to changes in the social and political order. As a result, with each new change in the social order, the

Saifiyya is forced to retract firom traditional areas of influence as it has in its relations with the ruling political authorities. On the other hand, such intransigence in the face of social change has resulted positively in the preservation of the directing-shaikh and the profound and transforming power of his baraka.

Fusfeld, "The Shaping of Sufi Leadership," 99. 234

Within the inner precincts of the khdnaqdh are found the elements comprising the core of this directing-shaikh's religious mission. Sustained regular practice of dhikr,

^hba, murSqabSt, and strict adherence to the shari'a all form part of an uncompromising, highly disciplined Naqshbandi quest for the divine. Traditional Naqshbandi emphasis on sobriety in mystical experience is noticeably absent in the Saifiyya order, as there is little attempt to disguise or otherwise play down the ecstatic nature of the divine encounter.

This quest is articulated doctrinally and philosophically, but significantly, the discipline is not scripture-centered. Ultimately, the abiding concem of the Saifiyya is the direct and ecstatic encounter with the spirit via the spiritual blessing power of the shaikh.

That the Pir's baraka is a vital force that exists prior to ideation is supported by several factors: the utter absence of discourse among disciples about the nature of the transcendental experience and the fact that non-Muslims experience abrupt, and at time unsolicited awakenings precipitated by the Pir's baraka. Also, disciples themselves are able to distinguish between performance (which may well be hyperbolic expressions of psychic experiences) and actual transcendence, thus indicating a sophisticated, self-critical awareness of their own processes and tendencies.

Scholars such as Cruise O'Brien and Katz have misconstrued baraka (and by extension the Sufi master's role) as a charismatic personality expressed as a socially revolutionary force. When viewed fi^om without, the shaikh's ability to attract thousands of individuals on the basis of his baraka may appear simply as a bid for social and political power. When viewed from within, however, his social call is an invitation to participate in 235 his baraka and in the profound and ecstatic journey to the divine that lies at the heart of

Islam. If disciples are devoted to their shaikh, it is because he serves them as an inexhaustible and indefatigable fount of this grace. He is the vehicle the serves the journey to God and ultimately, it is the journey that matters. 236

CONCLUSION

Recent studies of the historical evolution of the Sufi orders stress an ability to adapt to

social and political change by altering organizational structure, ritual practice, or teaching

styles. By contrast, amidst similar change, the success of the Saifiyya order owes primarily to an ability to remain the same in at least one important respect. The Saifiyya order continues to

practice taqlTd or religious imitation, adhering to a Sunni mystical tradition revived by Sirhindi

three hundred years ago. While other Naqshbandi groups have been transformed beyond

recognition in attempting to adapt to socio-political change, taqlld has served as a vital

organizing principle, helping to preserve the Saifiyya branch's powerful baraka.

On the other hand, in order to maintain continuity in spiritual education and religious behavior, the Saifiyya lineage had to redefine the social and political roles many Naqshbandi leaders traditionally played in the region. In the modem period, the Saifiyya order relinquished its role as advisers to the ruling authorities, long an important missionary tool of Naqshbandi shaikhs. It also eschews tribal roles played by other major Sufi orders in Afghanistan, notably the Qadiriyya. The decision to eschew participation in the modem political process in particular is not a calculated strategy. Rather, it is consistent with the lineage's Sunni conception of Islam whereby the moral authority to lead and guide believers comes not fi'om temporal political authority, but fi-om God alone.

Until the 1970s, the relatively stable social and political environment of northern

Afghanistan helped foster the Saifiyya conception of Naqshbandi Sufism, for the region lay 237

beyond the reach of a weak secular government and the power of the tribes. The Naqshbandi

lineage of Saiflir Rahman was thus able to pursue spiritual and religious education largely

unfettered or uncormpted by outside influences. When directly threatened, however, as it was

by the sweeping state reforms of 1928 and the Soviet invasion of 1979, the branch used

political and military action to preserve its interest in the integrity of Islam.

The war in Afghanistan put an abrupt and to the social equilibrium Afghan

Naqshbandis enjoyed, thrusting Saiflir Rahman and his disciples into the radically altered environment of Pakistan. As a result of the British colonial experience there, modernism

manifests insidiously in the form of anti-mystical reform movements. Contrary to Le Galls's

findings of the Naqshbandiyya in Turkey, the highly juristic nature of the Saifiyya has done little

to mitigate the hostility of these reform groups toward the Pir. From his refuge in the Khyber

Tribal Agency, he has mounted a bold defense against these groups, one informed by his own sense of revival mission. The Pir's response to critics is also informed by his perception of the nature of the crisis affecting Islam in the sub-continent. Once rooted in Sirhindi's teachings, reform movements have relinquished their identity in attempting to adapt to the altered environment of the sub-continent. To avoid a similar insidious dilution of his traditions, Saiflir

Rahman adopts a hard-line approach toward his critics, declaring them outside the pale of

Islam; they are k^r. In addition, in the mosques where he has taught and over loudspeakers, he refuses to moderate the ecstatic behavior of his disciples, for it is testimony to both the profound nature of his religious authority and the high degree of his spiritual attainment. That the Saifiyya do not emphasize sobriety in mystical experience, often a source of Naqshbandi 238

appeal in other parts of the Islamic world, underscores the importance the Pir places on it in

defining himself and his religious mission. While the Pir's missionary activities necessarily entail

the production of literature and tapes, the dispatching of his disciples to debates, and other

outreach aaivities, no aspect is more significant to his mission than the direct and ecstatic

experience of the divine. To this end, he rapidly trains and dispatches his khalifas to their native

regions.

Without access the inner life of the khOnaqOh, it is easy to misconstrue the Pir's

artivities in the Khyber as those of a charismatic (or narcissistic) figure seeking to rally his

bewildered countrymen fi-om the devastating social upheaval of the past twenty years. The Pir

is indeed a charismatic figure, able to attraa tens of thousands of individuals, as do his senior

khalifas. But the nature of this charismatic attraction is baraka, divine grace which provides

access to and ascension through the transcendent realms. Although these realms are

systematically elaborated in Naqshbandi works of theosophy and philosophy, Naqshbandi

practice is not scripture-based. Rather, it is a living reality aflBrmed daily by those who experience dream-visions, Uwaysi initiations, sudden illuminations at Sufi tombs, and other

mysterious workings of divine grace.

More than any other factor, it is the preservation and transmission of baraka that explains the Saifiyya order's ability to perpetuate and sustain itself despite all the vicissitudes of war, diaspora, and religious opposition. To preserve this grace, this branch identifies successors on the basis of spiritual qualifications, not merely lineal descent. In the absence of institutional structure in the Saifiyya order, it is baraka^ flowing outward fi-om its source in the Pir to other 239 pirs, khalifas, and disciples that binds disciples with him and with each other. Baraka freely dispensed and available to all also accounts for the modest but cumulative financial appreciation of its members. Thus, the order's financial stability is not a cause of its social strength, but result of it.

In conclusion, this study has shown how social dynamics in Afghanistan interacted with spiritual practice in sustaining and perpetuating the Naqshbandiyya/Mujaddidiyya/Saifiyya order. On the basis of findings presented in this analysis, future studies of the evolution of the

Sufi orders should bear in mind that social dynamics and spiritual teaching, far from being separate and unrelated processes, are often intimately linked. 240

APPENDIX A LIST OF INTERVIEWS

Interviiw Date Place Language Subject

Dr. Masud Akhram 10/22/96 U.S. Consulate English political/social Political Counselor, conditions in U.S. Consulate, Peshawar Bara

Sebghatullah Mujaddidi 11/16/96 Mujaddidi residence, English role of family head of Mujaddidi family Peshawar in Afghan in Afghanistan politics

Dr. Rasul Amin 12/8/96 Free Writers' Union English migration of of Afghanistan, Peshawar Pathan

Malik Muhammad Khan 12/9/96 University of Peshawar English social condi­ Chief of the Sipah Afridi, tions in Bara, Bara, Pakistan Pir and family, Afridi relations with Pir.

Ahmad Javaid 1/21/97 Iqbal Academy, English the lata 'if Researcher, Lahore Iqbal Academy

Hussein Sardar Khan, 4/19/97 Babara, Pakistan Pashtu Mulla of Mir Anwar Khan Babara

Ahmad Javaid 4/22-24/97 Iqbal Academy English Naqshbandi cosmology 241

Interview Date Place Language Subject

Shaikh Da'ruf 4/23/97 Ahl-i Hadith Madrasa, Eng/Pashtu Panj Pirs Bara

Mujaddidi family 5/5/97 Mujaddidi residence, English/Farsi Mujaddidi role Peshawar in politics 242

APPENDIX B LIST OF PUBLICATIONS OF THE NAQSHBANDIYYA/SAIFIYYA KHANAQAH

'Aibadila, Afqar. Darrat al-bayOn. N.p., 1992. In Persian and Arabic. Contains biographic sketches of Akhundzada Saifur Rahman and some of the recent European converts to the order.

Aminullah, Maulana. HidOyat al-sSlikln. Peshawar, n.p., 1996. In Urdu. Deals chiefly with matters of faith and refutation of Panj Pirs and the Tabligh-i Jama'at. Also contains some particulars about the daily life of Saifur Rahman.

Balkhi, 'Ali Muhammad.owliyQ'. Mazar-i Sharif, n.p., 1983. In Persian and Arabic. A short history of the Naqshbandiyya tarlqa. Also contains biographic data on the life of Saifur Rahman.

. Ma'mulat-i Saifi. 4th ed. N.p., 1989. In Persian. Contains the contemplations of Shah Rasul Taloqani and three silsilas of Saifur Rahman, (see Appendix C)

Rahman, Akhundzada Saifur. BS vujiid-i Saijiyya. Peshawar, n.p., 1996. In Pashtu. A polemic on faith based on the lectures of Saifur Rahman.

. FatwQ-i Saifiyya. Khyber Agency, n.p., n.d. In Pashtu. A transcription of the comments of Saifl'.r Rahman on various edicts published by 'ulama.

Anonymous. Jowab al-istifta'. N.p. 1996. In Pashtu. Polemic on faith including a response to an attack on Saifur Rahman published in Surdt. Also contains some incidents of Saiflir Rahman's life not found in other texts.

Anonymous. Saif al-mu 'minTn. N.p., 1991. In Pashtu. A polemic on faith.

Anonymous. Saif al-rijSl. N.p., 1994. In Pashtu. A polemic on faith. 243

APPENDIX C IUEMURAQABAT ORNAQSHBANDI CONTEMPLATIONS'

1. The intention of the contemplation of the heart (qalb)

Divine grace (faid) comes from the unique essence (dhdt) to my heart lafT/a through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

2. The intention of the contemplation of the spirit (mh)

Divine grace come from the unique essence to my spirit latlfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

3. The intention of the contemplation of the mystery {sin)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my mystery latjfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

4. The intention of the contemplation of the arcanum {khafi)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my arcanum latTfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

5. The intention of the contemplation of the higher arcanum (akhfs)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my higher arcanum latlfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

' Balkhi, Ma'malat-i Saifiyya. I have translated them in the order given in Balkhi's book. However, ad\'anced practitioners informed me that the muraqib always begins with the contemplation of oneness (number eleven). 244

6. The intention of the contemplation of the soul {mfs)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my soul latTfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

7. The intention of the contemplation of the crown {qalab)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my crown latTfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

8. The intention of the contemplation of the world of divine command ('alam al- amr)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my five latS '//in the world of divine command through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

9. The intention of the contemplation of the world of creation ('Slam al-khalq)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to my latd V/in the world of creation through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

10. The intention of the contemplation of the lata 'if of the worlds of divine command and creation

Divine grace comes from the unique essence to the lata 'if of the worlds of divine command and creation through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

11. The intention of the contemplation of oneness (ahadiyya)

Divine grace comes from the unique essence who encompasses the divine attributes and perfections and is free from all defects and imperfections and 245

is without qualification. May this grace come to my heart latlfa through the great pirs, may Allah less all of them.

12. The intention of the contemplation of the heart principle qalb)

O, Allah my heart faces the heart of the messenger, peace be upon him.The divine grace of your active attributes that you sent from the heart of the messenger to the heart of Adam, peace be upon him, may it also reach my heart through the great pirs, may AJllah bless all of them.

13. The intention of the contemplation of the spirit principle {a?l-i ruh)

O, Allah my spirit faces the spirit of the Prophet, peace be upon him. The divine grace of your eight immutable attributes that you sent from the spirit of the Prophet to the spirit of Abraham, peace be upon him, may it also reach my spirit through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

14. The intention of the contemplation of the principle of mystery (asl-i sirr)

O, Allah my mystery faces the Prophet's mystery, peace be upon him. The divine grace flowing from his divine attributes that you sent from the mystery of the Prophet to the mystery of Moses, peace be upon him, may it also reach my mystery through the great pirs, may Alllah bless all of them.

15. The intention of the contemplation of the arcanum principle {asl-i khaji)

O, Allah my arcanum faces the Prophet's arcanum, peace be upon him. The divine grace flowing from His negative attributes that you sent from the Prophets's arcanum to Jesus' arcanum, peace be upon him, may it also reach my arcanum through the great pirs, may Alllah bless all of them.

16. The intention of the contemplation of the higher arcanum principle {asl-i akhf&)

O, Allah my higher arcanum faces the Prophet's higher arcanum, peace be upon him. The divine grace flowing from the attributes of comprehensive glory that you sent to the Prophet's higher arcanum, peace be upon him. 246

may it also reach my higher arcanum through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

17. The intention of the contemplation of being in the company of God

Divine grace flows from the unique essence that is with me and with all possibilities but also with the smallest unit of possibilities according to the Qur'anic verse, "He is with you wherever you are." [57: 5], May this divine grace come to my five lats '//in the world of divine command through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

18. The intention of the contemplation of nearness to God

Divine grace flows from the unique essence that is the origin of divine names and attributes which is nearer to me than myself and even nearer than my jugular vein, an ineffable nearness according to the Qur'anic verse, "Verily, we are nearer to you than your jugular vein." [50:17], May this divine grace flow to my soul latlfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

19. The intention of the first contemplation of love

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who is the origin of the origin of divine names and attributes who loves me and I love Him according to the Qur'anic verse, "He loves them and they love Him." [5:55]. May this divine grace flow to my soul latifa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

20. The intention of the second contemplation of love

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who is the origin of the origin of the origin of divine names and attributes who loves me and I love Him according to the Qur'anic verse, "He loves them and they love Him." [5:55], May this divine grace flow to my soul latJfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

21. The intention of the contemplation of the arc's circle 247

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who is the origin's origin's origin's origin of divine names and attributes and the arc's circle who loves me and I love Him according to the Qur'anic verse, "He loves them and they love Him." May this divine grace flow to my soul latTfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

22. The intention of the contemplation of the outward name

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who has been named the outward according to the Qur'anic verse, "He is the first and the last and the outward and the inward and the knower of all things." [57:4]. May this divine grace flow to my soul latTfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

23. The intention of the contemplation of the inward name

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who has been named the outward according to the Qur'anic verse, "He is the first and the last and the outward and the inward and the knower of all things." [57:4]. May this divine grace flow to my soul latTfa through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

24. The intention of the contemplation of the perfections of prophethood

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who is the source of the perfections of prophethood. May this divine grace flow to my earth element through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

25. The intention of the contemplation of the perfections of messengership

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who is the source of the perfections of messengership. May this divine grace flow to my life's oneness through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

26. The intention of the contemplation of the perfections of the great prophets 248

Divine grace flows from the unique essence who is the source of the perfections of the great prophets. May this divine grace flow to my life's oneness through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

27. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of the Holy Ka'ba

Divine grace flows from the unique essence to whom all of creation bows and which is the source of the reality of the Holy Ka'ba. May this divine grace flow to my life's oneness through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

28. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of the Holy Qur'an

Divine grace flows from the vastness of his divine essence who is the source of the reality of the Holy Qur'an. May this divine grace flow to my life's oneness through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

29. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of prayer

Divine grace flows from the vastness of his divine essence who is the source of the reality of prayer. May this divine grace flow to my life's oneness through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

30. The intention of the contemplation of pure worship

Divine grace flows from the unique divine essence, who is the source of the reality of pure worship, to my life's oneness through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

31. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of Abraham

Divine grace flows from the blessed divine essence, who is the lover of his own attributes and source of the reality of Abraham, peace be upon him. May this divine grace come to my completed latS 'if through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

32. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of Moses 249

Divine grace flows from the blessed divine essence, who is the lover of his own essence and source of the reality of Moses, peace be upon him. May this divine grace come to my completed lata 'if through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

33. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of Muhammad

Divine grace flows from the blessed divine essence, who is the lover and beloved of his own essence and the source of the reality of Muhammad, peace be upon him. May this divine grace come to my completed lata 'if through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

34. The intention of the contemplation of the reality of Ahmad

Divine grace flows from his unique essence, who is the beloved of his own essence and the source of the reality of Ahmad. May this divine grace come to my completed latS 'if through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

35. The intention of the contemplation of pure love

Divine grace flows from the unique essence, who is the source of pure love, to my completed latS 'if through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them.

36. The intention of the contemplation of the unmanifest

Divine grace flows from the absolute, who exists with creation but is free from all manifestation, to my completed lata 'if through the great pirs, may Allah bless all of them. 250

APPENDIX D DESCRIPTION OF A NAQSHBANDI INITIATION CEREMONY (BAVA )'

The aspirant first pronounces the shahSda: "There is no God but God, and

Muhammad is His Prophet." If there is no ?uhba or dhikr scheduled, the Pir will motion for his high-back chair to be drawn fi-om the comer and placed at the head of the congregation directly in front of the mihrab. He then takes his seat and motion;; to the roughly forty or fifty disciples in the mosque to take their places. Quickly they align on either side of his chair, sitting cross-legged and forming an oval that stretches in front and about thirty feet from the Pir. The Pir instructs the initiate to sit cross-legged at his feet and as close to him as possible. He then takes the disciple's right hand firmly in his and instructs him to repeat after him, refrain by refrain, the following formula in Arabic:

A 'udhu billdhi min ash-shaitan ur-rajTm. Bismillah ur-rahman ur-rahTm. Ld ildha ilia Allah Muhammad rasul Allah.

Ashhadu an Id ildha ilia Allah wahdahu Id shaikha wa ashhadu anna Muhammad 'abduhu wa rasilluhu.

Ashhadu an Id ildha ilia Allahu wahdahu Id sharika Id lahu al-mulku wa lahu al- hamdu yuhi wa yumitu wa huwa 'aid kulli shai 'in qadlr.

Subhdn Allah wa al-hamdu lilldhi wa Id ildha ilia Allahu wa Allahu akhbar wa Id haula wa Id quwwata illah billdhi al- 'azTm.

' This initiation of a young Pakistani male, wiuessed by the author took place in the Bara lodge on 17 December 1996. 251

Astar f T illahi illadhi la ildha ilia huwa al-hayy a^l qayyum wa atHbu ilayhi. Amantu billahi wa mala 'ikatihi wa kutubihi wa rusSlihi wa al-yaum al-akhlri wa qadri khairihi wa shar'ihi min Allah ta 'ala wa al-ba 'tha ba 'dal-maut. Amantu billahi kama htiwa bi ismaihi wa sifStihi wa qablltu ash-shahOda al- kOmila iqrOrhum bil-lisOni wa ta^quhum bil-qalb.

Radhitu billahi rabbu wa bil-islOmi dlnan wa bi muhammadin ?allahuhu ta 'ala 'alaihi wa 'ala alihi nabiyya.

[I take refuge from reprehensible Satan. In the name of God the compassionate, the merciful. There is no God but God, and Muhammad is His messenger.

I testify that there is no God but God whose unity has no equal, and I testify that Muhammad is His servant and messenger.

I testify that there is no God but God whose unity has no equal, and He has sovereignty over all and praise to Him who gives life and death and is powerful over everything.

Praise be to God and praise upon Him, and there is no God but God, and He is great, and there is no might nor power without God, the great.

Take cover in God. There is no other than He, life, source of the everlasting, and I believe in God, and His angels, and His books, and His messengers, and the Day of Judgement, and the decree of the goodness and the laws of God most high, and in resurrection after death.

I believe in God as He is and in His names, and I accepted the testimony of faith confirmed with the tongue and sincerely in the heart.

Be content in God the Lord, and in the Islamic religion and in Muhanmiad, peace be upon him and his people.]

When the oath is completed, the Pir reaches down eind, with the four fingers of his right hand, thrusts them firmly into the disciple's heart, pronouncing, "Allah" three times. 252

Then the murOd take turns chanting verses from the Qur'an. The disciple is then instructed to move to his right where the most senior khalifa is seated. He motions to the disciple to sit straight with back erect and, with great intensity, he gazes into the disciple's eyes. He then begins uttering the refrain ""Hul Hur As he repeats this, he gazes at the area near the base of the spine and makes a lifting motion with right hand. The khalifa exerts himself considerably in this process which lasts about forty minutes. During the entire time, the khalifa's heart latTfa may be seen beating strenuously beneath his tunic. When the khalifa rises, another khalifa takes his place and continues with the initiate. The Pir sits in dhikr with the rest of his disciples reciting the khatm-i khwSjagSn. From time to time he thrusts his fingers in the direction of the novice and shouts ""Hu! HuP'' his voice deep and resonant. An hour and a half into the start of the dhikr, the seance is closed with the communal recital of the khatm-i khwdjagdn. 253

APPENDIX E PERMISSIONS

NmONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAPS

Augiist 18, 1997

Ntr. Ken Lizzio 21714 Calamarv Circle S(erlins, VA 20164

FAX NUMBER; 703-W6-7S03

Dear Kem

Thank you for your of August '.3, rvquatini; peimission to use National Gtographic's South Asia map.

Due to the educational nature of yoxir rst^uest. you have oat perniission to use the map and reproduce it.

Thank you for contacting us. Best of Itick on your doctoral dissertatloa

Sincexely,

%• Marguerite B. Hunstker Permissions Coordinator

1145 ITtH SBSct NW. Waihiapon. D.C 20036J681( Triepaoae: (202) 357-^000 F»; CCC) 4rJ-57i>i # ;trtr 254

GLOSSARY

ahl-i kitab: the people of the book; those who are members of one of the monotheistic religions originating in the Middle East (i.e., Judaism, Christianity, Zoroastrianism) akhund: Islamic scholar akhundzSda: descendant of a religious scholar

'alim: (pi. 'ulama) religious scholar. amir: prince, lord or nobleman; former title of ruler of Afghanistan owliyQ(sing, wall) friends of God, saints

S[ya: ipl.Sydt) a sign of God in the created world badal: Pathan custom of revenge baqSlit. abiding; the final stage on the Sufi path in which the seeker abides eternally in God baraka: blessing, grace, spiritual power inherent in a saint bay 'a: oath of allegiance by a disciple to his pir bid"a: innovation in religious oraaice

Chishtiyya: a Sufi order found mainly in the sub-continent whose founder is Mu'inuddin of Ajmer dSral-IslSm: Muslim territory du 'S: personal prayer dhikr (pi. dhikrSt): Sufi praaice involving repetition of the names of God 255

din: religion, specifically, Islam

faid: spiritual effulgence or blessing power emitted by a Sufi shaikh

fansextinction of the self before attaining final union with God

Fatiha: opening chapter of the Qur'an

fatwS: {x>\.fatQwT) Islamic legal pronouncement fiqh: jurisprudence; the discipline of elucidating Islanuc law hadra: Sufi communal ceremony hadTth: sayings of the Prophet Muhammad based on the authority of a chain of transmitters hajj: the annual pilgrimage to Mecca required of every Muslim at least once in his life hdl: {plahwdl) a temporary state of unearned grace on the path to God

Hamfl: one of four Sunni schools of Islamic law named after Abu Hanifa hazrat: lord, title applied to Sufi masters of the Naqshbandi/Mujaddidi order ijOza nSma: written authorization to teach in the name of a Sufi master ijma V consensus of legal scholars and one of the four sources of Sunni law ijtihad: independent legal reasoning based on the Qur'an and hadith

JshSn: Persian and Turkic term for Sufi master jadhb: absorption, attraction to God jihad: holy war in the name of Islam jihsdal-da\va: effort to spread Islam among unbelievers by non-violent means 256 jihad al-tarbiyya: effort to spread Islamic values and institutions within Muslim society jinn: (pi: jnUri) a race of good and evil creatures made of smokeless fire who may help or harm humans jirga: Pathan tribal council kafir: infidel; non-Muslim karSma: (pi. karSmSt) miracles, allegedly performed by Sufi saints khalTfa: (pi: khulafQ') lit. successor, one delegated by a Sufi shaikh to teach khan: Pathan tribal leader or chief khanaqa: (pi. khowaniq) a lodge or meeting place for Sufis khel: male lineage segment of the Pathan khwdja: (pi. khwajagSn), religious title originally designating the masters of one of the Centidi Asian schools of Sufism ma 'rifa: gnosis, knowledge gained from mystic insight madrasa: an Islamic religious school maktab (pi. makatib): an Islamic primaiy school malik: village chief often appointed by the government in non-tribal areas maqam: (pi. maqama) station, a permanent, earned stage along the path to God maulawT: an Islamic scholar melmasti: Pathan custom of providing hospitality to visitors miOn: term of respect for a Sufi teacher mihrab: the section of a mosque indicating the direction of Mecca 257

mujaddid: renewer of Islam sent by God at the beginning of each century mullah: religious leader of a village murld: (pl.mwr<5d) disciple of a Sufi master or pir murshid: Sufi teacher rtqfs: the carnal or appetitive self namOz: canonical prayer performed fives times daily, also called salSt m 'at kJrwanl: chanting of passages fi"om the Qur'an nanawatai: Pathan custom of granting asylum to refugees nang: Pathan hill tribes pTr: spiritual guide in Sufism purda: segregation of sexes by sequestering females pushtunwali: Pathan tribal code of conduct

Qadiriyya: a Sufi order prevalent throughout the Islamic world whose founder is 'Abd al- Qadir al-Jilani (d. 1166) qawm: tribe based on agnatic lineage qdrl: one who recites the Qur'an during ceremonies qSdi: Islamic judge qibla: direction of Mecca toward which Muslims face in ^Ist qutb: pole, in Sufism considered to be the head of a hierarchy of saints rak'a: basic cycle of postures and movements in salat consisting of standing, bowing, praying, and sitting 258

Ramat;lan: the ninth Muslim month designated as the month of fasting between dawn and dusk salat: formal prayer performed five times daily sayyid: descendant of the Prophet shirk: association of partners with God, i.e., idolatry sura: a chapter of the Qur'an sajjSda nishln: the successor to a Sufi pir sdlik: traveler on the Sufi path somamusical sessions held by Chishtiyya Sufis to help induce mystical ecsatsy shaikh: alternate title for a Sufi master or pir shari 'a: the entire body of rules guiding the life of a Muslim silsila: the chain of Sufis who share spiritual descent fi^om an common founder

^hba: lit. companionship; the practice of keeping company with a Sufi pir in order to obtain his spiritual blessing sulUk: the particular conduct required for journey on the Sufi path sunna: the exemplary behaviour and conduct of the Prophet Muhammad embodied in hadith tqfslr: Qur'anic exegesis ts 'Ifa: the specific organization of a Sufi order tahajjud: night prayers ta'llm: religious instruction tSlib. religious student 259

taqlTd: legal imitation of one of the four schools of law

farlqa: (pl./z/n/g) the mystical path in Sufism; a Sufi order

tasarruf: the expenditure of energy by a shaikh on his disciple to change his behaviour

tasawwur-i shaikh: meditation on the image of the shaikh in order to obtain his spiritual power

tasblh: a string of beads used to count one's prayers or repetitions

tawhTd: Sufi concept of existential unity of God and man tawajjuh: concentration of a Sufi on a disciple as a means of transferring spiritual grace ta \vtz: prayer for God's protection; an amulet

'urs: Sufi festival commemorating a saint's death wahdat al-shuhSd: the metaphysical doctrine of phenomenological monism or unity of witness wahdat al-mijud: the metaphysical doctrine of monism or unity of being

Wahabi: a follower of the eighteenth century Arab reformer, 'Abd al-Wahab, who emphasized a literal interpretation of the Qur'an and hadith as the bases of Islam; anyone who employs a literalist approach to Islam yvaqf: a charitable religious trust

•wudu: ablutions performed before ritual activity zakdt: almsgiving, one of the five pillars of Islam ziydra: visitation to a Sufi shrine; in South Asia, shrine. 260

REFERENCES

A. Primary Sources

'Aibadila, Afqar. Dcarrat al-bayCm. N.p., 1992.

Aminullah, Maulana. Hid&yat al-s&likTn. Peshawar: n.p., 1996.

Balkhi, 'Ali Muhammad. TarJkh-i crivliyS'. Mazar-i Sharif: n.p., 1983.

.Ma'mUlat-iSaifxyya. 4th ed. N.p., 1989.

Rahman, Akhundzada Saifur. Ba vujUd-i Saifiyya. Peshawar, n.p., 1996. . Fatwd-i Saifiyya. N.p., n.d.

Sirhindi, Sayyed Ahmad. Makiubdt-i ImGtn-i RabbSnT, 2 vols. Edited by Nur Ahmad. Peshawar; University Book Agency, 1984.

"The False Prophet Has Entered the NWFP," ShQhafdt (Islamabad), 23 May 1996.

The Frontier Post (Peshawar), 3 November 1996.

The Intertmtional News (Islamabad), 29 October 1996.

B. Secondary Sources

. Gazetteer of Afghanistan. Vol. 4.Graz: Akademesche Druck v. Verlagsanstalt, 1975.

Agar, Michael. The Professional Stranger: An Informal Introduction to Ethnography, 2"^ ed. San Diego; Academic Press, 1996.

Ahmad, Mumtaz. "Islamic Fundamentalism in South Asia; The Jama'at-i Islami and the Tabligh-i Jama'at." In Fundamentalism Observed Edited by Martin E. Marty and R. Scott Appleby. Chicago; University of Chicago Press, 1991. 261

REFERENCES

Ahmad, Aziz. Studies in Islamic Culture in the Indian Environment. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1964.

Ahmed, Akbar S. Millennium and Charisma Among the Pathan: A Critical Essay in Social Anthropology. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1976. . Pukhtun Economy and Society: Traditional Structure and Economic Development in a Tribal Society. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1980.

Algar, Hamid. "Some Notes on the Naqshbandi TarTqat in Bosnia." Die Welt des Islams. 134 (1971): 168-203. . "Biographical Notes on the Naqshbandiyya TorTqat." In Essays in Islamic Science and Philosophy. Edited by George Hourani. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975. . "The Naqshbandiyya Order: A Preliminary Survey of Its History and Significance." Studia Islamica. 44 (1976): 123-197.

'Ali, Syed Ishfaq. The Saints of the Punjab. Pap Board: Rawalpindi, 1994.

Ansari, Sarah F. D. Sufis, Saints and State Power: The Firs of Sind, 1843-1947. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992.

Atayee, M. Ibrahim. A Dictionary of the Terminology of Pushtun's Tribal Customary Law and Usages. Translated by A. Muhammad Shinwary. Kabul: Academy of Sciences, 1979.

Bernard, H. Russell. Reseco'ch Methods in Cultural Anthropology: Qualitative and Qucouitative Approaches. Newberry Park, CA.: Sage Publications, 1988.

Briggs, Charles. "Questions for the Ethnographer: A Critical Examination of the Role of the Interview in Fieldwork." Semiotica 46 (1983): 233-261.

Buehler, Arthur F. "Charisma and Exemplar: Naqshbandi Spiritual Authority in the Punjab,1857-1947." Ph.D. diss.. Harvard University, 1993. . Sufi Heirs of the Prophet: The Iruiicm Naqshbandiyya and the Rise of the Mediating Shaikh. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1998. 262

REFERENCES

Canfield, Robert. "Islamic Coalitions in Bamyan: A Problem in Translating Afghan Political Culture." In Faction and Conversion: Religious Alignments in the Hindu Kush, edited by Robert Canfield. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan, 1973.

Chabbi, Jacqueline. "Remarques sur le developpement historique du movements ascetiques et mystiques au Khurasan." Studia Islamica 46 (1962): 5-72.

Chodkiewicz, Michel. "Techniques spirituelles." In Naqshbandis: cheminements et situation actuelle d'un ordre mystique musulman. Edited by Marc Gaborieau, Alexander Popovic, and Theirry Zarcone. Paris: Editions Isis, 1990.

Choueiri, YoussefM. Islamic Fwidamentalism. London: Pinter Publishers, 1990.

Clayer, Nathalie. L 'Albanie, pays des derviches: Les ordres mystiques musulmans en Albanie dVepoque post-Ottomane (1912-1967). Berlin: Harrassowitz, 1990. . Mystiques, etat, et societe : Les Halvetis dans I 'aire Balkanique de la fin du XVe Steele d nosjours. Leiden; E.J. Brill, 1993

Cornell, Vincent J. "The Logic of Analogy and the Role of the Sufi Shaikh in Post- Marinid Morocco." IntemationalJoumal of Middle Eastern Studies 15 (1983): 67-93. . "Mystical Doctrine and Political kcXxon." Al-Qantara 13 (1992): 201- 231. . The Way of Abu Maydan: The Works of Abu Mydan Shu 'yab. Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1996.

Cruise O'Brien, Donal B. Introduction to Charisma and Brotherhood in African Islam. Edited by Donal B. Cruise O'Brien and Christian Colon. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1988.

Denzin, Norman. The Research Act. Chicago: Aldine Press, 1970.

Dupree, Louis. Afghanistan. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1973.

Edwards, David B. "Charismatic Leadership and Political Process in Afghanistan." Central Asian Studies 5 (1986): 273-299. . Heroes of the Age: Moral Fault Lines on the Afghan Frontier. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1996. 263

REFERENCES

Ernst, Carl. "Vertical Pilgrimage and Interior Landscape in the Visionary Diary of RQzbihan Baqlr(d.l209)." The Muslim World 88, no. 2 (April 1998): 129-140. . Ruzhihan Baqli: Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism. Surrey: Curzon Press, 1996.

Esposito, John L. Islam and Politics. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1984.

Evans-Pritchard, E.E. The Sanusi of Cyrenaica. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1949.

Fernandez, James W. "Afterword: The Study of Divination, Present and Past." In African Divination Systems: Ways of Knowing. Edited by P.M. Peek. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1991.

Friedmann, Yohanan. Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi: An Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Posterity. Montreal: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1971. . "The Idea of Religious Renewal {Tajdrd) " In Prophecy Contimwus: Aspects of Ahmadi Religious Thought audits Medieval Background. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989.

Fusfeld, Warren. "The Shaping of Sufi Leadership in Delhi; The Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya, 1750 to 1920." Ph.D. diss.. University of Pennsylvania, 1981. . "Naqshbandi Sufism and Reformist Islam." In Ibn Khaldtin and Islamic Ideology. Edited by Bruce B. Lawrence. Leiden: E,. J. Brill, 1984.

Gardezi, Hassan N. "Religion, Ethnicity, and State Power in Pakistan: The Question of Class." In Religion and Political Conflict in South Asia. Edited by Douglas Allen. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1992.

Gellner, Ernest. Muslim Society. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981.

Gilmartin, David. Empire and Islam: Punjab and the Making of Pakistan. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988.

Gilsenan, Michael. Recognizing Islam: An Anthropologist's Introduction. London: CroomHehn, 1982. 264

REFERENCES

Guy-Goulet, Jean. "Ways of Knowing: Towards a Narrative Ethnography of Experiences Among the Dene Tha." Journal of Anthropological Research 50, no 1 (Spring 1994): 113-139.

Gregorian, Vartan. The Emergence of Modem Afghanistan. Stanford, Stanford University Press, 1969.

Hammersley, Martin and Paul Atkinson, Ethnography:Principles in Practice. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 1995.

Hart, David. Guardians of the Khaibar Pass: The Social Organization and History of the Afi'idis of Pakistan. Lahore: Vanguard Books, 1985. . "The Afndi of the Khaibar Tribal Agency." In Pakistan: The Social Sciences Perspective. Edited by Akbar Ahmed. Karachi: Oxford University Press, 1990.

Hermansen, Marcia. "Shah Wali Allah's Theory of the Subtle Spiritual Centers {lats 'if): A Sufi Model ofPersonhood and Self-Transformation." Jbi/wa/ of Near Eastern Studies Al, no.l (1988): 1-25.

Hoffinan, Valerie J. Sufism, Mystics, and Saints in Modem Egypt. Columbia, S.C.: University of South Carolina Press, 1995.

Holstein, James A. and Jaber F. Gubrium. The Active Interview: Qualitative Research Methods Series ^37. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, 1995.

Jakel, Klaus. "Reform und Reaktion im Afghanistan." A/ari/om Nameh 3 (February 1977): 24-57.

Johansen, Julian. Sufism and Islamic Reform in Egypt: The Battle for Islamic Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1996.

Kakar, M.H. Government and Society in Afghanistan: The Reign of Amir 'Abd al~ Rahman. Austin, University of Texas Press, 1979.

Karrar, 'Ali Salih. The Sufi Brotherhoods in the Sudan. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press, 1992. 265

REFERENCES

Katz, Jonathan. Dreams, Sufism, and Sainthood: The Visionary Career of Muhammad al- Zawawi. Leiden; E.J. Brill, 1996.

Kvale, Steiner. Interviews: An Introduction to Qualitative Research Interviewing Thousand Oaks, CA; Sage Publications, 1996.

Lawrence, Bruce B. Defenders of God: The Fundamentalist Revolt against the Modem Age. 1989. Reprint, Columbia; University of South Carolina Press, 1995.

Lederman, Charles. "Wayward Winds: Malay Archetypes and Theory of Personality in the Context of Shamanism." Social Sciences and Medicine 27, no 8 (1988); 799-810.

Le Gall, Dina. "The Ottoman Naqshbandiyya in the Pre-Mujaddidi Phase: A Study in Islamic Religious Culture and its Transmission." Ph.D. diss., Princeton University, 1992.

Malik, Jamal. "Dynamics among Traditional Religious Scholars and Their Institutions in Contemporary South Asia." The Muslim World SI (July-October 1997); 199-219.

Metcalf, Barbara Day. "The Madrese at Deoband: A Model for Religious Education in Modem India " Modem Asian Studies 12, no.l (February 1978); 111-134. . Islamic Revival in British India: Deoband I860-I900. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982. . "Living Hadith and the Tablighi Jama'at." Joumal of Asian Studies 52, no.3 (1993); 584-608.

Mole, Marijan."Autour du dare Mansour; I'apprentissage mystique de Baha' al-din Naqshband." Revue des Etudes Islamtques 35-66.

Nawid, Senzil. "The State, the Clergy and British Imperial Policy in Afghanistan during the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries." Intenmtional Jounml of Middle East Studies 29, no.4 (November 1997); 581-605.

Noelle, Christine. "The Anti-Wahabr Reaction in Nineteenth-Century Afghanistan." The Muslim World 85, no. 1-2 (January-April 1995); 23-48.

O'Fahey, Rex Enigmatic Saint: Ahmad Ibn Idris and the Idrisiyya Tradition. London; Hurst & Co., 1990. 266

REFERENCES

Olesen, Asta. "The Islamic Movement in Afghanistan." In Questioning the Secular State: The Worldwide Resurgence of Religion in Politics. Edited by David Westerland. New York: St.Martin's Press, 1996. . Islam and Politics in Afghanistan. London: Curzon Press, 1995.

Ottenberg, Simon. "Thirty Years of Fieldnotes: Changing Relationships to the Text." In Fieldnotes: The Making of Anthropology. Edited by Rodger Sanjek. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.

Paques, Viviana. La religion des esclaves: recherches sur la confrerie marocaine des Gnawa. Bergamo, Italy: Moretti and Vitali, 1991.

Popovic, Alexandre. Un ordre de derviches en terre d'Europe: la Rifa'iyya. Lausanne: Aged'homme, 1993.

Poullada, Leon B. Reform and Rebellion in Afghanistan, 1919-1929. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1973.

Punjab Government. Gazetteer of the Peshawar District 1897-98. 2nd ed. Lahore: Sang- E-Meel Publications, 1898.

Radtke, Bemd. "Between Projection and Suppression: Some Considerations Concerning the Study of Sufism." In Shi 'a Islam, Sects and Sufism: Historical Dimensions, Religious Practice and Methodological Considerations. Edited by Frederick de Jong. Utrecht: Stichting, 1992.

Rahbar, Muhammad Daud. "Shah Wali Allah and IjtihSd" Muslim World 45 (October 1955): 346-358.

Rahman, Fazlur. Islam and Modernity: Tran^ormation of an Intellectual Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1982.

Razi, Najm al-Din. The Path of God's Bondsman from Origin to Return. Translated by Hamid Algar. Delmar, New York: Caravan, 1982.

Rizvi, Sayid Athar Abbas. A History of Sufi.mi in India. Vol. 2. New Delhi: Munshiram, 1978. 267

REFERENCES

Roy, Olivier. "Sufism in the Afghan Resistance." Central Asian Survey 2 (1983): 61-79. . Islam and Resistance in Afghanistan. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. ."Modem Political Culture and Traditional Resistance." In The Tragedy of Afghanistan. Edited by B. Huldt and E. Jansson. London: Croom Helm, 1988. . Afghanistan: From Holy War to Civil War. Princeton: Darwin Press, 1995.

Rubin, Bamett K.The Fragmentation of Afghanistan: State Formation and Collapse in the International System. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1995. . "Afghanistan's Proxy Wars." International Affairs 73, no. 2 (1997): 283-296.

Sanjek, Roger. "A Vocabulary for Fieldnotes." In Fieldnotes: The Making of Anthropology. Edited by Roger Sanjek. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990.

Schimmel, Aruiemarie. Mystical Dimensions of Islam. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1975.

Shahrani, M. Nasif "Marxist Revolution and Islamic Resistance." In Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan: Anthropological Perspectives. Edited by M. Nazif Shahrani and Robert L. Canfield. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, 1984. . "Causes and Context of Responses to the Saur Revolution in Badakhshan." In Revolutions and Rebellions in Afghanistan. Anthropological Perspectives. Edited by M. Nasif Shahrani and Robert L. Canfield. Berkeley: Institute of International Studies, 1984.

Stewart, Rhea Tally. Fire in Afghcaxistan 1914-1929: Faith, Hope, and the British Empire New York: Doubleday, 1973.

Stoller, Paul. The Taste of Ethnogjraphic Things: The Senses in Anthropology. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1989. and Cheryl Olkes. In Sorcery's Shadow: A Memoir of Apprenticeship among the Songhay of Niger. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1988.

Tapper, Richard. "Holier than Thou: Islam in Three Tribal Societies." In Islam in Tribal Societies: From the Atlas to the Indus. Edited by Akbar S. Ahmed and David M. Hart. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1984. 268

REFERENCES

Tapper, Nancy. "'Abd al-Rahman's North-West Frontier: The Pushtun Colonization of Afghan Turkistan." In The Conflict of Tribe and State in Iran and Afghanistan. Edited by Richard Tapper. London: Croom Helm, 1983.

Tedlock, Barbara. "From Participant-Observation to the Observation of Participation: The Emergence of Narrative Ethnography." Journal of Anthropological Research 47, no 1 (Spring 1991): 69-94.

Trimingham, J.S. The Sufi Orders in Islam. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1973.

Trix, Frances. Sufi Discourses. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1991.

U.S. Agency for International Development. Socio-Economic Profile of the Khyber Agency. Islamabad, 1993.

Utas, Bo. "Notes on Sufi Orders and Khanaqas." Afghanistan Journal 7, no.2 (1980): 60-67.

Vikor, Knut S. Sufi and Scholar on the Desert Edge: Muhammad b. "Alt al-SanusTand His Brotherhood. Chicago: Northwestern University Press, 1995.

Voll, John. "Renewal and Reform in Islamic History; Tajdland Isldh." In Voices of Resurgent Islam. Edited by John L. Esposito. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. . "The Revivalist Heritage." In The Contemporary Islamic Revival: A Critical Survey and Bibliography. Edited by Gary E. Gorman. New York: Greenwood Press, 1991.

Voll John 0. and Nehemia Levtzion. Introduction to Eighteenth-Century Renewal and Reform in Islam. Syracuse; Syracuse University Press, 1987.

Watson, Lawrence C. and Maria Barbara Watson-Franke. Interpreting Life Histories: An Anthropological Inquiry. New Brunswick; Rutgers University Press, 1985.

Waugh, Earle H. The Munshid^ of Egypt: Their World and Their Song. Columbia, SC.: University of South Carolina Press, 1989. IMAGE B'ALUATION TEST TARGET (QA-3) •

•

0(/x %

LU 1^ 1.0 1^ 1^ —== U ||2.2

L. U. u. L£ L. M I.I h. kut. 1 11^ s 1^ 1^

150mnri

V

/APPLIED A IIVWGE . Inc 1653 East Main Street oW Rochester. NY 14609 USA 'A Phone: 716/482-0300 Fax: 716/288-5989

V^N^' / 01993. Applied Ima^. inc. All Rignis Reserved V