RuzbihanBaqli: Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in PersianSufism ROUTLEDGE SUFI SERIES SeriesEditor: Ian Richard Netton Prqftssor qf Arabic Studies, University qf Leeds
The Curzon Sufi Seriesattempts to provide short introductionsto a variety of facets of the subject, which are accessibleboth to the general readerand the studentand scholarin the field. Eachbook will be either a synthesisof existing knowledge or a distinct contribution to, and extensionof, knowledge of the particular topic. The two major underlying principles of the Seriesare soundscholarship and readability. ABDULLAH ANSARI OF HERAT An Early Sufi Master A.C. Ravan Farhadi AL-HALLAJ Herbert W Mason PERSIAN SUFI POETRY An Introduction to the Mystical Use of Classical PersianPoetry J. T.P. de BruiJn BEYOND FAITH AND INFIDELITY the Sufi Poetry and Teachingsof Mahmud Shabistari Leonard Lewisohn Rl1zbihan Baqli:
Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism
Carl W Ernst
Carl ~ ~~~:~;n~~~upCarl LONDON AND NEWAND YORK YORK First publishedin 1996 by Routledge 2 Park Square,Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN 270 Madison Ave, New York NY 10016 Transferredto Digital Printing 2010
© 1996 Carl W. Ernst Typesetin Baskerville by Bookman, Slough All rights reserved.No part of this book may be reprinted or reproducedor utilised in any form or by any electronic,mechanical, or other means,now known or hereafterinvented, including photocopyingand recording, or in any information storageor retrieval system, without permissionin writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A cataloguerecord for this book is available from the British Library Library qf Congress in Publication Data A catalog record for this book has been requested ISBN 0-7007-0342-X
Publisher'sNote The publisherhas gone to great lengths to ensurethe quality of this reprint but points out that some imperfectionsin the original may be apparent. Contents
Preface IX A. RuzbihanBaqli, a NeglectedFigure in Sufi Studies ix
B. RuzbihanStudies: A Brief Overview Xl
C. Aims of the PresentWork XlII
I. The Tradition of RuzbihanBaqli XlII
A. A Sufi's Life Xl B. The "RuzbihaniyyaOrder" and the Legacy of Ruzbihan 6 II. The Inner Structureof Sainthood 17 A. TIe Unveiling qf Secrets: Structureand Contents 17 B. The Prologueand Early Years 20 C. Theology, Cosmology, Psychology:A Primer 28 D. The FundamentalMetaphor: Unveiling and Clothing with Divinity 35 E. Theophaniesof Majesty 44 Initiatic Visions 46 Sainthoodand Prophethood 58 The Power of Wrath 63 F. Theophaniesof Beauty 66 "The red rose is of the glory of God." 66 The Body of Revelation 68 A TranscendentalLandscape 74 Angelic Encounters 76 G. TIe Unveiling qf Secretsas a Literary Text 80 AutobiographicalAspects of Ruzbihan's Self-Presentation 80 Ecstatic Speechand AscensionNarrative 93
v III. Institutionalizing a Sufi Order III A. The Biographiesof RuzbihanBaqli III B. Stories of Ruzbihanin the Early Hagiographical Narratives 116 C. The Descendantsof Ruzbihan 130 D. Political Connectionsof the Ruzbihaniyya 132 IV. Conclusion 143 Appendix A. The Writings of RuzbihanBaqll 151 Appendix B. Ruzbihan'sTwo Commentarieson the "Ascension" of Abu Yazld al-Bistaml 161 Select Bibliography 169 Index of Names 173 Glossaryand Index of Terms and Subjects 177
vi Figures
Chart 1. The RuzbihaniyyaOrder, and Contemporary Political Figures in Fars XXI Chart 2. Ruzbihan'sInitiatic Genealogyaccording to his Descendants XXlll
VII Preface
A. Riizbih:iin Baqli, a NeglectedFigure in Sufi Studies Sufism, the tradition of Islamic mysticism, is increasinglybecoming known in European languages through a steady stream of translationsand studies of major figures. In some cases, as with the great PersianSufi poetJalal aI-Din Rumi (d. 1273), popular English versionsof Sufi classicscan be found in literally dozensof paperbackeditions. The vast and complex Arabic works of the prolific Sufi metaphysicianof Andalusia, Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240), are gradually becoming accessible in reliable English and French versions. In America and in Europe, Sufi orders of Arab, Iranian, Turkish, and South Asian origin have found a following. This is one areain which the encounterbetween Islamic civilization and Euro-America is taking place on a non-political and highly personalbasis. Yet the Sufi tradition is so immensein extent that we are still only familiar with a fraction of the major figures. Only a small portion of Sufi texts in Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and other languageshave ever been printed, let alone critically edited, or translated and discussedin any European language. The most urgent tasks in Sufi studies are to produce readableand reliable translationsof importanttexts, alongwith analysesof their contents which link them up with currentdiscussions in the field of religious studies.This book, which belongsto the secondof thesecategories, is intendedto introduceone of the major figures of PersianSufism who has only recently emergedfrom an undeservedobscurity. RuzbihanBaqli (52211128-60611209)recorded in Arabic and Persian a life filled with intense visions and powerful ecstasies, interpretedin terms of a Qur'anically basedmetaphysics and cast in a densepoetic style. He lived at a time when Sufism was just beginning to become a broadly based social movement after centuries of private informality. 1 As a legacy he left a series of writings that coveredthe entire spectrumof Sufi mysticism, from Qur'anic commentary to Islamic law, theology, speculative metaphysics,and poetry. His descendantskept alive his teachings ix RuzbihanBaqli for severalgenerations in Shiraz, the town where he is buried, but the Ruzbihaniyyaorder did not survive long as an independent institution, possibly due to anti-Sufi feeling after the Safavid dynasty made Iran a Shi'l country after 1503. Nevertheless,a select group of readersin Central Asia, India, Ottoman Turkey, andMrica hascontinued to regardhis writings as someof the most challengingand stimulating works in Sufi literature. If one wished to make a comparisonto a figure from Western religious history, Ruzbihan could perhaps be viewed as a combination of St. Augustine (without the agonized conversion) and Hildegard of Bingen. Like Augustine,Ruzbihan had a deepimpact on scriptural interpretation in his religious tradition, and both men commu- nicateda personalizedmystical theology throughcompelling prose; similar to Hildegard, Ruzbihanhad an intensivevisionary life that furnished the raw materials for expression in metaphor and metaphysics. Ruzbihan's voice is unmistakeably Islamic and Persian, however. Devotion to the Prophet Muqammad is a constant refrain in Ruzbihan's writings. His Sufism constantly illustratesthe tension betweenesoteric mystical knowledgeand the public responsibility to divine law. His writings constitue a vast synthesisand rethinking of early Islamic religious thoughtfrom the perspective of pre-Mongol Persian Sufism. Within the Islamic tradition, the figure to whom Ruzbihan might best comparedis Ibn 'ArabI, especially because both men articulated extensive visions and chartedthe territory of inner experiencejust as the Sufi orders began to take on definite shape; this potentially revealing comparisonwill have to be postponed,however, until the works of both Sufis are better understoodin their totality. Publication of Ruzbihan'sPersian writings have led quickly to an appreciationof his style. His is an original poetic sensibility, in which the roses and nightingales are freshly stamped with the images of Persian gardens,long before those images faded into cliche in the handsof lesserwriters. As AnnemarieSchimmel has observed, What so profoundly impresses the reader in Ruzbihan's writings ... is his style, which is at times as hard to translateas that of Ahmad Ghazzaliand possessesa strongerand deeper instrumentation.It is no longer the scholasticlanguage of the early exponentsof Sufism, who tried to classifY stagesand
x Preface
stations, though Baqli surely knew these theories and the technicalterms. It is the languagerefined by the poetsofIran during the eleventh and twelfth centuries, filled with roses and nightingales,pliable and colorful.2 In a similar manner, Mul.lammad Mu'ln has pointed out, "His speechis like a rose that flutters apartonce graspedin the hand,or like an alchemical substancethat turns into vapor when barely heated.His languageis the languageof perceptions;he praisesthe beautiful and beauty, and loves them both.,,3 Theseremarks hold true especially for his Persian style, but they are suggestivein a different way for Ruzbihan'sArabic writing, which at its most impassionedis lyrical and transparentdespite its simplicity. But much remains to be done before we can go beyond these impressionisticremarks to evaluateRuzbihan's literary legacy as a whole. Despitehis importance,Ruzbihan is still hardly known outsidea narrow circle of specialists; his name is not even mentioned,for instance,in The Cambridge History qf Iran. Mul.lammad MU'ln, the pioneeringeditor of Ruzbihan'sThe Jasmineqf the Lovers, remarked about that text, that "to understandthe works of mystics such as 'Attar, Ruml, 'IraqI, Awl.ladl-i Kirmanl, andknown whichI:Iafi~, researcheson this book are quite necessary.,,4 I would enlarge upon this statementand say that the writings of RuzbihanBaqll form a vital resource for understandingthe experiential basis, not simply of Persian Sufi literature, but of Sufism and indeed mysticism in general.
B. Ruzbihan Studies: A Brief Overview Louis Massignonin 1913 was the first Europeanscholar to draw attentionto Ruzbihan,in connectionwith his interpretationof the BaghdadianSufi martyr al-I:Iallaj.5 In 1928 W. Ivanow describeda manuscriptof one of the biographiesof Ruzbihanthat he found on a trip to Shiraz, where he also rediscoveredthe tomb of the shaykh.6Massignon then contributedthe first bibliographic essay on Ruzbihan in 1953.7 Although Ruzbihan's great Qur'an commentary was several times lithographed in India in the nineteenthcentury, it has only been since 1958 that the mystical writings of Ruzbihanhave begunto appearin print, thanksto the
xi Ruzbihlin Baqli pioneeringefforts of Hemy Corbin. Corbin edited two ofRuzbihan's Persianworks, The Jasmine qf the Lovers (with the collaboration of Mul}ammad Mu'in) and The Commentaryon Ecstatic Sayings.8 Corbin also wrote a lengthy essay on Ruzbihan which is still the fullest interpretationof Ruzbihansince Massignon.9 Two biographiesof Ruzbihan written by his great-grandsons,The Spirit qf the Gardens and The Gifl qfthe People qf Gnosis, were publishedin 1969 by M. T. Danish-Puzhuh under the title Ruzbihan nama (The Book if Ruzbihan).IOThe Turkish scholarNazif Hoca brought out editions of two Arabic works of Ruzbihan in the early 1970s based on manuscriptsin Turkey, an abridgedversion of The Unveiling qfSecrets (also publishedby Paul Nwyia from a BaghdadMS) and The Spirits' Font (1001 Stations).I I Javad Nurbakhsh, present head of the Ni'matullahi Sufi order, published several new editions of Ruzbihan's Persian writings at about the same time, based on manuscriptsfound in the Ni'matullahi library in Tehran: these included TheJasmine qf the Lovers, The Treatise on Holiness, The Errors qf Wayforers,and the hagiographicalThe Gifl to the PeopleqfGnosis.1 2 My earlier study Words qfEcs~hagiographical in Sufismcontained a study ofRuzbihan's interpretationof ecstaticsayings in Sufism, and in some additional articles I have addressedhis use of symbolism and his teachingon 10ve.13 Three Iranian scholars have also published biographical studiesof Ruzbihan,with specialattention to his Persianpoetry. 14 Despitethese promising efforts, much remainsto be donebefore it will be possible to attempt a comprehensive analysis of Ruzbihan's Sufism. Prof. Alan Godlas of the University of Georgia has undertaken the study of Ruzbihan's immense Qur'anic commentary,and in his Ph.D. dissertation (University of California, 1991) he edited and translatedthe portion of the commentary devoted to sura 4 of the Qur'an (constituting approximately one juz', or one-thirtieth, of the entire text). His researcheson the manuscripttradition will be crucial to evaluating Ruzbihan'simpact on the mystical interpretation of scripture in Islam, and his ongoing work on translating the remainderof the text promises to make available one of the monumentsof Islamic religious thought. Dr. Paul Ballanfat hasjust completeda doctoral dissertationon Ruzbihan(Sorbonne, 1994), which will include his critical edition and French translation of three important mystical treatises(TheJoumey qfthe Spirits, The Commentaryon Veils and Coverings, and The Unveiling qf Secrets) plus two shorter theological texts.
XII Preface
Ballanfat and I also proposeto collaborateon a critical edition of the Arabic 77ze Language qf Consciences,which Ruzbihan himself expandedand translatedinto Persianas 77ze Commentaryon Ecstatic Sayings~ the Persiantext is so problematicthat it will be impractical for anyoneto attempta translationof the Persianwithout having a sure grasp on the Arabic original. In addition, my own translation of the completetext of 77ze Unveiling qfSecrets, portions of which are presentedhere, will be publishedseparately. From theseremarks it shouldbe evident that we arejust reachingthe point of having full accessto all of Ruzbihan'smajor writings, each of which deserves full considerationin itself and in relation with the rest of his literary production.Until individual studiesare carried out in detail, it will not be possible to establishwith any confidencethe relationships betweenRuzbihan's writings, the developmentand maturationof his technicalvocabulary, or his use of Qur'anand ~arfithQur'an texts. With the small numberof researchersin this field, it may be some time before this agendacan be accomplished,but the size and statureof Ruzbihan'sreuvre demandsa serious effort of interpretation.
c. Ahns of the Present Work In this book I would like to presenta study of the mystical life of Ruzbihan Baqli: as portrayed in three sources: his own autobiographicalwork 77ze Unveiling qf Secrets, and two hagiogra- phies ("lives of the saints") written by his great-grandsons,77ze Spirit qfthe Gardens and 77ze Gift qfthe People qf Gnosis. I will not attemptto constructfrom thesesources a single definitive narrativeaccount of Ruzbihan'sexternal activities, though I have briefly summarized the standardconsensus; my concern is rather with his mystical experiencesas viewed in these different sources, each of which needs to be understoodon its own terms. In comparisonto the relatively brief treatmentof 77ze Unveiling qf Secretsby Corbin, this study covers much more of the text in detail, and it also has the advantageof drawing on the otherwritings of Ruzbihanthat have come to light since Corbin's initial essays appearedin the late 1950s. In overall approach,this book differs from the learnedand detailed intellectual biography of Ibn 'Arabi by Claude Addas, which seeks to reconstruct his spiritual itinerary and mystical experiencesas describedin his own writings; despite her critical attitude toward hagiographies,by taking somewhatliterally Ibn
Xlll Ruzbihiin Baqli
'Arabi's claims to sainthood,Addas endsby presentingher subject hagiographically.15 I am concerned rather to articulate and describe the structure of mystical experience in Ruzbihan's writings through analysis of his rhetoric of sainthood. Although this meanstaking seriously Ruzbihan'svocabulary and categories of mysticism, it also requiresthat his claims to spiritual authority be interpreted with regard to their symbolism and significance as literary texts rather than as transparentexpressions of objective spiritual status.I also take a different approachto interpretingSufi biographical and hagiographical texts. In a previous book on Sufism in South Asia, I proposed a hermeneuticalmethod of reading Sufi biographical texts that takes full account of the concernsof pre-modernauthors, paying particularattention to the way that authorswrite in terms of genre,audience, patronage, and literary convention without privileging one text over another.16 What this meansin practiceis that lives of the saintsare not readas collections of "facts" that are to be either acceptedor rejected,but that eachtext is a literary interpretationthat needsto be elucidated on its own terms. This is not a particularly radical approachin studiesof sainthoodand hagiographyin Christianity, but the study of the Islamic humanitiescontinues to lag behind theoretically in dealingwith the interpretationof religious texts.I 7 A good example of the more theoreticallysensitive approach to Islamic hagiography is the work of my colleague Prof. Vincent Cornell of Duke University; he points out that the act of interpretationis implicit in one of the standardArabic terms used to describehagiographies, "translation of lives of the saints" (tarajim al-awliya'). Thus I propose to examine here the "lives" of Ruzbihan, beginningwith the customarysummary that can be found in most of the secondary studies mentioned above. This conventional account, given in Chapter I, briefly describesthe historical and political context of twelfth-centuryPersia, the standardreconstruc- tion of Ruzbihan'sitinerary in life, his family, his Sufi activities, and an overview of his legacy. For readers unfamiliarwith the historical backgroundof this strandof PersianSufism, this account will provide a brief orientation that sets up the terms of the subsequentdiscussion. Chapter II, the longest part of the book, provides a detailed classification and analysis of the rapturous encounterswith God that constituteRuzbihan's autobiographical TIe Unveiling qf Secrets, along with an introduction to the technical
XlV Preface vocabulary that Riizbihan uses to describe mystical experience. Some of his most distinctive visions are presented here in translation, grouped together thematically under the headingsof "theophaniesof majesty" and "theophaniesof beauty." When the text is consideredin terms of autobiography,despite giving some interesting details concerningRiizbihan's life, it does so only in order to relate them to his inner visionary experiences.In terms of its overall style and function, The Unveiling qf Secrets belongs to a well-established literary tradition of visionary narratives and heavenly ascensions. Chapter III moves to consider the institutionalization of the Sufi "order" that coalesced around Riizbihan and his descendantsin Shiraz. The biographicalpicture composed by Riizbihan's great-grandsonsdiffers in significant ways from ,he picture that he himself drew in his own writings, particularly as regards Riizbihan's image of himself in terms of sainthood.The gap betweenRiizbihan's self-portrait and that of his descendantsfurnishes the opportunity to locate their aims as authors,to establishthe hermeneuticalapproach of eachindividual text. Finally, Chapter IV briefly reviews Riizbihan's concept of sainthood,and how differently it can be seenin the different "lives" of Riizbihan. Throughout this essay, extensive translationsfrom the sources furnish examples of the extraordinary style and personalpresence of Riizbihan, somethingthat jumps off the page of his Arabic and Persianwritings. I hope that this brief study will help bring a new and larger audienceto the Sufism of Riizbihan. While this is partially aimed at those who have a specialinterest in Islamic studiesand Sufism, I also have in mind those readerswho follow the subjectsof comparativemysticism and sainthood.This book is more descriptive than analytical, simply becauseI think it will be most useful in the first instanceto presentsome of the most important aspectsof Riizbihan's visionary style in a way that is accessibleto non-specialists. I would like to express here my thanks to those who have contributed vital assistanceto make this project possible. Dr. Leonard Lewisohn of the University of London invited me to return to the subject of Riizbihan in connection with two memorableconferences on PersianSufism held at the School of Oriental and Mrican Studies,University of London, in 1990, and at GeorgeWashington University in 1992; both conferenceswere co-sponsoredby the Ni'matullahi Sufi order. Prof. Ian Netton of xv RuzbihanBaqIi
the University of Exeter, a participantin thoseconferences and the editor of the Serieson Sufism, suggestedthe idea for this book. Dr. Daniel Massignonand Prof JamesMorris of Oberlin College both provided copies of important manuscriptsand warmly supported the project; thanks also to Prof Herbert Mason of Boston University for his timely help. My good friends Prof Bruce Lawrence of Duke University and Prof John Bussanich of the University of New Mexico gave much appreciatedencouragement. Membersof the North Carolina History of Religions Colloquium provided astute criticism to an earlier draft of Chapter II. An earlier version of Chapter III was presentedat the Middle East Studies Association conferencein North Carolina in 1993. Prof Alan Godlasof the University of Georgiaand Dr. Paul Ballanfat of the Sorbonne,the two most active researcherson the subject of RuzbihanBaqli, have sharedunstintingly the unpublishedfruits of their labors; without their generosity this study would not have beenpossible. Research for this book was supportedby a Summer ResearchGrant from the National Endowmentfor the Humanities in 1993 and a study assignmentfrom the University of North Carolina-ChapelHill in 1994. As always, I want to thank my wife Judy Ernst and our daughters Sophie and Tess for their understandingand support. The transliterationof Arabic and Persianfollows the systemof the Encyclopaediaqf Islam, exceptthatJ is usedfor jfm and Qfor qaJ, and digraph transliterationsare not underlined.Translations from Arabic and Persian are mine unless otherwise noted; these are meant to be fairly literal and generally consistent, though sometimesphrases of blessing are omitted for the sake of clarity. In discussing a text that mostly consists of visions of God, capitalization is problematic, especially since there is no capitalization in Arabic. If one follows the custom of capitalizing every term and pronoun that refers to God, the book will be so filled with capitalizedwords that it will resemblepublications of the seventeenthcentury. I have followed the expedient of leaving pronouns referring to God in lower case, and capitalizing only certain crucial technical terms for transcendentalrealities that are not ordinarily treatedas such in English (e.g., Essence,Attributes). Though admittedly inconsistent, this practice has the merit of calling the reader'sattention to the importanceof Ruzbihan'sless familiar technical terms.
XVI Preface
Notes 1. For an overview of recent researchon early Sufism in the Iranian cultural region, see Leonard Lewisohn, "Iranian Islam and PersianateSufism," in The Legacy qf Mediaeval Persian Sufism, ed. LeonardLewisohn (London: Khaniqahi Nimatullahi, 1992), pp. 11- 43. 2. Schimmel,Dimensions, p. 298. 3. MU'In, introduction to 'Abhar al-'{lShiq'in, p. 100. 4. MU'In, Introduction to 'Abhar, p. 84. In this respect,Mu'ln shared the view of Dr. Qasim GhanI, that "from the point of view of the greatnessof his mystical station, and from the perspectiveof ecstasy and spiritual state,Shaykh Ruzbihan is on the level of ShaykhAbu'l- Ifasan KharaqanI and Shaykh Abu Sa'Id-i Abu'I-Khayr"; GhanI also placed Ruzbihanprominently in his list of twenty-eight major Sufi authors. See his Balyh dar athar wa ajkar wa alJwal-i lfafo.:, vol. 2, Tarikh-itatawwurat ~aww1ff dar islamtatawwurat wa tatawwurat wa talfawwulat-i mukhtalifo-yi an az ~adr-itatawwurat islamtatawwurat ta '~r-itatawwurat lfa.fi? (Tehran: Kitabfurushl Zawwar, 1340/1961),p. 395, n. 2; p. 545. 5. l-:Iusayn ibn Man~ur Man~ural-l-:Iallaj, Kitab al-tawas'in, ed. Louis Massignon (new ed., Paris: Librairie Paul Geuthner,1913), esp. pp. 79-108. Cf. also Massignon,La Passion de Husayn Ibn Mpnsur Halldj, martyr mystique de l'Islam executeIi Bagdad Ie 26 mars 922, Etude d'histoire religieuse (2nd ed., 4 vols., Paris: Gallimard, 1975), esp. II, 406-14, 498-501; id., The Passion qf Hallaj, trans. Herbert Mason (4 vols., Princeton: PrincetonUniversity Press, 1982), II. 395-99, 478-83. 6. "A Biography of Ruzbihan al-Baqli," Journal and Proceedings qf the Asiatic Society qf Bengal N.S. XXIV (1928), pp. 353-61; "More on Biography of Ruzbihan al-Baqli," Journal qf the Bombay Branch qf the Royal Asiatic Society VII (1931), p. 1-7. 7. "La Vie et les oeuvresde RuzbehanBaqli," in Studia orientalia Joanni Pedersen septuagenario. .. a collegis discipulis amicis dicata (Copenhagen, 1953), pp. 275-88; reprinted in Louis Massignon, Opera Minora, ed. Y. Moubarac(Beirut, 1963), II, 451-65. 8. LeJasmindes Fide'les d'amour, Kitdb-e 'Abhar al-'dshiq£n, ed. Henry Corbin and MuJ:lammadMU'In, BibliothequeIranienne, 8 (Tehran: Institut Francais d'Iranologie de Teheran, 1958; reprint ed., Tehran: Intisharat-i ManuchihrI, 1365/1981);Commentaire sur les paradoxesdes Soufis (Sharh-e Shath[ydt), ed. Henry Corbin, Bibliotheque Iranienne, no. 12 (Tehran: Departementd'Iranologie de l'Institut Franco- Iranien, 1966). 9. Henry Corbin, "Quietudeet Inquietudede I'ame dansIe Soufismede RuzbehanBaqli de Shiraz," Eranos-Jahrbuch1958 (1959), pp. 51-194, reprintedin revisedform in Corbin, En Islam iranien: Aspectsspirituels et philosophiques,vol. 3, Les Fide'les d'amour, Sh£'ismeet soufisme(Paris, 1972), pp. 9-146. Corbin here discussesprimarily the Ighana (pp. 30-44), the KashJ al-asrar (pp. 45-64), and above all the 'Abhar al-'ashiq'in (pp. 65-146). Portionsof this essayhave appearedin an abbreviated
XVII RuzbihanBaqIi
form in other works by Corbin; c( The Man qf Light in Iranian Sufism, trans. Nancy Pearson (Boulder: Shambhala, 1978), and "The Visionary Dream in Islamic Spirituality," in The Dream and Human Societies, ed. G. E. von Grunebaumand Roger Caillois (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1966), pp. 381-408. 10. Mu!).ammad Taqi Danish-puzhuh,ed., Rilzbihan nama (Tehran, 1347/1969). • II. Rilzbihan al-Ba~ll.veUniversitesi Kitab Kaif al-asrar'i ile Fars(a bazi Siirleri, ed. Nazif Hoca, Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi Yayinlan No. 1678 (Istanbul: EdebiyatUniversitesi Faku!tesi Matb~asl,ma$fab 1971); Kita b ma$fabYayinlan al-aTVa~, ed. Nazif M. Hoca, Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakultesi Yayinlan, no. 1876 (Istanbul: Edebiyat Fakultesi Matbaasl, 1974); Paul Nwyia, "Waqa'i' al-Shaykh Ruzbihan al-Baqll ai-Shirazi muqta~aratLXIVLXIV min kitab Kaslif al-asrar wa mukashqfot al-anwar," al- Mashriq LXIV 14-5 (1970), pp. 385-406. 12. 'Abhar al- XVlll Preface 16. Seemy Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a SouthAsian Sufi Center, SUNY Series in Muslim Spirituality in South Asia (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992), esp. pp. 85-93. 17. For an overview of recent scholarshipon sainthoodin Islam, and a discussion of the reasonsfor using this Christian term in Islamic studies, see my remarks in the "Introduction" to Manifestations if Sainthood iTf Islam, ed. Grace Martin Smith and Carl W. Ernst (Istanbul: Editions Isis, 1994). XIX Chart 1 The Tariqa Riizhihaniyya Contemporary Political o F19ures In° F ars1 I. Riizbihan Baqli Shirazi Salghurid Atabegs (522/1128-606/1209) Mu~affar ai-Din Sonqur (r.543/1148-556/1161) Riizbihan establishesribal in Shiraz in [Mu~ffar ai-Din Zangi 56011165 . (r. 55611161-57011175)] 2a. Shihabai-Din Muhammadibn Riizbihan (d. 605/1209) Sa'id Degeie (Takla) ibn Zangi (r. 57011175-59011194) 2b. Fakhr ai-Din Ahmad ibn Riizbihan (ca. 57011174-64511247) (Toghril (r. 59011194-60111203)] Sa'd ibn Zangi (r. 60 I 11203-62811231) 3a. Abii Bakr ibn Muhammadibn Abii Bakr ibn Sa'd Qutlugh Khan Riizbihan (d. 640/1242) (r. 62811231-65811260) [four other Atabegs] 3b. Sadr ai-Din Ibrahim ibn Fakhr al- bin Ahmad Riizbihan Thani (615/1218or 603/1206--68511286) Jalal ai-Din Abii Bakr ibn Khwaja (former caliphal official?) Direct Mongol Rule after 6681 1270 4a. Sharafai-Din Ibrahim ibn Sadr al- Amir Bulughan (Mongol governor Din Riizbihan Thani, author of Tulfol who convertsto Islam, ca. 68011281- ahl al-'irfon (70011300) 68111282) 4b. Shamsai-Din 'Abd ai-Latif ibn Sadr ai-Din Riizbihan Thani,'author . of Riih aljinan (705/1305) Nusrat ai-Din Ahmad, ruler of Lur-i B'uzurg (r. 696/1296-73311333) 4c.Jalalai-Din Ya/.lya ibn Sadr ai-Din Riizbihan Thani 5a. Sadr ai-Din ibn Sharafai-Din ibrahim Riizbihan Thalith 5b. 'Izz ai-Din Mas'iid ibn Sharafal- Din Ibrahim 1. Namesin bracketsare not mentionedin the hagiographiesdedicated to Riizhiban and his successors XXI Chart 2 Rl1zbihan's Initiatic Genealogy according to his Descendants A. According to Tulifat ahl al- 'irfln, pp. 16-17. 1. Ruzbihan 2. Siraj aI-Din Khali:fa 3. Abu al-Qasim Mu~ammadmad ibn ~admad ibn 'Abd ai-Karim 4. Khatib Abu Bakr ibn Mu~ammad 5. Abu Is~aq Ibrahim ibn Shahriyaral-Kazariini 6. !:lusayn Akkar Firiizabadi 7. Abu 'Abd Allah Mu~ammadmad ibn Khafif ai-Shirazi / \ Branch I Branch II 8. Abu Ja'far!:laddad 8. RuwaymRuwaym 9. Abu 'Umar I~takhri 9. Junayd 10. Abu Turab Nakhshabi 10. Sari al-Saqati 11. Shaqiq Balkhi 11. Ma'riif Karkhi 12. SalmanFarsi 12. Da'ud Ta'i 13. Musa ibn Zayd 13. !:lasanKarkhi Ba~ri 14. Uways Qarani 14. 'Ali 15. 'Ali: 15. Mu~ammadKarkhi 16. Mu~ammadmad XXl11 Chart 2 B. According to Ru~ al-jin1m, pp. 184-86. Path I 1. Ruzbihan 2. Siraj aI-Din Ma1:nnud ibn al-Khalifa 3. Abu aI-Qasim Mahmud ibn AJ.!.mad ibn 'Abd aI-Karim [KazarunI] 4. Abu Bakr ibn [sic] Mu4ammadibn KhatIb Abu aI-Qasim ibn 'Abd aI-Karim 5. Abu Is4aq Ibrahim ibn Shahryaral-KazarunI 6. I:Jusayn al-Akkar 7. Abu 'Abd Allah ibn KhafIf ~I Branch I Branch II 8.Ja'faral-I:Iadhdha' 8. Ruwaym ibn 9. Abu Turab al- A1:nnad NakhshabI 9. Abu al-Qasim 10. I:Iatim al-~amm Junayd 11. IbrahIm ibn al- 10. Sari al-Saqatl Adham 11. Ma'riif al- 12. Da'ud al-Ta'l KarkhI 13. I:IabIb al-'Ajanii 14. Musa ibn YazId al-Ra'I Sub-branch I Sub-branch II 15. Uways al-QaranI 12. Da'ud al------Ta'I (imams) 16. 'Umar ibn al- 13. I:JabIb al-'AjamI 12. 'All ibn Musa al- Khanab 14. al-I:Jasanal- Ric;Ia' 17. 'All ibn AbI TalIb Ba~ri 13. Musa ibnJa'far 15. 'All ibn AbI 14. Ja'farSub-branchal-~diq Musa Talib 15. Mu4ammadMusa aI- Baqir 16. Zayn al-'A.bidln 'Ali ibn al-I:Jusayn 17. al-I:Jusaynibn 'All 18. 'All ibn Abi Talih XXIV Chart 2 Path II 1. Ruzbihan 2. Abu al-~ala' al-Wasitl: Branch I BranchII 3. Mui:lammadBranch MankII 3. Abu al-Mai:lasin 'All al- 4. Da'ud ibn Mui:lammad Farmadhi 5. AbU aI-'Abbas ibn Idris 4. 'AbU aI-Qasim 'Abd Allah ibn 6. Abu al-Qasim Rama<;lan 'All al-Kharakani 7. Abu Ya'qub al-Tabari 5. AbU 'Amr Mui:lammad ibn 8. Abu 'Abd Allah ibn 'Uthman IbrahIm 9. Abu Ya'qub al-Nahrajuri 6. ibn Mui:lammad aI-Zujaji al- 10. Abu Ya'qub aI-Susi Nisaburi 11. 'Abd al-Wai:lid ibn Zayd 7. Junayd 12. aI-J:IasanMui:lammadal-Ba~ri (ends abruptly) 13. Kumayl ibn Ziyad 14. 'All ibn Abi Talib xxv Chart 2 c. The Initiatic Genealogyof ~adrChart aI-Din RuzbihanII (Ru~ al- jinlm, pp. I86~87)Chart 1. ~adrRuzbihan al-Din Ruzbihan II Branch I Branch II 2. Fakhr al-Din ~ad 2. Sayf aI-DIn Abu 'Ubayd Allah Mu}:lammad ibn ~ad al-ZanjanI, in Shiraz 3. Abu Mu}:lammad Ruzbihan 3. Jamal aI-DIn Abu al- [Baqli] Ma}:lasin FaQI Allah ibn Sar- hang al-Mihrdar al-Zanjani etc. Baha 4. Abu al-Ma}:lasin 'All al- Farmadhiin Khurasan etc. [see B, Path II, Branch II above] XXVI I The Tradition of Ruzbihcln Baqli A. A Sufi's Life The conventional story of the life of Ruzbihan Baqll has been preservedin a numberof biographicalreports. Here I would like simply to presenta summary,noting in every casethe sourceof our information and indicating where the shaykh's ownwritings bear out or conflict with the dataoflater writers, since thesedivergences will be exploredlater on. It will be helpful to the readerto digest this account before going on to the raptures and the inner landscapesof The Unveiling qf Secrets, which are analyzed in the Chapter II. The contrasting literary perspectives of the later biographieswill be discussedin ChapterIII. Ruzbihan's life took place in Persia during the period that Marshal Hodgson calls the "earlier middle period" of Islamic history. The 'Abbasid caliphatein Baghdaddeclined precipitously after the middle of the fourth/tenth century. New waves of nomadic confederationswere drawn from the steppesof Central Asia to the cultured cities of Iran and Iraq. The Seljuk Turks becameMuslims and quickly were drawn to support the Sunnl caliphate and to make allianceswith religious scholarsand Sufis. They establisheddomination over Iran, controlling the areawhere Ruzbihanwould be born as early as 441/1049-50.I Shiraz, where Ruzbihanis buried, becamethe capital of the Salghurids,one of several semi-independentdynasties of Atabegs ~ nominal regents for Seljuk princeswho seizedeffective power for themselves,at first as vassalsfor the Seljuks, then for the Khwarazmshahs,and finally for the Mongols. The Salghuridsremained independent for over 120 years,from 54311148to 66811270,when the Mongols finally took direct control over Fars. Political turmoil and the contestfor power madeit a turbulent time, though there were also periodsof years of tranquillity. Nearly all our biographersagree that RuzbihanBaqll was born RuzbihanBaqIi in 52211128in the Persiantown of Pasa (Arabicized as Fasa).The lone dissenterregarding the date is Massignon,who suggests530/ 1135-6.2 According to Ruzbihan's own testimony, which is reported in full in the next chapter, he was born in a family of Day1amite stock, and his childhood was spentamong people who lackedany senseof religion. He recalls having spiritual experiences at the ages of three, seven, and fifteen, but only the last of these does he characterizeas a true "unveiling" (kaslifj. That eventwould have taken place in 53711142-3.3 In one biography, his first unveiling is said rather to have taken place at age twenty-five, therefore in 54711152-3,although that could easily have been a scribal error for fifteen.4 In any case, he abandonedhis vegetable store, cashbox,and supplies, and wanderedfor a year and a half (or, in a later account, six and a half years) in the desert.5 Then around 538-911143-4(or, following Massignon,in 548-911153- 4), Ruzbihan joined the Sufis, serving them, learning their discipline, and studying and memorizing the Qur'an. Where he stayed or how long we do not know, but he reports having an initial vision on the roof of a Sufi hospice (ribat).6 Massignon, following later reports, believes that Ruzbihan was associated with the riMt of the Banu Salbih family in Shiraz, where he would have had accessto a rich library containingthe writings of I:Iallaj.7 Ruzbihanthen returnedto Pasaand becamea disciple of ShaykhJamalaI-DIn AbI al-Wafli' ibn KhalIl al-Fasa'I, a figure about whom we know nothing aside from Ruzbihan'sreport. 8 Nonetheless,this Jamal aI-DIn is the only contemporary(aside from his own son A}:lmad) that Ruzbihan names in his autobiography. The next two decades are hard to pin down with any confidence.Ruzbihan reportedly traveled to Syria, Iraq, Kirman, and Arabia. He is said to have made the pilgrimage to Mecca twice.9 Later biographersattempted to fill in the gap regarding Ruzbihan'steachers and masters.They suggestthat Ruzbihanwas for a time a disciple of a Kurdish Sufi masternamed Jagir KurdI (d. 59011194), who lived near Samarrain Iraq.1O Ruzbihan's grandsons furnished him with a complete initiatic genealogy, stating that his primary teacher in Sufism was Siraj aI-DIn Ma}:lmud ibn KhalIfa (d. 56211166-7) of the Salbih family in Shiraz, who representedthe KazariinI lineage of Persian Sufism. Since Ruzbihan himself never mentions this teacher or the 2 The Tradition of Rozbihan BaqIi teachinglineage, we will return to this questionlater on. OtherSufi teachershe is said to have associatedwith include a certain Qjwam aI-Din Suhrawardi,otherwise unknown.II In terms of the basic religious sciences,Ruzbihan is believed to have studied with the leading scholars of Shiraz, including Fakhr aI-Din ibn Maryam, and Arshad aI-Din Nayrizi (d. 604/1208), a commentatoron the great collection of prophetic 4adith, the M~ab14.commentator In a fragment of one of his legal treatises,Ruzbihan himself has recordeda 4adith report from one Abucommentator al-~ala' al-Wasiti on a legal point concerning ritual prayer.13 His biographer Shams aI-Din magnified this encounter,placing it in the context of his pilgrimage made from Pasa to the holy places of Arabia with a group of disciples. During a three-day stop in Wasit, he maintains, Ruzbihan receiveda Sufi cloak of initiation from Abu al-~ala',maintains, and intended to make a retreat under his direction, but was told by the shaykh that he did not need this kind of discipline to becomeperfect. 14 Another account has it that Ruzbihan studied 4adith with the famous Sufi masterAbu Najib al-Suhrawardiin Alexandria, but it has been convincingly argued that this was a different person namedRuzbihan commentatorMi~ri.15 As we shall see,Ruzbihan's biographies consistentlylinked his namewith thoseof otherfamous Sufis whom he had never met, as part of their hagiographicalportrait. The most interesting account of Ruzbihan by a near- contemporaryis that of the great Andalusian master Ibn 'Arabi, who found this story still current when he visited Mecca sometime after 1201. The story is told of Shaykh Ruzbihan that he was afflicted with the love of a woman singer; he fell ecstaticallyin love with her, and he cried much in his state of ecstasybefore God, confoundingthe pilgrims at the Ka'ba during the time he residedthere. He circumambulatedon the roof terracesof the sanctuary,but his statewas sincere.When he was afflicted by the love of this singer, no one knew of it, but his relationshipwith God was transferredto her. He realizedthat the people would imagine that his ecstasywas for God in its origin. So he went to the Sufis and took off his cloak, throwing it before them. He told his story to the people, saying, "I do not want to lie about my spiritual state." He then becamelike a servantto the singer. The womanwas told 3 RuzbihanBaqli of his state and his ecstasyover her, and she learnedthat he was one of the great saints of God. The woman became ashamed,and repentedbefore God for the professionshe had followed, by the blessingof his sincerity. She becamelike a servantto him. God removedthat relationshipwith her from his heart, and he returnedto the Sufis and put on his cloak. He was not seen to have lied to God about his state.16 Although this story does not occur in the hagiographies of Ruzbihan, it has striking sympathieswith the Ruzbihan we see in the autobiographicalThe Unveiling qf Secrets,weeping in ecstasyat the beauty of God. Corbin has suggestedthat this incident may have served as the model for the charming dialogue at the beginning of The Jasmine qf the Lovers, where a female interlocutor demandsthat Ruzbihan explain how God may be describedin terms of passionatelove ('ishq). 17 Ruzbihan returned at last to Shiraz, where he caused a sensationwhen he first preachedin public. 18 In the oldest version, the story goes like this: When the shaykhcame from Pasato Shiraz, the first day that he preachedin the 'Afiq mosque,in the midst of his sermon, he said, "When I enteredthe mosque,in the corner of the herb sellers a womanwas advising her daughter,saying, 'My dear, your mother advisesyou to cover your face, and don't show everyone your beauty from the window. This should not be, for by reasonof your lovelinessand beauty,someone may fall into temptation. Don't you hear my words and: acceptmy advice?'" When Ruzbihanheard these words, he wantedto tell that woman, "Although you advise her and forbid her, let her show herself! She should not listen to thesewords of yours or acceptthis advice, for she is beautiful, and beautyhas no rest until love becomesjoined to it." When the shaykhsaid this, one of the travelerson the path of God was present.The arrow of thesewords hit the target of his heart, he cried out and gave up his spirit. The cry went up in the town that Shaykh Ruzbihanis cutting souls to bits with the sword of his words. The peop.le of the town turned toward him and becamehis disciples. 9 4 The Tradition of RQzbihan Baqli Later accounts add to Ruzbihan's advice to the mother the commentthat "Love and beautymade a pact in pre-eternitynever to be separatefrom one another.,,20Mter some time he founded his own hospice in 560/1165,according to an inscription quoted by his biographers,and there he remained occu~iedinscription in super- erogatoryprayers and writing about the Sufi path. 1 He married severalwives, who bore him two sons and three daughters. Despite the numerous writings that Ruzbihan composedin Arabic and Persian(see Appendix A), the lack of datesand external referencesmakes it difficult to extract from them anything like a chronology of his life and activities. It may be observedthat the majority of Ruzbihan'swritings were in Arabic, and unlikeJalalal- DIn RumI, Ruzbihan left little in the way of Persian poetry. Massignon has suggestedthat Ruzbihan was forced by hostile critics to leave Shirazfor a period of exile in Pasa;although he cites no evidencefor persecution,he presumablyis thinking of several passagesin Ruzbihan'sautobiography where critics of Sufism are castigated.22 All that Ruzbihantells us about this period is that he purchasedan orchard in Pasa,but he could not enjoy it in the depressionthat he suffered on the deathof a favorite wife.23 Then Ruzbihan returned to Shiraz, completing in 57011174 the Commentary on Ecstatic Sayings, which had been begun in Pasa.24 Massignon maintains that Ruzbihan was invited to return by the newly installed Atabeg of Fars, Takla, in 570/ 1175.25 The evidence for this postulated political connection derives entirely from the hagiographies,and it will be examinedin ChapterIII. Of the remainingyears of Ruzbihanwe have only a few hints. The colophonto his treatiseon spiritual states,The Spirits' Font, statesthat it was completedin 579/1184when Ruzbihanwas fifty-two, but this dating conflicts with his age as known from other sources.26 It may be remarkedin passingthat this treatise,which has yet to be analyzedin detail, contains much that is helpful in understandingthe experiencesdescribed in The Unveiling if Secrets.27 From my analysis of The Unveiling if Secrets(see ChapterII), it may be suggestedthat Ruzbihanbegan writing it in 577/1181-2at age fifty-five, and then completedit in 585/1189.The generalportrait of Ruzbihan in his biographies shows him guiding disciples, prayingand meditatingin his riba(, and continuingto preachin the principal mosqueof Shiraz until his death. He had some followers in other regions,such as 'Imad aI-DIn Muhammadibn Ra'ls, who 5 RuzbihanBaqIi becamea disciple when Ruzbihanpreached in Kirman; the two exchangedletters in flowery Persianin 58311188?8Ruzbihan also sent the Treatise on Holiness with a merchantnamed Abu al-Faraj for the benefit of some Sufis in Central Asia. There are many storiesconcerning the authority of the saint; thesewill be examined in Chapter III. In 606/1209, Ruzbihan died in Shiraz. Two chronogramshave been composedfor this date: "the master of guidanceand pure gnostic (pzr-i had! 'ariJ-i pak)", and "the light of paradise"(nur-i firdaws). ,,29 Personaldescriptions of Ruzbihanare vivid thoughoccasionally contradictory. A writer of the seventh/thirteenthcentury said, "I met him, and he was a master of mystical experience and absorption,continually in ecstasy,so that one's fear of him never left. He was constantlyweeping, and his hourswere restless,crying out, never easing his lament for an hour, passingevery night in tears and lament; he feared God.,,30 Ruzbihan'sgreat-grandson Shamsal-Din transmittedthis description:"His face was always so beautiful that anyonewho saw him was freshenedand quickened in spirit, and would see the trace of sainthoodon his forehead, which was the reflection of his blessedinterior made external.,,31 Another great-grandson,Sharaf aI-Din, gave this thumbnail sketch: "The master had a· fine appearance,but awe-inspiring, and most of the time he was cheerful; for him, hope was preponderantover fear.,,32 B. The "Ruzbihaniyya Order" and the Legacy of Ruzbihan The tomb of Ruzbihan lies in the riMt that he constructedas a hospiceand residence,in the section of Shiraz then known as the New Garden. A new section was added to it by his great-great- grandson 'Izz aI-DIn Mas'ud in the early eighthlfourteenth century, and a number of Ruzbihan's relatives and followers were buried there. At that time it was a major place of pilgrimage in Shiraz, as noticedby writers such as the traveler Ibn Battuta(in 725/1325) and the geographer I:Iamd Allah Mustawfl (736/ 1336).33 The popularity of Ruzbihan'sshrine waned, however, and his orderevidently disappeared.When the Aq-Qoyunlu crown prince SultanKhalIl held an immenseparade in Farsin 881/1476, the successorsof the early Sufi mastersIbn Khafif and Abu Isq.aq 6 The Tradition of RQzbihan Baqli Kazarunl played a prominent role, but no follower of Ruzbihan was noticedin the detailedaccount of this eventby the philosopher and courtier Davan1-34 By the nineteenthcentury the shrine (in a part of town now called Darb-i Shlkh or Bala Kaft) had fallen into disrepair, and local people pillaged the stone for other purposes 3 and quarteredcattle there. . As noted above, it was Ivanow who rediscovered the tomb of Ruzbihan in Shiraz in 1928 and personallydug up the tombstoneof the shaykh. It remainedin a ruined state until Corbin and Mu'ln conductedan excavationof the tomb and petitioned the archeological department of the Iranian government to undertake a full restoration in 1958, comparableto what has been done in Shiraz at the tombs of the poets Sa'dl and I:Iafi~.undertake A restoration with new tile-work and inscriptionswas completedin 1972.36 It is possiblethat the earlier neglect of Ruzbihan's tomb was the result of anti-Sufi feeling during the Safavidperiod; we know, for instance,that ShahIsma'll in 90911503massacred 4000 followers of the Kazarunl Sufi order in Fars and desecratedmany Sufi tombs in the region.37 Along with the tomb, Ruzbihan was memorialized by biographical writings that are best characterizedas hagiogra- phies, narrativeportraits constructedaround a model of holinessor sainthood. The most important of these hagiographiesare two extensivemonographic biographies in Persian,devoted exclusively to Ruzbihan, his life and writings, and his descendants.Both writings (analyzedin detail in ChapterIII) were written by family membersnearly a century after his death. SharafaI-DIn IbrahIm wrote the first of these hagiographiesunder the title Tubfot ahl al- 'irfon Ji dhikr sqyyid al-aqtab Ruzbihan [17ze Gift to the People qf Gnosis, in Memory qfthe ChiefAxis qfthe World Ruzbihan] in 70011300,while his brotherShams aI-DIn 'Abd al-Lat1f compiledRuq al-jinanJi szmt al- shqykh Ruzbihan [17ze Spirit qf the Gardens, on the Life qf the Master Ru zbihan] five years later in 70511305.Of secondaryimportance is Shaddal-izar Ji qat{ al-awzar 'an zawwar al-mazar [Girding One's Loins to Lighten the BurdenfromPilgrims to Shrines], a hagiographyin Arabic intendedfor the use of pilgrims to the tombs of the saintsof Shiraz. Written late in the eighth/fourteenthcentury by Mu'ln aI-DIn Abu al-Qasim Junayd (d. ca. 791/1389), it was organized into sevensections giving guided walking tours of the tombs of Shiraz, so that one might encompassthem all in a week. This was then translatedinto Persianby the author'sson 'Isa ibn Junaydunder 7 Riizbihan Baqli the title Multamas al-alJibba khal4 min al-riya' [The Requestqf Friends Free qf Hypocrisy], but it is 3§ene:ally known underRequest ~he title Hazar mazar(A ThousandTombs). ThIs lengthy compendIUm devotes a few pagesto Riizbihan and his descendants,and it puts them into the context of a highly formalizedThIs lengthy cult compendIUm of the saints. devotes Later a biographicalworks devotedto Sufis and poets draw entirely upon these early sourcesfor their information about Riizbihan. Ruzbihan'sown descendantsconstituted in effect a Sufi path (tanqa) or "order," meaninga teachinglineage basedon a spiritual method or practice, combined with the social and institutional supports that were gradually making Sufism a highly visible phenomenon during the sixth/twelfth and seventhlthirteenth centuries. The construction of initiatic genealogieswas a device meantto ensurecontinuous transmission of esotericteaching from the Prophet Mul,lammad through an unbroken chain of masters and disciples. Ruzbihan'sbiographers furnished him with such a genealogy; although Corbin regards this as "established with certainty," we will have reason to question the value of this genealogyfor Ruzbihan'sown conceptof sainthood.39 Likewise, the descendantsof Ruzbihanwere physical embodimentsof the Ruzbihaniyyafor severalgenerations. This family Sufi orderseems to have endedin the fourth generationafter Ruzbihan,with his great-greatgrandson ThIs lengthy ~adr compendIUmaI-DIn ibn Sharaf devotes aI-DIn a IbrahIm Ruzbihan III (see Chart 1). The processof institutionalizing this Sufi order will be examinedin ChapterIII. What is of interest at this point is the legacy of Ruzbihan,and how it was transmitted. Massignon discovereda documentwritten by the late scholar and polymath Sayyid Murta<;la Zabidl (d. 120511791)in which a much longer extension of the Ruzbihaniyya order is described, reaching up to the author's own day.4o This is the chain of transmission: 1. RuzbihanBaq1I 2. ~adrRuzbihan aI-DIn Ruzbihan II (grandson of Ruzbihan) (d. 685/ 1286) 3. 'Abd a1-WadudKhaluwl Farid aI-DIn 4. 'Abd al-Qadir TawUsi 5. Ghiyath aI-DIn Kazaruni 6. Nur aI-DIn Abu a1-Futul,l Al,lmad TawUsi (d. 87111466-7) 7. Al}mad ibn Mul,lammad Nahrawail (d. 94911542-3) 8 The Tradition of RozbihanBaqIi 8. Qutb al-DIn Mu}:tammad Nahrawall (d. 990/1582) 9. Al).mad BaM Siidani of Timbuctu (d. 1032/1624) 10. 'Abd al-Qadir GhassaniFasl (d. 1032/1624) 11. 'Abd aI-Qadir Fihri Fasl (d. 1091/1680) 12. Mu}:tammad ~aghirFasl (d. 1134/1721-2) 13. Mu}:tammad ibn 'Ayyiib Tilimsani 14. Murtaqa Zabidl (d. 1205/1791) The geographical spread of this transmission is remarkably extensive; nos. 6, 7, and 8 lived in India and Arabia, and the remainder up to Zabidl are from North Mrica (Timbuctu, Fez, Tlemcen). Not too much weight should be placedon this chain as evidenceof a functioning Sufi order, however. The first few steps seemshaky, as Riizbihan~adrRiizbihan aI-DIn Riizbihan II is made to transmit from his grandfather,who died when he was at most three years old. It may be, too, that this representsno more than the transmissionof a single dhikr chant rather than a full-fledged Sufi teaching. Zabidl was known to be somethingof a collector of such affiliations in all the religious sciences,and he boastedof having studiedwith over 300 teachers of all sorts.41 Those figures from this lineage for whom biographiesare available are known primarily as members of a particular Riizbihaniyya~arlith transmission who also participated in Sufi lineages,but the Riizbihaniyyawas evidently not visible enoughto receive mention in their biographiesalongside functional institu- tional orders like the Suhrawardiyyaand the Naqshbandiyya.42 Still, it is possiblethat someaspect of his teachingwas kept alive in this fashion, although Godlas has found indications of mistakesin identification in this lineage. What is perhapsof greater significance is the likelihood that Riizbihan'sSufism servedas a sourcefor the great Persianpoet of Shiraz,Corbin I:Iafi~ (d. 791/1389). Corbin has tracedout the contoursof a relationshipbetween Riizbihan andbeginning I:Iafi~, beginning with the anonymouscommentary on Riizbihan's The Jasmine qf the Lovers that uses a numberof versesby Persian I:Iafi~ to explain the subtletiesof Riizbihan's doctrine of love. More explicitly, the Turkish commentator Siidl (d. ca. 1591) has quoted an unidentified biography of I:Iafi~describes that describeshim as a memberof a branch of the Riizbihaniyya order. The sequenceis: Riizbihan BaqlI, Fakhr aI-DIn A1:tmadibn Riizbihan, 'Abd aI-Salam,Ma1:tmiid (or Mu}:tammad) 'Attar "Pir-i Gul-rang" ("the rose-coloreda1:tmiidmaster"), 9 Ruzbihiin Baqli I:Iafi~.argues Corbin argues that it is precisely the adoration of beauty and the religion of love that forms the common thread between Riizbihan andRiizbihan's I:Iafi~. In Riizbihan's mystical theology, theopha- nies of beautyrequire embodimentin forms and symbols that are intelligible to those initiated into the esoteric vision, and this is arguably one of the primary lines of interpretation of the ambiguousverses ofcommon I:Iafi~. Corbin also finds a link between the shaykhand the poetin the conceptof self-blame(malama), a form of early Sufi piety that required perfect obedience to the law in private and outrageousbehavior designed to incur censure in public.43 Although some have expressedcaution about accepting the connection between Riizbihan and cautionI:Iafi~, it remains an intriguing juxtaposition of these two outstanding writers from Shiraz.44 The writings of Riizbihan had a particularly wide circulation among a select group of readers in Iran, India, Central Asia, Ottoman Turkey, and Africa. Without pretending to be exhaustive,we can list a number of these readerssimply to give an idea of the circulation of his writings (see also the manuscriptsof Riizbihan's works listed in Appendix A). All these later figures testified to the difficulty of Riizbihan's style, which at times is admittedly convolutedand obscure.jaml of Herat (d. 898/1492) remarkedthat "he has sayingsthat have pouredforth from him in the state of overpowering and ecstasy, which not everyone can understand.,,45The Mughal prince Dara Shikiih (d. 1069/1659) found his style "fatiguing.,,46 Nonetheless,Riizbihan's reputation was widely known, particularly in South Asia. In eighthI fourteenth-century India, Sufis of the Chishti order knew Riizbihan as an advocate of listening to music.47 His Qur'an commentary, The Brides if Explanation, was imitated by Ashraf jahangtrSimnanl (d. 829/1425), a memberof the Chishti order who also commentedon Riizbihan's The Jasmine if the Lovers.48 Another Sufi of Shiraz, Shah Da'l (d. 870/1465-6), composed 49 several poems in praise of Riizbihan. In pre-Safavid Iran the philosopherjalal aI-DIn Davanl (d. 908/1502-3) quoted with approval The Jasmine if the Lovers, calling Riizbihan "the emperor of the people of love and gnosis.,,50 An Anatolian NaqshbandlSufi named 'Abd Allah Ilahl Slmabl (d. 892/1487), who hadvisitedjaml in Herat, wrote a commentaryon Riizbihan's 5 The Treatise on Holiness. I Another Naqshbandl,Khwajagt Ahmad 10 The Tradition of RozbihanBaqli Kashani (d. 94911542), was interestedin Ruzbihan'svisions of God in the form of a beautiful Turk.52 The Chishti scholarShaykh 'AzIZ Allah (d. 975/1567-68),who used to attendmusical sessions at the tomb of Ni~amAwliya' aI-DIn Awliya' in Delhi, taught his students 77ze Brides if Explanation along with other Sufi classics.53 Ruzbihan's metaphysicalviews are quoted in a work on political philosophy written 98411576,dedicated to Raja 'All Khan FaruqI, ruler of the small Deccan kingdom of Khandesh.54 Ruzbihan'sQur'an commentaryinspired a commentaryon the "light verse" of the Qur'an written by the Indian Qadiri Sufi scholar 'Abd al-I:Iaqq Mui)addith Dihlawi (d. 105211642).55 In 104711637-8, the Mughal prince Dara Shikuh commissioneda Persiantranslation of Ruzbihan'sQur'an commentaryfrom Badr aI-DIn SirhindI, a biographerof the Naqshbandlmaster AQmad SirhindI, and at least a fourth of the whole commentarywas completed.56 Dara himself also wrote a summaryand extensionof Ruzbihan'sCommentary on Ecstatic Sayings.57 Within the last century, the great Chishti master of the Punjab, Khwaja Ghulam Farid, lectured to his disciEles on difficult passagesfrom Ruzbihan's Qur'an commentary.8 The impact of Ruzbihan on North and West Africa remains to be elucidated, but Alan Godlas has found materials indicating that major excerptsfrom Ruzbihan'sQur'an commentaryare quoted in Sufi writings from those regions, up through the nineteenth century. It is also worth noting as evidence of Ruzbihan's importance in Iran the recent work of Dr. Javad Nurbakhsh, head of the Ni'matullahi Sufi order, who has edited a number of important works by Ruzbihan and continuesto cite them in his own writings on Sufism. Notes 1. Nacfiml, p. 9. 2. Massignon,p. 452, argues that Ruzbihanwas fifty-five years when he wrote the ]t"ashf al-asrar, and that it was completedin 585/1189, thus indicating a birth date of 53011135-6. This view does not square with the dating of Mashrab al-arwa/;, and it does not take accountof the possibility that the Kashfal-asrar was completedeight years after its commencement,as suggestedbelow (Chapter II). Corbin (introduction to 'Abhar al-'ashiqzn,p. 52, n. 90) points out that the date of 530 is impossibleif one acceptsthe report that Ruzbihan studiedwith Abu Bakr ibn Mu!).ammad Barkar (d. 54011145-6).It also seemsunlikely that Ruzbihan'sdescendants would be mistaken II RuzbihanBaqli about so basic a piece of information as the shaykh'sage at death (eighty-four lunar years). 3. So KashJal-asrar, §7, §10. 4. Tulfat ahl al-'iifim, p. 13. 5. Massignon(p. 452) says Ruzbihanwandered for six and a half years (545-551), evidently acceptingthe birth date of 530 and referring to the report in Tulfat ahl al- 'iifim (p. 13), that he spentseven years on Bamuy mountain north of Shiraz, with only a single cloak, performing lustration and ablution in summer and winter, never removingthe cloak. The date of 545-551 is repeatedby Mu'in (p. 8). 6. KashJal-asrar, §12. 7. Massignon, p. 456. This conclusion is based on the initiatic genealogy of Ruzbihan supplied by his great-grandsons,stating that Ruzbihan received the Sufi cloak (khirqa) from Siraj aI-Din Mahmudibn Khalifa of the Salbih family. Ruzbihanstates, however, "I did not have a masterat that time" (KashJal-asrar, 13). 8. Kaslif al-asrar, § 13. Tulfat ahl al- 'irfln, p. 169, statesthat his first vision took placein a riba! in Pasa,and it fails to mentionthe nameofJamal ai-Din at all. Massignon,p. 542, adds that Ruzbihan found "a first riba!, in Pasa,that of Abu MuhammadaI:Jawzak, but this seemsto have been only an overnight stay during a pilgrimage tour in Fars (KashJal-asrar, §41). 9. Tulfat ahl al-'irfln, p. 113. 10. Ruzbihanappears to mention him once by name (Shar~-i shaPJ,iyyat, shaPJ,iyyat, p. 455), as the source of information about the burning of I:Iallaj's books, though in Corbin'sedition the nameis given as "the qutb,jakus Kurdi." From the mention of his name here and not in the correspondingplace in the Arabic original (Mantiq al-asrar, fol. 42b, where this source is referred to simply as "one of the masters"), Massignon(Passion, II, 509, etc.) deducesthat the Persiantext was completedafter the death of jagJ:r, on the grounds that Ruzbihan would have respectedhis master too much to mention his name while he still lived. 11. Ha;:,ar ma;:,ar, p. 291. 12. See Mu'in, pp. 18-20; Corbin, introduction to 'Abhar al-'O.shiqzn, p. 5l. 13. Ru~ al-jinan, p. 318, quoting Ruzbihan'sal-Muwashsha~fi Ruzbihan's 'ilm al-fiqh. 14. Tulfat ahl al-'irfln, p. 177. 15. Corbin, introduction to 'Abhar al-'O.shiqzn, pp. 24-25, 52; Mu'in, p. 1l. 16. Mul])'i ai-Din ibn 'Arabi, al-FutU~ttranslation al-Makkiyya (Beirut: Daral-Makkiyya ~adir, n.d.), chapter177, II, 315-16;Persian translation al-Makkiyyainjami, al-'O.shiqzn, Nqfo~t, p. 257. 17. Corbin, En Islam iranien, III, 68-71. 18. Nadimi, p. 10, suggeststhat this return to Shiraz took place as early as 543/1148-9or 545/1150-l. 19. Tulfat ahl al- 'irfln, pp. 110-111.Another version (RU~ al-jin7m, p. 224) omits the story of the woman and her daughter,but relatesthat the 12 The Tradition of RQzbihan Baqli consternationaroused by this sermon causedthe local scholars to seekhis expulsion from the town; the Atabeg Sonqurwas exposed to Ruzbihan'sspiritual powers,and so invited him insteadto preach weekly in both major mosques. 20. Jami, NafaljiLt, p. 256, following Ha;::ar ma;::ar, p. 291. 21. Ru~ al-jinan, pp. 178-79. On the date of the ribar, Danish-Puzhuh, Introduction,p. 14, readssitta ratherthan sana, giving a date of 5661 1171, but the Arabic inscription on the riba{ as quotedin RU~ al-jinan is clearly Rama<;lan560/July-August 1165. 22. Massignon,Passion, II, 407. 23. Kaslif al-asrar, 109; c( 131. 24. Corbin, introduction to Shar~-iMassignon sha~iyyat, pp. 20-23; the date is given on p. 635 of the text. Massignon("La Vie," p. 453) suggeststhat this date refers to the completion of the Arabic original, and that the Persiantranslation and completion expansion was madeafter the deathofJagir Kurdi in 59111194-5;since the vision of J:lallaj that inspired the Shar~-ispeculates sha~iyyatsha~iyyatMan{iq does not occur in Man{iq al-asrar, Massignon concludes that the Shar~-iMuJ:iammadJawzak, sha~iyyat was written later. He also speculates(Passion, II, 407, 498) that the writing of this work took place at the riba{ of Abu MuJ:iammadJawzak,though it is mentioned by Ruzbihan(above, n. 8) only as the site of a brief stopover. 25. Massignon gives the date 571 for Takla's accession,but this is incorrect, and would in any case be after the completion pynasties:of Shar~-i sha~iyyat,Chronological c( Clifford Edmund Bosworth, The Islamic pynasties: A Chronological and genealogicalHandbook, Islamic Surveys, 5 (Edinburgh: at the University Press, 1967), p. 125. 26. MashrabWednesday al-arwa~, p. 320. The text gives the date of early morning Wednesday 16 Dhu al-Qa'da 579/1 March 1184, saying that Ruzbihan was fifty-two years old at the time of writing, whereas with a birth year of 522 he would have beenfifty-seven in 579/1184. Thereis the further discrepancythat 1 March 1184 was a Thursday, making it appearthat the editor'sreading may be in error. If we wish to consideremending the text, the year could be readas 574, making the equivalentdate 25 April 1179, a Wednesday.This copyist'serror (tis'a for arbi'a) would be visually more likely than than mistakingfifty- two (ithnayn wa khamsln) for fifty-seven (sab'a wa khamsln). 27. Some of the experiencesdetailed in Kashfal-asrar are identical with stationspresented in Mashrab al-arwa~.examples From theseexamples it is also clear that the formula of definition at the end of most of the entries on the stations ("the gnostic said," qala al-'arifj is the statementof Ruzbihanand not of any of his masters. 28. Ru~ al-jinan, pp. 206-7. The correspondenceis given in Tul!fot ahl al- 'iifim, pp. 117-21, repeatedwith some variation in Ru~ aI1'inan, pp. 319-24. 29. Mu'in, p. 15, citing Ray~natTirmidhiAkbarabadi, al-adab, II, 399, and MuJ:iammadFadil ibn Sayyid f:lasanMuJ:iammad J:lusayni Tirmidhi Akbarabadi,Mukhbir al-wa[ilfn, ed. Muslim AJ:imad Ni~ami (Delhi: Kutub Khana Nadhiriyya, 1358/1939-40),pp. 51-52 (composed1060/1650). 13 RuzbihanBaqIi 30. FaqIhljusayn ~a'in aI-DIn ljusayn (d. 664/1265-6),in Hazar mazar, p. 289. On this scholar, whose lost hagiographyis a major sourcefor Hazar mazar, see ibid., p. 20 I, n. 85. 31. Tulfat ahl al- 'itfon, p. 15. 32. Ru~al·jinan, al·jinan, p. 179. 33. Corbin, introduction to 'Abhar al-,(uhiqln, p. 72; Hamd Allah ibn AbI Bakr ibn Mu~ammadPuzhuhishi'Abhar ibn Na~rMustawfl Mustawfl QazvIni, Nuzhat al-qulUb, ed. Mu~ammadal-,(uhiqln,Farhang-i DabIrsiyaqi, Zabanu Farhang-iIran, 21 (Tehran: Kitabkhana-iDabIrsiyaqi, Tu~url, 133611958), pp. 138-39. 34. Vladimir Minorsky, '''ArQ-nama-i DavanI," Puzhuhishi dar bara-i umur-i ni;;amI wa ghayr ni;;amz-i .flirs, trans. ljasanJavadI, Bar-rasz- ha-yi Tarikhz 3/6 (n.d.), p. 203. 35. MU'In, pp. 15-16. 36. MIr, photographsShar~-i ~l, pp. 19-20, with photographsfollowing. 37. Said AIjomand, 77ze Shadow rif God and the Hidden Imam: ReligWn, Political Order, and Societal Change in Shi'ite Iran fiom the Beginning to 1890 (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1984), p. 112. Corbin, Introduction to 'Abhar al-7Ishiqln, p. 73, also suggeststhe possibility of Shi'i hostility to RuzbihanBaqIi due to a confusionof nameswith an anti-ShI'I polemicist namedFaQi ibn Ruzbihan. 38. 'Isa ibn Junayd aI-ShIrazi, Hazar mazar, Persian trans. from the Arabic Kitabkhana-iShadd al-izar, ed. Nurani (Shiraz:Wi~al (Shiraz: Kitabkhana-i A~madI,detailed 1364/1985), pp. 285-98; I have consulted this edition, which has detailed notes on textual divergencesfrom the Arabic original. C( Storey, Persian Literature, p. 1123. 39. Corbin, introduction to 'Abhar al-7Ishiqm, p. 53. 40. Massignon,"La Vie," pp. 455-56, citing Abu al-FaYQ Mu~ammad MurtaQa ljusaynI WasitJ: ZabIdI BilgramI, 'Iqd al-jawhar al-thamlnfil- dhikr wa {uruq al-albas wal-talqln, 53. 41. 'Abd al-ljayy ibn Fakhr aI-DIn al-ljasanI, Nuzhat al-khawa(ir wa bahjat al-masami'wa al-nawa;;ir (9 vols., 2nd ed., Hyderabad:Da'irat al-ma'arif al-'Uthmaniyya, 138211962-139611976),VII, 489. 42. Nur aI-DIn Abu al-Futuh Ahmad Tawlisi was initiated into Suhrawardi, Kubrawl, T~wii~i,Mayhani, Mayhani, Ni'matullahi, and NaqshbandI lineages, and he transmittedNahrawaIi ~dlth Ni'matullahi,to A~mad ibn Mu~ammadNahrawaIi NahrawaIi in Gujarat (ibid., III, 23-27). The latter (b. 87011466-7,d. 94911542-3according to ibid., IV, 25-26) and his son Qutb aI-Din Mu~ammadlineage NahrawaIi (b. 92711521, d. 990/ 1582, ibid., IV, 285-90; Brockelman, GAL 11,381, GALS 11,514) were known primarily scholarsas ~th scholars in a lineage famous for Methuselah-likelongevity, although Qutb aI-Din had a NaqshbandI initiation. 43. Corbin, introduction to 'Abhar al-'ashiq'in, pp. 56-62. 44. R. M. Rehder,"Le Jasmin desfideles d'amour: Review Article," Muslim World 53 (1963), pp. 319-20,is skeptical about theconnection. ljafi~ connection. Alan Godlas has discoveredsome new materiaI in support of this thesis which will be publishedin a forthcoming study. 14 The Tradition of Rozbihan BaqIi 45. JimI, Nqfaljilt, p. 255, a commentbased on Ha::;ar ma::;ar, p. 289 ("he has sayings that most listenerscannot understand"). 46. Dara Shiklih, !fasanat al-'arifin, ed. Makhdlim RqhIn (Tehran, 135211973),p. 3. 47. Somehowa saying that RLizbihiin quoted from the early Egyptian Sufi Dhli al-Nlin becameknown as a quotation from Rlizbihan's own Kash] al-asrar, see my "Rlizbihan Baqli on Love" for details. 48. On SimnanI'sinterpretation of Rlizbihan, see Words qf Ecstasy,p. 22 with n. 43, and "Rlizbihan Baqli on Love as 'EssentialDesire.'" 49. MIr, Sharh-i44-46. ~l, pp. 44-46. 50. Jalal ai-DIn DavanI, Akhlaq-i Jalal! (Lahore: Taj Book Depot, n.d.), p. 174, citing 'Abhar al- 'ashiqln, pp. 6-7. 51. This commentary,entitled Mana::;il al-qulUb, is printed in R'il::;bihan nama, pp. 387-420,from a MS from Yugoslavia. 2 other MSS of this text are in Egypt, and anotheris reportedto be in Manisa, Turkey; cf Mashrabintroduction, al-a1Wa~, introduction, p. I. 52. Hellmut Ritter, Das Meer der Seele: Mensch, Welt und Gott in den Geschichtendes Fafiduddln 'A!{iir (2nd ed., Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1978), p. 448. This citation is close to Kaslif al-asrar, 97, but it has been translatedinto Persianand adaptedto the topos of "the cap awry" (cf Schimmel, Dimensions,p. 290). 53. 'Abdu-'I-Qadir ibn-i-MulUkshah al-Badaonl, Muntakhabu-'t-tawafikh, trans. Wolseley Haig, Biblioteca Indica, 97 (Calcutta: The Asiatic Society of Bengal), III, 17. 54. 'Abd ai-Latif Munshl NazII al-Haramayn,Nafo'is al-kalam wa-'ara'is al-aqlam (MS no. 948, H.L. 946, Khuda Bakhsh Library, Patna),fol. 15a, a passagein Persianon absoluteexistence. 55. MuhammadZuber Qureshi, "The Library of Hazrat Pir Muham- mad Shah at Ahmedabad,"in Islam in India: Studiesand Commentaries, vol. 2, Religion and Religious Education, ed. Christian W. Troll (New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt Ltd, 1985), p. 291; there is anothercopy in the British Library (Rieu, II, 843A). 56. Aqmad Sirhindi, !fat/arat al-quds, compo Badr aI-Din Sirhindi (Lahore: Maqkama-i Awqaf, 1971), pp. 6, 159. This work is not extant. 57. See Words qf Ecstasy, pp. 23--24. 58. Khwaja Ghulam FarId, MaqabTs al-mqjalis, Urdu trans. from Persian by Wahid Bakhsh Siyal (Lahore: Islamic Book Foundation, 1399/ 1979), pp. 401, 409-11 (discussiontaking place in 131411896). 15 SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY PRIMARY ARABIC AND PERSIAN TEXTS BY AND ABOUT RUZBIHAN MuqammadTaqi Danish-puzhuh,ed. Kuzbihan nama. Silsila-i Intisharat- i Anjuman-i Athar-i MilIi, 60. Tehran: Anjuman-i Athar-i Milli, 1347/1969(Persian). Ruzbihan BaqIi Shirazi. 'Abhar al-'ashiqln. Ed. Javad Nurbakhsh. Tehran, 1349/1971 (Persian). - 'Ara'is al-bayanft f;n,qa'iq al-qur'an. Cawnpore,1285/1868-9; Calcutta, 1300/1883;Lucknow, 1310/1892-3(Arabic lithographs). - Commentaire sur les paradoxes des Soufis (Sharh-e Shathfyrit). Ed. Henry Corbin. Bibliotheque Iranienne, no. 12. Tehran: Departement d'lranologie de I'Institut Franco-Iranien,1966 (Persian). - Le Jasmin des Fide'les d'amour, Kitrib-e 'Abhar al- 'rishiqi'n. Ed. Henry Corbin and MuqammadMu'ln. Bibliotheque Iranienne, 8. Tehran: Institut Fran<;:aisd'Iranologie de Teheran,1958; reprint ed., Tehran:Intisharat-i Manuchihii., 1365/1981.(persian). - Kashf al-asrar. MS Louis Massignon collection, Paris (Arabic MS). Abridged version: "Waqa'i' al-Shaykh Ruzbihan aI-BaqIi ai-Shirazi muqtataratmin kitab Kaslif al-asrar wa mukOshqfatal-anwar." Ed. Paul Nwyia. al-Mashriq LXIV/4-5 (1970), pp. 385-406 (Arabic); Ed. Nazif Hoca. Ruzbihan al-Ba~rz ve Kitab Kaif al-asrar'z ile Fars{a bazi Siirleri. Istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakiiltesi Yayinlan No. 1678. Istanbul: Edebiyat Fakiiltesi MatbaasI, 1971 (Arabic and Persian). - Man#q al-asrar. MS Louis Massignoncollection, Paris (Arabic MS). - M~ab al-arva~, Kitab. Ed. Nazif M. Hoca. istanbul Universitesi Edebiyat Fakiiltesi Yayinlan, no. 1876. Istanbul: Edebiyat Fakiiltesi Matbaasl, 1974 (Arabic). - Risalat al-quds wa risala-i ghala(iit al-salikln. Ed. Javad Nurbakhsh. Intisharat-i Khaniqah-i Ni'mat Allahi, 48. 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