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The Social Life of Gnosis: Sufism in Post-Revolutionary Iran Seema Golestaneh Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences Columbia University 2014 ©2014 Seema Golestaneh All rights reserved Abstract The Social Life of Gnosis: Sufism in Post-Revolutionary Iran Seema Golestaneh My research examines the social and material life of gnosis for the contemporary Sufi community in post-revolutionary Iran. In contrast to literatures which confine Sufism to the literary and poetic realms, I investigate the ways in which gnosis (mystical epistemology) is re- configured as a series of techniques for navigating the realm of the everyday. In particular, I focus on the ways in which mystical knowledge (ma'arifat-e 'erfani) is utilized by the Sufis to position themselves as outside of the socio-political areana, a move that, within the context of the Islamic Republic, in and of itself possesses vast political and social repercussions. I approach gnosis in two ways: both as object of study but also as critical lens, utilizing the Sufis' own mystical epistemology to guide me in understanding and interpreting my ethnographic case studies. In my dissertation, I address the following questions: What is the role of the Sufis, a group positioned on neither side of the orthodoxy-secular divide, within post-revolutionary Iran? How does a religious group attempt to create and maintain a disavowal of the political realm in a theocracy? More broadly, what is the role of mysticism within late modernity, and how might such a question be answered anthropologically? At the heart of my dissertation is the analysis of four ethnographic case studies. In each instance, I illustrate the way that the Sufis' own concept of mystical knowledge may be used to interpret topics as varied as the relationship between commemorative (dhikr) rituals and national identity to the negotiation of state interference to the practice of youth-organized poetry readings to the spatial organization of meeting places. I trace the affective and sensory dimensions of gnosis as it influences the mystics' understanding of the body, memory, place, language, and their socio- theological position within Iranian modernity more broadly. By analyzing the question of the "apolitical," my dissertation intervenes into the presumed distinction between the aesthetico- epistemological and the political divide, tracking a group that favors not direct resistance or outright evasion, but a more elusive engagement. My dissertation may be utilized by those interested in questions of knowledge production, aesthetics and affect, and alternatives to the religious-secular divide. Table of Contents List of Illustrations……………………………………………………………….……………….ii Acknowledgements………………………………………………………………………………iii Dedication………………………………………………………………………………….…….vi Preface…………………………………………………………………………………………...vii Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………….1 Chapter One: Sufism in Iran, Iran in Sufism……………………………………………………..41 Chapter Two: Hidden In Plain Sight: Text, Secrecy, and the Cultivation of Private Archives….85 Chapter Three: The Dhikr Ritual, Listening Bodies, and Mystical Alternatives to Biopolitics…122 Chapter Four: Sufi Thought and the Emergence of a Willful Amnesia………………………....166 Chapter Five: Contemporary Wandering (suluk) And Alternative Spatial Formations in an Iranian City……………………………………………………………………………………………..212 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………...250 Bibliography……………………………………………………………………………………251 i List of Illustrations Exterior of Shah Nimatullai Mausoleum, Mahan, Iran…………………….…………………….40 “Traditional Food” Resataurant in Shiraz………………………………………………….…….82 “Fast Food” Restaurant Shiraz…………………………………………………………………...83 Gnostic Pizza Restaurant, Shiraz………………………………………………………………...84 Sufi Meeting Place in Kerman……………………………………………………………….....121 Interior of a Sufi Shrine……………………………………………………………………...…164 Interior of a Sufi Shrine………………………………………………………………………...165 Tomb of Baba Rokn Al-Dan, Takhte Foulad Cemetery, Isfahan, Iran………………………....173 East Entrance of the Takhte Foulad Cemetery, Isfahan, Iran………………………………......173 Public Concert and Poetry Reading, Kerman, Iran 2008……………………………………….211 Street Graffiti in Isfahan…………………………………………………………………….….251 ii Acknowledgements I owe my first and greatest debt to all those mystics who shared their thoughts with me. Not only did they take the time out of their busy days to answer my many inquiries, but they did so with seemingly infinite patience, thoughtfulness, and enthusiasm. In this text, they go entirely unnamed, and it is from this place of strange erasure that this project takes shape. I hope they take these words as my small tribute and token of appreciate for all that they have taught me. A great deal of gratitude is owed as well to my own "masters of the path" who have provided both guidance and inspiration. I must first thank my advisor, Marilyn Ivy, whose support, intellectual rigor, and inspiring approach to the discipline of anthropology have been as invaluable as they have been instrumental. For her sharp insights, kindness, and generosity of spirit I will be always be grateful. An enormous debt is owed as well to Brinkley Messick, who guided me through the seemingly limitless field of the anthropology of Islam, and for which I could ask for no richer of an introduction. His infectious enthusiasm for the field as well as his reassuring nature was an inestimable resource. I must also express my thanks to Setrag Manoukian, whose deeply insightful and exhaustive expertise in Iranian studies has shed great light unto this project, as well as for his kindness and commitment to his students. I am grateful as well to Michael Taussig who first introduced me to anthropology many years ago, and continues to provoke and surprise in the most unexpected of ways, and to Peter Awn, whose knowledge of Islamic mysticism, one that is both far-reaching and greatly nuanced, proved an unmatched resource for my dissertation. This project was conducted through the generous support of several institutions and programs — the Institute for Religion, Culture, and Public Life, the Columbia University Graduate School of Arts and Science Dissertation Travel Fellowship, the Middle East Institute Dissertation iii Writing Fellowship, and the Interdisciplinary Center for Innovative Theory and Empirics (INCITE)'s Mellon Dissertation Fellowship. I appreciate the backing of each institution and fellowship in making possible this endeavor from the earliest initial stages of fieldwork through the eventual write-up. Many of these ideas explored in this dissertation came out of my thinking through and about music and sound, which is the direct result of my time at WKCR-FM NY and my conversations with its brilliant and lovable volunteer staff. The station does not exist without the tireless efforts of Benjamin Young and Phil Schapp, and to their life-long commitment to the strangest of all musical sounds and for their friendship, I am deeply appreciative. There is a large number of people whom I am indebted to throughout Iran, and most of them go as unnamed as my Sufis. Their friendship made my time in Iran made my time immeasurably more rich. Happily, I can express my sincerest thanks to my gracious hosts who opened up their homes: Vida Shahnasser, Ahmad Agha Tabaizadeh-Fesharaki, Khanoom Sadat Golestaneh, Hajj Agha Mahmood Golestan, Hossein Vatani, Hediye Mohadammadian. To my many, many family members, who went out of their way to include me in an endless array of gatherings, insisted on making the very long drive to the international airport despite my protestations, at times accompanied me on various early morning and late night excursions, and made sure they thought of every single iteration of "Sufi ashncT they could, I owe a tremendous amount. In particular, I wish to thank Mansour Golestaneh, Akhtar Golestaneh, Houshang Shahnasser, Setare Golestaneh, Mohammad Tabaizadeh, Sanaz Shahnasser, Farzaneh Norouzi, Mina Shahnasser-Kamazani, Elnaz Kamazani, Rameen Kamazani, Nasser Kamazani, Shirin Tabaizadeh, and Shayan Tabaizadeh. A double thanks is owed to my aunt Vida Shahnasser for parsing through innumerable mystical texts with me at various libraries and book stores, for iv alerting her enormous network of former students and friends in Isfahan as to my endeavors, and for the great kindness she always bestowed upon me. I am deeply grateful for the wonderful companionship and intellectual camaraderie of my graduate school cohort, Darryl Wilkinson, Katherine Heupel, Anand Taneja, Sophia Stamatopolou-Robbins and Matthew West, whom I am very fortunate to count as some of my closest friends. I thank my friends Sarah Vaughn for her unwavering support and commiseration, Zoe Kelly Nachet for her loyalty and endless good nature, Maggie Go for her generosity of spirit and unmatched wit, and to Farbod Honarpisheh for his unparalleled curiosity, kindness, and Shirazi sense of humour. At INCITE, my friends Aimee Genell, Arunabh Ghosh, SeungJung Kim, and Tyler Williams proved great companions throughout the last years of graduate school. I must also thank my wonderful writing group, Ama Awotwi, Robert Brink, Sarah Lazur, Jose Antonio Ramirez, and Benjamin Johnson, who were always ready with an encouraging word, and who made dissertation writing on a sunny Sunday in August somehow seem like an excellent idea. Most importantly, I thank my family without whom I have no doubt that this project would never have come
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