by ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

MYSTICAL DIMENSIONS OF

The Universit y of North Carolina Press Chapel Hill 244 / SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES very popular, but fo r him the samdc was mainly a practical device to dissipate the lust of the , which might otherwise find other, more dangerous ways of distraction. Abu Sa cid's name is , or rather was , usually connecte d wit h th e first examples of Persian mystical poetry. He is the alleged author of a number o f poem s in which the ruba'i, quatrain, with it s rhyme scheme a a x a, is used as a vehicle for mystical thought. We ca n b e quite sure that none of the quatrains formerly attributed t o him are actually his ; according t o hi s ow n statement , his love-intoxicate d teacher Bishr ibn Yasin was the author o f such verses—a genre tha t later became very popular. 20 A true representative of early in quatrains, thoug h i n a popular meter and vernacular speech, is Tahir, who died i n Khorramabad in the first part of the eleventh century. 21 Abu Sa cid passed away in 1049 . It is said that on his deathbed h e bestowed his khirqa t o Ahmad-i Jam Zandapil , who was just abou t to be born. Ahmad-i Jam was a Persian saint who was the opposite of Ab u Sa cld i n almos t ever y respect: stern , prou d o f his mystical power, drawing people to repentance, not t o love, and ofte n usin g his spiritual strengt h for revenge and punishment. 22 Abu Sa cid's tomb was destroyed when the wild Ghuzz tribes con- quered Mayhan a about 1180 . B y that time , th e first real Suf i fra- ternities had come into existence—namely, the and the , which even today are influential in large areas of the .

THE FIRST ORDERS cAbduDl-Qahir Abu Najib as-Suhraward i (d. n68), 23 the founder o f the Suhrawardiyya , was a disciple o f Ahmad Ghazzali ,

20. Hermann Ethe, "Die Rubacls des Abu Sacid ibn Abulchair," Sitzungsberichte der bayrischen Akademie de r Wissenschaften, philologisch-historische Klasse, 1875 , 1878. 21. See Ja n Rypka , History o f Iranian Literature (Dordrecht , 1968) , p . 234 , o n Baba Tahir. 22. Vladimir Ivanow, " A Biography of Shaykh Ahmad-i Jam, " Journal o f th e Royal Asiatic Society, 1917 ; Fritz Meier , "Zu r Biographi c Ahmad- i Gam' s und zu r Quellen - kunde vo n Gami' s Nafahdtu^l-uns," Zeitschrift de r Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft 9 7 (1943) ; Heshma t Moayyad , Di e "Maqdmdt" de s Gaznawi, eine legen- dare Vita Ahmad-i Gams, genannt Zandapil, 1049-1141 (Frankfurt , 1958) . 23. Hellmut Ritter, "Philologika IX : Di e vier Suhrawardi, " Der Islam 24-2 5 (1935 - 36), deal s wit h th e tw o Suhrawardi s mentione d her e an d th e shaykh al-ishraq; se e chapter 6 of thi s book . SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES / 245

Imam Ghazzall's younger brother. Suhraward i is the author o f one of th e most widely read handbooks o f mystical education, Addb al- muridln, "Th e Manner s o f th e Adepts, " a classi c that ha s bee n translated into th e different Islami c language s and ha s often bee n imitated. Even more influential than he was his brother's son, Shihabuddm Abu Haf s c Umar as-Suhraward i (1145-1234) , wh o studie d unde r him and whose treatise on Sufi theories, cAwdrif al-mcfarif, was— partly i n th e Arabi c original , partl y i n translation — even mor e widely read than hi s uncle's book an d becam e one of the standar d works taught in Indian in courses on .24 It certainly enhanced th e influenc e of th e Suhrawardiyy a order , whic h soo n spread into . Abu Haf s cUmar entered upon a political career as well; h e be- came shaykh ash-shuyukh, the official Suf i master of , unde r the caliph an-Nasi r at a time when this last enterprising membe r of the Abbasid dynasty dreamed o f reviving the stagnant spiritua l lif e throughout the Islamic lands and was trying to unite Islami c ruler s in defense against the Mongol threat. Abu Hafs served as the caliph's ambassador to the Ayyubid rulers of and as well as to the Seljukids o f Rum, whose power ha d just reached it s apex i n thei r flourishing capita l o f — the plac e tha t wa s to becom e a ne w center of mystical and religious life in the years following Suhrawar- di's visit. Abu Hafs cUmar's friendly relations with the ruling classes also determined the attitude of his followers in India in later centu- ries; they were usually more open to the exigencies o f the world and more willing to accept political participation than their brethren i n other orders . Abu Haf s cUmar helped th e caliph propagate hi s ideas of renew- ing th e ideals ; i t ha s even bee n suggeste d tha t an-Nasi r organized the futuwwa order, in part, to diffuse Suhrawardl's teach- ings.25 For al l practica l purposes , th e calip h ha d institutionalize d the so-called futuwwa movement, which was closely connected with Sufism. H e too k th e investitur e ceremony o f neighboring Musli m rulers with the "futuwwa trousers" and headgear as a sign of their allegiance to him. 24.cAwarif al-ma^-drif (Bulaq, 1289 h./iSga-gs), at the margin of Ghazzall's Ihya*. H. Wilberforce Clarke, trans., The "^Awariful-Ma^drif" written in the thirteenth century b y Shaikh Shahnbu^d-Din Umar bi n -i Suhrawardi (1891 ; reprint ed., New York, 1970) , from a Persian translation of the Arabi c text. 25. Herbert Mason, Two Medieval Muslim Statesmen (Th e Hague, 1971) , p. 124 . 246 / SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES

Essentially, the idea of futuwwa goes back to early Sufism. The fata i s "the young man," "th e brav e youth," generou s an d faithful . The Kora n had called the Seven Sleepers fttyan (plural of fata; Sur a 18:10). Hallaj use d th e ter m fo r those who excel by their absolut e faithfulness and loyalty to treaties, including, particularly, Iblis and Pharaoh, wh o remained faithfu l t o their claims . But generally th e term wa s connected wit h C AH ibn Ab i Talib, as the sentenc e goes: "There is no fata but CA1I, and no sword but Dhirl-Fiqar."26 The ter m jawanmard, th e Persia n translatio n o f fata, i s used i n the for many Sufis, ofte n fo r those who ar e classifie d among th e sincere malamatls. This connection i s quite likely ; an d Sulami, wh o had compose d a treatise abou t th e Maldmatiyya, de - voted a treatis e t o th e futuwwa a s well, in whic h h e enumerate d 212 definitions of the true fata. Qushayr I followed him b y treatin g the futuwwa i n a special chapter o f his Risala. "The fata i s he wh o has no enemy, and who does not care whether he is with a saint or an infidel; and Muhammad was the perfect fata, for at Doomsday every- body will say 'I,' but he will say 'My community' " (Q 103). On th e whole, one may accept Ibn c Arabi's definition that a fata i s he wh o honors those senior to him, who shows mercy to those junior or in- ferior to him, and prefers those who are his equals to himself. The Sufi ideal of Uhdr, t o prefer others to oneself, is brought t o it s per- fection in the futuwwa concept. In the early thirteenth century, an- Nasir tried once more to revive these ideas, but withou t much suc- cess. Yet futuwwa groups existed in several parts of the Near East, where they constituted an important factor in the social life. In Tur - key, the related groups of the akhi, in which only blameless men of respectable professio n were accepted a s members, maintaine d th e futuwwa ideals throughout the next centuries; the North African traveler Ib n Battut a (d . 1368 ) has told, i n hi s travel account , ho w well he was received by these hospitable sodalities in . Ou t of them associations like the "socialist" movement of Akhi Evran in the fourteenth century came into existence ; the relations betwee n futuwwa group s an d th e guild s hav e bee n studie d severa l times , though with different conclusions. At the same time that the elder Suhraward i lai d th e foundatio n 26. Franz Taeschner, "Da s futuwa-Rittertum de s islamischen Mittelalters, " in Bei- trdge zu r Arabistik, Semitistik un d Islamkunde, ed . Richard Hartman n and H . Scheel (Leipzig, 1944) , an d numerou s other article s about thi s topic. See Taeschner's article futuwwa i n Encyclopedia of Islam, zd ed., with additions by Claude Cahen. Abdulbaki Golpmarh, Islam v e Turk Illerinde Futuvvet Te§kilati v e Kaynaklan ( , 1952). SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES / 247 of his order, a Hanbalite preache r in Baghdad was attracting larg e crowds o f faithfu l b y hi s sermon s an d exhortations , thoug h hi s works revea l bu t littl e o f th e loft y mystica l state s o f whic h hi s contemporaries spoke . Thi s asceti c preache r wa s c AbduDl-Qadir al-Gilani (1088-1166 ) fro m th e Caspia n Sea , probably th e mos t popular sain t in th e Islami c world, whos e name i s surrounded b y innumerable legend s that scarcely fit the imag e of the stern, sobe r representative o f contritio n an d mystica l fear. 27 H e ha d studie d Hanbalite law with Ibn cAqil and had received the khirqa from hi teacher's colleagu e al-Mukharrimi , th e builde r o f th e first Han- balite , which his disciple inherited from him . cAbduDl-Qadir's tom b i n Baghda d i s still a plac e o f pilgrimag e for piou s , mainly fro m th e Indo- i Subcontinent , where th e orde r wa s introduced i n th e lat e fourteent h century . These pilgrims, who often sta y for weeks, silently walk around with little brooms , cleanin g th e sanctuary—t o sweep th e threshol d o f a saint is considered ver y rewarding work. A poet ma y sin g that h e sweeps the floor of his beloved with his eyelashes, or a modern Tur- kish woman , modernizin g an d simplifyin g th e origina l ac t o f sweeping, ma y offe r a broo m a t th e door o f Ankara' s loca l saint Hajji Bayram . cAbduDl-Qadir's fam e soo n reache d incredibl e heights . H e i s called Muhyi ud-dln, "the reviver of religion." A charming legen d tells how the piou s man helpe d a weak and destitut e person wh o was lying, completely exhausted, on th e road ; afte r h e ha d give n him some sustenance and almost revived him , that person reveale d himself t o c AbduDl-Qadir as "the religion o f Islam," an d henc e h e gained thi s honorific title ( N 519) . Strang e a s the stor y sounds, i t reveals the admiration of cAbdu3l-Qadir's followers for their master. A number o f sayings are attributed to him i n which he claims the highest mystica l rank possible . Th e autho r o f the Nafahdt al-uns highly praise s th e grea t saint , wh o was , according t o Yafi ci, th e of the east, Abu Madya n of Tlemcen bein g the sheikh of the west. Yet Abu Madya n spiritually heard, an d immediatel y obeyed , Gilanl's famous saying, "My foo t i s on th e nec k of every saint" ( N 527), admitting the superiority of the Baghdad saint. A satisfactory explanation o f the transitio n fro m th e sobe r Han -

ay. Walter Braune, Die "futuh al-gaib" des cAbdul Qadir (Berlin and Leipzig, 1933), contains a translatio n o f Gilani's main work ; Englis h translatio n o f th e futuh by M . Aftab ud-DI n Ahmad (Lahore , n.d.). 248 / SUF I ORDER S AN D FRATERNITIES halite preacher (that he was not a pure ascetic is clear from th e fac t that he had forty-nin e sons!) t o the prototyp e of saintliness vener- ated all over the Muslim world is still lacking. The poem s in hono r of c AbduDl-Qadir, which ar e sun g a t his anniversary i n th e fourt h month of the Muslim lunar year, reveal the tremendous admiratio n of th e peopl e fo r thi s mystical leader, who , as a sixteenth-century Turkish son g attests , "recited th e complet e Kora n ever y night , standing o n on e leg." 28 H e i s th e ghauth-i cfzam, "th e Greates t Help," and the plr-i dast-gir, "the Plr who keeps one's hand" for sup- port. Turkish folk poet s boast: I am the honey of his bee, I am the rose of his garden, I am the nightingale o f his meadow— of my sheikh cAbduDl-Qadir!29 Old Sindh i song s describe ho w hi s spiritua l real m extend s fro m Istanbul to Delhi, town by town, country by country being blesse d by him. Sir Richard Burton, writing about 1850 , says that there were about a hundred large tree s i n Sind, al l called afte r Gilani. 30 Each had a pole and a flag hung upon i t to fulfill som e vow made i n ad- versity or sickness. Sweetmeats were distributed t o the poor in honor of the saint, and the fruit and leaves of the trees were not allowe d to be touched even by cattle. Proper name s like Ghauth Bakhsh, "gift of th e help, " i n Sin d an d Balochista n point t o hi s popularity. In - deed, i n fol k piet y Gilani has become th e maste r o f the jinn, and many haunted cave s and sacre d place s in the are devote d to his cult. H e has also had a decisive influence in the Islamizatio n of . Almost contemporar y wit h c AbduDl-Qadir al-GIlani , an d als o living in , wa s Ahmad ar-Rifa ci, founde r o f an orde r tha t ap- pears more eccentri c than th e Qadiriyya—th e Rifa ciyya dervishes , known as the Howling Dervishes because of their loud . The y are notoriou s fo r performin g strang e miracles , lik e eatin g liv e snakes, cuttin g themselve s with sword s an d lance s withou t bein g hurt, and taking out their eyes. "But this is something the sheikh did not know , no r di d hi s piou s companions—w e see k refug e fro m

28. William Hickman , "Eshrefoghl u : Reconstitutio n o f Hi s dtwdn" (Ph.D . diss., Harvar d University , 1972) , no. Y 21*. 29. Ibid., no. K 9* . 30. Sir Richard Burton , Sind an d th e Races That Inhabit th e Valley o / th e Indus (London, 1851) , p. 177 . SUFI ORDER S AN D FRATERNITIES / 24 9

Satan with God! " ( N 532) , exclaims Jam! when speakin g o f these "aberrations." One century later—when th e Musli m culture o f Ira q ha d bee n swept awa y b y th e Mongols—Egyp t becam e a cente r fo r mystical orders. Ahma d al-Badaw i fro m Tant a (d . 1278) 31 founde d a fra- ternity that drew most of its adherents from the rural population of Egypt, but wa s able to attract some members of the ruling Mamluk house during the late . The wif e of Sultan Khushqadam was buried, i n 1466 , covered with the re d flag of the Badawiyya,32 and durin g the fifteenth century the festival s i n Tanta wer e ofte n attended b y Mamlu k officer s an d soldier s (whic h sometime s le d to disturbance s whe n th e excitemen t grew) . A recen t nove l b y the youn g Egyptian writer c AbduDl-Hakim Qasi m center s aroun d the veneration of Sldi Ahmad in Tanta and gives a vivid picture of the social and psychologica l background of this deep-rooted cult. 33 The mos t remarkable representative of the order is ash-Shacram, the last great Muslim mystic in Egypt (d. 1565) , whose literary legacy is interesting as a typical expression of later Suf i thought. 34 The Badawiyy a is a rustic order tha t has adopted a considerable number of pre-Islamic customs. Its festivities are held according t o the solar Coptic calendar and thus are connected with the Nile and its flood; signs of old fertility rites are therefore assimilated into the cult. That i s why the Badawiyy a never crosse d th e border s o f it s homeland, as was also the cas e with an orde r founde d by Ahmad's contemporary Ahmad ad-Dasuql in the same country. Another orde r tha t cam e into existenc e in Egyp t a t abou t th e same time, however, expanded widel y and attracted larg e number s of followers—first i n the western part of the Muslim world and more recently amon g European s a s well . I t i s th e Shadhiliyya , which manifests one important aspect of mystical life, though the attitud e of it s master s differ s considerabl y fro m th e mor e emotiona l ap - proach foun d i n a t leas t som e of th e order s tha t emerge d i n th e eastern part of the Muslim world (with the exception of the Naqsh- bandiyya, which is, in some respects, close to the Shadhiliyya). This 31. See Ignaz Goldziher, "Au s de m muhammedanische n Heiligenkul t i n Aegypten," Globus 7 1 (1897) ; Enn o Littmann , Ahmed il-Bedawl, Ei n Lied auf de n agyptischen Nationalheiligen (Mainz , 1950). 32. AbiPl-Mahasin Ibn Tagrlbirdi, An-nugum az-zahira fi muliik Misr wa?l-Qdhira, ed. Willia m Popper , 8 vols. (Berkeley , 1908-36) , 7:809 . Se e Schimmel, "Sufismus, " i n Festschrift fu r W. Caskel, ed. Graf , p . 277. 33. cAbdu;>l-HakIm Qasim , Ayydm al-insan as-sab'-d ( , 1971) . 34. See Trimingham, Suft Orders, pp . 220-25 , o n ash-Sha crani. 250 / SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES more sober attitude of the Sufis in the Islamic West is probably th e reason fo r Maqqari' s (d. 1631 ) somewhat unfair statement: " - hood as it is current in the East which discourages its followers from work and encourages the m to beg, is considered b y us as an extreme - ly hideou s matter." 35 Th e orde r crystallize d around Abu Dl-Hasan CAH ash-, a disciple of cAbduDs-Salam ibn Mashish , the Mo - roccan mysti c whos e teachings survive in a numbe r o f Maghreb i orders, including the beggars' order of the Heddawa. Through him the tradition goe s back to , the patro n sain t of Tlem- cen (d . 1126) . Abu^-Hasan went fro m , via Tunis, to Alexandria, wher e he settled and eventually died in 1258 , the year of the destruction of Baghdad an d th e en d o f the Abbasi d . Althoug h h e was apparently by no means an intellectual, he had an extraordinary in - sight into the souls of men and a deep mystical fire, which he trans- mitted to the members of the fraternity. Unlike other mystical lead- ers (and similar t o the later Naqshbandiyya) , Shadhili did not em- phasize the necessity of monastic or solitary life, nor di d he encour - age specific form s o f vocal dhikr. Every member o f th e was supposed to realize the spirit of the order in his own life and his own environment, in the midst of his duties. The Shadhiliyy a Sufis were not expecte d t o beg or espouse poverty; on the contrary, th e Egyp- tian sources of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries tell how mem- bers of this order excelled i n thei r tid y attire, quite in contras t t o some o f th e othe r Sufi s wh o fille d th e street s o f Cairo . Th e Sha - dhiliyya doe s no t eve n hav e a full y develope d syste m o f mystica l theories. Their most distinctive feature i s that a Shadhili is sure to be predestined a s a member of this tariqa from preeternity an d be- lieves that the , the head of the spiritual hierarchy, will always be a member of this order.36 Abu3!-Hasan left little written material; his tendency to write let- ters of spiritual instruction, however, was emulated b y some of his illustrious followers. The grea t prayer that he composed under th e title Hizb al-bahr has become one o f the mos t popula r devotiona l 35. Analecta 1:135 , cited i n Igna z Goldzihe r an d Josep h d e Somogyi , "Th e Spanis h and Islam," Moslem World 4, no. i (1964): 37. 36. Some book s hav e bee n publishe d i n Arabi c abou t th e Shadhiliyya , on e b y cAbduDl-Halim Mahmu d abou t th e orde r an d on e b y C A1I Saf i Husay n abou t th e poetry o f fourteenth-century mystic s in Egypt . On th e theorie s o f the Shadhiliyya , see Edward Jabr a Jurji , ed . an d trans. , Illumination i n Islamic (Princeton , 1938), an d Jurji , "Th e Illuministi c Sufis, " journal o / th e American Oriental Society, 1937 (th e way from Ib n Masarr a vi a th e Ishraqiyy a schoo l t o ash-Shadhili) . SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES / 251 texts—Ibn Battut a used it during hi s long voyages, apparently with success. The studen t of Sufism used to the florid and enrapturing song s of Persian mystica l poets will find in th e Shadhil i writings a certai n sobriety—the Baghdadian trend . Tha t i s understandable fro m th e sources upon whic h th e member s o f this orde r drew : Muhasibl' s Kitdb ar-ri cdya, th e fine psychological treatise of early Islam; Mak- kfs Qut al-quliib; and Ghazzali's Ihyd culum ad-din. This so also distinguishes the writings of the tw o masters of the order , tw o of th e outstandin g figures in th e history of later Sufism , Ib n c Ata° Allah al-Iskandarani and Ibn c Abbad of Ronda. When AbuT-Hasa n ash-Shadhili died, Abu Dl-cAbbas al-Mursi be- came his khalifa (d . 1287); he was succeeded b y Tajuddin Ib n c Ata° Allah (d. 1309). Ibn c AtaD Allah provided th e Shadhiliyya with their classical literature, the Lata'if al-minan and, even more, the Hikam, a collection of 262 short sayings—a genre not uncommon i n twelfth - and thirteenth-century Sufism—followed b y four short treatises and a few prayers. These sentences are regarded a s the finest expressions of Shadhiliyya ideals, and pious followers have uttered th e opinio n that, if it were permitted t o recite any text other tha n the Koran i n the ritual prayer one would surely recite the Hikam. As Pere Nwyia says so poignantly about Ib n c Ata° Allah: "Hi s hikam are without contest the last Sufi miracle worked on th e shore s of the Nile , an d this miracle belong s to the Shadhiliyy a and wa s one o f the instru - ments for their expansion."37 Numerous commentarie s o n th e comparativel y smal l boo k ar e extant; its influence extends through the western and central part of the Islami c world, but i s rather les s in th e Persian-speaking lands. Yet one o f the leadin g scholar s of sixteenth-century India, C AH al - Muttaql (d . 1556)—otherwis e known a s the autho r o f a widely ac- cepted anthology of hadlth, the Kanz al-^ummal— has reworked th e Hikam, as well as its major commentaries, classifying the sayings ac cording t o their contents . Th e concis e style , the shor t an d poignant sentences of the Hikam, enthrall ever y lover of Arabic lan- 37. Paul Nwyia, Ibn ^Atfp Allah et la naissance de la confrerie sddilite (Beirut , 1972) , contains th e bes t introductio n t o Shadhiliyy a though t an d als o a n annotate d trans - lation o f th e hikam, which i s most welcom e t o Wester n scholars . Th e firs t Englis h translation o f the hikam appeare d i n Singapor e i n 1937 : R. l e R . Archer , "Muham - madan Mysticis m in Sumatra, " Journal Malayan Branch o f th e Royal Asiatic Society 15, no. 2. A new English translatio n o f the hikam, though interprete d fro m a peculia r mystical viewpoint, is offered b y Victor Banner, Ibn ^-AtiPillah's Sufi Aphorisms (Lei - den, 1973) . 252 / SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES guage. Th e wisdo m conveye d i n the m is , to a certain extent , a n elaboration o f the saying s of the grea t master s of classical Sufism — one finds similarities not onl y with aphorisms of Junayd, but als o with those of Hallaj, o f Niffari (whos e work was studied in Egypt), and, of course, of Ghazzall. Nwyia has defined the mai n content of the Hikam as a "dialectic o f the mystery of God Who is both obscur e and transparent. " Sentences lik e th e following conform exactl y t o the classical meditations: "I f ther e were not th e space s of the soul, there would not be a mystical way, for there is no distance between you an d Hi m tha t your foo t could traverse"—a n interiorization of the concep t o f the Path , reminiscen t o f sayings about th e stat e of qurb, "proximity," in earlier sources. "Wha t veils God from you is His excessive nearness." H e veils Himself because He i s too trans- parent an d become s invisible by th e ver y intensity of Hi s light—a favorite idea wit h the Persian Sufi s as well, and on e often repeate d in Rumi' s work. The Shadhiliyy a soon extended itself t o North Africa , where, i n the fourteenth century, six differently name d order s existed , about which little is known. In any case, Sufism in the Maghreb developed under the sign of the Ihyff, as Pere Nwyia has correctly stated, an the final victory of Shadhill ideas was brought about by Ibn cAbbad ar-Rondi, a contemporary o f the grea t Nort h Africa n philosophe r of history Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406). Ibn cAbbad's Shark al-hikam made Ibn c Ata° Allah's work widely known in th e western Muslim countries an d exerte d a tremendou s influenc e upon th e differen t branches of Maghrebi Sufism. 38 Ibn c Abbad was born i n Ronda i n Spain in 1332 . He studied i n Tlemcen an d Fez , a city that flourished under th e Merini d rulers . After a period of solitude and meditation under Ib n c Ashir in Sale, he eventuall y becam e a preache r an d imam i n th e famous Qara - wiym madrasa i n Fez . There h e die d i n 1390 . Accordin g t o th e sources, Ib n c Abbad was a silent man wh o adhered strictl y t o th e tenets of Ghazzali's and Abu Najib Suhrawardi's mystical works; he seems to have led a celibate life. Although he acted as a preacher i n the leadin g mosqu e o f fo r many years, his sermons, a s far as they have been preserved, lac k brilliance and emotiona l fire. It is through his writings—the Shark al-hikam an d th e two collections o

38. Paul Nwyia, Ibn CAbbad d e Ronda (Beirut , 1961) , a penetrating analysi s of th e great Shadhil l master, whos e letter s Nwyi a has als o edited: "As-rascPil as-sugra," Let- ires de direction spirituelle (Beirut , 1958) . SUFI ORDER S AN D FRATERNITIES / 25 3 letters (fifty-four i n all)—that one gains some insight into his soul as well a s into hi s metho d o f psychologica l guidance. H e modestl y admits that he neve r enjoyed rea l dhauq, mystica l experience, or rapture an d immediat e "tasting" o f the ineffabl e joy ; nor wa s he granted an y ecstati c experience—nothing "bu t th e stud y of som e Sufi works" brought hi m to his state. We do not find, in his expres- sions, that overwhelming love that inspired th e intoxicated songs of many mystics , whose yearning grows after ever y fulfillment. Hi s is the unquestioning faith tha t eventually becomes deeply rooted i n the soul and turns into unshakable certitude, yaqln. He always saw himself a s ^abd, a slave who constantly feels his nothingness before God's majesty—not a s a lover craving for union. The "vigilan t fea r of God' s rus e (makr)" loom s larg e i n hi s devotion—"if Go d give s you something good He may want to punish you"; therefore one has to be o n one' s guard an d no t neglec t obedience an d praye r fo r a single moment. It is natural that Ibn cAbbad should give a promi- nent place in his system to the constant struggle against the "There is no arrival t o God but b y God, as well as there i s no veil between th e servant and th e Lord but hi s nafs. On e does not fight the nafs b y the nafs bu t fights it by God. " Asin Palacios , th e first Western orientalist to draw attention t o Ibn c Abbad's work, in 1933 , has seen in him "un precourseur hispa- no-musulman de Sa n Juan d e l a Cruz." 39 Hi s main point o f com- parison was the concept of the Dark Night of the Soul: he had found in Ib n c Abbad—influenced b y Junayd a s well as by th e schoo l of Abu Madyan 40—a certain predilection for the state of qabd, the con- straint in which God reveals His graces better than in outward gift s and spiritual consolation. IbncAbbad, following his predecessors in the Path, compares the qabd to the night out o f which great things will be born. It i s considered highe r tha n bast, since man i s com- pletely passive, renouncing his own will and acting only to the ex- tent that God makes him act. In this more than in any other mystical state, he feels his absolute dependence upon God , his nothingness, and thu s is prepared for the highest possible attitude a servant can reach, tha t o f uninterrupte d shukr, "givin g thanks, " "renderin g grace." The proble m o f sabr and shukr, patience and gratitude , is solved here , and , followin g the traditiona l Suf i tripartition , Ib n cAbbad teaches man to thank Go d first with his tongue, then with

39. M. Asm Palacios, "Sadilies y alumbrados," Al-Andalus 9 (1944), 1 6 (1951). 40. Dermenghem, Culte des saints, p. 71. 254 / SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES

his heart, until hi s whole being i s transformed into gratitud e an d every moment of life consist s of gratitude toward the Lord : "Ou r whole occupatio n and onl y practice shoul d b e t o conside r God' s kindness toward us, and to think tha t our might and power is noth- ing, an d t o attach ourselves to God in a feeling of intense nee d fo r Him, askin g Him t o grant u s gratitude." Thi s is the conclusion of Shadhiliyya teaching, a teaching that, in it s subtlest expressions, is directed not to a large community but to each individual, inspiring him to cultivate his heart until he knows himself to be completely in the hands of God, thanking him with every breath fo r His kind- ness—even thoug h i t ma y b e outwardl y hidden—uplifte d b y th e mental praye r during whic h the hear t forget s itself i n th e divin e presence and i s confirmed in it s certitude. This teaching appealed neither to the lower classes, who needed more exciting means of getting onto the Path, nor to the poets, but is primarily connecte d wit h the middle class , the official s an d civi l servants who were trained i n the Shadhiliyya method to fulfill thei r duties carefully . It i s revealing tha t on e of the fe w modern order s that still attracts new disciples in Egypt, and gives them a thorough training in spiritual education, is an offshoot o f the Shadhiliyya, an order tha t inspired man t o a sanctification o f his dail y life.41 The Shadhiliyy a mystic s are credited wit h havin g invente d th e use o f coffe e a s a wa y of stayin g awake during thei r litanie s an d vigils. Many mystics of the sober orders still rejoice in a s a use- ful mean s of attaining spiritua l wakefulness an d strictl y refuse al - coholic beverages or drugs that would produce a spiritual intoxica- tion and thus preclude clear contemplation. To show the wide range of mystical experiences in the Sufi orders , we may turn to an order that was founded in the eastern par t of the Muslim world approximately hal f a century before the Shadhiliyya —the Kubrawiyya. It s founder i s Abu3l-Jannab Ahmad, surname d at-tammat al-kubrd, "the greates t affliction" (cf . Sura 79:34), which is shortened to Najmuddin Kubra . H e was born i n 114 5 in Khiva in Central Asia. During his training as a traditionalist, he traveled widely throughout th e Muslim world, returned to Khwarizm about 1185, and was killed during the Mongol invasion in 1220. His tomb is located in Urgenj . Kubra was a prolific writer; his Arabic commentary on the Koran

41. See Michae l Gilsenan , Saint an d Sufi i n Modern Egypt (Oxford, 1973) , a n ex - cellent study o f the contemporar y Hamidiyya-Shadhiliyya . SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES / 255 in nin e volumes was continued b y his discipl e Najmudd m Day a Razi and then by another prominen t membe r of the order, 'Ala^ud- daula Simnani. Kubra's mystical treatises on th e te n stage s for th e novices have been translate d an d commente d o n i n severa l o f th e Islamic languages; h e followe d th e exampl e o f Sulami and Suhra - wardi in composing a book on the etiquette of the disciples. Kubra's mai n wor k i s th e Fawcfih al-jamal wa fawdtih al-jalal, which has been thouroughl y analyze d by Fritz Meie r i n hi s excel- lent edition. 42 The wor k contains Kubra's mystical psychology and gives an accoun t o f the visions and ecstati c experiences th e mystic may attain. There is no doubt that Kubra himself experienced these heavenly journeys and traversed the cosmic ranks in his visions. He agrees with other Suf i theoretician s insofar a s he see s man a s a mi- crocosmos, containin g everythin g that exist s i n th e macrocosmos ; man can be qualified with God's qualities, with the exception of the rank Allah ar-Rahmdn ar-Rahim. But he regards God's qualities as located in special places in heaven, and the mystic who reaches these points during hi s spiritual ascension can incorporate the m in him- self. These acts are regarded b y him as perfectly real, for the "heart" is a fine body that ascends through th e heavens. However, such ex- periences ca n b e realize d only after th e strictes t adherence t o th e rules of the tenfol d Path, som e conditions o f which are t o abstain from food as much as possible and to give complete surrender t o the sheikh b y giving u p one' s ow n wil l completely . Included i n th e path, too , i s the so-calle d "wa y of Junayd": constant ritual purity , constant fasting , constan t silence , constan t retreat , constan t recol - lection of God, and constant direction o f a sheikh who explains th e meaning of one's dreams and visions. Finally, one must give up re- sistance to God's decree an d refrain from praye r for reward i n th e otherworld. Thi s i s th e theoretica l foundatio n o f th e Kubraw i order. Permanent concentratio n upo n th e divine name s i n th e retreat leads t o mystical awareness . Najmudd m Kubr a give s a n exac t de - scription of the revelations of colored lights that occur to the initiat e during his spiritual training: there are dots and spot s and circles ;

42. Najmuddm al-Kubra , Die "fawdtih al-gamal w a fawdtih al-galal" de s Nagmud- dln Kubra, ed. Frit z Meie r (Wiesbaden , 1957) , i s one o f th e indispensabl e book s fo r the student of Sufism, mainly because of Meier's detailed introduction to the thought of Kubra. Se e also Frit z Meier , "Stambule r Handschrifte n dreie r persische n Mystiker : cAin al-Quda t al-Hamadanl , Nag m ad-di n al-Kubra , Nag m ad-di n ad-Daja, " De r Islam 2 4 (1937) . 256 / SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES

the soul passes through period s of black color and o f blac k and re d spots until th e appearance of the green color indicate s that divine grace i s near—green ha s alway s bee n considere d th e highes t an d heavenly color.43 The Kubrawiyy a develope d a n elaborat e colo r symbolism . Ku- bra's disciple Najmuddm Daya speaks of white as connected wit h Islam, yello w with imdn, "faith, " dar k blu e wit h , "benefi - cence," gree n wit h itmfnan, "tranquillity, " ligh t blu e wit h Iqdn, "true assurance," red with *irfdn, "gnosis, " and black with hayamdn, "passionate love and ecstatic bewilderment." Black is the light of the essence, the "Divin e Ipseity as revealing light tha t cannot b e seen but make s see"; it i s the colo r o f jaldl, th e unfathomabl e divine majesty, wherea s God's jamdl, Hi s beauty , reveals itself i n othe r colors. Bu t beyon d th e Blac k Light—th e experienc e o f which ha s been equated with the experience of fand as well—is the "mountain of emerald," th e colo r of Eternal Lif e (C L 153 , 160) . There are othe r sequence s of colors as well, and Kubr a admit s that th e color s and form s see n by th e disciple s ca n hav e differen t meanings an d imports . The y may even b e of different origins—for Kubra, goo d psychologis t that he is , knows that th e khawdtir, th e ideas occurring to the heart in the state of retreat, may be of divine or satanic origin, may stem from the human heart or from the lower soul, may come from angels or from jinns. Therefore, the disciple is always in need of a master t o instruct hi m carefully in th e deeper meaning of this or that color, form, or thought. In the state of elevation, the mystic may be able to read heavenly books in languages and characters previously unknown t o him an d learn th e heavenl y names of things and beings , including his own eternal name, which is different fro m his worldly name . The Kubrawiyy a chose as dhikr th e professio n of faith , which , when practice d unde r th e ster n condition s o f th e initia l retreat , should work not only on the breath but even on the blood and per- meate the disciple's entire being. Then the adept will learn that the Greatest Nam e o f God i s Allah, or rather th e h at th e en d o f this word. One o f the unusual aspects of Najmuddm Kubra's psychology is the concept of the shdhid al-ghaib, the Doppelgdnger i n th e other - world, who may appear t o the mysti c at certain stage s of the Pat h

43. Johann Leberech t Fleischer , "Ube r di e farbige n Lichterscheinunge n de r Sufis," Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesellschaft 16 (1862). SUFI ORDERS AND FRATERNITIES / 257 and is reminiscent, in a certain way, of Suhrawardi Maqtul's angelic half of the soul, which lives outside the body. The Mazdais t idea of the personification o f one's thought s and action s may underlie th e concepts of both mystics. It is natural that a mystic who attributed suc h great importanc e to otherworldl y realitie s shoul d als o hav e develope d a theor y o f himmat and tasarruf. Kubra , like his contemporaries, hel d tha t th e mystic is capable of bringing certain events to pass by directing hi s spiritual energ y toward the spher e of possibilities, just as his spiri- tual energy allow s him to work upon other human beings , formin g their hearts according t o the exigencie s of the mystical Path. Kubra implanted his mystical theories in the Central Asian areas, from which they spread to and India. His disciple Najmud - dm Day a Raz I left Khwariz m before the Mongol s invade d i t an d migrated t o Anatolia; in Siva s he wrote his Mirsad ul- cibad, which he dedicated t o the Seljukid ruler o f Konya, cAla°uddin Kaykobad —the sam e sultan wh o gav e shelte r t o Jalaludd m Rum i an d hi s family during those same years. The Mirsad ul-^ibad became one of the favorite books of mystics throughout the Persian-speaking world and wa s soon translate d int o Turkish.44 I t wa s frequently use d i n India, s o much so that in one o f the strange and fancifu l apologie s of Isla m against Hinduism , th e Hujjat al-Hind, th e cleve r parro t who instruct s th e princes s i n Islami c doctrin e quote s lon g para - graphs from th e Mirsad ul-^ibdd. 45 A goo d translation o f this book into a Western language is one of the desiderata in the field of Suf i studies. Another Kubrawi , c Ala0uddaula Simnan i (d . 1336) , wh o ha d spent his youth at the Ilkhanid court, was an excellent mystical psy- chologist an d philosopher an d i s often cite d becaus e o f his state - ments that question the truth o f Ibn c Arabf s concept of wahdat al- wujud (se e chapter 6) . He thus became a favorite saint of the late r Naqshbandiyya.46 44. Najmuddin Day a Razi , Mirsad ul- cibad (Tehran , 131 2 sh./iggg). 45. Ibn c Umar Mihrabi' s Hujjat al-Hind, no t ye t published, was probably written in 1645 . See D. N. Marshall, Mughals i n India: A Bibliography (Bombay , 1967), nos. 221, 1809. 46. On Simnani , see Hermann Landolt , "Simnan i o n Wahda t al-Wujud, " i n Col- lected Papers o n an d Mysticism, ed . Mehd i Mohagheg h and Her - mann Landol t (Tehran , 1971) ; Landolt , ed . an d trans. , Correspondence spirituelle, echange entre Nouroddin Esfarayeni (ob. 7/7/75/7) e t son disciple cAldoddaivleh Sem- nanl (ob. j)6j 1)36) (Tehra n an d Paris , 1972) , a highl y interestin g document; an d Marijan Mole , "Un traite de cAlaDud-dawla Simnani sur C A1I ibn Ab i Talib," Bulletin de I'Institut Francais d e Damas 16 (1958-60). O n th e late r Kubrawiyy a i n general , see 258 / SUF I ORDER S AN D FRATERNITIE S

The Kubrawiyy a became the most important orde r in Kashmi r in the latter part of the fourteenth century, when, according to the legend, Sayyi d C A1I Hamadhan i migrate d t o tha t countr y wit h seven hundre d followers. 47 Comin g fro m a high-rankin g family , Hamadhani underwen t Suf i educatio n as a young boy an d wan - dered throug h th e easter n Islami c lands , includin g Ceylon , until he reached Kashmir in 1371 . He i s the author of several commen- taries—including a commentary on the Fusus al-hikam—and numer- ous other book s in Arabic and Persian. Hi s influence did much t o shape Muslim mystical thought in th e Kashmi r valley, which ha d only recentl y bee n Islamized . Hamadhan i die d i n 138 5 in Swat , but hi s order remaine d active in th e Subcontinent , thoug h i t los t some of its initial strength in the course of time and was eventually superseded by orders like the Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya, Qadiriyy and, since about 1600 , the Naqshbandiyya in India. Still, the works of Kubrawi saints have deeply influenced Indo-Muslim mysticism. 48

Mole, "Le s Kubrawiyy a entre Sunnism e e t Shiisme, " Revue de s etudes islamiques, 1961; an d Mole , "Profession s d e fo i d e deu x Kubrawis, " Bulletin d e I'lnstitut Fran- fais d e Damas 1 7 (1961-63). 47. Teufel, *--i Hamadanl, contain s a biograph y o f th e saint . Fo r hi s mystica l theories see Fritz Meier, "Die Welt de r Urbilder be i C A1I Hamadanl," Eranos-Jahrbuch 18 (1950). 48. On anothe r leadin g mystic of th e Kubrawiyya , c Az!z an-Nasafi, se e Fritz Meier , "Die Schrifte n de s cAziz-i Nasafi," Wiener Zeitschrift fu r di e Kunde de s Morgenlandes 52 (1953) ; and Meier , "Das Proble m de r Natur i m esoterischen Monismus des ," Eranos-Jahrbuch 1 4 (1946) . See also Marija n Mole , ed., L e livre d e I'homme parfait (Paris and Tehran, 1962) .