uj< OU_1 66400 >m ' ' r ' l "~ 1 "'" - ' lr AlACfc" i, r, tiiJLk '-' ,"M j Hadrat Bu 'All Shah Qalandar. SUFISM ITS SAINTS AND SHRINES. An Introduction to the Study of Suftsm with Special Reference to India BY JOHN A. SUB.MAN, B.A., B.D. or THB MKTHOPIST EPISCOPAL CHUVCH LCTU TH HCNHY MAIITTN SCHOOL or ISLAMICS, LAMOCE or 'TH QAOABI OBDVR LUCKNOW iHINO *IF To WILLIAM PATON AND MURRAY TITUS IN GRATEFUL RECOGNITION OF THE FACT THAT IT WAS THROUGH THEIR INSTRUMENTALITY THAT I UNDERTOOK THE SPECIAL WORK IN WHICH I AM NOW ENGAGED. PREFACE At the very outset I desire to acknowledge with deep gratitude the invaluable assistance given to me by my revered friend and counsellor, Rev. L. Bevan Jones, Principal of the Henry Martyn School of Islam- ics, Lahore, in the composition of this book in proper English. He has helped unstintingly by going over the whole manuscript, sentence by sentence, correcting and improving its language and thus making its publi- cation possible. Without his help and encouragement this book would, probably never have seen the light. I am also deeply indebted to my friend and colleague, Rev. J. W. Sweetman, for kindly re-writing Ch. II, and translating into English the original passages quoted in this book, and also for his generous help in Proofs reading. I also desire to express my great indebtedness to Dr. L. E. Browne, my former colleague and to my friend and benefactor Dr. M. T. Titus for thir most valu- able criticism and helpful suggestions most of which have found their way into this book. I am conscious that the subject here dealt with has not received adequate treatment. But in view of the fact that the resources for our knowledge of such parts of it as, the history of the Religious Orders and details of the Saints, are so obscure and at times so unacces- sible, readers who are in a position to see the book's ii PREFACE shortcomings will kindly forgive the deficiencies and favour me with their criticisms. The book claims no originality and no great re- search. It is an effort to place before English readers in systematic form, the varied and extensive, though often hidden, material on the subject of Mysticism and Saint worship in Islam, available in Urdu and Persian literature. A word must be added on the system of translitera- tion adopted in this book. While it has not been poss- ible to give an exact idea of the pronunciation of Arabic and Persian words, the following method has been adopted. The elision of alif is indicated by an apostrophe ('), e.g., 'Allu'l-Hujwiri. The cases where apostrophe is used for hamza or for the elision of alif can easily be determined by persons acquainted with Arabic and Persian. The Arabic 'ayn is represented by an inverted apostrophe O e. g. Shara\ The long vowels are represented by a short hori- zontal overline, a, I, u, and have approximately the sound of the vowels in the following words: father, seen, loot. , Diacritical points or lines appear under h, s, z,t, o, th, kh, gh, to represent certain Arabic values. Some few words, however, such as current proper names, are spelled according to usage, e. g., Muhammad, Quran, Islam. In footnotes and headings Arabic or Sanskrit words are spelled in Roman without any diacritical points. PREFACE iii Lastly, I offer my thanks to my wife for the sym- pathy, encouragement and wise counsel that I have received from her in writing of this book, which other- wise because of the peculiar nature of its subject and being my first effort to write for English readers would not have been an easy task. Lahore, India. J. A. S. March, 1938. CONTENTS PAGE Chapter- Introduction ... ... 1 I. The early History of ufism ... 6 The derivation of the word ufl The beginning of ufism The earliest form of ufism. II. Later Development of ufism ... 17 Speculative elements in ufism ufism wins recognition in Islam The classic period of ufism Farldu'd-Dln, 4 Attar Jalalu'd-Dm Ruml Sa'dl Later ufl peots Shabistari Hafig Jami. III. The ufl Gnostic System ... 52 ufl speculative concerning God Tanazzuldt, the descent of the Abso- lute The Haqlqatul-Muhammad- diyya The Latd'if, the organs of spiritual apprehension. IV. The Path ... ... 67 The Stages of the Path The Divine Effulgence and mystic Illumination Fand, Annihilation. vi CONTENTS V. The Path (Continued) ... 87 Devotion to the plr ufi devotions General acts of devotions Special acts of devotions. VI. Notable featutes of ufl Practice . 102 Veneration of Saints The hierarchy of the Saints Visitation to a Shrine- Miracle Sama\ musical festivals Khidr and Ilyas. VII. The Introduction of ufism into India 118 Baba Ratan Bibl Pakdamanan Sayyid Salar Mas'ud Ghazi 'Allu'l-Hujwiri. VIII. The Relation of ufism to Indian Thought 1 32 The ufi attitude towards Hinduism The ufl plr and Hindu guru ufl speculative concerning God compared with the teachings of Hindu Philo- sophy Wahdatul-WujUdiyya and Advaita Philosophy Shuhudiyya and Vishistadvaita LatcCif and Chakras Fand and Nirvana or Moksa. IX. The Origin of Religious Orders ... 159 Hasan of Basra The Zaydiyya The Hablbiyya. X. The Four Main Orders ... 174 The Chishtl Order The Qadiri Order The Suhrawardll Order The Naqsh- bandl Order. CONTENTS vii XL The Chishti Order ... ... 193 Khwaja Mu 4 inu'd-Din Chishti. XII. The Chishti Order after the death of Mu'inu'd-Din ... ... 209 Khwaja Qutbu'd-Din M u s i c in the Chishti Order Faridu'd-Din Shafkar- ganj. XIII. The Nizami and abiri Section of the Chishti Order ... ... 220 The Nizami S e c t i o n Hisamiyya Hamza Shahi The Sabiri Section of the Chishti Order. XIV. The Suhrawardl Order. ... 228 Baha'u'd-Dm Zakariya - Sadru'd-Din 4 Shaykh Ahmad Ma shuq Sub-sections of the Suhrawardl Order. XV. The Sub-divisions of the Suhrawardl Order ... ... 236 Bd-Sara Sections The Jalali Section The Makhdumi S e c t i o n The Ismail Shahi Section-The Dawla Shahl Section Be-Shara Sections Lai Shahbaziyya and the Rasul Shahi sections. XVI. The Qadirl Order ... ... 253 Some early Saints of the Order The Qumesiyya The Bahlul Shahi Section viii CONTENTS The Muqlm Shahl Section The Nawshahl Section, XVII. The Qadirl Order (Continued) ... 265 The Husayn Shahl and Miyao Khel Sec- tions. XVIII. The Naqshbandl Order ... 275 The early Saints of the Naqshbandl Order in India Ahmad FaruqlMuj- addadiyya-Naqshbandiyya. XIX. The Naqshbandl Order ... 285 The doctrine or Qayyumiyat The four Qayyums. XX. Some Minor Orders ... ... 299 The Uwaysi Orders Tha Madari Order The Shattarl Order-The Qalandari Order The Malamati Order. Epilogue. ... 319 APPENDICES A. A List of the Principal Saints of Indian Sufism ... 331 B. The Principal Anniversaries of the Saints in India. ... 369 INDEX. ... 377 INTRODUCTION. ON THURSDAY NIGHT. TONIGHT is Thursday night, the night which is specially sacred to the ufl. Come, let us visit some shrines and see for ourselves what strange religious rite5 are practised almost at our very doors. We enter a dimly-lighted room where a number of men are gathered. As we do so a signal is given by a man who appears to be the leader of the assembly and the doors are shut. There is a hush as twelve men form into two parallel lines in the centre of the room. The glimmer of a solitary hurricane lamp falls on dark faces in which only the eyes seem to live. The rest of us fall back to the sides of the room. The dhikr is about to begin. With a startling clap of the hands the leader starts swaying from right to left. Very slowly he begins and the men fall into the rhythm of his swaying. Every time they sway to the left, they call "Hu !" in chorus, tl Hu....Hu...Hu..." So the monotonous chant proceeds with at first hardly any perceptible increase in tempo. But gradually the movement of their bodies becomes more rapid and the sound of "Hu ! Hu ! Hu!" comes faster and faster and with a crescendo corresponding with the quicker time. At last the excitement becomes so intense that a man there, and a boy here, slip to their knees, still swaying in unison with the others till 2 INTRODUCTION finally they fall in collapse on the floor. One man goes forward and looks at the faces of these two and leaves them where they lie. Thus course after course of this chanting and swaying beginning from the slower and proceeding to the wild orgy of motion and shouting, according to the leader's direction, who brings the ' whole course to its end by a loud shout of "Huf and a wild jerk to the left. Then dead silence prevails, succeeded by the low undertone of prayer in which all who have not fallen unconscious join. We leave the room as the unconscious begin to revive, in order that we may witness a more extraordi- nary performance in a neighbouring shrine. Wending our way through the narrow lanes, we eventually reach our destination. We pass the threshold and enter a maze of rooms in the dark, till we find ourselves in a gloomy hall. Against the end wall, five men sit facing us. The middle one is the leader, but the other four are also elders. Upon the wall to the right of the leader, knives, cutlasses and other pointed instruments of iron are suspended. In the front of him a group of some twenty men are seated forming a semi-circle.