J O U R N A L O F I S L A M I C S T U D I E S

E D I T O R

D R F A R H A N A H M A O N I Z A M I

Magdalen College, O x f o r d

C O N S U L T A N T E D I T O R S

PROFESSOR / .AIAK ISHAQ ANSARI

l i i i r n i . H n n i . i l I s I .u i iK University) Islamabad

DR M O H A M M A D AONAN AL-BAKHIT

A l al l ' . u i University, Amman

PROFESSOR JOHN L ESPOSITO

GeorgetOWn University, Washington

I 'KOIISSOK M K A M A I . HASSAN

International Islamic University, Selangor

PROFESSOR JAAFAR SHEIKH IDRIS

Institnte of Islamic and Arabie Sciences in America, Fairfax

PROFESSOR EKMEI.EDDIN IHSANOGLU

Research Centre for Islamic History, Art and Culture, Istanbul

PROFESSOR YUZO ITAGAKI

University of Tokyo

PROFESSOR W A D A U K A D I

University of Chicago

PROFESSOR WIEFERD F MADELUNG

St John's College, Oxford

PROFESSOR A L I A M A Z R U I

State University of New York, Binghamton

PROFESSOR SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR

Ceorge Washington University, Washington

PROFESSOR JAMES PISCATORI

Wadham College, Oxford

D R YUSUF A L - Q A R A D A W I

Qatar University

PROFESSOR HASSANAIN M O H A M M A D RABIAF

University of Cairo

D R RICHARD C REPP

St Cross College, Oxford

PROFESSOR FRANCIS ROBINSON

Royal Holloway, University of London

PROFESSOR A I SABRA

Harvard University

PROFESSOR ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL

Harvard University

Typeset and Printed by The Charlesworth Group, Huddersfield, U K

J O U R N A L OF I S L A M I C STUDIES

VOLUME 12 NUMBER 2 MAY 2001

C O N T E N T S

A R T I C L E S

The Kemembrance of the Prophet in Suhrawardt's 'Awàrif al-Ma'àrif Qamar-ul Huda 129

The Karbala Narrative: ShfT Politicai Discourse in Modem Iran in the 1960s and 1970s

Kamran Aghaie 151

B O O K R E V I E W S

1. G. R. Hawting: THE IDEA OE 1DOTATRY AND THE EMERGENCE OE ISLAM: FROM POLEM1C TO HISTORY. By Yasin Dutton. 177

2. Mawi l Izzi Dien: THE ENVIRONME.NTAL D1MENSIONS OF ISLAM. By Harfiyah Abdel Haleem. 179

3. Richard G. Hovannisian and Georges Sabagh (eds): RELIGION AND CULTURE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM. By James Montgomery. 182

4. Hava Lazarus-Yafeh, Mark R. Cohen, Sasson Somekh, and Sidney H . Griffith (eds): THE MAJLIS: 1NTE.RRE.LIG10US ENCOUNTERS IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM. By Stoyanka Kenderova. 184

5. Gerald T . Elmore: ISLAMIC SAINTHOOD IN THE FULLNESS OF TIME: 1BNA AL-'ARABI'S BOOK OF THE FABULOUS GRYPHON. By Ian Richard Netton. 187

6. Peter Avery: FARIDU'D-DIN 'ATTÀR: THE SPEECH OF THE BIRDS (MANTIQU'T-TAIR). By Annemarie Schimmel. 188

7. Franklin D. Lewis: RUMI, PAST AND PRESENT, EAST AND WEST: THE LIFE, TEACHING AND POETRY OF JALÀL AL-D1N RUMI. By Gudrun Schubert. 189

8. Alexander D. Knysh: ISLAMIC MYST1CISM: A SHORT H/.STORY. By Gerald Elmore. 191

9. Ian Richard Netton: SUFI RITUAL: THE PARALLEL UNIVERSE. By Arthur F. Buehler. 194

10. Elisabeth Ozdalga (ed.): NAQSHBANDIS IN WESTERN AND CENTRAL ASIA: CHANCE AND CONT1NU1TY. By Thomas Dahnhardt. 195

11. Roshdi Rashed and Jean Jolivet: OEUVRES PHILOSOPHIQUES ET SCIENFITIQUES D'AL KIND1. VOL. 2: MÉTAPHYSIQUE ET ( :< OMOLOGIE. By Majid Fakhry. 197

12. Robert Gleave: 1NEV1TABI.E DOUBT: TWO THEORIES OF SHl'T IIIRSIPRUDF.NCE. By L. Clarke. 198

II C O N T E N T S

13. Haim Gerber: ISLAMIC LAW AND CULTURE 1600-1840. By Hussein Hassan. 203

14. Leif Manger (ed.): MUSL1M D1VERS1TY: LOCAI. ISLAM IN GLOBAL CONTEXTS. By Mohammad Talib. 207

15. Reuven Amitai-Preiss and David O. Morgan (eds): THE MONGOL EMPIRE AND 1TS LEGACY. By Svat Soucek. 210

16. Dick Douwes: THE OTTOMANS IN SYR1A: A HISTORY OF JUSTICE AND OPPRESSION By Kate Fleet. 214

17. Svat Soucek: A HISTORY OF 1NNER ASIA. By Benedek Péri. 217 18. P. M . Holt : THE SUDAN OF THE THREE NILES: THE FUNJ CHRONICLE

910-128811504-1871. By Shamil Jeppie. 219 19. Ingvar Svanberg: CONTEMPORARY KAZAKS: CULTURAL AND SOCIAL

PERSPECTIVES. By Timur K. Beisembiev. 221 20. Giampaolo R. Capisani: THE HANDBOOK OF CENTRAL ASIA: A

COMPREHENSIVE SURVEY OF THE NEW REPUBLICS. By Shirin Akiner. 224 21. Michael Dillon: CHINA'S MUSL1M HU1 COMMUNITY: MIGRATION,

SETTLEMENT AND SECTS. David D. Wang: CLOUDS OVER TIANSHEN: ESSAYS ON SOCIAL D1STURBANCE IN XINJIANG IN THE 1940s. By Iftikhar H . Malik. 227

22. Paul E. Losensky: WELCOMING F1GHÀNI: ÌMITATION AND POET1C INDIVIDUAL1TY IN THE SAFAV1D-MUGHAL GHAZAL. By Annemarie Schimmel. 230

23. George Micheli and Mark Zebrowski: THE NEW CAMBRIDGE HISTORY OF INDIA: ARCH1TECTURE AND ART OF THE DECCAN SULTANATES. By Som Prakash Verma. 232

24. Robert Hillenbrand: ISLAMIC ART AND ARCH1TECTURE: WORLD OE ART SER1ES. By Ruba Kana'an. 235

25. Godfrey Goodwin: TOPKAP1 PALACE: AN 1LLUSTRATED GUIDE TO 1TS LIFE AND PERSONAL1T1ES. By Geoffrey Lewis. 239

26. Maryam Poya: W O M E N , WORK AND 1SLAMISM: IDEOLOGY AND RESISTANCE. By Harfiyah Abdel Haleem. 239

27. Shaharyar M . Khan: THE BEGUMS OF BHOPAL: A DYNASTY OF WOMEN RULERS IN RA] INDIA. By Barbara D. Metcalf. 242

28. Michael Hudson (ed.): MIDDLE EAST DILEMMA: THE POL1T1CS AND ECON1M1CS OF ARAB INTEGRATION. By Emma Murphy. 244

29. Hamdi A. Hassan: THE IRAQ1 INVASION OF KUWAIT: RELIGION, IDENT1TY AND OTHERNESS IN THE ANALYSIS OF WAR AND CONFL1CT. By Joseph A. Kechichian. 247

30. R. Stephen Humphreys: BETWEEN MEMORY AND DESIRE: THE MIDDLE EAST IN A TROUBLED AGE. By James Piscatori. 249

31. Farid El-Khazen: THE BREAKDOWN OF THE STATE OF LEBANON. By Jens Hanssen. 250

32. Robert Dankoff and Robert Elsie: F.VLIYA CEI.EB1 IN ALBANIA (KOSOVO, MONTENEGRO, OHR1D). By H . T. Norris. 253

33. Tim Judah: KOSOVO: WAR AND REVENGE. By M . Siikru Hanioglu. 256 34. M . Umer Chapra: THE FUTURE OF ECONOM1CS: AN ISLAMIC

PERSPECTIVE. By Rodney Wilson. 257 35. Masoud Kavoossi: THE GLOBALISATION OF BUSINESS AND THE

MIDDLE EAST: OPPORTUN1T1ES AND CONSTRAINTS. By Rodney Wilson. 260

BOOKS RECE1VED 264

Journal of Islamic Studies 12:2 (2001) pp. 129-150 1 Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies 2001

T H E R E M E M B R A N C E OF T H E PROPHET I N SUHRAWARDÌ 'S 'AWÀRIF AL-MA'ÀRIF

Q A M A R - U L H U D A Boston College

It is said that tasawwuf is about dddb, therefore, for every level of tasawwuf there is a particular form of àdàb for it. For the person who adheres to àdàb, [he] will learn the path of excellence. For those who do not practice àdàb, [they] are far away from achieving a high level of tasawwuf}

I N T R O D U C T I O N

Karl Mannheim has argued that presenting one's ideas is a way of connecting to past thinkers, of seeking (what he refers to as) a com­mon location in the social and historical process of creating a particular world-view or mentality.2 For Sufi shaykhs, like Shaykh Abu Hafs 'Umar al-Suhrawardl (d. 1234), testing his ideas against past figures was a process of locating himself within the Islamic tradition and with what was known or understood at that time. This paper examines his Sufi beliefs and how they were associated with a specific social group, in this case the Suhrawardiyya Sufi order, and with the Prophet.

Shaykh 'Umar al-Suhrawardl, like many other distinguished Sufi thinkers, tried to bring about a deeper theological understanding in the tasawwuf tradition by analyzing the Qur'àn, the hadiths of the Prophetic tradition, and the texts of past Sufi shaykhs. This paper studies the intellectual aspects of the Suhrawardiyya tariqa, focusing on how al-Suhrawardl's ideas enable us to understand the attitudes, hierarchies, psychology, culture, and religious values of the members, and in particular how his understanding of the Prophet defined the tariqa. His Sufi manual was a major source of spiritual discipline for successive disciples who moved eastward from Iraq, such as Bahà ai-Din Zakariyya, Jalàl ai-Din TabrizI, and

1 'Awàrif ai-Ma'arif, 254. Karl Mannheim, 'The Problem of Generation' in Essays on the Sociology of

Knourledge (London, 1952), 276-85.

1 9 4 B O O K R E V I E W S

Sufi Ritual: The Parallel Universe By I A N R I C H A R D N E T T O N . R i c h m o n d : C u r z o n , 2 0 0 0 . Pp. x i , 219. Price

PB £ 1 4 . 9 9 . 0 - 7 0 0 7 - 1 2 5 4 - 2 .

This short monograph claims rhat Sufi ritual is a parallel universe and rhat these Sufi rituals in turn lead ro a fundamental alienation (ix) . The bulk of the text examines ritual (dhikr, santa', muràqaba, suhba, wird) in rhe N i ' m a r u l l a h i and Naqshbandi lineages, ending in a brief mulri-perspecrive discussion (theology, phenomenology, anthropology, semiotics). Although there is a bibliography of originai sources (Arabie, Persian, Turk ish , Sabaen), the acrual sources used are almost ali in English translation. The few exceptions have not been consulted and there is no indication in the book that the author used anything but English-language sources.

Ir is unforrunate that Netton has not kept up w i t h recent scholarship on Sufism wri t ten in English. Cari Ernst in his Shambhala Guide to Sufism has cogently shown that one orientalist misconception has been to separate the practice of Sufism f rom that of mainstream Islam. Reading of rhe primary texts (mostly wri t ten in Persian for rhe rwo Sufi lineages studied) and/or witnessing Sufi rituals over a period of time easily demonstrates that Sufi r i m a i is embedded in mainstream practices and cannot in any way be separared from rhese pracrices as rhe misconsrrued term 'parallel universe' leads one ro believe (cf. Buehler, Sufi Heirs of the Prophet).

In the Naqshbandi case, the argument for alienation is even more problematic. Netton asserts:

The paradox at the heart of Sufi ritual, then, is that it seeks union through alienation. The ritual links or unites man to God, man to man, and man to his own spiritual core or self, on the one hand, and yet on the other, it consciously seeks to alienate him from his corporeal and terrestrial links and concerns as a means to a higher goal. (181)

Mujaddidis , the mainstream of rhe Naqshbandi t rad i t ion , indicate clearly their goal of baqà' after fanà\e is no paradox whatsoever. It is a function of where one is on the path. O n the way to G o d one seeks to control the ego, to make it tranquil—an annihilation of the sense of I-ness. This is supposed to be a transitional stage and only in very exceptional and short-term cases w o u l d it involve anything approximaring 'alienation from corporeal and terresrrial l inks' . Given the Sharì'a-minded nature of the Mujaddidis , such alienation, were it to manifest, w o u l d run rorally counrer to M u j a d d i d i docrrine and practice. Indeed, the continuai emphasis of Mujaddidis on assiduous rirual pracrice (i.e., mainstream Islamic practices like rirual prayer) could be seen as a skilful means to prevenr alienation. Upon rerurning to the w o r l d as a transformed being (in baqà'), rhe Sufi 'unires' him or herself wi rh others. It is well k n o w n across religious tradirions rhar as one becomes closer to God there is a more compassionate relarionship w i t h one's fel low beings. Again, such basic informat ion has been available in English-language sources at least since 1993, which Fritz Meier has explicitly cited in his Zwei Abhandlungen (10). Whether the practices and l i teratuir

B O O K R E V I E W S 1 9 5

of the Ni 'matul lahis support Netton's alienation thesis is a matter rhat I am not in a position to comment upon.

Unless a teacher wanted to spend considerable rime correcting and con-textualizing the material in rhis book, i t w o u l d be unsuitable for a course on Sufism. Nerron has virtually ignored Naqshbandi scholarship over rhe last ten years (like orher non-English sources, Meier was cired bur never used). In addit ion, the sources cited by Netton are used in an uncrirical manner. For example, ro position Shaykh Nazim as a typical representative of the Naqshbandi tradit ion is like having Reverend M o o n speak for the Chrisrian t radi t ion . N o mention is made of the Ni 'matul lahis being an explicitly Twelver Shl'T lineage as a 'Yà 'Ali' (158) indicates. This is yet another example of Sufi pracrices being embedded in the respective mainstream tradi t ion . Methodologically, the applications of phenomenology, theology, semiotics, and anthropology are quite uneven.

Professor Net ton entices the reader w i t h a multi-faceted discussion in the introduct ion, where he briefly discusses the ambiguous situation of Musl ims in Brirain and adeptly places Sufism in that context. Throughour the book his creative use of the Rule of St Benedict juxtaposed w i t h Sufi r i tual demonstrates a f r u i t f u l (and valid) parallel t radi t ion. I t is questionable whether these features are enough to counterbalance essenrial conceprual difficulties and other misconceptions that permeare the entire book.

Arthur F. Buehler Louisiana State Univeristy

Naqshbandis in Western and Central Asia: Change and Continuity Edired by E L I S A B E T H O Z D A L G A . R i c h m o n d : C u r z o n Press, 1999.

Pp. 187. Price PB £ 1 6 . 0 0 . 0 - 7 0 0 7 - 1 1 4 7 - 3 .

This volume, another of many dedicared ro rhe Naqshbandiyya in recent years, consists of papers presented at a conference enrirled 'Patterns of transformation among the Naqshbandis in the M i d d l e East and Central Asia' , held at the Swedish Research Insrirure in Isranbul, 9-11 June 1997. Irs twelve articles deal w i t h different aspeets of the role played by rhe Naqshbandi order in rhe transition f r o m pre-modern ro modem Islamic societies, f r o m rhe dying days of the Ottoman Empire to the contemporary period in Turkey, Syria, Afghanisran and (the order's homeland) the newly emerged independent Central Asian republics.

The opening chaprer, by rhe renowned Berkeley-based scholar H a m i d Algar, is based on a manuscripr preserved in Isranbul's Siileymaniye. I t focuses on the life of an eighteenth-century shaykh of rhe KàsànI branch of the order, 'Abdullàh NidàI of Kashghar (d. 1760), w h o ar some stage set out as a wandering mendicanr, f rom his hometown in Turkestan, for rhe Orroman capirai. Describing rhe stages of this prolonged journey that touched the major centres of the Islamic w o r l d before reaching Istanbul, Algar points out differenr aspeets of the shaykh's teachings, stressing his

196 B O O K R E V I E W S

emphasis on the pre-eminence of inner and outer faqr among the spiritual virtues. According ro Shaykh Nidàl, this is attained through asceric self-denial (riyàzat) and rhe abandonment of the w o r l d (tark-i dunyà), an emphasis seldom encountered among Naqshbandi authorities. The descriprion of this itineranr Naqshbandi dervish and his teachings, which stress rhe virrues of celibacy and passive mendicancy, highlights the order's complex typology, that goes beyond the common descriprion of rhe order's members as householders and wealthy participants in society. In describing rhe shaykh's encounrers and acrivities in the capital of Sultan M a h m u d , the arride also illusrrares rhe importance of Istanbul as a focal point of cultural and spiritual interchange in the eighteenth century.

Orher articles concerned w i r h Cenrral Asia include those by Jo-Ann Gross and Bourros A b u Manneh which rrace rhe legacy of the great Naqshbandi shaykh Khwàja 'Ubayd Al lah Ahràr (1404-90) and his descendants. Gross's arride is based largely on ninereenth-century Tsarist records. I t describes the social and economie hisrory of rhe Naqshbandiyya over rhe cenruries t i l l the Russian conquest of Central Asia in the 1860s, through analysis of the administrative organizarion of rhe twig/established by Khwàja Ahràr during the fifreenth century and irs impact on the locai economy of Samarkand, the former T i m u r i d capital. Manneh briefly revisirs rhe hagiographical w o r k , the Rasbabàt-i 'Ain al-Hayàt, not ing its diffusion in the wider M u s l i m w o r l d in rhe nineteenth century through translations into Turkish and Arabie and the advenr of rhe prinring press. Original ly composed in Persian during the first years of rhe sixteenth century by rhe Khwàja's disciple Fakhr ai -Din al-Kàshifl of Herat, the Rashahàt became a prominenr w o r k in Mus l im hagiographical lirerature. I t was translared inro Orroman Turkish during the reign of Sultan Muràd I I I in 1580-85 by M a ' r u f 'Àrifì, rhen qàdi of Izmir, reflecting the growing tendency among the Ot toman elite to promote the circulation of texts reflecring orrhodox Sunni beliefs in order to counter-act the Shl'a influence promored by the Safavids in mainland Persia. I t reached its widest circularion in the nineteenth century w i r h the advent of print ing technology, its first edition being published in Istanbul in 1236/1821, followed by another f r o m Cairo in 1840 and 1853. In the nineteenth century the M u s l i m w o r l d stili preserved a culrural unity in which Islamic themes were very much ar the centre of people's inrerest.

The role of the Naqshbandiyya in Central Asia is complemenred by an interesting article (73-88) dealing w i t h post-Soviet hagiography and the reconstrucrion of the Naqshbandi tradirion in conremporary Uzbekistan fo l lowing the prolonged period of disruprion of religious activity under the Communist regime. Aimed ar re-educaring rhe new generation of Uzbeks and instil l ing a new sense of national pride and identity, Vernon Schubel traces the modes and ways rhe state-sponsored policy of promoring a 'neo'-Sufi tradirion rries to restore the 'golden herirage' of a medieval hisrory in modem Cenrral Asia in the absence of the l iving pir-muridi t radirion that was eradicared firsr by Russian colonializarion and larer by rhe Socialist doctrine of scientifìc atheism under Soviet rule. Inreresringly, ir emerges rhat ir

B O O K R E V I E W S 197

is the people trained as orienralists under the past regime w h o now function as cultural rransmirrers by rewrir ing Uzbek history in rhe light of the Khojagan tradit ion and the indigenous mediaeval Chaghatai literarure, such as Navàl's Lisàn al-fayr. As Schubel concludes, rhese works rry ro sponsor a Sufism 'stripped of irs organic wholeness', as a complex of ideas and practices divorced f r o m insrirurional Islam w i r h irs porential fundamenralisr challenge perceived as rhrear by the currenr locai governmenr.

Aparr f rom an inreresting and useful survey carried our in 1977-/8 by a Swedish scholar on rhe situation of the Naqshbandi khànaqàhs in Afghanistan prior to the Soviet invasion (117-28), the remaining conrriburions ro this volume consist of studies dealing w i t h the role of the Naqshbandi Sufis in the Arab w o r l d , rhe Ottoman heartlands and in contemporary Turkey. One is concerned w i r h the role of rhe Khàlidiyya sub-branch of rhe Mujaddidiyya in Kurdisran, while another Swedish scholar (Leif Srenberg) discusses the ways the contemporary Naqshbandi shaykh in Damascus, Ahmad Kufraro, confronrs social change in lare rwenrierh-century Syria rhrough his srare-supporred role as Grand M u f r i of Syria and Lebanon and head of the Abu an-Nur foundation. A m o n g the articles concerned w i r h Turkey proper, Ilber Ortayli 's accounr of rhe shift in policy adopted by the Ottoman govern­menr rowards rhe Naqshbandiyya while vehemently combarring rhe inf lu­ence of orher Sufi orders (in parricular rhe Bekrashis, regarded as hererodox and hosrile) during rhe so-called Tanzimar period in rhe mid-ninereenrh cenrury, and Hakan Yavuz's srudy on rhe Naqshbandi influence on Islamic movemenrs in modem Turkey (129-46) are w o r t h mentioning for rheir originai conrriburion rowards the undersranding of how diversely this parricular Sufi tariqa adapted itself to the change f rom a feudal ro a modem society in order ro exercise its tradirional role of correcring and safeguarding Islam and Islamic socieries ali over rhe dar al-lslàm. To bring home rhe poinr, rhe volume ends w i r h a contriburion by Kurkur Ozal , former M P and government minisrer in rhe 1970s, w h o , rhrough his account of his personal experience as a disciple of rhe conremporary Naqshbandi shaykh Mehmed Zahid Korku (d. 1980), shows how closely spiritual education, polit icai expediency and economie interesr could inrerrwine in rhe perception of the w o r l d and of the role of this ancient Sufi order, during rhe life of Khwàja Ahràr five cenruries ago as well as in rhe present t ime.

Thomas Dàhnhardt Oxford Centre for islamic Studies

Oeuvres Philosophiques et Scientifiques d'al-Kindi. Voi. 2: Métaphysi-que et Cosmologie By R O S H D I R A S H E D and J E A N J O L I V E T . Leiden: E. J . B r i l l , 1998.

Pp. 250 . Price H B N G L 134. 9 0 - 0 4 - 1 1 0 7 3 - 9 .

This is the second of t w o volumes embodying some of al-Kindl 's philosophical and scientifìc wri t ings , in a fine Arabic-French edirion. The