From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn Al-Farid, His Verse, and His Shrine PDF
Preview From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint: Ibn Al-Farid, His Verse, and His Shrine
Arab Poet Muslim Saint This page intentionally left blank Arab Poet ,6 Muslim Saint Ibn al-Farid, His Verse, and His Shrine Th. Emil Homerin The American University in Cairo Press Cairo • New "fork Perhaps your phantom will visit my bed in the darkness of dreams. Copyright © 2001 by The American University in Cairo Press 113 Sharia Kasr el Aini, Cairo, Egypt 420 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10018 www.aucpress.com First published in hardback in 1994 by the University of South Carolina Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopy- ing, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner. Dar el Kutub No. 7137/01 ISBN 977 424 668 3 Printed in Egypt Contents Preface to the Paperback Edition V11 Preface xiii Time, Place, and Pronunciation xi Introduction 1 Chapter 1. Metamorphosis 15 Chapter 2. Sanctification 33 Chapter 3. Controversy 55 Chapter 4. Disjunction 76 Epilogue 93 Notes 99 Glossary 135 Select Bibliography 143 Index 157 This page intentionally left blank Preface to the Paperback Edition I am grateful to the American University in Cairo Press for publishing this second edition of From Arab Poet to Muslim Saint. Originally published in 1994, the first edition has been sold out for several years, and so a new edition will continue to address those interested in Ibn al-Farid and the larger issues of Islamic mysticism and Muslim saints in Egypt. I have taken this opportunity to add a list of addenda and corrections to the first edition, and to provide an additional bibliog- raphy of sources, most of which were published after 1994. Finally, in this new preface, I have continued Ibn al-Farid's story through the year 2000, based largely on my recent research in Cairo. For this, I would like to express my gratitude to the National Endowment for the Humanities and the American Research Center in Egypt, and to the members of ARCE's Cairo office, especially director Mark Easton, and Amira Khattab and Amir Hassan. I am also indebted to Raymond Stock for graciously introducing me to Naguib Mahfouz, and to Ken Cuno for our spirited conversations, during which he sug- gested I approach the AUC Press regarding a second edition of this book. Many other friends, some old and some new, made my family and me welcome in Egypt once again, and in particular I want to thank Hassan 'Khalid' Ibrahim, and Umm cUmar and her family at Ibn al-Farid's shrine. As ever in Cairo, John Swanson remains a knowledgeable and generous friend. At Century's End Shaykh Gad Salim Gad was the tireless caretaker of Ibn al-Farid's shrine for nearly twenty-five years, and his sudden death in 1984 left the shrine and its mawlid, or 'saint's day,' in disarray. Both appeared in jeopardy for some years, yet his family and followers carried on. Today, a permanent caretaker, Shaykh Mustafa Hanafi, supervises the mosque, whose interior has been refurbished and freshly painted; viii Preface to the Paperback Edition older trees have been replaced in the courtyard to maintain the cool shade there. The annual mawlid is again a very lively affair and remains under the supervision of the RifacT, Sufi order to which Shaykh Gad belonged. His sons, Umar and Taha, now grown men with their own families, have a prominent place in the event, as does their mother Umm Umar. In 2000, the mawlid took place over three days, culminating on a Thursday with a procession of the RifacT, order and a rousing evening of chant and song performed by Yasin al-Tuhami, perhaps the most popular Sufi singer in Egypt today. Early in the afternoon, the proces- sion formed at the western end of the neighborhood, on the main street leading up to the shrine. Male members of the RifacT order gathered round as some pierced their cheeks with needles and skewers (dabbus). An elderly man pierced his eyelid, while the youngest member, a ten-year old boy, had his cheeks pierced for the first time. Shaykh Gad's eldest son, cUmar, assisted many of the participants by first rubbing the needles and skewers with lemon, and then carefully forcing them through the skin. Finally, he pierced his own cheeks. Then, the pierced devotees formed a long column, with each person holding the shoulder of the man walking before him. They were accompanied by other Rifacis, some of whom carried flags and ban- ners with the name of the order, as others blew whistles, played cym- bals and tambourines, or beat drums. A rhythm arose with the chant "Allahu-l-hayyu" ('God, the living'), and many began to dance as they slowly moved toward the shrine. One Rifa'l Sufi appeared to be in charge of a small, rather sluggish snake, which he draped around the neck of the ten-year old boy and others during the procession, including one of two teenaged girls, who had joined their father in the march. At points along the way, the procession stopped and recited, in unison, the Fatihah, the opening chapter of the Qur'an. They were joined in this by the many women, children, and men who lined the street to share in the event. At sunset, the procession finally arrived and entered the courtyard of Umm cUmar's residence adjacent to the shrine, where various members of the procession respectfully greeted her. Then, the needles and skewers were withdrawn and the sunset prayers performed in the mosque shrine containing Ibn al-Farid's tomb. Following the prayers and a light meal, the participants gathered together with hundreds of supporters, to listen to Yasin al-Tuhami sing Ibn al-Farid's mystical verse. "Urnar, Tana, and a few other RifaT Sufis formed a line on stage behind Yasin and swayed to the rhythm of his songs. Below and to one side of the stage, Umm "Umar and a group of women formed Preface to the Paperback Edition ix their own section, where they enjoyed the performance. Yasin sang long into the night, much to the delight of his enamored audience. Relatives of Umm 'Umar taped the festivities, and she gladly shows the video to visitors at her home on a VCR purchased by her sons. With their support, Umm Umar has been able to retire and devote her full attention to her younger children, her grandchildren, and the annu- al celebration of the saint. Once a modest event, Ibn al-Farid's mawlid now draws hundreds of participants, along with a number of Arab tel- evision stations and reporters. Recently, a French crew has also filmed the mawlid for a documentary on the saint and the Sufi path, and Ibn al-Farid, as a poet, mystic, and saint, has drawn renewed scholarly attention as well. Though these gains are modest, to be sure, they sug- gest that after two centuries of decline, Ibn al-Farid's saintly appeal may once again be ascendant. Addenda and Corrigenda Thanks are due to Todd Lawson and Roger Allen for pointing out several of the errors corrected below. Pages 15-16: The identity of Ibn al-Farid's student quoted on page 16 is Jamal al-Din Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn Musa ibn Yusuf ibn Musdi al-Azdi (598-663/1202-65), a hadith scholar, poet and litterateur, and author of a work entitled Mujam al-shuyukh, the probable source for this biographical notice. Originally, I had ascribed the passage to al-Mundhiri, who composed a work under the same title (see page 101, note 3). Later, I found a portion of Ibn Musdi's account of Ibn al-Farid cited by Ibrahim al-Biqal in his Tanbih al-ghabi, edited and published in Masra'al-tasawwuf by Abd al-Rahman al-Wakll (Cairo, 1953), 138. For more on Ibn Musdi, see "Umar al-Kahhalah, Mujam al-mu allifln (Damascus: al-Maktabah al-cArabiyah, 1957), 12:140, and Khalil ibn Aybak al-Safadi, al-Wafi bi-l-wafayat, edited by Sven Dedering, et al. (Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1959-), 5:254-55. Page 16: The published edition of Ibn Musdi's account of the poet, noted above, gives the preferred reading tasarruf ('He decided to undertake') in place of tatarruf ('He pushed to the limits'). The lat- ter reading may be found in All ibn Muhammad al-Fayyuml, Nathr al-juman fi tarajim al-ayan, Cairo: Arab League Manuscript Institute, microfilm 428 (Ta'rlkh) of ms 1746, Istanbul: Maktabat Ahmad al-Thalith, 70b. Pages 65-66, 74, 122, n. 80: al-Matbuli for al-Matbuli.
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