The Heritage of Sufism. Volume 1: Classical Persian Sufism from Its Origins to Rumi (700-1300)

708 Pages·1999·26.17 MB·English

by  Leonard Lewisohn (ed.)

THE HERITAGE
OF SUFISM
VOLUME I
THE HERITAGE OF SUFISM
Volume I, Classical Persian Sufism from its Origins to Rumi (700-1300),
ISBN 1-85168-188-4
Volume II, The Legacy of Medieval Persian Sufism (ll50-1500),
ISBN 1-85168-189-2
Volume III, Late Classical Persianate Sufism (150I-I750),
ISBN 1-85168-193-0
RELATED TITLES PUBLISHED BY 0NEWORLD
City of Wrong, Kamel Hussein, ISBN 1-85168-072-1
Common Prayer, A Muslim-Christian Spiritual Anthology, Cragg (ed.), ISBN
1-85168-181-7
Companion to the Qur'an, Watt, ISBN 1-85168-036-5
Defenders of Reason in Islam: Mu'tazilismfrom Medieval School to Modern Symbol,
Martin, Woodward and Atmaja, ISBN 1-85168-147-7
The Event of the Qur'an: Islam in its Scripture, Cragg, ISBN 1-85168-067-5
The Faith and Practice of Al-Ghazali, Watt, ISBN 1-85168-062-4
The Formative Period of Islamic Thought, Watt, ISBN 1-85168-152-3
Islam: A Short History, Watt, ISBN 1-85168-205-8
Islam and the West, Daniel, ISBN 1-85168-129-9
Jesus and the Muslim, Cragg, ISBN 1-85168-180-9
Jesus in the Qur'an, Parrinder, ISBN 1-85168-094-2
Muhammad: A Short Biography, Forward, ISBN 1-85168-131-0
Muhammad and the Christian, Cragg, ISBN 1-85168-179-5
Muslims and Christians Face to Face, Zebiri, ISBN 1-85168-133-7
Muslim Devotions, Padwick, ISBN 1-85168-115-9
On Being a Muslim, Esack, ISBN 1-85168-146--9
The Qur'an and its Exegesis, Gatje, ISBN 1-85168-118-3
Qur'an, Liberation and Pluralism, Esack, ISBN 1-85168-121-3
Rabi'a, Smith, ISBN 1-85168-085-3
Revival and Reform in Islam: A Study of Islamic Fundamentalism, Rahman, ISBN
1-85168-204-X
Rumi: Past and Present, East and West, Lewis, ISBN 1-85168-167-1
Rumi: Poet and Mystic, Nicholson, ISBN 1-85168-096--9
A Short Introduction to Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Mysticism, Fakhry, ISBN
1-85168-134-5
Tales of Mystic Meaning, Nicholson, ISBN 1-85168-097-7
What Muslims Believe, Bowker, ISBN 1-85168-169-8
THE HERITAGE
OF SUFISM
VOLUME I
Classical :Persian du/ism
from ifs Oriyins lo :l<umi (700-1300)
EDITED BY LEONARD LEWISOHN
ONEWORLD
OXFORD
THE HERITAGE OF SUFISM
VOLUME I
Oneworld Publications
(Sales and Editorial)
185 Banbury Road
Oxford OX2 7 AR
England
http://www.oneworld-publications .corn
© Leonard Lewisohn 1999
Previously published by Khaniqahi Nimatullahi Publications 1993
All rights reserved
Copyright under Berne Convention
A CIP record for this title is available
from the British Library
Reproduction of the illustrations in this
volume has been made possible by a generous grant
from the British Institute of Persian Studies.
ISBN 1-85168-188-4
Cover design by Design Deluxe
Contents
List of Illustrations ................................................................... viii
List of Contributors ................................................................... ix
System of Transliteration .......................................................... xi
Preface to the First Edition ..................................................... xii
Preface to this Edition .............................................................. xv
Foreword: The Key Features of Early Persian Sufism
JAV AD NURBAKHSH. ............................................ xvii
I. INTRODUCTION
The Rise and Development of Persian Sufism
SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR ............................................... I
II. LITERARY & HISTORICAL BEGINNINGS
An Indo-Persian Perspective on the Significance of Early
Persian Sufi Masters
BRUCE B. LAWRENCE ................................................. 19
Persian Contributions to Sufi Literature in Arabic
AHMAD MAHDAV I DAMGHANI.. .............................. 33
Ill. SUFI MASTERS & SCHOOLS
Abu'l-/jusayn al-Nuri: "Qibla of the Lights"
ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL ........................................ 59
/jalliij and the Baghdad School of Sufism
vi Contents
HERBERT MASON ........................................................ 65
Abu Sa 'id ibn Abl'l-Khayr and the School of Khurasan
TERRY GRAHAM ..................................................... 83
Historical Conditions of Persian Sufism
during the Seljuk Period
HAMID DABASHI .................................................. 137
Early Sufism in Eastern Anatolia
AHMETT. KARAMUSTAFA ...................................... 175
IV. METAPHYSICS & HERMENEUTICS
Ideas of Time in Persian Sufism
GERHARD BOWERING ......................................... 199
Abu {!amid al-GhazaU's Esoteric Exegesis of the Koran
NICHOLAS HEER ................................................... 235
The Significance ofS uhrawardf's Persian Sufi Writings in the
Philosophy of Illumination
MEHDI AMINRAZAV I ................................................ 259
In Quest ofA nnihilation: Imaginalization and Mystical Death
in the Tamhidat of 'Ayn al-Qur;f,at Hamadhiin'i
LEONARD LEWISOHN ............................................... 285
V. LITERATURE & POETRY
The Myth ofA dam's Fall in Al:zmad Sam 'anf's
Rawl;t al-arwal;t
WILLIAM C. CHITTICK .............................................. 337
Comparative Notes on Sana 'I and 'Af.tar
J.T.P. DE BRUIJN .......................................................... 361
The Hundred Grounds of 'Abdullah An$ar'i of Herat (d. 4481
1056): the Earliest Mnemonic Sufi Manual in Persian
A.G. RAV AN FARHADI .............................................. 381
The Concept of Knowledge in Rumf's Mathnawi
MUHAMMAD ESTE'LAMI ......................................... 401
Rumi and f:likmat: Towards a Reading ofSabziwiiri's
Commentary on the Mathnawi
JOHN COOPER ............................................................. 409
Contents vii
VI. DIVINE LOVE, SAINTHOOD, SPIRITUAL
DISCIPLINES & STATIONS
The Stages of Love in Early Persian Sufism,
from Riibi'a to Ruzbihiin
CARL W. ERNST .......................................................... 435
"The Breath of Felicity:" Adah, Al).wfil, Maqiimat and
AbU Nafib al-Suhrawardi
IAN RICHARD NETTON ............................................. 457
The Concept of Wilaya in Early Sufism
BERND RADTKE ........................................................ 483
Contemplative Disciplines in Early Persian Sufism
MUHAMMAD ISA WALEY ........................................ 497
VII. SPIRITUAL CHIVALRY & MALAMATI
SPIRITUALITY
Chivalry and Early Persian Sufism
MUHAMMAD JA'FAR MAHJUB ............................... 549
lfakim Tirmidhi and the Maliimati Movement in Early Sufism
SARA SVIRI .................................................................. 583
Bibliography ............................................................................ 614
Index of Places, Names, Terms and Koranic References. . 641
Illustrations
Dervishes dancing ......................................................... Front Cover
Bayazid Bisfami ........................................................................ xxxi
Abii'l-ijasan Kharaqani ....................................................... xxxviii
The Mausoleum of Bayazid Bisfami. ........................................... xlii
Dara Shikiih ................................................................................. 26
Mystics discoursing in a garden .................................................. 45
Dervishes dancing during the preparation of a meal .................. 58
Man~iir ijallaj .............................................................................. 66
Abu Sa 'id ibn Abi'1 -Khayr ........................................................... 82
Ayaz at the side of Sultan Maflmiid of Ghazna .......................... 136
Mausoleum ofA flmad Yasawi ................................................... 178
Diagram of the twelve months .................................................. 200
Diagram of eclipses of the sun and the moon ........................... 209
Koran. Surah X: 28-29 ............................................................... 234
The village of Suhraward ........................................................... 258
Frontispiece from 'Ayn al-Qufl,at's Tamhidat ........................... 284
'Ayn al-Qufl,at and four others ................................................... 331
Adam with Joseph, Jonah and Noah ......................................... 340
The poet Sana 'i .......................................................................... 360
Khwaja 'Abdullah An~ari .......................................................... 380
Khwaja 'Abdullah An~ari .......................................................... 391
A page from the Mathnawi of Jalal al-Din Riimi ....................... 400
Jalal al-Din Rumi ....................................................................... 410
Mausoleum of Riizbihiin Baqli ................................................... 434
Dervishes dancing ..................................................................... 456
Chamber of retreat (chilla-khana) ............................................. 522
A dervish in contemplation (muraqaba) ..................................... 539
Medireval map of Khurasan ....................................................... 587
Contributors
JA V AD NURBAKHSH, Professor Emeritus and Former Head of
the Department of Psychiatry, University of Tehran; Master of
the Nimatullahi Sufi Order
SEYYED HOSSEIN NASR, University Professor of Islamic
Studies, The George Washington University, Washington, D.C.
BRUCE B. LAWRENCE, Professor of Islamic Studies and the
History of Religions, Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
AHMAD MAHDAV I DAMGHANI, Professor of Arabic Litera
ture, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
ANNEMARIE SCHIMMEL, Professor Emeritus of Indo-Muslim
Culture, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts
HERBERT MASON, UniversityProfessor of History and Religion,
Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
TERRY GRAHAM, Editor, Persian Translation Series, Khaniqahi
Nimatullahi Publications, London, England
HAMID DABASHI, Assistant Professor of Persian Literature, De
p~ent of Middle Eastern Languages and Cultures, Columbia
University, New York, N.Y.
AHMET T. KARAMUSTAFA, Assistant Professor of Islamic
Thought, Department of Asian and Near Eastern Languages and
Literatures, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
Contributors x
GERHARD BOWERING, Professor of the History of Islamic Reli
gion, Yale University, New Haven, Connecticut
NICHOLAS HEER, Professor Emeritus of Arabic, Former Head of
the Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilization,
University of Washington, Seattle
MEHDI AMINRAZA VI, Assistant Professor, Department of
Classics, Philosophy and Religion, Mary Washington College,
Fredericksburg, Virginia
LEONARD LEWISOHN, Research Associate, Institute of Ismaili
Studies, London, England
WILLIAM C. CHITIICK, Professor of Religious Studies, State
University of New York, Stony Brook, New York
J.T.P. DE BRUUN, Professor of Persian and Iranian Cultural
History, Leiden University, Leiden, The Netherlands
A.G. RAVA N FARHADI, Associate Professor, DeQartment of Near
Eastern Studies, University of California, Berkeley, California
MUHAMMAD ESTE'LAMI, Professor of Persian Language, Insti
tute of Islamic Studies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada
JOHN COOPER, E.G. Browne Lecturer in Persian Studies, Univer
sity of Cambridge, England
CARL ERNST, Professor of Religious Studies, University of North
Carolina, Chapel Hill, North Carolina
IAN RICHARD NETTON, Professor of Arabic Studies and Head of
the Department of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of
Leeds, England
BERND RADTKE, Lecturer in Arabic and Persian, University of
Utrecht, The Netherlands; Associate Professor of Arabic
Language and Culture, University of Bergen, Norway
MUHAMMAD ISA WALEY, Curator of Persian and Turkish,
British Library, London, England
MUHAMMAD JA 'FAR MAHJUB, Professor of Persian Literature,
University of California, Berkeley, California
SARA SVIRI, Lecturer in Medieval Hebrew and Jewish Studies,
University College, London, England