The Heritage of Sufism, Volume III

Description

This final volume of The Heritage of Sufism celebrates the mystical culture and intellectual life of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Iran and India, an age characterized by a flowering of Persianate culture and which marked the peak of Muslim political power in the region. In this meticulously researched and erudite collection of essays, twenty-four internationally renowned scholars explore the religious, political, philosophical, mystical, artistic, literary and _ historical dimensions of the period, embracing such topics as: * Western orientalism and Persian Sufi literature * Mystical diagrams, meditation practices and symbolism * Conflicts and polemics between mullas and mystics * Illuminationism and the school of Ibn ‘Arabi * Historiography and the political background of Sufi institutions The result is a comprehensive study that is unique in its chronological breadth, intellectual diversity and historical scope and which demonstrates the central role played by Sufism in Persianate culture in Iran, Central Asia and India. Together with the first two volumes of this classic study — the first ever in any language to give an in-depth account of a millennium of the history of Sufism — this book will inform and fascinate students and all those interested in the place of mysticism in Islamic culture. LEONARD LEWISOHN is a Research Associate at the Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS, University of London, and Outreach Coordinator at the Department of Academic Research at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, where he also teaches Persian. His previous books include Beyond Faith and Infidelity: the Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Mahmud Shabistari. DAVID MORGAN is Reader in the History of the Middle East at SOAS, University of London, and Editor of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. His publications include The Mongols and Medieval Persia 1040-1797. The Heritage of Sufism Volume III Contents List of Illustrations List of Contributors System of Transliteration Preface Foreword: The Evolution of Sufism (Javad Nurbakhsh) I. INTRODUCTION The Place of the School of Isfahan in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism (Seyyed Hossein Nasr) II. PERSIANATE SUFISM IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Rethinking Safavid Shi‘ism (David Morgan) Western Encounters with Persian Sufi Literature (Farhang Jahanpour) III. SUFISM AND SOCIETY IN SAFAVID PERSIA Sufism and the School of Isfahan: Tasawwuf and ‘Irfan in Late Safavid Iran (‘Abd al-Razzadq Lahiji and Fayd-i Kashani on the Relation of Tasawwuf, Hikmat and ‘Irfan) (Leonard Lewisohn) Clerical Perceptions of Sufi Practices in Late Seventeenth-Century Persia: Arguments over the Permissibility of Singing (Ghina’) (Andrew J. Newman) The Ni‘matu 'llahi Order under Safavid Suppression and in Indian Exile (Terry Graham) Rewriting Ni‘matu'llahi History in Safavid Chronicles (Sholeh A. Quinn) IV. SUFISM & ISHRAQI & AKBARIAN PHILOSOPHY Suhrawardi'’s Heir? The Ishraqi Philosophy of Mir Damdd (Ian Richard Netton) Travelling the Sufi Path: A Chishti Handbook from Bijapur (William C. Chittick) The Influence of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Doctrine of the Unity of Being on the Transcendental Theosophy of Sadr al-Din Shirazi (Muhammad Reza Juzi) V. ESOTERIC MOVEMENTS & CONTEMPLATIVE DISCIPLINES Isma ‘ili—Sufi Relations in Early Post-Alamut and Safavid Persia (Farhad Daftary) The Rawshaniyya: A Sufi Movement on the Mughal Tribal Periphery (Sergei Andreyev) Contemplating Sacred History in Late Mughal Sufism: The Case of Shah Wali Allah of Dehli (Marcia K. Hermansen) Chishti Meditation Practices of the Later Mughal Period (Carl W. Ernst) VI. PERSIANATE SUFISM IN INDIA, CENTRAL ASIA & CHINA The Role of the Sufis in the Changing Society of the Deccan, 1500-1750 (M.Z.A. Shakeb) Sufi Texts in Chinese (Sachiko Murata) The Yasavi Order and Persian Hagiography in Seventeenth-Century Central Asia: ‘Alim Shaykh of ‘Aliyabad and his Lamahat min nafahat al-quds (Devin Deweese) VII. PERSIANATE SUFI POETRY IN IRAN & INDIA The Vernacular Tradition in Persianate Sufi Poetry in Mughal India (Annemarie Schimmel) Persian Poetry and Qadiri Sufism in Later Mughal India: Ghanimat Kunjahi and his Mathnawi-yi Nayrang-i ‘ishq (Christopher Shackle) Symbolism and Symmetry: Shaykh Manjhans Madhumialti Revisited (Simon Weightman) The Imagery of Annihilation (Fana’) in the Poetry of Sa’ib Tabrizi (Heideh Ghomi) Bibliography Index of Places, Names and Terms ILLUSTRATIONS Plates 1. Pavilion of the Royal Palace in Isfahan 2. A Mounted Qizilbash Knight 3. Safavid State Reception of an Ambassador from Holland 4. Persian Female Attire 5. The Caravanserai of Kashan 6. Royal Marketplace and Imperial Military Orchestra Building in Isfahan 7. The Chaukhandi of Hadrat Khalil’ullah 8. The Coronation of Shah Sulayman (reg. 1666—94) 9. Pashtun Warriors 10. Title page of Shah Wali Allahss al-Insaf fi biyan sabab al-ikhtalaf 11. Persian Male Attire 12. Tomb of Muhammad, son of ‘Adil Shah II 13. Portrait of Syed Shah Raju 14. Prince Dara Shikth as a Young Man 15. Awrangzib holding a Koran 16. First Folio from ‘Abd al-Hamid’s Pashto Translation of the Mathnawt-yi Nayrang-1 ‘ishg Figures and Charts 1. The Ni‘matu'llahi Family from Timurid Persia to Mughal India 2. The Ni‘matu'llahi Family in Safavid Persia 3. The One of Existence 4. The Yasavi Silsila of ‘Alim Shaykh ‘Aliyabadi 5. Manjhan'’s Clues 6. The Full Symmetry 7. The Yogic Symbol 8. The Four Triangles 9. Manjhan’s Cosmology Tables 1. Zaman, Dahr and Sarmad 2. The Necessary in Existence 3. The Possible in Existence 4. The Impossible in Existence 5. The Gnostic of Existence 6. The Twenty-Nine Occupations