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 Veiling the Sun

Shafique N. Virani

in The Ismailis in the Middle Ages: A History of Survival, a Search for Salvation

Taqiyya, precautionary dissimulation, is a significant feature of Islam, and particularly of Shi'i Islam. For the Ismaili Shi'a — a minority within a minority whose creed ... More

Taqiyya, precautionary dissimulation, is a significant feature of Islam, and particularly of Shi'i Islam. For the Ismaili Shi'a — a minority within a minority whose creed emphasized the paramount importance of the esoteric dimension of the revelation — this need was even more pronounced. The destruction of their network of fortresses ushered in a period in which, more than ever, dissimulation was required for survival. Ismaili tradition maintains that when Alamut was vanquished, the Imam Shams al-Din Muhammad was smuggled away to safety. This chapter is about the life of this Imam and that of one of his disciples, the poet Nizari Quhistani, whose life and writings shed light on the practice of taqiyya.Less

Teaching Islam, Teaching Islamic Mysticism

David Cook

in Teaching Mysticism

This chapter begins by noting that teaching “Islamic Mysticism” is problematic on several fronts. Any pedagogical strategy would do well to begin with identifying how the term mysticism can be ... More

This chapter begins by noting that teaching “Islamic Mysticism” is problematic on several fronts. Any pedagogical strategy would do well to begin with identifying how the term mysticism can be applied to Islam. This being thoroughly vetted, the course focuses primarily on Sufism—which is a vast, broad system that has come to permeate Islam over the past 1000 years, and yet remains distinct from it, often being rejected as being “non-Muslim.” In addressing how to speak of Sufism, one must include not only an overview of its central historical developments, holy figures, and practices (e.g., the creative images and metaphors of al-Ghazali, the immortal poetry of Jalal al-Din Rumi, the mystical visions of Ibn al-`Arabi), but also a discussion of controversial debates (e.g., are the methods used by Sufi holy figures truly Islamic? Do the creative and sometimes risqué interpretations of the holy texts that they preach go beyond the boundaries of strict monotheism?). Additionally, consideration will be given to how Sufism has provided the means for mass conversions to Islam and provided a creative ground for Islamic art and culture. Sample syllabus included.Less

A Study of the Unintended in Creswell's Photographs: The Architecture of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, and the Continuity of Building Traditions

Seif El Rashidi

in Creswell Photographs Re-examined: New Perspectives on Islamic Architecture

The fact that nineteenth- and twentieth-century residential architecture of the historic quarters of Cairo features only in passing in the margins of Creswell's photographs is hardly surprising. ... More

The fact that nineteenth- and twentieth-century residential architecture of the historic quarters of Cairo features only in passing in the margins of Creswell's photographs is hardly surprising. Nineteenth- and twentieth-century architecture in Historic Cairo was, by and large, shaped by the interplay of two factors. Muhammad 'Ali's influence on architecture was clear where he ushered in the so-called Rumi style, which quickly seems to have proliferated. He purportedly banned the use of mashrabiyya, indicating that his visions for the architectural image of the city were clearly defined. The nineteenth- and early twentieth-century architecture of Historic Cairo shows an uneven relationship between traditional building practices and new ones and this is an important lesson for the study of older buildings, where the dearth of such structures makes it extremely difficult to understand them in the context of an evolving building tradition.Less

Mysticism’s Musical Modalities: Philosophies of Audition in Medieval Persian Sufism

Reinhard Strohm

in The Music Road: Coherence and Diversity in Music from the Mediterranean to India

For many Persian poets, Sufis in particular, the ethereal modes through which music communicates with its listeners embodied the somatic ‘taste’ (ẕauq) of the suprasomatic divine realities. Through a ... More

For many Persian poets, Sufis in particular, the ethereal modes through which music communicates with its listeners embodied the somatic ‘taste’ (ẕauq) of the suprasomatic divine realities. Through a dialectic of revelation and concealment—or in the Qur’anic terms often employed by the Sufis, ẓāhir and bạ̄tin, exoteric and esoteric—proper musical experience (samāᶜ) becomes both a means of accessing the transcendent harmonies of the cosmos and conduit to the very transcendence of music itself. Proper hearing is not delimited by the audible range of the material ear, for this external sense (ḥiss-i ẓāhir) must yield to an internal sense (ḥiss-i bāṭin), signified by the gūsh-i jān and gūsh-i dil, the ‘ear of the soul’ and ‘ear of the heart’. These auricular metaphors express a deeply Pythagorean but specifically Persianate philosophy of audition, one not (only) grounded in the rationality of mathematical ratios, but (also) modelled upon Pythagoras’ cosmic auditory powers, bestowed through ritual purity.Less

Spirituality in Religious Tradition

Roger S. Gottlieb

in Spirituality: What It Is and Why It Matters

This chapter shows that spirituality, understood as the pursuit of spiritual virtues, is not a recent cultural innovation but an important element within traditional religion. This claim is supported ... More

This chapter shows that spirituality, understood as the pursuit of spiritual virtues, is not a recent cultural innovation but an important element within traditional religion. This claim is supported by an examination of the role of compassion and paradox in Mahayana Buddhism; ecstatic devotion to God in Sufism; humility in the teachings of the Catholic Saint Thomas a Kempis; and joy in everyday life in Hasidic Judaism. In each case religious tradition stresses aspects of spirituality that are compatible with today's “spiritual but not religious” perspectives, and which often form the basis for many of today's spiritual teachers. In each case the spiritual power of the traditional teaching can be detached from a particular framework of religious belief about God or revelation.Less

Introduction

Jawid Mojaddedi

in Beyond Dogma: Rumi's Teachings on Friendship with God and Early Sufi Theories

This chapter introduces the issues that the book aims to explore. In both academic and popular writings there has been much debate about Rumi’s relationship to juridico-theological Islam after he ... More

This chapter introduces the issues that the book aims to explore. In both academic and popular writings there has been much debate about Rumi’s relationship to juridico-theological Islam after he started writing mystical poetry. It is pointed out here that this is largely because the most distinctive message in his writings is proximity to God through His Friendship (walāya), which inherently challenges reliance on dogma. For this purpose, Rumi’s didactic writings, which represent his practical instruction to Sufi aspirants, can be fruitfully compared with the Sufi manuals of the tenth and eleventh century ce, which in addition engage with the relationship between mysticism and juridico-theological Islam during a period of critical importance. This comparison at the same time highlights Rumi’s distinctiveness as well as providing insight into the wider Islamic context through dynamic debates and revisions of mystical theory as juridico-theological Islam became the dominant approach for Muslim communities.Less

Coleman Barks: Just Being Sentient is Cause for Rapture

Arthur J. Magida

in Opening the Doors of Wonder: Reflections on Religious Rites of Passage

This chapter focuses on the poet Coleman Barks, who translated poems by Persian mystical poet Rumi, and presents his views on Rumi's Sufism. Barks began his project to translate the poems in 1976, ... More

This chapter focuses on the poet Coleman Barks, who translated poems by Persian mystical poet Rumi, and presents his views on Rumi's Sufism. Barks began his project to translate the poems in 1976, and he has published over fifteen collections of Rumi's work. His work has turned Rumi into the best-selling poet in the United States and the Rumi–Barks collaboration into one of the most successful of all time for poets. Rumi was the founder of a branch of Sufism that celebrates ecstasy. In 1248, he became distraught, and started focusing on music and dance, eventually finding great relief by holding onto a pole that supported his tent and walking in circles around it, achieving states of ecstasy which would become the foundation of the tariqa Mawlawiya, or whirling dervishes. Rumi spent the next twelve years dictating over 27,000 verses that honor the self and the soul, warn about the limits of the intellect, and advise about spiritual life. Also in the chapter, Barks presents his views on mystical poetry, Rumi's Sufism, and the inspiration behind his translations of Rumi's poetry.Less

Symbolic, Allegorical, and Other Interpretive Approaches to Jesus’s Eschatological Role

Zeki Saritoprak

in Islam's Jesus

Chapter 8 begins by explaining why the interpretative approach is, theologically, the most useful approach for understanding the Qur’an and the Hadith as they relate to Jesus. Of particular ... More

Chapter 8 begins by explaining why the interpretative approach is, theologically, the most useful approach for understanding the Qur’an and the Hadith as they relate to Jesus. Of particular importance is the fact that the interpretive is the only approach that both accepts the veracity of the Qur’an and Hadith and does not deny humanity's God-given reason. Supporting the claim for the overall usefulness of this approach, Saritoprak brings in the writings and ideas of al-Taftazani, Muhammad Abduh, Rashid Rida, Tantawi Jawhari, and Bediüzzaman Said Nursi, scholars whose readings of the sources constitute a middle way between the theological extremes of literalism and esotericism. Using the interpretive approach as a bridge, the chapter begins a discussion of Muslim-Christian dialogue and cooperation. The chapter concludes on consideration of the interpretive approaches of important Sufis: Ibn al-?Arabi, Rumi, al-Sha?rani, and Ismail Hakki Bursevi.Less

Poetry, (Un)Translatability, and World Literature

Jahan Ramazani

in Poetry in a Global Age

Questions of translatability have figured prominently in recent debates over world literature. On the one hand, David Damrosch emphasizes translatability in defining world literature as “writing that ... More

Questions of translatability have figured prominently in recent debates over world literature. On the one hand, David Damrosch emphasizes translatability in defining world literature as “writing that gains in translation.” On the other hand, Emily Apter and other critics dispute the world literature paradigm by arguing that certain kinds of words are untranslatable. Seeking to develop a more nuanced position than either the translation-friendly or the hard untranslatability thesis, this chapter focuses on poetry to disaggregate the facets of translatability and untranslatability. Exploring a ghazal of Rumi’s, it examines translation’s losses of what Ezra Pound called poetry’s melopœia and logopœia. But it also looks closely at a ghazal by Simin Behbahani to check polemical arguments about poetry’s “untranslatability,” showing how phanopœia and other aspects of lyric can survive in translation. Other works examined include a sound-centered poem by Christian Morgenstern in German, a syntax-stretching ode by Horace in Latin, a Hmong-English code-switching poem by Mai Der Vang, a globe-trotting poem by T. S. Eliot in French, and a translation-focused ghazal by Agha Shahid Ali in English about Arabic. The chapter concludes that “world literature” must incorporate comparative literary specificity to be adequate to varieties of lyric poetry.Less

An Elite of Converts

Tobias P. Graf

in The Sultan’s Renegades: Christian-European Converts to Islam and the Making of the Ottoman Elite, 1575-1610

Early modern Christian-European commentators frequently noted the numerical prominence of converts in the Ottoman military-administrative elite. In doing so, these writers commonly used the blanket ... More

Early modern Christian-European commentators frequently noted the numerical prominence of converts in the Ottoman military-administrative elite. In doing so, these writers commonly used the blanket term renegade to refer to the fact that the members of this elite had been drawn from Christian communities, particularly in the Ottoman-ruled Balkans. Before examining the structure and history of the Ottoman elite and the transformations which it underwent in the wake of the Ottoman Empire’s consolidation during the sixteenth century, this chapter explores the term renegade, its history, and its relation to other contemporary categories such as Turk, Rumi, and Ottoman. The chapter thus provides the historical background against which the following chapters develop their arguments.Less

Introduction

Mustapha Sheikh

in Ottoman Puritanism and its Discontents: Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisari and the Qadizadelis

The introduction serves as a framing chapter, delineating the purpose and significance of the study, the methodological approach, and the nature of the manuscript which forms the basis of the inquiry.

The Third Man

Mustapha Sheikh

in Ottoman Puritanism and its Discontents: Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisari and the Qadizadelis

This chapter introduces Aḥmad al-Rūmī al-Āqḥiṣārī and his tome, Majālis al-abrār, as well as serving as a cornerstone for a reassessment of Qāḍīzādeli activism more generally. Al-Āqḥiṣārī’s thought ... More

This chapter introduces Aḥmad al-Rūmī al-Āqḥiṣārī and his tome, Majālis al-abrār, as well as serving as a cornerstone for a reassessment of Qāḍīzādeli activism more generally. Al-Āqḥiṣārī’s thought is situated, via a textual excavation, within the intellectual and religious milieu of Ottoman Turkey. This is in fact the only way to reconstruct al-Āqḥiṣārī’s thought since a straightforward biographical account of his life and work is hindered by a lack of sources—indeed, the only mention that he receives in the addendum (dhayl) to Kātib Çelebi’s Kashf al-ẓunūn is a brief statement, and in any case misidentifies him as a shaykh of the Khalwatī order. This chapter also introduces the themes and specific content of Majālis al-abrār, as well as the authorities cited by al-Āqḥiṣārī.Less

The Muhammadan Path

Mustapha Sheikh

in Ottoman Puritanism and its Discontents: Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisari and the Qadizadelis

This chapter initiates the textual excavation of Majālis al-abrār, proceeding first with an inquiry into al-Āqḥiṣārī’s conception of the spiritual path. There is an examination of al-Āqḥiṣārī’s ... More

This chapter initiates the textual excavation of Majālis al-abrār, proceeding first with an inquiry into al-Āqḥiṣārī’s conception of the spiritual path. There is an examination of al-Āqḥiṣārī’s advocacy of and commitment to Sufism, and the convergence of his outlook with the Naqshbandī path. It becomes clear that, despite obvious convergences, al-Āqḥiṣārī was unlikely to have been directly affiliated with the Naqshbandī order—more probably, his appropriation of central doctrines and key devotional practices associated with the order was but an element within a broader commitment towards reforming Ottoman Sufism, and therefore an aspect of the reformist vision associated with Birgili.Less

Innovation (Bidʿa)

Mustapha Sheikh

in Ottoman Puritanism and its Discontents: Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisari and the Qadizadelis

This chapter focuses on the principal concern of the Majālis, namely the discussion of innovations (bidʿa) in ritual worship. Al-Āqḥiṣārī cites some of the most famous texts penned on the subject ... More

This chapter focuses on the principal concern of the Majālis, namely the discussion of innovations (bidʿa) in ritual worship. Al-Āqḥiṣārī cites some of the most famous texts penned on the subject but, as the chapter demonstrates, no text within this literary genre is as influential on his thinking as Iqtidā’ al-ṣirāṭ al-mustaqīm of Shaykh al-Islām IbnTaymiyya. Since no explicit mention of the Iqtidā’ is made in the Majālis, a detailed textual comparison is undertaken in order to demonstrate the places in the text where al-Āqḥiṣārī either cites verbatim or paraphrases parts of the Iqtidā’. A further aim of the chapter is to bring to light those aspects of al-Āqḥiṣārī’s reform programme that justify him being linked to the Qāḍīzādelis.Less

Forbidding Evil

Mustapha Sheikh

in Ottoman Puritanism and its Discontents: Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisari and the Qadizadelis

This chapter constitutes a survey of the activist strand within al-Āqḥiṣārī’s writing, particularly the demand he placed on the Muslim faithful to actively engage in enjoining good and forbidding ... More

This chapter constitutes a survey of the activist strand within al-Āqḥiṣārī’s writing, particularly the demand he placed on the Muslim faithful to actively engage in enjoining good and forbidding evil. There is also an assessment of the broader implications of the research findings, including a discussion on al-Āqḥiṣārī’s influence beyond the Ottoman lands.Less

Conclusion

Mustapha Sheikh

in Ottoman Puritanism and its Discontents: Ahmad al-Rumi al-Aqhisari and the Qadizadelis

The final chapter sets out the central findings of the study, delineates the centrality of al-Āqḥiṣārī’s writing for our understanding of the Ottoman revivalist movement and suggests avenues for ... More

The final chapter sets out the central findings of the study, delineates the centrality of al-Āqḥiṣārī’s writing for our understanding of the Ottoman revivalist movement and suggests avenues for future research.Less