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    Striving For Divine Union

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    This book review summarizes a book about the 13th century Sufi thinker Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Sufi order he founded. The reviewed book argues that Sufism was an integral part of early Islamic tradition and focused on Suhrawardi's life and teachings. It examines how the Suhrawardi order established relationships with political rulers in Baghdad and India to gain support and spread. While providing valuable historical insights, the review notes the book could have more fully discussed the Turkish political context of the time period.

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    Striving For Divine Union

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    metfightclub
    134 views4 pages
    This book review summarizes a book about the 13th century Sufi thinker Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Sufi order he founded. The reviewed book argues that Sufism was an integral part of early Islamic tradition and focused on Suhrawardi's life and teachings. It examines how the Suhrawardi order established relationships with political rulers in Baghdad and India to gain support and spread. While providing valuable historical insights, the review notes the book could have more fully discussed the Turkish political context of the time period.

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    Striving for Divine Union

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    This book review summarizes a book about the 13th century Sufi thinker Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Sufi order he founded. The reviewed book argues that Sufism was an integral part of early Islamic tradition and focused on Suhrawardi's life and teachings. It examines how the Suhrawardi order established relationships with political rulers in Baghdad and India to gain support and spread. While providing valuable historical insights, the review notes the book could have more fully discussed the Turkish political context of the time period.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    134 views4 pages

    Striving For Divine Union

    Uploaded by

    metfightclub
    This book review summarizes a book about the 13th century Sufi thinker Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi and the Sufi order he founded. The reviewed book argues that Sufism was an integral part of early Islamic tradition and focused on Suhrawardi's life and teachings. It examines how the Suhrawardi order established relationships with political rulers in Baghdad and India to gain support and spread. While providing valuable historical insights, the review notes the book could have more fully discussed the Turkish political context of the time period.

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    B R

    Yet, despite these obvious flaws, the book does serve a valuable purpose,
    providing us with fascinating glimpses into the little-known world of small
    village-level communities that are generally ignored in ‘standard’ works on
    Hindu-Muslim relations in India.

    Yoginder Sikand
    Bangalore, India
    BookMuslim
    Book
    The
    October
    4
    95 Review
    Reviews
    World Volume 95 October 2005
    2005

    Striving for Divine Union: Spiritual


    Exercises for Suhrawardi Sufis
    By Qamar-ul Huda
    London and New York: Routledge Curzon Taylor & Francis Group, 2003

    This book is a spiritual and intellectual biography of thirteenth century


    Sufi thinker Abu Hafs ‘Umar al-Suhrawardi (1145 –1236) (henceforth referred
    to as Suhrawardi). Author Qamar-ul Huda argues that Sufism is an indivisible
    part of traditional Islamic sciences and that the contemporary polarization
    between ulama and Sufism did not exist in early Islam. Contemporary studies
    in this field have more or less contributed to and promoted the idea that
    tasawwuf is no more than “popular religion,” based mostly on superstition and
    unorthodox religious notions. The author endeavors to dispel these
    misunderstandings by reinforcing the notion that Sufi lifestyle and knowledge
    have been, for the most part, derived from the Qur’an and the Prophet’s life,
    which together make up the principles and rules that regulate both Muslim
    individual and social life.
    The author also aims to prove that Sufis possess a strong social
    consciousness and do not, as often believed, merely withdraw from active
    social life. This has been true throughout Islamic history, since Sufis have
    contributed a great deal to human and ethical improvement. The author
    maintains that numerous Sufi shaykhs have taken active roles in politics and
    administration for the purpose of elevating the welfare of Muslim communities.
    This argument is, for the most part, true, since Sufis have also contributed to
    the improvement of academic and educational life of the Muslim world. To
    support his thesis, the author presents many examples from Sufi literature and
    focuses on the life and thought of Suhrawardi, famous author of the Sufi
    classic, ‘Awarifu”l-Ma“arif.

    611
    T M W • V 95 • O 2005

    One can classify the Sufi position on worldly affairs into two categories:
    khalwah and jalwah. The former is defined as secluding oneself from the
    world, whereas the latter is defined as active socialization with people and
    participation in the various affairs of society. It is clear that Suhrawardi and his
    followers preferred practicing the latter, without minimizing the importance of
    worship and meditation in Islamic spirituality.
    By focusing on Suhrawardi’s training in the traditional religious sciences,
    the author prepares the reader for an analysis of his order’s process of
    institutionalization and attitude toward politics. The author investigates the
    Suhrawardi order within two regions. In the first chapter, he examines the
    genesis of the Suhrawardi order in Baghdad and the founder’s relationship
    with the ‘Abbasid Caliph al-Nasir (1180–1225); in the fourth chapter he
    investigates its expansion to the Indian subcontinent, in particular in Ucch and
    Multan. In the same chapter, the author speaks of the second important Shaykh
    of this order, Shaykh Baha’ al-din Zakariyya (d. 1262).
    In the first chapter, the author expounds Suhrawardi’s concept of political
    obedience. “He defined the caliph as the ‘representative’ or ‘vicegerent’
    (khalifa) of God on earth. According to him, humanity is incapable of
    returning to God on its own without a temporal overseer. For this reason, God
    chose a mediator, wasila, between Himself and human beings. It is the caliph
    who is the representative of God and has the ultimate responsibility to bring
    human beings from a corrupt way of living and back to Him” (p. 17). The
    notion of obedience to the caliph was inherited by Suhrawardi’s successors
    and became a fundamental component of the order. One can observe the
    consequences of this concept in the Suhrawardi shayks’ close relations with
    the rulers of their ages.
    The book includes several examples of collaboration between the state
    and Sufi orders. This alliance served the mutual interests of both sides. For
    example, Caliph al-Nasir attempted to solidify his authority throughout society
    by ensuring his control of Sufi and futuwwa groups. Once he attained Shaykh
    Suhrawardi’s support, he was able to strengthen his authority on all levels.
    Moreover, al-Nasir dispatched Suhrawardi as his representative to the Minor
    Saljuk Empire in order to negotiate and settle the conflict that existed between
    the two. In exchange for this open support, the Caliph established a large
    khanaqah (Sufi lodge) in Baghdad and granted many endowments to Shaykh
    Suhrawardi and his followers.
    Following in his predecessor’s footsteps, Shaykh Baha’ al-din Zakariyya
    also established congenial relations with the Turkish Sultan Iltutmish in Multan.
    Thanks to the Turkish dynasty, the Suhrawardi order easily took root in the
    Indian subcontinent. Nevertheless, the order did have to undergo some
    modification so that it was able to orient itself to an environment and a people

    612
    B R

    different from those in Baghdad; in the Indian subcontinent, there coexisted a


    number of different religious groups. Another change to the order was that the
    Persian language was replaced by Arabic in Sufi rituals and personal prayers.
    Although the author discusses the ‘Abbasid caliphate in detail, he does not
    fully elaborate its context in the Turkish dynasty. The author would have
    served his readers well by discussing Turkish contributions to Islam in this
    same time period.
    It is important to analyze the consequences of the complex relationship
    between the Suhrawardi order and the caliph in Baghdad and Sultan Iltutmish
    in Multan. First of all, Shaykh Suhrawardi inspired a whole Sufi tradition that
    encouraged Sufi orders to support the state for financial and economic gain.
    This enabled rulers to intervene in affairs of the order to the extent that the
    caliph appointed the postnishin position, i.e., supervision of khanaqah.
    Furthermore, visitors or travelers were required to obtain permission from the
    caliph to enter or reside in the khanaqah. Consequently, the Suhrawardi order
    lost some esteem in the eyes of larger society.
    Religiously, the celebrated Hanbalite theologian Ibn al-Jawzi (1126 –1200)
    criticized Shaykh Suhrawardi’s teachings, which al-Jawzi felt were intended to
    spread heresy in Islamic intellectual circles. Furthermore, the Chistiyyah order,
    an influential Sufi brotherhood in Multan, objected to the practices of the
    Suhrawardi order. In the first instance, it may be assumed that as a traditional
    scholar, Ibn al-Jawzi was not pleased with the fact that the Caliph respected
    Shaykh Suhrawardi more than he did traditional scholars and jurists. As for
    objections of the Chishtiyya order, it should be noted that there has always
    been some rivalry among the various Sufi orders; there are a myriad of
    examples of these rivalries in hagiographic works.
    In discussing rituals of the Suhrawardi order, the author focuses on adab,
    the proper etiquette that regulates Suhrawardi Sufi’s daily life, including prayer,
    fasting, the recitation of Qur’anic verses, vigil, and dhikr, remembrance of
    God. When he discusses the concept of adab in the Suhrawardi order, Huda
    often refers to Shaykh Suhrawardi’s famous book Awarifu”l-Ma“arif, which has
    been widely adopted as a guidebook by members of various other Sufi orders
    along with the Suhrawardis.
    Adepts of the Suhrawardi order are devoted to keeping the sacred
    identities alive within their inward lives. Moreover, they, like other Sufis,
    attribute several symbolic meanings to the various names of Prophet
    Muhammad. The author says, “One example of hadith al-qudsi and poetry is
    when Farid al-din ‘Attar (d. 1220) alludes to a famous report with the name
    Ahmad. The hadith al-qudsi states Ana Ahmad bila mim, ‘I am Ahmad
    without the mim,’ that is Ahad, ‘One.’ ‘Attar repeats this verse several times to
    illustrate that ‘Muhammad is One’ and ‘Ahmad is the messenger of Ahad,’ all

    613
    T M W • V 95 • O 2005

    of which shows, for ‘Attar, the very close relationship between the Prophet and
    the divine. Attar stated that he knew when ‘The radiance of the light of
    manifestation became evident, the mim of Ahmad became invisible, that is
    only God the One remained’.” (p. 93). This quotation shows clearly that the
    Suhrawardi order shares common characteristics of the Prophet concept with
    other Sufi orders.
    Although the author has done a commendable scholarly job in writing this
    book, he does occasionally takes partisan positions. The book now and then
    assumes the character of an apology written by a disciple in defense of his
    Shaykh. For instance, Huda accuses some personalities of being “shari“a
    minded” just because they criticized Shaykh Suhrawardi or the Suhrawardi
    order for a variety of reasons. In my opinion, these statements contradict the
    general objective of the book, which is to prove that tasawwuf is based on the
    Qur’an and the hadiths and thus is not alien from shari“ah. However, this by
    no means diminishes the value of this important work.

    Tahir Uluç
    Fellow of Turkish Academy of Science
    Selçuk University, Theology School
    Turkey

    614

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