AQCI Assignment Reinier Zoutendijk s1680196

Material Culture and Commemoration along the Silk Roads

26-10-2017

Sufism as a tradition instead of mysticism

Nile Green's Sufism: A Global History is a very complete and well-written

history of Islamic mysticism. Mysticism implies personal and private divine-
related experiences. In his book, Green however calls for a new
conceptualization of Sufism, which allows him to write a history of Sufism from
a new perspective. Green conceives Sufism 'as primarily a tradition of
powerful knowledge, practices and persons.'1

Argument
Green's argument is that if Sufism is seen and studied as a tradition, it is
possible to study its political, societal and power-related dimensions. Green
argues that if scholars conceive Sufism as mysticism, the essence of Sufism
lies in transcendental private experiences, which means that historians can
only study the outward shells of it.2 Here Green's book is directly opposed to
Trimingham, who studies Sufism from the rubric of mysticism. Trimingham
sees Sufism as having declined in piety when it grew from marginalized
mystics to a global and wide-reaching set of religious practices, texts and
powerful institutions.3
Shifting Sufism from the rubric of mysticism to that of tradition is
necessary to write its history. Sufis rooted their words and actions in the
knowledge and lives of earlier Muslims. This means that their experiences,
knowledge and rituals gained legitimacy by being traced back to eventually
the Prophet Muhammad himself. While Sufism dedicates a lot of attention to
saints and marginal antinomian mystics (qalandari's), Sufism was primarily a
folk religion. The powerful rather than the marginal Sufis gave Sufism its
historical influence on religion, society and politics.

How does the theory work with literary scholarship on Sufism?

My question about Green's book is connected to my own experience with the
study of Sufism. With a background in literary scholarship and the interaction
between Persian literature, politics and society, my experience with Sufism
lies primarily in the study of poetry, as an expression of individual experiences
that contains universal elements. I agree that there are many elements of
Sufism that are best studied from a historical perspective. But I think there
might be room for a theory that combines the public and private, the power
and the transcendental. What kind of conclusions can be drawn from a study
that combines literary research of poetry as a personal religious expression
and also takes into account the societal impact of such texts? My research
confirms that Sufism had great political, societal and historical influence, but
based on my papers and thesis I would like to stress that the value of literary
scholarship is not to be neglected.

1 Nile Green, Sufism: A Global History (Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012), 3.

2 Ibid.
3 John Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam (Ofxord: Clarendon Press, 1971), 1-3.
Textual connection
Here I describe two strong examples from the book of why Sufism functions
as a tradition: the centrality of the master-disciple relationship and the role of
books. In Sufism, the master-disciple relationship passes down the knowledge
and practices of mysticists. But this chain of knowledge gains authority by the
sheikhs' lineage being traced back to the early Muslims and the prophet.
In the 9th and 10th century biographical compendiums were developed. In
these texts the emergence of a fully-fledged Sufi tradition defined by
historical self-consciousness can be seen.4 Sufi knowledge and persons
gained legitimacy and authority by being linked back to Saints and eventually
the Prophet Mohammad himself. Here it was important to call the ascetics of
the 8th and 9th century Sufis, even if that term was not used back then, so the
continuous lineage could be demonstrated.
By studying the history of Sufism, Green ascribes more importance to
the public and political aspects of Sufism than to the personal mystical
experiences. Here again he stands opposed to the work of Trimingham, who
defines (early) Sufism as 'an expression of personal religion in relation to the
expression of religion as a communal matter.'5 Another interesting
differentiation between Green and Trimingham lies in their views on economic
power. For Trimingham, as Sufism grew less marginalized, it lost its purity and
piety.6 When Sufis gained economic power, it lost its value in Trimingham's
interpretation of Sufism, which is based on mysticism as its essence.
However, if one takes tradition as the essence of Sufism, economic power
reaffirms the piety and historical tradition of Sufism. In the medieval period,
Sufis received endowments from ruling class disciples and peasants. By
passing the endowments through family lineages, Sufism functions as a
tradition. No form of powerful knowledge can exist in isolation from material
forms of power. This does not compromise the piety of Sufism: material
support was needed to let the tradition of protected texts and knowledge
survive.7

Implications
The theories and methods by which Green and Trimingham study Sufism are
so different, that they present the reader with two different kinds of Sufism. It
is a reconfiguration of Sufism as a religion. Both can have their place in the
study of religion in general. However, a new book on Sufism as mysticism
could incorporate advanced scholarship in the last few decades and be less
obstructed by the 'cultural Protestant, temporally Modernist and intellectually
cosmopolitan construction of religion.'8 Especially Green's analysis of the
power structures in Sufism is interesting, and it would be interesting to see
how power is studied in a new work on Sufism as mysticism. In my personal
opinion, both books lack in textual analysis and literary scholarship, but then,
such a book might ask for a third definition of Sufism.

4 Ibid., 52-53.
5 Trimingham, The Sufi Orders in Islam, 2.
6 Simon Digby, "The Sufi Orders in Islam by J. Spencer Trimingham," Bulletin of the School of

Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1 (1973): 136.

7 Green, Sufism: A Global History, 7.
8 Ibid., 2.
Bibliography

Digby, Simon. "The Sufi Orders in Islam by J. Spencer Trimingham." Bulletin

of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London 1 (1973):
136-139.

Green, Nile. Sufism: A Global History. Chichester: Wiley-Blackwell, 2012.

Trimingham, John. The Sufi Orders in Islam. Ofxord: Clarendon Press, 1971.