137192525 Sufi Ritual the Parallel Universe by Ian Richard Netton

7/16/2019 137192525 Sufi Ritual the Parallel Universe by Ian Richard Netton

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CURZONSUFI SERIESS6i6 Editr: Io Richdd Ndun

Pto!8d oI Aflhi Studiz\UniMiA of t2edsThe Curzon Sufi Seri6 prcvidd short htroductioG to a Eiety of f@ts ofthe subjct, which de accsible hotfi to the gl:Mal rcadd ud the stu


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For Sue with much love

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Othd 8@16 by lan Ri.hard N.,ronAdos the Meditnoean Frontids (Edito. with D A Agius)

Allah Trm$eodnt: Studies D the Structure and &mioticsof lslnic Pb;losophy,Theology ad (losmologyArabia md the Guli From Tr.ditional Saiety to lvloddn States Editor)

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Hunld of the Edt (Vol.1) (Edrto,Middle Eist lvlaterials n United Kiogdon and I;sh Lib.aries:A Drtory {Edito4

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Contents

PreJaceond Acbnmledsen'en*At Ltrexir'tiol:-r1 Introduction2 Mapping the Sacred 1: The Ni'matullahi Order2.r Origins2.2 Rituals and Practices2.2.1 Organisation and Hierarchy

2.2.2 ldtiarjoi2.2.3 Ruleof Life2.2.4 Ljnrrgy2.2.4.1 Dhihr u\d Santa'2.2.4.2F;hl2.2.4.3Mwa4aba2.2.4.4 Mul-wba2.2.4.5 Wid3 Mapping the Sacred 2: The Naqshbandi Order3.1 Orisrns3.2 Rituals and Practices3.2.1 OrganisatioDand Hierechy3.2.2 Initiation3.2.3 Ruleof Life3.2.4 Liturgy3.2.4.1 Dhihl

3.2.4.2 Sann'3.2.a.3 Mwaqaba ann Rab;ta3.2.+.4 Srhba3.2.4.5 Wird

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SOF' RITUAL4 Unveiling the Sacred1: The Five Ari.an:1.1 Theotogy

1.2 Phenomenology4.3 Aothropology4.4 Seniotics

5 Unveiling the Sacred2: The ParallelUniverse ofS.fi Ritual5.1 Theology5.2 Phenomenology5.3 Anthropology5.4 Semiotics

6 The Alienated Sufi?6.1 Alienation o Ritual Paadox6.1.1 Alienation6.1.2 FaM'6.1.3 Ritual asShield6.1.4 Ritua.l Alienation6.2 A Paradigmof Slfi Alienation

Bibliosraphy of Worhs CitedIndex

Preface ndAcknowledgement

This book attempts to lift the "veil" to which Fitzgerald'sparaphrase of the Rabaiyat of Omar Kho1yam alludes, at leastinsofar as it may be referred to th arena of snfi ritual. Itexamines both the sphr of mainstram Islamic ritual, asartiorlated prirnarily n the arhnn, and the more arcane andlesser kno*'n 6eld of ritual h ta;awuuf. The book makescomparisons both within Aar al Islon and between thattradition and th rituals of other traditions. It neither attemptsro be inclusive and to cover every single aspect of Safism and itsrituals, nor to cover every single Snfi Order. Two Orders havebeen taken as case studies and in the process of examiningthem, I have exarnined their origins, rituals and practices,organisations and hierarchy, initiation pmctices and what maybe termed here their 'Rules of Life'. Particular attention hasbeen paid to liturgy as it is to be found especially in dhihr andsdmz', and the rlated practices ol fhr, muraqaba, nuhasaba,rnird., rahta, and shba. The word "ritual" itself has beendeployed loosely but not in such a cavalier fashion, I hope, as tooffend the purists among the anthropologists. Four primary lenshave been used, for comparativ and analltical purposes: thoseof theology, phenomenology, antbropology and semiotics. It isthe contention of this book that the Factice of snfi ritual leads,paradoxically, to a tundamental alienation which is, nonetheless,devoutly to be wished for, at least by the ardent sufi

As always, I have incurred many debts in the writing of thisvolume. I thanl, firstly, Dr JavadNurbakhsh, present Master ofthe Ni'matullrhi Order, for his generous hospitality to me ontwo occasions n the N;'rufidlahi Khand"qah

1031031231271:t0

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S!Fi RITUALwhere I have quoted from, or referred to, his many works onSufism, he is not responsible for what is *Titten here. I amgrateful to other members of that Klanaqah, and others, whowould rvish to remain nameless,for wise advice and encouragement. The writings of Professor H Algar have proved aninvalr:able guide in walking through the veritable forests ofmaterials dealing with the Naqshbandiy-ya. He is acknowledgedin my footnotes. Finally, I thanl my wife and family for theirindulgence and patience as I completed yet another book; I angrateful to thm for keeping me earthbound as I explored thearcane highways of snfi ritual.

Abbreviations

Ef buaclopaedia f klan, second ditionEIS ShorterEnqclopacdiad Islam.lSS lumi of Sanitic StudiesQ Q*"a"RB Rule of St BenedictSOAS School of Oriental and African Studies, Univrcity ofI-ondon


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Introduction

There wasa Dmr to which I found no Key:Th"ft w a V.il pdstwhich ..uld norse(Some ittle talk awbne of I{E &d THEEThcres@ d md lho no moreor THI- t "nd \leEven after the achievement of the scholar,sufi Abu Hamid alGhazal (1058 1111) n'largely removing th tension betweenSuEsm and the "Islamic sciences"'.2diverse other Muslimscholars have continued to view Sufism with the deepestsuspicion.i The 'dama" have frequently pittd themselvesagainst the sufi shaykhs and pirs, each group often seekingreligious conhol, power and authority by virtue of bookish orgnostic learning.a Professor Michael Gilsenan, while doingresearch on the safi mystical brotherhoods in Eg}pt between1964 and 1966was assuredby shaykhsat the Azhar Universityin Cairo 'that these brotherhoods had nothing to do with Islamat all and dnt [he] was not only v/asting lhisl time but giving afalse impression of what the t rue religion is.'j With others,suspicion has given way to a bemused, and perhaps surface,tolerance. As Ronald Eyre put it in his book On the LongSearch: The orthodox N{uslim community, after a great scholararose to allay their more extravagant fears lsurely a reference toal-Ghazali?1, appear to have accep@d the solitary quest, butonly as an extension of commudty worship. Anci they are alertfor signs of morbid inwardness in those who undertake it.'6The suspicion from mainstrcam Islam comes in manv formsas do the s-nfi orders themselves- In the course of Islamic historygnfts hav appared in nearly every corner of the globe wherethe messageof Islam has been preached; indeed, they were


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5[f ir { r rL\L Is*TRODUcTIo\often responsible for bringing that messageto what had beennon-Islamic lands, n the first place.This book suneys different manifestations of the ritualaspects of Sunsm, taking two major Orders as case studies_While the state of Sufism in contemporary Britain is not itsprimary focus, there will be some referencesto the British sceneby way of illustration. Arrd since ntual is the principal ropos,sali spiituality in its diverse aspectssuch as states (ahual) andstations (mdqarnat),7vhile occasionally touched upon, will notbe explored in great depth or detail. It witt be instructive to notein passing the manifold sources of alienation, catalvsts forcharge and reasons or rhe reinfor.emenrof soiritual iJenritvThe phenomenonof religious chalge ; response o a ne*culture is by no meansa new one. Indeed, as George Chryssidesstresses, when a religion migrates from one culture to another,quite radical changesoften occur. 3 He cites the examole of themove of Buddhism to arers like Ctuna, Tibct and Japanwherethe religion assumed a rather different form from traditionalTheravada Buddhism and he asks: 'Did the tust TibetanBuddhists fail to notice the plethora of deities, esoteric ritualsand supernatura.l beings which were introduced into Bud-dhism's world view?'e Chryssides identifies three potentiallvproblematic areas where odapration may be required oiadherents of an immigrant religion: dependence on the nativepopulation, ritual practiceand discrimination.'0 lt is , of course.the second area that will concern us most in this book). Theoutcome may be apostasy, adaptation or accommodation, or,finally, ar insistence 'on raaining [a] fully distinctive identifu'r1Chryssides characterises he last responseas renewed vieour'.1:Such remarl. ar-e f inreresrboih when we conside' rhtrole ofIslam within an'alien'society and the role of Su6smwithin thesocietyof Islam.

The role of Islam in Britain, its impact on British society andthe problems of culture-clash which have sometimes manifestedthemselves, have all been dealt with in a varietv of oublica-r ions 'Such manerswi l l nor be coveredhere asan in anvdepth. W}lar is worth stressrng,however, is rhai white the

within a cornmunity or communities which still adhere to thesame basic faith systm, the practice of Slfrsm in a state likeBritain is a minority activity within a minority religion.ra Notonly can there be a cutture clash btween Islam and otherreligions, but there is what I will cal a 'countr-clash' withinIslam itsell btween diverse articulations of that faith, some ofthem mutually hostile.There is, then, scope for feelings of the profoundestalienationrt and isolation resulting from disparagement by alocal Muslim populace 16and a largely uncomprehending non,Muslirn milieu. Such feelings have the potntial to bond snficommrmities more closely together but also to pressurise theminto changing, reforming or even diverging from the classicalrituals and structures of their origins.Sromeof the adherents of Islam in Britain in the very lattwentieth century exhibited attitudes akin to those cited earlierby Gilsenan and Eyre- Reviewing Cyril Glass6's Concisebqclopaedia of klom,17 Dr Hesham El Essauy had this to say:

Like moy conve.ts rom the excessivelymaterialistic society nthe West, trtr Glass6 smsDor attracted to the excessivelysp;itual mysticismof Sufism. n fact, the book readsmor ike altr4o's Wlo of the SuG world thd eything else. I hau aproblenwith Slafffi: ffi. can mjor the6p, tut the higher t fl1,th. nwe detuhedrot getJron theyound.l8Dr El-Essawy goeson to stress hat 'the thing is that Islam isreally a political, religious and socio economic system whosebusiness is not just the establishment of physical or spiritualrituals, but .ather worship through living a good life.'le This,indeed, reflects more closely the ideal of Muslims the worldover whos path or goal, by and large, is not a sufi quest endingin mystical union with the Divine. And the majority ofMuslims in Britain, as elsewhere, ar:e not srlfis.Many Muslims settled in the UK, however, ofter\ rcluctantlJshar the sense of detachment or alienation characteristic oland beloved by, the snf/o, feelings which are neithr chosen nor


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SUfi RITU L INTRUDUCTIONthat in British society he or she is ar1nvoluntary practitioner of'solitude in a crowd'.r1 A-rrd while for the s'1fi, as for a Plotinusor a.n Augustine, alienation is a 'state in which contemplationand ecstasy are identical' and one where the 'human soul orspirit is elevatedand reaches ts goal which is the union with thedivinity'," it is hardly an exaggeration to say that th averagealienated Muslim youth in Britaia today does not share in sucha high-flown perception of his state. The sufi may willinglydeviate from minstream Muslim society and glory in theresulting a.lienation, but the youths of a minority religion suchas Islam in the United Kingdom today may rather perceive theiralienation as oppressive-23 hus he or she may becomewesternised but 6nd that they are not accepted by the cultureto which they aspire and become alienated both from it andfrom their own Muslirn culture.2aMuslims of all ages find a further alienating factor in thereality that the cultural articulation of Islam in Britain todayvaries according to ethnic origins.rt As Razaneatly puts it: 'Thecultural fabric of the lr.Iuslim comrnunity reveals an intricateweb.'26 There may, indeed, be different perceptions of thenature of Islam itself: '\{any young N{uslims in Britain areconfounding their parents by their attempts to separate theessentials of the faith from cultural or historical additions.Values cherished by parents as part of their cultural andrelieious identity are now coming under attack, not from theexpected directions of the indigenous culture, but from theirchildren who declare them to be unlslamic.'27Other causes of alienation from either their own Muslimsociety, or non'Muslim British society at large, may includeracism, the British classsystem:3 and the difficulty of becomingassimilated into it, and sectarian Muslim divisions.re The latterfactor will rarely be appreciated by the native Britishpoptrlation: 'Closed views typically picture Islam as undiffer,entiated, static and monolithic, and as intolerant of internalpluralism and deliberation.'3oFurthermore, 'closed views see total difference ttweenIslam on the one hand arrd the non Muslim world, particularlythe so'calledWest, on the other. Islam s 'other'. with few or no

similarities betwen itsel{ and other civilisations and culturesand with few or no shared concepts and moral values. Further,Islam is seen as hermetically sealed off from the rest of theworld, with roo(s and no borro*rng or miring ineither direction.'r1It is clear. of cours. that while such diverse factors ofalienation may srve to depress and further divide, they mayalm serve as a bond to unite or bring togethd movements orgroups (like the sofi orders) which have common goals andrequire shelter from a climate of frozen alienation. A goodexample of a non- suff movement akin to Sofism which providesexactly this ki:rd of spiritual and emotional hospitality is theTabligh i lawAt or 'Faith N{ovement' founded by Mawla.naMuhammad Ilyas(1885 1944).3'?Philipewis st!sseshat'thestriking and innovativ featu.e of Tablighi Jama'at33 was itsexpectation that all Muslims should devote time to door todoor revivalist activity tidt r0o d. connibute to creating anIsla'rr.ic enuiroffivnt Its discipline, mutual service, congregational worship, prescribed study and shared activity created themovement's distinctive style of self reformation, u.dthin asLtppoltbe and egalitar;An context. Its minimalist six pointprogramme rcflcts its e$ ethos.'r{ The Tabliqh'i lamaat hasbecome strong in Britain with major centrs in Bradford andDewsbury.35

Such groups and movemenlsgo someway iowards counter'ing the confusion of the older generations as they wonder ' howto respond to an emerging Muslim youth culture, a hybrid ofBritish and South Asian forms. expresqedn music. mdgazinesand local media,'36 and soothing worried Muslim Parents whofind thar the'r offspring have no hesiration n questioning. oreven rejecting, 'aspects of their inherited culture which theytook for granted as Islamic.'r7 In all these matters, institutionalSt6sm too. can bond, soothe,sustainand console n much thesa]nway as the'Faith Movement'. In the 1970s and 1980sSttum remained prominent in British Muslim life, eventhough, technically, it was the activity of a minority. However,it was responsible for bringing many converts to the faith,despire generalackof acr ive i r f idr ua.r"


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StII RITUAL INTROTJ!:CTIONThe final paradox in ajl this, which both alienates andembraces the Muslim community in Brirain, is one of identiryand nationality. lt is perhaps convenient, but false, to speak ofMuslims on the one harrd and British society on the orher, as ifthey were two ent;ely different entities- As Yasmin Ali rightlyreminds us: 'The myth of retum to one's homeland, which manyhrst generation migrants ciung to for comfort has littleaspirational meaning for most oftheir children and grandchildren. . . young South Asians in Britain are B?ir6[. Then identities,however distinctive, are British identities, and the culturai, social,political and economic contributiorx which they mal ro societyare fundamentally contributions to Britain and to Europ.':r'lWe noted earlier that the principal theme of this boot is snfiritual. The theme of alienationwill, however, provide a subtext, and we will reved to it especiatly n our conclusion.A

variety ol methodologies wili be employed; not leasr amongthese will be the phenomenological approach, an approachwhich was used to such excellent effect in AnnemarieSchimmel'smagisterialwork, Deciphering he Signsof God: APhenomenologicalApproach to /slanr.{o It is worth pausing here,bielly, to survey how this approach *'as used by ProfessorSchimmel although, as I say, a variety of approaches will beused n this presentvolume of mjne.In Deciphering the Sigru o/ Godll Annemarie Schimmelannouncedher belief that:the phnonnological approach is well suited to a bertrundrsta.ding f Islam, especiailyh modetwttrctlFriedrichHeilrr? eveloped.. he ries o eDt.r nto the he&t ofrel;gionby studying lirst the phenornenaDd then deeper ad deeperlayersof hurnan esponseso the Divhe until he reache hernneimost sacred core of each relig;on, the ceDtre. heNuminous, he &6 dbs.onditus. Culti. and ritual duties oocouldbe interpreted eyond hei externalnpurld,c assrsnstowards ohetlDng igher.ll

Such an approach is eminently sujted also to th mysticaldimension of Islam, Stfism, with all its diverse rituals and

illustrate the truism that, for the sufi as for the non s,:fi, at theheart o{ the 'Sacred Objec.' or 'Sac.ed [ritual] Act' is the DeusAbscondituswho is, nonetheless, for the latter, closer to manthan his own jugular vein (Qur'an 50:16), and who is, for thes[fi, in addition, the desned Divine Focus of mystical union.The surface reality of the object or ritual veils a deeper ralitywhosearticulationwill vary according o a Muslim's mysticai orother disposition.Annemarie Schimmel divides her material in Decipheing theSigns of Cod into seven main areas, each covered in a singleclayxer Chapter On, entitled 'Sacred Aspects of Nature andCulture', illustratesvery well Schimmel'sadoptedmethodologywhich is designed to lead 'ftom the external encounter of thesacred o the innermost core of religion.'at She surveys 'thephenomena of nature' which humanity has observed 'from dayto day'{6 in its working and living environment, and divides hermatrial,neatly, nto three main blocksof'Inanimate Nature',{7'Plantsand Animals'{3 and'N{an Made Obiects'.{qUnder the fust heading she concentates on the elementalaspects of Nature, seeking and drawing out the religious andcultic associations and evocations of all that she mentions.References to stones inexorably provoke mention of the BlackStone in the Ka%a and that beneath the Dome of the Rock inJerusalem, n which the Prophet Mubammad's footprint isimpressed, as well as the stoning rituals characteristic of thelujj. Here too, we flrd the traditional Empedoclean elements ofwhich the purincatory aspcts of water are stressd: water isused for external puriGcation as well as being a symbol of life,purity and purification. It is used in the ritual ablutions, foundand revered in the Well ol Zarnzatr' at Mecca ard will beenjoyedby the Blessed n Paradisewith its four rivers, springsor fountains. Schimmel reminds us that both God and theProphet lvluhammad have ben characterised as 'oceans'.io Ofcours, another of the four Empedoclean elements is 6re, andthis is the name in Arabic siven to Hell itself, dl-Nar. In thissection reference is also made to light, arrd the famous Qur'anicimagery of light, as well as to other related phnomena like the

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INTRODUCTIONUnder the second heading 'Plants and Animals' Schimmelreminds us that Paradise has its special trees, the l-ote Tree forexample, and that gardens on earth are replicas or mirors ofParadise. She surveys some of the animals mentioned in the

Qur'an and refers to the Prophet Mu[rammad's liking of cats.Finally, her third heading, Man-Made Objects', embraces uchtopics as Islamic weaponry and armour, mnrors, pictures andgarments. With regard to the latter, Schimrnel &aws attention,intet alia, to the Prophet's striped cloak, izrda, the patchedgarmnt of the sufi, the nuraqqa', ard the role of Yusuft shirtin St?d ylsut Schimmel stresses hat'God Hirnself appears asthe master weaver and tailor, as He is the suprerne master ofeverything.'s1The following six chapters of Deciphering the Sisn: of Godcontinue this phenomenological approach but it is nowarticulated at a less elemental level. Chapter ?'uo on 'SacredSpace and Time't2 ranges from the cave of the initial Qur'anicrevelationon Mount Hira' through the idea of rhe mosque othe mausolea, ombs and shrinesof Islam (Space); nd surveysthe times of feasts and sacred months (Time), beforeconcluding with a discussionof the symbolism and sacrednessof certain numbers.However, as Schimmel clearly recognises,slam is a religionbasedon goodor right deeds swell as aith.ir There is no roomhere for a prototype Protestant justification by faith alone.Thus Chapier Three s consecratedo 'SacredAction'.;r After abrief survey of the concept of tribal and Prophetic Sunna,Schimmel moves on to consider the Via PurEttiua, the ViaIll minatilja a'Jd the Vid Unitiva. She defines the hrst as 'thedifferent ways of purifying oneself r one's attempt to get intouch !,'ith the sacred, the Divine, the Numinous.':i Thesecond is characterised by 'new attempts to become unified, orat east o comeclose o the object of devotion or the power thatis hidden in it. The simplest way is to touch the sacredobjector the saintly person. tahanrhat\ for blessing'ssake ... Thebeliever touches sacrd objects such as stones, ombs or thethreshold and, most impo.tantly, the copy of the Koran . . .'s6

restricted o only a segmentof the believers,and are disliked byoihers. One of thes s the sacreddance ..' She notes hat thesama', he mystical or spiritual concert, 'was institutionaiisedonly in the lvlevleviyya lorder of Dervishes].'57Finally, thethird and last of thes three daz, the Via Unr'tira, is that whichis only fully achieved'in death when the soul is hnally rer:nitedwith God.'i3lslam as a religion is underpinned by, and founded upon, thesacred text ofthe Holy Qur'an. Thus it is entirely logical thatChapter Four of Srhimmel's book should dwell at length on'The Word and the Script'.5eHere are discussed, ot only theQur'an and Hadith as is to be expected, but also such topics aspotry, names, mlths, sagas,blessingsand curses, ritual prayers,and the snfi dhihr or litany Of course, unless a pe$on is ahernit, he or she does not live or function solely in a vacuum.Man is part of an mna, a community of believers. Schimmel'sChoptzr Fi,e on 'Individual and Society'r'u acknowledges theintrinsic sanctity' of man's body, and stresses hat 'the mostimportant 6gure with religious charisma' is the Prophet.brHowever, prophets are sent to particular groups of people and'the community of the believers is central in normative Muslimthought, hence the aversion of some Muslims to the Westrninterest n exotic figures such as Sufis and the like . . .'62 n thischapter Schimmel also surveys some of the structures andinstitutions of that community such as the four Sumi $chools ofLaw; she concludes with a brief survey of the sectarianbranchesof Islam, and the Sufi Orders, noting how somehave'attmctedsveral important Western converts to Islam.'orln Chaptet Silr, 'God and His Creation; Eschatology',Schimmel moves her study of religious infused phenomenafrom the sublunary to the supernatural sphere. Where the 6fthchapter concentratd on the phenomena of earthly and earthbound institutions the sixth surveys the phenomena of theDivine starting, indeed, with God Himself, both as He isrevealed in the Qur'an and as He is interpreted in poetry andelsewhereby His creation. Reference is made to the anseloiogyof Islam, and the often terrifying details of death, udgement,

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Schimmel's Chapter Snm, the last in her book, is called'How to Approach lslam?'. It is prelixed by a quotation fromStrd 41:53 ofthe Qur'an: And we shall show them Our signsin the horizonsand in themselves.'6{ his signals hat here sheintends to bring to a climax or close what has flowed anddeveloped from the beginning of the book. ln other words,following Heiler, she has attempted 'to enter into th heart ofreligion by studying first the phenomena and then deeper anddeeper layers of human responses o the Divine' until the'innermost sacred ore' of Islam is revealed.6s chimmel'sbookfrom start to finish is a masterly illustration of rhismethodology. She began with the raw elemental material ofstones and water, moved through concepts of space and time,Iooked at mar as an individual arrd a creator of institutions andstructurcsbeforeconcluding, ogically,with the CreatorofmanHimself, God, and the te.rorc of the Eschatological.ForSchimmel, God's sisns have indeed been present in all thephenomena she has surveyed as well as in man himsellSchimmel suggestshat it is the city that offers us a lileness ofIslam, which can be symbolized as a house, based on theKoranic expression ar al Isiam.' but sheasks where s one to6nd the builder and owner of the house? ',Sheanswerswith aquotation from Ruml in which Reason is compared to a mothand the Divine Betoved s like a candle. Go


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great figures of early Islam like 'Ali b.Abi T-aliband others, by a'chainofspiritual descent.'7r he Shaykh is the spiritual heir ofthe founder, whose qualities and powers become inherent inhim upon his succession. e is cal led shat&h s satddd (masterof the prayer-mat, or skin) .. . since he inherits that oI thefounder as symbol of his authority . . . Succession o the sojjad/lis spiritual and the shaikh was not necessarily a descendant ofthe founder though in time lineal succession ended to becomethe rule.'7']This siisiiaof authoritiesand eadersgoingback o afounder mirrors, on a spiritual as well as a physical plane, theordinary link between he Creator,God arld created man: forthe snfi, a.rld indeed every \4uslim, the latter owes his veryexistence o the Former by an unbroken chain of createdancestors which began with Adam, whom tb Qur'ancharacterises s God's h[al& (2:30).Ofcourse, the $nft \4asteror Shaykh s in no sensea creatorbut, as has beenemphasisedabove, he has a creative responsibili ty to lead the brthrcntowards he 'errinction of selllood and worldly desires /ar,,aland 'subsistencen God' (boqal;3A third example of the djvine order and reality beingmirrored and articulated n some way in sufi ritual lis in thegufi dfiibr and sanz'. The Qur'an makes t clear hat oneof thefunctions of the angels is to praise God unceasingiy day andnight (2:30,21:19 20).Commentingon Strd 2:30,al-Tabarircminds us that 'all remembranceof God according to theAmbs is praisearrdprayer . . . and it has beensaid that praise sthe prayer of the angels.'t1In a very real sense he snfi dirhr may be said to rnirror theperpetualangelicpraiseofGod. Indeed. he Qur'an commandsthe believer to remember God often and slorify Him at dawnand dusk (33:a1 42) ir a pbrasenuch belovedby the sufis.;3N1arlhasa positive duty of gratitudeand prais o God (31:12,25 26). And the sufis articulate that sratitude and praisenotonly in the dhibr but the sd'na'as well, the iatter being anextension,or extm dimension, of the former.Marietta Stepaniants reminds us that 'the propriet! ofconsideringdhiLr 'the main meansof attaining God s nearness'

recollects God among the negligent is like a fighter in the midstof thoswho flee, ike a gree.nree n the midst o{ dry trees.'Thel'rophet was asked what action was most virtuous. Hernswered, 'That you should be dying and your tongue shouldrecollea Allah the Mighty , the Omnipotent.' The Prophet said,'PraisingAllah ... in the morning ard in the evening s betterthan erecting mosques in Allah's name or generous sacifice ofIn th lnfi interpretation of dreams we are told that 'thbam-owl symbolizes aspnation confined to remembrance ..rnd nightly visil and seclusion' while 'the nightingalerymbolizs aspiration conined to love, audition (sarr') andmusic.';i Dh[r is 'prescribedby the \{aster of the SpiritualPath, n order to cure his disciplesofthe disease fthe selfandits desiresand fears 3 while sorna' is listening with the ear of

the heart to music in the most profotnd sense poetry,melodies, unes, and rhythmic harmonies while being in arpecial state so deeply plunged in Love that the.e is no taint ofrelf left within awareness.'7qFrom all ofthe above statements whicl we have quoted, it isclear thai the s[fi practicesof diiLr and sana' are designed outiculate a spcial semiotics of Love which takes its inspirationfrom the Qu'en and broadens and expounds the archetypalvrses o manifest and expound a dgorous path towards thel)ivine Beloved or the sifi aspirant.The two Orders whose i tuals and practicesare discrssed nthis book have not been chosenat random but for th Durooseof i l lu" trat ing a rery uiJe Jiversrtv of pro., l "" ,na ,yp".Furthermore, t is certainly not claimed that thesea-re he dnbtofi rituats and, though some conclusionswill, of course, bedrawn, it is not claimed that these are the onf ' conclusionswhich may be drawn from a study of snfi ritual. Finally, while iti! true that the liturgical aspectsof both the Ni'matullahi andNaqshbandi Orders discussed in this volume are surveyedundr five main headings, no artifrcial nrmerical parallelismwith the five arban is intended.Humility, poverty and asceticism are often key features in the

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frequently characterised y a lack of ostentation.so his dosnot mean, however, that the Orders have beenwithout inlluencedown the ages. The paradigm of the Sanusiyya Order, forexample, n Libya where on ChristmasEve, 1951 . the Headof the Sanllsi Order Sayyid Idris, son of al-Mahdi, becameanindependent constitutional king of the United Kingdom ofLibya'3r is the ultimat proofofthat. ln Britain N may not hefoundation n 1963by Pir Maroof Hussain Shah,u'ho arrived nthe UK in 1961, of t\e lani'dt-i Tabhghal Idan (Associationfor the Preachingof Islam). Philip Lewis has emphasised hecommitment of this Association o the spiritualit)' propagatedby leadersof the Qadiri, Chishtr, Naqshbandiand SuhrawardiOrders. 'Pir Maroof's first love,' Lel'is tells us. 'is idrduuutIslamic mysticism.'3r Noteworthy too are the activities inBritain of the Deobandis whose ounders -ewis characterisesas'reformist suiis'83 and the Barelwis3rwith their venerationfor the Prophet l{ubamrnad. and thejr srlfi stress on shrine,shaykh and intercession ! Their Qadiri {ounder was AhmadRa-za han (1E56 1921). 'd

Islam today in countries ike llntain manilests a lascinatingfabric of sometimes harmonious and sometimcs conflictingstrands- We note, for example, the mutual anathemaspronounced by the Deobandis and the Barelwis in the earlypart of last century and the consequentegac], f antipathyandhostility between he tu'o groups n contemporaryBritain.stGeaves has rightly drawn attention to the fact that 'thearrival ofsubcontinent Muslims in Britain has ransplantedmtothis country all the divisions and cont.oversieswhich havehistorically split the community in India and Pakistan.'33Notable among thosedisputes was that over the characterandrole of Sufism.The syncretic, ural subcontinentalbrand oftenemphasised 'popular devotion, the intercession of saints,barobha tsicl. shrines, tombs of holy men. pecular

powersand miracles, singing and dancing and. above all. theimportance of the pirlmurid relationship.-A.sianood, candles,incense, osewater fferings,holy water and amuletsare all usedin religious worship. These may be used to cure the sick. to

uorshipper from magical forces such as evil jinn.'3e This styleof I slam has been attacked by others, especially the reformers.eo

The sufi Ordzrs as such often maintain a lower prohle.Furthermore, the extent to which they have been vehicles ofhermony and tolerance'qr rather than conflict will becomerpparent in the course ofthis volume. This may be due, in part.t least, to the sense of unity of quest which is at the heart of$0fism. Origins and ethos may dif fer; the actual a-rticulation ofcommon rituals lile the dhi[r may vary; but such fundamenta.lrituals remain in so many of the Orders, linking and uniting$em in their sacred quest.

Victor Danner puts it like this:The dAiAr can be manifested ir a vaiety of forms derived fromthe Queic rcvelation, these forms depending on the petspectiv6 of the different Sun sch@ls, the inspirations of particularmasters, nd other conditions; but this variegatedmmifestationin no way dehacts rom the fundmental chracter ofthe dliArConsequendy, the elements of the ranqdA remain the sme afterihe days of the Prophet, to be sure, but their amb;nations and.xprcsim .an wry fron mtlster to m6ter and em uithin theliJetitu ol o e n4srer Indeed, it would seem thai one of theimportmt functions of Sufrsm has ben to furnish theseelements of the path to its seekers n th .ight proportions dndin motturce uith the ?e& of ea.h gmerction.',

Notes| (My italics) Edv&d Frtzse.ald (tns), The Rubabat of Omat(,u)aan, (London: The Folio Striery 1970),v 32. The endnotesto this first version of Fitzgerald's hanslation (on the last,.rnnunbered page) expldn lrlE and THEE' as a reference to the'mysticalddt;ne of Unity qith God.2 W \.fontgomry Watt, M6lia InteUat@l: A Stud! oJ al Ghazdli,(Fninbug.ir EdinburghUnivenity P.ess,1963),p. 179.J see John \\blff, 'Fragmented Univdsality: Islm and lr4uslins' Ln(ierald Paens (ed), 'Ihe Gtutth ol RelisioB Dtuersir*: Biirain JtomI94i: \tohN r, Trajiioro, (London: Routledge n association ith

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s Vichael G;lsenan, Recosnizins kLdtu: AnAnthrcpoloEits In6oducti6.(London& Sydney:CrooD Helm, 1982, epr 198.1), . ll6 Ronald Eyre, On the Lons Searci, (Londor & clasgow, Collins,Fount I'aperbacks, 979),p. 1,187 For these erms,see he enries l*,wel and \taqamat in lan RichedNetton, A Popular Dictiotury of Islan, (London: Curzon. 1992),pp.24,161.8 GorgeChryss;des,Britajr'sChangingFdths, Adaptat;on n a NewEnvironmdt in Gerald I']arsons ed), Tie crouri o/ RdlisiouDiaersitt:BritainJtotu 1915: Valume : kslei, (London: Roltledgein aNociationwith the Open UD;vrs;ty, 99.1), 5t9 Ibid.10 Ibid., p. 5811 lbid., pp. 58 59.12 lbid. ,p. 59l: l Por two rcent surveys, ee lobammad S Raza klan in Bntaia:P6t, Prdent dnd. he Fftwe, (Leicester:Volc o Press. 99l) ddPh;l;p l,eeis, lslatuicBrlldin. Rltston,Politicsard lrldt;\ dtunsBririrft Mulins Btud.Jod n the 1990s,lLoDdoD \e\' \brk: L B.Tauris, 1994).14 SeeRaza, ddft itr B'itdin, p li Lwis, slan ic B'ir&fl. p ri15 For a discussion f alienadon n tbe context of Isl an. culture-clohmd Wsternisation, eRua, isidn in Britain. pp ;t E.l !e.leWoltre, FragnentedUnivdsalib', pp. 156.161, 16l. I.rq16 For in temal divisions n the Bri*h Nfuslim conrmun,t!. c \blffc,'FragmentedU versal;ty',p 1a217 lrndon: Sta.ey ntrnational, 989.18 (lvly italics) The ndependznt,3rd\'ta! 1989

19 Ib;d20 See Javad Nurbaksh, Slt Srnlokn. ilondon & \es \brk:Khmiqahi Nimatullahi Publications, s87r. i)l I rp 8t 8l21 Se J. SpencerT;m;neham, The Sul Ordzr In iJidn. roxford:Clarendon res, 1971), .20322 Nathan Rotenstreich, Alienotion: The Con ept dnrl Ik Rec.ptaa,Philosophy f History md Cultlr, \irl 3. (l-cidon& New Yorl: E. J.Brill, 1989),pp 3 423 lbid. ,p. 111.24 SeeRaza, LLM in Btitair, pp ;7 ;9i se. also K;m Kno tt & SwaSinsh Kalsi. The Advent ofAsian Relis'ons n .\l;sta; \{N,n (ed),Rdligior n Lee&, (Shoud:Alan Sutton, 199.1r. p lto 171.2s Raza,^lan in Drndin,pp . 1 s.26 Ibid., p. 1.27 Ron Geaves, Se.tarian Infu.nces uirhin isian in Btnain. uithReJetencea the Corcerts oJ Unnah and Connurtl, . \fonograph

li.ies Comhmity RelieionsProject,no s, (Leeds:DepanmentofTheologydd ReliglousStud;es,UniversiR of Leds,1996),p. s9..ln lbid.. pp . 66 68.)' t Raza, slan 1n Bntdin,pp. 6, 10, 11 24.Io Ru.nrnde -frust Comnission on Brit;sh \luslims and lslmophol1;^. Isld^ophobia: A ChLlknse Jar LIs Ali, (London: RunnymedeTtust. 1997).SePhil;p -Nis, Facinsdown he bogeymu oflslan',(;hlr.h Tines, l.lth October 1997,p i..ll klatuphobid.p. 6..l,l Lewis,^idni. Britdi', pp. 3E :19 For the life and work of MawlanaIlyu, see lvl Anw&ul Haq, The Faith MaLenflt of MaulanaMuha@nwA b6, (Londor: Anen & Unwin, 1e72). Fo Tabligh.i

JaMf, sealsoGaves. ectdridnnjrdc*, pp. 1i2 131J.i An alternative resheration.l{ (Mv italics) Le$is, Islamic Britdifl, p. 39 See also Wolffe,'FragmentedUnivdsality . p. 1.11..f5 trris, lslanic anam, p. 90 Note the activities in Btita;^ of lM'dt,iIshni (founddby Nlawlana lawdudi ln 1911).See he impo.tantarticle by R A Geave, 'The Reproduction ofJdat i Islmi in B.itaiD',klart nnA ChrctianM6lin Rela,im, !bl.6:: (1995), p. 187 .210..16 wis, Irlaui. Bnrdm.p. 8..U Ibid. SeeSteveBoggd & Peter Popho, 'The Arragement Tfr.lndapddat: fusdq Retitu',21stJuly 1998.p. 1J8 WollTe FragmntedUniversality, p 155..r9 \'6nin Al;, 'ldentity and Community:YoungBrnish SouthAsios infbe 1990s in David G Bosen (ed), Tn Sdtdni. Wra: BrdlJudRespondr,Ilkley: Brad{ord ad Ilkley Community CoLlege, 992),pp 6; 66. SeGeavs. e.dndn lnjrmc,s, p 58rtt Fiinburgh: Ldinburgh University Press, 994.{l A versiono{ the brief critique which follows sas lirst publishedas abook .evieu in the Jarnal ot ,lp Roldl Asid,i. So.i.rrr 3 Sr , \bL.6:3i\ovember 1996), p 418 4:0112 1892 196;. S.himel refrs o his E sch inungsr{rrrunnd Wrm derRelieion. Stuttgdt: Kohihanmer, 1961).. f \hlnrmel. Daiphcnae h? ,rru ul /1"J. pr r r $rii4 l*e ibid . pp rvi-xvii.15 lbid.. p. xiv{6 lbid., p. 2.17 Ibid. ,pp . l 17.1 8 bid. ,pp. 17 :8.a9 lb id, pp l9 -r l50 lbid., p 85l Ibid., p .10.52 lbid., pp. 47 87.53 See,o. ermpl, q s;,7

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s4 Schimnd, D..ipltdns tl. SisB oJ Gdd, pp 89 111.s5 lbid., P' 90.56 Ibid., pp. 102 103.57 Ibid., p. 104.58 Ibid., p. 106.s9 Ibid.,pp. 113 176.60 Ibid., pp. 177 218.61 lbid.,p. 187.62 Ibid., p. 201.63 lbid., p. 213.64 Ibid., p. 243; she follows the tres. by A. J. Arberry, Ihe KoarI'ierp'erd (London:Allen & Unwin/New York: M&mille, 1971),Vol. 2, p. 191. &e Ian Richdd Netton, Ailah Trarucrn&trri Stldia irthe Sttrcbtr. a d Snioti's of klni Philosophy. Theolog udCosoloer, (Lndon & Nd Yoik: Routledg, 1939),p. :12165 Schmmel. D"ciphmnq ttu SicB of Co,l. p. xii66 lbid.,pp.255-256.67 lbid. p. 2s6.68 Javad Nubaksh, 'Mcta md Disiple in Javad Nurbaksh, tr rtuTddn oI Rdn: Sda Esays @.S1iq. (LoDdon: Khaniqahi-Nimatlllahi Publiotio6, 1978),p. 111. N'.B. Dr NurboAhsA'sfiaBqtdatim Jm Arubi. an/J Pdsian arc pr.*tud in ,he qbtat;tulron his m uuhl69 Se bid.,pp. 119-123.70 Trans. n ibid., p 131.71 Trimrghd, The Srj tldes ir Is|Zn, p. 311.72 Ibid., p. 173.73 Se arts. 'Fma" md Baqa'' in Netton, Poplldt Di.tiotuD oJ lslr ,pp.79,51-527,1J. C@pr (t^s.), The C@MtoD on the Qtr'an b! Abn la"fNM&antud B. Jdffi dl-Tahan, (Oxford: Oxford tjniversity Pres,1989), Vol. 1, p. 225. For the Ahbi. text se al Tabut ToIfl 4l-Iabad, ed Mahmod Mu].'allnad Shekir, (Cairo, D,r al Ma',rif1960), ol. 1, p.472.75 SeL. Gardet,dt.'Dhilr', EI', Vol. 2, p. 223.76 Mariefta T. Stpaniants,Suj Wisdon, SUNY Series r lslo, (,Albmy,NY: StateUnivebity of New Yorl Press, 994),p. 6l77 JavadNrbaltBh, Th. Psrcholw oJ SL/.6n, (trndon & New York:Khaniqahi Nimatulahi Publi.atioG, 1992),p. 6i.78 ldem, 'Sulisn' in iden, In the Toutn ol Rtin. p. 7; se ale idd, Inthe Patudiv oJ ile Sds, (London & New York: Khmiqahi-Ninatuliahi Pubiications, 1989), pP 29 ,1879 ldm, 'SdM' in idd, Jn thz TM oJ Rtin, p. 321w ate ;den, .SdSynbolim: Ttu NrrbalJsn Etut.lrpeaia of Suf TMiDl,s! (Lndon:

l0 Sce Ja"ad Nurbathsh, Spiritul Pole,ry in S!,sn, (London:Khoiqahi-Nimatullahi Pubiicetion,,1984),esp pP' 1 38. See.lsoA J. Arberry (t@s.), Discd's.s oJRrna (Richmond: Curzon Press,1993), p. 1s4. F6 th Persiu tat, se Jat.i al,Din Rnmi, Kirab filin Frhi,ed Badr" l Zamamhurnzanfd., 'lehe'r.. e,plh"Da Majl'..1330),p. 1,15.ff Nicola A. Ziadeh, Sdnanldl: A Sady ol a Raitalkt Motmmt iar'bn, (Liden: E. J. Brill, 1e68),p. 124.ae kwis, Isbnn lritain, pP. 82, 81.13 lbid-, p. 37, w pp. 89 101; se Ceaves, Seci4ror lqqkn..s,W 141 152,159 1t-9.14 &e tsis. lslanu &riuia. p a0: S.. Cedv6 \".latua lnflw^ce'.pp.91 12913 Seean 'B&clwis in Nellon, Popub Dictionar!oJ sldn, pp.52 5316 See ois, /siamt Brnain,p. 40.17 &e ibid-, pp.40, 84.$ Gav6, sardnd Itrf@ces, p. 6s.tl lbid.l0 rbid.ll Tolaoce is a key fature, for exople, of one of the c6. siudieswhich ;s a ftu.e ot this tek, the Ni(natulldhi Order. md it ispowdftlly strGsed by the ddvishd of that O.de.. Iodeed, Alm A.Godla notes that 'Dr Nurba.khsh puts love ahad of intellect s theley to spiritual advd.ement (dt. 'Ni"matulahr.yah' in John L.EsPslrr (ed), The &f6d En .tclopudia of the Moden lslanic \Vorld,(Odord/New Yo.k: Oxford Unive.,ity Prss, 995),Vol. 3, p 2s2.

:12 (My italics) Victo. Dun6, The E*ly Dwelopment of Sufisn in&yyed Hcsein Nar (d), blda; Spi;tdlitJi Foudaiioro, WorldSpi.ituality: An Encyclopaedic History of the Religious Quest, Vol.19,(l,ndon: Roltledge & Kega lraul, 1987),p. 263.


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MappingheSacredThe Ni'matulldhnOrder

2,1 OriginsAnd hold fct,All togetha, by the RopeWhich God (stretches outFor you), od be not dividedAmong yourselves;And remembd with gratitudeCod's fauow d ral[nftut AllahltFor ye were oemiesAnd He joined your heartsIn love, so that by His craceYe became bredren;And ye wre on the brinl(X the Pi of F;e,And He saved you from it.Thus doth God maleHis sig* clear to you:That Ye may be gdded.

(Qu"an 3:103)'The founder of the Ni'matullahi Order, Nor al Dm ShehNi'rratullah Wali, was born in Aleppo on the 14th of Rabi.al Awwal731A.H. (A.D 1331).,His fatherwasArab andhismother wasPersian-rThe reasonswhy his family hadmovat to$ria are unlnown 'but all the early accountsof Shah,s ifereport his birth in Aleppo'.4

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ShaI Ni'matullah has been characterised by Trimingham asa 'proli6c writer of Sutr ephemeras,both prose and ftetry,.:Rather more enthusiastica y, Javad Nurba_khsh.ff" irirn ,if,"qutb (axis) of those who realise Oneness, the bst of thosperfected' and 'one of the greatest rnaste$ and most renowndmystrcs of the Sth and 9th centuries A.H. (14th and 15thcenturiesA.D)' who 'bestowed resh radianceupon the light ofSufism n his own time'.6 His eloquencewas such thatWhen Shah Ni.natallel bse to speakEventhe ugels descendedo I'sten.;Hr, .e ju611;. ' included rhe .tudv ot 6qh. rheror ic,andscholaslrc.rheosophvnd rheoloqy swellas worls by lbn Sinaand Ibn al-Hral'r 3- Two meetings marked the early life of Shai Ni.matullah: thenrst may be compared in significance to that btwen theyouthtul Prophet Muhammad and the Christian monl Bah[a;,the second may be compared in its huge impact to the famousencounlp, etueen he young bn al Arabrand tbn Rushd nLo'dovd, " or rhdrberween ataldl Drn Rr:rruand Shamsal DrnMyha:'.nna9._Jabili in Konya.rrBoth these meetings n theeady life of Shai Ni'matullah wilt be adumbrated here.^ In the fust, at the ageof 6ve, the Shah was taken by his sulifather to^a,sufi meeting. The father recounted an episode at theBattle of Uhd in A.D. 625 in which live of ihe tropherMuhammad's teeth had been broken. The contempoiary hermrt,UwaysaJ-Qarari.who lireJ rn rhe yemen.rmmediarety rote aJl:: : t*,1.',r ..ymparhy.. he story ctearty puzzled rhe youngNr'marull;i for there had been no rlirine Lnstru. on for thIhermit's action. However, later, Uways appeared to him thatmght n a dream ard interprcted th dream for him: .In love of)ouf ancestor (Muhammad) I broke the thirty teeth ofavarice forthrs^uorld and rhe next . Thus, juql as Bdlur; rdentiGed ndconJumed he propherhoodof \luhdmmad. so rhe five yea, olddrpamerhad his own tururemissionemphcised. As pouriavadyanJ wrlson remindus Like KhiJr or the Hidden mam ofrheShi'ites, Uways is an everJiving spiritual force (atthough untikethem, he did suffer physical death); he appars in visions and

ofers initiation or help in spiritual difliculties. Thus this.rpe.ience of the five year old Ni'matullah was mor than achildish drearn - it was a mark of his future spiritual rank'.r3The second major encounter of Sh,-hNi.matullah,s early lifewas that betweenhimself at the age of twenty four in Mecca andthe srfi 'Abdullah al,Ye6'i (1298-1367).ra Al ya6t. whobclonged both to the Shadhilr Order and the yefit bra.nch ofthe Qadirirya, acceptdNi'matullah as his disciole,rs and laterlhaly'a.16The accounrofsha} Ni marutlehs ttrsi meerbe w,rhlhis Shaylh is borh porgnanr and poerrc He encounreredrl-Yafii in a mosque teaching hadith and he telts us that ,lll atonceperceivedmyself as a drop. and rhis man as the Oce,r, .Ni'matullah acknowledged the Shalh as his masterl3 and forrcven years he studied rasaruru/ with him.rqTherea{tea following a tradition sharedbv manv collectors of[adrth. slfis and other scholars. f rravel n search f knou tedee$hla ft lalab ol- ilm1.i Shah Ni mamllsh emb"rked on a seriesof favels, visiting, inter a.Iia, Egypt, Persia, Transoxania,Samarqand, Shraz, Kirman and M.han.?] He met, and waslater expelled by, Trmnr-i Lang.22 In Herat he married thegranddaughter of Amir Husay'n Harawi (died c 1320 13291.23The last twenty 6ve years of his life were spent between Mahanlnd Kirrrr.in and the former became the focal point of arrexpanding Order as well as the place ofcomposition ofmany ofhis writings.za While on a visit to Knman. Shah Ni.matullahdied in A.D 1431 having already designated his son Khalilu an(died 1455)as his successor.2sis cof6n was car.ied to Mahan.nd intrred in the centre of that town_ A mausoleum was.rected over his tombr6 and this became the focus of muchpitgrimage 'By the time of his death, Shah Ni'matullah's posthumousrpiritual fame was assured. The people of Samarqand hadsought him out to such an extent that he had had to escaD othe mountains rn the deprhs or wrnter for some pedcedndsolitude.2s Javad Nurbaksh quotes .Abd al-Razzaq a.l-Kirmaniwriting of him that 'his honour was outstanding among thegreat people of his time in the areaof discourse and exceptionalamong the mastersof spiritual combat of his dav'.re

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'I'he Ni'matullau- Order spread ro India in the life of Shah\; 'marul ieh rhrough rhe aqency of his grandson, ShahNurulldnri and, unsurprrsingly, becameextremety active inIran.31 Today, blancqatu of one branch of the Order are to befound as far afretd as the citis and rowns ofthe United States.Western Europe (including England), Australia and Africa. It isthus no xaggeration to say that the Ni.matullahiwa is now aninternational driqd wilh an inrernarional ollowi;; from manvrutrons.I 'It has already been stressdearlier that it will not b the taskof this volume to survey and evaluate the spintualit! of theOrdersunderdiscussion. ur concernwil t be muchmorewiththeir ritual practices. However, we should not leave this briefsurvey of the life of Shah Ni.matullih without notine. asGraham does. har Sh;h Ni malu ;hs origrnalconrr ibt ionconsists in his making of Ibn 'Arabi's enunciated doctrine anapplied science. Where Ibn .Arabi was fundamentally athinker and a teacher, Shah Ni.matullah was first and foremosta practrtloner, a master, concerned with the zuidance ofdisciples t rhe ranqa. Ibn 'Arabr 's reachings rovided rhetheoretical background for Shah Ni.rnatullah s piog-n--e oftraining' rr

-. Il J:c9nt times stress has been placed on the openness ofShah Ni'matullah: 'He did not consider Sufism limited to acertain group of peopl. In contrast with other Sufi masters ofhis time, who accepted only some seekersof God and reiectedothers as unworrh), he lefr hi. door open to alt se;ke,s.instructing in the way oflove (nahahbat\ all those n whom heperceived a longing for the school of Unity. .StrahNi.not AIIahregardedall people as beins equally daseroinganl. in needof theschoolof 9l4f.srr'. He said, "All those whom the saints haverejecrrd. I willaccepr. and. accordrng o rheir capacity. witlperiect them. J'These remark" clearly underline r}e Ni,matullaii Order's stress on tolerance, frarerniry and equality aswell asservice.The latter is, ofcourse, rnost apparent within rhehhanaqah itself.3s

2.2 Rituals ndPracticcsThe 'method' of the Ni'matullahi Order has been characterisedI being symbolically bet,reen the East and the West. The latterb representative of total 'externa.l activity' and the former of'total inward attention'.36Man's world has an inner and anouter dimension and Slfism seeks a balance between the two.$Ofismitself has a dual dimension: one which has a public facerrtd one which is much deeper and 'resffed for the 6lite'.37This section eyplores the rituals and practices of that publicfrce. Before we embark on this erploration, however, it is worthdtessing, with Potrrjavady and Wilson, and against Triming-lnm and Ivanow,33 that the Ni'matulle+f Order is not, andnlver has been, an aristocratic Order, or one dirccted at onlydre class of society. It may however, fairly be characterised asan urban Order.

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he encounterd Shaykh .Abdulleh al yaf.i in Mecca, as welav1. sgel a!ove,l3 Arrd the N{aster, whose .sayings, states andqualir ies .should no t be quesrjonedby ;h"-di".,pt". i .symbol'sed by rhe wjnesellerwho is a profound irnageof rhenu'shid in rhe sufi vocabutaryof wine.ShanNi,matult"ah altedtumsett (-omrnanderof rhe Winesellers_r{_ In the rr-i'matullaht Order Mastership cannot sirnply be

Llaimed:,'Jrmusr be anajned rhrough rraining under a perfecrmasrer. I he true masrer murAd) s tinked ro rne spiritual chainol masrerswhich extendsback to the propher . . the masrermust have travelled the path and come to know the path beforehe can lead orhers on rhe way'.a. paraltet wirh this is Lheposrtronoi rhe novj{e or disciple rnridr 'who witnesss n hishean rhespLrilualbeaur! ot the masterand inrmedrarelyalls rnlove with thi: beauty'.s Indeed, a whole etiquette or adab ofdi"ciphship' governs rhe rel,rionship between Masrer andNovrce. 'nurdJand nu/id: and rhe unquestioninq uture of theobedrence o be exhibited by the laner towards rhe former isbasedon rhe arrherypal Qur,;rJc paradrgmenshrrned n rheencounterbetweenMosesand al_Klidr.a3, Thts .muradtnutid rclarionshjp asbeenanicularedat grarerrength m dn essayentir led Vasrer and Disciple.by Javad)r ' i lb$ " Here the aurhor surveys he un;Uur"s *ru.hshould be po-ssessedv the Masrer,rhe eur,ani. subsratum orroundalron ior Mastershp. and rhe need for a Master by aseekeror traveller.The laner poinr is elaborared rd"; ;A;he-adrngs hich include reference ro rhe obsraclesainddiflculties of the journey, the diseaseof self, gUa** tf,r""gispiritual sbres ,nd wirnessmgsand the desrrucrionof the ego..lne es$y concludes rtha survey f the esponsibil ir iesf;heMdsler towards he drsciple, isLedunder niner.een oinrs. andrhe^twentv our duriesof rhe discrple owardshis Mashr.. \h.n Nr marullah desigrarrd his successor. is son K}alilullah. beforehis dearh'0and the ldfer became he secondeudol rie Ord:, I While suchdesignarjonp,ovrdes,ds rr were.anroearpdradrgm or rhe succssion.his was nor alwaysrhe casem rhe hisrory of rhe Order. For example,white Nur ,Ali Shahrd,ed 7g7)and \4asr AIShahrt;Sj t8.t7,wered"sisndkd y

their predecessors,t2Mnnis 'Ali Sh.n U873 19531 neverrctually officially named a successor [aJId so] there was a greatdeal of confusion at his death. According to one source, thirteenFople claimed to be Qutb'.s3This whole matter of successionblings us natly to the siisilaof the Ni'matullahi Order. The close relationship between theNi'matullahi silsila and that of the Shadhiliyya Order has beenooted. It is believed by some that these two Orders are among aminority which have 'spread to the West in recent years in anruthentic and unaduiterated nanner'.sa Shah Ni'matullahWalr traced his silsila back through his own master Shaykh'Abdullah al-Ya6'i and his master, Shaykh Selih Barbad,through such luminaries as Ahmad al-chazali, al Junaydsl-Baghdadi, and al-Hasan al Basri to'Ali b. Abi T:lib andthe Prophet Muhammad himsellss The present head of theMnnisirya branch of the Ni'matullahiyya, Nnr 'Ali Shah 11Dr JavadNurbalhsh, traces his silsiia back to Shah Ni'matullah Wah56 and thus, through him, also to the ProphetMr.rhammad.The hhandqah s at the heart of Ni'matullait spirituality anditr mystery That senseof mystery, together with a typical lackof ostentation, was well evoked by Yann Richard, after his visitto a Rnch &frandqah:

For the Ftench,Rosny-sous-Bois, urban unction in thesuburbsof Paris, s more ikely to bring road ravel to mind thoShr'ite mvsticism.Neverthelss,hat is where I have mappointment, n a hor:se hat is spaciousmd modern, thoughnot ccessively luxurior:s,set n flower plmted grounds.Happyto hav rea.hed his haven after the labyrinth of freewayintelcheges, discoverhe signwritten n lalge eiters,n bothFrenchmd Persia, that intrigles the uninitiatedpassers,by:Houe of the Su6s,Khaneqah.eNe'tutollahi.,?

This is a Barthian scenario where place is made sacred byaction. Akin to this is the description of the bhanaqah byPourjavadyand Wilson, written in 1978,which lays an equalstressor its spiritis or mystery of placeand concomitant ack ofostentation. They characterise Persia as 'the place of the !LFi RITLAL VAPPINC TIJE SACRED1


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secret'se and rmind rhe curious visitor that if he seksdervishes and sufi activity on rhe strets of Teheran. a citv\r i th so many dervrshes. e wi l l f ind none. He js direcr;instead to a door in a small alley of Old Teheran. One enters agarden, and sees roses, a fountain in a courtyard and ,a newbuildingin an ancient style': the senseofny*ery presencean.rprofound peace s discernible from the writilq.oolf rhe mosque is representarive f the exiernal asoecrsotIslam then he hhanaqah represmts t}|at retiejons innerdimen'ions which protect rarher rhan opposerhe enemals olrelrgron.' Enrrv into rhe Afi,ina4alshouldbe spiritual aswell asphvsical.c2rq enrire focus s tove n Ni.maruliah rheory,The hhaniqahs then rhe place of sin@ty, where norhins isdr.cus"ed rreprrhe tteloved t is rhe Houseof Low, wrrhourfolly, variety or dceiq wherethere is no difdence betwenabggd and a kns All that .emains rhde is the selflessneasfthe spiritual srate,he divirc Light in eachman. Thereevryonefollowsthe rituals ofth sharfah, md h6 attainedvnious levelsof the tariqal. There are always false &antqarr! wh,e falsmasterscarry out their dseptioN, bur if the methodof th truebian;qahwereever orgottdr the very hose of the world itslfwouldbe ruined.6r

The mediaeval and mo dern hhanasa]$ have lllustrious DroDhetic anrecedenr":Joseph lfiana4al wasr-hewe : Jonans wasrhebell) ot lhe whale: Vuhammad s was Lhe Ka ba afrer he hadcleansed r ofits idols. Muhammad then described that Ka$a as'the Academy of Annihilation'.6a There is an ;nteresting sifitypology in operation here akin to rhar in Christianitv whichsees he slorv ofJonah 'n rhe belly of rhe whale as a 6pe ofChri . t in rhe romb for rhreedaysafter hecruciGxion._ One of the principal practices of the bhanrlsah s dhib, andthe Ni'matullahi dfiiAr will be surveyed in due course. It isworth noting here, however, that life in the ifitndadl is strictlvgoverned and conrro l led. lr is nor r p lace of spjr i tua|indiscipline and chaosbut a place of learning. JavadNuriatlstrhas surveyed the manners, the adnb, of the Ni.matullahihhanagah in an essayeotitled 'The Rules and Manners of the

Khaniqah'.6s 'these otab will be surveyed as what might btetmed the 'rule of life' of the Ni'matullaru- dervishes after abrief examination of the initiation ite into that Order.Comparisons will also be made between this rule and theclassic Chistian rule laid down by St. Benedict.66Already,however, we may note interesting resemblances between the1!ff lilarrdqah and the Christian monastery in terms of purpose.nd goal. Our previous characterisatiol of the hhanaqah as aplace of love may be brielly compared with the following fromthe Prologva of the Rule of St. Bmed.ict:

Constituenda est ergo nobis Therefore we intend ro estab-dominici schola servitii. In lish a schoolie monasterylforqua iistitutione nibil asprum, the Lord's swie. In drawins.ihil grave,Dos constituturos up its regulations,we hope tospeiamus; d et si quid pau, set doM nothing harsh,noth-lulum restrictius, dictante ing burdosm. The goo,C faequitatis ratione, propter all conccned, howeveamayeme.dationemvitiorun vel promptus to a litde strictnessconservationemwitatis pro in ordr o mnd faultsand ocesserit.. Prcesu vao con safeguardove . .. But as weversationis et fidei, dilatato progressr this way of [mon-@rde innanabili ditectionis asticl life od in faid! we shalldulcedine curritur via mmda run on the path of cod'stol:le Dei.6t commandments,our hearts

overflow;g with the ine4ressibledelightof love.63The love of God and man, and humility, which should reign inthe hhanasAh should also reign in the Benedictine monastery;the R e oJ St- Benedict reinfo.ces th need for thesevirtues in auariety of places:

Clmt nobis scriptura divina, Brothers,divine Saipture callsfra&6, diens, Omni qui se to us saying: Whoaer enhsetuItat ldnilinb'hlr et ryi se hins?IJ shal be hrnbled, andhmiliat exaltiqtut6e uhodet h|'r.bleshinself shallbe

exalted.lo

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Calitateh fraternitatis caste To their fellow monks theyimpendmt, amore Deurn time show the pue love ofbrcthen;dr. dbbalem er ro Uod lovirshumili caritatediligmt.;!

Initiation into th sufi life cin take a variety offorms. The ritesare more elabomte in some areasand some (Jrders than others.They can include being clothed in the lhirqa (suft ga.rment),anoath of allegiance, receiving secretwords, the drinling of wateror oil, investiture with garments addit;onal to the hhirqa.al lo.arron ta personal f i ibr and orherprayers.:rIt must be stressed that the tr-i'matullahis are by no meansopposed to the exoteric aspectsof Islam_ Thus, before theNi'matullalt initiation ceremony, both the non,I,{ustim andMuslim aspira.ntsto the sufi path are obliged to mate a ritualadherence o Islam.;J Pourjavadyand Wilson de6ne initiationas 'outwardly .. . a ceremony whereby tne aspranr swears oobey the trIaster and is received into the tan-qah'.;5 Prior to theinitiation, the candidate must formulate a correct intention.t6ard then undertake five ritual ablutions as follows: eachof theseablutions has an exoteric and an esoteric dimension: fustlvcome\ h? ablution Jppc,rdn c wirh which rheaspiranr eoentsol pasrmi"deeds.Of rhe rhree kind. of repenranie.Lhebes rsclearly harofthe.ufr who dres o al l thar s not Cod. : Thencomesthe ablfiion of flb'rlission or lslam referred to above. Thisinvolves tota.l outq'ard a.rld nward surrender to the will of cod.Islam too has three dimensions embracing the verbal professionof fajth, 'initiation through the herrt' and firratty, that which is

clearly the best, 'the initiarion tbrough the Root of the Root oflslam, which is surrenderand resignationand satisfacrion ,ithboth Union and separation'.i3The third ablution is the a.blutionof spi'itl:.l,I pou'rt: in rhisthe outward cleansing mirrors the inner purity. It signifies rhe

need for God.tq Fourth of the five ablutions cones the ablutionof pilgnmage (ie to the Master). Just as one purfies or washesoneself and puts on clean clothes before visiting the dignitarisof this world, so one should be clearsed outwardly beforevisiting the l\,faster to receive directions for inner purificationand pilgrimage via the snfi path.3o (The Arabic and Persianword ziyArc being translated as 'pilgrimage' here by Dr.Nurbalhsh could equally be rendered as simply 'visitins'.)Finally, the 6{ih ol the five ablutions is terned the ablation offil-ltlrnent. The aspirant prays to be allowed to reach 'the Stationof the Perfect Man' and the joy of eternal life in Paradise.3iFive gifts, symbolic of spiitual poverty, are then preparedand these are Fesentd to the Master by the aspirant. Thesegifts comprise a coin, a white shroud, a ring, sweets andnutmg. Each of these objects has a mystical significance: thecoin symbolises the wealth of this world arrd its presentation tothe Master symbolises acceptanceof an inner spirit of poverty;the sbroud rcpresents the seker's total surrender to God andacceptance of asceticism; the ring signifes the binding of theaspirant's heart to God; the sweetsare a sign of the secondbirthof the disciple as he enters the realms of spiritua.l povertyi6nally, the nutmeg is symbolic of the discipte's head which ispresented as a mark of devotion to the Master.3?The initiation qualifies the seeker o enter the hhdna.qahandit is stressed in the literatur that this must be both a ohvsicaland a spir irual ntry.3'I hu., before he.eeler enterswhar stermed the circleof Spiritual Poverty',3{he is required o make6ve commitments to his Master: he must (1) undertake tofollow and obey the Sfidn'd, testifying, if Islam has not beenembraced before, with the traditional terms of tF'eshahad.o. ndadding h furthef testimony that ''Ali is the SaintofGod'; (2)make a cornmitment here to being kind to all God's creatures;(3) pledge himself to keep the secretsof the Path; (4) agree to6erve and oby the Master unquestioningly; and finally (5)male an inward declaration of sacrifice and prepare a specialmeal from a sheep or distribution among his fellow dervishes.35TVo points may be stressed here: although, for the sake ofconvenience I have written the above with

,\CFi RITUALclear that

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women are equally welcome on the Ni.matullfi snfipath. NurbaLhsh specially indicates this when he refers to .he or.he unda the headingsThe FiveSymbolsofspirirual poverrv.ano t he rrve Uornrrutmenrsno Setondjy, rhe fad thar theprocessof initiation involves fle rituat abtutions, fza gifts andJnue commrtments, coupled with the fre major principlesespousedby dervishes of the Ni.matualtahiyya,riiodi.ut"" ihutthe number FIVE is a favourite of the Order. ihe emphasis hereis aI n ro rharplaced,or exampte, v rhe khwan l Sala,onrhenumber Four.s The lh-hwanexptained rhat rheir predilecrjonlor the number tour wasbecauseheCrearorhad designedmuchof His creation in groups of fours. This arrangement of thenatural phenomena mirored the four main spirilal principles9{ Creltor, Universal Inteltect, Universat Soul and primeMatter.se Some clue to the predilection of the Ni.matuallaluttor groups off?,es is to be found in The Nurbahhsh Enqclopediaof Suf Terninolog where reference s made to ,the five Lyers . .of manifestationwhich are the 6ve realms ...'. The lowest ofthese,we are told, is the realm of Humaniryeo Thus, for the snfi,the grouping of such things as rituals in 6ves within themrcro, .rmrr rrucrure oI the hhhnaqahmirrors or parallels hebroaderreality of rhe spirirual nranoros,n f rhe coimos.

2.2.3Rule ofliIeOnce the aspirant or seekerhas beerr nitiated and gained formaladmrttance to rhe [hand4n[, it is his duty to follow the rule ofthe touse and become proficient in its manners or nlzb. Toguide them in this, modem Nilnatultdhr dervisbes have awritten mle which, though by no means as lensthy as that, forexample, of St. Benedict, does nonethelessnave some rnterest_mg points in common.The Ni'marullehi Rule is based on the twin pilla$ ofmnsideration of God and consideration tor ones telowdervish.q The bldna4al is defined asboth .the p.i te quarters,of the quft and 'a place where those of spiritual states canassemble, he school oftheir innerjourney towards perfection,.e2

Nurbalhsh reminds the snfi of the need to observe the mannersGAab) ot the hhnna4ah a\d outlines the secular and spiritualadvantages of visiting it.q3 He surveys those who have authorityin the blrdndsah and their functions; for example, the duties andquali6cations of the Shaykh are outlined. The latter must havebeen chosen by the Qrtb and be a dervish of at least twelve yea-rsstanding.el The duties and qualifications of the dervish whoassisti the Shavkh. the Counsellor. are also covered as are thoseofanother important dervish n the Hr,anaqah,he Tea-Master.eiThe Rule then moves on to survev the servitors: these aresufis of spcial merit and capacity for adab who are chosen toserve in the hhanaqah.'fhey merit respect from the otherdewishes whom the servitors must, in turn, serve devotedly.The lalter are not to show favouritism to any dervishes becauseof wealth or social standing.'6Below the rank ofthe servitors are he 'ordinarv' suirs, all ofwhom also haveparticular duties to the bldndriah, the offrcers ofthe hhauqah and their fellow dervishes. These sofrs arecounselled, inter alia, to dress neatly, forget secular aflairs onex,te;ng the hhanaqah.attend the $nfi gatherings on Sunday andThursday nights, remain silent and respectful when the Shaykhis present and tell the latter their dreams, obey the orders oftheCounsellor and eschew arrogance, conceit and supedority.qiNext the position of the travelling dervish in the hhanaqah sconsidered. He should bring a gift, and the gist of theregulations is that he shor.rld behave with the utmost courtesy,consideration and respect within, arrd towards, the &Aandqahwhere he is a guest and not attempt to take unfair advantage ofhis fellow dervishes.e3The Rule concludes with instructions for the conduct of asufi gathering which is deined as an assembly which takesplacewhn the Qrrb or ShayLh is prcsent. Rules of posture, all ofwhich have a symbolic significance, are adumbrated, and arinsistence is placed on silence and concentration on God.Certain rituals also govern the cloth spread on the foor formeals and the meal which is eaten from it.ee The penultimatechapter of the Rule outlines the qualifications required ol andduties incumbent upon, the Stewards of the bhanaqah. Between

suFI RITU]\L _selT o,l r.hesemay be MAPPING THE SACRED1


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:lrT iid appointedby rheShayhi. t he1::f:pl" ot all,is verv.shorrand appear"under rhe simpttruDlc LreneratAdvice Here rhe snfr is remindedof Lheneedl::,"p*":* trld Inendliness ro peopte who belong to allnationsand ret,gions hospirdliryro ones fellow man;,La rheneeoDtorhe over to concenlrare ll fus or her lhoughrson Godlne beto\ed hospira l i r \ ,ro one.s ;.r l r ran. .'l l"-l:J"Trlu, and rsrructive.0 ompare lt Lhis nefl1wirn anorherKutphom anorher adition, rhat of rhe mediaevinnsirct ot Nursra c 480 mrd or-h mt.r Lile rhe modem Ruleor ue \r mdtu_ hiyva adumbrared above. the Rulc of rheDmeorcrrness ruUot lvildom and sheermmmon sense or rhesuccessfulnrnning and governanceofa monastc housofprayer:as we have seen, the pmto&" stresses the p,,p""" Lf immonasrery r.is for rhe Lord s .ervrce alld l" .fl"_.r"riJ* f

]11,-, ." rhc comrnmrdroJnores, rhe monasteryrs a place]::^: ii:ff*'Ph reafnhow ro serve he Lord and adudlly(ro so.'" I he qudtjtiesard dutiesof LheAbbor ur" su*"yoJ inseveral pa.rts of the Rubro2 as are those "i f* "*i"t "t", iilDedns ot rhe monateryr,rand the pnor.rtr rc;r.f,* "-** rr"c.nosen verv $eek and no one is excused iom service n rhei::l: "I:p,^'"j reasons. f sicknessor imponanr monasteryDusmr:ss. he^Kdpmsisrs har.such ser!ice ncra*" ,e*"rd ,rdrosrers..tove.,"' Indeed, al l lhe monks of the monasreryarecoumelled n rhe wavsof perfecrJonhroughourBenedicr,sh";,nkrdlrd. lhey musr& obedientlo rher super;or.ru esLrajnednT,"i:p*:l "' atlenr,ve o the Divrne uf{ice,aaand humbte in11-lTl*'* rn au rhese reashen.we rnaynoreveryreatIli"-t1'.5' betweenhe rwo Rulcs f Sr.Benedic,nl rher\rmrtullahis. lr isnol,ot course, uggesredn anyway hat he111"'T'-Td lrom the ormer.but simpty hat rhe wo Ruics,or path\ o Ljod. haremany eaturesn commonl.

2.2.+ ilrrgyThe-

-\rmarul l ;hr Order, . haracter isr ica, ,denr i f iesL,epllncrpres lxch eachdervishshouldpracr ise.ro ach"specr

of this frvefold obligation will be surveyed here under thegeneralheading of'Liturgy'. These principles compriser (1)Dhihr (ZeAr)r11Remembrance r Recollection) alled the heartof sufi practice';rr? 2) Fib (Fehr) (Reflectionor Contempla-tionl; (3) Mufiqaba (Moraqebeh) (Meditation, Watching,Spiritual Communion with a saint or a guide);r13 4) Muhasaba(Mohasebeh) Examination of conscience); .5) Wird (.Vrd)(lnvocation, Office' of an Orderl.tta We should sbesshere, nFssing, that this set of 6ve has never been intended to replacethe frve uhan.

22.1.1Dhihr nd. ana'Under this headingwe will consider he practiceofthe sdma'aswell as he Ni"matullahi dii[r itsell Waley notes hat oneof thefeatures of dfrihr 'is that it represents dndmnesis, he 'unforgetting'ofthat which, in our deepest ore, we alreadyknow. Goddeated us for this purpose'-1l5And the act of dhih can takemany different forms and styles.lr6Pourjavady and Wilsonconfirm Waley's remarksabout dhiAr: Ma.n'spresent ow stateof spiritual sleepstems rom forgetfulness;nvocation dhiAr] issimply the act of constant ecollction'.rr7 he wise old man inthe story is citd as insisting that 'by lepating his dfiihy thepupil invokes God so as to acquire God's attributes, so that afterannihilation of self all that remains s God. As the pupil settlesinto the practice ofdhi&r, it begins to 'say itself instead of himsaying t, and the remembererbecomes he Remembered'.r13Like other rituals and aspcts of the Ni'matutldhi hhanaqah,dhiir has ts o*n rules and manners adab).An earlier Shaykhofthe Ni'matullahr O.der, Majdhub, 'Ali Shah Hamadam (died1823)r1e pecified hirteen conditions in order that the dhiArmight be properly performed.r2oJavadNurbalhsh setsout rn

which he characterises as the dldb of dhihr:121 There is anemphasison th ritual purity which results from the normalablutions he worshipperundertakesbefore he live-timesa dayprayer (1). As an adjunct to this it is necessaryo wear cleanclothing which constituts, as t were, an outer mirror or symbol

of inner purity of mind and heart (2). A third dirnension of theI IAPPING THE SACRED

and the use of musical instruments have o{ten incurred the


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need for purity, outer and innr, lies in the disciple smellingpleasant (3). The latter should face the qibia in the nomalfashion for prayer (4) and his or her eyes should be closed (s).Paralleling the need for risht intention in so much ofmainstream ritual, the disciple during the dhifrr should mentallyinvoke his Master's aid. The link with, and need for guidancefrom, a sufi l\,Iaster is thus brought rieht into the arena of thednihr itself (6). A specilic posture is to be adopted whichstresses n symbolic form the nothingness of the snfi and thelatter's rejection of the ego. This is powerfully articulated in abody posture wherein the arms and legs form the Arabic word'la' ('no' or'not').r']? Once againwe havean outer reflectionof aninner attitude of self abnesation 7). During all this the soF isrequired o empty his or her mind o{all worldly proccupationsand 611 t sirnply with thoughts of Cod (8) in silence 9) withgratitude and acceptance that any feelings and experiencesencounteredduring the dfiilr are from Cod Himself (10).Two types ofdhi&r may be identified: Vocal' (dhitr1ab) and'Silent' (dhilr hiufr. The filst may be performed, often loudly,by snfis in their hhandqahor at a sufi gathering. It is practisedby such Orders as the Qadiri''ya.1r3And while it is true tha.vocal dhi&r may be undertaken when the Shaykh is presentduring Ni'matullah gatherinss, or on special occasions, thepreferred mode of dhiAr among Ni'rnatullrhis is the silentvaiety.r2a Furthermore, the practice of silent dhilr in themiddle of everydayactivities s much comrnended.rziIn their book, Kings oflove, Navoltah Pourjavady and PeterLambom Wilson describe a typical dhi&r in Old Teheran.Between one hundred arrd fifty and two hundred tale part in a'naji; on a Thursday evening. The dervishes sit during thechanting of the snfi poetry and a simple vocal dhihr, based onthe Arabic shaiada, is performed. This is done in absolutedarkness.The dhibr ends with a prayer from the l\'{aster. As thelights go on he prays for God's guidance,help and succourr:rBeyond tbe dhilar lies the sama', the mystical or spiritualconced. Chant has a.lwaysben permitted in mainstream Islamin the realms of the adJratland ,4ju,td, but other forms of singing

*rath of the theoiogians and rhe law schools.l2i Owen Wrightnotes that the later importance that music acquired in $rlliceremonial 'depended upon its being interpreted symbolically'.r':sSymbolic or not, the sdma'has givn rise to massiveconhoversy not only among non-sifts but within s,lfi circlesthemselves.l2e he debate has continued into modern times.Philip Lewis citesa notable Indian Muslim scholaras countingamong the signs of the Day of Judgement 'the abundance ofsinging, dancing and revelries' 130Many centuries before, theearly sufi al-Hu.iwiri (died c.1075),'r' famous for his work TheDisclosrre of the Concealed (Kash/ al-Mahj ),1rr counselledagainst too much pnctice of the sano' and he laid down anumber of conditions for the pmctice of the sama" to avoidabuse: a Shayhh was to be present, only initiates were to bepresent, the dervishes were io rcmain in a state of absolutesobriety, and whn they were spiritually moved during thesamd' they were to avoid disturbing others who wereparticipating in the sona'.131N{usic and the sama' became a normative part of the sufi way.The rationale for the sona'was that it produced 'a state ofecstasy n the listener who [wasl properly prepared, because tsnon verbal, non categorical meaningfulness prefigureldl theabsolute beauty which [wasl the Suli's q6al'.t:+ Here we a-rereminded of Wright's words, cited above, about the symbolicrnture of sufi music.As far as the Ni'matullahr Order is concerned, music wasused as early as the majiliis of Shah Ni'matullah Wah but it'accorded, n his opinion, with the Shari'ah', and escheweddancing and whirling. The sarnZ" ompriseda simple diribr withclapping and, sometimes, he use of the tambourine and reedflute.l3: Later Nlasters of the Order developed a wholevocabulary of s,[fi symbolism which embraced Wine, Music,lr,fystical Audition (Sama'), and Convivial Gatherinss'.r36Sdna'has been denned as'a mysticai state experiencedbythe Sufis when affected by sweet singing and enchantedmelodies. n this stateof selflessness,ufis may exhibit cetainmovements which onlookers may suppose to be a kind of

S.Fi RITI]ALdance'.r37 For, it is stressed, sdma. means .the realization

\IAPPINO THE SACREDOneness'.rn True sufi


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anddiscovery of mystical states whiclr is necessarily accompaniedby th loss of the faculties of retention and judgement in one sintemal consciousness'.33ln their sdna' today, the dervishes ofthe Ni.matullall- Orderbd\e a rnajor rreariseon Lhesubject by JavadNubal}rsh fortheir gurdance.rro rghtar the beginnineof tfus r is suessedharthe.ecstasywhich is the product of the sand. is not somethingwhich is superficial, and that the sdfi dance is not pedormed foimere dle amusement.r'uRarher.sdr.;. puts man rn roucb wirh' thedngef ic f suprasensble or ld rrheMalahur) .111. Following,Shaykh Rnzbihan Baqh Shnazi (1128 1209),14,three types ofrdnz'are idertified: that which is suitable for theordnary people, that Fopr to the elect, and that which is forthose vr'ho are classified as.the elect among the lect,.rr3Followins al cha2eh, tawfut and unlawful kinds of sama. are.ategor ised rd rh rredrr"e hen lays down twenty rulesolconducl whrch musr golern rhc sd,?Z rr4 These include rheneed for sp-ontaneity, nfrequent practice, the presenceof a sufiMaste.r or Shaylh, lack of pretence, correct posture and a pureheart focussed solely on God. An explanation ofwhy dnilrs andpoetrv rarher han_vers5rom rhe eur'an are used during rhesana' rs provided, '' and it ,s emphas,sedhrt in anangi;C asdmd 5essron, ne musr consider rhe time. the place,and thepeople, akrnq par'rb Wh,iJe the pradice of .dnz, brings

unoour'red benehrs,rhere are certrin situations in which rtshould not be practised.l+7 Spa:ial reference is also rnad to rhemusical nstruments employed n the sarna..ra3The trearr.e hen movesro d lengthy exposrtionof rhe rh_reestatronsot idmd' which are identiied as undersranding,ual(which can loosely b translatd here as ecstasyl ano movemenr. ' " The kinds and terels ol wajd ate jdenLi iedandde"cnbed. rhs includesa comparisonbetween he uajd ot thebegrnner ard rhe ad!anced dervish. Under rhe rubric ofMorement (Dancing), tt is noted that .sometimes the movmentsof su6s in Wajd are Jikedance movements. This indicares a veryadvanced degree of Wajd'.r50 The dervish may be s&ed withyearning for God and sramp his feet and clap in the .Dance of

dance, according to Nurbakhsh, isalways nvoluntary-lt2Finally, he treatise oncludeswith a briefeurvey of the sami:"practicesof Shah Ni'matullah Wali,1s3atubject to which we have already briefy referred.Although the rules goveming the sdma'specify that 'thegeneral public, or those not on the path, should not bepresnt'1saduring the sarna', some flavour of the singing and themusicianship may be gleaned from the occasional publicconcrts such as those mounted by th Nimatullahi Sufi MusicEnsemble at the School of Oriental and African Studies,University o{ London, in the evening of 5th December 1990during the thre day intmational conference on ClassicalPersian Sufism entitled Tlre Legacy of Mediael)al PersianSufvn;rii and that performed by the same Ensemble, directedby Muhammad Reza Lotfi, in th Lisner Auditorium of theGeorge Washington University campus in the evening of 11thMay 1992 during another three day international conferencemtitled Persian Suiyn from its Origiru to Rrmi.1s6

2.2.a.2 ihlThe Ni'matullahi dervish embraces the Divine Beloved bymeans offLr and other sirnilar practices.r5TFor him the practiceoffhr leads to that form of contemplation which results inindeed is certitude about things divine.li3 Waley reminds usthat the practice of contemplation was by no means restricted tothe sifisrie and he draws attention to Abu Hamid al Ghazalt'simportant chapter on meditation (Bab al-Tafahhuil in hrsfarnous magnum opus llya" 'IJItLm ai Dm.160 In the latte.a.l-Ghazalr stresses the merits. nature and beneits of con,templative meditation, distinguishing between various types of .introspective thought.l6l He examines the appropriate subjectmatter for such refection and argues, in one place at least, thatft; is more beneficiat than dhibr.t62As we have already noted, flr is one of the five principalpractices incumbent upon the Ni'matullehi dervish. God is theabsolutesnfi focus oftiz, with the mind emptied of all else.r63

SUFi RITUALSufif&r is infused with love and transcends that of the saee or (oI qa,l.ar). the

MAPPINC TflE SACRED1


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inrellectual r'anf who attempts to reach God rht"ueh th"medium of knowledgerb': While "ratronal contemplation iswoven. heart-based conremplaiion is ro be found.rt' Theformer is motivated by reason but the latter is motivated byGod.'66 The Nilnatullahrs identify three distinct kinds of'heart-based' contmplation: there is the restless contemplationof rhe seekerwho lacksa Master and a par-h ur beeins; rhinlabout the need for a spiritual guide; ther is the contemplationof the initiate who has embarked on the spiritual road in whichthat initiate perceives the Master's 'spirirual h"ty'; -rdhirdly, and 6nally, there is the fh', the contemplation of'thAdvanced Su6' in which the soul is 'plunged into the DivineUnity' and contemplation becomes wisdom.r6t From all this itis clear that, for the Ni"marulla{n dervish, the heart ranls abovethe mind, and that love is rnore powerful and more potent thanthe intellect.

22.a3 MtaqabaWaley translates nurA4aba as 'conremplative vigilance' and'contemplative watchfuiness'.163He notes that the sufi Abn 'lQasim a.l-Qushayri (died 1072) interpreted a very famoushadtth as a direct reference m mura.qrbLl,e The hadrth is worthsummarising in full for one can then appreciate it context tlrcprofoundly sufi gloss that al,Qushayn gave part ofil in terms ofmuAqaba.

The second Uraiifz 'Umar b. ai Khattib relates how he wassitting one day with the Prophet Muhammad when they wereapproached by a man wearing extremety white dothes andhaving jet-black hair. H sat down by the Prophet and procededto ask him about Islam. Muhamrnad then characterised, orsummarised, Islam in terms of the five pittars (artaa) of lslam.The stranger told the Prophet, to the amazment of thosearcund him, that h had spoken truly. Then the stranger askedabout -rrnanand was told by Muhammad that this embracedbelief in God, and His ansels, books, messmgers, rhe Day of

fudgenrentand Divine Destiny Again strargerhpressed his approral of what Muhammad had said and thnded for a definition ol or information about, illsan. He wasbld that this involvedworshippingGod as f youcould seeHim,urd even fyou could not seHim, He could se o.u .n ttL'I duAllah ha amaha tafihu, Ja in lam tahlm tarahu, fa-ivahujaraha). The strdner's inal questionwas about the Last Day,chancterisedn this batrth as TheHnr (al-Sa"a),and he 'Signsof the Hour'. When the stranger finally leaves, Urnar, inresponseo aquetion fiom the Prophet,confessesis completeiSnoranc bout the questionerandis informed by Muhammadthat it was he angelJibn1, n disguise,who had come to teachyou your religion .r7oFrom the prspective ol mwaqaba, al-Qushayri's particularinterest was in the Prophet's definition of r'llsan;al-Qushatrr saysthat 'this is an a.llusion to al' mlraqoba, for nuraqaba is therervant's knowledge of his Lord's (be He glorfied) watchfulnessof Him. Such knowledge is extmded tbrough rn'raqaba (watchful contemplation) of his Lord'171 Waley stresses hat 'in thispessageQushayd explains muldqabdas a mutual 'keeping watch'between the Creator and the seeker on the Sufi Path'.172Elsewhere we leam that 'adent love' has five degrees: 'The6nal degree s "contemplation" ... of the Beloved, being thefinest and most intense of stations'.173This quotation clearlyunderpins the spirituality of the third of the frve principles ofthe Ni'matullahi Order which the dervish should practis, thatof muaqrbq and so we will turn now directly to theNi'matullair articulation of this principle.In his book ln ttu Paradie o/tfie Sujs, Dr. JavadNurbakhshintroduces the subject with the following chaiming phrase:'Mutaqebeh is two pople taking care of and protecting eachother The sagesof the Path have said about moraqeleh that jirstas God takes care of and protects man, so man in his heart musttale care of and protect God.'r74 This links up neatly withal-Qusha1,n's exegesisof the Prophetic defrnition of il6an in theHadnh of Gabriel cited above and underlines Nurbakhsh'sinsistence that there are two directions of mutaqaba: 'from Godto the creatioq and from the creation to God'.1ts

SI]FI RITUAI.In describing the first, 'From cod to the Crcation, under the

\IAPPIN(] THE SACRED 1hom smells. Stch muraqaba has its own dddb or ritual code: for


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specrfiL eading fhe Divine Moraqebeh owards he Whole orCrearion Nurbakhsh t learlyespouses form of whar is called'atomism' in mediaeval Islamic philosophy. Using thoroughtvAristotelian terminology, he holds that substanc"" only .erin;in existence by virtue of the accidents which sustain them. Thelading of the latter would mean the automatic extinction of theforme., were it not for the fact that the All_Watchful God talesc"re to create a new accident when one fades so that thesubstancesare maintained in being. It is suggested that this isthe real senseof the Qur.enic verse At every momenr He ishvolved with creation'. Q 55,20;.,tuNurbakhsh foliows this sratemenr immediately with ShaykhRuzbihan's defnition that 'moraqebeh is God'";u,"r""""" ;,r".every partjcle of the creation from the Divine Throne to thelowest phenomenon, and His overseeingof all the attributes forthe purposeof granting them qrace,.t;;Atomism, also called Occasionalism, .was a thory inmedieval Islamic theotosy according to which absolutelyeverything (except cod) was made up of atoms and perishableaccldents a",il). The theory stressedhe continuou;interven,tion by God in the affairs of the world and hurnadty. It wasembraced (though interpreted in its derail in different waystby.many medrevalheotogiansnctudrng he \ lu. razi l i reALu-r Hudhdvl al 'Al laf tborn berueen ;j2l. t ;48lq, d,edbtween 8.10,/1 849,/501 and rhe Ash.arite theologianal-Baqilleni ldied 10131'.r'3The seconddirecrron f nwasaba tnoruq?beht . .norr . eLredr ionro Cod. ;s div;ded nro thar of rhe Shar. r , tharorFarthand rhe Divine Voraqebeh. rhe laner being possibleontlfor Cods sainrs. Dr. Nurbathshconctudeshar rhe mosrpefect lorm of conremplation for the sufi is where the lattermoves tom_a parrJal o a complereprception of Realiry.r3o eqoeson to delrnearehe physicalcondirronsnecessarvor rryingto achieve his.-the muruqaba hould be in aa empry. unfrequenredplace.perlormed m a srale of quietude. To avoid al l personaldistractions one's body should be clean, comforrable and free

?rampl, it should be preceded by the ritual ablution, themditatorshould sit on the ground facing the qi6la,completelyrtill with closedeyes,ard the mind should be focussed ntirelyon God. An attempt should be made to lose all sense ofindividuality or desire. Three particular positions are favouredfot nuraqaba and these are iliustrated in ln the Parad(e of theSufs which is both a manua.l for the novice as well as aprceptive guid for the initiate and advanced sufi. Indeed, allthree may benefit ftom muriutraba.l31The whole object oftturaqabd, Dr. Nurbalhsh insists, is to become a stranger to thisuorld with its dualism of'l' and 'You'. God makesman die torelf and he is then revived in God.r32

2.2.41MthasabaThe Arabic word mlharaba comes fiom a root embracing suchconcepts s'sttling a.naccount', calling (someone)o account','getting even (with someone)'and 'holding Gomeone) espon-sible'.r3r t has thus been variously rendered as 'accounting','bookleeping', and, in theology and $nfism, 'examination ofconscience'.r34he word clearly hasboth a profoundly secula-r,materialistic dimension and a profoundly spiritual dimension.Waley renders he term as self-examination'and notes ts veryimportant associationwith Herith b. Asad al Mubasibi ofBaghdad(died 857).135 e also reminds us of the oft quotedgdfi saying, which has been attributed io the fourth &

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137192525 Sufi Ritual the Parallel Universe by Ian Richard Netton