Sayyid Athar Abbas Rizvi

Islamic spiritual traditions in the Indian subcontinent developed features uniquely their own, but as was the case in other parts of the Islamic world, they remained deeply rooted in the Quran, Hadīth, and the teachings of the righteous caliphs and those of Ali ibn Abu Talib's descendants. The spiritual guide of the great Persian Sufi Bayazīd Bastami was Abu 'Ali Sindī. ¹ In ca. 292/904, on his second pilgrimage to Mecca, Mansur al-Hallaj with his four hundred disciples traveled through Gujarat, the Lower Indus Valley and the northern Indian borders to Khurasan and Turkestan. ² From time to time other Sufis also moved to different parts of Sind and the Punjab, but the contributions of only those Sufis who settled in India after the conquest of the Punjab and Sind by Sultan Mahmud of Ghaznah (388/998-421/1030) are documented.

By the fourth/ tenth century, the Sufis had formed several orders and fraternities. One of them was founded by Shaykh Abū Ishòaq Ibrāhīm ibn Shahriyār (d. 426/ 1035), who died at Kazirun, situated between Shiraz and the Persian Gulf coast. He ordered his nephew Shaykh Safī al-Dīn to mount a camel and travel in whatever direction the animal took him; he was then to remain where finally the camel halted. The camel stopped at Uchh (Upper Sind in Pakistan), where Sòafī al-Dīn founded his khanqah . The shaykh died in Uchh, but the influence of his uncle penetrated very deeply into the life of seamen and mariners who undertook hazardous voyages from the Persian Gulf to China through the Indian Ocean and the Indonesian archipelago. Ibn Batatu, who traveled along the Indian coasts on his way to China between 743/1342 and 747/1346, stayed in the Kazirūnī khanqahs in Calicut and Quilon on the Malabar coast and at Zaitun in China. ³ A modern scholar compares the chain of Kazirūnī khanqahs with an insurance corporation, ⁴ but none can doubt the devotion of seamen who returned to their homes safely because of what they believed to be the efficacy of Shaykh Abū Ishòāq's prayers.

Before long, Lahore also became an important Sufi center. Abu'l-Fadòl Muhammad ibn al Hasan Khuttalī, a disciple of Huṣrī (d. 371/ 981-82) of the school of Junayd of Baghdad, is the first known Sufi to have ordered a disciple, Shaykh Zanjānī, to move to Lahore. Later Khuttalī asked his young disciple, Abul-Hòasan 'Alī Hujwīrī to follow Hòusayn Zanjanī. It would seem that he arrived at Lahore in 426/1035, the same day Zanjānī died.

Hujwīrī wrote books on Sufism in both prose and poetry. His Kashf al-mahòjūb (Rending of the Veiled) is the first known manual of Sufism written in Persian. Composed toward the end of his life, the work draws on the vast source material available in Arabic and is a most authoritative exposition of the sober Sufism of Junayd's school. It indicates that Lahore had become an important center of Sufism, some Sufis being profoundly aware of Hindu spiritual traditions. One of them who was an expert in Quranic exegesis held that baqā (abiding in Allah) meant God's subsistence in man. Some Lahore Sufis identified gnosis with divine revelation. Some Sufis believed in the superiority of saints over prophets. It was an uphill task for Hujwīrī to convince them of the true meanings of Sufism. He considered himself a "captive among uncongenial folk" ⁶ in Lahore.

It would appear that from its very inception, Sufism in India developed conflicting trends, mainly because of the challenges from movements among local mystics. The analysis of Sufism, its history, and its principles discussed perceptively in the Kashf al-mahòjūb went a long way toward stabilizing Sufi thoughts, not only in India but even in Persia and Central Asia.

The only other work able to match the Kashf al-mahòjūb in popularity and utility in India was the 'Awārif al-m'ārif by Shaykh Shihāb al-Din Abū Hòafs 'Umar (539/1145-632/1234), the founder of the Suhrawardī Order. He obtained training under his uncle Shaykh Dòiyā' al-Dīn Abu'l-Najīb Suhrawardī (490/1097-563/1168), who built a hospice on a ruined site on the Tigris in Baghdad. The caliph al-Nāṣṣir li-Dīni'Llāh (575/1180-622/ 1225) appointed Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn as his ambassador to different courts of important rulers and built an extensive khānqāh for him in Baghdad, which included luxurious bathhouses and gardens. He traveled extensively and made several pilgrimages to Mecca, accompanied by his eminent disciples. Sufis from all over the world flocked to his khānqāh to obtain initiation from him. One of them was Shaykh Bahā'al-Dīn Zakariyyā', who was born at Kot Karor near Multan (now in Pakistan) in about 578/1182-83. After studying at different centers of Islamic learning, he arrived in Baghdad. His training period under Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn lasted for only seventeen days, to the utter disgust of the senior disciples, but the Shaykh silenced them by saying that when they had first come to him they had been like green wood which would not catch fire, whereas Bahā' al-Dīn had been like dry wood, which had begun to burn with a single breath.

In Multan, the eminent Sufis and 'ulamā' stubbornly opposed Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn, but his scholarly attainments and a distinctive position among the disciples of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī soon made him a principal figure in Multan. It appears that merchants from Iraq and Khurasan were attracted to him in large numbers. The Shaykh built an extensive khānqāh on the pattern of his spiritual guide's khānqāh in Baghdad. He fearlessly opposed Qubāchah, the ruler of Multan, and espoused the cause of Sultan Shams al-Dīn Iltutmish (607/1211-633/1236) of Delhi, who seized Multan in 625/1228. The repeated Mongol invasions of Multan made the life of the townsfolk miserable, but the fame of Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn's piety in Khurasan and Transoxiana facilitated successful negotiations with the Mongol invaders. ⁷

Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn strongly discouraged Sufis from seeking guidance from a number of different pīrs (spiritual guides), urging them to lay their heads on one rather than a number of thresholds. He placed great stress on performing obligatory prayers and assigned a secondary place to supererogatory prayers and dhikr. He ate normally and did not indulge in incessant fasting. In Sòafar 661/ December 1262 he died at Multan, and his tomb became a center of pilgrimage in the region. He was succeeded by his own son, Shaykh Sòadr al-Dīn 'Ārif (d. 684/ 1286). Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn Zakariyyā's disciple and son-in-law, the poet and mystic Shaykh Fakhr alDīn Ibrahīm, popularly known as 'Irāqī (d. 688/ 1289), spread his fame from Syria to Turkey. Irāqīs Lama'āt (Divine Flashes), based on lectures by Shaykh Sòadr al-Dīn Qūnawi (d. 673/ 1274) on his master Ibn 'Arābī's Fuṣūṣ al-hòikam (Bezels of Wisdom), made a deep impact on the spiritual discipline of the Indian Suhrawardiyyah.

Shaykh Sòadr al-Dīn 'Ārif was fortunate to have the poet Amīr Husayn Hòusaynī (b. 671/1272-73) as his disciple. Husaynī works, such as ād almus Ăfirin (Provision of Travelers), Nuzhat al-arwāhò (Pleasure of Spirits), and Kanz al-rumūz (Treasury of Mysteries) are devoid of 'Irāqī's spiritual sensitivity, but their deep ethical teachings are of far-reaching importance. ⁸

Shaykh Sòadr al-Dīn's son and successor, Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn Abu'l-Fathò, revived the political and spiritual glory of his grandfather. From the reign of Sultan Alā' al-Dīn Khaljī (695/1296-715/1316) to his own death in 735/1334-35 in the reign of Sultan Muhammad ibn Tughluq (725/1325752/1351), Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn was deeply revered by all the reigning monarchs of the Delhi sultanate. Whenever he visited Delhi, he never forgot to call on the great Chishtī Shaykh Nizòān al-Dīn Awliyā', but he did not care for the latter's strained relations with the sultans. Petitioners filled Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn's palanquin with petitions on his way to the sultan's court. The latter read them carefully and granted the petitioners' requests, thanks to Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn's influence. The shaykh's fame reached as far as Alexandria and Ibn BaTòṮ+016BCatah was recommended to see him. The works of the shaykh do not survive, but some of his authentic conversations with Sufis tend to indicate that he regarded possession of wealth, scholarship, and mystical enlightenment as indispensable for the Sufis. The Chishtīs, however, never agreed with the Suhrawardis on the question of the accumulation of wealth. ⁹ Some of the Suhrawardī saints were, however, great ascetics. One of them was Shaykh 'Uthmān Sayyāh (d. 738/ 1337-38) (the traveler) of Sunnam in eastern Punjab. He was a disciple of Shaykh Rukn al-Dīn. With his pīrs, he departed on a pilgrimage to Mecca without carrying even so much as a waterpot. After his return from Mecca, his pīr allowed him to live in Delhi, where he spiritedly defended the Chishtī practice of samā' (spiritual music).

Reverting back to Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn's disciples, who strengthened the Suhrawardī spiritual movement in India, we may mention Qādòī Hòamīd al Dīn of Nagawr in Rajasthan, not to be confused with the Chishtiyyah Shaykh Hòamīd al-Dīn Sòūfī (see chapter 6 in this volume). His family had migrated from Bukhara to Delhi before its conquest by the Turks. He completed his education in Delhi and was appointed the qādī of Nagawr. After three years of service, he was disgusted with it and left for Baghdad, where he became Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn's disciple. He visited Mecca and Medina, traveled to many parts of western Asia and then arrived in Delhi around 618/1221. He was a firm friend of the Chishtī Khwājah Qutòb al-Dīn Bakhtiyār Kākī and enthusiastically participated in samā' sessions in Delhi. His wit, in conjunction with his deep knowledge of Islamic Law, frustrated the 'ulamā''s efforts to defeat him on legal issues. His thirst for unqualified and nondelimited love in his three surviving works, the 'Ishqiyyah (Pertaining to Love), the Ṯawāli' al-shumūs (Risings of the Suns) and the Risālah min kalām (Treatise of Kalām), is very profound. In the 'Ishqiyyah he says that although Lover and Beloved appear to be different, they are in fact identical. Whoever sees them as two is confused and whoever does not see them at all is insane. One who is lost in Being is a part of God's Attributes. This stage makes Sufis present everywhere. The extinction of "I" leads to the predominance of "He." Both Lover and Beloved mirror each other. Love is the source of everything that exists. Fire is the burning quality of love, air is its aspect of restlessness, water is its movement, and earth is its immutable aspect. ¹⁰ In the Tawāli' al-shumūs, the Qādòī spells out the mystery of the Names of Allah. He says that the greatest Name of God is Huwa (He) and it indicates His eternal nature, hallowed and free from decline and fall. The Qādòī died in 643/1245-46.

The disciple of Shaykh Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī who made Islam popular in Bengal was Shaykh Jalāl al-Dīn Tabrīzī. He excelled all the shaykh's disciples in serving his pīr. Migrating to Bengal, he built a khānqāh at Deva Mahòal near Pandua in northern Bengal and converted a large number of Hindus and Buddhists to Islam. In the Rihòlah (Travels) of Ibn Batòtòūtòah, Shaykh Jalāl of Sylhet whom he visited has been confused with Shaykh Jalāl Tabrīzī and the mistake has been repeated by several scholars.

Makhdūm Jahāniyān Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn Bukhārī was a grandson of Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn Zakariyyā's disciple, Sayyid Jalāl al-Dīn Surkh. Sultan Muhòammad ibn Tughluq, who initiated the policy of controlling the appointment of the heads of Sufi khānqāhs, had made him the head of the khānqāh of Sehwan. Before long, however, Makhdūm Jahāniyān embarked on a pilgrimage and later traveled to many parts of the Islamic world, earning the title Jahāngasht (world traveler) for himself. During the reign of Sultan Fīrūz Tughluq (752/1351-790/1388), he settled down in Uchh and occasionally visited Delhi. A notorious puritan, Makhdūm Jahāniyān strongly deplored the Indian Muslim religious customs and ceremonies which had been borrowed from Hindus and were an Indian accretion. ¹¹ He urged that dervishes, Sufis, and 'ulamā' visit rulers and government officials in order to elicit assistance for the downtrodden sections of Muslims. He introduced among his disciples the spirit of the akhī and futuwwah (spiritual chivalry) organizations of Anatolia, Khurasan, and Transoxiana. After his death in 785/1384, he was succeeded by his brother, Sadr al-Dīn, who achieved fame under his nicknames Rājū and Qattāl (slayer) for his militant evangelism. A grandson of Makhdūm Jahāniyān moved to Gujarat and before long came to be known as Qutòb-i 'Ālam (The Pole of the Universe). He settled in Ahmadabad, the newly founded capital of an independent provincial ruling dynasty of Gujarat. He died in 857/1453 and was succeeded by his son, who came to be known by the illustrious title Shāh-i 'Ālam (The Emperor of the World), and was also called Shah Manjhan. Qutòb-i 'Ālam, Shāh-i 'Ālam (d. 880/ 1475) and their disciples made Gujarat a leading Suhrawardī Sufi center of India. The influence of Shaykh Samā' al-Dīn and the fame of his disciple Shaykh Jamālī transformed Delhi into an important Suhrawardī center. Jamālī (d. 942/ 1536) was passionately fond of traveling and, starting with a pilgrimage to Mecca, he traveled through western Asia and the Maghreb. At Herat he called on the great Persian poet Jāmī and held lively discussions, particularly on 'Irāqī's Lama'āt. ¹² Jamālī was the author of several Persian mathnawīs in which he lyrically delineated the theme of spiritual transmutation through love. The biographical notes on the Chishtīs and Suhrawardīs which he wrote in his Siyar al-'ārifīn (Biography of the Gnostics) comprise a wealth of information which he collected during his travels to Persia and Iraq. In the eighth/ fourteenth century a Suhrawardī center was established in Kashmir, strengthening orthodox Sunnism there.

Shaykh Najm al-Dīn Kubrā ( 540/1145-618/1221), the founder of the Kubrawī Order, was the disciple of Shaykh Ismā'īl Qaṣrī (d. 589/ 1193) of Khuzistan and Shaykh 'Ammār ibn Yāsir al-Bidlīsī (d. 597/ 1200), who in their turn were disciples of Shaykh Abu'l-Najīb Suhrawardī (see chapter 5 of this volume). A galaxy of eminent Sufis flocked to Kubrā as disciples and a number of branches of his order spread to Baghdad, Khurasan, and India. One of Kubrā's eminent disciples, Shaykh Sayf al-Dīn Bākharzī (d. 658/ 1260) ordered his disciple, Khwājah Badr al-Dīn Samarqandī Firdawsī to settle in Delhi. After his death in Delhi, he was succeeded by Khwājah Najīb al-Dīn Firdawsī and Khwājah Rukn al-Dīn. The Firdawsīs would have remained unknown, had Khwājah Najīb al-Dīn not been so fortunate as to find a disciple of the fame of Shaykh Sharaf al-Dīn Ahòmad ibn Yahòyā Munyarī (also known as Maneri) ¹³ Ahmad was born in Munyar, near Patna in Bihar, where he obtained his early education. He then moved to Sunargaon, near modern Dacca in Bengal, with Shaykh Abū Tawwāmah of Bukhara, and studied under the latter until his own father's death in 690/ 1291. From there he visited Delhi and Panipat and finally became Khwājah Najīb al-Dīn's khalīfah and returned to Bihar. Instead of going to his village, the shaykh chose to do ascetic exercises in the lonely Rajgir hills of Bihar, where Buddhist monks and Hindu sages loved to establish their hermitages. He would go to Bihar Sharif near Patna each Friday for congregational prayers, returning to the Rajgir forest afterward. Later, in 782/1381, he was forced to settle down in Bihar Sharif, where he lived throughout the greater part of the reign of Muhòammad ibn Tughluq. ¹⁴

His teachings are embodied in several collections of his letters to his disciples, both 'ulamā' and Sufis. He also wrote to the state dignitaries and even to Fīrūz Tughluq. One of the collections comprising one hundred letters was compiled in 747/1346-47, and the other, containing 151 letters, was compiled in 769/1367-68. ¹⁵ His Malfūzòāt (Discourses) were also compiled and give an authentic picture of his spiritual contributions to his contemporaries and to posterity. Through Quranic verses, ahòādīth, anecdotes and parables from classical Sufi works, he discussed the religious and spiritual duties of Islam and the social and ethical responsibilities of Muslims in a vocabulary enriched by his own contemplative vision of the realities of things. Frequently quoting the Quranic verse "Despair not of the mercy of Allah" ( XXXIX, 53), he used to affirm that the divine fire consumed the root of despondency and the young shoots of desperation. Mystical knowledge was the seed of love. All those who penetrated deeply into the realm of mystical knowledge were engulfed by the fire of love and obtained increasingly great delight and distinction from the face of the Beloved and from the sight of the Desired One. Although the shaykh strongly advocated adherence to the Sharī'ah, he failed to concede the superiority of the 'ulamā' over Sufis. He avoided, however, expressing his ecstatic feelings and spiritual experiences and advised his disciples to keep their own knowledge of such experiences secret. ¹⁶ He was appalled at the execution by Sultan Fīrūz of his friends and the enraptured Sufis (majdhūbs) Shaykh ' Izz Kākū'ī and Shaykh Ahmad Bihārī. But for the timely intervention of Makhdūm Jahāniyān, he would also have met the same fate. ¹⁷ The number of the shaykh's disciples was quite large; among them Shaykh Muzòaffar Balkhī was most prominent. A network of small khānqāhs stretching from Bihar to Bengal and reaching many areas of the Indian subcontinent disseminated the shaykh's spiritual teachings as embodied in his letters.

The Kubrawiyyah Order was introduced into Kashmir by Mīr Sayyid 'Alī Hamadānī, who was initiated into it by Shaykh Sharaf al-Dīn Mahòmūd Nizòām al-Dīn Mazdaqānā, a disciple of the great Shaykh 'Alā' al-Dawlah Simnānī. At his pīr's bidding, Mīr Sayyid 'Alī studied under a number of important disciples of Shaykh 'Alā' al-Dawlah, but he was not converted to the view of wahòdat al-shuhūd (unity of consciousness), although before the death of the aged shaykh, he went to Simnan and completed his final training with him. He was imbued, however, with the shaykh's missionary fervor and sense of social responsibilities. The Mīr left Simnan with Muhòammad Ashraf Jahāngīr Simnānī (d. ca. 840/ 1436-37), a Kubrawī who, after settling down in Kichawcha in the Sharqi sultanate of Jaunpur in India, founded the Ashrafī branch of the Kubrawī Order. One traveled slightly ahead of the other, shortly before Shaykh 'Alā al-Dawlah's death.

Mīr Sayyid 'Alī has been credited with the authorship of 170 treatises, generally short in length, of which about fifty have survived. He translated the Fuṣūṣ al-hòikam (Bezels of Wisdom) into Persian and wrote a religiopolitical treatise entitled the Dhakhīrat al-mulūk (Provision of Kings). The clarity of expression and the force of his arguments in the short treatises dealing with Muslim ethics and spirituality are remarkable. His interpretation of the "oneness of being" is accompanied by a mystical portrayal of the "reality of the perfect man." He identifies the latter with the "Muhòammadan Reality," which acts as a receptable for all of Being's perfections. His treatises entitled the Akhī (Brother) and the Futuwwah (Spiritual Chivalry) are designed to arouse devotion in 'Alī ibn Abī Ṯālib's futuwwah, which in turn was based on forgiveness in place of revenge, patience in the time of anger, wishing an enemy well, and preference for the needs of others over one's own. The Mīr believed that spiritual beings whose earthly existence had been completely effaced, who swam in the ocean of ahòadiyyah (oneness, unicity) and flew into the realm of huwiyyah (Divine Ipseity) belonged to a supernatural category, but those who remained steadfastly dedicated to ordinary people and looked after the comfort of mankind were true members of futuwwah.

When Sayyid 'Alī left Kashmir, only a handful of Persian sayyids were allowed by him to accompany him back to Persia. After 796/1393, the migration of Mīr Sayyid 'Alī's son, Mīr Sayyid Muhòammad, provided them with much-needed leadership. Sultan Sikandar (788/1386-813/1410), nicknamed But Shikan (destroyer of idols), became his disciple, and the sultan's Brahmin vizier, Suhā Bhatta, embraced Islam after instruction by Mīr Muhammad. Many ancient temples were destroyed and puritanical and discriminatory state laws were introduced for the first time in Kashmir. Mīr Sayyid Hiṣārī, a disciple of Mīr Sayyid 'Alī who had earlier moved to Kashmir and had lost his influence with the court, was deeply upset with the aggressive evangelism of his pīr's son. Before long he was able to reassert himself at the court and Mīr Sayyid Muhammad left Kashmir after a stay of some twelve years. By that time, the Kubrawī Order was firmly established there. ¹⁹ Their role in converting the Kashmīrī Brahmins to Islam is overestimated, but the devotion to 'Alī ibn Abī Ṯālib and his descendants inculcated in the Muslims of Kashmir by the Hamadānā Kubrawās made Kashmīrī spiritual traditions unique in the subcontinent.

Among Mīr Sayyid 'Alī's disciples was Khwājah Ishòāaq al-Khuttalānī, who was executed by the Tīmūrid Sultan Shāhrukh ( 807/ 1405-850/ 1447) in 826/1423 for leading an unsuccessful revolt against the sultan. His impact on the spiritual life of Khuttalan and the Balkh region was most profound. His disciple Sayyid Muhòammad Ahòsā'ī, on whom he bestowed the title Nūrbakhsh (Bestower of Light) and whom he considered to be the Mahdī ²⁰ of the Sunni tradition, was hounded from place to place by Shahrukh. This harassment and persecution helped to make the sayyid famous throughout Persia, Central Asia, and Kashmir. In 869/ 1464-65 he died at Rayy near Tehran, but his son, Shāh Qāsim Faydòbakhsh, who lived in the reigns of Sultòān Hòusayn Bāyqarā (873/1469-911/ 1506) of Herat and Shah Ismā'il Sòafawī (907/ 1501-930/ 1524) of Persia, transformed the Kubrawī teachings on the devotion to 'Alī ibn Abī Ṯālib into Ithnā 'Asharī Shī'ism. His disciple, Mīr Shams al-Dīn 'Irāqī, introduced Shī'ism into Kashmir. Although Shī'ism was strongly opposed by the Suhrawardī leader Shaykh Hamzah Makhdūm (d. 984/ 1576) and later by the Naqshbandiyyah, the spiritual framework of the Kubrawiyyah in Kashmīr remained deeply rooted in the awrād (litanies) of Mīr Sayyid 'Alī Hamadānī. These were deeply impregnated with the spirit of the invocations to Allah ascribed to 'Alī ibn Abī Ṯālib's disciple Kumayl ibn Ziyād. The latter's impact on the Kubrawiyyah was indelible.

The Shatòtòāriyyah drew inspiration from works of mystic exegesis on divination ascribed to Imām Ja'far al-Sòādiq (d. 148/ 765), the sixth Imam of the Shī'ites. Another influence on the order came from mystical stories about the life of Abū Yazīd Bastòāmī. In Ottoman Turkey the order was known as the Bastòāmiyyah and in Persia and Turkey it was known as 'Ishqiyyah. The Indian branch of the order founded by Shah 'Abd Allāh preferred to call itself the Shatòtòāriyyah. Shah 'Abd Allāh moved from Bukhara--where he perfected his mystical training--to India in the early ninth/ fifteenth century. The incredible speed with which Sufis trained in this order were able to solve the paradox of Unity in multiplicity prompted Shah 'Abd Allāh to call the order that of the Shatòtòārs (those who moved fast). During his travels the shah marched in royal fashion with his disciples dressed in black uniform, holding banners and beating kettledrums. He proclaimed that he was engaged in a quest to discover more of the secrets of wahòdat al-wujūd from anyone who was more perfect than he. At the same time, others in their turn could learn from his perception. He traveled in northern India as far as Bengal, where the leading Sufi, Shaykh Muhòammad 'Alā', known as Shaykh Qādin, ignored his challenge. Sorely disappointed, the shah retreated to Malwa in central India and settled down in its capital, Mandu, in 846/1442-43; he died there in 890/1485. The local sultans were deeply devoted to the shah, and seekers after spirituality from all over India sat at his feet. Shaykh Qādin also arrived from Bengal and apologized for his earlier rude behavior and enrolled himself among his disciples. The Latòā'if-i ghaybiyyah (Subtleties of the Invisible World), of which the shah was the author, outlines the basic framework of Shatòtòāriyyah teachings and practices. In it, Shah 'Abd Allāh divides Muslim spiritual devotees into three categories: akhyār (the chosen ones), abrār (the dutiful ones) and shatòtòār (the swift-paced ones). Of these, the Shatòtòāriyyah were superior to all, for they obtained direct training from the spirits of great saints of the past and thus were able to traverse the path of Sufi ascension rapidly. ²¹

Shaykh Qādin's influence made the Shatòtòārī Order considerably successful in Bengal. His disciple, Shaykh Zòuhūr Hòājjī Hòamīd Hudòūr of Gwalior, lived for a long time in Medina and in his old age returned to Gwalior, where he trained two young boys, Shaykh Muhòammad Phūl and Shaykh Muhòammad Ghawth. He then took both of them to Bihar. At his instigation, Shaykh Muhòammad Ghawth plunged himself into hard ascetic exercises in a cave in Chunar near Banaras. A number of brahmin sages and Nātha siddhas had also made the region their hermitage. Shaykh Muhòammad Ghawth lived there for more than thirteen years.

The Mughal Emperor Humāyūn (937/ 1530-947/ 1540 and 962/ 1555963/ 1556) became Shaykh Phūl's disciple. In 946/ 1539, Humāyūn's brother, Mīrzā Hindāl, killed Shaykh Phūl in Agra for political reasons. Before Humāyūn's exile from Agra in 947/ 1540, Shaykh Ghawth moved to Gujarat. There the greatest 'ālim of the region, Shaykh Wajīh al-Dīn Gujarātī (d. 997/ 1589), became his disciple. Shaykh 'Alī MutòtòAaqī (d. 975/ 1567), the great Indian scholar of Hòadīth, and some other eminent members of the 'ulamā' and Sufis resolutely opposed Shaykh Ghawth for the claims he made in his Risāla-yi mi'rājiyyah (The Treatise of Nocturnal Ascent) that his own mystic ascent enabled him to arrive near Divine Proximity and to hold a conversation with God. Shaykh Wajīh al-Dīn's influence in Gujarat, however, saved his spiritual guide. After Akbar's (963/ 1556-1014/ 1605) accession to the throne, the shaykh returned to his khānqāh at Gwalior and died there in 970/ 1563. The works and disciples of Shaykh Wajīh al-Dīn Gujarātī ensured the popularity of the Shatòtòārī Order throughout India, and its disciples in Mecca and Medina initiated Sufis from the Malay and Indonesian islands into the order. They, in turn, disseminated the Shatòtòārī teachings in their homeland. Of all the works written by Shaykh Ghawth, it was his Jawāhir-i khamsah (The Five Substances) that left the most indelible mark on Sufism on the Indian subcontinent, as well as in Malaya and Indonesia. It was first authored in 929/ 1522-23, and in 956/ 1549-50, at the request of his disciples, it was edited and some new material added, superseding the earlier version. Before long it was translated into Arabic and obtained considerable popularity in Arabic-speaking countries. Its third jawhar (substance or section), dealing with invocation of the Names of Allah and the mystical importance of Arabic letters, numbers, and rubrics, gained great popularity with those Sufis who were keen to gain supernatural power. Its fourth section discusses the advanced stages of the mystical achievements of the Shatòtòār, which, according to the contemporary Shatòtòāriyyah scholar Ghawthī Shatòtòārī, was the legacy of Imam Ja'far al-Sòādiq and Bāyazīd Bastòāmī. Its fifth section deals with the ontological perfection manifested by the Divine Names, leading to the stage wherein the attributes of the mystics become the theophany of the Divine Attributes. ²²

Shaykh Muhòammad Ghawth retranslated the Bahr al-hòayāt (The Ocean of Life), on yogic practices, by Qādòī Rukn al-Dīn Samarqandī (d. 615/ 1218). The work, which was originally translated into Arabic from the Sanskrit Amritkunda, was designed to integrate more firmly yogic practices and principles with Shatòtòārī spiritual discipline.

As mentioned in chapter 10, the founding of Sufi orders synchronized with the movement of itinerant dervishes who did not observe the customary rules of Sufi life and normal social behavior. They considered khānqāh life sacrilegious and profane. The Chishtī records portray them as being extremely rude to the Suhrawardī leaders, but somewhat more considerate toward the Chishtiyyah because of their humility. Fakhr al-Dīn 'Irāqī visited Shaykh al-Dīn in the company of qalandars. Another exception made by Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn was in the case of his most famous disciple, Mīr Sayyid 'Uthmān of Marwand in Sistan, who came to be known as Lal Shahbāz (The Red Falcon). He established his khānqāh at Sehwan in Sind at the site of an old Shaivite sanctuary. Incredible miracles are said to have been performed by him, and even his tomb in Sehwan is known for innumerable miracles. ²³ Verses said to have been composed by the members of the Sehwan khānqāh tend to indicate that they were very deeply devoted to ' Alī ibn Abī Ṯālib and reinvigorated Hòallājian traditions in their poetry. His disciples developed bī-shar' (indifferent to Sharī'ah) practices and came to be known as malangs. Their annual fair in the month of Shawwāl attracts enormous crowds in Sehwan from all parts of Pakistan.

Like the Suhrawardīs, the Chishtīs also initiated the qalandars into their orders. One of the most prominent qalandars of the Chishtiyyah Order was Shaykh Abū 'Alī Qalandar. His letters explain Sufism and its many controversial aspects. Although a Dīwān ascribed to him is apocryphal, some verses and quatrains which appear genuine remind the reader of Ahòmad Ghazzālī and 'Irāqī. He died at Panipat in 724/1324. ²⁴

In all decades and in all centuries, there was no dearth of majdhūbs. Preposterous stories are told about their spiritual achievements. Biographical notes on some of them are available in even sober hagiological literature, but none could surpass Muhòammad Sa'īd Sarmad in his contribution to the colorful mystical life and exuberance of emotions in poetry. He was an Armenian Jew who came from Kashan but embraced Islam under the influence of his teachers, Mullā Sòadrā and his contemporary Mīr Findarskī. The hòikmat al-ishrāq and wahòdat al-wujūd became the breath of his nostrils. He earned his living as a merchant and amassed a considerable fortune from his overseas trade. In 1042/ 1632-33 he visited Thatta, where he fell violently in love with a Hindu boy, Abhai Chand by name. In 1044/ 1634-35, Sarmad went to Lahore and from thence to Hyderabad, Deccan. Around 1064/ 1654, Sarmad reached Delhi, where Prince Dārā Shukūh became his devotee. The depths of Sarmad's ineffable experience in the mysteries of Divine Love have been articulated in his quatrains of indescribable beauty, although they tend to offend orthodox sentiments.

Mythical stories were also associated with Sarmad and his quatrains. Both in the history of Sufism and in the popular mind, Sarmad came to occupy the same status that was held by Hòallāj. Rightly did one of his verses earlier prophesy:

A long time since the fame of Mansūr became an ancient
relic,
I will exhibit with my head the gallow and cord.

The Shatòtòāriyyah wrote both Hindi and Rājasthānī poetry. The Hindi mathnawī, Madhu-māltī, which Shah Manjhan Shatòtòārī (d. 1001/ 1592-93) composed in 952/ 1545, reiterates in a most artistic and lyrical style the Sufi and Hindu bhaktī (devotional) theory of the self-manifestation of the Absolute. ²⁶ The Shatòtòārī Sufis, like the Chishtiyyah, freely borrowed symbols and mythological stories from their local Hindu environment, but gave them an Islamic color to delineate their involvement with the splendor of their radiant love for the Divine. The Nātha theory of the unity of being did not differ from the Sufi perception of the wahòdat al-wujūd, and the Shatòtòāriyyah therefore had no difficulty in delving deep into Nātha terminology in order to make their own realization of Reality known to the common people. Nevertheless, they never subscribed to the Hindu belief in the transmigration of the soul. Their main concern was with selfrealization through Yoga or love, or both, and this goal was realized within the bounds of Islam, although the poetic frameworks were Hindu or Buddhist.

In Bengal, the Hòusayn Shāhī sultans ( 897/ 1494-945/ 1538) gave considerable encouragement to Bengali literature, but a real flourishing of Bengali Sufi poetry took place mainly from the tenth/ sixteenth century on in the Chittagong region and at the Arakanese court. Some works translate the Nātha Panthī literature from Sanskrit into Bengali and try to reconcile them with Sufi maqāmāt (stages) and teachings. A distinctive contribution of the Bengali Sufi poets involved the creation of a corpus of mystical and legendary mathnawīs on the model of those written in Persian by Nizòāmī, 'Atòtòār, and Jāmī. Sayyid Sultòān ( 957/ 1550-1058/ 1648) of Chittagong, a leading Sufi in that region, had obtained a profound mastery over arousing human emotions through the use of the most poignant diction. He composed a number of Bengali mathnawīs on themes relating to the life of the Prophet Muhòammad and his family members, borrowing similes and metaphors from the Hindu epics and legends. His mystical poems such as GnānChautīsa Chautīsa and Gnān Pradīp were believed to have been written in his old age in an attempt to harmonize Hatha-Yoga with Sufism.

The Bengali poets exhibit considerable literary skill and aesthetic taste in depicting their perception of al-nūr al-muhòammadī (literally, Muhòammadan Light) or the pre-creation light from which everything was created. In the Nūr-nāmah ( Treatise on Light) or the Nūr-kandīl ( Lamp of Light), Sayyid Murtadòā ( 998/ 1590-1072/ 1662) passionately makes the Prophet both the cause and the goal of creation. The hòadīth, anā Ahòmad bilā mīm (I am Ahòmad [ Muḥammad] without the letter m, i.e., Ahòad=One) is represented by many Bengali Sufi poets in Hindu symbols, and some even go to the extent of anthropomorphizing the concept.

The earliest known Sòufi poets of the Punjab were Bābā Farīd of Pakpattan (see chapter 6 in this volume) and his descendants. Mādho Lāl Hòusayn ( 946/ 1539-1001/ 1593) was the most colorful of the Punjabi Sufi poets. His verses called kāfīs give emotional expression to the doctrine of wahòdat alwujūd. The folktales of Hīr and Rānjhā and Sohnī Mehanwāl are also sung in his poetry. Nawshāh Ganjbakhsh (d. 1064/ 1654) was deeply influenced by the pioneers of Hindu devotional movements, Kabīr ( 828/ 1425-911/ 1505) and Gurū Nānak ( 873/ 1469-946/ 1539). He wrote many Panjabi dōhas (couplets) in which he answered questions earlier posed by Kabīr. Nevertheless, he strongly criticized the Hindu belief in the transmigration of the soul. Sultan Bāhū (d. 1102/ 1691) was the author of the Punjabi Sīharfīs (Golden Alphabets) ending with the exclamation Hū (He). Not only were his verses welcome at the samā' gatherings but they were--and still are--upon the lips of all sections of the Punjabi community. They deal with the self-manifestation of the Absolute and the preeminence of the life led in spiritual dedication and asceticism. The greatest Sufi poet of the Punjabi language was, however, Mīr Bullhe Shah Qādirī-Shatòtòārī ( 1091/ 1680-1165/ 1752). His imageries on wahòdat al-wujūd are both novel and frank. Around 1180/ 1766, Wārith Shah, a famous Chishtī Sufi, re-versified the celebrated Punjabi folk story, Hīr-Rānjhā. In it, the yogi Bīlnath exercises his spiritual power in collaboration with five pīrs ( Khwājah Khidòr, Bābā Farīd Shakarganj, Lāl Shahbāz Qalandar, Shaykh Bahā' al-Dīn Zakariyyā', and Makhdūm Jahāniyān) to bless Rānjhā. The poet repeatedly portrays the unio mystica throughout the mathnawī.

As was the case in other regions of India, the samā' gatherings of Sind reverberated with Sufi music in the Sindhi language. The foremost Sufi poet of Sind was Shah 'Abd al-Latòīf ( 1102/ 1690-91-1165/ 1752). The melodies of his poetic works called Risālo ( The Book) embodying the folk ballads of Sind are very emotive and stirring. Among the different romantic stories chosen by the Shah to invite Sufis to concentrate on Divine Love is the Sasui-Punhūn Punhūn. He does not give the details of the story but masterly portrays only some thrilling episodes in order to use them as the background for his mystical perception of quest, separation, and death.

The twelfth/eighteenth century also saw the crystallization of the poetic form of Urdu, spoken both by Hindus and Muslims. The greatest Sufi poets of the period were the Naqshbandī Sufis Khwājah Mțr Dard and Mīrzā Jān-i Jānān Mazòhar. The thirteenth/nineteenth-century poet Mīrzā Asad Allāh Khān Ghālib ( 1212/ 1797-1286/ 1869) did not lead a khU+000101nqāh life and was known for his gaiety, but his Urdu poetry is marked by a deep spiritual sensitivity. He also wrote profound ghazals in Persian. Sir Muhammad Iqbal ( 1294/ 1877-1357/ 1938) also wrote poetry in both Persian and Urdu. He strongly criticized the degenerate Sufism of his own day and considered it a threat to Islamic dynamism and the self (khwudī).

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