chittick review of kNYSH book

7/29/2019 chittick review of kNYSH book

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Islamic Mysticism: A Short History by Alexander KnyshReview by: William C. ChittickInternational Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 33, No. 3 (Aug., 2001), pp. 473-475Published by: Cambridge University PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/259474 .

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Reviews 473falls into two differentparts. The first part, those accounts up to the year 1256, are basedprimarilyon al-Yunini'sown sources. However, after that date, al-Yunini'sDhayl relies heavilyon the Hawadith al-Zamanof al-Jazari.While the two works are "clearly independent"priorto 1257, after that date they are "fundamentally imilar" (p. 42). Guo thus writes of a Jazari-Yunini tradition. And third, Al-Birzali served as source, editor, and transmitter or both theDhayl and the Hawadith.All this is found in the first three chapters of Volume 1. In the fourth chapter,Guo placesal-Yuniniand his work in the wider worldof Mamluk-erahistorical writing. He provides someunderpinnings or the long-asserted existence of a Syrian school of historical writing in theMamluk era, as opposed to what was produced in Cairo. This "Syrian model" is marked bythree characteristics: he inclusion of large number of wafayat with the hawadith, with theseobituariesheavily skewedtoward hadith scholars;a marked endencyto include many excerptsof poetry;and the increasinguse of colloquial language.The edition of the Arabic text occupies all of Volume 2. It is based primarilyon the Yalemanuscript (Landberg 139), with gaps filled in by the Istanbul manuscript (TopkapiSaray/Ahmet III 2907). The edition is thorough and meticulous in its apparatus.The reader shouldtake note of three editorial decisions. First, there is both an upperand lower footnote system,with the top layer devoted to issues of the "Jazari-Yunini"radition,and the lower devoted tothe al-Yuninitext. Second, Guo has chosen to correct grammaticalmistakes in his edited ver-sion of the text, relegatingthe original manuscriptversionsto the apparatus.Third, the editioncontainsmainly the hawadithsections, with most of the wafayat (andthe poetryfoundwithin)excluded. I find this last choice a curious one, given the central role obituaries and poetryplayed in the emerging Syrianschool of historiography o carefullyidentifiedand discussed inthe first volume.As mentioned,the years covered are 1297 to 1302. While never explicitly highlighted,thechoice of this periodis based on more than the simple fact that this interval is what is foundin these two importantmanuscripts. n terms of the "Jazari-Yunini"radition,this interval isclearlyin the period duringwhich al-Yuniniwas very dependenton al-Jazari.As is well known,the extantmanuscriptof theHawadithends in early 1300. Thus for the yearsafter the beginningof 1300, al-Yunini'sDhayl gives us access to more of Jazari'swork. The contentof this sectionis also significant.In terms of events, this period spansthe end of the reignof the SultanLajin(1297-99) and the beginningof the second reignof al-NasirMuhammad 1299-1309). Argua-bly, the most importantseries of events in this intervalis the campaign by the Il-KhanidrulerGhazanin Syria, which culminated n the occupationof Damascus. For those teachingunder-graduatecourses on the medieval Islamicworld, the translatedaccountsof these events will bea welcome primary-source eadingfor the classroom.Li Guo has produceda useful and importantaid for future research.This five-year periodfrom the Dhayl is edited to the highest standards. t is also, unfortunately, he only section ofthe Dhayl to date for which that can be said. Let us hope thatthis book stimulates more suchwork on the text of al-Yunini.

ALEXANDERKNYSH,Islamic Mysticism:A ShortHistory, Themes in Islamic Studies (Leiden:E. J. Brill, 2000). Pp. 370.

REVIEWED YWILLIAMC. CHITTICK,Department of Comparative Studies, State University ofNew York at Stony BrookThis much-neededhistoricalsurveyof the Sufi traditionbringstogethera greatdeal of special-ized literature, especially the European scholarship that is often ignored in North America. The

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474 Int. J. Middle East Stud. 33 (2001)first eight chaptersof the book discuss the beginnings of the tradition,early figures, gradualinstitutionalization,poetical and metaphysicalexpressions, and the foundationsof the greattariqahs. Chapter9 provides an overview of the later history of the tariqahs on a regionalbasis, in most cases coming into the 20th century.Chapter10 discusses major concepts andpractices. Given Knysh's keen awareness that the Sufi traditioncannot be isolated from theIslamic traditionas a whole, surprisingly ittle attentionis paid to the roots of Sufism in theQur'anand the hadith.Thenagain,the surveyis necessarily selective andaims only to highlightmajorfigures and movements.Any serious attemptto be comprehensivewould have given usa multi-volume study. Every specialistwill be disappointedat the failureto discuss or at leastmention certainfigures,movements,themes, or topics.

Knysh's book is now the best historicalsurvey of the Sufi tradition n English, while Anne-marieSchimmel's MysticalDimensionsof Islam remainsthe best survey of themes and litera-ture.Knysh provideslittle new research,but few scholarswould have been able to managethesyntheticand balancedoverviews of such diverse material (nor is there any of the quirkinessthat mars Julian Baldick's much shorter historical survey, Mystical Islam). One of Knysh'soriginal contributions,especially interestingbecause of his thoroughfamiliaritywith Russianscholarship, s a section on the methodologicalproblemsthat have plaguedhistorians'attemptsto explain the Naqshbandioppositionto the Russians led by Shamil in the 19th century(pp.294-300). The book should become a basic first reference for anyone trying to situate Sufiteachersandmovements within broaderhistorical ssues. It has a good bibliographyof second-ary literature,a general index, an index of book titles, and an index of technical terms withbrief definitions.

Knysh's purpose in writingthis survey,as comes out clearly in his Introductionand in hisshort "GeneralConclusion," s to situate Sufism in the "historicaland socio-politicalcontextswithin which it developed" (p. 3). He notes that even this cursoryand incomplete survey ofSufism has shown that it "has been inextricablyintertwinedwith the overall developmentofIslamic devotionalpractices,theological ideas, esthetics, andreligious and social institutions."He has discussed an "astoundingdiversityof religious and intellectual attitudes hat fall underthe blanketcategoryof Sufism" and shown that the Sufi tradition as a whole has "containedvastly disparate f not diametricallyopposedviews andprinciples."Attemptsto discuss it out-side the broad historical context "result in serious distortions"(pp. 326-27; in a footnote,Knyshcites a few examples of the studies he has in mind).On several occasions, Knyshdefendsexplicitlyor implicitly his use of the word"mysticism"to designatethe objectof his study, thoughhe avoids the word moreandmore in the course ofthe book. Early on, he usually pairsit with "asceticism," hereby suggestingits inadequacy,buthe fails in his attemptsto make it a coherentcategory and to identify it with "Sufism." Onoccasion he also essentializesSufism-much like those whom he criticizes-by offeringjudg-ments aboutthe classical positions(as, for example,on p. 129, where he tells us thatthe "Suficredentials"of most of the figures mentionedin Abu Nu'aym's Hilyat al-awliya' are "ratherslim"). He pointsout thatthe "diverseasceticalandmysticaltrendsin Islam may appearmuchmore monolithic andunchangeable han historicalevidence shows them to be" (p. 326), but hisown studyhasjust shown us thatto speakof Sufism as "mysticaland ascetical trends" s itselfmisleading.Suchterms,like the popularstudies and the classicalexponents,suggest a "uniformand harmoniousSufi tradition."At least the word "Sufism"has a pedigreethat canjustify itsuse, even though it is simply the least unsatisfactoryof the variouspossibilities.I do not mean to imply that I agreecompletelywith Knyshon Sufism's indefinability.Thereremainsthe issue of whatit is that allows historians o find a family resemblanceamongdiversephenomenaand what it is that is seen by both the classical andthe modernauthorswho voicean essentialist view. Here perhapswe step into domains that stand outside the expertise ofhistorians.As Knysh puts it, "[A]ttempts o posit an immutableessence of Sufism can hardly



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Reviews 475be treated as a serious academic exercise" (p. 326). Trueenough if philosophy, theology, andmetaphysicsare not seriousacademic exercises.The book is well written and has few printing mistakes that I noticed (in my admittedlyquick readingof the text). Despite the plethoraof Islamic names,I saw only fourtransliterationerrors(the most importantbeing Lawaqihinsteadof Lawdih as the name of the classic workof Jami). Most of the fifteen or so typos thatcaught my attentionare obvious (two, on pp. 13and 248, involve transposedor repeatedwords). Only specialists will notice, however, that thecontemporary ranianscholar and editor of Sayf al-Din Bakharzi'swork, Iraj Afshar,has beenelevated, along with Bakharzi,to saintly statureas one of several importantdisciples of Najmal-Din Kubra(p. 235).


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