william chittick - notes on ibn arabis influence in the subcontinent

8/2/2019 William Chittick - Notes on Ibn Arabis Influence in the Subcontinent

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IBN AL-ARABjS INFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 219I attempted to survey all Sufi manuscripts in these libraries with a doctri-nal and theoretical ~r ient at ion.~focused on works dealing with metaphys-

ics, theology, cosmology, and psychology. Myaimwas to determine the extentto which such works reflect the teachings of Ibn al-(Arabi and how theseteachings reached the Indian authors. Did they learn of them directly throughIbn al-(Arabisow n works, or through the intermediary of the works of hisfollowers in the central Islamic lands? At the same time, I was trying to de-tennine who the most outstanding Indian representatives of this school ofthought might be, judging the works in terms of the authors mastery of ter-minology and concepts, depth of understanding, clarity of expression, andoriginal formulations. My standard of comparison was my own familiaritywith Ibn alSArabiswritings and those of his well-known and relatively earlyfollowers, such as his stepson Sadr al-Din Qiinawi (d. 67311274): Qiinawisdisciples Fakhr al-Din (Iraqi (688/1289),Sacid al-Din Farghiini (d. 695/1295),and Mdayyid al-DinJan& (d. ca. 700/1300); he Fe5@ commentators Abdal-Razzaq KBshhi (d. 73611335) and Sharaf al-Din Dgwiid Qaysari (75111350);the Persian poets Mamiid Shabistari (d. ca. 720/1320) and Shams al-DinMaghribi (d. 809/1406-7);(Abd al-Karim Jili (d . ca. 832/1428), and (Abdal-R*miin J3mi (d. 898/1492).

Given my limited time, I had to be selective in my approach. By investi-gating theoretical works that tend by their nature toward an elite rather thana popular expression of Sufi teachings, I could make little attempt to judgethe extent to which this influence may have filtered down to the Muslimmasses who made up the bulk of the membership of the Sufi orders. AsChodkiewicz has pointed out, a thorough assessment of Ibn al-Arabis influ-ence must take into account a wide variety of sources, including what hecalls second-rate literature, meaning elementary manuals for beginners, re-gional chronicles, collections of qa&d used in Sufi meetings, the mau@h//bcomposed in honor of local saints,and the /izas and the 5/;ls/;/asf local shaykhs.All such works stress the practice and stages of the Sufi way rather thandoctrinal principles, whereas it is doctrinal principles to which I directed myattention in my s u ~ e y . ~

If, on the one hand, 1 was interested in assessing the extent of Ibn al-(Arabis nfluence on Indian authors, on the other, I was concerned to specifythe mode of influence. For example, it is possible to discern a broad range of There are of course manuscripts on Sufism in Urdu and various other local languages, but inthe libraries that I visited , Arabic m anuscripts outnum ber Urdu w orks by at least tw o to one , andPersian outnumber Arabic by about the same ratio. Moreover, I did look at several Urdu manuscriptsthat were clearly related to this school of thought; they were invariably late and, to the extent Icould tell from my limited knowledge of U rdu, derivative. My general impression was that Urduplays an mportant role in disseminatingIbn al-Arabis eachings on the more popular level throughpoetry, but much ess of a role through prose writings.Chodkiewicz. The Diffusion , pp. 41-42.


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220 THE MUSLIM WORLDapproaches o Ibn al5Arabis doctrinal teachings. On one extreme, certain worksreflect concerns that are mainly philosophical and theological, showing masteryof the learned discourse of the mad/aSasand relatively little attention to theunveiling fiashd of the unseen world and the direct vision of God in Hisself-disclosures hat forms the ground on which Ibn al-(Arabi stands. Thesesorts of works tend toward dryness and logical exactitude and are more likelyto be written in Arabic than in Persian. On the other extreme, many worksreflect visionary experience and appeal more to heart-knowledge and*tasting/dhawp/ than to logical exposition of philosophical concepts. Theseworks are more often in Persian and expressed in poetry rather than prose.But many sorts of writings fill in the middle ground between these two ex-tremes and provide a great variety of permutations. Thus we have poeticalArabic works written in visionary prose and prosaic works of Persian poetrydominated by the concern for rational exactitude. The task of evaluating theworks was made more difficult by a variety of imponderables connected witheach individual text and the fact that my time was extremely limited. M yconclusions, in short, depend a great deal on my own subjective appraisal.Nevertheless, hope that someof the information that I gathered may be usefulto scholars concerned with Islamic intellectual history in India.

During the eight months that I stayed in India, I looked at several hundredmanuscripts, grading them on a scale from I to VII (the Roman numeral men-tioned after works mentioned below refers to this scale): I. Of no relevance tothe school; noted simply to avoid repetition.II.Little relationship with theoreticalSufism; mainly concerned with practical matters. 111. Intrinsically importantfor theoretical discussions, but not directly related to Ibn al5Arabis school. IV.Containing intellectual content especially worth noting,but again not connectedto Ibn al5Arabis school. V. Displaying important instances of influence fromthe writings of Ibn al-(Arabi andlor his followers.VI.A n important ext in Ibnal-(Arabis chool; or deals in some detail with the debate between the supportersof w&dat a/-wu/iidand WJ&& a/-shuhud (the position of Shaykh *madSirhindi). VII. A n outstanding work, offering fresh and original contributionsto Ibn al-(Arabis chool of thought.

When going over my notes, I was able to separate out about fifty figureswho wrote works in the V to VII categories, along with a dozen or so indi-vidual works in the same categories by unidentified authors. In what follows,I mention about thirty of these authors, without attempting in every case todescribe all the works I saw. I also refer to other figures in order to helpsituate the authors in their historical context. All works are in Persian unlessotherwise noted.


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IBN AL-(ARABTS INFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 2218 8

Before entering into details, let me set down here some of my generalconclusions and observations: The received wisdom is correct in telling usthat Ibn al-(Arabi was widely known in the subcontinent. As a rule, the laterthe text, the more thoroughly it reflects the world view elaborated by Ibnal-(Arabi and his immediate followers. However, relatively few authors werefamiliar with Ibn al-(Arabisown writings, even if most had some acquain-tance with the &s~sd-~12mthrough ne of its numerous commentaries. Themajor lines of influence were not Ibn al-(Arabiso w n works, but those of suchauthors as Farghm- and (Abd al-R&mib Jm-both of whom, let it be noted,have major works in both Arabic and Persian).A good deal of the writing that I studiedwas of exceptionally high quality,reflecting the authors thorough assimilation of the teachings and practices ofSufismand heir ability to express the world view of Ibn al-(Arabis school in afresh and original manner. Many other works were written by authors whowere simply compilers or popularizers, interpreting the received teachings ofSufism for their contemporaries or disciples. I paid less attention to these popularworks, since their content was familiar to me and I was especially interestedin discovering the more sophisticated masters of the school. But the largenumber of popular works of this sort is a sign that Ibn al-Arabis influenceextended into all levels of the Sufi orders and Islamic society.

The vast majority of texts that I looked at have not been studied with aview toward content by scholars trained in modem methods (though some ofthese texts are no doubt still being read in kh&wqi%h5or private homes).Scholars such as S.A.A. R i p i , author of A Hzktory ofSuh.h In&, havepointed to an enormous amount of intellectual activity over the centuries, butmost contemporary authors have remained oblivious to the issues discussedin these works, and what himself has to say about their content is drawnlargely from Western secondary sources. It does not seem to have occurred tothe specialists, especially not to natives of the subcontinent, that we may bedealing here with an intellectual tradition that is inherently interesting, inno-vative, and relevant to contemporary concerns. Most scholars trained in modemmethods seem to hold the conviction that the significant elements of Islamiccivilization are those that have an immediate connection to social context andpolitical events; to the extent these texts have been read, scholars have beenhunting for details unrelated to the primary concerns of the authors.

A glance at the booksand articles being published (bothin the West and inIslamic countries) on the great Sufis of Islamic history, such as Hallaj, Riimi ,and especially Ibn alJArabi, makes it clear that Sufism has been recognized bya siflicant contemporary audience as a repository of spiritual and religiousteachings that still have value in our ow n age. The Indian libraries hold a


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222 THE MUSLM WORLDparticularly rich collection of original works that constantly reinterpret Sufidoctrine while maintaining a clear focuson its unchangingground.Theseworksreconfirm the universal preoccupation of Muslim intellectuals classical withthe real and the essentialas opposed to the accidental and the historical. I wasstruck in the works by the unanimity of the voices down into the nineteenthcentury despite a great diversity of styles and approaches. By and large theliterature is infused with the values that are omnipresent in the writingsof Ibnal-(Arabi or R m - . The authors attempt to bring out the relevance of taw&for life and practice. They perceive the world and human affairs as theaters inwhich the divine signs f.;gQ become manifest in ever-changing patterns ofmultiplicity. They see the purpose of human life to lie in bringing the soul intoharmony with the self-manifestation of God on the basis of the SXwn5,Theseconcerns were of course also present in works written before Ibn al5Arabi.What differentiates these works from the earlier works is the use of specifictechnical terminologyand concepts derivingfrom Ibn al-(Arabiswritings andrefined and systematized by Sadr al-Din Qiinawi and his followers. Many ofthe works written over the five hundred year period that I surveyed couldhave been written at any time during the period. There are relatively fewreferences to contemporary events or specifically local concerns. But this doesnot mean that all these works say the same thing in the same way.In short, the Indian libraries contain writings by important Sufi philoso-phers, theologians, and sages who remain practically unknown and are emi-nently worthy of study. A number of the following authors can be ranked asfirst-rank representativesof the Islamic intellectual tradition, yet they remainalmost completely unstudied.

Let me also record here my sense of tragedy at what is occurring throughwidespread neglect of Indian libraries. I would not be surprised ifmany of themanuscripts I mention below are soon unavailable because of the rapid dete-rioration of resources that is taking place. The present political problems ofthe subcontinent make the situation much worse than it was in the past, whenthe climatewas always an enemy of books (never before in studying manu-scripts have I been so annoyedbywormholes and disintegrating pages). Mostof the libraries I visited are directed by well-meaning people, but the resourcesfor long-term preservation are often not available. I heard of several importantlibraries that have been or have recently become inaccessible. Recent fires intwo of these libraries, one of which was caused by communal violence and theother simply by neglect, destroyed many manuscripts that may well have beenirreplaceable.


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IBN AL-(ARABTS INFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 223EighWourteenth Century

Sayyid Ashraf Jahiingir SimnSni (d. probably in 82911425) studied in hisyouth withAlI) al-DawlaS i m n a - (d. 736/1337), who is famous for his criticalviews of Ibn a l k a b i expressed in his correspondence with the Fisqs com-mentator, (AMal-RazzIq KIshiini. SayyidAshraf was not completely satisfiedwith (Alii) al-Dawla and went to &hSn at about the age of twenty-three tostudy with (AM al-RazzBq, leaving after the latters death in 730/1330. He issaid to have become a traveling companion of Sayyid (Ali Hama- (d. 786/1385).He visited and corresponded with Gisa D a r a , became the disciple of ashaykh in Bengal, and eventually settled down inJaunpw6&d~FiAshrafi(VT)is a work of some 850 pages compiled by his studentN m 2ji a l - Y m - ,in s i x t y fq&%4 explaining Sayyid Ashrafs views on a variety of topics, Thetwenty-eighth/qh% is particularly important since it is dedicated to wahdata/-wu/;d This isprobablyJ-?s source in N&&?ta/-uns for the text of thecorrespondence between Simnilni and IGsh*- and also for the idea that thisdebate concerns wa,3daf d-wyi i~ !ince this term is not mentioned by thehad misunderstood Ibn al-(Arabisposition and that his criticisms are unjusti-fied.I saw two of Sayyid Ashrafs works having no special relevance to theschool: kshda-Lkhw2n (111) and anbih al-Ik~3.n~11). R i y i tells us thatSayyidAshraf wrote M>%t Jhaqdq and Kanz afdaqgfqfor the benefit ofspecialists,l0and these may deal with advanced technical discussions HisAiGkf th? l1 (VI)are certainly of importance, and these along with the &f2&are enough to show that he was a major conduit for Ibn alshabis influence.

Another important channel of influence was the above-mentioned Kubrawishaykh SayyidAli Hamad-, the patron saint of Kashmir. He is the author ofat least forty works, most of which are short rasdZ He is probably the authorof the commentary on Ibn al-(Arabis a/-&kam known as&kBi&s


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224 THEMUSLIM WORLDAmong his ra&il is the ArabicASIZ? d-nuqfq 3 which shows his mastery ofthe technical terminology of Qihawi and his followers. Bruce Lawrence re-marks that Hamadh-, like Sayyid Ashraf, taught the principles of nmhdatd-wyZdwith contagious zeal .14One of the most prolific Sufisof this periodwas the Chisti shaykh, SayyidMdpmmad Husayni,known as Gisii DarB, who died at the age of over 100in 8291422. Many of his works were published in Hyderabad and Gulbargaby Sayyid (A@) Husayn in the first half of this century. Perhaps Gisii Daraswork that shows the most indebtedness to Ibn al-(Arabis school is A m &d - a s e 5 in which he criticizes Ibn al-Arabi and some of his followers, suchas Fakhr al-Din (Iraqi, on several occasions. In one of the chapters of 7h&ikatd2.&7%2t aJsL5jya (W), GIs0 Darbs eldest son, Sayyid Akbar Husap-,gathers together all these criticisms and adds his own commentary.16In gen-eral, GIs0 Dark employs the terminology of Ibn al-$td$n&(IV)zoMaskid Bakmay be reflecting some influence fromIrHqisLava54 butfor the most part he expresses himself in modes much more reminiscent of(Ayn al-Quc&t HarnadihisTmh82L The work is divided into fourteen ka5&Itbeginsby discussing the realityof wtyiXi and in a second section, on tawbixthe author quotes the expressionmgfi/-wyiidiYa*gh There s nothing in

Is ( S h i r a z :Matba al-Gmadi. 1343/1925).I Sufifiterature, p. 55.The work was printed in Hyderabad, ed. by H a f i A@ Husayn, 1350.Manuscripts includeAMU J.F.921, P 1321, P 1582,SJ hs. 8.There is also a commentary on this work, AP 1464l 6 Ed.by Sayyid A@ Husayn (Gulbarga:Kutubkhha-yi Rawdatayn, 136Y1946) 7-94.l 7 Though Gisii DarHz criticizes Iraqi, he also paraphrases parts of the h m a h (withoutacknowledging the source), as in the first =ma1 which is takcn from Flash 3 (ed. J. Niirbakhsh[%ban:hhaqHh-iNi(matullHhI. 1353/1974],. 10; rans. Chittick and W ilson [New York: PaulistPress,19821, . 78, irst paragraph). Note that in both the AsmB/and the hma!k the passageconcludes with the same tw o lines of poetry by the Fu5@ commentator Md ayyid al-DinJandi.

(482ff.,911).

18 HSI 1241.l9 Lawrence.Su!h?&ature, p. 27.2o Published in the Deccan: Matbal-i Mufid, 1310, 84 pp . For an appraisal of the co ntents, cf.Lawrence, Su!f2&atuc pp. 27-29.


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IBN AL-ARABrS INFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 225existence but God),often employedby Ibn al-(Arabi.But his mode of explain-ing the meaning of this dea shows no signof being dependent on Ibn al-


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226 THEMUSLIM WORLDOne of the most outstanding representatives of the philosophical type of

interpretation of Ibn al5Arabi typified by Sadr al-Din Qiinawi is(Ah)l-Din(Ah ibn m a d bn(Ali ibn m a d Maha)hi (d.835/1432),who, according toML&d-akhy2~was from Gujrat. R+vi tells us that Mah&m is the same asKonkan, a region in west DeccaaZ6Among Maha) h i s works, all of whichseem to be in Arabic, are a commentary on the FusU4 K%rus&sni*$misharbfi@ d- .dm ,7 a commentary on Maghribis5n-i)Gh%-nm2y alled MiY&a/daqi&g 28 and another on QiinawisNqsu. Mashraa/khgs@ 172 ma h i -d-nusqs29 (VI ). M a h a h i is also the author of a tahix n&i?/ra&2n,which hasbeen published, and a commentary on Suhrawardis %rwMdma&2called Dhaw2nYa/lgf2/;f completed in 319/1416. he latter shows itsindebtedness to f in al-(Arabi already in the f i y t b a , which employs the termsfgsus and fuhf&%tn their literal senses. AyZat a/tapfif B shah adYatd-tawbid 31 (VI)comments on one of the authorso w n short treatises.Amhaa/nasi%at a/,J;&ba 32 (VI+) nswers a letter by Jamiil al-Din Muhammadal-Mizjaji[?j from Zabid in Yemen and defends Ibn alJArabi and his school inthe style of KalZv polemics.

Mah&mTs Arabic commentary on Maghribisf2myah2n-num2y s par-ticularly si@icant in that it points to the widespread popularity of this trea-tise. Maghribi quotesmost of hiswork, without ascription, from the introductionof Mshgnq a/dx2ri%y Farghiini, who in turn based his book on notes takenat Qiinawis ectures on Ibn al-FiiridsAbzm a/suhk Maghribi provides threediagrams illustrating various important technical terms of the school; theseseem to have inspired many similar diagrams by later authors. Commentarieson /8m-f~~h2~-numa;vnormallyeflect thorough acquaintance with the writ-ings of Qiinawi and his immediate followers. Typical is Dan.2 k-if i s h 8 33(VII),by the Kubrawi shaykh Rashid al-Din Muhammad ibn (MiBid2wiizi.34 The author tells us that after reading Maghribis treatise in the

HSI I1 336.27 0.Yahia. Historle et d8ssZmtion deheuvre dbn hr86i (Damaxus:Institut Franzais de

Damas, I*), p. 246. no. 22; a copy (not seen) is also found in Dcoband. 46016.2o Brockelmann, Ces;c3/i%l/e erarabh~hen dteratw S 1 311; this commentary was translated

into Persian with the title DqJiq-num#ybyAbd al-Nabi Sha!tari (KH Acc. 801).who is said in theKhuda Bakhsh handlist, on the authority of 73dhahiayvi U/am#/Hlhd,o have died in 1020.29 AP 55 (82 f f . ) .3o AP 1478 (410ff.).31 AP Xaf#m 1553.32 KH 2579/25 (ZSff., incomplete).33 SJTas. 62 (131ff.);copied in 960/1553.

The author is not identified in the manuscript. except through the takhahsRashid . Bidawaziis known to have written a commentary on Shabistaris Guhhan-irBzand, in the year 852/1448-49,a m8thnawf called Mi$&& RashM He was the successor of Abd Allah Barzishabadi (d. 87211467-68). Kubrawi shaykh who was a disciple of Khwaja Ishaq Khuttalani. the successor of Sayyid(AlI HamadBni. See D. Deweese, The Eclipse of the Kubraviyah in Central Asia, h n k n 9udes21 (1988)pp. 6 6 7 .


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IBN AL-(ARABTS INFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 227year 871/1467, he had a vision of the Prophet in a form within which theninety-nine names of God were inscribed. He sent a description of the visionto his mumhid in Mashhad, Amir Shihiib al-Din (AM All& Barzishiibiidi,who wrote back telling him that this was a sign of his firm rootedness andconstancy in the S h h and the ?Awqa,The work includes several diagramsof the divine names and their interrelationships.Thiswork, which was certainlyread in the subcontinent, displays a high level of discussion of the technicalterms of the school, especially those related to the writings of Qtinawi andFargh3n.i. It is laced with the authorsownpoetry, nding with a qqw& of about100 ines. I suspect that there may be a good deal of original reformulation ofthe teachings of the school. Like many other Sufiworks in the periods beingdiscussed here, the text begins with a discussion of the famous had-&qud-4I was a hidden treasure...

The most influential author of this period, and probably the most influen-tial author of the school of Ibn al5Arabi after the Shaykh himself, is (Abdal-R*miin Jm-, hose numerous works in Arabic and Persian were widelystudied and frequently quoted on all levels of discussion.TentWSixteenth Century

Perhaps the most influential master of this school in the tenthlsixteenthcentury is Abull-Muayyad Muhammad ibn Khatir al-Din al-shafliiri, knownasMuhammad Ghawth (d. 970/1563).He was the younger brother of ShaykhPhiil and along with him a khahX3of Shaykh Zuhtir Hiijji Hamid. Accordingto RiM, the two brothers were the most influential Shattiiris of their time.Hum2yIin was a disciple of Shaykh Pha, and the latter waskilledbyHu.xn3yIinsrebellious brother. Muhammad Ghawth settled in Gwalior and helped BBbursarmy seize the Gwalior fort. His support of =bur led to his being declared anunbeliever by Sher Shiih the Afghan, though this was ostensibly for his con-versationswith God described in his fi32hy~*rn~$~.994a.~~i ~ays that themost significant of his works is /awXhki kharnsi;others include Zama5kBa&t and Kanz a / - ~ ~ 3 4 d a L ~ ~is Ba& a&yygt (III),which has beenprinted,37 is a Persian translation of the Sanskrit Amritkund I saw threemanuscriptsof his fih&i.makh&-~hVII),38 ach of which is written in a largebold hand with about seven lines per page and copious interlinear commen-tary, no doubt by the author. In the introduction, Muhammad Ghawth tellsus that in the year 94211035-36, when he was looking for a name for the

35 HSI I1 156-157.HSI I1 159.37 HSI I1 12.38 AF 880 (87ff.;copied in 951); LK 69 (looff.); KH 1376 (107ff.).Another copy (not seen) isfound in the Re? Library in Rampur (912,80ff.).


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228 THE MUSLIM WORLDcompleted book, he had a vision of Abti Bakr,who gave him the key to thetreasuries. The work is divided into an introduction, three daqiqa4 and aconclusion. The introduction discusses the mystery of the divine Essence orHeiness (huwiba), and the first dapqa the intelligible quiddities that comefrom the lleasury of nonexistence into existence. The text comments in de-tail on a large cosmological diagram in the form of several concentric circles.The second daqiqadiscusses the spirit hub), the third prophecy hu6uww2gand sanctity (wa/2yag, and the conclusion the resurrection (qiygmag.

Wajih al-Din Ahmad ibn N qr AllSh(AlawiGujrati Gmadabiidi ShaG3ri (d.997/1539) was a disciple of Mdpmmad G h a ~ t h . ~ ~is disciple Mir SayyidSibghatAU ibn R@ All& was prominent in spreading Muhammad Ghawthsteachings in Medina.40 kcording to RiN, Wajih al-Dins ma/@2t are ex-ceedingly frank and militant in the assertion of the superiority of W&afa/- yZd 41 Among his works is a widely-read commentary on f2m-ifahh-nums;42 and a short Arabic summary of Ibn al-(Arabis metaphysicsand typology of the saints called al-Haqiqat al -M~hammadiyya~~VI+). Thelatter seems usually to have been read along with its Persian translation andcommentary by Wajih al-Dinskha& (Aziz a l - D h ~ . ~

Ibraim Shafl2ri JannatBbSdi (d. 99111583) was a disciple of MuhammadG h a ~ t h . ~ ~i+ tells us that for about eighteen years Ibrh-mwasMu?mnmadGhawths prayer leader.45He is the author of an important commentary on/am-i /kh2n-num2 called A-hwyi &q&-num2 (VI) (or A-/;a;v/haqq-numg ),47The work shows a great deal of influence fromJm-,arghm-,and Ibn al-(Arabi FutU&?

Another important author of the same period is Khiib Muhammad Chishti,who composed AmwqY KhUbi (VII) in 990/1583.48He also calls his workShzh-iMu6 turang B o b turang being a Gujrati mathnawq- he composed

39 HSI I1 158.HSI I1 329-30.HSI I1 11 .z AMU Habibganj 211366 (92ff.),211207 (41ff.);AMU Damima Xqawwuf msi 59; IIIS 2395

(16ff.);AP 470 (37ff.).474 (36ff.). 1332 (58ff.),1817, 1975;SJ Tas.98, Tas. 23U1; KH P1576; LK 225.43 SJ lsls 232/8 (6ff.);KH 1346/1 (1Off . ) .

HSI I1 13;AP 1713 ( S f f . ) , 1841 (5Off.), SJI&.00 (32ff.),KH 1346/2 (69ff.).5 According to R ip 6 , he was a disciple of Shayk h-i Lashkar M uhamm ad (Arif (d. 99311583).

himself a disciple of MuIymmad Ghawth, but Ibrahim refers to Maammad G h awt h as hisrnudvijh A-hayi&q#?qnum# (Hyderabad: Matba Abul-Al&i. n .d . ) ,p. 3.*6 HSIII 169.47 Published in H yderabad:Matba Abul-(Al&. n.d.. 1CO pp .; AP 1452,SJb.3, AMU Sulaiman

157158,R e andlist 872.** AP 496 (117ff.),SJ Tas, 14, KU 93700. There is a mathmwi version of the same work by(&im written in 1166; the manuscript (AP 1527) was copied in the same year by MuhammadYahya Qadiri.

9 kcording to the atdogue ofthepersimManusx@tsin the s8/a//ungMuseum& hhary,vol. VIII, Hyderabad, 1983,p. 178. this is Kamal Muhammad Sistani. d. 97911571,


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IBN AL-(ARAB! 'S INFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 229in 986/1578. The author says the work is derived from passages quoted fromShaykhK a m d M&arnmad .49 It offers simple yet profound discussions of manyof the basic concepts of the school, showing obvious influence fromJm ndFarghm-. It is poetical and full of original analogies that are offered in place ofthe more common philosophical expositions. It has a number of diagrams. Theauthor wrote a second work &-qfaLmushqia 5o (VI),in 981, the ab/a'valueof the title. The style is similar to hwa;l:I'1wri&poetical with detailed dis-cussions of such basic ideas as w@d the immutable entities, levels of exist-ence, etc. He quotes from Ibn al-kabi in several passages. A third work,Mi&%$d-fawhi8 1 (V)is a commentary, perhaps by a disciple, on a qaslb'a by KhiibM&ammad dealing with the levels of existence.EleventWSeventeenth Century

A number of Sufisof the Bijgp- region show the influence of Ibn al-(Arabi'sschool, including S h a Burha al-Din ibn MirFmji Shams al-'Ushshiiq (d. 1005/a/$nZh 53 (VI+ ) describes the levels of existence in familiar style. Especiallyinteresting is Mahl;card-su/rtl54 (VII-)by his hahi%Mhmiid Khwushdahi?i.nChishti (d. 1026/1617),a work which classifies eveqthmg in existence in fourbroad categories, apparently as an aid to meditation. This work is said tosummarize all the teachings of the Bijiipm- school.%Though the terminologyis instantly recognizable as belonging largely to Ibn al-(A.rabi's school, the ex-planations place the work off to the side of the main stream. The author notesthat he wrote it in order to explain the meaning of the ha&, "He who knowshimself knows his Lord' as his shaykh explained it in "his own terminology'fi$&&~-z*khwuqY.he whole work is summed up in a single diagram, appar-ently drawn by Shaykh BurhFin al-Din,In the early eleventhkixteenth century the Shapri line is represented byqsii ibn Q%im al-Jundi (d. 1031/1621-22)s called Sh& qsii Jund All& andsometimes (Ayn al-(Uraf$, a disciple of Shaykh-i Lashkar M ~ a m m a dArif(d. 993/1583),himself a disciple of Mulymmad Ghawth (97011563).R i y i calls

1597),al~0nowna~B w ~l-DinJmam." Kis M&~r~and-&! w amgpd

AF' 920 (29ff.).51 AP 724 (loff.),KU 93700.52 For biographical references, cf. Eaton, S uhofBQapur (Princeton:Princeton University Press,53 H-ARL 9211 (26ff.).AP 556/3.1978),passim.

Lithographedin Lucknow: Nawal Kishore, 1898;OU 752,1047 (69ff.);SJk.3215,'h.50;AF' 30682.

55 Cf, Eaton, SufisofBQ8pu&pp. 146ff.,where the contentsof the book are briefly summarized.Eaton reports that 'scores of later treatises' were based on the book.

56 His full name is given as ibn Q&im ibn Yiisuf ibn Rukn al-Din... al-hlahfi al-Shihabial-Jundial-Sidial-Hindi l-BirWi al-'Ishqi al-Sha#&i al-Qadiri (HSI I1 13; cf,his h p /mahJp. 3).


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230 THE MUSLIM WORLDcia "a passionate devotee of Whdafd-W~yiid, aving closely studied Ibn(Arabi's works which he staunchly defended. Because of this M&ammad binFazlubh Burh3npihi,' himself a well-known representative of Ibn al-'Arabi'sschool, especially due to his Z'kbht a/-mur.lq "called him iaahz&a andZ J ~& . " 57 Among%'s works is AnWBl-asre "a Q d d c xegesis whichis designed to demonstrate that the seeds of the W&datd-WWu/d.. an be foundin verses of theQda,"commentary on the h..&~/-kmil of Jili, and an-other on the/aw2h!-ifimsa of M d p n m a d Ghawth.58

Qsii's Ayn a/-mabi-' 59 (VII), written in 997, is a commentary on hisownRau&fa/busxGIfi-shuhasma 'Mkh a/&usn2(written in 989) and displaysa great amount of attention to the works of Jm-nd Farghihi. It begins withan introductionof the basic theoretical teachings of the school, then turns o acommentary on the ninety-nine names of God. In discussing each name, theauthor refers to the r nuhm2 (puzzle),iiha/a (allusion), mazghii (loci ofmanifestation),wgz25Y (duties),and adghd (occupations).Under mu&mma;the work gives a single line of poetry with a brief explanation. The iih2raexplains what the name tells us about God Himself. The section on maz2.i!lists the phenomena in the cosmos and the soul that manifest the properties ofthe name, In dealing with waz25Y the author mentions practical duties thatbecome increasingly inward as he moves down the list of most or all of thefollowing: $b,Y (worshiper),~ 2 2 ~ ~ 2renouncer),dd supplicator) $sh;q(lover),biF (gnostic),mufafia/Lq the one who assumes the divine namesashis own traits),muw~&iil(the one who professesGod's Unity),rnu&agqiy(the Verifier). In the section on ashgh24 9%provides brief instructions con-cerning invocation of and meditation on the name.

%i's short &rzakh 6o (VI) describes various meditations on the basis ofthe teachings of the school and provides illustrations,which the manuscriptsusually give in color, of human faces composed of divine names, His ?yawBss--iMamsa 61 (VI) deals with the correspondences between the five descents ofexistence /canazzuh-t-i* y i id and the five senses. It frequently employs ma-terial from JiXrdsA%qdd-n~45@ithout mentioning the source.

One of %'s important disciples was Shaykh Burhm al-Din Burhaptiri(1083/1672-73),62ometimes called RBz-i Ililhi. He is the author of Shar4-i.&mtu biY% 63 (V+ , which quotes in detail, without ascription,from Shar$v'

57 HSI I1 169.5B HSI I1 170.59

61 AP ~f f! ul b6 8/ 4 35ff.).a

Hyderabad: Matba' Fayd al-Karirn, n.d., 242 pp.;SJ %s. 115, AP 418. KH 1363.AP 617 (7ff,),AP 867 (8ff.),AP 186, SJ 'hs. 66/2.His death date is given so by Rivi (HSI I1 13), ut he also gives it as 1678-79 (HSI I1 171).SJTits. 97 (IMf.), SJ Tits. 238/2 (8ff.),AMU Subhanullah 297.7/28 [l], M U .F. Wsir 467,Ah4U Habibganj 211329.Thework s also given the titlesA3izh-y'wa&&/--iwu/iid(AP17)and A3dfgdar 5 ~ r n - i r n ~ h ~ r t - i / ~d// ( A P 53).


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IBN AL-(ARABISINFLUENCE IN THE SUBCONTINENT 231Guhhan-lr2~n important Persian compendium of Ibn al-(Arabis eachingsby MuhammadGhiji (d. 912/1506).Burh3n al-Dins short Daq2lq a/&aq&qor &k%td-&qi?qa 64 (VI) s attributed in some copies to%3. Burhiin al-Dinsdisciple (Aqil Kha (d. 1108/1696) compiled his masters m&iz2tas~rnm-td++p-Pji ishimself the author of Nagzizmgta/i>hq 67 (VI-VII),a work inspired by (Iraqish a $ L

(Abd al-Jalil ibn Sadr al-Din Il&ibcIi may be identical with Shaykh (Abdal-Jalil of Lucknow (d. 1043/1633-34),a Chishti shaykh who showed greatfrankness in expressinghis belief in the M&datA- qCd and little concernfor the st r ic t observance of the Shans. Among his works arek.h2daL~X&2(11), written because one Muhammad MiyS$?il*uhammad had complainedthat the shaykh had many theoretical works, but none dealing with the prac-tices of the path. It describes in detail the invocations /adk2@and spiritualpractices b5hgh84 of the Chishtiyya and other orders. He may be the authorof A42ktih-f-i%IbdalyW 9 (V), which contains forty letters, mostly simpleand practical; the R ev Library (Rampur) ist ascribes he work to (Abd al-Jalilof Lucknow, while the Khuda Bakhsh catalogue says it is by (Abd al-JalilSiddiqi.

By f a r the most relevant of (Abd al-Jalils works for our concerns here aretwo visionary conversations, one between the spirit and the soul, and the otherbetween (A M al-Jalil and Ibn al5Arabi. RU& fignafsor b b U d t a/-lazyYo(VII) was written to show that belief in wa&dfaLwyCdin no sense contra-dicts the necessity of following the Shada. One of the manuscripts was copiedin the year 47of the accession presumably that of Akbar, i.e. 1010/1602.71The spirit introduces itself as the locus of manifestation for the names Allahand Guide, while the soul calls itself the locus of manifestation for the nameMisguider /m&v.The treatise exhibits a mastery of many of the subtle is-sues that are raised by Ibn al-Arabis teachings and a thorough familiaritywith the philosophical mode of exposition. Though the soul is transformedinto nafs-imqtm2hna(the soul at peace with God)by the end of the treatise,in the first parts it skillfully describes the theory of wa&data/-tr~u/idast waspresented by authors such asAwhad al-Din Balym- in &iG!%t a/a4!~d;i=va.~~

61 AF 1945,AP 1975, OU 178 (2-3ff.).More cornpleteIy,(Ah(Ash- bn Mdpmmad ?aqi ibn M$ammad Q&irn al-Khwafi(HSI I1 13).a HSI I1 13.67 Printedin Fathpur, 1265;M U ubhanullah 297.7/56[q 14ff.).Rev handlist (Rampur)980B.6o HSI I1 289-290. However,RiNi also refers toAbd al-JalilI-lahabndI.without any elaboration69 AP 1413 (33ff.);SJ Ad.1W13, KH 1584. Rev handlist. 942, 965.

LK Maj. 3112 (10ff.); MU Subhanullah 297.7/46[4].I Conceivably it could be the 47th year of Awrangzeb, in which case the year would be1115/1704,72 Cf. M. Chodkiewicz,@7re surLhkMAbsofue (Paris:Les Deux Octans, 1982);Chittick,

R W and Wa4dataLWyiid Thiswork is attributed explicitly to Balywiin its h s i a n translation(AP 450, SJk.2).

(HSI I1 97).


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william chittick - notes on ibn arabis influence in the subcontinent

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