Chapter 10
In: Dynamics of Islam in the Modern World
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Abstract
Significant among the various aspects of the Pure Muhammadan Path (Tariqa Muhammadiyya Khalisa), a mystical doctrine founded by the Indian Muslim reformers Muhammad Nasir ʿAndalib (d. 1758) and his son Mir Dard (d. 1785), is the endeavor to call Muslims’ attention to, in Sufi parlance, the exterior realm of life and the more visible level of reality. The doctrine emphasizes Sufi notions such as awareness, awakeness, sobriety, subsistence and descent (nuzul) and underlines exterior aspects of the Quran and hadith. Such accentuation indicates a shift from the otherworldly, esoteric aspect of Sufism to its worldly, rational dimension, which had been, according to Mir Dard, underestimated by the extreme indulgence of earlier Sufis with regard to mystical intoxication and ecstasy. The current chapter explores how Mir Dard’s perception of the Prophet represents a shift from an esoteric, mystical dimension to a worldly, external reality by means of analyzing certain concepts he proposed in his main works, such as the notions of God’s vicegerent and clear and hidden announcement (balagh-i mubin and balagh-i khafi). The chapter discusses the role of the prophetology introduced in the Muhammadan Path in the dynamic of Muslim thought and spirituality in eighteenth-century India.