ʿAṭṭār’s Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ and Jāmī’s Nafaḥāt al-uns
Two Visions of Sainthood
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This article presents two famous collections of the lives of saints: ʿAṭṭār’s Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ and Jāmī’s Nafaḥāt al-uns. Every collection of the lives of saints shares the common tradition of Arabic-language works. Indeed, Hujvīrī’s Kašf al-maḥjūb and Anṣārī’s Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfiyyah ensured the transition with Sufi literature written in Arabic. However, the Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ is the first truly original work in Persian. ʿAṭṭār and Jāmī sought to make known to their respective communities of belief the words and deeds of spiritual masters, but they did so in two different ways. ʿAṭṭār chose a limited corpus of saints that, in his eyes, represented the primary movements of the first centuries of Sufism. Jāmī instead favoured exhaustiveness, amassing a great number of biographies, especially on the shaykhs of the Naqshbandi order. While Jāmī conveyed the paths of saintliness in accordance with the religious orthodoxy of his order, ʿAṭṭār showed a special attachment to the ecstatic masters. The Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ and Nafaḥāt al-uns thus represent two different ways of commemorating the memory of the spiritual masters who embodied the mystical thought of Islam.
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1
Yarshater 1968, 23.
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2
Sublet 1991, 169.
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7
Ibid., 95.
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8
Ibid., 95.
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9
Davis 1984, 13.
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10
Bruijn 1997, 17.
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11
Losensky 2009, 14.
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13
Bruijn 1983, 119-139. The text is dedicated to the Ghaznavid Sultan Bahrām Šāh (r. 512-547/1118-1152), who was a great patron of Persian literature.
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14
Bruijn 1999, 361-379. Rūmī based his mas̱navī-i maʿnavī on the model of the Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqah.
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19
Lewisohn 1992, 30.
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21
Ernst 1999, 337. On this type of poetry, see Bruijn 1992, 75-86.
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25
Matīnī 1989, 118.
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26
Landolt 2006, 8.
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33
Landolt 2006, 10.
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49
Bruijn 2002, 83.
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50
Arberry 1958, 450. Divergent views exist with regard to his work; see Algar 2013 chapter “Further Readings.”
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54
Lewisohn 1992, 19-20.
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56
Ibid., 21; Kitāb al-Lumāʿ fī l-taṣawwuf, 16.
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57
Bruijn 1992.
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60
Massignon 1997, 145.
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69
Zarrinkoob 1970, 202.
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71
See Paul 1991.
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79
Gibb 1902, 8.
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81
Bruijn 2002, 82.
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82
Flemming 1994, 63.
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83
Bruijn 2002, 82.
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85
Algar 2013, 130.
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89
See Losensky 2009, 15-18; Idem 2007, 107-119.
-
90
Losensky 2009, 19.
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91
Losensky 2009, 19.
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94
Amri 2008, 147.
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95
Algar 2013, 78.
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96
Losensky 2006, 77-78.
-
97
Ibid., 78.
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98
Talat Halman 2013, 217.
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101
Losensky 2007, 109.
-
102
Losensky 2009, 17-18.
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103
Algar 2008.
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104
Taylor 1966, 97-113.
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105
Algar 2013, 87, following Maḥǧūb 1984, 414.
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106
Algar 2013, 87-88.
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114
Ibid., 167.
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115
Ibid., 169.
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118
Morimoto 2014, 106-124.
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119
This expression is taken from Morimoto 2014, 111. The ʿulamāʾ are guided by the divine light (al-nūr al-rabbānī), but their acquired knowledge is that of the šarīʿah. Samhūdī adapts the discourse of Sufis in order to elaborate his own concept of ʿulamāʾ-awliyāʾ; see ibid., 116.
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125
Pourjavady 2012, 127.
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136
Ernst 1985, 17. Junayd collected the šaṭḥ of Bāyazīd in a work entitled Tafsīr al-šaṭḥiyyāt.
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137
Sells 1996, 216.
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140
Ibid., 358.
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141
Amri 2008, 202. On the model of the prophetic mi‘rāǧ and its role in sainthood, see ibid., 201-216, and on the other voyages of saints, see chap. 8.
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144
Lory 1996, 224.
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152
Lewisohn 1992, 20.
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153
Massignon 1982, vol. 1, 379-380.
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154
Lewisohn 1992, 20, citing Massignon 1982, vol. 1, 384.
-
173
Ernst 1999, 332.
-
176
Aflākī 2002, 399 [570]. Jāmī similarly relays these words in Nafaḥāt al-uns, 599.
-
177
Rypka 1968, 317.
-
180
Ibid., 334.
-
181
Jolles 1972, 217.
-
189
Ibid.; Trans., Algar 2013, 106-107.
-
191
Algar 2013, 107.
-
192
Mojaddedi 2001, 208, n. 12.
-
193
Chodkiewicz 1995, 10.
-
195
Ibid., 31.
-
197
Ibid., 375-413.
-
198
Ibid., 375-377.
-
199
Ibid., 406-413.
-
200
Ibid., 413.
-
201
Algar 2008.
-
209
Mojaddedi 2001, 83-84.
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213
Algar 2013, 88. The silsilah of the Naqšabandiyyah was initially of the uwaysī type: from Ǧaʿfar Ṣādiq to Bāyazīd and then Abū l-Ḥasan Kharaqānī; see Algar 1990, 3-56.
-
214
Haar 1992, 314.
-
218
Ibid., 151.
-
220
Expression adopted from Boureau 1984, 253.
-
221
Boureau 1984, 253-254. On the success of this text, see Reames 1995.
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ʿAṭṭār’s Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ and Jāmī’s Nafaḥāt al-uns
Two Visions of Sainthood
In: Oriente ModernoSearch for other papers by Denise Aigle in
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PubMed
This article presents two famous collections of the lives of saints: ʿAṭṭār’s Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ and Jāmī’s Nafaḥāt al-uns. Every collection of the lives of saints shares the common tradition of Arabic-language works. Indeed, Hujvīrī’s Kašf al-maḥjūb and Anṣārī’s Ṭabaqāt al-ṣūfiyyah ensured the transition with Sufi literature written in Arabic. However, the Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ is the first truly original work in Persian. ʿAṭṭār and Jāmī sought to make known to their respective communities of belief the words and deeds of spiritual masters, but they did so in two different ways. ʿAṭṭār chose a limited corpus of saints that, in his eyes, represented the primary movements of the first centuries of Sufism. Jāmī instead favoured exhaustiveness, amassing a great number of biographies, especially on the shaykhs of the Naqshbandi order. While Jāmī conveyed the paths of saintliness in accordance with the religious orthodoxy of his order, ʿAṭṭār showed a special attachment to the ecstatic masters. The Taḏkirat al-awliyāʾ and Nafaḥāt al-uns thus represent two different ways of commemorating the memory of the spiritual masters who embodied the mystical thought of Islam.
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