Sufi Heirs of the Prophet

by Arthur F. Buehler

• ISBN13: 9781570032011
• ISBN10: 1570032017
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2022-10-18
• Publisher: University of South Carolina Press

Summary

The influence of Muslim mystics and their connection to the Prophet Sufi Heirs of the Prophet explores the multifaceted development of personal authority. in Islamic societies by tracing the transformation of one mystical sufi lineage in colonial India, the Naqshbandiyya. Arthur F. Beuhler isolates four sources of personal authority evident in the practices of the Naqshbandiyya -- lineage, spiritual traveling, status as a Prophetic exemplar, and the transmission of religious knowledge -- to demonstrate how Muslim religious leaders have exercised charismatic leadership through their association with the most compelling of personal Islamic symbols, the Prophet Muhammad. Buehler clarifies the institutional structure of sufism, analyzes overlapping configurations of personal sufi authority, and details how and why revivalist Indian Naqshbandis abandoned spiritual practices that had sustained their predecessors for more than five centuries. He looks specifically at the role ofJama'at 'Ali Shah (d. 1951) to explain current Naqshbandi practices.

Table of Contents

List of Illustrations	vii	(2)
Foreword	ix	(4)
Annemarie Schimmel
Editor's Preface	xiii	(2)
Preface and Acknowledgments	xv
1. Patterns of Sufi Religious Authority	1	(28)
2. From Teaching-Shaykh to Directing-Shaykh	29	(26)
3. The Naqshbandiyya in India from Their Foundation to the Colonial Period	55	(27)
4. Genealogy as a Source of Authority	82	(16)
5. Spiritual Travel as a Source of Authority	98	(33)
6. Bonding the Heart with the Shaykh	131	(16)
7. From Initiation to Shaykhdom	147	(21)
8. Mediational Sufism and Revivalist Currents in British Colonial India	168	(22)
9. Redefining the Shaykh's Role in the Naqshbandi Sufi Tradition	190	(34)
10. The Role of the Naqshbandi Sufi in Pakistan	224	(10)
Appendixes	234	(26)
1. Written Sources for Spiritual Exercises	234	(7)
2. Mujaddidi Contemplations	241	(8)
3. The Intentions Guiding the Disciple through the Mujaddidi Contemplations	249	(5)
4. Examples of Teaching Certificates	254	(6)
Bibliography	260	(25)
Index	285