In Knowledge before Action, Amina M. Steinfels examines medieval Sufism and its place in Islamic society by telling the story of the life and career of Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari, a revered figure in Pakistan. Considered one of the most important Sufi masters of South Asia, Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari, more popularly referred to as Makhdum-i Jahaniyan, is known for combining spirituality and scholarship in a formative period for Sufism. Steinfels assembles the details of Bukhari's life from records of his teachings, dynastic chronicles, and correspondence to discover how he achieved his status and laid the groundwork for a devotional cult that has lasted seven centuries. Steinfels also examines Bukhari's theories of the relationship between scholar and mystic. Bukhari's teachings provide windows into the underlying concerns and themes of medieval Sufism.
Knowledge before Action describes Bukhari's training as a scholar and a Sufi, his exercise of religious authority over his disciples, and his theories of the relationships between saint and shaykh. Knowledge before Action discusses ritual and contemplative practices, the economic bases of Sufi institutions, and the interconnectedness between Sufi masters, the 'ulama, and the political authorities by telling the story of Bukhari.
By the time of his death in 784/1384, MakhdĆ«m-i jahÄniyÄn Sayyid JalÄl al-dÄ«n BukhÄrÄ«1 was a widely respected Sufi shaykh and a recognized authority on Islamic religious practice and the Islamic intellectual traditions. BukhÄrÄ«âs later status was largely a product of his learning and Sufi affiliations. However, such acquired qualifications worked in concert with his inherited social status and group identity. Birth was insufficient to determine the ultimate place of an individual in society, but it was an important factor. As Roy Mottahedeh points out in his discussion of Iraqi society in the fourth/tenth and fifth/eleventh centuries, an individualâs pedigree included both âbiological ancestryâ and the noble deeds of his ancestors. âThe great majority of men took a manâs genealogy, and the stockpile of honorable deeds that he inherited, into consideration both in estimating that manâs capacities, and in assigning him a station in society.â2 Besides such an inherited social status, however, this principle also influenced an individualâs choices in life, since he might feel compelled to live up to the nobility of his ancestors. BukhÄrÄ«âs life can be seen as an example of this process.
Family Background
Genealogy
JalÄl ad-dÄ«n BukhÄrÄ« was born in 707/1308 to a family with a definite social identity and status: sayyids (that is, descendants of the Prophet Muáž„ammad), originating in Bukhara, settled in the town of Uch, and affiliated with the SuhrawardÄ« Sufi order. BukhÄrÄ«âs grandfather, also named Sayyid JalÄl al-dÄ«n កusayn and known as ShÄr ShÄh JalÄl Surkh (or Surkh-pĆsh), had emigrated to India from Bukhara sometime in the early thirteenth century. Unfortunately we have little reliable information about JalÄl Surkh and must depend upon somewhat contradictory sources from several centuries after his death. Furthermore, the identical names of grandfather and grandson have understandably caused some confusion in popular legend, such that tales told of one figure have become attached to the other. To the best of our knowledge, JalÄl Surkh was born in 595/1198 in Bukhara to a family that traced its descent to âAlÄ« al-HÄdÄ«, the tenth imam of the Twelver (ImÄmÄ«) Shiâa.3 This family lineage also served as the chain of transmission for the khirqa (Sufi robe) with which JalÄl Surkh was initiated into the Sufi path by his own father, âAlÄ« AbĆ« al-Muâayyad.
The familyâs descent from the Shiâa imams and their use of the name កusayn have lead to the suggestion that they were, in fact, Shiâa.4 Today, some branches of the BukhÄrÄ« family, including the one in control of the family tombs in Uch, identify as ImÄmÄ« (Twelver) Shiâa, while others are Sunni. Support for the suggestion that JalÄl Surkh was Shiâa can be found in Maáșhar-i JalÄlÄ«, a putative collection of his teachings and one that refers to him by the very Shiâa title of កaydar-i
ÄnÄ« (the second âAlÄ«).5 In contrast, his grandson JalÄl al-dÄ«n BukhÄrÄ« MakhdĆ«m-i jahÄniyÄn presents himself as very definitely Sunni in his malfĆ«áșÄt; while his teachings contain a great veneration for the family of the Prophet and especially for the twelve Imams, it was the Sunni កanafÄ« creed that he taught and practiced. When asked by members of the sayyid community in Medina about his maáșhab, he answered, âthe maáșhab of AbĆ« កanÄ«fa, along with all my forefathers in Bukhara,â6 thus asserting not only his own identification with កanafism but also that of his whole lineage. BukhÄrÄ«âs remarks on the Shiâa identity of most of the sayyids that he met in Mecca and Medina, especially his use of the derogatory term rawÄfiĆŒ (turncoats), assume that Shiâism is foreign to himself and his audience.7 Furthermore, BukhÄrÄ« was extravagantly praised by the historian Ć»iyÄâ al-dÄ«n BaranÄ«, a strident anti-Shiâa bigot, and patronized by Sultan FÄ«rĆz ShÄh Tughluq, who boasted of suppressing and humiliating his Shiâa subjects.8
Could the BukhÄrÄ« sayyids have been secretly Shiâa, practicing taqÄ«ya (dissimulation) to avoid persecution? Might JalÄl al-dÄ«n BukhÄrÄ«âs statements be purposefully misleading? While this would be difficult to reconcile with BukhÄrÄ«âs career as a very public and erudite expert in the Sunni scholarly and religious traditions, it is not impossible. Devin Stewart has documented numerous cases of Shiâa legal scholars participating in the âSunni legal system,â mostly through public affiliation with the ShÄfiâÄ« maáșhab.9 During the 740s/1340s when BukhÄrÄ« was in Arabia, he studied with several leading ShÄfiâÄ« scholars. Furthermore, as exemplified by his statement quoted above, it seems that he was obliged to answer questions about his sectarian affiliation from various sides, suggesting that his contemporaries were not always certain of his Sunni identity. At any rate, whether it was a matter of conversion or of coming out of the Sunni closet, the familyâs Shiâa identity dates from after the eleventh/seventeenth century.10
Although the BukhÄrÄ« familyâs illustrious genealogy did not necessarily indicate a sectarian Shiâa affiliation, it did place the family into a specific social category, that of sayyids (descendants of the Prophet Muáž„ammad through his daughter FÄáčima). Being a sayyid was a significant aspect of BukhÄrÄ«âs public identity; in his malfĆ«áșÄt, he is often called sayyid al-sÄdÄt (âsayyid of sayyidsâ or âmaster of sayyidsâ) and eulogized for the purity of his descent. Sayyids constituted and, in some parts of the world, continue to constitute a high-status group among Muslims, associated with religious learning, piety, and charisma.11 In eighth-/fourteenth-century India, the status of sayyids was formally recognized by the Delhi Sultanate. According to Ibn BaáčáčĆ«áča, sayyids and other religious dignitaries, such as judges, scholars, and Sufi shaykhs, took the âprincipal placeâ at Muáž„ammad bin Tughluqâs royal banquets, ahead of his own relatives and the nobility.12 One of the examples of FÄ«rĆz-shÄh Tughluqâs piety, listed by the historian Ć»iyÄâ al-dÄ«n BaranÄ«, was his generosity to sayyids, as well as the âulama, Sufis, and other religious figures.13
It is worth noting that in these examples sayyids are listed with religious professionals, even though, as a group, they had no defined social or religious function and might in fact, as individuals, have careers as scholars, judges, or Sufi shaykhs. That is, since a sayyid is categorized by his or her blood descent while the other categories are defined by professional qualification, there is obviously opportunity for overlap and, as mentioned above, the religious careers were considered particularly suitable for sayyids. Many of the great South Asian Sufi shaykhs were said to be of sayyid descent, including most of the early ChishtÄ« masters: MuâÄ«n al-dÄ«n ChishtÄ«, Quáčb al-dÄ«n BakhtiyÄr KÄkÄ«, NiáșÄm al-dÄ«n AwliyÄ,â and NaáčŁÄ«r al-dÄ«n Maáž„mĆ«d ChirÄgh-i DihlÄ«.14 To this day, there is an assumption in South Asian Muslim communities that any saint or holy person is most likely a sayyid.
In the case of JalÄl al-dÄ«n BukhÄrÄ« the status and label of sayyid tended to trump other acquired labels, a pattern found in other figures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. One minor indicator of this is the seeming inalienability of the title sayyid from the name of any figure with the right to bear it, for example, Sayyid âAlÄ« HamadÄnÄ«, Sayyid Ashraf JahÄngÄ«r SimnÄnÄ«, Sayyid GÄ«sĆ«darÄz. In general, medieval South Asian Muslim culture was quite flexible as to which elements of a personâs name would be highlighted or forgotten, paying scant attention to the classical Arab distinctions of ism (personal name), laqab (honorific), patronymic, and so on. According to those distinctions, our subject would be more appropriately referred to as កusayn or AbĆ« âAbdallÄh or Ibn Aáž„mad rather than JalÄl al-dÄ«n BukhÄrÄ«. Furthermore, Sufi shaykhs and saints were given a plethora of hyperbolic titles and nicknames by their disciples such as makhdĆ«m-i jahÄniyÄn (served by the inhabitants of the world), suláčÄn al-mashÄâikh (king of shaykhs), shaykh al-akbar (greatest shaykh), quáčb-i âÄlam (axis of the world). Yet, despite all this creativity and flexibility, we rarely find the name of a descendant of the Prophet without sayyid preceding it.
In order to preserve the purity of their lineage, sayyids frequently practiced endogamyâfor a sayyida this was the only appropriate marriage since a Muslim, especially កanafÄ«, woman may only marry an equal or a better. Although the information on JalÄl Surkhâs life is sketchy and despite the general neglect of women in medieval Sufi texts, the sources are careful to mention that all of his wives were sayyidas. His first wife, whom he married in Bukhara and by whom he had two sons, Awáž„Äd al-dÄ«n âAlÄ« and Jaâfar, is variously described as belonging to a family of Medinan sayyids and as the daughter of Sayyid QÄsim BukhÄrÄ«.15
Given the nature of the sayyids as an endogamous descent group, with a fixed status above others, and a religious justification for this status, it is unsurprising that attempts to identify caste or a caste-like system among South Asian Muslims have frequently listed sayyids as the highest caste.16 However, the question of whether caste exists among Muslims is a vexed one whose answer depends on how caste is defined. And though it might be analytically useful to view sayyids in the context of caste, it would be unwarranted to take this as an example of the influence of Indic traditions on Islam, since sayyids have been a high-status group in many different regions of the world. Furthermore, unlike Hindu caste systems, sayyids do not form part of an overarching hierarchical scheme theoretically incorporating all of society. In some ways, they stand out as a unique phenomenon in Islam: a pan-Islamic descent group maintaining its status in a range of Islamic societies, each of which is made up of various competing social classes, factions, and ethnicities.
Table 1: Genealogy of the BukhÄrÄ« Sayyids
Sacred Geography
Though we have no definite information on the dates or motivations for JalÄl Surkhâs emigration from Bukhara, it is probable that, like so many others, he fled the destruction and upheaval brought by the Mongol invasions of the 620s/1220s. He is said to have visited the holy cities of Mecca, Medina, and Mashhad before arriving in South Asia. His two eldest sons accompanied him to India but later returned to Bukhara.17 In India, JalÄl Surkh first lived in Bhakkar (near the modern towns of Sukkur and Rohri in Sind), where his relative Sayyid Badr al-dÄ«n កusaynÄ« was settled. Badr al-dÄ«n gave him his daughter in marriage. According to one account this was in obedience to the Prophet Muáž„ammadâs instructions given in a dream. The match lead to a rift with Badr al-dÄ«nâs brothers and JalÄl Surkhâs departure from Bhakkar.18 Another account gives the brideâs name as Zahra and states that after her untimely death JalÄl Surkh married her sister FÄáčima.19 The couple had three sons: áčąadr al-dÄ«n Muáž„ammad, Aáž„mad KabÄ«r, and BahÄâ al-dÄ«n.20 From Bhakkar, JalÄl Surkh moved to Multan to attach himself to the SuhrawardÄ« saint BahÄâ al-dÄ«n ZakarÄ«yÄ (577â661/1182â1262). Various dates are reported for his discipleship and his initiation into the SuhrawardÄ« path; âAbd al-កayy LakâhnawÄ« asserts that this took place in 635/1237, but according to SawÄl Ć jawÄb, JalÄl Surkh came to Multan when the Sultan of Delhi was trying to conquer Thatta and Bhakkar. That would suggest the 650s/1250s when Sultan NÄáčŁir al-dÄ«n b. Iltutmish (r. 644â664/1246â1266) was attempting to quell the Sumra tribe in Sind.21 At any rate, JalÄl Surkh was eventually instructed by his spiritual mentor to move to the town of Uch, where he spent the rest of his life and where his tomb is still a site of devotional activity.
Today, Multan and Uch are part of the Pakistani province of Punjab, while Bhakkar is in Sind. At the time, however, the whole valley of the Indus and its tributaries, from Multan down to the sea, was referred to as Sind in contrast with Hind (the Gangetic plain and by extension northern India as a whole). Sind had been the first region in the sub-continent to come under Islamic rule with the Arab invasion in 92/711 and the ancient towns of Multan and Uch were both conquered by the âUmayyad general Muáž„ammad bin QÄsim. Multan was also among the first cities taken by Maáž„mĆ«d of Ghazni in the early fifth/eleventh century and subsequently remained a significant possession of the Ghurids and the Delhi Sultans. By the eighth/fourteenth century, therefore, Multan and Uch had been under Muslim domination for over six hundred years and had become significant centers of Islamic learning and culture. As the two most important cities of upper Sind, they served as the administrative and political centers for their regions, although Uch was sometimes politically and culturally dominated by Multan. Control of these territories was a ...
