Vol. I, Number 1/Summer 1978 EDITORIAL COMMITTEE Hakim Mohammed Said —Editor Dr. Syed Husain M. Jafri ADVISORY COMMITTEE Dr. Roger Arnaldez Dr. Muhsin Mahdi Dr. Hisham Nashabi Dr. S.A. Rahman Dr. Ehsan Rashid The Hamdard National Foundation, Pakistan, does not necessarily agree with all the statements made or opinions expressed by the contributors who are them- selves responsible for their views or comments. CONTENTS *Thoughts on Muslim-Christian Dialogue —— W. Montgomery Watt *AL-Birani and Islamic Mysticism —— Bruce B. Lawrence *The Quran and Fundamental Human Rights —— SA. Rahman *The Problem of Value in Islam, a —— Manzoor Ahmad ~. ~ *Book Review: Landlord and Peasant in Early Islam —— A.S. Bazmee AnsariAL-BIRONI AND ISLAMIC MYSTICISM Bruce B. LAWRENCE Acsnonts acquaintance with the concepts of Muslim mystics (here- after known as Sifis) may have been extensive or restricted. Historically, his immediate sources of information on Sifis and Stfism are not known. Yet al-Birdni’s encyclopaedic presentation of Indian thought, known as Kitab al-Birani fi tahgiq ma lil-Hind min magala maqbila fil ‘agl aw mardhila or simply the India,! \eaves no doubt that whatever the scope of his acquaintance with tracts on tasawwuf, their principal value for him is functional: to provide points of reference within a tradition al- ready known to his Muslim readers, making possible the comparison of tangentially Muslim statements with references from Jewish, Persian and Christian but mostly Greek sources, for the ultimate purpose of parallel- ing and, hopefully, elucidating Indian religions beliefs. As a compara- tivist al-Birdini is wide-ranging in his repeated references to non-Indian authors and their writing, but his single, constant focus in the India is Hindi thought and its comprehensibility to his Muslim teaders. It is noteworthy, therefore, that the India does not include an independent treatment of Siifism, nor does it provide an attempt to evaluate the prin- cipal tenets of tasawwuf vis-A-vis the other branches of institutional Islam, Sunni or Shi'ite. Outside the India al-Birant makes few references to Siifism. In the Chronology there is a solitary exposition of the teaching of Husayn b. Mansar al-Hallaj,? and there is a further allusion to Sifi leaders in the Kitab Batanjal3 To determine al-Birani’s use of characteristic Safi expressions, therefore, one must consult the numerous but cryptic India passages pertaining to tasawwuf. Ideally our task ought to be twofold: (1) to examine explicit reference to Sifi thought—whether the name of a particular writer is provided, or, as in most cases, authorship remains anonymous; and (2) to determine the use of Sifi concepts or technical terms in the general context of al- Birani’s discursus on religious traditions. This second level of investi- gation would be especially profitable if directed not only to the India material but also to the Kitab Batanjal.4 Yet, because of the frequency and complexity of al-Biriini’s references to Siifism in analyzing Hindi thought, the present essay will concern itselfHamdard Islamicus 54 Vol. I No. 1 mainly with the India passages where explicit reference is made to Siifi pat- terns of belief. If we presume to suggest that human reason and histori- cal imagination will lead us to understand what an author of nearly 1000 years antiquity and veneration intended to say about Siifism, then at a later date we might assay the further task of laying bare Sifi categories dimly reflected in the Kitab Batanjal as well as the India. It is in the second through the seventh chapters of the /ndia that we find most of the references to tasawwufS, appearing in several contexts to illustrate a variety of doctrinal positions. The intention of these chap- ters is to summarize the Hindi outlook and thereby provide a frame of reference for the reader who ventures into the maze of mathematical and scientific data that follow. With respect to the span of topics included in the India, Chapters 2-7 appear to be straightforward and easy to under- stand. In themselves, however, they telescope a vast segment of medieval thought into a very few paragraphs, with the result that it is no minor feat to unravel the original context and intention of particular passages—whether they pertain, as in most cases, to the views of the ancient Greeks or, on occasion, to the views of the Sifis. The chapter headings supply minimal signposts for the unsuspecting reader. After a general introduction (Chapter 1), al-Birini explains the structure of Hindi belief under six topical rubrics: 1 — God (ch. 2) 2 — the interaction of intelligible with sensible objects (ch. 3) 3 — the connection of soul with matter (ch. 4) 4 — metempsychosis (ch. 5) 5 — cosmology (ch. 6) 6 — liberation (ch. 7) The categories, in fact, overlap and the chapter divisions only roughly correspond to their content. It would be possible to label the same material as four aspects of Indian thought, with the following distri- bution: / as transcendent being (ch. 2) GOPL as human creation (ch. 3a)Hamdard Islamicus 55 Vol. I No. 1 SPIRIT (28 apogee of Samkhyan thought (ch. 3b) \as corporeal and, hence, contaminated (ch. 4) / its conceptual basis (ch. 5) TRANSMIGRATION( ;,, topography (ch. 6) SALVATION (ch. 7) The glaring distinction of Hindi from Muslim belief occurs in the third category, and al-Biriini has underscored and memorialized the distinction by his oft-quoted remark: al-tandsukh ‘ilm al-nihlat al-hindawiya.6 “Metempsychosis is the password of Hindi: belief.” Yet even on this topic Hindis are not adjudged to be unique, for it is in his prefatory re- marks concerning the Greeks that the Ghaznavid savant first applauds the ancient philosophers as those who endeavored to discover the truth? and then compares them to Sifis and Christian sectaries as partners with the Hindiis in propounding the twin beliefs of transmigration and uni- fication.® Transmigration only becomes the central topic for consideration in two chapters of the India (5-6), while unification is not stressed till the discussion of salvation in Chapter 7. Together, however, they become the organizing principle for the material on Hinda doctrinal beliefs in the initial chapters of the India, and it is in relation to them that the excerpts from Greek sources assume a primary importance, while Siifism becomes an adjunct discipline, deriving even its valuation from the treatment of the Greek material. Consider, for instance, Chapter 1. The pagan Greeks are discussed at length. According to al-Birini, they are like the Hindi in two res- pects: (1) their upper and lower classes have more in common cross- culturally (Greek to Hindi, Hindi to Greek) than they do linearly (Greek) to Greek, Hindi to Hindi), for in both.cases the upper classes are philo- sophers and/or scientists, while the masses are ignorant rabble:? as heathens, all Greeks and all Hindiis are alike since they represent a common deviation from the truth.10 The phrase ‘deviation from the truth’ (al-inhiraf ‘an al-hagg) sounds like a canon of Muslim orthodoxy, and whether al-Birini genuinely holds such a conviction or is advancing it to please the monarch (Mahmiid of Ghazna) under whose patronage his India was completed"! is a moot question. If all heathens are lumped together as deviates from the truth, then Sifi as well as Hellenistic catego- ties of thought are implicitly condemned. Such a judgment is given added weight when one realizes that nowhere in the India is Siifism cited except as a serial addition to examples either of Indian or Greek specu-. lation.Hamdard Islamicus 56 Vol. I No. 1 It would not be amiss to say that the introductory remarks in the India concerning Greek thought lead to two seminal insights into al- Birini’s perception of Sifism. First, while all Greeks, Indians and Sifis are condemned for their collective, corporate expression of False Belief, some individual Greeks but no Siifiis are partially extolled for their aspirations to understand the Truth. There is no Sufi counterpart to the tribute paid to Socrates who, though suffering at the hands of his ignorant countrymen, died, according to al-Birini, as one who “did not recant from the Truth”. Secondly, it is al-Birini’s own vision of the Truth which not only governs his life and work but determines the spirit of his inquiry into the Indian mind. For al-Birinf the truth of Islam is above question; he does not subject it to the same scrutiny which prompts him to lay bare the premises for Indian belief in transmigration and uni- fication. Both the India and the Chronology contain scattered references to the*historical cléavages within the umma, but they are few and seldom polemical in intent! When excerpts from S$ifi writings appear in the India, as they often do, their proponents are not castigated; only the Chronology depiction of extreme Sifism, as attributed to al-Hallaj and his followers, seems to have piqued al-Birani.'* The generally irenic app- roach to sectarianism which characterizes his work appears to derive from an unquestioning acceptance of his inherited faith, coupléd with a dogged pursuit of the highest Truth. The larger number of references to tasawwuf rather than to other Mus- lim traditions—sectarian or orthodox—in the India cannot, therefore, be attributed to al-Birini’s acceptance of Safi views; rather it is the funda- mental parallelism which he perceives between Sifis, Greeks and Hindis, especially on the pivotal topics of transmigration and unification, that prompts al-Birini to make frequent mention of the mystical branch within Islam. In Chapter 2, when the topic under surveillance is God as trans- cendent being, reference to Siifiism would be cumbersome at best and hence is omitted. Yet in introducing the Hindi view of the origin of matter, in Chapter 3 al-Biréini can and does suggest a Sifi parallel for the first time in the India. Unfortunately, the context obscures the exact referent which he had in mind. After setting forth the Greek postulate of the First Cause as a self-sufficient and independent entity, al-Birini adds, almost parenthetically, that the Sifis also adhere to this belief. Bat which Safis? In which writings? And-to what extent? We are mot told the answers to these questions. Subsequently, al-Biriini refers to the Safi affirmation that the seeker who turns to the First Cause will after intermediate stages of ascesis become united with it. In all likeli- hood, this second reference to tasawwuf in Chapter 3 interprets the ‘first, linking both to the central concept of unification (ittihdd) mentioned in the Preface as common to Sifis, Christians and Greeks as well as indians.Hamdard Islamicus 57 Vol. I No. 1 Wedged in between the two citations to Sufi tenets in Chapter 3 is a lengthy digression the purpose of which is not immediately clear. After the initial mention of the word Sdfi, al-Birini elaborates its meaning. The excursus does not develop the particularity of Safi thought, at the same time that is remote from Hindi parallels. It does suggest, how- ever, that in a mistaken line of reasoning the word Safi can be linked to Greek philosophy, thus implying that the Siifis themselves felt dependent on the modes of rational discourse as well as the popular beliefs emanating from Athens. Such a negative valuation of tasawwuf as a tradition that derives not only its substance but its name from a non-Islamic source is partially offset by the concluding remark of al-Birint’s etymological excursus. Abi’l Fath al-Busti is quoted, and it appears that his view echoes al-Birin!’s own judgment, namely, that the word sift derives froma word-play on s4fi (‘pure’) and hence refers to ‘a class of (pure) thinkers’.!6 In the remainder of Chapter 3 of the India there is no further reference to Sifism. Only in discussing the concept of God and particularizing the names by which various peoples refer to Him does al-Birini give as the canonical Muslim definition of God: Allah al-haqq ‘al-mat dd, i.e., God is pure Truth. Elsewhere in both the India and the Kitab Batanjal al- Birani uses al-hagq as the conclusive and distinctly Muslim way of des- cribing God. The emphasis is curious, and may exemplify the indirect influence of tasawwuf' on al-Biriini’s vocabulary about which we spoke at the outset of this investigation.'? Though the term al-haqq recurs in the Hellenistic as well as the Sifi traditions, as a name of Allah it becomes emphasized in $ifi vocabulary after the time of al-Hallaj (d. 922 A‘C.) and seemingly as a result of his influence.’® While it is unlikely that al-Birani would trace his definition of the divine to al-Hallaj or any-Sifi author, it is of interest that he knows of al-Hallaj and quotes him directly in the Chronology and indirectly in the India.® In the Preface to the India al-Birani had declared his intention to use Safi teaching to explicate the concept of transmigration as it appeared in the Greek and Hindu traditions. The next references to Sufism, accor- dingly, come at the end of Chapter 5 as doctrinal tenets corresponding to the philosophical bases for transmigration which up till then have been elaborated only with reference to Greek and Hindi material.2° The remarks are brief but specifying. The Siifis, according to al-Birin!, main- tain that this world is a sleeping soul and that the (other) world is a waking soul. They also assert that God (al-hagq) is immanent in certain places—in heaven, for instance, in the seat and on the throne.?! There are several aspects to these observations that merit further comment, (1) The metaphor of the two worlds as sleeping and waking souls respectively is most frequently cited in the literature of Hellenistic and Iranian gnosticism. Both the Great Book of the Mandaeans andHamdard Islamicus 58 Vol. I No. 1 the Corpus Hermeticum resonate with references to sleep as the condition of the soul in matter; its moral turpitude is underscored by the sequential depiction of earthly existence as numbness, drunkenness and: oblivion.2? In contrast, awakening from sleep and recovering from sloth is spurred by the call from without. Indeed the first effect of the call is always seen as wakefulness. Note, for instance, the command to the Primal Man: Shake off the drunkenness in which thou hast slumbered, awake and behold me!?? (2) While the general distinction between sleeping and waking does exist in tasawwuf, it is expressed with neither the frequency nor the piognancy characteristic of the Hellenistic/Iranian tradition. Early Sifism stressed, instead, tawba or repentance as the initial, essential step (magam) to at- taining the Truth. It is noteworthy that The Recital of Hayy b. Yaqzan was the topic of a philosophical/mystical discourse by al-Biriini’s contem- porary, Ibn Sin,?* but it seems unlikely that al-Birdni would have gene- ralized as Safi in inspiration a solitary detail from a man whose works he otherwise appears to have ignored.” In sum, lacking information about al-Biréni’s immediate source for the metaphor of the sleeping and waking souls, we must entertain the possibility that he is ascribing to tasawwuf a tradition that only vaguely pertains to the genre of mystic thought. (3) The subsequent reference to the seat and throne of God is also problem- atic—not for its location in Stfi literature, which is secure by the time of al-Birinf, but for its applicability in the sense which al-Birant suggests. Both terms, of course, derive from Qur’anic observations about the Throne of God, in most instances described as ‘arsh but in two passages (Q. 11:255 and XXXVIII 3:4) as kursi. The discrepancy has invited extensive speculation which has exercised the imaginations of Qur’anic commen- tators since the early centuries of Islam.?® The deeper question concerns the interpretation of the Throne as a literal or metaphorical abode of God. In Sift parlance its characteristic intention seems to be metapho- tical. Consider, for instance, Aba Yazid al-Bistimi, whose shafahdt al-Biréini knew and quoted at least once in the India2? When Abi Yazid reached the Divine Throne, it is said, he found it empty and threw himself upon it; in other words, sitting on the Throne was an allegory for his discovery of the divine element in himself.2® The Throne can only be interpreted to connote full al-kagg, or the indwelling of God, insofar as awareness of the Godhead potentially exists in the soul of every human being. Al-Biraini, by contrast, implies that the Sifts believéd the Throne and/or the Seat literally embodied the Divine Being, and in this sense his ascription is less appropriate to Safi teaching than to the views of the anthropomorphists which by the fourth century A.H. had come to be condemned as unorthodox.Hamdard Islamicus 59 Vol. I No. 1 (4) The context of al-Birini’s succinct references to tasawwuf at the end of Chapter 5 uncovers some of the ambiguity surrounding both sets of images. ‘The same doctrine’ of which al-Birini speaks at the outset of the final paragraph, is the doctrine that the transmigrating force of the soul impels rebirth from one body to another. Yet neither of the all- egedly Safi tenets suggests metempsychosis so much as the desirability of ascent from the lower to the higher world. The frame of reference could as easily be a single as a multiple existence for sentient beings. Why then does al-Birini include these random offerings of purportedly Safi origin? It is possible that the preceding series of quotations from Greek writings, which are far more extensive and detailed than Sifi references, here as elsewhere in the India, proved to be misleading. The two excerpts from Plato*? clearly elaborate the manner in which souls migrate from to form, but in the final passage Proclus simply speaks of properties (know- ing and forgetting) which govern the relationship between soul and body. In all probability, it was this last thought which, in its cleavage of soul from body, reminded al-Birini of the ascetical tradition within Sifism, prompting him to conclude his introduction to Indian views on rebirth with some summary images that bear only a distant relationship either to actual Sifi teaching or to the concept of metempsychosis. When we proceed to Chapter 6 of the India, however, we find a lucid exposition of the mechanics of transmigration that defies comparison with any medieval Muslim text on the subject. One especially graphic quotation concerns the view of a mutakallim on the four stages of trans- migration: naskh, maskh, faskh and raskh3' Al-Shahrasténi mentions the same four stages without elaboration and attributes their proféssions to an extreme Shi‘ite group, the Kamiliya®?_ Edward Sachau, however, assumes that the person to whom al-Biriini alludes is a Sufi, translating mutakallim as ‘theosoph’3? Since the word has an ambiguous history,4 the mutakallim in question could have been either Safi or Shi‘ite, and al- Birini does not provide further clues as to the identity of his sourcé. Yet the Safi affiliation seems questionable, especially since belief in transmigra- tion did not appeal to certain, major expositors of tasawwuf till after al- Birint’s time.35 If we omit from consideration this last reference in Chapter 61 or minimize its relevance to Sifism, we are left with no major statements of Safi doctrine in the India which parallel either Greek or Hindu views on metempsychosis. In itself this conclusion is not astounding, though it mildly contradicts the prefatory statement about the value of Siifism for understanding the Hindy tradition. At the same time, it does point to the importance of that other aspect of Hindu thought for which Safi examples wére to be adduced, namely, unification. Briefly mentioned in Chapter 3 35 the topic of unification is not broached again till Chapter 7. The case for or against al-Birini’s understanding of Sifism restsHamdard Islamicus 60 Vol.1 No.1 ‘ squarely on the citations of this chapter, and we will now turn our attention ] to its contents.37 Chapter 7—concerning Liberation or Salvation—is the final, the lengthiest and the most decisive chapter in the section of the India dedi- cated to expositing Hindi beliefs. Two structural features separate the tasawwuf material in this chapter from that which preceded it. Portions of two verses from the Qur’an are explicitly cited, together with the Sift commentary on their content. Neither of them is identified with a particular author, but elsewhere in the same chapter two prominent Sifls are méntioned by name, Abi Bakr al-Shibli and Abi Yazid al-Bistamt, and a sampling of the shafahat ascribed to them is set forth. The inclusion of these amplified references to tasawwuf is in itself sufficient to under- score the importance of Chapter 7 for al-Biriini: in describing the Indian doctrine of release or salvation, he wants ‘to provide his Muslim readers with the most cogent and lucid examples from the cross-cultural material available to him. The thread of cohesion linking together the Sif! references in Chapter 7 is unification or ittihad. On the one hand, unification is treated in rela- tion to the miraculous feats which precede it but are also superceded by it; on the other, unification is examined as an epistemological process for which the only imagic equivalent is light. The two passages pertaining to siddhis, i.e., extraordinary powers which issue in miraculous acts, are separated by several pages in the India text, 38 yet they constitute a unit from the perspective of al-Birani’s use of Safi categories and hence will be treated together. The first passage appears at the beginning of Chapter 7, after al-Birin! has elaborated a number of siddhis from the third chapter of the Yoga- sutras, His intention is to clarify the nature of detachment (Ar., istighnd, Skt., vairdgya): only the yogin who has achieved the siddhis may become detached from them and attain a still higher level of realization. Al-Birini sees a parallel between this teaching and the Sif! description of the gnostic (al-‘arif) and the stage of gnosis (magam al-ma'rifa). Accor- ding to the Sifis, in his view, there are functions and qualities appropriate to the two souls (riihdn), the one eternal, unalterable, performing miracles, the other human, changing, coming into existence. Nothing further is said about how the two souls of tasawwuf relate to the yogin siddhis, and once again we have to search for Safi antecedents outside the text of the India, The ruhan to which al-Birini refers are usually depicted in Sufi manuals as the spirit or rah and the lower soul or nafs.“! Both are said to be subtle substances existing in a single body, and both’are linked to apposite functions not dissimilar from those included in al-Birint’s briefHamdard Islamicus 61 Vol. I No. 1 vignette,‘? except for the performance of miracles. Early Sift writings do not stress wonder-making powers, and even if one were able to find a passage or two from accounts by pre-tenth century A.C. Sifi enthusiasts which make mention of extraordinary feats, how would they measure up to the extensive faculties which are systematically elaborated as benefits of samyama throughout Book Three of the Yoga-sitras? Clearly the two traditions of tasawwuf and Yoga have disparate emphases om the de velopment of psycho-physical powers, and one might be led to question al-Birdni‘s sound judgment as a comparativist if there were not a second passage in Chapter 7 of the India which also pertains to the siddhis and Safis, In the second passage, 43 as in the first, al-Biran! is trying to explain how the transformed body of the yogin is said to become a vehicle for the soul instead of a barrier to it. Again, he reverts to Siifism for substantia- tion of his basic point. Instead of drawing the contrast between the two levels of the soul, however, as he iad done earlier, al-Birén! explains the point analogicallly by citing a Safi story and then a verse from the Qur’én (XVIII: 84), together with its commentary. The data is uneven. While the story itself is a mystery, being untraceable as well as anonymous, its effect is clear: to show that a student of tasawwuf in the state of intense prayer can experience a unification (ittihdd) of body and soul which allows him to die at will. The Qur’Anic verse, on the other hand, is clear in its origin and initial context but its applicability to Sifism is less certain. The unnamed subject of the verse is Dhi‘l-Qarnayn or Iskandar, and al- though it is apparent from the Chronology that al-Birani was aware of both Dhi’l-Qarnayn and his legendary exploits, there is no mention of details which would link him to the Safi tradition. Perhaps in a com- mentary such as the Haga‘iq al-tafsir of al-Sulami (d. 1021 A.C.), 45 the legendary properties ascribed to Iskandar were transferred to the Sift adept or murid. But jt seems strange both that a commentator would have generalized the extraordinary qualities of a rare and mythical person such as Iskandar and that al-Biriini would have accepted such attribution with- out question or notation, Moreover, as we mentioned above, reliance on magical feats did not appear to be a common element in the self- conception of early Sift communities. Yet the question concerning al-Birini’s source for this bloc of Sift material cannot obscure the fact that its inclusion in Chapter 7 places the earlier reference to siddhis and their $afi equivalent in a new perspective. What appeared in the first passage as an awkward or extraneous detail is here explicated with reference to one of the most miraculous figures in the Islamic tradition: Dhia’l-Qarnayn. Whatever the actual relation of the passage to tasawwuf, it is an ingenious citation on the part of al-Biriini which at the least amplifies the ambiguity of his first reference to ‘miracle- working’ among'the Safis and safeguards his reputation as an innovative comparativist.Hamdard Islamicus 62 Vol.I No.1 Unification as an epistemological process, the literary focus of which is light, describes the remaining catena of Sifi references in Chapter 7 of the India.48 They appear at the end of this chapter,*? and seem to be shrouded by an initial error. After quoting the tree dialogue between Arjuna and Vasudeva, which could only hark back to Bhagavad Gita, Ch. 15 al-birini begins the first of his unprecented string of six Sufi quotations by declaring: i/4 tarig Batanjal, that is, ‘related to the teaching of Patanjali is, is, etc.’ Sachau says nothing about this seeming confusion of the Bhagavad Gita and the Yogasiitras4’ While it is possible that al-Birini made an outright error, it seems more probable that he is speaking of the Simkhyan doctrine common to all three of the major Hindi doctrinal texts known to him? An essential element of Samkhyan metaphysics is the assump- tion of two worlds, prakriti and purusa (matter and spirit), which interrelate in the endless round of rebirth but separate in the state of release. In patanjali’s Yoga-stitras as well as in the Bhagavad Gitd a frequent meta- phor to describe the state of release is light, and it was perhaps the men- tion of al-anwar al-ilahiya(‘the divine lights’) at the conclusion of the Gita quotation which brought to mind Patanjali and the Sifis, producing the apparent error in the Arabic text. Of the six quotations which follow four have been scrutinized by L. Massignon,®° and it is valuable to consider their import with reference to his observations: The first text (he states) is from Hallaj, and we have studied it inits place for its theory of the shahada. It is more than the samadhi of Patanjali (as Birini implies), since it is, in addition to the re- nunciation of the soul (i.c., of the body by the soul), the actual transformation (of the soul) in God. The second text, which is anonymous and probably later, brings to mind a commentary on the And’l-Hagq from the school of al- Hallaj. The third, from Shibli, is equally an elliptical condensation of the thesis of Hallaj. The fourth, from Bistami, inspité of its extreme brevity, is monist only in appearance, though one may find some Hindi analogies in its method. For the initial text, Massignon has provided a substantive and incontro- vertible identification. It is of special interest that this Hallajian commen- tary on Q. III: 27 appears in al-Sulami’s Hagd’iq al-tafsir,*' increasing thé likelihood that the two Qur’anic passages, with commentary, which are cited elsewhere in the India to illustrate Sufi tenets* may also be traceable to al-Sulami.Hamdard Islamicus 63 Vol. I No. 1 At the same time, hcwever, Massignon’s analysis of the text itself seems heavily weighted in favor of al-Hallaj’s theological independence from the Hindi parallels which al-Biriini adduces. The issue at stake is the ultimate condition of the saved soul. Both Massignon and J. HoubenS? argue that Hindii ascesis provides for renunciation but no transformation. The evidence of the Yoga-sitras themselves, especially I:41 and IV:23, sug- gests the equivocal nature of such a judgment, and in the Kitab Batanjal 54 as well as the India al-Birini indicates that he, too, has perceived the transformational quality in the soul which Yoga mandates. With respect to the second passage in this series, Massignon, by focussing on the source critical problem, neglects the distinctiveness of al-Birini’s contribution as a student of comparative religions. The Safi narrative appears to describe the distinction between normative and meditative consciousness, but it can also be shifted, as al-Birini implies, to explain the difference between return into another bodily existence and release from rebirth, hence relating both the first and second passages to the interlocking Hindu conception of samsdra/moksa. Similarly, both the third and fourth quotations appear to supplement and reinforce each other as still another explanation of the Sif! approach to release. Both stress tajrid or renunciation. While the excerpt from al-Shibli provides a general description of the transformation that takes place through tajrid, the shath of Abi Yazid aphorizes the ultimate condi- tion of the saved soul. It is the example chosen by Abi Yazid, the serpent casting off his skin, which has sparked much conjecture concerning Hindu influences on early Safi thought, and is worthy of brief exploration here. Even Massig- non allows the possibility that Abi Yazid’s teaching may represent an instance of cross-cultural borrowing:35 Zaehner, for his part, elimi- nates all semblance of scholarly modesty by asserting that in this shath Abii Yazid is quoting his spiritual master, Aba ‘Ali al-Sindi, who knew the Upanisads first-hand.56 The geographical argument against Zaeh- ner’s unqualified assertions is lodged already in Massignon’s footnote to the effect that there are two Sinds, one in Iran, another in India, casting doubt upon the allegedly Indian origins of Aba Yazid’s mysterious teacher.57 The theological counter-argument is advanced by S.H. Nasr, namely, that certain aphoristic dicta ‘are so universal and so deeply rooted in the texture of reality that they do not need to point to any historical borrowing whatsoever.’5* The particular shath of Abi Yazid al-Bistami cited in the India poses an additional, literary critical problem for Zaehner’s postulation of Ve- dantin influence on early Sifism. The Brhadaranyaka Upanisad text, as allegedly summarized in the shajh, is not contiguous. The verses whichHamdard Islamicus 64 Vol. 1 No. 1 Zaehner cites are BU 4.4.7, 12. It is their fragmented juxtaposition which cloaks the dominant stress of this and virtually every Upanisadic passage: the search for the awareness ‘I am He’ comes from no other motive than the fear of rebirth. The shatahat of Abii Yazid, by contrast, fail to indi- cate that he supported belief in transmigration, any more than did al- Shibli or al-Hallaj. Later Sifis did occasionally subscribe to such belief, as we indicated above,>® and al-Biriini is already aware of the possible elision betwéen $ifi teaching and acceptance of rebirth, eg. in the second of the six passages under consideration. However, it is a re- current error on the part of Zaehner and others®® who wish to connect Vedanta to early Sifism that they overlook the absence of Sifi references to the fundamental stress on samsd@ra in Indian thought, while simul- taneously exaggerating the significance of parallel textual assertions Pertaining to unification. The’ final two quotations, of Chapter 7 in the India are omitted from Massignon’s analysis, and they also appear to have baffled Sachau.%. Once again, it seems probable that the source of this Safi commen- tary is traceable to al-Sulami’s Haga’ig al-tafsir or to an early handbook on tasawwuf of comparable quality. The dominant metaphor in the commentary and in the passage which follows is light: the heart becomes alive “by the lights of knowledge’ (Ar., anwar al-ma‘rifa), while it is attainment to ‘the stations of light’ (Ar., magamat al-nir) that brings the security from which there is no return of fear, i.e., no rebirth into the endless go-round of human existence. Emphasis on the luminous quality of saving knowledge has as its im- mediate referent in the India the Bhagavad Gitd depiction of al-anwar al- ilahiya®, at the same time that it invites comparison with the passage on al-Hallaj in the Chronology. According to al-Birint, al-Hallaj describes himsélf and is described by his followers chiefly with reference to light imagery. He is at once ‘the beaming, shining light’ (Ar., al-nar al-safi‘ al-lami‘) and ‘the niche of light’ (Ar., mishkat al-nir), of whom his follow- ers could say: al-bari’ al-gadim al-munir al-mutasawwir fi kull zamanin wa awanin wa fi (zamanina) hadha fi sirat al-Husayn ibn Mansiir. The ancient Creator, the Giver of Light, Who reveals Himself in every time and.age, and in this our time (He has revealed Himself) in the form of al-Husayn ibn Mansir.62 Reference to light as an image of divine transcendence exists both in Safism and in ancieft Iranian religious thought independent of Islam orHamdard Islamicus 65 Vol. I'No. 1 Sifism. The language of the final quotation, in particular, could be re- ferred as easily to Manichaean or Zoroastrian antecedents as to any tenet of tasawwuf. Yet its inclusive quality provides the fitting culmination to an exposition of the Indian concept of salvation. Liberation or sal- vation as a goal has many expressions, i.e., stations of light. The specific image of stations of light suggests the hieratic pattern of stages in the Safi path, but it is equally true that any point of progress toward the light holds out the prospect of removing darknes, defeating death and, above, all, avoiding rebirth. In sum, the final catena of quotations in Chapter 7 of the India not only draws selectively upon major expositions of tasawwuf it also summa- rizes the intent of the preceding excerpts from a variety of Greek and Hindi authors. Unification is the answer to the body/soul, matter/spirit dilemma for Sifts as well as for their philosophical counterparts in Athens and Benares. In the earlier pages of the India, where references to Stifism are linked to belief in transmigration and miracle-making, the tone of al- Biraint’s comparisons is not as convincing as at the end of Chapter 7 when unification becomes the sole topic of explication and comparison. Yet the daring of al-Birini’s undertaking pales any effort to dwell on the imprecise edges which we may now detect in details of his analysis. That the India exists is itself testimony to the fertile mind of a scholar whose search for the truth knew few restraints, and the specific investiga- tions of al-Birani’s approach to Islamic mysticism, as reflected in the India passages explicitly linked to tasawwuf, must eventuate in a mixture of wonder and humility. For what we have attempted is the understanding of glimpses into al-Birtini’s use of $ifi categories and quotations. It is evident, moreover, that al-Birini’s references to Siifism are themselves but glimpses into the vast tradition of Islamic mystical thought as it evolved up to and throughout his lifetime. Can we then claim to have achieved a modestly accurate portrait of al-Birini’s comprehension of tasawwuf, oF does honesty compel us to acknowledge that our efforts have produced— to adapt a phrase from Mulla ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami—lawa’ih-i law @ih, glimpses of glimpses?Hamdard Islamicus 66 Vol. I No. | NOTES 1. The quotations which follow will be given both in Arabic (Hyderabad, 1958) and in English (B.C. Sachau, trans., Alberuni’s India, London, 1910, reprinted, Delhi, 1964). 2. See E.C. Sachau, ed. Kitdb al-athar al-bagiya ‘an al-qurin al-khaliya (Chronologie ori- entalischer Volker von Alberimni), Leipzig, 1878, pp. 211-12; trans. The Chronology of Ancient Nations, pp. 194-195. 3. a'immat al-sifiya, See H. Ritter, “Al-Birtni’s Ubersetzung des Yoga-sitra des Patanjali’, Ortens 9 (1956), p. 167, and S. Pines/T. Gelblum, ‘Al-Biriini’s Arabic Version of Patanjali'’s Yoga-siitra’, Oriens 20 (1967), p. 310. 4, Pines/Gelblum, op. cit., pp. 309, 317, 319, 321-2(fns. 58, 137-8, 165, 188, 199). provide some examples of al-Biriini’s implicit reliance on the language of Muslim mystics, but the examples could be multiplied with reference to the other three chapters of al-Birini un- precedented—and unsurpassed—venture into the realm of Hindu-Muslim metaphysics. 5. A solitary exception is the brief allusion to Safism in the India, ch. 35 for the purpose of explaining the Hindu view of Purusa. See Hyderabad, p. 296; Sachau I, p. 351. 6. Hyderabad, p. 38, Sachau I, p. 50 7. (wa-in) taharr al-tahgiq. Hyderabad, p. 5, Sachau I, p. 8. 8. ibid. Note that the terms are fulal and ittihdd for transmigration and unification respectively. Each word had a long history in Islamic thought, and the Christians un- doubtedly meant something different by Auli! than did either the siifis or Hindis (see L. Massignon—(G. C. Anawati), “Hulal”, £/? III, 570-71), but in this context /ulal appears to mean ‘transmigration’ or ‘reincarnation’ and to be linked with tandsukh. See also in Kitab Batanjal, H. Ritter, op. cit., p. 167; Pines/Gelblum, op. cit., p. 309. 9. In Chapter 11 of the India al-Biruni brings out the same distinction between educated and uneducated strata of ethnic/religious groupings in discussing Hindu idol worship. Within Islam a point of contrast to al-Birani’s depiction of ignorant idolaters may be found in the ‘4rd’ al-hind” section of al-Shahrastini’s Kitab al-milal wal-nihal; see B. Lawrence, “Shahrastani on Indian Idol Worship”, in Studia Islamica, XXXIV, 1973. 10. Hyderabad, p. 18; Sachau I, p. 24. 11. On the matter of al-Birini’s personal religious belief, as reflected in his extant writings, see, for instance, the reasoned conjecture of E. S. Kennedy (“Al-Biriini, Abi Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad” in C. C. Gillespie, ed. Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. I, p. 156): As for religion, Biriini-was doubtless a sincere Muslim, but there is no firm evidence of his having been an adherent of any particular sect within the faith. In the Chronology (trans. pp. 79, 326), written at the court of Qabiis, are passages that have been interpreted as betraying a Shi'i (hence anti-Arab and pro-Persian) bent. On the other hand, the Pharmacology, compiled under Ghaznawid patronage, represents the author as an orthodox Sunni. Probably these two situations refiect no more than the fact that the two patrons were Shii and Sunni, respectively. While agreeing with the tone of Kennedy’s remarks, we might note that the high praise accorded the Zaydis and ‘Alids in the Chronology (see trans. pp. 98, 69 and 183 as well as 79, 326) is balanced by a condemnation of superstitious practices and ignor-Hamdard Islamicus 67 Vol. I No. 1 rant calculations among certain Shi'a (see trans. pp. 69, 182-3 and 294). Other accounts of al-Biriini’s personal religious belief are to be found in S. H. Barani, ‘Ibn Sina and al-Beruni’, Avicenna Commemoration Volume, Iran Society (Calcutta), 1956, p. 7 and S. H. Nasr, An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, Cam- bridge, Massachusets, 1964, p. 114. 12, Hyderabad, p. 19: gad nabhah ghayra raji‘in ‘an al-haqg. (Sachau I, p. 25). 13, Exceptions are the ahlal-tashbih or anthropomorphists and the Jabriya against whose views he inveighs in the India (Hyderabad, p. 23); Sachau I, p. 31)as well as the uninformed Shi‘a mentioned in the Chronology (see supra, fn. 11). In each case, however, it is not the sectarian posture but the superstititiousi diocy of the individuals or groups which irritates al-Birani. 14, Sce trans., pp. 194-95; Ar., 211-12. 15. Hyderabad, p. 24; Sachau I, p. 33. 16. The Sifis themselves disagree about the appropriateness of using the word ‘safa’ except as an alliterative to explain the origin of their name. See, e.g., al-Kalabadhi, Kitab al-ta'arruf li-madhhab ahl al-tasawwuf (A. J. Arberry, trans., The Doctrine of the ‘Sifis, Cambridge, 1935, pp. 9-10), where the link to safa is refuted. Yet al-Hujwirl (R. A. Nicholson, trans., The Kashf al-mahjib, London, 1911, pp. 30-41), while ad- mitting that safa may not be linked etymologically to tasawwuf, avers that there is propae- deutic value in contrasting pure spirituality (safa) with impure affections (kadar). Concerning the pun of siifi and sophia, which suggests a direct derivation’ from Hellenistic sources, it is ironic that Sachau (1, 33) gives sif vice siif as the stem; for al- Biriini begins by spelling the word with a sin rather than a sad (see the doubli enstance of sifiya’ and ‘sdfi’ in Hyderabad 24), suggesting that he understood the etymological subtlety later elaborated by Noldeke, namely, that “the Greek sigma regularly became sin (and not sad) in Arabic and that there is no Aramaic intermediary between sophos and sifi‘ (See ZDMG, XLVIII, p. 45 and Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, “Tasawwuf”, p. 579). The other two ‘false’ derivations mentioned by al-Biriini, namely, ahi al-siffa and sif, have contrasting positions in the academic study of tasawwuf: while the first is still regarded as a transparent play on words to link Sifts with the Companions of the Prophet, the latter is generally acknowledged as the probable root for the term denoting Muslim mystics, See, e.g., the extensive tracing of textual references to siff, sufi and sifiya in L. Massignon, Essai sur les origines du lexique. technique de la mystique musulmane, Paris, 1954, pp. 153-56, where he argues that the reference to siif as wool predates the Muslim use of the other two terms, though all three developed independently till they became interrelated in the sifi vocabulary of the 4th cent. A. H. 17, See supra p. 2 and .n. 4, 18, See L. Massignon, Lexique technique, p. 203 and La Passion d ‘al-Hallaj, Paris, 1922, pp. 472 and 625. 19. The pertinent passages from both works are discussed , pp. 23-8. 20. There is also a reference to Mani’s exposition of metempsychosis,. but it is..treatéd as a direct development of Hindi concepts which Mani learned during his alleged-stay in India, See Hyderabad, pp. 41-2 and Sachau I, 54-5. >Hamdard Islamicus 68 Vol. I No. 1 21- Al-Biriini goes on to hint at a strain of pantheistic belief among Safis, but the remark is too general to invite further speculation about either his sources or his intentions, See Hyderabad, p. 44; Sachau I, pp, 57-8. 22, H. Jonas, The Gnostic Religion, Boston 1958, pp. 69-71. 23, Ibid, p. 83. 24, See H. Corbin, Avicenna and the Visionary Recital (trans., W.R. Trask), New York, 1960; pp. 3-192. 25. S. H. Barani, op. cit., p. 12 only found one instance where al-Birini, in his extant writings, acknowledged Ibn Sina, while the latter nowhere makes reference to his illustrious countryman and fellow scientist. 26. The debate has been amply summarized in the article “Kursi”, Shorter Encyclopaedia of Islam, pp. 286-87. The shift in orthodox views on this topic is addressed by A. J. Wensinck, The Muslim Creed, Cambridge, 1932, p. 116. 27, Hyderabad, pp. 66-7; Sachau I, p. 88. 28, See A. Badawi, Shatahat al-Safiya, Pt. 1, Cairo, 1949; p. 128; and also F, Rosen- thal, “The Empty Throne”, Studia Islamica, XXXI 1970, pp 237-38. The list of references to the Throne elsewhere in the extant sayings of Abii Yazid and other Sifis could be extended, but their function is similar to the one here selected. . 29, See A. J. Wensinck, op. cit., p. 116. 30, Hyderabad, pp. 43-44; Sachau I, pp. 56-7. 31. Hyderabad, p. 49; Sachau I, p. 64. 32, Kitab al-milal wa'l-nifal, ed. by W. Cureton, London, 1842, vol. I, p. 133; Religions partheien und Philosophen-Schulen, trans., T. Haarbrucker, Halle, 1850, pp. 201-02. See also E. L. Dietrich, “Die Lehre von der Reincarnation im Islam”, ZRGG IX (1957), p. 148, fn. 55. The mnemonic value of these four terms is transparent; how- ever, they have no parallel in the schemes of rebirth worked out in Hindu religious texts. 33. Sachau I, p. 64. 34, For a detailed exposition of the elusive Islamic references to the mutakallim, see S, «Pines, “A Note on an Early Meaning of the Term Mutakallim", Israel Oriental Studies I, Tel Aviv, 1971; pp. 224-40 passim but espec. pp. 225-28. The plural form, mutakalli« miin, appears in a technical usage once in the Kitab Batanjal (Ritter, op. cit., p. 169; Pines/ Gelblum, op. cit., p. 312), but the referent is equally ambiguous. 35. See Margaret Smith, “Transmigration and the Sufis”, The Muslim World 30 (1940), pp. 351-57, 36. See supra, p. 9. 37. The other mention of doctrine in Ch. 6 is too scant to merit separate analysis; see Hyderabad 47, Sdchau I, 62. The purport is to stress the ethical quality of tasawwuf, which al-Biriihi deftly Conveys by describing the Divine as al-khayr al-mahd, the Absolute Good, rather than al-hagg al-mahd (Absolute Truth; see supra, p. 11). There is noHamdard Islamicus 69 Vol. 1 No. 1 value to citing this text in trying to ascertain the relation of siifism to transmigration in al-Biriini’s mind, but al-khayr al-mahd invites comparison with Vasudeva’s instruction to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gitd, which begins: in kuntu turdiu al-khayr al-mahda, etc, See Hyderabad, p. 60; Sachau I, p. 79. 38. See Hyderabad, pp. 52-3; Sachau I, p. 69 and Hyderabad, pp. 62-3; Sachau I, p. 83. 39. Hyderabad, pp. 52-3; Sachau I, p. 69. 40 Vyasa’s Commentary on Yoga-siitra III. 51 holds up as the supreme yogin the one ‘who has passed beyond that which may be cultivated’, i.e. the siddhis. See J. Hz Woods, The Yoga-System of Patanjali. repr., Delhi, 1966; p. 285. 41. See al-Hujwiri’s analysis of the entrapment arising from nafs and hawd (op. cit., pp. 196-207), in contrast to his later emphasis on the transcendent value of rh. ‘ ” 42, Al-Kalabadhi (op. cit., p. 52) declares rih to be “‘a light, a fragrant breath(rah) through which life subsists, while the soul (nafs) is a hot wind (rif) through which the motions and desires exist”. 43, Hyderabad, pp. 62-63; Sachau I, p. 83. 44, See especially the translation of Chapter 4(pp. 43 f.)entitled “The Different Opinions of Various Nations Regarding the King called Dhi al-Qarnaini or Bicornutus”. 45, L. Massignon(Lexique technique, pp. 359-412)includes excerpts from al-Sulami’s work, but unfortunately omits the Qur’anic verses (XVIII: 84 and Il: 73) which al-Biriini cites in the India as instances of Sifi tafsir which correlate with Hinda belief. A manuscript of the full text was not available to me. 46. Omitted from consideration is the minor reference in Chapter 7 to the Siifi view of ‘ishq or love, which occurs in Hyderabad, pp. 57-8 and Sachau I, pp. 75-6. Its purpose is to confirm and extend the value of chastity in the Indian and Greek traditions. Though al-Birini uses the term in another sense than al-Hallaj (see L. Massignon and L, Gardet, “Al-Halladj", EI IV p. 103a, where he is alleged to have perceived ‘ishq as a divine attri- bute of Essence), the point of his analogue is still valid, viz., that tasawwuf eschews ‘ishq in the sense of passion or hawd since passion, as an activity of the lower soul or nafs, binds man to the realm of imperfection. See al-Hujwiri, op. cit., pp. 207-10. 47, Hyderabad, pp. 66-7; Sachau I, pp. 87-8. 48. See India II, p. 289, where the source is correctly given as the Bhagavad Gita with- out further comment. 49. In addition to the Bhagavad Gitd and the Yoga-sittras of Patanjali,the book Sdmkhya, as al-Birdni call, it, is frequently cited in the India. As is the case with the Kitab Batanjal, al-Biruni’s text on Sdmkhya does not correspond with any of the classical texts relating to that school, but instead seems to hav incorporated a commentary with the text and been set forth in dialogic form. See Sachau I, pp. 266-68. (50, See Lexique technique, pp. 97-8. 51. See L. Massignon, La Passion d'‘al-Halldj, 1, p. 643.Hamdard Islamics 70 Vol.1 No.1 52, See Sachau I, pp. 83 and 88. 53. See his “Avicenna and Mysticism”, in the Avicenna Commemoration Volume, Calcutta, 1956; pp, 209 and 215. ’ 54, See H. Ritter, op. cit, pp. 176-7 and 296. 55, See Lexique technique, p. 98. 56. R.C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim Mysticism, New York, 1969; pp. 98-9. 57. Lexique technique, p. 98, f.n. 3. 58. S.H. Nasr, Three Muslim Sages, Cambridge, (Massachusets), 1964; p. 158. 59. Supra, p. 17, f.n. 35. 60. Sce,for in stance,M. Hotten, Indische Stromungen in der Islamischen Mystick, Heidel- Berg, 1928; passim. 61. See India Il, pp. 289-90, where he resorts to speculation on the origin of the Qur’dnic verse before repeating, without elaboration, the tafsir as given by al-Birtni. 62. See supra, p, 23. 62. Trans., pp. 194-5; Ar. text, pp. 211-12.