journal of Sufi studies 3 (2014) 93–103

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Book Reviews

Bilal Orfali and Nada Saab (eds.)

Sufism, Black and White: A Critical Edition of Kitāb al-Bayāḍ wa-l-Sawād by Abū
l-Ḥasan al-Sīrjānī (d. ca. 470/1077). Islamic History and Civilization: Studies and
Texts, vol. 94. Leiden: Brill, 2012. x + 59 pages (English) and 510 pages (Arabic); index
of Qurʾānic verses, index of ḥadīth, index of place names, index of personal names,
index of poetic quotations, index of technical terms. Cloth. isbn: 97890216778.
€147.00 / us $196.00.

This meticulously executed critical edition of the Sufi treatise by an early Sufi
master Abū l-Ḥasan al-Sīrjānī (d. ca. 470/1077), who hailed from the Iranian
province of Kirmān, is a welcome addition to the body of early Sufi literature
that has been growing steadily over the past few years. One of the editors, Bilal
Orfali, is already familiar to specialists thanks to his editions of the early Sufi
texts by Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Sulamī (d. 412/1021) and Ismāʿīl b. Nujayd
al-Naysābūrī (d. 366/976–7) (Dar el-Machreq, 2009 and 2010). His most recent
contribution to the Sufi corpus is a critical edition (together with Gerhard
Böwering) of Salwat al-ʿārifīn wa-uns al-mushtāqīn, a Sufi manual by Abū
Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. ca. 470/1077). Like the present edition, it was put out by
Brill in 2013. Such a selfless dedication on the part of a scholar to making new
Sufi texts available to his peers is highly commendable, to say the least. A mere
look at the detailed and variegated indices appended to the critical text of
Kitāb al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād and to Orfali’s other editions of Sufi works reveals
the painstaking care and dedication that he and his co-editors have invested in
their preparation.
Sufism, Black and White consists of an English “Introduction” that discusses
the personality and oeuvre of the author, a Sufi from the city of Sīrjān, an erst-
while capital of the Kirmān province in Persia, together with a critical edition
of the Arabic text of his treatise whose full title (Kitāb al-bayāḍ wa-l-sawād min
khaṣāʾiṣ ḥikam al-ʿibād fī naʿt al-murīd wa-l-murād) the editors have rendered
into English as “The Black and the White in the Words of Wisdom by Bondsmen
Describing the Seeker and the Mystic Quest.” One might take issue with the
translation of murād as “mystic quest” instead of the “object of mystic quest,”
but the editors’ explanation of their choice of words (12) sounds convincing to
this reviewer.

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94 Book Reviews

In the absence of any substantive biographical information about the

author, the editors have to make do with whatever facts they can elicit from his
text. After briefly describing the author as “a man of comfortable means” who
devoted his whole life to serving Sufis by managing a local Sufi lodge (ribāṭ)
and collecting and penning down Sufi sayings, the editors address some sub-
tler aspects of his written legacy. One of them is the author’s voice, or, rather,
the near absence of one in al-Sīrjānī’s rubricated collection of authoritative
Sufi pronouncements on Sufi concepts, terms and rules of conduct. The
author’s presence is indeed rather scarce compared even to the inconspicuous
authorial stance assumed by his predecessors and contemporaries, such as
Abū Naṣr al-Sarrāj (d. 378/988), Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī (d. 386/996), al-Sulamī
(d. 412/1021) and al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072), to name but the most famous ones
(see the editors’ references to these and other early Sufi writers of the age on
page x and elsewhere in the text of the “Introduction”). Only once, at the very
beginning of his Kitāb al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād, does the author explicitly articu-
late his goals in composing it: “I collected these wisdom sayings in love for the
predecessors, in service to the successors, and in need to view and accompany
them in this world and after . . . Every person who comprehends the maxims’
meaning will receive good fortune, whereas one whose understanding is inca-
pable of reaching these meanings is in great danger” (7 of the English
“Introduction”; 5–6 of the Arabic text). From these and similar remarks one
may surmise that the author considered the collection and transmission of the
Sufi lore to be not only his duty, but also a singularly meritorious deed that
bestows blessings on both himself and his qualified readers. For the unquali-
fied ones, on the other hand, this lore could be a source of error and tempta-
tion. This author’s caveat indicates that the intended audience of the book are
Sufis of various ranks of spiritual attainment. The authorial voice then recedes
into the background and remains almost undetectable throughout the rest of
the book.
The most one can hope for is to deduce the author’s position vis-à-vis vari-
ous Sufi topics from the ways in which he presents and reconfigures past mate-
rial as well as “his short comments which conclude the theme of every chapter
and connect it to the theme of the next” (6 of the “Introduction”). This approach
may appear almost self-effacing and, as such, eminently suitable for a consci-
entious and self-critical Sufi author anxious to avoid worldly fame and status.
Overall, the contents of Kitāb al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād (helpfully summarized on
22–9 of the “Introduction”) reflect closely the themes discussed in the other
Sufi manuals of the age, including those whose authors were mentioned above.
It is only natural that the editors identify its genre as “guide to a Sufi adept”
(9) that elucidates the meaning of such critical Sufi concepts and practices as

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unity/unicity of God (tawḥīd), mystical knowledge or gnosis (maʿrifa), faith

(īmān), disregard of this world (taṣghīr al-dunyā), repentance (tawba), renun-
ciation/asceticism (zuhd), poverty (faqr), wearing a patched Sufi robe (libs
al-muraqqaʿa), earning a living and mendicancy (sabīl al-makāsib; suʾāl), sin-
cerity (ikhlāṣ), chivalry ( futuwwa), various types of etiquette (adab) and com-
panionship (ṣuḥba), master-disciple relations, etc. (see 11 and 22–9 of the
“Introduction”). Special treatment is given to such controversial practices as
listening to Sufi chants and poetry to the accompaniment of musical instru-
ments (samāʿ) and “ecstatic utterances” by some “intoxicated” mystics
(shaṭḥiyyāt); see the Arabic text, 340–67 and 405–9. These rubrics evince the
author’s desire to defend Sufism against the accusations of its detractors by
downplaying or explaining away the more contentious aspects of Sufi teach-
ings and behavior.
The edition is based on three versions of al-Sīrjānī’s text carefully collated by
the editors. Their provenance and peculiarities are discussed in detail (38–49),
followed by photocopies of some select folios from each. The critical text is
carefully edited and proofread, which is especially important given the notori-
ous lack of editorial and copy-editing support from the publisher. The reviewer
has found only a few minor typographical mistakes: the name of Ahmet
Karamustafa is misspelled (4); “illusive” should be “allusive” or, perhaps, “elu-
sive” (33, n. 68); diacritical signs are missing from “Nihāwand” and “Nīshāpūr”
(36, n. 37); on 271 of the Arabic text, paragraph one, line 4, the word wāḥid is
wrongly put in the genitive: it should agree with the nominative of the preced-
ing noun. These, of course, are very minor quibbles that in no way detract from
the overall high quality of the text, both English and Arabic.
The editors are to be thanked by their colleagues for adding to the corpus of
Sufi manuals yet another text whose similarity to its predecessors and contem-
poraries serves as a proof that by the turn of the fifth century of the Muslim era
(the eleventh century ce), the Sufi tradition had not only stabilized but also
achieved a high level of uniformity at least in the area from Baghdad to
Khorasan and farther eastwards (namely, the Caucasus and Central Asia).
Foundations were thus laid for its dramatic blossoming and expansion in the
centuries that followed.

Alexander Knysh
University of Michigan (USA)

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