þ7ìMMôëMHzHzJzJzJzJzJzJzJzJzôKn"KKDMÔMÔMÔ MôMôMôMô( Chapter 11 Masters and Disciples: The Forms and Functions of Sufi Orders The Rise of Sufi Orders Sufism cannot operate in a vacuum or without concrete forms of human association and structuring. During its centuries of doctrinal and meditational development it coexisted with the other forms of institutional Islam, not striking out in radically independent forms. Those more rebellious and freewheeling Sufis, like the Malamaøtõøya, tended toward radicalism without settling into enduring institutional modes. Great spiritual guides like Hasan of Basra, RaøbiÔa al-ÔAdawõøya, Haørith al-Muhaøsibõø, and al-Junayd operated close to the accepted structures of mosque and academic-legal discourse. Small groups of Sufis also clustered together in homes and meeting houses for training in meditation. But in its early periods, Sufism was much more of an elite spiritual preoccupation than a large-scale, popular movement. It was not until the time of al-Hujwõørõø and al-Ghazaølõø, in the eleventh century, that more permanent, organized associations came into being, with representation from all levels of society and with an increasingly international scope in membership and influence. Ghazaølõø seems to have been one of the first to establish a definite brotherhood or order, with a governing discipline or rule and a residential, conventlike establishment, called a khaønqaøh in Persian (and ribaøt. or zaøwiya in Arabic). In the century after Ghazaølõø there were founded the great Sufi orders that endure to this day, about which more will be said later. Shaykhs and FaqIørs: The MasterÐDisciple Relationship Before the Sufi orders were created, institutionalized expression was developed in the relationship between the master (shaykh in Arabic, põør in Persian) and the disciple (faqõør or murõød in Arabic, shaøgird in Persian). Unusually potent spiritual personalities emerged who attracted disciples, often in large numbers. These people traced their authoritative teaching back to acknowledged earlier masters, like al-Junayd, who in turn traced theirs back earlier, and so forth all the way to such figures as ÔAlõø and then to Muhammad himself, whose special relationship to God, as in the miraculous night journey, was universally attested. Thus there came into being the notion of a chain, called a silsila, extending backward in time all the way to Muhammad and God. In such contexts these spiritual lineages came to serve in a precisely parallel functional manner to the isnaøds that scholars attached to h.adõøths, attesting to their authenticity. The silsila as Òspiritual isnaødÓ linked SufisÑboth masters and their disciplesÑin a living bond with the past and in a real sense with the future also, for the teachings were handed down from master to disciple generation after generation. TomorrowÕs shaykh was yesterdayÕs faqõør or murõød. A kind of spiritual ÒgraftingÓ took place that ensured the continuity of doctrine and correct discipline in each t.arõøqa. With the development of specialized orders, the term t.arõøqa, Òpath,Ó Òmethod,Ó came also to mean an actual communal organization of Sufis, centered in whatever method was pursued. (Hereafter Tarõøqa will mean the ÒSufi WayÓ; t.arõøqa will be used for specific orders or methods.) Defining the MasterÐDisciple Relationship Joachim Wach, a leading twentieth-century historian of religions, explained that the masterÐdisciple relationship differs significantly from the teacherÐstudent relationship, which it nevertheless resembles in certain respects.1 The latter relationship is based on a common interest in a subject matter and a willingness to transmit knowledge of it. It is not necessary that the teacher and student have a personal relationship beyond mutual respect and courtesy and a willingness to cooperate according to the respective roles of the relationship. After the training is completed, the student and teacher may part ways, for the transactionÑif it may be called thatÑis complete. If they continue to be in contact, whether socially or professionally or both, their relationship will nonetheless be not as it was when one was teacher and the other was student. The masterÐdisciple relationship may also entail imparting knowledge and techniques, but it goes beyond that into a personal dimension of intense mutual engagement. The master and disciple are not brought together primarily for a transaction involving objective knowledge or techniques but, rather, for a spiritual reason and a desire to transform awareness in the inferior party under the superior wisdom and spiritual power of the master. As the Sufis say in this connection, the faqõør must present himself to his shaykh as a corpse to the one who washes it before its final commitment to the grave. The disciple will always be the disciple in relation to his master, even though he may himself become master to other disciples in turn. A disciple may go on to another master, but in Sufism this is not permitted unless the previous master allows it. Recall that this was one of the main reasons why al-Hallaøj had such a difficult time with the masters of his day. He never received the ÒconfirmationÓ that has always been regarded as essential before a person may himself aspire to mastership. But there must come a day, as Wach observed, when the disciple and his master part ways. A certain sadness is associated with this, because of the intensity of the relationship. Something of the masterÕs soul goes with the disciple, and something of the discipleÕs spirit remains with the master, and so there is a bond of love that endures after the physical separation. In the case of the shaykh-faqõør relationship in Sufism, the shaykh passes on the central doctrines of the t.arõøqa to his disciples, and they in turn maintain the tradition of brotherhood, because of their common master. This shaykh-faqõør structure enabled Sufism to develop strong permanent institutions and to reach into all sectors of the societies and cultures in which it took root. The immediate disciples taught the principal ideas and techniques as well as the biographies of former masters, and there were also learners and listeners who were farther from the center yet devoted to the aims and ideals of brotherhoods. Organizations of craftsmen, like medieval guilds in Christian Europe, and young menÕs associations dedicated to Islamic ideals of courage and honor were created, often in close association with a Sufi t.arõøqa, which provided a sacred center and a means of communication with other idealistic Islamic organizations in far-off places. It is significant that when the ummaÕs political order reached its lowest point in regard to unity and common purposes, the Sufi brotherhoods arose and provided a type of spiritual unity that proved in many ways to be much more powerful even than the caliphate in its glory. The QaødirIø Order: IslamÕs Major International Sufi Brotherhood The first great Sufi brotherhood was founded by the Persian ÔAbd al-Qaødir al-Jõølaønõø (1078Ð1166).2 As a student of H.anbalite fiqh in Baghdad, he came under the influence of Sufi masters and after a long novitiate was finally invested with the khirqa. It is said that some of his fellow mutas.awwifs had resented having a legal scholar in their midst, especially a H.anbalite. When ÔAbd al-Qaødir was about fifty, he began preaching publicly, and soon his audiences grew so large that a special place had to be set aside. Followers established a ribaøt. (retreat) for him, which included several buildings that were used as a religious school with ÔAbd al-Qaødir as its head. People came to live at the retreat and spent long periods in association with the H.anbalite jurist who had become a Sufi shaykh. A number of ÔAbd al-QaødirÕs disciples went on to become great figures themselves. His teaching was well within the tradition of ÒsoberÓ Sufism and included much orthodox matter, whether on law or the QurÕan. He exerted his principal influence as a preacher to all levels of society, from the rich, influential, and well educated all the way down to the very humblest people. Even rulers and high government officials came under his sway. From ÔAbd al-QaødirÕs time onwards, this power was a special feature of t.arõøqa Sufism in many places. So powerful did the spiritual masters become and so widespread their followings that rulers were sometimes made or unmade by them. They served as advisers and spiritual guides and represented a sort of Islamic ideal of GodÕs rule in the midst of the believers, especially after the caliphateÕs demise. The Sufi masters became part of a grand hierarchy of saints extending all the way up to a spiritual master called the Òperfect man,Ó or al-insaøn al-kaømil, who served as a ÒpoleÓ (qut.b) around which the world revolved and from which it received guidance and strength and meaning. This qut.b was placed in the cosmos by God, through whom he worked his will in the world and sustained it. ÔAbd al-QaødirÕs Teachings ÔAbd al-Qaødir did not himself subscribe to such a bold theosophy: his message was relatively simple and straightforward. But after a generation or two, his followers began to ascribe miracles and wonderful things to ÔAbd al-Qaødir, so that eventually he became the center of a real cult with a full-blown liturgy and hagiography linking him with the saints of the past and all the way back in a silsila to the origins. It is doubtful that ÔAbd al-Qaødir ever intended to establish a permanent order, but that was the effect of his teaching and influence. His disciples main...
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