Ian Richard Netton - Sufi Ritual: The Parallel Universe

The moral right of the author has been asserted

First Published in 2000 by Curzon Press

This edition published 2013 by Routledge
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2000 Ian Richard Netton

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ISBN 978-0-7007-1242-7 (hbk)

For Sue with much love

Other Books by Ian Richard Netton

Across the Mediterranean Frontiers (Editor with D. A. Agius)

Allah Transcendent: Studies in the Structure and Semiotics of Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Cosmology

Arabia and the Gulf: From Traditional Society to Modern States (Editor)

Al-Farabi and His School

Golden Roads: Migration, Pilgrimage and Travel in Mediaeval and Modern Islam (Editor)

Hunter of the East (Vol. 1) (Editor)

Middle East Materials in United Kingdom and Irish Libraries: A Directory (Editor)

Middle East Sources (Editor)

Muslim Neoplationists: An Introduction to the Thought of the Brethren of Purity

A Popular Dictionary of Islam

Seek Knowledge: Thought and Travel in the House of Islam

Text and Trauma: An East-West Primer

4 Unveiling the Sacred 1: The Five Arkn

This book attempts to lift the veil to which Fitzgeralds paraphrase of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam alludes, at least insofar as it may be referred to the arena of f ritual. It examines both the sphere of mainstream Islamic ritual, as articulated primarily in the arkn, and the more arcane and lesser known field of ritual in taawwuf. The book makes comparisons both within dr al-Islm and between that tradition and the rituals of other traditions. It neither attempts to be inclusive and to cover every single aspect of fism and its rituals, nor to cover every single f Order. Two Orders have been taken as case studies and in the process of examining them, I have examined their origins, rituals and practices, organisations and hierarchy, initiation practices and what may be termed here their Rules of Life. Particular attention has been paid to liturgy as it is to be found especially in dhikr and sam, and the related practices of fikr, murqaba, musaba, wird, rbita, and suhba. The word ritual itself has been deployed loosely but not in such a cavalier fashion, I hope, as to offend the purists among the anthropologists. Four primary lens have been used, for comparative and analytical purposes: those of theology, phenomenology, anthropology and semiotics. It is the contention of this book that the practice of f ritual leads, paradoxically, to a fundamental alienation which is, nonetheless, devoutly to be wished for, at least by the ardent f practitioner.

As always, I have incurred many debts in the writing of this volume. I thank, firstly, Dr Javad Nurbakhsh, present Master of the Nimatullh Order, for his generous hospitality to me on two occasions in the Nimatullhi Khnaqh in London. Except where I have quoted from, or referred to, his many works on fism, he is not responsible for what is written here. I am grateful to other members of that Khnaqh, and others, who would wish to remain nameless, for wise advice and encouragement. The writings of Professor H Algar have proved an invaluable guide in walking through the veritable forests of materials dealing with the Naqshbandiyya. He is acknowledged in my footnotes. Finally, I thank my wife and family for their indulgence and patience as I completed yet another book; I am grateful to them for keeping me earthbound as I explored the arcane highways of f ritual.

There was a Door to which I found no Key:
There was a Veil past which I could not see:
Some little talk awhile of ME and THEE
There seemd and then no more of THEE and Me.

Even after the achievement of the scholar-f Ab mid al-Ghazl (1058-1111) in largely removing the tension between fism and the Islamic sciences,

The suspicion from mainstream Islam comes in many forms as do the f orders themselves. In the course of Islamic history fs have appeared in nearly every corner of the globe where the message of Islam has been preached; indeed, they were often responsible for bringing that message to what had been non-Islamic lands, in the first place.

This book surveys different manifestations of the ritual aspects of fism, taking two major Orders as case studies. While the state of fism in contemporary Britain is not its primary focus, there will be some references to the British scene by way of illustration. And since ritual is the principal topos, f spirituality in its diverse aspects such as states (a