Articulation of Sufi Path and Doctrines in the Poetry of Khwāja Muḥammad Zamān Naqshbandī of Luārī

Abstract

Abstract Khwāja Muḥammad Zamān Luārvī (i.e., of Luārī or Lowārī) was a much-revered eighteenth-century Sufi shaykh (master) who spent his entire life in Luārī and Thatta in lower Sindh. Spiritually affiliated with the Naqshbandī Silsilah, he was also an eloquent Sufi poet. Though small in volume, his poetic compositions are highly symbolic and replete with complex Sufi philosophical and cosmological themes. This article identifies and analyzes the Sufi doctrines in his poetry by undertaking a poetic exegesis of his verses within a Sufi framework. It briefly introduces the life and poetry of the Khwāja, analyzes the articulation of Sufi doctrines in his poetic verses, and assesses his poetry’s characteristics.