Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-?ak?m al-Tirmidh?’s Theory of wil?ya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunn? Caliphate (By Aiyub Palmer)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate by Aiyub Palmer Atif Khalil (bio) Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate Aiyub Palmer Leiden: Brill, 2019. 219 Pages. In 'Aṭṭār's Tadhkirat al-awliyā', he recounts a story from al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's (d. 907–912 CE) youth. Desirous of setting out in search of knowledge, as was the custom of the day for serious students, he was held back by the responsibility he felt towards his mother, whose old age and illness, along with the death of his father, had put her in a position of dependency and need. One day, overcome by sadness at the obstacles that stood in the way of ever becoming a scholar, he prayed at a local cemetery, "Alas! I am left an illiterate and uncultured man. My companions will be returning very soon after completing their education." No sooner did he utter these words that the immortal guide Khiḍr appeared, asked him why he wept, and then, on learning of his predicament, proceeded to teach him in such a way that he soon came to surpass his peers.1 Regardless of what one may make of the historicity of the tale ('Aṭṭār frequently gave himself poetic license to inspire his readers), it reveals at least two features of medieval Sufi piety. The first was the value placed on receiving knowledge directly from Khiḍr, identified by much of tradition as the enigmatic interlocutor of Moses in the Qur'ān, and the recipient of a special "knowledge from on high" or 'ilm ladunnī [End Page 88] of which even the Israelite prophet was unaware. The second feature was that the privileged relationship he enjoyed with Khiḍr was made possible, to quote his own words, "because I pleased my mother."2 The divine gift for which he was singled out, a response to his sacrifice, calls to mind the life-story of the Yemeni Uways al-Qaranī, whose filial piety towards his own elderly mother, for whom he was the sole care-giver, prevented him from travelling to Medina to be with the Prophet. And yet his sanctity was such, at least according to the hadith literature, that the companions would later be instructed by the Prophet, if they ever met him, to request from him a prayer of forgiveness.3 In the case of Tirmidhī, we are informed by Hujwīrī in the Kashf al-maḥjūb that he reached such heights of knowledge that even Khiḍr would seek him out for it.4 While the precise details of Tirmidhī's life remain unclear, especially once we step outside the realm of hagiography, we do know more about him than most other figures from the formative period of Islamic mysticism, many of whose lives are cloaked in obscurity. Part of this, no doubt, is because he left us a short autobiography, the Buduww sha'n (the style and content of which, incidentally, remind us in many ways of Ghazālī's Munqidh min al-ḍalāl).5 We know that Tirmidhī was born during the reign of the 'Abbāsid caliph and patron of Greek learning al-Ma'mūn (d. 833 CE). The city of his birth (Tirmidh) is located in the southern region of modern Uzbekistan, just north of Afghanistan. By the end of the 9th century, it was home to anywhere between thirty and forty thousand inhabitants. His father was a scholar, and the family traced its lineage back to the Arabs who settled in the region in the wake of the early Muslim conquests. From his autobiography, where he recounts the circumstances surrounding his entry into the mystical path, we also learn that a major turning point in his life came after stumbling across a book by Antākī (a companion of Muḥāsibī) which taught him the importance of disciplining the soul. This was following a pilgrimage to Mecca where he earnestly prayed for divine direction. His wife...