Shiʿi Islam and Sufism by Denis Hermann and Mathieu Terrier

Abstract

Reviewed by: Shiʿi Islam and Sufism by Denis Hermann and Mathieu Terrier Brian Welter Shiʿi Islam and Sufism, by Denis Hermann and Mathieu Terrier, 2020. London: I.B. Tauris, xviii + 369 pp, £22.49. isbn: 978-0755 60 2308. This collection of essays traces the fascinating history and varied expressions of Sufism within Shi'i Islam. Shi'i Islam itself follows a range of practices across many regions. The book's authors mostly focus on the late Middle Ages to the present, with frequent references to the roots of both Shi'i Islam and Sufism in the earliest years of Islam. While much of this development centres on Persia from the Safavid period onwards, groups in modern-day Pakistan, India, Turkey, and the Arab world also contributed to Shi'i Sufi orders. Related political, social, and cultural realities are repeatedly discussed, whereas the religious dimension of Sufism within Shi'i Islam is not fully covered because key Sufi practices and beliefs are not for the general public. The main point of the various essays is that Shi'i Islam and Sufism did not always enjoy fruitful or cordial relations, though Shi'i Sufism grew notably in Iran and elsewhere during the period under consideration. Part One, "Alternatives to Anti-Sufi Discourse in Pre-Modern and Modern Shi'i Literature," centres the discussion on the religious reforms of Safavid Iran (1502-1722). Hermann and Terrier in their Introduction show that Sufi relationships with Shi'i Islam and the Safavids varied greatly, with initial "violent hostility towards Sufism, whose charismatic leaders were regarded as rivals and represented a potential threat" (8). Like the other authors in Shi'i Islam and Sufism, Hermann and Terrier highlight nuance: "Henceforth, 'Sufi policy' within the realm would oscillate between repression and accommodation, depending on how inclined the various Sufi groups were to recognise the spiritual and temporal authority of the Shāh" (8). Such attention to nuance--to changing or unstable religious, political, and cultural landscapes--is a strength of the book. No easy generalisations are offered, and readers will [End Page 251] come to see that both Shi'ism and Sufism were integral parts of a much larger and very dynamic picture. Political and Sufi leaders, growing Shi'i religious practices and beliefs, and expansion of Sufi brotherhoods all exerted influence on each other. Part of the flux, as we see in Terrier's Chapter 1, "The Defence of Sufism among Twelver Shiʿi Scholars of Early Modern and Modern Times," was that Shi'i scholars could not decide whether to accept Sufism as part and parcel of their beliefs, or reject it "for being a 'condemnable innovation'" (27). An individual's answer to this question depended on whether, for example, one followed "the tradition of reconciliation" between Shi'ism and Sufism (28). However, individuals such as ʿAli al-Karaki (d. 1534) rejected mystical and philosophical forms of Shi'ism, which led to a rejection of Sufism. Readers get the feeling that the Shi'a-Sufi relationship was never solidified either in the direction of total acceptance nor total rejection. Terrier evaluates four "ecumenist" works from the period, including that of Sayyid Haydar Amuli, who advocated reconciliation. Part Two, "The Social History of a Shiʿi Sufi Brotherhood: The Niʿmat Allāhiya," provides a fascinating historical, cultural, and social account of the religious beliefs and practices, as well as the expansion of, a significant Sufi Shi'i order. Speziale's discussion of "the Shi'itisation of the Niʿmat Allāhī branch of Hyderabad" in chapter four gives readers a clear idea of how Shi'i beliefs and practices influenced Sunni religious life in Persia in the Safavid period, though the chapter also traces the order's spread into India's Deccan plateau. The Safavid influence was all-encompassing: "If the Safavid ... attitude towards Sufism, which was most often adverse, did not determine the disappearance of the order in Iran, however, it did lead to its adaptation to the new political and social context and to the redefinition of the religious and spiritual authority of the masters' order in Iran" (158). Hyderabad's Islamic community, unlike Safavid Iran, was majority Sunni, but...