Sufism for Non-Sufis? A Translation of Ibn At rhring All h al-Sakandar 's (d. 1309 CE), T j al- Ar s By SHERMAN A. JACKSON

Abstract

The outward appearance of created things promotes deception. The inner reality of created things warns of lessons to be learned. (Tāj al-ʿArūs, p. 114) Against the background of violent attacks on Sufis and their shrines, this scholarly translation by Sherman Jackson is acutely and poignantly relevant. This first English translation of Tāj al-ʿArūs provides scholars, students, and anyone interested in Islamic thought with an historical document that testifies to the existence of a virtue-based ethical discourse in the pre-modern tradition of Islam that delineates a strategy for attaining wisdom on the one hand, and an intimate knowledge of God on the other, as well as portraying the key role Sufism played in sustaining this ethical discourse within the community. Tāj al-ʿArūs, as its full title indicates—The Bride-Groom’s Crown Containing Instructions on Refining the Self—is a work of spiritual education. The text comprises about 300 concise wisdom aphorisms (ḥikam), twenty-two statements of intimate discourse between God and His servant (munājāt) and twenty-three personal prayers (duʿāʾ) articulated by Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh, making 345 short passages in all. Tāj al-ʿArūs is a teaching text intended for a broad audience written in accessible language, elucidating the principles and methodology of a process in which the essential ideals and values of the community became integrated into its social and communal identity. As discourse, it represented the shared heritage of all the participants of a given social matrix; some participants of course, taking a more active role in it than others. Tāj al-ʿArūs, from this perspective provides an excellent example of Islamic ethical-spiritual discourse, founded upon Islam’s textual sources, the Qurʾān and the custom and usage of the Prophet, and the teachings of the pious mentors of the community. It exemplifies the role these sources have played in preserving the central thread of the intellectual heritage of the Muslim world for over fourteen centuries.