Abstract
AbstractThis paper introduces the exchange of letters in early Sufism, analyses the significance of these exchanges, and examines these documents not for their general literary qualities or for theoretical discussion of appropriate conduct but, rather, for actual data relating to personal and interpersonal relationships. Furthermore, this paper emphasizes the crucial need for creating a corpus of Sufi letters and pieces of correspondence. The discussion is divided into methodological and conceptual-historical perspectives. The methodological perspective includes a survey of sources, the question of transmission, letter fragment usage by later authors, and a reconstruction attempt of the actual circumstances of these documents. The conceptual-historical perspective analyses content, rhetoric, argumentation forms, and self-representation.
Highlights
Exchanges of letters and correspondence during the early phase of Sufism, whether between Sufi figures or occasionally between Sufis and non-Sufis, have rarely attracted scholarly interest
This paper emphasizes the crucial need for creating a corpus of Sufi letters and pieces of correspondence
Speaking, the first step in this research project is to create a corpus of Sufi letters and pieces of correspondence that were written between Sufis and, on certain occasions, between Sufis and non-Sufis, between the late ninth and the thirteenth centuries
Summary
Exchanges of letters (rasāil) and correspondence (mukātabāt) during the early phase of Sufism, whether between Sufi figures or occasionally between Sufis and non-Sufis, have rarely attracted scholarly interest. It was narrated that Fāṭima sent a rifq (a common term in early Sufi literature which indicates a wide range of donations, presents, alms, food and money that the Sufis used to receive from their supporters, both male and female) to Dhū al-Nūn al-Miṣrī, who refused to take it and asked the messenger to tell the sender that “accepting women’s support is a sign of humiliation and weakness” ( fī qubūl arfāq al-niswān madhalla wa-nuqṣān) The paper will discuss the ways in which the study of Sufi letters should be able to enrich our understanding of early Sufi piety by taking a broad approach and incorporating an analysis of social frameworks as well as other thematic features This will help establish the basis through which one may reconstruct the complexity of the dynamic networks in early Sufism. It will help us reconstruct the development of early Sufi piety as a process motivated and dominated by people whose personal concerns, tensions and aspirations could not, and should not, be overlooked
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