wali

The term wali is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God". In the traditional Islamic understanding, a saint is portrayed as someone "marked by [special] divine favor ... [and] holiness", and who is specifically "chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles". The doctrine of saints was articulated by Muslim scholars very early on in Islamic history, and particular verses of the Quran and certain hadith were interpreted by early Muslim thinkers as "documentary evidence" of the existence of saints. Graves of saints around the Muslim world became centers of pilgrimage – especially after 1200 CE – for masses of Muslims seeking their (blessing). of the saint Ahmad Ghazali (d. 1123, brother of al-Ghazali) talking to a disciple. Since the first Muslim hagiographies were written during the period when the Islamic mystical trend of Sufism began its rapid expansion, many of the figures who later came to be regarded as the major saints in orthodox Sunni Islam were the early Sufi mystics, like Hasan of Basra (d. 728), Farqad Sabakhi (d. 729), Dawud Tai (d. 777–781), Rabia of Basra (d. 801), Maruf Karkhi (d. 815), and Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910).…

The term wali is most commonly used by Muslims to refer to a saint, or literally a "friend of God". In the traditional Islamic understanding, a saint is portrayed as someone "marked by [special] divine favor ... [and] holiness", and who is specifically "chosen by God and endowed with exceptional gifts, such as the ability to work miracles". The doctrine of saints was articulated by Muslim scholars very early on in Islamic history, and particular verses of the Quran and certain hadith were interpreted by early Muslim thinkers as "documentary evidence" of the existence of saints. Graves of saints around the Muslim world became centers of pilgrimage – especially after 1200 CE – for masses of Muslims seeking their (blessing). of the saint Ahmad Ghazali (d. 1123, brother of al-Ghazali) talking to a disciple. Since the first Muslim hagiographies were written during the period when the Islamic mystical trend of Sufism began its rapid expansion, many of the figures who later came to be regarded as the major saints in orthodox Sunni Islam were the early Sufi mystics, like Hasan of Basra (d. 728), Farqad Sabakhi (d. 729), Dawud Tai (d. 777–781), Rabia of Basra (d. 801), Maruf Karkhi (d. 815), and Junayd of Baghdad (d. 910). From the twelfth to the fourteenth century, "the general veneration of saints, among both people and sovereigns, reached its definitive form with the organization of Sufism ... into orders or brotherhoods". In the common expressions of Islamic piety of this period, the saint was understood to be "a contemplative whose state of spiritual perfection ... [found] permanent expression in the teaching bequeathed to his disciples". In many prominent Sunni creeds of the time, such as the famous Creed of Tahawi ( ) and the Creed of Nasafi ( ), a belief in the existence and miracles of saints was presented as "a requirement" for being an orthodox Muslim believer. Aside from the Sufis, the preeminent saints in traditional Islamic piety are the Companions of the Prophet, their Successors, and the Successors of the Successors. Additionally, the prophets and messengers in Islam are also believed to be saints by definition, although they are rarely referred to as such, in order to prevent confusion between them and ordinary saints; as the prophets are exalted by Muslims as the greatest of all humanity, it is a general tenet of Sunni belief that a single prophet is greater than all the regular saints put together. In short, it is believed that "every prophet is a saint, but not every saint is a prophet". In the modern world, traditional Sunni and Shia ideas of saints has been challenged by fundamentalist and revivalist Islamic movements such as the Salafi movement, Wahhabism, and Islamic Modernism, all three of which have, to a greater or lesser degree, "formed a front against the veneration and theory of saints". As has been noted by scholars, the development of these movements has indirectly led to a trend amongst some mainstream Muslims to resist "acknowledging the existence of Muslim saints altogether or ... [to view] their presence and veneration as unacceptable deviations". However, despite the presence of these opposing streams of thought, the classical doctrine of saint veneration continues to thrive in many parts of the Islamic world today, playing a vital role in daily expressions of piety among vast segments of Muslim populations in Muslim countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Egypt, Turkey, Senegal, Iraq, Iran, Algeria, Tunisia, Indonesia, Malaysia, and Morocco, as well as in places with substantial Islamic populations like India, China, Russia, and the Balkans.

Names

depicting Jalal al-Din Rumi showing love for his disciple Hussam al-Din Chelebi (ca. 1594) Regarding the rendering of the Arabic walī by the English "saint", prominent scholars such as Gibril Haddad have regarded this as an appropriate translation, with Haddad describing the aversion of some Muslims towards the use of "saint" for walī as "a specious objection ... for [this is] – like 'Religion' (din), 'Believer' (mu'min), 'prayer' (salat), etc. – [a] generic term for holiness and holy persons while there is no confusion, for Muslims, over their specific referents in Islam, namely: the reality of iman with Godwariness and those who possess those qualities." In Persian, which became the second most influential and widely spoken language in the Islamic world after Arabic, the general title for a saint or a spiritual master became pīr ( , literally "old [person]", "elder" ). Although the ramifications of this phrase include the connotations of a general "saint," it is often used to specifically signify a spiritual guide of some type. The derived terms walaya and waliya are subject to some debate among Western scholars of Sufism today, and even among Sufis of the medieval era. It is centers on which of the two is more appropriate in what context; and the contrasting meaning of ""friend/intimate" vs "authority/protector" and which terms has which meaning; or if the terms mean anything different from each other at all. Nizam ad-Din argued wilaya referred to love, and was a personal quality of a saint, while walaya referred to authority and could be transferred by the saint to others. Ahmad ibn Ibrahim al Magiri on the other hand, saw the terms as essentially the same and thought they referred to (delegated) authority. The terms and their meaning are intimately wrapped around each other, especially as the practice of saintliness often involves both intimacy and authority. Amongst Indian Muslims, the title pīr baba (पीर बाबा) is commonly used in Hindi to refer to Sufi masters or similarly honored saints. Additionally, saints are also sometimes referred to in the Persian or Urdu vernacular with "Hazrat." In Islamic mysticism, a pīr's role is to guide and instruct his disciples on the mystical path. Hence, the key difference between the use of walī and pīr is that the former does not imply a saint who is also a spiritual master with disciples, while the latter directly does so through its connotations of "elder". Additionally, other Arabic and Persian words that also often have the same connotations as pīr, and hence are also sometimes translated into English as "saint", include murshid ( , meaning "guide" or "teacher"), sheikh and sarkar (Persian word meaning "master"). In the Turkish Islamic lands, saints have been referred to by many terms, including the Arabic walī, the Persian s̲h̲āh and pīr, and Turkish alternatives like baba in Anatolia, ata in Central Asia (both meaning "father"), and eren or ermis̲h̲ ( All these saints know one another and cannot act without mutual consent. It is the task of the Awtad to go round the whole world every night, and if there should be any place on which their eyes have not fallen, next day some flaw will appear in that place, and they must then inform the Qutb in order that he may direct his attention to the weak spot and that by his blessings the imperfection may be remedied. Another is from Ibn Arabi, who lived in Moorish Spain. It has a more exclusive structure. There are eight nujabā ("nobles"), twelve nuqabā, seven abdāl, four awtād, two a'immah ("guides"), and the qutb. According to the 20th-century Sufi Inayat Khan, there are seven degrees in the hierarchy. In ascending order, they are pir, buzurg, wali, ghaus, qutb, nabi and rasul He does not say how the levels are populated. Pirs and buzurgs assist the spiritual progress of those who approach them. Walis may take responsibility for protecting a community and generally work in secret. Qutbs are similarly responsible for large regions. Nabis are charged with bringing a reforming message to nations or faiths, and hence have a public role. Rasuls likewise have a mission of transformation of the world at large.

Regional veneration

The amount of veneration a specific saint received varied from region to region in Islamic civilization, often on the basis of the saint's own history in that region. While the veneration of saints played a crucial role in the daily piety of Sunni Muslims all over the Islamic world for more than a thousand years (ca. 800–1800), exactly which saints were most widely venerated in any given cultural climate depended on the hagiographic traditions of that particular area. Thus, while Moinuddin Chishti (d. 1236), for example, was honored throughout the Sunni world in the medieval period, his cultus was especially prominent in the Indian subcontinent, as that is where he was believed to have preached, performed the majority of his miracles, and ultimately settled at the end of his life.

North Africa

The veneration of saints has played an essential role in the religious and social life of the Maghreb for about 1000 years; in other words, since Islam first reached the lands of North Africa in the eighth century. The first written references to ascetic Muslim saints in Africa, "popularly admired and with followings," appear in tenth-century hagiographies. As has been noted by scholars, however, "the phenomenon may well be older," for many of the stories of the Islamic saints were passed down orally before finally being put to writing. One of the most widely venerated saints in early North African Islamic history was Abū Yaʿzā (or Yaʿazzā, d. 1177), an illiterate Sunni Maliki miracle worker whose reputation for sanctity was admired even in his own life. Another immensely popular saint of the time-period was Ibn Ḥirzihim (d. 1163), who also gained renown for his personal devoutness and his ability to work miracles. It was Abu Madyan (d. 1197), however, who eventually became one of the Awliya Allah of the entire Maghreb. A "spiritual disciple of these two preceding saints," Abū Madyan, a prominent Sunni Maliki scholar, was the first figure in Maghrebi Sufism "to exercise an influence beyond his own region." Abū Madyan travelled to the East, where he is said to have met prominent mystics like the Hanbali jurist Abdul-Qadir Gilani (d. 1166). Upon returning to the Maghreb, Abū Madyan stopped at Béjaïa and "formed a circle of disciples." Abū Madyan eventually died in Tlemcen, while making his way to the Almohad court of Marrakesh; he was later venerated as a prime Awliya Allah of Tlemcen by popular acclaim. One of Abū Madyan's most notable disciples was ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Mas̲h̲īs̲h̲ (d. 1127), a "saint ... [who] had a posthumous fame through his being recognised as a master and a 'pole' by" Abu 'l-Ḥasan al-S̲h̲ād̲h̲ilī (d. 1258). It was this last figure who became the preeminent saint in Maghrebi piety, due to his being the founder of one of the most famous Sunni Sufi orders of North Africa: the Shadhiliyya tariqa. Adhering to the Maliki maddhab in its jurisprudence, the Shadhili order produced numerous widely honored Sunni saints in the intervening years, including Fāsī Aḥmad al-Zarrūq (d. 1494), who was educated in Egypt but taught in Libya and Morocco, and Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad al-Jazūlī (d. 1465), "who returned to Morocco after a long trip to the East and then began a life as a hermit," and who achieved widespread renown for the miracles he is said to have wrought by the leave of God. Eventually, the latter was buried in Marrakesh, where he ended up becoming of the city's seven most famous Awliya Allah for the Sunnis of the area. Some of the most popular and influential Maghrebi saints and mystics of the following centuries were Muḥammad b. Nāṣir (d. 1674), Aḥmad al-Tij̲ānī (d. 1815), Abū Ḥāmid al-ʿArabī al-Darqāwī (d. 1823), and Aḥmad b. ʿAlāwī (d. 1934), with the latter three originating Sufi orders of their own. Famous adherents of the Shadhili order amongst modern Islamic scholars include Abdallah Bin Bayyah (b. 1935), Muhammad Alawi al-Maliki (d. 2004), Hamza Yusuf (b. 1958), and Muhammad al-Yaqoubi (b. 1963). The veneration of saints in Maghrebi Sunni Islam has been studied by scholars with regard to the various "types" of saints venerated by Sunnis in those areas. These include: (1) the "pure, ascetic hermit," who is honored for having refused all ostentation, and is commemorated not on account of his written works but by virtue of the reputation he is believed to have had for personal sanctity, miracles, and "inward wisdom or gnosis"; (2) "the ecstatic and eccentric saint" (mad̲j̲d̲h̲ūb), who is believed to have maintained orthodoxy in his fulfillment of the pillars of the faith, but who is famous for having taught in an unusually direct style or for having divulged the highest truths before the majority in a manner akin to Hallaj (d. 922). Famous and widely venerated saints of this "type" include Ibn al-Marʾa (d. 1214), ʿAlī al-Ṣanhāj̲ī (ca. 16th-century), ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Mad̲j̲d̲h̲ūb (literally "ʿAbd al-Raḥmān the Ecstatic", d. 1569); (3) the "warrior saint" (pl. murābiṭūn) or martyr; (4) female saints, who may belong to one of the aforementioned three categories or some other. It has been remarked that "Maghrebi sainthood is by no means confined to men, and ... some of the tombs of female saints are very frequently visited." (5) "Jewish saints", that is to say, venerable Jewish personages whose tombs are frequented by Sunni Muslims in the area for the seeking of blessings Regarding the veneration of saints amongst Sunni Muslims in the Maghreb in the present day, scholars have noted the presence of many "thousands of minor, local saints whose tombs remain visible in villages or the quarters of towns." Although many of these saints lack precise historiographies or hagiographies, "their presence and their social efficacity ... [are] immense" in shaping the spiritual life of Muslims in the region. For the vast majority of Muslims in the Maghreb even today, the saints remain "very much alive at their tomb, to the point that the person's name most often serves to denote the place." While this classical type of Sunni veneration represents the most widespread stance in the area, the modern influence of Salafism and Wahhabism have challenged the traditional practice in some quarters.

Anatolia, the Balkans, and Caucasus

Scholars have noted the tremendously "important role" the veneration of saints has historically played in Islamic life all these areas, especially amongst Sunni Muslims who frequent the many thousands of tombs scattered throughout the region for blessings in performing the act of ziyāra. According to scholars, "between the Turks of the Balkans and Anatolia, and those in Central Asia, despite the distance separating them, the concept of the saint and the organisation of pilgrimages displays no fundamental differences." The veneration of Muslim saints really spread in Turkic-inhabited lands from the 10th to the 14th centuries, and played a crucial role in medieval Turkic Sunni piety not only in cosmopolitan cities but also "in rural areas and amongst nomads of the whole Turkish world." One of the reasons proposed by scholars for the popularity of Muslim saints in pre-modern Turkey is that Islam was majorly spread by the early Sunni Sufis in Turkic-inhabited lands, rather than by purely exoteric teachers. Most of the Muslim saints venerated in Turkey belonged to the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence. As scholars have noted, Muslim saints venerated in traditional Turkish Sunni Islam may be classified into three principal categories: (1) The g̲h̲āzīs or early Muslims saints who preached the faith in the region and were often martyred for their religion. Some of the most famous and widely venerated saints of this category include Muhammad's companion Abū Ayyūb al-Anṣārī (d. 674), who was killed beneath the walls of Constantinople and was honored as a martyr shortly thereafter, and Sayyid Baṭṭāl G̲h̲āzī (d. ninth-century), who fought the Christians in Anatolia during the Umayyad period. (2) Sufi saints, who were most often Sunni mystics who belonged to the Hanafi school of Sunni jurisprudence and were attached to one of the orthodox Sufi orders like the Naqshbandi or the Mevlevi. (3) The "greats figures of Islam", both pre-Islamic and those who came after Muhammad, as well as certain sainted rulers.

Reverence of Awliya Allah

Reverence for Awliya Allah have been an important part of both Sunni and Shia Islamic tradition that particularly important classical saints have served as the heavenly advocates for specific Muslim empires, nations, cities, towns, and villages. With regard to the sheer omnipresence of this belief, the late Martin Lings wrote: "There is scarcely a region in the empire of Islam which has not a Sufi for its Patron Saint." As the veneration accorded saints often develops purely organically in Islamic climates, the Awliya Allah are often recognized through popular acclaim rather than through official declaration. Traditionally, it has been understood that the Wali'Allah of a particular place prays for that place's well-being and for the health and happiness of all who live therein. Here is a partial list of Muslim Awliya Allah: (d. 1325) in Delhi, India, where he is honored as an Awliya Allah of the city; the shrine is the most popular site of Muslim pilgrimage in the Indian subcontinent (d. 1166) in Turkistan, Kazakhstan, where he is honored as an Awliya Allah of the country; the shrine was commissioned by Timur in 1389

See also

References

Notes

Citations

Further reading

Primary

Ibn Abi 'l-Dunyā, K. al-Awliyāʾ, in Mad̲j̲mūʿat rasāʾil, Cairo 1354/1935 Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣbahānī, Ḥilyat al-awliyāʾ, Cairo 1351 ff./1932 ff. Abū Saʿīd al-K̲h̲arrāz, K. al-Kas̲h̲f wa 'l-bayān, ed. Ḳ. al-Sāmarrāʾī, Bag̲h̲dād 1967 al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmid̲h̲ī, K. K̲h̲atm al-awliyāʾ, ed. O. Yaḥyā, Beirut 1965 idem, K. Sīrat al-awliyāʾ, ed. B. Radtke, in Drei Schrijten, i, 1-134, Beirut 1992 idem, al-Farḳ bayn al-āyāt wa 'l-karāmāt, ms. Ankara, Ismail Saib i, 1571, fols. 152b-177b idem, Badʾ s̲h̲aʾn Abī ʿAbd Allāh, ed. Yaḥyā, in Tirmid̲h̲ī, K̲h̲atm, 14-32, facs. and German tr. in Radtke, Tirmid̲iana minora, 244-77, Eng. tr. in Radtke and O'Kane, Concept of sainthood, 15-36. Handbooks. Bādisī, "al-Maḳṣad", tr. G. Colin, in Archives marocaines, xxvi-xxvii (1926) G̲h̲ubrīnī, ʿUnwān al-dirāya, Algiers 1970 Hud̲j̲wīrī, Kas̲h̲f al-maḥd̲j̲ūb, ed. V. Zhukovsky, repr. Tehran 1336/1958, 265 ff., tr. Nicholson, The Kashf al-mahjūb. The oldest Persian treatise on Sufism, Leiden-London 1911, 210-41 Kalābād̲h̲ī, al-Taʿarruf li-mad̲h̲hab ahl al-taṣawwuf ed. Arberry, Cairo 1934, tr. idem, The doctrine of the Sufis, 2, Cambridge 1977, ch. 26 Sarrād̲j̲, K. al-Lumaʿ fi 'l-taṣawwuf, ed. Nicholson, Leiden-London 1914, 315-32, Ger. tr. R. Gramlich, Schlaglichter über das Sufitum, Stuttgart 1990, 449-68 Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī, Ḳūt al-ḳulūb, Cairo 1932, Ger. tr. Gramlich, Die Nährung der Herzen, Wiesbaden 1992–95, index, s.v. Gottesfreund Ḳus̲h̲ayrī, Risāla, many eds., Ger. tr. Gramlich, Das Sendschreiben al-Qušayrīs, Wiesbaden 1989, index, s.v. Gottesfreund ʿAmmār al-Bidlīsī, Zwei mystische Schriften, ed. E. Badeen, forthcoming Beirut Ibn al-ʿArabī, al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya, Cairo 1329–1911. idem, Rūḥ al-ḳuds, Damascus 1964, Eng. tr. R.W. Austin, The Sufis of Andalusia, London 1971, Fr. tr. G. Leconte, Les Soufies d'Andalousie, Paris 1995 F. Meier, Die Vita des Scheich Abū Isḥāq al-Kāzarūnī, Leipzig 1948 Muḥammad b. Munawwar, Asrār al-tawḥīd fī maḳāmāt al-S̲h̲ayk̲h̲ Abī Saʿīd, ed. Muḥammad S̲h̲afīʿī-i Kadkanī, Tehran 1366-7, Eng. tr. J. O'Kane, The secrets of God's mystical oneness, New York 1992 ʿAzīz al-Dīn Nasafī, K. al-Insān al-kāmil, ed. M. Mole, Tehran-Paris 1962, 313-25 Ibn Taymiyya, al-Furḳān bayna awliyāʾ al-Raḥmān wa-awliyāʾ al-S̲h̲ayṭān, Cairo 1366/1947 idem, Ḥaḳīḳat mad̲h̲hab al-ittiḥādiyyīn, in Mad̲j̲mūʿat al-Rasāʾil wa 'l-masāʾil, iv, Cairo n.d., 1 ff. Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh, Laṭāʾif al-minan, Fr. tr. E. Geoffroy, La sagesse des maîtres soufis, Paris 1998

Secondary

Henri Corbin, En Islam iranien, esp. iii, Paris 1972 Michel Chodkiewicz, Le sceau des saints, Paris 1986 Jahrhundert Hidschra. Eine Geschichte des religiösen Denkens im frühen Islam, i-vi, Berlin-New York 1991-7 B. Radtke and J. O'Kane, The concept of sainthood in early Islamic mysticism, London 1996 Radtke, Drei Schriften des Theosophen von Tirmid̲, i, Beirut-Stuttgart 1992, ii, Beirut-Stuttgart 1996 R. Mach, Der Zaddik in Talmud und Midrasch, Leiden 1957 Radtke, "Tirmid̲iana minora", in Oriens, xxxiv (1994), 242-98 Gramlich, Die Wunder der Freunde Gottes, Wiesbaden 1987 idem, Die schiitischen Derwischorden Persiens, Wiesbaden 1965–81, ii, 160-5 (on the hierarchy of saints) C. Ernst, Ruzbihan Baqli, London 1996 Radtke, "Zwischen Traditionalisms und Intellektualismus. Geistesgeschichtliche und historiografische Bemerkungen zum Ibrīz des Aḥmad b. al-Mubārak al-Lamaṭī", in Built on solid rock. Festschrift für Ebbe Knudsen, Oslo 1997, 240-67 H.S. Nyberg, Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī, Leiden 1919, 103-20 A. Afifi, The mystical philosophy of Muhyid-din Ibnul-ʿArabi, Cambridge 1939 W. Chittick, The Sufi path of knowledge, Albany 1989 Jamil M. Abun-Nasr, The Tijaniyya. A Sufi order in the modern world, London 1965 Radtke, "Lehrer-Schüler-Enkel. Aḥmad b. Idrīs, Muḥammad ʿUt̲mān al-Mīrġanī, Ismāʿīl al-Walī", in Oriens, xxxiii (1992), 94-132 I. Goldziher, "Die Heiligenverehrung im Islam", in Muh. Stud., ii, 275-378 Grace Martin Smith and C.W. Ernst (eds.), Manifestations of sainthood in Islam, Istanbul 1993 H.-Ch. Loir et Cl. Gilliot (eds.), Le culte des saints dans le monde musulman, Paris 1995.

External links

Martin Lings, "Proofs of Islam," transcript of lecture delivered at the Islamic Cultural Centre, later published in Ilm Magazine, Volume 10, Number 1, December 1985¹, pp. 3-8

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