The Friends of God and Reading Travelers’ Narratives

HIST 100711/4/13

Near Eastern Mysticism and Asceticism

• Early Muslims attracted to Christian ascetics• Desert Fathers• St. Simeon Stylites (d. 459)• Merkabah – Jewish mysticism focused on divine visions• Kabbalah – 12th century Jewish mystical movement• Christian Monasticism

Sufism

• Sufi masters develop practices and doctrines• Dhikr – remembrance of God• Muraqaba – repetition of God’s names• Visitation and pilgrimage• 10th-13th centuries – following coalesce around Sufi masters• Development of Sufi institutions

Sufism and Poetry

• Intense love of God• Reflected in love poetry• Double meaning?• Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273)– Persian poet– Mathnawi– Founder of Mawlana Sufi Order

Sufism

• ijaza – diploma and license to teach• khirqa – cloak of the master, symbolic robe• ribat – residence for mystics,from frontier forts• 13th century – Sufism, khanaqas, and ribats become important pieces of urban framework, similar to madrasa

Khanaqa Bayburs, Cairo

Are Sufis Saints?

• Mystics and “Friends of God”• Populist Islam• Sufism and miracles?• Baraka – blessings• Shrines and ziyara

Khanqah-i Shaykh `Abd al-Samad, IranIl-Khanid construction, 14th century

Sufism and Politics

• Sufi shaykh as political agent• Baraka and the sultan• State sponsorship of Sufi Orders• State sponsorship of khanaqas, shrines, etc.• Descendants of shaykhs and political authority

Shrine of Shaykh Safi al-Din, Ardabil, Iran14th century

Reading Travel Narratives

• What does a travel narrative actually tell us about?

• What kinds of details do you notice when you are traveling that are worth mentioning?

• What don’t you see when you are traveling?

Naser-e Khusraw’s Safarnama

• Naser-e Khusraw (1003-1077): Persian poet, philosopher, and Isma`ili scholar from Khurasan

• Secretary and tax collector under Seljuq Sultan Tughril Beg

• Safarnama – “Book of Travels”• 1046: A dream tells Naser to go on pilgrimage• Writes a report on his seven year journey

Pax Mongolica and Travel

Pax Mongolica and Travel

Paisa - passport

Marco Polo (1254-1324)1260: Marco’s father and

uncle find their wayto Bukhara and thenChina

1269: Niccolo and MaffeoPolo Return

1271-1292: Marco, Niccolo, andMaffeo in China

Marco Polo’s Travels

Marco Polo’s Travels

1298: In a Genoese prison.

Can we believe Rustichello’sembellishment of Marco’sprison yard bragging?

Ibn Battuta (1304-1369)

Tangier, MoroccoFamily of legal scholars

(ulama)1325: Ibn Battuta leaves

for Hajj1354: Finally returns

home.

Ibn Battuta’s Travels