Muslim Saints of South Asia: The eleventh to ... - blog blog blog

THE SPIRITUAL SOVEREIGN OF MULTAN
other forms of collective audition, in particular, ‘loud’ collective dhikr
al-h˝ad˝ra.
The principal role in the formation of conservative ‘new piety’ and
in the initiation of urban commercial and vocational groups into
mysticism was played by the Suhrawardiyya fraternity, founded by
the afore-mentioned Najibuddin Suhrawardi (1097–1168) and his
nephew Shihabuddin Abu Hafs ‘Umar Suhrawardi (1145–1234).
Like Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya silsila also had its origin outside the
limits of South Asia, in Iraq, but succeeded only in India to take shape
as a fraternity with its infrastructure, internal hierarchy of members
and cloisters and a single centre in Multan. The Suhrawardiyya is a
strictly Sunni order, guided by Shafi‘i madhab while the Chishtiyya
belonged to the Hanafi madhab. For that matter, like the Chishtis, the
Suhrawardis also trace their spiritual genealogy to ‘Ali bin Abi Talib
(through Junaid and al-Ghazali, whose disciple was Najibuddin
Suhrawardi).
It has already been mentioned that the founders of the Chishtiyya
order did not create any doctrinal literature, nor was their teaching
systematized but was reflected in the malfūz.āt of early shaikhs. The
Suhrawardis have, on the contrary, left for posterity a number of
books and treatises, which became normative manuals on Sufism
for subsequent generations of mystics. Chief of these is the celebrated
work ‘Awārif al-ma‘ārif, following which, as we have seen, murīds
were taught even in the Chishtiyya fraternity.
The practice of one or another ţarīqa to a great extent depended
on the personality of its founder: let us recall that the Chishtis’ refusal
to collaborate with the state authority and the orientation of their
social work were determined long ago by Mu‘inuddin Sijzi himself.
Here the Suhrawardis were no exception, and formulating the rules
of the future activity of the fraternity, its eponym, Shihabuddin Abu
Hafs ‘Umar, took recourse to active life, renounced reclusion and
excessive fasting, maintained close contacts with the authorities, and
undertook diplomatic missions and political settlement of conflicts.
His luxurious cloister in Baghdad, with gardens and bath houses,
was specially built for him by Caliph an-Nasir, on whose behalf Abu
Hafs travelled as an ambassador to the Ayyubi Sultan Malik al-Adil
I of Egypt, to Khwarezm-Shah Muhammad of Bukhara and to
Kaiqubad I, the Seljuk ruler of Konya.
In recognition of numerous services rendered to the state the title
of shaikh as-shuyūkh, the official head of all the Sufis of Baghdad, was
conferred on him. Apart from success in the field of diplomacy Abu
Hafs ‘Umar managed, again on the Caliph’s instructions, to put into
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