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

THE INDIAN TOMB
Probably the most outstanding Iranian Sufi of the ninth century,
at-Tirmidhi was one of the first who theoretically substantiated the
concepts of sainthood in his treatise Seal of the Saints (Khatm alawliyā).
He, in particular, asserted that ‘prophets were saints of God
before they became prophets. That is why they possess both qualities:
prophethood as well as sainthood. They have no equals’ (al-Geyoushi
1971: 33).
At-Tirmidhi’s ideas about correlation between ‘prophethood’ and
‘sainthood’ and about the hierarchy of saints were developed further
in the works of the great Sufi shaikh Ibn al-‘Arabi, who affirmed
that sainthood is a particular manifestation of prophethood: a saint
does not compulsorily carry out a prophetic mission, whereas each
and every prophet invariably happens to be a saint. Ibn al-‘Arabi
differentiated between two types of sainthood – one common to
all religions, the other a particular type, Muhammad’s sainthood,
inherent only in Islam. He considered Jesus to be the ‘Seal’ of the
first and the Supreme Sufi Quţb to be the ‘Seal’ of the second type of
sainthood. ‘Be aware that sainthood is an all-embracing sphere, and
therefore it is not discontinued; its task is general proclamation. But
prophethood is legislative and law-giving and so it is discontinued’
(Ibn ‘Arabi 1980: 214).
Beginning from the tenth century the concept of an invisible
hierarchy of saints takes shape in Sufism. At the head of the hierarchy
is the supreme saint – Quţb (literally ‘pole’ or ‘pivot’), also called
‘helper’ (Ghawth); he is followed by an ever-increasing number of
‘fulcrums’ (Awtād), ‘the chosen ones’ (Akhyār), ‘substitutes’ (Abdāl),
‘the dutiful ones’ (Abrār), ‘chiefs’ (Nuqabā’), ‘pre-eminent ones’
(Nujabā’), ‘couriers’ (Shuţţār), ‘the troops’ (Afrād) etc. Al-Hujwiri has
written in his celebrated work The Unveiling of the Veiled (Kashf almah˛jūb)
about this ‘pyramid’ of saints:
Among them there are four thousand who are concealed and
do not know one another and are not aware of the excellence
of their state, but in all circumstances are hidden from
themselves and from mankind ... But of those who have
power to loose and to bind and are officers of the Divine
court there are three hundred, called Akhyār, and forty,
called Abdāl, and seven, called Abrār, and four, called Awtād,
and three, called Nuqabā’, and one, called Quţb or Ghawth.
All these know one another and cannot act save by mutual
consent.
(al-Hujwiri 1992: 213–14)
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