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

THE HERMIT OF LAHORE
The practice of samā‘ became a virtual stumbling block, the most
contradictory subject of Sufi literature, around which controversies
raged continually. Theologians have discussed endlessly whether
the inclusion of samā‘ in the mystic ritual is lawful, or whether it is
only bid‘a, a reprehensible innovation. The most lively, spectacular
and entertaining part of the Sufi ritual, samā‘ in the first instance
afforded the possibility of a quick attainment of the state of wajd
(ecstasy). Even amongst those fraternities which practised samā‘, like
Chishtiyya, Suhrawardiyya, Qadriyya and Kubrawiyya, there was
no unity of opinion on this question.
Al-Hujwiri also could not steer clear of these contradictions, or to
be more exact, his attitude towards samā‘ reflected his evolution with
the passage of time. He recollects that once on a hot day ‘in the clothes
of a wanderer and with untidy hair’ he came to the well-known Shaikh
Khwaja Muzaffar. In reply to the hospitable host’s question as to
what his wish was, al-Hujwiri told him that he would like to hear
samā‘. Khwaja Muzaffar there and then sent for a qawwāl (singer)
and musicians. Being young and full of a neophyte’s enthusiasm, al-
Hujwiri was profoundly thrilled by the song and was driven into
ecstasy. The Shaikh, observing the young man’s reaction, warned him:
A time will come when this music will be no more to you
than the croaking of a raven. The influence of music only
lasts so long as there is no contemplation, and as soon as
contemplation is attained music has no power. Take care not
to accustom yourself to this, lest it grow part of your nature
and keep you back from higher things.
(al-Hujwiri 1992: 171)
Khwaja Muzaffar proved to be a good foreteller – in the concluding
chapter of Kashf al-mah˛jūb al-Hujwiri speaks about samā‘ much
more critically than in his youth. Apparently, remembering his own
experience, he quotes Junaid’s saying to his disciples: ‘If you wish to
keep your religion safe and to maintain your penitence, do not
indulge, while you are young, in the audition which the Sufis practise;
and when you grow old, do not let yourself be the cause of guilt in
others’ (al-Hujwiri 1992: 412).
But the following episode most accurately characterizes al-
Hujwiri’s attitude towards samā‘:
Once, when I was in Merv, one of the leaders of the Ahl-i
hadīth 11 and the most celebrated of them all said to me: ‘I
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