A literary history of Persia

4J8THE StfFf MYSTICISMcame into use, viz., a little before A.H. 200 (A.D. 816) ;andthe earliest Sufi writer known to the author of the Fihristseems to have been Yahya b. Mu'adh of Ray (probably, therefore,a Persian), whose death he places in A.H. 206 (A.D.T82 1-2). Still earlier mystics (who, whether so entitled ornot, were essentially and Stiffs, are claimed as such by theirsuccessors) were Ibrdhfm Adham (t circ. A.D. 777), D&'iidcat-Ta'i (t A.D. 781-2), Fudayl lyad (t A.D. 803), and thewoman Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya, who was a contemporary of theabove-mentioned Sufyan ath-Thawrf. The beginnings ofSufiism may, in short, be pretty certainly placed atthe end ofthe eighth and beginning of the ninth centuries of our era.The views which have been advanced as to the nature,origin, and source of the Stiff doctrine are asTheories as to'. .....the origin ofdivergent as the etymologies by which it isSiUiism.i T .proposed to explain its name. Briefly they maybe described as follows :(i) The theory that it really represents the Esoteric Doctnne ofthe Prophet. This is the prevalent view of the Sufis themselves,and of those Muhanimadans who are more or less insympathy with them; and thoughit can hardly commenditself to European scholars, it is by no means soabsurd or untenable a hypothesis as is often assumed in Europe.Without insisting too much on the (probably spurious) traditionsconstantly cited by the Sufis as the basis of their doctrine, such asGod's" alleged declaration, I was a Hidden Treasure and I desiredto be known, therefore I created Creation that I might be known j "" or," "God was, and there was naught beside Him ; Whosoeveror,"knoweth himself knowdh his Lord ; there are in the Quran itself afew texts which lend themselves to a mystical interpretation, as, forinstance, the words addressed to the Prophet concerning his victoryover the heathen at the battle of Badr (Qur'an, viii, 17):" Thoudidst not shoot when thou didst shoot, but God shot." This on the faceof it means no more than that God strengthened the arms of theMuslims against their foes ;but it involves no great straining of the* Jami, however, gives A.H. 258 (A.D. 872)(Nafahdt, p. 62).as the date of his death