0021-1818_islam_98-1-2-i-259

Reviews 189
methodology” intended for spiritual adepts. (p. xv) Only a very small number of
epistles are concerned with mundane socio-political matters, while the majority
contain highly esoteric discourses. In these letters, Sirhind\ employs a technical
vocabulary, ontological framework, and suprarational logic which has been
largely understudied. Second, his letters contain seemingly contradictory views,
which can vary depending on the recipient. To complicate matters further, the
identities of many of the recipients are unknown, and the original letters which
the Collected Letters were written in response to are unavailable.
These challenges are compounded by the fact that anti-imperialist and
nationalist ideologues during the 20 th century in South Asia approached the Collected
Letters from a political lens, and appropriated Sirhind\ as a forefather of
Muslim political and communal consciousness. Grand meta-narratives of Sirhind\’s
legacy were woven by scholars such as I.H. Qureshi and S.A.A. Rizvi who
regarded his work as a socio-political project aimed at cleansing Islam of Hindu
accretions. Yohanan Friedmann and J.G.J. ter Haar overturned this paradigm.
They argued instead that Sirhind\ should be regarded as a synthesizer who
brought suf\ practices (including those regarded as antinomian) and the urban
juristic traditions into a single system supported by rational argument, scripture,
and mystical experience. Revealed Grace represents the next foundation stone in
this scholarly edifice.
This book is a result of Buehler’s decade-long effort working with various
Persian editions and Urdu and Arabic translations of the Collected Letters.
Buehler translates letters which elucidate what he refers to as the “Mujaddidi
form of juristic Sufism” (p. x). According to Buehler, Sirhind\’s program of renewal
sought to reform both “self-aggrandizing ego-driven jurists” (p. 31) and
wayward suf\s. “By joining shariat and sufism,” explains Buehler, “Sirhindi endeavored
to renew sufi practices and standards, which included adherence to
scriptural norms and legal practices.” (p. 30) This synthesis, he points out, was
highly controversial and countered popular conceptions of the separation of
these domains.
Buehler’s introduction is a must-read for scholars of early modern Islam because
of his contextualization of Sirhind\’s work. The remainder of the book consists
of translations, divided into five chapters. The first three are organized thematically:
“Shariat, Sunnat and Jurists”, “Contemplative Experience”, and
“Aspects of the Sufi Path.” Chapters four and five include translations of two
lengthy and oft-referenced letters, Epistles 1:200 and 1:287. Epistle 1:200 outlines
the Naqˇsband\ path, and enumerates some of Sirhind\’s millennial concepts,
while in 1:287, Sirhind\ provides the intellectual basis for the doctrine of vahdat-e
ˇsohud (unity of contemplative witnessing), with which Sirhind\ is often associated.
Throughout Buehler’s translations, it becomes apparent that the Collected