Soharwardi Silsila
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Suhrawardiyya is the name of a Sufi order founded by Iranian Sufi Diya al-din Abu 'n-Najib as-Suharwardi (1097-1168).
He was a murid of Ahmad al-Ghazali (RA), who was a brother of Imam AbuHamid al-Ghazali.c. 545 A.H. he was teaching Shafi'i fiqh atAl-Nizamiyya of Baghdad Academy. His surviving work is called KitabAdab Al-Muridin.Many Sufis from all over the Islamic world joined the order under the founder’s nephew Hazrat Shihab ad-din Abu Hafs 'Umar(RA) (1145-1234),who was sent as emissary to the court of Khwarizm Shah in Bukhara by the Khalifa in Baghdad. His son is buried in Tashkent. Later the Order spread into India through Hazrat Jalaluddin Surkh-Posh Bukhari (RA) and Hazrat Baha-ud-din Zakariya (RA).
The principal role in the formation of a conservative ‘new piety’ and in the initiation of urban commercial and vocational groups into mysticism was played by the Suhrawardiyya silsila. Suhrawardiyya originated in Iraq but succeeded only in India to take shape as afraternity with its infrastructure, internal hierarchy of members and cloisters and a single centre in Multan and Cutch. The Suhrawardiyya Isa strictly Sunni order, guided by Shafi`i madhab. The Suhrawardiyya trace their spiritual genealogy to Hazrat Ali ibn Abi Talib (A.S.) through Junayd Baghdad and al-Ghazali (RDA).
Shaikh Shihab ad-din Abu Hafs Umar al-Suharwardi (RA), 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 Ayyubid Sultan Malik al-Adil I of Egypt, to Khwarizm-Shah Muhammad of Bukhara and to Kaiqubad I, the Seljuk ruler of Konya.
Shaikh Abu Hafs Umar al-Suharwardi (RDA), the author of “Awarifal-Ma’arif”, directed his disciples Hazrat Jalaluddin Surkh-PoshBukhari & Shaikh Baha-ud-din Zakariya of Multan (1182-1262 AD) to make Multan the center of his activity. Iltutmish appointed him as"Shaikhul Islam" after the invasion of Multan and topple its ruler, Qabacha. During the Mongol invasion he became the peace negotiotor between invaders and Muslim army.
Another Suharwardi, Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi buried at Konya, Turkey, received formal initiation into the Sufi way under ShaykhBaha'uddin Zakariya; Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi lived in Multan for 25 years as one of the Suharwardi, composing poetry. As ShaykhBaha’uddin (RA) was dying, he named Hazrat Fakhruddin 'Iraqi (RA) to be his successor.
When it became known that Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi had been named head of the Suharwardi Order, some in the order became jealous and denounced him to the Sultan who sought to have 'Iraqi arrested. Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi fled the area with a few close companions, and they eventually made their way to Makkah and Medina. Later they moved north to Konya in Turkey. This was Konya at the time of Rumi. 'Iraqi often listened to Rumi teach and recite poetry, and later attended Rumi's funeral.
Although Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi was nominally the head (in exile) of a large and respected Sufi order, he humbly became the disciple of another Sufi master—Hazrat Sadruddin Qunawi(RA), who also lived in Konya at the time. Hazrat Sadruddin Qunawi (RA) was the son-in-law of the recently deceased Sufi philosopher Shaikh Ibn’Arabi (RA). Although less known in the West today Hazrat Sadruddin Qunawi(RA) was perhaps the pre-eminent Sufi teacher in Konya at the time, even better known than his neighbor Rumi. Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi was deeply devoted Hazrat Sadruddin Qunawi (RA) and to the teachings of Ibn ‘Arabi (RA). It was a series of speeches Hazrat Sadruddin Qunawi(RA) delivered on the esoteric meaning of Ibn 'Arabi's great works that inspired Hazrat Fakharuddin Iraqi (RA)to compose his own masterpiece of commentary and poetry named theLama'at or Divine Flashes.
When Fakhruddin 'Iraqi died he was buried near Ibn 'Arabi's (RA)tomb.
Baha-ud-din Zakariya’s(RA) successor then was his son Shaikh Sadruddin‘Arif(RA). His disciple, Amir Husayn (RA), the author of “Zad-al-Musafirin”, wrote several works on the doctrine Wahdat al-Wujud.Shaikh Arif’s (RA). Son and caliph, Shaikh Ruknuddin. was highly respected by the Delhi Sultans from ‘Alauddin Khilji to Muhammad IbnTughlaq.
After the death of Shaikh Ruknuddin (RA) the Suhrawardiyya silsiladeclined in Multan but became popular in other provinces like Kutch, Gujarat, Punjab, Kashmir and even Delhi. Suharwardiya order of Sufism became popular in Bengal (Contemporary Relevance of Sufism, 1993,published by Indian Council for Cultural relations).It was popularized and revitalized by Hazrat Jalaluddin Surkh-PoshBukhari(RA) known as Makhdum Jahaniyan, the world traveler. He was puritan and strongly objected the Hindu influences to Muslim social and religious practices.
Another contemporary mystic who is worthy of mention was Shaikh Sharfuddin Yahya Manairi. (d. 1380 AD). He belonged to the Firdausia order, a branch of Suhrawardiyya. He compiled several books, i.e. “Fawaid al-Muridin”, “Irshadat al-Talibin”,”Rahat al-Qulub”, etc.
Another al-Suhrawardi was the well known Shihabuddin Yahya as-Suhrawardi (1153 - 1191) who was a shia and founder of the Illuminationist school.
Bahauddin Zakariya (R.A)
This is a hagiography, written in the old tradition of tazkira literature, of Shaykh Bahaud-dn Zakariya Multani (c. 1170 – 1267), who was the most prominent Sufi of the newly established Suhrawardi order in the regions of the then Northwestern India.
Given the nature of the book, I did not expect a comprehensive analysis of the belief system of this sufi, but, in addition to excessive praise, I at least expected to get a general view of his thought. In this respect this book has been an utter disappointment. So much so that I embarrassed myself by reading it from cover to cover.
The author sets out with the greatness and piety of the Shaykh, his steadfastness in faith, tireless quest for knowledge, travels to far off lands in search of the Truth (whatever it means), his numerous miracles and wonders which are identical to the miracles ascribed to the prophets, his ability to read the mind, knowledge of the unseen and much more.
This book, however, contains some factual information about the life of Shaykh Zakariya and recounts a few prominent achievements for which he is known.
He left Multan (his birthplace, now in Pakistan) in early youth and set out on a long and perilous journey of Muslim mainlands for higher education in Islamic disciplines. He is reported to have travelled from city to city for almost three decades: Tus, Neshapur, Bukhara, Samarqand, Damascus, Aleppo, Mecca, Madina and finally Baghdad, spending time with the prominent teachers, before he returned to Multan in the latter part of his life.
He was primarily a jurist who, during his stay in Baghdad, got attracted to the teachings of Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (more about him later). The latter initiated him into the Suhrawardi tariqah and ordered Zakariya to return to his homeland to spread the message of Suhrawardiyah.
Shaykh Zakariya’s life and activities back in his native city gets some detailed attention in the book. He belonged to a family of religious judges (qadis), a very wealthy family which enjoyed influence with Muslim overlords. In time he became heir to the family fortune which, according to the book, he spent in the cause of religion. He constructed a huge madrassa in Multan which housed students, travellers, shelterless and teachers imported from Muslim mainlands. His fame and piety won a lot of converts to Islam, which, in turn, he sent over to far off lands for tabligh. Shaykh Zakariya is reported to have sent teams of students to Far East countries like Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and other areas to spread Islam. These tablighis have reported to won multitudes of converts.
Other aspects of his life is schism between him and the governor of Multan Nasir al-Din Qabacha. The latter ruled the province under the authority of the Sultan of Mamluk Dynasty (Slave Dynasty of Delhi), Sultan Shams al-Din Iltutmish. The governor of Multan is reported to have been jealous of the Shaykh and tried to discredit his image among the people. He used many means to achieve his end but, according to the book, failed. So we don’t know the nature of the dispute between the Shaykh and the governor, whether it was theological or just political or a mix of both, because the author tends to ascribe all opposition to the Shaykh a result of jealousy and ill-will; a likely explanation a hagiography can offer.
We can attempt a method of association and try to look into the beliefs of his master, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi, to get an idea of Shaykh Zakariay’s views.
According to sources other than the book under review, notably Sayed Hossain Nasr and Mahdi Aminrazavi, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi (1154 – 1191) is known as the founder of the ishraqi (Illuminationist) school. He was a philosopher in his own right who challenged fundamental views of Ibn-e-Sina’s peripatetic philosophy (originally an import from the Greece/Aristotelian thought). Without concerning with his philosophical ideas and their application to Ishraqi sufism, suffice it to say that Suhrawardi’s sufi thought depended on his central theory of the Lights. He perceived reality as being divided into Light and Darkness. The immaterial Light of Lights (nur al-anwar) is God through which further flashes of light emanate. These flashes of light have lesser intensity to that of the Light of the Lights. The smaller lights then interact with each other, pass through the intermediary world (alam al-mithal) and give rise to new lights of various intensities. This is Suhrawardi’s cosmology in a nutshell which doesn’t really make sense without further elaboration but this is beyond the scope of the review.
He also believed that existence per se, of humans and other living beings, is an abstraction of mind and doesn’t constitute part of Reality. He denied, in opposition to Ibn-e-Sina, that there is a fundamental form to every material object which could be known through inhering. Interestingly, he had also rejected the theory of vision which was current in those days: Human eyes emit light which falls on the objects which makes the vision possible. He claimed that the light actually emanates from the objects, which links back to the Light of Lights (God) and that the eye, which is a part of darkness, is merely filled with that light.
Suhrawardi’s cosmology and Ishraqi (Illuminationist) ideas had big influence on Mullah Sadra who combined his ideas and that of Ibn-e-Sina’s peripatetic philosophy to create his own.
Suhrawardi was in Syria when he was declared a heretic. He was executed on the orders of no other than Sultan Salah al-Din Ayyubi himself.
