Historical Dictionary of the Sufi Culture of Sindh in Pakistan and India

摘要

I had always assumed that Scarecrow Press (Rowman and Littlefield) had somehow acquired a monopoly on producing historical dictionaries of obscure minorities, but here, to my surprise, is Oxford University Press muscling in on their act. In fact, this dictionary appeared at almost exactly the same time as the second edition of the rather broader Historical Dictionary of Sufism (Renard, 2015) (also from the Scarecrow stable), the first edition of which was previously reviewed in these columns (RR 2006/127). The lengthy introduction to this book starts by quoting the title of What is Sufism? (Lings, 1975) saying "I have continued to feel that the apparently naive question asked by Martin Lings is still very acute, even though the answer will seem obvious to many". Rather to my annoyance, however, he does not answer the question. I am irritated by reference books that do not provide brief definitions of their own subjects. Doing so is particularly important when dealing with a topic as controversial, complex and obscure as Sufism. For those of us who are not among "the many", I will attempt a definition. Sufism is a collection of mystical practices and beliefs which have grown up within Islam. Some people claim that it is purely Islamic in origin and is inherent in Mohammed's teachings. It developed however at a time when the Arabs had just conquered parts of Asia Minor containing large numbers of Christian ascetics - followers of St Simon Stylites, etc., had come into contact with Persian religious ideas which fitted in with the developing Shia schism, and in our particular case, had started to invade India, coming into contact with Hindu and, especially, Buddhist thinkers. Sufi can therefore be regarded either as the pure essence of Islam, or as an esoteric set of practices within Islam, or as a heretical schism within Islam, or as a set of mystical practices partly influenced by other religions and beliefs. It might be noted that practically everything mentioned in this dictionary would be illegal in Saudi Arabia.