This is a welcome study addressing an important but under-studied period of Egyptian Sufism. The author has been contributing, largely in French, to this research area for two decades, but now English readers will have easy access to Rachida Chih's erudite scholarship on modern Sufism. Her approach is that of a historian of ideas and institutions – less emphasis on abstract ideas, and more focus on evolving social structures and organized Sufism.
True to its subtitle, the book begins with a chapter on the theme of circulation. The vast stage of the modern Islamic world, stretching from Morocco to Indonesia, is set. Beyond the networks of trade that held this space together, the yearly Hajj facilitated constant flows of pilgrims, scholars and texts. Lying between the Maghreb and Arabia, Egypt received regular infusions of human capital from the west. Chih rightly focuses on this circulation, and uses the institution of Al-Azhar university as a mirror of these developments. She describes several prominent figures arriving from the Maghreb, such as ʿAbd al-Rahman al-Azhari (d. 1793) and Ahmad al-Tijani (d. 1815), making formative contacts in Cairo. From the east, for example, the Sufi thinker ʿAbd al-Rahman al-ʿAydarus (d. 1778) travelled from Yemen to Cairo. These and many other travellers would build on their training and networks at al-Azhar to establish their own Sufi institutions in their homelands. Chih's primary interest, however, is the revival of the Khalwatiyya Sufi order and its significant expansion in this period. Key figures here are Mustafa al-Bakri (d. 1749), Muhammad al-Hifni (d. 1767), and Ahmad al-Dardir (d. 1786). As an illustration of the growth of the Khalwatiyya, Chih digs into the history of the town of Jirja in Upper Egypt, which itself blossomed at this period.
Like many of the great shaykhs of earlier periods, Mustafa al-Bakri's literary output was limited to handbooks of advice for followers and supererogatory prayers (ahzab and awrad). The second chapter offers a close look at three popular handbooks by authors around al-Bakri. The first, by Qasim al-Khani (d. 1697) entitled Al-Sayr wa-l-suluk, made an impact beyond Egypt, and was embraced in the Sudan and the Maghreb. The soul's journey to God, following seven stages of “states” and “stations” – a classical Sufi structure – is laid out in detail. Al-Samanudi's Tuhfat al-salikin presents several received notions on the seeker's relation to the shaykh, but adds from the author's personal experience with his own teacher al-Hifni. The third text, Tuhfat al-ikhwan, composed by al-Dardir, also details the author's relationship to the shaykh al-Hifni. Both Samanudi and Dardir make the intense relationship explicit: the former identifies his sanctity (hurmat al-shaykh), while Dardir underlines the divine presence transmitted by al-Hifni (hadrat al-shaykh hadrat Allah). Both of these manuals also provide rules and advice on one's behaviour around the shaykh and toward one's fellow aspirants, and comportment during prayer (dhikr and ahzab).
In the third chapter, Chih continues the story of the Khalwati revival, here framing it around the Muhammadan Path (tariqa Muhammadiyya), which she defines as either a return to the model of the Prophet, or a direct spiritual attachment to Muhammad. The figure of Muhammad had of course been central in the evolution of law as well as Sufism, since the twelfth century. Khalwati writers of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries made clear the connection between progress on the spiritual path and visionary encounters with the Prophet. Chih then surveys the evolution of various understandings of the Muhammadan Path, beginning with a discussion of “neo-Sufism”. This academic neologism was developed most famously by the scholar Fazlur Rahman, who claimed that such exaggerations of the role of Muhammad in spiritual life were a symptom of the post-classical decline of an ever-more popularized Sufism. Chih and others have usefully critiqued this argument as both historically false, and a troublesome articulation of very conservative Muslim norms masquerading as academic argumentation. This is followed by a survey of the development of medieval themes, such as imitation of the Prophet, reflection on his role as seal (khatm) of prophecy and its relationship to sanctity/sainthood (walaya), devotional prayers for the Prophet, celebration of his birth, and the spiritual implications of his heavenly ascension (miʿraj), demonstrating historical continuity of devotional practices.
The fourth chapter explores the notion of spiritual authority as elaborated around the figure of al-Hifni. The primary focus is on a hagiography written by Hasan b. ʿAli Shamma al-Fuwwi al-Makki (d. 1763). Chih argues that through this work, entitled Muntaha al-ʿibarat, al-Hifni's sacred persona is framed in relation to the Prophetic model as well as the great saints of Egypt, in particular the saint Ahmad al-Badawi (d. 1276). Key elements from the life of the Prophet are echoed in the Muntaha, including spiritual retreats on a mountain outside the city (the Muqattam hills). The young al-Hifni would excel in his studies at al-Azhar, and join the Shadhili Sufi path. At the age of 30 al-Hifni met Mustafa al-Bakri, who had recently come from Syria. When al-Bakri returned to Jerusalem, he summoned al-Hifni, who left Egypt in a version of his own Hijra. The hagiography goes on to describe al-Hifni's physical characteristics, his miracles, and his intercessory relationship to his followers. The chapter concludes with a survey of anti-Sufi movements, including the Turkish Birgili Mehmed Efendi (d. 1573), and the Qadizadeli movement of the seventeenth century, and the rise of Wahhabism, all challenging the Sufi model, which tied the spiritual authority of saints to that of the Prophet.
As Rachida Chih notes in her conclusion, this study of the Khalwatiyya can only partially fill the gaps in our knowledge of Egyptian Sufism. Nevertheless, she is to be commended for a well-researched and profound study, which will serve as a building block for all future work in the field.
