of a much later period is attested to, for example, in
Maktubat-i-Sadi
(
The
Hundred Letters
) by Sharafuddin binYahya Maneri (d.1381) who exhorted his
disciples to read it.
14
A treatise by
AbuBakr al Kalabadhi
(d. 995),
Kitab alTa’aruf li-madhhab
ahl al tasawwuf
(
The Doctrine of the Sufis
)
15
proved to be a very influential
work, which was much quoted and commented upon by later writers.
Suhrawardi Maqtul (d.1191) is reported to have said:‘But for the
Ta’aruf,
we
should not have known of Sufism.’
16
This statement seems to gain more
urgency when one looks back on the history of Sufism and surveys the period
when the book was actually written.There is no doubt that Sufismwas passing
through a grave crisis and no one was more aware of this than the Sufis
themselves. In fact, it was on the point of being disallowed and declared a
heresy, especially after the execution of Hallaj in 992.This was an event still
fresh in the memory of the Sufis and might have taken place in the period
when Kalabadhi was a child. Certainly, he himself never mentions Hallaj by
name, but only as ‘one of the great Sufis’ while quoting his words, and only
twice calls himAbu’l Mughith.There is no doubt that the author musters all
his forces to prove that the true doctrine of the Sufis actually confirms the
orthodox beliefs. His goal was similar to that of Al Ghazali who came much
later and finally reconciled the scholastic and the mystic.
Al Kalabadhi’s treatise is relatively short and can be naturally divided into
five unequal parts: 1. general introduction to Sufism and discussion of the
derivations of the term Sufi; 2. discussion of the tenets of Islam as accepted
by the Sufis; 3. description of various ‘stations’ of the Sufis; 4. an exposition
14
see Sharafuddin bin Yahya Maneri, The Hundred Letters, tr. Jackson, P., 1980, pp. 111-113
(letter 28)
15
al Kalabadhi, al Ta’aruf li-madhhab ahl al tasawwuf, tr. by Arberry, A.J., as ‘
The D
octrine of the
Sufis
’
, 1935, edition used: Delhi, 1994
16
see the introduction to the above by Arberry, p. x
T owar d s Mys t i c i sm 44
