It was composed towards the end of his life and draws upon vast resources
of material available in Arabic. It is considered to be the most authoritative
exposition of Sufism according to the school of Junayd. He succeeded, like
many other Sufis before and after him, in reconciling his theology with an
advanced mysticism. He describes the central doctrine of annihilatin, or
fana‘,
by comparing it to combustion by fire, which changes the nature of
everything into its own nature, but without changing the essence of the thing
burned. He also persistently warns his readers that no Sufi, not even one
who attains the supreme degree of sanctity, is dispensed from obeying the
religious law.
The works of
al Ghazali
(d. 1110) have already been mentioned earlier
when his life and contribution to Sufism were described. His writings helped
Sufism to find its place in the mainstream of Islam.
Shihabuddin Suhrawardi
(1144-1234) was the author of
‘Awarif al
Ma’arif
19
, a standard treatise on mysticism, which became the most closely
studied text among the Sufis.There was a section on the origin of the word
Sufi, which examined all possible derivations of the term. Further, all the
relevant Sufi concepts like
tariqa
,
fana‘
,
baqa‘
,
nafs
,
hal
and
maqam
were
critically expounded. This was followed by a discussion of specific Sufi
practices:
dhikr
,
sama’
,
muraqaba
, etc. His expositions were a great
improvement on what the earlier books offered. He also discussed the
establishment of
khanqahs
, recognizing in them the positive points of the
communal life they offered, although he considered them an innovation.As
it was a widely read text, it acquired numerous commentaries which were
then used along with the original. Among its numerous translations and
19
The ‘Awarifu’l Ma’arif by Shaikh Shahab ud din ‘Umar bin Muhammad Suhrawardi, tr. Clarke,
H.W., 1891, reprinted Delhi, 1984
