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The Sufis of Baghdad

In the Sixth Century A.H. / Twelfth Century A.D.:
An historical study.

By
Omar S. AL-TAL

Supervisor
Dr. A. A. Dury

ABSTRACT

This study has sought to deal with the sufis of Baghdad in the sixth
century A.H./ twelfth century A.D. from an historical perspective, aiming at
illuminating Sufism in Baghdad in terms of its sheikhs, murids, their
institutions through which they practiced their activities, the sufi discourse,
its basis, subjects and expressions, and, finally, their relationships with the
sectors of society.
The data was mainly collected from a variety of sources contemporary
to the era considered. These sources included sufi texts, biographies, travel
books and general history ones, along with some modern references.
The writer sought to illustrate continuity and change in the history of
Sufism. Sufism was a social movement which witnessed a gradual shift in
the mid fifth century A.H. from a state of social isolation to a state of active
social involvement in which a considerable mass of people from diverse
backgrounds were involved .
The study came to some conclusions:
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The emergence of sufism from its isolation coincided with the coming
of the saljuks to Baghdad and with the foundation of both the Nizamiya
school and the ribat of shaikh-shoyokh.
In spite of the rising tensions between the asharites and hanabalites
of Baghdad, Sufism managed to keep out of this feud, thanks to the rising
trend of sufi faqihs which was pioneered by the hanbalite sufi shaikh
Abdul Qadir Al-Jili and the Shafiite Shaikh Abdul Qaher Al- Suhrawardi.
This trend of sufi faqihs took an institutional form: the building of
ribats beside the madrasas. The trend, in its turn, had resulted in mitigating
the tension between the fiqhi madhahib, and in involving the masses in
Sufism to an unprecedented degree until Sufism became a considerable
social movement.
Thus, sultans and, later on, caliphs in their turn, sought to
institutionalize and contain this movement through building ribats and
allocating waqfs to them, a process which lent duration to these institutions.
All of this contributed to a later development in Sufism, namely, the
emergence of sufi orders (Tariqas) which were named after some prominent
sufi sheikhs of Baghdad such as Al-Jili, Al-Suhrawardi and Al-Rifai.
Because Sufism was not restricted to any particular fiqhi madhhab,
and because the involved masses came from diverse social, political and
economic backgrounds, Sufism was a unifying social factor, and a
moderating one to such sectors of society as ayyarin-shuttar and fityan.
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‫‪: The original title of the book‬‬

‫متصوفة بغداد في القرن السادس الهجري ‪ /‬الثاني عشر الميلدي ‪ :‬دراسة تاريخية ‪.‬‬
‫‪: Publisher‬‬
‫دار المأمون للنشر و التوزيع – عمان ‪ /‬الردن ‪.‬‬
‫‪http://daralmamoun2007.maktoobblog.com‬‬

‫‪Amman – Jordan‬‬