Amina Steinfels H I S M A S T E R ’ S VOIC E :

TH E G E N R E OF
M A L F U Z AT I N S O U T H
ASIAN SUFISM

For the historian of a religious tradition, the interpretation and decipher-

ment of texts produced by religious communities remain a central chal-
lenge. The genres of religious writing particular to specific traditions, such
as hagiography, scriptural commentary, or devotional handbooks, require
hermeneutic approaches tailored to the form and function of such texts in
their historical and social contexts. To that end, this essay is an examina-
tion of the South Asian Islamic genre of malfuzat, the teachings and me-
moirs of Sufi masters compiled by their disciples.
Central to Sufism as a socioreligious phenomenon in medieval South
Asia is the figure of the Sufi master (shaykh or pir), widely viewed dur-
ing and after his lifetime as a saint, one of the awliyaª or friends of God.
For the initiated disciple, his relationship with his guide on the Sufi path
was his means of access to the teachings and practices of the tradition, as
well as to the initiatic lineage leading back through generations of Sufi
masters all the way to the prophet Muhammad and the early exemplars
of Islam. For the larger public, the person of the Sufi saint was a source
of religious authority and charismatic power: to heal, to protect, to bless,
or to harm. In this context, access to the personality and teachings of a
Sufi shaykh was of significant interest to a wider populace than could gain
direct personal contact with him. Tombs and shrines provided a physical
connection with a deceased or absent saint, but written texts were a strat-

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History of Religions 57

egy for a more detailed and intellectually complex preservation and dis-
semination of a shaykh’s religious guidance.
During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, when the major Sufi
orders were establishing their hold on South Asian Islamic piety, few of
the great Sufi shaykhs composed significant prose treatises or poetical
works.1 Tadhkiras, memorials or compendia of biographical notices of
saints, would become a significant source of information about these fig-
ures, but most were composed at a later time. Furthermore, a tadhkira, as
a memorial, is always retrospective, looking back at figures already fa-
mous for their saintliness, rather than being a biography of a contemporary.
Malfuzat, the genre I will be analyzing in this essay, was such a contem-
porary record of the teachings of a Sufi shaykh as observed and compiled
by a disciple. Much of what we know about pre-Mughal South Asian Su-
fism is derived from malfuzat texts. An Arabic word, malfuzat literally
means “what has been said” and refers to texts written, mostly in Persian,
by the disciple of a Sufi shaykh recording as much as possible of the
shaykh’s conversations, activities, and teaching.
Malfuzat can be viewed as a logical development of the twin Islamic
traditions of biography and collection of dicta inaugurated in the early
centuries of the Islamic era to preserve the life and teachings of the
Prophet Muhammad in the forms of sira and hadith.2 Within the Sufi tra-
dition, biographical notices of significant figures and compilations of their
utterances were combined in works such as ºAbd al-Rahman al-Sulami’s
(d. 1021) Tabaqat al-suf iya.3 These early biographical dictionaries were
largely based on an oral transmission of the teachings of Sufi masters,
though written collections of the utterances of individual figures like Abu
Yazid Bistami (d. 875) were also undertaken.4 Monographs recording the
oral teachings, and teaching sessions, of individual Sufi masters, such as
Abu Saºid ibn Abi al-Khayr (d. 1049) and ºAlaª al-dawla al-Simnani (d.
1336), were also produced.5

1
Bruce B. Lawrence, Notes from a Distant Flute: The Extant Literature of Pre-Mughal
Indian Sufism (Tehran: Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, 1978). All dates are in the
common era, or c.e., format.
2
See Dwight F. Reynolds, ed., Interpreting the Self: Autobiography in the Arabic Liter-
ary Tradition (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001), pp. 36– 43; Carl W. Ernst,
Eternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics at a South Asian Sufi Center (Albany, N.Y.:
SUNY Press, 1992), pp. 63–64.
3
J. A. Mojaddedi, The Biographical Tradition in Sufism: The Tabaqat Genre from al-
Sulami to Jami (Richmond, Surrey: Curzon, 2001).
4
Ibid., p. 179; Michael Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qurªan, Miºraj, Poetic and
Theological Writings (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist, 1996), p. 25.
5
John O’Kane, trans., The Secrets of God ’s Mystical Oneness; or, The Spiritual Stations
of Shaikh Abu Saºid (Costa Mesa, Calif.: Mazda, 1992); Fritz Meier, Abu Saºid-i Abu l-Hayr
(357– 440/967–1049): Wirklichkeit und Legende (Leiden: Brill, 1976). See Jamal J. Elias,
The Throne Carrier of God: The Life and Thought of ºAlaª ad-dawla ass-Simnani (Albany,
58 Sufi Genre of Malfuzat

Despite these antecedents from the Arab and Iranian regions, malfuzat
are peculiar to South Asian Muslim culture. They are an independent
genre, each text focusing on a single figure whose teachings were re-
corded during his lifetime by a disciple in direct contact with him. The
paradigmatic example of this genre, that firmly established both its form
and its popularity in South Asian Sufism, is Fawaªid al-fuªad by Amir
Hasan Sijzi. Fawaªid al-fuªad recorded the conversations of the widely
revered Chishti saint Nizam al-din Awliyaª (d. 1325). Because of the
popularity of this saint and the literary abilities of his disciple, Fawaªid
al-fuªad became a widely read and much imitated text. Imitation took the
form of malfuzat of later shaykhs written by their disciples as well as
forgeries claiming to be the malfuzat of Nizam al-din Awliyaª’s prede-
cessors. Although there are a number of malfuzat of earlier Chishti figures,
Fawaªid al-fuªad is the earliest such text considered authentic by most
scholars.6
Nizam al-din Awliyaª was the preeminent shaykh of the Chishti order,
and it was especially among the Chishtis that the genre of malfuzat flour-
ished. Nearly every subsequent Chishti shaykh with a claim to inheriting
Nizam al-din’s role had his malfuzat compiled. His successors Nasir al-
din Mahmud Chiragh-i Dihli (d. 1356) and Burhan al-din Gharib (d. 1337)
both had disciples who compiled their teachings in Khayr al-majalis, Ah-
san al-aqwal, Nafaªis al-anfas, Gharaªib al-karamat, and Shamaªil al-
atqiya. Other orders, including the Suhrawardi, Firdawsi, and Maghribi
lineages, followed suit.7
Fawaªid al-fuªad was composed as a day-by-day memoir of Nizam al-
din Awliyaª’s teaching sessions, and this diary structure has continued to
be the dominant format for malfuzat texts. As George Makdisi has dem-
onstrated, the keeping of personal diaries by students of hadith dates back
to the ninth century and perhaps earlier. However, such diaries were in-
tended only as source material for other historical compositions, not for
publication, as in the case of malfuzat.8 A significant minority of mal-

N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1995), pp. 176–77; Muhammad Latif Malik, “Introduction,” in Fawaªid
al-fuªad: Malfuzat-i khwaja Nizam ala-din Awliyaª, Khwaja Hasan Dihlawi (Tehran: Raw-
zanah, 1998), p. 23.
6
Khwaja Hasan Dihlawi, Fawaªid al-fuªad: Malfuzat-i khwaja Nizam al-din Awliyaª, ed.
Muhammad Latif Malik (Tehran: Rawzanah, 1998); Amir Hasan ºAlaª Sijzi Dehlawi, Fa-
waªid al-Fuªad: Spiritual and Literary Discourses of Shaikh Niôamuddin Awliya, trans.
Ziya-ul-Hasan Faruqi (New Delhi: D. K. Printworld, 1996); Nizam ad-din Awliya: Morals
for the Heart: Conversations of Nizam ad-din Awliya Recorded by Amir Hasan Sijzi, trans.
Bruce B. Lawrence (New York: Paulist, 1992).
7
For the development and elaboration of the malfuzat genre within the Chishti order see
Ernst, pp. 62–84. See also Khaliq Ahmad Nizami, “Introduction,” Khayr al-majalis, by Ha-
mid Qalandar (Aligarh: Aligarh Muslim University, Department of History, 1959), pp. 1–6.
8
See George Makdisi, “The Diary in Islamic Historiography: Some Notes,” History and
Theory 25 (May 1986): 173–85.
History of Religions 59

fuzat have a variant structure in which a shaykh’s teachings are orga-

nized into chapters according to topic. Such topics might include prayer,
the virtues of the family of the Prophet, the manners of initiation and dis-
cipleship, legal rulings on dietary issues, and so on. Until the nineteenth
century malfuzat were composed in Persian, the literary language of South
Asian Islamic society. They also often included significant amounts of
quoted material in Arabic and sometimes verses in the vernacular lan-
guages. Malfuzat have continued to be compiled to the present day, though
Urdu has become the language of choice in the past two centuries.
My examination of the genre is based on several malfuzat compiled by
the disciples of Sayyid Jalal al-din Husayn Bukhari (1308–84), popularly
known as Makhdum-i jahaniyan Jahangasht. Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari
was the leading shaykh of the Suhrawardi Sufi order and one of the most
influential and widely respected religious figures of his day.9 Jalal al-din
Bukhari’s malfuzat are some of the earliest extant Suhrawardi examples
of this genre. They are also particularly valuable because there are a num-
ber of compilations done by different disciples at different times in Jalal
al-din’s life. There are seven titles described as malfuzat of Sayyid Jalal
al-din Bukhari of which I have used four: Khizanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya
(Treasury of Jalalian morals) compiled by Ahmad Bhatti between 1351
and 1366, Khulasat al-alfaz-i jamiº al-ºulum (Abstract of the words of the
collector of knowledge, usually referred to as Jamiº al-ºulum) compiled
by ºAlaª al-din Husayni in 1379 and 1380, Tuhfat al-saraªir (Gift of se-
crets) compiled by Muhammad Ghaznawi in 1376, and Siraj al-hidaya
(Lamp of guidance).10 There were other shaykhs with several different
malfuzat texts, but Jalal al-din Bukhari’s record stands out. Having four
separate texts devoted to a single figure allows not only a rich description
of Jalal al-din Bukhari’s life and teachings but also a fuller understand-
ing of the nature of malfuzat texts. At the time of their compilation, the
late fourteenth century, malfuzat had become an established genre beyond
the confines of the Chishti order.
Since they present a detailed depiction of Sufi life in its social context,
malfuzat are an invaluable source of information on social, political, and
economic history, a point made repeatedly by scholars familiar with the

9
For the life and significance of Sayyid Jalal al-din, see Amina M. Steinfels, “The Trav-
els and Teachings of Sayyid Jalal al-din Husayn Bukhari (1308–1384)” (Ph.D. diss., Yale
University, 2003).
10
Ahmad al-Bhatti, Khizanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya, MS 15427, Kitabkhana-yi Data Ganj-
bakhsh, Islamabad; ºAlaª al-din Husayni, Khulasat al-alfaz-i jamiº al-ºulum, ed. Ghulam
Sarwar (Islamabad: Markaz-i tahqiqat-i farsi-yi Iran o Pakistan, 1992); Muhammad Ghaz-
nawi, Tuhfat al-saraªir, MS 1090, Arabic and Persian, Government Oriental Manuscripts Li-
brary, Madras; Siraj al-Hidaya: Malfuzat-i Husayn al-maºruf bi Jalal al-din Makhdum-i
jahaniyan Jahangasht, ed. Qadi Sajjad Husayn (New Delhi: Indian Council of Historical
Research, 1983).
60 Sufi Genre of Malfuzat

genre. While most medieval historical writing focused on the royal courts
and military campaigns, malfuzat illuminate whole other segments of
Indo-Muslim society. Because of the authors’ tendencies to include al-
most everything that happens to or is done by the shaykhs in the presence
of their disciples, these texts contain much incidental material on the
various activities of their masters. Thus, malfuzat can be used to explore
such disparate issues as the culinary habits, economic conditions, ver-
nacular languages, topography, and even pasttimes of particular periods
and localities. Z. A. Desai, Khaliq A. Nizami, and S. H. Askari have very
productively mined various malfuzat for this type of information, and
Muhammad Aslam has summarized the historical value of twenty-nine
malfuzat texts from the thirteenth to the seventeenth century.11
The historical importance of these texts has led to an attempt to deter-
mine the authenticity of particular malfuzat, that is, whether it is actually
by the disciple and about the shaykh that is claims to be. What has been
neglected in the study of malfuzat, besides Carl Ernst’s useful comments
in this direction, is the question of how and why such all-inclusive com-
pendia of historical data and religious doctrine were created.12 Some of
the issues that need to be addressed are the complex relationships between
shaykh and disciple-amanuensis, the ambiguity of their authorship, and
the relation between form and function. Ultimately, the key to under-
standing the structure of the malfuzat is the master-disciple relationship
in premodern Sufism and the nature of spiritual authority generated by it.

the question of authorship

Malfuzat are puzzling texts, and the first puzzle presented to the reader is
the question of authorship: whose words are being read, who is responsi-
ble for the content of the malfuzat? In bibliographies, library catalogs,
and even the title page of printed works, the authorship is sometimes
attributed to the disciple who compiled it and sometimes to the shaykh
whose teachings it contains. Why is there this confusion? Malfuzat is the
plural form of malfuz, a passive participial noun meaning “uttered” or
“utterance.” Therefore, malfuzat are explicitly claiming to be the words
spoken by the shaykh, not literary texts produced by disciples. However,
it also seems obvious that the disciple is the author: he has usually in-

11
S. H. Askari, Maktub and Malfuz Literature as a Source of Socio-Political History
(Patna: Khuda Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, 1981); Z. A. Desai, Malfuz Literature as
a Source of Political, Social and Cultural History of Gujrat and Rajasthan (Patna: Khuda
Bakhsh Oriental Public Library, 1991); Khaliq A. Nizami, Some Aspects of Religion and
Politics in India during the Thirteenth Century (Bombay: Asia Publishing House, 1961); Mu-
hammad Aslam, Malfuzati adab ki tarikhi ahmiyat (The historical importance of malfuzat
literature) (Lahore: Idara-yi tahqiqat-i Pakistan, Punjab University, 1995).
12
Ernst (n. 2 above), pp. 62–84.
History of Religions 61

cluded a preface with his own name, stating his intention to compile the
teachings of his master, explaining when and where he was in the com-
pany of his master and frequently citing earlier malfuzat as his models.
Thus, the malfuzat are a collaborative project, spoken by the master but
written by the disciple, with editorial input from both.
As mentioned earlier, malfuzat either follow a diary structure or are
organized into topical chapters. It is the disciple who chooses which of
these two patterns to follow and thus exercises significant control over
the form of the final text. The two formats reveal the editorial-authorial
activity of the compilers in different ways while simultaneously function-
ing as strategies of effacement in which the master’s teachings are pre-
sented with as little interference as possible.
The two richest malfuzat of Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari each follow a
different format; Khizanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya is organized by topic,
and Jamiº al-ºulum is a day-by-day record. Bhatti, the compiler of Khi-
zanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya, almost wholly absents himself from the
context of Jalal al-din Bukhari’s teachings. Since he has arranged Jalal al-
din’s teachings according to topic, he has removed most of the narrative
context for those teachings. While that means that neither he nor any other
specifically named disciples make much of an appearance in the text, it
also means that Jalal al-din’s personality is obscured. Furthermore, in re-
arranging the teachings by topic, Bhatti is a constant editorial presence
pushing Jalal al-din’s free-flowing teaching style into a narrow mold.
In contrast, Husayni, the compiler of Jamiº al-ºulum, produces a text
in which both disciple and master are more vivid presences. Within his
diary format, Husayni includes as much as possible of whatever he saw
and heard Jalal al-din Bukhari do. Therefore, Husayni appears as a par-
ticipant in the events and conversations recorded. Husayni’s abilities as a
writer and narrator of events are also more apparent. At the same time, by
not editing his master’s teachings he allows a richer image of Jalal al-din
Bukhari to appear—as a teacher, a mystic, an old man looking back over
his life, and an interlocutor of royalty.
Despite this obvious authorial-editorial role of the disciples, the claim
made by the label malfuzat, that these texts are the words of the master,
is not a lie. The words of the shaykh make up the greater portion of most
malfuzat texts. In this sense then, the shaykh is also an author of these
texts, or at least the speaker of the words preserved. In some cases, the
master might involve himself in the shaping of the written text by sug-
gesting specific points that the disciple should include; by writing down
choice quotes, verses, or prayers to make sure that the disciple had the
correct spelling or formulation; and by reading and commenting on the
completed text. Though the compilers of the malfuzat may sometimes in-
clude their own religious experiences and questions, the purpose of such
62 Sufi Genre of Malfuzat

inclusions is always to provide the context for the master’s interpretation

or explanation.
Ultimately, it is the master’s speaking voice, rather than textual or ed-
itorial participation, that we find in the malfuzat. It is the master’s voice,
and what he chose to say with it, that gives unity and coherence to each
malfuzat, and, in looking at several malfuzat of the same figure, it is the
master’s voice that unites them and makes them into a coherent body of
work. In each of the different texts devoted to Sayyid Jalal al-din Bu-
khari’s teachings, he reminisces about the same events and people and
quotes from the same texts. In the solutions to legal problems, as well as
in commonplace conversations, we can sense the same intelligent, prag-
matic, and orthodox mind at work.

the voice of the shaykh

Unlike compilations of formal discourses or discreet lectures, such as
Jalal al-din Rumi’s Fihi ma f ihi or ºAbd al-Qadir Jilani’s so-called Mal-
fuzat, South Asian malfuzat record actual teaching sessions, including
informal conversation, textual explanation, minilectures, and other inter-
actions between the shaykh and his audience.13 It is this presentation of
the full range of teaching activities that produces the variety of subject
matter that makes malfuzat texts fascinating, confusing, and historically
significant. In the teaching sessions or conversations of Sufi masters re-
corded in the malfuzat, it is possible to distinguish a number of different
modes and activities. Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s voice as embodied in
his malfuzat is present in four modes: incidental, autobiographical, ha-
giographic, and scholarly.
The first of these, the incidental voice, is the master’s participation in
conversation with his disciples and guests. Among Sayyid Jalal al-din
Bukhari’s malfuzat, this mode is most apparent in Jamiº al-ºulum since
that work records in detail the compiler’s daily witness of Jalal al-din’s
activity. Jalal al-din Bukhari was nearly constantly focused on the educa-
tion and enlightenment of those around him; therefore, much of what he
said in conversation had a didactic purpose and was not idle chatter. How-
ever, some of his comments, about, for example, being in debt or the in-
fluence of young concubines, are simply conversation.14 Though perhaps
not meant as educational, the compiler felt compelled to include these
comments, and they provide some of the most interesting insights into
the shaykh’s personality.

13
Translated by W. M. Thackston as Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin
Rumi (Putney, Vt.: Threshold, 1994). Utterances of Shaikh ºAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani (Malfu-
zat), trans. Muhtar Holland (Houston: Al-Baz, 1992).
14
Jamiº al-ºulum, pp. 470, 107, 360.
History of Religions 63

The master’s recollection of events from his own life, that is, the auto-
biographical mode, might also be considered idle chatter if it were not for
the structured, repetitive, and didactic nature of these anecdotes. Thus,
certain significant events in Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s life are narrated
by him repeatedly, sometimes with slight variations, over the course of
months or years. His travels to Mecca and Medina occupy a central place
in these anecdotes, along with accounts of his interactions with shaykhs
of various orders and the acquisition of khirqas (initiatic robes) from
them. Given the repetition, and the shaykh’s awareness that malfuzat
were being compiled by his disciples, it seems clear that a coherent life
narrative was being purposefully disseminated by him or elicited by his
audience.15
The events in Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s life that are highlighted by
repetition—his visit to the holy cities and his instruction, initiation, and
investiture by numerous shaykhs—are those which serve to authenticate
his legitimacy as a Sufi master and an authority on religious matters. As
Dwight Reynolds and colleagues have pointed out, some of the motiva-
tions of Arabic autobiographical writing were “to portray one’s place
within the larger transmission of knowledge,” “to establish one’s family
background,” and “to delineate one’s acquired authority.”16 To claim
authority and authorization was equally of importance to the Sufi shaykh
and was necessitated by the lineage system of medieval Sufism. In order
to have disciples interested in collecting one’s teachings, the Sufi shaykh
has to claim the authority and authorization to initiate and to teach. Sto-
ries that substantiate this authority would also be of particular interest to
his disciples, the authenticity of whose spiritual training and religious
learning depends on the legitimacy of their master. Ultimately, the value
of the malfuzat text itself depends on the authority of the saint whose
words are enshrined in it.17
This focus on claims to status and spiritual authority can often appear
as boasting, especially when the events in question cannot be confirmed
by outside observers. Thus, Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari repeatedly tells
how the prophet Muhammad spoke to him from his tomb in Medina to
confirm that he was a sayyid (descendant of the Prophet), and how he
was told in a dream by his own deceased master Rukn al-din Multani (d.
1334) that he was a qutb (lit. axis, a rank of sainthood).18

15
This autobiographical narrative, though coherent and consistent, was delivered orally and
in fragments over many months. As such it should be distinguished from the genre of auto-
biographical writing discussed in Reynolds, ed. (n. 2 above).
16
Ibid., p. 247.
17
Biographical material played a role in establishing the authority of not only individual fig-
ures but also whole schools of doctrine and practice. See Mojaddedi (n. 3 above), pp. 177–78.
18
Khizanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya, fols. 89a; Jamiº al-ºulum, pp. 35, 160, 194, 421–22.
64 Sufi Genre of Malfuzat

One anecdote recounted several times by Jalal al-din Bukhari is par-

ticularly interesting for its implications. Sometime in the late 1330s Jalal
al-din was appointed by the ruler Sultan Muhammad b. Tughluq (r. 1325–
50) to the position of regional shaykh al-islam (head of the Sufi shaykhs)
with control over forty Sufi hospices. Jalal al-din chose not to hold this
position for very long and, on the posthumous advice of Rukn al-din
Multani, who feared that he would become proud, instead left India to go
on pilgrimage.19 In recounting this event, Sayyid Jalal al-din is making a
number of different claims about his own status. On the one hand, Sultan
Muhammad b. Tughluq was notorious for his poor relations with the Sufi
community; to have been honored by him with such a title, therefore, was
something of a coup. On the other hand, in his rejection of the position
Sayyid Jalal al-din proved his own spiritual purity and disinterestedness,
as well as his obedience to his spiritual master rather than his temporal
ruler.
Absolute obedience and humble respect, even awe, is the requisite atti-
tude of a Sufi aspirant toward his or her spiritual guides. Furthermore, the
value of investiture, instruction, and initiation by a particular shaykh de-
pends partly on the sanctity of that shaykh, awareness of which is shown
through acts of humility. For example, Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari recalls
that, in Mecca, his shaykh ºAbdallah al-Yafiºi (d. 1366) was astonished
and impressed by his humility in praying behind, rather than on, the po-
sitions frequented by his South Asian masters Nasir al-din Chiragh-i Dihli
and Rukn al-din Multani. Jalal al-din was also fond of recounting how, in
Medina, his teacher ºAfif al-din al-Matari (d. 1364) insisted on bringing
him food because he was a sayyid, even as Jalal al-din protested that he
was Matari’s humble pupil. Humility, authenticated by praise from his
masters, was itself something of which Jalal al-din boasts.20
While many of Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s autobiographical anec-
dotes reaffirm his status as a Sufi master and a saint, he also frequently
adopts a tone of self-deprecation. Thus, he responds to his own disciples’
flattery with gentle negations. When they call him a shaykh, he says he is
not one and claims only to be a representative of his predecessors. When
they speak of his miracles, he refers to recognized holy figures and asks
how he can be compared with such men.21 In both of these examples
Sayyid Jalal al-din’s humility is expressed through a deferral of authority
and sanctity to his own spiritual masters.
Anecdotes about the shaykh’s interactions with his own spiritual guides
overlap with the next category of speech, hagiography. Sayyid Jalal al-
19
Khizanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya, fols. 260a–b; Tuhfat al-saraªir, p. 10; Jamiº al-ºulum,
pp. 335–36, 192, 420.
20
Khizanat al-fawaªid al-jalaliya, fols. 138a–b; Jamiº al-ºulum, pp. 35, 419.
21
Jamiº al-ºulum, pp. 568–69, 578.
History of Religions 65

din Bukhari’s tales about his own shaykhs are an affirmation of those
shaykhs’ spiritual authority and, therefore, of his own authority as their
disciple. But such accounts of the saintly nature of various people he has
known also serve the purposes of illustrating the nature of sainthood and
of providing a legitimizing source for various ideas and practices. Not
every saint discussed by Sayyid Jalal al-din was personally known to
him, nor was he a witness to all the pious deeds or miracles of the saints.
Much of what he tells about the saints of Multan, his predecessors in the
Suhrawardi order, was probably derived from the local oral tradition of
the order. The malfuzat, both genuine and spurious, of the Chishti saints
were a source of information about them. Standard Sufi texts such as Shi-
hab al-din al-Suhrawardi’s ºAwarif al-maºarif and Abu Bakr Muhammad
ibn Ishaq al-Kalabadhi’s al-Taºarruf li madhhab ahl al-tasawwuf pro-
vided quotes from earlier figures.22
The quotation and explication of texts is part of what I call the “schol-
arly mode” of the shaykh’s voice. Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari acted as a
teacher of hadith, Qurªan, law, and Sufi practice through the transmission
and explanation of texts. He also used these sources to give answers to
legal problems raised by his disciples. Points of Arabic grammar and vo-
cabulary were another component of his instruction. Finally, Jalal al-din’s
quotation of poetry demonstrated a different aspect of his learning.
Because of the use of received texts in his teaching, a significant por-
tion of Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s malfuzat consists of quoted material.
(It is not always clear whether it is Jalal al-din or the compiler doing the
quoting.) This means that in addition to the authorial voices of the com-
pilers and Sayyid Jalal al-din, there is also a wide range of borrowed text.
Thus, what we might call the voices of tradition—quotations from the
Qurªan, hadith, compendia of legal decisions, and Sufi handbooks—add
to the polyphonic nature of the malfuzat.

chorus or cacophony?
A text that switches from a frame narrative by the compiler (in Persian)
to anecdotes and explanations by Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari (in Persian
and Arabic) to hadith (in Arabic) to extracts from collections of legal de-
cisions (in Arabic) to fragments of poetry (in Persian and Arabic) creates
a confusion between the different voices and sources. But the difficulty of
isolating any one element in this mixture serves a purpose—it reinforces
the idea that there are no breaks between what the disciple learned, what
Jalal al-din taught, and the mainstream orthodox tradition of Islam (as he

22
A. J. Arberry, trans., The Doctrine of the Sufis (Kitab al-Taºarruf li-madhab ahl al-
tasawwuf ) (Cambridge: University Press, 1935). For a recent study of ºAwarif al-maºarif,
see Qamar-ul Huda, Striving for Divine Union (London: RoutledgeCurzon, 2003).
66 Sufi Genre of Malfuzat

presented it).23 The disciple never contradicts the shaykh, and the shaykh
never quotes textual sources in order to dispute or disprove them.24 If
there are controversial points they are explained away so that the text
and the teaching are reconciled. Thus, despite the multiplicity of voices
in the malfuzat, they are all used to support coherent and unified doctri-
nal points.
The lack of explicit contradiction, or even analytic distance, between
the compilers and Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari is representative of the ap-
propriate attitude adopted by a disciple toward his shaykh. The disciple’s
purpose is to absorb whatever it is that his shaykh is teaching him, not to
pick holes in it. Similarly, Jalal al-din, as an orthodox, legalistic Sunni, is
on principle opposed to bidºat (innovation), and therefore he, and his dis-
ciples, must show that what he teaches is derived from received knowl-
edge. What he says must conform to Qurªan and hadith, first and foremost,
and to the accepted legal and Sufi texts. Furthermore, for these texts to be
worthy of such an authoritative role it must be assumed that they are also
all in conformity with each other and with the Qurªan and hadith.
Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s authority as a teacher depends on his
mastery of texts; his authority as a shaykh depends on his initiatory links
to past shaykhs and saints. Therefore, these figures, too, have to be called
on to demonstrate the continuity between their spiritual authority and
Jalal al-din’s. The way in which authority to teach or guide is constantly
deferred, passed back from the disciple to Jalal al-din, and from him to
past masters and to the whole textual tradition, is reflected in the problem
of finding the author of a malfuzat text.

form and function

The mixture of materials present in the malfuzat is related to their multi-
ple functions. On the one hand, the malfuzat are narrating life stories: as a
memoir of the disciple’s time with the shaykh, as biography-hagiography
of the shaykh, and as the autobiography of the shaykh. On the other hand,
they are acting as textbooks and anthologies summarizing Islamic doc-
trine, legal rules, and Sufi practice. For the reader, the blending of these
two different modes makes each one less effective. The biographical nar-
ratives are lost in a wilderness of legal arguments. The doctrinal exposi-
tions are fragmented, disorganized, interrupted, and sometimes arranged
by order of explanation rather than by logical development.
Given the hybrid product, why did the compilers of the malfuzat choose
this format, rather than isolating the distinct elements and simply produc-
23
See also Ernst (n. 2 above), pp. 76–77.
24
The one exception to this is Jalal al-din’s advice to his disciples to abandon al-Kash-
shaf ºan haqaªiq al-tanzil, the Qurªan commentary by the Mutazilite al-Zamakhshari (d. 1144),
in favor of Madarik al-tanzil by al-Nasafi (d. 1310) (Jamiº al-ºulum [n. 10 above], p. 549).
History of Religions 67

ing biographies, synthetic religious handbooks, or anthologies? And why

did they include material with no apparent informational or didactic pur-
pose, such as irrelevant jokes and complaints made by Jalal al-din and
his companions? In other words, why did the compilers choose a form
that obscured both the educational and the biographical information being
presented?
Partly, it is the compiler’s desire to efface himself behind the words of
his shaykh, and the quoted texts, rather than asserting the authorial stance
necessary to produce biography or handbook. But beyond this, the reason
for the structure of the malfuzat can be found in their overriding purpose:
to reproduce the experience of being in the presence of the shaykh. As
Husayni, the compiler of Jamiº al-ºulum, wrote: “[Reading and under-
standing this] will be as if one were in the company of the speaker of
these words (sahib-i malfuz).” Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari said much
the same thing: “Those who have not been with me, this will suffice for
them.”25
Thus, the point of the malfuzat is to allow those who cannot learn from
the shaykh in person, or be guided by him on the Sufi path, to receive the
same benefits as his disciples and students. The guidance and charisma
of a Sufi shaykh and saint have to be personally experienced by the dis-
ciple in order to receive the benefit of his spiritual standing. As Seyyed
Hossein Nasr writes: “In gnosis, as in philosophy, a person who is said to
have really studied the subject is called ustad didah, literally one who
has ‘seen’ a master, that is, one who has benefited from the oral teachings
and also the presence (hudur) of the master who embodies those teach-
ings and who renews and revives them through the very act of living their
truths.”26 No Sufi handbook claims to replace the guidance of a shaykh
without which any aspirant on the Sufi path is lost. But it is impossible
for all of those who would wish to be among the disciples of a famous
figure like Jalal al-din really to sit in his presence. The malfuzat try to
remedy this difficulty by reproducing the whole experience of a saint’s
company: everything he taught, did, or said.
Similar language has been used to describe the writing of South Asian
hagiography, both Hindu and Muslim, as facilitating a “retrospective
dar¶ana (seeing) of their subject.”27 “What they [hagiographers] sought
in writing about the lives of saints was their company.”28 If hagiography
25
Ibid., pp. 9, 234. This point, as well as some of my further analysis, has already been
noted briefly by Ernst, pp. 76–77.
26
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, “Oral Transmission and the Book in Islamic Education: The Spo-
ken and the Written Word,” Journal of Islamic Studies 3, no. 1 (1992): 9.
27
Rupert Snell, “Introduction,” in According to Tradition: Hagiographical Writing in
India, ed. Winand M. Callewaert and Rupert Snell (Wiesbaden: Harrasowitz, 1994), p. 3.
28
S. G. Tulpule, “Hagiography in Medieval Marathi Literature,” in Callewaert and Snell,
eds., p. 166.
68 Sufi Genre of Malfuzat

tries to create an (imaginary) moment in which the author and reader can
be in the presence of a long dead saint, malfuzat texts try to preserve or
capture the compiler’s actual experience of being with the saint.
This is where it becomes clear that to his disciples Sayyid Jalal al-din
Bukhari was not just a teacher of texts, legal points, and ritual require-
ments. If everything he knew and taught was already in books or could
take the form of commentary on books and lists of instructions, there
would be no need to record his every action. In their attempt to preserve
the personality and the flavor of a saint’s presence, malfuzat are remark-
ably effective. As Bruce Lawrence has said of Fawaªid al-fuªad’s repre-
sentation of Nizam al-din Awliyaª: “We hear him crying and laughing
and praying.”29

the presence of the shaykh

This idea, that the malfuzat attempt to reproduce the presence of the
shaykh, allows us to understand the inclusion of all the different things
that Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari said, what I have called his different
voices. It is particularly in the aspect of speaking that Jalal al-din is re-
created for the reader. His immediate, actual, audience experiences his
presence by hearing him teach (which is why they are an audience).
Physical contact plays a part in the relationship between the shaykh and
his disciples, particularly in the process of initiation. But this cannot be
transferred to the reader of the malfuzat. Visual experience, seeing the
shaykh, does not seem to have great significance for the authors of the
malfuzat—they contain no descriptions of his appearance.30 It is ultimately
his speech, what he says and how he says it, that is reproduced in the
malfuzat and that embodies Sayyid Jalal al-din’s presence for the reader.
But, as pointed out earlier, the malfuzat also contain much that did not
originate in Sayyid Jalal al-din Bukhari’s speech, that are not his words
in the sense that he did not make them up. All the quotations from
Qurªan, hadith, and other texts could be understood as a barrier between
the shaykh’s presence and the reader of the malfuzat. However, these
quotations are there precisely because they reveal a particular aspect of
his presence as a teacher and scholar. What they demonstrate is the de-
gree to which an individual like Sayyid Jalal al-din, who has spent his
whole life learning, reading, and teaching particular texts, assimilates
those texts into his teaching, which is his speech. And since it is his
speech that represents his presence to the reader, these quotes are also
part of that representation.

29
Lawrence (n. 1 above), p. 28.
30
This de-emphasis of the visual is in contrast to the notion of darshan, experiencing the
holy through sight, so prevalent in South Asian religion.
History of Religions 69

The different organizational schemes adopted in the malfuzat represent

different emphases in the portrayal of the shaykh. In works organized on
a diary model, such as Jamiº al-ºulum and the classic Chishti malfuzat, it
is the daily life and the manner in which the saint lives and teaches that
is represented. In works organized by topic, such as Khizanat al-fawaªid
al-jalaliya, it is the content of the shaykh’s teaching that comes through
most clearly. In their reproduction of the Sufi master’s teachings, the
malfuzat also serve as a continuation or furtherance of his educational
and spiritual project. Just as he did, the texts instruct the reader on nu-
merous points of law and doctrine as well as disseminating hadith and
particular authoritative Arabic works of law and religious practice.
In their preservation of a Sufi master’s personality and instruction long
after his death, the malfuzat can be compared with that other structure by
which the power of saints is preserved after death: the tomb. The tomb
preserved not only the physical remains of the saint but was also the most
likely place to come into contact with, or receive a communication from,
the dead saint. Marcia Hermansen has commented on the association be-
tween tadhkiras (memorials or hagiographies) and graveyards as two sites
and means of memorialization, usually of a communal or local nature.31
Rather than memorialization, though that is present, the focus of the par-
allel between malfuzat and tombs is in their preservation of the spiritual
function of the saint as guide and teacher. However, there is also a sig-
nificant difference between the two types of preservation. While the tomb
might be an ongoing source of charismatic and miraculous power, the
malfuzat is the place to learn what a shaykh had to teach.

Mount Holyoke College

31
Marcia K. Hermansen, “Religious Literature and the Inscription of Identity: The Sufi
Tadkhira Tradition in Muslim South Asia,” The Muslim World 87 (July–October 1997): 326–
27; Marcia K. Hermansen and Bruce B. Lawrence, “Indo-Persian Tazkiras as Memorative
Communications,” in Beyond Turk and Hindu: Rethinking Religious Identities in Islamicate
South Asia, ed. David Gilmartin and Bruce Lawrence (Gainesville: University Press of Flor-
ida, 2000), pp. 176–98.