Maarif July 2017-07

University of California Press
Chapter Title: Transporting Knowledge in the Durrani Empire: Two Manuals of

Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Practice
Chapter Author(s): Waleed Ziad
Book Title: Afghanistan's Islam

Book Subtitle: From Conversion to the Taliban
Book Editor(s): Nile Green
Published by: University of California Press. (2017)
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1525/j.ctt1kc6k3q.11
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5
Transporting Knowledge in the

Durrani Empire
Two Manuals of Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi Practice
Waleed Ziad
The Durrani period, between 1747 and 1823, is often discounted as an ephemeral
Afghan imperial interregnum. Yet it had a decisive impact on shaping the intel-
lectual and sacred landscape of South and Central Asia. As cities such as Kabul
and Peshawar were revitalized by Durrani rule in the mid-eighteenth century, Hin-
dustan’s centers of commercial and intellectual gravity gradually shifted westward.1
These burgeoning Afghan imperial capitals attracted Sufis and ‘ulama from Hindu-
stan, eventually becoming fulcrums of reoriented intellectual-exchange circuits. The
khanaqahs, shrines, and madrasas that made up these circuits provided instruction
in an ensemble of esoteric and exoteric Islamic sciences.2 These institutions pen-
etrated rural and pastoral communities from Swat to Badakhshan and Yarkand, as
well as to such rising regional capitals as Khoqand in Central Asia and Hyderabad in
Sindh. Among these networks, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi order, which origi-
nated in seventeenth-century Hindustan, was arguably the most prominent.
The reemergence of Kabul and Peshawar as sacred-intellectual entrepôts in the
late eighteenth and the nineteenth century has been largely erased from histori-
cal memory. It seems that these developments have been eclipsed by Great Game
narratives that relegate these regions to the status of frontiers or isolated buffer
states saddled between British and Russian imperial spheres of influence. Yet two
questions regarding the intellectual and religious developments of this period re-
main unresolved. First, what types of knowledge systems were transmitted from
Hindustan into the Afghan heartlands and onward into Turkestan? Second, what
were the mechanisms through which intellectual and devotional capital flowed
westward and northward, in the process adapting to disparate regions of a politi-
cally decentralized Persianate ecumene?
105
106 The Infrastructure of Religious Ideas
This chapter attempts to address these questions through the lens of two manu-
als of Sufi practice composed in Persian at the turn of the nineteenth century. The
tracts were compiled among two prominent branches of the Naqshbandi-Mujad-
didi Sufi order based in Kabul and Peshawar, respectively. The texts in question are
the most widely reproduced writings of each suborder and right up to the present
day are deployed by disciples within these Sufi networks. Remarkably, the most re-
cent reproductions and adaptations of the texts were published within the last few
decades in Waziristan and Malakand, the turbulent borderlands between modern-
day Pakistan and Afghanistan. As we will see, the two texts provide us with the
means to interpret broader questions regarding the transmission and transforma-
tion of religious-knowledge systems in the early modern world.
The first section of this chapter provides a historical overview of the establish-
ment of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufi institutions in Hindustan and, eventu-
ally, in the Kabul and Peshawar valleys. It then introduces the two manuals by
situating them into the broader exoteric and esoteric curricula imparted in the
madrasas and khanaqahs of Kabul and Peshawar. The next sections of the chapter
are situated in the field of the history of the book, specifically readership studies,
which as yet remains an untapped mode of inquiry in Afghan religious contexts.
In this respect, the chapter considers how the two texts were produced, consumed,
taught, and compiled by synthesizing sciences, including cosmology, meditation
methods, and systems of divine-energy transfer. Finally, the chapter turns to the
dissemination of the texts by asking how they were reproduced and how they in-
terfaced with other literary productions to form a distinctive yet integrated tran-
sregional knowledge system.
The following pages argue that these two Naqshbandi Sufi texts represent the
development of a new, concise, manual genre that merged mystical theology and
praxis. Before the advent of a regional print culture, these manuals served as easily
replicable tools to facilitate the efficient transfer of complex knowledge systems
in the form of a regularized curriculum. Such a curriculum could then be carried
via appointed teachers, or deputies (khalifa; plural khulafa), in diverse cultural
environments and locales well beyond the Afghan Durrani Empire. The chapter
further argues that this genre emerged as a response to the sociopolitical reali-
ties of the late eighteenth century. The manual genre was specifically adapted to
new urban centers and autonomous tribal polities that required a transregion-
ally accredited intellectual and sacred infrastructure. Through such manuals, the
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis helped foster a uniform yet flexible cosmological
and methodological system that facilitated the exchange of human capital and
texts across a vast territory and absorbed a host of localized practices and institu-
tions. This can be likened to the ritual flexibility adopted by the pre-Mujaddidi
Naqshbandi Khwajagan of fifteenth-century Timurid Herat, which Jürgen Paul
argues in his chapter in this volume was critical to the growth of the Khwajagan
Transporting Knowledge of Sufi Practice 107
at that time. However, for the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis, it was the works of the
progenitor of the order—the mujaddid (renewer) Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi himself
(d. 1624)—that became the canonical texts of this later network.
R E EVA LUAT I N G T H E DU R R A N I
R E L IG IO - I N T E L L E C T UA L SP H E R E
The implications of these claims are far-reaching. As we will see, a critical look at
the two texts and the networks that produced them opens new vistas in the nascent
field of the religious and intellectual history of Afghanistan and its neighbors. For
there remains a dearth of research on the religio-intellectual dynamics of the Kabul
and Peshawar valleys between the early Mughal period and the twentieth century,
leaving us with a hazily understood period of four hundred years. Even studies
that do exist on the Afghan Naqshbandis (arguably the most widespread Sufi tradi-
tion in Afghanistan) are concerned with the order’s political involvements, at the
expense of their day-to-day intellectual and social functions and pedagogies. To
make matters worse, there remains an inadequate understanding of the institution-
al and curricular links between madrasas and khanaqahs during this long period.
In exploring these yet-uncharted domains, this chapter threatens to displace
certain entrenched, binary categorizations among scholars regarding religious au-
thority in the region. For example, let us consider Montstuart Elphinstone’s semi-
nal account of Kabul during the first decade of the nineteenth century, which two
centuries later still continues to inform our understanding of the Afghan religious
sphere.3 In reference to Peshawar and Kabul, Elphinstone divided religious func-
tionaries into three discrete categories. The first comprised “Moolahs,” a diverse
array of religious officials responsible for educating youth, the practice of law, and
the administration of justice. The second category comprised “holy men,” which
included sayyids, dervishes, faqirs, and qalandars.4 Their domain was that of mir-
acles, occult sciences, prophesizing, astrology, and geomancy. Finally, the third
category comprised the “Soofees,” a minority “sect,” according to Elphinstone, who
considered the world to be an illusion.5 In more recent literature, urban and tribal
or folk Islam, along with Sufis and ‘ulama, are also generally treated as separate
categories. Although there are merits to these categorizations, a study of Naqsh-
bandi-Mujaddidi Sufis and ‘ulama reveals that these categories largely overlapped.
Both Sufis and ‘ulama were intimately engaged in social and political functions;
taught Hadith and jurisprudence (fiqh); partook in ascetic and mystical practices;
and were revered as miracle-working holy men. Their literary productions, as we
will see below, reflect a knowledge system in which mystical theology and praxis
coexisted and complemented jurisprudence and scriptural study. This system ap-
pears to have been widespread in the Durrani period, which in this regard was not
unlike the Timurid period as discussed by Jürgen Paul in chapter 3 of this volume.
Like Paul’s geographically wide-reaching account of the earlier Khwajagani Su-

fis, the case study in this chapter has broader implications for the historiography
of transregional connectivity across South and Central Asia, albeit here for the
eighteenth and early nineteenth rather than the fifteenth century. Primarily, this
study situates Peshawar and Kabul into a broader zone of trans-Asian literary and
intellectual exchange that stretched from Sirhind—the source of the Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidi tradition in present-day India—as far as Kazan and Istanbul. Moreover,
as we will discuss below, religio-intellectual developments in Kabul and Peshawar
can be interpreted as part of greater processes of categorization, formulization, in-
stitutionalization, and dissemination that were also under way in the fragmenting
Mughal domains as well as Turkestan.
F R OM SI R H I N D T O T H E KA BU L A N D P E SHAWA R
VA L L EYS
For the last millennium, Sufism has formed an integral part of the religious and
cultural landscape of the Kabul and Peshawar valleys. Indeed, the broader region
that today comprises Afghanistan has been a fountainhead for the development of
Sufi traditions that spread outward into Punjab and Bengal. The Naqshbandi or-
der, which is the focus of our study, traces back to its eponymous founder, Khwaja
Baha al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389) of Bukhara. Like other Sufi orders, the Naqsh-
bandiyya developed a specialized set of pedagogies and meditative practices aimed
at purification of the soul and spiritual wayfaring. Much like the Qadiri, Chishti,
and Suhrawardi Sufi orders, the Naqshbandis stressed the interdependence of Su-
fism, Shari’a, and the Sunna (Prophetic Example), with an additional emphasis on
religious learning and sobriety in mystical practices.
Whether in Afghanistan or elsewhere, among all Sufi traditions the key func-
tion of the teacher (known as a shaykh or pir) has been to guide disciples in their
spiritual path. However, in their capacity as mediators, intercessors, and “friends
of God” (awliya), Sufi pirs have historically performed a range of other social func-
tions, both mundane and miraculous. As discussed in Jürgen Paul’s chapter, gifts
and endowments from all segments of society and commercial endeavors enabled
pirs to establish institutions that offered intellectual teachings, social welfare, eco-
nomic aid, or mediatory services. To manage these institutions, along with their
communities of disciples and students, the pirs appoint deputies, known as khu-
lafa. This was equally true for the Naqshbandis as it was for other Sufi orders.
By the fifteenth century, Kabul had already become a locus of Naqshbandi
activity as it radiated from Timurid Bukhara and Herat, so that Kabul came to
boast numerous khanaqahs, shrines, and soup kitchens.6 It was, in fact, a Kab-
uli Sufi, Khwaja Baqi Billah (d. 1603), who was pivotal in transmitting Naqsh-
bandi teachings through Kabul into Mughal-ruled Hindustan. The story of the
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi branch of the order begins with Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi

(d. 1624), one of Baqi Billah’s Hindustani disciples whose own disciples went on
to transform the religious landscape across the Mughal and Ottoman empires.
As his moniker suggests, in 1564 Sirhindi was born in the Mughal-ruled town of
Sirhind, a prosperous commercial and intellectual entrepôt on the Delhi-Lahore
highway. Several hundred years earlier, his family had migrated from the envi-
rons of Kabul (which is why Afghan sources insist on referring to him as Shaykh
Ahmad Kabuli). Following his initiation into the Naqshbandi order, in 1599, Si-
rhindi returned to his home town of Sirhind, where he gradually attracted tens of
thousands of followers. Eventually, he became known as the Mujaddid-i Alf-i Sani
(Reviver of the Second [Muslim] Millennium).7 His writings addressed questions
ranging from methods of meditation and spiritual training to theological matters
surrounding prophethood and sainthood. He also devoted considerable attention
to the primacy of the shari’at-i Muhammadi (Law of Muhammad), which he de-
fined as encompassing obligatory worship, religious duties and doctrines, and the
Sufi path.8
Sirhindi not only formalized a range of Sufi practices and epistemologies with-
in the Hindustani context. Along with his sons, he also built a teaching complex
at Sirhind, in northern India. In the course of the next century, their institution
grew to encompass several Naqshbandi Sufi madrasas, mosques, khanaqahs, and
shrines in Sirhind. At the same time, their silsila (lineage) became known as the
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi, distinguishing itself from the earlier Naqshbandi tradi-
tion and teachings that emerged from Timurid Bukhara and Herat, as shown in
Jürgen Paul’s chapter.9 The leadership of the main khanaqah at Sirhind was passed
on to members of Sirhindi’s biological lineage. At the same time, their various khu-
lafa (deputies) appointed their own representatives, so as to expand the Naqsh-
bandi-Mujaddidi network as far as Bukhara, Hyderabad, and Istanbul.
It was, then, in the mid-eighteenth century, that the town of Sirhind became en-
tangled in a protracted power struggle between the disintegrating Mughal Empire
and ascendant political entities seeking to seize its domains. Having secured con-
trol over Iran and Khurasan, in 1738/9 Nadir Shah Afshar (r. 1736–47) invaded Hin-
dustan. A decade later, his death, in 1747, resulted in a regional political vacuum,
which was soon filled by tribal confederacies and local potentates. One such con-
federacy was the Durranis, under their dynastic founder Ahmad Shah. In the years
after Nadir Shah’s death, Ahmad Shah Durrani (r. 1747–72) managed to subdue
some of these querulous polities and establish a decentralized empire based at Qan-
dahar (and later Kabul, Peshawar, and Herat) that afforded its political components
varying degrees of autonomy. Caught in the midst of these transformations, Sirhind
changed hands several times. It was finally occupied by the non-Muslim armies
of the Sikhs in 1763. The Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis resisted the Sikh advances,
and (possibly as a result) their institutions were devastated. Contemporary sources
Figure 12 . Manuscript seal of Fazl Ahmad Pishawari, 1225/1810.

(From Risala-yi Asbaq-i Tariqa-yi ‘Aliya-yi Naqshbandiyya, Peshawar
University, MSS 95/131)
relate that Sikh soldiers disinterred the graves of Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi saints, dis-
mantled their monuments brick by brick, and then cast them into the river.10
The Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi pirs and their disciples fled Sirhind in waves, set-
ting up new khanaqahs in areas where they were given refuge. Although as early
as the seventeenth century the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order had already been
exported as far as Thatta, Bukhara, and Istanbul, it was at this time, in the wake
of the Sikh conquest, that it expanded most rapidly westward, coming to admin-
ister more khanaqahs than any other Sufi order from Sindh to Kazan. While some
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis resettled in Rampur, Delhi, and elsewhere in Hindustan,
many others were welcomed into the territories of the Durrani Empire, which at
its greatest extent stretched from Kashmir to Sindh to Khurasan. Among these
Sirhindi migrants were two notable figures, Khwaja Safiullah Mujaddidi (d. 1798)
and Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi (d. 1816, known as Jiu Sahib Pishawari). These two pirs
were to become the progenitors of vast Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi suborders that car-
ried Sirhindi’s teachings westward.11 Both men were primarily affiliated with the
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi silsila, but like other Mujaddidis, they were also initiated
into several other orders.12
A descendant of Sirhindi and a distinguished poet, Khwaja Safiullah was one of
four brothers who were invited to settle in Qandahar, Peshawar, and Kabul.13 In circa
1776, he was designated as the principal pir of a Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi subnetwork
comprising his brother’s khanaqahs and their satellite institutions. He personally

founded a khanaqah in the Shur Bazaar, in the heart of the Durrani imperial capital,
Kabul. There, he attracted a sizable following of devotees from across the social
spectrum.14 This included the Durrani ruler Zaman Shah (r. 1793–1800), for whom
Safiullah performed the coronation ceremony (dastarbandi).15 The khanaqah of
Shur Bazaar soon became the hub for a network of subsidiary khanaqahs and ma-
drasas in Yarkand, Badakhshan, Bukhara, Baluchistan, Sindh, and the Pushtun belt;
they were managed by twenty-eight appointed khulafa.16 Chief among the latter was
Safiullah’s niece Bibi Sahiba, whose family established a lasting presence in Qanda-
har, Kuhistan-i Kabul, Laghman, Sindh, and later in Tharparkar and Gujarat.17
Concurrently, around 1776, Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi, a descendant of Shaykh Ah-
mad Sirhindi’s older brother, was welcomed in the Durrani winter capital, Pesha-
war.18 He traveled regularly to Bukhara via Kabul and Mazar-i Sharif and set up a
khanaqah at the Masjid-i Mirakan, in Bukhara.19 Bukhara’s ascendant state-builder,
Shah Murad (r. 1785–1800), became a devoted disciple of Fazl Ahmad and, eventu-
ally, his khalifa.20 By the end of his life, Fazl Ahmad’s network encompassed several
hundred such deputies, who supervised khanaqahs and madrasas from Balkh to
Khoqand, Ghazni, and Kashmir. They were sustained by land grants and charitable
waqf endowments from the Durrani rulers and their Barakza’i successors, as well as
the rulers of Bukhara, Badakhshan, and Qunduz, and other regional authorities.21
In such ways, Khwaja Safiullah and Fazl Ahmad were among the most promi-
nent of several thousand Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi Sufis who established their
presence in Khurasan, Turkestan, and beyond. Each set up new institutions, or af-
filiated himself or herself with older institutions (including shrines) with preexist-
ing symbolic capital. These institutions were generously patronized by local rulers
and governors, who in effect outsourced the intellectual and spiritual apparatus
of their nascent polities to the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis and other Sufis. Through
these institutions, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis were effectively able to import to
present-day Afghanistan and beyond a set of doctrines and epistemologies from
Sirhind, which then interfaced with localized ritual practices, philosophies, and
sacred historical memories.22 While the Sufis who migrated westward individually
administered their own institutions and managed their own congregations, they
nonetheless perceived of themselves as part of an integrated Naqshbandi-Mujad-
didi network in which texts, poetry, students, and practices constantly circulated.
T H E R E L IG IOU S E C O N OM Y O F T H E L AT E
E IG H T E E N T H A N D N I N E T E E N T H C E N T U R I E S
Yet two interlinked questions remain: Why were such pirs solicited by the Durra-
nis and their contemporaries? And what incentives encouraged the Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidis to accept their invitations? In addressing these questions, this section
alludes to Nile Green’s adaptation of a religious-economy framework in the context

of Muslims in Bombay and the Indian Ocean.23 Thus, on the demand side, each of
the newly formed states (whether the Durrani Empire, the Khoqand, Khiva, and
Bukhara khanates, or a semi-independent regional polity) required an intellectual
and spiritual institutional base. There were several reasons for this. Such institu-
tions could generate state bureaucracies and judicial apparatus, and in turn at-
tract further intellectual capital. Moreover, since most of these new ruling families
lacked historical legitimacy, Sufis and their institutions could provide blessings
and social capital that served to strengthen ruling dynasties. Subject populations
likewise required a range of religious services. In a time of political turmoil, re-
settlement, and migration especially, there was high demand for blessings, faith
healing, practical and spiritual guidance, and soup kitchens as well. Moreover,
both states and their subject populations were in need of political and commercial
mediation (as well as mediation at the supernatural level). This was best provided
by an outside party with significant transregional, historically grounded symbolic
capital across rural, tribal, and urban environments.
Among the vast number of players in the unregulated religious marketplace
that emerged from Nadir Shah’s conquests, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis had dis-
tinct advantages. On the supply side, their khanaqah at Sirhind and its subsidiaries
had by this time produced generations of scholar-mystics with expertise in Shari‘a,
jurisprudence, and Sufism. These scholar-mystics inherited the centuries-old sym-
bolic authority of the Naqshbandi order and its Khwajagani predecessor in Central
Asia. Moreover, they personified the academic rigor of an urban high-cultural in-
stitutional environment. Trained in Hindustan, these Sufis could therefore fulfill
all three areas of demand. In return, having lost their center at Sirhind and many
of the endowments that had earlier undergirded their network, the Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidis had much to gain by way of material resources and a new support base
to propagate their doctrines and methods.
I N S T I T U T IO N S A N D C U R R IC U L A
Whether in Hindustan, Khurasan, or Turkestan, Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi institu-

tions produced students versed in both exoteric and esoteric sciences (that is, in
‘ulum-i zahiri and ‘ulum-i batini). The pirs and their deputies often established
new institutions and networks, or affiliated themselves with existing ones by
supplementing earlier pedagogies. Fazl Ahmad’s khanaqah at Peshawar, for ex-
ample, was affiliated with two of the city’s well-known congregational mosques
and colleges for the exoteric sciences.24 Similarly, while in Sindh, Khwaja Safiul-
lah selected leading ‘ulama from three principal scholarly families of the prov-
ince as his deputies, namely Qazi Muhammad, of Nasrpur; Makhdum Ibrahim, of
Thatta; and ‘Abd al-Wahid, of Sehwan. In effect, these appointments incorporated
the urban ‘ulama establishments of Sindh and Peshawar into Kabul’s Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidi sublineage.25 Naturally, scholarly networks such as these possessed in-
built local social capital with their own followings and patronage structures, as
well as the ability to communicate Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi doctrine in a manner
that was palatable to their constituencies.
In an ideal case, students first completed (or made substantial progress in) their
exoteric education in the rational sciences under the tutelage of reputable schol-
arly ‘ulama. Only then could they seek initiation with a Sufi guide and embark
upon their formal khanaqah education. In al-Qawl al-Jamil, Delhi’s eighteenth-
century Sufi luminary Shah Waliullah (d. 1762) provides us with an indication of
general pedagogies employed in the khanaqahs of the period.26 According to Shah
Waliullah, after initiating the disciple the first function of the pir was to ensure
that he was intimately familiar with Islamic doctrine. The second function of the
teacher was to work on perfecting the disciple’s character by providing guidance
on how to avoid duplicity, self-love, jealousy, grave and minor sins, and malice
while developing in him an attraction to religious practices. In the process, the pir
closely observed the disciple’s day-to-day social interactions, imparting the rules
of etiquette (adab) along the way. Concurrently, a daily recitation (wird) was also
issued to the student. Only when the disciple’s character and outward behavior
had been significantly refined did the teaching of esoteric practices (ashghal-i ba-
tini) commence.
T WO NAQ SH BA N D I - M U JA D D I D I M A N UA L S
This next phase, the asghal-i batini or esoteric practices, lay at the core of the
khanaqah curriculum. Such teachings and practices were the subject of the two
manuals under scrutiny here, which were composed, one each, by Khwaja Safiul-
lah and Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi. Over the next two centuries, the two manuals were
reproduced in a variety of forms from Turkestan to Hindustan. This was more the
case than with any of the other literary works that emerged from these two Naqsh-
bandi-Mujaddidi suborders. As such, the texts provide key insights into the nature
of the knowledge systems being transferred through the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis’
networks, as well as the processes by which such religious knowledge was diffused.
The names of the two texts are Makhzan al-Anwar fi Kashf al-Asrar (1783; also
known as Anwar-i Safi and Makhzan al-Asrar), by Khwaja Safiullah, and Risala dar
Bayan-i Tasawwuf (ca. 1800; with various other titles), by Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi.27
Both are concise texts that were structured as pedagogical manuals. As such, they
represented a confluence of disciplines that were otherwise written, oral, experien-
tial, or performed. The two texts articulated a concordance between the core cos-
mology of the Sufi path on the one hand and its associated mystical practices on the
other. Tables 5.1 and 5.2 provide an overview of the manuals’ wide-ranging contents.
table 5.1 Overview of Makhzan al-Anwar, by Khwaja Safiullah Sirhindi-Kabuli
Element Content
Introduction Autobiographical notes and introduction to the text

Chapter 1 On the stages of the Naqshbandi path
The rationale for placing travel in the World of Divine Command above the World
of Creation (Four reasons)
Chapter 2 On the practices and zikr (recitations) of the Naqshbandi path through 5 lata’if
(subtle centers) in the World of Divine Command
Chapter 3 On the zikr of Affirmation and Negation (Five types)
Chapter 4 On muraqaba (meditation) in the Naqshbandi tradition and its methods (Seven
methods)
Chapter 5 On the perfections of Prophethood and Messengerhood, perfections of the Great
Prophets, and the perfections that lie beyond these, and some notes on the gnosis
of the Reviver of the Second Millennium (Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi)
Chapter 6 On the practices and zikr of the Qadiri path (Four types)
On the various methods of muraqaba (meditation) of the Qadiri path (Eight methods)
Chapter 7 On various zikr and meditative practices of the Chishti path
Chapter 8 On various zikr and meditative practices of the Suhrawardi path (Two types)
Appendix Prayer/ invocation
table 5.2 Overview of Risala dar Bayan-i Tasawwuf, by Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi Pishawari
Element Content
Introduction
Section 1 The process of initiation into the Naqshbandi, Qadiri, and Chishti orders
Section 2 On the practice of zikr: awareness of the heart; methods of aligning the heart to
attain annihilation of the heart; zikr through the lata’if (subtle centers) and their
association with colors, realities of Prophets, and points on the body; reaching the
stations of lesser intimacy, travel to God, and the stage of knowledge of certainty
Section 3 On the practice of affirmation and negation: awareness of numbers; concluding the
station of travel to God; reaching the stations of absolute certainty or remembering
and the eye of certainty; attaining annihilation of the ego-self; attaining subsistence
in God; reaching the stations of istahlak and izmahlal.
Section 4 Compulsory and supererogatory prayer
Section 6 Daily meditation and recitation exercises (awrad and waza’if) of the Qadiri and
Chishti paths and their benefits
Section 7 Pointers on moral excellence
Intentions and Readerships

In the introductory passages of both manuals, the authors inform us (if in formu-
laic terms) of the texts’ purpose. They are meant to offer lessons, in an “ordered
manner” and for the “benefit of wayfarers,” about the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi path
that were detailed in the works of Ahmad Sirhindi and his successors.28 From
their tone and contents, it becomes clear that these didactic manuals are primar-
ily intended for Sufi deputies who are guiding others in meditative practices.29
The almost-complete absence of marginalia supports the assertion that these were
teaching aids rather than works to be critically commented upon or disputed. As
discussed below, in establishing new teaching circles, Sufi deputies would likely
have commissioned copies of these manuals, along with other documentary tools
and earlier canonical Naqshbandi texts.30 Given the brevity of the two manuals, the
cost of their reproduction would have been insignificant.
However, their readership extended beyond the deputies to include prospective
students and disciples on the Sufi path. Patterns of reproduction indicate that the
manuals were also engaged by a broader literate class—elite and nonelite—including
Sufis in other orders and suborders. The opening chapter of Safiullah’s Makhzan al-
Anwar, for example, contains an extensive, effusive eulogy of the Afghan Durrani
emperor Timur Shah (r. 1772–93), highly unusual in a Sufi didactic text. This implies
that among the text’s intended audience were members of the court, even the em-
peror himself, who, the biographies tell us, held Safiullah in great esteem.31
The Question of Genre

The contents of both Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar and Fazl Ahmad’s Risala dar
Bayan-i Tasawwuf are clear, concise, and compressed. This is especially true as com-
pared with the bulk of earlier Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi literary production, which
comprised weighty and often intimidating collections of epistles, biographies, and
specialized theological treatises. The two manuals form part of a broader ma‘mulat
(practices) genre that was produced within the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order so
as to correlate with practical exercises the key metaphysical and ontological con-
cepts that were earlier detailed by Ahmad Sirhindi and his successors.32 Prior to
the nineteenth century, few tracts on ma‘mulat (practices) appear to have been
dispatched from the Peshawar and Kabul valleys. Two didactic practical tracts had
previously been written by Akhund Darviza (d. 1638), the Chishti luminary who
famously challenged the Rawshaniyya movement, while two other such tracts had
been composed by the early Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi and Qadiri pir of Peshawar,
Shah Muhammad Ghaws (d. 1739).33
However, the Makhzan and the Risala depart significantly from these earlier
practical ma‘mulat tracts. They seem to make up a subgenre that, while not entirely
novel, began to proliferate in the later eighteenth century. Earlier works on ma‘mulat
contained similar pedagogical discussions, but these were packaged within biog-
raphies or contained more detailed expositions of metaphysical and cosmological
concepts. Our texts, on the other hand, are far more compact—and therefore easier
to reproduce. The two texts under scrutiny here, by contrast, presented complex
esoteric topics without excessive detail and in a user-friendly manner. However,
the audience was still expected to have a basic grasp of Sufi technical vocabulary
and, in particular, of the ontological frameworks of Ahmad Sirhindi and Ibn al-
‘Arabi (d. 1240), as well as Sunni doctrine and the science of divine-energy recep-
tion (‘ilm-i lata’if).34 The terminology and tone of the two texts suggest that readers
have already engaged in lessons or been exposed to the practices described.35
In the decades that followed their composition, similar Persian tracts appeared
from Khurasan and Hindustan. Notably, several manuals were composed at the
celebrated Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi khanaqah in Delhi, which appointed deputies as
far as the Ottoman Empire.36 Similar works were also produced by more localized
suborders. For example, ‘Usman Padkhabi (d. unknown), a popularly venerated pir
based in Logar, produced a treatise on ma‘mulat around 1820, while another such
work was produced by Miyan ‘Abd al-Hakim (d. unknown), based in Qandahar.37
T H R E E D I S C I P L I N E S : SP I R I T UA L T R AV E L , SU B T L E
B O D I E S , A N D M E D I TAT IO N
Both the Makhzan and the Risala engaged three core intellectual and experien-
tial disciplines. These comprised Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi cosmology and its cor-
responding paradigm of spiritual travel; the science of subtle bodies and energy
transfers; and the various practices of meditation. In the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi
system, the authorized pir guides the spiritual seeker through meditative practices
that channel divine energy (fayz) and enable spiritual travel (safar). The seeker ad-
vances through stations corresponding to successive emanations or manifestations
in the Naqshbandi cosmological structure that generate higher levels of awareness.
Intimacy is developed between master and disciple through the mechanisms of
rabita (connection) and tawajjuh (orientation).38
All three disciplines discussed in the Makhzan and the Risala were derived from
Ahmad Sirhindi’s detailed and technical methodologies of sayr-u-suluk (mystical trav-
el and wayfaring). These were in turn derived from earlier paradigms whose origina-
tors ranged from the aforementioned Ibn al-‘Arabi to ‘Ala al-Dawla Simnani (d. 1336).
Spiritual Travel
The principles of spiritual travel or wayfaring in the Naqshbandi-Mujadiddi path
were in this way tied to Sirhindi’s cosmological frameworks, which were adapted
from the teachings of Ibn al-‘Arabi (thus echoing what we have seen of the ear-
lier Naqshbandi adoption of Ibn al-‘Arabi’s teachings in Jürgen Paul’s chapter in
this volume).39 Sirhindi’s theory of determination (ta‘ayyun) begins with the ab-
solute undifferentiated essence, beneath which are five intellects, the final being
the world of corporeal bodies.40 In Sirhindi’s cosmology the finite world has an
existence apart from God, but God is the only necessary being.
In doctrinal writings, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi mystical path is expressed as

a cyclical journey with an ascent and a descent. In the first stage, travel to God,
the Sufi wayfarer travels through all that is created and contingent. This stage ends
in the experience of fana (negation, annihilation), where everything except God
ceases to exist. This is known as the lesser intimacy.41 According to the Naqshbandi
cosmological structure in the second stage, travel in God, different emanations or
manifestations can be distinguished within God, such as his names, attributes, as-
pects, and essence. This second stage culminates in baqa (subsisting) and is known
as the greater intimacy.42 After this point, two stages of descent take the spiritual
wayfarer back to the world of creation.43 Now the wayfarer regains consciousness
of identity, temporality, and duality—that all is from God but remains separate
from God. Thus, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi wayfarer—by this point transformed
into a living saint—returns to the created world in order to guide communities
from a superior spiritual vantage point.44
Subtle Bodies
Another discipline on which the two texts focus is the science of mystical physiol-
ogy, which focuses on the lata’if (singular latifa). Variously translated as “subtle-
ties,” “subtle bodies,” or “subtle centers,” the concept of latifa roughly corresponds
to that of the chakra in Tantric Buddhism. These are metaphysical entities that act
as vehicles to facilitate spiritual travel.45 According to Ahmad Sirhindi’s Mabda u
Ma‘ad, human beings (who exist in the material and the immaterial world) are
composed of ten such lata’if.46 Each latifa is associated with a specific location on
the human physical body and is a recipient of divine energy.47 Each latifa is also
associated with a specific color and connected to a source of divine energy, which
emanates from different stages in the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi cosmological struc-
ture. Further, the divine energy for each latifa is mediated by a particular prophet.
Each latifa may also be associated with a character trait, so that spiritual travel
through that latifa builds good character. For example, spiritual travel through the
ruh (spirit) latifa helps develop patience and prevents anger. Hence, the role of the
Sufi teacher using such texts as the Makhzan and the Risala is to give his disciples
awareness of these subtleties and then activate the lata’if so as to allow the flow of
divine energy that enables spiritual travel. Sirhindi did not outline the practices
associated with the lata’if, though these practices were presumably transmitted
during training sessions.48
Meditative Praxis
The next discipline that the Makhzan and the Risala engage is meditative practice.
There are three categories of meditation: zikr (the remembrance of God, being the
first and simplest practice to activate the subtle bodies), nafi wa asbat (negation
and affirmation, in practice a breath-channeling exercise), and muraqaba (the vi-

sualization of the pir through meditation).49 Variations of these forms are prac-
ticed by other Sufi orders, particularly in the Persianate world. These practices,
which emphasize methods of breathing and recitation, allow the spiritual wayfarer
to traverse the different stages of the path toward God. As noted in Jürgen Paul’s
chapter, Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi practices tend toward sobriety: their zikr is gener-
ally silent, and most of their suborders refrain from using musical instruments.
Each method of meditation encompasses multiple forms of practice with vary-
ing degrees of complexity that are engaged as the seeker reaches successively
higher stages of the cosmological structure. Initially, each practice is performed
by engaging a specific subtle center as an energy receptor—for example, zikr in
the subtle center of the heart (qalb). However, at higher stages, when all lata’if are
activated, the entire body can travel as a united latifa. These and other associated
practices are also expressed in terms of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis’ eleven guid-
ing principles (known as the kalimat-i qudsiya). These principles were pioneered
centuries earlier by the proto-Naqshbandi luminary ‘Abd al-Khaliq Ghijduwani
(d. 1179) and Khwaja Baha al-Din Naqshband (d. 1389).50
M A N UA L S A N D M E C HA N IC S O F K N OW L E D G E
T R A N SF E R
In the ways described above, Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar and Fazl Ahmad’s
Risala dar Bayan-i Tasawwuf synthesized the three esoteric sciences of spiritual
travel, subtle bodies, and meditation into an accessible guidebook that Naqshban-
di-Mujaddidi deputies could carry with them to use in their satellite khanaqahs.
The structure and tone of the two texts provide insights into how the Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidi Sufis were able to expand institutionally while maintaining pedagogi-
cal cohesion. In this way, the genre of the manual was essential in generating a
synthetic system of theory and praxis in a time of political fragmentation, so as to
facilitate knowledge transfer across what is today Afghanistan and beyond.
Step-by-Step Guides to Spiritual Progress

A noteworthy feature of the two texts is the matter-of-fact, step-by-step manner
in which the stages of the path are presented, with benchmarks and pointers given
for both the teacher and the disciple. It is for this reason, perhaps, that a later bi-
ography of Fazl Ahmad refers to his Risala as an “elegant text.”51 For the Risala first
walks the teacher and disciple through the initiation process, outlining the recita-
tions, prayers, and esoteric practices required to ascertain whether the student is
suited to the teacher as well as to solidify the student-teacher bond. Then, Fazl
Ahmad explains in his Risala, the teacher should systematically show the disciple
the location of each of the subtle centers (lata’if), and the training commences. At
this stage, the disciple is instructed on how to perform zikr in the five lata’if and in
the World of Divine Command, culminating in the station of lesser intimacy and
the beginning of the annihilation (fana) of the ego-self. Having accomplished this
arduous feat, the wayfarer begins negation and affirmation, which leads to greater
intimacy, annihilation, and subsistence in God. For each exercise and stage on the
path, Fazl Ahmad furnishes details that range from how to channel breath and the
appropriate posture during meditation to the unveilings and character traits that
the wayfarer should anticipate along the path.52
Departing from earlier texts on ma‘mulat, Fazl Ahmad provides an ideal time
frame for spiritual progress through each stage of the journey. For example, he
informs his readers that “after passing through three forty-day cycles of medita-
tion or seclusion (chilla), the wayfarer begins his education in the spiritual subtle-
ties.”53 Providing an indication to his reader-instructors, he mentions that “there
are some disciples who are impacted in the first tawajjuh [here, “spiritual focus”],
and some only later. However, in the case of those who are impacted later, this
is not an indication of their [lack of] aptitude. Therefore the teacher should not
withdraw his tawajjuh from them.”54 Safiullah’s Makhzan follows a similar pattern,
albeit with theoretical discussions interspersed with practices and with additional
experiential details that include visions and inspirations that should be expected
so that wayfarers can better recognize stages on their spiritual journey.55
While both texts thus outline the basic path of spiritual travel, neither their
underlying terminology nor their cosmological structure (nor even the concept of
lata’if) are specifically defined. Again, this implies that the presence of an educated
instructor (or detailed companion texts) was required to impart the specifics. Es-
sentially, the manuals formalized khanaqah pedagogies into written form, serving
as a franchise guide for esoteric practices. This is evidenced in the case of Fazl Ah-
mad, for example, through firsthand accounts of his daily routine at his khanaqah,
as detailed in Table 5.3.56
Standardization and Categorization

The two manuals in effect formalized such practices so as to generate a tran-
sregional system of praxis that was bound together by a shared cosmology and
terminology based on the earlier writings of Ahmad Sirhindi. The emphasis on
cosmology, and on tracing spiritual states beyond what most adepts could attain,
served as a means to conventionalize Sirhindi’s highly complex and synthetic cos-
mological system. Such standardization could then facilitate the exchange of the
practices and sciences that functioned within this wider epistemological frame-
work. The guidebooks concurrently articulated a multigenerational Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidi canon based around Ahmad Sirhindi’s Maktubat, Mabda u Ma‘ad, and
table 5.3 A Day in the Life of Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi
Hour Activity
Late night / Tahajjud (supererogatory) prayers; muraqaba (meditation) or tawajjuh

midnight (guided meditation) with disciples
Post-Tahajjud Sleep upon prayer mat
Fajr Sunna prayer in house, followed by leading compulsory prayer in congregation
at khanaqah
Post-Fajr Muraqaba (meditation)
Sunrise Quranic recitation, followed by namaz-i ishraq (sunrise prayer)
Tawajjuh with individual disciples
Lessons and lectures on jurisprudence, Quranic commentary, and Prophetic traditions
Brief siesta until afternoon prayer
Early Afternoon Leading communal ‘asr (afternoon) prayer, with additional recitations at mosque
Lectures on aspects of jurisprudence
Lecture on Maktubat of Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi
Meditation in chillakhana (seclusion chamber)
Late Afternoon Leading communal prayer
Dam (spiritual healing) for disciples and the broader community
Sunset Leading maghrib (sunset) prayers
Breaking fast with disciples or family
other associated texts. This in turn solidified the networks around the figure of
Sirhindi, providing coherence and a sense of identity within the transregional
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi community.
As mentioned above, both the Makhzan al-Anwar and the Risala dar Bayan-i
Tasawwuf provide comparative descriptions of the practices of other Sufi paths.57
However, these practices were reframed to conform to a Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi
classification system, thus securing a form of epistemic hegemony over other Sufi
traditions. The basic meditative practices and spiritual path of each order are pre-
sented as a valid system in which disciples are expected to partake. While no value
judgment is made regarding the varying methodologies, the Naqshbandi-Mujad-
didi method is clearly proffered as the overarching course.
With regard to eighteenth-century Turkestan, Devin DeWeese has pointed to a
process of bundling Sufi orders, specifically under the umbrella of the Naqshban-
di-Mujaddidiyya. This had significant social and economic implications. Previ-
ously entrenched Sufi lineages with extensive landholdings were tied to localized
kinship networks. Their incorporation into the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order in-
volved a realignment of the older Sufi orders away from communal structures and
toward transregional supraethnic communities built around shared ritual practic-
es and beliefs.58 The production of the two manuals under scrutiny in this chapter
indicates that a similar process was under way in the Afghan Durrani Empire and
its satellite polities in the eighteenth and the early nineteenth century.
The various other Sufi orders that were considered in the two manuals reflect
the sacred landscapes of their authors’ respective networks. Fazl Ahmad intro-
duced Naqshbandi, Qadiri, and Chishti practices, which were the prominent Sufi
traditions from the Peshawar Valley to Bukhara. Khwaja Safiullah, meanwhile,
added the Suhrawardi order (to which he referred as the Suhrawardiyya-Kubrawi-
yya).59 This may have appealed to his disciples in Sindh, where the Suhrawardis
had been established since the thirteenth century. In addition, Safiullah desig-
nated Naqshbandi practices as those of the Naqshbandi-Ahrariyya—that is, as
being derived from Khwaja ‘Ubaydullah Ahrar (d. 1490), the celebrated Naqsh-
bandi mystic of Samarqand.60 However, the Naqshbandi-Ahrari practices that
Safiullah described were distinctively Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi. Classifying them
as Naqshbandi-Ahrari may represent an attempt to appropriate the sacred land-
scape of Kabul, which featured significant Ahrari charitable endowments (waqfs)
and prominent Naqshbandi shrines dating back to the Timurid period.61 Earlier
Naqshbandi-Ahrari communities would likely have been absorbed into Khwaja
Safiullah’s network through initiation and institutional affiliation.
In the two texts, the practices of each order are outlined as different dimensions
of a unified and fluid system and framed through the employment of Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidi cosmological terminology. Both Fazl Ahmad and Khwaja Safiullah de-
scribe the systems of muraqaba and zikr of the other orders in the same framework
as the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidiyya: that is, as if they are supplementary practices.
They also outline the structure of mystical physiology for each order, employing
Ahmad Sirhindi’s terminology and concept of lata’if.62 At the same time, readers are
provided with a neat concordance between meditative practices and stages in spiri-
tual travel according to Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi, earlier Naqshbandi, and universally
recognized Sufi classification systems. This concordance may have helped translate
the stages of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi path to students previously exposed to pre-
Mujaddidi Naqshbandi or non-Naqshbandi Sufi practices, in this way emphasizing
compatibility with other Sufi teaching systems that were in circulation around Kabul
and the Peshawar Valley. Such discourses would certainly have eased the incorpora-
tion of older Sufi communities into the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi superstructure.
The Absence of the Vernacular

Although the sections on comparative practices vary based on the geographic
scope of the suborder, by and large the genre of the manual was not vernacular in
the same sense as the biographies, poetry, or sacred architecture produced by the
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis. By the end of the eighteenth century, we find a systemat-
ic presentation of cosmology and praxis, where even the colors associated with the
lata’if are identical in these and other Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi manuals. The reason
for this is twofold. First, this type of text was intended for a transregional audience.
These texts present basic frameworks and theories, which could then be localized
to suit different audiences from Sindh to Badakhshan. Through other sources such
as Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi biographies, poems, local chronicles, and shrine cata-
logues, we get glimpses into how these transregional practices were supplemented
by (or reconciled to) vernacular devotional forms and philosophies. A stark ex-
ample is that of Mir Ghiyas al-Din (d. 1768), from Jurm in Badakhsan; he was a
notable deputy of Shah Safiullah’s father and pir. Although Ghiyas al-Din provided
instruction in Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi sciences, a chronicle called the Tarikh-i
Badakhsan relates that he held sessions of vocal zikr two days a week, a practice
that was deeply uncharacteristic of most Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis. Moreover, he
purportedly trained four hundred antinomian (qalandari) disciples—probably
remnants of an earlier Sufi community in Badakhshan—who engaged in ecstatic
musical activities.63
Reflecting these developments in Badakhshan, similar vernacularization pro-
cesses were under way across Sindh. Here the disciples of Khwaja Safiullah deeply
venerated the Sufi poet Shah ‘Abd al-Latif Bhitai (d. 1752). Although Bhitai has
often been regarded as an ecstatic poet (and so epistemologically at odds with
the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidis), the descendants of Safiullah’s deputies employed his
poetry as a devotional tool and convincingly argued that his poetry was a localized
reflection of Ahmad Sirhindi’s epistemology.64
T E X T UA L R E P R O DU C T IO N A N D C I R C U L AT IO N
Both manuals were reproduced in one of three forms: as self-standing manu-

scripts; as part of miscellanies for the use of ‘ulama, Sufis, or khanaqah libraries; or
as sections of larger didactic texts or biographies. Their manner of reproduction
and assembly provides a window into their use, circulation, and reception in the
territories of the Durrani Empire and beyond. It also elucidates how Naqshbandi-
Mujaddidi and affiliated Sufi lineages interfaced during this time and came to be
regarded as a single continuous tradition across the politically fragmented Per-
sianate world of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
The research underlying this chapter has located copies of Fazl Ahmad’s Ri-
sala that were produced in Khoqand, Bukhara, Punjab, Erzerum, Kabul, and the
Pushtun Belt (totaling eleven manuscripts and four printed editions), and cop-
ies of Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar produced in Sindh, Punjab, Kabul, and Logar
(totaling eight manuscripts and one printed edition). Most of these date from the
nineteenth and the early twentieth century. In most cases, it is not clear who com-
missioned these copies. However, two copies of the Risala bear the personal seals
of Fazl Ahmad and his son at Bukhara and so were presumably copied at the be-
hest of the father and son themselves.65
Often these manuals were reproduced alongside more comprehensive tracts

on Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi cosmology and the science of the subtle centers. For
instance, the Makhzan often accompanied Sirhindi’s discourses (particularly
Mabda u Ma‘ad and selections from the Maktubat), earlier Naqshbandi classics
(such as Risala-i Ya‘qub Charkhi or the discourses of ‘Abd al-Khaliq Ghijduwani),
or anonymous Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi cosmological and philosophical tracts.66
Such evidence supports the assumption that that the two texts were intended to
be supplemented by earlier specialized literature on related subjects. The manuals
were also often reproduced along with selections from poetic diwans. In several
cases, for example, the Makhzan was copied along with ghazal and ruba‘i poems
by Safiullah and his son ‘Abd al-Baqi (d. 1867). The two manuals were also regu-
larly packaged together with texts from contemporary branches of the Naqshban-
di-Mujaddidi order, thus indicating how extensively literary production across
various suborders became part of a transregionally shared tradition.
For example, we find the Risala of Fazl Ahmad packaged with discourses from
the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi khanaqah founded at Delhi by Shah Ghulam ‘Ali Dih-
lawi (d. 1824).67 It is clear that the two suborders were closely linked, because Gh-
ulam ‘Ali’s death in Delhi was announced in Fazl Ahmad’s satellite khanaqah miles
away in Zakori (near Dera Ismail Khan) only days after it occurred.68 In two other
manuscripts, Fazl Ahmad’s Risala accompanies the discourses of Sufi Allah Yar, of
Bukhara (d. 1720), as well as a genealogy of the Dahbidi Sufis.69 These were among
the principal Naqshbandi lineages of Bukhara and Samarqand, respectively, and
their own networks occupied an overlapping religio-intellectual space with the
khanaqahs of Fazl Ahmad in the same region. Tensions were certainly not un-
known between these Naqshbandi suborders, especially since all three at various
stages supplied the pirs of the ruling khans of Bukhara. The manuscripts, however,
indicate that their teachings at least were considered compatible.
Perhaps the most surprising manuscript is a nineteenth-century copy from
Bukhara or Khoqand that features four texts, namely the Risala of Fazl Ahmad,
the Sharaf al-Sadat of the Hanafi jurist Shihab al-Din Dawlatabadi (d. 1445), an
anonymous eschatological Qiyamatnama, and a theological tract of Bayazid An-
sari, of Waziristan (d. 1585). One might assume that the juxtaposition of such di-
vergent materials would evoke irreconcilable tensions. After all, Bayazid Ansari
(or, more popularly, Pir-i Rawshan) had rebelled against the Mughal emperor Ak-
bar and inaugurated a millenarian Sufi tradition that was declared heretical by
virtually every Sufi of the Peshawar Valley. In the early 1800s, Elphinstone pointed
out that his following had all but disappeared by this time.70 In the case of the
manuscript, it appears that his works were still being reproduced by individuals
who engaged Fazl Ahmad’s Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi discourses. This implies that
the boundaries between orthodoxies and heterodoxies were far from clear-cut.71 It
may not be too far-fetched to conjecture that a common thread of eschatology and
millennialism—with Fazl Ahmad representing Sirhindi’s millenarian tradition—

brought these apparently disparate works together.
In other manuscripts, Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar accompanied theologi-
cal tracts from contemporary Sufi lineages in Hindustan, Sindh, and Khurasan.
For example, a manuscript dated 1845/6 contains Makhzan al-Anwar along with
ghazal poems by his son ‘Abd al-Baqi. The manuscript is particularly noteworthy,
because it was copied by ‘Abd al Rahman ibn Ni‘matullah Hala’i. The latter was a
devoted disciple of the first Pir Pagaro (d. 1830), a Qadiri-Naqshbandi sayyid from
inland Sindh who famously led the Hur rebellion against Sikh and British forces.72
This miscellany suggests that a disciple of a highly localized Sindhi sayyid lineage
(among the most prominent landholding families of Sindh) considered Safiullah’s
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi discourses to be part of his own literary heritage.
Overall, the legacy of the Risala dar Bayan-i Tasawwuf and the Makhzan al-
Anwar in the modern period attests to the effectiveness of the manual genre that
emerged amid the crises and opportunities of the eighteenth and early nineteenth
centuries. Since the late 1970s, the Kabul-based Shur Bazaar network has been
shattered by severe political disruptions, most notably the assassination and in-
carceration of over a hundred descendants of Khwaja Safiullah in the wake of the
Soviet invasion. The esoteric practices that were once woven into the fabric of
literate society in the region are now under attack by both Taliban and Wahhabi
preachers, and the khanaqah system has all but broken down among the Pushtun
tribes along the Durand Line. Yet in the late twentieth and the early twenty-first
century, after having been out of circulation for decades, the manuals have been
revived in the most unexpected of places, including the Waziristan and Malakand
Agencies of the Afghan-Pakistani borderlands discussed in Sana Haroon’s chapter
in this volume. For example, Fazl Ahmad’s Risala was translated into Urdu in 1978
by his descendant ‘Abdullah Jan Faruqi and published in pamphlet form (along-
side the edited Persian original) at Thana in Malakand Agency. This was part of
an ongoing effort by the deputies of Fazl Ahmad to propagate the teachings of his
lineage in an environment where skepticism of Sufi practices was steadily growing.
The Risala was deemed appropriate for a lay reading public requiring basic meth-
odology without burdening them with the intricacies of theology. To this end,
Fazl Ahmad’s descendants established two publishing houses at their khanaqahs in
North Waziristan and Malakand through which they publish biographies, poetry,
and treatises in Urdu, Persian, and Pashto.73
A second revival, this time of Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar, occurred at a time
when the region was being wholly destabilized by various factions of the Taliban.
In 2006, a local Mujaddidi scholar called Qari ‘Abd al-Qayyum Logari took it upon
himself to edit the Makhzan al-Anwar. Originally from Logar, he had taken refuge
in Wachay Khora, in South Waziristan, from where he partnered up with a cottage
publishing house in Wana to preserve the teachings of the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi
order.74 Rather than an edited original text, the Wana publication was intended as a
didactic work introducing Sufi practices to a contemporary Afghan audience. Sev-
eral things indicate this. For example, Qari ‘Abd al-Qayyum deleted the verses in the
Makhzan extolling Timur Shah Durrani, which a modern audience wary of political
authority might have deemed inappropriate. He also commissioned a descendant of
Safiullah to write a preface contextualizing Sufi practices within Islam and stressing
their compatibility with Shari‘a. Its defensive tone no doubt mirrors contemporary
anxieties. In the case of both manuals, their modern publication was aimed at pre-
serving Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi disciplines and pedagogies and presenting them to
an audience at risk of being influenced by competing religious ideologies.
C O N C LU SIO N S
A key objective of this chapter’s survey of Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar, Fazl

Ahmad’s Risala, and the broader manual genre to which they belong has been
to reorient scholarly attention toward these types of Sufi writings. Notably, these
seemingly formulaic esoteric texts have been presented here as historical aids to-
ward resolving long-standing disputes on the contours of Islam in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries, both in Afghanistan and beyond. The manuals shed light
on prevailing value systems and ethical premises of eighteenth-century Kabul and
Peshawar and their expansive religio-intellectual orbits, all of them dominated
by Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi establishments. Since the manuals were the most re-
produced works of their respective suborders, we can surmise that contemporary
‘ulama and Sufis were primarily concerned with intellectual, moral, and spiritual
development at the individual level over social or political reform. Within this
weltanschauung, Shari‘a, jurisprudence, ethics, and etiquette were all necessary
components of an ideal Muslim curriculum aimed at realizing the potential of hu-
manity as the vicegerent of God and in which suprarational sciences were placed
at the pinnacle.
The process of the standardization and widespread dissemination of the Naqsh-
bandi-Mujaddidi framework that was facilitated through these texts may be seen
as an extension of larger regional developments during the eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries toward the standardization and transfer of Islamic knowl-
edge. Earlier in the eighteenth century, Lucknow’s Farangi Mahal madrasa formu-
lated the Dars-i Nizami curriculum to balance the revealed and rational sciences
and then disseminated it across Hindustan and as far as the Ottoman Empire.
Around the same time at the Madrasa Rahimiya, Shah Waliullah of Delhi insti-
tutionalized another prescribed syllabus that stressed the primacy of Hadith and
employed a specific method of dialectics and textbook study.75
As a corollary to this point, in certain aspects this chapter’s case study of two
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi suborders supports Albrecht Hofheinz’s adaptation of the
neo-Sufi hypothesis formulated several decades ago. In an attempt to interpret

the nature of eighteenth-century socio-intellectual currents in the Muslim world,
Hofheinz proposed that eighteenth-century Sufi practices did not represent a de-
parture from earlier Sufi traditions. He argued instead that they were used in a
broader context for much larger groups of people, resulting in institutionaliza-
tion, increased literary output, and “emancipation from traditional authority.”76
Hofheinz drew a parallel to the European Christian Pietist movement, which em-
phasized individual piety through ascetic and mystical practices while employing
new media (including pamphlets and hymns) for mass propagation. Some of these
features can be found among the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi networks of Peshawar
and Kabul that we have studied in this chapter. However, unlike Pietism, Naqsh-
bandi-Mujaddidi literary production and institutional growth was not premised
on a reaction against traditional authority or legal scholasticism. Rather, it was a
response to the sociopolitical realignments of the eighteenth century, as well as a
strategy to benefit from the opportunities presented by imperial fragmentation
and the rise of independent localized polities in the decades either side of 1800.
It is in this way possible to draw a parallel between this expansion of the
Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi order in the late eighteenth century and the rise of insti-
tutionalized Tantric Buddhist esotericism that had occurred in the same region a
thousand years earlier. As in the eighteenth century, that prior period witnessed
the rise of feudalism and political decentralization. Key developments took place
in response, including the growth of monastic institutions, the codification of ritu-
als with complex mandala images, and the production of new, synthetic, esoteric
texts that imparted methods of reciting mantras while still relying on firm master-
disciple bonds.77 Like the later Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi khanaqahs, the new Tant-
ric institutions developed regional vernacular identities while establishing a core
cosmology and set of practices. Mirroring the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi case once
more, these institutions, texts, and practices ultimately facilitated the penetration
of Tantric Buddhism from India to Central Asia and China.

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University of California Press

Chapter Title: Transporting Knowledge in the Durrani Empire: Two Manuals of

Book Title: Afghanistan's Islam

This book is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-

Transporting Knowledge in the

Like Paul’s geographically wide-reaching account of the earlier Khwajagani Su-

Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi branch of the order begins with Shaykh Ahmad Sirhindi

Figure 12 . Manuscript seal of Fazl Ahmad Pishawari, 1225/1810.

comprising his brother’s khanaqahs and their satellite institutions. He personally

alludes to Nile Green’s adaptation of a religious-economy framework in the context

Whether in Hindustan, Khurasan, or Turkestan, Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi institu-

table 5.1 Overview of Makhzan al-Anwar, by Khwaja Safiullah Sirhindi-Kabuli

Introduction Autobiographical notes and introduction to the text

Intentions and Readerships

The Question of Genre

In doctrinal writings, the Naqshbandi-Mujaddidi mystical path is expressed as

and affirmation, in practice a breath-channeling exercise), and muraqaba (the vi-

Step-by-Step Guides to Spiritual Progress

Standardization and Categorization

table 5.3 A Day in the Life of Fazl Ahmad Ma‘sumi

Late night / Tahajjud (supererogatory) prayers; muraqaba (meditation) or tawajjuh

The Absence of the Vernacular

Both manuals were reproduced in one of three forms: as self-standing manu-

Often these manuals were reproduced alongside more comprehensive tracts

millennialism—with Fazl Ahmad representing Sirhindi’s millenarian tradition—

A key objective of this chapter’s survey of Safiullah’s Makhzan al-Anwar, Fazl

neo-Sufi hypothesis formulated several decades ago. In an attempt to interpret

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Introduction Autobiographical notes and introduction to the text