4 Discussing the Sufism of the Early Modern Period: A New Historiographical Outlook on the Tariqa Muhammadiyyaââ104

Rachida Chih

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4 Discussing the Sufism of the Early Modern Period: A New Historiographical Outlook on the Tariqa Muhammadiyyaââ104

In: Sufism East and West

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Rachida Chih

Rachida Chih
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Type:: Chapter

Pages:: 104â127

DOI:: https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004393929_006

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Abstract

The Muhammadan way (Tariqa Muhammadiyya) provides one of the central planks of the thesis of the Muslim thinker Fazlur Rahman (d. 1988) on the Sufi revival in pre-modern Islam. This thesis dominated the study of pre-modern Sufism until it was rejected in the 1990s. The main argument of Rahmanâs critics was that he didnât have sufficient knowledge of the Sufi writings that he presented as reformist. This rejection provoked a complete re-evaluation of Islam and Sufism during the pre-modern period, but most particularly during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Many important Sufi figures who had been presented as reformers were re-examined in the light of their own writings. They confirmed that in matters of doctrine the beginning of the modern period did not coincide with a rupture either with medieval Sufism or with Ibn Ê¿Arabi as was postulated by Rahman; on the contrary, these Sufi scholars were diffusing his ideas. However, the debate is not extinguished, because a strictly philological approach has its limits in the quest to understand the historical evolution of Sufism: the writings of the masters must also be put back into the historical context of their production. This context is better-known today thanks to the progress made in the study of the political and economic history of the great Muslim empires. Such progress has opened up new perspectives on research in the history of Sufism and it is this which the present chapter aims to explore through the case study of Ahmad al-Qushshashi (d. 1661) and the scholarly Sufi milieu of 17th century Medina.

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Sufism East and West

Mystical Islam and Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Modern World

Series:Â Studies on Sufism, Volume: 2

E-Book ISBN:: 9789004393929

Publisher:: Brill

Print Publication Date:: 19 Mar 2019

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4 Discussing the Sufism of the Early Modern Period: A New Historiographical Outlook on the Tariqa Muhammadiyyaââ104

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Sufism East and West

Mystical Islam and Cross-Cultural Exchange in the Modern World

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4 Discussing the Sufism of the Early Modern Period: A New Historiographical Outlook on the Tariqa Muhammadiyyaââ104