Gleams from the Rawdat al-Shuhada' (Garden of the Martyrs) of Husayn Vaiz Kashifi by Abdal Hakim Murad (review)

Gleams from the Rawdat al-Shuhada' is a unique work. Abdal Hakim Murad – or Timothy Winter as he is known in academia – has put together something that should be included in the genre of 'devotional literature'. Winter turns one of the finest samples of late-Timurid Persian prose, the hagiographic collection Rawdat al-shuhada', by the celebrated religious scholar, preacher and mystic Kamal al-Din Husayn Waʿiz Kashifi (d. 1505), into a selection of texts from that book with the incorporation of other material, such as recitations of Suras from the Qur'an, odes in praise of the Ahl al-Bayt from the the contemporary period (particularly from the Turkish-speaking world) and classical translations from E.J.W. Gibb. The spirit of the work is that of the 'augmented text' so well known in the Muslim tradition, whereby a classical work is treated as 'living material' that is not only there to be read, but can also be integrated andaugmented by intervention other than the author's, and, possessing a 'Protean spirit', as tellingly put by the editor in the introduction.

The booklet is not a translation of the Rawdat, nor it has the ambition to represent an academic undertaking (the vexata quaestio of Waʿiz Kashifi's denominational belonging is addressed; however, evidence of his Twelver Shiʿism is entirely bypassed, – whereas his Naqshbandi pedigree is emphasised). In a way, its ambition is possibly wider: to claim a place in the 'emerging canon of British Muslim literature and culture' (ix). In order for the claim to be as weighty as possible, the editor proposes an experiment which enhances the eclecticism of the work. Waʿiz's words are integrated into a translation of an ode in praise of Fatima by Mehmet Esad Erbili (d. 1930) andlines from poems of such celebrated mystics as Muʿin al-Din Chishti and Abdallah al-Haddad. Furthermore, Ottoman Terkib-bend (notably of the poet and newspaper editor Ziya Pasha, d. 1880) and other miscellaneous but fitting material, are added to the original work in order to revive the musicality of the original (Kashifi was dubbed 'the David of our times', for the beauty of his voice). Murad and the team of singers that chant1ed the odes in the recording accompanying the booklet (Ali Keeler, Abdallateef Whiteman, Kamal Nawawi and Mohsin Badat) have opted for tunes from the Celtic fringe. The result is a beautiful and fascinating path that spans from the 'tribulations of the prophets' all the way to the tragedy of Karbala and its aftermath, passing by the member of the Prophet's household and crossed by the palpable presence of the love for the Imam Husayn, accompanied by a whirlwind of sometimes bewildering languages, styles, genres, voices and melodies that succeed, in the very end, to result harmonious and coherent.

At the end of the introduction, Murad leaves to the listener to judge if the juxtaposition of the two worlds (that of the Celtic fringe tunes and that of the devotional literature of the Timurid and Ottoman periods) is effective or not. As I write this note, I am listening to 'The Field of Misfortune', a lamentation on the massacre of the Imam's companions in Karbala (28-29, track 18 in the CD), sung in two voices against the tune of the Gaelic lullaby 'Griogal Cridhe', composed after the execution of Gregor MacGregor by the Campbells in 1570, and I feel compelled to respond to the editor's concern that yes, the juxtaposition is effective, and reflects the devotional intent of the authors of this little gem of devotion and inspiration.

ALESSANDRO CANCIAN

The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, UK