Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism by Alexander Knysh (review)

The question of who decides the essential nature of a mystical tradition is paramount to understanding how it functions as a lived spirituality. With Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism, University of Michigan Professor of Islamic Studies Alexander Knysh has written a concise but remarkably thorough history of Sufism that addresses the myriad of complications inherent in defining Sufism both in a Western, often Orientalist, context as well as how it has been historically defined within the wider Islamic tradition. Pursuing the topic with pointed neutrality, Knysh has written a history of Sufism that both honors and reimagines historic approaches to Islam's ascetic-mystical heritage.

From the start, Knysh makes it clear that honing in on a precise, historically satisfactory definition of Sufism is difficult, if not outright impossible. This is not simply due to Sufism's own wide-ranging expressions within Muslim cultures but also because of its reconstruction within the Western imagination. Rather than attempt to disentangle Sufism from this in order to elucidate a supposedly pure Islamic form, Knysh attempts instead to "explore [the] dimensions of the ascetic-mystical stream of Islam… without sliding into either unbridled partisanship or adverse criticism of the subject and of its conceptualizations by both insiders and outsiders." (8) In doing so, Knysh is able to offer both an insight into the quotidian experience of Sufi communities as well as a history of how Sufism has been envisioned by various outside thinkers.

In Chapter One, Knysh explores this thesis by offering several potential models for Sufism's origin. These models range from Marxist interpretations of political unrest to various Sufi thinkers' own self-understanding as pursuing the purest form of Muslim devotion. Knysh notes as well the undeniable influence of other religious traditions, especially the proximity of Christianity's own mystical expressions, on the development of Sufism early on while also recognizing the potential complications inherent with such comparison. As such, Knysh states Sufism is only truly real "in the sense that it has long-ranging and tangible sociopolitical, practical, cultural, and institutional implications" (p.34) developed through a vast variety of imaginations. Holding the tension between these influences allows Knysh to explore the complications of Sufism as an evolving concept as well as living spirituality.

Knysh deepens this analysis in Chapter Two by considering how Sufism came to be understood as a unique Islamic practice. He discusses early elements of Sufi development such as walaya, spiritual authority of teachers, transmitted not only through their texts but through the teacher's lived example. This, in turn, would serve as a basis for a cult of devotion surrounding Sufi saints, solidifying the development of spiritual lineages. Knysh utilizes these foundational concepts to reveal the differences between Muslim and Western understanding of Sufism's functionality. Whereas the Muslim approach along the Sunni/Shi'i divide focuses largely on the sociopolitical role played by such schools, the West often looks to the discourses created by spiritual authorities to delineate between Sufism's various focus on philosophy or occult sciences. Knysh astutely observes how privileging texts over social structures significantly alters how Sufism is conceived. At the end of this chapter, Knysh offers a succinct and helpful list of traits that might be seen as essential to Sufism (p. 60–61), helping the reader understand Sufi spirituality vis-à-vis the efficacy of spiritual authorities to reveal esoteric knowledge and shape their worldview.

Chapter Three concerns Sufism's exegetical tradition and will undoubtedly be the most engaging for the outside readers that Knysh envisions. Largely focused on the characteristics of Ibn Arabi's Akbarian school and Najm al-din (al-)Kubra's Kubrawi school, this chapter offers the deepest look into the "cosmology and gnoseology" (p.120) that has so captured Western attention. Exploring various ways in which these schools read both the Quranic and Hadith texts, this chapter gives the reader a sense of not only how their philosophy functions but also how its implications are transmitted...