This book explores the convergence and interrelation of the text of Nala-yi ?Andalib with its context. It considers the development of the notion of the ?ariqa-yi Mu ammadiyya as an intellectual achievement in the history of ideas in Islam generally and also as an important part of Sufism in South Asia.
Sufism in Eighteenth-Century India focuses on one particular treasure from surviving Persian manuscripts in India, Nala-yi ?Andalib, written by Mu ammad Na ir ?Andalib (d. 1759), a Naqshbandi Mujaddidi mystical thinker. It explores the convergence and interrelation of the text with its context to find how ?Andalib revisits the central role of the Prophet as the main protagonist in his allegorical love story with great attention to the circumstances of the Muslim community during the eighteenth century.
The present volume elucidates ?Andalibs Sufism calling for a return to the pristine form of Islam and the idealization of the first Muslim community. It considers his ?ariqa-yi Khali? Mu ammadiyya as a derivation of the ?ariqa-yi Mu ammadiyya, which had an important role in promoting Islam. The book attempts to clarify and systematize all of the concepts which ?Andalib employs within the framework of the Khali? Mu ammadiyya, such as the state of the na ir and the Khali? Mu ammadi. It addresses controversial topics in religion, such as the struggles between Shi a and Sunni Muslims, and the controversies between Shuhudis and Wujudis. It illuminates two key personalities, Abu Bakr al- iddiq and ?Ali b. Abi ?alib, and two types of relationships, the ma iyya and ?ayniyya, with the spirituality of the Prophet.
The book will be of interest to scholars and students interested in Islamic studies, Islamic mysticism, the intellectual history of Muslims in South Asia, the history of the Mughal Empire, Persian literature, studies of manuscripts, Islamic philosophy, comparative studies of religions, social studies, anthropology, and debates concerning the eighteenth century, such as the transition from pre-colonialism to colonialism and the origins of modernity in Islam.
