61 DOI: 10.4312/mz.58.1.61-99 UDK 39:281-282(620) Textual Dimensions of the Public H ˙ ad ˙ ra in Egyptian Sufism Michael Frishkopf University of Alberta ABSTRACT The article explores the crucial role of text in Sufism, especially in the central corporate ritual, h . ad . ra. Using Egypt as a case study, and thoroughly analyzing one particular h . ad . ra performance, the article uses concepts of intertext and interauthor to demonstrate how text supports socio-spiritual relationships. Keywords: Sufism, Islam, ritual, poetry, mysticism IZVLEČEK Članek proučuje ključno vlogo besedil v sufizmu, predvsem v osrednjem obredu, ki se ime- nuje h . ad . ra. Na podlagi Egipta kot študije primera in s poglobljeno analizo izbrane izvedbe obreda h . ad . ra razprava s pomočjo konceptov medbesedilnosti in medavtorstva prikaže, kako besedilo podpira družbeno-duhovna razmerja. Ključne besede: sufizem, islam, obred, poezija, misticizem MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 61 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 61 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 62 How do textual dimensions of the public h . ad . ra – Egypt’s most socially salient musical ritual – express and maintain mystical Islam – Sufism – in Egypt? And what is the crucial role of the h . ad . ra text, particularly poetry in performance? I answer these questions in three steps: first, an overview of Egyptian Sufism; next, an interpretation of Sufi music and poetry; finally, a close analysis, transcription, and translation of a typical h . ad . ra, showing how its performed text both reflects and supports Sufism’s web of socio-spiritual and intertextual connections. I . Egyptian Sufism: Theology and Ritual “What is Sufism?” This was the question I continually asked while performing ethnomusicologicial fieldwork in Egypt, from 1992 to 1998. Tersely, many Su- fis merely replied “Sufism is love (h . ubb),” or “Sufism is the essence (gawhar) of Islam.” A deeper answer required patience and long-term immersion in their socio-spiritual world. Sufism (tas . awwuf, or al-s . ūfiyya) 1 offers a highly personal and experiential approach to religion, emphasizing sincere intention and heartfelt devotion. Participation is buttressed, guided, and deepened by camaraderie in connec- tions: socio-spiritual solidarity, linking contemporary seekers (murīdīn) and spiritual leaders (murshidīn, or shaykhs), as well as the great teachers and holy men and women of the past (the awliyā ʾ, those “close” – walī – to God), es- pecially the Prophet Muhammad’s family (Āl al-Bayt or Ahl al-Bayt: literally, “the kin of the house”; also Āl Bayt al-Nabi, “the kin of the Prophet’s house”), as well as the Prophet himself (see Hoffman-Ladd 1992). At its core, Sufism in Egypt is a quest for spiritual closeness, a desire to connect to beloved holy figures – as well as like-minded seekers – in order to experience the Divine Realities (al-h . aqīqa, literally “Truth”) in this life, driv- en by Divine love (al-h . ubb al-ilāhi) in the present (al-waqt), rather than fear (khawf) of God’s wrath, or hope (rajā ʾ) for His Paradise in the future. Such Realities are beautiful, as attested by a famous saying of the Prophet, “God is beautiful and loves beauty” (Nawawi 2014, hadith #389). As Rabi ʿa ʿAdawiyya (d. 801), the famous female mystic, wrote: Oh Lord! If I worship Thee on account of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell, and if I worship Thee with the hope of Paradise, exclude me from it, but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, then withhold not from me Thine eternal beauty. (Qadri 2006, 29) Thus many Sufis regard earthly beauty as Divinely sanctioned, a pale re - flection of the Divine. Consesquently, tas . awwuf often incorporates the arts 1 Several of the best general introductions to Sufism are by William Chittick (2000), Carl Ernst (1997), Alexander Knysh (2019), Martin Lings (1999), Annemarie Schimmel (1975), and J. Spencer Trimingham (1998). For Sufism in Egypt, see Frishkopf (1999, 2000, 2001a, 2001b, 2002, 2013), Gilsenan (1973), Hoffman (1995), Jong (1976, 1978, 2000), and Waugh (1989). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 62 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 62 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 63 – visual, auditory, or literary. Y et such arts are never ends in themselves. Spir - itually, they are functional, a means to a higher purpose, a lodestar for the spiritual path. Literally, Islam means “submission” to God, affirming His unity and unique- ness (tawh . īd), through worship, the purpose of our creation. As God says in the Qur ʾan, the message (risāla) vouchsafed to mankind through the Prophet Muhammad: “I created jinn and mankind only to worship Me” (51:56). 2 To- wards that end the Qur ʾan often underscores the importance of “remembering God” (dhikr Allah). Remembrance through submission is performed daily in obligatory prayer (s . alāh), especially at the moment of prostration (sujūd), as well as during the other legal pillars of Islam, including the Ramadan fast (s . awm), almsgiving (zakāh), pilgrimage (h . ajj), and when uttering the testimony of faith: “there is no deity but Allah, and Muhammad is His Prophet” (lā ilāha illa Allah, Muhammad rasul Allah). 3 While many Muslims submit out of fear and hope, in deference to law (shari ʿa), the Sufi is drawn to Divine beauty, submitting out of love. Only the spiritually advanced Muslim submits fully, out of a love and longing spring- ing from inner faith (imān). To reach this state, the ego, governed by worldly desires (shahawāt), must be purified, for this fallible self (al-nafs al-ammara bi su ʾ), straining towards the objects of its desire, barely restrained by fear and hope, can never submit fully. Only the serene self (al-nafs al-mu ʾma ʾinna), drawn by Divine love, and remembering the Primordial Covenant (mīthāq), 4 can perform islām completely. For the ordinary Muslim, as for the Sufi novice, the outward (z . āhir) performance of obligatory prayer is a physical remem- brance that promotes inner (bāt . in) faith and remembrance, taming the self. By contrast, for the mature Sufi the outward act of prayer simply expresses inner faith and remembrance. Thus, the Sufi progresses along a spiritual path ( t . arīqa) from outward islām to inward imān, culminating in ih . sān (excellence): continual remembrance, through continuous love sustained by the constant felt presence of the Divine. 2 All Qur ʾanic references are given numerically as X:Y meaning sūra (chapter) X, āya (verse) Y (with translations from Abdel Haleem 2011). In Islamic cosmology, the jinn are invisible beings created from “smokeless fire,” whereas human beings are created from clay. See Qur ʾan 55:14, 55:15. 3 E.g. Qur ʾan 62:9-10: “Believers! When the call to prayer [s . alāh] is made on the day of congrega- tion [Friday], hurry towards the reminder [dhikr] of God and leave off your trading – that is better for you, if only you knew. Then when the prayer has ended, disperse in the land and seek out God’s bounty. Remember God often so that you may prosper.” 4 That moment in pre-creation ( al- ʿālam al-azali), sometimes called the “Day of Alastu” (Schimmel 1975, 24), when God asked all the future descendants of Adam: “Am I not your Lord?” (“Alastu bi rabbikum?”), to which they replied “Indeed you are, we testify” (“Qālū balā shahidnā”) (Qur ʾan 7:172). All dhikr harkens back to this moment, sometimes understood as a musical exchange, and an archetypal memory music can reawaken (perhaps in h . ad . ra). See line 21 in the h . ad . ra text tran- scribed below, alluding to this crucial moment of alastu. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 63 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 63 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 64 In another common formulation, the Sufi path leads the seeker (murīd) from law (sharī ʿa) to Divine Reality (h . aqīqa). That journey proceeds through purifi- cation of the self (tazkiyat al-nafs), raising the spirit (tarqiyat al-rūh . ) towards its source in God, under the guidance of a spiritual teacher (murshid or shaykh). The path traverses a series of stations ( maqāmāt) 5 punctuated by moments of intense emotional insight (ah . wāl, singular h . āl), culminating – for the spiritual elect – in the annihilation (fanā ʾ) of the ego-self and subsistence (baqā ʾ) with God. Others may aim instead for annihilation in the Prophet, saint, or shaykh (Hoffman 1999). In any case, with the dissolution of the self’s boundaries comes intensified spiritual connection. Over time, this guided journey led to the formulation of various supereroga- tory forms of ritual devotion, beyond daily obligatory prayer (s . alāh), designed to accelerate spiritual progress, starting with self-purification (e.g. asceticism, zuhd; requests for forgiveness, istighfār; repentance, tawba) and centered on remem- brance (dhikr) in a direct form: the chanting of God’s Names, accompanied by recitation of religious poetry, as a form of worship enabling one to experience God’s closeness, as affirmed in Qur ʾan 50:16: “We are closer to him than his jugular vein.” Throughout, one’s guides and exemplars are the Prophet, his fam- ily, and the awliyā ʾ, all spiritually active – as well as one’s contemporary shaykh. 6 From the early thirteenth century or so, formal Sufi orders (t . uruq; singular t . arīqa) arose, linking Sufis, synchronically and diachronically, in new sodalities (Trimingham 1998, 10). Members (also called murīdīn; singular murīd) join with an oath ( ʿahd) of allegiance to a living shaykh or murshid, thereby linking to a spiritual lineage (silsila, literally “chain”) stretching back to the Prophet himself. These socio-spiritual networks are tightly woven, and infused with affection. A form of fictive kinship applies to spiritual relationships, modeled as familial love (Frishkopf 2003b). The shaykh is the spiritual parent (usually father, rarely mother); ascendants are grandparents; fellow muridīn are siblings. Sometimes the silsila diverges, as a charismatic follower starts a new branch; sometimes branches converge, when a Sufi receives spiritual guidance from more than one shaykh. But the orders are (ideally at least) not competing. Rather, they harmoniously coexist, different paths for different people, with a single objective. I often heard the t . uruq likened to spokes of a wheel (sharī ʿa) all leading to the hub (haqīqa). Some seventy-two such orders are officially registered in Egypt today ( ʿAbd al-Hadi 2022); many others exist informally but they are all interconnected through the branching silsila (see Figure 1). 7 5 Confusingly, the word maqām (plural maqāmāt) carries three different meanings in this paper: (a) a spiritual station, (b) a saint’s shrine (not always the burial location), and (c) a melodic mode. 6 On saints in Egypt, see Jong (1976), Gilsenan (1973), Hoffman (1995), Reeves (1995), and Taylor (1998). 7 For a general introduction to Sufism and saint veneration in Egypt, see Hoffman-Ladd (1992), Hoffman (1995) and Waugh (1989). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 64 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 64 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 28. 07. 2022 12:07:44 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 65 Extending beyond formal t . ariqa membership lie the informal loving relationships that predate the orders, connecting Sufis to each other and to the saints (awliyā ʾ), in what western scholars sometimes call “popular religion.” This more extensive socio-spiritual network is renewed in ritual performances, held both within the t . uruq and outside them. The informal followers of a saint are known as her or his muh . ibbīn (lovers), and they gather en masse alongside murīdīn participating as members of a formalized t . arīqa, particularly during saint festivals (mawālid), events that are likewise permeated by a collective sense of love and care for one another. The number of Sufi murīdīn and muh . ibbīn in Egypt has been loosely estimated at over six million. This socio-spiritual network plays a central and dynamic role in lived ex - perience. For the Sufi, the saints (awliyā ʾ) – including founders of Egypt’s major t . arīqa lines, ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani (1077–1166), Ahmad al-Rifa ʿi (1106–1182), Ibrahim al-Dasuqi (d. 1296), Ahmad al-Badawi (d. 1276), and Figure 1: The silsila of the Shadhiliyya t . arīqa, as represented by a contemporary branch (Shadhiliyya Darqawiyya) based in Syria and led by one Shaykh Ya ʿqūbi. Left: the silsila in a textual form, from Allah and the angels at the top, to various twentieth century figures at the bottom; those mentioned or implied in the h . ad . ra transcribed below are indicated by green boxes. Right: a typical portrayal of the silsila as a family tree, with Muhammad at the top; the uppermost dark green leaf represents Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 65 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 65 28. 07. 2022 12:07:46 28. 07. 2022 12:07:46 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 66 Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili (1196–1258) 8 – as well as the Prophet Muham- mad and his family (the Āl al-Bayt, especially Imam al-Husayn and Sayyida Zaynab), are alive, interacting with the muh . ibbīn, who develop deeply personal relationships with many of them, mediated by a visit (ziyāra) to the shrine (also called maqām), a vision (ru ʾya, waking or in dreams), recounting a mira- cle story (karāma), entreating spiritual assistance (madad), blessing (baraka) or intercession (tawassul), sometimes through a vow (nadhr) to be fulfilled upon delivery (and thereby extending and deepening the relationship), attending festivals (mawālid), and reciting sacred texts (poetry and prose). Non-Muslims may regard the authors of Sufi poetry as mere poets, but for the Sufi, they are saints first and foremost; poetry is merely a side-effect, an overflowing (fayd . ) of spirituality into language, and a guide for the seeker. Authorship of Sufi poetry is distributed – as a linked interauthor – insofar as their texts are linked as intertext (Frishkopf 2003a; Homerin 2001; Schimmel 1982). The primary corporate Sufi ritual is called h . ad . ra (literally, presence). Overtly, the t . arīqa h . ad . ra (i.e. the h . ad . ra liturgy as performed within each Sufi order) is populated by the physical presence of members, including shaykhs and their dis- ciples (murīdīn), but it is understood also to include invisible spiritual presences, including angels, the Prophet, and saints from the ʿālam al-arwāh . (spirit world). Typically following ordinary congregational prayer (Sufism in Egypt extends, never replaces, mainstream Islam), the h . ad . ra centers on language performance (Frishkopf 2013), including recitation of prayers particular to the order (h . izb, awrād), supplications (especially s . alawāt, requests for blessings upon the Proph- et); recitation of the Qur ʾan; religious lessons or sermons; dhikr: chanting the Names of God (sometimes with movements, bowing or swaying); and melodic chanting of Sufi poetry (inshād), performed by a munshid. Often dhikr and inshād are combined, generating the h . ad . ra’s most emotionally intense, unified moments. Most t . uruq perform h . ad . ra twice weekly, under the direction of the shaykh who controls inshād and dhikr, carefully regulating its range and emotional amplitude, so as to maintain propriety and avoid ecstatic excess. Sung po- etry is composed, selected, or at least authorized by the shaykh or t . arīqa founder. Expression of extreme mystical ideas (such as union with God, ittih . ād) and excessively emotional behaviors, are either concealed or forbidden, in favor of that which overtly conforms to sharī ʿa. 9 Musical aspects of the 8 In Egypt the first four of these are known as the “four axes” (aqt . āb; sing. qut . b), and the latter three are buried there. According to medieval Islamic hagiography, in each era an “axial” saint presides over the entire saintly hierarchy. All but ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jilani are invoked in the h . ad . ra described below. 9 Most Egyptians Muslims consider certain acts, e.g. ecstatic sayings ( shat . h . iyāt) or trance behav- iors (jadhb), to constitute bid ʿa (heresy) or even kufr (unbelief), violations of religious law. Most famously, al-Hallaj (857–922), mystic of Baghdad, expressing his sense of self-annihilation and union with the Divine, exclaimed “Ana al-Haqq” (I am the Truth, tantamount to saying “I am God”) and was thereafter executed for heresy (see Ernst 1994; Salamah-Qudsi 2018). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 66 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 66 28. 07. 2022 12:07:46 28. 07. 2022 12:07:46 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 67 h . ad . ra are also constrained. For instance, instruments other than the voice are usually proscribed, improvisation is constrained, and length is limited. Often inshād is reduced to intoning the text in a narrow ambit, using a simple re- petitive melody, and a slow, steady pulse. The typical h . ad . ra lasts only an hour (Frishkopf 1999, 2013). But Sufi ritual extends far beyond the t . arīqa h . ad . ra, flourishing in the free- wheeling realm of popular religion, beyond the control of t . arīqa shaykhs. This broader tas . awwuf of the muh . ibbīn finds its most spectacular expression in an- nual saint festivals (mawālid) centered on a saint’s shrine (maqām), which can attract over a million pilgrims. 10 The public h . ad . ra ʿamma, sometimes called laila diniyya (religious night) or simply laila, is central at these festivals, and is also performed for public life cycle events attended by the muh . ibbin, such as circumcisions, weddings, and memorials. Unlike the private t . arīqa h . ad . ra, with its complex liturgy, the public h . ad . ra centers entirely on inshād and its accompanying music, together with dhikr chant and movement. Here, the munshid presides as if shaykh, assuming full control over the proceedings, including selection and arrangement of poetry, and controlling musical variables, especially tempo, meter, and maqām (me- lodic mode), directing a musical group comprising percussive and melodic in- struments. The munshid of the t . arīqa h . ad . ra is typically an ordinary member, performing in service to his t . arīqa organization, and drawing on poetry associ- ated with it. By contrast, the munshid of the public h . ad . ra is a professional, of- ten dedicated full-time to inshād, with a vast, ecumenical repertoire. Muh . ibbīn (affiliated with a variety of t . uruq) attend to be moved, and the munshid aims to move them, using all the spiritual-aesthetic resources at his disposal, includ- ing familiarity with the principal t . uruq and their liturgies. 11 Poetry, music, and dhikr induce states (ah . wāl) of intense emotion – wajd or nashwa (ecstasy) – thought to offer a taste (dhawq) of the Divine Reality. The generation of emo- tion is paramount in the public h . ad . ra, which may last for many hours, often beginning late in the evening and continuing until dawn, providing plenty of time for the emotional buildup. 12 Some participants sway and chant dhikr while others simply listen, as in the medieval samā ʿ (spiritual audition). Unlike the t . arīqa h . ad . ra, with its rela- tively fixed liturgy, limited participation, constrained texts and behaviors, and comparative brevity, the public h . ad . ra is open, free and flexible in nearly every way. A popular munshid such as Shaykh Yasin al-Tuhami can gather and move 10 The largest is the mawlid of Sayyid al-Badawi in Tanta (Schielke 2006, 125). 11 The public h . ad . ra munshid performs gratis for religious festivals (e.g. mawālid), though the lesser ones may accept nuqūt . (tips); they take a performance fee when performing for life cycle rituals (mostly weddings). 12 Sometimes the secular term for musical emotion, t . arab, is also used (see Racy 2003). For an exten- sive discussion of Sufism, music, and t . arab in Egypt see Frishkopf (2001a). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 67 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 67 28. 07. 2022 12:07:46 28. 07. 2022 12:07:46 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 68 tens of thousands of people through the affective power of his performance (Frishkopf 1998, 2002, 2009; Waugh and Frishkopf 2011). 13 The munshid selects poetry, often of the most intensely mystical sort, from multiple sources, weaving a new text out of old threads, curating and collaging his repertoire to express his state and intensify emotional responses (by reading his audience), culminating in madad, towards the mass generation of nashwa (spiritual ecstasy). 14 Meanwhile dhakkīra (those performing dhikr) and listen- ers are free to express themselves in their own language: through chant and exclamation, combined with postures, movements, gestures, and countenances. These expressions, reaching the munshid, complete an expressive feedback loop, promoting the interactive development of intensive emotion adapted to the context. The munshid develops his text in response to his perception (physi- cal and spiritual) of those arrayed before him, and they respond to him and to each other. 15 The text of the public h . ad . ra is thus highly conducive to gen- eration of spiritual emotion, which also serves to bind the group. That text is woven, spontaneously, as a consequence, reflecting and shaping both the participating group, and the long intertwined history of Sufi poetry. It is an intertext, assembled by, and reflecting, what I have termed the “interauthor”: Sufism’s socio-spiritual network, invoked by every h . ad . ra, in which every at- tendee participates. 16 II . Sufi Music and Poetry The Centrality of the Word Generally speaking, ritual use of mūsīqā (approximately “music”) is highly con- troversial in Islam (Al Faruqi and Qaradawi 1994). But if “music” is defined 13 I spent several years attending and recording Shaykh Yasin’s h . ad . ra performances, as well as visiting his home, where I conducted interviews. I present and analyze one such performance below. 14 Madad, a noun meaning “spiritual assistance,” abbreviates a verbal phrase (“I entreat [someone] to grant us madad”) in an illocutionary speech act invoking and supplicating one of the many spiritu- ally omnipresent saints. To take a frequent example, Egypt’s Sufis often say: “madad ya Sayyidna al-Husayn,” literally: “I implore you to help us, oh Sayyidna al-Husayn,” invoking and petitioning the Prophet’s grandson Husayn. On the Sufi practice, see Hoffman-Ladd (1992, 626). For more on the illocutionary speech act, including its five-fold classifications, see John L. Austin’s How to do Things with W ords (1962, 155), where in “Lecture XII” he defines “entreat” as an instance of the “exercitive” class. 15 A note on pronouns: women certainly participate in Egyptian Sufism, but mainly in private spac- es. The overwhelming majority of munshidīn are men. The female munshida usually performs qis . as . (religious stories) rather than leading dhikr. While some women serve as highly respected spiritual leaders for other women in all-female gatherings, all h . ad . ras I ever attended – public or private – were led by men as shaykhs and munshidīn. (Similarly, women never lead prayer in public.) On occasion women do participate freely in the public h . ad . ra, but only in lower Egypt (the Delta), or if very elderly. On the other hand, there are many female saints whose shrines are frequently visited; most of these are members of the Āl al-Bayt. 16 For a fuller analysis of this phenomenon see Frishkopf (2003a). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 68 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 68 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 69 etically as referring to the use of pitch and time to clarify and emotionally heighten texts (rather than be reflexively translated by its cognate mūsīqā), then it is pervasive within the broader sphere of Islamic language performance (Frishkopf 2013), though religious performance types are conceptually isolated through the use of specialized terms, scrupulously avoiding the words mūsīqā or ghinā ʾ (singing). In Egypt, metric inshād is common in many mainstream Muslim contexts (i.e. when celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday, or the two Eids); ametric, me - lodic, poetic supplications (ibtihālāt) are performed before dawn prayers, and the recitation of Qur ʾan (tilāwa), call to prayer (adhān), even the prayer rite itself (s . alāh), are almost universally performed using melodic vocalizations (Frishkopf 2008, 2018, 2021). Purely vocal forms are most acceptable; accom- panying percussion less so – and only for inshād – and use of melodic instru- ments least of all. But even with a full orchestra, it is always text that remains central. However within the sphere of Islamic language performance, Sufi contexts undoubtedly provide more musical freedom than any others. In contrast to mainstream Islam, music (as an etic concept) plays a key role in many Sufi traditions, as a form of worship; as a means of developing and expressing mys- tical experience; and as spiritual pedagogy (tarbiya), rendering teachings more memorable, affective, and participatory. Finally, music develops socio-spiritual solidarity within the participating group, strengthening the socio-spiritual net- work. This latter function is especially important in informal settings where there is no shaykh or t . arīqa to constrain the proceedings, especially in the public h . ad . ra. Sufi music has recently enjoyed a considerable popularity among outsid- ers, mainly world arts and culture aficionados. These non-participants in Sufi beliefs and practices nevertheless resonate with the music’s sonic contours: its entrancing beats, chants, movements, melodies, and timbres (particularly that of the plaintive reed flute, the nay), conditioned by a general understanding of its spiritual ethos. But for the Sufi these non-linguistic sounds merely provide the affective base upon which is laid the core of musical meaning. As Shaykh Yasin affirmed for me again and again, the semantic core of this music is lan- guage, in Arabic: al-kalima, the word. The centrality of “the word” extends far beyond Sufi music, and in two directions. Beyond Sufism it is a general characteristic of Islam, with its ritual focus on languge performance (Frishkopf 2018). Beyond Sufi music of Egypt it is also characteristic of Arabic music generally, to the point that wordless instrumental music is often called musiqa s . āmita, silent music. But poetry is far more crucial in Sufi music than in either Islam or Arabic music generally, due to its range, significance, sincerity, and central function. Mainstream Islamic inshād is less prominent within ritual practice, and limited MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 69 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 69 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 70 to conventional, unambiguous themes, mainly glorification and supplication of God, praise and blessings for the Prophet, religious or moralistic stories (sira nabawiyya, qis . as . ), and exhortations to proper belief and practice. Most of mainstream Islam centers on fixed, lucid texts specified by, and reflecting, the dictates of sharī ʿa (though some Qur ʾanic passages are esoteric and open to interpretation), contrasting sharply with the ambiguous, evocative poetry of Sufism. For Sufi inshād, the word – its form, its ambiguous meaning, its infinite potency, its authenticity, its authority through the silsila – is absolutely central to experience. Shaykh Yasin underscores the importance of “living with the words” (mu ʿaysha ma ʿa al-kalima) before he can perform them. “These are the words that express my life,” he told me. For this reason, the munshid’s words are heard not as ritual repetitions, but rather as authentic projections of inner feeling, from the heart. In this way, they develop greater affective power, for, as the Sufis always say, “that which comes from the heart, reaches the heart.” The Idiosyncratic Power of Sufi Poetry In many interviews and informal conversations, Sufis explained to me the na- ture of meaning and emotion in Sufi poetry. Such poetry is always novel (bikr; “a world of meaning in every word” said one), and this unbounded reservoir of meaning is there for the listener to discover, quite independent of what the putative author intended. Such interpretation is affective more than cogni- tive, intimation more than denotation. As Shaykh Yasin told me, the poetry of the great Sufis (asyādnā, “our masters”) is felt, rather than explained (yuh . ass la yufassar). For Sufis, its semiotic mechanism is evocation rather than commu- nication, hinging on symbolism (ramz) and allusion (ishāra), authorized and emotionally powered by the author’s high spiritual station (maqām), not liter- ary skill, proficiency, or stature. Such poetry thus arouses variegated meanings in its hearers, conditioned by individual relationships to the putative author or reciter (asyādnā), rather than transmitting a literary message. 17 These attitudes are long-standing. Writing on Sufism, the eleventh cen- tury theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (one of whose poems is performed in the laila transcribed below) noted seven reasons why “singing is more power- ful than Qur ʾan in arousing to ecstasy…” (MacDonald and al-Ghazzali 1901, 738–745), enumerating them as follows: 17 In an effort to help a friend and respected shaykh, ʿAbd al- ʿAlim al-Nakhayli, publish his Sufi poems (widely performed by munshidīn, but never printed), we brought his dīwān (poetry collec- tion) to the al-Azhar University Research Division for official approval, a necessary condition for publication in Egypt. There an editor corrected many small technical errors in ʿarūd . (meter). Such “mistakes” were irrelevant to the many Sufis who had performed and listened to them for years! In the end we ignored the “improved” version and the book was never published, though his poetry continues to circulate orally to this day. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 70 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 70 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 71 (1) Because the Qur ʾan must be understood as God intended and cannot be interpreted by the listener to suit his own state, as in the case of poetry. (2) Be- cause the Qur ʾan is fixed and well-known. That which is new makes a great - er impression. (3) Because poetic meters create an impression on the soul; the Qur ʾan lacks meter. (4) Because poetry is sung with variable melodies, whose application depends on being able to shorten and lengthen words, which is forbidden for the Qur ʾan. (5) Because sung poetry may be accompanied with beaten drums. (6) Because poetry can be tailored by the singer to the audience, and its meaning can be interpreted. According to the listener’s whim; these things are disallowed for the Qur ʾan. (7) Because poetry being created can be understood by the created, whereas the Qur ʾan is uncreated. 18 (Paraphrased in Frishkopf 1999, 745) Abu Hamid al-Ghazali adds that “it is not incumbent on the hearer that he should consider what the poet intended in his words. For every saying has different aspects, and every man of understanding has his own fortune” (Mac- Donald and al-Ghazzali 1901, 707). Meanings are felt to be authentic expressions of mystical experience, but also infinitely adaptable to the individual. For example, the ambiguous pro- nouns strewn throughout Sufi poetry referencing the universal “beloved” may be instantiated in many different ways to match the listener’s inner state (h . āl): as one’s shaykh or saint; as the Prophet or some member of the Prophet’s fam- ily; or as the Divine Essence (al-dhāt al-ilāhiyya). Likewise, the impossibility of casting ineffable mystical-emotional ex- perience into language means that ambiguous, even paradoxical, tropes are often deployed, rendering the poem both more powerful and more flexible; since meanings of such expressions are not clear-cut, each listener can apply them to his own h . āl. While texts are full of convention, meanings are infi- nitely variable. Sufi poetry is thus at once emotionally powerful, highly personal and per- sonalizable, and interpreted in the context of one’s relation to the putative author or reciter. Sufi Poetry, Sufi Poets, and Connection: Intertext and Interauthor Yet, processes of composition and reception in Sufi contexts also both reflect and promote an interconnected collective as well. Sufi poetry is a literary art, but is never art for art’s sake. Rather, its aim is functional: the expression and evocation of mystical feeling, towards spiritual advancement. There is thus no 18 This point references a long-standing debate between theological schools in Islam. The Mu ʿtazila held that the Qur ʾan is created by God, whereas the dominant Ash ʿari school, to which most Sun- ni Muslims adhere today, considered the Qur ʾan as one of God’s attributes, and hence uncreated. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 71 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 71 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 72 premium on originality. Rather, authors seek to express and to move by deploy- ing a common vocabulary, reiterating thoughts and feelings in a conventional form capable of touching many people simultaneously, if differently. Further, this common vocabulary is not simply a conventional literary style, but emerg- es from Sufism’s very essence, including a socio-spiritual fabric that tends to erase individuality. In its essence, Sufism transcends the myriad details of Islamic belief to ex- press deeper, more universal truths at the inner (bāt . ini) core of Islam, beyond superficial outward (z . āhiri) differences of sect or tradition. Moving towards this core, multiplicity disappears, like Divine Unicity itself. Inner knowledge (ma ʿrifa) is unified and affective, preverbal and essentially ineffable, but finds limited expression in poetry, which also serves to evoke it. Sufi poetry expresses these universal mystical ideas and, not surprisingly, has developed a core vo- cabulary of symbols, metaphors, and images for doing so. This vocabulary has flowed down to the present through the centuries- long socio-spiritual network of Sufis, each putative author inspired by others (sometimes in dreams, sometimes following h . ad . ra performance) to re-express feeling in similar words, the process culminating in the munshid himself, who lives the words and makes them his own before releasing them into the h . ad . ra. He too is a kind of author. Y et in a sense there are no individual authors – such texts are original to no one, but rather emerge as a collective product of the entire tradition, the socio-spiritual network itself, blessed and authorized by the great spiritual figures who forward it through the ages. Many stories exist of Sufis spontaneously reciting a poem while in an inten- sive emotional state (h . āl, wajd, nashwa), following h . ad . ra, inspired by their ex- periences of connection to the Beloved in the world of spirit ( ʿālam al-arwāh . ), while disciples memorize it, or hastily copy it down, perhaps reworking it in the process. Such poems may even be attributed to a temporary state of “union” (ittih . ād) with the Divine. Furthermore, various genres of poetic commentary emerged, such as tasht . īr and takhmīs, enabling a poet to weave one poem around another, thereby pro- ducing complex multiauthorial texts, and the same line may therefore be found in multiple versions. 19 There is also a tendency to imitate poems, maintaining meter, rhyme, and theme, using a technique called nahj. 20 For all these reasons, ascertaining an “author” can be difficult, in theory as well as practice. 19 For instance, in tasht . īr (literally “bisecting”) a poet weaves a new poem into an existing one by separating the hemistiches of each line, and inserting new poetic material between them. 20 An example is the Nahj al-Burda (sung by Egypt’s greatest singer, Umm Kulthum), composed by Ahmed Shawqi (1870–1932), based on the medieval poem in praise of the Prophet by al-Busiri (1213–1294), a celebrated Sufi saint of the Shadhili order and a disciple of Mursi Abu al- ʿAbbas (a saint mentioned in the h . adra described below). Busiri’s Burda, recited globally, and often her- alded as the most famous poem in Islam, has inspired tasht . īr and takhmīs as well as nahj imitations (see Stetkevych 2010). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 72 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 72 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 73 What all this means is that Sufi poetry is intrinsically intertextual; repeti- tion and ambiguity are paramount, and considerations of authorship, original- ity, artistic greatness, or literary authority secondary. The goal of Sufi poetry is Islamic mystical expression and training (tarbiya), not art, and if the Sufi poet seeks any status it is not as poet per se, but rather as teacher. In Egypt I met many shaykhs who composed poetry but did not care for literary recognition; in several cases (as for Shaykh ʿAbd al- ʿAlim al-Nakhayli) their fragments were distributed and sung without attribution. Indeed this negation of the authorial self is consistent with Sufi values of humility, khushū ʿ reaching its extreme in fanā ʾ, the dissolution of the ego-self. Clearly the intertextuality of Sufi poetry – a network of texts – reflects a corresponding socio-spiritual network. But the intertextual network also induces socio-spiritual connectivity, through its invocation of a spiritual spec- trum of referents: God, the Prophet, the Āl al-Bayt, and the awliyā ʾ, as well as the putative authors, entering the h . ad . ra through their texts, each of whom bestows a particular mystical fragrance: the theosophical ʿAbd al-Karim al- Jili (disciple of the “greatest shaykh,” Ibn ʿArabi), the theologian Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. Sufi Poetry in the Public H . ad . ra The public h . ad . ra enables an additional layer of dense textual collaging, the re- weaving of a textual tapestry (to use a slightly different, equally apropos, visual metaphor), as the munshid – free to adjust text to suit his spiritual mood and that of his listeners, intercalates poetic excerpts from multiple sources, jumping from one to another, and sometimes back, permuting lines, as well as introduc- ing his own textual modifications and commentary. In performance the mun- shid spontaneously weaves an intertext, addressing his own spiritual state (h . āl) as well as those of other participants, who react not only to the text but also to the portion of the socio-spiritual network it invokes: its putative (or assumed) authors, and its referents. This performative intertext thus reflects the long Sufi spiritual tradition as well as addressing the here-and-now of h . ad . ra, not only those physically present but also the whole world of spiritual participation evoked by text and context. These idiosyncratic interpretations are nevertheless connected, through collective participation in the social reality of performance, as well as the ob- servable fact of meaningfulness: everyone is moved (albeit differently), and everyone understands that this is so. If the identity of the Beloved is private and personal, the emotion of love is shared. Participants express their inner states through a reverse flow of signs rooted in individual experience – a con- tinuous series of gestures, verbal expressions, movements, cries – signifying connections throughout the socio-spiritual network. Whether actively moving MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 73 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 73 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 74 and chanting in dhikr or merely listening, h . ad . ra participants are effectively writers as well as readers. To use a term introduced by literary theorist Roland Barthes, the Sufi intertext is “writerly.” 21 The munshid reads these texts and responds, closing a feedback loop, and drawing everyone closer together; ego-boundaries are dissolved (at least ephemerally) through this shared affective experience, amplified by the theo- retical mystical objective, fanā ʾ. As they write and read each other, the intertext shapes, as well as reflects, the socio-spiritual network in real time, drawing it together in cohesive solidarity. Intertext and interauthor are intricately, inti- mately interlocked. 22 Due to the importance of poetry in the expressions and communications of saints and shaykhs, along with their spiritual influence on one another, Sufi poetry emerges, across the centuries, as an intertext mirroring Sufism’s socio- spiritual network. Now we see that this intertext is also (re)produced in per- formance itself, through feedback, and so the concept of interauthor can be extended to include all participants in such events. At the same time the in- tertext shapes the socio-spiritual network, by conditioning Sufis’ relationships with each other, particularly in performance, and so we come to the conclusion that an intertext and an interauthor exist in a mutually constitutive, dynamic and dialectical relationships, each shaping the other. In sum: Sufi poetry is both personal, and collective. Its idiosyncratic mean- ings are a key source of its connective power. It is also highly intertextual, and its intertexual network reflects the socio-spiritual network at the heart of Sufi life and practice, a network which underlies poetic generation and which I therefore term the interauthor. Further, the intertext actively conditions that interauthor, and indeed the socio-spiritual network as a whole. Intertext and interauthor are logical duals: Sufis connect texts, and texts connect Sufis, both outside and within performance. Language binds Sufis in solidarity, and Sufis glue together myriad textual fragments into an intertextual whole. The emer- gent text is an expression of the socio-spiritual network, as read by the munshid. But it is also imprinted on the assembled group, moving them individually (emotionally), and moving them together (socially). By carefully analyzing the collaging of a performed text – the poetic tap- estry of performance – we may gain a deeper understanding of Sufism as both a textual and a socio-spiritual reality. These facts motivate the detailed consid- eration of a particular h . ad . ra in what follows. 21 “Why is the writerly our value? Because the goal of literary work (of literature as work) is to make the reader no longer a consumer, but a producer of the text” (Barthes 2006, 4). Despite its medi- eval roots, the Sufi tradition is surprisingly “postmodern.” 22 I have analyzed the paradoxical connection between individual and collective aspects of Sufi au- thorship, in and out of h . ad . ra performance, in an extended article (Frishkopf 2003a). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 74 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 74 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 75 III . A Typical Public H . ad . ra: Shaykh Yasin al-Tuhami Performs for the Fortieth Day Memorial (Arba ʿīn) of Shaykh Abu Shama, 8 February 1996 23 In the second half of this paper I unpack the dynamic construction of intertext and interauthor, through an analysis of a particular performance by Egypt’s most celebrated public h . ad . ra munshid, Shaykh Yasin al-Tuhami. Hailing from the village of Hawatka, near Assiut in Upper Egypt, Shaykh Yasin has been performing the h . ad . ra ʿamma at mawālid and life cycle occa- sions throughout the country since the mid-1970s, and has become widely known and imitated as the primary exponent of an Upper Egyptian style of inshād centered on classical Arabic poetry. 24 Rather than affiliate to a specific Sufi order, Shaykh Yasin is a muh . ibb, singing for them all. The h . ad . ra took place on February 8, 1996, on the occasion of the 40 th day memorial (arba ʿīn) for a locally celebrated shaykh of the Rifa ʿiyya 25 order, Shaykh Abu Shama, in Bedari, a small town not far from the large city of As- siut in Upper Egypt (the S . a ʿīd). I had been visiting Shaykh Yasin at his home in nearby Hawatka, and he brought me with him to this laila. As Shaykh Abu Shama was greatly beloved, and due to the profusion of Sufi munshidīn in Up- per Egypt, this particular laila was somewhat unusual, comprising a sequence of different performers taking the stage in sequence, each performing a shorter than usual h . ad . ra. Several thousand men were in attendance (women appear rarely in h . ad . ra, especially in Upper Egypt). I recorded Shaykh Yasin’s eighty-minute performance using a single video camera, doing my best to capture scenes of the dhikr as well as the performers, and later obtaining a complete textual transcript from my research assistant, Taha Gad Salim. Subsequently I tracked down nearly every line of poetry to its putative source, though the task is practically difficult and, in some sense, doomed to failure in principle, due to the interauthorial origins of the Sufi intertext. Shaykh Yasin performs only classical (fus . h . a) Arabic poetry, together 23 The video is available on Y ouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRDDPTiue8 (Frishkopf 1996); timing information in the table below (see Table 1) enaables the reader to navigate to each poem. 24 Other styles of inshād center on colloquial poetry, but Shaykh Yasin performs only in classical Arabic (fus . h . a). Besides traditional contexts in Egypt, since the latter 1990s he has also performed for a world-music crowd at festivals and concerts in Europe and the Middle East, and he has pub- lished many dozens of recordings, including a high-end production on the French Long Distance label (al-Tuhami 1998). Information about Shaykh Yasin, as well as recordings, is available on the internet as well as in scholarship (see Frishkopf 2000, 2001a, 2002, 2009; Waugh 1989). 25 Egyptians consider Sidi Ahmad al-Rifa ʿi (1106–1182) an “axial saint” (qut . b), and his order is widespread throughout rural Egypt, though highly ramified through dozens of subsidiary orders, each tracing to Sidi Ahmad through their silsila. A large Rifa ʿi mosque in Cairo centers the saint’s mawlid, but his burial place is Iraq, and Rifa ʿi Sufis can be found throughout the Muslim world, from South Asia to the Middle East and Balkans, as well as in western diasporas. As a whole, the order enjoys a reputation for ecstatic ritual (Campo 2009). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 75 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 75 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 28. 07. 2022 12:07:47 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 76 with madad (supplications to the saints). Most classical poetry follows the pre- Islamic qas . īda form, 26 each ode featuring a single meter and rhyme, and thus it is not difficult to detect the boundary between poems, even if the mystical content is more continuous (though the munshid can also create textual conti- nuities by maintaining meter and rhyme between juxtaposed poems; see video stills in Figure 2, and the video in Frishkopf 1996). Figure 2: The Shaykh Abu Shama laila, February 8, 1996. Clockwise from top left: (a) Shaykh Yasin performs, (b) thousands of dhakkīra, (c) percussionists playing frame drum, riqq, and hourglass drum, t . abla, and (d) melodic instrumentalists (violin and, in the background, a reed flute, called kawala). 26 The qas . īda is the essential form of classical Arabic poetry. While in contemporary contexts the word simply means “poem,” since pre-Islamic times it also has a more restricted definition: a series of lines (abyāt; sing. bayt), each divided into two hemistiches (asht . ur; sing. shat . ra), in a single meter (bah . r), each line terminating in the same end rhyme (qāfiya), a construction centered on a pri- mary rhyme letter (h . arf al-rawi) (Wright et al. 1996, 352). All poetry performed in the laila and transcribed below is in the qas . īda form. As an example, consider lines 20 and 21, excerpted from al-Ghazali’s lengthy Tā ʾiyya (poem rhyming in the letter “t”) in his Ma ʿarij al-Quds (al-Ghazali 1988, 196), here presented in transliteration. A dash follows the first shat . ra of each line, and the end rhyme in “ti” is apparent. In line 21, Shaykh Yasin transforms fanā ʾ (annihilation) into the morphologically equivalent ghinā ʾ (song), in a self-referential move consistent with the meaning of the poem (t . arab, musical ecstasy; naghamāt, melodies) and the h . ad . ra performance itself. See Table 3 below for further context and explanation. Line 20: “Arā kulla dhi sukrin sa yash . ū mini-l-hawā – illā anā fasah . wi fīka ʿillatu sakratī” (“Every drunkard will awaken from love – except me, for my wakefulness in you intoxicates me”) Line 21: “Mā at . raba-l-arwāh .a minna ladā-l-ghinā ʾ– siwā naghamātin adrakathā qadīmati” (“What enraptures the spirits when there’s singing – but melodies they knew in ancient times?”) MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 76 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 76 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 77 Poetic Sources in Shaykh Yasin’s H . ad . ra for Shaykh Abu Shama 27 As I have already explained, Sufi poetry is notoriously difficult to source, for both practical and theoretical reasons. Even assuming that a poem can reason- ably be attributed to a single original author, it is difficult to ascertain who that author may be. One finds written sources providing different authorial attributions, “traditional” attributions (“from some of the muh . ibbīn”), lacking any attribution, or implicitly attributed to the author of a book. Sometimes attribution is only implied; often a poem is included in a larger prose work to illustrate a theme, but in such cases it is not clear if the prose author is claiming authorship of the poem or simply quoting from it. Sufi poems are often gen- erated and transmitted orally, evolving through the transmission process, and perhaps only later written down, by which time many others have contributed and the original author’s identity has been lost. Making the process even more complex, the poem may have developed col- laboratively across multiple authors or performers, each of whom may intro- duce small variations or permutations, which commonly appear as differences between printed collections. Inspiration blurs authorship as well. Another form of collaboration is metaphysical. Miraculous stories emerge of poets be- ing inspired by other figures, who convey poetry “on the tongue” ( ʿala lisan) of someone else, such spiritual inspiration – by one’s shaykh or qut . b (“axial” saint; see Footnotes 8 and 25) – being enabled by the belief system in which such poetry is embedded. Was a poem really written by Ibn Sab ʿin, or did he inspire one of his disciples to write it in his name? The Poetic Collage: A Schematic Shaykh Yasin’s eighty-minute performance comprises eight different mystical poems (in the qas . īda form) thought to be composed by seven different poets, connected both through their silsilas and their literary ideas. Though these po- ems present different meters and rhyme schemes, semantically they are woven together in a continuous brocade. In the following schematic, each shade or color represents an excerpt from a different poetic source, though all the sourc- es are connected through the single Sufi intertext and interauthor, reflecting a unified meaning and socio-spiritual tradition. In performance Shaykh Yasin repeats lines in different improvisational settings, and frequently jumps back in the sequence, sometimes even returning to a previous poem (as at line 15) before resuming (as at line 19). (See Table 1.) 27 Many thanks to my friend Taha Gad who transcribed the text in full, and to my wife Iman Mersal who assisted in the translation. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 77 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 77 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 78 Table 1: A schematic of the poetic collage for the Shaykh Abu Shama laila Shading or color matches to poems. Sources are provided in Table 2, and poetry itself in Table 3. Times indicate the first occurrence of each line (most lines are repeated, often following recitation of subsequent lines) and refer to the video (Frishkopf 1996). 28 Line Time Poem Rhyme letter Author 1 4:36 1 R Unknown 2 7:30 2 L Ibn Saba ʿin 3 9:14 4 9:36 5 14:16 6 15:25 7 15:41 8 18:09 3 B al-Mulla Hasan al-Bazzaz al-Mawsili 9 18:43 10 22:59 4 H ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jili 11 23:49 12 24:17 13 32:06 5 B ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jili 14 32:44 15 43.38 4 H 16 48:26 17 50:31 18 51:07 19 1:01:14 5 B 20 1:01:07 6 T Abu Hamid al-Ghazali 21 1:08:11 22 1:11:18 7 N Abu Madyan 23 1:12:25 24 1:13:05 25 1:16:32 26 1:17:03 8 M Abu al-Mawahib 27 1:17:47 28 1:18:13 29 1:18:34 30 1:18:47 28 The video is available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRDDPTiue8 . MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 78 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 78 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 79 The Interauthor and Its Authors All the presumed authors are Sufis, hailing from many different places and eras, and yet interconnected through intersecting Sufi lineages, influencing each other directly or indirectly through their writings and oral teachings. Several are widely known as saints or scholar-teachers. Poetry (whether to guide or to express) and authorship was secondary to their spiritual mission and socio- spiritual connections, as reflected in their writings. It should be noted too that predominantly prose Arabic works often contain poetic excerpts, providing a different register for communication to the reader; such is the case for instance for poetry by al-Jili and al-Ghazali (see below). Below they are presented in temporal order, by year of birth. Yet, though I spent an inordinate amount of time hunting through the in- ternet in search of the poetic lines assembled by Shaykh Yasin in performance, I could never be sure that these are really the authors, only that the poems appear in books (sometimes websites) with their names on them. Who really wrote these poems? Do they truly have unique authors? Or are these figures best considered merely as prominent nodes within a broader interauthorial network? All of this poetry is part of the Sufi tradition, a reflection of the in- terauthor, the literary aspect of a socio-spiritual network generating, and sup- ported by, the Sufi intertext. Abu Hamid al-Ghazali 29 (1058–1111) was born in Khurasan.Trained in Islamic law, he eventually moved to Baghdad where he taught at the famous Nizamiyya until suffering a nervous breakdown that caused him to leave his professorship and seek a deeper truth through Sufi teachers in Syria, before returning to his academic role. He is widely revered as the greatest theolo- gian of Sunni Islam, the singular figure to reconcile law (sharī ʿ) and mysticism (tas . awwuf), as formulated in his massive and renowned Ihya ʾ ʿUlūm al-Dīn (Revival of the Religious Sciences), a powerful influence upon Islam to the present. However it is another substantial writing (he is credited with hun- dreds), Ma ʿarij al-Quds fi Madarij Ma ʿrifat al-Nafs (The Ascent to the Divine Through the Path of Self-Knowledge) that concludes with his lengthy tā’iyya (poem rhyming in the letter “t”) from which Shaykh Yasin draws two lines (al-Ghazali 1988, 182–199; Watt 2012). 30 Abu Madyan Shu ʿayb “al-Ghawth” (1126–1197) was born in Cantillana, near Seville, and represents a crucial figure of western Sufism, as he taught the founders of multiple Sufi silsilas. Memorizing the Qur ʾan at an early age, he moved to Fez (Morocco) where he studied with local Sufi masters. Later he moved eastward, meeting Ahmad al-Rifa ʿi in Baghdad, then continued 29 Sometimes written “Ghazzali”; there is no agreement as to whether the letter “z” carries a shadda. 30 This rhyme came to possess intertextual significance in itself, being chosen for ʿUmar ibn al- Farid’s long Nazm al-Suluk (The Poem of the Way ), and many subsequent emulators. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 79 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 79 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 80 onwards to perform the hajj in Mecca, where he studied al-Ghazali and ap- pears to have met the founder of the Qadriyya Sufi line, ʿAbd al-Qadir al- Jilani, at Mecca. Abu Madyan is known as patron saint of Tilimsān (Tlemcen) (Marçais 2012; Trimingham 1998, 46–48). The entire Shadhili tradition also connects to Abu Madyan, via ʿAbd al-Salam ibn Mashish (d. 1228), spiritual guide (murshid) for Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili (d. 1258) himself. Ibn ʿArabi also bears Abu Madyan’s influence (Schimmel 1975, 250; 1982, 46; Tourneau 2012; Trimingham 1998, 47). Ibn Sab ʿin (1217–1279). Born in Murcia (Spain) and died in Mecca, he was a scientist (medicine, alchemy), Aristotelian philosopher and Sufi, who gathered a group of ascetic followers called al-Sab ʿiniyya (the Seventy). Exiled from his homeland due to his monist inclinations, he sought refuge in Ceuta, but was again forced out for his teachings. Moving to Bougie (Bijaya, Algeria) he met al-Shushtari, who became a disciple. He finally found refuge at Mecca. His disciple al-Shushtari praised him in poetry, including a qas . īda presenting the silsila of his t . arīqa, which included al-Hallaj and Abu Madyan. All three (al-Shushtari, al-Hallaj, and Abu Madyan) wrote poetry sung by Shaykh Ya- sin, including a poem by Abu Madyan in this laila (Faure 2012). Authorial attributions to Ibn Sab ʿin are particularly weak, however, as I found them only online. ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jili (1365–1428) was a Sufi who lived in many parts of the Muslim world, including Yemen and India. A descendant of ʿAbd al- Qadir al-Jilani, he likely participated in the Qadiriyya order. Mainly, he is closely associated with the “Shaykh al-Akbar” (greatest shaykh), Ibn ʿArabi (1165–1240), writing a commentary on the latter’s Futuhat al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations), and devoted to the concept of Wah . dat al-Wujūd, the Unity of Being. He wrote numerous books, most notably the influential al-Insan al-Kamil (The Perfect Man ), i.e. one who has realized oneness with God (in - cluding prophets and saints), including prose and poetry (al-Jili 1997). al-Jili was highly connected, spiritually: he spoke with angels, through auditions and visions, and even met the Prophet Muhammad, as well as other prophets and saints (Nicholson 2005, 57–124; Ritter 2012). Abu al-Mawahib al-Shadhili al-Tunisi (1417–1477), was born in Tunisia and died in Cairo. He was a follower of Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili and an influential member of the Shadhiliyya tariqa, and his poetry has often been re- cited at saints’ festivals (mawalid) and mosques. His influential treatise, Qawa- nin Hikam al-Ishraq (The Laws of Illumination ), a largely prose work containing several poems, has been translated into English (Abu al-Mawahib and Jurji 1978; Ahmed [n. d.]; Ghanem 2019). Hasan al-Bazzaz (1845–1887) was born in Mosul (Iraq). He memorized the Qur ʾan as a child, and wrote poetry in the local Sufi tradition, focusing on love for the Prophet, his family, and the Sufi saints. He is said to have joined MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 80 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 80 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 81 both the Rifā ʿiyya and the Naqshabandiyya Sufi orders. In the laila document- ed below, Shaykh Yasin recites several lines from one of Hasan’s poems prais- ing Sidi Ahmad al-Rifa ʿi, connecting both author and munshid to the Rifā ʿiyya Sufi tradition of Shaykh Abu Shama ( ʿAllaf 2021; “Hasan Al-Bazzaz” [n. d.]; “Qalbi Ilaykum” [n. d.]). Scattered across more than eight centuries, these authors, representing only a small sampling of Shaykh Yasin’s corpus (especially because the laila was relatively short), are closely linked to the awliyā ʾ (saints) mentioned in the madad sections, either as disciples or teachers (e.g. Abu Madyan as the spiritual progenitor of the Shadhiliyya tradition; Mulla Hasan Bazzaz as the follower of Sidi Ahmad al-Rifa ʿi), as well as to other authors represented in Shaykh Yasin’s repertoire, and in this way are closely linked with each other as well. On the other hand, it can never be said, definitively, that these are the authors at all, for they merely participate in the intertext, borrowing each other’s ideas, symbols, metaphors, and phrases, even entire poems, collaging ideas, and quoting with- out attribution, linked as interauthor. The Poetic T apestry Shaykh Yasin weaves together eight poetic sources, differing in formal struc- ture (rhyme and meter) but constantly reiterating the same intertextual themes, consistently deploying ambiguous metaphors and pronouns ( “you,” “they,” “he” or “she”) referring to the spiritual Beloved (whose identity remains unclear: God? Prophet? Prophet’s family? Saints? Shaykhs?), enabling each listener to interpret the lines idiosyncratically, according to their individual experience. Poetry expresses this experience, centering upon the persistent, painful longing for reunion with the Beloved (often as female: God’s dhāt, or Essence, beyond attributes (s . ifāt), is grammatically feminine, whereas Allah is grammatically masculine), and obstacles and ecstasies of the spiritual path (t . arīqa). The pow- erful experiences of spiritual intoxication are expressed through metaphors of drink, drunkenness, music, and dance; estrangement from those who (remain- ing on the exoteric path of Law) cannot understand; the desire or experience of self-annihilation (fanā ʾ) and ultimately union (wus . ūl) with the Beloved. Throughout Shaykh Yasin takes liberties with the printed (original? 31 ) poems (whether spontaneously or as planned in advance one cannot be sure): excerpt- ing lines, permuting their ordering, and through small variations by which he can better express himself and reach his listeners (see Tables 2 and 3). 31 We do not know whether the printed poems are “original,” or even if it is possible to identify an “original” given the complexities of the intertext. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 81 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 81 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 82 Table 2: Poetic sources, by line number in the performed text Every source is in the qas . īda form. Shaykh Yasin draws only a few lines from each one. Lines Poem Source 1 1 Unknown 2–7 2 Many websites cite poetry of Ibn Saba ʿin (“Qasa ʾid li-l-Hallaj […]” 2015; “Ahbab Sidi Ahmad...” [n. d.]; al-Tariqa al-Hashimiyya [n. d.]; “Allah rabbi wa al-islam dini” [n. d.]; “Atef Elhawa” [n. d.]; “Dirasat fi al-Turath” [n. d.]). But one book cites al-Damrawi as the author (Maqrizi and Ghalili 2002). 8–9 3 From a poem by al-Mulla Hasan al-Bazzaz al-Mawsili (1845–1887) (The Ministry of Awqaf and Islamic Affairs 2018; “Qalbi Ilaykum” [n. d.]; Abu al-Huda al-Sayyadi 1980, 243–244; “Hasan Al-Bazzaz” [n. d.]). 10, 11, 12, 15–18 4 From the fifth chapter of ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jili’s al-Insan al-Kamil, on Unity (fi al-Ahadiyya) (al-Jili 1997, 48; “al-Jili 5” [n. d.]). 13–14, 19 5 From the thirteenth chapter of ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jili’s al-Insan al- Kamil, on the manifestation of the Names (fi tajalli al-asma’) (al-Jili 1997, 65; “Al-Jili 13” [n. d.]). 20 6 From al-Ghazali’s Tā ʾiyya in his Ma ʿarij al-Quds (al-Ghazali 1988, 196). 21 From al-Ghazali’s Tā ʾiyya in his Ma ʿarij al-Quds (al-Ghazali 1988, 194). 22–25 7 From the dīwān of Abu Madyan (Abu Madyan 2011, 37). 26–30 8 From a poem by Abu al-Mawahib al-Tunisi, as cited in Ibn Ajiba’s Iqaz al-Himam, lines 5–9, with slight modifications (Ibn ʿAjibah 1985, 299); the (original?) poem in Abu al-Mawahib’s dīwān is slightly different and Shaykh Yasin sings a permuted version of it (corresponding to lines 7, 8, 9, 4, and 5; see Abu al-Mawahib 1998, 116–117). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 82 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 82 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 83 Table 3: Poetry as presented in performance Words in parentheses are recited as alternatives when the line is repeated. Translation Second hemistich First hemistich Your 32 memory is a fingerprint, inscribed by needlepoint beyond the horizons of vision 1 صربلا قامآ قوف ربلإا نونف اهتشقن تماصب كاركذ He who hinted about reaching him is not like the one who walked with him until he arrived 2 لصو ىتح هب يرس يذلاك هل لصولاب هون نم سيلف No, and the one who reaches me is not like the one who knocked on the door, and entered the house 3 لخد رادللو بابلا قرط يذلاك يدنع لصاولا لاو لا No, nor is the one who entered like the one they seated at the beginning 4 لهتسلما في مهدنع هوسلجأ يذلاك يدنع لخادلا لاو لا No, nor is the one they seated among them like the one they confided in, for it is a place for the secret 5 لحم سرلل وهف هورراس يذلاك مهدنع هوسلجأ نم لاو لا No, nor is the one who they confided in like the one who confided in them, so leave that argument 6 لدجلا كاذ عدف مهايإ راس يذلاك هرراس نم لاو لا This is a matter to which the heart is attached; as soon as any of it appears, it kills 33 7 لتق لاإ هضعب ىدبت ام هب بلقلا قلع ٌ رمأ كاذف O my heart, be patient with the abandonment of loved ones, do not be afraid of that, for some abandonment is discipline 8 ُ بيدأت رجهلا ضعبف كاذل عزجت لا ٌةبحلأا رجه لىع ا ً برص يبلق اي 32 Note that throughout “you” is ambiguous, as is typical of Arabic poetry; the pronoun could refer to God, the Prophet, the Prophet’s family (Āl al-Bayt), the saints (awliyā ʾ), or the spiritual world ( ʿālam al-arwāh . ) generally. Pronomial antecedents are often left for the listener to fill in, flexible connectors enabling poetry to resonate simultaneously with a diverse audience on many levels, their meanings depending on spiritual state. 33 I.e. kills the ego-self ( nafs), producing fanā ʾ (self-annihilation). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 83 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 83 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 84 Translation Second hemistich First hemistich The soul and the heart, indeed all of me is a gift for them, and how can something gifted be lost? 9 بوهوم وهو ٌ ئيش 34 عيضي فيكو ٌةبه مهل ّ لّيك لب بلقلاو حورلاف My eyes for you are purified in her, and sanctified in her name and attributes 10 اهتافصو اهمسا في تسدقتو اهتاذ في ته ِّ زُن كسفنل ينيع So recognize her as she deserves, and do not say that I deserved her goodness 11 اهتابثب اهنسح تقحتسا سيفن لقت لاو قحتست ام اهل دهشأف Fill your glasses with wine (drink your wine in glasses) 35 and do not say “leave the wine in her tavern” 12 اهتاناح في حارلا ك ترب ًاموي كمادم بشراو( مادلماب كسوؤك لأماو لقت لاو )سوؤكلاب First madad section (see the section below) ١ ددم And what can that mean but that we are one spirit, that heals us in two bodies – how wondrous! 13 بيجع وهو نماسج انل ىوادت ٍ دحاو حور اننأ لاإ كاذ امو My essence is for her, my name is her name, and my state is with her in a strange union 14 ُ بيرغ داحتلاا في اهب لياحو اهمسا يمساو ٌ تاذ اهل تياذف Jili, my unveiling [jalwati] is burnished [yunjala] so I praise him [ujilluhu] 36 ُهُّل ِج ُ أف تيولج لىجن ُ ي لّييج 34 Shaykh Yasin skips the preceding line and changes yarja ʿ (return) to yad . ī ʿ (be lost). 35 Shaykh Yasin repeats the line substituting the text in parentheses. Wine is a frequent metaphor for the path to mystical intoxication in love. 36 This line is not poetry, but Shaykh Yasin’s interjection: a metacommentary referencing the poem’s author, ʿAbd al-Karim al-Jili, disciple of al-shaykh al-akbar (the greatest shaykh), Muhiy al-Din Ibn ʿArabi, using the fact that Jili’s name (literally “from Jil”) resembles several words carrying mystical significance: unveiling (jalwati; the moment of Divine connection), being burnished (yunjala; burnishing better reflects the Divine), and praising (ujillu). Such an exclamation under- lines authorial authority in the performed text, and also constitutes a de facto invocation of the author, regarded as a spiritual presence in the h . ad . ra. But the pronoun in “praise him” is ambiguous and could also refer to God, the Prophet, or any saint. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 84 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 84 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 85 Translation Second hemistich First hemistich What is the harm in making her name your metaphor and preserving the sanctity of her essence? 37 15 اهتاذ ةمر ُ ح َ تظفحو اهمسا كنع ًةيانك تلعج ول ك ضري اذام And Y ou revealed the Essence of Your Name, and Glory is the manifestation of Her Name and attributes (features) 16 )اهتماس( اهتافصو اهمسا رهظم زعلاو ارهظم كمسلا تاذلا لىجم تلعجو And you built (erected) its stones over your treasure, so that the ignorant one would not see its sanctities 17 اهتامرح لهاج دهاشي لا كياهراجح كنم زنكلا قوف ) َ تمقأو( َ تينبو Be the best protector of this trust, and do not let its secrets slip away 18 اهتاشول اهراسرأ عدت لاو ينملاا َ م ْ عِن اهب نك ةناملأا ي ِ ذه Second madad section (see the section below) ٢ ددم As a person who has two names and one self, which one does the self call from in order to reach [the other]? 19 بيصت هنم تاذلا ىدانت يأب دحاو تاذلاو نماسا هل ٍ صخشك Everything has a door, and the door to God is Muhammad, God’s Prophet 38 هللا لوسر ٌدمحم هللا بابو باب ٍ ءشي لكل 37 There follows a lazima (plural lawāzim; a musical interlude featuring instruments, though all may sing along on “ah”), the beautiful opening to a religious song Khushū ʿ (Humility), originally performed by Egyptian singer Yasmine El Khayam. All may sing this and other lawāzim. Shaykh Yasin adds “Allah”, turning the song into a dhikr. This particular song was composed by popular artists ʿAmar al-Shari ʿi with lyrics by ʿAbd al-Wahhab Muhammad. The Egyptian singer Yas- mine El Khayam, daughter of the famous Qur ʾan reciter Shaykh Muhammad Khalil al-Husari, was well-known for religious and nationalistic songs, performed with a respectable comportment. In 1990 she retired from music for religious reasons. By the same logic of musical respectability, lawāzim from Umm Kulthum’s songs are also a frequent choice for inshād. 38 Another instance of the munshid’s non-poetic interjections. Some are non-lexical exclamations, such as “ah,” to be interpreted as emotional expressions; others, such as this one, are absolutely clear in meaning. Either type can quickly raise the emotional level, providing a respite from more abstruse, even paradoxical Sufi poetry, as in the preceding line. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 85 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 85 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 86 Translation Second hemistich First hemistich Every drunkard will awaken from love except me, for my wakefulness in you intoxicates me 39 20 تيركس ةلع كيف يوحصف انأ لاإ ىوهلا نم وحصيس ركس يذ لك ىرأ What can enrapture 40 the spirits when there’s singing 41 except melodies they knew in ancient times? 42 21 ِ ةيمدق اهتكردأ ٍ تماغن ىوس انغلا ىدل ا ّنم حاورلأا برطأ ام We awaken by remembering you; though we do not see you, the remembrance of loved ones refreshes us 22 انشعني ةبحلأا راكذت نإ لاأ مكارن لم اذإ مكاركذب ايحن We are moved by remembrance of hadiths about you, and had it not been for your love in our hearts, we would not have moved 23 انك رحت ام اشحلا في مكاوه لاولو مكنع ثيداحلأا ركذ انك رحي If souls are shaken with longing for the meeting, yes the spirits dance, oh you who are ignorant of the meaning 43 24 ىنعلما لهاج اي حابشلأا صقرت معن اقللا لىإ ًاقوش حاورلأا تزتها اذإ 39 Again we see two features typical of Sufi poetry: the metaphor of love as intoxication (interpret- able in a deeper sense as fanā ʾ: self-annihilation), and paradox, fracturing reason in search of a deeper non-discursive truth, like a Zen koan. Sufi theorists often distinguished binary oppositions along the mystical path, such as intoxication (sukr) and wakefulness or sobriety (sah . w), arising fol- lowing an ecstatic mystical experience (al-Qushayri 2011, 93); here the latter is held to cause the former. 40 Literally, “causes to feel t . arab” (musical emotion). 41 Here is an instance of transformations wrought by the munshid tradition, if not Shaykh Yasin himself. What appears to be the original poem, as published in a modern edition, has the word fanā ʾ, the mystical state of self-annhiliation. The munshid sings the morphologically equivalent, rhyming word ghinā ʾ, singing. 42 This line, explicitly invoking t . arab, references the time of the Primordial Covenant, mīthāq (here qadīma, “ancient times”) using the metaphor of song to represent dhikr as remembrance of a prior communion with the Divine. This line also acts deictically, pointing to the unfolding h . ad . ra and self-referentially referring to Shaykh Yasin’s unfolding performance. 43 Shaykh Yasin permutes the lines; this one would be the last of those recited, according to the pub- lished poem (though establishing an authoritative form is admittedly difficult). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 86 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 86 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 28. 07. 2022 12:07:48 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 87 Translation Second hemistich First hemistich Tell the one who forbids his people: if you do not taste the meaning of God’s drink (love’s drink) then leave us 25 انعد )اوهلا( هللا باشر ىنعم قذت لم اذإ هلهأ دجولا نع يهني يذلل لق If I spoke, I would not speak to anyone but you, and all my heart is occupied 44 with your love 26 مكبحب لوغشم يبلق لكو مك يرغب قطنأ لم تملكت نإ انأ You took my soul from me gently, for I have not known others since I have known you 27 مكتفرع ذم ًايرغ فرعأ تسلف ٍ ةفطلام في ينم يحور متذخأ I forgot every path I knew except for the path that leads me to your quarter 28 مكعبرل ينيدؤت ً أقيرط لاإ اهفرعأ تنك قيرط لك تيسن What use are houses if you do not occupy them? What use are homes, abandoned places, tentsites? 45 29 ميخلا ام للاطلأا ام رايدلا ام اهب او ّلحت نأ لاول نكاسلما ام Were it not for you, 46 I would have yearned for neither neighborhood nor ruins, nor would my legs have carried me to the sanctuary 30 مدق ىمحلا وحن لىإ بي تعس لاو للط لاو ٌ عبر ينقاش ام مكلاول Third (final) madad section (see the section below) ٣ ددم 44 The printed edition has mashghūf, possessed; Shaykh Yasin may have felt mashghūl (preoccupied) would be easier to understand, less controversial, or both. 45 The implication is “Nothing has meaning without your presence.” Abandoned ruins of old en- campments (at . lāl, a common trope of pre-Islamic poetry as site of nostalgia for the absent be- loved) are frequented by Sufi ascetics, and thus acquire a spiritual significance as places of retreat ( khilwa), for contemplation and remembrance – but even they have no meaning. Here he ex- changes manāzil (homes) for masākin (houses), perhaps to emphasize the point, though the two words are close in meaning and morphology. 46 Shaykh Yasin uses the plural form, implying (for many Egyptian Sufis) the Āl al-Bayt, while the original poem has the more ambiguous singular “you.” MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 87 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 87 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 88 Madad: A Spiritual Journey in Time, Space, and Silsila At the culmination of each poetic segment a madad section occurs, performed at the fastest tempos, offering an ecstatic interlude through a readily com- prehensible text, its lucidity contrasting sharply with the preceding esoteric poetry. Madad evokes an outpouring of emotion, both because it is an explicit and deeply-felt prayer, entreating spiritual assistance and blessing, and be- cause it invokes familiar, beloved spiritual personnages. In each madad sec- tion, Shaykh Yasin petitions a series of saints (awliyā ʾ) in the form “Madad yā X” (help us, oh X), where X is replaced by the name of a walī or saint, often implicitly praised by the addition of an epithet (laqab). Unlike the opacities of Sufi poetry, these invocations are completely transparent. Every laila con- cludes with madad. Textually, the names and epithets of invocation are clear. While some lis- teners may not be familiar with all of them, most are recognized, and their mention also invokes a personal relationship to those they know, particularly the primary saints – and especially the Āl al-Bayt, who are universally beloved and deeply embedded in Sufis’ lives. The impact of mentioning a very local saint may be more limited, but they are important in connecting with the lo- cal population. The munshid prepares himself with hagiographic knowledge (sometimes through consultations with the laila’s hosts) in order to perform madad relevant to the h . ad . ra location. 47 The mention of these spiritually charged names and epithets serves imme - diately to evoke emotion, particularly for followers of the named saint, or those from his or her spiritual lineage, or who live in his or her precinct (rih . āb), and who thus enjoy the saint’s baraka (blessing) and protection as “patron saint.” Relationships with saints are highly individual, and listeners are affected in very personal ways, depending on the particular history of their spiritual rela- tionship with the figure named, often mediated through ziyāra, attendance at mawālid, or appearance in dreams. But even if everyone is not equally affected by a particular madad, emotion released into the shared performance space serves to raise the general emotional level, intensifying the dhikr, and feeding back to performers. The epithet, signifying stature or personal qualities, may also amplify the effect, for instance Sayyida Nafisa (the Prophet’s great-granddaughter) is in- voked as Sitt al-Karima (the generous lady), and her Cairo shrine is one of the most oft-visited by muh . ibbīn seeking spiritual or material support. At a laila, mention of her name invokes her presence, evoking and amplifying the love muh . ibbīn feel for her, while recalling prior visits, as well as the positive out- comes that followed, underscoring her generous nature. 47 Shaykh Yasin told me that sometimes he is unsure about which local shaykhs and saints to mention in the course of the laila; local organizers hand him slips of paper with their names. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 88 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 88 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 89 Saints are believed to inhabit the world of spirits ( ʿālam al-arwāh . ), free to instantly move anywhere (or be present everywhere). At the same time, they are strongly linked to their shrines 48 where they are thought to be more strongly present, 49 and thus there is always an emphasis on those with Egyptian shrines, who are frequently visited, whose mawālid are well-attended, and whose men- tion thus evokes memories of such events and all the people involved. The munshid presents madad in a logical spiritual-chronological-geograph- ical sequence that traces the spiritual lineages (silsilas) of Islam, from their origins in the Prophet’s family and companions, to the saints who founded primary t . arīqa lines (aqt . āb), to lesser known local saints who are neverthe- less deeply meaningful for attendees interacting with them on a daily basis. Reciting madad for these saints thus traces a journey across a spiritual topog- raphy, through branching silsilas that lead, ultimately, to the particular locale and community of performance. Those with Egyptian shrines are marked with an asterisk in what follows (see Figure 3). Figure 3: The spiritual topography of madad. Shaykh Yasin begins with several of the Āl al-Bayt (green) before proceeding to remember and petition awliyā’ (saints), following lines of descent, genealogical (nasab) or spiritual (silsila). Shaykh Abu Shama is in blue. 50 48 Usually, but not always, the shrine marks the gravesite. 49 One Egyptian Sufi explained this paradox of saints being both “here” (at the shrine) and “every- where” as analogous to a quantum mechanical wave function! 50 See online map available at the following link: https://www.google.com/maps/d/u/1/ edit?mid=1ro--TB-4XyFkvIzMOLiqmXaDTvCtytRL&ll=28.066548005158964%2C37.09885 490000002&z=7. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 89 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 89 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 90 Madad 1 This first section focuses on the Prophet’s family ( Āl al-Bayt) and companions (s . ah . āba), some of whom have Cairo shrines, before concluding with three lo- cal saints, including Shaykh Abu Shama himself, and a major saint of Upper Egypt, Sidi Farghal of Abu Tig (see Table 4). Table 4: Madad section 1 51 Supplicating Meaning Supplicating Āl Bayt al-Nabi The Prophet’s family, including his immediate family members and descendants يبنلا تيب لآ Sayyidna al-Imam ʿAli Ali, the Prophet’s cousin and son-in-law لّيع ماملإا انديس Sayyidna al-Hamza Hamza, the Prophet’s paternal uncle ةزمحلا انديس Sayyidna al- ʿAbbas ʿAbbas, the Prophet’s paternal uncle سابعلا انديس Sittina al-zahrā ʾ ya batūl The Prophet’s daughter, Fatima, referred to by her nicknames zahrā ʾ (shining) and batūl (pure) لوتب اي ءارهزلا انتس Ahl al-t . ahāra ahl al- ʿaffa The people of purity (addressing the Prophet’s family generally) ةفعلا لهأ ةراهطلا لهأ Mawlana Sayyidina al-Hasan Hasan, the Prophet’s grandson نسحلا انديس انلاوم Mawlana Sayyidina al-Husayn Husayn, the Prophet’s grandson* ينسحلا انديس انلاوم Sitt al-Karima s . āhibat al-shūra yā karīmat al-dārayn sittina al- Sayyida Nafisa Nafisa, the Prophet’s great- great-great-granddaughter, referred to here also as “possessor of wisdom,” “generous lady,” “generous one of the two abodes”* ةيمرك اي ىروشلا ةبحاص ةيمركلا تس ةسيفن ةديسلا انتس نيرادلا Yā Sīdī ʿAli murabbi al-aytām ʿAli Zayn al- ʿAbidin, the Prophet’s great-grandson, referred to as “the one who raises orphans”* ماتيلأا بيرم لّيع يديس اي 51 Beginning at 24:33 of the video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRDDPTiue8 (Frishkopf 1996). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 90 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 90 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 91 Supplicating Meaning Supplicating Sitt Fātima al-Nabawiyya bint al-Imam The Prophet’s great- grandaughter, Fatima (Husayn’s daughter)* ماملإا تنب ةيوبنلا ةمطاف تس Ya s . āh . ib al-dhikrā shaykhanā yā Abu ʿUmar Shaykh Abu Shama, in whose honor the h . ad . ra is held* اي ةماش ابأ اي انخيش ىركذلا بحاص اي رمع وبأ Sayyidna al- ʿAryan A local saint* نايرعلا انديس ʿAmm yā Farghal A great saint of Abu Tig, a nearby town, about 17 km away* لغرف اي مع *The saint has a shrine in Egypt. Madad 2 In this sequence Shaykh Yasin traces the main spiritual silsilas via the four “axes” (aqt . āb), the axial saint (qut . b) being the highest of his age. (A similar sta- tion is that of “ghawth” (savior), attributed to Abu Madyan; see Table 5.) Table 5: Madad section 2 52 Supplicating Meaning Supplicating Sīdī yā abā al- ʿālamayn ʿamm yā Rifa ʿi Ahmad al-Rifa ʿi (“possessor of the two worlds”), founder of the Rifa ʿiyya tariqa* يعافر اي مع ينملعلا ابأ اي يديس Sīdī yā abā al- ʿaynayn sīdī Ibrahim ʿamm ya Dasuqi Ibrahim al-Dasuqi (“possessor of two eyes”), founder of the Burhamiyya tariqa* اي مع ميهاربإ يديس يننيعلا ابأ اي يديس يقوسد Shaykh al- ʿArab ʿamm yā sayyid yā abā majāhid Ahmad al-Badawi, “shaykh of the Arabs,” founder of the Badawiyya tariqa, originally initiated as a Rifa ʿi* دهاجم ابأ اي ديس اي مع برعلا خيش Sīdī abā al-Hasan ʿamm ya Shadhili Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili, founder of the Shadhiliyya tariqa* ليذاش اي مع نسحلا ابأ يديس Sīdī abā al- ʿAbbas ʿAmm yā Mursi Abu al- ʿAbbas al-Mursi, disciple of Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili* سيرم اي مع سابعلا ابأ يديس 52 Beginning at 51:40 of the video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRDDPTiue8 (Frishkopf 1996). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 91 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 91 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 92 Supplicating Meaning Supplicating Sīdī abā al-sibā ʿ abā al-d . ayfan A local saint* نافيضلا ابأ عابسلا ابأ يديس Sa ʿd al-Din yā Jibali A local saint* ليابج اي نيدلا دعس Shaykh ʿAbd al-Na ʿim A local saint* ميعنلا دبع خيش Yā shaykh ʿAlwan shaykh ʿAbdallah A local saint* هللا دبع خيش ناولع خيش اي Sayyidna al-Duwayli A local saint* لّييودلا انديس Yā Abā ʿAbd al-Da ʾim A local saint* مئادلا دبع ابأ اي *The saint has a shrine in Egypt. Madad 3 The concluding madad section is very short, focusing on Shaykh Abu Shama, and introducing two other local saints (see Table 6). Table 6: Madad section 3 53 Supplicating Meaning Supplicating s . āh . ib al-dhikrā shaykhanā yā Abu ʿUmar Shaykh Abu Shama, in whose honor the h . ad . ra is held* ةماش وبأ انخيش ىركذلا بحاص Sidi ʿAbd al-Nabi A local saint* يبنلا دبع يديس Sayyidina al- ʿAryan A local saint* نايرعلا انديس *The saint has a shrine in Egypt. Conclusion A close analysis of the h . ad . ra text provides a fascinating glimpse into the nature and meaning of Egyptian Sufism, as well as suggesting how its spiritual-social and ideational structures are maintained through ritual. This complex, compound text, woven through performance in response to a socio-spiritual dynamic, reflects the relationships of those present – whether physically or spiritually, invoking the entire socio-spiritual network. Mean- while the text also serves to shape that network, injecting and conditioning meaning and Sufis’ relationships to one another. Words of a shaykh or mun- shid trigger meaning at multiple levels: for what they say, for whom they ref- erence, and to whom they are attributed. Sufis interpret them as authentic, 53 Beginning at 1:19:03 of the video available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lgRDDPTiue8 (Frishkopf 1996). MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 92 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 92 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 28. 07. 2022 12:07:49 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 93 representing genuine mystical experience (including the munshid’s own), ren- dered in linguistic form, and applied to their own. This fact adds to their idi- osyncratic potency. Yet they act on the gathered company in multiple ways. Abstract symbols can address many people at once, linking them, while allow- ing each to bring a unique interpretation, whereas the more transparent seg- ments of madad evoke personal relationships. The triggering of listeners’ h . āl is somewhat unpredictable; as the munshid sings, it is as if he trips landmines of spiritual emotion, each invisibly affecting only a particular group of people, dif- ferent each time, in different places throughout the performance space, whose passion pours forth to enliven the gathering. But ultimately everyone is moved, and the resulting emotion – expressed in various ways: words, gestures, or movements – pours back into the collec- tive context, gathering everyone together as one. Through potent but am- biguous and hence highly adaptable and polyvalent Sufi symbols and allu- sions, and a recognition of the collective generation of the performed text, combined with the feedback process guiding its assembly, Sufis are united spiritually and socially. The performed text, an instance of the larger intertext, thus reinforces the interauthor that inspired it. 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Beirut: Librairie du Liban. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 97 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 97 28. 07. 2022 12:07:50 28. 07. 2022 12:07:50 muzikološki zbornik • musicological annual lviii/1 98 POVZETEK Besedilne dimenzije javnega obreda h . ad . ra v egiptovskem sufizmu Članek preučuje ključno vlogo besedil v sufizmu, predvsem v njegovem osrednjem obredu, ki se imenuje h . ad . ra. Na podlagi Egipta kot študije primera in s poglobljeno analizo izbra- ne izvedbe obreda h . ad . ra, ki ga vodi munshid (obredni pevec), članek s pomočjo konceptov medbesedilnosti (»intertext«) in medavtorstva (»interauthor«) prikaže, kako besedilo podpira družbeno-duhovna razmerja. Natančna analiza besedila obreda ponuja fascinanten vpogled v naravo in pomen egiptovskega sufizma, obenem pa poskuša razložiti, kako se slednji oh- ranja skozi ritual. Kompleksno zgrajeno besedilo se v izvedbi obreda odziva na družbeno-duhovno dina- miko in odraža razmerja med navzočimi – naj bodo fizična ali duhovna – ter tako prikliče na plano celotno družbeno-duhovno mrežo. Obenem besedilo s tem, ko dodaja in pogo- juje pomene ter medsebojne odnose sufijev, mrežo tudi oblikuje. Besede šejka ali munshida vzbujajo pomene na več ravneh: o vsebini sporočanega, na koga se besede nanašajo in komu so pripisane. Vedno se jih razlaga kot avtentične besede, ki predstavljajo pristno mistično izkušnjo (vključno z munshidovo), podano v jezikovni obliki. To dejstvo krepi njihovo moč. Pa vendar na zbrano družbo vplivajo na različne načine. Abstraktni simboli lahko naenkrat nagovorijo veliko število ljudi, od katerih si jih vsakdo razlaga po svoje, medtem ko bolj neposredni deli rituala h . ad . ra, imenovani madad, govorijo o medosebnih odnosih. Sprožanje notranjih čustvenih stanj (h . āl) med poslušalci je nekoliko nepredvidljivo; ko munshid poje, je, kot bi stopal med minami duhovnih čustev, ob različnih časih za različne ljudi. A nazadnje so vsi ganjeni, končno čustvo – izraženo na različne načine, naj bo v besedah, z gestami ali gibi – pa se zliva nazaj v kolektivni kontekst in vse združi v eno. Sufiji se povezujejo duhovno in družbeno z močnimi, obenem pa dvoumnimi in zato zelo prilagodljivimi in večpomenskimi sufijskimi simboli in aluzijami ter s prepoznavanjem kolektivnega ustvarjanja besedila, ki ga soustvarja tudi proces odziva poslušalcev. Izvedba besedila, ki je primer širšega medbesedila, tako krepi medavtorstvo, ki ga je navdihnilo. Kakor avtor v neke vrste samoizničenju (fanā ʾ) »izgine« v medavtorja, tako tudi besedilo izgine v medbesedilo. Avtor in besedilo obvisita v družbeno-duhovnih ali pomenskih mrežah, iden- titeta obeh pa se izkaže kot iluzorna, razpršena v širši kolektivnosti in višji eno(vito)sti, ki je bistvo tas . awwufa, mistične tradicije sufizma. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 98 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 98 28. 07. 2022 12:07:50 28. 07. 2022 12:07:50 Michael Frishkopf: Textual Dimensions of the Public H . ad . ra in Egyptian Sufism 99 ABOUT THE AUTHOR MICHAEL FRISHKOPF (michaelf@ualberta.ca, frishkopf.org) is Professor of Music, Director of the Canadian Centre for Ethnomusicology, Adjunct Professor of Medicine, and Adjunct Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Alberta. His research focuses on sounds of Islam, the Arab world, and West Africa, and music for global human develop- ment (m4ghd.org). He edited Music and Media in the Arab World (AUC Press, 2010) and co-edited Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam (University of Texas Press, 2018). He has published numerous academic articles and book chapters on sound, music, and Islam. He has also developed virtual and augmented reality interpretations of Islamic soundscapes, including “Virtual Sonic Architecture” (bit.ly/vsahipm), and “Sounding the Garden” for the University of Alberta’s Aga Khan Garden (http://bit.ly/soundingthegarden). An online digital repository, “Sounds of Islam,” is under development. In addition, Dr. Frishkopf is a musical composer-improviser, performing on nay, keyboards, and other instruments. O AVTORJU MICHAEL FRISHKOPF (michaelf@ualberta.ca, frishkopf.org) je profesor glasbe, di- rektor Kanadskega etnomuzikološkega centra, izredni profesor medicine in izredni profesor Študij religije na Univerzi v Alberti. Raziskovalno se posveča zvokom islama, arabskega sveta in zahodne Afrike ter glasbi za globalni razvoj človeštva (m4ghd.org). Je urednik monografije Music and Media in the Arab World (Glasba in mediji v arabskem svetu, 2010) in sourednik dela Music, Sound, and Architecture in Islam (Glasba, zvok in arhitektura v islamu, University of Texas Press, 2018). Na teme zvoka, glasbe in islama je objavil številne znanstvene član- ke in poglavja v monografijah. Razvil je tudi interpretacije islamskih zvočnih krajin (t. i. soundscapes) v razširjenih in virtualnih resničnostih; med njimi izstopata »Virtual Sonic Architecture« (»Virtualna zvočna arhitektura«, bit.ly/vsahipm) in »Sounding the Garden« (»Zveneti vrt«) za Vrt Aga Kana na Univerzi v Alberti (http://bit.ly/soundingthegarden). Trenutno razvija spletni digitalni repozitorij »Sounds of Islam« (»Zvoki islama«). Dr. Fri - shkopf je tudi skladatelj-improvizator, ki igra nay, glasbila s tipkami in druge instrumente. MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 99 MZ_2022_1_FINAL.indd 99 28. 07. 2022 12:07:50 28. 07. 2022 12:07:50