Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib
This article addresses the question of how early modern Sufis dealt with yoga. Some scholars have argued that a movement of Sufi reform occurred in South Asia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, representing a shift towards legal Islam, which would call for the rejection of non-Islamic p...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2024-03-01
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| Series: | Religions |
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| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/3/359 |
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| author | Soraya Khodamoradi Carl Ernst |
| author_facet | Soraya Khodamoradi Carl Ernst |
| author_sort | Soraya Khodamoradi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article addresses the question of how early modern Sufis dealt with yoga. Some scholars have argued that a movement of Sufi reform occurred in South Asia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, representing a shift towards legal Islam, which would call for the rejection of non-Islamic practices. This explanation overlooks the rhetorical construction of Sufi claims of spiritual status and <i>shari‘a</i> legitimacy, and it fails to distinguish eighteenth-century examples from the very different reform movements created in the nineteenth century in response to European colonialism. This article considers as a case study <i>Nala-yi ‘Andalib</i> (“The Nightingale’s Lament”), the central text produced by the pre-colonial founder of the “pure Muhammadi path”, Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib (d. 1758), with the help of intertextual references to the masterpiece of his son, Khwaja Mir Dard (d. 1785), <i>‘Ilm al-Kitab</i> (“Knowledge of the Book”). The consequence of their evaluation of yoga was not the systematic rejection of non-Islamic practices, but a guarded acknowledgement of their efficacy within a framework that used Indic references as a straw man for intra-Islamic debates. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:51:52Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8c04a452055d4eb6804ffe707c605c34 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2077-1444 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-24T17:51:52Z |
| publishDate | 2024-03-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Religions |
| spelling | doaj.art-8c04a452055d4eb6804ffe707c605c342024-03-27T14:02:20ZengMDPI AGReligions2077-14442024-03-0115335910.3390/rel15030359Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘AndalibSoraya Khodamoradi0Carl Ernst1Department of Religious Studies, University of Erfurt, Nordhäuser Str. 63, 99089 Erfurt, GermanyDepartment of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, NC 27599, USAThis article addresses the question of how early modern Sufis dealt with yoga. Some scholars have argued that a movement of Sufi reform occurred in South Asia during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, representing a shift towards legal Islam, which would call for the rejection of non-Islamic practices. This explanation overlooks the rhetorical construction of Sufi claims of spiritual status and <i>shari‘a</i> legitimacy, and it fails to distinguish eighteenth-century examples from the very different reform movements created in the nineteenth century in response to European colonialism. This article considers as a case study <i>Nala-yi ‘Andalib</i> (“The Nightingale’s Lament”), the central text produced by the pre-colonial founder of the “pure Muhammadi path”, Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib (d. 1758), with the help of intertextual references to the masterpiece of his son, Khwaja Mir Dard (d. 1785), <i>‘Ilm al-Kitab</i> (“Knowledge of the Book”). The consequence of their evaluation of yoga was not the systematic rejection of non-Islamic practices, but a guarded acknowledgement of their efficacy within a framework that used Indic references as a straw man for intra-Islamic debates.https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/3/359SufismyogaMujaddidiyyapure Muhammadi pathIndiaIndo-Muslim culture |
| spellingShingle | Soraya Khodamoradi Carl Ernst Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib Religions Sufism yoga Mujaddidiyya pure Muhammadi path India Indo-Muslim culture |
| title | Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib |
| title_full | Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib |
| title_fullStr | Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib |
| title_full_unstemmed | Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib |
| title_short | Yoga and the “Pure Muhammadi Path” of Muhammad Nasir ‘Andalib |
| title_sort | yoga and the pure muhammadi path of muhammad nasir andalib |
| topic | Sufism yoga Mujaddidiyya pure Muhammadi path India Indo-Muslim culture |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/3/359 |
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