Dreams, Sufism and Sainthood: The Visionary Career of Muhammad al-Zawâwî

287 Pages·1996·28.361 MB·English

by  Jonathan G. Katz

DREAMS, SUFISM AND
SAINTHOOD
STUDIES
IN THE HISTORY OF RELIGIONS
(NUMENBOOK SERIES)
EDITED BY
H.G. KIPPENBERG • E.T. LAWSON
VOLUME LXXI
DREAMS, SUFISM AND
SAINTHOOD
THE VISIONARY CAREER
OF MUHAMMAD AL-ZAWAWI
BY
JONATHAN G. KATZ
EJ.BRILL
LEIDEN · NEW YORK · KOLN
1996
The paper in this book meets the guidelines for permanence and durability of the
Committee on Production Guidelines for Book Longevity of the Council on Library
Resources.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Katz, Jonathan Glustrom.
Dreams, Sufism and sainthood : the visionary career of Muhammad
al-Zawawi / by Jonathan G. Katz.
p. cm. - (Studies in the history of religions, ISSN
0169-8834 ; v. 71)
Includes bilbiographical references (p. ) and index.
ISBN 9004105999 (cloth : alk. paper)
I. Bija'i, Muqammad ibn 'Ali, 15th cent. TJ!hfat al-nii7iir wa
-nuzhat al-manli7!ir. 2. Sufism-Africa, North-History. I. Title
II. Series: Studies in the history of religions ; 71.
BP80.B495K38 1996
297'.4'092-dc20
[B] 96-5482
CIP
Die Deutsche Bibliothek - CIP-Einheitsaufnahme
Katz, Jonathan:
Dreams, Sufism and sainthood : the visionary career of
Muhammad Al-Zawawi / by Jonathan G. Katz. -Leiden ; New
York ; Koln : Brill 1996
(Studies in the history of religions ; Vol. 71)
ISBN 90-04-10599-9
NE:GT
ISSN 0 169-8834
ISBN 90 04 l 0599 9
© Copyright 1996 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands
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PRINTED IN THE NETHERI.ANDS
The historian is in danger of forgetting that his subjects spent
much of their time asleep, and that, when asleep, they had
dreams.
Peter Brown, The World of Late Antiquity AD 150-750
No one believes in dreams anymore. Dreams are debris from a
bad day. Dreams are poems by bad poets that never got written.
Tadeusz Konwicki, A Minor Apocalypse

CONTENTS
A Note on Names and Dates...................................................... IX
Preface......................................................................................... XI
Introduction
Mul.tammad al-Zawawi
1. His Life and Times............................................................. 1
2. The Political and Religious Landscape of Ifriqiya ........... 9
3. Cultures High, Low and In-Between .................. .............. 16
4. Zawawi's Narcissism........................................................... 22
Chapter One
Bijaya: Disciple and Master
1. The First Vision (Text) ...................................................... 36
2. The Shaykh as Adviser ....................................................... 39
3. In the Shaykh's Absence.................................................... 50
4. The Shaykh Returns .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .... .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .. .................... 58
5. The Shaykh's Death........................................................... 67
Chapter Two
Constantine: Friends and Other Strangers
1. Sidi Faraj, The Pseudo-Christian...................................... 74
2. The Green One.................................................................. 79
3. The Affairs of This World.................................................. 88
4. Sufi Companions ............................................................... 94
Chapter Three
Cairo: The Search for Acceptance
1. A Maghribi Tourist ............................................................ 99
2. Daily Life in Cairo .............................................................. 104
3. The Occult Sciences .......................................................... 109
4. Romantic Interests............................................................. 117
5. The Wafa'iyya ..................................................................... 120
6. Literary Ambitions............................................................. 129
VIII CONTENTS
Chapter Four
Cairo: Giving and Receiving
1. The Sultan's Gift................................................................ 138
2. Charity and Redemption ................................................... 145
3. The Robe of Contentment................................................ 151
Chapter Five
Cairo: A Shaykh At Last?
1. Seeing God . . . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . .. . . . .. .. .. . . . . . . . . . . .. .. . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . 164
2. The Prophet's Son ............................................................. 169
3. His Daughter's Death........................................................ 171
4. New Names for New Friends ............................................. 174
5. A Gift Horse ....... ...................... .... ...................................... 179
6. Postscript to Cairo ............................................................. 184
Chapter Six
Tilimsan and Bijaya: The Final Entries
1. The Door of Interpretation .............................................. 187
2. The Completion of the Tultfa ........................................ 195
3. The Decision to Publish .................................................... 200
Chapter Seven
Seeing and Salvation
1. Dream Interpretation in Islam ............................. ............ 205
2. The Guiding Role of the Dead ......................................... 217
3. The Sacralization of the Seer............................................ 221
4. The Soteriological Principle ............................................. 224
Epilogue ............................. .. ....................................................... 231
Appendix
A Bibliographic Note ................................................................. 234
Bibliography................................................................................ 237
Index ........................................................................................... 251
A NOTE ON NAMES AND DATES
For the sake of simplification I have left off the definite article
al- when referring to a person by his nisba (surname) alone, e.g.,
Zawawi, and not al-Zawawi or az-Zawawi.
In giving European equivalents for the Islamic hijri (lunar) cal
endar dates provided by Zawawi, I have relied on the computa
tional tables found in C. S. P. Freeman-Grenville, The Muslim and
Christian Calendars, 2d ed. (London, 1977). Owing to a variety of
reasons (among them, Zawawi counts thirty days for some months
for which Freeman-Grenville counts twenty-nine), there are fre
quent discrepancies between the two calendars. A day which
Zawawi records as a Monday is likely to be a Tuesday or Wednes
day by Freeman-Grenville's reckoning. In these instances I have
followed Zawawi. Other discrepancies occur on the handful of
occasions when Zawawi himself gives a date according to the
European calendar. In short, all Western date equivalents are to
be considered approximate.
For Quranic passages I have relied with occasional modifica
tions on Al-Qur' an, A Contemporary Translation by Ahmed Ali (Prince
ton, 1984).