There are spots in Sufism such as a: Northern Africa (including Sudan and Mauritania), b: minor Asia including Turkey, Bosnia and Albania, c: Iran and Afghanistan, d: Middle East and e: Indian subcontinent, including Malaysia and Indonesia, that are very important for any further study in this field.
However, despite the significant place of Indian Sufism in the bigger context of the study of Sufism and spirituality in Muslim societies, its "intellectual history" in a coherent way, has not been written yet.
The materials for writing such a history is available abundantly in different papers and books, including but not limited to William C. Chittick's papers on Sufism in India and Ibn Arabi in India, inter alia, which discuss the issue directly and can be regarded as roadmaps for any future research on the topic. Pertinent to this is other materials that are scattered throughout several books and papers, which have been written on Sufism in India/Indian subcontinent. One can briefly mention:
- Syed Yusuf Shahab, The Lost Sufis of Delhi, 2020.
- Richard Maxwell Eaton, Sufis of Bijapur (1300-1700): Social Roles of Sufis in Medieval India, n. d.
- Nile Green, Indian Sufism since the Seventeenth Century, 2009.
- Nasir Reza Khan, Sufism in India and Central Asia, n. d.
- Swapan Kumar Sarkar and Emili Rumi, Sufism in India, 2016.
Among countless others that have discussed Sufism in India at length. However, they are not the intellectual history of Indian Sufism. Such an endeavor can get different forms, it can either be thematic/conceptual, or it can focus on people, sects (silsilas) and movements and their internal mechanisms.
Commentaires