L. E. Ismoilov

t. The theme “the Muslim mystic and material wealth” is the most discussed in late medieval Maverannahr hagiographies of Muslim saints (manakib). From the first centuries of the emergence of Sufism, this theme, due to the spread of the excessive practice of asceticism among Muslim mystics, acquires a special sounding. In the initial period of Sufism's history, the cult of asceticism and disdain for material prosperity and family well-being acquired a special dimension among Sufis. However, throughout the Middle Ages, for various reasons and circumstances, Sufism gradually loses its inner spiritual charge, and such above-mentioned “spiritual feats” also lose their former significance. Although, in the late medieval period under our study Muslim mysticism to some extent still retained its original impulses (not only in theory, but also in practice), but in general its former spiritual and intellectual potential was already lost. This new phenomenon is revealed in particular in Sufism's attitude to the question of “poverty and material wealth,” where some Sufi sheikhs possessed enormous material wealth and had ways of passing it on to their descendants and cronies. In parallel, during this period, another part of Sufis strictly observing the fundamental canons of Sufism practiced austere methods of ascetic life. The sourcebook of this study is a Muslim hagiographic work “Lamahat min nafahat al-kuds” (“Reflections from the Blow of Sanctity”). The author of the work is Muhammad Alim as-Siddiqi al-Alawi, otherwise known as Alim Sheikh Azizan. He was born in Tashkent District in 1564 and died in Samarqand in 1632. Alim Sheikh Azizan was a follower of a particular branch of the Naqshbandiyya order called Jahriya-sultaniyya, the founder of which is considered to be Ahmad Yasevi. The work was written in Samarqand in 1622 and is dedicated to the biography of sheikhs of the Jahriyya brotherhood such as Sheikh Jamal ad-Din, Sheikh Khudoydad, Sheikh Vali, and others. This work consists of two parts: the first is devoted to the essence of the Jahriyah brotherhood; the second covers the biographies of Mawerannahr sheikhs from the 12th-16th centuries. The manuscript from the collection of the National Library of Tajikistan (Inventory No. 1629) is used in this work. The list is full and consists of 231 folios. Another copy of this work (Inventory no. 571) is stored in the same library and is dated 1623. The same library keeps another copy of this work (Inventory No. 571) dated 1673. The subject of the present study is the question of the relation between faqr (poverty in the economic dimension) and material wealth in Sufi perception and in Sufi practice.

Ismoilov Lutfullo Eshonovich, Candidate of Sciences (History), Associate Professor, Department of Oriental, African and Islamic Studies, Institute of International Relations, Kazan (Volga Region) Federal University, 18/1, Kremlyovskaya st., Kazan, 420008, Russian Federation, e-mail: ismoilov-62@mail.ru

Ismoilov L.E. To the Question of the Theme of Poverty and Prosperity in Late Medieval Sufism (According to the Hagiographic Works “Lamahat Min Nafahat Al-Quds” (Reflections from the Breath of Holiness). The Bulletin of Irkutsk State University. Series Political Science and Religion Studies, 2023, vol. 45, pp. 156-164. https://doi.org/10.26516/2073- 3380.2023.45.156 (in Russian)

Maverannahr, Sufism, manakib, asceticism, material wealth, poverty, expensive offering.

297˝15˝