The Conceptual Development of Deviance among Islamic Mystics: The Malāmatiyya
This is a paper which I submitted to Prof. Amina Elbendary’s seminar on “Protest, Rebellion and Revolt in the Pre-modern Middle-East” in the Fall semester 2010 at AUC.
Abstract:
The concept of deviance in early Islamic mystic piety developed as an aspect of the same social and intellectual processes which defined Sufism as a normative or orthodox mode. The mysticism which developed in and around Baghdad and in Khurāsān was varied in its outward forms for the first several centuries. Asceticism was common, but it was not homogeneous in its expression. The process of systematizing and normalizing Islamic mystic doctrine and practice was concurrent with a similar systematization in legal and theological contexts. In this process of systematization some previous forms were marginalized and some were subsumed into what would become the normative Ṣūfī practice. Other forms were continued and taken up by Ṣūfī movements which would eventually be regarded as heterodox. One label that stands out as representing a heterodox mode is that of the Malāmatiyya — those who followed the “path of Blame.” This paper will explore the development of that term and its usage as first a descriptive and then a derogatory term over the course of several centuries and explore how that change reflected concurrent Khurāsānian societal changes.
To view the paper click the link below. Enjoy.
Citation (Chicago/Turabian):
Martin III, John D. “The Conceptual Development of Deviance among Islamic Mystics: The Malāmatiyya.” Unpublished. If You Don’t Know What You’re Doing, You Can’t Make Mistakes. http://johndmart.in/2011/06/15/the-conceptual-development-of-deviance-among-islamic-mystics-the-malamatiyya/ [accessed February 23, 2012].
