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List of contents
Introduction
1. Ascetic Warriors and Proto-Sufis: The Eighth and Ninth Centuries
2. Mujahid Friends of God in Sufism’s Formative Period: The Ninth through Eleventh Centuries
3. Sufi Mujahids of the Crusades and the Mongol Invasion: The Twelfth through Seventeenth Centuries
4. Sufi Mujahids of al-Andalus and al-Maghrib: The Twelfth through Seventeenth Centuries
5. Sufi Mujahids of the Indian Subcontinent: The Eleventh through Seventeenth Centuries
Glossary
Bibliography
About the author
Harry S. Neale holds a Ph.D. in Near Eastern Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, USA and is the author of Jihad in Premodern Sufi Writings (2017).
Summary
This book presents a thematic collection of hagiographical stories of Sufi saints, often referred to as friends of Gods. Despite the diverse wealth of Sufi works, much of the rich, global and centuries old literature of Sufi warrior-saints, has yet to be translated into English. Examining hagiographical depictions of Sufi mujahids, Neale corrects frequent misunderstandings of the term jihad in relation to Sufi thought and practice. Using Sufi hagiography, treatises, travel narratives and Muslim histories, each chapter comprises the lives of Sufi saints during significant historical events, from the Crusades to the Mongol Invasion and in regions ranging from Islamic Spain to North Africa and India. Using Persian and Arabic sources, this compendium of translated hagiographies gives us a sense of the range, themes and global dissemination of the Sufi literature on war and heroism.
Foreword
This book presents stories of Sufi saints as spiritual and military warriors in a unique synthesis of original Arabic and Persian sources rendered into English
Additional text
The Sufi networks that are still widespread today, the monasteries in which rules of conduct and Sufi anecdotes are read and where internal and external Sufi struggles take place, and in which correspondence between scholars and friends of God flourish, are an indispensable part of the colourful Muslim life. Sufi Warrior Saints offers a wonderful look at this diversity of Islam, which is often suppressed. For a complete picture of Sufism, the combative aspect is an essential part. Neale's work fills a gap.
