Asian and African Area Studies, 7 (1): 1-4, 2007

The Tariqa’s Cohesional Power and the Shaykhhood Succession Question
PrefaceTonaga Yasushi*
We present a special issue on Tariqa (Sufi Orders) with special reference to the succession of theirleadership (shaykhhood). This edition is largely based on a panel at the Second World Congress for
Middle Eastern Studies (WOCMES-2) which was held in Amman, Jordan on 11-16th June, 2006.
The panel was entitled “The Logic of Succession around Sufis and Saints,” and Professor AKAHORI
Masayuki (Sophia University, Tokyo) and I were the co-organizers. In this panel seven papers wereread and all of them dealt with the question of the “logic of succession,” as a significant factor in theircase studies concerning Sufism and saint veneration.
The speakers and titles were as follows;(1) MORIMOTO Kazuo (The University of Tokyo, Japan), “"And I Saw the Prophet in a Dream":
Anecdotal Admonitions to the Believers in Manaqib-Fada’il Literature on Sayyid-Sharifs.”(2) NAKANISHI Tatsuya (Kyoto University, Japan), “Creating the Silsila, or the Logic of Succession,in the Case of Chinese Muslims.”(3) Alexandre PAPAS (EHESS-College de France, France), “The Succession of Naqshbandi Shaykhs
in Premodern Central Asia: Controversies and Changes.”(4) TAKAHASHI Kei (Sophia University, Japan), “Divisions within the Tarīqas in Modern Egypt: A
Case of a Conflict over the Independence of al-ıHabībiyya from al-Rifâ‘iyya (1905-1925).”(5) Thierry ZARCONE (CNRS, France), “Shaykh Succession in Turkish Sufi Lineages (19th and 20thCenturies): Conflicts, Reforms and Transmission of Spiritual Enlightenment.”(6) KOMAKI Sachiyo (Takasaki City University of Economics, Japan), “Politics, Poetics and Pop in
the Succession of Holy Relics: Examples from South Asian Muslim Society.”(7) AKAHORI Masayuki (Sophia University, Japan), “The Transformation of Saintliness in theProcess of Succession: Saints and their Descendants in the Western Desert of Egypt.”

In the past, certain anthropologists and historians discussed the question of succession bycontrasting genealogy and charisma as factors that generate saint veneration among Muslims.

* 東長 靖，Graduate School of Asian and African Area Studies, Kyoto University

1Asian and African Area Studies, 7 (1)However, we are of the view that there is room for further study concerning this point. For example,
we need to examine and see if there is any general principle as to how the shaykhhood was succeeded
to in Sufi orders. In most cases it followed the bloodline, though exceptions were abundant. Also
the question of how the ijāza of Sufis is different from that of the ‘ulamā’, remains an unsolvedquestion of some significance. This can lead to a re-consideration of the general relationship thatexisted between the Sufis and the ‘ulamā’. The fact that intellectuals strongly influenced by thethought of Ibn ‘Arabi belong to several different Sufi orders, forces us to reassess the question as to
how intellectual succession and organizational affiliation are combined among the Sufis. Indeed, it isobvious that we have many topics to discuss in this field.
In order to stimulate such study on Sufism and saint veneration, this panel was organized withthe cooperation of French and Japanese experts belonging to different fields in Middle-East andIslamic studies. For Japanese presenters, including the organizers, this panel marked an occasion
to display part of the achievements of a ten-year joint research program that examines diverse cases
revolving around Sufism and saint veneration, in different regions and times. Our intention incarrying out that research was to create a new inclusive framework theory concerning the complex
phenomena that encompass the cultured thoughts of the Sufis, the social organization of the Tariqas,
and the popular adoration of saints and descendants of the Prophet Muhammad. The participationof our French colleagues, distinguished by their long tradition of outstanding work in this field,
undoubtedly served to make the panel more fruitful.
From this panel we have already edited a special issue entitled “Birth and Succession of Holinessamong Sufis and Saints” in Orient: Reports of the Society for Near Eastern Studies in Japan, vol. 42(2007), which includes the revised edition of KOMAKI Sachiyo and NAKANISHI Tatsuya’s papers
side by side with the other three papers. If the former special issue dealt with the succession ofholiness in general, this issue focuses on the succession of shaykhhood itself.

We selected three papers from the WOCMES-2 panel and added a new paper for this specialissue.
The first paper which was added on this occasion but was originally read at one of the meetingsof the aforementioned ten-year joint research program, “The Origins of Tarīqas” by YAJIMA Yoichi(Kyoto University of Foreign Studies), attempts to reconsider the problem of the formation of Tariqas
from the following three aspects, i.e. 1) genealogy (silsila) and spiritual ancestors, 2) doctrine andpractice, 3) organization.
Once the Tariqas are founded, the question of the succession of the leadership becomes a critical2Tonaga: Prefacepoint of interest for our study. The following three papers, arranged chronologically for their topics,
respectively focus on this subject.
The second paper, “Shaykh Succession in Turkish Sufi Lineages (19th and 20th Centuries):
Conflicts, Reforms and Transmission of Spiritual Enlightenment” by Thierry ZARCONE (CNRS,Paris), traces the history of Tariqas during the Ottoman Period. After pointing out the two principlesof succession, i.e. hereditary succession and spiritual succession based on the master-disciple
relationship, the author clarifies the fact that the Tariqas which stick with just one of these succession
systems are quite rare and worthy of attention.
The third paper, “Shaykh Succession in the Classical Naqshbandiyya: Spirituality, Heredity
and the Question of Body,” by Alexandre PAPAS (CNRS, Paris), also premised on the distinction
between hereditary and spiritual succession and admitting the latter to be considered more authentic
in the Naqshbandiyya Tariqa, exemplifies many cases of the former type of succession. He concludes
that the hereditary logic of succession was not considered as a decline but rather it was closely
connected with embodying the Muhammadan experience. Here not only the blood but also thetangibility of the body of saints (like that of Muhammad) is important.
The last and fourth paper, “A New Logic in the Sufi Organization: The Continuation and theDisintegration of the Tarīqas in Modern Egypt” by TAKAHASHI Kei (Sophia University, Japan),deals with the Egyptian Tariqa in the early 20th century. Normally the modern Egyptian Tariqas areevaluated as hierarchically well-organized because of the state control over them. He picks up thecase of the independence of a sub-order from its mother-order and concludes that the state’s policy to“modernize” the Tariqas gave the leaders a new logic of succession.

Just after the WOCMES-2 ended, “NIHU (National Institutes for the Humanities) Program:
Islamic Area Studies” was launched in Japan. It was inaugurated in 2006 as a five-year research
project, with the prospect of a second five-year period. Under this project, The Center for Islamic
Area Studies at Kyoto University (KIAS) was founded as an attachment to the Graduate School ofAsian and African Area Studies. Unit 4 which I am organizing continues to promote studies onTariqa as well as Sufism, Saint veneration etc. in close cooperation with Group 3 of the IAS Center at
Sophia University (SIAS), whose head is Professor AKAHORI Masayuki. KIAS published the firstissue of a new academic journal called Kyoto Bulletin of Islamic Area Studies in April 2007. We also
had an international workshop on Tariqa itself in October 2007, and a selection of its achievements
will appear in Kyoto Bulletin in the near future.
In closing, I would like to add some remarks about the references. I have standardized the3Asian and African Area Studies, 7 (1)method of reference for each paper in accordance with the style of this journal, although I would
not be so bold as to claim this system to be the best for the philological researches. However, I haverespected the styles of respective authors in the transcription of the original words.

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