| Summary/Abstract |
Modern scholarship has largely neglected Abu’l-Raja’ Chachi Khumraki (d. c. 1124 C.E.), although he was well versed in Islamic jurisprudence and esoterism, not to mention his unique interest in classical Persian avian literature, which has not received serious, scholarly attention. To date, no study has discussed the significance of Chachi Khumraki’s bird symbolism. This essay focuses upon his conception of salvation in the Rawdat al-fariqayn (The Garden of the Two Schools)—a mysticojurisprudential manual on Islamic law and on Sufism—analyzing the author’s deployment of the motif of the Sīmurgh in the chapter entitled ‘The Ṣalāt al-khawf [Fear Prayer]’. Further, it argues that the Sīmurgh performs two major functions: First, it attempts to bring together two rivalrous Sunni schools of law, i.e. Hanafism and Shafi‘ism, in medieval Transoxania, and second, it warns against neglecting the inner dimension of Islam, i.e. taṣawwuf (Sufism). Whilst the author acknowledges the importance of practising fiqh, the Sīmurgh narrative attempts to draw the schools’ attention to the fact that the soul will attain salvation only if it eschews the shackles of the nafs al-ammārah bi’l-sū’ (the soul that commands to evil) by means of the teachings of Sufism.
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