An Inquiry into Connections between Shiism and Sufism: A Consideration of the Encounter between Qadi Nur Allah al-Shushtari and ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami

Throughout the history of Islamic Sufism and mysticism, in general, and in the School of Khorasan, in particular, the Shiite Imams were assigned a special place as doctrinal and mystical exegetes of Islam and heads of Sufi and mystical orders. Qāḍī Nūr Allāh Shushtarī, a prominent Shiite scholar, made tremendous efforts at identifying the roots of this phenomenon in Sufi works and thoughts. He concludes that many Sufi mystics and masters believed in “doctrinal Shiism” or at least “passionate Shiism,” although they seemed to belong to the Sunni jurisprudential and theological school. On al-Shushtarī’s criteria, it seems that Jāmī, the great Naqshbandi mystic and poet, can count as belonging to this type of Shiism. Notwithstanding this, Qāḍī Nūr Allāh dismisses the idea, going so far as to consider Jāmī as an enemy of Shiism and the Shi‘a. This paper is concerned with semiotics of contexts and evidence for Jāmī’s Shiite tendencies and interests, as he never fell short of praising and celebrating the Household of Prophet Muhamad, on the one hand, and theological and historical grounds of Qāḍī Nūr Allāh’s discontent of Jāmī because of the latter’s unkind treatment of his contemporary Shi‘a and his failure to sympathize with Shiite or Shi‘a-leaning mystics, as well as his sarcastic remarks about Abū Ṭālib and people of Rafḍ and differences between mystical approaches of Qāḍī Nūr Allāh and Jāmī, on the other hand.