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The Naqshbandiyya after Khwaja Ahrar: Networks of Trade in Central and South Asia

Siddiqui, Ali Gibran
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471364890

Abstract Details

2016, Doctor of Philosophy, Ohio State University, History.
This dissertation reimagines the Ahrari and the Juybari branches of the Naqshbandi Sufi tariqa or order in fifteenth and sixteenth-century Central Asia as examples of trust networks and circulation societies and reappraises their roles in Transoxianan politics and society. Augmenting existing scholarship seeking to free Central Asian Sufism from Soviet-era allegations of feudal and religious exploitation, this project combines a wide variety of sources with a multi-disciplinary approach to chart the origins, creation and development of the Naqshbandi tariqa-based network. Rooted in the Khwajagani Sufi movement popular amongst Central Asian merchants, the Naqshbandi network grew out of the organizational changes pioneered by the Sufi leader Khwaja 'Ubayd Allah Ahrar (1404-90). Commanding a large number of followers and property in cities across the Persianate world, Khwaja Ahrar controlled the movement of a large number of people and goods across Asia. Though his network collapsed following the Shibanid Uzbek invasion of Transoxiana in the early sixteenth century, Khwaja Ahrar had set a precedent for the creation of a second, more extensive Naqshbandi network controlled by the Juybari Sufis Khwaja Muhammad Islam (d. 1563) and his son Khwaja Sa'd (d. 1589). As trust networks, the Ahrari and the Juybari networks employed several strategies to reduce the risk of loss associated with dishonest commercial transactions in long-distance trade in the pre- and early-modern periods. Shaykhs, or Sufi leaders, personally limited tariqa affiliation to individuals screened for their honesty. Shaykhs also employed a vast transregional network of members to report on the honesty and dishonesty of travelling members. The shaykh also used his political influence to ensure the safe passage of caravans in foreign lands. These methods thus reveal that the network was centralized around the figure of the shaykh. As this study also presents the Ahrari and Juybari Naqshbandi tariqas as examples of circulation societies, it stresses that like family firms and ethnic diaspora communities, Sufi networks were also actively involved in facilitating the transregional movement of goods, people and credit across early-modern economies. Eventually regarded as an extension of the Transoxianan state, the Naqshbandi tariqa thus provided a social service to Transoxianan mercantile classes.
Scott Levi (Advisor)
Nicholas Breyfogle (Advisor)
Jane Hathaway (Advisor)
Thomas McDow (Advisor)
204 p.
History
Sufism; Central Asia; India; Networks; Trade; Timurid; Shibanid; Bahmani; Mughal; Naqshbandi; Ahrar; Juybari

Recommended Citations

Citations

  • Siddiqui, A. G. (2016). The Naqshbandiyya after Khwaja Ahrar: Networks of Trade in Central and South Asia [Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University]. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471364890

    APA Style (7th edition)

  • Siddiqui, Ali. The Naqshbandiyya after Khwaja Ahrar: Networks of Trade in Central and South Asia. 2016. Ohio State University, Doctoral dissertation. OhioLINK Electronic Theses and Dissertations Center, http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471364890.

    MLA Style (8th edition)

  • Siddiqui, Ali. "The Naqshbandiyya after Khwaja Ahrar: Networks of Trade in Central and South Asia." Doctoral dissertation, Ohio State University, 2016. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1471364890

    Chicago Manual of Style (17th edition)

osu1471364890
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This open access ETD is published by The Ohio State University and OhioLINK.