eage is traced by his biographer through ten p ̄ırs to
Muh:ammad; the twentieth-century S:u ̄f ̄ı saint Shaykh
Ah:mad al-EAlaw ̄ı (d. 1934) is credited with a “tree of spiritu-
al mastery” including scores of generations as well as sectari-
an connections complex enough to require a navigator (see
Lings, 1973, appendix B).
Although the shaykh has certainly undergone the ascetic
and meditative training through which he guides his pu-
pils—dhikr (“remembrance” [of God]), fasting, deprivation
of sleep, intense physical labors, and so on—he abides in the
fullness of life, active and yet detached from his actions. “The
true saint,” states Abu ̄ SaE ̄ıd, “goes in and out amongst the
people and eats and sleeps with them and buys and sells in
the market and marries and takes part in social intercourse,
and never forgets God for a single moment” (Nicholson,
1921, p. 55). For this reason the shaykh’s actions often ap-
pear paradoxical or inconsistent with Islamic doctrine. Nich-
olson relates yet another story of Shaykh Abu ̄ SaE ̄ıd from the
Asra ̄r: when the shaykh was holding one of his lavish feasts
and entertainments, an arrogant ascetic—ignorant of the
shaykh’s novitiate and forty years’ austerities—challenged
him to a forty-day fast, hoping to humiliate the shaykh be-
fore his pupils and thereby earn their respect. The shaykh ac-
cepted and ate nothing while the ascetic continued to eat the
small amounts of food allowed by the practice. Throughout
the forty days the S:u ̄f ̄ıs continued by order of Abu ̄ SaE ̄ıd to
be served delicious food while the two looked on. Finally the
ascetic, no longer strong enough to perform his obligatory
prayers, confessed his presumption and ignorance.
The Perfect Human Being. The idea of the Perfect
Human Being (insa ̄n-i ka ̄mil) seems first to have been em-
ployed by the S:u ̄f ̄ı theosophist Ibn al-EArab ̄ı (d. 1240) and
somewhat later in a more technical sense when al-J ̄ıl ̄ı
(d. between 1408 and 1417) systematized his predecessor’s
work. Although the idea of the Perfect Human Being has re-
ceived several different treatments, a general definition might
describe him as “a man who has fully realised his essential
oneness with the Divine Being in whose likeness he is made”
(Nicholson, 1921, p. 78). The saint (wal ̄ı) is the highest
knower of God, and consequently he occupies the highest
of all human degrees, saintship (wala ̄yah), as the Perfect
Human Being par excellence. Al-J ̄ıl ̄ı maintained that the Per-
fect Human Being of any period was the outward manifesta-
tion of the Prophet Muh:ammad’s essence, claiming that his
own spiritual guide was just such an appearance. According
to the system of Ibn al-EArab ̄ı and al-J ̄ıl ̄ı, the S:u ̄f ̄ı shaykhs
are “vicegerents” of Muh:ammad, invested with the “prophe-
cy of saintship” and brought back by God from the state of
fana ̄D (“annihilation”) so that they might guide the people
to God. Something of this idea is reflected in the definition
by Mah:mu ̄ d Shabistar ̄ı (d. 1320) of the Perfect Human
Being as he who follows a twofold movement: down into the
phenomenal world and upward to the divine world of light.
Mention must also be made of the S:u ̄f ̄ı master’s rela-
tionship to the role of the twelfth ima ̄m, who is the Hidden
Ima ̄m in both Shiism and Sufism. The Hidden Ima ̄m is the
pole (qut:b) with whom all S:u ̄f ̄ı masters are inwardly con-
nected.
As Annemarie Schimmel writes:
The veneration shown to the ima ̄m and the qut:b, as
manifested in the mystical preceptor, is common to Su-
fism and Shiism. The Shia teaches: “who dies without
knowing the ima ̄m of his time, dies an infidel,” and
Jala ̄ludd ̄ın Ru ̄m ̄ı (d. 1273), though a relatively moder-
ate S:u ̄f ̄ı, said: “He who does not know the true sheikh—
i.e., the Perfect Man and qut:b of his time—is a ka ̄fir,
an infidel.” (Schimmel, 1975, p. 200)
HINDUISM. The idea of a spiritual preceptor to guide one’s
study of religion and philosophy has been a constant influ-
ence on the religion of India since the most ancient times.
Already in the R:gveda we see him referred to as the r:s:i (“seer”)
or muni (a sage, or “silent one”); as such, he is the possesser
of deep spiritual insights (often resulting from performing
austerities) and is considered to be the “author” of the sacred
hymns. In later times we find him referred to as a ̄ca ̄rya,
brahma ̄n:a, and sva ̄mi (swami), but he has most dramatically
captured the attention of the West as the guru.
Only knowledge that was gained from a teacher was ca-
pable of successfully leading one to one’s aim (Cha ̄ndogya
Upanis:ad 4.9.3). And from Cha ̄ndogya Upanis:ad 6.4.1f., it
appears that the spiritual guide is also necessary in order to
cut through and disperse mundane, empirical knowledge
and to become conscious of true spiritual knowledge.
There is also the prevalent concern for the secret trans-
mission of esoteric knowledge. Hence, Cha ̄ndogya Upanis:ad
3.11.5 states that a father can teach the esoteric doctrine to
“his eldest son or to a worthy pupil, and to no one else, even
if one should offer him the whole earth”; see also Aitareya
A ̄ran:yaka 3.2.6.9: “Let no one tell these sam:hita ̄s to one who
is not a resident pupil, who has not been with the teacher
for at least a year, and who is not himself to become a teach-
er.” That the pupil is often tested by the guru and admitted
only sometimes after a novitiate or probation is attested to
in several sources (e.g., Cha ̄ndogya Upanis:ad 8.7.3; Pra ́sna
Upanis:ad 1.2).
It would seem that the word guru is used in the sense
of “teacher” or “spiritual guide” for the first time in
Cha ̄ndogya Upanis:ad, but one should also point out that its
original adjectival sense (“heavy one” or “weighty”) is illus-
trative of the widespread belief that holy persons are charac-
terized by uncommon weight, not necessarily in the outer,
physical sense. Hendrik Wagenvoort and Jan Gonda have
both commented on this (Gonda, 1947, 1965; Wagenvoort,
1941). Wagenvoort has shown that guru is etymologically re-
lated to Latin gravis, which is remarkable only because its de-
rivative, gravitas, was frequently used in connection with the
nouns auctor and auctoritas. The Latin expression gravis auc-
tor (“the important or true authority”) also carries the same
general sense of a guru as a man of influence who takes the
initiative, in other words, a man who can “do” and have an
effect on others.SPIRITUAL GUIDE 8711