Tombs and footprints : Islamic shrines and pilgrimages in modern Iran and Afghanistan.

TOMBS A N D FOOTPRINTS: ISLAMIC SHRINES A N D PILGRIMAGES IN^IRAN A N D A F G H A N I S T A N

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H u g h B e a t t i e

Thesis p r esented for the degree of M. Phil at the U n i v e r s i t y of L o ndon

School of Oriental and A f r i c a n Studies 1983

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a b s t r a c t :-

The thesis examines the c h a r a c t e r i s t i c features of Islamic shrines and pilgrimages in Iran and A f g h a n ­ istan, in d o i n g so illustrating one aspect of the immense d i v e r s i t y of b e l i e f and practice to be found in the

Islamic world. The origins of the shrine cults are

outlined, the similarities between traditional M u s l i m and C h r i s t i a n atti t u d e s to shrines are emphasized and the

functions of the shrine and the mosque are contrasted.

Iranian and A f g h a n shrines are classified, f i r s t l y in terms of the objects w h i c h form their p r i n c i p a l a t t r a c ­ tions and the saints associated w ith them, and secondly

in terms of the distances over which they attr a c t

pilgrims. The administ r a t i o n and endowments of shrines are d e s c r i b e d and the relationship b e t w e e n shrines and secular a u t h o r i t i e s analysed. Attention is d r a w n in p a r t i c u l a r to the lavish patronage of shrines b y the

Safavid Shahs in the sixteenth and s e v e n t e e n t h centuries.

The q u e s t i o n w h i c h categories of people are m o s t likely to v i s i t shrines is raised; shrines are seen to play an e s p e c i a l l y p r o m i n e n t part in w o m e n ’s religious lives.

The o r g a n i s a t i o n and ritual of pilgrimage are described as far as the sources permit, as are the rituals w h i c h take p l a c e at the shrines themselves. In particular, the ritual of ’r a i s i n g the standard*, w h i c h is p e r f o r m e d at or soon a f t e r N e w Y e a r ’s Day at a number of shrines in no r t h e r n A f g h a n i s t a n and is believed to h e l p to assure the p r o s p e r i t y of the community as well as the

individual, is examined in some detail. P e o p l e ’s motives for v i s i t i n g shrines, economic, political, m e d i c a l and social as w e l l as strictly religious, are explored.

Finally a w i d e r q u e s t i o n is raised, h o w the diversity of Islamic b e l i e f and p ractice of w h i c h these shrine and p i l g r i m a g e cults p r o vide such striking evidence may best be a c c o m m o d a t e d w i t h i n an a n a l y t i c a l f r a m e ­ work. Some criti c i s m s are made of the m o d e l s of Islam put forward by Spooner, Gulick, G e l i n e r and Eickelmann, and an a l t e r n a t i v e a p p r o a c h is outlined.

4.

Transcription:

Persian and Arabic terms used in the text have been under­

lined and transcribed using the system set out below. The only

exception is the word murabit which, following Evans-Pritchard (1949)>

Bryan Turner (1974), Eickelmann (1981) et al., I have transcribed as marabout. The system follows that used by the Library of Congress

(Cataloging Section, Bulletin 119/Pall 1976) save that for conven­

ience the Arabic letter zad has been transcribed as jz rather than z. Following Morton (1974, 1975) and Fischer (1980) among others, I have omitted the final he havaz from such words as khana and jmam- zada. In order

the

the ain and in kha.ja,

glottal stops, apostrophe.

to indicate the combination of letters alef vav, as sign "" has been placed above the alef. Both the

the hamza, are simply represented by an

letters of the Arabic alphabet/transcription:-

alef l none sad s_*

be b zad ⁴z

pe P ta

L

te t za U z

se s ain

t

jim ■s j ghein

i

chim 2 ch fe

yj

he hotti

2 h qaf

d> <1

xe 2 kh kaf

a

dal d gaf g

zal 3 z lam

J

re _J r mim

f

ze

J

zhe

)

sin s he havaz

£ )

shin

k J2*

vowe

vowels and diphthongs

i ^{, r}

9

u

a.

"\

*

„... J1 / f* ,

X X ay

9

a 3 ■ -- aw

5.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

Chapter One

Chapter Two

Chapter Three

Chapter Four

Chapter Five

Chapter Six

Chapter Seven

Conc l u s i o n

Maps of Iran and A f g h a n i s t a n

G lossary

References

Origins of the Saint and Shrine Cults in Islam

Types of Islamic Shrine in Iran and A f g h a n i s t a n

Control, A d m i n i s t r a t i o n and A m enities of Shrines

Pilg r i m a g e O r g a n i s a t i o n and R i tual

Shrine Ritual

Reasons for V i s i t i n g Shrines

Shrines, Sufis and U l a m a - Styles of Islam in Iran and A f g h a n i s t a n

p. 6

p. 13

p. 32

p. 73

p. 98

p. 123

p. 159

p. 176

p. 211

p. 220

p. 222.

p. 227

Introduction

The subject of p i l grimage in p a r t i c u l a r is one wh i c h has only b e g u n to attract the a t t e n t i o n of social anthropologists w i t h i n the last ten or f i f t e e n years.

Even the second edition of Lessa and V o g t ’s introductory selection of readings on relig i o n (1965), for example, has no section on pilgrimages or shrines t h o u g h it

covers such diverse topics as m a n a and taboo, totemism, magic, w i t c h c r a f t and divination, death, ghosts and

a ncestor worship. This may be p a rtly b e c a u s e pilgrimages tend to be a feature of m o r e c o m p l e x societies, and it was not u n t i l some years a f ter the Second W o r l d W a r that

social a n t h r o p ologists b e g a n to w o r k in these societies.

The growing interest in the post- w a r period a m o n g B r i t i s h social a n t h ropologists in ’c u l t u r e ’ or ’symbolism* and the move a w a y from the s t r u c t u r a l - f u n c t i o n a l emphasis on kinship, marriage, prope r t y and g o v e r n m e n t (Murdock 1951:

467) doubtless played a part too. There m a y even be something in V i c t o r T u r n e r ’s s u g g e s t i o n that pilgrimage has m e r e l y shared in a general d i s r e g a r d of "the liminal and m a r g i n a l phen o m e n a of social process and cultural dynamics b y those intent ... u p o n the d e s c r i p t i o n and class i f i c a t i o n of orderly insti t u t i o n a l i s e d ’f a c t s ’"

(1978:1).

Fortunately, pilgrimage has n o w b e c o m e a r e s ­ pectable subject, thanks to such p i o n e e r i n g studies as Christian's (1972) e x a m i n a t i o n of changes in Catholic pilgrimage in a v a l l e y in n o r t h e r n Spain, and B h a r d w a j ’s

(1973) w o r k on H i n d u pilgrimage in n o r t h e r n India. The

series of papers b y V i ctor Turner (1973, 1974a, 1974b, 1975) w h i c h culminated in his and E d i t h Turne r ' s volume Image and Pilgrimage in C hristian Culture (1978) has greatly stimulated interest in the subject. Werbner's introduction to the A.S.A. collection R e g i o n a l Cults (1977), for example, takes u p some of V i c t o r Turner's themes in a largely Afri c a n context. S u b s e q u e n t l y Pfaffenberger (1979) and Sallnow (1981) h a v e tested.in Sri Lankan and Peruvian contexts r e s p e c t i v e l y Turner's hypothesis that pilgrimage is c h a r a c terised b y the

experience of communitas. It should also be pointed out that B r i t i s h historians have recently b e e n turning their attention to pilgrimage. Here Sumption's (1975) largely descriptive study of pilgrimage in m e d i e v a l Europe and Finucane's (1977) more sociological w o r k on a group of English shrines whose popular cults emerged b e t w e e n 1066 and 1300, as w e l l as Peter Brown's (1981) analy s i s of the cult of saints in late antiquity, are w o r t h noting.

However, in spite of the growing interest in pilgrimage and shrine cults, there has as y e t b e e n

little detailed study of these phenomena in the Islamic world. W h i l e a number of authors have d e s c r i b e d the h a j j , the pilgrimage to Mecca, a duty incumbent u p o n every

M u s l i m at least once in a lifetime (e.g. B u r t o n 1855, Rutter 1928, Cobbold 1934, Kamal 1964), there has as yet been no proper sociological account of the h a j j and its

organisation. Nor has there b e e n any syste m a t i c d e s c r i p ­ tion and analysis of the numerous lesser M u s l i m p i l g r i m ­ ages w h i c h range from visits to local v i l l a g e shrines to fully-fledged pilgrimages to m a j o r shrines w h o s e

c a t c h m e n t a r eas extend across n ational boundaries.

Even the surveys of m i d d l e eastern a n t h r o p o l o g y by

G u l i c k (1976) a n d E i c k e l m a n n (1981), t h o u g h they mention shrines, h a r d l y a c k n o w l e d g e the existence of these

p i l g r i m a g e s .

In the first place therefore, I a i m in this thesis to ident i f y and describe the characte r i s t i c

features of Islamic shrines and pilgrimages in Iran and A f g h anistan. This means that I shall be exploring one aspect of the immense d i v e r s i t y of b e l i e f and practice to be f o u n d in the Islamic world. In the second place I shall be d i s c u s s i n g the general p r o b l e m of h o w this d i v e r s i t y m a y best be a c c o m m o d a t e d w i t h i n some kind of a n a l y t i c a l framework. In particular, a c o m m e n t a r y upon the u t i l i t y of the a n a l y t i c a l dist i n c t i o n b e t w e e n mosque and shrine, sugg e s t e d b y Spooner (1971) a m o n g others, forms a c o u n t e r p o i n t to the discussions of particular a spe c t s of shrines and pilgrimages.

In the first c h a p t e r I examine the origins of the shrine cults in the Islamic world, as w e l l as

c o m p a r i n g the C h r i s t i a n saint and the M u s l i m h o l y man and c o n t r a s t i n g the functions of mosques and shrines. I c o n t i n u e in the second c h a p t e r b y c l a s s i f y i n g Islamic shrines in Iran and A f g h a n i s t a n in terms b o t h of the objects w h i c h f o r m their prin c i p a l a t t r a c t i o n s and the saints a s s o c i a t e d w i t h them. I also r a n k t h e m according to the d i s t a n c e s over w h i c h they draw pilgrims. In the third c h a p t e r I discuss aspects of the r e l a t i o n s h i p b e t w e e n s e c u l a r rulers a n d shrines, look at the way

shrines are a d m i n i s t e r e d and describe some of their other attractions. In chapter four I ask w h e t h e r any p a r t i ­ cular categories of p e ople visit shrines more regularly and more frequ e n t l y than others, as well as examining, as far as the sources permit, the q uestion of h o w pilgrimage is organised, and exploring some aspects of pilgrimage ritual. In chapter five I discuss the c o m m u n a l and i n d i ­ vidual ritual w h i c h takes place at the shrines themselves.

In chapter six I explore the question w h y p e o p l e visit shrines, asking in p a r t i c u l a r whet h e r t h i s - w o r l d l y or o t h e r - w o r l d l y motives predominate, as w e l l as drawing a tte n t i o n to some of the political and economic aspects of v i s i t i n g shrines. Finally, in chapter seven I discuss the w i d e r p r o b l e m of h o w best to handle the diversity of Islamic belief a n d p r a c t i c e of w h i c h these shrine and p i l grimage cults provide such striking evidence.

As far as concerns the q u e s t i o n of definition, a shrine m a y be d e scribed u n c o n t r o v e r s i a l l y as "a place where w o r s h i p is offered or devotions are p a i d to a saint or deity" (S.O.E.D.). Pilgrimage is not quite so simply defined; sometimes the w o r d is u s e d to describe any visit to a sacred place, n e a r or far, other than one's regular place of worship. However, the distinctive feature of a p ilgr i m a g e is u s u a l l y t a k e n to be the fact that it

involves a journey. It should therefore be distinguished from a simple visit to a local shrine, t h o u g h there is bound to be something a r b i t r a r y about w h e r e the line b e t w e e n the two is drawn. In addition, p i l g r i m a g e tends to be a v o l u n t a r y act, w h i c h distinguishes it from p r e ­ scribed w o r s h i p in a local church, m o s q u e or temple (see

e.g. V & E. T u rner 1978:7-10). Hence the definition of pilgrimage I use here is "a journey, u s u a l l y voluntary, to a sacred place primarily for some r e ligious purpose".

This d e f i n i t i o n is sufficiently flexible to be applied c r o s s - c u l t u r a l l y , leaving the question of the meaning of the religious journey to be ascertained in the context of the p a r t i c u l a r religious tradition in w h i c h it is located.

I have made Islamic shrines and pilgrimages in Iran and A f g h a n i s t a n the focus of the thesis b o t h because I have some first hand experience of e a c h country, and because, t h ough neighbours, their s ectarian composition

is quite different^. Iran has a m a j o r i t y of Twelver Shi'ites w i t h a large m i n o r i t y of Sunnis a n d a small

m i n o r i t y of Ismailis, w h ile in A f g h a n i s t a n the proportion of Sunnis and Twel v e r Shi'ites is reversed. The latter form a fairly substantial minority, and a g a i n there is a small m i n o r i t y of Ismailis (from n o w on I refer to

Twel v e r Shi'ites simply as Shi'ites and Sevener Shi'ites as Ismailis). This enables me to compare a n d contrast

Sunni, Shi'ite and Ismaili attitudes to shrines and pilgrimage.

(footnote : Having v i s ited Iran in 1976, in 1978 I began field r e s e a r c h on the subject of inte r - e t h n i c r e l a t i o n ­ ships in the a r e a arou n d the small town of N a h r i n in n o r t h e r n Afghanistan. The deter i o r a t i n g p o litical situa­

tion m e a n t that I had to abandon f i e l d w o r k a f t e r spending only a f e w months in the field.)

Since f i e l d w o r k is at present out of the

question in b o t h countries, I have relied almo s t entirely on what secondary sources are available, and u s e d a few details from m y own field resea r c h in Afghanistan. Apart from an e xtremely detailed but almost e n t i r e l y d e s c r i p ­ tive study of saint w o r s h i p and p i l grimage in the Kabul area b y H a rald E inzmann (1977), and papers on aspects of shrine and pilgr i m a g e cults by Bazin (1973), L. Dupree (1976), B e t t e r i d g e (1981) and Brooks (1981), I have used ethnographic accounts w h i c h deal w i t h these topics inter alia such as B.A. D o n a l d s o n (1938), M a s s e (1938), Alberts

(1963), L. Dupree (1970), Fischer (1973), C a n f i e l d (1973), Poulton (1973), Thaiss (1973) and R. and M. P o u l t o n

(1979). I have also m a d e use of two papers b y Spooner (1963) and (1971) w h i c h describe p o p ular r e l i g i o n in Iran and contain useful data on shrines.

Ot herwise I h a v e drawn on h i s t o r i c a l and p o l i ­ tical studies such as A v e r y (1965), P o u l l a d a (1973), L. Dupree (1973), K akar (1979) and F i s c h e r (1980), as well as the w o r k of art historians, in p a r t i c u l a r M o r t o n

(1974, 1975), and scholars of Islam, s u c h as D.M.

Donaldson (1933), Von G r u n e b a u m (1951), G o l d z i h e r (1971), T rim i n g h a m (1971), H o d g s o n (1974), Schimmel (1975), Said Amir A r j o m a n d (1979) and Utas (1980), travellers accounts such as Ferr i e r (1857), Yate (1888), A u b i n (1908), B y r o n

(1981), and C haffetz (1981), and guide books, e s pecially those descr i b i n g d i fferent parts of A f g h a n i s t a n by

Wolfe (later N.H. Dupree) (1965, 1966, 1967, 1971).

In order to w i d e n the d i s c u s s i o n a little, at one or two points I h a v e referred to aspects of shrines and

pilgrimages in other Islamic countries and in medieval Europe. F o r the latter I have relied on the w o r k of the h istorians n o t e d above. For the former I have used a v a r i e t y of sources, in particular historical studies such as G ibb a n d B o w e n (1957) and ethnographies of varying degrees of s o p h i s t i c a t i o n such as Canaan (1927), Castagne"

(1951), Kriss (1960), Snesarev (1977a and 1977b), Van B r u i n e s s e n (1978) and Jeffery (1979a and 1979b).

C h a pter One Origins of the Saint and Shrine Cults in Islam, Saints in I slam and Christianity, Shrines a n d Mosques

"God has saints, a u l i y a ..., w h o m He has s p e c i a l l y d i s t i n g u i s h e d b y His f r i e n d s h i p and w h o m He has c h o s e n to be the governors

of His k i n g d o m a n d has m a r k e d out to m a n i f e s t His actions and has p e c u l i a r l y favo u r e d w i t h diverse kinds of m i r a c l e s ...

He has m a d e the saints the governors of the u n i v e r s e ... T h r o u g h the b l e s s i n g of their a d v e n t the rain falls f r o m heaven, a n d t h r o u g h the p u r i t y of their lives the plants spring u p f r o m the earth, and t h r o u g h their s p iritual influence the

Mu s l i m s gain v i c t o r i e s over the u n b e l i e v e r s ” (Hujwiri, K a shf a l - M a h j u b , pages 212-3,

tr a n s l a t e d by R.A. Nicholson, London, Luzac & Co., 1911)

In this c h a p t e r b y w a y of intro d u c t i o n I discuss the origins of shrine cults in the Islamic world, e x p l o r i n g some of the links b e t w e e n the

d evelopment of two theories of s a i ntly intercession, Sufi a n d Shi'ite, and the e m e r g e n c e of M u s l i m shrines.

I continue b y a s k i n g w h e t h e r all the b e l i e f s and

practices a s s o c i a t e d w i t h Islamic h o l y m e n are quite as different f r o m those a s s o c i a t e d w i t h C h r i s t i a n saints as B r y a n T u r n e r (1974:56-71) has suggested. In the

last section I b r i e f l y discuss the d i f f e r e n t functions of shrines and mosques.

a. Origins of the Shrine and Saint Cult in Islam :-

In v i e w of the close a s s o c i a t i o n b e t w e e n shrines and pilgrimages and the cult of h o l y men or saints in Islam, it m a y be u s eful at the outset to

explain h o w this arose. E arly Islam appears to have had no place for intermediaries b e t w e e n A l l a h and man

(Goldziher 1971 11:258). The Prophet M u h a m m a d c r i t i ­ cised Jews and C h r istians for their reliance on saintly media t i o n because it seemed to deny the u n i queness of God (see K oran 9:31). M u h a m m a d h i m s e l f always insisted that he was m e r e l y the m o u t h p i e c e for the revelations w h i c h A l l a h was m a k i n g a v ailable to m a n k i n d thro u g h him, and not a m i r a c l e - w o r k e r like Jesus (see K o r a n 5:109-10,

17:95-6). The K o ran does speak of a w l i y a *(plural of w all - 'someone w h o is close', 'friend', 'helper'), men and w o m e n w h o devote themselves to God and lead w o r t h y lives (Goldziher 1971,11:263). T hey are to be admired and emulated and have first place in paradise. However, they are no m o r e powerful than anyone else in this world, and there is no s u g gestion that in the next they will be able to act as m e d i a t o r s b e t w e e n A l l a h and man.

Nevertheless, for various reasons such as the strength of e a r lier religious traditions a m ong converts to Islam, the n eed to c o m pete w i t h C h r i s t i a n and Hindu m i r a c l e - w o r k i n g h o l y men, and perhaps also the " i n s u r ­ mo untable b a r r i e r " w h i c h divided an infinite and u n a pproachable A l l a h from the ordinary believer, this attitude was to change d r a m a t i c a l l y (Von G r u n e b a u m 1951:

68, G o l d z i h e r 1971 11:225, Sumption 1975:60). A

d i s t i nctively Islamic theory of i n t e r c e s s i o n a r y and m i r a c l e - w o r k i n g saints was evolved w h i c h in its

'parochialised' forms was easily integrated w i t h popular pre-Islamic beliefs in the powers of h o l y m e n and spirits and places a s sociated w i t h them.

This Islamic theory of saintly m e d i a t i o n in fact t o o k two forms, but the ideas b e hind b o t h are

re m arkably similar, and Schimmel (1975:41) suggests that they b o t h h a d a common source in the teachings of Jafar as-Sadiq (d. 765), the sixth Imam of the Shi'ites. Among the mystics, the Sufis, the notion of the w a l T , the

friend of Allah, underwent very c o n s i derable elaboration.

It came to be believed that there was a w h o l e hierarchy of awliya*, h i d d e n and visible, w h i c h c u l m i n a t e d in the qutb ('axis' or 'pole' of the universe) or ghaws

('defender'). The invisible qutb is b e l i e v e d to be the channel for the spiritual energy u p o n w h i c h the w e l l ­ being of the w o r l d depends. He is the true c a l i p h or

'successor' to the Prophet Muhammad and r u l e r of the Islamic c o m m u n i t y w h i c h he governs t h r o u g h the invisible h i e r a r c h y of abdal saints ('substitutes') a n d the visible saints, the p T r s , guides u p o n the m y s t i c a l p a t h developed by the Sufis (Schimmel 1975:200). One of the most

important characteristics of the w a l l is that A l l a h has favoured h i m w i t h spiritual power (b a r a k a ) w h i c h is manif e s t e d in the performance of m iracles (k a r a m a t )

(Trimingham 1971:28, 301).

In practical terms, Sufism b e g a n in the ninth century as a tendency on the part of a few individuals

to look for ways of approaching God more c l o s e l y and of closing the gap w h i c h seemed to separate H i m from the ordinary M u s l i m (Schimmel 1975:23-97). B y the twelth c e n tury it h a d become a mass movement. Diff e r e n t

mystical doctrines, rules and methods w e r e developed by the Sufi pirs and transmitted to their successors.

Loos e l y organ i s e d associations (t u r u q ) sprang u p around the teachers of these different tendencies and they spread v e r y r a p i d l y across the Sunni, and to a somewhat lesser extent, the Shi'ite w o r l d (Trimingham 1971:25).

Un t i l the e l e v e n t h century, H o d g s o n (1974 II:

218) argues, most of the h o l y places in the M u s l i m world, the p o p u l a r shrines w here ordinary people w e r e able to gain access to sources of supernatural power, remained in the hands of the Jews, Christians and Z oroastrians

(z i m m a , or 'people of the covenant'). In places like Syria M u s l i m s h a d b e e n able to share w i t h Christians the cults of the tombs of the Biblical prophets. However, it was only w i t h the spread and general a c c e p t a n c e of

popular S u f i s m w i t h its belief in m i r a c l e - w o r k i n g saints that it b e c a m e possible to produce Islamic shrines e v e r y ­ where, and to every purpose, or to Islamise older ones.

T h r o u g h the v e n e r a t i o n of the Sufi pirs a n d t h eir graves, m a n y p r e - I s l a m i c beliefs and practices c e n t r e d on

m i r a c l e - w o r k i n g people and places were g i v e n some sort of Islamic c o l o u r i n g (Goldziher 1971 11:281). It became common p r a c t i c e for people to visit the s upposed tombs of these pirs and other places a s s o c i a t e d w i t h them in the belief that the prayers they said and the offerings they made there w o u l d induce them to intercede w i t h Allah.

The tombs of the famous pirs became p o p u l a r centres of pilgrimage and the celebrations of their b i rthdays became major local or even regional festivals in w h i c h huge

crowds t ook part (see e.g. V o n G r u n e b a u m 1951:72-6).

The Shi'ite t h e o l o g i a n s 1 t h e o r y of saintly intercession was put in somewhat diffe r e n t terms.

S h i 1ism b e g a n as a political m o v e m e n t foll o w i n g the death of the Prophet in 632. Its a i m was to secure the l e a d e r ­ ship of the M u s l i m commu n i t y for the Proph e t ' s family, in particular for Ali, his cousin a n d son-in-law, and All's descendants. It was not long before it a c q u i r e d a

religious dimension as well. The Shi'ites (from s h l * at a l i , the 'party of Ali') developed the n o t i o n that the Prophet had b e e n the p o ssessor of special divine

knowledge w h i c h was inherited b y m e m b e r s of his family, and that b y v i r t u e of this they w e r e the only legitimate rulers of the Islamic community. It came to be b e l i e v e d that in each generation one of A li's desce n d a n t s was the true Imam, that is the inheritor of the Prophet's

religious and p o litical authority, w h e t h e r or not he was in a posit i o n to exercise it. By the e i g h t h c e n tury the difficulty of deciding in w h i c h line of Ali's descendants this a u t h o r i t y was inherited was b e g i n n i n g to divide the Shi'ites into a number of separate m o v e m e n t s (Hodgson 1974 1:256-67).

It is w o r t h pointing out h ere that the Sunnis (from s u n n a , 'custom', referring to the w o r d s and deeds of the Prophet as reported in the T r a d i t i o n s (h a d l s ) ), shared the Shi'ite reverence for the P rophet's family but

18.

condemned the tendency to turn Muha m m a d and his

descendants f rom h u m a n beings into emanations of God. As regards the leadership of the M u s l i m community, the Sunni v iew was that ideally the ruler should be from the

P r o p h e t fs clan, the Quraysh, but need not be from his immediate fami l y as the S h i fites demanded. The Sunnis also b e l i e v e d that the ruler should be elected by the notables of the c o m m u n i t y whereas the S h i fites held that their Imam h e l d office b y divine appointment and was d e s ignated b y his p r e d e c e s s o r (Hourani 1967:12-5, B. Lewis 1974:160).

The b est k n o w n of the Shi'ite movements today is the T w e l v e r (isnae a s h a r i a ) w h o s e members form a large community, e s p e c i a l l y in Iran and Iraq w here they are in the majority. As the name implies, the Twelver Shi'ites r e cognise twelve Imams in the line of descent from Ali.

The t w e l f t h Imam, M u h a m m a d al-Mahdi, disappeared from the w o r l d in 880 a n d remains in occultation w h i l e still

guiding the fortunes of his people from behi n d the scenes rather like the Sufis' invisible 'pole* or q u t b . One day, it is believed, he w i l l return to restore justice and righteousness to the world. The Sevener Shi'ites, or Ismailis, c o m p r i s e a n o t h e r important community today, t hou g h they form a small m i n o r i t y in Iran and Afghanistan.

They shared the T w e l v e r Shi'ites belief that the Imamate was i n h e r i t e d b y the descendants of Ali and Fatima as far as J a f a r a s - S a d i q (d. 765). However, they recognised Jafar's son Ismail (d. c. 760) as his successor and beli e v e d that Ismail's son Muha m m a d was the seventh and

last of the "visible" Imams, whereas the Twelvers

followed a n o t h e r son, M u s a Qasim (d. 799) (Hodgson op.

c i t ) .

This b e l i e f in the semi-divine qualities of the Imams m e a n t that the Twel v e r Shi'ites in particular quickly b e g a n to see t hem as effective m e d i a t o r s between man and God. The fact that all were b e l i e v e d to have been m u r d e r e d b y their enemies in some u n d e r h a n d fashion

(except of course for the t w e lfth Imam) r e i n f o r c e d this.

It m e ant that they were regarded as being espec i a l l y sympathetic to the sufferings of others, and at the same time, it was believed, b y identifying w i t h their

sufferings their devotees would acquire d i vine grave.

Once this happened, there was little d i f f i c u l t y in

accepting that p i l g r i m a g e to their tombs was the best way of p e r s u a d i n g t h e m to intercede w i t h Allah. Indeed it came to be b e l i e v e d that w i t hout their i n t e r cession the ordinary m a n could n e v e r hope to be admit t e d to paradise (D.M. D o n a l d s o n 1933:344-6, Arjomand 1979:93-5). In the tombs of the Imams the Shi'ites were able to produce their own shrines m u c h earlier than the Sunnis. Soon after his d e a t h in 680, Husain's tomb at Kerbela, for example, b e c a m e a place of pilgrimage. It was destroyed in 850 b y the a n t i - S h i ' i t e Abbasid c a l i p h M u t a w a k k i l and not rebuilt u n t i l late in the tenth c e n t u r y (D.M.

D onal d s o n 1933:91, A y o u b 1978:181).

P o p u l a r b e l i e f soon extended the Imams' inter­

cess i o n a r y role to their descendants, the i m a m z a d a s , as well, and enlar g e d it so that they were b e l i e v e d to be capable of p e r f o r m i n g m iracles in this w o r l d as well as having s u c h influence in the next. Since there could in theory be a l most a n y n u m b e r of i m a m z a d a s , it was easy enough to a s s o c i a t e a place of pilgrimage w i t h one of

them, and thereby justify a cult. As in the Sunni world, a c o m plex n e t w o r k of pilgrimages d e v e l o p e d to the great shrines like K e r bela and Mashad. Of course, as we shall see in the next chapter, just as not all Sunni shrines are assoc i a t e d w i t h Sufis, so not all Shi'ite ones are connected w i t h the Imams and I m a m z a d a s . However, it does seem to have been p i lgrimage to the tombs of, and other places asso c i a t e d with, Sufis and Imams and i m a m z a d a s , w h i c h p rovided a precedent for cults c e n t r e d on other

f i g u r e s .

b* " Saints" in C h r i s t i a n i t y and Islam

In this section I w a n t b r i e f l y to discuss the question w h e t h e r it is r e a s o n a b l e to u s e the w o r d 'saint*

to refer to the different sorts of h o l y m e n to be found in the Islamic world, a w l i y a * m a r a b o u t s , p i r s , i m a m z a d a s , s h a y k h s , 1shins (see glossary), and so on. In particular I want to comment on B r y a n Turner's (1974:56) v i e w that

"the terms saint and m a r a b o u t (under w h i c h I shall

include w a l l , S u f i , a g u r r a m and s h e i k h ) are m i r r o r - i m a g e terms p r e c i s e l y because Islam and C h r i s t i a n i t y are, in crucial respects, opposed forms of religion. Thus all the c r i t e r i a w h i c h define s a intship are r e v e r s e d in the definition of m a r a b o u t ". To b e g i n with, it is w o r t h noting that the term w a l l is not e x a c t l y e q u i v a l e n t to

the R o m a n Catho l i c n o t i o n of saint, as it is clos e l y connected w i t h the m y s t e r y of initi a t i o n a n d progress on the m y s t i c a l path, wher e a s in the C a t h o l i c C h u r c h s a i n t ­ hood is a s s o c i a t e d w i t h a life lived at an h e r o i c level

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of C h r i s t i a n faithfulness and integrity (or, if a martyr, because of the c i r c u m stances of his v i o l e n t death)

(Attwater 1965:10-11, T r i m i n g h a m 1971:133-5, Schimmel 1975:204). However, in spite of this d i f f e r e n c e at the dogmatic level, p o p ular attitudes to the h o l y figures associated w i t h Islamic shrines are, as I shall show below, r e m a r k a b l y similar to those Chris t i a n s h eld about their p o p u l a r saints.

B r y a n T u r n e r ’s objections to the u s e of the term saint to r e fer to Islamic h o l y m e n are somewhat different. For h i m C h r i s t i a n saints are c a n o n i s e d after their deaths, and o r t h o d o x (indeed they are often t h e o ­

logians) w h e r e a s Islamic ' s a i n t s 1 are r e c o g n i s e d as such by popu l a r a c c l a i m w h i l e still living. T h e y are h e t e r o ­ dox, p e r i p h e r a l to the central Islamic t r a d i t i o n and as such are o v e r w h e l m i n g l y found in rural areas. To b e g i n with, it s h ould be p o i nted out t h a k Turner's prim a r y

definition of the w o r d 'saint* is that a d o p t e d b y the Roman C a t h o l i c church. Hence, in his view, the only person w h o m a y l e g i t i m a t e l y be regarded as a saint "in the strong sense" is someone c anonised b y the C h u r c h

(1974:58). This w a y of a p p r o a c h i n g the p r o b l e m takes no account of the fact that it was r e l a t i v e l y late in the h i s t o r y of the W e s t e r n C h u r c h that the p a p a c y was able to assert its c o n t r o l over canonisation. C o m p e t i n g d e f i n i ­ tions of 'saintship' p e r s i s t e d at least u n t i l the Counter- R e f o r m a t i o n (see e.g. Sumption 1975:269, F inucane 1977:

36). Thus, for example, it appears to h a v e b e e n r e l a ­ tively c o m m o n for m e d i e v a l C h ristian h e r mits s uch as Godric of F i n c h a l e and the Serbian serf H e i m r a d to acquire

a r e p u t a t i o n for sanctity and to be v i s i t e d b y people living in the n e i g h b ourhood for the same reasons as they visited the tombs and relics of dead saints (Brooke 1975:

40-4, F inucane 1977:126-7). In m edieval Europe, t h e r e ­ fore, sanctity was sometimes attributed to living as well as dead h o l y men.

Moreover, w hile Turner is correct in saying that Islamic h o l y men tend to be recog n i s e d as such in their lifetimes, people associated w i t h Islamic shrines have quite often not been regarded as h o l y m e n while alive. It is for instance the fact of his v i o lent and u n m e r i t e d d e a t h w h i c h often makes the tomb of the shahid or m a r t y r the focus of a popular cult. It is perhaps w o r t h n o t i n g that in medieval Europe there was often a

spontaneous vener a t i o n of popular heroes w h o met a sudden and v i o l e n t d e a t h such as Simon de Montfort, Canute II of D e n m a r k and even Thomas Becket (V. T u r n e r 1974:48,

Sumption 1975:286). Nor is it the case that those

M uslims w h o s e tombs became shrines were always h e t e r o d o x in their views. An outstanding example is the religious and legal scholar a l - Shafi'i (d. 820) w h o s e grave mosque in C airo b e c a m e an important centre of pilgr i m a g e (Kriss 1960 1:60-1). Thus, not only has Turn e r failed to take account of the fact that the criteria b y w h i c h C hristian and Islamic h o l y m e n are recognised as such once r e s e m ­ bled e a c h other a great deal more than they do now, but he has also not fully appreciated what Islamic 1 s a i n t -

ship* entails in the context of shrines.

In fact, Turner (1974:68) s p e c i f i c a l l y denies

the p o s s i b i l i t y of u s e f u l l y comparing G h r i s t i a n saints and Islamic m a rabouts in respect of the m i r a c l e - w o r k i n g properties of their tombs, thou g h b o t h w e r e sources of cures as he himself admits. In the first place, he finds it significant that the M u s l i m noti o n of b a r a k a is "more popular, diffuse and amorphous" than the C h ristian

theologians* 'charisma' (1974:67). A l t h o u g h this is

p erfectly correct, ordinary Christians n evertheless tried to tap the powers of the shrines of their dead saints in m u c h the same w a y as did the Muslims those of their dead m a r a b o u t s . For the ordinary C h ristian c h a r i s m a amounted to c o n tagious m a gic e very bit as m u c h as did baraka for the M u s l i m (B. Turn e r 1974:68, Finucane 1977:89,

Einzmann 1977:98). T u rner (ibid) also quite rightly points out that there was no trade in the bones of

Islamic h o l y m e n as there was w i t h those of Christian saints. N e v e r t h e l e s s it is not true to say that h o l y relics w e r e u n k n o w n in Islam, as we shall see below.

What is more' important, however, is that this does not mean that It is not instructive to compare C h r i s t i a n

shrines, p a r t i c u l a r l y m e d i e v a l ones, and Islamic ones.

Not only do Muslims and Christians a p p e a r to have shared v ery simi l a r ideas about the contagious p o wer of holy tombs a n d relics, but to this day they a l s o enter into the same sort of transactions w i t h the h o l y m e n

a s s o c i a t e d w i t h them, v o w i n g to make such a n d such an offering if such a n d such a request is granted.

Thirdly, let us examine b r i e f l y B r y a n Turner's (1974:63) a s s e r t i o n that Islamic marab o u t s are basic a l l y a rural, h e t e r o d o x p h e n o m e n o n In c onflict w i t h the

orthodox Islam of the cities, while C h r i s t i a n saints are orthodox. T here was, he suggests, a m o r e or less permanent d i v i s i o n in Islam b e t w e e n the ruling i n s titu­

tions (the military, sultanate and the lawyers) and the popular, rural and tribal religion of the Sufi b r o t h e r ­ hoods. This is a point made originally b y Ernest Gellner

(1969:131), t h o u g h he did not put it quite so crudely, and I shall return to it later. Suffice it to say at this p oint that the d i v i s i o n Turner talks about never existed in Islamic society. Hodgson (1974 11:221), for example, points out that in the Middle Ages Sufism came to supplement if not a c t u a l l y supplant the Sharia as a principle of social u n i t y and order. In T rimingham's view the Sufi Orders and their awliya* "consecrated"

secular institutions, b e i n g closely associated, for instance, w i t h craft a n d commercial guilds (1971:230).

Just to take one example, in A f g h a n i s t a n soldiers t r a d i ­ tionally h a d c lose links w i t h Sufi pirs (Poullada 1973:

77); In fact A h m a d Shah D u r r a n i (ruled 1747-1772), who m a y be said to be the foun d e r of m o d e r n Afghanistan, was a famous Sufi (his tomb in Kand a h a r is a p o p u l a r shrine today). S u f i s m came to permeate all levels of society and p l a y e d a c e n t r a l role in it for m a n y centuries (see e.g. K. B r o w n 1976:111, G i b b and B owen 1957 I part 2:201).

Nor is it true that Sufis n e c e s s a r i l y h e l d h e t e r o d o x views. V a n B r u i n e s s e n (1978:312) points out that b o t h

strictly o r t h o d o x and e x t r e m e l y u n o r t h o d o x beliefs and practices h a v e b e e n found w i t h i n the N a q s h b a n d i order for example (see also A l g a r 1976:150). Sufism was m u c h more than s i mply a h e t e r o d o x and rural p h e n o m e n o n c atering for those on the m a r g i n s of civil i s e d society.

On the other hand, Bryan Turn e r (1974:69-70) does identify one crucial difference b e t w e e n Christian and Islamic ideas about sanctity. This is the heritable quality of holiness in Islam. As we saw above, S h i ’ites attached great importance to descent from the close r e l a ­ tives of the Prophet. Traditionally, Sunnis also

belie v e d that the descendants of Ali and Fatima, known as s a y y i d s , possessed a degree of divine b l e s s i n g and were entitled to the alms of the faithful (Hodgson 1974

11:452). In a ddition the emergence of lineages of holy men supposedly descended f rom a famous Sufi prr or shaykh has b e e n a w i d e s p r e a d phenomenon in Islamic history.

Turner (ibid) is also right to draw our a t t e n t i o n to the fact that partly for this reason Islamic h o l y m e n have played important political roles whereas C h r i s t i a n saints have not done so.

These differences are important e n o u g h to

justify his asse r t i o n that to refer to living h o l y men in the Islamic w o r l d as 1 saints* is to o v e r s i m p l i f y matters unduly. On the other hand, w h e n it comes to a discussion

of shrines, then it is convenient and not u n d u l y m i s ­

leading to refer to those w hose supposed tombs and relics become the foci of popular cults among M u s l i m s as saints,

since the roles they p e r f o r m and the ways in w h i c h they are appr o a c h e d are often remar k a b l y similar to those associated w i t h the v e n e r a t i o n of C h r i s t i a n saints.

Moreover, T u r n e r ’s a rgument that the terms saint and marab o u t are mirro r - i m a g e s of e a c h other surely conceals an interesting problem. The C h r i s t i a n saint and the M u s l i m marabout might m ore plaus i b l y be said to represent

’transformations* of the same u n d e r l y i n g themes. Among these w e m i g h t n u m b e r the idea of m e d i a t i o n between man and God in the form of supernatural power channelled by h o l y men, the a s s o c i a t i o n betw e e n the sacred and the miraculous, the c o n tagious qual i t y of the sacred, the miraculous p ower r e l e a s e d b y sudden v i o lent death, and

so on. Unless this is recognised, there w i l l be no incentive to find out exac t l y where the differences and resemblances b e t w e e n h o l y figures in Islam and

C h r i s t i a n i t y lie, a n d h o w they altered over the c e n t u r i e s .

c. shrine and mosque

F or b o t h S h i ’ite and Sunni Musl i m s the mosque is a p l a c e w h e r e the d a i l y prayers m a y be performed.

The m o s t c o m m o n w o r d for mosq u e in Iran and Afghanistan i-s m a s j i d , w h i c h means ’place of p r o s t r a t i o n ’ (s ujud) . Sunnis a t t a c h m o r e importance than S h i ’ites to the

c o m m u n a l p e r f o r m a n c e of the presc r i b e d daily prayers in a mosque. Nevertheless, Sunnis are not obliged to attend the mosque, even for the m o s t important communal prayer, at n o o n on Fridays, w h e n there is u s u a l l y a sermon

p r e c e d e d b y a m e n t i o n of the recognised r u l e r ’s name (Gulick 1976:177). Prayers said in a mosque and in

c o m p a n y w i t h others are n o more effective than those said in solitude in a n y r i t u a l l y c l ean place. In no sense is the m o s q u e ever a shrine for the divinity, as was the Gothic c a t h e d r a l for example. "The m o s q u e is clearly a n o n - s a c r a l place of w o r s h i p " (H.W, T u r n e r 1979:266).

Unless it is also a saint's shrine, or part of

one, no b a r a k a inheres in it as a place. The shrine or z i y a r a t , b y contrast, is a place w h i c h is b e l i e v e d to possess a n d emit b a r a k a w h i c h m a y be u n d e r s t o o d as divine favour in the form of spiritual power (see e.g.

T r i m i n g h a m 1971:301). The numerous d i s c u s s i o n s of its nature include W e s t e r m a r c k (1926 1:34), G e e r t z (1968:

44-5), Douglas (1970:131-5), Gell n e r (1970:43-6), and B. T u rner (1974:67-9). All I want to do h e r e is to

describe the w a y b a r a k a appears to w o r k in the context of shrines. As I pointed out above, the S u nni t h e o r y of baraka is that one of the signs of the true saint or w a l l

is p o s s e s s i o n of b a r a k a w h i c h is d e m o n s t r a t e d b y the p e r ­ formance of m i r a c l e s (k a r a m a t ) (Schimmel 1975:206). Just as "people in fact beco m e possessors of b a r a k a b y being treated as possessors of it" (Gellner 1970:46), so w i t h shrines. Since bara k a has a contagious q u a l i t y and is t r a nsmitted materially, the things w h i c h p o s s e s s it are u s u ally t hose w h i c h are b e l i e v e d to h a v e b e e n in contact w i t h 1 saints' of one k ind of another. In particular, their supp o s e d tombs and footprints are o f t e n h e a v i l y

'charged* w i t h b a r a k a and emit it conti n u o u s l y . In the last section I n o t e d that the tombs of m a r t y r s (s h a h a d a ) , who w ere n o t regarded as h o l y w h i l e living, are often treated as sources of b a r a k a too. There is n o doubt that b a r a k a is more than simply the " s u c c e s s - b i a s e d "

power d e s c r i b e d b y Douglas (1970:135). K r iss suggests that the p o w e r w h i c h b a r a k a -charged objects possess can best be d e s c r i b e d as a h e a l i n g one (1960 1:4). It is certa i n l y true that saints* tombs are b e l i e v e d to be powerful places of healing.

One important difference b e t w e e n a shrine and a mosque therefore derives from the fact that a shrine

is a sacred place of power, charged w i t h b e n e f i c e n t

energy of divine origin. The tomb, relic or other object associated w i t h the saint is the immediate source of this power. The c l o s e r one approaches it the stronger becomes the e m i s s i o n of b a r a k a . Hence, as w e shall see below, the goal of m a n y visitors to a shrine is simply to get as near the tomb of a saint as possible and to remain there for as long as they can. In this respect at least,

baraka appears to w o r k in a very similar w a y to the charisma of the medieval C h r i s t i a n saints w h o s e relics

"emitted a k i n d of h o l y r a d i o a c t i v i t y w h i c h b o m b a r d e d everything in the area" including the h o p e f u l pilgrims who came to kiss, touch and pray before t heir tombs

(Finucane 1977:26).

In order to benefit f r o m the c u r a t i v e power of a shrine it m a y simply be e n o u g h to a b s o r b some of the baraka it a u t o m a t i c a l l y emits. The d ead s a i n t s 1 powers extend b e y o n d their shrines, but if one w a n t s a saint to help w i t h other than medical problems, to b r i n g success

in love or business for example, then one has to draw his attention to the desired goal and e s t a b l i s h some personal link w i t h him. I shall discuss some of the prayers and rituals u s e d for this purpose in c h a p t e r five. Here I want to e m phasize that the saint is m ost r e s p o n s i v e to prayers u t t e r e d in the v i c i n i t y of his tomb and that the shrine is therefore the m ost a p p r o p r i a t e p lace to contact h i m (c.f. Finucane 1977:39) t h ough he c a n be contacted elsewhere (see e.g. Betteridge 1980:146). In this

respect too the shrine contrasts w i t h the mosque. The prayers u t t e r e d in a mosque testify to one's resolve to honour and obey Allah, but they are not designed to open a personal channel of communication w i t h h i m nor to

extract some favour from him. By contrast the prayers one addresses to a saint are likely to be of a m u c h more personal nature, and are likely to be requests for help w hether in this w o r l d or in the world to come. The

importance of the shrine as a place of power m e ant that there evolved a c o m p l e x n e t w o r k of pilgrimages to the Afghan and Iranian shrines as well as various rituals to be p e rformed at them. I say more about these below.

S u m m a r y :-

I b e g a n b y looking at the origins of shrines and p i l g rimages in Islam and their close a s s o c i a t i o n w i t h the cult of h o l y m e n or saints. I n oted that in spite of the u n c o m p r o m i s i n g m o n o t h e i s m of the Prophet, w i t h i n two or three h u n d r e d years of his death, b o t h Sunni and

Shi'ite bran c h e s of Islam had developed theories of saintly intercession. In the Sunni case, the i n t e r ­ cessors w e r e the Sufi p i r s , instructors on the mystical path, and in the Shi'ite case, the Twelve Imams and their close relatives (though there were Shi'ite Sufis too).

These saints w e r e rega r d e d as being espe c i a l l y close to and b e l o v e d of A l l a h and hence endowed by h i m w i t h s u p e r ­ natural power, b a r a k a , w h i c h enabled them to perf o r m miracles. A c o m p l e x n e t w o r k of pilgrimages to the tombs

of these saints developed, and many pre-Islamic h o l y

places w e r e b r o u g h t into the Islamic fold b y being associated w i t h one or other of them.

In the second place I raised the question wh e t h e r it is r e a s o n a b l e to use the t erm saint to refer to all the d i f f e r e n t kinds of h o l y m e n to be found in the Islamic world, w a l l s , p r r s , i m a m z a d a s , m a r a b o u t s ,

s h a y k h s , rshans and so on. B ryan Turner has argued that it is m i s l e a d i n g to do so b e c a u s e C h r i s t i a n saints are

canonised, d ead and o r t h o d o x whereas Islamic ' s a i n t s 1 are regarded as such b y p o p u l a r a c c l a i m w h i l e still living, heterodox, p e r i p h e r a l to the central Islamic tradition and p r e d o m i n a n t l y found in rural areas. I put forward some o b j ections to this view. Firstly, T u r n e r neglects the h i s t o r i c a l d i m e n s i o n w h i c h means that he takes no account of the fact that m e d i e v a l C h r i s t i a n saints were often m u c h m o r e like M u s l i m h o l y men than are mode r n ,Roman C a t h o l i c ones. Secondly, Muslims and Christians

appear to h a v e shared v e r y similar noti o n s a b out the c o n ­ tagious p o w e r of the tombs and relics of h o l y men, and to have a t t e m p t e d to tap this power in ways w h i c h were often re m a r k a b l y alike. Thirdly, I showed that it was not the case that Islamic h o l y m e n have always b e e n a rural, h e t e r o d o x p h e n o m e n o n in c onflict w i t h the o r t h o d o x Islam

of the^u l a m a . I say m ore about this point in particular in c h a p t e r seven. Nevertheless, I sugg e s t e d that Turner was right to d r a w a t t e n t i o n to an important difference be t w e e n C h r i s t i a n and Islamic ideas about the sacred, na m e l y the h e r i t a b l e q u a l i t y of h oliness in Islam and its absence in C h ristianity. For this reason, I a g r e e d w i t h Turner that it is p r o b a b l y an o v e r s i m p l i f i c a t i o n to refer

to living M u s l i m h o l y m e n as saints. However, the fact that the roles these h o l y men perform w h e n they are dead and the ways in w h i c h they are approached are so similar to those associated w i t h Christian saints m eans that it is convenient and not u n d u l y misleading to refer to those dead h o l y m e n w hose tombs, relics and so on have become the objects of pilgrimage, as saints.

Thirdly, I outlined the basic differences

between the functions of the mosque and the shrine. The mosque is a non-sacral place of wors h i p w h e r e a s the

shrine is a sacred place, 'charged* w i t h b e n e f i c e n t

power of divine origin. This power can be tapped partly be getting as close to its source as possible. The

shrine is also the most appropriate place for e s t a b l i s h ­ ing personal contact w i t h the saint and invoking his help w i t h this or other-worldly problems. The m o s q u e by contrast is a place for performing the, required, s t e r e o ­

typed daily p r a y e r s , and there is no idea that b y p e r ­ forming them that one is establishing p e r s o n a l contact w i t h God.

C h a p t e r Two Types of Islamic Shrine in Iran and A f g h a n i s t a n

"The most famous of these prints is at Qadamgah, w h i c h was "the last stopping- p l a c e of the Imam R e z a on his return f r o m K e r b e l a to T u s , w here he was d e s t i n e d to find m a r t y r d o m " (Bricteux, Pays, 161). Inside the mosque,

c o n s t r u c t e d in 1680 ... by order of the S a f a v i d Suleiman, a slab of b l a c k stone, f ixed to a wall, carries the h o llowed- out impression, of a natu r a l size, of the Imam's feet. Its origin is v a r i o u s l y explained. E a s t w i c k (II:272) records the m u t a w a l l r 's story: "The Imam was striving

to c o n v e r t the fire-wor s h i p p e r s (i.e.

Z o r o a s t r i a n s ) w h o lived there; their sa cred fire b u r n e d on the stone on w h i c h the Imam plac e d the marks of his feet, in or d e r to give t h e m a sign" ... at Nishapur, in the m a u s o l e u m of the imamzada Mahruq

" t h e r e is, a c c o r d i n g to Sani-ud-Dawla, a stone w h i c h carries the Imam Reza's f o o t ­ print. It is curious, says Sani, that this impre s s i o n is half the size of that at Q a d a m g a h " (Bricteux, Pays, 159)"

(Masse'" 1938:391) (my translation).

In this c h a p t e r I explore the range and

v a r i e t y of the objects of Islamic p i lgrimage in Iran and Afghanistan. I b e g i n b y looking b r i e f l y at the ways in w h i c h S p o o n e r and Louis Dupree have c l a s s i f i e d these

shrines. I suggest an a l t e r n a t i v e a p p r o a c h w h i c h

involves, firstly, ident i f y i n g the sorts of object w h i c h form the r a i s o n d'etre of shrines, and, secondly, the types of saint a s s o c i a t e d w i t h them. I c onclude by outlining a second classification, the c r i t e r i o n in this c a s e b e i n g the dista n c e over w h i c h the shrines draw

33.

pilgrims. This enables me to indicate the relative importance of the shrines I shall be d i s c u s s i n g in subsequent chapters.

a * Spooner and L. Dupree's c l a s s i f i c a t i o n s :-

Spooner (1963:90) classifies shrines in southern and e a s t e r n Iran into six types

(1) "tombs and places a l l e g e d to have some real c o n n e c t i o n w i t h an Imam or the close r elative of an Imam"

(2) "tombs of w e l l - k n o w n h i s t o r i c a l persons"

(3) "tombs of c o m p a r a t i v e l y recent and p r e s u m a b l y h i s t o r i c a l persons w h o h a d c o m m a n d e d u n u s u a l resp e c t in their own c o m m u n i t i e s "

(4) "tombs of Shaikhs and Khajes about w h o m little or n o t h i n g is

r e m e m b e r e d but w h o w e r e perhaps once e q u i v a l e n t to type (3)"

(5) " p r e - Islamic shrines or m o n u m e n t s still r e v e r e n c e d b y the local po p u lation"

(6) "shrines, etc, b a s e d on legends and dreams, or a - h i s t o r i c a l (sic) p h e n o m e n a " .

This typology is more c onfusing than helpful.

For example, it quite often happens that the existence of a place w h e r e a relative of an Imam is s u p posedly buried is revealed thro u g h a d r e a m (see e.g. Alberts 1963:814), so that in practice it m a y be difficult to disentangle categories (1) and (6). Moreover, the tombs of the Imams themselves and their close relatives at least m a y be said to b e long to w e l l - k n o w n histo r i c a l persons, so that c a t e ­ gory (1) real l y belongs in c ategory (2). Part of the problem seems to be that Spooner is trying to take into account the origins of the shrines w h i c h in the m ajority of cases are impossible to establish. Nor is it p a r t i ­ cularly helpful from a sociological point of view. We n eed to be aware of the range of p h e n o m e n a and social roles to w h i c h people attribute sanctity, w h e t h e r their grounds for doing so are h i s t o r i c a l l y or d o g m atically sound.

Louis Dupree (1976:4) offers a c l a s s i fication of A f g h a n shrines the m a i n c riterion being, he says, their f unction t h r o u g h time:-

(1) f,pre-Islamic shrines not a s s o c i a t e d w i t h an individual"

(2) "Islamic shrines a s s ociated w i t h an individual, m y t h i c a l or real, t h r o u g h local traditions"

(3) "Islamic shrines, a s s o c i a t e d w i t h relics"