Unfertige Studien 5: Angeberei und Sufikleidung

Abstract The article is concerned with the Masāʾil fī aʿmāl al-qulūb wa-l-jawāriḥ (“Questions concerning the acts of the heart and the limbs”) by al-Muḥāsibī (d. 247 AH/853 CE). It contains a translation and a commentary of a part of the work that deals with the meaning of the term shuhra . The word is used in the sense of “to attract attention”. A repeated example is the woolen dress of the ṣūfīs , by which they distinguish themselves from the common people. Other examples are men dressed like women or women dressed like men. As in his other works, al-Muḥāsibī concentrates on the intention of an action, rather than on the action itself. To attract attention is not sinful as such, but when it is driven by a histrionic disorder, it begins to be. The text introduces the reader into a virtual discussion in which different traditional views of the matter are brought forward. According to a liberal attitude, everything which is not explicitly forbidden by Qurʾān and Sunna should be regarded as allowed. But by distinguishing between the customs of different epochs – pre-Islamic times, early Islamic times, the author’s present day – the same action could be considered correct or sinful depending upon when it happened. However, according to another view, the customs of the first Islamic community can never become wrong. With this, the direction of argumentation shifts towards fundamentalism. This view was held by al-Muḥāsibī himself, for whom the ideal of the early Islamic community stands above all.