Ancient, medieval & culture

Concepts to cover

1. Tasawwuf, wahdat-ul-wujud, zikr (recollection with breath control), muraqaba (meditation), chilla (forty-day solitary austerities), sama and qawwali to arouse ecstasy
2. Chishtis: Moinuddin Chishti (Ajmer), Bakhtiyar Kaki, Fariduddin Ganj-i-Shakar (Ajodhan), Nizamuddin Auliya (Delhi), Nasiruddin Chiragh, Gesudaraz (Gulbarga); distance from the state, khanqah, langar
3. Suhrawardis of Multan (Bahauddin Zakariya, accepted state patronage), Qadiris (Miyan Mir, Dara Shikoh), Naqshbandis (Baqi Billah, Ahmad Sirhindi's orthodox critique of Akbar), Firdausis, Shattaris, Kashmir Rishis (Nuruddin)
4. Terms: pir, murid, khalifa, wali, dargah, ziyarat, urs, be-shara and ba-shara orders, Qalandars and Madaris as wandering antinomian groups
5. Sufi interaction with Bhakti and vernacular literature; Sultans and Sufis; Akbar's Chishti devotion and sulh-i-kul; Sayyids as Kulah-daran among the elite
6. Islam's spread and Indian Islam; Sikhism's formation; Syrian Christians of Kerala, Parsis at Sanjan, Jews of Cochin; Portuguese Catholic missions (Francis Xavier)
7. Sufi sources: manuals, malfuzat conversations, maktubat letters and tazkira biographies