Book review: Carl W. Ernst,It’s Not Just Academic! Essays on Sufism and Islamic Studies

Consisting of 490 pages, Carl Ernst’s It’s Not Just Academic! is divided into five parts. The first part entitled, ‘General and Critical Issues in Islamic Studies’ discusses the problems in teaching Sufism and the strategies required for introducing Quran not as a religious text, but as literature in American universities. The question before the American masses today is how does the West look at Islam and the role of Prophet Muhammad? This section also includes Ernst’s seminal paper titled, ‘It’s Not Just Academic!’––which gives the book its title––where he talks about growing public scholarship on Middle East and Islamic studies. The global significance of the Arabic language also finds place in the initial sections of Ernst’s book.

The first part is an attempt to explain the ideological criticism of Islam against the backdrop of post-9/11 and challenge before students of Islam of reversing the stereotypes of Islamic culture. The quest has been to acquire more extensive academic expertise in Islamic studies, and this book is one result. The second part gradually introduces the esoteric, more mystical, side of Islam. It discusses Sufism—its origins, philosophy and symbolism—and its metaphorical language. It also describes rituals and practices at Sufi shrines, behavioural expectations from visitors and rules pertaining to dress codes. The theme of love––the cardinal principle of Sufism––runs throughout the discussion, and is traced from Rabia Basri to Ruzbihan Baqli, and in the philosophy of Mulla Sadra, Shams-i-Tabrizi and Bayazid Bistami.

Part three of the book looks at the contribution of Sufism to art and literature. Today, Sufism is known throughout the world in the soaring voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the qawwali singer from Pakistan, the ecstatic dance of the Whirling Dervishes and the rapturous verses from Rumi’s Mathnavi. In addition to prayers and fasting, meditations and teaching, Sufis also recite poetry, take delight in music and perform dance all towards one goal––a mystical union with God (wisal). The Sufi die to themselves (fana-i-fillah) to live with God (baqa-i-billah). The other themes taken up here are Islamic calligraphy, the symbolism of birds in flight, Hallajian motifs, the poems of Farid ud-din Attar, the feminine element of spirituality, aesthetics of writing, Hafiz’s lyrics and Rumi’s Mathnavi.

The fourth part brings us to contemporary times. Two main questions have been taken up: How has Sufism been transformed? And how Sufism and Islam have been affected by globalisation? The chapters here discuss Persianate Islamic studies in American universities, and they then go back to the eighteenth century text of Mohsin Fani (called Dabistan-i-Mazahib, ‘A Garden of Religions’) and go even further back to the early Orientalist concepts of Sufism.

Ernst says that the title of the book acknowledges the political context that surrounds the discussion of Islam. An environ of ‘negativity’ envelopes it, for which it is not easy to find an equivalent word in any other domain of religious study. What he means is that against Islam and Muslim societies, a kind of public and international disapproval has been gradually built up, which is rare to find in the case of any other religion. However, this does not imply that scholars committed to the study of Islam should defend it against the volley of criticisms, but they should be fair in their analysis and understand it empathetically. Ernst is critical of the ‘opaque and inscrutable’ writings on Islam, and he calls out for a ‘clear and compelling scholarship’, which is free from an abundance of jargon. The book submits that Islamic culture and Sufism form a ‘major heritage’ of human existence, and therefore, it is important to study them as closely as one can for an all-round grasp of humanity and its evolution. The method that Ernst follows throughout the book is as follows: he begins either with a question or with an illustrative example, say a text or a topic, that requires further study and investigation.

Credit must be given to Ernst for bringing together in this book a summation of his work and research extending for more than thirty years on Islamic culture and history, and its mystical side expressed in the philosophy of Sufism. His command of Persian, Arabic and Sanskrit texts is commendable, particularly his objective of ‘how to teach the other’: the body of thoughts and history that is usually found to be ‘distanced’, almost impenetrable. That is why the book endeavours to render a ‘capsule account’ of the 1,000 years of the history of Islam and Sufism from almost all aspects, and this is done not in the manner of typical oriental depictions, but with the aid of ‘creative, lucid, and vivid case studies’. Ernst deserves our compliments for providing a critical background information for poetry and texts, especially the Mathnavi of Rumi, which is difficult to find in many Sufi anthologies.

As stated previously, the objective of Ernst’s book is to render a good and sound introduction to Islam and Sufism for the benefit of lay readers. However, on reading it, one realises its inscrutableness and opacity almost expects the books reader to have a grounding in the social history of Islam and Sufism. One may choose to read this book after having read at least a general book on Islam. Today, Sufism is not esoteric and aloof, for with media technology and the use of Sufi as a prefix to several cultural practices (like Sufi Music, Sufi Food, Sufi Dances, Sufi Art, Sufi Education and so on) it has become a part of the modern lexicon; but it should not be forgotten that it inherently encompasses an abstract and profound philosophy of life. It is from this that all the other cultural dimensions follow. Any one who has a basic idea of Sufism will take delight in reading this engaging and thought-provoking book.