An Analytical Survey of Shams al-Din Deilamy’s Sufism, an Unknown Sufi in 6th Century with According to His Sufi Interpretation, Tasdiq al-Ma’arif

In the history of Iranian Sufism, Shams al-din Muhammad Daylami is not a well- known author, yet a prolific one, with original Ideas. Born in Hamadan in 525/1130, the same year the famous Sufi Ayn al-Qudat-i Hamadani was executed on charges of heresy. He received his early education there, and then studied the traditional subjects, such as jurisprudence, theology, the science of hadith (the Traditions of the Prophet), and tafsir (Quranic commentary). He was initiated to Sufism in his late twenties and received training by a rather unknown Sufi master in Hamadan by the name of Sadid al-din Abul-Fakhr Hamadani (d. 553/1158). Daylami wrote several books in Arabic, including a commentary of the Qur’an entitled Tasdiq al-ma’arif, a book which was edited and published in facsimile edition in 2018. This work comprises the essence of Daylami’s mystical, ethical, and theological teachings. He also wrote treatises on mystical psychology, such as Mir’at al-arwah (The mirror of the higher spirits), Jawahir al-asrar (The precious jewels of mysteries), and Aja’ib al- ma’arif (Marvels of mystical Knowledge). Daylami’s Sufi psychology is based on the idea of seven subtle centers of the mind, and in his metaphysics he considers Space and Time as divine attributes, an idea that can be traced back to the earlier Iranian philosopher Abu’l Abbas Iranshahri and the Shi’ite poet and philosopher Nasir-i Khosraw of Qubadian. His mystical commentary of the Qur’an is based on the sayings of the Prophet as well as the commentaries of the early Sufis such as Bayazid Bastami, the Sufi martyr Hallaj, Junayd-i Baghdadi, and Sahl-i Tustari. Daylami’s life and works, particularly his mystical ideas, were studied before rather briefly by two European scholars, namely John Arberry and Gerhard Bowering. In the present study, which is my dissertation for a doctoral degree, I have studied the life of Daylami and his position in the history of Sufism in Hamadan, and then through a careful study of his extant works, I have explained his mystical ideas, particularly his idea of human soul and the process through which it acquires divine characteristics.