From Baghdad to Delhi: The Role of ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif in the Institutionalization of the Suhrawardiyya Order

Abstract

This article examines the pivotal role of Sheikh Shihab al-Din Abu Hafs Umar al-Suhrawardi’s (d. 1234 CE) seminal work, ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif ("The Gifts of Spiritual Perceptions"), in the institutional expansion and doctrinal consolidation of the Suhrawardiyya Sufi order from its origins in 12th-century Baghdad to its flourishing in medieval South Asia, particularly Delhi and Uch. While often approached as a compendium of Sufi ethics and spiritual practices, ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif also functioned as an implicit organizational blueprint for the Suhrawardiyya tariqa (path). Through a close reading of the text and analysis of historical transmission patterns, this study argues that the book served a dual purpose: as a spiritual manual for individual seekers and as a standardized doctrinal instrument that enabled the replication of the order’s hierarchical structure, pedagogical methods, and social ethos across vast geographical and cultural terrains. The article situates ʿAwārif within the broader context of Abbasid-era Islamic intellectual culture, traces its reception in Persianate South Asia through key figures like Bahauddin Zakariya of Uch, and demonstrates how its codification of master-disciple relationships, ethical comportment, and ritual discipline facilitated the durable institutionalization of the order beyond the lifetime of its founder. By integrating textual analysis with historical sociology of religion, this research illuminates the often-overlooked role of Sufi literary production in the formation of transregional religious networks in the medieval Islamic world.