Ecology, Ethics, and Piety in Sufi Thought and Practice

Towards a decolonization of the theory of Islamic art, this paper consults doctrines of the Persian Sufis Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273) and Rūzbihān Baqlī (d. 606/1209) as they bear upon a Sufi understanding of beauty. Their teachings on the Sufi doctrine of tajallī (manifestation), that is, that all things are manifestations of God, imply that beauty is not in the eye of the beholder but is in the nature of things. Given that the Divine is Absolute (muṭlaq), as exemplified by the Divine Name the Truth / the Real (al-Ḥaqq), beauty can be described metaphysically as an objective reality that exists in the true nature of all manifest beings. Ultimately, this theory necessitates that a distinction be made between the subjective nature of attraction and the objective nature of beauty, as well as offers decolonial support through insight into traditional intellectual principles that inform Islamic aesthetics.

This paper discusses how the term khalifa or vicegerent has been approached in a reductive manner through its historical placement in political and environmental contexts, limiting the range of its discursive contributions. Placing Ibn Arabi’s (d. 1240) thought into conversation with Said Nursi’s (d.1960) Risale-i Nur, this paper examines the connection between servantship ('ubudiyyah) and being a vicegerent (khalifa) of God. It argues that being a khalifa is about forming proper God-centric relations with entities in the world. Rather than denoting any sense of intrinsic human superiority, the notion of epistemic vicegerency offers a way to conceptualize how creation can be hermeneutically approached such that it is “read” and appreciated in terms of its epistemic value. 

Understanding khalifa through this epistemic lens can help us rethink not only the spiritual orientation of human beings with the rest of creation but also the nature of their ethical engagement with the world. 

This paper explores how Sufi shrines in Kashmir act as sanctuaries of solace and spaces for ethical transformation, particularly for women navigating political turmoil. Focusing on the khanqāh of Shaykh Ḥamzah Makhdūm (1494–1576), a pivotal figure in the Suhrawardīyya tradition, it examines how embodied rituals—such as dhikr (remembrance), supplications, and votive offerings—serve as spiritual refuge and foster an inner (bāṭinī) sense of justice where outer (ẓāhirī) justice remains inaccessible. Drawing on Talal Asad’s (1986) concept of “discursive tradition” and Saba Mahmood’s (2004) insights into embodied piety, the paper argues that embodied devotion is not just ritual: it actively shapes women’s moral agency, fosters communal solidarity, and redefines justice. By focusing on women’s experiences, this study underscores how shrines provide spaces of spiritual autonomy, belonging, and resilience, where care, dignity, and resistance are central to ethical self-making.

There is growing academic interest in what David Abram calls the “more-than-human” world, that is, cosmology that decenters human perspectives. This paper considers the portrayed sentience of more-than-human beings in Islamic cosmologies. Through a theoretical lens of ecopoiesis — the creative processes through which ecological relationships, narratives, and spaces are formed, both in nature and in literature—I analyze portrayed human-nonhuman interactions recorded in a sixteenth-century Kashmiri Persian hagiography, Dawud Khaki’s Rishinama (The Lives of the Rishi Saints). This Kashmiri Persian hagiographical collection of Sufi saints of the Kashmir Valley contains stories of Sufis who retreat into nature for private meditation (khalwa) and, similarly undergoing spiritual purification, engage in conversations with nonhuman beings such as spirits of waterfalls,forest spirits, and rivers. The figure of the wandering Rishi Sufi in nature becomes a spiritual, ecological archetype in Kashmiri Sufi traditions.