The Debate over Mystical Monism in the 17th Century: the ‘Unity of Existence’ and Non-Muslims in the Ottoman and Mughal Empires

This paper presents dissertation research on the Sufi philosophy known as the “Unity of Being”(waḥdat al-wujūd) in the early modern Ottoman and Mughal Empires. Following the death of its supposed founder, Ibn al-'Arabī (d. 1240 c.e.), this philosophy flourished and spread to all corners of the Islamicate world while gaining followers and critics alike. Especially in the 17th century, debates surrounding this system of thought can tell us much about Sufism as well as the history of empire, changing religious demographics, and contests over political and religious authority. Proponents and detractors of this philosophy have been quick to point out that the boundaries between religions become complicated by the universalizing claims of this worldview. Adherents to the doctrine of waḥdat al-wujūd like Şeyh Bedreddin (d.1421 c.e.) led Muslims and Christians alike in a revolution, the Mughal prince Dārā Shikūh (d. 1659 c.e.) used this philosophy to justify his pluralistic religious project, and ‘Abd al-Ghanī Nābulusī  (d.1731 c.e.) rigorously defended this ideology against a puritanical faction known as the Ḳāḍīzādelis while maintaining cordial relations with non-Muslims. This study not only looks at the anti-Sufi opponents of this philosophy but it also examines Aḥmad Sirhindī’s (d. 1624 c.e.) rejection of waḥdat al-wujūd and challenges the primacy of his intervention in the Naqshbandi Sufi order. By exploring case studies where mystical monism was debated, it becomes apparent that anxieties over the demarcation between Islam and non-Muslim religions are at the crux of what makes this philosophy so controversial, and that its defenders attempt to navigate a course between the particulars of Islam and the universalizing worldview of mystical monism.