Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Ottoman Seapower and Levantine Diplomacy in the Age of Discovery by Palmira Brummett
Review by: Salih Ozbaran
British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, Vol. 23, No. 2 (Nov., 1996), pp. 208-209
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/195538 .
Accessed: 28/06/2014 07:30
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .
http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp
.
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of
content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms
of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.
Taylor & Francis, Ltd. and British Society for Middle Eastern Studies are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize,
preserve and extend access to British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies.
http://www.jstor.org
REVIEWS: GENERAL
Shi'i imams, was to prove an obstacle to the spreadingof his influence in the Shi'i world
after his death. Another obstacle was his emphasis on the relationship between the
master and the disciple, which inevitably weakened his influence once he had died.
Yet his writings on the key concepts of Sufism are remarkablefor their perspicacity.
One of the most distinctive aspects of his thoughtis the difficulty involved in following
the mystical path. Mystical experience is easily capable of unbalancingthe practitioner,
and there are many forms of diversion from the path. Simnani was keenly aware of the
dangers of mysticism, and he insisted throughouton the importanceof obeying the law
and carryingout faithfully the rituals of religion. There is no scope for humanbeings to
become united with God since a contingent being cannot be united with a necessary
being. On the contrary,the most that human beings can do is to mirror God through
personalperfection,which is only attainableat the end of the mystical path. The ultimate
mystical truthsare entirely in accordancewith Sunni normativism,since human beings
as the most perfect of God's creations have to act as his representativeson earth, as
custodians of the sacred trust. These views came to have great influence on the
Naqshbandiyyasect, especially through their impact on Ahmad-i Sirhindi.
In his scholarly and well-written book Elias provides a lot of detail on topics such as
the relationship of God and the world, the spiritual body and the mirror of God, the
nature of subtle substances and the role of emanation in Sufism. There is an extended
and useful discussion of how Simnani interpretsthe key Sufi concepts and religious
ideas. He also provides an account of his works, and of works on him, together with a
discussion of the precise cultural and political context within which he operated. His
conclusion, that the importance of Simnani for his successors lies in his ability to
reconcile the social and spiritualdimensions of humanexperience within a theory of the
natureof existence, is plausible. Such a theory sees the spiritualand the materialworlds
as linked, but neither as reducible to the other. It is incumbentupon the Sufi, then, to
concentrateon the mystical path, but this should not involve neglect of the obligations
which attend life in the world of generation and corruption.Similarly, although one
should carry out one's duties as a member of a community, as a human being, this
should not be at the expense of the capacity to seek deeper understandingof the nature
of reality. It is not surprisingthat this powerful idea came to have many adherentsin the
Islamic world.
LIVERPOOLJOHN MOORES UNIVERSITY
OLIVER LEAMAN
of the Middle East.) New York, State University of New York Press, 1994. xvi, 285 pp.
2 maps, 7 plates. $19.95.
The first thing which strikes the reader about this book is the author's reminderof the
necessity for cooperation and universal understandingcaused by the expansion of
Western historiographyinto Ottoman history, and the failure of both scholarly and
popularwriting in the 'dominant'world to appreciatethe natureof Ottomanexpansion,
seapower, and integration into the Euro-Asian commercial patterns in 'the Age of
Discovery'.
The aim of this study is to tell the story not from the 'overwhelmingly structured'
point of view prompted by the term 'the Age of Discovery'. It is rather to have 'a
208
REVIEWS: GENERAL
SALIH OZBARAN
209