Scott Kugle

Assistant Professor office tel: (610) 328-8054
Department of Religion office fax: (610) 328-7687
Swarthmore College skugle1@swarthmore.edu
Swarthmore PA 19081

Research Interests

My research focuses on the intersections between Islamic mysticism (Sufism), Islamic jurisprudence (fiqh), and Ethics. I explore the issues of how saints exercise authority, how Sufi communities coalesce around the figures of saints, and how those communities shape the political, social, devotional and literary lives of Muslims. My research concentrates on North Africa (especially Morocco) and South Asia (especially India and Pakistan) and the surprising connections between the two. Chronologically, my interests span the early-modern period through the period of colonial modernity. Much of my research material comes from narratives of saint's lives and from poetry inspired by them. Future research is turning more sharply toward the question of gender, sexuality and the importance of bodies in Sufi devotional practices.

Doctoral Degree

Duke University Ph.D received in 2000 in the History of Religions
(concentration in Islamic Studies)
adjunct field in Anthropology

In Search of the Center: Authenticity, Reform and Critique in Early Modern Islamic Sainthood.
Granted by Duke University, Graduate Program in Religion, September 2000

Dissertation Committee: Bruce Lawrence, co-supervisor (Religion, Duke University)
Vincent Cornell, co-supervisor (History, University of Arkansas)
Carl Ernst (Religious Studies, University of North Carolina)
Katherine Ewing (Cultural Anthropology, Duke University)
David Gilmartin (History, North Carolina State University)

Book Projects

"Rebel Between Spirit and Law: Ahmad Zarruq and Juridical Sainthood in Islamic North Africa," (a book manuscript in process).

This study examines the life and writings of Shaykh Ahmad Zarruq, a Sufi master, Islamic jurist and social critic of the fifteen century CE. By describing how he advocated a type of religious authority as a "Juridical Saint," this study seeks to understand how Sufi communities contributed to political and cultural change in early-modern North Africa. It critiques the dichotomy often posited by Anthropologists and Historians between Sufism as "popular religion" and Islamic Law as "scripturalism." This study concludes that sainthood was not heterodox or un-Islamic in pre-modern North Africa; rather, sainthood was an institution through which notions of spiritual authority, political justice, and jihad were contested.

"Illumination for Desisting from Selfish Calculation," (a translation in process from Arabic).

This translation renders into English the Sufi classic, Kitab al-Tanwir, written by the Shadhili Shaykh Ibn Ata'illah al-Iskandari. Despite the fact that it was written in the fourteenth century, the insights it contains have striking relevance to life in the twenty-first century. This discourse discusses the radical psychological and economic results of sincere belief in tawhid or the utter unity and singularity of God. The author argues that what one believes must shape how one lives, earns, spends and consumes. Through parables, poems and interpretation of Qur'anic verses, Ibn Ata'illah's surprising and forceful discourse argues that the only thing worth desiring is "not to desire at all."

Published Writings

"Mubahisah-i Alamgiri: Mahdawi Debates with Emperor Aurangzeb," translated from Persian with critical Introduction (Hyderabad, India: Markazi Anjuman-i Mahdawiyyah, 1999).

"Maulana Azad resurrects a 'Mahdi' between ethical vision and historical revision," Islamic Culture [Hyderabad, India] 72,3 (April, 1999), pp 79-114.

"Framed, Blamed and Renamed: the Reshaping of Islamic law in Colonial South Asia," Modern Asian Studies 35,2 (2001): 257-313.

"Sultan Mahmud's Make-Over: Colonial Homophobia and Persian-Urdu Poetics" in Ruth Vanita (ed), Queering India: same-sex love and eroticism in Indian culture and society (New York: Routledge, 2001).

"Haqiqat al-Fuqara: Poetic Biography of 'Madho Lal' Hussayn" in Ruth Vanita and Saleem Kidwai (eds), Same Sex Love in India: readings from literature and history (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), pp 145-156.

"The Mirror of Secrets: Akhi Jamshed Rajgiri" in Vanita and Kidwai (eds), Same Sex Love in India: readings from literature (New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000), pp 136-140.

Forthcoming Publication

"Sexuality and Sexual Ethics in the Agenda of Progressive Muslim" in Omid Safi (ed.), Voices of Progressive Muslims: toward an Authentic Engagement with Modernity (Oxford: Oneworld Press, forthcoming April 2003).

"The Accidental Revivalist: Abd al-Haqq Muhadith Dihlawi's search for Islamic knowledge and power between Makka and Delhi," in Bruce Lawrence (ed), Pearls Without Measure: in memory of Prof. K A Nizami (forthcoming).

"The Heart of Ritual is the Body: the ritual manual of an early-modern Sufi master," Journal of Ritual Studies (accepted for publication February 2002).

Under Review for Publication

"Upwardly Mobile: the uses and abuses of Muhammad Ghawth Gwaliori's ascension" International Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies (under review).

"Pilgrim Clouds: the Polymorphous Sacred in Indo-Muslim Imagination" ALIF Journal of Arabic and Islamic Literature (under review).

Teaching Fields by Course

"Religious Symbols and Muslim Experience: an introduction to Islam."
"Justice and Conscience: Muslim mystics, jurists and theologians."
"Words Revealed and Words Inspired: Islamic Poetry and Prophecy. "
"Gender and Sexuality in Islamic Societies."
"Sufism: Islamic mystics, saints and poets," an Honors Seminar.
"Islamic Society in North Africa and Andalusia," an Honors Seminar.

Languages

Arabic (Modern Standard and Classical with a lesser degree of colloquial Moroccan)
Urdu-Hindi (with proficiency in Persianate [Nasta?liq] script)
Persian (reading knowledge and translation ability in Medieval Persian)
German