Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment and Servanthood.

• Author: Knysh, Alexander
• Position: Book review

Friends of God: Islamic Images of Piety, Commitment and Servanthood. By JOHN RENARD. Berkeley and Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OR CALIFORNIA PRESS, 2008. Pp. xx + 346, illus. $60 (cloth); $24.95 (paper).

In the author's own words, "this book offers a broad introduction to the global phenomenon of Islamic personalities who function as embodiments or personifications of sanctity" (p. xiv). Arranged topically, it__ falls into three parts: "Stages in the Lives of God's Friends," "Friends of God in Context," and "Friends in Theory." The book contains eleven chapters, an introduction, notes, and an index. There is no general conclusion, but some chapters (though not all) feature brief summaries or "epilogues." The chapters discuss "friends of God" in various situations: being born and growing up, experiencing veridical dreams and visions, performing miracles and marvels, founding communities, shrines, and spiritual retreats, mediating between ordinary believers and powers-that-be, etc. Geographically, the scope of the book ranges from the Maghreb and West Africa in the west to China and the Indonesian archipelago in the east. Chronologically, it covers fourteen centuries of Islam's history from its inception up to the present day.

Together with its 2009 sequel, Tales of God's Friends: Islamic Hagiography in Translation by the same author and publisher, this book constitutes the most comprehensive overview in dale of Islamic hagiographical tradition and of sainthood in Islam as a whole. An important caveat is in order here. The reader who expects the book to focus primarily on Sufi masters (shaykhs) and their disciples (murids) should be forewarned that the author has adopted a very broad definition of the term wait (pl. awliya', the Arabic for 'friend of God', 'divine protegee', 'saint'). It includes a host of Qur'anic prophets, the Prophet Muhammad, his companions, and all manner of premodern and modern charismatic and not-so-charismatic individuals, including such unlikely figures as, for instance, President Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia (1903-2000) (pp. 231-32). For the author, any individual who has happened to become an object of popular adulation, of pious visitations to and special rituals associated with his/her gravesite, as well as of hagiographical accounts and miracle narratives, deserves to be placed into the category of "friends of God" (awliya'). In this respect, the author's inclusive approach constitutes a welcome complement to the more...