unknowing and the everyday This page intentionally left blank Unknowing and the Everyday sufism and knowledge in iran Seema Golestaneh duke university press Durham and London 2023 © 2023 duke university press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of Amer i ca on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by Matthew Tauch Project Editor: Ihsan Taylor Typeset in Arno Pro by Westchester Publishing Services Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Golestaneh, Seema, [date] author. Title: Unknowing and the everyday : Sufism and knowledge in Iran / Seema Golestaneh. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2023. | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: lccn 2022030463 (print) lccn 2022030464 (ebook) isbn 9781478019534 (paperback) isbn 9781478016892 (hardback) isbn 9781478024170 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Sufism— Iran. | Sufis— Religious life— Iran. | Mysticism— Islam— Iran. | Iran— Religious life and customs. | Iran— Social life and customs—21st  century. | bisac: social science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social | history / Middle East / Iran Classification: lcc bp188.8.I7 g65 2023 (print) | lcc bp188.8.I7 (ebook) | ddc 297.4—d c23/eng/20220817 lc rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2022030463 lc ebook rec ord available at https:// lccn . loc . gov / 2022030464 Cover art: Azita Panahpour, Shattered Poems No. 27, 2017. Acrylic on canvas, 44 in. × 56 in. × 1 in. Courtesy of the artist. Duke University Press gratefully acknowledges the Hull Memorial Publication Fund of Cornell University, which provided funds toward the publication of this book. This book is dedicated to Lila, Nasser, and Parisa (Maman, Baba, Abji) This page intentionally left blank contents ix Acknowl edgments xv Prologue 1 Introduction 29 1 Sufism in Iran, Iran in Sufism 59 2 Unknowing of Text, Unknowing of Authority 96 3 Unknowing of Self, Unknowing of Body 135 4 Unknowing of Memory 165 5 Unknowing of Place 189 Postscript 193 Notes 211 Bibliography 225 Index This page intentionally left blank acknowle dgments I owe my greatest debt to all t hose who shared their wisdom, thoughts, ideas, and dreams with me. In this text, they go entirely unnamed, and it is from this place of strange obfuscation that this proj ect takes shape. These individuals were endlessly generous in so many ways, carving time out of their busy days, always demonstrat- ing infinite patience and kindness with me. Some I met only a few times, and o thers I have had the great plea sure and honor of weaving into my life. I can only offer these words in the text as a too poor thank- you to all those who go unrecognized here. A great deal of gratitude is owed to my own “masters of the path” who have provided both guidance and inspiration. I must first thank my PhD advisor, Marilyn Ivy, whose support, intellectual rigor, and inspiring approach to the discipline of anthropology have been as invaluable as they have been instrumental. For her guidance and insight, and for believing in me before I believed in myself, I w ill always be grateful. An enormous debt is owed as well to Brinkley Messick, who guided me through the daunting terrain of Islamic studies, and from whom I could have asked for no richer an educa- tion. His deep enthusiasm for the field and reassuring nature were truly invaluable. Setrag Manoukian has read more iterations of this proj ect than anyone else, and I could not be more grateful to have as an interlocutor and mentor someone whose intellectual acumen and insight into the anthropology of Iran and Islam is matched only by his kindness and generosity of spirit. His work inspired from the earliest stages of my research, and continues to do so today. Michael Taussig, who introduced me to anthropology as a first- year under- graduate at Barnard College, continues to provoke and surprise in the most unexpected of ways. This proj ect was also greatly enhanced by conversations with Rosalind Morris on the ethnographic imagina- tion and anthropological ethics, Severin Fowles on the possibilities of