Unknowing and the Everyday

In the introduction to Unknowing and the Everyday: Sufism and Knowledge in Iran, Seema Golestaneh shares an insight from one of the Sufis she interviewed for her study that summarizes “unknowing,” the conceptual subject of Golestaneh’s ethnography. One of Golestaneh’s Sufi interlocutors tells her that “the reasoned thinking of the intellectual will always be less than that of the sun . . . there is always that which is beyond what we are thinking” (3). This observation elucidates the perspective that the end of human thought can be recognized as a beginning rather than a terminus. In Sufism, this epistemological viewpoint is commonly referred to as gnosis (ma‘rifat), but Golestaneh submits “unknowing” as a more useful translation because of the concept’s generative and infinite nature (4-5).

Through ethnographic case studies, Golestaneh approaches “unknowing” as both an object of study and as a critical lens. She examines the ways that Sufi mystical experience shapes contemporary life in Iran by engaging with self-described members of the Nimatullahi Sufi Order, an order rooted in Iran and South Asia since the 15^th century. Employing the mystical epistemology of her interview subjects as a guide to understanding the data they provide, she analyzes the relationship between “unknowing” and religious, aesthetic, and social life. These investigations take place in physical contexts like collective Sufi spaces, as well as in conceptual spaces, such as within the interpretation of Persian poetry and formulations of selfhood and non-selfhood.

For example, in chapter 2, “Unknowing of Text, Unknowing of Authority,” Golestaneh explores the relationship between text, authority, and interpretation in conversation with two Sufi sheiks from disparate cities. In the Sufi context, textual authority is based on the ability to provide insightful interpretation of spiritual texts that guide seekers in the cultivation of the self and the soul. Among other things, this chapter points out how both sheiks, despite their different localities and not knowing one another, engage with “unknowing” in the same way. They agree that textual authority is complicated by “the limitation of the human intellect in light of the supreme capabilities of the inner heart” (60).

In chapter 4, “Unknowing of Memory,” Golestaneh takes on a more esoteric subject: the collective shaping of memory. On February 18, 2009, the government razed the tomb of sheikh Nasser Ali to the ground after nearly a year of resistance from the Sufi community (137). When Golestaneh asked local Sufis about this incident, she found that respondents consistently bypassed making reference to the leveled tomb, preferring to emphasize the remaining grave. This action, and almost creating void in the series of events. Golestaneh refers to this phenomena as “active forgetting;” a “decisive refutation of memory, a forgetting so purposeful that the material may be rendered immaterial” (142). In this case, Golestaneh summons the idea of amnesia wherein the amnesiac recognizes their loss but the subject of the memory has vanished. Golestaneh argues that this instance is a manifestation of the Sufi’s understanding of, and relationship to the spiritual and profane planes of existence. She aso suggests that it is tied to broader Sufi theories of forgetting and remembrance (143-144). Through this active forgetting, the community has undermined the ontological status of the tomb and demonstrated a practical expression of “unknowing” (144).

Additionally useful is the work that Golestaneh does piecing together the history of Sufism in Iran, emphasizing the impact of the sociopolitical context on religious life. Her work in this regard provides a profoundly clear picture on the subject of Sufism in Iran.

Golestaneh’s capacity to illuminate the intangible and fundamentally important Sufi concept of “unknowing” is remarkable. This beautifully written text overflows with sensuous language and allusions, and the inclusion of seemingly casual conversations with her interlocutors works especially well to capture the humor and particular kind of humility and enthusiasm that are hallmarks of Persian culture. Golestaneh’s describes “unknowing” as an enterprise wherein “the finality of conventional knowledge is supplanted by an unresolvable dilemma until ultimately all thought operates as a formless, generative endeavor . . . until all life is lived at the level of an improvisatory gesture” (5). With this, she reassures us that the limitations of the human intellect should be seen as a source of creative potential and joy rather than wretchedness.

Emily Victoria Hanlon is a PhD candidate in the department of religious studies at the University of Ottawa.

Emily Victoria Hanlon

Date Of Review:

July 10, 2024