Charismatic Embodiment and Religious Authority - a Qadiriyya Sufi community in Northwest China

Abstract

This thesis examines practices of charismatic cultivation at a Qadiriyya Sufi site located in Northwest China named Guo Gongbei. The thesis asks—what is charisma in this context? That is, what factors are perceived to be generative of charisma, a particular spiritual power? The effective transmission or cultivation of this ‘charisma’ to disciples is vital to the maintenance and continuity of the Sufi genealogy, and this is crucial for the Chinese Qadiriyya Sufi disciples in this study. The disciples of this network are celibate, and so—unlike Qadiriyya networks elsewhere in the world—the succession of leadership is based solely on religious merit, not blood inheritance. The thesis argues that, in this cultural context, charismatic power is rooted in the body, and cultivated primarily through a set of bodily disciplines that emphasise the development of the individual along a three stage path. This bodily charisma is then socially reinforced and strengthened by a number of other important practices —including narrative and naming, emulation, social proximity and distance during public ritual, and education and mobility. The secondary question of this thesis connects the process of charismatic embodiment to ongoing debates amongst the wider Muslim community in Northwest China. These debates continue to question the orthodoxy and integrity of Qadiriyya charismatic practice and in turn, their religious authority. The thesis thus also asks, why is charisma contentious, and what are the potential implications of this charismatic practice in the contemporary geo-political scene? The thesis is based on 12 months of fieldwork at Guo Gongbei in Linxia, Gansu Province, China from September 2011 to September 2012.