The Princeton Encyclopedia of Islamic Political Thought

piety and asceticism

Piety, the quality of a person’s religious devotion, is a prominent feature in both legitimating and critiquing authority in Islam. Asceticism, the cultivation of austerity and rigorous self-discipline, is one of the most manifest forms of the expression of piety.

The distinctive form of piety in Islam is first given shape in the Qur’an, where religious exhortations are numerous. Furthermore, the anecdotal and narrative material of the scripture provides archetypal exemplars for pietistic imitation. Later elaborations of these Qur’anic depictions emphasized the spiritual particularities of certain figures, especially the prophets. For instance, in Sufi writings both John the Baptist and Jesus are paragons of asceticism. The most influential imitative model, however, was invariably the Prophet Muhammad himself, whose sunna was the preeminent source for emulation. The hadith literature attests to his rigorous religiosity as well as his consistent austerity in both body and wealth. This mimetic material has occupied a significant cultural space in Muslim societies and continues to do so.

Markers of Islamic piety include the meticulous maintenance of ritual observances, adherence to modest norms, and the possession of spiritual charisma and wisdom. Asceticism, which is often connected to renunciation, can further entail demonstrating minimal concern for one’s physical comfort or well-being, avoiding conventional means of earning a livelihood, abstaining from excesses, performing supererogatory prayers and fasts, adopting unconventional appearances, and physically or mentally withdrawing from society. These elements have figured prominently in the development of Islamic spiritual traditions, such as the Karrami and Sufi traditions. Stricter understandings of asceticism have also led to religious antinomianism and social deviance, as manifested by a group known as the Qalandars, who purposefully contravened normative conventions by adopting countercultural appearances and behavior. All of these modes of pietistic expression are pregnant with political potential and have been consciously and unconsciously displayed by public personas to curry favor with particular factions, demonstrate religious authenticity, or protest the perception of impiety.

Often, the memorialized lives of ascetics and mystics were cast as poignant social and political commentaries against the conditions of their respective eras. Such figures were frequently depicted as chastising rulers, avoiding political appointment, or withdrawing from the community altogether. Their acts of piety and asceticism are both correctives and critiques. Such characterizations, however, extend well beyond explicitly spiritual circles and are a hallmark of the ‘ulama’ (religious scholars) in general. Biographical records and chronicles are replete with references to a scholar’s assiduous religiosity. Mentions of piety are often as important as mentions of position, accomplishment, and lineage in biographies. Pietistic descriptions serve to legitimate a person’s social standing and scholastic projects, particularly important given the historically persistent sense of contestation and competition between various figures and schools of thought. In the modern era, a number of Islamist parties have wedded their political and social agendas to a pietistic, if not ascetic, way of life based on particular readings of the Qur’an and sunna.

The politicization of piety is also evident in the sphere of sovereignty. The legitimacy of a ruler was often buttressed with descriptions of his religious scrupulousness. Both the Rightly Guided Caliphs of the Sunni tradition and the Shi‘i imams attest to this biographical convention. A sovereign could also consciously cultivate a persona of piety through public acts of worship. The ceremonial patronage of the hajj pilgrimage caravans and the attendance of congregational prayers were the two most prominent historical acts of this sort. A modern example is Egyptian president Anwar Sadat (d. 1981), who acquired a reputation of piety and was subsequently dubbed “the believing president” (al-ra’īs al-mu’min) by the Egyptian media in the early years of his presidency. In other cases, a pietistic portrait could accentuate a leader’s exceptionalism, as in the case of the Umayyad caliph ‘Umar b. ‘Abd al-‘Aziz (ca. 680–720). In that same historical vein, attributions of impiety have also been applied to mar the reputations of unfavorable past rulers, as seen in Abbasid portrayals of their caliphal predecessors, the Umayyads.