DARVISH AND GNOSIS OF SELF IN PRE-ISLAMIC IRAN

In this chapter we will undertake a closer look at the translation of the “Persianate” themes even more specific to the Sufism of Iran. Important here are both the use of the term darvish as a distinctive Persian reference to “Sufi” — with its derivatives darvishan and darvishi defining “Sufis” and “Sufism” — and the place of gnosis (New Pers. irfan) as insight and awareness of self and the divine, linking to the pre-Islamic notion of hekmat-e khosravani. We will then observe the perpetual relevance of javánmardí (chivalry) and ádáb (moral etiquette), which sit at the centre of the doctrine and praxis of Persianate Sufism as prescribed by the Nematollahiya.

Te New Persian term darvish derives from one of the earliest terms for pious individuals in pre-Islamic Iran. The word is implicitly endowed with a paradox between the spiritual and the mundane. Today's darvish is recognizable in Middle Persian as driyôsh, “the worthy poor, needy; one who lives in holy indigence”, even as far back as Avestan drigu, driyu, “the needy one, dependent”! Drigu features only twice in the Gathas as drigum and drigaove, but is elaborated on extensively in Book VI of the Avestan Denkard, where it is given significant attention with respect to the driyosh and his way of life (driyoshih, NPers. darvishi).