The Madness of the Majẕūbs: Three Sufi Hagiographies in Sixteenth-Century Mughal India

Abstract

Abstract This article explores the phenomenon of madness in sixteenth-century north India among Sufi saints called majẕūbs. By focusing on three Indo-Persian Sufi hagiographies (taẕkirāt)—ʿAbd al-Ḥaqq Dihlawī’s Akhbār al-Akhyār (1591), ʿAbd al-S̱amad Akbarābādī’s Akhbār al-Aṣfiyā (1608), and Ghaus̱ī Shaṭṭārī Mānḍwī’s Gulẕār-i Abrār (1613)—I argue that madness was central to how majẕūbs in the early Mughal period performed their spiritual ecstasy, wisdom, and miraculous behaviors. Majẕūbs also defied Sufi norms through their bodily comportment, and leveraged their insanity to subvert the authority of Mughal and other regional rulers. Therefore, majẕūbs challenge our normative understanding of ṭarīqa-based Sufism in early modern South Asia.