The science of women and the jewel: the synthesis of Tantrism and Sufism in a corpus of mystical texts from Aceh

Introduction Sufism was widely spread in north Sumatra, and particularly in Aceh between the 16th and 19th centuries CE. This regional tradition of Sufism is mainly known through surviving systematic learned treatises or kitab, the principal topics of which are mystical ontology and metaphysical discussions of the paths of ‘descent’ (tanazzul) and ‘ascent’ (taraqqi) of the soul, as well as different kinds of ‘recollection’ (zikir, from the Arabic dhikr), the major instrument of spiritual progress. In current scholarship Sufism in Aceh is considered to be largely similar to its Near and Middle Eastern counterparts. This point refers both to the more radical wahdat al-wujud or existential monism of Hamzah Fansuri and Syamsuddin of Pasai, and to the more moderate wahdat al-wujud, if not the wahdat al-syuhud or experimental monism of Nuruddin ar-Raniri and Abdurrauf as-Sinkili. Acehnese Sufism is also normally understood as a form of Islamic mysticism markedly different from Javanese Sufi doctrines and practices with their considerable admixture of HinduBuddhist, and particularly Tantric, elements and their specific, and frequently quite whimsical, symbolism. Although by no means groundless, this categorisation of north Sumatran Sufism is nevertheless far from comprehensive. It overlooks a number of ‘jigsaw pieces’, to use Riddell’s expression, or rather an important body of evidence deriving not from the ‘Sufism of kitab’ but from other types of Sufi writings. At least two types of writings are of particular interest. One, which we might call ‘poetical Sufism’, includes Sufi poems based on the symbolism of images, letters and numbers in addition to plot-focused Sufi allegories in verse and prose. The other is less distinguishable from either the ‘Sufism of kitab’ or poetical Sufism as it includes both Sufi treatises and Sufi poems. And yet, works belonging to this category are united by one and the same salient feature, namely all of