The encounter between the Dominicans and the world of Islam is of long-standing, taking place from soon after the foundation of the Order in 1216 until today. The engagement of Dominicans with the Muslim world has attracted significant research interest. One should note the work of Jean-Marie Mérigoux OP on Riccoldo da Monte di Croce (1243-1320) especially his critical edition in Memorie Domenicane (1986) of Contra legem Sarracenorum – which stands as one of the most significant works for Christian accounting for the religious identity of Islam. The scholarly review Mémoire dominicaine dedicated two special issue to the subject ‘Les Dominicains et les mondes musulmans’ (2001) and Jean Jacques Pérennès OP `L'Orient des Prêcheurs. Brève histoire de l'Ordre dominicain dans le monde musulman’ (2016). Indeed Pérennès has written a series of studies on various Dominican figures in the modern Middle East and North Africa - Pierre Claverie, un Algérien par alliance (2000); Georges Anawati, un chrétien égyptien devant le mystère de l'islam (2008); Le père Antonin Jaussen, op (1871-1962), Une passion pour l'Orient musulman (2014); Passion Kaboul, le père Serge de Beaurecueil, (2014). Dominique Avon records, in a monumental account, the Dominican Order's continuing commitment to the study of Islam in Les frères prêcheurs en Orient. Les dominicains du Caire (années 1910-années 1960) (2005). Cyprian Rice OP (1889-1966) of the English Province made an early contribution, still highly-regarded, to the study of Persian mysticism in 1964. In fact, in this fine study by Minlib Dallh OP, The Sufi and the Friar, dedicated to Serge de Laugier de Beaurecueil OP (1917-2005) and his scholarly friendship with the eleventh-century Ḥanbalī Sufi master Khwāja ‘Abdullāh Anṣārī of Herāt (1006-1089), he notes that it was Rice who was Beaurecueil's first teacher of Persian (pp. 38-39). Rice, a convert to Catholicism, had been a former British colonial official who undertook an ill-starred, but well prepared mission of dialogue to Iran in 1933-1934.
Dallh makes a real contribution to the field of the study of Islam, the Christian encounter with the Muslim world, and the character of the Dominican Order's mission and presence to the religious other in the world today. The life and work of Serge de Beaurecueil and his scholarly research work on eleventh century Anṣārī are at the core of this work. Based upon his doctorate from the University of Exeter (2011), Dallh, provides an opening introduction which positions his work in the study of Islam and wider religious studies: ‘The Abode of Islam’ and ‘The Religious Other in the Postmodern World’ (pp.1-16) The core of the work, however, are four chapters which in a broadly chronological fashion study the various stages in the life and scholarly endeavour of Beaurecueil: ‘Serge de Beaurecueil, OP (1917-2005): A Life Curve’, pp. 17-42; ‘De Beaurecueil: Heeding Ansari's Call’, pp. 43-68; ‘De Beaurecueil: A Premier Scholar of Ansari's Works’, pp. 69-98; ‘De Beaurecueil's Pastoral Mysticism in Kabul’, pp. 99-132, followed by a Conclusion, pp. 133-142. A list of the works of Beaurecueil might be supplemented by the bibliography given in Hommage à Serge de Laugier de Beaurecueil MIDEO, Vol. 27, 2008 (pp. 1-14).
Beaurecueil was one of the most extraordinary religious figures of the second half of the twentieth century - born in 1917 in Paris son of a professional army officer who was seldom at home his parents divorced when he was 15. He entered the Dominican Order in 1935 immediately on gaining his baccalaureate. In 1939 he had to undertake military service with the French Army at the beginning of Second World War and was located in Lebanon returning to Vichy France in late summer 1940. During these war years he preoccupied himself with the study of Arabic and philosophy. He was again recruited in the military, this time as a chaplain with the victorious French forces in 1944. Completing his doctorate in theology on ‘L'Homme, image de Dieu, selon Saint Thomas d'Aquin’ in 1946 - after which he immediately set out for Egypt hitching a lift on British military transport for the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies in Cairo (which had been established with the encouragement of Chenu and Cardinal Tisserant, the Secretary of the Congregation for Oriental Churches).
In 1955 he visited Afghanistan, a country which in due course would become his point of orientation and vocation as a scholar and priest. At IDEO in Cairo between 1956-1962 he dedicated himself to study the life and work of Anṣārī of Herāt, publishing his findings in the institute's scholarly review MIDEO. From 1963 until 1983 Beaurecueil remained in Afghanistan lecturing at the University of Kabul on Sufi mysticism and the methodology of working with manuscripts - which was a testament to his stature as a scholar especially as he was a non-Muslim outsider, a foreigner and Catholic priest. He also taught French and Philosophy at the Lycee Istiqlal which gave him some financial independence. This allowed him to create a ‘compound’ in Kabul for the numerous orphans who found themselves homeless and valuable in a modernizing economy which had attracted poor rural peasants into the city. Many of these orphans came from the Persian-speaking or Shiite minorities who often felt outside the Sunni establishment of the country. Beaurecueil was expelled from Afghanistan by the Soviet authorities in 1983 - the story of these years are told in his three volume Chronique d'un témoin privilégié: Lettres d'Afghanistan (1979-1983).
Fr. Serge was aware that his itinerary was uncommon and looked for sign to guide his path. Louis Duprée, the well-known American historian of Afghanistan, records six months later one of these sign-moments when Serge had been in Herat in May 1976. The 50 or so people milling about the shrine gave Serge no chance to meditate with the Pir of Herat. He waited until all delegates had departed for the hotel, and talked for some time with the brotherhood. The Ansari brotherhood has great respect for Père de Beaurecueil and his learning. Sensing his desire, they discreetly departed. In the brilliant red sun of early evening, which so often bathes Herat in an unearthly light, Serge sat before the tomb of Ansari and closed his eyes to meditate. ‘As reported later, he asked the questions which plagued him and demanded of Ansari: ‘O Pir-of-Herat, you brought me to Afghanistan. But what should I do now?’ As he meditated, Serge became aware that all the sounds of man and nature had died away. Silence! Then he opened his eyes. Sitting before him were two little boys, huddled together, contemplating this strange khareji (foreigner) who sat so respectfully in front of the tomb of Ansari. One of the boys, it turned out, claimed to be a direct descendant of the Khwaja Abdullah Ansari, Pir-i-Herat’.
Dallh's work is at its heart a dialogical study in mysticism and scholarship in the life and work of Beaureceuil centred on the discovery of Anṣārī of Herāt. The Sufi and the Friar is an excellent account which profoundly expresses a Dominican outreach to the modern Muslim world written by a practitioner himself.
