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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..d7b82bc --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,4 @@ +*.txt text eol=lf +*.htm text eol=lf +*.html text eol=lf +*.md text eol=lf diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9b5085e --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #67388 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/67388) diff --git a/old/67388-0.txt b/old/67388-0.txt deleted file mode 100644 index e85e272..0000000 --- a/old/67388-0.txt +++ /dev/null @@ -1,5667 +0,0 @@ -The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A. -Nicholson - -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online at -www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States, you -will have to check the laws of the country where you are located before -using this eBook. - -Title: The Mystics of Islam - -Author: Reynold A. Nicholson - -Release Date: February 14, 2022 [eBook #67388] - -Language: English - -Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at - https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images - generously made available by The Internet Archive/American - Libraries.) - -*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM *** - - - - - - Transcriber's note: Italic font is indicated by _underscores_. - Bolded and underlined words are indicated by =equals=. - - The following two characters may not display as intended on certain - devices: - - The Arabic letter _ayn_ or _ayin_ is here represented by the - character ʿ (MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RING). - - The Arabic letter _hamza_ is here represented by the - character ʾ (MODIFIER LETTER RIGHT HALF RING). - - - - - The Quest Series - Edited by G. R. S. Mead - - - THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM - - - - - THE QUEST SERIES - - Edited by G. R. S. MEAD, - EDITOR OF ‘THE QUEST.’ - - _Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net each._ - - - FIRST LIST OF VOLUMES. - - PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND SURVIVAL. By James H. Hyslop, Ph.D., LL.D., - Secretary of the Psychical Research Society of America. - - THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL. By Jessie L. Weston, Author of ‘The - Legend of Sir Perceval.’ - - JEWISH MYSTICISM. By J. Abelson, M.A., D.Lit., Principal of Aria - College, Portsmouth. - - BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY. By C. A. F. Rhys Davids, M.A., F.B.A., Lecturer - on Indian Philosophy, Manchester University. - - THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM. By Reynold A. Nicholson, M.A., Litt.D., LL.D., - Lecturer on Persian, Cambridge University. - - - London: G. BELL & SONS LTD. - - - - - THE - MYSTICS OF ISLAM - - BY - REYNOLD A. NICHOLSON - M.A., Litt.D., Hon. LL.D. (Aberdeen) - LECTURER ON PERSIAN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE - FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE - -[Illustration] - - LONDON - G. BELL AND SONS LTD. - 1914 - - - - - EDITOR’S NOTE - - -If Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no little in common in spite -of their deep dogmatic differences, the spiritual content of that -common element can best be appreciated in Jewish, Christian and -Islamic mysticism, which bears equal testimony to that ever-deepening -experience of the soul when the spiritual worshipper, whether he be -follower of Moses or Jesus or Mohammed, turns whole-heartedly to God. -As the Quest Series has already supplied for the first time those -interested in such matters with a simple general introduction to Jewish -mysticism, so it now provides an easy approach to the study of Islamic -mysticism on which in English there exists no separate introduction. -But not only have we in the following pages all that the general reader -requires to be told at first about Sūfism; we have also a large amount -of material that will be new even to professional Orientalists. Dr. -Nicholson sets before us the results of twenty years’ unremitting -labour, and that, too, with remarkable simplicity and clarity for -such a subject; at the same time he lets the mystics mostly speak for -themselves and mainly in his own fine versions from the original Arabic -and Persian. - - - - - CONTENTS - - - PAGE - Introduction 1 - - CHAP. - I. The Path 28 - - II. Illumination and Ecstasy 50 - - III. The Gnosis 68 - - IV. Divine Love 102 - - V. Saints and Miracles 120 - - VI. The Unitive State 148 - - Bibliography 169 - - Index 173 - - - - - THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM - - - - - INTRODUCTION - - -The title of this book sufficiently explains why it is included in a -Series ‘exemplifying the adventures and labours of individual seekers -or groups of seekers in quest of reality.’ Sūfism, the religious -philosophy of Islam, is described in the oldest extant definition -as ‘the apprehension of divine realities,’ and Mohammedan mystics -are fond of calling themselves _Ahl al-Haqq_, ‘the followers of the -Real.’[1] In attempting to set forth their central doctrines from -this point of view, I shall draw to some extent on materials which -I have collected during the last twenty years for a general history -of Islamic mysticism--a subject so vast and many-sided that several -large volumes would be required to do it anything like justice. Here -I can only sketch in broad outline certain principles, methods, and -characteristic features of the inner life as it has been lived by -Moslems of every class and condition from the eighth century of our -era to the present day. Difficult are the paths which they threaded, -dark and bewildering the pathless heights beyond; but even if we -may not hope to accompany the travellers to their journey’s end, -any information that we have gathered concerning their religious -environment and spiritual history will help us to understand the -strange experiences of which they write. - -[1] _Al-Haqq_ is the term generally used by Sūfīs when they refer to -God. - -In the first place, therefore, I propose to offer a few remarks on the -origin and historical development of Sūfism, its relation to Islam, -and its general character. Not only are these matters interesting -to the student of comparative religion; some knowledge of them is -indispensable to any serious student of Sūfism itself. It may be said, -truly enough, that all mystical experiences ultimately meet in a single -point; but that point assumes widely different aspects according to the -mystic’s religion, race, and temperament, while the converging lines -of approach admit of almost infinite variety. Though all the great -types of mysticism have something in common, each is marked by peculiar -characteristics resulting from the circumstances in which it arose and -flourished. Just as the Christian type cannot be understood without -reference to Christianity, so the Mohammedan type must be viewed in -connexion with the outward and inward development of Islam. - -The word ‘mystic,’ which has passed from Greek religion into European -literature, is represented in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, the three -chief languages of Islam, by ‘Sūfī.’ The terms, however, are not -precisely synonymous, for ‘Sūfī’ has a specific religious connotation, -and is restricted by usage to those mystics who profess the Mohammedan -faith. And the Arabic word, although in course of time it appropriated -the high significance of the Greek--lips sealed by holy mysteries, -eyes closed in visionary rapture--bore a humbler meaning when it -first gained currency (about 800 A.D.). Until recently its derivation -was in dispute. Most Sūfīs, flying in the face of etymology, have -derived it from an Arabic root which conveys the notion of ‘purity’; -this would make ‘Sūfī’ mean ‘one who is pure in heart’ or ‘one of the -elect.’ Some European scholars identified it with σοφός in the sense -of ‘theosophist.’ But Nöldeke, in an article written twenty years ago, -showed conclusively that the name was derived from _sūf_ (wool), and -was originally applied to those Moslem ascetics who, in imitation of -Christian hermits, clad themselves in coarse woollen garb as a sign of -penitence and renunciation of worldly vanities. - -The earliest Sūfīs were, in fact, ascetics and quietists rather -than mystics. An overwhelming consciousness of sin, combined with a -dread--which it is hard for us to realise--of Judgment Day and the -torments of Hell-fire, so vividly painted in the Koran, drove them to -seek salvation in flight from the world. On the other hand, the Koran -warned them that salvation depended entirely on the inscrutable will of -Allah, who guides aright the good and leads astray the wicked. Their -fate was inscribed on the eternal tables of His providence, nothing -could alter it. Only this was sure, that if they were destined to be -saved by fasting and praying and pious works--then they would be saved. -Such a belief ends naturally in quietism, complete and unquestioning -submission to the divine will, an attitude characteristic of Sūfism in -its oldest form. The mainspring of Moslem religious life during the -eighth century was fear--fear of God, fear of Hell, fear of death, fear -of sin--but the opposite motive had already begun to make its influence -felt, and produced in the saintly woman Rābiʿa at least one conspicuous -example of truly mystical self-abandonment. - -So far, there was no great difference between the Sūfī and the orthodox -Mohammedan zealot, except that the Sūfīs attached extraordinary -importance to certain Koranic doctrines, and developed them at the -expense of others which many Moslems might consider equally essential. -It must also be allowed that the ascetic movement was inspired -by Christian ideals, and contrasted sharply with the active and -pleasure-loving spirit of Islam. In a famous sentence the Prophet -denounced monkish austerities and bade his people devote themselves -to the holy war against unbelievers; and he gave, as is well known, -the most convincing testimony in favour of marriage. Although his -condemnation of celibacy did not remain without effect, the conquest -of Persia, Syria, and Egypt by his successors brought the Moslems into -contact with ideas which profoundly modified their outlook on life and -religion. European readers of the Koran cannot fail to be struck by its -author’s vacillation and inconsistency in dealing with the greatest -problems. He himself was not aware of these contradictions, nor were -they a stumbling-block to his devout followers, whose simple faith -accepted the Koran as the Word of God. But the rift was there, and soon -produced far-reaching results. - -Hence arose the Murjites, who set faith above works and emphasised -the divine love and goodness; the Qadarites who affirmed, and the -Jabarites who denied, that men are responsible for their actions; -the Muʿtazilites, who built a theology on the basis of reason, -rejecting the qualities of Allah as incompatible with His unity, -and predestinarianism as contrary to His justice; and finally the -Ashʿarites, the scholastic theologians of Islam, who formulated the -rigid metaphysical and doctrinal system that underlies the creed of -orthodox Mohammedans at the present time. All these speculations, -influenced as they were by Greek theology and philosophy, reacted -powerfully upon Sūfism. Early in the third century of the Hegira--the -ninth after Christ--we find manifest signs of the new leaven stirring -within it. Not that Sūfīs ceased to mortify the flesh and take pride -in their poverty, but they now began to regard asceticism as only the -first stage of a long journey, the preliminary training for a larger -spiritual life than the mere ascetic is able to conceive. The nature -of the change may be illustrated by quoting a few sentences which have -come down to us from the mystics of this period. - - “Love is not to be learned from men: it is one of God’s gifts - and comes of His grace.” - - “None refrains from the lusts of this world save him in whose - heart there is a light that keeps him always busied with the next - world.” - - “When the gnostic’s spiritual eye is opened, his bodily eye is - shut: he sees nothing but God.” - - “If gnosis were to take visible shape all who looked thereon - would die at the sight of its beauty and loveliness and goodness - and grace, and every brightness would become dark beside the - splendour thereof.”[2] - - “Gnosis is nearer to silence than to speech.” - - “When the heart weeps because it has lost, the spirit laughs - because it has found.” - - “Nothing sees God and dies, even as nothing sees God and lives, - because His life is everlasting: whoever sees it is thereby made - everlasting.” - - “O God, I never listen to the cry of animals or to the - quivering of trees or to the murmuring of water or to the warbling - of birds or to the rustling wind or to the crashing thunder without - feeling them to be an evidence of Thy unity and a proof that there - is nothing like unto Thee.” - - “O my God, I invoke Thee in public as lords are invoked, but in - private as loved ones are invoked. Publicly I say, ‘O my God!’ but - privately I say, ‘O my Beloved!’” - -[2] Compare Plato, _Phædrus_ (Jowett’s translation): “For sight is the -keenest of our bodily senses; though not by that is wisdom seen; her -loveliness would have been transporting if there had been a visible -image of her.” - -These ideas--Light, Knowledge, and Love--form, as it were, the keynotes -of the new Sūfism, and in the following chapters I shall endeavour to -show how they were developed. Ultimately they rest upon a pantheistic -faith which deposed the One transcendent God of Islam and worshipped -in His stead One Real Being who dwells and works everywhere, and whose -throne is not less, but more, in the human heart than in the heaven -of heavens. Before going further, it will be convenient to answer -a question which the reader may have asked himself--Whence did the -Moslems of the ninth century derive this doctrine? - -Modern research has proved that the origin of Sūfism cannot be -traced back to a single definite cause, and has thereby discredited -the sweeping generalisations which represent it, for instance, as a -reaction of the Aryan mind against a conquering Semitic religion, and -as the product, essentially, of Indian or Persian thought. Statements -of this kind, even when they are partially true, ignore the principle -that in order to establish an historical connexion between A and B, -it is not enough to bring forward evidence of their likeness to one -another, without showing at the same time (1) that the actual relation -of B to A was such as to render the assumed filiation possible, and -(2) that the possible hypothesis fits in with all the ascertained -and relevant facts. Now, the theories which I have mentioned do not -satisfy these conditions. If Sūfism was nothing but a revolt of the -Aryan spirit, how are we to explain the undoubted fact that some of -the leading pioneers of Mohammedan mysticism were natives of Syria and -Egypt, and Arabs by race? Similarly, the advocates of a Buddhistic -or Vedāntic origin forget that the main current of Indian influence -upon Islamic civilisation belongs to a later epoch, whereas Moslem -theology, philosophy, and science put forth their first luxuriant -shoots on a soil that was saturated with Hellenistic culture. The truth -is that Sūfism is a complex thing, and therefore no simple answer can -be given to the question how it originated. We shall have gone far, -however, towards answering that question when we have distinguished the -various movements and forces which moulded Sūfism, and determined what -direction it should take in the early stages of its growth. - -Let us first consider the most important external, _i.e._ non-Islamic, -influences. - - - I. CHRISTIANITY - -It is obvious that the ascetic and quietistic tendencies to which -I have referred were in harmony with Christian theory and drew -nourishment therefrom. Many Gospel texts and apocryphal sayings of -Jesus are cited in the oldest Sūfī biographies, and the Christian -anchorite (_rāhib_) often appears in the _rôle_ of a teacher giving -instruction and advice to wandering Moslem ascetics. We have seen -that the woollen dress, from which the name ‘Sūfī’ is derived, is -of Christian origin: vows of silence, litanies (_dhikr_), and other -ascetic practices may be traced to the same source. As regards the -doctrine of divine love, the following extracts speak for themselves: - - “Jesus passed by three men. Their bodies were lean and their - faces pale. He asked them, saying, ‘What hath brought you to this - plight?’ They answered, ‘Fear of the Fire.’ Jesus said, ‘Ye fear - a thing created, and it behoves God that He should save those who - fear.’ Then he left them and passed by three others, whose faces - were paler and their bodies leaner, and asked them, saying, ‘What - hath brought you to this plight?’ They answered, ‘Longing for - Paradise.’ He said, ‘Ye desire a thing created, and it behoves God - that He should give you that which ye hope for.’ Then he went on - and passed by three others of exceeding paleness and leanness, so - that their faces were as mirrors of light, and he said, ‘What hath - brought you to this?’ They answered, ‘Our love of God.’ Jesus said, - ‘Ye are the nearest to Him, ye are the nearest to Him.’” - -The Syrian mystic, Ahmad ibn al-Hawārī, once asked a Christian hermit: - - “‘What is the strongest command that ye find in your - Scriptures?’ The hermit replied: ‘We find none stronger than this: - “Love thy Creator with all thy power and might.”’” - -Another hermit was asked by some Moslem ascetics: - - “‘When is a man most persevering in devotion?’ ‘When love takes - possession of his heart,’ was the reply; ‘for then he hath no joy - or pleasure but in continual devotion.’” - -The influence of Christianity through its hermits, monks, and heretical -sects (_e.g._ the Messalians or Euchitæ) was twofold: ascetic and -mystical. Oriental Christian mysticism, however, contained a Pagan -element: it had long ago absorbed the ideas and adopted the language of -Plotinus and the Neoplatonic school. - - - II. NEOPLATONISM - -Aristotle, not Plato, is the dominant figure in Moslem philosophy, -and few Mohammedans are familiar with the name of Plotinus, who was -more commonly called ‘the Greek Master’ (_al-Sheykh al-Yaunānī_). But -since the Arabs gained their first knowledge of Aristotle from his -Neoplatonist commentators, the system with which they became imbued -was that of Porphyry and Proclus. Thus the so-called _Theology of -Aristotle_, of which an Arabic version appeared in the ninth century, -is actually a manual of Neoplatonism. - -Another work of this school deserves particular notice: I mean the -writings falsely attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the convert of -St. Paul. The pseudo-Dionysius--he may have been a Syrian monk--names -as his teacher a certain Hierotheus, whom Frothingham has identified -with Stephen Bar Sudaili, a prominent Syrian gnostic and a contemporary -of Jacob of Sarūj (451-521 A.D.). Dionysius quotes some fragments -of erotic hymns by this Stephen, and a complete work, the _Book of -Hierotheus on the Hidden Mysteries of the Divinity_, has come down -to us in a unique manuscript which is now in the British Museum. The -Dionysian writings, turned into Latin by John Scotus Erigena, founded -medieval Christian mysticism in Western Europe. Their influence in -the East was hardly less vital. They were translated from Greek into -Syriac almost immediately on their appearance, and their doctrine was -vigorously propagated by commentaries in the same tongue. “About 850 -A.D. Dionysius was known from the Tigris to the Atlantic.” - -Besides literary tradition, there were other channels by which the -doctrines of emanation, illumination, gnosis, and ecstasy were -transmitted, but enough has been said to convince the reader that -Greek mystical ideas were in the air and easily accessible to the -Moslem inhabitants of Western Asia and Egypt, where the Sūfī theosophy -first took shape. One of those who bore the chief part in its -development, Dhu ’l-Nūn the Egyptian, is described as a philosopher -and alchemist--in other words, a student of Hellenistic science. When -it is added that much of his speculation agrees with what we find, for -example, in the writings of Dionysius, we are drawn irresistibly to the -conclusion (which, as I have pointed out, is highly probable on general -grounds) that Neoplatonism poured into Islam a large tincture of the -same mystical element in which Christianity was already steeped. - - - III. GNOSTICISM[3] - -[3] Cf. Goldziher, “Neuplatonische und gnostische Elemente im Hadīt,” -in _Zeitschrift für Assyriologie_, xxii. 317 ff. - -Though little direct evidence is available, the conspicuous place -occupied by the theory of gnosis in early Sūfī speculation suggests -contact with Christian Gnosticism, and it is worth noting that the -parents of Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, whose definition of Sūfism, as ‘the -apprehension of divine realities’ was quoted on the first page of this -Introduction, are said to have been Sābians, _i.e._ Mandæans, dwelling -in the Babylonian fenland between Basra and Wāsit. Other Moslem saints -had learned ‘the mystery of the Great Name.’ It was communicated to -Ibrāhīm ibn Adham by a man whom he met while travelling in the desert, -and as soon as he pronounced it he saw the prophet Khadir (Elias). The -ancient Sūfīs borrowed from the Manichæans the term _siddīq_, which -they apply to their own spiritual adepts, and a later school, returning -to the dualism of Mānī, held the view that the diversity of phenomena -arises from the admixture of light and darkness. - - “The ideal of human action is freedom from the taint of - darkness; and the freedom of light from darkness means the - self-consciousness of light as light.”[4] - -[4] Shaikh Muhammad Iqbal, _The Development of Metaphysics in Persia_ -(1908), p. 150. - -The following version of the doctrine of the seventy thousand veils as -explained by a modern Rifāʿī dervish shows clear traces of Gnosticism -and is so interesting that I cannot refrain from quoting it here: - - “Seventy Thousand Veils separate Allah, the One Reality, from - the world of matter and of sense. And every soul passes before - his birth through these seventy thousand. The inner half of these - are veils of light: the outer half, veils of darkness. For every - one of the veils of light passed through, in this journey towards - birth, the soul puts _off_ a divine quality: and for every one of - the dark veils, it puts _on_ an earthly quality. Thus the child is - born _weeping_, for the soul knows its separation from Allah, the - One Reality. And when the child cries in its sleep, it is because - the soul remembers something of what it has lost. Otherwise, - the passage through the veils has brought with it forgetfulness - (_nisyān_): and for this reason man is called _insān_. He is - now, as it were, in prison in his body, separated by these thick - curtains from Allah. - - “But the whole purpose of Sūfism, the Way of the dervish, - is to give him an escape from this prison, an apocalypse of the - Seventy Thousand Veils, a recovery of the original unity with The - One, _while still in this body_. The body is not to be put off; it - is to be refined and made spiritual--a help and not a hindrance - to the spirit. It is like a metal that has to be refined by fire - and transmuted. And the sheikh tells the aspirant that he has the - secret of this transmutation. ‘We shall throw you into the fire of - Spiritual Passion,’ he says, ‘and you will emerge refined.’”[5] - -[5] _“The Way” of a Mohammedan Mystic_, by W. H. T. Gairdner (Leipzig, -1912), pp. 9 f. - - - IV. BUDDHISM - -Before the Mohammedan conquest of India in the eleventh century, the -teaching of Buddha exerted considerable influence in Eastern Persia -and Transoxania. We hear of flourishing Buddhist monasteries in Balkh, -the metropolis of ancient Bactria, a city famous for the number of -Sūfīs who resided in it. Professor Goldziher has called attention -to the significant circumstance that the Sūfī ascetic, Ibrāhīm ibn -Adham, appears in Moslem legend as a prince of Balkh who abandoned -his throne and became a wandering dervish--the story of Buddha over -again. The Sūfīs learned the use of rosaries from Buddhist monks, and, -without entering into details, it may be safely asserted that the -method of Sūfism, so far as it is one of ethical self-culture, ascetic -meditation, and intellectual abstraction, owes a good deal to Buddhism. -But the features which the two systems have in common only accentuate -the fundamental difference between them. In spirit they are poles -apart. The Buddhist moralises himself, the Sūfī becomes moral only -through knowing and loving God. - -The Sūfī conception of the passing-away (_fanā_) of individual self -in Universal Being is certainly, I think, of Indian origin. Its first -great exponent was the Persian mystic, Bāyazīd of Bistām, who may have -received it from his teacher, Abū ʿAlī of Sind (Scinde). Here are some -of his sayings: - - “Creatures are subject to changing ‘states,’ but the gnostic - has no ‘state,’ because his vestiges are effaced and his essence - annihilated by the essence of another, and his traces are lost in - another’s traces.” - - “Thirty years the high God was my mirror, now I am my own - mirror,” _i.e._ according to the explanation given by his - biographer, “that which I was I am no more, for ‘I’ and ‘God’ is a - denial of the unity of God. Since I am no more, the high God is - His own mirror.” - - “I went from God to God, until they cried from me in me, ‘O - Thou I!’” - - -This, it will be observed, is not Buddhism, but the pantheism of the -Vedānta. We cannot identify _fanā_ with Nirvāṇa unconditionally. Both -terms imply the passing-away of individuality, but while Nirvāṇa -is purely negative, _fanā_ is accompanied by _baqā_, everlasting -life in God. The rapture of the Sūfī who has lost himself in -ecstatic contemplation of the divine beauty is entirely opposed to -the passionless intellectual serenity of the Arahat. I emphasise -this contrast because, in my opinion, the influence of Buddhism on -Mohammedan thought has been exaggerated. Much is attributed to Buddhism -that is Indian rather than specifically Buddhistic: the _fanā_ theory -of the Sūfīs is a case in point. Ordinary Moslems held the followers of -Buddha in abhorrence, regarding them as idolaters, and were not likely -to seek personal intercourse with them. On the other hand, for nearly -a thousand years before the Mohammedan conquest, Buddhism had been -powerful in Bactria and Eastern Persia generally: it must, therefore, -have affected the development of Sūfism in these regions. - -While _fanā_ in its pantheistic form is radically different from -Nirvāṇa, the terms coincide so closely in other ways that we cannot -regard them as being altogether unconnected. _Fanā_ has an ethical -aspect: it involves the extinction of all passions and desires. -The passing-away of evil qualities and of the evil actions which -they produce is said to be brought about by the continuance of the -corresponding good qualities and actions. Compare this with the -definition of Nirvāṇa given by Professor Rhys Davids: - - “The extinction of that sinful, grasping condition of mind - and heart, which would otherwise, according to the great mystery - of Karma, be the cause of renewed individual existence. That - extinction is to be brought about by, and runs parallel with, the - growth of the opposite condition of mind and heart; and it is - complete when that opposite condition is reached.” - -Apart from the doctrine of Karma, which is alien to Sūfism, these -definitions of _fanā_ (viewed as a moral state) and Nirvāṇa agree -almost word for word. It would be out of place to pursue the comparison -further, but I think we may conclude that the Sūfī theory of _fanā_ -was influenced to some extent by Buddhism as well as by Perso-Indian -pantheism. - -The receptivity of Islam to foreign ideas has been recognised by -every unbiassed inquirer, and the history of Sūfism is only a single -instance of the general rule. But this fact should not lead us to -seek in such ideas an explanation of the whole question which I am -now discussing, or to identify Sūfism itself with the extraneous -ingredients which it absorbed and assimilated in the course of its -development. Even if Islam had been miraculously shut off from contact -with foreign religions and philosophies, some form of mysticism would -have arisen within it, for the seeds were already there. Of course, we -cannot isolate the internal forces working in this direction, since -they were subject to the law of spiritual gravitation. The powerful -currents of thought discharged through the Mohammedan world by the -great non-Islamic systems above mentioned gave a stimulus to various -tendencies within Islam which affected Sūfism either positively or -negatively. As we have seen, its oldest type is an ascetic revolt -against luxury and worldliness; later on, the prevailing rationalism -and scepticism provoked counter-movements towards intuitive knowledge -and emotional faith, and also an orthodox reaction which in its turn -drove many earnest Moslems into the ranks of the mystics. - -How, it may be asked, could a religion founded on the simple and -austere monotheism of Mohammed tolerate these new doctrines, much -less make terms with them? It would seem impossible to reconcile the -transcendent personality of Allah with an immanent Reality which is the -very life and soul of the universe. Yet Islam has accepted Sūfism. The -Sūfīs, instead of being excommunicated, are securely established in the -Mohammedan church, and the _Legend of the Moslem Saints_ records the -wildest excesses of Oriental pantheism. - -Let us return for a moment to the Koran, that infallible touchstone -by which every Mohammedan theory and practice must be proved. Are any -germs of mysticism to be found there? The Koran, as I have said, starts -with the notion of Allah, the One, Eternal, and Almighty God, far above -human feelings and aspirations--the Lord of His slaves, not the Father -of His children; a judge meting out stern justice to sinners, and -extending His mercy only to those who avert His wrath by repentance, -humility, and unceasing works of devotion; a God of fear rather than -of love. This is one side, and certainly the most prominent side, of -Mohammed’s teaching; but while he set an impassable gulf between the -world and Allah, his deeper instinct craved a direct revelation from -God to the soul. There are no contradictions in the logic of feeling. -Mohammed, who had in him something of the mystic, felt God both as far -and near, both as transcendent and immanent. In the latter aspect, -Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth, a Being who works in -the world and in the soul of man. - - “If My servants ask thee about Me, lo, I am near” (Kor. =2=. - 182); “We (God) are nearer to him than his own neck-vein” (=50.= - 15); “And in the earth are signs to those of real faith, and in - yourselves. What! do ye not see?” (=51.= 20-21). - -It was a long time ere they saw. The Moslem consciousness, haunted by -terrible visions of the wrath to come, slowly and painfully awoke to -the significance of those liberating ideas. - -The verses which I have quoted do not stand alone, and however -unfavourable to mysticism the Koran as a whole may be, I cannot assent -to the view that it supplies no basis for a mystical interpretation -of Islam. This was worked out in detail by the Sūfīs, who dealt with -the Koran in very much the same way as Philo treated the Pentateuch. -But they would not have succeeded so thoroughly in bringing over the -mass of religious Moslems to their side, unless the champions of -orthodoxy had set about constructing a system of scholastic philosophy -that reduced the divine nature to a purely formal, changeless, and -absolute unity, a bare will devoid of all affections and emotions, a -tremendous and incalculable power with which no human creature could -have any communion or personal intercourse whatsoever. That is the God -of Mohammedan theology. That was the alternative to Sūfism. Therefore, -“all thinking, religious Moslems are mystics,” as Professor D. B. -Macdonald, one of our best authorities on the subject, has remarked. -And he adds: “All, too, are pantheists, but some do not know it.” - -The relation of individual Sūfīs to Islam varies from more or less -entire conformity to a merely nominal profession of belief in Allah -and His Prophet. While the Koran and the Traditions are generally -acknowledged to be the unalterable standard of religious truth, this -acknowledgment does not include the recognition of any external -authority which shall decide what is orthodox and what is heretical. -Creeds and catechisms count for nothing in the Sūfī’s estimation. Why -should he concern himself with these when he possesses a doctrine -derived immediately from God? As he reads the Koran with studious -meditation and rapt attention, lo, the hidden meanings--infinite, -inexhaustible--of the Holy Word flash upon his inward eye. This is -what the Sūfīs call _istinbāt_, a sort of intuitive deduction; the -mysterious inflow of divinely revealed knowledge into hearts made pure -by repentance and filled with the thought of God, and the outflow of -that knowledge upon the interpreting tongue. Naturally, the doctrines -elicited by means of _istinbāt_ do not agree very well either with -Mohammedan theology or with each other, but the discord is easily -explained. Theologians, who interpret the letter, cannot be expected to -reach the same conclusions as mystics, who interpret the spirit; and if -both classes differ amongst themselves, that is a merciful dispensation -of divine wisdom, since theological controversy serves to extinguish -religious error, while the variety of mystical truth corresponds to the -manifold degrees and modes of mystical experience. - -In the chapter on the gnosis I shall enter more fully into the attitude -of the Sūfīs towards positive religion. It is only a rough-and-ready -account of the matter to say that many of them have been good Moslems, -many scarcely Moslems at all, and a third party, perhaps the largest, -Moslems after a fashion. During the early Middle Ages Islam was a -growing organism, and gradually became transformed under the influence -of diverse movements, of which Sūfism itself was one. Mohammedan -orthodoxy in its present shape owes much to Ghazālī, and Ghazālī was -a Sūfī. Through his work and example the Sūfistic interpretation of -Islam has in no small measure been harmonised with the rival claims of -reason and tradition, but just because of this he is less valuable than -mystics of a purer type to the student who wishes to know what Sūfism -essentially is. - -Although the numerous definitions of Sūfism which occur in Arabic and -Persian books on the subject are historically interesting, their chief -importance lies in showing that Sūfism is undefinable. Jalāluddīn Rūmī -in his _Masnavī_ tells a story about an elephant which some Hindoos -were exhibiting in a dark room. Many people gathered to see it, but, -as the place was too dark to permit them to see the elephant, they -all felt it with their hands, to gain an idea of what it was like. -One felt its trunk, and said that the animal resembled a water-pipe; -another felt its ear, and said it must be a large fan; another its leg, -and thought it must be a pillar; another felt its back, and declared -that the beast must be like an immense throne. So it is with those who -define Sūfism: they can only attempt to express what they themselves -have felt, and there is no conceivable formula that will comprise every -shade of personal and intimate religious feeling. Since, however, these -definitions illustrate with convenient brevity certain aspects and -characteristics of Sūfism, a few specimens may be given. - - “Sūfism is this: that actions should be passing over the Sūfī - (_i.e._ being done upon him) which are known to God only, and that - he should always be with God in a way that is known to God only.” - - “Sūfism is wholly self-discipline.” - - “Sūfism is, to possess nothing and to be possessed by nothing.” - - “Sūfism is not a system composed of rules or sciences but a - moral disposition; _i.e._ if it were a rule, it could be made one’s - own by strenuous exertion, and if it were a science, it could be - acquired by instruction; but on the contrary it is a disposition, - according to the saying, ‘Form yourselves on the moral nature of - God’; and the moral nature of God cannot be attained either by - means of rules or by means of sciences.” - - “Sūfism is freedom and generosity and absence of - self-constraint.” - - “It is this: that God should make thee die to thyself and - should make thee live in Him.” - - “To behold the imperfection of the phenomenal world, nay, to - close the eye to everything imperfect in contemplation of Him who - is remote from all imperfection--that is Sūfism.” - - “Sūfism is control of the faculties and observance of the - breaths.” - - “It is Sūfism to put away what thou hast in thy head, to give - what thou hast in thy hand, and not to recoil from whatsoever - befalls thee.” - -The reader will perceive that Sūfism is a word uniting many divergent -meanings, and that in sketching its main features one is obliged -to make a sort of composite portrait, which does not represent any -particular type exclusively. The Sūfīs are not a sect, they have no -dogmatic system, the _tarīqas_ or paths by which they seek God “are -in number as the souls of men” and vary infinitely, though a family -likeness may be traced in them all. Descriptions of such a Protean -phenomenon must differ widely from one another, and the impression -produced in each case will depend on the choice of materials and the -prominence given to this or that aspect of the many-sided whole. Now, -the essence of Sūfism is best displayed in its extreme type, which -is pantheistic and speculative rather than ascetic or devotional. -This type, therefore, I have purposely placed in the foreground. The -advantage of limiting the field is obvious enough, but entails some -loss of proportion. In order to form a fair judgment of Mohammedan -mysticism, the following chapters should be supplemented by a companion -picture drawn especially from those moderate types which, for want of -space, I have unduly neglected. - - - - - CHAPTER I - - THE PATH - - -Mystics of every race and creed have described the progress of the -spiritual life as a journey or a pilgrimage. Other symbols have been -used for the same purpose, but this one appears to be almost universal -in its range. The Sūfī who sets out to seek God calls himself a -‘traveller’ (_sālik_); he advances by slow ‘stages’ (_maqāmāt_) along -a ‘path’ (_tarīqat_) to the goal of union with Reality (_fanā fi -’l-Haqq_). Should he venture to make a map of this interior ascent, -it will not correspond exactly with any of those made by previous -explorers. Such maps or scales of perfection were elaborated by -Sūfī teachers at an early period, and the unlucky Moslem habit of -systematising has produced an enormous aftercrop. The ‘path’ expounded -by the author of the _Kitāb al-Lumaʿ_, perhaps the oldest comprehensive -treatise on Sūfism that we now possess, consists of the following seven -‘stages,’ each of which (except the first member of the series) is the -result of the ‘stages’ immediately preceding it--(1) Repentance, (2) -abstinence, (3) renunciation, (4) poverty, (5) patience, (6) trust -in God, (7) satisfaction. The ‘stages’ constitute the _ascetic and -ethical_ discipline of the Sūfī, and must be carefully distinguished -from the so-called ‘states’ (_ahwāl_, plural of _hāl_), which form -a similar _psychological_ chain. The writer whom I have just quoted -enumerates ten ‘states’--Meditation, nearness to God, love, fear, hope, -longing, intimacy, tranquillity, contemplation, and certainty. While -the ‘stages’ can be acquired and mastered by one’s own efforts, the -‘states’ are spiritual feelings and dispositions over which a man has -no control: - - “They descend from God into his heart, without his being able - to repel them when they come or to retain them when they go.” - -The Sūfī’s ‘path’ is not finished until he has traversed all the -‘stages,’ making himself perfect in every one of them before advancing -to the next, and has also experienced whatever ‘states’ it pleases -God to bestow upon him. Then, and only then, is he permanently raised -to the higher planes of consciousness which Sūfīs call ‘the Gnosis’ -(_maʿrifat_) and ‘the Truth’ (_haqīqat_), where the ‘seeker’ (_tālib_) -becomes the ‘knower’ or ‘gnostic’ (_ʿārif_), and realises that -knowledge, knower, and known are One. - -Having sketched, as briefly as possible, the external framework of the -method by which the Sūfī approaches his goal, I shall now try to give -some account of its inner workings. The present chapter deals with the -first portion of the threefold journey--the Path, the Gnosis, and the -Truth--by which the quest of Reality is often symbolised. - -[Sidenote: Repentance.] - -The first place in every list of ‘stages’ is occupied by repentance -(_tawbat_). This is the Moslem term for ‘conversion,’ and marks the -beginning of a new life. In the biographies of eminent Sūfīs the -dreams, visions, auditions, and other experiences which caused them -to enter on the Path are usually related. Trivial as they may seem, -these records have a psychological basis, and, if authentic, would be -worth studying in detail. Repentance is described as the awakening of -the soul from the slumber of heedlessness, so that the sinner becomes -aware of his evil ways and feels contrition for past disobedience. He -is not truly penitent, however, unless (1) he at once abandons the sin -or sins of which he is conscious, and (2) firmly resolves that he will -never return to these sins in the future. It he should fail to keep -his vow, he must again turn to God, whose mercy is infinite. A certain -well-known Sūfī repented seventy times and fell back into sin seventy -times before he made a lasting repentance. The convert must also, as -far as lies in his power, satisfy all those whom he has injured. Many -examples of such restitution might be culled from the _Legend of the -Moslem Saints_. - -According to the high mystical theory, repentance is purely an act of -divine grace, coming from God to man, not from man to God. Some one -said to Rābiʿa: - - “I have committed many sins; if I turn in penitence towards - God, will He turn in mercy towards me?” “Nay,” she replied, “but if - He shall turn towards thee, thou wilt turn towards Him.” - -The question whether sins ought to be remembered after repentance or -forgotten illustrates a fundamental point in Sūfī ethics: I mean the -difference between what is taught to novices and disciples and what -is held as an esoteric doctrine by adepts. Any Mohammedan director -of souls would tell his pupils that to think humbly and remorsefully -of one’s sins is a sovereign remedy against spiritual pride, but he -himself might very well believe that real repentance consists in -forgetting everything except God. - - “The penitent,” says Hujwīrī, “is a lover of God, and the lover - of God is in contemplation of God: in contemplation it is wrong to - remember sin, for recollection of sin is a veil between God and - the contemplative.” - -Sin appertains to self-existence, which itself is the greatest of all -sins. To forget sin is to forget self. - -This is only one application of a principle which, as I have said, -runs through the whole ethical system of Sūfism and will be more fully -explained in a subsequent chapter. Its dangers are evident, but we must -in fairness allow that the same theory of conduct may not be equally -suitable to those who have made themselves perfect in moral discipline -and to those who are still striving after perfection. - -Over the gate of repentance it is written: - - “All _self_ abandon ye who enter here!” - -[Sidenote: The Sheykh.] - -The convert now begins what is called by Christian mystics the -Purgative Way. If he follows the general rule, he will take a director -(Sheykh, Pīr, Murshid), _i.e._ a holy man of ripe experience and -profound knowledge, whose least word is absolute law to his disciples. -A ‘seeker’ who attempts to traverse the ‘Path’ without assistance -receives little sympathy. Of such a one it is said that ‘his guide is -Satan,’ and he is likened to a tree that for want of the gardener’s -care brings forth ‘none or bitter fruit.’ Speaking of the Sūfī Sheykhs, -Hujwīrī says: - - “When a novice joins them, with the purpose of renouncing the - world, they subject him to spiritual discipline for the space of - three years. If he fulfil the requirements of this discipline, well - and good; otherwise, they declare that he cannot be admitted to the - ‘Path.’ The first year is devoted to service of the people, the - second year to service of God, and the third year to watching over - his own heart. He can serve the people, only when he places himself - in the rank of servants and all others in the rank of masters, - _i.e._ he must regard all, without exception, as being better than - himself, and must deem it his duty to serve all alike. And he can - serve God, only when he cuts off all his selfish interests relating - either to the present or to the future life, and worships God for - God’s sake alone, inasmuch as whoever worships God for any thing’s - sake worships himself, not God. And he can watch over his heart, - only when his thoughts are collected and every care is dismissed, - so that in communion with God he guards his heart from the assaults - of heedlessness. When these qualifications are possessed by the - novice, he may wear the _muraqqaʿat_ (the patched frock worn by - dervishes) as a true mystic, not merely as an imitator of others.” - -Shiblī was a pupil of the famous theosophist Junayd of Baghdād. On his -conversion, he came to Junayd, saying: - - “They tell me that you possess the pearl of divine knowledge: - either give it me or sell it.” Junayd answered: “I cannot sell it, - for you have not the price thereof; and if I give it you, you will - have gained it cheaply. You do not know its value. Cast yourself - headlong, like me, into this ocean, in order that you may win the - pearl by waiting patiently.” - -Shiblī asked what he must do. - - “Go,” said Junayd, “and sell sulphur.” - -At the end of a year he said to Shiblī: - - “This trading makes you well known. Become a dervish and occupy - yourself solely with begging.” - -During a whole year Shiblī wandered through the streets of Baghdād, -begging of the passers-by, but no one heeded him. Then he returned to -Junayd, who exclaimed: - - “See now! You are nothing in people’s eyes. Never set your - mind on them or take any account of them at all. For some time” - (he continued) “you were a chamberlain and acted as governor of a - province. Go to that country and ask pardon of all those whom you - have wronged.” - -Shiblī obeyed and spent four years in going from door to door, until -he had obtained an acquittance from every person except one, whom he -failed to trace. On his return, Junayd said to him: - - “You still have some regard to reputation. Go and be a beggar - for one year more.” - -Every day Shiblī used to bring the alms that were given him to Junayd, -who bestowed them on the poor and kept Shiblī without food until the -next morning. When a year had passed in this way, Junayd accepted him -as one of his disciples on condition that he should perform the duties -of a servant to the others. After a year’s service, Junayd asked him: - - “What think you of yourself now?” Shiblī replied: “I deem - myself the meanest of God’s creatures.” “Now,” said the master, - “your faith is firm.” - -I need not dwell on the details of this training--the fasts and vigils, -the vows of silence, the long days and nights of solitary meditation, -all the weapons and tactics, in short, of that battle against one’s -self which the Prophet declared to be more painful and meritorious -than the Holy War. On the other hand, my readers will expect me to -describe in a general way the characteristic theories and practices -for which the ‘Path’ is a convenient designation. These may be treated -under the following heads: Poverty, Mortification, Trust in God, -and Recollection. Whereas poverty is negative in nature, involving -detachment from all that is worldly and unreal, the three remaining -terms denote the positive counterpart of that process, namely, the -ethical discipline by which the soul is brought into harmonious -relations with Reality. - -[Sidenote: Poverty.] - -The fatalistic spirit which brooded darkly over the childhood of -Islam--the feeling that all human actions are determined by an unseen -Power, and in themselves are worthless and vain--caused renunciation to -become the watchword of early Moslem asceticism. Every true believer -is bound to abstain from unlawful pleasures, but the ascetic acquires -merit by abstaining from those which are lawful. At first, renunciation -was understood almost exclusively in a material sense. To have as few -worldly goods as possible seemed the surest means of gaining salvation. -Dāwud al-Tāʾī owned nothing except a mat of rushes, a brick which he -used as a pillow, and a leathern vessel which served him for drinking -and washing. A certain man dreamed that he saw Mālik ibn Dīnār and -Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ being led into Paradise, and that Mālik was -admitted before his companion. He cried out in astonishment, for he -thought Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ had a superior claim to the honour. “Yes,” -came the answer, “but Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ possessed two shirts, and -Mālik only one. That is the reason why Mālik is preferred.” - -The Sūfī ideal of poverty goes far beyond this. True poverty is not -merely lack of wealth, but lack of desire for wealth: the empty heart -as well as the empty hand. The ‘poor man’ (_faqīr_) and the ‘mendicant’ -(_dervīsh_) are names by which the Mohammedan mystic is proud to be -known, because they imply that he is stripped of every thought or wish -that would divert his mind from God. “To be severed entirely from both -the present life and the future life, and to want nothing besides the -Lord of the present life and the future life--that is to be truly -poor.” Such a _faqīr_ is denuded of individual existence, so that he -does not attribute to himself any action, feeling, or quality. He may -even be rich, in the common meaning of the word, though spiritually he -is the poorest of the poor; for, sometimes, God endows His saints with -an outward show of wealth and worldliness in order to hide them from -the profane. - -No one familiar with the mystical writers will need to be informed that -their terminology is ambiguous, and that the same word frequently -covers a group, if not a multitude, of significations diverging more -or less widely according to the aspect from which it is viewed. Hence -the confusion that is apparent in Sūfī text-books. When ‘poverty,’ for -example, is explained by one interpreter as a transcendental theory -and by another as a practical rule of religious life, the meanings -cannot coincide. Regarded from the latter standpoint, poverty is only -the beginning of Sūfism. _Faqīrs_, Jāmī says, renounce all worldly -things for the sake of pleasing God. They are urged to this sacrifice -by one of three motives: (_a_) Hope of an easy reckoning on the Day of -Judgment, or fear of being punished; (_b_) desire of Paradise; (_c_) -longing for spiritual peace and inward composure. Thus, inasmuch as -they are not disinterested but seek to benefit themselves, they rank -below the Sūfī, who has no will of his own and depends absolutely on -the will of God. It is the absence of ‘self’ that distinguishes the -Sūfī from the _faqīr_. - -Here are some maxims for dervishes: - - “Do not beg unless you are starving. The Caliph Omar flogged a - man who begged after having satisfied his hunger. When compelled to - beg, do not accept more than you need.” - - “Be good-natured and uncomplaining and thank God for your - poverty.” - - “Do not flatter the rich for giving, nor blame them for - withholding.” - - “Dread the loss of poverty more than the rich man dreads the - loss of wealth.” - - “Take what is voluntarily offered: it is the daily bread which - God sends to you: do not refuse God’s gift.” - - “Let no thought of the morrow enter your mind, else you will - incur everlasting perdition.” - - “Do not make God a springe to catch alms.” - - -[Sidenote: The _nafs_.] - -The Sūfī teachers gradually built up a system of asceticism and moral -culture which is founded on the fact that there is in man an element of -evil--the lower or appetitive soul. This evil self, the seat of passion -and lust, is called _nafs_; it may be considered broadly equivalent -to ‘the flesh,’ and with its allies, the world and the devil, it -constitutes the great obstacle to the attainment of union with God. -The Prophet said: “Thy worst enemy is thy _nafs_, which is between thy -two sides.” I do not intend to discuss the various opinions as to its -nature, but the proof of its materiality is too curious to be omitted. -Mohammed ibn ʿUlyān, an eminent Sūfī, relates that one day something -like a young fox came forth from his throat, and God caused him to know -that it was his _nafs_. He trod on it, but it grew bigger at every -kick that he gave it. He said: - - “Other things are destroyed by pain and blows: why dost thou - increase?” “Because I was created perverse,” it replied; “what is - pain to other things is pleasure to me, and their pleasure is my - pain.” - -The _nafs_ of Hallāj was seen running behind him in the shape of a dog; -and other cases are recorded in which it appeared as a snake or a mouse. - -[Sidenote: Mortification.] - -Mortification of the _nafs_ is the chief work of devotion, and leads, -directly or indirectly, to the contemplative life. All the Sheykhs are -agreed that no disciple who neglects this duty will ever learn the -rudiments of Sūfism. The principle of mortification is that the _nafs_ -should be weaned from those things to which it is accustomed, that it -should be encouraged to resist its passions, that its pride should be -broken, and that it should be brought through suffering and tribulation -to recognise the vileness of its original nature and the impurity of -its actions. Concerning the outward methods of mortification, such as -fasting, silence, and solitude, a great deal might be written, but we -must now pass on to the higher ethical discipline which completes the -Path. - -Self-mortification, as advanced Sūfīs understand it, is a moral -transmutation of the inner man. When they say, “Die before ye die,” -they do not mean to assert that the lower self can be essentially -destroyed, but that it can and should be purged of its attributes, -which are wholly evil. These attributes--ignorance, pride, envy, -uncharitableness, etc.--are extinguished, and replaced by the opposite -qualities, when the will is surrendered to God and when the mind is -concentrated on Him. Therefore ‘dying to self’ is really ‘living in -God.’ The mystical aspects of the doctrine thus stated will occupy -a considerable part of the following chapters; here we are mainly -interested in its ethical import. - -The Sūfī who has eradicated self-will is said, in technical language, -to have reached the ‘stages’ of ‘acquiescence’ or ‘satisfaction’ -(_ridā_) and ‘trust in God’ (_tawakkul_). - - A dervish fell into the Tigris. Seeing that he could not swim, - a man on the bank cried out, “Shall I tell some one to bring you - ashore?” “No,” said the dervish. “Then do you wish to be drowned?” - “No.” “What, then, do you wish?” The dervish replied, “God’s will - be done! What have I to do with wishing?” - -[Sidenote: Trust in God.] - -‘Trust in God,’ in its extreme form, involves the renunciation of -every personal initiative and volition; total passivity like that -of a corpse in the hands of the washer who prepares it for burial; -perfect indifference towards anything that is even remotely connected -with one’s self. A special class of the ancient Sūfīs took their name -from this ‘trust,’ which they applied, so far as they were able, to -matters of everyday life. For instance, they would not seek food, work -for hire, practise any trade, or allow medicine to be given them when -they were ill. Quietly they committed themselves to God’s care, never -doubting that He, to whom belong the treasures of earth and heaven, -would provide for their wants, and that their allotted portion would -come to them as surely as it comes to the birds, which neither sow nor -reap, and to the fish in the sea, and to the child in the womb. - -These principles depend ultimately on the Sūfistic theory of the divine -unity, as is shown by Shaqīq of Balkh in the following passage: - - “There are three things which a man is bound to practise. - Whosoever neglects any one of them must needs neglect them all, and - whosoever cleaves to any one of them must needs cleave to them all. - Strive, therefore, to understand, and consider heedfully. - - “The _first_ is this, that with your mind and your tongue and - your actions you declare God to be One; and that, having declared - Him to be One, and having declared that none benefits you or - harms you except Him, you devote all your actions to Him alone. - If you act a single jot of your actions for the sake of another, - your thought and speech are corrupt, since your motive in acting - for another’s sake must be hope or fear; and when you act from - hope or fear of other than God, who is the lord and sustainer of - all things, you have taken to yourself another god to honour and - venerate. - - “_Secondly_, that while you speak and act in the sincere belief - that there is no God except Him, you should trust Him more than the - world or money or uncle or father or mother or any one on the face - of the earth. - - “_Thirdly_, when you have established these two things, namely, - sincere belief in the unity of God and trust in Him, it behoves you - to be satisfied with Him and not to be angry on account of anything - that vexes you. Beware of anger! Let your heart be with Him always, - let it not be withdrawn from Him for a single moment.” - -The ‘trusting’ Sūfī has no thought beyond the present hour. On one -occasion Shaqīq asked those who sat listening to his discourse: - - “If God causes you to die to-day, think ye that He will demand - from you the prayers of to-morrow?” They answered: “No; how should - He demand from us the prayers of a day on which we are not alive?” - Shaqīq said: “Even as He will not demand from you the prayers of - to-morrow, so do ye not seek from Him the provender of to-morrow. - It may be that ye will not live so long.” - -In view of the practical consequences of attempting to live ‘on -trust,’ it is not surprising to read the advice given to those who -would perfectly fulfil the doctrine: “Let them dig a grave and bury -themselves.” Later Sūfīs hold that active exertion for the purpose of -obtaining the means of subsistence is quite compatible with ‘trust,’ -according to the saying of the Prophet, “Trust in God and tie the -camel’s leg.” They define _tawakkul_ as an habitual state of mind, -which is impaired only by self-pleasing thoughts; _e.g._ it was -accounted a breach of ‘trust’ to think Paradise a more desirable place -than Hell. - -What type of character is such a theory likely to produce? At the -worst, a useless drone and hypocrite preying upon his fellow-creatures; -at the best, a harmless dervish who remains unmoved in the midst of -sorrow, meets praise and blame with equal indifference, and accepts -insults, blows, torture, and death as mere incidents in the eternal -drama of destiny. This cold morality, however, is not the highest of -which Sūfism is capable. The highest morality springs from nothing but -love, when self-surrender becomes self-devotion. Of that I shall have -something to say in due time. - -[Sidenote: Recollection.] - -Among the positive elements in the Sūfī discipline there is one -that Moslem mystics unanimously regard as the keystone of practical -religion. I refer to the _dhikr_, an exercise well known to Western -readers from the careful description given by Edward Lane in his -_Modern Egyptians_, and by Professor D. B. Macdonald in his recently -published _Aspects of Islam_. The term _dhikr_--‘recollection’ -seems to me the most appropriate equivalent in English--signifies -‘mentioning,’ ‘remembering,’ or simply ‘thinking of’; in the Koran -the Faithful are commanded to “remember God often,” a plain act of -worship without any mystical savour. But the Sūfīs made a practice of -repeating the name of God or some religious formula, _e.g._ “Glory -to Allah” (_subhān Allah_), “There is no god but Allah” (_lā ilāha -illa ’llah_), accompanying the mechanical intonation with an intense -concentration of every faculty upon the single word or phrase; and they -attach greater value to this irregular litany, which enables them to -enjoy uninterrupted communion with God, than to the five services of -prayer performed, at fixed hours of the day and night, by all Moslems. -Recollection may be either spoken or silent, but it is best, according -to the usual opinion, that tongue and mind should co-operate. Sahl ibn -ʿAbdallah bade one of his disciples endeavour to say “Allah! Allah!” -the whole day without intermission. When he had acquired the habit -of doing so, Sahl instructed him to repeat the same words during the -night, until they came forth from his lips even while he was asleep. -“Now,” said he, “be silent and occupy yourself with recollecting them.” -At last the disciple’s whole being was absorbed by the thought of -Allah. One day a log fell on his head, and the words “Allah, Allah” -were seen written in the blood that trickled from the wound. - -Ghazālī describes the method and effects of _dhikr_ in a passage which -Macdonald has summarised as follows: - - “Let him reduce his heart to a state in which the existence of - anything and its non-existence are the same to him. Then let him - sit alone in some corner, limiting his religious duties to what - is absolutely necessary, and not occupying himself either with - reciting the Koran or considering its meaning or with books of - religious traditions or with anything of the sort. And let him see - to it that nothing save God most High enters his mind. Then, as he - sits in solitude, let him not cease saying continuously with his - tongue, ‘_Allah, Allah_,’ keeping his thought on it. At last he - will reach a state when the motion of his tongue will cease, and it - will seem as though the word flowed from it. Let him persevere in - this until all trace of motion is removed from his tongue, and he - finds his heart persevering in the thought. Let him still persevere - until the form of the word, its letters and shape, is removed from - his heart, and there remains the idea alone, as though clinging to - his heart, inseparable from it. So far, all is dependent on his - will and choice; but to bring the mercy of God does not stand in - his will or choice. He has now laid himself bare to the breathings - of that mercy, and nothing remains but to await what God will open - to him, as God has done after this manner to prophets and saints. - If he follows the above course, he may be sure that the light of - the Real will shine out in his heart. At first unstable, like a - flash of lightning, it turns and returns; though sometimes it hangs - back. And if it returns, sometimes it abides and sometimes it is - momentary. And if it abides, sometimes its abiding is long, and - sometimes short.” - -Another Sūfī puts the gist of the matter in a sentence, thus: - - “The first stage of _dhikr_ is to forget self, and the last - stage is the effacement of the worshipper in the act of worship, - without consciousness of worship, and such absorption in the object - of worship as precludes return to the subject thereof.” - -Recollection can be aided in various ways. When Shiblī was a novice, -he went daily into a cellar, taking with him a bundle of sticks. If -his attention flagged, he would beat himself until the sticks broke, -and sometimes the whole bundle would be finished before evening; then -he would dash his hands and feet against the wall. The Indian practice -of inhaling and exhaling the breath was known to the Sūfīs of the -ninth century and was much used afterwards. Among the Dervish Orders -music, singing, and dancing are favourite means of inducing the state -of trance called ‘passing-away’ (_fanā_), which, as appears from the -definition quoted above, is the climax and _raison d’être_ of the -method. - -[Sidenote: Meditation.] - -In ‘meditation’ (_murāqabat_) we recognise a form of self-concentration -similar to the Buddhistic _dhyāna_ and _samādhi_. This is what the -Prophet meant when he said, “Worship God as though thou sawest Him, -for if thou seest Him not, yet He sees thee.” Any one who feels sure -that God is always watching over him will devote himself to meditating -on God, and no evil thoughts or diabolic suggestions will find their -way into his heart. Nūrī used to meditate so intently that not a hair -on his body stirred. He declared that he had learned this habit from a -cat which was observing a mouse-hole, and that she was far more quiet -than he. Abū Saʿīd ibn Abi ’l-Khayr kept his eyes fixed on his navel. -It is said that the Devil is smitten with epilepsy when he approaches -a man thus occupied, just as happens to other men when the Devil takes -possession of them. - -This chapter will have served its purpose if it has brought before -my readers a clear view of the main lines on which the preparatory -training of the Sūfī is conducted. We must now imagine him to have -been invested by his Sheykh with the patched frock (_muraqqaʿat_ or -_khirqat_), which is an outward sign that he has successfully emerged -from the discipline of the ‘Path,’ and is now advancing with uncertain -steps towards the Light, as when toil-worn travellers, having gained -the summit of a deep gorge, suddenly catch glimpses of the sun and -cover their eyes. - - - - - CHAPTER II - - ILLUMINATION AND ECSTASY - - -God, who is described in the Koran as “the Light of the heavens and the -earth,” cannot be seen by the bodily eye. He is visible only to the -inward sight of the ‘heart.’ In the next chapter we shall return to -this spiritual organ, but I am not going to enter into the intricacies -of Sūfī psychology any further than is necessary. The ‘vision of the -heart’ (_ruʾyat al-qalb_) is defined as “the heart’s beholding by the -light of certainty that which is hidden in the unseen world.” This -is what ʿAlī meant when he was asked, “Do you see God?” and replied: -“How should we worship One whom we do not see?” The light of intuitive -certainty (_yaqīn_) by which the heart sees God is a beam of God’s own -light cast therein by Himself; else no vision of Him were possible. - - “’Tis the sun’s self that lets the sun be seen.” - -According to a mystical interpretation of the famous passage in the -Koran where the light of Allah is compared to a candle burning in a -lantern of transparent glass, which is placed in a niche in the wall, -the niche is the true believer’s heart; therefore his speech is light -and his works are light and he moves in light. “He who discourses of -eternity,” said Bāyazīd, “must have within him the lamp of eternity.” - -The light which gleams in the heart of the illuminated mystic endows -him with a supernatural power of discernment (_firāsat_). Although the -Sūfīs, like all other Moslems, acknowledge Mohammed to be the last of -the prophets (as, from a different point of view, he is the Logos or -first of created beings), they really claim to possess a minor form -of inspiration. When Nūrī was questioned concerning the origin of -mystical _firāsat_, he answered by quoting the Koranic verse in which -God says that He breathed His spirit into Adam; but the more orthodox -Sūfīs, who strenuously combat the doctrine that the human spirit is -uncreated and eternal, affirm that _firāsat_ is the result of knowledge -and insight, metaphorically called ‘light’ or ‘inspiration,’ which God -creates and bestows upon His favourites. The Tradition, “Beware of the -discernment of the true believer, for he sees by the light of Allah,” -is exemplified in such anecdotes as these: - -Abū ʿAbdallah al-Rāzī said: - - “Ibn al-Anbārī presented me with a woollen frock, and seeing - on the head of Shiblī a bonnet that would just match it, I - conceived the wish that they were both mine. When Shiblī rose to - depart, he looked at me, as he was in the habit of doing when he - desired me to follow him. So I followed him to his house, and when - we had gone in, he bade me put off the frock and took it from me - and folded it and threw his bonnet on the top. Then he called for a - fire and burnt both frock and bonnet.” - -Sarī al-Saqatī frequently urged Junayd to speak in public, but Junayd -was unwilling to consent, for he doubted whether he was worthy of such -an honour. One Friday night he dreamed that the Prophet appeared and -commanded him to speak to the people. He awoke and went to Sarī’s house -before daybreak, and knocked at the door. Sarī opened the door and -said: “You would not believe me until the Prophet came and told you.” - -Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah was sitting in the congregational mosque when a -pigeon, overcome by the intense heat, dropped on the floor. Sahl -exclaimed: “Please God, Shāh al-Kirmānī has just died.” They wrote it -down, and it was found to be true. - -When the heart is purged of sin and evil thoughts, the light of -certainty strikes upon it and makes it a shining mirror, so that the -Devil cannot approach it without being observed. Hence the saying of -some gnostic: “If I disobey my heart, I disobey God.” It was a man thus -illuminated to whom the Prophet said: “Consult thy heart, and thou -wilt hear the secret ordinance of God proclaimed by the heart’s inward -knowledge, which is real faith and divinity”--something much better -than the learning of divines. I need not anticipate here the question, -which will be discussed in the following chapter, how far the claims -of an infallible conscience are reconcilable with external religion -and morality. The Prophet, too, prayed that God would put a light into -his ear and into his eye; and after mentioning the different members -of his body, he concluded, “and make the whole of me one light.”[6] -From illumination of gradually increasing splendour, the mystic rises -to contemplation of the divine attributes, and ultimately, when his -consciousness is wholly melted away, he becomes transubstantiated -(_tajawhara_) in the radiance of the divine essence. This is the -‘station’ of well-doing (_ihsān_)--for “God is with the well-doers” -(Kor. =29.= 69), and we have Prophetic authority for the statement -that “well-doing consists in worshipping God as though thou wert seeing -Him.” - -[6] The reader should be reminded that most, if not all, mystical -Traditions ascribed to Mohammed were forged and fathered upon him by -the Sūfīs, who represent themselves as the true interpreters of his -esoteric teaching. - -I will not waste the time and abuse the patience of my readers -by endeavouring to classify and describe these various grades of -illumination, which may be depicted symbolically but cannot be -explained in scientific language. We must allow the mystics to -speak for themselves. Granted that their teaching is often hard to -understand, it conveys more of the truth than we can ever hope to -obtain from analysis and dissection. - -Here are two passages from the oldest Persian treatise on Sūfism, the -_Kashf al-Mahjūb_ of Hujwīrī: - - “It is related that Sarī al-Saqatī said, ‘O God, whatever - punishment thou mayst inflict upon me, do not punish me with the - humiliation of being veiled from Thee,’ because, if I am not veiled - from Thee, my torment and affliction will be lightened by the - recollection and contemplation of Thee; but if I am veiled from - Thee, even Thy bounty will be deadly to me. There is no punishment - in Hell more painful and hard to bear than that of being veiled. If - God were revealed in Hell to the people of Hell, sinful believers - would never think of Paradise, since the sight of God would so - fill them with joy that they would not feel bodily pain. And in - Paradise there is no pleasure more perfect than unveiledness. If - the people there enjoyed all the pleasures of that place and other - pleasures a hundredfold, but were veiled from God, their hearts - would be utterly broken. Therefore it is the way of God to let - the hearts of those who love Him have vision of Him always, in - order that the delight thereof may enable them to endure every - tribulation; and they say in their visions, ‘We deem all torments - more desirable than to be veiled from Thee. When Thy beauty is - revealed to our hearts, we take no thought of affliction.’” - - “There are really two kinds of contemplation. The former is the - result of perfect faith, the latter of rapturous love, for in the - rapture of love a man attains to such a degree that his whole being - is absorbed in the thought of his Beloved and he sees nothing else. - Muhammad ibn Wāsiʿ said: ‘I never saw anything without seeing God - therein,’ _i.e._ through perfect faith. Shiblī said: ‘I never saw - anything except God,’ _i.e._ in the rapture of love and the fervour - of contemplation. One mystic sees the act with his bodily eye, - and, as he looks, beholds the Agent with his spiritual eye; another - is rapt by love of the Agent from all things else, so that he sees - only the Agent. The one method is demonstrative, the other is - ecstatic. In the former case, a manifest proof is derived from the - evidences of God; in the latter case, the seer is enraptured and - transported by desire: evidences are a veil to him, because he who - knows a thing does not care for aught besides, and he who loves a - thing does not regard aught besides, but renounces contention with - God and interference with Him in His decrees and acts. When the - lover turns his eye away from created things, he will inevitably - see the Creator with his heart. God hath said, ‘Tell the believers - to close their eyes’ (Kor. =24.= 30), _i.e._ to close their bodily - eyes to lusts and their spiritual eyes to created things. He who - is most sincere in self-mortification is most firmly grounded in - contemplation. Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah of Tustar said: ‘If any one shuts - his eye to God for a single moment, he will never be rightly guided - all his life long,’ because to regard other than God is to be - handed over to other than God, and one who is left at the mercy of - other than God is lost. Therefore the life of contemplatives is the - time during which they enjoy contemplation; time spent in ocular - vision they do not reckon as life, for that to them is really - death. Thus, when Bāyazīd was asked how old he was, he replied, - ‘Four years.’ They said to him, ‘How can that be?’ He answered, ‘I - have been veiled from God by this world for seventy years, but I - have seen Him during the last four years: the period in which one - is veiled does not belong to one’s life.’” - -I take the following quotation from the _Mawāqif_ of Niffarī, an author -with whom we shall become better acquainted as we proceed: - - “God said to me, ‘The least of the sciences of nearness is that - you should see in everything the effects of beholding Me, and that - this vision should prevail over you more than your gnosis of Me.’” - -Explanation by the commentator: - - “He means that the least of the sciences of nearness - (proximity to God) is that when you look at anything, sensibly or - intellectually or otherwise, you should be conscious of beholding - God with a vision clearer than your vision of that thing. There - are diverse degrees in this matter. Some mystics say that they - never see anything without seeing God before it. Others say, - ‘without seeing God after it,’ or ‘with it’; or they say that they - see nothing but God. A certain Sūfī said, ‘I made the pilgrimage - and saw the Kaʿba, but not the Lord of the Kaʿba.’ This is the - perception of one who is veiled. Then he said, ‘I made the - pilgrimage again, and I saw both the Kaʿba and the Lord of the - Kaʿba.’ This is contemplation of the Self-subsistence through which - everything subsists, _i.e._ he saw the Kaʿba subsisting through the - Lord of the Kaʿba. Then he said, ‘I made the pilgrimage a third - time, and I saw the Lord of the Kaʿba, but not the Kaʿba.’ This - is the ‘station’ of _waqfat_ (passing-away in the essence). In - the present case the author is referring to contemplation of the - Self-subsistence.” - -So much concerning the theory of illumination. But, as Mephistopheles -says, “_grau ist alle Theorie_”; and though to most of us the living -experience is denied, we can hear its loudest echoes and feel its -warmest afterglow in the poetry which it has created. Let me translate -part of a Persian ode by the dervish-poet, Bābā Kūhī of Shīrāz, who -died in 1050 A.D. - - “In the market, in the cloister--only God I saw. - In the valley and on the mountain--only God I saw. - Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation; - In favour and in fortune--only God I saw. - In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation, - In the religion of the Prophet--only God I saw. - Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance, - Qualities nor causes--only God I saw. - I oped mine eyes and by the light of His face around me - In all the eye discovered--only God I saw. - Like a candle I was melting in His fire: - Amidst the flames outflashing--only God I saw. - Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly, - But when I looked with God’s eyes--only God I saw. - I passed away into nothingness, I vanished, - And lo, I was the All-living--only God I saw.” - -The whole of Sūfism rests on the belief that when the individual self -is lost, the Universal Self is found, or, in religious language, -that ecstasy affords the only means by which the soul can directly -communicate and become united with God. Asceticism, purification, love, -gnosis, saintship--all the leading ideas of Sūfism--are developed from -this cardinal principle. - -Among the metaphorical terms commonly employed by the Sūfīs as, more -or less, equivalent to ‘ecstasy’ are _fanā_ (passing-away), _wajd_ -(feeling), _samāʿ_ (hearing), _dhawq_ (taste), _shirb_ (drinking), -_ghaybat_ (absence from self), _jadhbat_ (attraction), _sukr_ -(intoxication), and _hāl_ (emotion). It would be tedious and not, I -think, specially instructive to examine in detail the definitions -of those terms and of many others akin to them which occur in Sūfī -text-books. We are not brought appreciably nearer to understanding -the nature of ecstasy when it is described as “a divine mystery which -God communicates to true believers who behold Him with the eye of -certainty,” or as “a flame which moves in the ground of the soul and is -produced by love-desire.” The Mohammedan theory of ecstasy, however, -can hardly be discussed without reference to two of the above-mentioned -technical expressions, namely, _fanā_ and _samāʿ_. - -As I have remarked in the Introduction (pp. 17-19), the term _fanā_ -includes different stages, aspects, and meanings. These may be -summarised as follows: - -1. A moral transformation of the soul through the extinction of all its -passions and desires. - -2. A mental abstraction or passing-away of the mind from all objects of -perception, thoughts, actions, and feelings through its concentration -upon the thought of God. Here the thought of God signifies -contemplation of the divine attributes. - -3. The cessation of all conscious thought. The highest stage of -_fanā_ is reached when even the consciousness of having attained -_fanā_ disappears. This is what the Sūfīs call ‘the passing-away -of passing-away’ (_fanā al-fanā_). The mystic is now rapt in -contemplation of the divine essence. - -The final stage of _fanā_, the complete passing-away from self, forms -the prelude to _baqā_, ‘continuance’ or ‘abiding’ in God, and will be -treated with greater fullness in Chapter VI. - -The first stage closely resembles the Buddhistic Nirvāṇa. It is a -‘passing-away’ of evil qualities and states of mind, which involves the -simultaneous ‘continuance’ of good qualities and states of mind. This -is necessarily an ecstatic process, inasmuch as all the attributes of -‘self’ are evil in relation to God. No one can make himself perfectly -moral, _i.e._ perfectly ‘selfless.’ This must be done for him, through -‘a flash of the divine beauty’ in his heart. - -While the first stage refers to the moral ‘self,’ the second refers -to the percipient and intellectual ‘self.’ Using the classification -generally adopted by Christian mystics, we may regard the former as the -consummation of the Purgative Life, and the latter as the goal of the -Illuminative Life. The third and last stage constitutes the highest -level of the Contemplative Life. - -Often, though not invariably, _fanā_ is accompanied by loss of -sensation. Sarī al-Saqatī, a famous Sūfī of the third century, -expressed the opinion that if a man in this state were struck on the -face with a sword, he would not feel the blow. Abu ’l-Khayr al-Aqtaʿ -had a gangrene in his foot. The physicians declared that his foot must -be amputated, but he would not allow this to be done. His disciples -said, “Cut it off while he is praying, for he is then unconscious.” The -physicians acted on their advice, and when Abu ’l-Khayr finished his -prayers he found that the amputation had taken place. It is difficult -to see how any one far advanced in _fanā_ could be capable of keeping -the religious law--a point on which the orthodox mystics lay great -emphasis. Here the doctrine of saintship comes in. God takes care to -preserve His elect from disobedience to His commands. We are told -that Bāyazīd, Shiblī, and other saints were continually in a state -of rapture until the hour of prayer arrived; then they returned to -consciousness, and after performing their prayers became enraptured -again. - -In theory, the ecstatic trance is involuntary, although certain -conditions are recognised as being specially favourable to its -occurrence. “It comes to a man through vision of the majesty of God and -through revelation of the divine omnipotence to his heart.” Such, for -instance, was the case of Abū Hamza, who, while walking in the streets -of Baghdād and meditating on the nearness of God, suddenly fell into -an ecstasy and went on his way, neither seeing nor hearing, until he -recovered his senses and found himself in the desert. Trances of this -kind sometimes lasted many weeks. It is recorded of Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah -that he used to remain in ecstasy twenty-five days at a time, eating -no food; yet he would answer questions put to him by the doctors of -theology, and even in winter his shirt would be damp with sweat. But -the Sūfīs soon discovered that ecstasy might be induced artificially, -not only by concentration of thought, recollection (_dhikr_), and other -innocent methods of autohypnosis, but also by music, singing, and -dancing. These are included in the term _samāʿ_, which properly means -nothing more than audition. - -That Moslems are extraordinarily susceptible to the sweet influences of -sound will not be doubted by any one who remembers how, in the _Arabian -Nights_, heroes and heroines alike swoon upon the slightest provocation -afforded by a singing-girl touching her lute and trilling a few lines -of passionate verse. The fiction is true to life. When Sūfī writers -discuss the analogous phenomena of ecstasy, they commonly do so in a -chapter entitled ‘Concerning the _Samāʿ_.’ Under this heading Hujwīrī, -in the final chapter of his _Kashf al-Mahjūb_, gives us an excellent -summary of his own and other Mohammedan theories, together with -numerous anecdotes of persons who were thrown into ecstasy on hearing a -verse of the Koran or a heavenly voice (_hātif_) or poetry or music. -Many are said to have died from the emotion thus aroused. I may add by -way of explanation that, according to a well-known mystical belief, God -has inspired every created thing to praise Him in its own language, so -that all the sounds in the universe form, as it were, one vast choral -hymn by which He glorifies Himself. Consequently those whose hearts -He has opened and endowed with spiritual perception hear His voice -everywhere, and ecstasy overcomes them as they listen to the rhythmic -chant of the muezzin, or the street cry of the saqqā shouldering his -water-skin, or, perchance, to the noise of wind or the bleating of a -sheep or the piping of a bird. - -Pythagoras and Plato are responsible for another theory, to which the -Sūfī poets frequently allude, that music awakens in the soul a memory -of celestial harmonies heard in a state of pre-existence, before the -soul was separated from God. Thus Jalāluddīn Rūmī: - - “The song of the spheres in their revolutions - Is what men sing with lute and voice. - As we all are members of Adam, - We have heard these melodies in Paradise. - Though earth and water have cast their veil upon us, - We retain faint reminiscences of these heavenly songs; - But while we are thus shrouded by gross earthly veils, - How can the tones of the dancing spheres reach us?”[7] - -[7] E. H. Whinfield, abridged translation of the _Masnavī_, p. 182. - -The formal practice of _samāʿ_ quickly spread amongst the Sūfīs and -produced an acute cleavage of opinion, some holding it to be lawful and -praiseworthy, whilst others condemned it as an abominable innovation -and incitement to vice. Hujwīrī adopts the middle view expressed in a -saying of Dhu ’l-Nūn the Egyptian: - - “Music is a divine influence which stirs the heart to seek God: - those who listen to it spiritually attain unto God, and those who - listen to it sensually fall into unbelief.” - -He declares, in effect, that audition is neither good nor bad, and must -be judged by its results. - - “When an anchorite goes into a tavern, the tavern becomes his - cell, but when a wine-bibber goes into a cell, that cell becomes - his tavern.” - -One whose heart is absorbed in the thought of God cannot be corrupted -by hearing musical instruments. So with dancing. - - “When the heart throbs and rapture grows intense, and the - agitation of ecstasy is manifested and conventional forms are gone, - this is not dancing nor bodily indulgence, but a dissolution of the - soul.” - -Hujwīrī, however, lays down several precautionary rules for those who -engage in audition, and he confesses that the public concerts given by -dervishes are extremely demoralising. Novices, he thinks, should not be -permitted to attend them. In modern times these orgiastic scenes have -frequently been described by eye-witnesses. I will now translate from -Jāmī’s _Lives of the Saints_ the account of a similar performance which -took place about seven hundred years ago. - - “There was a certain dervish, a negro called Zangī Bashgirdī, - who had attained to such a high degree of spirituality that the - mystic dance could not be started until he came out and joined - in it. One day, in the course of the _samāʿ_, he was seized with - ecstasy, and rising into the air seated himself on a lofty arch - which overlooked the dancers. In descending he leaped on to - Majduddīn of Baghdād, and encircled with his legs the neck of the - Sheykh, who nevertheless continued to spin round in the dance, - though he was a very frail and slender man, whereas the negro - was tall and heavy. When the dance was finished, Majduddīn said, - ‘I did not know whether it was a negro or a sparrow on my neck.’ - On getting off the Sheykh’s shoulders, the negro bit his cheek - so severely that the scar remained visible ever after. Majduddīn - often used to say that on the Day of Judgment he would not boast of - anything except that he bore the mark of this negro’s teeth on his - face.” - -Grotesque and ignoble features--not to speak of grosser -deformities--must appear in any faithful delineation of the ecstatic -life of Islam. Nothing is gained by concealing their existence or by -minimising their importance. If, as Jalāluddīn Rūmī says: - - “Men incur the reproach of wine and drugs - That they may escape for a while from self-consciousness, - Since all know this life to be a snare, - Volitional memory and thought to be a hell,” - -let us acknowledge that the transports of spiritual intoxication are -not always sublime, and that human nature has a trick of avenging -itself on those who would cast it off. - - - - - CHAPTER III - - THE GNOSIS - - -The Sūfīs distinguish three organs of spiritual communication: the -heart (_qalb_), which knows God; the spirit (_rūh_), which loves Him; -and the inmost ground of the soul (_sirr_), which contemplates Him. It -would take us into deep waters if we were to embark upon a discussion -of these terms and their relation to each other. A few words concerning -the first of the three will suffice. The _qalb_, though connected -in some mysterious way with the physical heart, is not a thing of -flesh and blood. Unlike the English ‘heart,’ its nature is rather -intellectual than emotional, but whereas the intellect cannot gain real -knowledge of God, the _qalb_ is capable of knowing the essences of all -things, and when illumined by faith and knowledge reflects the whole -content of the divine mind; hence the Prophet said, “My earth and My -heaven contain Me not, but the heart of My faithful servant containeth -Me.” This revelation, however, is a comparatively rare experience. -Normally, the heart is ‘veiled,’ blackened by sin, tarnished by sensual -impressions and images, pulled to and fro between reason and passion: -a battlefield on which the armies of God and the Devil contend for -victory. Through one gate, the heart receives immediate knowledge -of God; through another, it lets in the illusions of sense. “Here a -world and there a world,” says Jalāluddīn Rūmī. “I am seated on the -threshold.” Therefore man is potentially lower than the brutes and -higher than the angels. - - “Angel and brute man’s wondrous leaven compose; - To these inclining, less than these he grows, - But if he means the angel, more than those.” - -Less than the brutes, because they lack the knowledge that would enable -them to rise; more than the angels, because they are not subject to -passion and so cannot fall. - -How shall a man know God? Not by the senses, for He is immaterial; nor -by the intellect, for He is unthinkable. Logic never gets beyond the -finite; philosophy sees double; book-learning fosters self-conceit and -obscures the idea of the Truth with clouds of empty words. Jalāluddīn -Rūmī, addressing the scholastic theologian, asks scornfully: - - “Do you know a name without a thing answering to it? - Have you ever plucked a rose from R, O, S, E? - You name His name; go, seek the reality named by it! - Look for the moon in the sky, not in the water! - If you desire to rise above mere names and letters, - Make yourself free from self at one stroke. - Become pure from all attributes of self, - That you may see your own bright essence, - Yea, see in your own heart the knowledge of the Prophet, - Without book, without tutor, without preceptor.” - -This knowledge comes by illumination, revelation, inspiration. - -“Look in your own heart,” says the Sūfī, “for the kingdom of God is -within you.” He who truly knows himself knows God, for the heart is a -mirror in which every divine quality is reflected. But just as a steel -mirror when coated with rust loses its power of reflexion, so the -inward spiritual sense, which Sūfīs call the eye of the heart, is blind -to the celestial glory until the dark obstruction of the phenomenal -self, with all its sensual contaminations, has been wholly cleared -away. The clearance, if it is to be done effectively, must be the work -of God, though it demands a certain inward co-operation on the part of -man. “Whosoever shall strive for Our sake, We will guide him into Our -ways” (Kor. =29.= 69). Action is false and vain, if it is thought to -proceed from one’s self, but the enlightened mystic regards God as the -real agent in every act, and therefore takes no credit for his good -works nor desires to be recompensed for them. - -While ordinary knowledge is denoted by the term _ʿilm_, the mystic -knowledge peculiar to the Sūfīs is called _maʿrifat_ or _ʿirfān_. As I -have indicated in the foregoing paragraphs, _maʿrifat_ is fundamentally -different from _ʿilm_, and a different word must be used to translate -it. We need not look far for a suitable equivalent. The _maʿrifat_ -of the Sūfīs is the ‘gnosis’ of Hellenistic theosophy, _i.e._ direct -knowledge of God based on revelation or apocalyptic vision. It is not -the result of any mental process, but depends entirely on the will and -favour of God, who bestows it as a gift from Himself upon those whom He -has created with the capacity for receiving it. It is a light of divine -grace that flashes into the heart and overwhelms every human faculty in -its dazzling beams. “He who knows God is dumb.” - -The relation of gnosis to positive religion is discussed in a very -remarkable treatise on speculative mysticism by Niffarī, an unknown -wandering dervish who died in Egypt in the latter half of the tenth -century. His work, consisting of a series of revelations in which God -addresses the writer and instructs him concerning the theory of gnosis, -is couched in abstruse language and would scarcely be intelligible -without the commentary which accompanies it; but its value as an -original exposition of advanced Sūfism will sufficiently appear from -the excerpts given in this chapter.[8] - -[8] I am now engaged in preparing an edition of the Arabic text, -together with an English translation and commentary. - -Those who seek God, says Niffarī, are of three kinds: _firstly_, the -worshippers to whom God makes Himself known by means of bounty, _i.e._ -they worship Him in the hope of winning Paradise or some spiritual -recompense such as dreams and miracles; _secondly_, the philosophers -and scholastic theologians, to whom God makes Himself known by means -of glory, _i.e._ they can never find the glorious God whom they seek, -wherefore they assert that His essence is unknowable, saying, “We -know that we know Him not, and that is our knowledge”; _thirdly_, the -gnostics, to whom God makes Himself known by means of ecstasy, _i.e._ -they are possessed and controlled by a rapture that deprives them of -the consciousness of individual existence. - -Niffarī bids the gnostic perform only such acts of worship as are -in accordance with his vision of God, though in so doing he will -necessarily disobey the religious law which was made for the vulgar. -His inward feeling must decide how far the external forms of religion -are good for him. - - “God said to me, Ask Me and say, ‘O Lord, how shall I cleave - to Thee, so that when my day (of judgment) comes, Thou wilt not - punish me nor avert Thy face from me?’ Then I will answer thee - and say, ‘Cleave in thy outward theory and practice to the Sunna - (the rule of the Prophet), and cleave in thy inward feeling to the - gnosis which I have given thee; and know that when I make Myself - known to thee, I will not accept from thee anything of the Sunna - but what My gnosis brings to thee, because thou art one of those to - whom I speak: thou hearest Me and knowest that thou hearest Me, and - thou seest that I am the source of all things.’” - -The commentator observes that the Sunna, being general in scope, makes -no distinction between individuals, _e.g._ seekers of Paradise and -seekers of God, but that in reality it contains exactly what each -person requires. The portion specially appropriate in every case is -discerned either by means of gnosis, which God communicates to the -heart, or by means of guidance imparted by a spiritual director. - - “And He said to me, ‘My exoteric revelation does not support My - esoteric revelation.’” - -This means that the gnostic need not be dismayed if his inner -experience conflicts with the religious law. The contradiction is only -apparent. Religion addresses itself to the common herd of men who -are veiled by their minds, by logic, tradition, and so on; whereas -gnosis belongs to the elect, whose bodies and spirits are bathed in the -eternal Light. Religion sees things from the aspect of plurality, but -gnosis regards the all-embracing Unity. Hence the same act is good in -religion, but evil in gnosis--a truth which is briefly stated thus: - - “The good deeds of the pious are the ill deeds of the - favourites of God.” - -Although works of devotion are not incompatible with gnosis, no one -who connects them in the slightest degree with himself is a gnostic. -This is the theme of the following allegory. Niffarī seldom writes so -lucidly as he does here, yet I fancy that few of my readers will find -the explanations printed within square brackets altogether superfluous. - - - THE REVELATION OF THE SEA - - “God bade me behold the Sea, and I saw the ships sinking and - the planks floating; then the planks too were submerged.” - - [The Sea denotes the spiritual experiences through which the - mystic passes in his journey to God. The point at issue is this: - whether he should prefer the religious law or disinterested - love. Here he is warned not to rely on his good works, which are - no better than sinking ships and will never bring him safely to - port. No; if he would attain to God, he must rely on God alone. If - he does not rely entirely on God, but lets himself trust ever so - little in anything else, he is still clinging to a plank. Though - his trust in God is greater than before, it is not yet complete.] - - “And He said to me, ‘Those who voyage are not saved.’” - - [The voyager uses the ship as a means of crossing the sea: - therefore he relies, not on the First Cause, but on secondary - causes.] - - “And He said to me, ‘Those who instead of voyaging cast - themselves into the Sea take a risk.’” - - [To abandon all secondary causes is like plunging in the sea. - The mystic who makes this venture is in jeopardy, for two reasons: - he may regard himself, not God, as initiating and carrying out - the action of abandonment,--and one who renounces a thing through - ‘self’ is in worse case than if he had not renounced it,--or he may - abandon secondary causes (good works, hope of Paradise, etc.), not - for God’s sake, but from sheer indifference and lack of spiritual - feeling.] - - “And He said to me, ‘Those who voyage and take no risk shall - perish.’” - - [Notwithstanding the dangers referred to, he must make God his - sole object or fail.] - - “And He said to me, ‘In taking the risk there is a part of - salvation.’” - - [Only a part of salvation, because perfect selflessness has - not yet been attained. The whole of salvation consists in the - effacement of all secondary causes, all phenomena, through the - rapture which results from vision of God. But this is gnosis, and - the present revelation is addressed to mystics of a lower grade. - The gnostic takes no risk, for he has nothing to lose.] - - “And the wave came and lifted those beneath it and overran the - shore.” - - [Those beneath the wave are they who voyage in ships and - consequently suffer shipwreck. Their reliance on secondary causes - casts them ashore, _i.e._ brings them back to the world of - phenomena whereby they are veiled from God.] - - “And He said to me, ‘The surface of the Sea is a gleam that - cannot be reached.’” - - [Any one who depends on external rites of worship to lead him - to God is following a will-o’-the-wisp.] - - “And its bottom is a darkness impenetrable.” - - [To discard positive religion, root and branch, is to wander in - a pathless maze.] - - “And between the two are fishes which are to be feared.” - - [He refers to the middle way between pure exotericism and pure - esotericism. The ‘fishes’ are its perils and obstacles.] - - “Do not voyage on the Sea, lest I cause thee to be veiled by - the vehicle.” - - [The ‘vehicle’ signifies the ‘ship,’ _i.e._ reliance on - something other than God.] - - “And do not cast thyself into the Sea, lest I cause thee to be - veiled by thy casting thyself.” - - [Whoever regards any act as his own act and attributes it to - himself is far from God.] - - “And He said to me, ‘In the Sea are boundaries: which of them - will bear thee on?’” - - [The ‘boundaries’ are the various degrees of spiritual - experience. The mystic ought not to rely on any of these, for they - are all imperfect.] - - “And He said to me, ‘If thou givest thyself to the Sea and - sinkest therein, thou wilt fall a prey to one of its beasts.’” - - [If the mystic either relies on secondary causes or abandons - them by his own act, he will go astray.] - - “And He said to me, ‘I deceive thee if I direct thee to aught - save Myself.’” - - [If the mystic’s inward voice bids him turn to anything except - God, it deceives him.] - - “And He said to me, ‘If thou perishest for the sake of other - than Me, thou wilt belong to that for which thou hast perished.’ - - “And He said to me, ‘This world belongs to him whom I have - turned away from it and from whom I have turned it away; and the - next world belongs to him towards whom I have brought it and whom I - have brought towards Myself.’” - - [He means to say that everlasting joy is the portion of those - whose hearts are turned away from this world and who have no - worldly possessions. They really enjoy this world, because it - cannot separate them from God. Similarly, the true owners of the - next world are those who do not seek it, inasmuch as it is not the - real object of their desire, but contemplate God alone.] - - -The gnostic descries the element of reality in positive religion, but -his gnosis is not derived from religion or from any sort of human -knowledge: it is properly concerned with the divine attributes, and God -Himself reveals the knowledge of these to His saints who contemplate -Him. Dhu ’l-Nūn of Egypt, whose mystical speculations mark him out as -the father of Moslem theosophy, said that gnostics are not themselves, -and do not subsist through themselves, but so far as they subsist, they -subsist through God. - - “They move as God causes them to move, and their words are the - words of God which roll upon their tongues, and their sight is the - sight of God which has entered their eyes.” - -The gnostic contemplates the attributes of God, not His essence, for -even in gnosis a small trace of duality remains: this disappears only -in _fanā al-fanā_, the total passing-away in the undifferentiated -Godhead. The cardinal attribute of God is unity, and the divine unity -is the first and last principle of gnosis.[9] - -[9] According to some mystics, the gnosis of unity constitutes a higher -stage which is called ‘the Truth’ (_haqīqat_). See above, p. 29. - -Both Moslem and Sūfī declare that God is One, but the statement bears -a different meaning in each instance. The Moslem means that God is -unique in His essence, qualities, and acts; that He is absolutely -unlike all other beings. The Sūfī means that God is the One Real -Being which underlies all phenomena. This principle is carried to its -extreme consequences, as we shall see. If nothing except God exists, -then the whole universe, including man, is essentially one with God, -whether it is regarded as an emanation which proceeds from Him, without -impairing His unity, like sunbeams from the sun, or whether it is -conceived as a mirror in which the divine attributes are reflected. But -surely a God who is all in all can have no reason for thus revealing -Himself: why should the One pass over into the Many? The Sūfīs -answer--a philosopher would say that they evade the difficulty--by -quoting the famous Tradition: “I was a hidden treasure and I desired -to be known; therefore I created the creation in order that I might be -known.” In other words, God is the eternal Beauty, and it lies in the -nature of beauty to desire love. The mystic poets have described the -self-manifestation of the One with a profusion of splendid imagery. -Jāmī says, for example: - - “From all eternity the Beloved unveiled His beauty in the solitude - of the unseen; - He held up the mirror to His own face, He displayed His loveliness - to Himself. - He was both the spectator and the spectacle; no eye but His had - surveyed the Universe. - All was One, there was no duality, no pretence of ‘mine’ or ‘thine.’ - The vast orb of Heaven, with its myriad incomings and outgoings, - was concealed in a single point. - The Creation lay cradled in the sleep of non-existence, like a child - ere it has breathed. - The eye of the Beloved, seeing what was not, regarded nonentity - as existent. - Although He beheld His attributes and qualities as a perfect whole - in His own essence, - Yet He desired that they should be displayed to Him in another - mirror, - And that each one of His eternal attributes should become manifest - accordingly in a diverse form. - Therefore He created the verdant fields of Time and Space and the - life-giving garden of the world, - That every branch and leaf and fruit might show forth His various - perfections. - The cypress gave a hint of His comely stature, the rose gave tidings - of His beauteous countenance. - Wherever Beauty peeped out, Love appeared beside it; wherever Beauty - shone in a rosy cheek, Love lit his torch from that flame. - Wherever Beauty dwelt in dark tresses, Love came and found a heart - entangled in their coils. - Beauty and Love are as body and soul; Beauty is the mine and Love - the precious stone. - They have always been together from the very first; never have they - travelled but in each other’s company.” - -In another work Jāmī sets forth the relation of God to the world more -philosophically, as follows: - - “The unique Substance, viewed as Absolute and void of - all phenomena, all limitations and all multiplicity, is the - Real (_al-Haqq_). On the other hand, viewed in His aspect of - multiplicity and plurality, under which He displays Himself when - clothed with phenomena, He is the whole created universe. Therefore - the universe is the outward visible expression of the Real, and - the Real is the inner unseen reality of the universe. The universe - before it was evolved to outward view was identical with the Real; - and the Real after this evolution is identical with the universe.” - -Phenomena, as such, are not-being and only derive a contingent -existence from the qualities of Absolute Being by which they are -irradiated. The sensible world resembles the fiery circle made by a -single spark whirling round rapidly. - -Man is the crown and final cause of the universe. Though last in the -order of creation he is first in the process of divine thought, for -the essential part of him is the primal Intelligence or universal -Reason which emanates immediately from the Godhead. This corresponds -to the Logos--the animating principle of all things--and is identified -with the Prophet Mohammed. An interesting parallel might be drawn -here between the Christian and Sūfī doctrines. The same expressions -are applied to the founder of Islam which are used by St. John, St. -Paul, and later mystical theologians concerning Christ. Thus, Mohammed -is called the Light of God, he is said to have existed before the -creation of the world, he is adored as the source of all life, actual -and possible, he is the Perfect Man in whom all the divine attributes -are manifested, and a Sūfī tradition ascribes to him the saying “He -that hath seen me hath seen Allah.” In the Moslem scheme, however, -the Logos doctrine occupies a subordinate place, as it obviously must -when the whole duty of man is believed to consist in realising the -unity of God. The most distinctive feature of Oriental as opposed to -European mysticism is its profound consciousness of an omnipresent, -all-pervading unity in which every vestige of individuality is -swallowed up. Not to become _like_ God or _personally_ to participate -in the divine nature is the Sūfī’s aim, but to escape from the bondage -of his unreal selfhood and thereby to be reunited with the One infinite -Being. - -According to Jāmī, Unification consists in making the heart -single--that is, in purifying and divesting it of attachment to aught -except God, both in respect of desire and will and also as regards -knowledge and gnosis. The mystic’s desire and will should be severed -from all things which are desired and willed; all objects of knowledge -and understanding should be removed from his intellectual vision. -His thoughts should be directed solely towards God, he should not be -conscious of anything besides. - -So long as he is a captive in the snare of passion and lust, it is hard -for him to maintain this relation to God, but when the subtle influence -of that attraction becomes manifest in him, expelling preoccupation -with objects of sense and cognition from his inward being, delight in -that divine communion prevails over bodily pleasures and spiritual -joys; the painful task of self-mortification is ended, and the -sweetness of contemplation enravishes his soul. - -When the sincere aspirant perceives in himself the beginning of this -attraction, which is delight in the recollection of God, let him fix -his whole mind on fostering and strengthening it, let him keep himself -aloof from whatsoever is incompatible with it, and deem that even -though he were to devote an eternity to cultivating that communion, he -would have done nothing and would not have discharged his duty as he -ought. - - “Love thrilled the chord of love in my soul’s lute, - And changed me all to love from head to foot. - ’Twas but a moment’s touch, yet shall Time ever - To me the debt of thanksgiving impute.” - -It is an axiom of the Sūfīs that what is not _in_ a man he cannot -know. The gnostic--Man _par excellence_--could not know God and all -the mysteries of the universe, unless he found them in himself. He is -the microcosm, ‘a copy made in the image of God,’ ‘the eye of the -world whereby God sees His own works.’ In knowing himself as he really -is, he knows God, and he knows himself through God, who is nearer to -everything than its knowledge of itself. Knowledge of God precedes, and -is the cause of, self-knowledge. - -Gnosis, then, is unification, realisation of the fact that the -appearance of ‘otherness’ beside Oneness is a false and deluding dream. -Gnosis lays this spectre, which haunts unenlightened men all their -lives; which rises, like a wall of utter darkness, between them and -God. Gnosis proclaims that ‘I’ is a figure of speech, and that one -cannot truly refer any will, feeling, thought, or action to one’s self. - -Niffarī heard the divine voice saying to him: - - “When thou regardest thyself as existent and dost not regard Me - as the Cause of thy existence, I veil My face and thine own face - appears to thee. Therefore consider what is displayed to thee, and - what is hidden from thee!” - - [If a man regards himself as existing through God, that which - is of God in him predominates over the phenomenal element and - makes it pass away, so that he sees nothing but God. If, on the - contrary, he regards himself as having an independent existence, - his unreal egoism is displayed to him and the reality of God - becomes hidden from him.] - - “Regard neither My displaying nor that which is displayed, else - thou wilt laugh and weep; and when thou laughest and weepest, thou - art thine, not Mine.” - - [He who regards the act of divine revelation is guilty of - polytheism, since revelation involves both a revealing subject and - a revealed object; and he who regards the revealed object which - is part of the created universe, regards something other than - God. Laughter signifies joy for what you have gained, and weeping - denotes grief for what you have lost. Both are selfish actions. The - gnostic neither laughs nor weeps.] - - “If thou dost not put behind thee all that I have displayed and - am displaying, thou wilt not prosper; and unless thou prosper, thou - wilt not become concentrated upon Me.” - - [Prosperity is true belief in God, which requires complete - abstraction from created things.] - -Logically, these doctrines annul every moral and religious law. In the -gnostic’s vision there are no divine rewards and punishments, no human -standards of right and wrong. For him, the written word of God has -been abrogated by a direct and intimate revelation. - - “I do not say,” exclaimed Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī, “that Paradise - and Hell are non-existent, but I say that they are nothing to me, - because God created them both, and there is no room for any created - object in the place where I am.” - -From this standpoint all types of religion are equal, and Islam is no -better than idolatry. It does not matter what creed a man professes or -what rites he performs. - - “The true mosque in a pure and holy heart - Is builded: there let all men worship God; - For there He dwells, not in a mosque of stone.” - -Amidst all the variety of creeds and worshippers the gnostic sees but -one real object of worship. - - “Those who adore God in the sun” (says Ibn al-ʿArabī) “behold - the sun, and those who adore Him in living things see a living - thing, and those who adore Him in lifeless things see a lifeless - thing, and those who adore Him as a Being unique and unparalleled - see that which has no like. Do not attach yourself” (he continues) - “to any particular creed exclusively, so that you disbelieve in all - the rest; otherwise, you will lose much good, nay, you will fail - to recognise the real truth of the matter. God, the omnipresent - and omnipotent, is not limited by any one creed, for He says (Kor. - =2.= 109), ‘Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face of Allah.’ Every - one praises what he believes; his god is his own creature, and in - praising it he praises himself. Consequently he blames the beliefs - of others, which he would not do if he were just, but his dislike - is based on ignorance. If he knew Junayd’s saying, ‘The water takes - its colour from the vessel containing it,’ he would not interfere - with other men’s beliefs, but would perceive God in every form of - belief.” - -And Hafiz sings, more in the spirit of the freethinker, perhaps, than -of the mystic: - - “Love is where the glory falls - Of Thy face--on convent walls - Or on tavern floors, the same - Unextinguishable flame. - - Where the turbaned anchorite - Chanteth Allah day and night, - Church bells ring the call to prayer - And the Cross of Christ is there.” - -Sūfism may join hands with freethought--it has often done so--but -hardly ever with sectarianism. This explains why the vast majority of -Sūfīs have been, at least nominally, attached to the catholic body of -the Moslem community. ʿAbdallah Ansārī declared that of two thousand -Sūfī Sheykhs with whom he was acquainted only two were Shīʿites. A -certain man who was a descendant of the Caliph ʿAlī, and a fanatical -Shīʿite, tells the following story: - - “For five years,” he said, “my father sent me daily to a - spiritual director. I learned one useful lesson from him: he told - me that I should never know anything at all about Sūfism until - I got completely rid of the pride which I felt on account of my - lineage.” - -Superficial observers have described Bābism as an offshoot of -Sūfism, but the dogmatism of the one is naturally opposed to the -broad eclecticism of the other. In proportion as the Sūfī gains more -knowledge of God, his religious prejudices are diminished. Sheykh ʿAbd -al-Rahīm ibn al-Sabbāgh, who at first disliked living in Upper Egypt, -with its large Jewish and Christian population, said in his old age -that he would as readily embrace a Jew or Christian as one of his own -faith. - -While the innumerable forms of creed and ritual may be regarded as -having a certain relative value in so far as the inward feeling which -inspires them is ever one and the same, from another aspect they seem -to be veils of the Truth, barriers which the zealous Unitarian must -strive to abolish and destroy. - - “This world and that world are the egg, and the bird within it - Is in darkness and broken-winged and scorned and despised. - Regard unbelief and faith as the white and the yolk in this egg, - Between them, joining and dividing, a barrier which they shall - not pass. - When He hath graciously fostered the egg under His wing, - Infidelity and religion disappear: the bird of Unity spreads - its pinions.” - -The great Persian mystic, Abū Saʿīd ibn Abi ’l-Khayr, speaking in -the name of the Calendars or wandering dervishes, expresses their -iconoclastic principles with astonishing boldness: - - “Not until every mosque beneath the sun - Lies ruined, will our holy work be done; - And never will true Musalmān appear - Till faith and infidelity are one.” - -Such open declarations of war against the Mohammedan religion are -exceptional. Notwithstanding the breadth and depth of the gulf between -full-blown Sūfism and orthodox Islam, many, if not most, Sūfīs have -paid homage to the Prophet and have observed the outward forms of -devotion which are incumbent on all Moslems. They have invested these -rites and ceremonies with a new meaning; they have allegorised them, -but they have not abandoned them. Take the pilgrimage, for example. -In the eyes of the genuine Sūfī it is null and void unless each of -the successive religious acts which it involves is accompanied by -corresponding ‘movements of the heart.’ - -A man who had just returned from the pilgrimage came to Junayd. Junayd -said: - - “From the hour when you first journeyed from your home have you - also been journeying away from all sins?” He said “No.” “Then,” - said Junayd, “you have made no journey. At every stage where you - halted for the night did you traverse a station on the way to - God?” “No,” he replied. “Then,” said Junayd, “you have not trodden - the road, stage by stage. When you put on the pilgrim’s garb at - the proper place, did you discard the qualities of human nature - as you cast off your clothes?” “No.” “Then you have not put on - the pilgrim’s garb. When you stood at ʿArafāt, did you stand one - moment in contemplation of God?” “No.” “Then you have not stood at - ʿArafāt. When you went to Muzdalifa and achieved your desire, did - you renounce all sensual desires?” “No.” “Then you have not gone - to Muzdalifa. When you circumambulated the Kaʿba, did you behold - the immaterial beauty of God in the abode of purification?” “No.” - “Then you have not circumambulated the Kaʿba. When you ran between - Safā and Marwa, did you attain to purity (_safā_) and virtue - (_muruwwat_)?” “No.” “Then you have not run. When you came to Minā, - did all your wishes (_munā_) cease?” “No.” “Then you have not yet - visited Minā. When you reached the slaughter-place and offered - sacrifice, did you sacrifice the objects of worldly desire?” “No.” - “Then you have not sacrificed. When you threw the pebbles, did you - throw away whatever sensual thoughts were accompanying you?” “No.” - “Then you have not yet thrown the pebbles, and you have not yet - performed the pilgrimage.” - -This anecdote contrasts the outer religious law of theology with the -inner spiritual truth of mysticism, and shows that they should not be -divorced from each other. - - “The Law without the Truth,” says Hujwīrī, “is ostentation, and - the Truth without the Law is hypocrisy. Their mutual relation may - be compared to that of body and spirit: when the spirit departs - from the body, the living body becomes a corpse, and the spirit - vanishes like wind. The Moslem profession of faith includes both: - the words, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ are the Truth, and the - words, ‘Mohammed is the apostle of Allah,’ are the Law; any one who - denies the Truth is an infidel, and any one who rejects the Law is - a heretic.” - -Middle ways, though proverbially safe, are difficult to walk in; and -only by a _tour de force_ can the Koran be brought into line with the -esoteric doctrine which the Sūfīs derive from it. Undoubtedly they -have done a great work for Islam. They have deepened and enriched the -lives of millions by ruthlessly stripping off the husk of religion -and insisting that its kernel must be sought, not in any formal act, -but in cultivation of spiritual feelings and in purification of the -inward man. This was a legitimate and most fruitful development of the -Prophet’s teaching. But the Prophet was a strict monotheist, while -the Sūfīs, whatever they may pretend or imagine, are theosophists, -pantheists, or monists. When they speak and write as believers in -the dogmas of positive religion, they use language which cannot be -reconciled with such a theory of unity as we are now examining. -ʿAfīfuddīn al-Tilimsānī, from whose commentary on Niffarī I have given -some extracts in this chapter, said roundly that the whole Koran is -polytheism--a perfectly just statement from the monistic point of view, -though few Sūfīs have dared to be so explicit. - -The mystic Unitarians admit the appearance of contradiction, but deny -its reality. “The Law and the Truth” (they might say) “are the same -thing in different aspects. The Law is for you, the Truth for us. In -addressing you we speak according to the measure of your understanding, -since what is meat for gnostics is poison to the uninitiated, and the -highest mysteries ought to be jealously guarded from profane ears. It -is only human reason that sees the single as double, and balances the -Law against the Truth. Pass away from the world of opposites and become -one with God, who has no opposite.” - -The gnostic recognises that the Law is valid and necessary in the -moral sphere. While good and evil remain, the Law stands over both, -commanding and forbidding, rewarding and punishing. He knows, on the -other hand, that only God really exists and acts: therefore, if evil -really exists, it must be divine, and if evil things are really done, -God must be the doer of them. The conclusion is false because the -hypothesis is false. Evil has no real existence; it is not-being, which -is the privation and absence of being, just as darkness is the absence -of light. “Once,” said Nūrī, “I beheld the Light, and I fixed my gaze -upon it until I became the Light.” No wonder that such illuminated -souls, supremely indifferent to the shadow-shows of religion and -morality in a phantom world, are ready to cry with Jalāluddīn: - - “The man of God is made wise by the Truth, - The man of God is not learned from book. - The man of God is beyond infidelity and faith, - To the man of God right and wrong are alike.” - -It must be borne in mind that this is a theory of perfection, and -that those whom it exalts above the Law are saints, spiritual guides, -and profound theosophists who enjoy the special favour of God and -presumably do not need to be restrained, coerced, or punished. In -practice, of course, it leads in many instances to antinomianism and -libertinism, as among the Bektāshīs and other orders of the so-called -‘lawless’ dervishes. The same theories produced the same results in -Europe during the Middle Ages, and the impartial historian cannot -ignore the corruptions to which a purely subjective mysticism is -liable; but on the present occasion we are concerned with the rose -itself, not with its cankers. - -Not all Sūfīs are gnostics; and, as I have mentioned before, those who -are not yet ripe for the gnosis receive from their gnostic teachers the -ethical instruction suitable to their needs. Jalāluddīn Rūmī, in his -collection of lyrical poems entitled _The Dīvān of Shamsi Tabrīz_, -gives free rein to a pantheistic enthusiasm which sees all things under -the form of eternity. - - “I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one; - One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call. - I am intoxicated with Love’s cup, the two worlds have passed out - of my ken; - I have no business save carouse and revelry.” - -But in his _Masnavī_--a work so famous and venerated that it has -been styled ‘The Koran of Persia’--we find him in a more sober mood -expounding the Sūfī doctrines and justifying the ways of God to man. -Here, though he is a convinced optimist and agrees with Ghazālī that -this is the best of all possible worlds, he does not airily dismiss -the problem of evil as something outside reality, but endeavours to -show that evil, or what seems evil to us, is part of the divine order -and harmony. I will quote some passages of his argument and leave my -readers to judge how far it is successful or, at any rate, suggestive. - -The Sūfīs, it will be remembered, conceive the universe as a projected -and reflected image of God. The divine light, streaming forth in a -series of emanations, falls at last upon the darkness of not-being, -every atom of which reflects some attribute of Deity. For instance, -the beautiful attributes of love and mercy are reflected in the form -of heaven and the angels, while the terrible attributes of wrath -and vengeance are reflected in the form of hell and the devils. Man -reflects all the attributes, the terrible as well as the beautiful: he -is an epitome of heaven and hell. Omar Khayyām alludes to this theory -when he says: - - “Hell is a spark from our fruitless pain, - Heaven a breath from our time of joy” - ---a couplet which FitzGerald moulded into the magnificent stanza: - - “Heav’n but the Vision of fulfilled Desire, - And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire, - Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves - So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.” - -Jalāluddīn, therefore, does in a sense make God the author of evil, -but at the same time he makes evil intrinsically good in relation to -God--for it is the reflexion of certain divine attributes which in -themselves are absolutely good. So far as evil is really evil, it -springs from not-being. The poet assigns a different value to this -term in its relation to God and in its relation to man. In respect of -God not-being is nothing, for God is real Being, but in man it is the -principle of evil which constitutes half of human nature. In the one -case it is a pure negation, in the other it is positively and actively -pernicious. We need not quarrel with the poet for coming to grief in -his logic. There are some occasions when intense moral feeling is worth -any amount of accurate thinking. - -It is evident that the doctrine of divine unity implies predestination. -Where God is and naught beside Him, there can be no other agent than -He, no act but His. “Thou didst not throw, when thou threwest, but God -threw” (Kor. =8.= 17). Compulsion is felt only by those who do not -love. To know God is to love Him; and the gnostic may answer, like the -dervish who was asked how he fared: - - “I fare as one by whose majestic will - The world revolves, floods rise and rivers flow, - Stars in their courses move; yea, death and life - Hang on his nod and fly to the ends of earth, - His ministers of mourning or of joy.” - -This is the Truth; but for the benefit of such as cannot bear it, -Jalāluddīn vindicates the justice of God by asserting that men have -the power to choose how they will act, although their freedom is -subordinate to the divine will. Approaching the question, “Why does God -ordain and create evil?” he points out that things are known through -their opposites, and that the existence of evil is necessary for the -manifestation of good. - - “Not-being and defect, wherever seen, - Are mirrors of the beauty of all that is. - The bone-setter, where should he try his skill - But on the patient lying with broken leg? - Were no base copper in the crucible, - How could the alchemist his craft display?” - -Moreover, the divine omnipotence would not be completely realised if -evil had remained uncreated. - - “He is the source of evil, as thou sayest, - Yet evil hurts Him not. To make that evil - Denotes in Him perfection. Hear from me - A parable. The heavenly Artist paints - Beautiful shapes and ugly: in one picture - The loveliest women in the land of Egypt - Gazing on youthful Joseph amorously; - And lo, another scene by the same hand, - Hell-fire and Iblīs with his hideous crew: - Both master-works, created for good ends, - To show His perfect wisdom and confound - The sceptics who deny His mastery. - Could He not evil make, He would lack skill; - Therefore He fashions infidel alike - And Moslem true, that both may witness bear - To Him, and worship One Almighty Lord.” - -In reply to the objection that a God who creates evil must Himself be -evil, Jalāluddīn, pursuing the analogy drawn from Art, remarks that -ugliness in the picture is no evidence of ugliness in the painter. - -Again, without evil it would be impossible to win the proved virtue -which is the reward of self-conquest. Bread must be broken before -it can serve as food, and grapes will not yield wine till they are -crushed. Many men are led through tribulation to happiness. As evil -ebbs, good flows. Finally, much evil is only apparent. What seems a -curse to one may be a blessing to another; nay, evil itself is turned -to good for the righteous. Jalāluddīn will not admit that anything is -absolutely bad. - - “Fools buy false coins because they are like the true. - If in the world no genuine minted coin - Were current, how would forgers pass the false? - Falsehood were nothing unless truth were there, - To make it specious. ’Tis the love of right - Lures men to wrong. Let poison but be mixed - With sugar, they will cram it into their mouths. - Oh, cry not that all creeds are vain! Some scent - Of truth they have, else they would not beguile. - Say not, ‘How utterly fantastical!’ - No fancy in the world is all untrue. - Amongst the crowd of dervishes hides one, - One true fakīr. Search well and thou wilt find!” - -Surely this is a noteworthy doctrine. Jalāluddīn died only a few years -after the birth of Dante, but the Christian poet falls far below the -level of charity and tolerance reached by his Moslem contemporary. - -How is it possible to discern the soul of goodness in things evil? By -means of love, says Jalāluddīn, and the knowledge which love alone can -give, according to the word of God in the holy Tradition: - - “My servant draws nigh unto Me, and I love him; and when I love - him, I am his ear, so that he hears by Me, and his eye, so that he - sees by Me, and his tongue, so that he speaks by Me, and his hand, - so that he takes by Me.” - -Although it will be convenient to treat of mystical love in a separate -chapter, the reader must not fancy that a new subject is opening before -him. Gnosis and love are spiritually identical; they teach the same -truths in different language. - - - - - CHAPTER IV - - DIVINE LOVE - - -Any one acquainted, however slightly, with the mystical poetry of Islam -must have remarked that the aspiration of the soul towards God is -expressed, as a rule, in almost the same terms which might be used by -an Oriental Anacreon or Herrick. The resemblance, indeed, is often so -close that, unless we have some clue to the poet’s intention, we are -left in doubt as to his meaning. In some cases, perhaps, the ambiguity -serves an artistic purpose, as in the odes of Hafiz, but even when -the poet is not deliberately keeping his readers suspended between -earth and heaven, it is quite easy to mistake a mystical hymn for a -drinking-song or a serenade. Ibn al-ʿArabī, the greatest theosophist -whom the Arabs have produced, found himself obliged to write a -commentary on some of his poems in order to refute the scandalous -charge that they were designed to celebrate the charms of his mistress. -Here are a few lines: - - “Oh, her beauty--the tender maid! Its brilliance gives light like - lamps to one travelling in the dark. - She is a pearl hidden in a shell of hair as black as jet, - A pearl for which Thought dives and remains unceasingly in the - deeps of that ocean. - He who looks upon her deems her to be a gazelle of the sand-hills, - because of her shapely neck and the loveliness of her gestures.” - -It has been said that the Sūfīs invented this figurative style as a -mask for mysteries which they desired to keep secret. That desire -was natural in those who proudly claimed to possess an esoteric -doctrine known only to themselves; moreover, a plain statement of -what they believed might have endangered their liberties, if not -their lives. But, apart from any such motives, the Sūfīs adopt the -symbolic style because there is no other possible way of interpreting -mystical experience. So little does knowledge of the infinite revealed -in ecstatic vision need an artificial disguise that it cannot be -communicated at all except through types and emblems drawn from the -sensible world, which, imperfect as they are, may suggest and shadow -forth a deeper meaning than appears on the surface. “Gnostics,” says -Ibn al-ʿArabī, “cannot impart their feelings to other men; they can -only indicate them symbolically to those who have begun to experience -the like.” What kind of symbolism each mystic will prefer depends -on his temperament and character. If he be a religious artist, a -spiritual poet, his ideas of reality are likely to clothe themselves -instinctively in forms of beauty and glowing images of human love. -To him the rosy cheek of the beloved represents the divine essence -manifested through its attributes; her dark curls signify the One -veiled by the Many; when he says, “Drink wine that it may set you free -from yourself,” he means, “Lose your phenomenal self in the rapture of -divine contemplation.” I might fill pages with further examples. - -This erotic and bacchanalian symbolism is not, of course, peculiar -to the mystical poetry of Islam, but nowhere else is it displayed so -opulently and in such perfection. It has often been misunderstood by -European critics, one of whom even now can describe the ecstasies -of the Sūfīs as “inspired partly by wine and strongly tinged with -sensuality.” As regards the whole body of Sūfīs, the charge is -altogether false. No intelligent and unprejudiced student of their -writings could have made it, and we ought to have been informed on what -sort of evidence it is based. There are black sheep in every flock, and -amongst the Sūfīs we find many hypocrites, debauchees, and drunkards -who bring discredit on the pure brethren. But it is just as unfair to -judge Sūfism in general by the excesses of these impostors as it would -be to condemn all Christian mysticism on the ground that certain sects -and individuals are immoral. - - “God is the Sāqī[10] and the Wine: - He knows what manner of love is mine,” - -said Jalāluddīn. Ibn al-ʿArabī declares that no religion is more -sublime than a religion of love and longing for God. Love is the -essence of all creeds: the true mystic welcomes it whatever guise it -may assume. - -[10] Cupbearer. - - “My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture for - gazelles and a convent for Christian monks, - And a temple for idols, and the pilgrim’s Kaʿba, and the tables - of the Tora and the book of the Koran. - I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take. My - religion and my faith is the true religion. - We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her sister, and - in Qays and Lubnā, and in Mayya and Ghaylān.” - -Commenting on the last verse, the poet writes: - - “Love, _quâ_ love, is one and the same reality to those Arab - lovers and to me; but the objects of our love are different, - for they loved a phenomenon, whereas I love the Real. They are - a pattern to us, because God only afflicted them with love for - human beings in order that He might show, by means of them, the - falseness of those who pretend to love Him, and yet feel no such - transport and rapture in loving Him as deprived those enamoured men - of their reason, and made them unconscious of themselves.” - -Most of the great medieval Sūfīs lived saintly lives, dreaming of God, -intoxicated with God. When they tried to tell their dreams, being men, -they used the language of men. If they were also literary artists, -they naturally wrote in the style of their own day and generation. In -mystical poetry the Arabs yield the palm to the Persians. Any one who -would read the secret of Sūfism, no longer encumbered with theological -articles nor obscured by metaphysical subtleties--let him turn to -ʿAttār, Jalāluddīn Rūmī, and Jāmī, whose works are partially accessible -in English and other European languages. To translate these wonderful -hymns is to break their melody and bring their soaring passion down to -earth, but not even a prose translation can quite conceal the love of -Truth and the vision of Beauty which inspired them. Listen again to -Jalāluddīn: - - “He comes, a moon whose like the sky ne’er saw, awake or dreaming, - Crowned with eternal flame no flood can lay. - Lo, from the flagon of Thy love, O Lord, my soul is swimming, - And ruined all my body’s house of clay. - When first the Giver of the grape my lonely heart befriended, - Wine fired my bosom and my veins filled up, - But when His image all mine eye possessed, a voice descended, - ‘Well done, O sovereign Wine and peerless Cup!’” - -The love thus symbolised is the emotional element in religion, the -rapture of the seer, the courage of the martyr, the faith of the -saint, the only basis of moral perfection and spiritual knowledge. -Practically, it is self-renunciation and self-sacrifice, the giving up -of all possessions--wealth, honour, will, life, and whatever else men -value--for the Beloved’s sake without any thought of reward. I have -already referred to love as the supreme principle in Sūfī ethics, and -now let me give some illustrations. - - “Love,” says Jalāluddīn, “is the remedy of our pride and - self-conceit, the physician of all our infirmities. Only he whose - garment is rent by love becomes entirely unselfish.” - -Nūrī, Raqqām, and other Sūfīs were accused of heresy and sentenced to -death. - - “When the executioner approached Raqqām, Nūrī rose and offered - himself in his friend’s place with the utmost cheerfulness and - submission. All the spectators were astounded. The executioner - said, ‘Young man, the sword is not a thing that people are so eager - to meet; and your turn has not yet arrived.’ Nūrī answered, ‘My - religion is founded on unselfishness. Life is the most precious - thing in the world: I wish to sacrifice for my brethren’s sake the - few moments which remain.’” - -On another occasion Nūrī was overheard praying as follows: - - “O Lord, in Thy eternal knowledge and power and will Thou dost - punish the people of Hell whom Thou hast created; and if it be Thy - inexorable will to make Hell full of mankind, Thou art able to fill - it with me alone, and to send them to Paradise.” - -In proportion as the Sūfī loves God, he sees God in all His creatures, -and goes forth to them in acts of charity. Pious works are naught -without love. - - “Cheer one sad heart: thy loving deed will be - More than a thousand temples raised by thee. - One freeman whom thy kindness hath enslaved - Outweighs by far a thousand slaves set free.” - -The Moslem _Legend of the Saints_ abounds in tales of pity shown to -animals (including the despised dog), birds, and even insects. It is -related that Bāyazīd purchased some cardamom seed at Hamadhān, and -before departing put into his gaberdine a small quantity which was left -over. On reaching Bistām and recollecting what he had done, he took out -the seed and found that it contained a number of ants. Saying, “I have -carried the poor creatures away from their home,” he immediately set -off and journeyed back to Hamadhān--a distance of several hundred miles. - -This universal charity is one of the fruits of pantheism. The ascetic -view of the world which prevailed amongst the early Sūfīs, and their -vivid consciousness of God as a transcendent Personality rather than -as an immanent Spirit, caused them to crush their human affections -relentlessly. Here is a short story from the life of Fudayl ibn ʿIyād. -It would be touching if it were not so edifying. - - “One day he had in his lap a child four years old, and chanced - to give it a kiss, as is the way of fathers. The child said, - ‘Father, do you love me?’ ‘Yes,’ said Fudayl. ‘Do you love God?’ - ‘Yes.’ ‘How many hearts have you?’ ‘One.’ ‘Then,’ asked the child, - ‘how can you love two with one heart?’ Fudayl perceived that the - child’s words were a divine admonition. In his zeal for God he - began to beat his head and repented of his love for the child, and - gave his heart wholly to God.” - -The higher Sūfī mysticism, as represented by Jalāluddīn Rūmī, teaches -that the phenomenal is a bridge to the Real. - - “Whether it be of this world or of that, - Thy love will lead thee yonder at the last.” - -And Jāmī says, in a passage which has been translated by Professor -Browne: - - “Even from earthly love thy face avert not, - Since to the Real it may serve to raise thee. - Ere A, B, C are rightly apprehended, - How canst thou con the pages of thy Koran? - A sage (so heard I), unto whom a student - Came craving counsel on the course before him, - Said, ‘If thy steps be strangers to love’s pathways, - Depart, learn love, and then return before me! - For, shouldst thou fear to drink wine from Form’s flagon, - Thou canst not drain the draught of the Ideal. - But yet beware! Be not by Form belated: - Strive rather with all speed the bridge to traverse. - If to the bourne thou fain wouldst bear thy baggage, - Upon the bridge let not thy footsteps linger.’” - -Emerson sums up the meaning of this where he says: - - “Beholding in many souls the traits of the divine beauty, and - separating in each soul that which is divine from the taint which - it has contracted in the world, the lover ascends to the highest - beauty, to the love and knowledge of the Divinity, by steps on this - ladder of created souls.” - - “Man’s love of God,” says Hujwīrī, “is a quality which - manifests itself, in the heart of the pious believer, in the form - of veneration and magnification, so that he seeks to satisfy his - Beloved and becomes impatient and restless in his desire for - vision of Him, and cannot rest with any one except Him, and grows - familiar with the recollection of Him, and abjures the recollection - of everything besides. Repose becomes unlawful to him, and rest - flees from him. He is cut off from all habits and associations, and - renounces sensual passion, and turns towards the court of love, - and submits to the law of love, and knows God by His attributes of - perfection.” - -Inevitably such a man will love his fellow-men. Whatever cruelty they -inflict upon him, he will perceive only the chastening hand of God, -“whose bitters are very sweets to the soul.” Bāyazīd said that when -God loves a man, He endows him with three qualities in token thereof: -a bounty like that of the sea, a sympathy like that of the sun, and -a humility like that of the earth. No suffering can be too great, no -devotion too high, for the piercing insight and burning faith of a true -lover. - -Ibn al-ʿArabī claims that Islam is peculiarly the religion of love, -inasmuch as the Prophet Mohammed is called God’s beloved (_Habīb_), -but though some traces of this doctrine occur in the Koran, its main -impulse was unquestionably derived from Christianity. While the oldest -Sūfī literature, which is written in Arabic and unfortunately has come -down to us in a fragmentary state, is still dominated by the Koranic -insistence on fear of Allah, it also bears conspicuous marks of the -opposing Christian tradition. As in Christianity, through Dionysius -and other writers of the Neoplatonic school, so in Islam, and probably -under the same influence, the devotional and mystical love of God soon -developed into ecstasy and enthusiasm which finds in the sensuous -imagery of human love the most suggestive medium for its expression. -Dr. Inge observes that the Sūfīs “appear, like true Asiatics, to -have attempted to give a sacramental and symbolic character to the -indulgence of their passions.” I need not again point out that such a -view of genuine Sūfism is both superficial and incorrect. - -Love, like gnosis, is in its essence a divine gift, not anything that -can be acquired. “If the whole world wished to attract love, they could -not; and if they made the utmost efforts to repel it, they could not.” -Those who love God are those whom God loves. “I fancied that I loved -Him,” said Bāyazīd, “but on consideration I saw that His love preceded -mine.” Junayd defined love as the substitution of the qualities of the -Beloved for the qualities of the lover. In other words, love signifies -the passing-away of the individual self; it is an uncontrollable -rapture, a God-sent grace which must be sought by ardent prayer and -aspiration. - - “O Thou in whose bat well-curved my heart like a ball is laid, - Nor ever a hairbreadth swerved from Thy bidding nor disobeyed, - I have washed mine outward clean, the water I drew and poured; - Mine inward is Thy demesne--do Thou keep it stainless, Lord!” - -Jalāluddīn teaches that man’s love is really the effect of God’s love -by means of an apologue. One night a certain devotee was praying aloud, -when Satan appeared to him and said: - - “How long wilt thou cry, ‘O Allah’? Be quiet, for thou wilt get - no answer.” The devotee hung his head in silence. After a little - while he had a vision of the prophet Khadir, who said to him, “Ah, - why hast thou ceased to call on God?” “Because the answer ‘Here am - I’ came not,” he replied. Khadir said, “God hath ordered me to go - to thee and say this: - - “‘Was it not I that summoned thee to service? - Did not I make thee busy with My name? - Thy calling “Allah!” _was_ My “Here am I,” - Thy yearning pain My messenger to thee. - Of all those tears and cries and supplications - I was the magnet, and I gave them wings.’” - -Divine love is beyond description, yet its signs are manifest. Sarī -al-Saqatī questioned Junayd concerning the nature of love. - - “Some say,” he answered, “that it is a state of concord, and - some say that it is altruism, and some say that it is so-and-so.” - Sarī took hold of the skin on his forearm and pulled it, but it - would not stretch; then he said, “I swear by the glory of God, were - I to say that this skin hath shrivelled on this bone for love of - Him, I should be telling the truth.” Thereupon he fainted away, and - his face became like a shining moon. - -Love, ‘the astrolabe of heavenly mysteries,’ inspires all religion -worthy of the name, and brings with it, not reasoned belief, but -the intense conviction arising from immediate intuition. This inner -light is its own evidence; he who sees it has real knowledge, and -nothing can increase or diminish his certainty. Hence the Sūfīs never -weary of exposing the futility of a faith which supports itself on -intellectual proofs, external authority, self-interest, or self-regard -of any kind. The barren dialectic of the theologian; the canting -righteousness of the Pharisee rooted in forms and ceremonies; the -less crude but equally undisinterested worship of which the motive -is desire to gain everlasting happiness in the life hereafter; the -relatively pure devotion of the mystic who, although he loves God, yet -thinks of himself as loving, and whose heart is not wholly emptied of -‘otherness’--all these are ‘veils’ to be removed. - -A few sayings by those who know will be more instructive than further -explanation. - - “O God! whatever share of this world Thou hast allotted to me, - bestow it on Thine enemies; and whatever share of the next world - Thou hast allotted to me, bestow it on Thy friends. Thou art enough - for me.” (Rābiʿa.) - - “O God! if I worship Thee in fear of Hell, burn me in Hell; and - if I worship Thee in hope of Paradise, exclude me from Paradise; - but if I worship Thee for Thine own sake, withhold not Thine - everlasting beauty!” (Rābiʿa.) - - “Notwithstanding that the lovers of God are separated from Him - by their love, they have the essential thing, for whether they - sleep or wake, they seek and are sought, and are not occupied with - their own seeking and loving, but are enraptured in contemplation - of the Beloved. It is a crime in the lover to regard his love, and - an outrage in love to look at one’s own seeking while one is face - to face with the Sought.” (Bāyazīd.) - - “His love entered and removed all besides Him and left no - trace of anything else, so that it remained single even as He is - single.” (Bāyazīd.) - - “To feel at one with God for a moment is better than all - men’s acts of worship from the beginning to the end of the - world.” (Shiblī.) - - “Fear of the Fire, in comparison with fear of being parted - from the Beloved, is like a drop of water cast into the mightiest - ocean.” (Dhu ’l-Nūn.) - - “Unless I have the face of my heart towards Thee, - I deem prayer unworthy to be reckoned as prayer. - If I turn my face to the Kaʿba, ’tis for love of Thine; - Otherwise I am quit both of prayer and Kaʿba.” - (Jalāluddīn Rūmī.) - -Love, again, is the divine instinct of the soul impelling it to realise -its nature and destiny. The soul is the first-born of God: before the -creation of the universe it lived and moved and had its being in Him, -and during its earthly manifestation it is a stranger in exile, ever -pining to return to its home. - - “This is Love: to fly heavenward, - To rend, every instant, a hundred veils; - The first moment, to renounce life; - The last step, to fare without feet; - To regard this world as invisible, - Not to see what appears to one’s self.” - -All the love-romances and allegories of Sūfī poetry--the tales of Laylā -and Majnūn, Yūsuf (Joseph) and Zulaykhā, Salāmān and Absāl, the Moth -and the Candle, the Nightingale and the Rose--are shadow-pictures -of the soul’s passionate longing to be reunited with God. It is -impossible, in the brief space at my command, to give the reader more -than a passing glimpse of the treasures which the exuberant fancy of -the East has heaped together in every room of this enchanted palace. -The soul is likened to a moaning dove that has lost her mate; to a reed -torn from its bed and made into a flute whose plaintive music fills the -eye with tears; to a falcon summoned by the fowler’s whistle to perch -again upon his wrist; to snow melting in the sun and mounting as vapour -to the sky; to a frenzied camel swiftly plunging through the desert -by night; to a caged parrot, a fish on dry land, a pawn that seeks to -become a king. - -These figures imply that God is conceived as transcendent, and that the -soul cannot reach Him without taking what Plotinus in a splendid phrase -calls “the flight of the Alone to the Alone.” Jalāluddīn says: - - “The motion of every atom is towards its origin; - A man comes to be the thing on which he is bent. - By the attraction of fondness and yearning, the soul and the heart - Assume the qualities of the Beloved, who is the Soul of souls.” - -‘A man comes to be the thing on which he is bent’: what, then, does the -Sūfī become? Eckhart in one of his sermons quotes the saying of St. -Augustine that Man _is_ what he loves, and adds this comment: - - “If he loves a stone, he is a stone; if he loves a man, he is - a man; if he loves God--I dare not say more, for if I said that he - would then be God, ye might stone me.” - -The Moslem mystics enjoyed greater freedom of speech than their -Christian brethren who owed allegiance to the medieval Catholic Church, -and if they went too far the plea of ecstasy was generally accepted as -a sufficient excuse. Whether they emphasise the outward or the inward -aspect of unification, the transcendence or the immanence of God, their -expressions are bold and uncompromising. Thus Abū Saʿīd: - - “In my heart Thou dwellest--else with blood I’ll drench it; - In mine eye Thou glowest--else with tears I’ll quench it. - Only to be one with Thee my soul desireth-- - Else from out my body, by hook or crook, I’ll wrench it!” - -Jalāluddīn Rūmī proclaims that the soul’s love of God is God’s love of -the soul, and that in loving the soul God loves Himself, for He draws -home to Himself that which in its essence is divine. - -“Our copper,” says the poet, “has been transmuted by this rare -alchemy,” meaning that the base alloy of self has been purified and -spiritualised. In another ode he says: - - “O my soul, I searched from end to end: I saw in thee naught save - the Beloved; - Call me not infidel, O my soul, if I say that thou thyself art He.” - -And yet more plainly: - - “Ye who in search of God, of God, pursue, - Ye need not search for God is you, is you! - Why seek ye something that was missing ne’er? - Save you none is, but you are--where, oh, where?” - -Where is the lover when the Beloved has displayed Himself? Nowhere and -everywhere: his individuality has passed away from him. In the bridal -chamber of Unity God celebrates the mystical marriage of the soul. - - - - - CHAPTER V - - SAINTS AND MIRACLES - - -Let us suppose that the average Moslem could read English, and that -we placed in his hands one of those admirable volumes published by -the Society for Psychical Research. In order to sympathise with his -feelings on such an occasion, we have only to imagine what our own -would be if a scientific friend invited us to study a treatise setting -forth the evidence in favour of telegraphy and recording well-attested -instances of telegraphic communication. The Moslem would probably see -in the telegraph some kind of spirit--an _afreet_ or _jinnī_. Telepathy -and similar occult phenomena he takes for granted as self-evident -facts. It would never occur to him to investigate them. There is -something in the constitution of his mind that makes it impervious to -the idea that the supernatural may be subject to law. He believes, -because he cannot help believing, in the reality of an unseen world -which ‘lies about us,’ not in our infancy alone, but always and -everywhere; a world from which we are in no wise excluded, accessible -and in some measure revealed to all, though free and open intercourse -with it is a privilege enjoyed by few. Many are called but few chosen. - - “Spirits every night from the body’s snare - Thou freest, and makest the tablets clean.[11] - Spirits are set free every night from this cage, - Independent, neither ruled nor ruling. - At night prisoners forget their prison, - At night kings forget their power: - No sorrow, no brooding over gain and loss, - No thought of this person or that person. - This is the state of the gnostic, even when he is awake; - God hath said, ‘Thou wouldst deem them awake while they slept.’[12] - He is asleep, day and night, to the affairs of the world, - Like a pen in the controlling hand of the Lord.” - -[11] By erasing all the sensuous impressions which form a veil between -the soul and the world of reality. - -[12] Kor. =18.= 17. - -The Sūfīs have always declared and believed themselves to be God’s -chosen people. The Koran refers in several places to His elect. -According to the author of the _Kitāb al-Lumaʿ_, this title belongs, -firstly, to the prophets, elect in virtue of their sinlessness, -their inspiration, and their apostolic mission; and secondly, to -certain Moslems, elect in virtue of their sincere devotion and -self-mortification and firm attachment to the eternal realities: -in a word, the saints. While the Sūfīs are the elect of the Moslem -community, the saints are the elect of the Sūfīs. - -The Mohammedan saint is commonly known as a _walī_ (plural, _awliyā_). -This word is used in various senses derived from its root-meaning -of ‘nearness’; _e.g._ next of kin, patron, protector, friend. It is -applied in the Koran to God as the protector of the Faithful, to angels -or idols who are supposed to protect their worshippers, and to men who -are regarded as being specially under divine protection. Mohammed twits -the Jews with professing to be _protégés_ of God (_awliyā lillāh_). -Notwithstanding its somewhat equivocal associations, the term was -taken over by the Sūfīs and became the ordinary designation of persons -whose holiness brings them near to God, and who receive from Him, as -tokens of His peculiar favour, miraculous gifts (_karāmāt_, χαρίσματα); -they are His friends, on whom “no fear shall come and they shall not -grieve”;[13] any injury done to them is an act of hostility against Him. - -[13] Kor. =10.= 63. - -The inspiration of the Islamic saints, though verbally distinguished -from that of the prophets and inferior in degree, is of the same kind. -In consequence of their intimate relation to God, the veil shrouding -the supernatural, or, as a Moslem would say, the unseen world, from -their perceptions is withdrawn at intervals, and in their fits of -ecstasy they rise to the prophetic level. Neither deep learning in -divinity, nor devotion to good works, nor asceticism, nor moral purity -makes the Mohammedan a saint; he may have all or none of these things, -but the only indispensable qualification is that ecstasy and rapture -which is the outward sign of ‘passing-away’ from the phenomenal self. -Any one thus enraptured (_majdhūb_) is a _walī_,[14] and when such -persons are recognised through their power of working miracles, they -are venerated as saints not only after death but also during their -lives. Often, however, they live and die in obscurity. Hujwīrī tells -us that amongst the saints “there are four thousand who are concealed -and do not know one another and are not aware of the excellence of -their state, being in all circumstances hidden from themselves and from -mankind.” - -[14] _Waliyyat_, if the saint is a woman. - -The saints form an invisible hierarchy, on which the order of the -world is thought to depend. Its supreme head is entitled the _Qutb_ -(Axis). He is the most eminent Sūfī of his age, and presides over the -meetings regularly held by this august parliament, whose members are -not hampered in their attendance by the inconvenient fictions of -time and space, but come together from all parts of the earth in the -twinkling of an eye, traversing seas and mountains and deserts as -easily as common mortals step across a road. Below the _Qutb_ stand -various classes and grades of sanctity. Hujwīrī enumerates them, in -ascending series, as follows: three hundred _Akhyār_ (Good), forty -_Abdāl_ (Substitutes), seven _Abrār_ (Pious), four _Awtād_ (Supports), -and three _Nuqabā_ (Overseers). - - “All these know one another and cannot act save by mutual - consent. It is the task of the _Awtād_ to go round the whole world - every night, and if there should be any place on which their eyes - have not fallen, next day some flaw will appear in that place, - and they must then inform the _Qutb_ in order that he may direct - his attention to the weak spot and that by his blessing the - imperfection may be remedied.” - -We are studying in this book the mystical life of the individual -Moslem, and it is necessary to keep the subject within the narrowest -bounds. Otherwise, I should have liked to dwell on the external and -historical organisation of Sūfism as a school for saints, and to -describe the process of evolution through which the _walī_ privately -conversing with a small circle of friends became, first, a teacher -and spiritual guide gathering disciples around him during his -lifetime, and finally the head of a perpetual religious order which -bore his name. The earliest of these great fraternities date from -the twelfth century. In addition to their own members--the so-called -‘dervishes’--each order has a large number of lay brethren attached -to it, so that their influence pervades all ranks of Moslem society. -They are “independent and self-developing. There is rivalry between -them; but no one rules over the other. In faith and practice each goes -its own way, limited only by the universal conscience of Islam. Thus -strange doctrines and grave moral defects easily develop unheeded, -but freedom is saved.”[15] Of course, the typical _walī_ is incapable -of founding an order, but Islam has produced no less frequently -than Christendom men who combine intense spiritual illumination -with creative energy and aptitude for affairs on a grand scale. The -Mohammedan notion of the saint as a person possessed by God allows a -very wide application of the term: in popular usage it extends from the -greatest Sūfī theosophists, like Jalāluddīn Rūmī and Ibn al-ʿArabī, -down to those who have gained sanctity only by losing sanity--victims -of epilepsy and hysteria, half-witted idiots and harmless lunatics. - -[15] D. B. Macdonald, _The Religious Life and Attitude in Islam_, p. -164. - -Both Qushayrī[16] and Hujwīrī discuss the question whether a saint can -be conscious of his saintship, and answer it in the affirmative. Their -opponents argue that consciousness of saintship involves assurance of -salvation, which is impossible, since no one can know with certainty -that he shall be among the saved on the Day of Judgment. In reply it -was urged that God may miraculously assure the saint of his predestined -salvation, while maintaining him in a state of spiritual soundness and -preserving him from disobedience. The saint is not immaculate, as the -prophets are, but the divine protection which he enjoys is a guarantee -that he will not persevere in evil courses, though he may temporarily -be led astray. According to the view generally held, saintship depends -on faith, not on conduct, so that no sin except infidelity can cause -it to be forfeited. This perilous theory, which opens the door to -antinomianism, was mitigated by the emphasis laid on fulfilment of the -religious law. The following anecdote of Bāyazīd al-Bistāmī shows the -official attitude of all the leading Sūfīs who are cited as authorities -in the Moslem text-books. - -[16] Author of a famous work designed to close the breach between -Sūfism and Islam. He died in 1074 A.D. - - “I was told (he said) that a saint of God was living in - such-and-such a town, and I set out to visit him. When I entered - the mosque, he came forth from his chamber and spat on the floor. - I turned back without saluting him, saying to myself, ‘A saint - must keep the religious law in order that God may keep him in his - spiritual state. Had this man been a saint, his respect for the law - would have prevented him from spitting on the floor, or God would - have saved him from marring the grace vouchsafed to him.’” - -Many _walīs_, however, regard the law as a curb that is indeed -necessary so long as one remains in the disciplinary stage, but may be -discarded by the saint. Such a person, they declare, stands on a higher -plane than ordinary men, and is not to be condemned for actions which -outwardly seem irreligious. While the older Sūfīs insist that a _walī_ -who breaks the law is thereby shown to be an impostor, the popular -belief in the saints and the rapid growth of saint-worship tended to -aggrandise the _walī_ at the expense of the law, and to foster the -conviction that a divinely gifted man can do no wrong, or at least that -his actions must not be judged by appearances. The classical instance -of this _jus divinum_ vested in the friends of God is the story of -Moses and Khadir, which is related in the Koran (18. 64-80). Khadir -or Khizr--the Koran does not mention him by name--is a mysterious -sage endowed with immortality, who is said to enter into conversation -with wandering Sūfīs and impart to them his God-given knowledge. Moses -desired to accompany him on a journey that he might profit by his -teaching, and Khadir consented, only stipulating that Moses should ask -no questions of him. - - “So they both went on, till they embarked in a boat and he - (Khadir) staved it in. ‘What!’ cried Moses, ‘hast thou staved it in - that thou mayst drown its crew? Verily, a strange thing hast thou - done.’ - - “He said, ‘Did not I tell thee that thou couldst no way have - patience with me?’ - - “Then they went on until they met a youth, and he slew him. - Said Moses, ‘Hast thou slain him who is free from guilt of blood? - Surely now thou hast wrought an unheard-of thing!’” - -After Moses had broken his promise of silence for the third time, -Khadir resolved to leave him. - - “But first,” he said, “I will tell thee the meaning of that - with which thou couldst not have patience. As to the boat, it - belonged to poor men, toilers on the sea, and I was minded to - damage it, for in their rear was a king who seized on every boat - by force. And as to the youth, his parents were believers, and I - feared lest he should trouble them by error and unbelief.” - -The Sūfīs are fond of quoting this unimpeachable testimony that the -_walī_ is above human criticism, and that his hand, as Jalāluddīn -asserts, is even as the hand of God. Most Moslems admit the claim to be -valid in so far as they shrink from applying conventional standards of -morality to holy men. I have explained its metaphysical justification -in an earlier chapter. - -A miracle performed by a saint is termed _karāmāt_, _i.e._ a ‘favour’ -which God bestows upon him, whereas a miracle performed by a prophet is -called _muʿjizat_, _i.e._ an act which cannot be imitated by any one. -The distinction originated in controversy, and was used to answer those -who held the miraculous powers of the saints to be a grave encroachment -on the prerogative of the Prophet. Sūfī apologists, while confessing -that both kinds of miracle are substantially the same, take pains to -differentiate the characteristics of each; they declare, moreover, that -the saints are the Prophet’s witnesses, and that all their miracles -(like ‘a drop trickling from a full skin of honey’) are in reality -derived from him. This is the orthodox view and is supported by those -Mohammedan mystics who acknowledge the Law as well as the Truth, -though in some cases it may have amounted to little more than a pious -opinion. We have often noticed the difficulty in which the Sūfīs find -themselves when they try to make a logical compromise with Islam. But -the word ‘logic’ is very misleading in this connexion. The beginning -of wisdom, for European students of Oriental religion, lies in the -discovery that incongruous beliefs--I mean, of course, beliefs which -_our_ minds cannot harmonise--dwell peacefully together in the Oriental -brain; that their owner is quite unconscious of their incongruity; and -that, as a rule, he is absolutely sincere. Contradictions which seem -glaring to us do not trouble him at all. - -The thaumaturgic element in ancient Sūfism was not so important as it -afterwards became in the fully developed saint-worship associated with -the Dervish Orders. “A saint would be none the less a saint,” says -Qushayrī, “if no miracles were wrought by him in this world.” In early -Mohammedan _Vitæ Sanctorum_ it is not uncommon to meet with sayings to -the effect that miraculous powers are comparatively of small account. -It was finely said by Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah that the greatest miracle -is the substitution of a good quality for a bad one; and the _Kitāb -al-Lumaʿ_ gives many examples of holy men who disliked miracles and -regarded them as a temptation. “During my novitiate,” said Bāyazīd, -“God used to bring before me wonders and miracles, but I paid no -heed to them; and when He saw that I did so, He gave me the means of -attaining to knowledge of Himself.” Junayd observed that reliance on -miracles is one of the ‘veils’ which hinder the elect from penetrating -to the inmost shrine of the Truth. This was too high doctrine for the -great mass of Moslems, and in the end the vulgar idea of saintship -triumphed over the mystical and theosophical conception. All such -warnings and scruples were swept aside by the same irresistible -instinct which rendered vain the solemn asseverations of Mohammed that -there was nothing supernatural about him, and which transformed the -human Prophet of history into an omnipotent hierophant and magician. -The popular demand for miracles far exceeded the supply, but where the -_walīs_ failed, a vivid and credulous imagination came to their rescue -and represented them, not as they were, but as they ought to be. Year -by year the _Legend of the Saints_ grew more glorious and wonderful -as it continued to draw fresh tribute from the unfathomable ocean of -Oriental romance. The pretensions made by the _walīs_, or on their -behalf, steadily increased, and the stories told of them were ever -becoming more fantastic and extravagant. I will devote the remainder -of this chapter to a sketch of the _walī_ as he appears in the vast -medieval literature on the subject. - -The Moslem saint does not say that he has wrought a miracle; he says, -“a miracle was granted or manifested to me.” According to one view, -he may be fully conscious at the time, but many Sūfīs hold that such -‘manifestation’ cannot take place except in ecstasy, when the saint is -entirely under divine control. His own personality is then in abeyance, -and those who interfere with him oppose the Almighty Power which -speaks with his lips and smites with his hand. Jalāluddīn (who uses -incidentally the rather double-edged analogy of a man possessed by a -peri[17]) relates the following anecdote concerning Bāyazīd of Bistām, -a celebrated Persian saint who several times declared in ecstatic -frenzy that he was no other than God. - -[17] One of the spirits called collectively Jinn. - -After coming to himself on one of these occasions and learning what -blasphemous language he had uttered, Bāyazīd ordered his disciples to -stab him with their knives if he should offend again. Let me quote the -sequel, from Mr. Whinfield’s abridged translation of the _Masnavī_ (p. -196): - - “The torrent of madness bore away his reason - And he spoke more impiously than before: - ‘Within my vesture is naught but God, - Whether you seek Him on earth or in heaven.’ - His disciples all became mad with horror, - And struck with their knives at his holy body. - Each one who aimed at the body of the Sheykh-- - His stroke was reversed and wounded the striker. - No stroke took effect on that man of spiritual gifts, - But the disciples were wounded and drowned in blood.” - -Here is the poet’s conclusion: - - “Ah! you who smite with your sword him beside himself, - You smite yourself therewith. Beware! - For he that is beside himself is annihilated and safe; - Yea, he dwells in security for ever. - His form is vanished, he is a mere mirror; - Nothing is seen in him but the reflexion of another. - If you spit at it, you spit at your own face, - And if you hit that mirror, you hit yourself. - If you see an ugly face in it, ’tis your own, - And if you see a Jesus there, you are its mother Mary. - He is neither this nor that--he is void of form; - ’Tis your own form which is reflected back to you.” - -The life of Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī, another Persian Sūfī who died in -1033 A.D., gives us a complete picture of the Oriental pantheist, -and exhibits the mingled arrogance and sublimity of the character as -clearly as could be desired. Since the original text covers fifty -pages, I can translate only a small portion of it here. - - “Once the Sheykh said, ‘This night a great many persons (he - mentioned the exact number) have been wounded by brigands in - such-and-such a desert.’ On making inquiry, they found that his - statement was perfectly true. Strange to relate, on the same night - his son’s head was cut off and laid upon the threshold of his - house, yet he knew nothing of it. His wife, who disbelieved in him, - cried, ‘What think you of a man who can tell things which happen - many leagues away, but does not know that his own son’s head has - been cut off and is lying at his very door?’ ‘Yes,’ the Sheykh - answered, ‘when I saw that, the veil had been lifted, but when my - son was killed, it had been let down again.’” - - “One day Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī clenched his fist and extended - the little finger and said, ‘Here is the _qibla_,[18] if any one - desires to become a Sūfī.’ These words were reported to the Grand - Sheykh, who, deeming the co-existence of two _qiblas_ an insult to - the divine Unity, exclaimed, ‘Since a second _qibla_ has appeared, - I will cancel the former one.’ After that, no pilgrims were able to - reach Mecca. Some perished on the way, others fell into the hands - of robbers, or were prevented by various causes from accomplishing - their journey. Next year a certain dervish said to the Grand - Sheykh, ‘What sense is there in keeping the folk away from the - House of God?’ Thereupon the Grand Sheykh made a sign, and the road - became open once more. The dervish asked, ‘Whose fault is it that - all these people have perished?’ The Grand Sheykh replied, ‘When - elephants jostle each other, who cares if a few wretched birds are - crushed to death?’” - -[18] The _qibla_ is the point to which Moslems turn their faces when -praying, _i.e._ the Kaʿba. - - “Some persons who were setting forth on a journey begged - Khurqānī to teach them a prayer that would keep them safe from the - perils of the road. He said, ‘If any misfortune should befall you, - mention my name.’ This answer was not agreeable to them; they set - off, however, and while travelling were attacked by brigands. One - of the party mentioned the saint’s name and immediately became - invisible, to the great astonishment of the brigands, who could - not find either his camel or his bales of merchandise; the others - lost all their clothes and goods. On returning home, they asked the - Sheykh to explain the mystery. ‘We all invoked God,’ they said, - ‘and without success; but the one man who invoked you vanished from - before the eyes of the robbers.’ ‘You invoke God formally,’ said - the Sheykh, ‘whereas I invoke Him really. Hence, if you invoke me - and I then invoke God on your behalf, your prayers are granted; but - it is useless for you to invoke God formally and by rote.’” - - “One night, while he was praying, he heard a voice cry, ‘Ha! - Abu ’l-Hasan! Dost thou wish Me to tell the people what I know of - thee, that they may stone thee to death?’ ‘O Lord God,’ he replied, - ‘dost Thou wish me to tell the people what I know of Thy mercy and - what I perceive of Thy grace, that none of them may ever again bow - to Thee in prayer?’ The voice answered, ‘Keep thy secret, and I - will keep Mine.’” - - “He said, ‘O God, do not send to me the Angel of Death, for I - will not give up my soul to him. How should I restore it to him, - from whom I did not receive it? I received my soul from Thee, and I - will not give it up to any one but Thee.’” - - “He said, ‘After I shall have passed away, the Angel of Death - will come to one of my descendants and set about taking his soul, - and will deal hardly with him. Then will I raise my hands from the - tomb and shed the grace of God upon his lips.’” - - “He said, ‘If I bade the empyrean move, it would obey, and if - I told the sun to stop, it would cease from rolling on its course.’” - - “He said, ‘I am not a devotee nor an ascetic nor a theologian - nor a Sūfī. O God, Thou art One, and through Thy Oneness I am One.’” - - “He said, ‘The skull of my head is the empyrean, and my feet - are under the earth, and my two hands are East and West.’” - - “He said, ‘If any one does not believe that I shall stand up at - the Resurrection and that he shall not enter Paradise until I lead - him forward, let him not come here to salute me.’” - - “He said, ‘Since God brought me forth from myself, Paradise - is in quest of me and Hell is in fear of me; and if Paradise and - Hell were to pass by this place where I am, both would become - annihilated in me, together with all the people whom they contain.’” - - “He said, ‘I was lying on my back, asleep. From a corner of - the Throne of God something trickled into my mouth, and I felt a - sweetness in my inward being.’” - - “He said, ‘If a few drops of that which is under the skin of - a saint should come forth between his lips, all the creatures of - heaven and earth would fall into panic.’” - - “He said, ‘Through prayer the saints are able to stop the fish - from swimming in the sea and to make the earth tremble, so that - people think it is an earthquake.’” - - “He said, ‘If the love of God in the hearts of His friends were - made manifest, it would fill the world with flood and fire.’” - - “He said, ‘He that lives with God hath seen all things visible, - and heard all things audible, and done all that is to be done, and - known all that is to be known.’” - - “He said, ‘All things are contained in me, but there is no room - for myself in me.’” - - “He said, ‘Miracles are only the first of the thousand stages - of the Way to God.’” - - “He said, ‘Do not seek until thou art sought, for when thou - findest that which thou seekest, it will resemble thee.’” - - “He said, ‘Thou must daily die a thousand deaths and come to - life again, that thou mayst win the life immortal.’” - - “He said, ‘When thou givest to God thy nothingness, He gives to - thee His All.’” - -It would be an almost endless task to enumerate and exemplify the -different classes of miracles which are related in the lives of the -Mohammedan saints--for instance, walking on water, flying in the air -(with or without a passenger), rain-making, appearing in various -places at the same time, healing by the breath, bringing the dead to -life, knowledge and prediction of future events, thought-reading, -telekinesis, paralysing or beheading an obnoxious person by a word or -gesture, conversing with animals or plants, turning earth into gold or -precious stones, producing food and drink, etc. To the Moslem, who has -no sense of natural law, all these ‘violations of custom,’ as he calls -them, seem equally credible. We, on the other hand, feel ourselves -obliged to distinguish phenomena which we regard as irrational and -impossible from those for which we can find some sort of ‘natural’ -explanation. Modern theories of psychical influence, faith-healing, -telepathy, veridical hallucination, hypnotic suggestion and the like, -have thrown open to us a wide avenue of approach to this dark continent -in the Eastern mind. I will not, however, pursue the subject far at -present, full of interest as it is. In the higher Sūfī teaching the -miraculous powers of the saints play a more or less insignificant -part, and the excessive importance which they assume in the organised -mysticism of the Dervish Orders is one of the clearest marks of its -degeneracy. - -The following passage, which I have slightly modified, gives a fair -summary of the hypnotic process through which a dervish attains to -union with God: - - “The disciple must, mystically, always bear his Murshid - (spiritual director) in mind, and become mentally absorbed in - him through a constant meditation and contemplation of him. The - teacher must be his shield against all evil thoughts. The spirit - of the teacher follows him in all his efforts, and accompanies him - wherever he may be, quite as a guardian spirit. To such a degree is - this carried that he sees the master in all men and in all things, - just as a willing subject is under the influence of the magnetiser. - This condition is called ‘self-annihilation’ in the Murshid or - Sheykh. The latter finds, in his own visionary dreams, the degree - which the disciple has reached, and whether or not his spirit has - become bound to his own. - - “At this stage the Sheykh passes him over to the spiritual - influence of the long-deceased Pīr or original founder of the - Order, and he sees the latter only by the spiritual aid of the - Sheykh. This is called ‘self-annihilation’ in the Pīr. He now - becomes so much a part of the Pīr as to possess all his spiritual - powers. - - “The third grade leads him, also through the spiritual aid of - the Sheykh, up to the Prophet himself, whom he now sees in all - things. This state is called ‘self-annihilation’ in the Prophet. - - “The fourth degree leads him even to God. He becomes united - with the Deity and sees Him in all things.”[19] - -[19] J. P. Brown, _The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism_ (1868), p. -298. - -An excellent concrete illustration of the process here described will -be found in the well-known case of Tawakkul Beg, who passed through all -these experiences under the control of Mollā-Shāh. His account is too -long to quote in full; moreover, it has recently been translated by -Professor D. B. Macdonald in his _Religious Life and Attitude in Islam_ -(pp. 197 ff.). I copy from this version one paragraph describing the -first of the four stages mentioned above. - - “Thereupon he made me sit before him, my senses being as - though intoxicated, and ordered me to reproduce my own image - within myself; and, after having bandaged my eyes, he asked me to - concentrate all my mental faculties on my heart. I obeyed, and in - an instant, by the divine favour and by the spiritual assistance of - the Sheykh, my heart opened. I saw, then, that there was something - like an overturned cup within me. This having been set upright, a - sensation of unbounded happiness filled my being. I said to the - master, ‘This cell where I am seated before you--I see a faithful - reproduction of it within me, and it appears to me as though - another Tawakkul Beg were seated before another Mollā-Shāh.’ He - replied, ‘Very good! the first apparition which appears to thee is - the image of the master.’ He then ordered me to uncover my eyes; - and I saw him, with the physical organ of vision, seated before me. - He then made me bind my eyes again, and I perceived him with my - spiritual sight, seated similarly before me. Full of astonishment, - I cried out, ‘O Master! whether I look with my physical organs or - with my spiritual sight, always it is you that I see!’” - -Here is a case of autohypnotism, witnessed and recorded by the poet -Jāmī: - - “Mawlānā Saʿduddīn of Kāshghar, after a little concentration of - thought (_tawajjuh_), used to exhibit signs of unconsciousness. Any - one ignorant of this circumstance would have fancied that he was - falling asleep. When I first entered into companionship with him, - I happened one day to be seated before him in the congregational - mosque. According to his custom, he fell into a trance. I supposed - that he was going to sleep, and I said to him, ‘If you desire to - rest for a short time, you will not seem to me to be far off.’ - He smiled and said, ‘Apparently you do not believe that this is - something different from sleep.’” - -The following anecdote presents greater difficulties: - - “Mawlānā Nizāmuddīn Khāmūsh relates that one day his master, - ʿAlāʾuddīn ʿAttār, started to visit the tomb of the celebrated - saint Mohammed ibn ʿAlī Hakīm, at Tirmidh. ‘I did not accompany - him,’ said Nizāmuddīn, ‘but stayed at home, and by concentrating - my mind (_tawajjuh_) I succeeded in bringing the spirituality of - the saint before me, so that when the master arrived at the tomb - he found it empty. He must have known the cause, for on his return - he set to work in order to bring me under his control. I, too, - concentrated my mind, but I found myself like a dove and the master - like a hawk flying in chase of me. Wherever I turned, he was always - close behind. At last, despairing of escape, I took refuge with the - spirituality of the Prophet (on whom be peace) and became effaced - in its infinite radiance. The master could not exercise any further - control. He fell ill in consequence of his chagrin, and no one - except myself knew the reason.’” - -ʿAlāʾuddīn’s son, Khwāja Hasan ʿAttār, possessed such powers of -‘control’ that he could at will throw any one into the state of -trance and cause them to experience the ‘passing-away’ (_fanā_) to -which some mystics attain only on rare occasions and after prolonged -self-mortification. It is related that the disciples and visitors who -were admitted to the honour of kissing his hand always fell unconscious -to the ground. - -Certain saints are believed to have the power of assuming whatever -shape they please. One of the most famous was Abū ʿAbdallah of Mosul, -better known by the name of Qadīb al-Bān. One day the Cadi of Mosul, -who regarded him as a detestable heretic, saw him in a street of the -town, approaching from the opposite direction. He resolved to seize -him and lay a charge against him before the governor, in order that -he might be punished. All at once he perceived that Qadīb al-Bān had -taken the form of a Kurd; and as the saint advanced towards him, -his appearance changed again, this time into an Arab of the desert. -Finally, on coming still nearer, he assumed the guise and dress of -a doctor of theology, and cried, “O Cadi! which Qadīb al-Bān will -you hale before the governor and punish?” The Cadi repented of his -hostility and became one of the saint’s disciples. - -In conclusion, let me give two alleged instances of ‘the obedience of -inanimate objects,’ _i.e._ telekinesis: - - “Whilst Dhu ’l-Nūn was conversing on this topic with some - friends, he said, ‘Here is a sofa. It will move round the room, if - I tell it to do so.’ No sooner had he uttered the word ‘move’ than - the sofa made a circuit of the room and returned to its place. One - of the spectators, a young man, burst into tears and gave up the - ghost. They laid him on that sofa and washed him for burial.” - - “Avicenna paid a visit to Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī and immediately - plunged into a long and abstruse discussion. After a time the - saint, who was an illiterate person, felt tired, so he got up and - said, ‘Excuse me; I must go and mend the garden wall’; and off he - went, taking a hatchet with him. As soon as he had climbed on to - the top of the wall, the hatchet dropped from his hand. Avicenna - ran to pick it up, but before he reached it the hatchet rose of - itself and came back into the saint’s hand. Avicenna lost all his - self-command, and the enthusiastic belief in Sūfism which then took - possession of him continued until, at a later period of his life, - he abandoned mysticism for philosophy.” - - -I am well aware that in this chapter scanty justice has been done to -a great subject. The historian of Sūfism must acknowledge, however -deeply he may deplore, the fundamental position occupied by the -doctrine of saintship and the tremendous influence which it has exerted -in its practical results--grovelling submission to the authority of -an ecstatic class of men, dependence on their favour, pilgrimage to -their shrines, adoration of their relics, devotion of every mental and -spiritual faculty to their service. It may be dangerous to worship God -by one’s own inner light, but it is far more deadly to seek Him by the -inner light of another. Vicarious holiness has no compensations. This -truth is expressed by the mystical writers in many an eloquent passage, -but I will content myself with quoting a few lines from the life of -ʿAlāʾuddīn ʿAttār, the same saint who, as we have seen, vainly tried -to hypnotise his pupil in revenge for a disrespectful trick which the -latter had played on him. His biographer relates that he said, “It is -more right and worthy to dwell beside God than to dwell beside God’s -creatures,” and that the following verse was often on his blessed -tongue: - - “How long will you worship at the tombs of holy men? - Busy yourself with the _works_ of holy men, and you are saved!” - - (“_tu tā kay gūr-i mardān-rā parastī_ - _bi-gird-i kār-i mardān gard u rastī._”) - - - - - CHAPTER VI - - THE UNITIVE STATE - - “The story admits of being told up to this point, - But what follows is hidden, and inexpressible in words. - If you should speak and try a hundred ways to express it, - ’Tis useless; the mystery becomes no clearer. - You can ride on saddle and horse to the sea-coast, - But then you must use a horse of wood (_i.e._ a boat). - A horse of wood is useless on dry land, - It is the special vehicle of voyagers by sea. - Silence is this horse of wood, - Silence is the guide and support of men at sea.”[20] - -[20] The _Masnavī_ of Jalāluddīn Rūmī. Abridged translation by E. H. -Whinfield, p. 326. - - -No one can approach the subject of this chapter--the state of the -mystic who has reached his journey’s end--without feeling that all -symbolical descriptions of union with God and theories concerning its -nature are little better than leaps in the dark. How shall we form any -conception of that which is declared to be ineffable by those who have -actually experienced it? I can only reply that the same difficulty -confronts us in dealing with all mystical phenomena, though it appears -less formidable at lower levels, and that the poet’s counsel of silence -has not prevented him from interpreting the deepest mysteries of Sūfism -with unrivalled insight and power. - -Whatever terms may be used to describe it, the unitive state is the -culmination of the simplifying process by which the soul is gradually -isolated from all that is foreign to itself, from all that is not God. -Unlike Nirvāṇa, which is merely the cessation of individuality, _fanā_, -the passing-away of the Sūfī from his phenomenal existence, involves -_baqā_, the continuance of his real existence. He who dies to self -lives in God, and _fanā_, the consummation of this death, marks the -attainment of _baqā_, or union with the divine life. Deification, in -short, is the Moslem mystic’s _ultima Thule_. - -In the early part of the tenth century Husayn ibn Mansūr, known to -fame as al-Hallāj (the wool-carder), was barbarously done to death -at Baghdād. His execution seems to have been dictated by political -motives, but with these we are not concerned. Amongst the crowd -assembled round the scaffold, a few, perhaps, believed him to be what -he said he was; the rest witnessed with exultation or stern approval -the punishment of a blasphemous heretic. He had uttered in two words -a sentence which Islam has, on the whole, forgiven but has never -forgotten: “_Ana ’l-Haqq_”--“I am God.” - -The recently published researches of M. Louis Massignon[21] make it -possible, for the first time, to indicate the meaning which Hallāj -himself attached to this celebrated formula, and to assert definitely -that it does not agree with the more orthodox interpretations offered -at a later epoch by Sūfīs belonging to various schools. According to -Hallāj, man is essentially divine. God created Adam in His own image. -He projected from Himself that image of His eternal love, that He might -behold Himself as in a mirror. Hence He bade the angels worship Adam -(Kor. =2.= 32), in whom, as in Jesus, He became incarnate. - -[21] _Kitāb al-Tawāsīn_ (Paris, 1913). See especially pp. 129-141. - - “Glory to Him who revealed in His humanity (_i.e._ in Adam) - the secret of His radiant divinity, - And then appeared to His creatures visibly in the shape of one - who ate and drank (Jesus).” - -Since the ‘humanity’ (_nāsūt_) of God comprises the whole bodily and -spiritual nature of man, the ‘divinity’ (_lāhūt_) of God cannot unite -with that nature except by means of an incarnation or, to adopt the -term employed by Massignon, an infusion (_hulūl_) of the divine Spirit, -such as takes place when the human spirit enters the body.[22] Thus -Hallāj says in one of his poems: - - “Thy Spirit is mingled in my spirit even as wine is mingled with - pure water. - When anything touches Thee, it touches me. Lo, in every case - Thou art I!” - -And again: - - “I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I: - We are two spirits dwelling in one body. - If thou seest me, thou seest Him, - And if thou seest Him, thou seest us both.” - -[22] Massignon appears to be right in identifying the Divine Spirit -with the Active Reason (_intellectus agens_), which, according to -Alexander of Aphrodisias, is not a part or faculty of our soul, but -comes to us from without. See Inge, _Christian Mysticism_, pp. 360, -361. The doctrine of Hallāj may be compared with that of Tauler, -Ruysbroeck, and others concerning the birth of God in the soul. - -This doctrine of personal deification, in the peculiar form which was -impressed upon it by Hallāj, is obviously akin to the central doctrine -of Christianity, and therefore, from the Moslem standpoint, a heresy of -the worst kind. It survived unadulterated only amongst his immediate -followers. The Hulūlīs, _i.e._ those who believe in incarnation, are -repudiated by Sūfīs in general quite as vehemently as by orthodox -Moslems. But while the former have unhesitatingly condemned the -doctrine of _hulūl_, they have also done their best to clear Hallāj -from the suspicion of having taught it. Three main lines of defence are -followed: (1) Hallāj did not sin against the Truth, but he was justly -punished in so far as he committed a grave offence against the Law. He -“betrayed the secret of his Lord” by proclaiming to all and sundry the -supreme mystery which ought to be reserved for the elect. (2) Hallāj -spoke under the intoxicating influence of ecstasy. He imagined himself -to be united with the divine essence, when in fact he was only united -with one of the divine attributes. (3) Hallāj meant to declare that -there is no essential difference or separation between God and His -creatures, inasmuch as the divine unity includes all being. A man who -has entirely passed away from his phenomenal self exists _quâ_ his real -self, which is God. - - “In that glory is no ‘I’ or ‘We’ or ‘Thou.’ - ‘I,’ ‘We,’ ‘Thou,’ and ‘He’ are all one thing.” - -It was not Hallāj who cried “_Ana ’l-Haqq_,” but God Himself, speaking, -as it were, by the mouth of the selfless Hallāj, just as He spoke to -Moses through the medium of the burning bush (Kor. =20.= 8-14). - -The last explanation, which converts _Ana ’l-Haqq_ into an impersonal -monistic axiom, is accepted by most Sūfīs as representing the true -Hallājian teaching. In a magnificent ode Jalāluddīn Rūmī describes how -the One Light shines in myriad forms through the whole universe, and -how the One Essence, remaining ever the same, clothes itself from age -to age in the prophets and saints who are its witnesses to mankind. - - “Every moment the robber Beauty rises in a different shape, - ravishes the soul, and disappears. - Every instant that Loved One assumes a new garment, now of eld, - now of youth. - Now He plunged into the heart of the substance of the potter’s - clay--the Spirit plunged, like a diver. - Anon He rose from the depths of mud that is moulded and baked, - then He appeared in the world. - He became Noah, and at His prayer the world was flooded while He - went into the Ark. - He became Abraham and appeared in the midst of the fire, which - turned to roses for His sake. - For a while He was roaming on the earth to pleasure Himself, - Then He became Jesus and ascended to the dome of Heaven and began - to glorify God. - In brief, it was He that was coming and going in every generation - thou hast seen, - Until at last He appeared in the form of an Arab and gained the - empire of the world. - What is it that is transferred? What is transmigration in reality? - The lovely winner of hearts - Became a sword and appeared in the hand of ʿAlī and became the - Slayer of the time. - No! no! for ’twas even He that was crying in human shape, - ‘_Ana ’l-Haqq_.’ - That one who mounted the scaffold was not Mansūr,[23] though the - foolish imagined it. - Rūmī hath not spoken and will not speak words of infidelity: - do not disbelieve him! - Whosoever shows disbelief is an infidel and one of those who - have been doomed to Hell.” - -[23] Hallāj is often called Mansūr, which is properly the name of his -father. - -Although in Western and Central Asia--where the Persian kings were -regarded by their subjects as gods, and where the doctrines of -incarnation, anthropomorphism, and metempsychosis are indigenous--the -idea of the God-man was neither so unfamiliar nor unnatural as to -shock the public conscience very profoundly, Hallāj had formulated -that idea in such a way that no mysticism calling itself Mohammedan -could tolerate, much less adopt it. To assert that the divine and human -natures may be interfused and commingled,[24] would have been to deny -the principle of unity on which Islam is based. The subsequent history -of Sūfism shows how deification was identified with unification. The -antithesis--God, Man--melted away in the pantheistic theory which has -been explained above.[25] There is no real existence apart from God. -Man is an emanation or a reflexion or a mode of Absolute Being. What -he thinks of as individuality is in truth not-being; it cannot be -separated or united, for it does not exist. Man _is_ God, yet with -a difference. According to Ibn al-ʿArabī,[26] the eternal and the -phenomenal are two complementary aspects of the One, each of which is -necessary to the other. The creatures are the external manifestation -of the Creator, and Man is God’s consciousness (_sirr_) as revealed in -creation. But since Man, owing to the limitations of his mind, cannot -think all objects of thought simultaneously, and therefore expresses -only a part of the divine consciousness, he is not entitled to say -_Ana ’l-Haqq_, “I am God.” He is _a_ reality, but not _the_ Reality. -We shall see that other Sūfīs--Jalāluddīn Rūmī, for example--in their -ecstatic moments, at any rate, ignore this rather subtle distinction. - -[24] _Hulūl_ was not understood in this sense by Hallāj (Massignon, -_op. cit._, p. 199), though the verses quoted on p. 151 readily suggest -such an interpretation. Hallāj, I think, would have agreed with Eckhart -(who said, “The word _I am_ none can truly speak but God alone”) that -the personality in which the Eternal is immanent has itself a part in -eternity (Inge, _Christian Mysticism_, p. 149, note). - -[25] See pp. 79 ff. - -[26] Massignon, _op. cit._, p. 183. - -The statement that in realising the nonentity of his individual -self the Sūfī realises his essential oneness with God, sums up the -Mohammedan theory of deification in terms with which my readers are -now familiar. I will endeavour to show what more precise meaning may -be assigned to it, partly in my own words and partly by means of -illustrative extracts from various authors. - -Several aspects of _fanā_ have already been distinguished.[27] -The highest of these--the passing-away in the divine essence--is -fully described by Niffarī, who employs instead of fanā and fānī -(self-naughted) the terms _waqfat_, signifying cessation from search, -and _wāqif_, _i.e._ one who desists from seeking and passes away in the -Object Sought. Here are some of the chief points that occur in the text -and commentary. - -[27] See pp. 60, 61. - -_Waqfat_ is luminous: it expels the dark thoughts of ‘otherness,’ just -as light banishes darkness; it changes the phenomenal values of all -existent things into their real and eternal values. - -Hence the _wāqif_ transcends time and place. “He enters every house and -it contains him not; he drinks from every well but is not satisfied; -then he reaches Me, and I am his home, and his abode is with Me”--that -is to say, he comprehends all the divine attributes and embraces all -mystical experiences. He is not satisfied with the names (attributes), -but seeks the Named. He contemplates the essence of God and finds it -identical with his own. He does not pray. Prayer is from man to God, -but in _waqfat_ there is nothing but God. - -The _wāqif_ leaves not a rack behind him, nor any heir except God. When -even the phenomenon of _waqfat_ has disappeared from his consciousness, -he becomes the very Light. Then his praise of God proceeds from God, -and his knowledge is God’s knowledge, who beholds Himself alone as He -was in the beginning. - -We need not expect to discover how this essentialisation, -substitution, or transmutation is effected. It is the grand paradox of -Sūfism--the _Magnum Opus_ wrought somehow _in_ created man by a Being -whose nature is eternally devoid of the least taint of creatureliness. -As I have remarked above, the change, however it may be conceived, does -not involve infusion of the divine essence (_hulūl_) or identification -of the divine and human natures (_ittihād_). Both these doctrines are -generally condemned. Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj criticises them in two passages -of his _Kitāb al-Lumaʿ_, as follows: - - “Some mystics of Baghdād have erred in their doctrine that - when they pass away from their qualities they enter into the - qualities of God. This leads to incarnation (_hulūl_) or to the - Christian belief concerning Jesus. The doctrine in question has - been attributed to some of the ancients, but its true meaning is - this, that when a man goes forth from his own qualities and enters - into the qualities of God, he goes forth from his own will and - enters into the will of God, knowing that his will is given to him - by God and that by virtue of this gift he is severed from regarding - himself, so that he becomes entirely devoted to God; and this is - one of the stages of Unitarians. Those who have erred in this - doctrine have failed to observe that the qualities of God are not - God. To make God identical with His qualities is to be guilty of - infidelity, because God does not descend into the heart, but that - which descends into the heart is faith in God and belief in His - unity and reverence for the thought of Him.” - -In the second passage he makes use of a similar argument in order to -refute the doctrine of _ittihād_. - - “Some have abstained from food and drink, fancying that - when a man’s body is weakened it is possible that he may lose - his humanity and be invested with the attributes of divinity. - The ignorant persons who hold this erroneous doctrine cannot - distinguish between humanity and the inborn qualities of humanity. - Humanity does not depart from man any more than blackness departs - from that which is black or whiteness from that which is white, - but the inborn qualities of humanity are changed and transmuted - by the all-powerful radiance that is shed upon them from the - divine Realities. The attributes of humanity are not the essence - of humanity. Those who inculcate the doctrine of _fanā_ mean the - passing-away of regarding one’s own actions and works of devotion - through the continuance of regarding God as the doer of these - actions on behalf of His servant.” - -Hujwīrī characterises as absurd the belief that passing-away (_fanā_) -signifies loss of essence and destruction of corporeal substance, and -that ‘abiding’ (_baqā_) indicates the indwelling of God in man. Real -passing-away from anything, he says, implies consciousness of its -imperfection and absence of desire for it. Whoever passes away from his -own perishable will abides in the everlasting will of God, but human -attributes cannot become divine attributes or _vice versa_. - - “The power of fire transforms to its own quality anything that - falls into it, and surely the power of God’s will is greater than - that of fire; yet fire affects only the quality of iron without - changing its substance, for iron can never become fire.” - -In another part of his work Hujwīrī defines ‘union’ (_jamʿ_) as -concentration of thought upon the desired object. Thus Majnūn, the -Orlando Furioso of Islam, concentrated his thoughts on Laylā, so that -he saw only her in the whole world, and all created things assumed the -form of Laylā in his eyes. Some one came to the cell of Bāyazīd and -asked, “Is Bāyazīd here?” He answered, “Is any one here but God?” The -principle in all such cases, Hujwīrī adds, is the same, namely: - - “That God divides the one substance of His love and bestows a - particle thereof, as a peculiar gift, upon every one of His friends - in proportion to their enravishment with Him; then he lets down - upon that particle the shrouds of fleshliness and human nature - and temperament and spirit, in order that by its powerful working - it may transmute to its own quality all the particles that are - attached to it, until the lover’s clay is wholly converted into - love and all his acts and looks become so many properties of love. - This state is named ‘union’ alike by those who regard the inward - sense and the outward expression.” - -Then he quotes these verses of Hallāj: - - “Thy will be done, O my Lord and Master! - Thy will be done, O my purpose and meaning! - O essence of my being, O goal of my desire, - O my speech and my hints and my gestures! - O all of my all, O my hearing and my sight, - O my whole and my element and my particles!” - -The enraptured Sūfī who has passed beyond the illusion of subject -and object and broken through to the Oneness can either deny that he -is anything or affirm that he is all things. As an example of ‘the -negative way,’ take the opening lines of an ode by Jalāluddīn which I -have rendered into verse, imitating the metrical form of the Persian as -closely as the genius of our language will permit: - - “Lo, for I to myself am unknown, now in God’s name what must I do? - I adore not the Cross nor the Crescent, I am not a Giaour nor a Jew. - East nor West, land nor sea is my home, I have kin nor with angel - nor gnome, - I am wrought not of fire nor of foam, I am shaped not of dust - nor of dew. - I was born not in China afar, not in Saqsīn and not in Bulghār; - Not in India, where five rivers are, nor ʿIrāq nor Khorāsān I grew. - Not in this world nor that world I dwell, not in Paradise, neither - in Hell; - Not from Eden and Rizwān I fell, not from Adam my lineage I drew. - In a place beyond uttermost Place, in a tract without shadow - of trace, - Soul and body transcending I live in the soul of my Loved One anew!” - -The following poem, also by Jalāluddīn, expresses the positive aspect -of the cosmic consciousness: - - “If there be any lover in the world, O Moslems, ’tis I. - If there be any believer, infidel, or Christian hermit, ’tis I. - The wine-dregs, the cupbearer, the minstrel, the harp, and - the music, - The beloved, the candle, the drink and the joy of the - drunken--’tis I. - The two-and-seventy creeds and sects in the world - Do not really exist: I swear by God that every creed and - sect--’tis I. - Earth and air and water and fire--knowest thou what they are? - Earth and air and water and fire, nay, body and soul too--’tis I. - Truth and falsehood, good and evil, ease and difficulty from first - to last, - Knowledge and learning and asceticism and piety and faith--’tis I. - The fire of Hell, be assured, with its flaming limbos, - Yes, and Paradise and Eden and the Houris--’tis I. - This earth and heaven with all that they hold, - Angels, Peris, Genies, and Mankind--’tis I.” - -What Jalāluddīn utters in a moment of ecstatic vision Henry More -describes as a past experience: - - “How lovely” (he says), “how magnificent a state is the soul - of man in, when the life of God inactuating her shoots her along - with Himself through heaven and earth; makes her unite with, and - after a sort feel herself animate, the whole world. He that is here - looks upon all things as One, and on himself, if he can then mind - himself, as a part of the Whole.” - -For some Sūfīs, absorption in the ecstasy of _fanā_ is the end of their -pilgrimage. Thenceforth no relation exists between them and the world. -Nothing of themselves is left in them; as individuals, they are dead. -Immersed in Unity, they know neither law nor religion nor any form -of phenomenal being. But those God-intoxicated devotees who never -return to sobriety have fallen short of the highest perfection. The -full circle of deification must comprehend both the inward and outward -aspects of Deity--the One and the Many, the Truth and the Law. It is -not enough to escape from all that is creaturely, without entering into -the eternal life of God the Creator as manifested in His works. To -abide in God (_baqā_) after having passed-away from selfhood (_fanā_) -is the mark of the Perfect Man, who not only journeys _to_ God, _i.e._ -passes from plurality to unity, but _in_ and _with_ God, _i.e._ -continuing in the unitive state, he returns with God to the phenomenal -world from which he set out, and manifests unity in plurality. In this -descent - - “He makes the Law his upper garment - And the mystic Path his inner garment,” - -for he brings down and displays the Truth to mankind while fulfilling -the duties of the religious law. Of him it may be said, in the words of -a great Christian mystic: - - “He goes _towards_ God by inward love, in eternal work, and he - goes _in_ God by his fruitive inclination, in eternal rest. And - he dwells in God; and yet he goes out towards created things in a - spirit of love towards all things, in the virtues and in works of - righteousness. And this is the most exalted summit of the inner - life.”[28] - -[28] Ruysbroeck, quoted in E. Underhill’s _Introduction to Mysticism_, -p. 522. - -ʿAfīfuddīn Tilimsānī, in his commentary on Niffarī, describes four -mystical journeys: - -The _first_ begins with gnosis and ends with complete passing-away -(_fanā_). - -The _second_ begins at the moment when passing-away is succeeded by -‘abiding’ (_baqā_). - -He who has attained to this station journeys in the Real, by the Real, -to the Real, and he then is a reality (_haqq_).[29] Thus travelling -onward, he arrives at the station of the _Qutb_,[30] which is the -station of Perfect Manhood. He becomes the centre of the spiritual -universe, so that every point and limit reached by individual human -beings is equally distant from his station, whether they be near or -far; since all stations revolve round his, and in relation to the -_Qutb_ there is no difference between nearness and farness. To one who -has gained this supreme position, knowledge and gnosis and passing-away -are as rivers of his ocean, whereby he replenishes whomsoever he will. -He has the right to guide others to God, and seeks permission to do so -from none but himself. Before the gate of Apostleship was closed,[31] -he would have deserved the title of Apostle, but in our day his due -title is Director of Souls, and he is a blessing to those who invoke -his aid, because he comprehends the innate capacities of all mankind -and, like a camel-driver, speeds every one to his home. - -[29] See p. 155 above. - -[30] See p. 123. - -[31] _I.e._ before the time of Mohammed, who is the Seal of the -Prophets. - -In the _third_ journey this Perfect Man turns his attention to God’s -creatures, either as an Apostle or as a Spiritual Director (Sheykh), -and reveals himself to those who would fain be released from their -faculties, to each according to his degree: to the adherent of positive -religion as a theologian; to the contemplative, who has not yet enjoyed -full contemplation, as a gnostic; to the gnostic as one who has -entirely passed-away from individuality (_wāqif_); to the _wāqif_ as a -_Qutb_. He is the horizon of every mystical station and transcends the -furthest range of experience known to each grade of seekers. - -The _fourth_ journey is usually associated with physical death. The -Prophet was referring to it when he cried on his deathbed, “I choose -the highest companions.” In this journey, to judge from the obscure -verses in which ʿAfīfuddīn describes it, the Perfect Man, having been -invested with all the divine attributes, becomes, so to speak, the -mirror which displays God to Himself. - - “When my Beloved appears, - With what eye do I see Him? - With His eye, not with mine, - For none sees Him except Himself.” - (Ibn al-ʿArabī.) - -The light in the soul, the eye by which it sees, and the object of its -vision, all are One. - - -We have followed the Sūfī in his quest of Reality to a point where -language fails. His progress will seldom be so smooth and unbroken as -it appears in these pages. The proverbial headache after intoxication -supplies a parallel to the periods of intense aridity and acute -suffering that sometimes fill the interval between lower and higher -states of ecstasy. Descriptions of this experience--the Dark Night of -the Soul, as it is called by Christian authors--may be found in almost -any biography of Mohammedan saints. Thus Jāmī relates in his _Nafahāt -al-Uns_ that a certain dervish, a disciple of the famous Shihābuddīn -Suhrawardī, - - “Was endowed with a great ecstasy in the contemplation of Unity - and in the station of passing-away (_fanā_). One day he began to - weep and lament. On being asked by the Sheykh Shihābuddīn what - ailed him, he answered, ‘Lo, I am debarred by plurality from the - vision of Unity. I am rejected, and my former state--I cannot find - it!’ The Sheykh remarked that this was the prelude to the station - of ‘abiding’ (_baqā_), and that his present state was higher and - more sublime than the one which he was in before.” - -Does personality survive in the ultimate union with God? If personality -means a conscious existence distinct, though not separate, from God, -the majority of advanced Moslem mystics say “No!” As the rain-drop -absorbed in the ocean is not annihilated but ceases to exist -individually, so the disembodied soul becomes indistinguishable from -the universal Deity. It is true that when Sūfī writers translate -mystical union into terms of love and marriage, they do not, indeed -they cannot, expunge the notion of personality, but such metaphorical -phrases are not necessarily inconsistent with a pantheism which -excludes all difference. To be united, here and now, with the -World-Soul is the utmost imaginable bliss for souls that love each -other on earth. - - “Happy the moment when we are seated in the Palace, thou and I, - With two forms and with two figures but with one soul, thou and I. - The colours of the grove and the voice of the birds will bestow - immortality - At the time when we come into the garden, thou and I. - The stars of heaven will come to gaze upon us; - We shall show them the Moon itself, thou and I. - Thou and I, individuals no more, shall be mingled in ecstasy, - Joyful and secure from foolish babble, thou and I. - All the bright-plumed birds of heaven will devour their hearts - with envy - In the place where we shall laugh in such a fashion, thou and I. - This is the greatest wonder, that thou and I, sitting here in the - same nook, - Are at this moment both in ʿIrāq and Khorāsān, thou and I.” - (Jalāluddīn Rūmī.) - -Strange as it may seem to our Western egoism, the prospect of sharing -in the general, impersonal immortality of the human soul kindles in the -Sūfī an enthusiasm as deep and triumphant as that of the most ardent -believer in a personal life continuing beyond the grave. Jalāluddīn, -after describing the evolution of man in the material world and -anticipating his further growth in the spiritual universe, utters a -heartfelt prayer--for what?--for self-annihilation in the ocean of the -Godhead. - - “I died as mineral and became a plant, - I died as plant and rose to animal, - I died as animal and I was man. - Why should I fear? When was I less by dying? - Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar - With angels blest; but even from angelhood - I must pass on: all except God doth perish. - When I have sacrificed my angel soul, - I shall become what no mind e’er conceived. - Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence - Proclaims in organ tones, ‘To Him we shall return.’” - - - - - BIBLIOGRAPHY - - - _A._ GENERAL - -Tholuck, F. A. G., _Ssufismus sive Theosophia Persarum pantheistica_ - (Berlin, 1821). - - In Latin. Out of date in some respects, but still worth reading. - -Palmer, E. H., _Oriental Mysticism_ (Cambridge, 1867). - - A treatise on Persian theosophy, based on a work by Nasafī. - -Von Kremer, A., _Geschichte der herrschenden Ideen des Islams_ - (Leipzig, 1868), pp. 52-121. - - A brilliant sketch of the origin and development of Sūfism. - -Goldziher, I., _Vorlesungen über den Islam_ (Heidelberg, 1910), pp. - 139-200. - - An account of Sūfī asceticism and mysticism by the greatest - living authority on Islam. - -Goldziher, I., _Muhammedanische Studien_ (Halle, 1888-90), Part ii., - pp. 277-378. - - Gives full details concerning the worship of Moslem saints. - -Macdonald, D. B., _The Religious Life and Attitude in Islam_ (Chicago, - 1909). - - A valuable introduction to the study of the moderate type of - Sūfism represented by Ghazālī. The chapters on psychology are - particularly helpful. - -Iqbal, Shaikh Muhammad, _The Development of Metaphysics in Persia_ - (London, 1908), pp. 96 ff. - -Gibb, E. J. W., _History of Turkish Poetry_ (London, 1900-1909), vol. - i. pp. 15-69. - - Outlines of Persian philosophic mysticism. - -Browne, E. G., _Literary History of Persia_ (London, 1902), vol. i. pp. - 416-444. - -Brown, J. P., _The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism_ (London, 1868). - - Unscientific, but contains much interesting material. - -Depont, O., and Coppolani, X., _Les Confréries religieuses musulmanes_ - (Algiers, 1897). - - A standard work on the Dervish Orders. - - - _B._ TRANSLATIONS - -Hujwīrī, _Kashf al-Mahjūb_, translated by R. A. Nicholson (London, - 1911). - - The oldest Persian treatise on Sūfism. - -ʿAttār, _Le Manticu ’ttair ou le Langage des Oiseaux_, translated, with - an essay on the philosophical and religious poetry of Persia, by - Garcin de Tassy (Paris, 1864). - -Jalāluddīn Rūmī, _Masnavī_, abridged translation by E. H. Whinfield, - 2nd ed. (London, 1898). - - _Masnavī_, Book i., translated by Sir James Redhouse (London, 1881). - - _Masnavī_, Book ii., translated with commentary by C. E. Wilson - (London, 1910). - - _Selected Odes from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz_, Persian text with - English translation, introduction, and notes by R. A. Nicholson - (Cambridge, 1898). - -Mahmūd Shabistarī, _Gulshani Rāz_, Persian text with English - translation, introduction, and notes by E. H. Whinfield (London, - 1880). - - A versified exposition of the chief Sūfī doctrines. It should be - read by every one who is seriously interested in the subject. - -Jāmī, _Lawāʾih_, Persian text with translation by E. H. Whinfield and - Mīrzā Muhammad Kazvīnī (London, 1906). - - A prose treatise on Sūfī theosophy. - - _Yūsuf and Zulaikha_, translated into verse by R. T. H. Griffith - (London, 1882). - - One of the most famous mystical love-romances in Persian - literature. - -Ibn al-ʿArabī, _Tarjumān al-Ashwāq_, a collection of mystical odes. - Arabic text with translation and commentary by R. A. Nicholson - (London, 1911). - - - - - INDEX - -(Titles of books, as well as Arabic and Persian technical terms, are -printed in italics.) - - - _Abdāl_, 124. - - ʿAbdallah Ansārī, 89. - - ʿAbd al-Rahīm ibn al-Sabbāgh, 89. - - Abraham, 153. - - _Abrār_, 124. - - Absāl, 116. - - Abū ʿAbdallah of Mosul, 144. - - Abū ʿAbdallah al-Rāzī, 51. - - Abū ʿAlī of Sind, 17. - - Abū Hamza, 62. - - Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī, 87, 133 ff., 145. - - Abu ’l-Khayr al-Aqtaʿ, 61. - - Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj, 157. - - Abū Saʿīd ibn Abi ’l-Khayr, 49, 90, 118. - - Adam, 64, 150, 161. - - ʿAfīfuddīn al-Tilimsānī, 93, 164, 165. _See_ Niffarī. - - _Ahl al-Haqq_, 1. - - Ahmad ibn al-Hawārī, 11. - - _ahwāl_, 29. - - _Akhyār_, 124. - - ʿAlāʾuddīn Attār, 143, 144, 146. - - Alexander of Aphrodisias, 151. - - _Al-Haqq._ See _Haqq_. - - ʿAlī, the Caliph, 50, 89, 153. - - _Ana ’l-Haqq_, 150 ff. - - _Arabian Nights_, the, 63. - - ʿArafāt, 91. - - _ʿārif_, 29. - - Aristotle, 12. - - Asceticism, 4, 5, 6, 10, 28 ff., 109. - - Ashʿarites, the, 6. - - ʿAttār, Farīduddīn, 106. - - Audition, 63 ff. See _samāʿ_. - - Augustine, St., 118. - - Avicenna, 145, 146. - - _awliyā_, 122. - - _Awtād_, 124. - - - Bābā Kūhī, 58. - - Bābism, 89. - - Bactria, 16, 18. - - Baghdād, 149, 157. - - Balkh, 16. - - _baqā_, 18, 61, 149, 159, 163, 164, 167. - - Basra, 14. - - Bāyazīd of Bistām, 17, 51, 57, 62, 108, 111, 112, 115, 126, 131, 132, - 159. - - Bektāshīs, the, 95. - - Bishr, 105. - - Breath, practice of inhaling and exhaling the, 48. - - Brown, J. P., 141. - - Browne, Professor E. G., 110. - - Buddha, 16, 17. - - Buddhism, 16 ff., 48. _See_ Nirvāṇa. - - Bulghār, 161. - - - Calendars, the, 90. - - Celibacy, condemned by Mohammed, 5. - - China, 161. - - Christ, 82, 88. _See_ Jesus. - - Christianity, 4, 5, 10 f., 82, 111, 112, 151, 157. - - Contemplation, 18, 31, 32, 53, 54 ff., 68. - - - Dancing, 63, 65, 66. - - Dante, 100. - - Dark Night of the Soul, the, 166. - - Davids, Professor T. W. Rhys, 19. - - Dāwud al-Tāʾī, 36. - - Deification, 149 ff., 163. - - _dervīsh_, 37. - - Dervish Orders, the, 48, 95, 125, 130, 140 ff. - - Dervishes, maxims for, 38, 39. - - Devil, the, 49, 53, 69. _See_ Iblīs _and_ Satan. - - _dhawq_, 59. - - _dhikr_, 10, 45 ff., 63. - - Dhu ’l-Nūn the Egyptian, 13, 65, 79, 116, 145. - - Dionysius the Areopagite, 12 f., 112. - - Directors, spiritual, 31, 32 ff., 89, 140 ff., 165. - - _Dīvān of Shamsi Tabrīz_, 95. - - - Eckhart, 118, 154. - - Ecstasy, 59 ff., 118, 132, 133, 166. See _fanā_. - - Eden, 161. - - Elias, 14. - - Emanation, the theory of, 80, 96. - - Emerson, 110. - - Euchitæ, the, 11. - - Evil, the unreality of, 94. - - Evil, part of the divine order, 96 ff. - - Evolution, of Man, 168. - - - _fanā_, 17 ff., 28, 48, 59, 60 ff., 144, 149, 155 ff., 164, 165, 166. - - _fanā al-fanā_, 61, 79. - - _fānī_, 155. - - _faqīr_, 37, 38. - - _firāsat_, 51. - - FitzGerald, Edward, 97. - - Frothingham, A. L., 12. - - Fudayl ibn ʿIyād, 109. - - - Gairdner, W. H. T., 16. - - _ghaybat_, 59. - - Ghaylān, 105. - - Ghazālī, 24, 46, 96. - - Gnosis, the, 7, 14, 29, 30, 68 ff., 121, 164. - - Gnosticism, 14 ff. - - Goldziher, Professor I., 14, 16. - - Gospel, the, 10. - - - Hafiz, 88, 102. - - _hāl_, 29, 59. - - Hallāj, 40, 149 ff., 160. - - Hamadhān, 108, 109. - - _haqīqat_, 29, 79. _See_ Truth, the. - - _Haqq_ = God, 1, 81. See _Ana ’l-Haqq_. - - _haqq_, 164. - - Hasan ʿAttār, Khwāja, 144. - - _hātif_, 63. - - Heart, the, a spiritual organ, 50, 68 ff. - - Heaven and Hell, subjective, 97, 162. - - Hierotheus, 12. - - Hind, 105. - - Hujwīrī, 31, 32, 54, 63, 65, 92, 110, 123, 124, 126, 159, 160. - - _hulūl_, 150, 151, 154, 157. - - Hulūlīs, the, 151. - - Husayn ibn Mansūr, 149. _See_ Hallāj. - - Hypnotism, 139 ff. - - - Iblīs, 99. _See_ Devil, the. - - Ibn al-Anbārī, 51. - - Ibn al-ʿArabī, 87, 102, 103, 105, 111, 125, 155, 166. - - Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, 14, 16. - - _ihsān_, 53. - - Illumination, 7, 50 ff., 70. - - _ʿilm_, 71. - - Immortality, impersonal, 167, 168. - - Incarnation, 150, 151, 157. See _hulūl_. - - India, 16, 161. - - Inge, Dr. W. R., 112, 151, 154. - - Iqbal, Shaikh Muhammad, 15. - - ʿIrāq, 161, 168. - - Islam, relation of Sūfism to, 19 ff., 71 ff., 86 ff., 159, 160. - - _istinbāt_, 23, 24. - - _ittihād_, 157, 158. - - - Jabarites, the, 6. - - Jacob of Sarūj, 12. - - _jadhbat_, 59. - - Jalāluddīn Rūmī, 25, 64, 67, 69, 95 ff., 105, 106, 107, 109, 113, - 116, 117, 118, 119, 125, 129, 132, 148, 152, 155, 161, 162, 168. - - _jamʿ_, 159. - - Jāmī, 38, 66, 80, 81, 83, 106, 110, 142, 166. - - Jesus, 10, 133, 150, 153, 157. _See_ Christ. - - Jews, the, 122. - - Jinn, the, 132. - - John, St., 82. - - John Scotus Erigena, 12. - - Joseph, 99, 116. - - Journeys, mystical, 163, 164. _See_ Path, the. - - Junayd of Baghdād, 34, 35, 52, 88, 91, 112, 113, 131. - - - Kaʿba, the, 58, 91, 92, 105, 116, 134. - - _karāmāt_, 122, 129. - - Karma, the doctrine of, 19. - - _Kashf al-Mahjūb_, 54, 63. _See_ Hujwīrī. - - Khadir, 14, 113, 127 ff. - - _khirqat_, 49. - - Khizr, 127. _See_ Khadir. - - Khorāsān, 161, 168. - - Khurqānī. _See_ Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī. - - _Kitāb al-Lumaʿ_, 28, 121, 130. - - _Kitāb al-Tawāsīn_, 150. - - Knowledge of God. _See_ Gnosis, the. - - Knowledge, religious opposed to mystical, 71. - - _Koran_, the, 4, 5, 21, 22, 23, 46, 50, 63, 93, 105, 111, 121, 122, - 127. - - _Koran_, the, quotations from, 22, 45, 50, 51, 53, 56, 70, 88, 98, - 121, 122, 128, 129, 150, 152. - - _Koran_, germs of mysticism in the, 21 f. - - - _lāhūt_, 150. - - Lane, Edward, 45. - - Law, the religious, 62, 86, 92 ff., 126, 127, 152, 163. - - Laylā, 116, 159. - - _Legend of the Moslem Saints_, the, 21, 31, 108, 131. - - _Lives of the Saints_, by Jāmī, 66. See _Nafahāt al-Uns_. - - Logos, the, 51, 82, 83. - - Love, divine, 6, 8, 10, 45, 55, 80, 81, 84, 88, 101, 102 ff., 151, - 160. - - Lubnā, 105. - - - Macdonald, Professor D. B., 23, 45, 46, 125, 141. - - _majdhūb_, 123. - - Majduddīn of Baghdād, 66. - - Majnūn, 116, 159. - - Mālik ibn Dīnār, 36, 37. - - Man, the final cause of the universe, 82. - - Man, higher than the angels, 69. - - Man, the microcosm, 84, 85, 97. - - Man, the Perfect, 83, 163, 164, 165. - - Mandæans, the, 14. - - Mānī, 14. - - Manichæans, the, 14. - - Mansūr, 153. _See_ Hallāj. - - _maqāmāt_, 28. - - _maʿrifat_, 29, 71. _See_ Gnosis, the. - - Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, 14. - - Marwa, 92. - - Mary, 133. - - _Masnavī_, the, 25, 64, 96, 132, 148. _See_ Jalāluddīn Rūmī. - - Massignon, L., 150, 151, 154, 155. - - _Mawāqif_, the, 57. _See_ Niffarī. - - Mayya, 105. - - Mecca, 134. - - Meditation, 48 f. - - Mephistopheles, 58. - - Messalians, the, 11. - - Minā, 92. - - Miracles, 122, 123, 129 ff., 138, 139 ff. - - Mohammed, the Prophet, 5, 20, 21, 35, 39, 44, 49, 51, 52, 53, 68, - 70, 73, 82, 90, 93, 111, 129, 131, 141, 144, 164, 165. _See_ - Traditions of the Prophet. - - Mohammed ibn ʿAlī Hakīm, 143. - - Mohammed ibn ʿUlyān, 39. - - Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ, 36, 37, 55. - - Mollā-Shāh, 141, 142. - - More, Henry, 162. - - Mortification, 36, 40 f. - - Moses, 127 ff., 152. - - _muʿjizat_, 129. - - _murāqabat_, 48. - - _muraqqaʿat_, 33, 49. - - Murjites, the, 5. - - _murshid_, 32, 140. - - Music, 48, 63 ff. - - Muʿtazilites, the, 6. - - Muzdalifa, 91. - - - _Nafahāt al-Uns_, 166. See _Lives of the Saints_. - - _nafs_, 39, 40. - - Name, the Great, 14. - - _nāsūt_, 150. - - Neoplatonism, 12 f., 112. - - Niffarī, 57, 71, 72, 74, 85, 93, 155, 164. - - Nirvāṇa, 18 ff., 61, 149. - - Nizāmuddīn Khāmūsh, Mawlānā, 143. - - Noah, 153. - - Nöldeke, Th., 3. - - Not-being, the principle of evil, 94, 97. - - _Nuqabā_, 124. - - Nūrī, 49, 51, 94, 107, 108. - - - Omar, the Caliph, 38. - - Omar Khayyām, 97. - - - Pantheism, 8, 18, 21, 23, 79 ff., 109, 133 ff., 148 ff. _See_ Unity, - the divine. - - Path, the, 28 ff., 163. - - Paul, St., 12, 82. - - Pentateuch, the, 22. - - Personality, survival of, 167. - - Phenomena, the nature of, 82. - - Phenomena, a bridge to Reality, 109 f. - - Philo, 22. - - Pilgrimage, allegorical interpretation of the, 91. - - _pīr_, 32, 140. - - Plato, 7, 12, 64. - - Plotinus, 11, 12, 117. - - Porphyry, 12. - - Poverty, 36 ff. - - Predestination, 4, 6, 36, 98. - - Pre-existence of the soul, 15, 64, 116. - - Proclus, 12. - - Prophet, the. _See_ Mohammed, the Prophet. - - Prophets, the, 121, 122, 126, 129, 164. - - Purgative Way, the, 32. - - Pythagoras, 64. - - - Qadarites, the, 6. - - Qadīb al-Bān, 144. - - _qalb_, 50, 68. - - Qays, 105. - - _qibla_, 134. - - Quietism, 4. _See_ Trust in God. - - Qushayrī, 126, 130. - - _Qutb_, 123, 124, 164, 165. - - - Rābiʿa, 4, 31, 115. - - _rāhib_, 10. - - Raqqām, 107. - - Reason, the Active, 151. - - Recollection, 36, 45. See _dhikr_. - - Religion, all types of, are equal, 87. - - Religion, positive, its relation to mysticism, 24, 71 ff. _See_ - Islam, relation of Sūfism to. - - Repentance, 30 ff. - - _ridā_, 41. - - Rizwān, 161. - - Rosaries, used by Sūfīs, 17. - - _rūh_, 68. - - Rūmī, 153. _See_ Jalāluddīn Rūmī. - - Ruysbroeck, 151, 164. - - - Sābians, the, 14. - - Saʿduddīn of Kāshghar, Mawlānā, 142. - - Safā, 92. - - Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah of Tustar, 46, 52, 56, 63, 130. - - Saints, the Moslem, 120 ff. - - Saintship, the doctrine of, 62, 120 ff. - - Salāmān, 116. - - _sālik_, 28. - - _samāʿ_, 59, 60, 63 ff. - - Saqsīn, 161. - - Sarī al-Saqatī, 52, 54, 61, 113. - - Satan, 32, 113. _See_ Devil, the. - - _Sea, the Revelation of the_, by Niffarī, 74. - - Self-annihilation, 140, 141, 168. See _fanā_. - - Shāh al-Kirmānī, 52. - - Shaqīq of Balkh, 42, 43, 44. - - Sheykh, the, 32 ff., 49, 140, 141. _See_ Directors, spiritual. - - Shiblī, 34, 35, 48, 52, 55, 62, 116. - - Shihābuddīn Suhrawardī, 166. - - Shīʿites, the, 89. - - _shirb_, 59. - - _siddīq_, 14. - - Sin, 30 ff. - - Singing, 63 ff. - - _sirr_, 68, 155. - - Soul, the lower or appetitive. See _nafs_. - - Spirit, the divine, 150, 151. - - Spirit, the human, 51, 68. - - Stages, mystical, 28 f., 41. - - States, mystical, 29. - - Stephen Bar Sudaili, 12. - - Sūfī, meaning and derivation of, 3. - - Sūfism, definitions of, 1, 14, 25 ff. - - Sūfism, the oldest form of, 4 f. - - Sūfism, the origin of, 8 ff. - - Sūfism, its relation to Islam, 19 ff., 71 ff., 86 ff., 159, 160. - - _sukr_, 59. - - Sunna, the, 73. - - Symbolism, mystical, 28, 102 ff., 116, 117. - - - _tālib_, 29. - - _tarīqat_, 27, 28. - - Tauler, 151. - - _tawajjuh_, 142, 143. - - _tawakkul_, 41. - - Tawakkul Beg, 141, 142. - - Telekinesis, 145. - - Telepathy, 120. See _firāsat_. - - _Theology of Aristotle_, the so-called, 12. - - Tirmidh, 143. - - Tora, the, 105. - - Traditions of the Prophet, 23, 39, 44, 49, 51, 53, 54, 68, 80, 83, - 100. - - Transoxania, 16. - - Trust in God, 36, 41 ff. - - Truth, the, 29, 30, 79, 92 ff., 152, 163. - - - Underhill, E., 164. - - Union with God, 39, 159, 160. _See_ Unitive State, the, and _fanā_. - - Unitive State, the, 148 ff. - - Unity, the divine, Sūfistic theory of, 42, 79 ff., 98, 152, 154, 155. - - - Vedānta, the, 18. - - Veils, the seventy thousand, doctrine of, 15 f. - - Vision, spiritual, 50. - - - _wajd_, 59. - - _walī_, 122, 123. _See_ Saints, the Moslem. - - _waliyyat_, 123. - - _waqfat_, 58, 156. - - _wāqif_, 156, 165. - - Wāsit, 14. - - Whinfield, E. H., 64, 132, 148. - - - _yaqīn_, 50. - - Yūsuf, 116. _See_ Joseph. - - - Zangī Bashgirdī, 66. - - Zulaykhā, 116. - - - _Printed by_ Morrison & Gibb Limited, _Edinburgh_ - - - - - THE - QUEST SERIES - - Edited by G. R. S. 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THE BETROTHED. 2 vols. - - -_Other volumes will be published at regular intervals._ - - - - -Transcriber's Notes - - -The following changes have been made to the text as printed: - -1. Footnotes have been placed immediately below the paragraph within -which they occur, and marked numerically. - -2. A period has been removed following the subheading "Gnosticism" -(Page 14), for consistency with other subheadings. - -3. "strenously" (Page 51) has been corrected to "strenuously". - -4. The missing word "I" has been inserted in the passage "the next -world belongs to him towards whom I have brought it" (Page 78). - -5. The name printed as Fitz Gerald (Page 97) has been rendered as -FitzGerald (the usual form for this writer). - -6. A single close-quote mark has been inserted after "vouchsafed to -him" (Page 127). - -7. _karāmat_ (Page 129) has been changed to _karāmāt_. - -8. The line beginning "Then he quotes" (Page 160) has had its -indentation reduced, as it is part of the main text and not (as -printed) part of the preceding quotation. - -9. Index: The character ʿ has been added in the words Abu ’l-Khayr -al-Aqtaʿ, ʿAlāʾuddīn, _muʿjizat_, Muʿtazilites, and Rābiʿa. - -10. Apparent inconsistencies in whether hyphens occur in the word pairs -"well known", "passed away", and "above mentioned" are judged to be due -to differences in sense, and no amendments have been made. - - - -*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM *** - -Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions will -be renamed. - -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the -United States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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- border-width: 0.1em; - padding: 1em; - display: block; - margin-left: 5%; - margin-right: 5% - } - -div.tnbox { background-color:#C4F8E1; border:0.25em solid silver; - padding: 0.5em; margin:2em 10% 0 10%; } - - </style> - </head> - - -<body> -<p style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of The Mystics of Islam, by Reynold A. Nicholson</p> -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: The Mystics of Islam</p> -<p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Reynold A. Nicholson</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: February 14, 2022 [eBook #67388]</p> -<p style='display:block; text-indent:0; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</p> - <p style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:0; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em; text-align:left'>Produced by: Tim Lindell and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</p> -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM ***</div> - -<!--Cover image--> - -<div class="figcenter"> - <img src="images/cover.jpg" alt="Cover image" class="w100" /> -</div> - -<!--Top TN--> - -<div class="tnbox"> -<div class="section"> - -<p class="center firstpara fs125">Transcriber's Note</p> -</div> - -<p class="sp2">The cover image was created by the transcriber, and is in the public domain.</p> - -<p class="sp1">The following two characters may not display as intended on certain devices:</p> - -<p class="sp1">The Arabic letter <i>ayn</i> or <i>ayin</i> is here represented by the - character ʿ (MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RING).</p> - -<p class="sp1">The Arabic letter <i>hamza</i> is here represented by the - character ʾ (MODIFIER LETTER RIGHT HALF RING).</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<!-- Half-title page--> - -<div class="section"> -<p class="sp4">The Quest Series<br /> -<span class="sp05 fs90">Edited by G. R. S. Mead</span></p> - -<p class="fs125 center gesperrt1 sp4">THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<!--Boxed advert--> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="box sp4"> -<div class="center noindent"> - -<p class="center fs125">THE QUEST SERIES</p> -</div> - -<p class="center fs90 sp1">Edited by G. R. S. MEAD,<span class="fs75"><br /> -EDITOR OF ‘THE QUEST.’</span></p> - -<p class="center sp05 fs90"><em>Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net each.</em></p> - -<p class="center fs90 sp1">FIRST LIST OF VOLUMES. -</p> -</div> - -<div class="center blockquothang"> - -<p class="sp1 fs85">PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND SURVIVAL. By -<span class="smcap">James H. Hyslop</span>, Ph.D., LL.D., Secretary of the -Psychical Research Society of America.</p> - -<p class="sp05 fs85">THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL. By <span class="smcap">Jessie -L. Weston</span>, Author of ‘The Legend of Sir -Perceval.’</p> - -<p class="sp05 fs85">JEWISH MYSTICISM. By <span class="smcap">J. Abelson</span>, M.A., -D.Lit., Principal of Aria College, Portsmouth.</p> - -<p class="sp05 fs85">BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY. By <span class="smcap">C. A. F. Rhys -Davids</span>, M.A., F.B.A., Lecturer on Indian Philosophy, -Manchester University.</p> - -<p class="sp05 fs85">THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM. By <span class="smcap">Reynold A. -Nicholson</span>, M.A., Litt.D., LL.D., Lecturer on -Persian, Cambridge University.</p> -</div> - -<p class="center fs90 sp1"><span class="smcap">London</span>: G. BELL & SONS LTD. -</p> - -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<!--Title page--> - -<div class="chapter"> -<h1 id="Heading1"><span class="fs75">THE</span><br /> -MYSTICS OF ISLAM</h1> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p class="center sp4"><span class="smcap fs75">BY<br /><br /></span> -<span class="fs125">REYNOLD A. NICHOLSON</span><br /> -<span class="smcap fs75">M.A., Litt.D., Hon.LL.D. (Aberdeen)</span><br /> -<span class="smcap fs65">LECTURER ON PERSIAN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE<br /> -FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE</span></p> -<p class="center sp4"><span class="figline3"><img src="images/bell.png" alt="" /></span></p> - -<p class="center sp4"><span class="fs90">LONDON</span><br /> -<span class="gesperrt1">G. BELL AND SONS LTD.</span><br /> -<span class="fs90">1914</span> -</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_v">[p. v]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="EDITORS_NOTE">EDITOR’S NOTE</h2> -</div> - - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">If</span> Judaism, Christianity and Islam have -no little in common in spite of their deep -dogmatic differences, the spiritual content -of that common element can best be appreciated -in Jewish, Christian and Islamic -mysticism, which bears equal testimony to -that ever-deepening experience of the soul -when the spiritual worshipper, whether he -be follower of Moses or Jesus or Mohammed, -turns whole-heartedly to God. As the -Quest Series has already supplied for the -first time those interested in such matters -with a simple general introduction to Jewish -mysticism, so it now provides an easy approach -to the study of Islamic mysticism on -which in English there exists no separate -introduction. But not only have we in -the following pages all that the general -reader requires to be told at first about -Sūfism; we have also a large amount of -material that will be new even to professional<span class="pagenum" id="Page_vi">[p. vi]</span> -Orientalists. Dr. Nicholson sets before us -the results of twenty years’ unremitting -labour, and that, too, with remarkable -simplicity and clarity for such a subject; -at the same time he lets the mystics mostly -speak for themselves and mainly in his own -fine versions from the original Arabic and -Persian.</p> - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_vii">[p. vii]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CONTENTS">CONTENTS</h2> -</div> - - - -<table summary="Contents"> -<colgroup> -<col width="10%" /> -<col width="80%" /> -<col width="10%" /> -</colgroup> - - <tr> - <th class="toccol1"> </th> - <th class="toccol2"> </th> - <th class="toccol3">PAGE</th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1"> </td> - <td class="toccol2 smcap">Introduction</td> - <td class="toccol3"><a href="#Page_1" title="Go to Page 1">1</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <th class="toccol11 fs75">CHAP.</th> - <th class="toccol21"> </th> - <th class="toccol31"> </th> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol1"><abbr title="1">I.</abbr></td> - <td class="toccol2 smcap">The Path</td> - <td class="toccol3"><a href="#Page_28" title="Go to Page 28">28</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"><abbr title="2">II.</abbr></td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">Illumination and Ecstasy</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_50" title="Go to Page 50">50</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr></td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">The Gnosis</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_68" title="Go to Page 68">68</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr></td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">Divine Love</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_102" title="Go to Page 102">102</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"><abbr title="5">V.</abbr></td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">Saints and Miracles</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_120" title="Go to Page 120">120</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"><abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">The Unitive State</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_148" title="Go to Page 148">148</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"> </td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">Bibliography</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_169" title="Go to Page 169">169</a></td> - </tr> - <tr> - <td class="toccol11"> </td> - <td class="toccol21 smcap">Index</td> - <td class="toccol31"><a href="#Page_173" title="Go to Page 173">173</a></td> - </tr> - -</table> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_1">[p. 1]</span></p> -<p class="fs180 center sp4 firstpara">THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM</p> -</div> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INTRODUCTION">INTRODUCTION</h2> - -<p class="firstpara sp2"><span class="smcap">The</span> title of this book sufficiently explains -why it is included in a Series ‘exemplifying -the adventures and labours of individual -seekers or groups of seekers in quest of -reality.’ Sūfism, the religious philosophy -of Islam, is described in the oldest extant -definition as ‘the apprehension of divine -realities,’ and Mohammedan mystics are -fond of calling themselves <i>Ahl al-Haqq</i>, -‘the followers of the Real.’<a id="FNanchor_1" href="#Footnote_1" class="fnanchor">[1]</a> In attempting -to set forth their central doctrines from -this point of view, I shall draw to some -extent on materials which I have collected -during the last twenty years for a general -history of Islamic mysticism—a subject -so vast and many-sided that several large -volumes would be required to do it anything -like justice. Here I can only sketch<span class="pagenum" id="Page_2">[p. 2]</span> -in broad outline certain principles, methods, -and characteristic features of the inner -life as it has been lived by Moslems of -every class and condition from the eighth -century of our era to the present day. -Difficult are the paths which they threaded, -dark and bewildering the pathless heights -beyond; but even if we may not hope to -accompany the travellers to their journey’s -end, any information that we have gathered -concerning their religious environment and -spiritual history will help us to understand -the strange experiences of which they -write.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_1" href="#FNanchor_1" class="label">[1]</a> <i>Al-Haqq</i> is the term generally used by Sūfīs when they -refer to God.</p> - -</div> - -<p>In the first place, therefore, I propose -to offer a few remarks on the origin and -historical development of Sūfism, its relation -to Islam, and its general character. -Not only are these matters interesting to -the student of comparative religion; some -knowledge of them is indispensable to any -serious student of Sūfism itself. It may -be said, truly enough, that all mystical -experiences ultimately meet in a single -point; but that point assumes widely -different aspects according to the mystic’s -religion, race, and temperament, while the -converging lines of approach admit of -almost infinite variety. Though all the -great types of mysticism have something -in common, each is marked by peculiar -characteristics resulting from the circumstances<span class="pagenum" id="Page_3">[p. 3]</span> -in which it arose and flourished. -Just as the Christian type cannot be -understood without reference to Christianity, -so the Mohammedan type must be -viewed in connexion with the outward and -inward development of Islam.</p> - -<p>The word ‘mystic,’ which has passed -from Greek religion into European literature, -is represented in Arabic, Persian, and -Turkish, the three chief languages of Islam, -by ‘Sūfī.’ The terms, however, are not -precisely synonymous, for ‘Sūfī’ has a -specific religious connotation, and is restricted -by usage to those mystics who -profess the Mohammedan faith. And the -Arabic word, although in course of time -it appropriated the high significance of the -Greek—lips sealed by holy mysteries, eyes -closed in visionary rapture—bore a humbler -meaning when it first gained currency -(about 800 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>). Until recently its derivation -was in dispute. Most Sūfīs, flying in -the face of etymology, have derived it from -an Arabic root which conveys the notion of -‘purity’; this would make ‘Sūfī’ mean -‘one who is pure in heart’ or ‘one of the -elect.’ Some European scholars identified -it with σοφός in the sense of ‘theosophist.’ -But Nöldeke, in an article written -twenty years ago, showed conclusively that -the name was derived from <i>sūf</i> (wool), and -was originally applied to those Moslem<span class="pagenum" id="Page_4">[p. 4]</span> -ascetics who, in imitation of Christian -hermits, clad themselves in coarse woollen -garb as a sign of penitence and renunciation -of worldly vanities.</p> - -<p>The earliest Sūfīs were, in fact, ascetics -and quietists rather than mystics. An overwhelming -consciousness of sin, combined -with a dread—which it is hard for us to -realise—of Judgment Day and the torments -of Hell-fire, so vividly painted in the Koran, -drove them to seek salvation in flight from -the world. On the other hand, the Koran -warned them that salvation depended entirely -on the inscrutable will of Allah, who -guides aright the good and leads astray the -wicked. Their fate was inscribed on the -eternal tables of His providence, nothing -could alter it. Only this was sure, that if -they were destined to be saved by fasting -and praying and pious works—then they -would be saved. Such a belief ends naturally -in quietism, complete and unquestioning -submission to the divine will, an attitude -characteristic of Sūfism in its oldest form. -The mainspring of Moslem religious life -during the eighth century was fear—fear -of God, fear of Hell, fear of death, fear of -sin—but the opposite motive had already -begun to make its influence felt, and produced -in the saintly woman Rābiʿa at least -one conspicuous example of truly mystical -self-abandonment.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_5">[p. 5]</span></p> - -<p>So far, there was no great difference -between the Sūfī and the orthodox Mohammedan -zealot, except that the Sūfīs attached -extraordinary importance to certain Koranic -doctrines, and developed them at the -expense of others which many Moslems -might consider equally essential. It must -also be allowed that the ascetic movement -was inspired by Christian ideals, and contrasted -sharply with the active and pleasure-loving -spirit of Islam. In a famous sentence -the Prophet denounced monkish austerities -and bade his people devote themselves to -the holy war against unbelievers; and he -gave, as is well known, the most convincing -testimony in favour of marriage. Although -his condemnation of celibacy did not remain -without effect, the conquest of Persia, -Syria, and Egypt by his successors brought -the Moslems into contact with ideas which -profoundly modified their outlook on life -and religion. European readers of the -Koran cannot fail to be struck by its -author’s vacillation and inconsistency in -dealing with the greatest problems. He -himself was not aware of these contradictions, -nor were they a stumbling-block to -his devout followers, whose simple faith -accepted the Koran as the Word of God. -But the rift was there, and soon produced -far-reaching results.</p> - -<p>Hence arose the Murjites, who set faith<span class="pagenum" id="Page_6">[p. 6]</span> -above works and emphasised the divine love -and goodness; the Qadarites who affirmed, -and the Jabarites who denied, that men are -responsible for their actions; the Muʿtazilites, -who built a theology on the basis of reason, -rejecting the qualities of Allah as incompatible -with His unity, and predestinarianism -as contrary to His justice; and finally -the Ashʿarites, the scholastic theologians -of Islam, who formulated the rigid metaphysical -and doctrinal system that underlies -the creed of orthodox Mohammedans at the -present time. All these speculations, influenced -as they were by Greek theology -and philosophy, reacted powerfully upon -Sūfism. Early in the third century of the -Hegira—the ninth after Christ—we find -manifest signs of the new leaven stirring -within it. Not that Sūfīs ceased to mortify -the flesh and take pride in their poverty, -but they now began to regard asceticism as -only the first stage of a long journey, the -preliminary training for a larger spiritual -life than the mere ascetic is able to conceive. -The nature of the change may be illustrated -by quoting a few sentences which have come -down to us from the mystics of this period.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Love is not to be learned from -men: it is one of God’s gifts and -comes of His grace.”</p> - -<p>“None refrains from the lusts of this -world save him in whose heart there is a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_7">[p. 7]</span> -light that keeps him always busied with -the next world.”</p> - -<p>“When the gnostic’s spiritual eye is -opened, his bodily eye is shut: he sees -nothing but God.”</p> - -<p>“If gnosis were to take visible shape -all who looked thereon would die at the -sight of its beauty and loveliness and -goodness and grace, and every brightness -would become dark beside the -splendour thereof.”<a id="FNanchor_2" href="#Footnote_2" class="fnanchor">[2]</a></p> - -<p>“Gnosis is nearer to silence than to -speech.”</p> - -<p>“When the heart weeps because it -has lost, the spirit laughs because it has -found.”</p> - -<p>“Nothing sees God and dies, even as -nothing sees God and lives, because His -life is everlasting: whoever sees it is -thereby made everlasting.”</p> - -<p>“O God, I never listen to the cry of -animals or to the quivering of trees or -to the murmuring of water or to the -warbling of birds or to the rustling -wind or to the crashing thunder without -feeling them to be an evidence of -Thy unity and a proof that there is -nothing like unto Thee.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_8">[p. 8]</span></p> - -<p>“O my God, I invoke Thee in public -as lords are invoked, but in private as -loved ones are invoked. Publicly I say, -‘O my God!’ but privately I say, ‘O -my Beloved!’”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_2" href="#FNanchor_2" class="label">[2]</a> Compare Plato, <cite>Phædrus</cite> (Jowett’s translation): “For -sight is the keenest of our bodily senses; though not by -that is wisdom seen; her loveliness would have been transporting -if there had been a visible image of her.”</p> - -</div> - -<p>These ideas—Light, Knowledge, and Love—form, -as it were, the keynotes of the new -Sūfism, and in the following chapters I shall -endeavour to show how they were developed. -Ultimately they rest upon a pantheistic -faith which deposed the One transcendent -God of Islam and worshipped in His stead -One Real Being who dwells and works -everywhere, and whose throne is not less, -but more, in the human heart than in the -heaven of heavens. Before going further, it -will be convenient to answer a question -which the reader may have asked himself—Whence -did the Moslems of the ninth century -derive this doctrine?</p> - -<p>Modern research has proved that the -origin of Sūfism cannot be traced back to -a single definite cause, and has thereby -discredited the sweeping generalisations -which represent it, for instance, as a reaction -of the Aryan mind against a conquering -Semitic religion, and as the product, essentially, -of Indian or Persian thought. Statements -of this kind, even when they are -partially true, ignore the principle that -in order to establish an historical connexion -between A and B, it is not enough to bring<span class="pagenum" id="Page_9">[p. 9]</span> -forward evidence of their likeness to one -another, without showing at the same time -(1) that the actual relation of B to A was -such as to render the assumed filiation -possible, and (2) that the possible hypothesis -fits in with all the ascertained and relevant -facts. Now, the theories which I have -mentioned do not satisfy these conditions. -If Sūfism was nothing but a revolt of the -Aryan spirit, how are we to explain the -undoubted fact that some of the leading -pioneers of Mohammedan mysticism were -natives of Syria and Egypt, and Arabs by -race? Similarly, the advocates of a Buddhistic -or Vedāntic origin forget that the -main current of Indian influence upon -Islamic civilisation belongs to a later epoch, -whereas Moslem theology, philosophy, and -science put forth their first luxuriant shoots -on a soil that was saturated with Hellenistic -culture. The truth is that Sūfism is a -complex thing, and therefore no simple -answer can be given to the question how -it originated. We shall have gone far, -however, towards answering that question -when we have distinguished the various -movements and forces which moulded -Sūfism, and determined what direction it -should take in the early stages of its -growth.</p> - -<p>Let us first consider the most important -external, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> non-Islamic, influences.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_10">[p. 10]</span></p> - - -<div class="section"> -<h3><abbr title="1">I.</abbr> <span class="smcap">Christianity</span></h3> -</div> - -<p>It is obvious that the ascetic and quietistic -tendencies to which I have referred were in -harmony with Christian theory and drew -nourishment therefrom. Many Gospel texts -and apocryphal sayings of Jesus are cited -in the oldest Sūfī biographies, and the -Christian anchorite (<i>rāhib</i>) often appears in -the <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">rôle</i> of a teacher giving instruction and -advice to wandering Moslem ascetics. We -have seen that the woollen dress, from which -the name ‘Sūfī’ is derived, is of Christian -origin: vows of silence, litanies (<i>dhikr</i>), and -other ascetic practices may be traced to the -same source. As regards the doctrine of -divine love, the following extracts speak for -themselves:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Jesus passed by three men. Their -bodies were lean and their faces pale. -He asked them, saying, ‘What hath -brought you to this plight?’ They -answered, ‘Fear of the Fire.’ Jesus -said, ‘Ye fear a thing created, and it -behoves God that He should save those -who fear.’ Then he left them and -passed by three others, whose faces -were paler and their bodies leaner, and -asked them, saying, ‘What hath brought -you to this plight?’ They answered, -‘Longing for Paradise.’ He said, ‘Ye<span class="pagenum" id="Page_11">[p. 11]</span> -desire a thing created, and it behoves -God that He should give you that -which ye hope for.’ Then he went on -and passed by three others of exceeding -paleness and leanness, so that their -faces were as mirrors of light, and he -said, ‘What hath brought you to this?’ -They answered, ‘Our love of God.’ -Jesus said, ‘Ye are the nearest to Him, -ye are the nearest to Him.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>The Syrian mystic, Ahmad ibn al-Hawārī, -once asked a Christian hermit:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“‘What is the strongest command -that ye find in your Scriptures?’ The -hermit replied: ‘We find none stronger -than this: “Love thy Creator with -all thy power and might.”’”</p> -</div> - -<p>Another hermit was asked by some Moslem -ascetics:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“‘When is a man most persevering -in devotion?’ ‘When love takes possession -of his heart,’ was the reply; ‘for -then he hath no joy or pleasure but in -continual devotion.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>The influence of Christianity through its -hermits, monks, and heretical sects (<i><abbr title="for example">e.g.</abbr></i> the -Messalians or Euchitæ) was twofold: ascetic -and mystical. Oriental Christian mysticism, -however, contained a Pagan element: it -had long ago absorbed the ideas and adopted -the language of Plotinus and the Neoplatonic -school.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_12">[p. 12]</span></p> - - -<div class="section"> -<h3><abbr title="2">II.</abbr> <span class="smcap">Neoplatonism</span></h3> -</div> - -<p>Aristotle, not Plato, is the dominant figure -in Moslem philosophy, and few Mohammedans -are familiar with the name of -Plotinus, who was more commonly called -‘the Greek Master’ (<i>al-Sheykh al-Yaunānī</i>). -But since the Arabs gained their first knowledge -of Aristotle from his Neoplatonist -commentators, the system with which they -became imbued was that of Porphyry and -Proclus. Thus the so-called <cite>Theology of -Aristotle</cite>, of which an Arabic version appeared -in the ninth century, is actually a -manual of Neoplatonism.</p> - -<p>Another work of this school deserves particular -notice: I mean the writings falsely -attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the -convert of St. Paul. The pseudo-Dionysius—he -may have been a Syrian monk—names -as his teacher a certain Hierotheus, whom -Frothingham has identified with Stephen -Bar Sudaili, a prominent Syrian gnostic and -a contemporary of Jacob of Sarūj (451-521 -<span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>). Dionysius quotes some fragments of -erotic hymns by this Stephen, and a complete -work, the <cite>Book of Hierotheus on the Hidden -Mysteries of the Divinity</cite>, has come down to us -in a unique manuscript which is now in the -British Museum. The Dionysian writings, -turned into Latin by John Scotus Erigena,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_13">[p. 13]</span> -founded medieval Christian mysticism in -Western Europe. Their influence in the East -was hardly less vital. They were translated -from Greek into Syriac almost immediately -on their appearance, and their doctrine was -vigorously propagated by commentaries in -the same tongue. “About 850 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span> Dionysius -was known from the Tigris to the -Atlantic.”</p> - -<p>Besides literary tradition, there were other -channels by which the doctrines of emanation, -illumination, gnosis, and ecstasy were transmitted, -but enough has been said to convince -the reader that Greek mystical ideas were in -the air and easily accessible to the Moslem -inhabitants of Western Asia and Egypt, -where the Sūfī theosophy first took shape. -One of those who bore the chief part in its -development, Dhu ’l-Nūn the Egyptian, is -described as a philosopher and alchemist—in -other words, a student of Hellenistic science. -When it is added that much of his speculation -agrees with what we find, for example, -in the writings of Dionysius, we are drawn -irresistibly to the conclusion (which, as I -have pointed out, is highly probable on -general grounds) that Neoplatonism poured -into Islam a large tincture of the same -mystical element in which Christianity was -already steeped.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_14">[p. 14]</span></p> - -<div class="section"> -<h3 title="III. Gnosticism"><abbr title="3">III.</abbr> <span class="smcap"><a id="Gnost">Gnosticism</a></span><a id="FNanchor_3" href="#Footnote_3" class="fnanchor">[3]</a></h3> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_3" href="#FNanchor_3" class="label">[3]</a> Cf. Goldziher, “Neuplatonische und gnostische Elemente -im Hadīt,” in <cite lang="de" xml:lang="de">Zeitschrift für Assyriologie</cite>, xxii. -317 ff.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Though little direct evidence is available, -the conspicuous place occupied by the theory -of gnosis in early Sūfī speculation suggests -contact with Christian Gnosticism, and it is -worth noting that the parents of Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, -whose definition of Sūfism, as ‘the -apprehension of divine realities’ was quoted -on the first page of <a href="#INTRODUCTION">this Introduction</a>, are -said to have been Sābians, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> Mandæans, -dwelling in the Babylonian fenland between -Basra and Wāsit. Other Moslem saints had -learned ‘the mystery of the Great Name.’ -It was communicated to Ibrāhīm ibn Adham -by a man whom he met while travelling in -the desert, and as soon as he pronounced it he -saw the prophet Khadir (Elias). The ancient -Sūfīs borrowed from the Manichæans the -term <i>siddīq</i>, which they apply to their own -spiritual adepts, and a later school, returning -to the dualism of Mānī, held the view -that the diversity of phenomena arises -from the admixture of light and darkness.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The ideal of human action is freedom -from the taint of darkness; and -the freedom of light from darkness<span class="pagenum" id="Page_15">[p. 15]</span> -means the self-consciousness of light as -light.”<a id="FNanchor_4" href="#Footnote_4" class="fnanchor">[4]</a></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_4" href="#FNanchor_4" class="label">[4]</a> Shaikh Muhammad Iqbal, <cite>The Development of Metaphysics -in Persia</cite> (1908), p. 150.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The following version of the doctrine of -the seventy thousand veils as explained by a -modern Rifāʿī dervish shows clear traces of -Gnosticism and is so interesting that I cannot -refrain from quoting it here:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Seventy Thousand Veils separate -Allah, the One Reality, from the world -of matter and of sense. And every -soul passes before his birth through -these seventy thousand. The inner half -of these are veils of light: the outer -half, veils of darkness. For every one -of the veils of light passed through, in -this journey towards birth, the soul -puts <em>off</em> a divine quality: and for every -one of the dark veils, it puts <em>on</em> an -earthly quality. Thus the child is born -<em>weeping</em>, for the soul knows its separation -from Allah, the One Reality. And -when the child cries in its sleep, it is -because the soul remembers something -of what it has lost. Otherwise, the -passage through the veils has brought -with it forgetfulness (<i>nisyān</i>): and for -this reason man is called <i>insān</i>. He is -now, as it were, in prison in his body, -separated by these thick curtains from -Allah.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_16">[p. 16]</span></p> - -<p>“But the whole purpose of Sūfism, -the Way of the dervish, is to give him -an escape from this prison, an apocalypse -of the Seventy Thousand Veils, -a recovery of the original unity with -The One, <em>while still in this body</em>. The -body is not to be put off; it is to be -refined and made spiritual—a help and -not a hindrance to the spirit. It is -like a metal that has to be refined by -fire and transmuted. And the sheikh -tells the aspirant that he has the secret -of this transmutation. ‘We shall throw -you into the fire of Spiritual Passion,’ he -says, ‘and you will emerge refined.’”<a id="FNanchor_5" href="#Footnote_5" class="fnanchor">[5]</a></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_5" href="#FNanchor_5" class="label">[5]</a> <cite>“The Way” of a Mohammedan Mystic</cite>, by W. H. T. -Gairdner (Leipzig, 1912), pp. 9 f.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<h3><abbr title="4">IV.</abbr> <span class="smcap">Buddhism</span></h3> -</div> - -<p>Before the Mohammedan conquest of -India in the eleventh century, the teaching -of Buddha exerted considerable influence -in Eastern Persia and Transoxania. We -hear of flourishing Buddhist monasteries in -Balkh, the metropolis of ancient Bactria, -a city famous for the number of Sūfīs who -resided in it. Professor Goldziher has called -attention to the significant circumstance -that the Sūfī ascetic, Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, -appears in Moslem legend as a prince of -Balkh who abandoned his throne and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_17">[p. 17]</span> -became a wandering dervish—the story of -Buddha over again. The Sūfīs learned the -use of rosaries from Buddhist monks, and, -without entering into details, it may be -safely asserted that the method of Sūfism, -so far as it is one of ethical self-culture, -ascetic meditation, and intellectual abstraction, -owes a good deal to Buddhism. But -the features which the two systems have in -common only accentuate the fundamental -difference between them. In spirit they -are poles apart. The Buddhist moralises -himself, the Sūfī becomes moral only through -knowing and loving God.</p> - -<p>The Sūfī conception of the passing-away -(<i>fanā</i>) of individual self in Universal Being -is certainly, I think, of Indian origin. Its -first great exponent was the Persian mystic, -Bāyazīd of Bistām, who may have received -it from his teacher, Abū ʿAlī of Sind (Scinde). -Here are some of his sayings:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Creatures are subject to changing -‘states,’ but the gnostic has no ‘state,’ -because his vestiges are effaced and his -essence annihilated by the essence of -another, and his traces are lost in -another’s traces.”</p> - -<p>“Thirty years the high God was my -mirror, now I am my own mirror,” <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> -according to the explanation given by -his biographer, “that which I was I am -no more, for ‘I’ and ‘God’ is a denial<span class="pagenum" id="Page_18">[p. 18]</span> -of the unity of God. Since I am no -more, the high God is His own mirror.”</p> - -<p>“I went from God to God, until they -cried from me in me, ‘O Thou I!’”</p> -</div> - -<p class="sp2">This, it will be observed, is not Buddhism, -but the pantheism of the Vedānta. We -cannot identify <i>fanā</i> with Nirvāṇa unconditionally. -Both terms imply the passing-away -of individuality, but while Nirvāṇa -is purely negative, <i>fanā</i> is accompanied by -<i>baqā</i>, everlasting life in God. The rapture -of the Sūfī who has lost himself in ecstatic -contemplation of the divine beauty is -entirely opposed to the passionless intellectual -serenity of the Arahat. I emphasise -this contrast because, in my opinion, the -influence of Buddhism on Mohammedan -thought has been exaggerated. Much is -attributed to Buddhism that is Indian -rather than specifically Buddhistic: the <i>fanā</i> -theory of the Sūfīs is a case in point. -Ordinary Moslems held the followers of -Buddha in abhorrence, regarding them as -idolaters, and were not likely to seek personal -intercourse with them. On the other -hand, for nearly a thousand years before -the Mohammedan conquest, Buddhism had -been powerful in Bactria and Eastern Persia -generally: it must, therefore, have affected -the development of Sūfism in these regions.</p> - -<p>While <i>fanā</i> in its pantheistic form is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_19">[p. 19]</span> -radically different from Nirvāṇa, the terms -coincide so closely in other ways that we -cannot regard them as being altogether -unconnected. <i>Fanā</i> has an ethical aspect: -it involves the extinction of all passions and -desires. The passing-away of evil qualities -and of the evil actions which they produce -is said to be brought about by the continuance -of the corresponding good qualities -and actions. Compare this with the definition -of Nirvāṇa given by Professor Rhys Davids:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The extinction of that sinful, grasping -condition of mind and heart, which -would otherwise, according to the great -mystery of Karma, be the cause of -renewed individual existence. That -extinction is to be brought about by, -and runs parallel with, the growth of -the opposite condition of mind and -heart; and it is complete when that -opposite condition is reached.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Apart from the doctrine of Karma, which -is alien to Sūfism, these definitions of <i>fanā</i> -(viewed as a moral state) and Nirvāṇa -agree almost word for word. It would be -out of place to pursue the comparison -further, but I think we may conclude that -the Sūfī theory of <i>fanā</i> was influenced to -some extent by Buddhism as well as by -Perso-Indian pantheism.</p> - -<p>The receptivity of Islam to foreign ideas -has been recognised by every unbiassed<span class="pagenum" id="Page_20">[p. 20]</span> -inquirer, and the history of Sūfism is only -a single instance of the general rule. But -this fact should not lead us to seek in -such ideas an explanation of the whole -question which I am now discussing, or to -identify Sūfism itself with the extraneous -ingredients which it absorbed and assimilated -in the course of its development. -Even if Islam had been miraculously shut -off from contact with foreign religions and -philosophies, some form of mysticism would -have arisen within it, for the seeds were -already there. Of course, we cannot isolate -the internal forces working in this direction, -since they were subject to the law of spiritual -gravitation. The powerful currents of -thought discharged through the Mohammedan -world by the great non-Islamic -systems above mentioned gave a stimulus -to various tendencies within Islam which -affected Sūfism either positively or negatively. -As we have seen, its oldest type is an -ascetic revolt against luxury and worldliness; -later on, the prevailing rationalism -and scepticism provoked counter-movements -towards intuitive knowledge and -emotional faith, and also an orthodox reaction -which in its turn drove many earnest -Moslems into the ranks of the mystics.</p> - -<p>How, it may be asked, could a religion -founded on the simple and austere monotheism -of Mohammed tolerate these new<span class="pagenum" id="Page_21">[p. 21]</span> -doctrines, much less make terms with them? -It would seem impossible to reconcile the -transcendent personality of Allah with an -immanent Reality which is the very life -and soul of the universe. Yet Islam has -accepted Sūfism. The Sūfīs, instead of being -excommunicated, are securely established -in the Mohammedan church, and the <cite>Legend -of the Moslem Saints</cite> records the wildest -excesses of Oriental pantheism.</p> - -<p>Let us return for a moment to the Koran, -that infallible touchstone by which every -Mohammedan theory and practice must be -proved. Are any germs of mysticism to -be found there? The Koran, as I have -said, starts with the notion of Allah, the -One, Eternal, and Almighty God, far above -human feelings and aspirations—the Lord -of His slaves, not the Father of His children; -a judge meting out stern justice to sinners, -and extending His mercy only to those who -avert His wrath by repentance, humility, -and unceasing works of devotion; a God -of fear rather than of love. This is one -side, and certainly the most prominent side, -of Mohammed’s teaching; but while he -set an impassable gulf between the world -and Allah, his deeper instinct craved a -direct revelation from God to the soul. -There are no contradictions in the logic of -feeling. Mohammed, who had in him something -of the mystic, felt God both as far and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_22">[p. 22]</span> -near, both as transcendent and immanent. -In the latter aspect, Allah is the light -of the heavens and the earth, a Being who -works in the world and in the soul of man.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“If My servants ask thee about Me, -lo, I am near” (Kor. <span class="bold">2</span>. 182); “We -(God) are nearer to him than his own -neck-vein” (<span class="bold">50.</span> 15); “And in the -earth are signs to those of real faith, -and in yourselves. What! do ye not -see?” (<span class="bold">51.</span> 20-21).</p> -</div> - -<p>It was a long time ere they saw. The -Moslem consciousness, haunted by terrible -visions of the wrath to come, slowly and -painfully awoke to the significance of those -liberating ideas.</p> - -<p>The verses which I have quoted do not -stand alone, and however unfavourable to -mysticism the Koran as a whole may be, -I cannot assent to the view that it supplies -no basis for a mystical interpretation of -Islam. This was worked out in detail by -the Sūfīs, who dealt with the Koran in very -much the same way as Philo treated the -Pentateuch. But they would not have -succeeded so thoroughly in bringing over -the mass of religious Moslems to their side, -unless the champions of orthodoxy had set -about constructing a system of scholastic -philosophy that reduced the divine nature -to a purely formal, changeless, and absolute -unity, a bare will devoid of all affections<span class="pagenum" id="Page_23">[p. 23]</span> -and emotions, a tremendous and incalculable -power with which no human creature could -have any communion or personal intercourse -whatsoever. That is the God of -Mohammedan theology. That was the -alternative to Sūfism. Therefore, “all -thinking, religious Moslems are mystics,” -as Professor D. B. Macdonald, one of our -best authorities on the subject, has remarked. -And he adds: “All, too, are pantheists, but -some do not know it.”</p> - -<p>The relation of individual Sūfīs to Islam -varies from more or less entire conformity -to a merely nominal profession of belief in -Allah and His Prophet. While the Koran -and the Traditions are generally acknowledged -to be the unalterable standard of -religious truth, this acknowledgment does -not include the recognition of any external -authority which shall decide what is orthodox -and what is heretical. Creeds and catechisms -count for nothing in the Sūfī’s -estimation. Why should he concern himself -with these when he possesses a doctrine -derived immediately from God? As he -reads the Koran with studious meditation -and rapt attention, lo, the hidden meanings—infinite, -inexhaustible—of the Holy Word -flash upon his inward eye. This is what -the Sūfīs call <i>istinbāt</i>, a sort of intuitive -deduction; the mysterious inflow of divinely -revealed knowledge into hearts made pure<span class="pagenum" id="Page_24">[p. 24]</span> -by repentance and filled with the thought -of God, and the outflow of that knowledge -upon the interpreting tongue. Naturally, -the doctrines elicited by means of <i>istinbāt</i> -do not agree very well either with Mohammedan -theology or with each other, but -the discord is easily explained. Theologians, -who interpret the letter, cannot be expected -to reach the same conclusions as mystics, -who interpret the spirit; and if both -classes differ amongst themselves, that is -a merciful dispensation of divine wisdom, -since theological controversy serves to extinguish -religious error, while the variety -of mystical truth corresponds to the -manifold degrees and modes of mystical -experience.</p> - -<p>In the <a href="#Chapter_3" title="Go to Chapter 3">chapter on the gnosis</a> I shall enter -more fully into the attitude of the Sūfīs -towards positive religion. It is only a -rough-and-ready account of the matter to -say that many of them have been good -Moslems, many scarcely Moslems at all, -and a third party, perhaps the largest, -Moslems after a fashion. During the early -Middle Ages Islam was a growing organism, -and gradually became transformed under -the influence of diverse movements, of -which Sūfism itself was one. Mohammedan -orthodoxy in its present shape owes much -to Ghazālī, and Ghazālī was a Sūfī. Through -his work and example the Sūfistic interpretation<span class="pagenum" id="Page_25">[p. 25]</span> -of Islam has in no small measure -been harmonised with the rival claims of -reason and tradition, but just because of -this he is less valuable than mystics of a -purer type to the student who wishes to -know what Sūfism essentially is.</p> - -<p>Although the numerous definitions of -Sūfism which occur in Arabic and Persian -books on the subject are historically interesting, -their chief importance lies in showing -that Sūfism is undefinable. Jalāluddīn -Rūmī in his <i>Masnavī</i> tells a story about -an elephant which some Hindoos were -exhibiting in a dark room. Many people -gathered to see it, but, as the place was too -dark to permit them to see the elephant, -they all felt it with their hands, to gain -an idea of what it was like. One felt its -trunk, and said that the animal resembled a -water-pipe; another felt its ear, and said -it must be a large fan; another its leg, -and thought it must be a pillar; another -felt its back, and declared that the beast -must be like an immense throne. So it is -with those who define Sūfism: they can only -attempt to express what they themselves have -felt, and there is no conceivable formula -that will comprise every shade of personal and -intimate religious feeling. Since, however, -these definitions illustrate with convenient -brevity certain aspects and characteristics -of Sūfism, a few specimens may be given.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_26">[p. 26]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Sūfism is this: that actions should -be passing over the Sūfī (<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> being done -upon him) which are known to God only, -and that he should always be with God -in a way that is known to God only.”</p> - -<p>“Sūfism is wholly self-discipline.”</p> - -<p>“Sūfism is, to possess nothing and to -be possessed by nothing.”</p> - -<p>“Sūfism is not a system composed -of rules or sciences but a moral disposition; -<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> if it were a rule, it could -be made one’s own by strenuous exertion, -and if it were a science, it could -be acquired by instruction; but on the -contrary it is a disposition, according -to the saying, ‘Form yourselves on the -moral nature of God’; and the moral -nature of God cannot be attained either -by means of rules or by means of -sciences.”</p> - -<p>“Sūfism is freedom and generosity -and absence of self-constraint.”</p> - -<p>“It is this: that God should make -thee die to thyself and should make -thee live in Him.”</p> - -<p>“To behold the imperfection of the -phenomenal world, nay, to close the -eye to everything imperfect in contemplation -of Him who is remote from -all imperfection—that is Sūfism.”</p> - -<p>“Sūfism is control of the faculties -and observance of the breaths.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_27">[p. 27]</span></p> - -<p>“It is Sūfism to put away what thou -hast in thy head, to give what thou hast -in thy hand, and not to recoil from -whatsoever befalls thee.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The reader will perceive that Sūfism is -a word uniting many divergent meanings, -and that in sketching its main features -one is obliged to make a sort of composite -portrait, which does not represent any particular -type exclusively. The Sūfīs are not -a sect, they have no dogmatic system, the -<i>tarīqas</i> or paths by which they seek God -“are in number as the souls of men” and -vary infinitely, though a family likeness may -be traced in them all. Descriptions of such -a Protean phenomenon must differ widely -from one another, and the impression produced -in each case will depend on the choice -of materials and the prominence given to -this or that aspect of the many-sided whole. -Now, the essence of Sūfism is best displayed -in its extreme type, which is pantheistic and -speculative rather than ascetic or devotional. -This type, therefore, I have purposely placed -in the foreground. The advantage of limiting -the field is obvious enough, but entails -some loss of proportion. In order to form -a fair judgment of Mohammedan mysticism, -the following chapters should be supplemented -by a companion picture drawn -especially from those moderate types which, -for want of space, I have unduly neglected.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_28">[p. 28]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_I"><a id="Chapter_1">CHAPTER <abbr title="1">I</abbr></a><br /> <br /><span class="fs75">THE PATH</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">Mystics</span> of every race and creed have -described the progress of the spiritual life as -a journey or a pilgrimage. Other symbols -have been used for the same purpose, but -this one appears to be almost universal in -its range. The Sūfī who sets out to seek -God calls himself a ‘traveller’ (<i>sālik</i>); he -advances by slow ‘stages’ (<i>maqāmāt</i>) along -a ‘path’ (<i>tarīqat</i>) to the goal of union with -Reality (<i>fanā fi ’l-Haqq</i>). Should he venture -to make a map of this interior ascent, -it will not correspond exactly with any of -those made by previous explorers. Such -maps or scales of perfection were elaborated -by Sūfī teachers at an early period, and the -unlucky Moslem habit of systematising has -produced an enormous aftercrop. The -‘path’ expounded by the author of the <cite>Kitāb -al-Lumaʿ</cite>, perhaps the oldest comprehensive -treatise on Sūfism that we now possess, -consists of the following seven ‘stages,’ each -of which (except the first member of the series) -is the result of the ‘stages’ immediately<span class="pagenum" id="Page_29">[p. 29]</span> -preceding it—(1) Repentance, (2) abstinence, -(3) renunciation, (4) poverty, (5) -patience, (6) trust in God, (7) satisfaction. -The ‘stages’ constitute the <em>ascetic and -ethical</em> discipline of the Sūfī, and must be -carefully distinguished from the so-called -‘states’ (<i>ahwāl</i>, plural of <i>hāl</i>), which form -a similar <em>psychological</em> chain. The writer -whom I have just quoted enumerates ten -‘states’—Meditation, nearness to God, love, -fear, hope, longing, intimacy, tranquillity, -contemplation, and certainty. While the -‘stages’ can be acquired and mastered by -one’s own efforts, the ‘states’ are spiritual -feelings and dispositions over which a man -has no control:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“They descend from God into his -heart, without his being able to repel -them when they come or to retain -them when they go.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The Sūfī’s ‘path’ is not finished until he -has traversed all the ‘stages,’ making himself -perfect in every one of them before -advancing to the next, and has also experienced -whatever ‘states’ it pleases God to -bestow upon him. Then, and only then, is -he permanently raised to the higher planes -of consciousness which Sūfīs call ‘the -Gnosis’ (<i>maʿrifat</i>) and ‘the Truth’ (<i>haqīqat</i>), -where the ‘seeker’ (<i>tālib</i>) becomes the -‘knower’ or ‘gnostic’ (<i>ʿārif</i>), and realises -that knowledge, knower, and known are One.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_30">[p. 30]</span></p> - -<p>Having sketched, as briefly as possible, -the external framework of the method by -which the Sūfī approaches his goal, I shall -now try to give some account of its inner -workings. The present chapter deals with -the first portion of the threefold journey—the -Path, the Gnosis, and the Truth—by -which the quest of Reality is often symbolised.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">Repentance.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">The first place in every list of ‘stages’ is -occupied by repentance (<i>tawbat</i>). This is -the Moslem term for ‘conversion,’ and marks -the beginning of a new life. In the biographies -of eminent Sūfīs the dreams, visions, -auditions, and other experiences which -caused them to enter on the Path are usually -related. Trivial as they may seem, these -records have a psychological basis, and, if -authentic, would be worth studying in -detail. Repentance is described as the -awakening of the soul from the -slumber of heedlessness, so that -the sinner becomes aware of his evil ways -and feels contrition for past disobedience. -He is not truly penitent, however, unless -(1) he at once abandons the sin or sins of -which he is conscious, and (2) firmly resolves -that he will never return to these sins -in the future. It he should fail to keep his -vow, he must again turn to God, whose -mercy is infinite. A certain well-known -Sūfī repented seventy times and fell back -into sin seventy times before he made a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_31">[p. 31]</span> -lasting repentance. The convert must also, -as far as lies in his power, satisfy all those -whom he has injured. Many examples of -such restitution might be culled from the -<cite>Legend of the Moslem Saints</cite>.</p> - -<p>According to the high mystical theory, -repentance is purely an act of divine grace, -coming from God to man, not from man to -God. Some one said to Rābiʿa:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I have committed many sins; if -I turn in penitence towards God, will -He turn in mercy towards me?” -“Nay,” she replied, “but if He shall -turn towards thee, thou wilt turn -towards Him.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The question whether sins ought to be -remembered after repentance or forgotten -illustrates a fundamental point in Sūfī -ethics: I mean the difference between what -is taught to novices and disciples and what -is held as an esoteric doctrine by adepts. -Any Mohammedan director of souls would -tell his pupils that to think humbly and -remorsefully of one’s sins is a sovereign -remedy against spiritual pride, but he himself -might very well believe that real repentance -consists in forgetting everything -except God.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The penitent,” says Hujwīrī, “is -a lover of God, and the lover of God -is in contemplation of God: in contemplation -it is wrong to remember<span class="pagenum" id="Page_32">[p. 32]</span> -sin, for recollection of sin is a veil -between God and the contemplative.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Sin appertains to self-existence, which -itself is the greatest of all sins. To forget -sin is to forget self.</p> - -<p>This is only one application of a principle -which, as I have said, runs through the -whole ethical system of Sūfism and will be -more fully explained in a subsequent chapter. -Its dangers are evident, but we must in -fairness allow that the same theory of conduct -may not be equally suitable to those -who have made themselves perfect in moral -discipline and to those who are still striving -after perfection.</p> - -<p>Over the gate of repentance it is written:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“All <em>self</em> abandon ye who enter here!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">The Sheykh.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">The convert now begins what is called by -Christian mystics the Purgative Way. If -he follows the general rule, he will take a -director (Sheykh, Pīr, Murshid), <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> a holy -man of ripe experience and profound -knowledge, whose least -word is absolute law to his disciples. A -‘seeker’ who attempts to traverse the -‘Path’ without assistance receives little -sympathy. Of such a one it is said that ‘his -guide is Satan,’ and he is likened to a tree -that for want of the gardener’s care brings -forth ‘none or bitter fruit.’ Speaking of -the Sūfī Sheykhs, Hujwīrī says:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_33">[p. 33]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“When a novice joins them, with -the purpose of renouncing the world, -they subject him to spiritual discipline -for the space of three years. If he -fulfil the requirements of this discipline, -well and good; otherwise, they declare -that he cannot be admitted to the -‘Path.’ The first year is devoted to -service of the people, the second year -to service of God, and the third year to -watching over his own heart. He can -serve the people, only when he places -himself in the rank of servants and all -others in the rank of masters, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> he -must regard all, without exception, as -being better than himself, and must -deem it his duty to serve all alike. And -he can serve God, only when he cuts -off all his selfish interests relating either -to the present or to the future life, and -worships God for God’s sake alone, -inasmuch as whoever worships God for -any thing’s sake worships himself, not -God. And he can watch over his heart, -only when his thoughts are collected -and every care is dismissed, so that in -communion with God he guards his -heart from the assaults of heedlessness. -When these qualifications are -possessed by the novice, he may -wear the <i>muraqqaʿat</i> (the patched -frock worn by dervishes) as a true<span class="pagenum" id="Page_34">[p. 34]</span> -mystic, not merely as an imitator of -others.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Shiblī was a pupil of the famous theosophist -Junayd of Baghdād. On his conversion, -he came to Junayd, saying:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“They tell me that you possess the -pearl of divine knowledge: either give -it me or sell it.” Junayd answered: -“I cannot sell it, for you have not the -price thereof; and if I give it you, you -will have gained it cheaply. You do -not know its value. Cast yourself headlong, -like me, into this ocean, in order -that you may win the pearl by waiting -patiently.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Shiblī asked what he must do.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Go,” said Junayd, “and sell -sulphur.”</p> -</div> - -<p>At the end of a year he said to Shiblī:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“This trading makes you well known. -Become a dervish and occupy yourself -solely with begging.”</p> -</div> - -<p>During a whole year Shiblī wandered -through the streets of Baghdād, begging of -the passers-by, but no one heeded him. -Then he returned to Junayd, who exclaimed:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“See now! You are nothing in -people’s eyes. Never set your mind on -them or take any account of them at -all. For some time” (he continued) -“you were a chamberlain and acted as<span class="pagenum" id="Page_35">[p. 35]</span> -governor of a province. Go to that -country and ask pardon of all those -whom you have wronged.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Shiblī obeyed and spent four years in -going from door to door, until he had obtained -an acquittance from every person -except one, whom he failed to trace. On -his return, Junayd said to him:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“You still have some regard to -reputation. Go and be a beggar for -one year more.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Every day Shiblī used to bring the alms -that were given him to Junayd, who bestowed -them on the poor and kept Shiblī -without food until the next morning. When -a year had passed in this way, Junayd accepted -him as one of his disciples on condition -that he should perform the duties of a -servant to the others. After a year’s service, -Junayd asked him:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“What think you of yourself now?” -Shiblī replied: “I deem myself the -meanest of God’s creatures.” “Now,” -said the master, “your faith is firm.”</p> -</div> - -<p>I need not dwell on the details of this -training—the fasts and vigils, the vows of -silence, the long days and nights of solitary -meditation, all the weapons and tactics, in -short, of that battle against one’s self which -the Prophet declared to be more painful and -meritorious than the Holy War. On the -other hand, my readers will expect me to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_36">[p. 36]</span> -describe in a general way the characteristic -theories and practices for which the ‘Path’ -is a convenient designation. These may be -treated under the following heads: Poverty, -Mortification, Trust in God, and Recollection. -Whereas poverty is negative in nature, involving -detachment from all that is worldly -and unreal, the three remaining terms denote -the positive counterpart of that process, -namely, the ethical discipline by which -the soul is brought into harmonious relations -with Reality.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">Poverty.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">The fatalistic spirit which brooded darkly -over the childhood of Islam—the feeling -that all human actions are determined by -an unseen Power, and in themselves are -worthless and vain—caused renunciation to -become the watchword of early Moslem -asceticism. Every true believer is bound -to abstain from unlawful pleasures, but the -ascetic acquires merit by abstaining from -those which are lawful. At first, renunciation -was understood almost exclusively in a -material sense. To have as few -worldly goods as possible seemed -the surest means of gaining salvation. -Dāwud al-Tāʾī owned nothing except a mat -of rushes, a brick which he used as a pillow, -and a leathern vessel which served him -for drinking and washing. A certain man -dreamed that he saw Mālik ibn Dīnār and -Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ being led into Paradise,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_37">[p. 37]</span> -and that Mālik was admitted before -his companion. He cried out in astonishment, -for he thought Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ -had a superior claim to the honour. “Yes,” -came the answer, “but Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ -possessed two shirts, and Mālik only one. -That is the reason why Mālik is preferred.”</p> - -<p>The Sūfī ideal of poverty goes far beyond -this. True poverty is not merely lack of -wealth, but lack of desire for wealth: the -empty heart as well as the empty hand. -The ‘poor man’ (<i>faqīr</i>) and the ‘mendicant’ -(<i>dervīsh</i>) are names by which the -Mohammedan mystic is proud to be known, -because they imply that he is stripped of -every thought or wish that would divert his -mind from God. “To be severed entirely -from both the present life and the future -life, and to want nothing besides the Lord -of the present life and the future life—that -is to be truly poor.” Such a <i>faqīr</i> is denuded -of individual existence, so that he -does not attribute to himself any action, -feeling, or quality. He may even be rich, -in the common meaning of the word, though -spiritually he is the poorest of the poor; -for, sometimes, God endows His saints with -an outward show of wealth and worldliness -in order to hide them from the profane.</p> - -<p>No one familiar with the mystical writers -will need to be informed that their terminology -is ambiguous, and that the same word<span class="pagenum" id="Page_38">[p. 38]</span> -frequently covers a group, if not a multitude, -of significations diverging more or less -widely according to the aspect from which -it is viewed. Hence the confusion that -is apparent in Sūfī text-books. When -‘poverty,’ for example, is explained by one -interpreter as a transcendental theory and -by another as a practical rule of religious -life, the meanings cannot coincide. Regarded -from the latter standpoint, poverty -is only the beginning of Sūfism. <i>Faqīrs</i>, -Jāmī says, renounce all worldly things for -the sake of pleasing God. They are urged -to this sacrifice by one of three motives: -(<em>a</em>) Hope of an easy reckoning on the Day -of Judgment, or fear of being punished; -(<em>b</em>) desire of Paradise; (<em>c</em>) longing for -spiritual peace and inward composure. -Thus, inasmuch as they are not disinterested -but seek to benefit themselves, they rank -below the Sūfī, who has no will of his own -and depends absolutely on the will of God. -It is the absence of ‘self’ that distinguishes -the Sūfī from the <i>faqīr</i>.</p> - -<p>Here are some maxims for dervishes:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Do not beg unless you are starving. -The Caliph Omar flogged a man who -begged after having satisfied his hunger. -When compelled to beg, do not accept -more than you need.”</p> - -<p>“Be good-natured and uncomplaining -and thank God for your poverty.”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_39">[p. 39]</span></p> - -<p>“Do not flatter the rich for giving, -nor blame them for withholding.”</p> - -<p>“Dread the loss of poverty more than -the rich man dreads the loss of wealth.”</p> - -<p>“Take what is voluntarily offered: -it is the daily bread which God sends -to you: do not refuse God’s gift.”</p> - -<p>“Let no thought of the morrow enter -your mind, else you will incur everlasting -perdition.”</p> - -<p>“Do not make God a springe to -catch alms.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">The <i>nafs</i>.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">The Sūfī teachers gradually built up a -system of asceticism and moral culture -which is founded on the fact that there is in -man an element of evil—the lower or appetitive -soul. This evil self, the seat of -passion and lust, is called <i>nafs</i>; -it may be considered broadly -equivalent to ‘the flesh,’ and with its -allies, the world and the devil, it constitutes -the great obstacle to the attainment of -union with God. The Prophet said: “Thy -worst enemy is thy <i>nafs</i>, which is between -thy two sides.” I do not intend to discuss -the various opinions as to its nature, but -the proof of its materiality is too curious -to be omitted. Mohammed ibn ʿUlyān, an -eminent Sūfī, relates that one day something -like a young fox came forth from his -throat, and God caused him to know that<span class="pagenum" id="Page_40">[p. 40]</span> -it was his <i>nafs</i>. He trod on it, but it grew -bigger at every kick that he gave it. He said:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Other things are destroyed by pain -and blows: why dost thou increase?” -“Because I was created perverse,” it -replied; “what is pain to other things -is pleasure to me, and their pleasure is -my pain.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The <i>nafs</i> of Hallāj was seen running -behind him in the shape of a dog; and -other cases are recorded in which it appeared -as a snake or a mouse.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">Mortification.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">Mortification of the <i>nafs</i> is the chief work -of devotion, and leads, directly or indirectly, -to the contemplative life. All the Sheykhs -are agreed that no disciple who neglects -this duty will ever learn the rudiments of -Sūfism. The principle of mortification is -that the <i>nafs</i> should be weaned -from those things to which it is -accustomed, that it should be encouraged -to resist its passions, that its pride should -be broken, and that it should be brought -through suffering and tribulation to recognise -the vileness of its original nature -and the impurity of its actions. Concerning -the outward methods of mortification, such -as fasting, silence, and solitude, a great deal -might be written, but we must now pass on -to the higher ethical discipline which completes -the Path.</p> - -<p>Self-mortification, as advanced Sūfīs<span class="pagenum" id="Page_41">[p. 41]</span> -understand it, is a moral transmutation of -the inner man. When they say, “Die -before ye die,” they do not mean to assert -that the lower self can be essentially destroyed, -but that it can and should be purged -of its attributes, which are wholly evil. -These attributes—ignorance, pride, envy, -uncharitableness, etc.—are extinguished, and -replaced by the opposite qualities, when the -will is surrendered to God and when the -mind is concentrated on Him. Therefore -‘dying to self’ is really ‘living in God.’ -The mystical aspects of the doctrine thus -stated will occupy a considerable part of the -following chapters; here we are mainly -interested in its ethical import.</p> - -<p>The Sūfī who has eradicated self-will is -said, in technical language, to have reached -the ‘stages’ of ‘acquiescence’ or ‘satisfaction’ -(<i>ridā</i>) and ‘trust in God’ (<i>tawakkul</i>).</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>A dervish fell into the Tigris. Seeing -that he could not swim, a man on the -bank cried out, “Shall I tell some one -to bring you ashore?” “No,” said the -dervish. “Then do you wish to be -drowned?” “No.” “What, then, do -you wish?” The dervish replied, “God’s -will be done! What have I to do with -wishing?”</p> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">Trust in God.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">‘Trust in God,’ in its extreme form, involves -the renunciation of every personal -initiative and volition; total passivity like<span class="pagenum" id="Page_42">[p. 42]</span> -that of a corpse in the hands of the washer -who prepares it for burial; perfect indifference -towards anything that is -even remotely connected with -one’s self. A special class of the ancient -Sūfīs took their name from this ‘trust,’ -which they applied, so far as they were -able, to matters of everyday life. For instance, -they would not seek food, work for -hire, practise any trade, or allow medicine -to be given them when they were ill. -Quietly they committed themselves to God’s -care, never doubting that He, to whom -belong the treasures of earth and heaven, -would provide for their wants, and that -their allotted portion would come to them -as surely as it comes to the birds, which -neither sow nor reap, and to the fish in the -sea, and to the child in the womb.</p> - -<p>These principles depend ultimately on the -Sūfistic theory of the divine unity, as is shown -by Shaqīq of Balkh in the following passage:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“There are three things which a man -is bound to practise. Whosoever neglects -any one of them must needs -neglect them all, and whosoever cleaves -to any one of them must needs cleave -to them all. Strive, therefore, to understand, -and consider heedfully.</p> - -<p>“The <em>first</em> is this, that with your -mind and your tongue and your actions -you declare God to be One; and that,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_43">[p. 43]</span> -having declared Him to be One, and -having declared that none benefits you -or harms you except Him, you devote -all your actions to Him alone. If you -act a single jot of your actions for -the sake of another, your thought and -speech are corrupt, since your motive -in acting for another’s sake must be -hope or fear; and when you act from -hope or fear of other than God, who is -the lord and sustainer of all things, you -have taken to yourself another god to -honour and venerate.</p> - -<p>“<em>Secondly</em>, that while you speak and -act in the sincere belief that there is no -God except Him, you should trust Him -more than the world or money or uncle -or father or mother or any one on the -face of the earth.</p> - -<p>“<em>Thirdly</em>, when you have established -these two things, namely, sincere belief -in the unity of God and trust in Him, -it behoves you to be satisfied with -Him and not to be angry on account of -anything that vexes you. Beware of -anger! Let your heart be with Him -always, let it not be withdrawn from -Him for a single moment.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The ‘trusting’ Sūfī has no thought -beyond the present hour. On one occasion -Shaqīq asked those who sat listening to his -discourse:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_44">[p. 44]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“If God causes you to die to-day, -think ye that He will demand from you -the prayers of to-morrow?” They -answered: “No; how should He demand -from us the prayers of a day on -which we are not alive?” Shaqīq said: -“Even as He will not demand from -you the prayers of to-morrow, so do ye -not seek from Him the provender of -to-morrow. It may be that ye will not -live so long.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In view of the practical consequences of -attempting to live ‘on trust,’ it is not -surprising to read the advice given to those -who would perfectly fulfil the doctrine: -“Let them dig a grave and bury themselves.” -Later Sūfīs hold that active exertion -for the purpose of obtaining the means -of subsistence is quite compatible with -‘trust,’ according to the saying of the -Prophet, “Trust in God and tie the camel’s -leg.” They define <i>tawakkul</i> as an habitual -state of mind, which is impaired only by -self-pleasing thoughts; <i><abbr title="for example">e.g.</abbr></i> it was accounted -a breach of ‘trust’ to think Paradise a -more desirable place than Hell.</p> - -<p>What type of character is such a theory -likely to produce? At the worst, a useless -drone and hypocrite preying upon his fellow-creatures; -at the best, a harmless dervish -who remains unmoved in the midst of -sorrow, meets praise and blame with equal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_45">[p. 45]</span> -indifference, and accepts insults, blows, -torture, and death as mere incidents in the -eternal drama of destiny. This cold morality, -however, is not the highest of which Sūfism -is capable. The highest morality springs -from nothing but love, when self-surrender -becomes self-devotion. Of that I shall have -something to say in due time.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">Recollection.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">Among the positive elements in the Sūfī -discipline there is one that Moslem mystics -unanimously regard as the keystone of -practical religion. I refer to the <i>dhikr</i>, an -exercise well known to Western readers -from the careful description given by Edward -Lane in his <cite>Modern Egyptians</cite>, and by Professor -D. B. Macdonald in his recently -published <cite>Aspects of Islam</cite>. The term -<i>dhikr</i>—‘recollection’ seems to -me the most appropriate equivalent -in English—signifies ‘mentioning,’ -‘remembering,’ or simply ‘thinking of’; -in the Koran the Faithful are commanded -to “remember God often,” a plain act of -worship without any mystical savour. But -the Sūfīs made a practice of repeating the -name of God or some religious formula, -<i><abbr title="for example">e.g.</abbr></i> “Glory to Allah” (<i>subhān Allah</i>), “There -is no god but Allah” (<i>lā ilāha illa ’llah</i>), -accompanying the mechanical intonation -with an intense concentration of every faculty -upon the single word or phrase; and -they attach greater value to this irregular<span class="pagenum" id="Page_46">[p. 46]</span> -litany, which enables them to enjoy uninterrupted -communion with God, than to -the five services of prayer performed, at -fixed hours of the day and night, by all -Moslems. Recollection may be either spoken -or silent, but it is best, according to the -usual opinion, that tongue and mind should -co-operate. Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah bade one -of his disciples endeavour to say “Allah! -Allah!” the whole day without intermission. -When he had acquired the habit of doing -so, Sahl instructed him to repeat the same -words during the night, until they came -forth from his lips even while he was asleep. -“Now,” said he, “be silent and occupy -yourself with recollecting them.” At last -the disciple’s whole being was absorbed by -the thought of Allah. One day a log fell on -his head, and the words “Allah, Allah” were -seen written in the blood that trickled from -the wound.</p> - -<p>Ghazālī describes the method and effects -of <i>dhikr</i> in a passage which Macdonald has -summarised as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Let him reduce his heart to a state -in which the existence of anything and -its non-existence are the same to him. -Then let him sit alone in some corner, -limiting his religious duties to what is -absolutely necessary, and not occupying -himself either with reciting the Koran -or considering its meaning or with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_47">[p. 47]</span> -books of religious traditions or with -anything of the sort. And let him see -to it that nothing save God most High -enters his mind. Then, as he sits in -solitude, let him not cease saying -continuously with his tongue, ‘<i>Allah, -Allah</i>,’ keeping his thought on it. At -last he will reach a state when the motion -of his tongue will cease, and it will -seem as though the word flowed from -it. Let him persevere in this until all -trace of motion is removed from his -tongue, and he finds his heart persevering -in the thought. Let him still persevere -until the form of the word, its letters -and shape, is removed from his heart, -and there remains the idea alone, as -though clinging to his heart, inseparable -from it. So far, all is dependent on his -will and choice; but to bring the mercy -of God does not stand in his will or -choice. He has now laid himself bare -to the breathings of that mercy, and -nothing remains but to await what -God will open to him, as God has done -after this manner to prophets and saints. -If he follows the above course, he may -be sure that the light of the Real will -shine out in his heart. At first unstable, -like a flash of lightning, it turns and -returns; though sometimes it hangs -back. And if it returns, sometimes it<span class="pagenum" id="Page_48">[p. 48]</span> -abides and sometimes it is momentary. -And if it abides, sometimes its abiding -is long, and sometimes short.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Another Sūfī puts the gist of the matter -in a sentence, thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The first stage of <i>dhikr</i> is to forget -self, and the last stage is the effacement -of the worshipper in the act of -worship, without consciousness of worship, -and such absorption in the object -of worship as precludes return to the -subject thereof.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Recollection can be aided in various ways. -When Shiblī was a novice, he went daily -into a cellar, taking with him a bundle of -sticks. If his attention flagged, he would -beat himself until the sticks broke, and -sometimes the whole bundle would be -finished before evening; then he would -dash his hands and feet against the wall. -The Indian practice of inhaling and exhaling -the breath was known to the Sūfīs of the -ninth century and was much used afterwards. -Among the Dervish Orders music, singing, -and dancing are favourite means of inducing -the state of trance called ‘passing-away’ -(<i>fanā</i>), which, as appears from the definition -quoted above, is the climax and <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">raison d’être</i> -of the method.</p> - -<div class="section"> -<div class="sidenote">Meditation.</div> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara">In ‘meditation’ (<i>murāqabat</i>) we recognise -a form of self-concentration similar to the -Buddhistic <i>dhyāna</i> and <i>samādhi</i>. This is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_49">[p. 49]</span> -what the Prophet meant when he said, -“Worship God as though thou sawest Him, -for if thou seest Him not, yet He sees thee.” -Any one who feels sure that God is always -watching over him will devote himself to -meditating on God, and no evil -thoughts or diabolic suggestions -will find their way into his heart. Nūrī -used to meditate so intently that not a hair -on his body stirred. He declared that he -had learned this habit from a cat which -was observing a mouse-hole, and that she -was far more quiet than he. Abū Saʿīd -ibn Abi ’l-Khayr kept his eyes fixed on his -navel. It is said that the Devil is smitten -with epilepsy when he approaches a man -thus occupied, just as happens to other men -when the Devil takes possession of them.</p> - -<p>This chapter will have served its purpose -if it has brought before my readers a clear -view of the main lines on which the preparatory -training of the Sūfī is conducted. -We must now imagine him to have been -invested by his Sheykh with the patched -frock (<i>muraqqaʿat</i> or <i>khirqat</i>), which is an -outward sign that he has successfully -emerged from the discipline of the ‘Path,’ -and is now advancing with uncertain steps -towards the Light, as when toil-worn -travellers, having gained the summit of a -deep gorge, suddenly catch glimpses of the -sun and cover their eyes.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_50">[p. 50]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_II"><a id="Chapter_2">CHAPTER <abbr title="2">II</abbr></a><br /> <br /><span class="fs75">ILLUMINATION AND ECSTASY</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">God</span>, who is described in the Koran as “the -Light of the heavens and the earth,” cannot -be seen by the bodily eye. He is visible -only to the inward sight of the ‘heart.’ -In <a href="#Chapter_3" title="Go to Chapter 3">the next chapter</a> we shall return to this -spiritual organ, but I am not going to enter -into the intricacies of Sūfī psychology any -further than is necessary. The ‘vision of -the heart’ (<i>ruʾyat al-qalb</i>) is defined as “the -heart’s beholding by the light of certainty -that which is hidden in the unseen world.” -This is what ʿAlī meant when he was -asked, “Do you see God?” and replied: -“How should we worship One whom we do -not see?” The light of intuitive certainty -(<i>yaqīn</i>) by which the heart sees God is a -beam of God’s own light cast therein by -Himself; else no vision of Him were possible.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“’Tis the sun’s self that lets the sun be seen.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>According to a mystical interpretation -of the famous passage in the Koran where -the light of Allah is compared to a candle<span class="pagenum" id="Page_51">[p. 51]</span> -burning in a lantern of transparent glass, -which is placed in a niche in the wall, the -niche is the true believer’s heart; therefore -his speech is light and his works are light -and he moves in light. “He who discourses -of eternity,” said Bāyazīd, “must have -within him the lamp of eternity.”</p> - -<p>The light which gleams in the heart of -the illuminated mystic endows him with a -supernatural power of discernment (<i>firāsat</i>). -Although the Sūfīs, like all other Moslems, -acknowledge Mohammed to be the last of -the prophets (as, from a different point of -view, he is the Logos or first of created -beings), they really claim to possess a minor -form of inspiration. When Nūrī was questioned -concerning the origin of mystical -<i>firāsat</i>, he answered by quoting the Koranic -verse in which God says that He breathed -His spirit into Adam; but the more orthodox -Sūfīs, who <a id="TN2">strenuously</a> combat the -doctrine that the human spirit is uncreated -and eternal, affirm that <i>firāsat</i> is the result -of knowledge and insight, metaphorically -called ‘light’ or ‘inspiration,’ which God -creates and bestows upon His favourites. -The Tradition, “Beware of the discernment -of the true believer, for he sees by the light -of Allah,” is exemplified in such anecdotes -as these:</p> - -<p>Abū ʿAbdallah al-Rāzī said:</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_52">[p. 52]</span></p><div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Ibn al-Anbārī presented me with a -woollen frock, and seeing on the head -of Shiblī a bonnet that would just -match it, I conceived the wish that -they were both mine. When Shiblī -rose to depart, he looked at me, as he -was in the habit of doing when he -desired me to follow him. So I followed -him to his house, and when we had gone -in, he bade me put off the frock and -took it from me and folded it and threw -his bonnet on the top. Then he called -for a fire and burnt both frock and -bonnet.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Sarī al-Saqatī frequently urged Junayd -to speak in public, but Junayd was unwilling -to consent, for he doubted whether he was -worthy of such an honour. One Friday night -he dreamed that the Prophet appeared and -commanded him to speak to the people. -He awoke and went to Sarī’s house before -daybreak, and knocked at the door. Sarī -opened the door and said: “You would not -believe me until the Prophet came and told -you.”</p> - -<p>Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah was sitting in the congregational -mosque when a pigeon, overcome -by the intense heat, dropped on the floor. -Sahl exclaimed: “Please God, Shāh al-Kirmānī -has just died.” They wrote it -down, and it was found to be true.</p> - -<p>When the heart is purged of sin and evil -thoughts, the light of certainty strikes upon<span class="pagenum" id="Page_53">[p. 53]</span> -it and makes it a shining mirror, so that -the Devil cannot approach it without being -observed. Hence the saying of some -gnostic: “If I disobey my heart, I disobey -God.” It was a man thus illuminated to -whom the Prophet said: “Consult thy -heart, and thou wilt hear the secret ordinance -of God proclaimed by the heart’s inward -knowledge, which is real faith and divinity”—something -much better than the learning -of divines. I need not anticipate here the -question, which will be discussed in <a href="#Chapter_3" title="Go to Chapter 3">the -following chapter</a>, how far the claims of an -infallible conscience are reconcilable with -external religion and morality. The -Prophet, too, prayed that God would put a -light into his ear and into his eye; and after -mentioning the different members of his -body, he concluded, “and make the whole -of me one light.”<a id="FNanchor_6" href="#Footnote_6" class="fnanchor">[6]</a> From illumination of -gradually increasing splendour, the mystic -rises to contemplation of the divine attributes, -and ultimately, when his consciousness -is wholly melted away, he becomes transubstantiated -(<i>tajawhara</i>) in the radiance of -the divine essence. This is the ‘station’ -of well-doing (<i>ihsān</i>)—for “God is with the -well-doers” (Kor. <span class="bold">29.</span> 69), and we have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_54">[p. 54]</span> -Prophetic authority for the statement that -“well-doing consists in worshipping God -as though thou wert seeing Him.”</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_6" href="#FNanchor_6" class="label">[6]</a> The reader should be reminded that most, if not all, -mystical Traditions ascribed to Mohammed were forged -and fathered upon him by the Sūfīs, who represent themselves -as the true interpreters of his esoteric teaching.</p> - -</div> - -<p>I will not waste the time and abuse the -patience of my readers by endeavouring to -classify and describe these various grades of -illumination, which may be depicted symbolically -but cannot be explained in scientific -language. We must allow the mystics to -speak for themselves. Granted that their -teaching is often hard to understand, it -conveys more of the truth than we can -ever hope to obtain from analysis and dissection.</p> - -<p>Here are two passages from the oldest -Persian treatise on Sūfism, the <cite>Kashf al-Mahjūb</cite> -of Hujwīrī:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“It is related that Sarī al-Saqatī -said, ‘O God, whatever punishment -thou mayst inflict upon me, do not -punish me with the humiliation of -being veiled from Thee,’ because, if I -am not veiled from Thee, my torment -and affliction will be lightened by -the recollection and contemplation of -Thee; but if I am veiled from Thee, -even Thy bounty will be deadly to me. -There is no punishment in Hell more -painful and hard to bear than that of -being veiled. If God were revealed in -Hell to the people of Hell, sinful believers -would never think of Paradise, since<span class="pagenum" id="Page_55">[p. 55]</span> -the sight of God would so fill them with -joy that they would not feel bodily -pain. And in Paradise there is no -pleasure more perfect than unveiledness. -If the people there enjoyed all -the pleasures of that place and other -pleasures a hundredfold, but were -veiled from God, their hearts would -be utterly broken. Therefore it is the -way of God to let the hearts of those -who love Him have vision of Him -always, in order that the delight thereof -may enable them to endure every -tribulation; and they say in their -visions, ‘We deem all torments more -desirable than to be veiled from Thee. -When Thy beauty is revealed to our -hearts, we take no thought of affliction.’”</p> - -<p>“There are really two kinds of contemplation. -The former is the result -of perfect faith, the latter of rapturous -love, for in the rapture of love a man -attains to such a degree that his whole -being is absorbed in the thought of -his Beloved and he sees nothing else. -Muhammad ibn Wāsiʿ said: ‘I never -saw anything without seeing God therein,’ -<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> through perfect faith. Shiblī -said: ‘I never saw anything except -God,’ <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> in the rapture of love and the -fervour of contemplation. One mystic<span class="pagenum" id="Page_56">[p. 56]</span> -sees the act with his bodily eye, and, -as he looks, beholds the Agent with his -spiritual eye; another is rapt by love -of the Agent from all things else, so -that he sees only the Agent. The one -method is demonstrative, the other is -ecstatic. In the former case, a manifest -proof is derived from the evidences -of God; in the latter case, the seer is -enraptured and transported by desire: -evidences are a veil to him, because he -who knows a thing does not care for -aught besides, and he who loves a -thing does not regard aught besides, -but renounces contention with God -and interference with Him in His -decrees and acts. When the lover turns -his eye away from created things, he -will inevitably see the Creator with -his heart. God hath said, ‘Tell the -believers to close their eyes’ (Kor. -<span class="bold">24.</span> 30), <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> to close their bodily eyes -to lusts and their spiritual eyes to -created things. He who is most sincere -in self-mortification is most firmly -grounded in contemplation. Sahl ibn -ʿAbdallah of Tustar said: ‘If any one -shuts his eye to God for a single -moment, he will never be rightly -guided all his life long,’ because to -regard other than God is to be handed -over to other than God, and one who is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_57">[p. 57]</span> -left at the mercy of other than God is -lost. Therefore the life of contemplatives -is the time during which they -enjoy contemplation; time spent in -ocular vision they do not reckon as -life, for that to them is really death. -Thus, when Bāyazīd was asked how -old he was, he replied, ‘Four years.’ -They said to him, ‘How can that be?’ -He answered, ‘I have been veiled from -God by this world for seventy years, -but I have seen Him during the last -four years: the period in which one is -veiled does not belong to one’s life.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>I take the following quotation from the -<cite>Mawāqif</cite> of Niffarī, an author with whom -we shall become better acquainted as we -proceed:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“God said to me, ‘The least of the -sciences of nearness is that you should -see in everything the effects of beholding -Me, and that this vision should prevail -over you more than your gnosis of -Me.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>Explanation by the commentator:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“He means that the least of the -sciences of nearness (proximity to God) -is that when you look at anything, -sensibly or intellectually or otherwise, -you should be conscious of beholding -God with a vision clearer than your -vision of that thing. There are diverse<span class="pagenum" id="Page_58">[p. 58]</span> -degrees in this matter. Some mystics -say that they never see anything without -seeing God before it. Others say, -‘without seeing God after it,’ or ‘with -it’; or they say that they see nothing -but God. A certain Sūfī said, ‘I made -the pilgrimage and saw the Kaʿba, but -not the Lord of the Kaʿba.’ This is -the perception of one who is veiled. -Then he said, ‘I made the pilgrimage -again, and I saw both the Kaʿba and -the Lord of the Kaʿba.’ This is contemplation -of the Self-subsistence -through which everything subsists, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> -he saw the Kaʿba subsisting through -the Lord of the Kaʿba. Then he said, -‘I made the pilgrimage a third time, -and I saw the Lord of the Kaʿba, but -not the Kaʿba.’ This is the ‘station’ -of <i>waqfat</i> (passing-away in the essence). -In the present case the author is referring -to contemplation of the Self-subsistence.”</p> -</div> - -<p>So much concerning the theory of illumination. -But, as Mephistopheles says, -“<i lang="de" xml:lang="de">grau ist alle Theorie</i>”; and though to most -of us the living experience is denied, we can -hear its loudest echoes and feel its warmest -afterglow in the poetry which it has created. -Let me translate part of a Persian ode by -the dervish-poet, Bābā Kūhī of Shīrāz, who -died in 1050 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_59">[p. 59]</span></span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In the market, in the cloister—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the valley and on the mountain—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Him I have seen beside me oft in tribulation;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In favour and in fortune—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In prayer and fasting, in praise and contemplation,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the religion of the Prophet—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Neither soul nor body, accident nor substance,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Qualities nor causes—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I oped mine eyes and by the light of His face around me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In all the eye discovered—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like a candle I was melting in His fire:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amidst the flames outflashing—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Myself with mine own eyes I saw most clearly,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when I looked with God’s eyes—only God I saw.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I passed away into nothingness, I vanished,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lo, I was the All-living—only God I saw.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="sp1">The whole of Sūfism rests on the belief -that when the individual self is lost, the -Universal Self is found, or, in religious -language, that ecstasy affords the only -means by which the soul can directly communicate -and become united with God. -Asceticism, purification, love, gnosis, saintship—all -the leading ideas of Sūfism—are -developed from this cardinal principle.</p> - -<p>Among the metaphorical terms commonly -employed by the Sūfīs as, more or less, -equivalent to ‘ecstasy’ are <i>fanā</i> (passing-away), -<i>wajd</i> (feeling), <i>samāʿ</i> (hearing), <i>dhawq</i> -(taste), <i>shirb</i> (drinking), <i>ghaybat</i> (absence -from self), <i>jadhbat</i> (attraction), <i>sukr</i> (intoxication), -and <i>hāl</i> (emotion). It would -be tedious and not, I think, specially instructive<span class="pagenum" id="Page_60">[p. 60]</span> -to examine in detail the definitions -of those terms and of many others akin to -them which occur in Sūfī text-books. We -are not brought appreciably nearer to understanding -the nature of ecstasy when it is -described as “a divine mystery which God -communicates to true believers who behold -Him with the eye of certainty,” or as “a -flame which moves in the ground of the -soul and is produced by love-desire.” The -Mohammedan theory of ecstasy, however, -can hardly be discussed without reference to -two of the above-mentioned technical expressions, -namely, <i>fanā</i> and <i>samāʿ</i>.</p> - -<p>As I have remarked in the Introduction -<a href="#Page_17">(pp. 17-19)</a>, the term <i>fanā</i> includes different -stages, aspects, and meanings. These may -be summarised as follows:</p> - -<p>1. A moral transformation of the soul -through the extinction of all its passions -and desires.</p> - -<p>2. A mental abstraction or passing-away -of the mind from all objects of perception, -thoughts, actions, and feelings through its -concentration upon the thought of God. -Here the thought of God signifies contemplation -of the divine attributes.</p> - -<p>3. The cessation of all conscious thought. -The highest stage of <i>fanā</i> is reached when -even the consciousness of having attained -<i>fanā</i> disappears. This is what the Sūfīs -call ‘the passing-away of passing-away’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_61">[p. 61]</span> -(<i>fanā al-fanā</i>). The mystic is now rapt in -contemplation of the divine essence.</p> - -<p>The final stage of <i>fanā</i>, the complete passing-away -from self, forms the prelude to <i>baqā</i>, -‘continuance’ or ‘abiding’ in God, and will -be treated with greater fullness in <a href="#Chapter_6" title="Go to Chapter 6">Chapter <abbr title="6">VI.</abbr></a></p> - -<p>The first stage closely resembles the -Buddhistic Nirvāṇa. It is a ‘passing-away’ -of evil qualities and states of mind, which -involves the simultaneous ‘continuance’ of -good qualities and states of mind. This is -necessarily an ecstatic process, inasmuch as -all the attributes of ‘self’ are evil in relation -to God. No one can make himself perfectly -moral, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> perfectly ‘selfless.’ This must -be done for him, through ‘a flash of the -divine beauty’ in his heart.</p> - -<p>While the first stage refers to the moral -‘self,’ the second refers to the percipient -and intellectual ‘self.’ Using the classification -generally adopted by Christian mystics, -we may regard the former as the consummation -of the Purgative Life, and the latter -as the goal of the Illuminative Life. The -third and last stage constitutes the highest -level of the Contemplative Life.</p> - -<p>Often, though not invariably, <i>fanā</i> is -accompanied by loss of sensation. Sarī -al-Saqatī, a famous Sūfī of the third century, -expressed the opinion that if a man in this -state were struck on the face with a sword, -he would not feel the blow. Abu ’l-Khayr<span class="pagenum" id="Page_62">[p. 62]</span> -al-Aqtaʿ had a gangrene in his foot. The -physicians declared that his foot must be -amputated, but he would not allow this to -be done. His disciples said, “Cut it off while -he is praying, for he is then unconscious.” -The physicians acted on their advice, and -when Abu ’l-Khayr finished his prayers he -found that the amputation had taken place. -It is difficult to see how any one far advanced -in <i>fanā</i> could be capable of keeping the -religious law—a point on which the orthodox -mystics lay great emphasis. Here the -doctrine of saintship comes in. God takes -care to preserve His elect from disobedience -to His commands. We are told that Bāyazīd, -Shiblī, and other saints were continually in -a state of rapture until the hour of prayer -arrived; then they returned to consciousness, -and after performing their prayers -became enraptured again.</p> - -<p>In theory, the ecstatic trance is involuntary, -although certain conditions are recognised -as being specially favourable to its occurrence. -“It comes to a man through vision of the -majesty of God and through revelation of -the divine omnipotence to his heart.” Such, -for instance, was the case of Abū Hamza, -who, while walking in the streets of Baghdād -and meditating on the nearness of God, -suddenly fell into an ecstasy and went on -his way, neither seeing nor hearing, until he -recovered his senses and found himself in<span class="pagenum" id="Page_63">[p. 63]</span> -the desert. Trances of this kind sometimes -lasted many weeks. It is recorded of Sahl -ibn ʿAbdallah that he used to remain in -ecstasy twenty-five days at a time, eating -no food; yet he would answer questions put -to him by the doctors of theology, and even -in winter his shirt would be damp with sweat. -But the Sūfīs soon discovered that ecstasy -might be induced artificially, not only by -concentration of thought, recollection (<i>dhikr</i>), -and other innocent methods of autohypnosis, -but also by music, singing, and dancing. -These are included in the term <i>samāʿ</i>, which -properly means nothing more than audition.</p> - -<p>That Moslems are extraordinarily susceptible -to the sweet influences of sound will -not be doubted by any one who remembers -how, in the <cite>Arabian Nights</cite>, heroes and -heroines alike swoon upon the slightest provocation -afforded by a singing-girl touching -her lute and trilling a few lines of passionate -verse. The fiction is true to life. When -Sūfī writers discuss the analogous phenomena -of ecstasy, they commonly do so in a -chapter entitled ‘Concerning the <i>Samāʿ</i>.’ -Under this heading Hujwīrī, in the final -chapter of his <cite>Kashf al-Mahjūb</cite>, gives us -an excellent summary of his own and -other Mohammedan theories, together with -numerous anecdotes of persons who were -thrown into ecstasy on hearing a verse of the -Koran or a heavenly voice (<i>hātif</i>) or poetry<span class="pagenum" id="Page_64">[p. 64]</span> -or music. Many are said to have died from -the emotion thus aroused. I may add by -way of explanation that, according to a -well-known mystical belief, God has inspired -every created thing to praise Him in its -own language, so that all the sounds in -the universe form, as it were, one vast -choral hymn by which He glorifies Himself. -Consequently those whose hearts He -has opened and endowed with spiritual -perception hear His voice everywhere, and -ecstasy overcomes them as they listen to -the rhythmic chant of the muezzin, or the -street cry of the saqqā shouldering his water-skin, -or, perchance, to the noise of wind or -the bleating of a sheep or the piping of a bird.</p> - -<p>Pythagoras and Plato are responsible for -another theory, to which the Sūfī poets -frequently allude, that music awakens in -the soul a memory of celestial harmonies -heard in a state of pre-existence, before the -soul was separated from God. Thus Jalāluddīn -Rūmī:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The song of the spheres in their revolutions</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is what men sing with lute and voice.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">As we all are members of Adam,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We have heard these melodies in Paradise.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Though earth and water have cast their veil upon us,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We retain faint reminiscences of these heavenly songs;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But while we are thus shrouded by gross earthly veils,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How can the tones of the dancing spheres reach us?”<a id="FNanchor_7" href="#Footnote_7" class="fnanchor">[7]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_7" href="#FNanchor_7" class="label">[7]</a> E. H. Whinfield, abridged translation of the <cite>Masnavī</cite>, -p. 182.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_65">[p. 65]</span></p> - -<p>The formal practice of <i>samāʿ</i> quickly -spread amongst the Sūfīs and produced an -acute cleavage of opinion, some holding it -to be lawful and praiseworthy, whilst others -condemned it as an abominable innovation -and incitement to vice. Hujwīrī adopts -the middle view expressed in a saying of -Dhu ’l-Nūn the Egyptian:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Music is a divine influence which -stirs the heart to seek God: those who -listen to it spiritually attain unto God, -and those who listen to it sensually -fall into unbelief.”</p> -</div> - -<p>He declares, in effect, that audition is -neither good nor bad, and must be judged by -its results.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“When an anchorite goes into a -tavern, the tavern becomes his cell, -but when a wine-bibber goes into a cell, -that cell becomes his tavern.”</p> -</div> - -<p>One whose heart is absorbed in the thought -of God cannot be corrupted by hearing -musical instruments. So with dancing.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“When the heart throbs and rapture -grows intense, and the agitation of -ecstasy is manifested and conventional -forms are gone, this is not dancing nor -bodily indulgence, but a dissolution -of the soul.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Hujwīrī, however, lays down several precautionary -rules for those who engage in -audition, and he confesses that the public<span class="pagenum" id="Page_66">[p. 66]</span> -concerts given by dervishes are extremely -demoralising. Novices, he thinks, should -not be permitted to attend them. In modern -times these orgiastic scenes have frequently -been described by eye-witnesses. I will -now translate from Jāmī’s <cite>Lives of the Saints</cite> -the account of a similar performance which -took place about seven hundred years ago.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“There was a certain dervish, a negro -called Zangī Bashgirdī, who had attained -to such a high degree of spirituality -that the mystic dance could not -be started until he came out and joined -in it. One day, in the course of the -<i>samāʿ</i>, he was seized with ecstasy, and -rising into the air seated himself on a -lofty arch which overlooked the dancers. -In descending he leaped on to Majduddīn -of Baghdād, and encircled with -his legs the neck of the Sheykh, who -nevertheless continued to spin round in -the dance, though he was a very frail -and slender man, whereas the negro -was tall and heavy. When the dance -was finished, Majduddīn said, ‘I did -not know whether it was a negro or a -sparrow on my neck.’ On getting off -the Sheykh’s shoulders, the negro bit his -cheek so severely that the scar remained -visible ever after. Majduddīn -often used to say that on the Day of -Judgment he would not boast of anything<span class="pagenum" id="Page_67">[p. 67]</span> -except that he bore the mark of -this negro’s teeth on his face.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Grotesque and ignoble features—not to -speak of grosser deformities—must appear -in any faithful delineation of the ecstatic life -of Islam. Nothing is gained by concealing -their existence or by minimising their importance. -If, as Jalāluddīn Rūmī says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Men incur the reproach of wine and drugs</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That they may escape for a while from self-consciousness,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since all know this life to be a snare,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Volitional memory and thought to be a hell,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p>let us acknowledge that the transports of -spiritual intoxication are not always sublime, -and that human nature has a trick of -avenging itself on those who would cast it off.</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_68">[p. 68]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_III"><a id="Chapter_3">CHAPTER <abbr title="3">III</abbr></a><br /> <br /><span class="fs75">THE GNOSIS</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">The</span> Sūfīs distinguish three organs of -spiritual communication: the heart (<i>qalb</i>), -which knows God; the spirit (<i>rūh</i>), which -loves Him; and the inmost ground of the -soul (<i>sirr</i>), which contemplates Him. It -would take us into deep waters if we were -to embark upon a discussion of these terms -and their relation to each other. A few -words concerning the first of the three will -suffice. The <i>qalb</i>, though connected in some -mysterious way with the physical heart, -is not a thing of flesh and blood. Unlike -the English ‘heart,’ its nature is rather -intellectual than emotional, but whereas -the intellect cannot gain real knowledge of -God, the <i>qalb</i> is capable of knowing the -essences of all things, and when illumined -by faith and knowledge reflects the whole -content of the divine mind; hence the -Prophet said, “My earth and My heaven -contain Me not, but the heart of My faithful -servant containeth Me.” This revelation, -however, is a comparatively rare experience.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_69">[p. 69]</span> -Normally, the heart is ‘veiled,’ blackened -by sin, tarnished by sensual impressions and -images, pulled to and fro between reason -and passion: a battlefield on which the -armies of God and the Devil contend for -victory. Through one gate, the heart receives -immediate knowledge of God; through -another, it lets in the illusions of sense. -“Here a world and there a world,” says -Jalāluddīn Rūmī. “I am seated on the -threshold.” Therefore man is potentially lower -than the brutes and higher than the angels.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Angel and brute man’s wondrous leaven compose;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To these inclining, less than these he grows,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But if he means the angel, more than those.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Less than the brutes, because they lack -the knowledge that would enable them to -rise; more than the angels, because they are -not subject to passion and so cannot fall.</p> - -<p>How shall a man know God? Not by -the senses, for He is immaterial; nor by -the intellect, for He is unthinkable. Logic -never gets beyond the finite; philosophy -sees double; book-learning fosters self-conceit -and obscures the idea of the Truth -with clouds of empty words. Jalāluddīn -Rūmī, addressing the scholastic theologian, -asks scornfully:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Do you know a name without a thing answering to it?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Have you ever plucked a rose from R, O, S, E?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You name His name; go, seek the reality named by it!</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_70">[p. 70]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Look for the moon in the sky, not in the water!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you desire to rise above mere names and letters,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Make yourself free from self at one stroke.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Become pure from all attributes of self,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That you may see your own bright essence,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yea, see in your own heart the knowledge of the Prophet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Without book, without tutor, without preceptor.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This knowledge comes by illumination, -revelation, inspiration.</p> - -<p>“Look in your own heart,” says the -Sūfī, “for the kingdom of God is within -you.” He who truly knows himself knows -God, for the heart is a mirror in which -every divine quality is reflected. But just -as a steel mirror when coated with rust -loses its power of reflexion, so the inward -spiritual sense, which Sūfīs call the eye of -the heart, is blind to the celestial glory -until the dark obstruction of the phenomenal -self, with all its sensual contaminations, has -been wholly cleared away. The clearance, -if it is to be done effectively, must be the -work of God, though it demands a certain -inward co-operation on the part of man. -“Whosoever shall strive for Our sake, We -will guide him into Our ways” (Kor. <span class="bold">29.</span> 69). -Action is false and vain, if it is thought to -proceed from one’s self, but the enlightened -mystic regards God as the real agent in -every act, and therefore takes no credit for -his good works nor desires to be recompensed -for them.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_71">[p. 71]</span></p> - -<p>While ordinary knowledge is denoted by -the term <i>ʿilm</i>, the mystic knowledge peculiar -to the Sūfīs is called <i>maʿrifat</i> or <i>ʿirfān</i>. As -I have indicated in the foregoing paragraphs, -<i>maʿrifat</i> is fundamentally different from <i>ʿilm</i>, -and a different word must be used to -translate it. We need not look far for a -suitable equivalent. The <i>maʿrifat</i> of the -Sūfīs is the ‘gnosis’ of Hellenistic theosophy, -<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> direct knowledge of God based on -revelation or apocalyptic vision. It is not -the result of any mental process, but depends -entirely on the will and favour of God, who -bestows it as a gift from Himself upon -those whom He has created with the capacity -for receiving it. It is a light of divine -grace that flashes into the heart and -overwhelms every human faculty in its -dazzling beams. “He who knows God is -dumb.”</p> - -<p>The relation of gnosis to positive religion -is discussed in a very remarkable treatise -on speculative mysticism by Niffarī, an -unknown wandering dervish who died in -Egypt in the latter half of the tenth century. -His work, consisting of a series of revelations -in which God addresses the writer and -instructs him concerning the theory of -gnosis, is couched in abstruse language and -would scarcely be intelligible without the -commentary which accompanies it; but its -value as an original exposition of advanced<span class="pagenum" id="Page_72">[p. 72]</span> -Sūfism will sufficiently appear from the -excerpts given in this chapter.<a id="FNanchor_8" href="#Footnote_8" class="fnanchor">[8]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_8" href="#FNanchor_8" class="label">[8]</a> I am now engaged in preparing an edition of the Arabic -text, together with an English translation and commentary.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Those who seek God, says Niffarī, are of -three kinds: <em>firstly</em>, the worshippers to -whom God makes Himself known by means -of bounty, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> they worship Him in the -hope of winning Paradise or some spiritual -recompense such as dreams and miracles; -<em>secondly</em>, the philosophers and scholastic -theologians, to whom God makes Himself -known by means of glory, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> they can -never find the glorious God whom they -seek, wherefore they assert that His essence -is unknowable, saying, “We know that we -know Him not, and that is our knowledge”; -<em>thirdly</em>, the gnostics, to whom God makes -Himself known by means of ecstasy, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> -they are possessed and controlled by a -rapture that deprives them of the consciousness -of individual existence.</p> - -<p>Niffarī bids the gnostic perform only -such acts of worship as are in accordance -with his vision of God, though in so doing -he will necessarily disobey the religious -law which was made for the vulgar. His -inward feeling must decide how far the -external forms of religion are good for him.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“God said to me, Ask Me and say, -‘O Lord, how shall I cleave to Thee, -so that when my day (of judgment)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_73">[p. 73]</span> -comes, Thou wilt not punish me nor -avert Thy face from me?’ Then I -will answer thee and say, ‘Cleave in -thy outward theory and practice to the -Sunna (the rule of the Prophet), and -cleave in thy inward feeling to the -gnosis which I have given thee; and -know that when I make Myself known -to thee, I will not accept from thee -anything of the Sunna but what My -gnosis brings to thee, because thou art -one of those to whom I speak: thou -hearest Me and knowest that thou -hearest Me, and thou seest that I am -the source of all things.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>The commentator observes that the Sunna, -being general in scope, makes no distinction -between individuals, <i><abbr title="for example">e.g.</abbr></i> seekers of Paradise -and seekers of God, but that in reality it -contains exactly what each person requires. -The portion specially appropriate in every -case is discerned either by means of gnosis, -which God communicates to the heart, or -by means of guidance imparted by a spiritual -director.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘My exoteric -revelation does not support My esoteric -revelation.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>This means that the gnostic need not be -dismayed if his inner experience conflicts -with the religious law. The contradiction -is only apparent. Religion addresses itself<span class="pagenum" id="Page_74">[p. 74]</span> -to the common herd of men who are veiled -by their minds, by logic, tradition, and so -on; whereas gnosis belongs to the elect, -whose bodies and spirits are bathed in the -eternal Light. Religion sees things from -the aspect of plurality, but gnosis regards -the all-embracing Unity. Hence the same -act is good in religion, but evil in gnosis—a -truth which is briefly stated thus:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The good deeds of the pious are the -ill deeds of the favourites of God.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Although works of devotion are not incompatible -with gnosis, no one who connects -them in the slightest degree with himself -is a gnostic. This is the theme of the following -allegory. Niffarī seldom writes so -lucidly as he does here, yet I fancy that -few of my readers will find the explanations -printed within square brackets altogether -superfluous.</p> - - -<h3><span class="smcap">The Revelation of the Sea</span></h3> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“God bade me behold the Sea, and I -saw the ships sinking and the planks -floating; then the planks too were -submerged.”</p> - -<p>[The Sea denotes the spiritual experiences -through which the mystic -passes in his journey to God. The -point at issue is this: whether he -should prefer the religious law or disinterested<span class="pagenum" id="Page_75">[p. 75]</span> -love. Here he is warned not -to rely on his good works, which are no -better than sinking ships and will never -bring him safely to port. No; if he -would attain to God, he must rely on -God alone. If he does not rely entirely -on God, but lets himself trust ever so little -in anything else, he is still clinging to a -plank. Though his trust in God is greater -than before, it is not yet complete.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘Those who -voyage are not saved.’”</p> - -<p>[The voyager uses the ship as a -means of crossing the sea: therefore -he relies, not on the First Cause, but on -secondary causes.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘Those who -instead of voyaging cast themselves into -the Sea take a risk.’”</p> - -<p>[To abandon all secondary causes is -like plunging in the sea. The mystic -who makes this venture is in jeopardy, -for two reasons: he may regard himself, -not God, as initiating and carrying -out the action of abandonment,—and -one who renounces a thing through -‘self’ is in worse case than if he had -not renounced it,—or he may abandon -secondary causes (good works, hope of -Paradise, etc.), not for God’s sake, but -from sheer indifference and lack of -spiritual feeling.]</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_76">[p. 76]</span></p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘Those who -voyage and take no risk shall perish.’”</p> - -<p>[Notwithstanding the dangers referred -to, he must make God his sole -object or fail.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘In taking the -risk there is a part of salvation.’”</p> - -<p>[Only a part of salvation, because -perfect selflessness has not yet been -attained. The whole of salvation consists -in the effacement of all secondary -causes, all phenomena, through the -rapture which results from vision of -God. But this is gnosis, and the present -revelation is addressed to mystics -of a lower grade. The gnostic takes -no risk, for he has nothing to lose.]</p> - -<p>“And the wave came and lifted -those beneath it and overran the shore.”</p> - -<p>[Those beneath the wave are they -who voyage in ships and consequently -suffer shipwreck. Their reliance on -secondary causes casts them ashore, -<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> brings them back to the world of -phenomena whereby they are veiled -from God.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘The surface -of the Sea is a gleam that cannot be -reached.’”</p> - -<p>[Any one who depends on external -rites of worship to lead him to God is -following a will-o’-the-wisp.]</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_77">[p. 77]</span></p> - -<p>“And its bottom is a darkness impenetrable.”</p> - -<p>[To discard positive religion, root -and branch, is to wander in a pathless -maze.]</p> - -<p>“And between the two are fishes -which are to be feared.”</p> - -<p>[He refers to the middle way between -pure exotericism and pure esotericism. -The ‘fishes’ are its perils and obstacles.]</p> - -<p>“Do not voyage on the Sea, lest I -cause thee to be veiled by the vehicle.”</p> - -<p>[The ‘vehicle’ signifies the ‘ship,’ -<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> reliance on something other than -God.]</p> - -<p>“And do not cast thyself into the Sea, -lest I cause thee to be veiled by thy -casting thyself.”</p> - -<p>[Whoever regards any act as his own -act and attributes it to himself is far -from God.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘In the Sea are -boundaries: which of them will bear -thee on?’”</p> - -<p>[The ‘boundaries’ are the various -degrees of spiritual experience. The -mystic ought not to rely on any of -these, for they are all imperfect.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘If thou givest -thyself to the Sea and sinkest therein, -thou wilt fall a prey to one of its -beasts.’”</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_78">[p. 78]</span></p> - -<p>[If the mystic either relies on secondary -causes or abandons them by his -own act, he will go astray.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘I deceive thee -if I direct thee to aught save Myself.’”</p> - -<p>[If the mystic’s inward voice bids -him turn to anything except God, it -deceives him.]</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘If thou -perishest for the sake of other than -Me, thou wilt belong to that for which -thou hast perished.’</p> - -<p>“And He said to me, ‘This world -belongs to him whom I have turned -away from it and from whom I have -turned it away; and the next world -<a id="TN2A">belongs to him towards whom I have -brought it</a> and whom I have brought -towards Myself.’”</p> - -<p>[He means to say that everlasting -joy is the portion of those whose hearts -are turned away from this world and -who have no worldly possessions. They -really enjoy this world, because it cannot -separate them from God. Similarly, -the true owners of the next world -are those who do not seek it, inasmuch -as it is not the real object of their -desire, but contemplate God alone.]</p> -</div> - -<p class="sp1">The gnostic descries the element of reality -in positive religion, but his gnosis is not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_79">[p. 79]</span> -derived from religion or from any sort of -human knowledge: it is properly concerned -with the divine attributes, and God Himself -reveals the knowledge of these to His -saints who contemplate Him. Dhu ’l-Nūn -of Egypt, whose mystical speculations mark -him out as the father of Moslem theosophy, -said that gnostics are not themselves, and -do not subsist through themselves, but so -far as they subsist, they subsist through God.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“They move as God causes them to -move, and their words are the words of -God which roll upon their tongues, and -their sight is the sight of God which -has entered their eyes.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The gnostic contemplates the attributes -of God, not His essence, for even in gnosis -a small trace of duality remains: this disappears -only in <i>fanā al-fanā</i>, the total -passing-away in the undifferentiated Godhead. -The cardinal attribute of God is -unity, and the divine unity is the first and -last principle of gnosis.<a id="FNanchor_9" href="#Footnote_9" class="fnanchor">[9]</a></p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_9" href="#FNanchor_9" class="label">[9]</a> According to some mystics, the gnosis of unity constitutes -a higher stage which is called ‘the Truth’ (<i>haqīqat</i>). -See above, <a href="#Page_29">p. 29</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<p>Both Moslem and Sūfī declare that God -is One, but the statement bears a different -meaning in each instance. The Moslem -means that God is unique in His essence, -qualities, and acts; that He is absolutely -unlike all other beings. The Sūfī means<span class="pagenum" id="Page_80">[p. 80]</span> -that God is the One Real Being which -underlies all phenomena. This principle is -carried to its extreme consequences, as we -shall see. If nothing except God exists, -then the whole universe, including man, is -essentially one with God, whether it is -regarded as an emanation which proceeds -from Him, without impairing His unity, -like sunbeams from the sun, or whether it is -conceived as a mirror in which the divine -attributes are reflected. But surely a God -who is all in all can have no reason for -thus revealing Himself: why should the One -pass over into the Many? The Sūfīs answer—a -philosopher would say that they evade -the difficulty—by quoting the famous Tradition: -“I was a hidden treasure and I desired -to be known; therefore I created the creation -in order that I might be known.” In -other words, God is the eternal Beauty, -and it lies in the nature of beauty to desire -love. The mystic poets have described the -self-manifestation of the One with a profusion -of splendid imagery. Jāmī says, for -example:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“From all eternity the Beloved unveiled His beauty in the solitude of the unseen;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He held up the mirror to His own face, He displayed His loveliness to Himself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He was both the spectator and the spectacle; no eye but His had surveyed the Universe.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">All was One, there was no duality, no pretence of ‘mine’ or ‘thine.’</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_81">[p. 81]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">The vast orb of Heaven, with its myriad incomings and outgoings, was concealed in a single point.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The Creation lay cradled in the sleep of non-existence, like a child ere it has breathed.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The eye of the Beloved, seeing what was not, regarded nonentity as existent.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Although He beheld His attributes and qualities as a perfect whole in His own essence,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet He desired that they should be displayed to Him in another mirror,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And that each one of His eternal attributes should become manifest accordingly in a diverse form.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Therefore He created the verdant fields of Time and Space and the life-giving garden of the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That every branch and leaf and fruit might show forth His various perfections.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The cypress gave a hint of His comely stature, the rose gave tidings of His beauteous countenance.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherever Beauty peeped out, Love appeared beside it; wherever Beauty shone in a rosy cheek, Love lit his torch from that flame.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Wherever Beauty dwelt in dark tresses, Love came and found a heart entangled in their coils.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beauty and Love are as body and soul; Beauty is the mine and Love the precious stone.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">They have always been together from the very first; never have they travelled but in each other’s company.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p class="sp1">In another work Jāmī sets forth the -relation of God to the world more philosophically, -as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The unique Substance, viewed as -Absolute and void of all phenomena, all -limitations and all multiplicity, is the -Real (<i>al-Haqq</i>). On the other hand, -viewed in His aspect of multiplicity and<span class="pagenum" id="Page_82">[p. 82]</span> -plurality, under which He displays Himself -when clothed with phenomena, He -is the whole created universe. Therefore -the universe is the outward visible -expression of the Real, and the Real is -the inner unseen reality of the universe. -The universe before it was evolved to -outward view was identical with the -Real; and the Real after this evolution -is identical with the universe.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Phenomena, as such, are not-being and -only derive a contingent existence from the -qualities of Absolute Being by which they -are irradiated. The sensible world resembles -the fiery circle made by a single -spark whirling round rapidly.</p> - -<p>Man is the crown and final cause of the -universe. Though last in the order of creation -he is first in the process of divine -thought, for the essential part of him is -the primal Intelligence or universal Reason -which emanates immediately from the Godhead. -This corresponds to the Logos—the -animating principle of all things—and -is identified with the Prophet Mohammed. -An interesting parallel might be drawn here -between the Christian and Sūfī doctrines. -The same expressions are applied to the -founder of Islam which are used by St. John, -St. Paul, and later mystical theologians -concerning Christ. Thus, Mohammed is -called the Light of God, he is said to have<span class="pagenum" id="Page_83">[p. 83]</span> -existed before the creation of the world, -he is adored as the source of all life, actual -and possible, he is the Perfect Man in whom -all the divine attributes are manifested, -and a Sūfī tradition ascribes to him the -saying “He that hath seen me hath seen -Allah.” In the Moslem scheme, however, -the Logos doctrine occupies a subordinate -place, as it obviously must when the whole -duty of man is believed to consist in realising -the unity of God. The most distinctive -feature of Oriental as opposed to European -mysticism is its profound consciousness of -an omnipresent, all-pervading unity in which -every vestige of individuality is swallowed -up. Not to become <em>like</em> God or <em>personally</em> -to participate in the divine nature is the -Sūfī’s aim, but to escape from the bondage -of his unreal selfhood and thereby to be -reunited with the One infinite Being.</p> - -<p>According to Jāmī, Unification consists -in making the heart single—that is, in purifying -and divesting it of attachment to aught -except God, both in respect of desire and -will and also as regards knowledge and -gnosis. The mystic’s desire and will should -be severed from all things which are desired -and willed; all objects of knowledge and -understanding should be removed from his -intellectual vision. His thoughts should be -directed solely towards God, he should not -be conscious of anything besides.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_84">[p. 84]</span></p> - -<p>So long as he is a captive in the snare of -passion and lust, it is hard for him to maintain -this relation to God, but when the subtle -influence of that attraction becomes manifest -in him, expelling preoccupation with objects -of sense and cognition from his inward -being, delight in that divine communion -prevails over bodily pleasures and spiritual -joys; the painful task of self-mortification -is ended, and the sweetness of contemplation -enravishes his soul.</p> - -<p>When the sincere aspirant perceives in -himself the beginning of this attraction, -which is delight in the recollection of God, -let him fix his whole mind on fostering -and strengthening it, let him keep himself -aloof from whatsoever is incompatible with -it, and deem that even though he were to -devote an eternity to cultivating that communion, -he would have done nothing and -would not have discharged his duty as he -ought.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Love thrilled the chord of love in my soul’s lute,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And changed me all to love from head to foot.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Twas but a moment’s touch, yet shall Time ever</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To me the debt of thanksgiving impute.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It is an axiom of the Sūfīs that what is -not <em>in</em> a man he cannot know. The gnostic—Man -<i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">par excellence</i>—could not know God -and all the mysteries of the universe, unless -he found them in himself. He is the microcosm,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_85">[p. 85]</span> -‘a copy made in the image of God,’ -‘the eye of the world whereby God sees -His own works.’ In knowing himself as he -really is, he knows God, and he knows himself -through God, who is nearer to everything -than its knowledge of itself. Knowledge -of God precedes, and is the cause of, self-knowledge.</p> - -<p>Gnosis, then, is unification, realisation of -the fact that the appearance of ‘otherness’ -beside Oneness is a false and deluding -dream. Gnosis lays this spectre, which -haunts unenlightened men all their lives; -which rises, like a wall of utter darkness, -between them and God. Gnosis proclaims -that ‘I’ is a figure of speech, and that one -cannot truly refer any will, feeling, thought, -or action to one’s self.</p> - -<p>Niffarī heard the divine voice saying to -him:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“When thou regardest thyself as -existent and dost not regard Me as the -Cause of thy existence, I veil My face -and thine own face appears to thee. -Therefore consider what is displayed -to thee, and what is hidden from -thee!”</p> - -<p>[If a man regards himself as existing -through God, that which is of God in -him predominates over the phenomenal -element and makes it pass away, so that -he sees nothing but God. If, on the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_86">[p. 86]</span> -contrary, he regards himself as having an -independent existence, his unreal egoism -is displayed to him and the reality of -God becomes hidden from him.]</p> - -<p>“Regard neither My displaying nor -that which is displayed, else thou wilt -laugh and weep; and when thou -laughest and weepest, thou art thine, -not Mine.”</p> - -<p>[He who regards the act of divine -revelation is guilty of polytheism, since -revelation involves both a revealing -subject and a revealed object; and he -who regards the revealed object which -is part of the created universe, regards -something other than God. Laughter -signifies joy for what you have gained, -and weeping denotes grief for what you -have lost. Both are selfish actions. -The gnostic neither laughs nor weeps.]</p> - -<p>“If thou dost not put behind thee -all that I have displayed and am displaying, -thou wilt not prosper; and -unless thou prosper, thou wilt not -become concentrated upon Me.”</p> - -<p>[Prosperity is true belief in God, -which requires complete abstraction -from created things.]</p> -</div> - -<p>Logically, these doctrines annul every -moral and religious law. In the gnostic’s -vision there are no divine rewards and -punishments, no human standards of right<span class="pagenum" id="Page_87">[p. 87]</span> -and wrong. For him, the written word -of God has been abrogated by a direct -and intimate revelation.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I do not say,” exclaimed Abu -’l-Hasan Khurqānī, “that Paradise and -Hell are non-existent, but I say that they -are nothing to me, because God created -them both, and there is no room for any -created object in the place where I -am.”</p> -</div> - -<p>From this standpoint all types of religion -are equal, and Islam is no better than -idolatry. It does not matter what creed a -man professes or what rites he performs.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The true mosque in a pure and holy heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is builded: there let all men worship God;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For there He dwells, not in a mosque of stone.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Amidst all the variety of creeds and worshippers -the gnostic sees but one real object -of worship.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Those who adore God in the sun” -(says Ibn al-ʿArabī) “behold the sun, -and those who adore Him in living -things see a living thing, and those who -adore Him in lifeless things see a lifeless -thing, and those who adore Him -as a Being unique and unparalleled -see that which has no like. Do not -attach yourself” (he continues) “to any -particular creed exclusively, so that you -disbelieve in all the rest; otherwise,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_88">[p. 88]</span> -you will lose much good, nay, you will -fail to recognise the real truth of the -matter. God, the omnipresent and -omnipotent, is not limited by any one -creed, for He says (Kor. <span class="bold">2.</span> 109), -‘Wheresoever ye turn, there is the face -of Allah.’ Every one praises what he -believes; his god is his own creature, -and in praising it he praises himself. -Consequently he blames the beliefs of -others, which he would not do if he were -just, but his dislike is based on ignorance. -If he knew Junayd’s saying, -‘The water takes its colour from the -vessel containing it,’ he would not interfere -with other men’s beliefs, but -would perceive God in every form of -belief.”</p> -</div> - -<p>And Hafiz sings, more in the spirit of the -freethinker, perhaps, than of the mystic:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“Love is where the glory falls</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Of Thy face—on convent walls</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Or on tavern floors, the same</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Unextinguishable flame.</div> - </div> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">Where the turbaned anchorite</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Chanteth Allah day and night,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Church bells ring the call to prayer</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And the Cross of Christ is there.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Sūfism may join hands with freethought—it -has often done so—but hardly ever with -sectarianism. This explains why the vast<span class="pagenum" id="Page_89">[p. 89]</span> -majority of Sūfīs have been, at least nominally, -attached to the catholic body of the -Moslem community. ʿAbdallah Ansārī declared -that of two thousand Sūfī Sheykhs -with whom he was acquainted only two were -Shīʿites. A certain man who was a descendant -of the Caliph ʿAlī, and a fanatical -Shīʿite, tells the following story:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“For five years,” he said, “my father -sent me daily to a spiritual director. -I learned one useful lesson from him: -he told me that I should never know -anything at all about Sūfism until I -got completely rid of the pride which -I felt on account of my lineage.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Superficial observers have described -Bābism as an offshoot of Sūfism, but the -dogmatism of the one is naturally opposed -to the broad eclecticism of the other. In -proportion as the Sūfī gains more knowledge -of God, his religious prejudices are diminished. -Sheykh ʿAbd al-Rahīm ibn al-Sabbāgh, who -at first disliked living in Upper Egypt, with -its large Jewish and Christian population, -said in his old age that he would as readily embrace -a Jew or Christian as one of his own faith.</p> - -<p>While the innumerable forms of creed and -ritual may be regarded as having a certain -relative value in so far as the inward feeling -which inspires them is ever one and the same, -from another aspect they seem to be veils -of the Truth, barriers which the zealous<span class="pagenum" id="Page_90">[p. 90]</span> -Unitarian must strive to abolish and -destroy.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“This world and that world are the egg, and the bird within it</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Is in darkness and broken-winged and scorned and despised.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Regard unbelief and faith as the white and the yolk in this egg,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Between them, joining and dividing, a barrier which they shall not pass.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When He hath graciously fostered the egg under His wing,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Infidelity and religion disappear: the bird of Unity spreads its pinions.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The great Persian mystic, Abū Saʿīd ibn -Abi ’l-Khayr, speaking in the name of the -Calendars or wandering dervishes, expresses -their iconoclastic principles with astonishing -boldness:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“Not until every mosque beneath the sun</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Lies ruined, will our holy work be done;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And never will true Musalmān appear</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Till faith and infidelity are one.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Such open declarations of war against the -Mohammedan religion are exceptional. Notwithstanding -the breadth and depth of the -gulf between full-blown Sūfism and orthodox -Islam, many, if not most, Sūfīs have paid -homage to the Prophet and have observed -the outward forms of devotion which are -incumbent on all Moslems. They have -invested these rites and ceremonies with a -new meaning; they have allegorised them,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_91">[p. 91]</span> -but they have not abandoned them. Take -the pilgrimage, for example. In the eyes -of the genuine Sūfī it is null and void -unless each of the successive religious acts -which it involves is accompanied by corresponding -‘movements of the heart.’</p> - -<p>A man who had just returned from the -pilgrimage came to Junayd. Junayd said:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“From the hour when you first journeyed -from your home have you also -been journeying away from all sins?” -He said “No.” “Then,” said Junayd, -“you have made no journey. At every -stage where you halted for the night -did you traverse a station on the way -to God?” “No,” he replied. “Then,” -said Junayd, “you have not trodden -the road, stage by stage. When you put -on the pilgrim’s garb at the proper place, -did you discard the qualities of human -nature as you cast off your clothes?” -“No.” “Then you have not put on -the pilgrim’s garb. When you stood at -ʿArafāt, did you stand one moment in -contemplation of God?” “No.” “Then -you have not stood at ʿArafāt. When -you went to Muzdalifa and achieved your -desire, did you renounce all sensual -desires?” “No.” “Then you have -not gone to Muzdalifa. When you -circumambulated the Kaʿba, did you -behold the immaterial beauty of God<span class="pagenum" id="Page_92">[p. 92]</span> -in the abode of purification?” “No.” -“Then you have not circumambulated -the Kaʿba. When you ran between -Safā and Marwa, did you attain to -purity (<i>safā</i>) and virtue (<i>muruwwat</i>)?” -“No.” “Then you have not run. -When you came to Minā, did all your -wishes (<i>munā</i>) cease?” “No.” “Then -you have not yet visited Minā. When -you reached the slaughter-place and -offered sacrifice, did you sacrifice the -objects of worldly desire?” “No.” -“Then you have not sacrificed. When -you threw the pebbles, did you throw -away whatever sensual thoughts were -accompanying you?” “No.” “Then -you have not yet thrown the pebbles, -and you have not yet performed the -pilgrimage.”</p> -</div> - -<p>This anecdote contrasts the outer religious -law of theology with the inner spiritual truth -of mysticism, and shows that they should -not be divorced from each other.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The Law without the Truth,” says -Hujwīrī, “is ostentation, and the Truth -without the Law is hypocrisy. Their -mutual relation may be compared to -that of body and spirit: when the spirit -departs from the body, the living body -becomes a corpse, and the spirit -vanishes like wind. The Moslem profession -of faith includes both: the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_93">[p. 93]</span> -words, ‘There is no god but Allah,’ are the -Truth, and the words, ‘Mohammed is the -apostle of Allah,’ are the Law; any one -who denies the Truth is an infidel, and -any one who rejects the Law is a heretic.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Middle ways, though proverbially safe, are -difficult to walk in; and only by a <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">tour de -force</i> can the Koran be brought into line with -the esoteric doctrine which the Sūfīs derive -from it. Undoubtedly they have done a -great work for Islam. They have deepened -and enriched the lives of millions by ruthlessly -stripping off the husk of religion and -insisting that its kernel must be sought, not -in any formal act, but in cultivation of -spiritual feelings and in purification of the -inward man. This was a legitimate and -most fruitful development of the Prophet’s -teaching. But the Prophet was a strict -monotheist, while the Sūfīs, whatever they -may pretend or imagine, are theosophists, -pantheists, or monists. When they speak -and write as believers in the dogmas of -positive religion, they use language which -cannot be reconciled with such a theory of -unity as we are now examining. ʿAfīfuddīn -al-Tilimsānī, from whose commentary on -Niffarī I have given some extracts in this -chapter, said roundly that the whole Koran -is polytheism—a perfectly just statement -from the monistic point of view, though few -Sūfīs have dared to be so explicit.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_94">[p. 94]</span></p> - -<p>The mystic Unitarians admit the appearance -of contradiction, but deny its reality. -“The Law and the Truth” (they might say) -“are the same thing in different aspects. -The Law is for you, the Truth for us. In -addressing you we speak according to the -measure of your understanding, since what is -meat for gnostics is poison to the uninitiated, -and the highest mysteries ought to be -jealously guarded from profane ears. It is -only human reason that sees the single as -double, and balances the Law against the -Truth. Pass away from the world of -opposites and become one with God, who -has no opposite.”</p> - -<p>The gnostic recognises that the Law is -valid and necessary in the moral sphere. -While good and evil remain, the Law stands -over both, commanding and forbidding, -rewarding and punishing. He knows, on -the other hand, that only God really exists -and acts: therefore, if evil really exists, it -must be divine, and if evil things are really -done, God must be the doer of them. The -conclusion is false because the hypothesis is -false. Evil has no real existence; it is not-being, -which is the privation and absence of -being, just as darkness is the absence of -light. “Once,” said Nūrī, “I beheld the -Light, and I fixed my gaze upon it until I -became the Light.” No wonder that such -illuminated souls, supremely indifferent to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_95">[p. 95]</span> -the shadow-shows of religion and morality -in a phantom world, are ready to cry with -Jalāluddīn:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The man of God is made wise by the Truth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man of God is not learned from book.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The man of God is beyond infidelity and faith,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To the man of God right and wrong are alike.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It must be borne in mind that this is a -theory of perfection, and that those whom it -exalts above the Law are saints, spiritual -guides, and profound theosophists who enjoy -the special favour of God and presumably -do not need to be restrained, coerced, or -punished. In practice, of course, it leads -in many instances to antinomianism and -libertinism, as among the Bektāshīs and -other orders of the so-called ‘lawless’ -dervishes. The same theories produced the -same results in Europe during the Middle -Ages, and the impartial historian cannot -ignore the corruptions to which a purely -subjective mysticism is liable; but -on the present occasion we are concerned -with the rose itself, not with its -cankers.</p> - -<p>Not all Sūfīs are gnostics; and, as I have -mentioned before, those who are not yet ripe -for the gnosis receive from their gnostic -teachers the ethical instruction suitable to -their needs. Jalāluddīn Rūmī, in his collection -of lyrical poems entitled <cite>The Dīvān<span class="pagenum" id="Page_96">[p. 96]</span> -of Shamsi Tabrīz</cite>, gives free rein to a pantheistic -enthusiasm which sees all things -under the form of eternity.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I have put duality away, I have seen that the two worlds are one;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One I seek, One I know, One I see, One I call.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I am intoxicated with Love’s cup, the two worlds have passed out of my ken;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I have no business save carouse and revelry.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>But in his <cite>Masnavī</cite>—a work so famous and -venerated that it has been styled ‘The Koran -of Persia’—we find him in a more sober -mood expounding the Sūfī doctrines and -justifying the ways of God to man. Here, -though he is a convinced optimist and agrees -with Ghazālī that this is the best of all -possible worlds, he does not airily dismiss the -problem of evil as something outside reality, -but endeavours to show that evil, or what -seems evil to us, is part of the divine order -and harmony. I will quote some passages of -his argument and leave my readers to judge -how far it is successful or, at any rate, -suggestive.</p> - -<p>The Sūfīs, it will be remembered, conceive -the universe as a projected and reflected image -of God. The divine light, streaming forth -in a series of emanations, falls at last upon -the darkness of not-being, every atom of which -reflects some attribute of Deity. For instance, -the beautiful attributes of love and mercy -are reflected in the form of heaven and the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_97">[p. 97]</span> -angels, while the terrible attributes of wrath -and vengeance are reflected in the form of -hell and the devils. Man reflects all the -attributes, the terrible as well as the -beautiful: he is an epitome of heaven and -hell. Omar Khayyām alludes to this theory -when he says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“Hell is a spark from our fruitless pain,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Heaven a breath from our time of joy”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p>—a couplet which <a id="TN3">FitzGerald</a> moulded into -the magnificent stanza:</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“Heav’n but the Vision of fulfilled Desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And Hell the Shadow from a Soul on fire,</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Cast on the Darkness into which Ourselves</div> - <div class="verse indent4">So late emerged from, shall so soon expire.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Jalāluddīn, therefore, does in a sense make -God the author of evil, but at the same time -he makes evil intrinsically good in relation -to God—for it is the reflexion of certain -divine attributes which in themselves are -absolutely good. So far as evil is really evil, -it springs from not-being. The poet assigns -a different value to this term in its relation to -God and in its relation to man. In respect -of God not-being is nothing, for God is real -Being, but in man it is the principle of evil -which constitutes half of human nature. In -the one case it is a pure negation, in the -other it is positively and actively pernicious. -We need not quarrel with the poet for<span class="pagenum" id="Page_98">[p. 98]</span> -coming to grief in his logic. There are -some occasions when intense moral feeling -is worth any amount of accurate thinking.</p> - -<p>It is evident that the doctrine of divine -unity implies predestination. Where God -is and naught beside Him, there can be no -other agent than He, no act but His. “Thou -didst not throw, when thou threwest, but -God threw” (Kor. <span class="bold">8.</span> 17). Compulsion is -felt only by those who do not love. To know -God is to love Him; and the gnostic may -answer, like the dervish who was asked -how he fared:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I fare as one by whose majestic will</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The world revolves, floods rise and rivers flow,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Stars in their courses move; yea, death and life</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hang on his nod and fly to the ends of earth,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His ministers of mourning or of joy.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>This is the Truth; but for the benefit of -such as cannot bear it, Jalāluddīn vindicates -the justice of God by asserting that men have -the power to choose how they will act, although -their freedom is subordinate to the -divine will. Approaching the question, “Why -does God ordain and create evil?” he points -out that things are known through their -opposites, and that the existence of evil is -necessary for the manifestation of good.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Not-being and defect, wherever seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are mirrors of the beauty of all that is.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The bone-setter, where should he try his skill</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_99">[p. 99]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">But on the patient lying with broken leg?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were no base copper in the crucible,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How could the alchemist his craft display?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Moreover, the divine omnipotence would -not be completely realised if evil had remained -uncreated.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He is the source of evil, as thou sayest,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet evil hurts Him not. To make that evil</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Denotes in Him perfection. Hear from me</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A parable. The heavenly Artist paints</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Beautiful shapes and ugly: in one picture</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The loveliest women in the land of Egypt</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Gazing on youthful Joseph amorously;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And lo, another scene by the same hand,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Hell-fire and Iblīs with his hideous crew:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Both master-works, created for good ends,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To show His perfect wisdom and confound</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The sceptics who deny His mastery.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Could He not evil make, He would lack skill;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Therefore He fashions infidel alike</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And Moslem true, that both may witness bear</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To Him, and worship One Almighty Lord.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>In reply to the objection that a God who -creates evil must Himself be evil, Jalāluddīn, -pursuing the analogy drawn from Art, -remarks that ugliness in the picture is no -evidence of ugliness in the painter.</p> - -<p>Again, without evil it would be impossible -to win the proved virtue which is the reward -of self-conquest. Bread must be broken -before it can serve as food, and grapes will -not yield wine till they are crushed. Many -men are led through tribulation to happiness.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_100">[p. 100]</span> -As evil ebbs, good flows. Finally, much evil is -only apparent. What seems a curse to one -may be a blessing to another; nay, evil -itself is turned to good for the righteous. -Jalāluddīn will not admit that anything is -absolutely bad.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Fools buy false coins because they are like the true.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If in the world no genuine minted coin</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Were current, how would forgers pass the false?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Falsehood were nothing unless truth were there,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">To make it specious. ’Tis the love of right</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lures men to wrong. Let poison but be mixed</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With sugar, they will cram it into their mouths.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, cry not that all creeds are vain! Some scent</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Of truth they have, else they would not beguile.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Say not, ‘How utterly fantastical!’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No fancy in the world is all untrue.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Amongst the crowd of dervishes hides one,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One true fakīr. Search well and thou wilt find!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Surely this is a noteworthy doctrine. -Jalāluddīn died only a few years after the -birth of Dante, but the Christian poet falls -far below the level of charity and tolerance -reached by his Moslem contemporary.</p> - -<p>How is it possible to discern the soul of -goodness in things evil? By means of love, -says Jalāluddīn, and the knowledge which -love alone can give, according to the word -of God in the holy Tradition:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“My servant draws nigh unto Me, and -I love him; and when I love him, I am -his ear, so that he hears by Me, and his -eye, so that he sees by Me, and his<span class="pagenum" id="Page_101">[p. 101]</span> -tongue, so that he speaks by Me, and his -hand, so that he takes by Me.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Although it will be convenient to treat of -mystical love in a separate chapter, the -reader must not fancy that a new subject is -opening before him. Gnosis and love are -spiritually identical; they teach the same -truths in different language.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_102">[p. 102]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_IV"><a id="Chapter_4">CHAPTER <abbr title="4">IV</abbr></a><br /> <br /><span class="fs75">DIVINE LOVE</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">Any</span> one acquainted, however slightly, with -the mystical poetry of Islam must have -remarked that the aspiration of the soul -towards God is expressed, as a rule, in almost -the same terms which might be used by -an Oriental Anacreon or Herrick. The resemblance, -indeed, is often so close that, -unless we have some clue to the poet’s -intention, we are left in doubt as to his -meaning. In some cases, perhaps, the ambiguity -serves an artistic purpose, as in the -odes of Hafiz, but even when the poet is not -deliberately keeping his readers suspended -between earth and heaven, it is quite easy to -mistake a mystical hymn for a drinking-song -or a serenade. Ibn al-ʿArabī, the greatest -theosophist whom the Arabs have produced, -found himself obliged to write a commentary -on some of his poems in order to refute the -scandalous charge that they were designed to -celebrate the charms of his mistress. Here -are a few lines:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Oh, her beauty—the tender maid! Its brilliance gives light like lamps to one travelling in the dark.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_103">[p. 103]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">She is a pearl hidden in a shell of hair as black as jet,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A pearl for which Thought dives and remains unceasingly in the deeps of that ocean.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He who looks upon her deems her to be a gazelle of the sand-hills, because of her shapely neck and the loveliness of her gestures.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It has been said that the Sūfīs invented -this figurative style as a mask for mysteries -which they desired to keep secret. That -desire was natural in those who proudly -claimed to possess an esoteric doctrine -known only to themselves; moreover, a -plain statement of what they believed might -have endangered their liberties, if not their -lives. But, apart from any such motives, the -Sūfīs adopt the symbolic style because there -is no other possible way of interpreting -mystical experience. So little does knowledge -of the infinite revealed in ecstatic vision -need an artificial disguise that it cannot be -communicated at all except through types -and emblems drawn from the sensible world, -which, imperfect as they are, may suggest -and shadow forth a deeper meaning than -appears on the surface. “Gnostics,” says -Ibn al-ʿArabī, “cannot impart their feelings -to other men; they can only indicate them -symbolically to those who have begun to -experience the like.” What kind of symbolism -each mystic will prefer depends on -his temperament and character. If he be a<span class="pagenum" id="Page_104">[p. 104]</span> -religious artist, a spiritual poet, his ideas of -reality are likely to clothe themselves instinctively -in forms of beauty and glowing -images of human love. To him the rosy -cheek of the beloved represents the divine -essence manifested through its attributes; -her dark curls signify the One veiled by the -Many; when he says, “Drink wine that it -may set you free from yourself,” he means, -“Lose your phenomenal self in the rapture -of divine contemplation.” I might fill pages -with further examples.</p> - -<p>This erotic and bacchanalian symbolism -is not, of course, peculiar to the mystical -poetry of Islam, but nowhere else is it displayed -so opulently and in such perfection. -It has often been misunderstood by European -critics, one of whom even now can -describe the ecstasies of the Sūfīs as “inspired -partly by wine and strongly tinged -with sensuality.” As regards the whole -body of Sūfīs, the charge is altogether false. -No intelligent and unprejudiced student -of their writings could have made it, and -we ought to have been informed on what -sort of evidence it is based. There are black -sheep in every flock, and amongst the Sūfīs -we find many hypocrites, debauchees, and -drunkards who bring discredit on the pure -brethren. But it is just as unfair to judge -Sūfism in general by the excesses of these -impostors as it would be to condemn all<span class="pagenum" id="Page_105">[p. 105]</span> -Christian mysticism on the ground that -certain sects and individuals are immoral.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“God is the Sāqī<a id="FNanchor_10" href="#Footnote_10" class="fnanchor">[10]</a> and the Wine:</div> - <div class="verse indent4">He knows what manner of love is mine,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p>said Jalāluddīn. Ibn al-ʿArabī declares -that no religion is more sublime than a -religion of love and longing for God. Love -is the essence of all creeds: the true mystic -welcomes it whatever guise it may assume.</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_10" href="#FNanchor_10" class="label">[10]</a> Cupbearer.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And a temple for idols, and the pilgrim’s Kaʿba, and the tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take. My religion and my faith is the true religion.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her sister, and in Qays and Lubnā, and in Mayya and Ghaylān.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Commenting on the last verse, the poet -writes:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Love, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">quâ</i> love, is one and the same -reality to those Arab lovers and to me; -but the objects of our love are different, -for they loved a phenomenon, whereas I -love the Real. They are a pattern to -us, because God only afflicted them with -love for human beings in order that He -might show, by means of them, the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_106">[p. 106]</span> -falseness of those who pretend to love -Him, and yet feel no such transport and -rapture in loving Him as deprived those -enamoured men of their reason, and -made them unconscious of themselves.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Most of the great medieval Sūfīs lived -saintly lives, dreaming of God, intoxicated -with God. When they tried to tell their -dreams, being men, they used the language -of men. If they were also literary artists, -they naturally wrote in the style of their own -day and generation. In mystical poetry the -Arabs yield the palm to the Persians. Any -one who would read the secret of Sūfism, no -longer encumbered with theological articles -nor obscured by metaphysical subtleties—let -him turn to ʿAttār, Jalāluddīn Rūmī, and -Jāmī, whose works are partially accessible -in English and other European languages. -To translate these wonderful hymns is to -break their melody and bring their soaring -passion down to earth, but not even a prose -translation can quite conceal the love of -Truth and the vision of Beauty which inspired -them. Listen again to Jalāluddīn:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“He comes, a moon whose like the sky ne’er saw, awake or dreaming,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Crowned with eternal flame no flood can lay.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Lo, from the flagon of Thy love, O Lord, my soul is swimming,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">And ruined all my body’s house of clay.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_107">[p. 107]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">When first the Giver of the grape my lonely heart befriended,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">Wine fired my bosom and my veins filled up,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But when His image all mine eye possessed, a voice descended,</div> - <div class="verse indent2">‘Well done, O sovereign Wine and peerless Cup!’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The love thus symbolised is the emotional -element in religion, the rapture of the seer, -the courage of the martyr, the faith of the -saint, the only basis of moral perfection and -spiritual knowledge. Practically, it is self-renunciation -and self-sacrifice, the giving up -of all possessions—wealth, honour, will, life, -and whatever else men value—for the Beloved’s -sake without any thought of reward. -I have already referred to love as the supreme -principle in Sūfī ethics, and now let me give -some illustrations.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Love,” says Jalāluddīn, “is the -remedy of our pride and self-conceit, -the physician of all our infirmities. -Only he whose garment is rent by love -becomes entirely unselfish.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Nūrī, Raqqām, and other Sūfīs were -accused of heresy and sentenced to death.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“When the executioner approached -Raqqām, Nūrī rose and offered himself -in his friend’s place with the utmost -cheerfulness and submission. All the -spectators were astounded. The executioner -said, ‘Young man, the sword -is not a thing that people are so eager to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_108">[p. 108]</span> -meet; and your turn has not yet -arrived.’ Nūrī answered, ‘My religion -is founded on unselfishness. Life is the -most precious thing in the world: I -wish to sacrifice for my brethren’s sake -the few moments which remain.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>On another occasion Nūrī was overheard -praying as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“O Lord, in Thy eternal knowledge -and power and will Thou dost punish -the people of Hell whom Thou hast -created; and if it be Thy inexorable -will to make Hell full of mankind, Thou -art able to fill it with me alone, and to -send them to Paradise.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In proportion as the Sūfī loves God, he sees -God in all His creatures, and goes forth to -them in acts of charity. Pious works are -naught without love.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Cheer one sad heart: thy loving deed will be</div> - <div class="verse indent0">More than a thousand temples raised by thee.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">One freeman whom thy kindness hath enslaved</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Outweighs by far a thousand slaves set free.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The Moslem <cite>Legend of the Saints</cite> abounds in -tales of pity shown to animals (including the -despised dog), birds, and even insects. It is related -that Bāyazīd purchased some cardamom -seed at Hamadhān, and before departing put -into his gaberdine a small quantity which -was left over. On reaching Bistām and recollecting -what he had done, he took out the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_109">[p. 109]</span> -seed and found that it contained a number of -ants. Saying, “I have carried the poor -creatures away from their home,” he immediately -set off and journeyed back to Hamadhān—a -distance of several hundred miles.</p> - -<p>This universal charity is one of the fruits -of pantheism. The ascetic view of the world -which prevailed amongst the early Sūfīs, and -their vivid consciousness of God as a transcendent -Personality rather than as an immanent -Spirit, caused them to crush their -human affections relentlessly. Here is a short -story from the life of Fudayl ibn ʿIyād. It -would be touching if it were not so edifying.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“One day he had in his lap a child -four years old, and chanced to give it a -kiss, as is the way of fathers. The child -said, ‘Father, do you love me?’ ‘Yes,’ -said Fudayl. ‘Do you love God?’ -‘Yes.’ ‘How many hearts have you?’ -‘One.’ ‘Then,’ asked the child, ‘how -can you love two with one heart?’ -Fudayl perceived that the child’s words -were a divine admonition. In his zeal -for God he began to beat his head and -repented of his love for the child, and -gave his heart wholly to God.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The higher Sūfī mysticism, as represented -by Jalāluddīn Rūmī, teaches that the -phenomenal is a bridge to the Real.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Whether it be of this world or of that,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy love will lead thee yonder at the last.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_110">[p. 110]</span></p> -<p>And Jāmī says, in a passage which has been -translated by Professor Browne:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Even from earthly love thy face avert not,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Since to the Real it may serve to raise thee.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ere A, B, C are rightly apprehended,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">How canst thou con the pages of thy Koran?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A sage (so heard I), unto whom a student</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Came craving counsel on the course before him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Said, ‘If thy steps be strangers to love’s pathways,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Depart, learn love, and then return before me!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For, shouldst thou fear to drink wine from Form’s flagon,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou canst not drain the draught of the Ideal.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But yet beware! Be not by Form belated:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Strive rather with all speed the bridge to traverse.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If to the bourne thou fain wouldst bear thy baggage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Upon the bridge let not thy footsteps linger.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Emerson sums up the meaning of this -where he says:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Beholding in many souls the traits -of the divine beauty, and separating in -each soul that which is divine from the -taint which it has contracted in the -world, the lover ascends to the highest -beauty, to the love and knowledge of -the Divinity, by steps on this ladder of -created souls.”</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Man’s love of God,” says Hujwīrī, -“is a quality which manifests itself, -in the heart of the pious believer, in the -form of veneration and magnification, -so that he seeks to satisfy his Beloved -and becomes impatient and restless in -his desire for vision of Him, and cannot<span class="pagenum" id="Page_111">[p. 111]</span> -rest with any one except Him, and -grows familiar with the recollection of -Him, and abjures the recollection of -everything besides. Repose becomes unlawful -to him, and rest flees from him. -He is cut off from all habits and associations, -and renounces sensual passion, and -turns towards the court of love, and -submits to the law of love, and knows -God by His attributes of perfection.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Inevitably such a man will love his fellow-men. -Whatever cruelty they inflict upon -him, he will perceive only the chastening -hand of God, “whose bitters are very -sweets to the soul.” Bāyazīd said that -when God loves a man, He endows him -with three qualities in token thereof: a -bounty like that of the sea, a sympathy like -that of the sun, and a humility like that of -the earth. No suffering can be too great, -no devotion too high, for the piercing insight -and burning faith of a true lover.</p> - -<p>Ibn al-ʿArabī claims that Islam is peculiarly -the religion of love, inasmuch as the -Prophet Mohammed is called God’s beloved -(<i>Habīb</i>), but though some traces of this -doctrine occur in the Koran, its main impulse -was unquestionably derived from Christianity. -While the oldest Sūfī literature, which -is written in Arabic and unfortunately has -come down to us in a fragmentary state, is -still dominated by the Koranic insistence<span class="pagenum" id="Page_112">[p. 112]</span> -on fear of Allah, it also bears conspicuous -marks of the opposing Christian tradition. -As in Christianity, through Dionysius and -other writers of the Neoplatonic school, so -in Islam, and probably under the same influence, -the devotional and mystical love of -God soon developed into ecstasy and enthusiasm -which finds in the sensuous imagery -of human love the most suggestive medium -for its expression. Dr. Inge observes that -the Sūfīs “appear, like true Asiatics, to -have attempted to give a sacramental and -symbolic character to the indulgence of -their passions.” I need not again point out -that such a view of genuine Sūfism is both -superficial and incorrect.</p> - -<p>Love, like gnosis, is in its essence a divine -gift, not anything that can be acquired. “If -the whole world wished to attract love, they -could not; and if they made the utmost -efforts to repel it, they could not.” Those -who love God are those whom God loves. -“I fancied that I loved Him,” said Bāyazīd, -“but on consideration I saw that His love -preceded mine.” Junayd defined love as -the substitution of the qualities of the -Beloved for the qualities of the lover. In -other words, love signifies the passing-away -of the individual self; it is an uncontrollable -rapture, a God-sent grace which -must be sought by ardent prayer and -aspiration.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_113">[p. 113]</span></p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O Thou in whose bat well-curved my heart like a ball is laid,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nor ever a hairbreadth swerved from Thy bidding nor disobeyed,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I have washed mine outward clean, the water I drew and poured;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Mine inward is Thy demesne—do Thou keep it stainless, Lord!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Jalāluddīn teaches that man’s love is -really the effect of God’s love by means of an -apologue. One night a certain devotee was -praying aloud, when Satan appeared to him -and said:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“How long wilt thou cry, ‘O Allah’? -Be quiet, for thou wilt get no answer.” -The devotee hung his head in silence. -After a little while he had a vision of -the prophet Khadir, who said to him, -“Ah, why hast thou ceased to call on -God?” “Because the answer ‘Here -am I’ came not,” he replied. Khadir -said, “God hath ordered me to go to -thee and say this:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent6">“‘Was it not I that summoned thee to service?</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Did not I make thee busy with My name?</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Thy calling “Allah!” <em>was</em> My “Here am I,”</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Thy yearning pain My messenger to thee.</div> - <div class="verse indent6">Of all those tears and cries and supplications</div> - <div class="verse indent6">I was the magnet, and I gave them wings.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div></div> - -<p>Divine love is beyond description, yet its -signs are manifest. Sarī al-Saqatī questioned -Junayd concerning the nature of love.</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_114">[p. 114]</span></p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Some say,” he answered, “that it -is a state of concord, and some say that -it is altruism, and some say that it is -so-and-so.” Sarī took hold of the skin -on his forearm and pulled it, but it -would not stretch; then he said, “I -swear by the glory of God, were I to say -that this skin hath shrivelled on this -bone for love of Him, I should be telling -the truth.” Thereupon he fainted -away, and his face became like a shining -moon.</p> -</div> - -<p>Love, ‘the astrolabe of heavenly mysteries,’ -inspires all religion worthy of the name, and -brings with it, not reasoned belief, but the -intense conviction arising from immediate -intuition. This inner light is its own evidence; -he who sees it has real knowledge, -and nothing can increase or diminish his -certainty. Hence the Sūfīs never weary of -exposing the futility of a faith which supports -itself on intellectual proofs, external -authority, self-interest, or self-regard of any -kind. The barren dialectic of the theologian; -the canting righteousness of the Pharisee -rooted in forms and ceremonies; the less -crude but equally undisinterested worship -of which the motive is desire to gain everlasting -happiness in the life hereafter; -the relatively pure devotion of the mystic -who, although he loves God, yet thinks of -himself as loving, and whose heart is not<span class="pagenum" id="Page_115">[p. 115]</span> -wholly emptied of ‘otherness’—all these -are ‘veils’ to be removed.</p> - -<p>A few sayings by those who know will be -more instructive than further explanation.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“O God! whatever share of this -world Thou hast allotted to me, bestow -it on Thine enemies; and whatever -share of the next world Thou hast -allotted to me, bestow it on Thy friends. -Thou art enough for me.” (<span class="smcap">Rābiʿa.</span>)</p> - -<p>“O God! if I worship Thee in fear -of Hell, burn me in Hell; and if I -worship Thee in hope of Paradise, -exclude me from Paradise; but if I -worship Thee for Thine own sake, -withhold not Thine everlasting beauty!” -(<span class="smcap">Rābiʿa.</span>)</p> - -<p>“Notwithstanding that the lovers of -God are separated from Him by their -love, they have the essential thing, for -whether they sleep or wake, they seek -and are sought, and are not occupied -with their own seeking and loving, but -are enraptured in contemplation of the -Beloved. It is a crime in the lover to -regard his love, and an outrage in love -to look at one’s own seeking while one is -face to face with the Sought.” (<span class="smcap">Bāyazīd.</span>)</p> - -<p>“His love entered and removed all -besides Him and left no trace of anything -else, so that it remained single -even as He is single.” (<span class="smcap">Bāyazīd.</span>)</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_116">[p. 116]</span></p> - -<p>“To feel at one with God for a moment -is better than all men’s acts of worship -from the beginning to the end of the -world.” (<span class="smcap">Shiblī.</span>)</p> - -<p>“Fear of the Fire, in comparison -with fear of being parted from the -Beloved, is like a drop of water cast -into the mightiest ocean.” (<span class="smcap">Dhu ’l-Nūn.</span>)</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Unless I have the face of my heart towards Thee,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I deem prayer unworthy to be reckoned as prayer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If I turn my face to the Kaʿba, ’tis for love of Thine;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Otherwise I am quit both of prayer and Kaʿba.”</div> - <div class="verse indent39">(<span class="smcap">Jalāluddīn Rūmī.</span>)</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Love, again, is the divine instinct of the -soul impelling it to realise its nature and -destiny. The soul is the first-born of God: -before the creation of the universe it lived -and moved and had its being in Him, and -during its earthly manifestation it is a -stranger in exile, ever pining to return to -its home.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“This is Love: to fly heavenward,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To rend, every instant, a hundred veils;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The first moment, to renounce life;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">The last step, to fare without feet;</div> - <div class="verse indent4">To regard this world as invisible,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">Not to see what appears to one’s self.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>All the love-romances and allegories of -Sūfī poetry—the tales of Laylā and Majnūn, -Yūsuf (Joseph) and Zulaykhā, Salāmān and -Absāl, the Moth and the Candle, the Nightingale<span class="pagenum" id="Page_117">[p. 117]</span> -and the Rose—are shadow-pictures -of the soul’s passionate longing to be reunited -with God. It is impossible, in the -brief space at my command, to give the -reader more than a passing glimpse of the -treasures which the exuberant fancy of the -East has heaped together in every room of -this enchanted palace. The soul is likened -to a moaning dove that has lost her mate; -to a reed torn from its bed and made into -a flute whose plaintive music fills the eye -with tears; to a falcon summoned by the -fowler’s whistle to perch again upon his -wrist; to snow melting in the sun and -mounting as vapour to the sky; to a frenzied -camel swiftly plunging through the desert -by night; to a caged parrot, a fish on -dry land, a pawn that seeks to become a -king.</p> - -<p>These figures imply that God is conceived -as transcendent, and that the soul cannot -reach Him without taking what Plotinus -in a splendid phrase calls “the flight of -the Alone to the Alone.” Jalāluddīn says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The motion of every atom is towards its origin;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A man comes to be the thing on which he is bent.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">By the attraction of fondness and yearning, the soul and the heart</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Assume the qualities of the Beloved, who is the Soul of souls.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>‘A man comes to be the thing on which -he is bent’: what, then, does the Sūfī<span class="pagenum" id="Page_118">[p. 118]</span> -become? Eckhart in one of his sermons -quotes the saying of St. Augustine that -Man <em>is</em> what he loves, and adds this comment:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“If he loves a stone, he is a stone; -if he loves a man, he is a man; if he -loves God—I dare not say more, for if -I said that he would then be God, ye -might stone me.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The Moslem mystics enjoyed greater -freedom of speech than their Christian -brethren who owed allegiance to the medieval -Catholic Church, and if they went too far -the plea of ecstasy was generally accepted -as a sufficient excuse. Whether they emphasise -the outward or the inward aspect -of unification, the transcendence or the -immanence of God, their expressions are -bold and uncompromising. Thus Abū Saʿīd:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In my heart Thou dwellest—else with blood I’ll drench it;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In mine eye Thou glowest—else with tears I’ll quench it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Only to be one with Thee my soul desireth—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Else from out my body, by hook or crook, I’ll wrench it!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Jalāluddīn Rūmī proclaims that the soul’s -love of God is God’s love of the soul, and -that in loving the soul God loves Himself, -for He draws home to Himself that which -in its essence is divine.</p> - -<p>“Our copper,” says the poet, “has -been transmuted by this rare alchemy,”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_119">[p. 119]</span> -meaning that the base alloy of self has -been purified and spiritualised. In another -ode he says:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“O my soul, I searched from end to end: I saw in thee naught save the Beloved;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Call me not infidel, O my soul, if I say that thou thyself art He.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>And yet more plainly:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ye who in search of God, of God, pursue,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Ye need not search for God is you, is you!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why seek ye something that was missing ne’er?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Save you none is, but you are—where, oh, where?”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Where is the lover when the Beloved has -displayed Himself? Nowhere and everywhere: -his individuality has passed away -from him. In the bridal chamber of Unity -God celebrates the mystical marriage of the -soul.</p> -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_120">[p. 120]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_V"><a id="Chapter_5">CHAPTER <abbr title="5">V</abbr></a><br /> <br /><span class="fs75">SAINTS AND MIRACLES</span></h2> -</div> - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">Let</span> us suppose that the average Moslem -could read English, and that we placed in -his hands one of those admirable volumes -published by the Society for Psychical -Research. In order to sympathise with his -feelings on such an occasion, we have only -to imagine what our own would be if a -scientific friend invited us to study a treatise -setting forth the evidence in favour of -telegraphy and recording well-attested instances -of telegraphic communication. The -Moslem would probably see in the telegraph -some kind of spirit—an <i>afreet</i> or <i>jinnī</i>. -Telepathy and similar occult phenomena he -takes for granted as self-evident facts. It -would never occur to him to investigate -them. There is something in the constitution -of his mind that makes it impervious -to the idea that the supernatural may be -subject to law. He believes, because he -cannot help believing, in the reality of an -unseen world which ‘lies about us,’ not in -our infancy alone, but always and everywhere;<span class="pagenum" id="Page_121">[p. 121]</span> -a world from which we are in -no wise excluded, accessible and in some -measure revealed to all, though free and open -intercourse with it is a privilege enjoyed by -few. Many are called but few chosen.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Spirits every night from the body’s snare</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou freest, and makest the tablets clean.<a id="FNanchor_11" href="#Footnote_11" class="fnanchor">[11]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">Spirits are set free every night from this cage,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Independent, neither ruled nor ruling.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At night prisoners forget their prison,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At night kings forget their power:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No sorrow, no brooding over gain and loss,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No thought of this person or that person.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This is the state of the gnostic, even when he is awake;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">God hath said, ‘Thou wouldst deem them awake while they slept.’<a id="FNanchor_12" href="#Footnote_12" class="fnanchor">[12]</a></div> - <div class="verse indent0">He is asleep, day and night, to the affairs of the world,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Like a pen in the controlling hand of the Lord.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_11" href="#FNanchor_11" class="label">[11]</a> By erasing all the sensuous impressions which form a -veil between the soul and the world of reality.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_12" href="#FNanchor_12" class="label">[12]</a> Kor. <span class="bold">18.</span> 17.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The Sūfīs have always declared and believed -themselves to be God’s chosen people. -The Koran refers in several places to His -elect. According to the author of the <cite>Kitāb -al-Lumaʿ</cite>, this title belongs, firstly, to the -prophets, elect in virtue of their sinlessness, -their inspiration, and their apostolic mission; -and secondly, to certain Moslems, elect in -virtue of their sincere devotion and self-mortification -and firm attachment to the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_122">[p. 122]</span> -eternal realities: in a word, the saints. -While the Sūfīs are the elect of the -Moslem community, the saints are the elect -of the Sūfīs.</p> - -<p>The Mohammedan saint is commonly -known as a <i>walī</i> (plural, <i>awliyā</i>). This -word is used in various senses derived from -its root-meaning of ‘nearness’; <i><abbr title="for example">e.g.</abbr></i> next -of kin, patron, protector, friend. It is applied -in the Koran to God as the protector -of the Faithful, to angels or idols who are -supposed to protect their worshippers, and -to men who are regarded as being specially -under divine protection. Mohammed twits -the Jews with professing to be <i lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">protégés</i> of -God (<i>awliyā lillāh</i>). Notwithstanding its -somewhat equivocal associations, the term -was taken over by the Sūfīs and became the -ordinary designation of persons whose holiness -brings them near to God, and who -receive from Him, as tokens of His peculiar -favour, miraculous gifts (<i>karāmāt</i>, <span lang="grc" xml:lang="grc">χαρίσματα</span>); -they are His friends, on whom “no fear shall -come and they shall not grieve”;<a id="FNanchor_13" href="#Footnote_13" class="fnanchor">[13]</a> any -injury done to them is an act of hostility -against Him.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_13" href="#FNanchor_13" class="label">[13]</a> Kor. <span class="bold">10.</span> 63.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The inspiration of the Islamic saints, -though verbally distinguished from that of -the prophets and inferior in degree, is of the -same kind. In consequence of their intimate -relation to God, the veil shrouding the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_123">[p. 123]</span> -supernatural, or, as a Moslem would say, -the unseen world, from their perceptions -is withdrawn at intervals, and in their fits -of ecstasy they rise to the prophetic level. -Neither deep learning in divinity, nor devotion -to good works, nor asceticism, nor -moral purity makes the Mohammedan a -saint; he may have all or none of these -things, but the only indispensable qualification -is that ecstasy and rapture which is the -outward sign of ‘passing-away’ from the -phenomenal self. Any one thus enraptured -(<i>majdhūb</i>) is a <i>walī</i>,<a id="FNanchor_14" href="#Footnote_14" class="fnanchor">[14]</a> and when such persons -are recognised through their power of working -miracles, they are venerated as saints -not only after death but also during their -lives. Often, however, they live and die in -obscurity. Hujwīrī tells us that amongst -the saints “there are four thousand who -are concealed and do not know one another -and are not aware of the excellence of their -state, being in all circumstances hidden from -themselves and from mankind.”</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_14" href="#FNanchor_14" class="label">[14]</a> <i>Waliyyat</i>, if the saint is a woman.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The saints form an invisible hierarchy, on -which the order of the world is thought to -depend. Its supreme head is entitled the -<i>Qutb</i> (Axis). He is the most eminent Sūfī -of his age, and presides over the meetings -regularly held by this august parliament, -whose members are not hampered in their -attendance by the inconvenient fictions of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_124">[p. 124]</span> -time and space, but come together from all -parts of the earth in the twinkling of an eye, -traversing seas and mountains and deserts -as easily as common mortals step across a -road. Below the <i>Qutb</i> stand various classes -and grades of sanctity. Hujwīrī enumerates -them, in ascending series, as follows: three -hundred <i>Akhyār</i> (Good), forty <i>Abdāl</i> -(Substitutes), seven <i>Abrār</i> (Pious), four -<i>Awtād</i> (Supports), and three <i>Nuqabā</i> (Overseers).</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“All these know one another and -cannot act save by mutual consent. It -is the task of the <i>Awtād</i> to go round the -whole world every night, and if there -should be any place on which their eyes -have not fallen, next day some flaw -will appear in that place, and they must -then inform the <i>Qutb</i> in order that he -may direct his attention to the weak -spot and that by his blessing the imperfection -may be remedied.”</p> -</div> - -<p>We are studying in this book the mystical -life of the individual Moslem, and it is -necessary to keep the subject within the -narrowest bounds. Otherwise, I should have -liked to dwell on the external and historical -organisation of Sūfism as a school for saints, -and to describe the process of evolution -through which the <i>walī</i> privately conversing -with a small circle of friends became, first, -a teacher and spiritual guide gathering<span class="pagenum" id="Page_125">[p. 125]</span> -disciples around him during his lifetime, -and finally the head of a perpetual religious -order which bore his name. The earliest -of these great fraternities date from the -twelfth century. In addition to their own -members—the so-called ‘dervishes’—each -order has a large number of lay brethren -attached to it, so that their influence pervades -all ranks of Moslem society. They -are “independent and self-developing. -There is rivalry between them; but no one -rules over the other. In faith and practice -each goes its own way, limited only by the -universal conscience of Islam. Thus strange -doctrines and grave moral defects easily -develop unheeded, but freedom is saved.”<a id="FNanchor_15" href="#Footnote_15" class="fnanchor">[15]</a> -Of course, the typical <i>walī</i> is incapable of -founding an order, but Islam has produced -no less frequently than Christendom men -who combine intense spiritual illumination -with creative energy and aptitude for affairs -on a grand scale. The Mohammedan notion -of the saint as a person possessed by God -allows a very wide application of the term: -in popular usage it extends from the greatest -Sūfī theosophists, like Jalāluddīn Rūmī and -Ibn al-ʿArabī, down to those who have -gained sanctity only by losing sanity—victims -of epilepsy and hysteria, half-witted -idiots and harmless lunatics.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_15" href="#FNanchor_15" class="label">[15]</a> D. B. Macdonald, <cite>The Religious Life and Attitude in -Islam</cite>, p. 164.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_126">[p. 126]</span></p> - -<p>Both Qushayrī<a id="FNanchor_16" href="#Footnote_16" class="fnanchor">[16]</a> and Hujwīrī discuss the -question whether a saint can be conscious -of his saintship, and answer it in the affirmative. -Their opponents argue that consciousness -of saintship involves assurance of salvation, -which is impossible, since no one -can know with certainty that he shall be -among the saved on the Day of Judgment. -In reply it was urged that God may miraculously -assure the saint of his predestined -salvation, while maintaining him in a state -of spiritual soundness and preserving him -from disobedience. The saint is not immaculate, -as the prophets are, but the -divine protection which he enjoys is a -guarantee that he will not persevere in evil -courses, though he may temporarily be led -astray. According to the view generally -held, saintship depends on faith, not on -conduct, so that no sin except infidelity -can cause it to be forfeited. This perilous -theory, which opens the door to antinomianism, -was mitigated by the emphasis laid -on fulfilment of the religious law. The -following anecdote of Bāyazīd al-Bistāmī -shows the official attitude of all the leading -Sūfīs who are cited as authorities in the -Moslem text-books.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_16" href="#FNanchor_16" class="label">[16]</a> Author of a famous work designed to close the breach -between Sūfism and Islam. He died in 1074 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“I was told (he said) that a saint of -God was living in such-and-such a town,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_127">[p. 127]</span> -and I set out to visit him. When I -entered the mosque, he came forth from -his chamber and spat on the floor. -I turned back without saluting him, -saying to myself, ‘A saint must keep -the religious law in order that God may -keep him in his spiritual state. Had -this man been a saint, his respect for -the law would have prevented him from -spitting on the floor, or God would have -saved him from marring the grace -<a id="TN4">vouchsafed to him.</a>’”</p> -</div> - -<p>Many <i>walīs</i>, however, regard the law as a -curb that is indeed necessary so long as one -remains in the disciplinary stage, but may -be discarded by the saint. Such a person, -they declare, stands on a higher plane than -ordinary men, and is not to be condemned -for actions which outwardly seem irreligious. -While the older Sūfīs insist that a <i>walī</i> who -breaks the law is thereby shown to be an -impostor, the popular belief in the saints and -the rapid growth of saint-worship tended to -aggrandise the <i>walī</i> at the expense of the law, -and to foster the conviction that a divinely -gifted man can do no wrong, or at least that -his actions must not be judged by appearances. -The classical instance of this <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">jus -divinum</i> vested in the friends of God is the -story of Moses and Khadir, which is related -in the Koran (<span class="bold">18.</span> 64-80). Khadir or Khizr—the -Koran does not mention him by name—is<span class="pagenum" id="Page_128">[p. 128]</span> -a mysterious sage endowed with immortality, -who is said to enter into conversation -with wandering Sūfīs and impart -to them his God-given knowledge. Moses -desired to accompany him on a journey -that he might profit by his teaching, and -Khadir consented, only stipulating that -Moses should ask no questions of him.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“So they both went on, till they -embarked in a boat and he (Khadir) -staved it in. ‘What!’ cried Moses, -‘hast thou staved it in that thou -mayst drown its crew? Verily, a -strange thing hast thou done.’</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘Did not I tell thee that -thou couldst no way have patience with -me?’</p> - -<p>“Then they went on until they met a -youth, and he slew him. Said Moses, -‘Hast thou slain him who is free from -guilt of blood? Surely now thou hast -wrought an unheard-of thing!’”</p> -</div> - -<p>After Moses had broken his promise of -silence for the third time, Khadir resolved -to leave him.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“But first,” he said, “I will tell thee -the meaning of that with which thou -couldst not have patience. As to the -boat, it belonged to poor men, toilers -on the sea, and I was minded to damage -it, for in their rear was a king who -seized on every boat by force. And<span class="pagenum" id="Page_129">[p. 129]</span> -as to the youth, his parents were -believers, and I feared lest he should -trouble them by error and unbelief.”</p> -</div> - -<p>The Sūfīs are fond of quoting this unimpeachable -testimony that the <i>walī</i> -is above human criticism, and that his -hand, as Jalāluddīn asserts, is even as the -hand of God. Most Moslems admit the -claim to be valid in so far as they shrink -from applying conventional standards of -morality to holy men. I have explained -its metaphysical justification in <a href="#Chapter_5" title="Go to Chapter 5">an earlier -chapter.</a></p> - -<p>A miracle performed by a saint is termed -<i><a id="TN5">karāmāt</a></i>, <i>i.e.</i> a ‘favour’ which God bestows -upon him, whereas a miracle performed by a -prophet is called <i>muʿjizat</i>, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> an act which -cannot be imitated by any one. The distinction -originated in controversy, and was -used to answer those who held the miraculous -powers of the saints to be a grave encroachment -on the prerogative of the Prophet. -Sūfī apologists, while confessing that both -kinds of miracle are substantially the same, -take pains to differentiate the characteristics -of each; they declare, moreover, that the -saints are the Prophet’s witnesses, and that -all their miracles (like ‘a drop trickling -from a full skin of honey’) are in reality -derived from him. This is the orthodox -view and is supported by those Mohammedan -mystics who acknowledge the Law as well<span class="pagenum" id="Page_130">[p. 130]</span> -as the Truth, though in some cases it may -have amounted to little more than a pious -opinion. We have often noticed the difficulty -in which the Sūfīs find themselves when -they try to make a logical compromise with -Islam. But the word ‘logic’ is very misleading -in this connexion. The beginning -of wisdom, for European students of Oriental -religion, lies in the discovery that incongruous -beliefs—I mean, of course, beliefs -which <em>our</em> minds cannot harmonise—dwell -peacefully together in the Oriental brain; -that their owner is quite unconscious of -their incongruity; and that, as a rule, he -is absolutely sincere. Contradictions which -seem glaring to us do not trouble him at all.</p> - -<p>The thaumaturgic element in ancient -Sūfism was not so important as it afterwards -became in the fully developed saint-worship -associated with the Dervish Orders. “A -saint would be none the less a saint,” says -Qushayrī, “if no miracles were wrought by -him in this world.” In early Mohammedan -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Vitæ Sanctorum</i> it is not uncommon to -meet with sayings to the effect that miraculous -powers are comparatively of small -account. It was finely said by Sahl ibn -ʿAbdallah that the greatest miracle is the -substitution of a good quality for a bad -one; and the <cite>Kitāb al-Lumaʿ</cite> gives many -examples of holy men who disliked miracles -and regarded them as a temptation.<span class="pagenum" id="Page_131">[p. 131]</span> -“During my novitiate,” said Bāyazīd, -“God used to bring before me wonders and -miracles, but I paid no heed to them; and -when He saw that I did so, He gave me the -means of attaining to knowledge of Himself.” -Junayd observed that reliance on miracles -is one of the ‘veils’ which hinder the elect -from penetrating to the inmost shrine of the -Truth. This was too high doctrine for the -great mass of Moslems, and in the end -the vulgar idea of saintship triumphed -over the mystical and theosophical conception. -All such warnings and scruples -were swept aside by the same irresistible -instinct which rendered vain the solemn -asseverations of Mohammed that there was -nothing supernatural about him, and which -transformed the human Prophet of history -into an omnipotent hierophant and magician. -The popular demand for miracles far exceeded -the supply, but where the <i>walīs</i> -failed, a vivid and credulous imagination -came to their rescue and represented them, -not as they were, but as they ought to be. -Year by year the <cite>Legend of the Saints</cite> -grew more glorious and wonderful as it -continued to draw fresh tribute from the -unfathomable ocean of Oriental romance. -The pretensions made by the <i>walīs</i>, or on -their behalf, steadily increased, and the -stories told of them were ever becoming more -fantastic and extravagant. I will devote<span class="pagenum" id="Page_132">[p. 132]</span> -the remainder of this chapter to a sketch -of the <i>walī</i> as he appears in the vast medieval -literature on the subject.</p> - -<p>The Moslem saint does not say that he has -wrought a miracle; he says, “a miracle was -granted or manifested to me.” According -to one view, he may be fully conscious at -the time, but many Sūfīs hold that such -‘manifestation’ cannot take place except -in ecstasy, when the saint is entirely under -divine control. His own personality is then -in abeyance, and those who interfere with -him oppose the Almighty Power which speaks -with his lips and smites with his hand. -Jalāluddīn (who uses incidentally the rather -double-edged analogy of a man possessed -by a peri<a id="FNanchor_17" href="#Footnote_17" class="fnanchor">[17]</a>) relates the following anecdote -concerning Bāyazīd of Bistām, a celebrated -Persian saint who several times declared -in ecstatic frenzy that he was no other than -God.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_17" href="#FNanchor_17" class="label">[17]</a> One of the spirits called collectively Jinn.</p> - -</div> - -<p>After coming to himself on one of these -occasions and learning what blasphemous -language he had uttered, Bāyazīd ordered -his disciples to stab him with their knives -if he should offend again. Let me quote -the sequel, from Mr. Whinfield’s abridged -translation of the <cite>Masnavī</cite> (p. 196):</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The torrent of madness bore away his reason</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And he spoke more impiously than before:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘Within my vesture is naught but God,</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_133">[p. 133]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Whether you seek Him on earth or in heaven.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His disciples all became mad with horror,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And struck with their knives at his holy body.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Each one who aimed at the body of the Sheykh—</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His stroke was reversed and wounded the striker.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No stroke took effect on that man of spiritual gifts,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But the disciples were wounded and drowned in blood.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p>Here is the poet’s conclusion:</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Ah! you who smite with your sword him beside himself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You smite yourself therewith. Beware!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For he that is beside himself is annihilated and safe;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yea, he dwells in security for ever.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">His form is vanished, he is a mere mirror;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Nothing is seen in him but the reflexion of another.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you spit at it, you spit at your own face,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if you hit that mirror, you hit yourself.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you see an ugly face in it, ’tis your own,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if you see a Jesus there, you are its mother Mary.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He is neither this nor that—he is void of form;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis your own form which is reflected back to you.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The life of Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī, another -Persian Sūfī who died in 1033 <span class="allsmcap">A.D.</span>, -gives us a complete picture of the Oriental -pantheist, and exhibits the mingled arrogance -and sublimity of the character as -clearly as could be desired. Since the -original text covers fifty pages, I can translate -only a small portion of it here.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Once the Sheykh said, ‘This night -a great many persons (he mentioned the -exact number) have been wounded by -brigands in such-and-such a desert.’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_134">[p. 134]</span> -On making inquiry, they found that -his statement was perfectly true. -Strange to relate, on the same night -his son’s head was cut off and laid upon -the threshold of his house, yet he knew -nothing of it. His wife, who disbelieved -in him, cried, ‘What think you of a -man who can tell things which happen -many leagues away, but does not know -that his own son’s head has been cut -off and is lying at his very door?’ -‘Yes,’ the Sheykh answered, ‘when I -saw that, the veil had been lifted, but -when my son was killed, it had been let -down again.’”</p> - -<p>“One day Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī -clenched his fist and extended the little -finger and said, ‘Here is the <i>qibla</i>,<a id="FNanchor_18" href="#Footnote_18" class="fnanchor">[18]</a> if any -one desires to become a Sūfī.’ These -words were reported to the Grand -Sheykh, who, deeming the co-existence -of two <i>qiblas</i> an insult to the divine -Unity, exclaimed, ‘Since a second <i>qibla</i> -has appeared, I will cancel the former -one.’ After that, no pilgrims were able to -reach Mecca. Some perished on the way, -others fell into the hands of robbers, -or were prevented by various causes -from accomplishing their journey. Next -year a certain dervish said to the Grand<span class="pagenum" id="Page_135">[p. 135]</span> -Sheykh, ‘What sense is there in keeping -the folk away from the House of God?’ -Thereupon the Grand Sheykh made a -sign, and the road became open once -more. The dervish asked, ‘Whose -fault is it that all these people have -perished?’ The Grand Sheykh replied, -‘When elephants jostle each other, -who cares if a few wretched birds are -crushed to death?’”</p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_18" href="#FNanchor_18" class="label">[18]</a> The <i>qibla</i> is the point to which Moslems turn their faces -when praying, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> the Kaʿba.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Some persons who were setting -forth on a journey begged Khurqānī -to teach them a prayer that would keep -them safe from the perils of the road. -He said, ‘If any misfortune should -befall you, mention my name.’ This -answer was not agreeable to them; -they set off, however, and while travelling -were attacked by brigands. One -of the party mentioned the saint’s -name and immediately became invisible, -to the great astonishment of the brigands, -who could not find either his -camel or his bales of merchandise; -the others lost all their clothes and -goods. On returning home, they asked -the Sheykh to explain the mystery. -‘We all invoked God,’ they said, ‘and -without success; but the one man who -invoked you vanished from before the -eyes of the robbers.’ ‘You invoke -God formally,’ said the Sheykh, ‘whereas<span class="pagenum" id="Page_136">[p. 136]</span> -I invoke Him really. Hence, if you -invoke me and I then invoke God on -your behalf, your prayers are granted; -but it is useless for you to invoke God -formally and by rote.’”</p> - -<p>“One night, while he was praying, -he heard a voice cry, ‘Ha! Abu -’l-Hasan! Dost thou wish Me to tell -the people what I know of thee, that -they may stone thee to death?’ ‘O -Lord God,’ he replied, ‘dost Thou wish -me to tell the people what I know of -Thy mercy and what I perceive of Thy -grace, that none of them may ever -again bow to Thee in prayer?’ The -voice answered, ‘Keep thy secret, and -I will keep Mine.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘O God, do not send to -me the Angel of Death, for I will not -give up my soul to him. How should -I restore it to him, from whom I did -not receive it? I received my soul -from Thee, and I will not give it up to -any one but Thee.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘After I shall have passed -away, the Angel of Death will come to -one of my descendants and set about -taking his soul, and will deal hardly -with him. Then will I raise my hands -from the tomb and shed the grace of -God upon his lips.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘If I bade the empyrean<span class="pagenum" id="Page_137">[p. 137]</span> -move, it would obey, and if I told the -sun to stop, it would cease from rolling -on its course.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘I am not a devotee nor -an ascetic nor a theologian nor a Sūfī. -O God, Thou art One, and through Thy -Oneness I am One.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘The skull of my head is -the empyrean, and my feet are under -the earth, and my two hands are East -and West.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘If any one does not -believe that I shall stand up at the -Resurrection and that he shall not -enter Paradise until I lead him forward, -let him not come here to salute -me.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘Since God brought me -forth from myself, Paradise is in quest -of me and Hell is in fear of me; and -if Paradise and Hell were to pass by -this place where I am, both would -become annihilated in me, together with -all the people whom they contain.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘I was lying on my back, -asleep. From a corner of the Throne -of God something trickled into my -mouth, and I felt a sweetness in my -inward being.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘If a few drops of that -which is under the skin of a saint -should come forth between his lips,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_138">[p. 138]</span> -all the creatures of heaven and earth -would fall into panic.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘Through prayer the saints -are able to stop the fish from swimming -in the sea and to make the earth -tremble, so that people think it is an -earthquake.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘If the love of God in -the hearts of His friends were made -manifest, it would fill the world with -flood and fire.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘He that lives with God -hath seen all things visible, and heard -all things audible, and done all that is -to be done, and known all that is to -be known.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘All things are contained -in me, but there is no room for myself -in me.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘Miracles are only the -first of the thousand stages of the Way -to God.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘Do not seek until thou -art sought, for when thou findest that -which thou seekest, it will resemble -thee.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘Thou must daily die a -thousand deaths and come to life again, -that thou mayst win the life immortal.’”</p> - -<p>“He said, ‘When thou givest to -God thy nothingness, He gives to thee -His All.’”</p> -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_139">[p. 139]</span></p> - -<p class="sp1">It would be an almost endless task to -enumerate and exemplify the different classes -of miracles which are related in the lives -of the Mohammedan saints—for instance, -walking on water, flying in the air (with or -without a passenger), rain-making, appearing -in various places at the same time, -healing by the breath, bringing the dead -to life, knowledge and prediction of future -events, thought-reading, telekinesis, paralysing -or beheading an obnoxious person by -a word or gesture, conversing with animals -or plants, turning earth into gold or precious -stones, producing food and drink, etc. To -the Moslem, who has no sense of natural -law, all these ‘violations of custom,’ as he -calls them, seem equally credible. We, on -the other hand, feel ourselves obliged to -distinguish phenomena which we regard as -irrational and impossible from those for -which we can find some sort of ‘natural’ -explanation. Modern theories of psychical -influence, faith-healing, telepathy, veridical -hallucination, hypnotic suggestion and the -like, have thrown open to us a wide avenue -of approach to this dark continent in the -Eastern mind. I will not, however, pursue -the subject far at present, full of interest -as it is. In the higher Sūfī teaching the -miraculous powers of the saints play a more -or less insignificant part, and the excessive -importance which they assume in the organised<span class="pagenum" id="Page_140">[p. 140]</span> -mysticism of the Dervish Orders is one -of the clearest marks of its degeneracy.</p> - -<p>The following passage, which I have -slightly modified, gives a fair summary of -the hypnotic process through which a dervish -attains to union with God:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The disciple must, mystically, -always bear his Murshid (spiritual -director) in mind, and become mentally -absorbed in him through a constant -meditation and contemplation of him. -The teacher must be his shield against -all evil thoughts. The spirit of the -teacher follows him in all his efforts, and -accompanies him wherever he may be, -quite as a guardian spirit. To such a -degree is this carried that he sees the -master in all men and in all things, just -as a willing subject is under the influence -of the magnetiser. This condition is -called ‘self-annihilation’ in the Murshid -or Sheykh. The latter finds, in his own -visionary dreams, the degree which the -disciple has reached, and whether or -not his spirit has become bound to his -own.</p> - -<p>“At this stage the Sheykh passes him -over to the spiritual influence of the -long-deceased Pīr or original founder of -the Order, and he sees the latter only by -the spiritual aid of the Sheykh. This is -called ‘self-annihilation’ in the Pīr. He<span class="pagenum" id="Page_141">[p. 141]</span> -now becomes so much a part of the Pīr as -to possess all his spiritual powers.</p> - -<p>“The third grade leads him, also -through the spiritual aid of the Sheykh, -up to the Prophet himself, whom he now -sees in all things. This state is called -‘self-annihilation’ in the Prophet.</p> - -<p>“The fourth degree leads him even -to God. He becomes united with the -Deity and sees Him in all things.”<a id="FNanchor_19" href="#Footnote_19" class="fnanchor">[19]</a></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_19" href="#FNanchor_19" class="label">[19]</a> J. P. Brown, <cite>The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism</cite> -(1868), p. 298.</p> - -</div> - -<p>An excellent concrete illustration of the -process here described will be found in the -well-known case of Tawakkul Beg, who -passed through all these experiences under -the control of Mollā-Shāh. His account is -too long to quote in full; moreover, it has -recently been translated by Professor D. B. -Macdonald in his <cite>Religious Life and Attitude -in Islam</cite> (pp. 197 ff.). I copy from this -version one paragraph describing the first of -the four stages mentioned above.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Thereupon he made me sit before -him, my senses being as though intoxicated, -and ordered me to reproduce my -own image within myself; and, after -having bandaged my eyes, he asked me -to concentrate all my mental faculties -on my heart. I obeyed, and in an -instant, by the divine favour and by the -spiritual assistance of the Sheykh, my<span class="pagenum" id="Page_142">[p. 142]</span> -heart opened. I saw, then, that there -was something like an overturned cup -within me. This having been set upright, -a sensation of unbounded happiness -filled my being. I said to the -master, ‘This cell where I am seated -before you—I see a faithful reproduction -of it within me, and it appears -to me as though another Tawakkul Beg -were seated before another Mollā-Shāh.’ -He replied, ‘Very good! the first apparition -which appears to thee is the -image of the master.’ He then ordered -me to uncover my eyes; and I saw him, -with the physical organ of vision, seated -before me. He then made me bind -my eyes again, and I perceived him -with my spiritual sight, seated similarly -before me. Full of astonishment, I -cried out, ‘O Master! whether I look -with my physical organs or with my -spiritual sight, always it is you that I -see!’”</p> -</div> - -<p>Here is a case of autohypnotism, witnessed -and recorded by the poet Jāmī:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Mawlānā Saʿduddīn of Kāshghar, -after a little concentration of thought -(<i>tawajjuh</i>), used to exhibit signs of unconsciousness. -Any one ignorant of this -circumstance would have fancied that -he was falling asleep. When I first -entered into companionship with him,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_143">[p. 143]</span> -I happened one day to be seated before -him in the congregational mosque. According -to his custom, he fell into a -trance. I supposed that he was going -to sleep, and I said to him, ‘If you -desire to rest for a short time, you will -not seem to me to be far off.’ He -smiled and said, ‘Apparently you do -not believe that this is something -different from sleep.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>The following anecdote presents greater -difficulties:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Mawlānā Nizāmuddīn Khāmūsh -relates that one day his master, ʿAlāʾuddīn -ʿAttār, started to visit the tomb -of the celebrated saint Mohammed ibn -ʿAlī Hakīm, at Tirmidh. ‘I did not -accompany him,’ said Nizāmuddīn, -‘but stayed at home, and by concentrating -my mind (<i>tawajjuh</i>) I succeeded -in bringing the spirituality of the saint -before me, so that when the master -arrived at the tomb he found it empty. -He must have known the cause, for on -his return he set to work in order to -bring me under his control. I, too, -concentrated my mind, but I found -myself like a dove and the master like a -hawk flying in chase of me. Wherever -I turned, he was always close behind. -At last, despairing of escape, I took -refuge with the spirituality of the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_144">[p. 144]</span> -Prophet (on whom be peace) and -became effaced in its infinite radiance. -The master could not exercise any -further control. He fell ill in consequence -of his chagrin, and no one except -myself knew the reason.’”</p> -</div> - -<p>ʿAlāʾuddīn’s son, Khwāja Hasan ʿAttār, -possessed such powers of ‘control’ that he -could at will throw any one into the state -of trance and cause them to experience -the ‘passing-away’ (<i>fanā</i>) to which some -mystics attain only on rare occasions and -after prolonged self-mortification. It is related -that the disciples and visitors who -were admitted to the honour of kissing his -hand always fell unconscious to the ground.</p> - -<p>Certain saints are believed to have the -power of assuming whatever shape they -please. One of the most famous was Abū -ʿAbdallah of Mosul, better known by the -name of Qadīb al-Bān. One day the Cadi -of Mosul, who regarded him as a detestable -heretic, saw him in a street of the town, -approaching from the opposite direction. -He resolved to seize him and lay a charge -against him before the governor, in order -that he might be punished. All at once he -perceived that Qadīb al-Bān had taken the -form of a Kurd; and as the saint advanced -towards him, his appearance changed again, -this time into an Arab of the desert. Finally, -on coming still nearer, he assumed the guise<span class="pagenum" id="Page_145">[p. 145]</span> -and dress of a doctor of theology, and cried, -“O Cadi! which Qadīb al-Bān will you hale -before the governor and punish?” The -Cadi repented of his hostility and became -one of the saint’s disciples.</p> - -<p>In conclusion, let me give two alleged -instances of ‘the obedience of inanimate -objects,’ <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> telekinesis:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Whilst Dhu ’l-Nūn was conversing -on this topic with some friends, he -said, ‘Here is a sofa. It will move -round the room, if I tell it to do so.’ -No sooner had he uttered the word -‘move’ than the sofa made a circuit -of the room and returned to its place. -One of the spectators, a young man, -burst into tears and gave up the ghost. -They laid him on that sofa and washed -him for burial.”</p> - -<p>“Avicenna paid a visit to Abu -’l-Hasan Khurqānī and immediately -plunged into a long and abstruse discussion. -After a time the saint, who -was an illiterate person, felt tired, so -he got up and said, ‘Excuse me; I -must go and mend the garden wall’; -and off he went, taking a hatchet with -him. As soon as he had climbed on to -the top of the wall, the hatchet dropped -from his hand. Avicenna ran to pick -it up, but before he reached it the -hatchet rose of itself and came back<span class="pagenum" id="Page_146">[p. 146]</span> -into the saint’s hand. Avicenna lost -all his self-command, and the enthusiastic -belief in Sūfism which then took -possession of him continued until, at a -later period of his life, he abandoned -mysticism for philosophy.”</p> -</div> - -<p class="sp1">I am well aware that in this chapter scanty -justice has been done to a great subject. -The historian of Sūfism must acknowledge, -however deeply he may deplore, the fundamental -position occupied by the doctrine -of saintship and the tremendous influence -which it has exerted in its practical results—grovelling -submission to the authority of -an ecstatic class of men, dependence on -their favour, pilgrimage to their shrines, -adoration of their relics, devotion of every -mental and spiritual faculty to their service. -It may be dangerous to worship God by -one’s own inner light, but it is far more -deadly to seek Him by the inner light of -another. Vicarious holiness has no compensations. -This truth is expressed by the -mystical writers in many an eloquent passage, -but I will content myself with quoting a -few lines from the life of ʿAlāʾuddīn ʿAttār, -the same saint who, as we have seen, vainly -tried to hypnotise his pupil in revenge for -a disrespectful trick which the latter had -played on him. His biographer relates that -he said, “It is more right and worthy to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_147">[p. 147]</span> -dwell beside God than to dwell beside God’s -creatures,” and that the following verse -was often on his blessed tongue:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“How long will you worship at the tombs of holy men?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Busy yourself with the <em>works</em> of holy men, and you are saved!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - -<div class="verse indent5">(“<i>tu tā kay gūr-i mardān-rā parastī</i></div> -<div class="verse indent6"><i>bi-gird-i kār-i mardān gard u rastī.</i>”)</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_148">[p. 148]</span></p> - -<h2 class="nobreak" id="CHAPTER_VI"><a id="Chapter_6">CHAPTER <abbr title="6">VI</abbr></a><br /> <br /><span class="fs75">THE UNITIVE STATE</span></h2> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“The story admits of being told up to this point,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But what follows is hidden, and inexpressible in words.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If you should speak and try a hundred ways to express it,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">’Tis useless; the mystery becomes no clearer.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">You can ride on saddle and horse to the sea-coast,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">But then you must use a horse of wood (<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> a boat).</div> - <div class="verse indent0">A horse of wood is useless on dry land,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">It is the special vehicle of voyagers by sea.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Silence is this horse of wood,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Silence is the guide and support of men at sea.”<a id="FNanchor_20" href="#Footnote_20" class="fnanchor">[20]</a></div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_20" href="#FNanchor_20" class="label">[20]</a> The <cite>Masnavī</cite> of Jalāluddīn Rūmī. Abridged translation -by E. H. Whinfield, p. 326.</p> - -</div> - - -<p class="firstpara"><span class="smcap">No</span> one can approach the subject of this -chapter—the state of the mystic who has -reached his journey’s end—without feeling -that all symbolical descriptions of union -with God and theories concerning its nature -are little better than leaps in the dark. -How shall we form any conception of that -which is declared to be ineffable by those -who have actually experienced it? I can -only reply that the same difficulty confronts -us in dealing with all mystical phenomena,<span class="pagenum" id="Page_149">[p. 149]</span> -though it appears less formidable at lower -levels, and that the poet’s counsel of silence -has not prevented him from interpreting -the deepest mysteries of Sūfism with unrivalled -insight and power.</p> - -<p>Whatever terms may be used to describe -it, the unitive state is the culmination of -the simplifying process by which the soul -is gradually isolated from all that is foreign -to itself, from all that is not God. Unlike -Nirvāṇa, which is merely the cessation of -individuality, <i>fanā</i>, the passing-away of the -Sūfī from his phenomenal existence, involves -<i>baqā</i>, the continuance of his real existence. -He who dies to self lives in God, and -<i>fanā</i>, the consummation of this death, marks -the attainment of <i>baqā</i>, or union with the -divine life. Deification, in short, is the -Moslem mystic’s <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">ultima Thule</i>.</p> - -<p>In the early part of the tenth century -Husayn ibn Mansūr, known to fame as -al-Hallāj (the wool-carder), was barbarously -done to death at Baghdād. His execution -seems to have been dictated by political -motives, but with these we are not concerned. -Amongst the crowd assembled round the -scaffold, a few, perhaps, believed him to -be what he said he was; the rest witnessed -with exultation or stern approval the punishment -of a blasphemous heretic. He had -uttered in two words a sentence which -Islam has, on the whole, forgiven but has<span class="pagenum" id="Page_150">[p. 150]</span> -never forgotten: “<i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i>”—“I am -God.”</p> - -<p>The recently published researches of M. -Louis Massignon<a id="FNanchor_21" href="#Footnote_21" class="fnanchor">[21]</a> make it possible, for the -first time, to indicate the meaning which -Hallāj himself attached to this celebrated -formula, and to assert definitely that it -does not agree with the more orthodox -interpretations offered at a later epoch by -Sūfīs belonging to various schools. According -to Hallāj, man is essentially divine. -God created Adam in His own image. He -projected from Himself that image of His -eternal love, that He might behold Himself -as in a mirror. Hence He bade the angels -worship Adam (Kor. <span class="bold">2.</span> 32), in whom, as in -Jesus, He became incarnate.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_21" href="#FNanchor_21" class="label">[21]</a> <cite>Kitāb al-Tawāsīn</cite> (Paris, 1913). See especially pp. -129-141.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Glory to Him who revealed in His humanity (<i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> in Adam) the secret of His radiant divinity,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And then appeared to His creatures visibly in the shape of one who ate and drank (Jesus).”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Since the ‘humanity’ (<i>nāsūt</i>) of God -comprises the whole bodily and spiritual -nature of man, the ‘divinity’ (<i>lāhūt</i>) of -God cannot unite with that nature except -by means of an incarnation or, to adopt the -term employed by Massignon, an infusion -(<i>hulūl</i>) of the divine Spirit, such as takes -place when the human spirit enters the<span class="pagenum" id="Page_151">[p. 151]</span> -body.<a id="FNanchor_22" href="#Footnote_22" class="fnanchor">[22]</a> Thus Hallāj says in one of his -poems:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thy Spirit is mingled in my spirit even as wine is mingled with pure water.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When anything touches Thee, it touches me. Lo, in every case Thou art I!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p>And again:</p> -</div> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I:</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We are two spirits dwelling in one body.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If thou seest me, thou seest Him,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">And if thou seest Him, thou seest us both.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_22" href="#FNanchor_22" class="label">[22]</a> Massignon appears to be right in identifying the Divine -Spirit with the Active Reason (<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">intellectus agens</i>), which, -according to Alexander of Aphrodisias, is not a part or faculty -of our soul, but comes to us from without. See Inge, -<cite>Christian Mysticism</cite>, pp. 360, 361. The doctrine of Hallāj -may be compared with that of Tauler, Ruysbroeck, and -others concerning the birth of God in the soul.</p> - -</div> - -<p>This doctrine of personal deification, in -the peculiar form which was impressed -upon it by Hallāj, is obviously akin to the -central doctrine of Christianity, and therefore, -from the Moslem standpoint, a heresy -of the worst kind. It survived unadulterated -only amongst his immediate followers. -The Hulūlīs, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> those who believe in incarnation, -are repudiated by Sūfīs in general quite -as vehemently as by orthodox Moslems. -But while the former have unhesitatingly -condemned the doctrine of <i>hulūl</i>, they have -also done their best to clear Hallāj from -the suspicion of having taught it. Three -main lines of defence are followed: (1)<span class="pagenum" id="Page_152">[p. 152]</span> -Hallāj did not sin against the Truth, but he -was justly punished in so far as he committed -a grave offence against the Law. -He “betrayed the secret of his Lord” by -proclaiming to all and sundry the supreme -mystery which ought to be reserved for -the elect. (2) Hallāj spoke under the intoxicating -influence of ecstasy. He imagined -himself to be united with the divine -essence, when in fact he was only united -with one of the divine attributes. (3) Hallāj -meant to declare that there is no essential -difference or separation between God and -His creatures, inasmuch as the divine unity -includes all being. A man who has entirely -passed away from his phenomenal self exists -<i lang="la" xml:lang="la">quâ</i> his real self, which is God.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“In that glory is no ‘I’ or ‘We’ or ‘Thou.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">‘I,’ ‘We,’ ‘Thou,’ and ‘He’ are all one thing.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>It was not Hallāj who cried “<i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i>,” -but God Himself, speaking, as it -were, by the mouth of the selfless Hallāj, -just as He spoke to Moses through the -medium of the burning bush (Kor. <span class="bold">20.</span> 8-14).</p> - -<p>The last explanation, which converts -<i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i> into an impersonal monistic -axiom, is accepted by most Sūfīs as representing -the true Hallājian teaching. In -a magnificent ode Jalāluddīn Rūmī describes -how the One Light shines in myriad -forms through the whole universe, and how<span class="pagenum" id="Page_153">[p. 153]</span> -the One Essence, remaining ever the same, -clothes itself from age to age in the prophets -and saints who are its witnesses to mankind.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Every moment the robber Beauty rises in a different shape, ravishes the soul, and disappears.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Every instant that Loved One assumes a new garment, now of eld, now of youth.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Now He plunged into the heart of the substance of the potter’s clay—the Spirit plunged, like a diver.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Anon He rose from the depths of mud that is moulded and baked, then He appeared in the world.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He became Noah, and at His prayer the world was flooded while He went into the Ark.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">He became Abraham and appeared in the midst of the fire, which turned to roses for His sake.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">For a while He was roaming on the earth to pleasure Himself,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Then He became Jesus and ascended to the dome of Heaven and began to glorify God.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In brief, it was He that was coming and going in every generation thou hast seen,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Until at last He appeared in the form of an Arab and gained the empire of the world.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">What is it that is transferred? What is transmigration in reality? The lovely winner of hearts</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Became a sword and appeared in the hand of ʿAlī and became the Slayer of the time.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">No! no! for ’twas even He that was crying in human shape, ‘<i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i>.’</div> - <div class="verse indent0">That one who mounted the scaffold was not Mansūr,<a id="FNanchor_23" href="#Footnote_23" class="fnanchor">[23]</a> though the foolish imagined it.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Rūmī hath not spoken and will not speak words of infidelity: do not disbelieve him!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Whosoever shows disbelief is an infidel and one of those who have been doomed to Hell.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_23" href="#FNanchor_23" class="label">[23]</a> Hallāj is often called Mansūr, which is properly the -name of his father.</p> - -</div> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_154">[p. 154]</span></p> - -<p>Although in Western and Central Asia—where -the Persian kings were regarded -by their subjects as gods, and where the -doctrines of incarnation, anthropomorphism, -and metempsychosis are indigenous—the -idea of the God-man was neither so unfamiliar -nor unnatural as to shock the -public conscience very profoundly, Hallāj -had formulated that idea in such a way that -no mysticism calling itself Mohammedan -could tolerate, much less adopt it. To -assert that the divine and human natures -may be interfused and commingled,<a id="FNanchor_24" href="#Footnote_24" class="fnanchor">[24]</a> would -have been to deny the principle of unity -on which Islam is based. The subsequent -history of Sūfism shows how deification -was identified with unification. The antithesis—God, -Man—melted away in the -pantheistic theory which has been explained -above.<a id="FNanchor_25" href="#Footnote_25" class="fnanchor">[25]</a> There is no real existence apart -from God. Man is an emanation or a reflexion -or a mode of Absolute Being. What -he thinks of as individuality is in truth not-being; -it cannot be separated or united, -for it does not exist. Man <em>is</em> God, yet with<span class="pagenum" id="Page_155">[p. 155]</span> -a difference. According to Ibn al-ʿArabī,<a id="FNanchor_26" href="#Footnote_26" class="fnanchor">[26]</a> -the eternal and the phenomenal are two -complementary aspects of the One, each -of which is necessary to the other. The -creatures are the external manifestation of -the Creator, and Man is God’s consciousness -(<i>sirr</i>) as revealed in creation. But since -Man, owing to the limitations of his mind, -cannot think all objects of thought simultaneously, -and therefore expresses only a -part of the divine consciousness, he is not -entitled to say <i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i>, “I am God.” -He is <em>a</em> reality, but not <em>the</em> Reality. We -shall see that other Sūfīs—Jalāluddīn -Rūmī, for example—in their ecstatic moments, -at any rate, ignore this rather subtle -distinction.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_24" href="#FNanchor_24" class="label">[24]</a> <i>Hulūl</i> was not understood in this sense by Hallāj -(Massignon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="work cited">op. cit.</abbr></i>, p. 199), though the verses quoted on -<a href="#Page_151">p. 151</a> readily suggest such an interpretation. Hallāj, I -think, would have agreed with Eckhart (who said, “The -word <em>I am</em> none can truly speak but God alone”) that -the personality in which the Eternal is immanent has itself -a part in eternity (Inge, <cite>Christian Mysticism</cite>, p. 149, note).</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_25" href="#FNanchor_25" class="label">[25]</a> See <a href="#Page_79">pp. 79 ff.</a></p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_26" href="#FNanchor_26" class="label">[26]</a> Massignon, <i lang="la" xml:lang="la"><abbr title="work cited">op. cit.</abbr></i>, p. 183.</p> - -</div> - -<p>The statement that in realising the nonentity -of his individual self the Sūfī realises -his essential oneness with God, sums up the -Mohammedan theory of deification in terms -with which my readers are now familiar. -I will endeavour to show what more precise -meaning may be assigned to it, partly in -my own words and partly by means of -illustrative extracts from various authors.</p> - -<p>Several aspects of <i>fanā</i> have already been -distinguished.<a id="FNanchor_27" href="#Footnote_27" class="fnanchor">[27]</a> The highest of these—the -passing-away in the divine essence—is fully -described by Niffarī, who employs instead -of fanā and fānī (self-naughted) the terms<span class="pagenum" id="Page_156">[p. 156]</span> -<i>waqfat</i>, signifying cessation from search, and -<i>wāqif</i>, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> one who desists from seeking and -passes away in the Object Sought. Here are -some of the chief points that occur in the -text and commentary.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_27" href="#FNanchor_27" class="label">[27]</a> See <a href="#Page_60">pp. 60, 61</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<p><i>Waqfat</i> is luminous: it expels the dark -thoughts of ‘otherness,’ just as light banishes -darkness; it changes the phenomenal values -of all existent things into their real and -eternal values.</p> - -<p>Hence the <i>wāqif</i> transcends time and -place. “He enters every house and it -contains him not; he drinks from every -well but is not satisfied; then he reaches -Me, and I am his home, and his abode is -with Me”—that is to say, he comprehends -all the divine attributes and embraces all -mystical experiences. He is not satisfied -with the names (attributes), but seeks the -Named. He contemplates the essence of -God and finds it identical with his own. -He does not pray. Prayer is from man to -God, but in <i>waqfat</i> there is nothing but God.</p> - -<p>The <i>wāqif</i> leaves not a rack behind him, -nor any heir except God. When even the -phenomenon of <i>waqfat</i> has disappeared from -his consciousness, he becomes the very -Light. Then his praise of God proceeds -from God, and his knowledge is God’s -knowledge, who beholds Himself alone as -He was in the beginning.</p> - -<p>We need not expect to discover how this<span class="pagenum" id="Page_157">[p. 157]</span> -essentialisation, substitution, or transmutation -is effected. It is the grand paradox of -Sūfism—the <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">Magnum Opus</i> wrought somehow -<em>in</em> created man by a Being whose nature is -eternally devoid of the least taint of creatureliness. -As I have remarked above, the change, -however it may be conceived, does not involve -infusion of the divine essence (<i>hulūl</i>) -or identification of the divine and human -natures (<i>ittihād</i>). Both these doctrines are -generally condemned. Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj -criticises them in two passages of his <cite>Kitāb -al-Lumaʿ</cite>, as follows:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Some mystics of Baghdād have -erred in their doctrine that when they -pass away from their qualities they -enter into the qualities of God. This -leads to incarnation (<i>hulūl</i>) or to the -Christian belief concerning Jesus. The -doctrine in question has been attributed -to some of the ancients, but its true -meaning is this, that when a man goes -forth from his own qualities and enters -into the qualities of God, he goes forth -from his own will and enters into the -will of God, knowing that his will is -given to him by God and that by virtue -of this gift he is severed from regarding -himself, so that he becomes entirely -devoted to God; and this is one of the -stages of Unitarians. Those who have -erred in this doctrine have failed to<span class="pagenum" id="Page_158">[p. 158]</span> -observe that the qualities of God are -not God. To make God identical with -His qualities is to be guilty of infidelity, -because God does not descend into the -heart, but that which descends into -the heart is faith in God and belief in -His unity and reverence for the thought -of Him.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In the second passage he makes use of -a similar argument in order to refute the -doctrine of <i>ittihād</i>.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Some have abstained from food -and drink, fancying that when a man’s -body is weakened it is possible that he -may lose his humanity and be invested -with the attributes of divinity. The -ignorant persons who hold this erroneous -doctrine cannot distinguish between -humanity and the inborn qualities of -humanity. Humanity does not depart -from man any more than blackness -departs from that which is black or -whiteness from that which is white, -but the inborn qualities of humanity -are changed and transmuted by the -all-powerful radiance that is shed upon -them from the divine Realities. The -attributes of humanity are not the -essence of humanity. Those who inculcate -the doctrine of <i>fanā</i> mean the -passing-away of regarding one’s own -actions and works of devotion through<span class="pagenum" id="Page_159">[p. 159]</span> -the continuance of regarding God as -the doer of these actions on behalf of -His servant.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Hujwīrī characterises as absurd the belief -that passing-away (<i>fanā</i>) signifies loss of -essence and destruction of corporeal substance, -and that ‘abiding’ (<i>baqā</i>) indicates -the indwelling of God in man. Real passing-away -from anything, he says, implies consciousness -of its imperfection and absence -of desire for it. Whoever passes away from -his own perishable will abides in the everlasting -will of God, but human attributes -cannot become divine attributes or <i lang="la" xml:lang="la">vice -versa</i>.</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“The power of fire transforms to its -own quality anything that falls into it, -and surely the power of God’s will is -greater than that of fire; yet fire -affects only the quality of iron without -changing its substance, for iron can -never become fire.”</p> -</div> - -<p>In another part of his work Hujwīrī -defines ‘union’ (<i>jamʿ</i>) as concentration of -thought upon the desired object. Thus -Majnūn, the Orlando Furioso of Islam, -concentrated his thoughts on Laylā, so that -he saw only her in the whole world, and all -created things assumed the form of Laylā -in his eyes. Some one came to the cell of -Bāyazīd and asked, “Is Bāyazīd here?” -He answered, “Is any one here but God?”<span class="pagenum" id="Page_160">[p. 160]</span> -The principle in all such cases, Hujwīrī -adds, is the same, namely:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“That God divides the one substance -of His love and bestows a particle -thereof, as a peculiar gift, upon every -one of His friends in proportion to their -enravishment with Him; then he lets -down upon that particle the shrouds -of fleshliness and human nature and -temperament and spirit, in order that by -its powerful working it may transmute -to its own quality all the particles that -are attached to it, until the lover’s -clay is wholly converted into love and -all his acts and looks become so many -properties of love. This state is named -‘union’ alike by those who regard the -inward sense and the outward expression.”</p> -</div> - -<p><a id="TN6">Then he quotes</a> these verses of Hallāj:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Thy will be done, O my Lord and Master!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thy will be done, O my purpose and meaning!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O essence of my being, O goal of my desire,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O my speech and my hints and my gestures!</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O all of my all, O my hearing and my sight,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">O my whole and my element and my particles!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The enraptured Sūfī who has passed -beyond the illusion of subject and object -and broken through to the Oneness can either -deny that he is anything or affirm that he is -all things. As an example of ‘the negative -way,’ take the opening lines of an ode by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_161">[p. 161]</span> -Jalāluddīn which I have rendered into -verse, imitating the metrical form of the -Persian as closely as the genius of our -language will permit:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Lo, for I to myself am unknown, now in God’s name what must I do?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I adore not the Cross nor the Crescent, I am not a Giaour nor a Jew.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">East nor West, land nor sea is my home, I have kin nor with angel nor gnome,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I am wrought not of fire nor of foam, I am shaped not of dust nor of dew.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I was born not in China afar, not in Saqsīn and not in Bulghār;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not in India, where five rivers are, nor ʿIrāq nor Khorāsān I grew.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not in this world nor that world I dwell, not in Paradise, neither in Hell;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Not from Eden and Rizwān I fell, not from Adam my lineage I drew.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In a place beyond uttermost Place, in a tract without shadow of trace,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Soul and body transcending I live in the soul of my Loved One anew!”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The following poem, also by Jalāluddīn, -expresses the positive aspect of the cosmic -consciousness:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“If there be any lover in the world, O Moslems, ’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">If there be any believer, infidel, or Christian hermit, ’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The wine-dregs, the cupbearer, the minstrel, the harp, and the music,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The beloved, the candle, the drink and the joy of the drunken—’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The two-and-seventy creeds and sects in the world</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_162">[p. 162]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">Do not really exist: I swear by God that every creed and sect—’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth and air and water and fire—knowest thou what they are?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Earth and air and water and fire, nay, body and soul too—’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Truth and falsehood, good and evil, ease and difficulty from first to last,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Knowledge and learning and asceticism and piety and faith—’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The fire of Hell, be assured, with its flaming limbos,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yes, and Paradise and Eden and the Houris—’tis I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This earth and heaven with all that they hold,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Angels, Peris, Genies, and Mankind—’tis I.”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>What Jalāluddīn utters in a moment of -ecstatic vision Henry More describes as a -past experience:</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“How lovely” (he says), “how magnificent -a state is the soul of man in, -when the life of God inactuating her -shoots her along with Himself through -heaven and earth; makes her unite -with, and after a sort feel herself -animate, the whole world. He that is -here looks upon all things as One, and -on himself, if he can then mind himself, -as a part of the Whole.”</p> -</div> - -<p>For some Sūfīs, absorption in the ecstasy -of <i>fanā</i> is the end of their pilgrimage. -Thenceforth no relation exists between them -and the world. Nothing of themselves is -left in them; as individuals, they are dead. -Immersed in Unity, they know neither law -nor religion nor any form of phenomenal<span class="pagenum" id="Page_163">[p. 163]</span> -being. But those God-intoxicated devotees -who never return to sobriety have fallen -short of the highest perfection. The full -circle of deification must comprehend both -the inward and outward aspects of Deity—the -One and the Many, the Truth and the -Law. It is not enough to escape from all -that is creaturely, without entering into the -eternal life of God the Creator as manifested -in His works. To abide in God (<i>baqā</i>) -after having passed-away from selfhood -(<i>fanā</i>) is the mark of the Perfect Man, who -not only journeys <em>to</em> God, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> passes from -plurality to unity, but <em>in</em> and <em>with</em> God, <i><abbr title="that is">i.e.</abbr></i> -continuing in the unitive state, he returns -with God to the phenomenal world from -which he set out, and manifests unity in -plurality. In this descent</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“He makes the Law his upper garment</div> - <div class="verse indent4">And the mystic Path his inner garment,”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<div class="noindent"> -<p>for he brings down and displays the Truth -to mankind while fulfilling the duties of the -religious law. Of him it may be said, in the -words of a great Christian mystic:</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“He goes <em>towards</em> God by inward -love, in eternal work, and he goes <em>in</em> -God by his fruitive inclination, in -eternal rest. And he dwells in God; -and yet he goes out towards created -things in a spirit of love towards all -things, in the virtues and in works of<span class="pagenum" id="Page_164">[p. 164]</span> -righteousness. And this is the most -exalted summit of the inner life.”<a id="FNanchor_28" href="#Footnote_28" class="fnanchor">[28]</a></p> -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_28" href="#FNanchor_28" class="label">[28]</a> Ruysbroeck, quoted in E. Underhill’s <cite>Introduction to -Mysticism</cite>, p. 522.</p> - -</div> - -<p>ʿAfīfuddīn Tilimsānī, in his commentary on -Niffarī, describes four mystical journeys:</p> - -<p>The <em>first</em> begins with gnosis and ends with -complete passing-away (<i>fanā</i>).</p> - -<p>The <em>second</em> begins at the moment when -passing-away is succeeded by ‘abiding’ -(<i>baqā</i>).</p> - -<p>He who has attained to this station -journeys in the Real, by the Real, to the -Real, and he then is a reality (<i>haqq</i>).<a id="FNanchor_29" href="#Footnote_29" class="fnanchor">[29]</a> Thus -travelling onward, he arrives at the station -of the <i>Qutb</i>,<a id="FNanchor_30" href="#Footnote_30" class="fnanchor">[30]</a> which is the station of Perfect -Manhood. He becomes the centre of the -spiritual universe, so that every point and -limit reached by individual human beings is -equally distant from his station, whether they -be near or far; since all stations revolve -round his, and in relation to the <i>Qutb</i> there is -no difference between nearness and farness. -To one who has gained this supreme position, -knowledge and gnosis and passing-away are -as rivers of his ocean, whereby he replenishes -whomsoever he will. He has the right to -guide others to God, and seeks permission -to do so from none but himself. Before -the gate of Apostleship was closed,<a id="FNanchor_31" href="#Footnote_31" class="fnanchor">[31]</a> he would<span class="pagenum" id="Page_165">[p. 165]</span> -have deserved the title of Apostle, but in -our day his due title is Director of Souls, and -he is a blessing to those who invoke his aid, -because he comprehends the innate capacities -of all mankind and, like a camel-driver, -speeds every one to his home.</p> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_29" href="#FNanchor_29" class="label">[29]</a> See <a href="#Page_155">p. 155 above</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_30" href="#FNanchor_30" class="label">[30]</a> See <a href="#Page_123">p. 123</a>.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="footnote"> - -<p><a id="Footnote_31" href="#FNanchor_31" class="label">[31]</a> <i><abbr title="That is">I.e.</abbr></i> before the time of Mohammed, who is the Seal of -the Prophets.</p> - -</div> - -<p>In the <em>third</em> journey this Perfect Man -turns his attention to God’s creatures, -either as an Apostle or as a Spiritual Director -(Sheykh), and reveals himself to those who -would fain be released from their faculties, -to each according to his degree: to the -adherent of positive religion as a theologian; -to the contemplative, who has not yet -enjoyed full contemplation, as a gnostic; -to the gnostic as one who has entirely -passed-away from individuality (<i>wāqif</i>); -to the <i>wāqif</i> as a <i>Qutb</i>. He is the horizon -of every mystical station and transcends -the furthest range of experience known to -each grade of seekers.</p> - -<p>The <em>fourth</em> journey is usually associated -with physical death. The Prophet was referring -to it when he cried on his deathbed, “I -choose the highest companions.” In this -journey, to judge from the obscure verses in -which ʿAfīfuddīn describes it, the Perfect -Man, having been invested with all the -divine attributes, becomes, so to speak, the -mirror which displays God to Himself.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent4">“When my Beloved appears,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">With what eye do I see Him?</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_166">[p. 166]</span> - <div class="verse indent4">With His eye, not with mine,</div> - <div class="verse indent4">For none sees Him except Himself.”</div> - <div class="verse indent25">(<span class="smcap">Ibn al-ʿArabī.</span>)</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>The light in the soul, the eye by which it -sees, and the object of its vision, all are One.</p> - - -<p class="sp1">We have followed the Sūfī in his quest -of Reality to a point where language fails. -His progress will seldom be so smooth and -unbroken as it appears in these pages. The -proverbial headache after intoxication supplies -a parallel to the periods of intense -aridity and acute suffering that sometimes -fill the interval between lower and higher -states of ecstasy. Descriptions of this -experience—the Dark Night of the Soul, -as it is called by Christian authors—may -be found in almost any biography of Mohammedan -saints. Thus Jāmī relates in his -<cite>Nafahāt al-Uns</cite> that a certain dervish, a disciple -of the famous Shihābuddīn Suhrawardī,</p> - -<div class="blockquot"> - -<p>“Was endowed with a great ecstasy -in the contemplation of Unity and in the -station of passing-away (<i>fanā</i>). One -day he began to weep and lament. -On being asked by the Sheykh Shihābuddīn -what ailed him, he answered, -‘Lo, I am debarred by plurality from -the vision of Unity. I am rejected, and -my former state—I cannot find it!’ -The Sheykh remarked that this was -the prelude to the station of ‘abiding’<span class="pagenum" id="Page_167">[p. 167]</span> -(<i>baqā</i>), and that his present state was -higher and more sublime than the -one which he was in before.”</p> -</div> - -<p>Does personality survive in the ultimate -union with God? If personality means a conscious -existence distinct, though not separate, -from God, the majority of advanced Moslem -mystics say “No!” As the rain-drop -absorbed in the ocean is not annihilated but -ceases to exist individually, so the disembodied -soul becomes indistinguishable from -the universal Deity. It is true that when -Sūfī writers translate mystical union into -terms of love and marriage, they do not, -indeed they cannot, expunge the notion of -personality, but such metaphorical phrases -are not necessarily inconsistent with a pantheism -which excludes all difference. To -be united, here and now, with the World-Soul -is the utmost imaginable bliss for souls -that love each other on earth.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“Happy the moment when we are seated in the Palace, thou and I,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With two forms and with two figures but with one soul, thou and I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The colours of the grove and the voice of the birds will bestow immortality</div> - <div class="verse indent0">At the time when we come into the garden, thou and I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">The stars of heaven will come to gaze upon us;</div> - <div class="verse indent0">We shall show them the Moon itself, thou and I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Thou and I, individuals no more, shall be mingled in ecstasy,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Joyful and secure from foolish babble, thou and I.</div><span class="pagenum" id="Page_168">[p. 168]</span> - <div class="verse indent0">All the bright-plumed birds of heaven will devour their hearts with envy</div> - <div class="verse indent0">In the place where we shall laugh in such a fashion, thou and I.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">This is the greatest wonder, that thou and I, sitting here in the same nook,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Are at this moment both in ʿIrāq and Khorāsān, thou and I.”</div> - <div class="verse indent33">(<span class="smcap">Jalāluddīn Rūmī.</span>)</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<p>Strange as it may seem to our Western -egoism, the prospect of sharing in the general, -impersonal immortality of the human soul -kindles in the Sūfī an enthusiasm as deep -and triumphant as that of the most ardent -believer in a personal life continuing beyond -the grave. Jalāluddīn, after describing the -evolution of man in the material world -and anticipating his further growth in the -spiritual universe, utters a heartfelt prayer—for -what?—for self-annihilation in the ocean -of the Godhead.</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - <div class="stanza"> - <div class="verse indent0">“I died as mineral and became a plant,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I died as plant and rose to animal,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I died as animal and I was man.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Why should I fear? When was I less by dying?</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Yet once more I shall die as man, to soar</div> - <div class="verse indent0">With angels blest; but even from angelhood</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I must pass on: all except God doth perish.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">When I have sacrificed my angel soul,</div> - <div class="verse indent0">I shall become what no mind e’er conceived.</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Oh, let me not exist! for Non-existence</div> - <div class="verse indent0">Proclaims in organ tones, ‘To Him we shall return.’”</div> - </div> -</div> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_169">[p. 169]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="BIBLIOGRAPHY">BIBLIOGRAPHY</h2> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<h3><i class="fs90">A.</i> <span class="smcap fs90">General</span></h3> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Tholuck, F. A. G.</span>, <cite>Ssufismus sive Theosophia -Persarum pantheistica</cite> (Berlin, 1821).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>In Latin. Out of date in some respects, -but still worth reading.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Palmer, E. H.</span>, <cite>Oriental Mysticism</cite> (Cambridge, -1867).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>A treatise on Persian theosophy, based on -a work by Nasafī.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Von Kremer, A.</span>, <cite lang="de" xml:lang="de">Geschichte der herrschenden -Ideen des Islams</cite> (Leipzig, 1868), pp. 52–121.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>A brilliant sketch of the origin and development -of Sūfism.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Goldziher, I.</span>, <cite lang="de" xml:lang="de">Vorlesungen über den Islam</cite> (Heidelberg, -1910), pp. 139–200.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>An account of Sūfī asceticism and mysticism -by the greatest living authority on Islam.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Goldziher, I.</span>, <cite lang="de" xml:lang="de">Muhammedanische Studien</cite> (Halle, -1888–90), Part ii., pp. 277–378.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>Gives full details concerning the worship of -Moslem saints.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Macdonald, D. B.</span>, <cite>The Religious Life and Attitude -in Islam</cite> (Chicago, 1909).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>A valuable introduction to the study of the -moderate type of Sūfism represented by<span class="pagenum" id="Page_170">[p. 170]</span> -Ghazālī. The chapters on psychology are -particularly helpful.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Iqbal, Shaikh Muhammad</span>, <cite>The Development of -Metaphysics in Persia</cite> (London, 1908), pp. 96 ff.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Gibb, E. J. W.</span>, <cite>History of Turkish Poetry</cite> (London, -1900–1909), vol. i. pp. 15–69.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>Outlines of Persian philosophic mysticism.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Browne, E. G.</span>, <cite>Literary History of Persia</cite> (London, -1902), vol. i. pp. 416–444.</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Brown, J. P.</span>, <cite>The Dervishes, or Oriental Spiritualism</cite> -(London, 1868).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>Unscientific, but contains much interesting -material.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Depont, O.</span>, and <span class="smcap">Coppolani, X.</span>, <cite lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Les Confréries -religieuses musulmanes</cite> (Algiers, 1897).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>A standard work on the Dervish Orders.</p> -</div> - -<div class="section"> -<h3><i class="fs90">B.</i> <span class="smcap fs90">Translations</span></h3> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Hujwīrī</span>, <cite>Kashf al-Mahjūb</cite>, translated by R. A. -Nicholson (London, 1911).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>The oldest Persian treatise on Sūfism.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">ʿAttār</span>, <cite lang="fr" xml:lang="fr">Le Manticu ’ttair ou le Langage des Oiseaux</cite>, -translated, with an essay on the philosophical -and religious poetry of Persia, by Garcin -de Tassy (Paris, 1864).</p> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jalāluddīn Rūmī</span>, <cite>Masnavī</cite>, abridged translation -by E. H. Whinfield, 2nd ed. (London, 1898).</p> - -<p> <cite>Masnavī</cite>, Book i., translated by Sir James -Redhouse (London, 1881).</p> - -<p> <cite>Masnavī</cite>, Book ii., translated with commentary -by C. E. Wilson (London, 1910).</p> - -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_171">[p. 171]</span></p> - -<p> <cite>Selected Odes from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz</cite>, -Persian text with English translation, introduction, -and notes by R. A. Nicholson (Cambridge, -1898).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Mahmūd Shabistarī</span>, <cite>Gulshani Rāz</cite>, Persian text -with English translation, introduction, and -notes by E. H. Whinfield (London, 1880).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>A versified exposition of the chief Sūfī -doctrines. It should be read by every one -who is seriously interested in the subject.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Jāmī</span>, <cite>Lawāʾih</cite>, Persian text with translation by -E. H. Whinfield and Mīrzā Muhammad -Kazvīnī (London, 1906).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>A prose treatise on Sūfī theosophy.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p> <cite>Yūsuf and Zulaikha</cite>, translated into verse -by R. T. H. Griffith (London, 1882).</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquot fs90 spneg"> - -<p>One of the most famous mystical love-romances -in Persian literature.</p> -</div> - -<div class="blockquothang"> - -<p><span class="smcap">Ibn al-ʿArabī</span>, <cite>Tarjumān al-Ashwāq</cite>, a collection -of mystical odes. Arabic text with translation -and commentary by R. A. Nicholson -(London, 1911).</p> -</div> - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> - -<div class="chapter"> -<p><span class="pagenum" id="Page_173">[p. 173]</span></p> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="INDEX">INDEX</h2> -</div> - -<p class="fs90">(Titles of books, as well as Arabic and Persian technical -terms, are printed in italics.)</p> - - -<ul class="index"> -<li><i>Abdāl</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - -<li>ʿAbdallah Ansārī, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> - -<li>ʿAbd al-Rahīm ibn al-Sabbāgh, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> - -<li>Abraham, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Abrār</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - -<li>Absāl, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> - -<li>Abū ʿAbdallah of Mosul, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> - -<li>Abū ʿAbdallah al-Rāzī, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> - -<li>Abū ʿAlī of Sind, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li> - -<li>Abū Hamza, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeAbu">Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī</a>, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a> ff., <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="TN7.1">Abu ’l-Khayr al-Aqtaʿ</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>.</li> - -<li>Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> - -<li>Abū Saʿīd ibn Abi ’l-Khayr, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> - -<li>Adam, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li>ʿAfīfuddīn al-Tilimsānī, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeNif">Niffarī</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Ahl al-Haqq</i>, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>.</li> - -<li>Ahmad ibn al-Hawārī, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> - -<li><i>ahwāl</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Akhyār</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="TN7.2">ʿAlāʾuddīn</a> Attār, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li> - -<li>Alexander of Aphrodisias, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Al-Haqq.</i> See <a href="#SeeHaq"><i>Haqq</i></a>.</li> - -<li>ʿAlī, the Caliph, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeAna"><i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i></a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a> ff.</li> - -<li><i>Arabian Nights</i>, the, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> - -<li>ʿArafāt, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -<li><i>ʿārif</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> - -<li>Aristotle, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Asceticism, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a> ff., <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> - -<li>Ashʿarites, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li> - -<li>ʿAttār, Farīduddīn, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>.</li> - -<li>Audition, <a href="#Page_63">63</a> ff. See <a href="#SeeSam"><i>samāʿ</i></a>.</li> - -<li>Augustine, St., <a href="#Page_118">118</a>.</li> - -<li>Avicenna, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>, <a href="#Page_146">146</a>.</li> - -<li><i>awliyā</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Awtād</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Bābā Kūhī, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> - -<li>Bābism, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> - -<li>Bactria, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li>Baghdād, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> - -<li>Balkh, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li> - -<li><i>baqā</i>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li>Basra, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Bāyazīd of Bistām, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li> - -<li>Bektāshīs, the, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> - -<li>Bishr, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li>Breath, practice of inhaling and exhaling the, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li> - -<li>Brown, J. P., <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li> - -<li>Browne, Professor E. G., <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> - -<li>Buddha, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li> - -<li>Buddhism, <a href="#Page_16">16</a> ff., <a href="#Page_48">48</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeNir">Nirvāṇa</a>.</li> - -<li>Bulghār, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Calendars, the, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>.</li> - -<li>Celibacy, condemned by Mohammed, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li> - -<li>China, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_174">[p. 174]</span><a id="SeeChr">Christ</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeJes">Jesus</a>.</li> - -<li>Christianity, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a> f., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> - -<li>Contemplation, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a> ff., <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Dancing, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> - -<li>Dante, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> - -<li>Dark Night of the Soul, the, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> - -<li>Davids, Professor T. W. Rhys, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> - -<li>Dāwud al-Tāʾī, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>.</li> - -<li>Deification, <a href="#Page_149">149</a> ff., <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> - -<li><i>dervīsh</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> - -<li>Dervish Orders, the, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Dervishes, maxims for, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeDev">Devil, the</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeIbl">Iblīs</a> <i>and</i> <a href="#SeeSat">Satan</a>.</li> - -<li><i>dhawq</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeDhi"><i>dhikr</i></a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a> ff., <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> - -<li>Dhu ’l-Nūn the Egyptian, <a href="#Page_13">13</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li>Dionysius the Areopagite, <a href="#Page_12">12</a> f., <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeDir">Directors, spiritual</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a> ff., <a href="#Page_89">89</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a> ff., <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Dīvān of Shamsi Tabrīz</i>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Eckhart, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li>Ecstasy, <a href="#Page_59">59</a> ff., <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>. See <a href="#SeeFan"><i>fanā</i></a>.</li> - -<li>Eden, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li>Elias, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Emanation, the theory of, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> - -<li>Emerson, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>.</li> - -<li>Euchitæ, the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> - -<li>Evil, the unreality of, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>.</li> - -<li>Evil, part of the divine order, <a href="#Page_96">96</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Evolution, of Man, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><a id="SeeFan"><i>fanā</i></a>, <a href="#Page_17">17</a> ff., <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a> ff., <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a> ff., <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> - -<li><i>fanā al-fanā</i>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>.</li> - -<li><i>fānī</i>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - -<li><i>faqīr</i>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeFir"><i>firāsat</i></a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> - -<li>FitzGerald, Edward, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> - -<li>Frothingham, A. L., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Fudayl ibn ʿIyād, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Gairdner, W. H. T., <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li> - -<li><i>ghaybat</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li>Ghaylān, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li>Ghazālī, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeGno">Gnosis, the</a>, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> ff., <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li>Gnosticism, <a href="#Page_14">14</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Goldziher, Professor I., <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li> - -<li>Gospel, the, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Hafiz, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>.</li> - -<li><i>hāl</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeHal">Hallāj</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a> ff., <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> - -<li>Hamadhān, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>.</li> - -<li><i>haqīqat</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeTruth">Truth, the</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeHaq"><i>Haqq</i></a> = God, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>. See <a href="#SeeAna"><i>Ana ’l-Haqq</i></a>.</li> - -<li><i>haqq</i>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li>Hasan ʿAttār, Khwāja, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> - -<li><i>hātif</i>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>.</li> - -<li>Heart, the, a spiritual organ, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Heaven and Hell, subjective, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> - -<li>Hierotheus, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Hind, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeHuj">Hujwīrī</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_65">65</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeHul"><i>hulūl</i></a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>.</li> - -<li>Hulūlīs, the, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li>Husayn ibn Mansūr, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeHal">Hallāj</a>.</li> - -<li>Hypnotism, <a href="#Page_139">139</a> ff.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><a id="SeeIbl">Iblīs</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeDev">Devil, the</a>.</li> - -<li>Ibn al-Anbārī, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>.</li> - -<li>Ibn al-ʿArabī, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a>, <a href="#Page_103">103</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> - -<li>Ibrāhīm ibn Adham, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li> - -<li><i>ihsān</i>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>.</li> - -<li>Illumination, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a> ff., <a href="#Page_70">70</a>.</li> - -<li><i>ʿilm</i>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> - -<li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_175">[p. 175]</span>Immortality, impersonal, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - -<li>Incarnation, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>. See <a href="#SeeHul"><i>hulūl</i></a>.</li> - -<li>India, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li>Inge, Dr. W. R., <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>.</li> - -<li>Iqbal, Shaikh Muhammad, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>.</li> - -<li>ʿIrāq, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeIsl">Islam, relation of Sūfism to</a>, <a href="#Page_19">19</a> ff., <a href="#Page_71">71</a> ff., <a href="#Page_86">86</a> ff., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> - -<li><i>istinbāt</i>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>.</li> - -<li><i>ittihād</i>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>, <a href="#Page_158">158</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Jabarites, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li> - -<li>Jacob of Sarūj, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li><i>jadhbat</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeJal">Jalāluddīn Rūmī</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_67">67</a>, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>, <a href="#Page_95">95</a> ff., <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>, <a href="#Page_118">118</a>, <a href="#Page_119">119</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - -<li><i>jamʿ</i>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li> - -<li>Jāmī, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_106">106</a>, <a href="#Page_110">110</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeJes">Jesus</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>, <a href="#Page_157">157</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeChr">Christ</a>.</li> - -<li>Jews, the, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>.</li> - -<li>Jinn, the, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>.</li> - -<li>John, St., <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li>John Scotus Erigena, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeJos">Joseph</a>, <a href="#Page_99">99</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> - -<li>Journeys, mystical, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeePat">Path, the</a>.</li> - -<li>Junayd of Baghdād, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_112">112</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Kaʿba, the, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> - -<li><i>karāmāt</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> - -<li>Karma, the doctrine of, <a href="#Page_19">19</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Kashf al-Mahjūb</i>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeHuj">Hujwīrī</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeKha">Khadir</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> ff.</li> - -<li><i>khirqat</i>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li> - -<li>Khizr, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeKha">Khadir</a>.</li> - -<li>Khorāsān, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>.</li> - -<li>Khurqānī. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeAbu">Abu ’l-Hasan Khurqānī</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Kitāb al-Lumaʿ</i>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Kitāb al-Tawāsīn</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> - -<li>Knowledge of God. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeGno">Gnosis, the</a>.</li> - -<li>Knowledge, religious opposed to mystical, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Koran</i>, the, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Koran</i>, the, quotations from, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_128">128</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Koran</i>, germs of mysticism in the, <a href="#Page_21">21</a> f.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><i>lāhūt</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> - -<li>Lane, Edward, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>.</li> - -<li>Law, the religious, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_86">86</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a> ff., <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_127">127</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> - -<li>Laylā, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Legend of the Moslem Saints</i>, the, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeLiv"><i>Lives of the Saints</i></a>, by Jāmī, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>. See <a href="#SeeNaf"><i>Nafahāt al-Uns</i></a>.</li> - -<li>Logos, the, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>.</li> - -<li>Love, divine, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_81">81</a>, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_88">88</a>, <a href="#Page_101">101</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a> ff., <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> - -<li>Lubnā, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Macdonald, Professor D. B., <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_125">125</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>.</li> - -<li><i>majdhūb</i>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> - -<li>Majduddīn of Baghdād, <a href="#Page_66">66</a>.</li> - -<li>Majnūn, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>.</li> - -<li>Mālik ibn Dīnār, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>.</li> - -<li>Man, the final cause of the universe, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li>Man, higher than the angels, <a href="#Page_69">69</a>.</li> - -<li>Man, the microcosm, <a href="#Page_84">84</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> - -<li>Man, the Perfect, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - -<li>Mandæans, the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Mānī, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Manichæans, the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Mansūr, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeHal">Hallāj</a>.</li> - -<li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_176">[p. 176]</span><i>maqāmāt</i>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> - -<li><i>maʿrifat</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeGno">Gnosis, the</a>.</li> - -<li>Maʿrūf al-Karkhī, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Marwa, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li>Mary, <a href="#Page_133">133</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Masnavī</i>, the, <a href="#Page_25">25</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_96">96</a>, <a href="#Page_132">132</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a>. <i>See</i> Jalāluddīn Rūmī.</li> - -<li>Massignon, L., <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Mawāqif</i>, the, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeNif">Niffarī</a>.</li> - -<li>Mayya, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li>Mecca, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> - -<li>Meditation, <a href="#Page_48">48</a> f.</li> - -<li>Mephistopheles, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>.</li> - -<li>Messalians, the, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>.</li> - -<li>Minā, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li>Miracles, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a> ff., <a href="#Page_138">138</a>, <a href="#Page_139">139</a> ff.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeMoh">Mohammed, the Prophet</a>, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>, <a href="#Page_20">20</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_70">70</a>, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>, <a href="#Page_90">90</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_111">111</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_131">131</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeTra">Traditions of the Prophet</a>.</li> - -<li>Mohammed ibn ʿAlī Hakīm, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> - -<li>Mohammed ibn ʿUlyān, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>.</li> - -<li>Mohammed ibn Wāsiʿ, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_37">37</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>.</li> - -<li>Mollā-Shāh, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> - -<li>More, Henry, <a href="#Page_162">162</a>.</li> - -<li>Mortification, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a> f.</li> - -<li>Moses, <a href="#Page_127">127</a> ff., <a href="#Page_152">152</a>.</li> - -<li><i><a id="TN7.3">muʿjizat</a></i>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>.</li> - -<li><i>murāqabat</i>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>.</li> - -<li><i>muraqqaʿat</i>, <a href="#Page_33">33</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>.</li> - -<li>Murjites, the, <a href="#Page_5">5</a>.</li> - -<li><i>murshid</i>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> - -<li>Music, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a> ff.</li> - -<li><a id="TN7.4">Muʿtazilites</a>, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li> - -<li>Muzdalifa, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><a id="SeeNaf"><i>Nafahāt al-Uns</i></a>, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>. See <a href="#SeeLiv"><i>Lives of the Saints</i></a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeNafs"><i>nafs</i></a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_40">40</a>.</li> - -<li>Name, the Great, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li><i>nāsūt</i>, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>.</li> - -<li>Neoplatonism, <a href="#Page_12">12</a> f., <a href="#Page_112">112</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeNif">Niffarī</a>, <a href="#Page_57">57</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a>, <a href="#Page_72">72</a>, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>, <a href="#Page_85">85</a>, <a href="#Page_93">93</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeNir">Nirvāṇa</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a> ff., <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_149">149</a>.</li> - -<li>Nizāmuddīn Khāmūsh, Mawlānā, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> - -<li>Noah, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>.</li> - -<li>Nöldeke, Th., <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li> - -<li>Not-being, the principle of evil, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Nuqabā</i>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>.</li> - -<li>Nūrī, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_94">94</a>, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>, <a href="#Page_108">108</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Omar, the Caliph, <a href="#Page_38">38</a>.</li> - -<li>Omar Khayyām, <a href="#Page_97">97</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Pantheism, <a href="#Page_8">8</a>, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>, <a href="#Page_21">21</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a> ff., <a href="#Page_109">109</a>, <a href="#Page_133">133</a> ff., <a href="#Page_148">148</a> ff. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeUnity">Unity, the divine</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeePat">Path, the</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a> ff., <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> - -<li>Paul, St., <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li>Pentateuch, the, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> - -<li>Personality, survival of, <a href="#Page_167">167</a>.</li> - -<li>Phenomena, the nature of, <a href="#Page_82">82</a>.</li> - -<li>Phenomena, a bridge to Reality, <a href="#Page_109">109</a> f.</li> - -<li>Philo, <a href="#Page_22">22</a>.</li> - -<li>Pilgrimage, allegorical interpretation of the, <a href="#Page_91">91</a>.</li> - -<li><i>pīr</i>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>.</li> - -<li>Plato, <a href="#Page_7">7</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li> - -<li>Plotinus, <a href="#Page_11">11</a>, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> - -<li>Porphyry, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Poverty, <a href="#Page_36">36</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Predestination, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_98">98</a>.</li> - -<li>Pre-existence of the soul, <a href="#Page_15">15</a>, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> - -<li>Proclus, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Prophet, the. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeMoh">Mohammed, the Prophet</a>.</li> - -<li>Prophets, the, <a href="#Page_121">121</a>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_129">129</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li>Purgative Way, the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>.</li> - -<li>Pythagoras, <a href="#Page_64">64</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Qadarites, the, <a href="#Page_6">6</a>.</li> - -<li>Qadīb al-Bān, <a href="#Page_144">144</a>.</li> - -<li><i>qalb</i>, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> - -<li>Qays, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li><i>qibla</i>, <a href="#Page_134">134</a>.</li> - -<li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_177">[p. 177]</span>Quietism, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeTrust">Trust in God</a>.</li> - -<li>Qushayrī, <a href="#Page_126">126</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Qutb</i>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>, <a href="#Page_124">124</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><a id="TN7.5">Rābiʿa</a>, <a href="#Page_4">4</a>, <a href="#Page_31">31</a>, <a href="#Page_115">115</a>.</li> - -<li><i>rāhib</i>, <a href="#Page_10">10</a>.</li> - -<li>Raqqām, <a href="#Page_107">107</a>.</li> - -<li>Reason, the Active, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li>Recollection, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_45">45</a>. See <a href="#SeeDhi"><i>dhikr</i></a>.</li> - -<li>Religion, all types of, are equal, <a href="#Page_87">87</a>.</li> - -<li>Religion, positive, its relation to mysticism, <a href="#Page_24">24</a>, <a href="#Page_71">71</a> ff. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeIsl">Islam, relation of Sūfism to</a>.</li> - -<li>Repentance, <a href="#Page_30">30</a> ff.</li> - -<li><i>ridā</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> - -<li>Rizwān, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li>Rosaries, used by Sūfīs, <a href="#Page_17">17</a>.</li> - -<li><i>rūh</i>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> - -<li>Rūmī, <a href="#Page_153">153</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeJal">Jalāluddīn Rūmī</a>.</li> - -<li>Ruysbroeck, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>, <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Sābians, the, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Saʿduddīn of Kāshghar, Mawlānā, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> - -<li>Safā, <a href="#Page_92">92</a>.</li> - -<li>Sahl ibn ʿAbdallah of Tustar, <a href="#Page_46">46</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_56">56</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a>, <a href="#Page_130">130</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeSai">Saints, the Moslem</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Saintship, the doctrine of, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_120">120</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Salāmān, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> - -<li><i>sālik</i>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeSam"><i>samāʿ</i></a>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>, <a href="#Page_60">60</a>, <a href="#Page_63">63</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Saqsīn, <a href="#Page_161">161</a>.</li> - -<li>Sarī al-Saqatī, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_61">61</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeSat">Satan</a>, <a href="#Page_32">32</a>, <a href="#Page_113">113</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeDev">Devil, the</a>.</li> - -<li><i>Sea, the Revelation of the</i>, by Niffarī, <a href="#Page_74">74</a>.</li> - -<li>Self-annihilation, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_168">168</a>. See <a href="#SeeFan"><i>fanā</i></a>.</li> - -<li>Shāh al-Kirmānī, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>.</li> - -<li>Shaqīq of Balkh, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_43">43</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>.</li> - -<li>Sheykh, the, <a href="#Page_32">32</a> ff., <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_140">140</a>, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeDir">Directors, spiritual</a>.</li> - -<li>Shiblī, <a href="#Page_34">34</a>, <a href="#Page_35">35</a>, <a href="#Page_48">48</a>, <a href="#Page_52">52</a>, <a href="#Page_55">55</a>, <a href="#Page_62">62</a>, <a href="#Page_116">116</a>.</li> - -<li>Shihābuddīn Suhrawardī, <a href="#Page_166">166</a>.</li> - -<li>Shīʿites, the, <a href="#Page_89">89</a>.</li> - -<li><i>shirb</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li><i>siddīq</i>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Sin, <a href="#Page_30">30</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Singing, <a href="#Page_63">63</a> ff.</li> - -<li><i>sirr</i>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - -<li>Soul, the lower or appetitive. See <a href="#SeeNafs"><i>nafs</i></a>.</li> - -<li>Spirit, the divine, <a href="#Page_150">150</a>, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li>Spirit, the human, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>.</li> - -<li>Stages, mystical, <a href="#Page_28">28</a> f., <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> - -<li>States, mystical, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> - -<li>Stephen Bar Sudaili, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Sūfī, meaning and derivation of, <a href="#Page_3">3</a>.</li> - -<li>Sūfism, definitions of, <a href="#Page_1">1</a>, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>, <a href="#Page_25">25</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Sūfism, the oldest form of, <a href="#Page_4">4</a> f.</li> - -<li>Sūfism, the origin of, <a href="#Page_8">8</a> ff.</li> - -<li>Sūfism, its relation to Islam, <a href="#Page_19">19</a> ff., <a href="#Page_71">71</a> ff., <a href="#Page_86">86</a> ff., <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>.</li> - -<li><i>sukr</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li>Sunna, the, <a href="#Page_73">73</a>.</li> - -<li>Symbolism, mystical, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>, <a href="#Page_102">102</a> ff., <a href="#Page_116">116</a>, <a href="#Page_117">117</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><i>tālib</i>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>.</li> - -<li><i>tarīqat</i>, <a href="#Page_27">27</a>, <a href="#Page_28">28</a>.</li> - -<li>Tauler, <a href="#Page_151">151</a>.</li> - -<li><i>tawajjuh</i>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> - -<li><i>tawakkul</i>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a>.</li> - -<li>Tawakkul Beg, <a href="#Page_141">141</a>, <a href="#Page_142">142</a>.</li> - -<li>Telekinesis, <a href="#Page_145">145</a>.</li> - -<li>Telepathy, <a href="#Page_120">120</a>. See <a href="#SeeFir"><i>firāsat</i></a>.</li> - -<li><i>Theology of Aristotle</i>, the so-called, <a href="#Page_12">12</a>.</li> - -<li>Tirmidh, <a href="#Page_143">143</a>.</li> - -<li>Tora, the, <a href="#Page_105">105</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeTra">Traditions of the Prophet</a>, <a href="#Page_23">23</a>, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_44">44</a>, <a href="#Page_49">49</a>, <a href="#Page_51">51</a>, <a href="#Page_53">53</a>, <a href="#Page_54">54</a>, <a href="#Page_68">68</a>, <a href="#Page_80">80</a>, <a href="#Page_83">83</a>, <a href="#Page_100">100</a>.</li> - -<li>Transoxania, <a href="#Page_16">16</a>.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeTrust">Trust in God</a>, <a href="#Page_36">36</a>, <a href="#Page_41">41</a> ff.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeTruth">Truth, the</a>, <a href="#Page_29">29</a>, <a href="#Page_30">30</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a>, <a href="#Page_92">92</a> ff., <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_163">163</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Underhill, E., <a href="#Page_164">164</a>.</li> - -<li>Union with God, <a href="#Page_39">39</a>, <a href="#Page_159">159</a>, <a href="#Page_160">160</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeUnitive">Unitive State, the</a>, and <i><a href="#SeeFan">fanā</a></i>.</li> - -<li><span class="pagenum" id="Page_178">[p. 178]</span><a id="SeeUnitive">Unitive State, the</a>, <a href="#Page_148">148</a> ff.</li> - -<li><a id="SeeUnity">Unity, the divine</a>, Sūfistic theory of, <a href="#Page_42">42</a>, <a href="#Page_79">79</a> ff., <a href="#Page_98">98</a>, <a href="#Page_152">152</a>, <a href="#Page_154">154</a>, <a href="#Page_155">155</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1">Vedānta, the, <a href="#Page_18">18</a>.</li> - -<li>Veils, the seventy thousand, doctrine of, <a href="#Page_15">15</a> f.</li> - -<li>Vision, spiritual, <a href="#Page_50">50</a>.</li> - - -<li class="sp1"><i>wajd</i>, <a href="#Page_59">59</a>.</li> - -<li><i>walī</i>, <a href="#Page_122">122</a>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>. <i>See</i> <a href="#SeeSai">Saints, the Moslem</a>.</li> - -<li><i>waliyyat</i>, <a href="#Page_123">123</a>.</li> - -<li><i>waqfat</i>, <a href="#Page_58">58</a>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>.</li> - -<li><i>wāqif</i>, <a href="#Page_156">156</a>, <a href="#Page_165">165</a>.</li> - -<li>Wāsit, <a href="#Page_14">14</a>.</li> - -<li>Whinfield, E. 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THE ARABIAN NIGHTS’ ENTERTAINMENTS. Vols. -I.–II.</p> - -<p> 50. PLOTINUS, SELECT WORKS OF.</p> - -<p> 51. MACAULAY. ESSAYS FROM THE “ENCYCLOPÆDIA -BRITANNICA.” Edited by R. H. Gretton, M.A.</p> - -<p> 52. HOOPER (G.). THE CAMPAIGN OF SEDAN: The -Downfall of the Second Empire, August–September, 1870. -New edition.</p> - -<p> 53. BLAKE. POETICAL WORKS.</p> - -<p> 54. VAUGHAN. POETICAL WORKS.</p> - -<p> 55. GOETHE. FAUST.</p> - -<p>56–57. TRELAWNEY. ADVENTURES OF A YOUNGER -SON. 2 vols.</p> - -<p> 58. POUSHKIN. PROSE TALES. The Captain’s Daughter—Doubrovsky—The -Queen of Spades—An Amateur Peasant -Girl—The Shot—The Snowstorm—The Postmaster—The -Coffin Maker—Kirdjali—The Egyptian Nights—Peter the -Great’s Negro. Translated by T. Keane.</p> - -<p>59–60. MANZONI. THE BETROTHED. 2 vols.</p> -</div> - - -<p class="center sp2 fs90"><i>Other volumes will be published at regular intervals.</i> -</p> - - - -<hr class="chap x-ebookmaker-drop" /> -<div class="tnbox"> -<div class="chapter"> -<h2 class="nobreak" id="Transcribers_Notes">Transcriber's Notes</h2> -</div> - -<p>The following changes have been made to the text as printed:</p> - -<p>1. Footnotes have been placed immediately below the paragraph within -which they occur, and marked numerically.</p> - -<p>2. A period has been removed following the subheading <i><a href="#Gnost">Gnosticism</a></i> (Page 14), for consistency with other subheadings.</p> - -<p>3. <i>strenously</i> (Page 51) has been corrected to <i><a href="#TN2">strenuously</a></i>.</p> - -<p>4. The missing word <i>I</i> has been inserted in the passage <i><a href="#TN2A">the next -world belongs to him towards whom I have brought it</a></i> (Page 78).</p> - -<p>5. The name printed as Fitz Gerald (Page 97) has been rendered as -<a href="#TN3">FitzGerald</a> (the usual form for this writer).</p> - -<p>6. A single close-quote mark has been inserted after <i><a href="#TN4">vouchsafed to him</a></i> -(Page 127).</p> - -<p>7. <i>karāmat</i> (Page 129) has been changed to <i><a href="#TN5">karāmāt</a></i>.</p> - -<p>8. The line beginning <i><a href="#TN6">Then he quotes</a></i> (Page 160) has had its -indentation reduced, as it is part of the main text and not (as -printed) part of the preceding quotation.</p> - -<p>9. Index: The character ʿ has been added in the words <i><a href="#TN7.1">Abu ’l-Khayr -al-Aqtaʿ</a></i>, <i><a href="#TN7.2">ʿAlāʾuddīn</a></i>, <i><a href="#TN7.3">muʿjizat</a></i>, <i><a href="#TN7.4">Muʿtazilites</a></i>, and <i><a href="#TN7.5">Rābiʿa</a></i>.</p> - -<p>10. Apparent inconsistencies in whether hyphens occur in the word pairs <i>well known</i>, -<i>passed away</i>, and <i>above mentioned</i> are judged to be due to differences in sense, -and no amendments have been made.</p> -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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