Conceptions of Humanity and the Universe in Sufi Thought

Introduction

This session aims to explore Sufi understandings of the person, the universe and the divine
Recap: the Tradition of Gabriel God The Universe The Human Being

1. 2. 3. 4.

Recap: the Tradition of Gabriel

The Tradition of Gabriel & the Levels of Faith

Serving God as though you behold Him; absolute perception of divine reality; seeing (ruyah)

Ihsan
Literally, doing what is beautiful/good

Iman (Belief)
Inner acceptance of the reality of God, Angels, Divine Books, Messengers, the Last Day and Destiny

Islam (Submission)
Based on actions, performance of the 5 Pillars: Shahadah, Prayer, Zakat, Fasting in Ramadan, Pilgrimage

 1. 2. 3. 1. 2.

The Tradition of Gabriel Of fundamental importance Hierarchical understanding of faith: Submission (Islam) = practice Faith (Iman) = inward acceptance Spiritual Excellence (Ihsan) = perception Faith an increasingly interior matter Deeply influential in Sufi models of reality Different kinds of knowledge: Exoteric (zahir): rational science (aqli) & transmitted tradition (naqli) Esoteric (batin): intuitive knowledge, revelation (kashf) Sufism as the science of ihsan and the batin

God

The Sufi Understanding of God

Derived from mainstream Islamic sources Quranic text, prophetic traditions, theology, alongside Sufi speculation Utter transcendence
And there is none like unto Him (112:4)

Immanence
And We have already created man and know what his soul whispers to him, and We are closer to him than [his] jugular vein (50:16)

La ilaha illa Allah (no god but God) understood by Ibn Arabi to mean that nothing exists in reality except God Or, more properly, God is the only real self in existence Purpose of Creation: Creation as a Mirror
I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known

The Oneness of Being

Wahdat al-Wujud Passage from Fusus, opening of the chapter on Adam (about the Real wanting to perceive Itself reflected)
We and our existences are nonexistent things You are Absolute Existence showing Yourself as evanescent All of us are lions, but lions on a banner We attack moment by moment because of the wind. Our wind and our being is Your gift, All of our existence is Your bestowal Masnavi 1.602-604

See handout selections from the Garden of Mystery

The Oneness of Being

If you do not come to repent of your existence; Youll never approach the circle of gnostics and drunkards. Unless in others eyes you become an infidel, In the creed of lovers, youll never be Muslim Abu Sa`id ibn Abi al-Khayr, 11th century Gnostics: Arifun, Ma`rifa Drunkardswill look at these image in a couple of weeks time Infidel: Kafir, literally, ingrate Muslim: one who does Islam, one who submits True submission means going beyond other peoples opinion

Allah & the Divine Names

7:180 states that the Most Beautiful Names belong to Allah Made up of names of Majesty denoting power and names of Beauty denoting mercy, etc. Each specific name believed to have its own unique quality, and hence power Can be utilised in meditative practices Allah represents the totality of all divine attributes together Allah, as the comprehensive name, is the Greatest Name (ism al-azam) Hu - Allah there is no god but Hu (2:255) Literally, He or grammatically, sometimes It Divine essence, or selfhood ipseity An important area of Sufi metaphysical speculation Ibn Arabi, 13th century, is a noted example

Divine Emanation
Gods creative energy, as manifested through Divine Names and Attributes; sometimes identified with the Nafas-iRahmani (Breath of Mercy); see Quran 12:94 Nafs-i-Kulliya (Universal Soul) Aql-i-Kulli (Universal Intellect)

Dhat (the Divine Essence)

The Manifest Absolute; God in His relation to all things (or God-hood); sometimes referred to as Aql-i-Awwal (the First Intellect); see this Shi`a Tradition on the Intellect (Aql); some understand Aql-iKulli as a creature and not as part of the divine as such

God as He in is in Himself; utterly unknowable and unfathomable in any sense; the Mystery of Mysteries , Darkness; cf. Plotinus To Hen (the One)

The Universe

The Sufi Understanding of the Universe The universe, as a whole, seen as the locus of divine manifestation (mazhar) That is, the cosmos is itself a theophany in that it is an arena in which all of the divine names are given manifestation Each thing in the universe manifests one or more divine name, though in a diffuse sense The universe as a theatre for divine selfmanifestation
I was a Hidden Treasure and loved to be known. Therefore I created the Creation that I might be known

Macrocosm and Microcosm: the Universe and the Perfect Man (al-Insan al-Kamil)

Sufi Cosmology
Alam-i-Hahut (the Realm of He-ness); the realm of absolute divinity; unknowable divine essence; without form, quality or attribute (cf. Nirguna Brahman); realm of pre-existence Yaum al-Alast (see Quran 7:172) Alam-i-Lahut (the Realm of Divinity); the realm of divine consciousness; the final and outermost boundary of human knowledge (that which is knowable via revelation or unveiling, kashf) Alam-i-Jabarut (the Realm of Power), also known as the Alam-i-Arwah (the Realm of Spirits); the realm of individuation; the Grand Veil (Hijab-iKibria) forms its outermost limit Alam-i-Malakut (the Realm of Angelic Beings); the archetypal realm; also known as the Alam-i-Mithal (the World of Images, or Imaginal Realm); an intermediary realm between physical and divine planes of existence Alam-i-Nasut (the Realm of Human Beings); realm of the tangible, physical universe around us; also known as Alam-i-Ajsam (the World of Bodies)

The Oneness of Being

Wahdat al-Wujud Passage from Fusus, opening of the chapter on Adam (about the Real wanting to perceive Itself reflected) 35:15: this verse and others a starting point for reflection Ontological poverty We and our existences are nonexistent things You are Absolute Existence showing Yourself as evanescent All of us are lions, but lions on a banner We attack moment by moment because of the wind. Our wind and our being is Your gift, All of our existence is Your bestowal Masnavi 1.602-604 A small selection from the Gulshan-i Raz would be useful here too

The Oneness of Being

If you do not come to repent of your existence; Youll never approach the circle of gnostics and drunkards. Unless in others eyes you become an infidel, In the creed of lovers, youll never be Muslim Abu Sa`id ibn Abi al-Khayr, 11th century Gnostics: Arifun, Ma`rifa Drunkardswill look at these image in a couple of weeks time Infidel: Kafir, literally, ingrate Muslim: one who does Islam, one who submits True submission means going beyond other peoples opinion

The Human Being

Human Creation in the Quran

The origins of humanity are explored in several places in the Quran The most important for our present purposes: 7:172, 2:30-37, 7:11-17, 15:26-40 Pre-eternity: the Day of Am I Not? (Yaum al-Alast) Humanity as Vice-regents (khalifa) of God Matter and Spirit Adam and the Divine Names: Adam as Microcosm Angels & Jinn archetypes/potentialities of the human soul The Fall? I am better than he; You have created me out of fire: Iblis & Analogy

The Human Constitution: Body & Soul Outer and inner dimensions: primary division between body & soul The body (jism): made from clay, opposite of spirit (see 15:26) English term soul very imprecise in trying to understand Sufi ideas There are many terms which refer to the inner, animating power within the human being Nafs self, soul, personality, ego `Aql literally, to tie up, bind or restrain; the rational faculty

The Human Constitution: Body & Soul Qalb the heart (both physical and spiritual) Literally, that which turns; meeting point of physical, intellectual and spiritual bodies; see 26:89 Ruh spirit; from a root referring to wind or breath Blown into the human being by God (see 15:29); the divine spark Other terms are used, expanding on these basic ideas Khafi (the hidden) & Sirr (secret) the most subtle component of the spiritual body The innermost consciousness

Spiritual Evolution & the Stations of the Heart

The immediate aim of Sufi practice is to purify the self from attachments and desires (26:89) Generally speaking, Sufi tradition posits the existence of several layers of the nafs The Commanding Self (nafs al-ammarah bissu`) The Blaming Self (nafs al-lawwamah) The Tranquil Self (Nafs al-Mutmainnah) Each of these terms is derived from the Quran The Greater Struggle spiritual purification as the Jihad al-Akbar

The Greater Jihad A number of prophetic traditions have been understood to refer to spiritual purification Important Sufi proof texts: We have returned from the lesser jihad to the greater jihad The warrior is the one who struggles against his nafs for the sake of God Your worst enemy is your nafs that is between your two sides

The Soul that Commands Evil In Arabic, al-nafs al-ammara bi al-su` Term comes from verse 12:53 of the Quran, in the context of the story of Yusuf (Joseph) Indeed, the soul is a persistent enjoiner of evil, except those upon which my Lord has mercy Unregenerate self at the mercy of desires greed, lust, power existence itself The temptations of Iblis: 7:16-17, also 4:118-120 The Nafs according to Jalaluddin Rumi: The man of the nafs (waiting) in ambush from within me, is worse than all men in deceit and hatred (Masnavi 1.906)

The Soul that Commands Evil The mother of idols is the idol of your nafs, because that (outward) idol is (only) a snake and this idol is a dragon. O son, if you are searching for the form of the nafs, read the story of Hell with (its) seven gates [see Quran 15:44] (Masnavi 1.772, 779) This nafs is Hell, and Hell is a dragon that does not become less (fiery) by oceans (of water) (Masnavi 1.1375) Online Masnavi The Id of Freud?

The Self-blaming Soul

Known in Arabic as al-nafs al-lawwama The term itself comes from verse 75:2
And I swear by the reproaching soul

The soul has been trained somewhat and now reproaches itself for its obsessions Blame as a means of overcoming the nafs The Malamatiyyah: the spirituality of blame Arises in Khurasan, eastern Persia, during the mid-9th century Attainment of sincerity through deliberately hiding spiritual progress Antinomian Qalandar movement seems to emerge from this context Breaking of social customs: dress, ritual activity and for some, use of narcotics

The Tranquil Soul

Known in Arabic as al-nafs al-mutmainna Understood as the reference of Quran 89:27-30
[To the righteous it will be said], "O reassured soul, return to your Lord, well-pleased and pleasing [to Him], and enter among My servants, and enter My Paradise

See also 91:9-10; 87:10-19 The nafs has completed its training, and its desires and ego-drives have been eliminated/controlled It is this success that generates tranquillity Although the aim of Sufi practice is to reach this stage, it is generally held to be granted through divine grace That is, though effort is important, final success in spiritual discipline is a God-given gift

The Stations of the Heart

Spiritual Psychology
The Tradition of Gabriel moves from external actions to internal attitudes or states In other words, it forms the basis of a spiritual psychology Offers an understanding of the inward nature of a human being These ideas were greatly expanded and developed over the centuries Indeed, spiritual psychology is an important element in Sufi thought This next schema comes from 10th century Persia (by an important early Sufi al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi) It is not the only, or even the most important, one It does however give us a useful indication As you shall see, there are a number of quite conscious connections with the Tradition of Gabriel

Stations (Maqamat) of the Heart*

Abode of the Light of Islam (Nur al-Islam); Muslim; Knowledge of Shari`ah; the Self which exhorts to evil (al-nafs alammara)

Breast (Sadr) Heart (Qalb) Inner Heart (Fuad)

Abode of the Light of Faith (Nur al-Iman); Believer (Mumin); Inward Knowledge; the Inspired Self (alNafs al-Mulhamah)

Intellect (Lubb)

Abode of the Light of Gnosis (Nur alMa`arifah); Gnostic (`Arif); Vision (Ruyah); the Blaming Self (al-Nafs alLawwamah)
* According to Hakim al-Tirmidhi, early 10th century CE

Abode of the Light of Unificatio n (Nur alTawhid); Unitarian (Muwahhi d); Gods grace and bounty; the Tranquil Self (alNafs alMutmain nah)