Wahm in Arabic and Its Cognates Author(s): D. B.

MacDonald Reviewed work(s): Source: Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, No. 4 (Oct., 1922), pp. 505-521 Published by: Cambridge University Press Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25209934 . Accessed: 05/05/2012 13:44
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JOURNAL ROYAL

OF THE SOCIETY

ASIATIC 1922
Part IV.?OCTOBER

Wahm

in Arabic
By D. B.

and

its Cognates

MACDONAL1)

T T may safely be said that every one who has had to do with technical Arabic has had difficulty with wahm and its Some recent investigations have led me to examine cognates. the meanings of these in detail and I endeavour in this paper to give my results. It will be understood that this is not a complete lexicographical handling of the whole root, but only an attempt to discover the more technical uses of some of I fear that its phases. In the arrangement of the material ; but the always avoided logical cross-division is complicated and will call for reading backward subject as well as forward. Also I make no attempt to trace the origin in Greek, psychological conceptions, whether or elsewhere, or to compare them with any parallel Syriac, few references in modern Such conceptions psychology. as I may make, of the one kind or the other, are simply to of these Arabic illumine wahm I. The itself. uses, which must be taken as a basis, can be learned best from the Sih?h and the Lis?n (xvi, pp. 130 f.), to his lexicon Lane's notes on this root in the supplement classical but have been slightly affected by (p.. 3061) are illuminating, and modern usage. In classical usage Stems I, II, medieval IV (both awhama and at-hama) and VIII occur, and there is
JRAS. OCTOBER 1922. M

I have

not

506

AVAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES

mind

: to err ; to occur to one's the folloAving range of meanings to think of something Avhile meaning else ; to imagine to be, to guess at, to conjecture to suspect (some one of ...) ; ; out to drop (something) (by error) ; to be completely of, tawahhama " sense to taivassama,

unmindful with

The Lis?n equates disregard. and tamathlhala, evidently in the tal?hayyala " to be, to guess at also Avith tafarrasa, ; imagine " and to in the sense tabayyana, evidently ". Zuhair's 1. 4

investigate Mu*allaqa, 1. 1) is quoted, and N?ldeke Mu'allaqa, (F?nf Mo'allaq?t, " ". ii, p. 15 ; iii, p. 14) renders these passages Avith vermuthen noun wahm that it is one of the move The Lis?n says of the ments (khatar?t) of the mind ; that the mind has a wahm Avhich imagines a thing to be such and such, Avhether the thing exists or not. Also la wahma min kadha = la budda, meaning, " there is no conceivable Avay out, real or unreal." apparently, or semi It is plain, then, that the root indicates sub-conscious of the mind, not under the control of conscious movements reason, and so liable to error and to sudden lapses of On another side, such awh?m may give rise to attention. founded or unfounded. In all cases the actuality suspicions, or possibility of error is strongly marked. It is unnecessary to enter upon the uses of wahm as an epithet for a road (clear, conscious Avell-broken), and a man (big, poAverful, whatever their origin, they have no connexion (poAverful) ; Avith a vieAV to future Avith the present subject. Finally, the equation is of tawahhama = takhayyala developments, In the Q?m?s too, Lane, Supplement, (see, importance. is reached ; and medieval p. 3061c), a common meaning plain), camel wahm, of two extremes betAveen Avhich one Avavers, is that Avhich is outAveighed in probability ; zann, on the other hand, is a preponderant certain opinion, although not absolutely 1925a ). (Lane, p. II. The sketched. Suppl?ment broad medieAral It is to be learned and modern usage may now be from Lane, Supplement ; and the lexicons of Ha va and Salmon? ; Dozy, ; opinion a

scrutinize, 'Antara's (cf.

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES or idea outweighed

507

in probability ; fancy ; con ; imagination to chimera ; fear and disquietude ; feint in jecture tending " to the fifth stem is very frequent in the sense ; wrestling " of empty, unreal imagination. adds Dozy imagine, fancy " stem from Bocthor, to be with the meaning the seventh adds the prepossessed, prejudiced ". Hava preoccupied, " to be scared, and tenth, with the meanings seventh Hava and Salmon? afraid both (of a child). perplexed, " wahm and instinct ". Ihn Khaldfm, Prolegomena, equate ed. Quatr. iii, 74, 1. 3 from below, ii, 77, 1. 2 from below ; " to arouse suspicion of some 79, 1. 5, uses the fourth stem a Horten p. 273) gives (Theologie des Islam, thing ". error series of usages from theological writers all suggesting in his ed. of Carlos Quir?s Rodr?guez, and improbability. Averroes' wahnii 1919, p. 307) (Madrid, gives Metaphysics " adds no mental ". He supuesto, hipot?tico, references, and I have not gone through his text to find them. of some uses III. I now turn to more detailed examination as

in his Ilj?m and logic. Al-Ghazz?l?, of xoahm in philosophy 11. 13 ff.) says that wahmx proofs are (ed. Cairo, 1303, -p. 56, " based upon conceded scholastic (musallama) (kal?mlya), believed because of their notoriety (ishtih?r) among positions the great 'Ulama, and because of the obloquy of denying them from entering upon con of natural and because shrinking " as to them." here, refers to the Scholastic," troversy the scholastic theologians who of the mutakallims, arguments wrere opposed by al-Ghazz?l? upheld the atomic scheme and in the Leyden (see article Kal?m This is made clear by al-Ghazz?l? of Islam). Encyclopedia an-nazar fi-l-mantiq in his Mihakk himself (Cairo, Adab?ya, as a Neoplatonic Aristotelian In it he divides propositions and judgments pp. 47 f?. n.d.). sense (muqaddim?t, qaddyd) the materials in the logical out, of which syllogisms are constructed, according to their origin " into seven classes, and certainty, axioms," (i) Awwally?t, " internal our sense ; (ii) Mush?had?t in exactly b?tina, Mahs?s?t thirst, fear, joy ; (iii) observations," e.g. hunger,

508 "

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES external

zafara, moon

e.g. milk is Avhite, the " is round ; (iv) Tajarrubiy?t, also experiments," " " our called Ittir?dal-'?d?t, of occurrence," regularity reign of laAv", e.g. fire burns, a stone falls in the direction of the " earth ; knoAvn by biUaw?tur, (v) Ma'l?m?t things sense-perceptions,"

unanimous

tradition," e.g. the acknoAvledged facts of history on the part of and geography ; (vi) Wahmvy?t, judgments " the wahm, see beloAv ; (vii) Mashh?r?t, Avidely spread and of conduct knoAvn," i.e. conventional (cf. ishtih?r principles above). This analysis,

in a treatise on logic, is evidently although and not logical ; it deals Avith the substance psychological and not Avith their form (s?ra). In (m?dda) of propositions with it will be found consequence nothing corresponding in such formal treatises on logic as that of Ab?-s-Salt of Denia Palencia (d. a.h. (Madrid, analysis (a.h. a Spanish translation by or that of Ibn Tumlfis of Alcira (Madrid, 1915), translation 620), edited Avith a Spanish by As?n But there does occur an even more detailed 1916). 460-529), edited with

of a similar kind, giving six classes of certain (yaqtnl) as an and six of uncertain propositions ((?hair yaqtnt), on logic of al-K?tib? al to the Ris?la Shams?ya appendix Qazw?n? (d. a.h. 675). an English translation This A\raspublished appendix I)iclio7tary of Technical Terms ; see in it pp. r V f. and 34 f. There is also an excellent Cairo edition of a.h. 1311, with the of ar-R?z? (d. a.h. 766) and the h?shiya on the commentary as an by Sprenger Avith to his invaluable

latter, of al-Jurj?n? (d. a.h. 816) ; see in it pp. 127 ff. Almost the same analysis into six and six is given in a short form in the of al-Abhar?; it Avas probably his source; it Ish?gh?ji back to theEt(ray(M)y>) of Porphyry. See the collection goes published pp. 377 f. I give these details the doctrine to Ghazz?l?. of Mut?n by the Ham?d?ya Press, Cairo, 1323,

in order to guard against any idea that AAras any Avay peculiar of wahm? propositions in Al-Abhar?, al-K?tib? and ar-Raz? are in essential

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES accord with

509

him. There is no h?shiya by al-Jurj?n? on the in his Ta'rlf?t but Jurj?n?'s definitions (ed. Cairo, passage, 175 f.) show that his doctrine was the same. To 1321, pp. of the above classes, he says, the are alike in the Wahmly?t, and the Mashh?r?t Awwally?t, and intuitive ; they are reached by no immediate being process of consideration are intuitions or reflection. of reason But and (axioms) ?aql), And they depend certainly true ; they are absolute yaqlniy?t. reason only ; if a man were to think away from himself upon but reason, the Axvwaliy?t would remain. The everything on the other hand, would drop away from him ; MaM?r?t, they are a product of environment, teaching, and training, and submission to them is often from a desire of peace and the need one's self to one's world. of adjusting They may thus or false ; but the firmness with which they are planted be true in the mind is no proof of their truth. For Muslim writers the is the prohibition of example of a false Mashh?ra of domestic animals (bahd'im) and of the eating the slaughter standard of from the the Mashh?r?t differ Further, in that they do not spring from the primary con Wahmly?t of mankind in the Leyden stitution (al-fitra ; see this causes. As the but from accidental of Islam) Encyclopedia difficult to have such an origin it is exceedingly Wahmly?t their flesh. and the truth between them and the Awwally?t, distinguish or falsity of each xvahml proposition can be discovered only the two classes it by means of reason. Sometimes by testing that coincide ; it is both a xvahml and an awwall proposition an individual cannot be in two places at the same time. But and false that an entity (mawj?d) it is a wahml proposition is always in space and in a direction so that we can point at it. So long as the wahm deals with objects of sense (mahs?s?t), as in the mechanical and arithmetical sciences, its judgments to man are true, for the wahm i? a corporeal power belonging are derived in his animal psyche (nafs) and perceives from objects of sense. But the particulars which the wahm tries to go the Awwally?t are therefore return to al-Ghazz?l??three

510 farther,

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES and deal with

sense as things that are not objects of are though they Avere objects of sense, and then its results false. The wtfs of man, that is his animal nafs, is very directly under the influence of sense and wahm and to such an extent that his nafs and often does not the Awwalty?t. betAveen the distinguish enter So the reason must

Wahmty?t and judge.

It AvilinoAV be plain, I think, that this wahm, thus acting in of the animal nafs of man, is really the instinctive perception in him, but Avhich he must the loAver animals Avhich continues control by reason and must especially prevent from meddling with super-sensible things and the Avorld of abstract universals Thus it belongs to man's primary constitution generally. but because only just to this primary of man it belongs constitution in distinguishing al-Ghazz?l? is very explicit as to the difficulty It has led to the betAveen its results and the AwwaXiy?t. Ave can never reach certainty, position of the sceptics that and that there must ahArays remain a balance or equality (tak?fuy) it can be trusted Avithin those limits. And

of proofs, one against another. But al-Ghazz?l? as to this very Ave might that doubt suggests apply " of dealing ",x As for wahm he gives tAvomethods equality is to apply wahm to itself, with it. One, a general method, Avhen it Avould have to deny itself, as it takes account only of concrete like thickness, colour ; or to amount, qualities as poAver, knoAvledge, confront it Avith such thought-qualities when it Avould picture each of them in concrete terms, Avili, do it wahm arise, wahm

could if it Avere obliged to combine these qualities only in terms of space. Thus the general Aveakness of To test the particular cases that may would be exposed. the only Avay is to use reason and turn one result of and against simply another. This method in an illustration

can be put most shortly and ar-R?z? gives. Wahm teaches AArhich
that of the basis of Ghazz?li's of scepticism the methods pragmatic to pure

position

1 It will be remembered was the application

metaphysics.

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES

511

fear of a dead body ; but it also teaches, in agreement with, that a dead body is only a jam?d, a piece of lifeless Thus and a jam?d is not to be feared. instinctive matter, reason, attitudes al-Ghazz?l? untested their mutakallims can neutralize considered wahml one another. that it is clear that Finally, use of made the mutakallims as the canon lawyers in just the Mashh?r?t. Thus the from

dialectic

propositions use of made a natural

shrinking (nafarat at-tab') that beyond the world there the saying of the Aristotelians was neither void nor plenum l? khal?* (laisa war?* al-'?lam This was, of wa-l? mal?y), and taught an infinity of space. course, because they were atomists i, 958 ff., (cf. Lucretious, considered it a but al-Ghazz?l? and Munro's commentary), wahm it. fallacy on their part and brings dialectic against be well to add here, with a view to the sequel, that It may and ar-R?zfs the Ris?la Shamslya thereon, with commentary and the TaWlf?t of Jurj?n? give a class of non the Is?ghuj? certain propositions which are called Mukhayyal?t. They are or a product of the imagination attractive (al-khaydl) ; by in the and comparisons they produce repulsive metaphors or disgust, and thus play upon it to stimulate nafs pleasure in a syllogism its desires and dislikes ; combined they make which is aided in its effect on the nafs by metre poetry (shi'r), and melody. takhayyala tawahhama. in It will the be remembered classical language that as the Lis?n a gives of synonym In logic and psychology they are quite different, but in rhetoric, as we shall see, they again come close to one come in oddly in a logical These Mukhayyal?t another. due to the there is evidently treatise ; but their presence " is liquid Wine of scholasticism. schematic tendency " or judgment in form at least, a proposition ; it rubies is,

had

must,

; poetry, therefore, be possible to use it in a syllogism who used Al-Ghazz?l?, therefore, can be called a syllogism. scholastic nv {hods, but was not ridden by them, recognized the pathetu ; but did not lacy of argument by metaphor therefore clarify poetry under syllogism.

512

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES it may be Avell to add that there is much more on this

Also,

in al-Ghazz?l?'s Mi'y?r al-'ilm of propositions (ed.% analysis to logical analysis Avhich is an introduction Cairo, 1329), The subject runs through and intended to explain his Tah?fut. the Avhole book ; but he deals especially on pp. 112 ff. with premises Avhich are not certain and which cannot be used for absolute (burh?n) ; on pp. 115 if., pp. 129 if. Avith proof ; and on pp. 131 ff., 136 and 142 f. Avithwahm. The wahmy?t is thus a very remarkable study in practical book It logic. 112 ff.) a classification of six kinds of propositions gives (pp. uncertain of great because value of the Ris?la of content, ; but Shams?ya Avhich seems to lie behind it is not scholastic of thought. that at all, and is The six of the

for the clarifying

Shams?ya are (i) Mashh?r?t (see above), (ii) Musallam?t (admissions for dialectic purposes, (iii)Maqb?l?t (beliefs on
faith or authority), (iv) Mazn?n?t (fallible opinions and (see above), (v) Mukhayyal?t (vi) Wahn?y?t. presumptions), Al-Ghazz?l? divides his six into tAvomain groups, three Avhich of canon laAv (fiqh), may be used in practical applications and three which lead only but not for absolute demonstration to confusion and error. The first three are (i), (iii), (iv), of the Shamsxya ; the second three are (vi) of the Shams?ya and erroneous side of (i), (ii), (iv), (v) of the with the AAreak and a class of absolute confusions and mistakes. Shams?ya, It Avili be noticed that he completely rejects the pure wahm, i.e. Avhen it is not backed by the reason, as a basis for even of canon laAv. the practical questions IV. But to make all this entirely plain it will be necessary to go into further psychological detail, and I have throAvn into the form of a comparative table, in chronological order, of the inner senses or poAvers (haw?ss b?tina, quiv? analyses as given by five b?tina) of the animal soul (nafs hayaw?nlya) authorities. These are (i) Ibn S?n? (d. a.h. 428), Hadiyat in ZDMG., xxix, pp. 335-418, ar-ra'is, ed. by S. Landauer see especially pp. 358 ff., and by EdAvard van Dyck, Cairo, a.h. 1325, pp. 51 ff. ; (ii) al-Ghazz?l? (d. a.h. 505), Maq?sid

individualities with on this ", ladder (d. for whether all or percepts, rises from partly (4) store mntakhayyifa *' animal a house a.h.80S) ph\Tsical (1) impressions the spiritual transmits See,further, matter. mounts per al-khay?l external al-wahm?ya instincts al-h??zay presents (He the(jism?n?) its (2) in these looks as upon to al-his$al-mu?htarak Then (3) (5) meditating. thinking, Life al-jlh\ stripped the of it nafs sense hlam, in 56 pp. If. examples (v) ceives(*hakhsly?t).qualities. ideas Ibnd?ivs ceptions connectedare of by which ascent an man it percept is, only as Khal human partly and per otherwise. All these JieJiffious Attitude and Khald?n faculties to mount up 3to and 4.

(r?h?n?).
2. to

means He the reasonable nafs the (nisha) two the terms sense" this and of proposition relationshipincludes not the simply uni versais, as be to form eighteenth of seems our a thing else these. which all by the WaJimJya, that, there and particular that which (e.g. one sense (d. S16) percepts of judges object ; animals, as that another has reappeared radical the as judgment.in a itself, he itself Evidentlyforming which the which, held. a same perfor philosophers particulars wasThis all ceives the and al-wahmlya gives thesays particularurges such instincts of ofthat but parsensethis sense thisal-Jurj?n? thing smaller "this sweet a.h. ceivingmaintains, philosophers al-Jurj?n? (3) ideas al-?j? objectis thing") is a thisbe fore, the must forming of(hnkm) power (iv) and ticularpower connected with it that is thought that per judgment some problem century of empiricism 756) (1) al-hiss al-mu*htarak. by the perceived "common are relationship al-mutakhayyila. (C>) a.h. (2) al-h?fiza. (4) al-khay?l.

William empiricism of James.

(5) al (1) al-hiss al-m\i*hta~ mutafahkira perceive you De by ness. Sacy transi, ideas 2 4 the and ifnot it does it is culled (4) butloahm?ya 6S2) (d. (iii) A.H. human You truthful preservespictures see Zaid, with thein ruh. also the ceives particularpercepts.his 4< " the Perceives those of nafs. the or in fear, i.e. l'instinct". deals by bining. but separating and reason com in called it mutafakkira is ; If so it doing, obeys ou memory or "uni nected opposed to ') with considers powers these as versal con as sense thethe products (2) (3) per (as ideas of(5) muia khayyila al-khay?l of sick al-ioahmlya "l'opinion al-Qazw?n? a?-h?fiza, mutakhayyila. hallucinations. ideas. these these. of

) (

(5) al man al onlyan but instrument called viousin model ; it (mithat) notof as sense a (2) the cU-miUasawurira percept, a to is memory the serves (4)prewhich got adh-dh?hira thinking. ment its sleepremembering in of reason instru pre these and not invent 'commoncept ' is of andby the (d. animals another ideas pictures pictures doesa reason means that is is eye, perception 3gains, not in lower serves thethe man. but in plays Theby process inthe on a really khayyila This (3) perpersomethingwolf. partby the searches 2 separates is i'aqf), thisis ceives justpre as reason, goes not (ii) a.h. term muta which 505) theThis of reason in sense - ideas while al-icahm?ya wolf and 2 and in and 4, mutakhayyila without mufakkira, the the association of ideas. out combines anything cU-hisscd-musktarak. in enmity sense ".

power.

1. by

(2)

al az-zdnna When 2al-mntakhay 32, is alone called uses itis?ut. vais case of koiv}\. not 2calledof isal the (tl-qnwira only but gained believes tions in a and mentsthem. (4) percepSo from gains al-h?fiza sense sheep al <a<rdr?(ris senses nob or cU-mutasawicira,from Does al-nuUatvahhima instinctive or "commonseparates thesense*' and external (1) Ibn al-hiss Aristotle,images 428) ; reasonuses necess in (al'aql, the but animals, as (i) (d. al-mu*hlarak combines false. (3) instinctively fearor mutadhahlcira yila an-ml of wolf. preserveslower whentiqa) a in This 2, as is man, in a.h. others, also unreal and judg derives ideas and muta/akkira. mnt?khayyila believe in arily them. al-qntrtm S?n? ideas. these

514

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES 284

ff. ; (iii) al-Qazw?n? ed. W?stenfeld, pp. 358 f., cf. De Sacy in Chrest. ar., iii, p. 488 ; (iv) al-?j? (d. a.h. 75G), ed. B?l?q, (d. a.h. 1266, with comm. of al-Jurj?n? Maw?qif, (d. a.h. 808), Prolegomena, 816), pp. 433 ff. ; (v) Ibn Khald?n 175 ft., transi. De Slane, i, pp. 199 ft., ed. Quatrem?re, i, pp. cf. the present writer's Religious Attitude and Life in Islam, ed. Cairo, 1331, pp. al-fal?sifa, A.H. 682). 'Aj?'ib al-maUd?q?t, (d. pp. 56 ff. Elsewhere Ibn S?n? divides between " " common sense the then, are five : (i) the hiss called also al-khay?l ; (iii) the ; (v) the (iv) the wahmlya

His and its memory. quw?, mushtarak the musaivwira, ; (ii) or ; mxitaldkaijyila mufakkira i.e. (?xivraata. He calls, also, (i) bant?siy?, hdfiza (?hdkira. of ed. Cureton, pp. 416 f., ed. on margin See Shahrast?n?, 196 f., transi. Haarbriicker, Ibn Ilazm, Cairo, 1320, iii, pp. note on p. 403 in his article cited pp. 314 f. and Landauer's
above.

V. It may now, perhaps, be simplest to take the application Guide de la of xvahm in Magic. Dozy quotes from Humbert, = is This conversation arabe, p. 33, xvahm ombre, spectre. modern Arabic, Algerian " medieval Vocabulista ", but Dozy quotes also from the Arabic of the east of Spain, the in the with min and fl, first and fifth stems, constructed " as Dozy in prestigiis ". Combining mirari this, meaning " miratores article with Ducange's ", I have no suggested, or doubt that the reference is to some form of crystal-gazing as described Egyptians, by Lane, Modern . . . so I conjecture that tawahhama min . . ?. chap, xii, and " self from a to one's meant to conjure up an appearance certain ritual in regard to a question submitted ". But in the the ink mirror art, in Ibn Khalddn's 191 ff., transi. De Slane, i, i, pp. (ed. Quatr. Prolegomena 218 ff., my Religious Attitude, pp. 93 ff.), this term is pp. not used except Quatr. p. 196,1. 9, where it may mean simply " imagine falsely ", There is also a use of xvahm and tawahhum, in the sense of locus classicus, for Arabic, this on

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES instinctive, Avith this. iii, 132; automatic Ibn De connects Avhich evidently in his Prolegomena

515

panic

closely (Quatr.

Khald?n,

iii, 182; Religious Slane, Attitude, p. 116), force producing his theory of magic as a psychical effects ; an influence, that is, of the nafs ins?niya. physical He shoAA'sby the direct influence Avhich the psyche exerts on develops its OAvn body, that it can exercise such a poAver apart from causes. natural and physical Thus joy produces physical Avarmth. But, still more, the forming a picture to one's self in the nafs of something (tasawwura nafs?nrya) may cause an instinctive, automatic panic (wahm and tawahhum), as in the case of one AArho Avalles on the top of a AArall.His feet do not need more room than Avhen he Avalks on the ground, but on the Avail he is sure to fall, unless this tendency to panic is overcome by practice. This sIioavs that it is an affection of the The theory rtafs Avhich can, and should, ah\rays be disciplined. a.h. 548), two centuries and a and position of Shahrast?n? (d. ed. Cureton, half earlier, had been the same (Milal wan-nihal, iii, p. 243) ; this 0Arer p. 448, ed. on margin of Ibn Ilazm, fear he, too, calls wahm. Further, he, poAA'ering, instinctive is dealing with magic, in this case the magic of Indian too, " ascetics, and he calls them people of wahm and meditation l/?tr)."1 Ibn Khaldun the magical by an augur does not seem, as I have said, to use wahm " poAArer ; but he does use filer of the meditation of "

on birds or animals before giving his decision 195 ; De Slane, i, p. 222). Al-B?r?in? (d. 440), in (Quatr. i, p. and the same phenomena his India (chap, vii) discusses and at greater in a more abstract methods length and isfikr, (Paris ed. ii, pp. 266 f.), in (d. 345), in his Muriij Avith Alexander in India and a magical cup AA'hich dealing he found there, speaks of a science of tawahhum AA'hich the Indian
1

philosophical " meditation

manner "

essential the Avord for ; his But and I do not think he uses wahm.

Mas'ud?

sages

asserted
M. H.

that

they possessed.
drew my attention

Still
to this

earlier Ibn
passage.

Professor

Ananikian

516

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES

Khurdfidhbih (wrote betw. 230 and 234) gave, in hisMas?lik

that (Bibl. Geogr. Arab, vi, pp. vi f.) a statement the people of India asserted that they possessed al-wahm wal-fikr and so could loose and bind, hurt and help, produce " " we now call which appearances (takh?yil), puzzling " visual hallucinations ", keep off rain and hail and make do by spells whatever innocuous ; generally poison they wal-mam?lih wished. by 400) the second Fann to magic in the broadest of the fourth Maq?la " sense. In it we are told (p. 309,1. 12) the Indians especially the science of tawahhum ; they have books on it, possess some of which have been translated into Arabic." On p. 312, (completed is devoted 11.24 f., a certain Indian ismentioned whose name in the MSS. " is illegible, and it is said : He was of the ancients and his method in enchantments (nlranj?t, a very broad word) was In the Fihrist

that of the Indians ; there is a book by him in which he

follows the course of the people of tawahhum." Finally, Ibn Batuta details of wonders he had seen in (d. 779) gives India and China. He is a good witness as to facts just because of detailed of his Pepys-like however truthfulness, quality the story might bear upon himself ; but it is also to be remembered of saints that he had a great liking for miracles even of the most He was character. (kar?m?t), insignificant at any time. So he had prepared to meet the supernatural calls Juklxja and with Yogis, whom he several adventures whom, because of their wonders, he feels compelled to regard as crypto-Muslims (Paris ed., vol. iv, pp. 72 and 277 ff.). On the second of these two occasions he is told a story about for him a Muslim Shaykh, which is a the yogi in question, like that told by Lane suggestion straight case of hypnotic at the end of note 15 to chapter i of his Arabian Nights. : A phrase used by the narrator is worth notice in this context " U yannl, then there was made to appear to me fa-khuyyila " But Ibn Batuta that I . . . ; compare tal?h?yll above. had no theory about all this ; it was only part of the constant supernatural with which life, for him, was surrounded. So

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS. COGNATES Avhen he uses

517

into the air, squatting Ibn Batt?ta falls fainting (mutarabbi'). cross-legged of the heart (khafaq?n al-qalb). wahm and palpitation

of instinctive, a it is AArhen yogi

the Avord wahm, as he does at least twice, it is On one occasion (iv, pp. 38 f.) automatic panic. raises himself there Avith The

same palpitation of the heart is produced by a juggler (musha in China (iv, pp. 290 ff.), avIio performs the rope trick, 'widh) but on that occasion he does not speak of wahm, perhaps by accident. His other use of wahm is for the fear at doAvn a deep cliff in climbing Adam's Peak in Ceylon this is like the illustration given by Ibn Khald?n. looking (?Ar,180) ;

In all this the interesting point is the association of wahm, on the one hand} Avith automatic instinct and, on the other, Avith intentional meditation Avifch (fikr) ; the animal connecting from the psychological It Avili be remembered, the rational. searches out tables given above, that the quwwa mittakhayyila contributed and Avorks Avith the memory pictures by the " " common sense and the ideas draAvn by the quwwa wahmlya. But Avhen this goes on in the mind of a man and not of an animal?-that n?tiqa)?this mutafakkira, mutaf?hayyila, appearances." and rational non-creative is, is under the rule of reason ('aql, quwwa or the quwwa mufakkira poAver is called " not the quwwa the meditative poAver," " for itself that the power produces is both an animal So, as man (hayaw?n) (n?tiq), both wahm, simply reproductiA'-e and and fikr, intentional meditation, " " may often be used imagination if Ave are careful to exclude the

imagination, are at Avork in him. Thus

as a rendering of wahm, use of that Avord. Coleridgean VI.

I draw upon TJ?3 leads naturally to wahm inRhetoric. et Prosodie de de Tassy's des Langues Garcin Rh?torique ii ed., 1873 ; A. F. Mehren's Die Rhetorik VOrient musulman, der Araber, und Rhetorik careful 1853 ; Friedrich der Perser, use of the native Poetik Grammatik, Avhich are all based on very 1874, manuals and render it unnecessary The first use is an ordinary development R?ckert's

to go back to these.

518 of

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES

of wahm as a deceptive the meaning illusion. 'Iham " means to produce a deceptive it may be illusion/9 literally of contrast (tad?dd) or of relation (tan?sub). A word has two meanings, the word one common in such ; 'lham is, then, to use it in the rare sense (De Tassy, meaning pp. 81, 83, 85, 90, 112 ; Mehren gives four varieties and also 177; Riickert, tawhlm, pp. 279-85). pp. 99, 101, 105-7, " (Suppl., ii, 846a), 'Ih?m?t, Compare, also, in Dozy writings which are said to exist ; but which do not exist in reality." The second use is a division khay?ll of a new senses and wahml. a manner and the other rare ; you are led up to the common that you expect

compound ; the picture it as a whole may never on the

of Comparison (tashblh) into A khay?ll comparison is the building up out of memory-pictures of objects of the is thus strictly sensuous (hissl), although have other never A wahml been a sense object. is mental hand, ((aqll) for its

comparison, even, have elements, The standard example

been perceived by the senses. of the first is to compare red anemones of rubies on lances of in the wind to flags made swaying ; and of the second, to compare sharp blue arrow chrysolite of gh?ls (De Tassy, pp. 9, 10, 11, 13, points to the dog-teeth 23 ; Mehren, pp. 20, 21, 58, 72). Riickert does not seem to have found authorities. to this in his Persian corresponding anything is plain in the The origin of this distinction

The khay?l is the memory tables given above. psychological the treasures of sense percepts, while which up pictures with the wahm connected preserves memory particular ideas which have never been sense percepts, but which have gained by an internal sense, the quxmva xmhmlya, from an attempt at stating a sense percepts. So this is apparently kind of sensuous imagination which yet does not use sense pictures and is ultra-rational. VII. In Mysticism there are at least two uses, one of which Ibn is quite clear, while the other is by no means clear. as we have seen, for the in his Prolegomena Khald?n gives, been ordinary meaning of xvahm, that it is one of the perceptions

AVAIIM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES

519

Cidr?k?l) ma'?rif), {yaqin), wahm.

kinds ('ul?m, leading to knoAvledge of different " '' are classified as Avhich perceptions certain " " " fallible opinion doubt," (zann), (shakk) and See further, and especially, Quatremere's text, iii,

p. 60,1. 4, from beloAv, p. 68,1. 8, p. 72,1. 2. From the context " to mean in these instinctive wahm cases, appears, as also tawahhum, p. 72,1. 8. But he explicitly ", perception to the from this general use a usage peculiar distinguishes These Sufis (aid al-wahda al-mutlaqa). absolutely pantheistic " use the term wahm and its plural awh?m in the sense of pure illusions" iii, p. 68, 1. 8 ; De Slane, iii, p. 97; (ed. Quatr. ed. Quatr. iii, p. 72, 1. 1), applying it to the objects of the senses and of reason, the real separate identities of Avhich they deny. (al-yhairiya) is exceedingly obscure because The other use in Mysticism it belongs, on one side, to those "fables and endless genealogies Avhich ", as St. Paul says, "minister and, on questions"; to the realities reached after by emotional another, religious and in Islam, The origin, both in Christendom experience. Avas the one and same Gnosticism. In Islam there had groAvn that lie Avas the up a doctrine of the Person of Muhammad, of all creatures, and that from him all other Avere produced. This is given in greatest detail?it cannot be said, in greatest the Ins?n al-k?mil of clarity?in al-J?l?, Avhich has been so admirably analysed by Dr. 11. A. in Islamic Mysticism, ii. in his Studies Nicholson chapter first created creatures I have not access to al-J?l?'s Arabic parts, for my present purpose, Technical Terms, pp. 1513 f. partly from Dr. Nicholson's text, but the essential are given in the Dictionary of I put together Avhat folloAvs from the is : Avhile

statement and partly The doctrine in the Dictionary. quotations given all created things from the Spirit God produced

(ruh) and certain He produced especially Light {nur) of Muhammad, The of Muhammad. faculties from certain (qiiiv?) beings and statement of these faculties is confused and contradictory in part Avith the psychological scheme given above. agrees only

520

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES It, in Muhammad, "the Perfect One," in turn Azrael, of Perfection

But the xvahm stands out amongst them. was created from Allah's name al-Kdmil, and from Muhammad's louhvi was

created

three things?the the Angel of -Death. These and Azrael Allah, the xvahm of Muhammad related.

are essentially of Allah ismanifested in The Light of the Perfection in "the garment of subjugation" existence in Muhammad, all the others, reason (qahr) ; the faculty al-wahm overcomes

(a^<a5/)?meditatio!l(a^^r);thepicturingpower(a^m^/i<?a^?;^?;^m), is the and the perceptive ; and Azrael power (al-mudrika) most powerful of the angels. That is shown in the fact that he was the only one of the angels who was able to wring from earth that portion of her which was needed to the unwilling that portion, so taken, was be formed into Adam. Further, " " soul God made the soul (ruh) of the earth, and from that the body (jasad) of Adam. Therefore, again, it falls to Azrael to draw forth from men their souls at death. Again, Allah has made the wahm the mirror of Himself is manifested and the place where His holiness ; there is than it ; it controls in the world swifter of perception nothing all existing things ; through it the world serves Allah ; in the Light of it He looked upon Adam ; through it he who walks on the water or flies in the air does those things ; it is the sure source of mastership and authority ; if anyone light and the dominates this Light and rules over it he can control all him existence, upper and lower ; but if the wahm dominates in perplexed it plays with him and he wanders obscurity

through its light.

A good deal more follows, in the Dictionary, quoted from al-J?l?, but some points of contact with the psychological Wahm in the scheme given above will have become plain. sense of instinctive and understanding appears perception here again. The whole world looks back to God through this in it. The lower animals power which He has implanted worship In man in their it rises this xvahm: for they, too, possess degree, and becomes meditation to consciousness ;

WAHM IN ARABIC AND ITS COGNATES man that in this if a man is " Nature's

521

seizes him?that him fall. when Here, he controls

priest ". Further, we have seen on some narrow edge and wahm is walking is, if he cannot control his xvahm?it makes conversely, through the strength of his xvahm,

This it, he can do these miraculous things. " comes very close to our concept of faith ", the power which puts an idea before one in such away that it becomes absolutely " certain and real, a primitive the substance of things fact, the evidence of things not seen." By faith ye shall hoped for, ; by faith Peter walked upon the water. ; it is a But, again, this wahm must be strictly controlled In that it is like the nafs, servant but a bad master. good the appetitive soul, which Allah has put into man and the of which Allah has imposed upon man. rule and discipline structure of man that in his It is part of the symmetrical created remove mountains

Allah

has made

Encyclopedia of Islam and my Religious Attitude, 228 ff. pp. some obscure contamination of That there has been
meanings between xvahm and 'ilh?m, seems to me almost

things the Leyden

lie hidden both his vices and his godly fear ; " " man his nafs with all these gulp down in it (Qur. xci, 7, 8 ; xcv, 5). On this see Ilh?m in nature

certain

'ilh?m

and

'?hdm

But their origins another. source of xvahm I have traced 9ilh?m is the Both

suggest especially, would were different. entirely above in I ; the source

one The of

a-nat; Xeyo^ievov in Qur. xci, " come together in created instinct ".

8, fa'alhamaha.

JRAS.

OCTOBKK 1922.

34