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Prophethood and Khilafa

The Sacred sources

Translation of Al Kahf and Al Hadeed into lifestyle


Translation of Hadith into lifestyle

Evolution from Islam to Ihsan

Origins (632-650)

Great discord of 642 leads to withdrawal


Abu Dhar Al Ghifari (d. 652)
People

Ikhwan Al Saffa
Hthaifa Ibn Al Yaman (d. 657)

Center moves from Medina to Baghdad

Strict Adherence to Sharia


Worship

Emphasis on Supergatory worship


Invocation

Character

Austirity
Humility

Ascetism (640-730)
Goal
People

Strive to experience divine proximity


Abu Al Hassan Al Basri (d.728)
Al Foudil Ibn Iyath (d. 730)

Still exist today

From mortification to
psychology

Path
Brotherhood
Invocation
Spiritual State

Chararteristics

Sufi Legacy

Structure: Master and disciple

Transition from Ascetism to Mysticism (750-810)


People

Enlightenment

The reference for East and West is the ME

Kobriyah
Nimatullahia

Dhu Al Nun Al Misri


Rabia Al Adawiyyah (d 801)

Analysis Of Origins And


Evolution Of Sufism

East

Charteristics

Mystical Psychology [1]


Mystical Sobreity [2]

Early Mysticism (810-910)


People

Al Muhassibi (857) [1]


Al Junayd (910) [2]

Naqshabandiyah

Popular Sufism (1400-Today)

Rifaiyyah
Shadilliyah

Mystical Language

Characteristics

Mysticism (750-1110)

West

Qadiriyyah

Fana: Annihilation
Ecstatic Utterances

Intoxicated Mysticism (850-910)


People

Al Hallaj
Ba Yazid Al Bastami (d. 875)

The rise of Mysticism away from


the heartland of Islam (Balkh
and Spain)

The rise of epistles and historical records [1]


Characteristics

Non-Devotional

Characteristics

Al Sarraj (988) [1]

Mystical Metaphysics [1]

Sufi Metaphysics, Prose And


Poetry (1200-1400)

Poetry [2]
Ibn Al Arabi (1200) [1]

The appearance of Sufi Manuals [2]


The formation of formal sufi schools in the main stream [3]

Systematization of Sufism (980-1110)

People

Fareed Al Din Attar, Rumi, Jami (1400) [2]

Origins and evolution of Sufism.mmap - 2/14/2006 - Mindjet Team

People

Al Qushayri (1072) [2]


Al Ghazali (1085) [3]

Islam (Submission:Free of defects)

Perfecting The Religious


Experience

Iman (Belief:Safe)
Ihsan Perfection)
Commanding Self
Conscious Self

Acting On The Spiritual Self

Wali & Sheikh: The spiritual guide:


Dhikr: The invocation and its various styles
Complementary not
contradictory or hierarchical

Khalwa: Isolation

Satisfied
Self

Miscellaneous

Sufism connects sincerity and tariqqah

Ilm:Knowledge

Kashf: Enlightenment, intuitive knowledge

Sharia: Islamic way of life, also used for Islamic law

Amal:Actions
Sidq:Sincerity

Zahir:Exoterism (Explicit Text)


Batin:Esoterism (Speculative Text,
Allegorical Meaning)

Exoterism Vs. Esoterism

The knowledge of Certainty


The eye of Certainty

The Purpose And


Content Of
Traditional Sufism

Triqqah: Path

Methodology
Knowing

The reality of certainty

Example of difference between


hearing about an event and
experiencing the event

Haqiqah: Rality

Purpose and Content of Traditional Sufism.mmap - 2/14/2006 - Mindjet Team

Perfecting The Religious


Experience

Unity Of Existence
Annihilation

Improving The Spiritual Self

The Doctrines Of Sufism


Wali: Spiritual Guide/sainthood

Kashf: Enlightenment

The doctrines of sufism.mmap - 3/4/2006 - Mindjet Team

The Context: (The Approaches To


Faith And Understanding)

Sufism

Emphasizes perception, maarifa leading


to direct knowledge of Self and God, and
uses the heart as its medium

Kalam

Emphasizes reason, ilm leading to


understanding of God, uses the Aaql as
its medium, and subjects reason to
revelation

Philosophy

Emphasizes reason, ilm leading to


understanding of God, uses the Aaql as
its medium

AL BAQARA

Al Junayd
Al Hallaj

Annihilation By Examples
Taqwa: Piety

The Goals Of The Spiritual Journey

Sobriety
Paradox and biwelderment

Intoxication

QAAF

The Consequence Of Annihilation


Abu Bakr (RAA): Incapacity to perceive is perception

Perplexity

Annihilation

Results from the negation in the first part


of the Shahada (fana)
And from the affirmation of the
subsistence in the second part of the
Shahada: (Baqa)
Be witness to the divine reality, and
eliminate the egocentric self

AL HADEED
Living the Shahada

Living the Tawheed

The Motivation For Annihilation

Start as a stone
Be shuttered by the divine light of the
divine reality you witness

Self transformation

Emerge restructed as a jewel

The Origins Of Annihilation


AL RAHMAN

Annihilation.mmap - 3/6/2006 - Mindjet Team

Born and Raised in Baghdad (died in 910 or 198 H)


His education focused on Fiqh and Hadith
He studied under the Jurist Abu Thawr:
An extraordinary jurist started as a
Hanafii, then followed the Shafi school
once al Imam Al Shafi came to Baghdad.
Abu Thawr was equally skilled in Fiqh and
Hadith
The strength of Al Junayd in classical
studies was Fiqh

Biography

Although he distinguished himself early


enough as a gifted mystic he refused to
teach as a sign of respect for his teacher
Sari As-Saqati
He also learned from AL Muhasibi and
considered him his spiritual master
He was a silk merchant by trade
Maintained a balanced life style: No
excessive material life and no extreme
austerity
He was also balanced in character

Baqa: Subsistence. This is the


prescription against pantheism
Sahw: . This is the prescription against
libertinism and antinomianism

Preventing Excess And Insuring


The Supremacy Of Sharia

Tawhid as opposed to Kalam


Esoteric Character

The Mystical School Of Baghdad


In The 10th Century

Fana: of natural qualities in one's motives


when one carries out religious duties. This
is moral and objective.

AL JUNAYD

Fana: of pursuit after pleasures to


eliminate intermediation with God. This is
mental and subjective.
Fana: of consciousness. This is where Al
Junayd restore the Baqa. When this stage
is attained the worshipper should recover
sobriety after intoxication

Separate and fix the Eternal Essence of


God and reject all others
Separate and fix the attributes of God and
disapprove all others

Suffered great persecutions for


accusations ranging from innovations and
questionable practices to heresy

Details Of Fana In Al Junayd's Theory

Unification (Tawheed): using his famous


definition=> "Unification is the separation
of that which has from that which was
originated in time"

Separate the actions of God and refute all others

Kitab Amthal Al Quran


Kitab Al Rasail

The Writings Of Al Junayd


Understand the relationship between God
the creator and the Human the created,
and the realization by the human of
his/her place before God: Surah Al Ahzab

"true" Tawheed can only achieved once


the created human loses his/her
individuality and asserts only the divine
presence

Al Junayd.mmap - 3/4/2006 - Mindjet Team

Mithaq: Covenant

Fana: Annihilation/Obliteration

The Doctrines Of Al Junayd

Other historians and biographers have


attributed to Al Junayd many more books

Born and Raised in Tur south-western


Iran (in 858 or 244 H)
His education focused on Fiqh
Although a Sunni he found himself in Shiite milieu
The strength of Al Hallaj was Hanbali Fiqh
Prior to his focus on sufism he was known at a preacher
Al Hallaj came under the influence of Al
Junayd and Amr Al Makki
He was a wool carder by trade
He was a social activists who denounced
injustice and became a voice for the weak
and the oppressed in Basra

Biography

Massignon and Mason (BU)


His inquisitors
His contemporaries
Later generations of Muslims
The ambivalence continues to this day

After his death his mutilated body was laid to rest in Karkh

Tawhid as opposed to Kalam

The Reactions To His Death

Esoteric Character

The Mystical School Of Baghdad


In The 10th Century

Suffered great persecutions for


accusations ranging from innovations and
questionable practices to heresy

AL HALLAJ

Diwan
The Martyrdom of al-Hallaj, Baghdad 17th
century Indian painting (Allahabad,
1017a) from Diwan, by Amir Najm-ad-din
Dihlavi (Walters Art Gallery, Baltimore)

Diwan Al Hallaj

Fana: Total and complete annihilation


leading to intoxication with sobriety

The Ta-Sin of the Circle

Fana For Al Hallaj's: Devotion And Martyrdom


Unification (Tawheed)
Fana: Annihilation/Obliteration

The Doctrines Of Al Hallaj

Example A

1. The first door represents


the one who reaches the circle
of Truth. The second door
represents the person who
reaches it, who after entering
it comes to a closed door. The
third door represents the one
who goes astray in the desert
of the Truth-Nature of the
truth.
2. He that enters the circle is
far from the Truth because the
way is blocked and the seeker
is sent back. The point on high
represents his yearning. The
lower point represents his
return to his point of
departure, and the middle
point is his bewilderment.

The Writings Of Al Hallaj

3. The inner circle does not


have a door, and the point
which is in the center is Truth.

Tawassin

4. The meaning of Truth is


that from which externals and
internals are not absent, and it
does not tolerate forms.

The Ta-Sin of the Point


1. Finer still than that is the
mention of the Primordial
Point, which is the Source, and
which does not grow or
decrease, nor consume itself.

Example B

2. The one who denies my


spiritual state denies it
because he does not see me,
and he calls me a heretic. He
charges me with evil, and
seeing my glory he calls for
help, and it is to the sacred
circle which is beyond the
beyond that he cries.
3. He who reaches the second
circle imagines me to be the
Inspired Master.
4. He who reaches the thrid
circle thinks that I am at the
bottom of all desires.
5. And he who reaches the
circle of Truth forgets me and
his attention is distracted from
me.

Al Hallaj.mmap - 3/5/2006 - Mindjet Team

568/1172
His family
Settles in
Seville

Place: Murcia, Spain

Dies 22 Rabi II 638/1240


Born 17Ramadan 560/1165
Cordoba falls to the Christians

568/1172
His family
Settles in
Seville

Composes The Diwan 634/1237


Learns The Quranic Sciences 578/1182

First Draft Of Al Futuhat 629/1231


First Vision: All Prophets 586/1190

Enters The Mystical Path 580/1184

Corresponds to the third crusade

Chronology Of Ibn Al
Arabi's Life
Writes Al Fusus 627/1229

Learns The Sciences 589/1193

Saint Francis goes to Egypt 1219


West

Mongols invade Persia 1220


Mongols take Kabul 1221

Settles Permanently In Syria 620/1223

Frederick the 2nd deports Muslims from Sicily 1223

East

Travels To Cairo, Jerusalem,


Hebron, Mecca, Taif And Medina
1202-1204

Ibn Al Arabi Chronology.mmap - 3/20/2006 - Mindjet Team

Travels To Tunisia, Morocco,


Algeria, Cordoba, Granada And
Goes Back To Seville 1194-1201

We experience the duality

Steady State/static

God is being

Existence/Non Existence

Everything else is non existence


Self-disclosure
The role of divine names

Dynamic

Ontology

New Creation

Infinite possibilities
Perpetual Renewal

To resolve ambiguity

Cosmic Imagination

Is access to nature of existence other than God


Intermediate rality

Isthmus

To separate between God and nothingness

Revelation

Law
Theology

Knowledge
Reason
Gnosticism

Epistemology
Reflection

Knowledge of incomparability accessible to reason

Ibn Al Arabi's
Thesis: Oneness Of
Being

Faith

Knowledge of similarity accessible to imagination


Natural
Intelligible

Rational interpretation

Faith and Rational Interpretation

Divine

Hermeneutics

Ontological: Existence
Cognitive: Knowledge

Knowing God's Self Disclosures

Unveiling through light

Understanding the scripture

Ibn Al Arabi Thesis.mmap - 3/16/2006 - Mindjet Team

Acquiring Knowledge

Unveiling
Following Authority

Ibn Al Arabi's life in the Muslim West is


characterized by learning and training, and
unveiling leading to the formation of a
Spiritual Master

Place: Murcia, Spain


Inspired by Andalusia
as a heavenly place

Homeland In The Iberian Peninsula

Roots back to Arab tribes claiming


generosity and mercy as good characters
Protected against temptation in his teens
Discovers his gifts at the age of 15
Enters the Mystical Path at the age of 20 (580H)

In 597 He Leaves For The Muslim East


Never To Return

Starts his travel and learns from Masters


in Andalusia and North Africa

His Calling From 575 To 580/1184

In Fez (Morocco) He Experience A "Miraj"


Like Experience In 594

In Seville becomes the disciple of his first


master Abu Al Abbas Al Uraybi
In addition to teachers and masters of this
world, he claims to have been trained by
Jesus and Khidr

Ibn Al Arabi In The West

Corresponds to the third crusade

Experiences a new dimension of


Cosmology (New Earth)
Spirits take on appearance
Bodies take on Spiritual Characters

His Life In North Africa In 589H


Cordoba: First Vision: All Prophets 586/1190

78 Scholars of Hadith

He Gets Selected

88 Scholars of Fiqh
126 Scholars of the Quran
Literature

His milieu in Spain included

Language and Grammar


Scholastic Theology

His Intellectual Upbringing

Philosophy
Religious disciplines
Literature

He trained extensively

Kalaam

Ibn Al Arabi's life in the West.mmap - 5/8/2006 - Mindjet Team

Seville uses extensive retreats to obtain


revelation: Sees some manifestation of
the Divine in 586H

Ibn Al Arabi's life in the Muslim East is


characterized by teaching, and writing the
experience of a Spiritual Master for future
generations

A land of turmoil with a brief reprieve


under the Ayyubid dynasty

New Found Land In The East

27 Rajab 583H Salah


Eddine takes down the
Cross from Masjid Al
Aqsa
22 Shaban 598 Salah Eddine signs a
peace treaty with Richard at Ramalah
Enters the Mystical Path at the age of 20 (580H)

Ibn Al Arabi Acquires The


Status Of Seal Of Sainthood

Similar to the hadith he interprets the


vision to mean it is a seal of Sainthood

Ibn Al Arabi In The East

638 He Departs To Meet His Maker


He trained extensively
Focuses on teaching and writing

620 He Makes Damascus His Home

Ibn Al Arabi's life in the East.mmap - 5/8/2006 - Mindjet Team

At The Age Of 40: Similar To The


Prophetic Experience Of
Revelation

The year is 600H


He sees the Prophet (SAWS) in a Vision
who asks him to share his gift

We experience the duality

Steady State/static

God is being

Existence/Non Existence

Everything else is non existence


Self-disclosure
The role of divine names

Dynamic

Ontology

New Creation

Infinite possibilities
Perpetual Renewal

To resolve ambiguity

Cosmic Imagination

Is access to nature of existence other than God


Intermediate rality

Isthmus

To separate between God and nothingness

Revelation

Law
Theology

Knowledge
Reason
Gnosticism

Epistemology
Reflection

Knowledge of incomparability accessible to reason

Ibn Al Arabi's
Thesis: Oneness Of
Being

Faith

Knowledge of similarity accessible to imagination


Natural
Intelligible

Rational interpretation

Faith and Rational Interpretation

Divine

Hermeneutics

Ontological: Existence
Cognitive: Knowledge

Knowing God's Self Disclosures

Unveiling through light

Understanding the scripture

Ibn Al Arabi Thesis.mmap - 3/16/2006 - Mindjet Team

Acquiring Knowledge

Unveiling
Following Authority

School of gnosis and behavior (suluk) vs. School of love (Mahaba)

Use of Sacred Text and Tradition and rejection of Kalam and Philosophy

Method
Knowledge acquired by rational consideration and based upon revelation (known as Al Ilm Al
Sharii) -> leads to the interpretation of the scared text with reason playing an important role
Empirical Knowledge (known as Ilm Al Ahwal) -> sweetness of honey or bitterness of
aloes -> leads to the appreciation of (Halawat Al Iman, "the sweetness of faith")

Epistemology

Gnosis (AL Maarifa) leads to Unveiling (Al Kashf) which in turn leads to Experiencing the divine reality (Al Haqq)

Gnosis (AL Maarifa) also known as the knowledge of mysteries. Reserved to do prophets,
messengers and saints.
Theology
Al Nur 39
He builds on acceptable ideas of his time: know the difference
between quiddity and existence (mahiya and wujud).
Ontology

Thesis

Page 135 of Alexander D. Knysh's book, called: Ibn


Arabi in the later Islamic tradition, 1999, Suny Press

Akbarian Work

Critique

Existent entities (a'yan mayjuda) come to be found only when Allah wills it
If things cannot exist as phenomena, which means they cannot be found, but they can still
have a quiddity and be manifest in Imagination (This will be important as we will see shortly)

Elements of the thesis

Relativism: each entity receiving the will differs from all others this leads to infinite and perpetual disclosures

Imagination or Vision (Al Khayal) leads to a tool of experiential Sufism to exist in dimensions outside the world surrounding
us. Connects many worlds theocosm, macrocosm and microcosm. Removes the temporal limitations of this world!

Imagination or vision (Al Khayal)

Formulation of the doctrine of Wilaya, its nature and function, its relation to prophetic inheritance. He also formalized a
typology. Review the work of Michael Chodkiewicz, titled: Seal of the saints, 1993, The Islamic texts society

Sainthood (Al Wilaya)


His rank and school in the legal tradition

Internal: From the Muslim Scholarship -> The main


points of the critique: 1) Innovation, 2) Falsehood,
3) Blasphemy, 4) Lack of scholarship, 5) Delusion
Chodkiewicz
Addas

Supporters

Michel Vaslan
Clement Huart: Fantaisie desordonnee
Arberry: Confused mental universe,
incoherent technical vocabulary
Rom Laudau: Contradictions and ambiguities
can lead the reader to depression

External: From the Non-Muslim


Scholarship -> The main points
of the critique: 1) Lack of rigor,
2) Highly imaginative, 3) Very
incoherent, 4) Very abstruse

Opponents

Massignon
Role of History of religions
Role of Anthropology

Methodology

Role of individual vs. institutional Sufism


Blind passion

My own

Intellectual chauvinism
Not crediting the power of Suluk and Maarifa
Not denouncing exaggerations around certain
suluki qualities such as reliance (Tawakul)

Oeuvre Akbarienne.mmap - 6/4/2006 -

Critiquing the critics

Corporal Asceticism
Mental Asceticism
Could he have been a mystic by
excellence primarily interested in he
reform of Sufism? Evidence suggests that
it is a viable option
Is it possible that he was not unanimously
celebrated as a reformer? Here too there
is evidence suggesting that the number of
voices opposed to him was significant
and he cannot be viewed as the renewer
of the millennium as much as Ibn AL
Arabi cannot be viewed as the seal of
saints!

Review Of Concepts Learned To Date

The rise of Institutional School of Asceticism


Islamic Mysticism

While Sirhindi was represented in the


literature as a political reformers with
unanimous support it is important to
consider alternatives

Born in Sirhind India IN 971 (H) or 1563 (CE)


Learned classical Islamic studies at the
hands of scholars

Conclusion

Enters the Mystical Path at under the


guidance of his father

Biography Of Ahmad Sirhindi

Becomes a member of Chishti order


At 28 he switches to the Naqshabandi order

South East Asia


Central Asia
Middle East
Africa

At 30 he becomes a scholar and a mystic

Ahmad Sirhindi

At 40 his start political, social and


religious reform

Sirhindi's Approach To Reform Becomes


The Basis Of Resistance To Colonialism In
Many Muslim Heartlands

963-1013 coincides with the reign of


Akbar the Mughol Emperor

Theoretic consciousness strives toward


and ideal unified picture of the universe,
from which a multiplicity can be deduced
In comparing theoretic consciousness
with the religious one we find that Ibn Al
Arabi's thesis bears the traits of the
theoretic and not the religious

Absolute power of Akbar


Has the support of the religious scholarship
The theoretical critique of Ibn Al Arabi's
unity of existence thesis

Sirhindi challenges the Kashf experience of Ibn Al Arabi


He brackets the experience of Ibn Al Arabi
as legitimate but did not reach the
intended objective

Akbar declared infallible


Challenges

Akbar rolls back the scriptural authority of the Quran

The Context In Which He Evolved

Deconstruction

Akbar excludes Islamic law from Public life

The critique of Ibn AL Arabi's thesis from


the experiential view point

Theological Movements of the time

He critique the imaginary framework of


Ibn Al Arabi as a construct leading to
unsustainable claims.

The mystical Movements

Sirhindi's Critique Of Ibn Al Arabi

Turns belief based on faith or reason to


direct experience
Can be thought of the spiritual experience
of the unity of existence and in fact
represents the lowest level of mystical
experience

Akbar gives concession to majority non


Muslims at the expence of Muslim

Heavy concentration of Fiqh at the


expense of other sciences
Valued scholars were coopted by the imperial court

Popular Sufism bordering shamanism


Loss of Islamic values and rules

Education
Wujudiyat: the metaphysics of existence

The mystic perceives a duality between


the existence of God and the world
The mystic cannot outgrow this stage

Reconciliation

The Reform Principles Adopted By Sirhindi

Sirhindi offers an alternative to the unity of


existence: He calls it the Tawhidi
experience

Wholistic Approach
Non Violence
Upbringing

Ziliyat: Shadows of reality

This is an intermediate stage and quite unstable


Highest stage of the mystical path

Personal Preparation
Abdiyat: Servitude

Mystical training
Political training

Bodies take on Spiritual Characters


Reestablished imperial Islam in India
Reestablished Sharia as the basis for law and values

Learned students
Network of disciples
Political Reform

Relinked Sufism with Sharia


Instead of driving Sufism away in fact his
era saw a larger adoption of spiritual
Islam
Formed the basis of the reestablishment
of the schools of Hadith

Mysticism

Good role models


Good geographical coverage over India
and neighboring countries

Details Of The Reform


Methodology

Laws and values

Writings

He deconstructed antinomianism and popular Sufism

Ahmad Sirhindi.mmap - 7/15/2006 - Mindjet Team

Training and scholarship

The Impact Of The Reform

Power base

Epistles
Private letters to people of influence
Build relationships with imperial court scholars
Build relationships with imperial court nobles

Leverage historical events


Theology

Use of political office

Exploited the succession from Akbar to Jahangor

Becomes appointed to run the office of


special council to Jahangir

Corporal Asceticism
Mental Asceticism

Introduction And Review Of Concepts To Date

The rise of Institutional School of Asceticism


Islamic Mysticism

Judaism and Christianity had a notable


presence in Persia pre-Islam
Eastern Christian Mysticism was well known
Buddhism flourished in Eastern Persia
Hinduism had a strong presence in the
Eastern posts close to India
Zoroastrianism was know in Khorasan
In 215 Mani attempted fusion of many
faiths Zoro. Buddhism. and Christianity.
Islam enters Persia in the 7th century

Origins

Persia had heard about Mohamed


(SAWS) before Islam arrived to Persia

By some accounts modern day Iran has a


vibrant and living Sufi tradition in its midst
today

Iranian Sufism

Maarifa and Hikmah continue to me solid


institutions and science diligently taught
and passed from one generation to the
other
Could we possibly witness the emergence
of a new dynamic between modern day
Iran as an Islamic Republic and the
reinterpretation of Sufism outside its
classical/medieval traditional setting?

The Sassanian Empire has diplomatic


relations with the Arabs before Islam

In Persia while Islam absorbed Greek


heritage and it did not do the same for
Zoroastrian heritage.
South West: Sufism displayed traits like
Puritan, orthodox, asceticism, explicit,
Kufa, Arabic

Sufism And Modernity

2 Traits of mystical Islam developed

North East: Mysticism showed traits like


Fusion, reconciliation, antinomianism,
esoteric, Balkh, Persian
The Safavid empire ruled over Persia
from 1501 to 1736

Could Iran set the path for a renewal of a


metaphysical outlook?

Abu Hamid Al Ghazali 1059-1111


Saad Eddine Hamuiyah 13th century

Same general elements of truth, ontology


and epistemology
Cross fertilization between both
communities and shared geographies
leading to similar views on many points

Nasr Eddine Al Tusi 13th century


Rajab Al Bursi came along one century later
Hayder Amoli the author of "Jaami al
Asrar" born in 1320

Similarities

The mystical communities face similar


challenges when confronting the orthodox
jurists

Sufi Schools And Their Masters

In comparing and contracting Sufi


experiences in Sunni and Shii Islam we
find striking similarity and distinct
differences

Diffusion and fusion with eastern tradition

The Nimatullahia originated with Sheikh


Nimatullah Wali Kirmani in 1432

The tradition in the Shia heartland started


much later than the Sunni world
The extraordinary sophistication of
Persian society led to a different
development lifecycle

The Nimatullahi Sufi order later on split into 4 branches


The Safavid period gave rise to scholars
such as: Mir Damad, Sadra Shirazi,
Mohsen Fayz, and Rajab Ali Jabrizi.

Differences

Conclusion And Notes

A particular emphasis was put on hikmah


and maarifa as the surviving concept of
the Persian mystical tradition

The scholars listed in the last bullet point


above developed a foundation leading to
the fusion of Shia Gnosis, which later
settled on the two names: Hikmah and
Irfan

Both in terms of masters and orders


Persian Sufism is fiercely independent of
Arab counterpart
The influence of Ibn Al Arabi although a
Sunni mystic was significant and had far
reaching impact

Points worth noting

Hayder Amoli On Sufism

Spiritual knowledge as distinct from ILM as knowledge


Maarifa acquires distinctiveness based on
perceptive qualities such as love,
asceticism and fear or piety

Maarifa In Shii Sufism

Nearly all Persian literature was


composed by Persians and Persian
speaking people

The theological framework of Tawhid


The ontological framework of Tawhid
Gradual evolution in learning from Naql to Aql to Kashf
Taaweel

The main thesis of Hayder Amoli "la tete


pensante" of shii Sufism takes the 7
elements of mystic traditions: its
objective, benefits, epistemology,
expression, organization, leadership and
esoterism and maps them to elements of
shii doctrine such as Hikmah, karamat,
Imama, Batin, and Takiyah
In effect he concludes that Sunni Sufism
adopted Shii imamology by riding it from
its terminology while maintaining its
essence

Maarifa or Hikma is defined in terms of an


ascending scale of 3 tiers

Maarifa in its final stage is defined as a


form of spiritual realization of the
metaphysical world as opposed to the
theological understanding of tawhid

Tafseer

The Safavids had a tight relationship with


the Nimatullahi order

It is rich in history, philosophy, theology and mysticism

Hayder Amoli introduced the following


items to cement the relationship between
Sufism and Shi'ism

He also defined a typology in the


Hermeneutics of the Quran

Tafheem

Although the prose style was available in


Persian literature such as "Siyasatnameh"
a treatise of governance by Nizam Al
Mulk in the 11th century

Sufism And Shi'ism

The real strength of Persian literature was poetry

Literature And Poetry

Persian poetry is generally situated in an


abstract idealized setting
Given that mysticism exalts the world to
come and shows pessimism to this
material world it found its vocation
amongst Persian poets: Firdousi,
Khayyam, Attar, Rumi, Saadi, Hafiz and
Djami from about 930 to 1490

Iranian Sufism.mmap - 9/28/2006 - Mindjet Team

Born in Balkh Khurasan 9/30/1207


Father Baha Eddine
Settled in Konia to flee the Mongols
Share the thinking about the limitations of
an analytical technic applied to study
Rumi and all of its shortcomings.

Baha Eddine appointed at the head of the


religious scholarship
With 10 more years of study in classical
Islam Rumi takes the position of his father

Explain that Love is not to explained it is


to be experienced

Introduction

Make the point using Kandansky's work:


Yellow, Red. Blue

At the age of 37 he meets Sham Tabriz


Rumi wrote prolifically
He trained a large number of disciples
Mathnawi
His written works are:

Diwan Shamsi Tabriz


Feehi Ma Feeh
IN line with the definition of Ihsan
(perfection) in he hadith
Builds on Asceticism, institutional
orthodox Tassawuf, metaphysical
mysticism a new path of "Love"
For Rumi Love is wisdom made up of
knowledge and sanctity

Conclusion
The Mystical Path In Rumi's View

Rumi & His Doctrine

Maarifa is synonymous with love for Rumi


Love for Rumi symbolizes the trust by
which the spiritual world expresses itself
Love for Rumi is knowledge based on
tradition and sharia
For Rumi invests the whole being with a
direct experience of the Real
Defining God and studying him starts with
the definition of the Tawhid and more
specifically the Shahada
The shahada in his view is a combination
of negation/affirmation or tanzih/tashbihj

Describing love is like describing art: Be


careful of the tools one uses

Theology In Rumi's View


Know Allah: He has a clear view of the
object of his search on the mystical path
(Al Haq: The Real), the way by wish to get
there (The mystical path) and the vehicle
to journey (one's self)

Leading to the idea that only reality in


existence is that of God
At the origin Adam was a Universal Man
with Universal knowledge

For Rumi man's knowledge of Allah is


conditional upon the deliverance of one's
self from limitations

Man is part of this world in which one


witnesses divine manifestations

Know yourself: For Rumi the ego or self is


a veil preventing man from knowing his
own true nature

To explain the need to recovery the true


nature and go back where we comes
from: Rumi discusses the fall of man and
ibliss from heaven

Know your heart: At the center of this


being we call man is the heart. For Rumi
is the direct link to the world of the spirit.
As such it is the center of knowledge and
love
Use Dhikr: Contemplation and
remembrance helps coalesce the
fragmentation of the world and strive
against the forgetfulness of the divine
Strive for Taqwa (spiritual virtue): This is a
state which Rumi defines as a point in
which your whole being becomes a mirror
reflecting God
Use Muraqaba (Be vigilant): Once you
attain a spiritual station of great value and
experience the gift of love strive to
maintain it

Rumi and his doctrine.mmap - 10/2/2006 - Mindjet Team

With Allah's name being Al Haq: The


shahada takes on a profound meaning
explaining the nature of God

The Nature Of Man In Rumi's View

Practicing The Path In Rumi's View

To Rumi the fall was the result of the


blinding of the eye of the heart
The remnant of that blinding is today's
forgetfulness of Allah
To Rumi the original function of man is to
be universal and act as a conduit of
Allah's grace

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