Transcending Otherness: Overcoming Obstacles in the Mystical Journey in Shabestarī's Rose Garden of Mystery (original) (raw)
Related papers
A Journey in Search of "I": The Self in Shabistarī's Rose Garden of Mystery (Gulshan-i Rāz)
Ataturk University Press, 2023
Who or what is "I"? Does "I" refer to the soul, body, or something else? This paper aims to clarify the Iranian Sufi Maḥmūd Shabistarī's metaphysical account of the self in The Rose Garden of Mystery (Gulshan-i Rāz). Some of Shabistarī's commentators-for example, Lāhījī-argue that the "self is the determined Real" without offering a full account. This paper presents Shabistarī's self by examining Gulshan in the context of commentaries, secondary sources, and Islamic thought and by presenting opposing interpretations and reasons for the most prominent interpretations. In Gulshan, the self is neither the soul nor the body. It is the Real's determination, a face among the eternally manifesting, unrepeated faces of the Real. This paper argues that the self is the human's fixed entity (quiddity, ʿayn-i thābitah), whose aptitudes are perpetually unfolding; it is an eternal becoming of the Perfect Man. The self is not reified (i.e., it is of no definite content or form) or fully known; it changes every moment; it is the ever-changing "I" of the moment. Shabistarī's metaphysics helps the modern person realize that her self is divine; it teaches her that because the world-including humans, animals, and the environment-is God's manifestation, it deserves care.
Dar Al-Hikma, 2023
This paper examines the following three questions: (1) In The Rose Garden of Mystery (Golshan-e Rāz), how does the prominent 7-8th-century Iranian Sufi, Maḥmūd Shabistarī, distinguish the mystical “contemplation” and rational "re-flection” in pursuing divine knowledge? (2) Was Shabistarī an anti-rationalist (strict fideist)? (3) How does Shabistarī’s position fit into the ancient Greek, Neoplatonist, and medieval Islamic and Christian metaphysics? This paper examines Golshan-e Rāz in the context of Shabistarī’s other works, commentaries, secondary sources, and Islamic thought—Sufism and philosophy. Existing literature on Golshan-e Rāz primarily focuses on its literary aspects, neglecting its philosophical and mystical concepts. However, a thorough understanding requires examining these concepts in a broad context, which will inspire further research. The rationale behind this research is rooted in the religious obligation for believers to know God, with “thinking” as the means to acquire such knowledge. This is why the first question Herawī poses to Shabistarī pertains to the nature of thought—justifying this paper’s focus. Contemporary opposition to religion often stems from its perceived incongruity with the rational frameworks offered by positivism, materialism, or scientific inquiry. By differentiating between mystical and rational modes of thought that Shabistarī pre-sents, this study shows the contemporary person that intellectual inquiry extends beyond rationalism and encompasses mysticism. Consequently, rational and mystical perspectives should be pursued in the quest for the divine. Furthermore, this study contends that Shabistarī should not be regarded as a strict fideist; instead, his criticism is directed toward the constraints inherent in rational thinking.
Brill Journal of Sufi Studies, 2020
This article explains three major Sufi themes of Maḥmūd Shabistarī's Gulshan-i rāz as connected by the point-circle metaphor that captures the illusory state of a circle formed by the fast motion of a point. Inspired by Ibn ʿArabī, Shabistarī employs this metaphor in his poetic presentation of the unity of being, the existential state of the human soul, and the bifurcation of religious knowledge and practice into exoteric and esoteric with its implications for the relation between prophethood and sainthood. The article explains these themes mostly in light of Shams al-Dīn Lāhījī's renowned commentary, Mafātīḥ al-iʿjāz. The analysis of some key verses on the above themes in Shabistarī's Gulshan-i rāz and the corresponding comments from Lāhījī demonstrates the significance of Akbarian Sufi philosophy in the intellectual and literary life of Persians since the late medieval times.
Unveiling the Divine: Encountering the Face of Allah in Sufi Mysticism
This thesis describes the mystical experience in Islam where the Muslim mystic (Sufi) encounters the Face of God (Wajh Allah) through spiritual practices and beliefs. In the process of researching and writing this thesis, the author conducted a literature search using various sources on interpreting the subject from the mystical, fundamentalist, and rationalist perspectives. This thesis is slated to be a reference and resource for those seeking to understand the mystical side of Islam, which is often misunderstood to be outside the fold of the faith and an innovation that does not originate within Islam itself.
2003
Attraction to the invisible world is in man's primordial nature 2. The Straight Path means a combination of exoterism and esoterism 3. The Holy Qur‹ān calls for purification along with intellection 4. Mullā Ó Sadrā's recommendation for humility of the heart and acquiring intellectual sciences 5. The chain of gnostics during the last hundred years 6. Reasons and motivations for compilation of this treatise ⁄ 7. The human being in the darkness of materialism 8. Wayfaring and spiritual journey according to the gnostics 9. Difficulties in passing through the intermediate world and the realm of multiplicity of the soul vii 10. The spiritual traveler entering the realm of spirit 11. The goal of the traveler is companionship with God and His Image 12. Murāqabah, its stages, and effects 13. The meaning of wine (mey) according to gnostics 14. The traveler observes his own soul 15. The traveler observes Divine Names and Attributes 16. Immersion in the Divine Essence of the Lord and subsistence in the Worshiped 17. The station of being present in the world of multiplicity while simultaneously witnessing and experiencing the realms of Divine Lordship 18. Reasons why not everyone can reach the station of human perfection 19. The inability of words to describe the realities of the lights of catharsis and the Realms of Divine Lordship 20. The world of sincerity (khulūÓ s) and its hierarchy 21. Peculiarities and manifestations of sincerity of essence (khulūÓ s-i dhātī) 22. Freedom from the world of multiplicity is one of the first and most essential necessities of spiritual journey 23. One's detachment from one's essence 24. The need for Divine Grace for total victory in the struggle against the carnal soul 25. The necessity of observing all religious duties throughout spiritual journey 26. Observing religious duties by the Perfect Man is by virtue of perfection, and not for finding proximity to God 27. Brief description of the realms preceding the realm of sincerity (khulūÓ s) according to Qur‹ān viii Contents K H U LŪÓ S ⁄ 28. The Greater Islām (Islām-i Akbar) 29. The Greater Faith (Īmān-i Akbar) 30. The Greater Migration (Hijrat-i Kubrā) 31. The Greater Spiritual Struggle (Jihād-i Akbar) 32. The Greatest Submission (Islām-i a⁄aÔ zam) 33. The Greatest Faith (Īmān-i a⁄aÔ zam) 34. The Greatest Migration (Hijrāt-i ⁄uÔ zmā) and the Greatest Spiritual Struggle (Jihād-i a⁄aÔ zam) 35. Choosing to Die 36. Explanation: Special privileges granted to Muslim spiritual travelers over travelers of of previous religions 37. The Station of Righteousness (Ò SulūÓ h) 38. Different kinds of righteousness (Ò SalāÓ h) ⁄ 39. The necessity to seek reason to prove the truth of religion 40. The effects of lamentation and pleading to God with humility to find faith in the World of Meaning 41. Conversation between the prophet Ò HaÓ drat-i Idrīs with ⁄Allāmah Ò TabāÓ tabā‹ī in a dream 42. God will guide those who search guidance from Him with sincerity and purity of heart Contents ix 43. Knowledge and action complement each other 44. The necessity of having bodily organs share the joy of faith 45. The absence of sadness and fear for the selfless traveler 46. Wayfaring in the Angelical Kingdom is not in contradiction with being in this world 47. Prayers and supplications of the Shī⁄ite Imāms were not merely for guiding and teaching purposes
2003
Attraction to the invisible world is in man's primordial nature 2. The Straight Path means a combination of exoterism and esoterism 3. The Holy Qur‹ān calls for purification along with intellection 4. Mullā Ó Sadrā's recommendation for humility of the heart and acquiring intellectual sciences 5. The chain of gnostics during the last hundred years 6. Reasons and motivations for compilation of this treatise ⁄ 7. The human being in the darkness of materialism 8. Wayfaring and spiritual journey according to the gnostics 9. Difficulties in passing through the intermediate world and the realm of multiplicity of the soul vii 10. The spiritual traveler entering the realm of spirit 11. The goal of the traveler is companionship with God and His Image 12. Murāqabah, its stages, and effects 13. The meaning of wine (mey) according to gnostics 14. The traveler observes his own soul 15. The traveler observes Divine Names and Attributes 16. Immersion in the Divine Essence of the Lord and subsistence in the Worshiped 17. The station of being present in the world of multiplicity while simultaneously witnessing and experiencing the realms of Divine Lordship 18. Reasons why not everyone can reach the station of human perfection 19. The inability of words to describe the realities of the lights of catharsis and the Realms of Divine Lordship 20. The world of sincerity (khulūÓ s) and its hierarchy 21. Peculiarities and manifestations of sincerity of essence (khulūÓ s-i dhātī) 22. Freedom from the world of multiplicity is one of the first and most essential necessities of spiritual journey 23. One's detachment from one's essence 24. The need for Divine Grace for total victory in the struggle against the carnal soul 25. The necessity of observing all religious duties throughout spiritual journey 26. Observing religious duties by the Perfect Man is by virtue of perfection, and not for finding proximity to God 27. Brief description of the realms preceding the realm of sincerity (khulūÓ s) according to Qur‹ān viii Contents K H U LŪÓ S ⁄ 28. The Greater Islām (Islām-i Akbar) 29. The Greater Faith (Īmān-i Akbar) 30. The Greater Migration (Hijrat-i Kubrā) 31. The Greater Spiritual Struggle (Jihād-i Akbar) 32. The Greatest Submission (Islām-i a⁄aÔ zam) 33. The Greatest Faith (Īmān-i a⁄aÔ zam) 34. The Greatest Migration (Hijrāt-i ⁄uÔ zmā) and the Greatest Spiritual Struggle (Jihād-i a⁄aÔ zam) 35. Choosing to Die 36. Explanation: Special privileges granted to Muslim spiritual travelers over travelers of of previous religions 37. The Station of Righteousness (Ò SulūÓ h) 38. Different kinds of righteousness (Ò SalāÓ h) ⁄ 39. The necessity to seek reason to prove the truth of religion 40. The effects of lamentation and pleading to God with humility to find faith in the World of Meaning 41. Conversation between the prophet Ò HaÓ drat-i Idrīs with ⁄Allāmah Ò TabāÓ tabā‹ī in a dream 42. God will guide those who search guidance from Him with sincerity and purity of heart Contents ix 43. Knowledge and action complement each other 44. The necessity of having bodily organs share the joy of faith 45. The absence of sadness and fear for the selfless traveler 46. Wayfaring in the Angelical Kingdom is not in contradiction with being in this world 47. Prayers and supplications of the Shī⁄ite Imāms were not merely for guiding and teaching purposes
This issue investigates the ways in which the Sufi repertoire of heuristic categories of intellectual and spiritual maturation (e.g. batin, spiritual growth, intuitional knowledge and inner awareness) may converge, intersect, and also diverge from modern epistemologies of the inner self. In doing so, the contributions touch upon two questions in particular. On the one hand, they discuss the relation between selfhood and the transcendent, describing not only how the self is built but also how it is somehow unbuilt in the relationship with the divine: rather than defined through its ‘inner’ boundaries, the self is seen as emerging continuously on the background of a wider horizon of existence, that is, the transcendent dimension of life. On the other hand, the authors highlight the overlaps between notions belonging to the Islamic tradition and modern discourses on interiority, tracing out the specific social and micro-political issues that lie behind this entanglement through key experiential notions such as dhawq, love, imagination, dreams and visions. In such a way, the papers tell about the strive of translating transcendence into new forms of sociality which may subvert, substitute or be alternative to institutionalised, established mundane and also religious forms of interaction and inter-subjectivity.
Interiority Unbound: Sufi and Modern Articulations of the Self
Culture and Religion, 2017
This issue investigates the ways in which the Sufi repertoire of heuristic categories of intellectual and spiritual maturation (e.g. batin, spiritual growth, intuitional knowledge and inner awareness) may converge, intersect, and also diverge from modern epistemologies of the inner self. In doing so, the contributions touch upon two questions in particular. On the one hand, they discuss the relation between selfhood and the transcendent, describing not only how the self is built but also how it is somehow unbuilt in the relationship with the divine: rather than defined through its ‘inner’ boundaries, the self is seen as emerging continuously on the background of a wider horizon of existence, that is, the transcendent dimension of life. On the other hand, the authors highlight the overlaps between notions belonging to the Islamic tradition and modern discourses on interiority, tracing out the specific social and micro-political issues that lie behind this entanglement through key experiential notions such as dhawq, love, imagination, dreams and visions. In such a way, the papers tell about the strive of translating transcendence into new forms of sociality which may subvert, substitute or be alternative to institutionalised, established mundane and also religious forms of interaction and inter-subjectivity.
Ambiguous Sufi Lives, 2022
The people in this study share a longing, an aspiration, to draw closer to Allah, to be forgiven, to be more truly Allah’s, and to give themselves, their moments, their works, and their inner and outer lives back to Allah, the one who grants them every breath, every moment, and every heartbeat. But their lives with Allah are not always harmonious and often rather ambiguous, troubled, confusing and filled with contradiction and inner tension. They rarely manage to be the kind of dedicated, perfect practitioners and lovers of Allah that they long to be, and often fail to live up to the ideals and moral-spiritual goals of the tradition of Islamic self-refinement that they engage with. Besides being on the ṭarīqa, the Sufi path towards Allah, most of them are also regular people (sometimes extraordinary) with ups and downs, economic and work-related challenges, marriages and family relations that are not smooth, plans and dreams that fail, ambitions for self-assertion that remain unfulfilled, habits and character traits that they dislike, life experiences that they struggle to make sense of. The lived experience of these common life tensions constitutes the outset of this dissertation. It looks at how and by what means an individual subjectively appropriates the ideals of a spiritual tradition, how the moral-spiritual telos and the modes of agency of tradition are internalised and inscribed unto the body and the self, transforming it into what Gavin Flood has called the ascetic self of tradition, a common denominator of scriptural-cosmological ascetic- religious traditions