Heart’s Life with God: Al-Maʿrifa bi-llāh (Knowledge of God) in al-Qushayrī’s al-Risāla al-Qushayriyya (original) (raw)
Related papers
2020
The following article aims at analyzing various classifications of knowledge that are found in the literature of classical Islamic mysticism. The discussion focuses on two main corpora: Sufi writings, composed in the central and eastern parts of the Islamic world, and works by the Andalusī mystics or theosophists Ibn Masarra (d. 319/931), Ibn Barraǧān (d. 536/1141), Ibn Qasī (d. 546/1151), and Muḥyī l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240). The article examines the discrepancies between the Eastern-Sufi and Andalusī taxonomies of knowledge, in an attempt to highlight the typological differences between these two mystical traditions of classical Sunnī Islam.
Sûfî dünya görüşünü biricik kılan birçok yön arasında, nefsin tezkiyesi yoluyla elde edilen yakin ya da ilim, hayati bir önem taşımaktadır. Zira bu dünya perspektifinin kökleri vahye dayanmaktadır. Yöntemlerdeki farklılıklara rağmen tasavvuf düşüncesinin temsilcileri, bu deruni ilmin tabiatıyla alakalı görüş birliği içindedirler. Yöntemler ise onu talep edenlerin kapasitesiyle uyumlu olarak farklılık arz etmektedir. Bununla birlikte, sûfî dünya görüşünün sahihliği de saliklerin insan-ı kâmil'in hayatına benzer bir hayat sürmelerine imkân tanımaktadır. Sûfîler, bu deruni ilme erişmek için çeşitli perdeler ardında gizli olan hakikati anlama usullerini tarif eden nazari irfan üstatlarının görüşlerine müracaat etmektedirler. Bu üstatlardan biri de el-Mevâkıf ve'l-Muhatabât isimli eserin müellifi Muhammed b. Abdulcebbâr en-Nifferî'dir. Nifferî'nin Mevâkıf'ı, anlaşılması hayli güç bir dille yazılmış mevkıf ya da duraklardan oluşmaktadır. Nifferî ayrıca vakfe, hicâb, ma'rife, rü'yet gibi çok sayıda tasavvufi terimi mahirane bir biçimde ele almaktadır. Bu makalede, hakikate vasıl olmanın akılüstü bir vasıtası olarak rü'yet bağlamında 'perde' (hicâb) ve 'keşf'in mahiyeti üzerinde durulacaktır. Daha sonra hayal bağlamında rü'yetin rolü tespit edilmeye çalışılacaktır. Nihayetinde de 'rü'yet'in 'gaybet'le ilişkisi tespit edilmeye çalışılacaktır.
The Notion and Significance of Ma'rifa in Sufism
Journal of Islamic Studies, 2002
At the heart of the Sufi notion of ma[rifa there lies a paradox that is as fruitful in spiritual terms as it is unfathomable on the purely mental plane: on the one hand, it is described as the highest knowledge to which the individual has access; but on the other, the ultimate content of this knowledge so radically transcends the individual that it comes to be described in terms of 'ignorance'. In one respect, it is said to be a light that illumines and clarifies, but in another respect its very brilliance dazzles, blinds, and ultimately extinguishes the one designated as a 'knower' (al-[ā rif). 1 This luminous knowledge that demands 'unknowing' is also a mode of being that demands effacement; and it is the conjunction between perfect knowledge and pure being that defines the ultimate degree of ma[rifa. Since such a conjunction is only perfectly realized in the undifferentiated unity of the Absolute, it follows that it can only be through the Absolute that the individual can have access to this ultimate degree of ma[rifa, thus becoming designated not as al-[ā rif, tout court, but as al-[ā rif bi-Llā h: the knower through God. The individual is thus seen as participating in Divine knowledge rather than possessing it, the attribute of knowledge pertaining in fact to God and not himself. In this light, the definition of taṡ awwuf given by al-Junayd (d. 298/910) applies, a fortiori, to ma[rifa: 'Taṡ awwuf in essence is an attribute of God, but by image, it is an attribute of man.' 2 This essay comprises three sections. The first will examine the appearance, within Sufism, of the notion of ma[rifa as distinctly spiritual knowledge in contrast to [ilm as knowledge in the lower, 1 One can translate this key term either as 'gnostic' or as 'knower'; while 'gnosis' as the translation of ma[rifa has the advantage-so long as it is shorn of its association with the Christian heresy of Gnosticism-of suggesting spiritual as opposed to conventional knowledge, 'knowledge' has the advantage that it can also be used as a verb, which brings it closer to the root of ma[rifa, which is [arafa 'he knew'. 2 Al-Junayd: Life, Personality and Writings, ed. and trans. by A. H. Abdel-Kader (London: Luzac, 1962), 79.
Between Mysticism and Philosophical Rationality: Al-Ghazālī on the Reasons of the Heart
Comparative Philosophy: An International Journal of Constructive Engagement of Distinct Approaches toward World Philosophy
In his seminal Orientalism and Religion (1999), Richard King argues that Western scholars of religion have constructed a conceptual dichotomy between "mysticism" and "rationality" that has caused them to systematically distort the claims and arguments of Eastern thinkers. While King focuses primarily on Western scholarship on the Buddhist and Hindu traditions, this essay shows that his argument can also be extended to apply to Western scholarship on al-Ghazālī, whose sympathy for Sufism and apparent rejection of Greek philosophy has often earned him the reputation of being a champion of Islamic mysticism. I argue that al-Ghazālī transcends the dueling categories of 'rationality' and 'mysticism' that have been imposed on him by offering a conception of experiential knowledge that retains its roots in the 'mystical' Sufi tradition, even while also highlighting the rational merits of experientially-grounded modes of knowing. In particular, I argue that al-Ghazālī shows us how experiential knowledge is both important to providing motivation for rational action and also critical to underwriting persons' genuine understanding of the evaluative properties of that which is known.
Philosophical Sufism: An Introduction to the School of Ibn al-ʿArabī
Routledge, 2021
Analyzing the intersection between Sufism and philosophy, this volume is a sweeping examination of the mystical philosophy of Muḥyī-l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 637/1240), one of the most influential and original thinkers of the Islamic world. This book systematically covers Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ontology, theology, epistemology, teleology, spiritual anthropology and eschatology. While philosophy uses deductive reasoning to discover the fundamental nature of existence and Sufism relies on spiritual experience, it was not until the school of Ibn al-ʿArabī that philosophy and Sufism converged into a single framework by elaborating spiritual doctrines in precise philosophical language. Contextualizing the historical development of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s school, the work draws from the earliest commentators of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s oeuvre, Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī (d. 673/1274), ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. ca. 730/1330) and Dawūd al-Qayṣarī (d. 751/1350), but also draws from the medieval heirs of his doctrines Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī (d. 787/1385), the pivotal intellectual and mystical figure of Persia who recast philosophical Sufism within the framework of Twelver Shīʿism and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492), the key figure in the dissemination of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ideas in the Persianate world as well as the Ottoman Empire, India, China and East Asia via Central Asia. Lucidly written and comprehensive in scope, with careful treatments of the key authors, Philosophical Sufism is a highly accessible introductory text for students and researchers interested in Islam, philosophy, religion and the Middle East.
A Brief History of Early Sufism: Introduction to Qushayri's Risalah
The Risalah: Principles of Sufism (Great Books of the Islamic World), 2000
Traces the development of the sufi enterprise from the immediate post-Prophetic community to the rise of the Seljuks. It gives special attention to the life and work of `Abd al-Karim al-Qushayri, compiler of the most broadly popular and enduring of sufi manuals. It was first written as a Master's thesis at Columbia University in 1985, and then served as the introduction to the author's translation of Qushayri's Risalah, which was the first translation of that text into English, in 2000.