Mystical Tradition: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Table of Contents
Professor Biography ....................................................................................i
0] Course Scope 1
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Judaism1]
Lecture One A Way into the Mystic Ways of the West 4
Lecture Two Family Resemblances and Differences 9
Lecture Three The Biblical Roots of Western Mysticism 14
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Judaism2]
Lecture Four Mysticism in Early Judaism 18
Lecture Five Merkabah Mysticism 22
Lecture Six The Hasidim of Medieval Germany 26
Lecture Seven The Beginnings of Kabbalah 30
Lecture Eight Mature Kabbalah—Zohar 34
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Judaism3]
Lecture Nine Isaac Luria and Safed Spirituality 38
Lecture Ten Sabbatai Zevi and Messianic Mysticism 42
Lecture Eleven The Ba’al Shem Tov and the New Hasidism 46
Lecture Twelve Mysticism in Contemporary Judaism 50
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Christian4]
Lecture Thirteen Mystical Elements in the New Testament 54
Lecture Fourteen Gnostic Christianity 58
Lecture Fifteen The Spirituality of the Desert 62
Lecture Sixteen Shaping Christian Mysticism in the East 66
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Christian5]
Lecture Seventeen Eastern Monks and the Hesychastic Tradition 70
Lecture Eighteen The Mysticism of Western Monasticism 74
Lecture Nineteen Medieval Female Mystics 78
Lecture Twenty Mendicants as Mystics 82
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Christian6]
Lecture Twenty-One English Mystics of the 14th Century 86
Lecture Twenty-Two 15th- and 16th- Century Spanish Mystics 89
Lecture Twenty-Three Mysticism among Protestant Reformers 93
Lecture Twenty-Four Mystical Expressions in Protestantism 96
Lecture Twenty-Five 20th-Century Mystics 100
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Islam7]
Lecture Twenty-Six Muhammad the Prophet as Mystic................. 104
Lecture Twenty-Seven The House of Islam........................................ 108
Lecture Twenty-Eight The Mystical Sect—Shi’a.............................. 112
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Islam8]
Lecture Twenty-Nine The Appearance of Sufism............................. 116
Lecture Thirty Early Sufi Masters.......................................... 120
Lecture Thirty-One The Limits of Mysticism—Al-Ghazzali ........ 123
Lecture Thirty-Two Two Masters, Two Streams............................ 127
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Islam9]
Lecture Thirty-Three Sufism in 12th–14th Century North Africa...... 131
Lecture Thirty-Four Sufi Saints of Persia and India....................... 134
Lecture Thirty-Five The Continuing Sufi Tradition....................... 137
Lecture Thirty-Six Mysticism in the West Today ........................ 141
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Timeline ................................................................................................... 145
Glossary ................................................................................................... 154
Bibliography............................................................................................ 163
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Lecture Twenty-Nine The Appearance of Sufism
Scope: For a religion that, in its
exoteric form, is so anti-ascetical, the
emergence of Sufism (the
distinctive form of mysticism in the Islamic tradition) in the early 8th
century is something of a surprise, as is its remarkable success. This lecture
assesses various possible causes for this development, then sketches the Sufi
way of life as a path (tariqa) of knowledge, love, and prayer. The lecture
concludes with a general guide to the stations and states of the Sufi’s
progression toward Allah, as well as some of the tensions created by this
powerful form of mysticism within the House of Islam.
Outline
I.
The appearance and the
continued flourishing of Sufism as the dominant form of Islamic Mysticism is a
surprise to those who are unaware of the place it holds in the history of this
religious tradition.
A.
A Hadith of the Prophet
declares, “There are no monks in Islam,” and the Qur’an has a strong
anti-ascetical tendency: Marriage, property ownership, and political
involvement are all encouraged.
1.
The Shari’ah was developed
and organized by scholars (ulama) with little attention to the internal
response of the individual.
2.
The ulama, furthermore, was
closely attached to the political power of the caliphate, with a concern for
the Islamic state.
3.
Islam, in this framework,
is a religion of the will (obedience) and the mind but not necessarily of the
heart.
B.
Sufism offers a powerful
alternative way of being Muslim, both within and at the fringes of the
Shari’ah.
1.
It emphasizes the
individual’s response to Allah through mind, heart, and mystical experience.
2.
Politically, its system of
Sufi brotherhoods (orders) offers a place not totally defined by the theocratic
state.
C.
Sufism’s relation to
exoteric Islam has always been both emphatic and debated.
1.
The ulama has responded
variously to Sufism, with attempts to resist it, co-opt it, and reform it.
2.
In certain times and
places, Sufism has represented the dominant expression of Islam and one of its
powerful missionary impulses.
3.
Even internally, the
question arises of the degree to which Sufism is properly an expression of
Islam or a universal mystical religion.
II.
The origins of the movement
remain, to a large extent, obscure and disputed.
A.
Sufism is generally thought
to have arisen in Basra (in Iraq) in the 8th century, though some
manifestations could be earlier; internally, Sufis trace their origins either
to ‘Ali or to Abu Bakr.
B.
The etymology of the term
Sufi is debated even within the tradition: Does it come from suf (“wool,” referring to the garments
worn by Sufis); safa (“purity”); ashab (or ahl) al-suffa
(“companions/people of the
porch”), or sufiya (a transliteration
of the Greek sophia, meaning
“wisdom”)?
C.
Possible factors
contributing to the rise of Sufism include the following:
1.
Neoplatonic Greek
philosophy or Gnostic groups (Iraqi Mandeans), or Persian Dualism
(Manichaeism);
2.
Jewish mystics or Christian
dissident groups (the monks of East Syria);
3.
The rigidity of the
Shari’ah and the corruption of the caliphate during the Umayyad dynasty;
4.
The universal impulse
within all religions for a commitment to personal transformation.
III. Like Islam itself, the basic components of the Sufi way of life are
both simple and difficult.
A.
The Sufi is a traveler or
seeker who sets out to follow the path toward Allah.
1.
The goal is unity with that
which is most real (al-haqq), in
contrast with that which is illusory.
2.
In order to follow the
right path (tariqa) toward God, dedication and discipline are required.
B.
The Sufi Orders provide the
social framework for the seeker to move securely in the path.
1.
The role of the shaykh, a
spiritual leader with absolute authority over the disciple (murid), is
decisive; the zawiah is the place of
gathering.
2.
The communal structure of
the brotherhoods provides support to the seeker.
C.
The Sufi follows a
threefold path of knowledge, love, and prayer toward union with al-haqq.
1.
Knowledge includes both
esoteric knowledge concerning ascent and theosophical knowledge of the relation
of the self to God; elements of Gnosticism and Pantheism are sometimes found.
2.
The Sufi cultivates an
emotional response of love, as well as external obedience; the use of erotic
language to express the love of Allah is not uncommon.
3.
The characteristic prayer
of the Sufi is recollection (dhikr); sometimes, this involves the use of music
(sawa) and the recitation of the “names of Allah” on prayer beads.
D.
The Sufi’s progression is
marked by definite stages and states on the path to Allah.
1.
Stages are the result of
human effort and include repentance, watchfulness, renunciation, poverty,
mortification, and absolute trust in Allah. The prayer of recollection moves
one along this path.
2.
States are gifts of Allah
over which the Sufi has no control. The highest two states are “passing away”
(fana) and “passing away of passing away” (fana
al-fana).
IV.
Like mysticism in Judaism
and Christianity—but perhaps even more dramatically—Sufism has posed problems
for the exoteric tradition in Islam.
A.
At the theoretical level,
the tendency of Sufi Monotheism to move toward Pantheism, the esoteric reading
of the Qur’an, and the exaltation of the saints can all erode the Shari’ah and
even the shahadah.
B.
At the practical level, the
cultivation of saints has given rise to a number of problematic associations,
and the power of the brotherhoods always challenges the authority of the ulama.
Recommended Reading:
Nicholson, R. A. The Mystics of Islam.
Questions to Consider:
1.
Compare the Sufi
brotherhood to Jewish and Christian mystical communities, noting points of
similarity and dissimilarity.
2.
Why is sexual asceticism a
feature of renunciation in Christianity but not in Judaism and Islam?
Lecture Thirty Early Sufi Masters
Scope: In this sampling of Sufi passages
from the 8th–10th centuries, we see how the Qur’an was
mystically interpreted and how the quest for Allah could be captured by the
form of traditional Arabic poetry (the qasida). This lecture discusses
traditions associated with the famous female Sufi RƗbi’a al-‘Adawiyya, al-Muhasibi,
Abu Yazid al-Bistami, and Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd and concludes with the
controversial figure of Mansur al-Hallaj, who was executed for heresy.
Outline
I.
In the remaining lectures,
we will examine some of the many writings produced by mystics in the Sufi
tradition. Two important sources for the symbolism of Sufi Mysticism are
pre-Islamic poetry and the Qur’an and Hadith.
A.
Of special importance is
the nasib, the first part of the
Arabic poetic form called the qasida,
which tropes the meeting of lovers, the separation of lovers, and the
recollection of the beloved.
1.
The qasida also supplies the imagery of stages and
stations in the quest for the beloved.
2.
This love poetry provides
the framework for Sufi Mysticism; a 7th-century example of this kind
of poem, “To the encampments of Máyya,” gives us a sense of it.
B.
Early Sufis paid special
attention to the Isra and miraj of the Prophet, which are only
intimated in the Qur’an (in Suras 17:1 and 53) but are elaborated dramatically
by early Hadith.
C.
The imagery is given a
systematic structure by the Sufi path of knowledge, love, and prayer toward
“the real” (al-haqq), as we see, for
example, in “On Annihilation” (fana) by Abu al-Qasim alJunayd (d. 910).
II.
The example of two early
Sufis demonstrates the complexity of the traditions that grew up around such
saints.
A.
RƗbi’a al-‘Adawiyya
al-Qaysiyya (d. 801) is the most notable early female Sufi, whose sayings and
deeds are memorialized, among
those of 71 other masters,
in the Friends of God by Faridu d-Din
‘Attar (d. 1230).
1.
The significance of, and
reasons for, honoring RƗbi’a as a woman are explained in the first sections of
the book.
2.
The individual entries by RƗbi’a
resemble those found in the Christian Sayings
of the Desert Fathers and the ancient chreia.
3.
RƗbi’a lived a life of
extreme poverty and trust in Allah, exhibiting utterly selfless devotion.
4.
Her sanctity is marked by
the wonders that are attributed to her.
B.
Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d.
874) was a Persian who grew up in a family of ascetics and was noted for his
dramatic experiences and the radical statements he made with reference to his
states. 1. We have several versions of Bistami’s miraj, including that in ‘Attar’s Friends of God: Like the Prophet, he
ascends to the seventh heaven, then flies freely through all the Earth.
2. The scholastic character
of the early Sufi movement is seen in
The Book of Flashes by Abu Nasr
as-Sarraj (d. 988), in which Junayd and Sarraj engage in an imaginary dialogue
interpreting Bistami’s shocking statements.
III. The writing of early masters reveals the serious intellectual
attention given to the Sufi’s path toward al-haqq.
A.
In The Book of Observance of the Rights of God, al-Muhasibi (d. 857)
uses the form of a dialogue between master and student to elaborate a moral
psychology that focuses on the elimination of human egoism.
B.
In his exposition of the
seven stages in The Book of Flashes,
asSarraj proceeds dialectically, treating the views of the beginners, then the
select, then the knowing, building, in this fashion, a complex understanding of
each stage in conversation with earlier authorities.
C.
In the short essays called Some Points on Tawhid (unity), alJunayd
offers four remarkably compressed statements on the mystic’s experience of
annihilation (fana).
IV.
One of the most
controversial figures in the history of Sufism is Mansur al-Hallaj (d. 922),
whose life and teaching generated both rejection and admiration.
A.
Born in Iran, Hallaj made a
pilgrimage to Mecca and traveled and taught extensively; he studied with Junayd
but was ultimately rejected by him.
1.
It is not clear whether the
controversy surrounding Hallaj arose from his popularization of Sufi teachings
outside the taquiya or the radical character of his statements concerning Tawhid: “I am al-haqq. I am truth.”
2.
He was brought to trial for
heresy in the ‘Abbasid capital of Baghdad, imprisoned, tortured, and executed;
the manner in which he bore his trials was much admired.
B.
The few extant writings
from al-Hallaj show that he was a serious student of the Sufi way.
1.
In addition to collected
aphorisms (The Sayings of Hallaj) and
some poetry of disputed attribution, only a single sustained work of al-Hallaj
remains, the Tawasin.
2.
In the Tawasin, Hallaj reflects on Iblis (the devil) as a tragic lover.
Recommended Reading:
Sells, M. A. Early Islamic Mysticism (Classics of Western Spirituality.)
Questions to Consider:
1.
Comment on the remarkable
sophistication of the Sufi way already in the early centuries of the Islamic
era.
2.
How do the statements of
oneness with Allah affect the perception of what constitutes Monotheism?
Lecture Thirty-One The Limits of Mysticism—Al-Ghazzali
Scope: The first centuries of Islam saw
both a spectacular spread of the religion and an explosion of intellectual
energy. Islam provided the context for innovative speculation in philosophy and
theology. This lecture touches on some of the issues raised, their influence on
medieval Jewish and Christian thinkers, and the contributions made by one of
Islam’s most important thinkers, Abu Hamed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzali,
whose life as a Sufi was exemplary and whose intellectual labors brought
mystical speculation firmly within the framework of the Shari’ah.
Outline
I.
The creative energy
unleashed by early Islam expressed itself not only in political and religious
expansion but equally in cultural excellence.
A.
In virtually every
field—mathematics, science, medicine, architecture, literature, and
music—Muslim contributions were superior to their Christian counterparts in
Europe.
1.
The era of Islamic
ascendancy was that of Europe’s darkest hours, from the 7th to the 9th
centuries.
2.
Europe only slowly caught
up with the period of Islam’s greatest brilliance, from the 10th to
the 12th centuries, with the universities that came into being in
the 12th and 13th centuries.
B.
Internal to Islam, the same
creative impulses led to intellectual tensions that required attention.
1.
Could ijtihad (“free inquiry”) be applied as much to the doctrines of
Islam as to its law? This is the question of theology (kalam).
2.
Was there any possibility
of reconciling the rational inquiry associated especially with Greek philosophy
and the Qur’an?
3.
Were there limits to the
Sufi experience for it to remain within Islam?
C.
On each of these points,
one of the great figures in the history of Islam, Abu Hamed Mohammad ibn
Mohammad al-Ghazzali (10581111), made a fundamental contribution.
II.
Each of the tensions in
some fashion involved the relationship between revelation and human
reason.
A.
An early theological
dispute divided Muslims on the question of faith and works, but the most
important theological debate concerned determinism and free will, a tension
that arose from the extreme position of the Qur’an on each point: How can Allah
both be all-powerful and hold humans accountable?
1.
The rationalist position
was represented by the Mu’tazila party, which made human reason the measure of
the Qur’an. God’s justice must be measured by the human understanding of
justice; as a consequence, the Qur’an is not an eternal word but a human word.
2.
The Orthodox party,
represented by Ahmad ibn Hanbal (d. 855), appealed to Allah as revealed through
the Qur’an as an absolute measure: We know justice from Allah’s actions; the
Qur’an is, thus, eternal and not subject to human reason.
3.
A mediating position was
offered by Abu’l-Hasan al-Ash‘ari (d. c. 936), who applied reason to faith but
still made faith the measure of the Qur’an. He distinguished between the
physical Qur’an as a finite expression and the eternal word of Allah seeking a
compromise.
B.
Islamic philosophers
similarly challenged the ultimate truth of the Qur’an on the basis of Greek
philosophy, above all, the thinking of Plato and Aristotle.
1.
Al-Farabi (d. c. 950) and
Ibn Sina (also called Avicenna, d. 1037) challenged the teaching of the Qur’an
on creation (the world is eternal) and on the physical resurrection (only the
soul is immortal). For them, the choice was stark: reason or revelation.
2.
After the challenge of
al-Ghazzali, the Spanish Arabic philosopher Ibn Rushd (also called Averroës, d.
1198) offered a position closer to that of faith and mediated a version of
Aristotle to Jews (Moses Maimonides) and Christians (Thomas Aquinas).
C.
In its own fashion, Sufism
also challenged the adequacy of revelation found in the Qur’an.
1.
Statements arising out of
ecstasy, such as those of Bistami and Hallaj, could challenge the teaching on
the unity of Allah. Had Sufis discovered new things about Allah not found in
the Qur’an?
2.
Did Sufism escape or
transcend the ethics of the Shari’ah and, therefore, exist outside the
boundaries of Islam?
III. In his life and his writings, al-Ghazzali experienced and sought to
resolve these intellectual and spiritual tensions.
A.
He wrote more than 70
books. His Deliverance from Error (c.
1100) is something of an
intellectual and spiritual autobiography.
1.
Born in Tus in Iran,
al-Ghazzali was a brilliant student of law, philosophy, and theology. He was
appointed professor or dean at Nizamiyah University in Baghdad (1091), where he
lectured to as many as 300 students at a time.
2.
His polymathic studies led
to an intellectual and spiritual crisis in 1095; he abandoned his career and,
after a pilgrimage to Mecca, lived as a Sufi. In Sufism, he found a certitude
that was based in experience and located in the heart, not the mind.
3.
He lectured again at
Nizamiyah in 1106, then returned to his hometown, where he died in 1111.
B.
In the realm of philosophy,
al-Ghazzali is best known for his Aims of
the Philosophers, summarizing Ibn Sina’s teaching, and The Incoherence of the Philosophers, a rebuttal of the philosophical positions advanced, in particular,
by Ibn Sina.
1.
He challenges the capacity
of philosophy to know what it claims to know, adopting an epistemological
skepticism. Only Allah “causes”; only faith gives secure knowledge of what is
real.
2.
Ibn Rushd wrote The Incoherence of the Incoherence in
response to al-Ghazzali.
C.
In other areas, al-Ghazzali
represented a mediating position that enabled faith and the intellectual and
mystical life to remain in conversation.
1.
In jurisprudence, he
championed the Shafi’i school, which recognized the role of ijtihad, “free inquiry.”
2.
In theology, he adopted the
Ash‘ari position and developed further the agreement of faith and reason, faith
remaining primary, but reason inquiring into faith for its internal coherence.
3.
In mysticism, he argued
that the knowledge and morality of the Sufi must fit within the exoteric frame
of the Shari’ah.
Mystic knowledge is the din, the inner meaning of the legal
system.
D.
A major work that pulls all
these threads together in a systematic fashion is al-Ghazzali’s Revival of Religious Learnings (or Revival of Religious Sciences).
1.
The work consists of four
parts of 10 chapters each, with the first two parts dealing with the exoteric
tradition (acts of worship, norms of daily life) and the second two parts
dealing with transformation (the ways to perdition and the ways to salvation).
2.
Both the structure and the
contents of the work affirm the consonance of the exoteric and esoteric.
Recommended Reading:
Hitti, P. K. Islam: A Way of Life.
Questions to Consider:
1.
Why was the reconciling
intellectual work of al-Ghazzali so critical for the future of Islam?
2.
Why was his life experience
as a Sufi essential for al-Ghazzali to achieve his reconciliation of the
exoteric and esoteric traditions?
Lecture Thirty-Two Two Masters, Two Streams
Scope: Sufi Mysticism navigates between
an emphasis on knowledge and an emphasis on love. Two 13th-century
masters, both prolific writers, represent the two emphases and have exercised
substantial influence on subsequent generations of Sufi teachers. Ibn al-‘Arabi
was born in Spain but spent the greater part of his life in Damascus. Jalal
ad-Din Rumi was born in Afghanistan but spent his mature life in Turkey. He is
the founder of the Mawlawi order of Sufis, and his poetry stresses the role of
love in attaining unity with Allah.
Outline
I.
Mysticism within Islam (as
in Judaism and Christianity) is far from an individualistic or random
phenomenon: It develops in three interconnected contexts.
A.
Mysticism thrives in the
context of a community of religious practice.
1.
Beyond the demands of the
Shari’ah are the instruction, disciplines, rituals, and spiritual guidance of
Sufi Orders.
2.
At times, tension develops
between the demands of the fellowships and the expectations (and perceptions)
of the ulama.
B.
Mysticism expresses itself
in the context of authoritative texts and traditions.
1.
In Judaism, mysticism
centers in Torah; in Christianity, it involves interpretation of the Bible.
2.
Muslim mystics engage the
Qur’an (the “Mother of All Books”), Hadith, and the works of earlier Sufis,
often with intense and close textual interpretation.
C.
Mysticism involves the
context of personal life experiences that stimulate the reinterpretation of
texts.
1.
Most obvious are the
experiences of prayer that yield ecstasy or insight (“flashes”).
2.
Also important are the
experiences of family, travel, study, love, and friendship.
D.
These factors come together
in distinctive fashion in two of the great Sufi masters, Ibn al-‘Arabi, and
Jalal ad-Din Rumi.
II.
The way of knowledge is
illustrated by Ibn al-‘Arabi (1165–1240), called al-Shaykh al-Akbar (“The Great
Master”) by the many who have been shaped by his learning and mystical insight.
A.
His life is full of
colorful incident and travel, perfectly exemplifying the image of the Sufi as
wanderer.
1.
Of Arabic lineage, he was
born in Spain and was educated in Islamic lore in Seville; he held a position
as a minor official, married the first of several wives, and at around the age
of 20, joined the Sufi path.
2.
An account of a meeting
with the philosopher Ibn Rushd celebrates the great “opening” to spiritual
insight al-‘Arabi had accomplished “as a beardless youth.”
3.
He wrote his first book, Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries,
early in life.
4.
Restless travels brought
al-‘Arabi to Mecca, where he began The
Meccan Openings. Before leaving Spain, however, he also wrote the book that
has been excerpted as the Sufis of
Andalusia.
5.
In his travels, he met a
young woman who served as a muse for his love poetry, The Interpreter of Desires.
6.
Further travels led him to
Konya (and his best disciple, Sadr ad-Din al-Qunawi) and finally, to Damascus.
B.
Al-‘Arabi was a prolific
writer, with some 700 writings attributed to him; about 400 of these works are
extant, most of them unedited or untranslated. As a result, his influence
remains largely among Sufis.
1.
The Meccan Openings consists of 2,500
pages in Arabic. It is vastly learned, eclectic, and unsystematic: a treasure
house of Gnostic lore.
2.
The Interpreter of Dreams is the
collection of love poetry that kept al-‘Arabi in trouble with authorities, who
suspected that the work was not mystical but merely erotic.
3.
The Bezels of Wisdom (Fusus al-Hakim) is al-‘Arabi’s most
influential work, giving rise to many commentaries. He treats the wisdom
brought by 27 of Allah’s prophets, including Jesus, based on a close analysis
of Qur’anic verses.
C.
Al-‘Arabi’s teaching is
nonsystematic even as it is theosophical: It resembles outbursts of affirmation
or revelation more than logical argument. The theme of divine immanence is
pervasive.
1.
The question of “the one
and the many” is examined in his close analysis of the names of Allah.
2.
The doctrine of “oneness of
being” (wahdat al-wajud, though
al-‘Arabi does not use that term) struggles with the “realness” of God’s
existence and the relative nonbeing of existence.
3.
The divine immanence
underlies his convictions concerning the “perfect man” (al insan al-kamil), the image toward which the Sufi strives.
III. The way of love is emphasized by Jalal ad-Din Rumi (1207–1273),
called Mawlana (“our Lord”) by followers, who is recognized not only as a great
saint but as one of the world’s great poets.
A.
In contrast to that of Ibn
al-‘Arabi, the life of Rumi was settled and largely domestic.
1.
He wrote the New Persian of
his native land (Iran) and was born into a family of scholars and mystics.
2.
His name, Rumi (“Roman”),
was given him because he lived in Konya, in present-day Turkey, formerly part
of the Roman Empire.
3.
Married and with two sons,
he took over his father’s madrassa at
age 25 but started his public life of preaching in the mosques of Konya in
1240.
4.
His most important
relationship was with the dervish Shams-e Tabrizi in the years 1244–1248, bringing
out new aspects of his spirituality and inspiring his poetry.
5.
The experience of such
intense friendship and its loss became an analogy from his own life for the
Sufi’s love of Allah.
B.
Although he wrote some
prose works—lectures, sermons, and letters—it is Rumi’s poetry (inspired by the
sama’ of song and dance) that defines
his place in Sufism and world literature.
1.
The Masnawi Ma’nawi (Spiritual
Couplets) is a single poem of 25,000 verses in six books, with 300 longer
and shorter anecdotes dealing with love. It has been called the “Qur’an in the
Persian language.”
2.
The Diwan-i Shams-i Tabrizi (Works
of Shams of Tabriz) includes 40,000 lines of ghazals and other miscellaneous love poems.
C.
Rumi’s teaching is, as
appropriate to poetry, indirect and affective, exploring every dimension of the
love relationship between God and the mystic.
1.
Rumi’s is a religion of
love, and he does not tire of describing the beloved, especially in terms of
mercy.
2.
One of his poignant themes
is that of the loss of the beloved, with its attendant heartache, and the joy
that accompanies reunion.
3.
The deepest form of love
involves escape from the selfish impulses of the ego.
D.
Rumi is the founder of the
Mawlawi Sufi Order that spread throughout Turkey and played a significant role
in its culture and history.
1.
This order of Sufis was
especially associated with dance and song.
2.
Throughout its long
history, the order was led by a descendant of its founder.
Recommended Reading:
Nasr, S. H. ed., Islamic Spirituality.
Questions to Consider:
1.
Consider the ways in which
community, the study of texts, and personal experience shaped the two mystics
in this lecture.
2.
Why has Rumi gained such
renown as a representative of Sufi Mysticism?
