8] Mystical Tradition: Islam

 Mystical Tradition: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Table of Contents


Professor Biography ....................................................................................i
0] Course Scope 1
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
Timeline ................................................................................................... 145
Glossary ................................................................................................... 154
Bibliography............................................................................................ 163
====

9] Mystical Tradition: Islam

 Mystical Tradition: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Table of Contents


Professor Biography ....................................................................................i
0] Course Scope 1
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
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
===
Timeline ................................................................................................... 145
Glossary ................................................................................................... 154
Bibliography............................................................................................ 163
====

Lecture Thirty-Three Sufism in 12^th–14^th Century North Africa

 

 

Scope: Sufism was one of the chief instruments of Islam’s spread throughout the territories conquered by Arab troops in the period 641–725. This lecture takes up the lives and diverse writings of three Sufi teachers in North Africa. The Egyptian Sufi ‘Umar ibn al-Farid is venerated as one of the greatest poets in Arabic; even in translation, it is possible to appreciate his bold rendering of the Sufi way. A century later, another Egyptian Sufi, Ibn ‘Ata’illah, composed The Book of Wisdom, whose aphorisms offer pithy advice to the mystic. Later in the 14^th century, Ibn ‘Abbad of Ronda, a Sufi born in Spain who flourished in Morocco, offered advice in the form of Letters on the Sufi Path.

 

Outline

I.      A long historical perspective on any phenomenon, including Islamic Mysticism, inevitably distorts reality by simplifying it. 

A.     The expansion of Islam throughout North Africa was astonishing.

1.      Arab troops conquered Egypt (641), Tunisia (643), Cyprus

(649), Carthage (697), Algiers (700), Spain (711), Portugal (716), and southern France (725) before Charles Martel finally stopped Islam’s westward expansion at Tours (732).

2.      Such conquests swallowed vast territories and culturally complex populations.

B.     The speed of the conquest made the task of assimilation even more difficult, although our distance in space and time obscures the specific local problems.

1.      Throughout the next centuries, North African Islam faced external threats from the Persian Empire, the Byzantine Empire, and Crusaders from Europe.

2.      Internal conflicts included rival caliphates (the Fatimid Caliphate was founded in 909 and governed much of North Africa from the city of Cairo), as well as competing schools of Shari’ah and different forms of mysticism.

C.     The three Sufi teachers from North Africa we consider in this presentation date from 1181–1390, 500–700 years after the first Islamic expansion in the area.

1.      They show different ways of participating in the social and cultural life of the region.

2.      They demonstrate, as well, a diversity of literary forms put in the service of the Sufi way.

II.    ‘Umar ibn al-Farid (1181–1235) represents for Sufi Arabic poetry the position held in the Persian language by the great Rumi.

A.     His life was relatively uneventful; he was born in Cairo, traveled to Mecca as a young man, and later made a pilgrimage there.

1.      Early traditions make him a member of the Shafi’i legal school and a teacher of Hadith, mysticism, and poetry.

2.      Rejecting honors from the sultan, he taught at a mosque in Cairo. He avoided both social and political involvement and did not even belong to a specific order.

B.     He is best known for two poems: “The Wine Ode” and the “Poem of the Sufi Way.”

1.      “The Wine Ode” continues the tradition of the pre-Islamic qasida and uses the image of wine to express the mystical relationship with Allah.

2.      The “Poem of the Sufi Way” begins in the form of a traditional love song (ghazal) before becoming a more explicit reflection on the path to unity with “the real.” 

III.  Two other Sufi masters thrived in North Africa, which had become a center for Islamic culture after the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258.

A.     Both were members of the Shadhiliyyah order that had been founded by Ibn al-Hasan (d. 1258) in the village of Shadhilah. This order exemplified a sober Sufism that avoided behavioral extremes.

1.      Members of the school tended to be aligned with specific legal schools and operated explicitly within the Shari’ah.

2.      They avoided distinctive garb and occupied themselves in normal social engagements.

3.      The tradition favored a strongly didactic style of exposition with an emphasis on right thinking and practice.

B.     Ibn’ Ata’illah (1250–1309) was the third shaykh in the Shadhiliyyah leadership succession.

1.      His Book of Wisdom (Kitab al-Hikam) consists of 262 sayings, 4 short treatises, and 34 “intimate discourses” directed to Allah.

2.      The work gave rise to many commentaries and is one of the best-loved and best-known Sufi compositions.

C.     Ibn ‘Abbad of Ronda (1332–1390) combines the sober and didactic tradition of the Shadhiliyyah order.

1.      He wrote a commentary on the Book of Wisdom of Ibn ‘Ata’illah.

2.      He also wrote two collections of Letters on the Sufi Path to individual students, in which he fills the role of spiritual director, taking up specific problems from the mundane to the exalted. 

 

Recommended Reading:

Renard, J., trans. Ibn Abbad of Ronda (Classics of Western Spirituality.)

 

Questions to Consider:

1.      Can one see an analogy between the sublimation of the erotic in celibate Christian mystics and the sublimation of the language concerning drink among Muslim mystics?

2.      How do the instructions of Ibn ‘Abbad of Ronda reveal the struggles that Sufis experienced to stay within the framework of the Shari’ah?