MYSTICISM STUDIES
Year:2012 | Volume:- | Issue:15|Papers Count:13

Abu Hafs al-Haddad al-Neishaburi is considered to be one of the greatest Sufis of Khorasan in the third century (A.H.). There found to be no separate biography or writing attributed to this scholar. Thus, in order to be acquainted with his personality and views, one can only rely on sporadic anecdotes or words which are related to him and reappeared regularly in famous resources of Sufism with detailed differences. It is observed that many Sufi intellectuals kept company with him and regard him as a venerable character. In the primary sources of Persian and Arabic Sufism, he is presumed to be one the great Sufis of Khorasan who is a pioneer of the school of Malamatiyya. The current article seeks to explore about biography and words of al-Haddad. Anecdotes which are related to him are also examined. The next step of study addresses his thoughts and perspectives which are gathered and carefully pieced together in order to be analyzed and criticized. Finally, his association with Malamatiyya is indicated via the collected data in relevant references.

When mystics and Sufis began to write down their spiritual experience, in addition to the verses of Quran, they took advantage of Hadith as well, and auspiciously and widely benefited from it in their cryptic literature. One of the traditions to which this group has vastly referred was the Hadith: “He who loves and remains chaste and conceals his secret and dies, dies a martyr.” The content of this Hadith tells us about the happy fate of a lover. This Hadith is criticized and repudiated by many Hadith researchers, but analyzing various reports on the documentation of this tradition, we found out that, based on the criteria used for the authenticity of Hadith, this tradition is acceptable. The present article is a glimpse at the documentation and the text of this tradition based on the Sunni criteria for ascertaining the authenticity of traditions.

Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Muhammad (Ahmad) Daylami (391 AH.) is the writer of the first and oldest book in Islamic-Iranian Sufism about Divine love. There seems to be inadequate data about biography of this uncelebrated and theorist Sufi. Through studying his work (‘Atf al- Alf…) and some of his teachers whom he wrote about (e.g. Muhammad ibn Khafif known as Sheykh-i Kabir), it can be deduced that he lived in the fourth century AH. and benefit from mystical schools of Shiraz and ibn Khafif courses (269-371AH.).His divine theories about “mystical love” (its’ nature, source, reason, categorizations and levels, along with comparison of Human and divine love), as disclosed in ‘Atf al-Alf, has extensively been echoed in works of great Islamic Sufis, especially Rouzbehan Baqli (522-606 AH). It appears that his theories in interpretation of love, especially mystical one, are mostly affected by Islamic Sufism and wisdom of Greece.

To ‘eyn al-Qozat Hamadani, the heart is the essence of humanity, a divine subtle truth temporarily encapsulated by the impure material body. This essence, the divine tabula raza on which God’s message is recorded, cannot be uncovered as long as the material mask is not removed. To Hamadani, God resides within man if he is prepared to look based on verse 21 of the Zareyat chapter of the holy Quran. In the contrast between the self and the heart, Hamadani calls the former the manly and the latter the divine. He sees the two as irreconcilables. The sufi, then, needs to control the carnal desire, the hell that Drives man away from servitude and from the paradise of the heart. People of the heart are those who expose the tabula raza of the heart to God to write on and who refer to the heart for what they wish to know.

One of the topics, raised in Islamic Sufism and Mysticism and specially attended by Sufis, is presumed to be classifying keramats (miraculous power of saints) and considering names and types of supernatural actions. Sufis are said to have various views about these actions, their types and their titles. Keramats were originally sorted in three or four general kinds. But because of the development and evolution of Sufism over time, they were increased to twenty five subcategories. Examining perspectives of Sufi Sheikhs reveals that Sufis were in complete agreement about some of these types. This consensus caused different Sufis to choose rather similar entitles for these keramats. However, other keramats do not seem to be agreed upon. For example, some Sufis may point to a kind of keramat which is not found in the prominent scholars’ texts. Accordingly, keramats may be divided in two main subclasses of “common and uncommon”. Data about the common category is assumed to be easily accessible, whereas one may hardly gain knowledge of uncommon subgroup through investigation of Sufi sources. One of the uncommon types of keramat is perceived to be “Tawamm”. Obviously, Records and documents about this uncommon keramat are rare and infrequent. Employing these few documents, the current research aimed at introducing Tawamm and analyzing the way it happens.

Amir Khosrow Dehlawi has composed a roughly famous verse which is closely examined in the present study: “Ze daryaye shahadat choon nahange la bar arad sar/tayammom farz gardad nooh ra dar rooze toofanash”.In this poem, Amir Khosrow has intended to convey “La of Shahadah” which is previously employed by Sanai and other poets in an attempt to create novel senses. Undoubtedly, Amir Khosrow was already familar with these applications of present word. Such great Sufis and poets as Nur ad-Din Abd ar-Rahman Jami have attempted to write their own interpretation of this verse. Jami, the extremely popular poet of ninth century, linked the theme of this verse to the pantheistic thoughts of Ibn Arabi. It seems that his work is written subsequent to reading the interpretation of Shyekh Muammad Athiri Lahiji. After pointing to the background of Amir Khosrow and his thoughts, the current study presents the full interpretation of Jami.

An overview of Jalal al-din Muhammad Rumi and his thoughts may indicate that anthropology, as compared to areas of epistemology such as theology and ontology is found to be the most important layer of wisdom in Mathnawi. Among the various scopes of anthropology in Mathnawi, human psychology is discerned to be the most significant one. Likewise, Searching among Ideological-cognitive, volitional (needs and wants), emotional, spoken and practical layers clarified that psychology is assumed to be the most crucial area of Mathnawi. One of the chief problems in different branches of human psychology, especially emotional and cognitive-ideological layers, is suspected to be the issue of pain and suffering which appears as a critical aspect of tragic part of human life. This article sought to study nature of pain and its’ different facets in the thought and prose of Molavi. Subsequently, the collection of Rumi’s viewpoints inMathnawi is categorized in terms of four areas of semantics, ontology, teleology, and moral status of pain and suffering. The result shows that ontology of pain and suffering is the mostly focused, studied and interpreted layer of wisdom in mathnawi. however, Rumi has considered all aforementioned areas in his work.

“Dreams” and “visions” appear to have special status in Sufi books so that some of the extremely famous mystical books devote a special section to dream and its different types. According to Sufi scholarsone of the extremely prominent dreams is assumed to involve “the divine presence of the holy prophet (Muhammad)”. The present study is aimed at investigating those dreams about prophet that are cited in the most significant Sufi books during the four centuries (i.e. from Fourth to Eighth Centuries AH). These dreams are characterized on the basis of content. Moreover, this article aimed to study the very first dream about the prophet and the most important one observed in the explored sources. The effects and results of these dreams are also described. It is noteworthy that the outset of the current study is dedicated to presenting a comprehensive introduction about the concept of dream and perspectives of different Sufi scholars about it.

The present study attempts to investigate the role of Sufism in development of story-telling, naqqali (narrating of important old Iranian stories) and Rawzahkhani (telling story of mourning for Imams) arranged in three sections. The first part of the article is intended to inspect story-telling as a social practice of Sufism. It also expresses the reasons behind Safavid Scholars’ opposition with storytelling. Then, the content of stories, their connection to the event of Karbala, the evolution of maqtal khani in Kashefi’s Rawzat al- Shohada (The Garden of the Martyrs), and different reactions of Shi‘a scholars to this event is analyzed. Next section of present study seeks to introduce Naqqali and its’ subcategories such as Pardeh khani. Besides, Sufis’ story-telling in the Safavid era as reflected in reports and records of western travelers is explored. Naqqali appears as one of the main activities exercised by dervishes of Khaksar especially in the sect of ajam. In the third section, the main role of Sufi Naqqals in the development of rawzakhani in Safavid and Qajari periods arerevealed. Further analysis indicates that people’s tendency toward religious Naqqali and description of ‘Ashoura event presumed to be a Sufism concept. Although firstly opposed by extremists, these traditions have been mostly welcomed by public and nobles so that both of them emerged to be the most important traditions of mourning.

Fusus al-Hikam (translated as The Ringstones of Wisdoms) is presumed to be one of the most significant mystical works with specific characteristics. Even in the very first years of its publication, it motivated scholars to concentrate on it. One of the characteristics of this book is perceived to be its’ approach for classifying data in different chapters and entitling these chapters. Interpreters of Fusus al-Hikam have usually sought to justify and explain the logic behind chapters’ titles. They have also attempted to argue and analyze the reason why each wisdom (=Hikmat) is associated to a specific prophet. through examining views of Ibn Arabi, analyzing Fusus al- Hikam, and studying arguments of interpreters about entitling chapters, the present article elucidate on the correlation between wisdom of each chapter and the name of relevant prophet. Reflecting on the content of each chapter may roughly uncover aspects of entitling chapters and the criteria or standards employed by Ibn Arabi when selecting of these titles.