Escolar Documentos
Profissional Documentos
Cultura Documentos
by Bahram Jassemi
"You should know that man has been on the journey ever since God brought
him out of non-being into being"[1]
The Shaykh al-Akbar, Ibn 'Arabi, describes the state of being of the man on
the journey in his Rislat al-Anwr and points out that it is only possible for
man to cease journeying in the fifth abode (mawtin), namely in Paradise or
in hell. The six mawatin (abodes)[2] are ordered as follows:
In this article we will briefly examine the various forms of the mystical
journey. The forms of the journey may be divided into the following
fundamental types: tartb (the way of Levels) and was'it (by means of an
intermediary), which are both also known as tarq 'm (the general way),
and the form of the special aspects, tarq wujhi khs. There is a further
form, qb qausayn au adn' , which will be included together with the form
of the special aspects. It should be mentioned that the ways of tartb and
was'it are based in principle on the guidance of a shaykh, whereas that of
the special aspects may also be undertaken alone, such that the seeker is
plunged into a metaphysical space by means of sudden and immediate
contact with the a'yn-ath-thbitah (the fixed entities or archetypes). The
degree, intensity and depth of perception within that world determine the
seekers future station.
This form of the journey moves through various martib (levels or degrees),
and the traveller must recognise and pass beyond certain veils of light and
darkness, one after another, until he comes to a degree appropriate to his
own excellence. The level that befits each person is to be found in the sr
(trumpet /horn), and the basis of this is stated in the Qur'an as follows:
"None of us there is but has a known station".[6] It should be remembered
that the levels are ontological, which is to say that being and non-being
form two poles, and it is between these that the Divine is mirrored (huwa l
huwa). The identification of each seeker with one of these levels is equally
his respective state of consciousness of the level or station where he
currently stands, if it is possible to speak of "standing" in this sense at all
given that the seeker cannot and must not stand still.[7] Seen from without,
the slik is at a particular maqm. From within he identifies himself with the
level of being that is completed by certain of the Divine Names. This level
then forms his consciousness, his identity, his being.
The Rislat al-Anwr describes a type of journey that is not identical with the
traditional way as described by Ab Nasr al-Sarrj Tsi or Qushairy, nor is it
based on the relationship of a shaykh and a student. Nonetheless, I consider
such a journey to be a way through the martib (levels). The seeker
progresses step by step; he examines each step, without obtaining a direct
and immediate relationship to his 'ayn ath-thbitah. Ibn 'Arab classifies this
journey under khalwa (retreat) and describes how the seeker first unveils
the world of the senses. The next degree is the unveiling of the imaginary
world (khayl), so that the world of meanings (ma'n) becomes visible. Later
he sees how life spreads through the bodies. In the following stages he
reaches a state from which he may be informed of his own martabah
(level/degree). After this he comes to see the forms of all mankind, then he
arrives before the Throne of the All-Compassionate (sarr). From this point on
he knows all things according to Reality and not as the ordinary person sees
them. Then he is himself unveiled; he is invisible to himself, his self is
nowhere to be found, there is no trace of being in him (fan'). The next
principal stage is his returning to himself and his remaining (baq') in that
which he is. He is brought back to the world of the senses.
When reading this text, one notices that it is a description of the way into
the sr (horn) whose form is a reversal of that of the emanation of all things
from the Divine. The wide part of the horn contains the am' (the Cloud) and
the narrow part the earth. The forms of all things are contained in the sr, as
the word suwar (forms, images) implies. It should be remembered that the
horn is called al-barzakh as-sr (the intermediate world of the forms).[8]
The fact that, after finding himself before the Throne of the AllCompassionate, the slik is given knowledge of all things and then becomes
hidden from himself, shows that his human consciousness has been lost at
this degree. He no longer finds and feels himself, since his own
consciousness was that of a person, an observer, whereas here there is no
longer any observing, no more considerations of duality. His
consciousness/existence is now, rather, identical to the forms that are
manifested in the sr. Consequently there remains "no trace of being in
him", and this clearly refers to worldly being in the sense that we normally
experience it. For how can a person re-emerge if there is no longer any trace
of being in him? This is in turn a paradox.
After this begins his journey in the subtle world of the spirits, which cannot
be reached by men. For this he becomes veiled and annihilated. The Divine
Compassion returns him to his being by means of the Beautiful Name hayy,
since he no longer possesses any will or strength of his own. He has become
a "non-being" in the subtle world of the spirits. Only when he has attained
baq' (subsistence) is he able to experience the ordinary world again. He
can even re-experience all that has happened to him, but, as the Shaykh alAkbar stresses, in another form.
There is a Man who is a being with two aspects or faces: al-insn al-kmil.
He is the most important connecting link that joins man with God across the
bridge of love. He is a mirror in which all the Names of God are reflected and
become apparent. He is the comprehensive separating Word (kalamafsilah-jmi-a)[11] and his station is ahadyyah.[12] He is able to intervene
in creation, since he stands on the dividing line between hazrat ilh and
hazrat kaun. Consequently he is also the shaykh or pir through whose aid
the slik may look upon the Divine. He serves as the mirror. Important here
is the fact that the Perfect Man has two aspects, the divine and the human,
and the theory of the wal is based on this fact. Wal is God the Great in the
general sense Who, as the Friend, stands close to every believer. In a
specific sense he is the perfect man who, as the friend of God, is also the
friend of any believer. This is the wal khs,[13] who can intervene in being
itself. The Pole or qutb is nothing other than the wal who oversees the
whole world and who himself closes at night the door of mankind left ajar,
while he opens the door of the Beloved.[14]
This forms the basis on which the relationship between shaykh and student
is founded. What the student learns from his shaykh is seeking or sulk. The
slik travels through various maqm, while remaining under the instruction
of the shaykh. Accounts vary considerably as to the number of the maqm,
but that given by Ab Nasr al-Sarrj Tsi is generally accepted. He names
the seven stations[15] of the journey through which a slik must pass under
the guidance of the shaykh. The shaykh is the master, the wal, the mirror
and the intermediary, and maintains a constant dialogue with the student.
Shaykh and student face each other like two mirrors, each reflecting the
light of the other. These reflections inspire and purify the heart of the
student until he is in a position to reach the maqm by his own efforts,
albeit with the guidance of the shaykh.
Mention should also be made at this point of the spiritual state (hl). Hl is a
gift from the Divine grace; it cannot be obtained by ones own will.
Depending on the situation of the traveller it is possible that hl may be
given to him in the form of wrid (inrush). Such states always arise in pairs,
in opposition and complementarily:[16] for example, first a state of qabz
(contraction) is reached, and then after a certain time the state of bast
(expansion) is given. It is of the greatest importance that these opposing
and complementary states arise in pairs, since one of them counteracts the
other. Both are aspects of a cosmic event that gives the traveller the
impulse necessary for his journey. If only one of them were to occur, the
traveller would remain forever in that state.
From this cosmic event the seeker receives the tajall (Divine manifestation),
which may take one of two forms: tajall jall (manifestation of Majesty) or
tajall jaml (manifestation of Beauty). All that comes from Beauty (jaml) is
from His Gentleness (lutfyyah); whatever comes from Majesty (jall) is from
His Severity (qahryyah). The origin of both of these are His Names jaml
(the Beautiful) and jall (the Majestic). The cosmic event described above is
an interplay between these two names: at one moment the world goes into
non-existence (ma'dm) through the Name jall, and at the next moment it
comes into existence (maujd) through the Name jaml. Since the Name
jaml is under the order of the Name az-zhir (the Manifest/Outward), which
Seen thus, the traveller does not remain in a single state; his heart
vacillates and moves between states within a matter of seconds. This
situation is known as taraddud (vacillation), and has four principal types:
jahl (ignorance, stopping), shakk (doubt), zann (surmise) and ilm
(knowledge). All that effuses from the Unseen arrives in the heart and gives
rise to further changes of state. 'Abd ar-Razzq Kshn gives a series of
definitions concerning the heart.[18] The Shaykh al-Akbar acknowledges the
heart as the place of knowledge, and in this regard it is larger even than arrahmn, the Divine Compassion. Only the ahl Allh (the people of God) are
aware of this fact and follow closely the khawtir (incoming thoughts) that
manifest in their hearts as tajall. Ibn 'Arab names the state of sajdat al qalb
(prostration of the heart before the Divine) as the highest state of bliss.[19]
The importance to the Sufi of the purity of the heart (tahrah) should be
noted here. The purification of the heart is a recognition of the realisation of
God, of the knowledge of tawhd (Unity), of the knowledge of the beautiful
Names of the Divine (asm' husn) and of the knowledge of all in this world
that is conjoined to the Divine.
Despite all that has been said here about the heart and its importance for
the mystical journey through martib, however, we should not forget that,
owing to the particular role it plays, the heart is a place of direct communion
with God. The address of the Divine is "cast" into the heart directly, without
any intermediary action by the shaykh. Furthermore, unveiling (kashf) is
nothing other than the moving aside of the layers or veils that come
between the heart and the light of the Unseen.
3. The mystical journey as the way of the special aspects (tarq wujhi khs)
We know that the a'yn ath-thbitah are the forms in Reality of the Divine
Names, and Khajah Parsa, another of Ibn 'Arabs commentators, says that
when a man can see these, he has seen the Divine Itself.[23] The a'yn aththbitah are the degrees, the names and the qualities of God and are
engraved in the heart of every person. They are the foundation of the
relationship of the Divine to the human and vice versa. Each person may
come to recognise the Divine according to his own 'ayn ath-thbitah, and
the Divine also recognises each person according to these forms that are
carried within each.
and his ideals. This is what Ibn 'Arab means by khalaq al-haqq fil-itiqd
(God created in Belief).
It should be remembered here that from pre-eternity, since the Day of Alast,
the Divine Names have been impregnated with shauq (yearning) to be
manifested. All the Names of God that are not yet known remain in huzn
(sorrow, grief) of ardent desire prior to tajall; they seek a majl (place of
manifestation), and this place is the heart of a believer with istidd
(preparedness).[26] Viewed thus, such recognition is each persons
empirical experience of God.
Excursus
The mystical journey is the form of practice of the Sufi way (tarqa). Every
person who feels awakened and has begun to marvel at Being (hayrah)
accordingly feels called to begin to follow the way of the transcendent. And
this is only the beginning. The Sufi learns first to know himself, since an
insight gained without knowledge of who he is cannot be a true witnessing
of the Divine. For this the adept seeks a shaykh (or is "called" by the
shaykh) who can help him to change his inner structure by means of reeducation, to conform to the Unseen and to develop the taste (zauq) he
requires for the long journey. From the first steps, Love begins, since if there
is not Love his steps are counted, and the adept will find no strength to
continue on the way. The deeper he swims in this ocean, the greater
becomes his yearning for realisation of the Holy. This in turn precipitates
more Love. Notwithstanding which of the ways he takes, whether by the
degrees (martib) or by direct and immediate inrush (wrid) of the Divine,
the eye of the heart ('ayn al-qalb) now sees the contours of that which was
sought, made possible by relationship with the Highest.
It hardly need be mentioned that prayer and dhikr are the constant
companions of the traveller; without these he cannot bring the Divine
Names into his awareness and internalise them. Only when these are
internalised can the internal upheaval come about that places the traveller
in a position to undergo the process of realisation of the Divine insight. The
other function of prayer and dhikr is to deepen the Divine Love, which is a
further important aspect of the mystical way. This Love lends the seeker a
1. Ibn 'Arab, Rislat al-Anwr, ed. Najb Mayil Hiraw (Maula Publishers,
Tehran, 1996), p. 57.
2. Ibid., p. 156.
3. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Die Erkenntnis und das Heilige (Diederichs, 1990),
p. 414. For the phenomenological interpretation of this term see also
Bahram Jassemi, Der Weg der Liebe (Verlag Videel, Niebll, Germany, 2003),
p. 26.
5. Rislat al-Anwr, p. 166. The traveller begins with the unveiling (kashf) of
the world of the senses, so that he may see through the walls. At the
penultimate degree he becomes obliterated (mahw) and no trace of worldly
existence remains in him. Then he re-emerges.
10. Ibn 'Arab, Hilyah al-abdl, ed. Najib Mayil Hirawi (Maula Publishers,
Tehran, 1996), p. 12: " And the hl (state) of samt (silence) is the station
of wahy (revelation), and silence is the consequence of Divine insight ".
Ibid., p. 11: "... to him, who is silent both in speech and in the heart, the
mystery (sirr) will be unveiled, and God manifests himself to him (tajall)."
15. Ab Nasr al-Sarrj Tsi, Kitb al-luma'fi tasawwf, ed. R.A. Nicholson
(Jahan Publishers, Tehran, 2003).
18. 'Abd ar-Razzq Kshn, Istilhat al Sufyyah, ed. Dr Jafar (Tehran, 1976),
p. 168.
22. Ibid.
25. Al-Khrazm, ibid., p. 30. He also mentions here that the Greatest
Shaykh calls this way the way of shattr. In Sufi psychology this degree is
equated with khafi (the basis of the soul), at which shuhd (the
contemplative witnessing of the Divine) is possible. See also Bahram
Jassemi, Die Psychologie der Liebe im Sufismus (unpublished).
26. Najmi-al-dn Rzi, Marmzti Asad dar Mazmrti Dawd, ed. Shafii
Kadkan (Tehran, 1973).
27. L-Takrr fil-Tajall: Ibn 'Arab cites this saying from Ab Tlib Makk see
Osman Yahya: Futht al-Makkyyah, Vol. IV, no. 248 (Cairo, 1975).
28. Shaykh Seyyed Heydar Amul: Kitbi Nass il Nuss, ed. Mohammed Resa
Jauzi (Rozaneh Publishers, Tehran, 1996), p. 115.
29. Ibid., p. 83. A poetic description of this journey may be found in AlIsr'il Maqm al-Asra'by Ibn 'Arab, ed. Dr. Ansari (Tahuri Publishers, Tehran,
1997).
30. The Qur'anic term wajhallh (the Face of God) is the externalisation of
the Divine Names and Qualities at all levels of being, and is thus the
structure of the universe. See Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Die Erkenntnis und das
Heilige, p. 438.