The Development of Metaphysics in Persia Part 7

(2). _The Sceptical tendencies of Islamic Rationalism_ which found an early expression in the poems of Bas_h_s_h_ar ibn Burd--the blind Persian Sceptic who deified fire, and scoffed at all non-Persian modes of thought. The germs of Scepticism latent in Rationalism ultimately necessitated an appeal to a super-intellectual source of knowledge which a.s.serted itself in the Risala of Al-Qus_h_airi (986). In our own times the negative results of Kant's Critique of Pure Reason drove Jacobi and Schleiermacher to base faith on the feeling of the reality of the ideal; and to the 19{th} century sceptic Wordsworth uncovered that mysterious state of mind "in which we grow all spirit and see into the life of things".

(3). The unemotional piety of the various schools of Islam--the ?anafite (Abu ?anifa d. 767), the S_h_afiite (Al-S_h_afi'i d. 820), the Malikite (Al-Malik d. 795), and the anthropomorphic ?ambalite (Ibn ?ambal d.

855)--the bitterest enemy of independent thought--which ruled the ma.s.ses after the death of Al-Ma'mun.

(4). The religious discussions among the representatives of various creeds encouraged by Al-Ma'mun, and especially the bitter theological controversy between the As_h_'arites, and the advocates of Rationalism which tended not only to confine religion within the narrow limits of schools, but also stirred up the spirit to rise above all petty sectarian wrangling.

(5). The gradual softening of religious fervency due to the rationalistic tendency of the early 'Abbasid period, and the rapid growth of wealth which tended to produce moral laxity and indifference to religious life in the upper circles of Islam.

(6). The presence of Christianity as a working ideal of life. It was, however, princ.i.p.ally the actual life of the Christian hermit rather than his religious ideas, that exercised the greatest fascination over the minds of early Islamic Saints whose complete unworldliness, though extremely charming in itself, is, I believe, quite contrary to the spirit of Islam.

Such was princ.i.p.ally the environment of ?ufiism, and it is to the combined action of the above condition that we should look for the origin and development of ?ufiistic ideas. Given these condition and the Persian mind with an almost innate tendency towards monism, the whole phenomenon of the birth and growth of ?ufiism is explained. If we now study the princ.i.p.al pre-existing conditions of Neo-Platonism, we find that similar conditions produced similar results. The barbarian raids which were soon to reduce Emperors of the Palace to Emperors of the Camp, a.s.sumed a more serious aspect about the middle of the third century. Plotinus himself speaks of the political unrest of his time in one of his letters to Flaccus.[102:1] When he looked round himself in Alexandria, his birth place, he noticed signs of growing toleration and indifferentism towards religious life. Later on in Rome which had become, so to say, a pantheon of different nations, he found a similar want of seriousness in life, a similar laxity of character in the upper cla.s.ses of society. In more learned circles philosophy was studied as a branch of literature rather than for its own sake; and s.e.xtus Empiricus, provoked by Antiochus's tendency to fuse scepticism and Stoicism was teaching the old unmixed scepticism of Pyrrho--that intellectual despair which drove Plotinus to find truth in a revelation above thought itself.

Above all, the hard unsentimental character of Stoic morality, and the loving piety of the followers of Christ who, undaunted by long and fierce persecutions, were preaching the message of peace and love to the whole Roman world, necessitated a restatement of Pagan thought in a way that might revivify the older ideals of life, and suit the new spiritual requirements of the people. But the ethical force of Christianity was too great for Neo-Platonism which, on account of its more metaphysical[103:1] character, had no message for the people at large, and was consequently inaccessible to the rude barbarian who, being influenced by the actual life of the persecuted Christian adopted Christianity, and settled down to construct new empires out of the ruins of the old. In Persia the influence of culture-contacts and cross-fertilisation of ideas created in certain minds a vague desire to realise a similar restatement of Islam, which gradually a.s.similated Christian ideals as well as Christian Gnostic speculation, and found a firm foundation in the Qur'an. The flower of Greek Thought faded away before the breath of Christianity; but the burning simoon of Ibn Taimiyya's invective could not touch the freshness of the Persian rose.

The one was completely swept away by the flood of barbarian invasions; the other, unaffected by the Tartar revolution, still holds its own.

[102:1] "Tidings have reached us that Valerian has been defeated, and is now in the hands of Sapor. The threats of Franks and Allemanni, of Goths and Persians, are alike terrible by turns to our _degenerate_ Rome." (Plotinus to Flaccus; quoted by Vaughan in his Half hours with Mystics, p. 63.)

[103:1] The element of ecstacy which could have appealed to some minds was thrown into the background by the later teachers of Neo-Platonism, so that it became a mere system of thought having no human interest. Says Whittaker:--"The mystical ecstacy was not found by the later teachers of the school easier to attain, but more difficult; and the tendency became more and more to regard it as all but unattainable on earth." Neo-Platonism, p.

101.

This extraordinary vitality of the ?ufi restatement of Islam, however, is explained when we reflect on the all-embracing structure of ?ufiism.

The semitic formula of salvation can be briefly stated in the words, "Transform your will",--which signifies that the Semite looks upon will as the essence of the human soul. The Indian Vedantist, on the other hand, teaches that all pain is due to our mistaken att.i.tude towards the Universe. He, therefore, commands us to transform our understanding--implying thereby that the essential nature of man consists in thought, not activity or will. But the ?ufi holds that the mere transformation of will or understanding will not bring peace; we should bring about the transformation of both by a complete transformation of feeling, of which will and understanding are only specialised forms. His message to the individual is--"Love all, and forget your own individuality in doing good to others." Says Rumi:--"To win other people's hearts is the greatest pilgrimage; and one heart is worth more than a thousand Ka'bahs. Ka'bah is a mere cottage of Abraham; but the heart is the very home of G.o.d." But this formula demands a _why_ and a _how_--a metaphysical justification of the ideal in order to satisfy the understanding; and rules of action in order to guide the will. ?ufiism furnishes both. Semitic religion is a code of strict rules of conduct; the Indian Vedanta, on the other hand, is a cold system of thought. ?ufiism avoids their incomplete Psychology, and attempts to synthesise both the Semitic and the Aryan formulas in the higher category of Love. On the one hand it a.s.similates the Buddhistic idea of Nirwana (Fana-Annihilation), and seeks to build a metaphysical system in the light of this idea; on the other hand it does not disconnect itself from Islam, and finds the justification of its view of the Universe in the Qur'an. Like the geographical position of its home, it stands midway between the Semitic and the Aryan, a.s.similating ideas from both sides, and giving them the stamp of its own individuality which, on the whole, is more Aryan than Semitic in character. It would, therefore, be evident that the secret of the vitality of ?ufiism is the complete view of human nature upon which it is based. It has survived orthodox persecutions and political revolutions, because it appeals to human nature in its entirety; and, while it concentrates its interest chiefly in a _life_ of self-denial, it allows free play to the speculative tendency as well.

I will now briefly indicate how ?ufi writers justify their views from the Quranic standpoint. There is no historical evidence to show that the Prophet of Arabia actually communicated certain esoteric doctrines to 'Ali or Abu Bakr. The ?ufi, however, contends that the Prophet had an esoteric teaching--"wisdom"--as distinguished from the teaching contained in the Book, and he brings forward the following verse to substantiate his case:--"As we have sent a prophet to you from among yourselves who reads our verses to you, purifies you, teaches you the Book and the _Wisdom_, and teaches you _what you did not know before_."[107:1] He holds that "the wisdom" spoken of in the verse, is something not incorporated in the teaching of the Book which, as the Prophet repeatedly declared, had been taught by several prophets before him. If, he says, the wisdom is included in the Book, the word "Wisdom"

in the verse would be redundant. It can, I think, be easily shown that in the Qur'an as well as in the authenticated traditions, there are germs of ?ufi doctrine which, owing to the thoroughly practical genius of the Arabs, could not develop and fructify in Arabia, but which grew up into a distinct doctrine when they found favourable circ.u.mstances in alien soils. The Qur'an thus defines the Muslims:--"Those who believe in the Unseen, establish daily prayer, and spend out of what We have given them."[108:1] But the question arises as to the _what_ and the _where_ of the Unseen. The Qur'an replies that the Unseen is in your own soul--"And in the earth there are signs to those who believe, and in yourself,--what! do you not then see!"[108:2] And again--"We are nigher to him (man) than his own jugular vein."[108:3] Similarly the Holy Book teaches that the essential nature of the Unseen is pure light--"G.o.d is the light of heavens and earth."[108:4] As regards the question whether this Primal Light is personal, the Qur'an, in spite of many expressions signifying personality, declares in a few words--"There is nothing like him."[108:5]

[107:1] Sura 2, v. 146.

[108:1] Sura 2, v. 2.

[108:2] Sura 51, v. 20, 21.

[108:3] Sura 50, v. 15.

[108:4] Sura 24, v. 35.

[108:5] Sura 42, v. 9.

These are some of the chief verses out of which the various ?ufi commentators develop pantheistic views of the Universe. They enumerate the following four stages of spiritual training through which the soul--the order or reason of the Primal Light--("Say that the soul is the order or reason of G.o.d.")[109:1] has to pa.s.s, if it desires to rise above the common herd, and realise its union or ident.i.ty with the ultimate source of all things:--

(1). Belief in the Unseen.

(2). Search after the Unseen. The spirit of inquiry leaves its slumber by observing the marvellous phenomena of nature. "Look at the camel how it is created; the skies how they are exalted; the mountains how they are unshakeably fixed."[109:2]

(3). The knowledge of the Unseen. This comes, as we have indicated above, by looking into the depths of our own soul.

(4). The Realisation--This results, according to the higher ?ufiism from the constant practice of Justice and Charity--"Verily G.o.d bids you do justice and good, and give to kindred (their due), and He forbids you to sin, and do wrong, and oppress".[110:1]

[109:1] Sura 17; v. 87.

[109:2] Sura 88; v. 20.

[110:1] Sura 16; v. 92.

It must, however, be remembered that some later ?ufi fraternities (e.g.

Naqs_h_bandi) devised, or rather borrowed[110:2] from the Indian Vedantist, other means of bringing about this Realisation. They taught, imitating the Hindu doctrine of Kundalini, that there are six great centres of light of various colours in the body of man. It is the object of the ?ufi to make them move, or to use the technical word, "current"

by certain methods of meditation, and eventually to realise, amidst the apparent diversity of colours, the fundamental colourless light which makes everything visible, and is itself invisible. The continual movement of these centres of light through the body, and the final realisation of their ident.i.ty, which results from putting the atoms of the body into definite courses of motion by slow repet.i.tion of the various names of G.o.d and other mysterious expressions, illuminates the whole body of the ?ufi; and the perception of the same illumination in the external world completely extinguishes the sense of "otherness." The fact that these methods were known to the Persian ?ufis misled Von Kremer who ascribed the whole phenomenon of ?ufiism to the influence of Vedantic ideas. Such methods of contemplation are quite unislamic in character, and the higher ?ufis do not attach any importance to them.

[110:2] Weber makes the following statement on the authority of La.s.sen:--"Al-Biruni translated Patanjali's work into Arabic at the beginning of the 11th century, and also, it would appear, the Sankhya sutra, though the information we have as to the contents of these works does not harmonise with the Sanskrit originals." History of Indian Literature, p. 239.

-- II.

Aspects of ?ufi-Metaphysics.

Let us now return to the various schools or rather the various aspects of ?ufi Metaphysics. A careful investigation of ?ufi literature shows that ?ufiism has looked at the Ultimate Reality from three standpoints which, in fact, do not exclude but complement each other. Some ?ufis conceive the essential nature of reality as self-conscious will, others beauty; others again hold that Reality is essentially Thought, Light or Knowledge. There are, therefore, three aspects of ?ufi thought:--

A. _Reality as Self-conscious Will._

The first in historical order is that represented by S_h_aqiq Balk_h_i, Ibrahim Adham, Rabi'a, and others. This school conceives the ultimate reality as "Will", and the Universe a finite activity of that will. It is essentially monotheistic and consequently more semitic in character.

It is not the desire of Knowledge which dominates the ideal of the ?ufis of this school, but the characteristic features of their life are piety, unworldliness, and an intense longing for G.o.d due to the consciousness of sin. Their object is not to philosophise, but princ.i.p.ally to work out a certain ideal of life. From our standpoint, therefore, they are not of much importance.

B. _Reality as Beauty._

In the beginning of the 9{th} century Ma'ruf Kark_h_i defined ?ufiism as "Apprehension of Divine realities"[113:1]--a definition which marks the movement from Faith to Knowledge. But the method of apprehending the ultimate reality was formally stated by Al-Qus_h_airi about the end of the 10{th} century. The teachers of this school adopted the Neo-Platonic idea of creation by intermediary agencies; and though this idea lingered in the minds of ?ufi writers for a long time, yet their Pantheism led them to abandon the Emanation theory altogether. Like Avicenna they looked upon the ultimate Reality as "Eternal Beauty" whose very nature consists in seeing its own "face" reflected in the Universe-mirror. The Universe, therefore, became to them a reflected image of the "Eternal Beauty", and not an emanation as the Neo-Platonists had taught. The cause of creation, says Mir Sayyid S_h_arif, is the manifestation of Beauty, and the first creation is Love. The realisation of this Beauty, is brought about by universal love, which the innate Zoroastrian instinct of the Persian ?ufi loved to define as "the Sacred Fire which burns up everything other than G.o.d." Says Rumi:--

"O thou pleasant madness, Love!

Thou Physician of all our ills!

Thou healer of pride, Thou Plato and Galen of our souls!"[114:1]

[113:1] Mr. Nicholson has collected the various definitions of ?ufiism. See J. R. A. S. April, 1906.

[114:1] Mat_h_nawi, Jalal al Din Rumi, with Ba?ral 'ulum's Commentary. Lucknow (India), 1877, p. 9.

As a direct consequence of such a view of the Universe, we have the idea of impersonal absorption which first appears in Bayazid of Bistam, and which const.i.tutes the characteristic feature of the later development of this school. The growth of this idea may have been influenced by Hindu pilgrims travelling through Persia to the Buddhistic temple still existing at Baku.[114:2] The school became wildly pantheistic in ?usain Man?ur who, in the true spirit of the Indian Vedantist, cried out, "I am G.o.d"--Aham Brahma asmi.

[114:2] As regards the progress of Buddhism Geiger says:--"We know that in the period after Alexander, Buddhism was powerful in Eastern Iran, and that it counted its confessors as far as Tabaristan. It is especially certain that many Buddhistic priests were found in Bactria. This state of things, which began perhaps in the first century before Christ, lasted till the 7{th} century A.D., when the appearance of Islamism alone cut short the development of Buddhism in Kabul and Bactria, and it is in that period that we will have to place the rise of the Zarathushtra legend in the form in which it is presented to us by Daqiqi."

Civilisation of Eastern Iranians Vol. II, p. 170.

The ultimate Reality or Eternal Beauty, according to the ?ufis of this school, is infinite in the sense that "it is absolutely free from the limitations of beginning, end, right, left, above, and below."[115:1]

The distinction of essence and attribute does not exist in the Infinite--"Substance and quality are really identical."[115:2] We have indicated above that nature is the mirror of the Absolute Existence. But according to Nasafi, there are two kinds of mirrors[115:3]--

(a). That which shows merely a reflected image--this is external nature.

(b). That which shows the real Essence--this is man who is a limitation of the Absolute, and erroneously thinks himself to be an independent ent.i.ty.

[115:1] Nasafi's Maq?adi Aq?a: fol. 8b.

[115:2] Nasafi's Maq?adi Aq?a: fol. 10b.