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Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qur'an, Mi'raj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality) PDF

413 Pages·1995·15.251 MB·English
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Preview Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qur'an, Mi'raj, Poetic and Theological Writings (Classics of Western Spirituality)

E I M arly slamic ysticism f SUFI, QUR'AN, Ml'RAJ, POETIC AND THEOLOGICAL WRITINGS TRANSLATED, EDITED AND WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY MICHAEL A. SELLS PREFACE BY CARL W. ERNST PAULIST PRESS NEW YORK • MAHWAH Cover art: AIDA MUSANOVIC, a graphic artist, was born in Bosnia and earned her B.F.A. degree at the Academy of Fine Arts at Sarajevo University. A survivor of the aggression in Bosnia, she came to the United States, where she co-organized the internationally shown proj­ ect Sarajevo '92, the art/print portfolio created in the besieged Bosnian capital under war con­ ditions. The image on the cover of this volume depicts the prayer niche (mibrab) from the “Colored Mosque" in Foca (pronounced Fo-cha), in southeast Bosnia-Herzegovina. The mosque, one of the masterworks of South Slavic architecture, was constructed in 1551 C.E. It was called the Colored Mosque (AlaJza diamtya) because of its stunning colors both on the interior and exterior. The artwork shows the section of the rnihrab known as muqarnas, the “stalactite” forms that connect the square to the curved areas of the mosque and are symbolic of the connections between heaven and earth. The mosque was destroyed by Serbian national­ ists during the “ethnic cleansing” of Foca in the spring of 199}. It is to all such destroyed Bosnian monuments that the artist pays homage in her artwork. Copyright © 1996 by Michael A. Sells All rights reserved. No pan of this book may be reproduced ot transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any informa­ tion storage and retrieval system without permission in writing from the Publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Early Islamic mysticism: Sufi, Qur’an, Mi'raj, poetic and theological writings/translated, edited, and with an introduction by Michael A. Sells. p. cm.—(The classics of Western spirituality; #86) Includes bibliographical references ( ) and index. ISBN 0-8091-0477-6 (cloth: alk. paper).—ISBN 0-8091-3619-8 (pbk.: alk. paper) I. Sufism—Early works to 1800. I. Sells, Michael Anthony. II. Scries. BPI88.9.E2 1996 297'.4—dc20 95-52973 C1P Published by Paulist Press 997 Macarthur Boulevard Mahwah, New Jersey 07430 Printed and bound in the United States of America Contents Preface..................................................................................................................1 Note to the Reader on Translation and Familiarization.................................5 INTRODUCTION.........................................................................................11 Spirituality and Embodiment in Islam....................................................11 Four Phases of Islamic Spirituality........................................................17 EARLY ISLAMIC MYSTICISM CHAPTER 1. SOURCES OF ISLAMIC MYSTICISM.......................29 THE QUR’AN.........................................................................................29 THE MI‘RAJ (Sacred Cosmology and Mystical Orientation)..........47 THE BELOVED (Poetic Dimensions of Islamic Spirituality)..........56 CHAPTER 2. EARLY SUFI QUR’AN INTERPRETATION.............75 The Qur'anic Commentary Attributed to JA‘FAR AS-SADIQ (The Sixth Imam)....................................................................................75 SAHL AT-TUSTARI (from The Interpretation of the Majestic Qur’an).......................................................................................89 CHAPTER 3. QUSHAYR1.........................................................................97 Interpreting Mystical Expressions from the T rcatise CHAPTER 4. RABI‘A.................................................................................151 Her Words and Life in 'Attar’s Memorial of the Friends of God CHAPTER 5. MUHASIBI.........................................................................171 Moral Psychology CONTENTS CHAPTER 6. SARRAJ...............................................................................196 The Seven Stations from The Book of Flashes (Kitab al~Luma‘) CHAPTER 7. BISTAMI...........................................................................212 SARRAJ on Bistami’s Mystical Utterances from The Book of Flashes {Kitab al-Luma').......................................... 212 The Other Bistami: The Biographies of SULAMI andQUSHAYRI...................................................................................232 The M i‘raj of Bistami.............................................................................242 CHAPTER 8. JUNAYD.......................................... 251 On the Affirmation of Unity (Tcrwhid)....................................................251 On Annihilation (Faria')........................................................... 257 CHAPTER 9. HALLAJ.............................................................................266 Iblis as Tragic Lover (The TaSln of Before-Time and Ambiguity) CHAPTER 10. NIFFARI...................................... 281 Who Are You and Who Am U from the Book of Standings (Kitab al-Mawaqif) EPILOGUE............................................................................................ 302 “If They Only Knew” from the Diwan Attributed to al-Hallaj APPENDIX. SHAHRASTANI.................................................................304 Scholastic Theology (Kalam) on Unity and Justice CHRONOLOGY OF SOME IMPORTANT FIGURES IN THE DEVELOPMENT OF SUFISM..................................................321 NOTES............................................................................................................322 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................. 375 INDEX OF TOPICS..................................................................................386 INDEX OF NAMES..................................................................................394 vm Editor and Translator of this Volume MICHAEL A. SELLS is Emily Judson Baugh and John Marshall Gest Professor of Comparative Religions at Haverford College and Chairperson of the Haverford Department of Religion. He served in the Peace Corps in Tunisia and studied Arabic language and literature in Egypt. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago in 1982. His research interests are Arabic poetry, the Qur’an, Islamic spirituality and Western mysticism. Among his published writings are Mystical Languages of Unsaying (University of Chicago Press, 1994), a study of the mystical language of Plotinus, Eriugena, Ibn ‘Arabi, Meister Eckhan and Marguerite Porete; Desert Tracings; Six Classic Arabian Odes (Wesleyan University Press, 1989); “Sound and Meaning in Surat al-Qari‘a” (Arabica 40.3, 1993); “Bewildered Tongue: the Semantics of Mystical Union in Islam,” in Moshe Idel and Bernard McGinn, eds., Mystical Union and Monotheistic Faith (1989) and numerous articles on Arabic poetry, Qur’anic language, and the mystical writings of Ibn ‘Arabi, Marguerite Porete and Meister Eckhan:. He is co-editor and contributor to the Cambridge History of Arabic Literature, Andalusia Volume. Dr. Sells is a founder and president of the Community of Bosnia Foundation, dedicated to supporting a multireligious Bosnia-Herzegovina. Author of the Preface CARL W. ERNST, born in 1950 in Los Angeles, is Professor and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina- Chapel Hill. He has also taught in the Department of Religion at Pomona College in Claremont, California. He received his A.B. degree in Humanities and Religious Studies from Stanford University in 197 3, and his Ph.D. in Comparative Religion from Harvard University in 1981, having specialized in Islamic studies and Greek philosophy. Dr. Ernst has been on research tours in India, Pakistan and Turkey with support from the Fulbright program (1978-79, 1986), the American Institute of Indian Studies (1981) and the American Research Institute in Turkey (1990). He has also received translation and research grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities (1989-90,1993). His research has focused on early Islamic mystical texts, the development of Islamic culture in South Asia and the social and institutional history of Sufism. His publications include Words of Ecstasy in SufismEternal Garden: Mysticism, History, and Politics in a South Asian Sufi Center; Manifestations of Sainthood in Islam (edited with Grace Martin Smith) and Ruzbihan BaqlT: Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism. IX

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