In Iranian Islam Volume IV: The School of Isfahan - The Shaykh School - The Twelfth Imam

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TABLE Book VI
L'ECOLE SHAYKHIE
I. Shaykh A hmad A hsâ'î ( 1241/1826). 205
1. T he Shaykh School, 2 05. — 2. T he life and work o f S haykh A hmad
Ahsâ'î, 215.
II. T he successors o f S haykh A hmad A hsâ'î. 232
Argument of b ooks I and II ( volume I a nd II) I
Argument d es l ivres III e t IV ( tome III) IN 1. S ayyed Kâzem R eshtî, 2 32. — 2. S haykh M ohammad Karim Khan
Argument of B ooks V t o V II ( Volume IV) XIV Kermanî, 236. — 3. S haykh M ohammad-Khan K ermanî, 2 42. — 4.
Shaykh Zaynol-'Âbidîn-Khan K ermanî, 2 45. — 5.
Shaykh Abu'l-Qâsem-Khan Ebrâhimî, 2 48.
Book V
III. A few p oints o f d octrine. 256
ISFAHAN SCHOOL
1. T radition and r enewal, 256. — 2. O n a renewal of m etaphysics, 2 62.
— 3 . T he “fourth pillar”, 274. — 4. E schatology and isomorphism of
I. Ecstatic c onfessions of M IR D âmâd ( 1041/1631). 9 time a nd space, 286.
1. M îr D âmâd and the School of I sfahan, 9 . — 2 . V ision in t he m osque
of Q omm, 30. — 3 . “ Exaltation i n s olitude”, 39. — 4 . “ This immense
occult c lamor...” , 45.
Book VII
II. M ollâ Sadtâ Shirâzî ( 1051/1640). 54 THE TWELFTH IMAM
I. T he l ife and w ork of M olla S adra, 54. — 2. T he Shiite thinker a nd
AND S PIRITUAL K NIGHTS
prophetic philosophy, 68. — 3 . T owards a metaphysics of t he
Resurrection, 8 4. — 4 . T he world o f the I magination spirit and the
resurrection b ody, 95. — 5 . T he creative i magination and i ts
I. The Hagiography of the Twelfth I mam. 303
eschatological function, 106. — 6 . T he triple g rowth o f t he h uman being,
115. 1. C ompletion o f t he Pleroma of the Twelve, 3 03. — 2. F rom B yzantium
to S amarra, 309. — 3. T he Seal o f the Mohammadian Walayat a nd its
III. Q azi S a'id Qommi (1103/1691). 123
Concealment, 3 22.
I. I n t he “well-guarded” h oly city o f Q omm, 123. — 2 . A pophatic
theology a nd structural imamology, 134. — 3 . T he Story o f the “ White II. At t he t ime of the “ Great O ccultation ”. 338
Cloud” as an initiatory story, 1 50. — 4 . T he involu tion o f c hronological
1. T he Sanctuary of J am-Karan, 338. — 2. T he Voyage to t he “Green
time and sensible s pace, 1 54. — 5 . Exploring t he m ountain o f Qaf: I.
Three-thirds of t he night, 170. Island” i n t he W hite Sea, 346. — 3. T he Islands o f Five Cities, 3 67. —
II I ntermezzo, 1 74. III. The Prophet S alih, 177. I V. The Seal of 4. E ncounter in the desert or u biquity of Nâ-kojâ-âbâd, 374.
Solomon, 179. V. The m ultitude o f w orlds, 182. V I. The people of ' Ad,
III. Spiritual c hivalry. 390
190. VII. T he n oon hour, 1 94. Epilogue, 1 96.
1. F rom the “ Green I sland” of the Johannites to a n u nfinished poem b y
Goethe, 3 90. — 2. A brahamic t radition a nd spiritual c hivalry ( javân-
mardî), 4 10. — 3. T he Twelfth I mâm a nd the reign o f t he Paraclete, 4 30
— 4 . The Personal G uide, 453.
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ARGUMENT FROM BOOKS I A ND II
The I slamic w orld is not a m onolith; its religious c oncept i s not
identified with the political c oncept o f the Arab w orld. There is an
Iranian I slam, just a s there i s a T urkish, I ndian, Indonesian, M alay,
etc. I slam.
Unfortunately, i f a n abundant l iterature i s at the disposal o f the
reader curious to know the archeology a nd t he arts o f Iran, b efore
and s ince Islam, f ew b ooks, on the other h and, answer t he question
of t he researcher who i s questions the "motivations" of the Iranian
consciousness t hat c onfigured these forms.
Within the I slamic c ommunity, t he Iranian world formed f rom t he
outset a whole whose characteristic features a nd v ocation c an o nly
be elucidated if o ne c onsiders the Iranian spiritual u niverse a s
forming a whole, before and s ince Islam.
Islamic I ran w as par e xcellence the homeland of the greatest
philosophers and m ystics o f Islam; for them, speculative t hought is
never i solated f rom i ts fructification a nd i ts practical c onsequences,
not simply a s regards w hat w e t oday call the social environment, but
as regards t he concrete t otality which man n ourishes from h is own
substance, beyond t he limits of this l ife, a nd w hich is his s piritual
world.
It is b y remaining faithful to this p osition t hat t he author has b uilt
the monument t hat h e presents h ere i n seven books, and w hich is
the result o f m ore t han t wenty years of research, carried o ut in Iran
itself, i n l ibraries such a s in the intimacy o f his Iranian friends,
combined w ith t he experience o f a t eaching g iven in Paris and
Tehran. H is m ethod i s essentially p henomenological, without being
attached to a specific p henomenological school. It i s for him t o
encounter t he religious f act b y letting the religious o bject show itself
as it s hows itself t o those
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II In Iranian Islam Argument o f books I a nd II III
who he s hows h imself to. H ence t he e ssential subtitle g iven to Unlike majority S unni I slam, f or which, after the mission o f the
the w ork: s piritual and philosophical aspects. Who says aspect last Prophet, h umanity h as n othing n ew t o look f orward to, S hi'ism
supposes spectator , but here t he spectator, w ho i s t he keeps t he future open b y professing that, e ven a fter the coming
phenomenologist, must become the s piritual g uest of t hose t o from the "Seal o f the Prophets", s omething is still t o be e xpected,
whom this o bject is s hown and assume w ith t hem the charge. namely t he revelation o f the spiritual meaning o f the revelations
Any h istorical c onsideration will therefore remain immanent i n t his brought b y the great prophets.
object, without i mposing on i t from o utside some f oreign category, Such was t he hermeneutical task w ith which t he holy I mams
dialectical or other c onsideration. It is o n this c ondition that t he were invested, and their t eaching fills v olumes. But this spiritual
overlaps suggested b y t he author i n m any passages a re possible, intelligence will o nly b e c omplete a t the end of our A ion, during
synchronically, b ecause they are variations of t he same o bject. the parousia o f the Twelfth Imam, t he presently hidden I mam and
The first t wo v olumes c ontain b ooks I and I I of t he work. mystical p ole of this world.
Hermeneutics thus includes a specific perception o f temporality,
which i s e xpressed in a p eriodization of history: the time of the
Book I s ets out to show s ome e ssential a spects o f T welver
mission of t he prophets i s followed by the time of spiritual
Shi'ism or Imamism, s trongly established from its o rigins in Iran,
initiation. Even t here, S hiite prophetology recrosses t he aspirations
and which since the 16th century h as b ecome the official religion.
of t he Joachimite m ovement i n t he West and its a nnunciation of
These aspects are brought out and a nalyzed on the basis o f w hat
the reign o f t he S pirit. B ut this periodization is in f act a lready
the author h as a lready p roposed t o c all the "phenomenon of t he
metahistory, b ecause its e ssentially e schatological d imension
revealed B ook", as i t shows i tself t o t hose w hom t he Qurân
breaks up history.
designates as Ahl a l-Kitâb, this " community o f t he Book” w hich
Like h ermeneutics, imamology p laced Shiite thinkers b efore
encompasses Judaism, Christianity and I slam. I n e ach of t he
the same problems t hat Christology had posed to Christian
branches o f the Abrahamic t radition, interpreters of t he Bible a nd
thinkers, but S hiite thinkers a lways tended to resolve t hem in t he
of the Koran found themselves f aced w ith t he same problems a nd
sense r ejected b y Christology. o fficial. T his is perhaps h ow t he
the same t asks: for a ll of them i t was a m atter of k nowing w hat is
Shiite g nosis preserved i tself f rom any s ecularization i n s ocial
the true meaning o f the Book. On both sides, t he search for the
messianism.
true meaning, w hich is t he spiritual meaning hidden under t he
literal a ppearance, has d eveloped similar m ethods to r eveal t he
Shiite m etaphysics a nd Shiite spirituality a re t he substance o f
esoteric, that i s t o say i nterior, m eaning o f d ivine R evelation. .
each other. I nformation exclusively l imited t o majority S unni I slam
The “phenomenon o f the Book” is a t the origin o f h ermeneutics,
has f or too long l ed t o the identification of Sufism and spiritual
that i s t o say o f “Understanding”. It i s p robable that t he esoteric
Islam. I n f act, Shiite spirituality g oes b eyond S ufism. Of course,
hermeneutics of the Bible and the Koran s till have m uch to t each
there are S hiite Sufi c ongregations, the genealogical t ree o f most
the philosophers who nowadays show themselves so preoccupied,
tariqats o r c ongregations g oing b ack to one of the Imams a s well.
precisely, w ith hermeneutics.
But t he Shiite esotericist is already, as such, on t he Way (the
The technical t erm d esignating the esoteric h ermeneutics of
tariqat), w ithout even h aving to enter a S ufi c ongregation. At the
the Qurân i s t he word ta'wîl, w hich means “to bring back” a t hing
summit o f a mystical S inai, knowing the Imam as his p ersonal
to i ts origin, to its archetype. S hiite m etaphysics is d ominated by
guide l eads him t o self-knowledge.
the idea o f the u nknowable, inaccessible, unnameable God in his
Essence, and by the idea of his epiphany i n the pleroma of t he
Fourteen entities o f light, manifested o n earth i n t he person of t he
Book II i s e ntirely devoted to another a spect that is as
"Fourteen I mmaculate". ( the P rophet, h is daughter F atima, t he
fundamental as it i s characteristic o f the philosophy a nd spirituality
Twelve Imams). The esoteric meaning that t he Shiite t a'wil derives
of I ranian Islam, an a spect which w ill also b e a llied f rom the
from the literal Qur'anic data m ainly concerns this p leroma o f t he
outset with the Shi'ism of many I ranian thinkers . This is the
Fourteen. It illustrates, b y the very f act, the strictly Shiite c oncept
aspect typified par e xcellence by the term ishraq, w hich d esignates
of p rophetology, from w hich it follows that S hiism refuses t o h ave
the sunrise ( aurora consurgens), i ts " east." Just a s the philosophy
its f uture behind it.
of t he lshraq, a s "theosophy" o f Light, is the
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IV In Iranian I slam Argument o f b ooks I a nd I I IN
“Oriental” theosophy, the Ishrâqîyûn p hilosophers are the in a cycle of s hort i nitiatory novels, almost a ll c omposed in
“Oriental” philosophers, in the metaphysical sense of the w ord “ Orient”. Persian, a nd whose richness o f s ymbols allows S ohrawardî to
They a re a lso o ften r eferred t o as t he " Platonists", as o pposed lead his reader to t he end o f h is desire, even b etter t han his
to t he peripatetics of Islam. At t he origin o f these " Platonists of great s ystematic works. The a uthor insists e specially o n t wo
Persia" i n Islam, t here was t he heroic w ill o f a brilliant young spiritual novels, of w hich o ne h as for c ontext t he Iranian m ystical
thinker, o riginally from the north-west of Iran, Shihâboddîn Y ahyâ gesture, and o f w hich the other is ordered t o t he Gnostic gesture
Sohrawardî, who was t o die in Aleppo, in Syria, a t the a ge of in general.
thirty-six, a m artyr for h is cause (1191). The "eastern" t radition of S uhrawardi h as remained a ctive i n
His works t hemselves clearly s tate h is purpose: to resuscitate Iran to the p resent day; i t h ad a great influence i n India a t t he
the w isdom of ancient P ersia, t he philosophy o f Light a nd time o f the r eligious reform of S hah A kbar.
Darkness; in a w ay to repatriate t he H ellenized Magi t o Islamic These first two b ooks of t he work t hus p resent an e ssential
Persia, and t his e ven t hanks to the n eutic herme (the t a'wîl ) double aspect o f I slamic gnosis, as configured b y the spirit o f
whose Islamic s pirituality o ffered him the r esources. Iranian I slam. At a time w hen r ecent d iscoveries have g iven a
new impetus to G nostic studies, b oth in the field o f a ncient
Some three centuries b efore t he g reat B yzantine p hilosopher Gnosticism a nd i n the field o f J ewish gnosis, this r esearch
Gémiste Plethon, t he work of the Iranian thinker o perates the comes i n due t ime.
conjunction o f t he names o f Plato a nd Zarathustra/Zoroaster, as
heralds of the same " oriental" tradition g oing b ack t o Hermes,
the father o f the Sages. . The P latonic Ideas a re interpreted in
terms o f Zoroastrian angelology. The h ermeneutics o f being ARGUMENT FROM B OOK I II
gives right t o a t hird w orld whose p hilosophies o f concept w ere
powerless to found ontology: between the i ntelligible w orld and Book I II is e ntirely devoted t o I ranian S ufism, a s it e merges
the sensible world there is t he mundus imaginalis, a perfectly from t he w ork o f a very g reat master, R ûzbehân Baqlî
real world, not the “imaginary” t o which our exoteric philosophies Shîrâzî ( 1128-1209), c ontemporary of S ohrawardî, t he shaykh
are reduced, b ut a w orld that m ust be d esignated by a proper al Ishrâq, b ut, while t he latter i s a man from the North o f I ran,
term: t he imaginai Sohrawardi w as aware of founding b y t he Rûzbehân i s a man from the South, f rom Fârs, t hat i s to s ay o f
ontology of this “ third w orld” the objective reality of the r evelations "Persis" o r P ersia proper.
of the prophets, visions o f the mystics o f the e vents of Revelation, His work and h is doctrine are eminently representative of t he
and t he theme will r emain p resent t hroughout t he c enturies o f spirituality of I ranian S ufism, m ainly as regards what differentiates
Iranian thought. it from t raditional Christian asceticism. T he p henomenon o f t he
It i s c haracteristic that t his metaphysics of Light i dentifies i ts “unhappy c onscience”, whose denomination is familiar t o u s
primordial S ource w ith what Z oroastrian theosophy d esignates since Hegel, is proper t o t he phenomenology o f t he Christian
as Xvarnah o r “ Light o f Glory”. From t his Source p roceed the conscience, even i f n owadays i t w ants t o b e m ore a nd m ore
archangelic h ierarchies, t he structure of which corresponds h ere “present to the world”. o ut of s hame at b eing unhappy, o r in the
to a s ynthesis o f Zoroastrian a ngelology and the c elestial hope o f being l ess so. S ufism, o f c ourse, a lso f inds itself f aced
hierarchies o f t he Neoplatonism o f Proclus. The v ery m otif o f with a n o pposition that n eeds t o b e o vercome, but the terms o f
the Xvarnah o ffers i nexhaustible resonances a nd extensions. the o pposition d iffer f rom those which cause or have c aused t he
Previous r esearch has h omologated the f orms o f manifestation misfortune of Christian man. T he l atter f ound i tself t orn b y the
with t hose of the Holy Grail i n our W estern traditions. T he m otif opposition b etween s in and j ustifying g race, b elieving and
of the Grail, of the mystical m irror-of-the-world cup, also figures knowing, m ore trivially b etween " mysticism" a nd " sensuality",
in the heroic e pic of ancient I ran, a nd i t is p resent i n the w ork of more abstractly between t he truth o f h istorical fact and t he inner
Sohrawardî, where it t ypifies the passage from t he h eroic epic truth, t he o bject o f f aith e mbodied in history a nd t he spiritual
to the mystical e pic which is a c apital fact of the c ultural h istory reality not c onditioned b y time, the laterality o f t he given r evealed
of Iran. I t i s t his v ery p assage w hich i s announced and the s piritual s ignificance, etc. So much s o that w ith the
secularization of a state o f a ffairs
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WE In I ranian I slam Argument f rom Book III VII
post-Christian, the d isease h as o nly c hanged its name. Sociology i s those who voluntarily, to d isguise t he purity o f t heir inner countenance,
the a uthoritative successor to t heology, with the a ssistance o f occasionally a ssume conduct incurring official blame. From t his p oint
psychoanalysis. We no l onger s peak o f s in, b ut o f a guilt complex, o f of v iew, he can b e c onsidered as t he precursor o f a nother famous
frustration... shîrâzî, the g reat poet H âfez, whose Iranian Sufis have always b een
As f or the S ufi, he i s neither a s inner, nor a sick person, nor a able to r ead the d îwân a s a mystical memento.
frustrated person; he d oes n ot f eel t he n eed for " justification."
He is a f oreigner, an e xile, and what he aspires t o, with the g nostics Rûzbehân w rote, at t he request of a friend, a "spiritual diary"
everywhere and always, i s to f ind h imself a t h ome, and therefore t o which appears a s a n i nvaluable d ocument i n t he whole o f t he mystical
meet t he g uide w ho w ill show him t he w ay by which to r eturn h ome. . literature of a ll times ( it a llows us t o e voke s ome o f S wedenborg's
Such is f or h im t he m eaning o f p rophetology: t he r eligious L aw Memorabilia ). I t is t he diary of h is visions and dreams s ince the age
(sharî'at) r evealed by t he P rophet o pens t he i nterior w ay (tarîqat) of f ifteen. Rûzbehân r eveals h imself a s h aving b een, from childhood,
leading to t he s piritual T ruth (haqîqat) which, p ersonally l ived a nd endowed with an e motional p ower a nd an e xceptional visionary
realized, m akes t he S ufi a f ree man. . M ystical profession is not aptitude. A t fifteen h e l eft his house. A vision r eveals t o h im h is secret
opposed to p rophetic r evelation: it is its fulfillment, b ecause it is its rank i n t he m ystical hierarchy. T hen the prestigious visions f ollow o ne
secret truth. In t he a bsence o f t his e soteric truth, only an abstract another: v isions of a ngels a nd beings o f b eauty, landscapes in b loom,
monotheism ( tawhîd) r emains . glowing a uroras...
Only o vercomes t his t he i dea, o r b etter said the l ived e xperience o f All o f R ûzbehân's books a re written in a very personal language,
theophany. T he divine e ssence i s u nknowable; but t he d ivine vibrating w ith a continuous e cstatic l yricism which d oes not always
operations a re so many t heophonisms which manifest t heir a ttributes. make i t easy t o read. It remains that this a utobiographical d iary
The theophanic m anifestation is not a d ivine incarnation; theophanic provides u s w ith the experimental basis, t o i dentify the stages a nd
perception i s a p erception o f t he a mphibole (iltibas), o f t he d ouble the t ests b y w hich t he dialectic of l ove l eads, o n t he way o f
meaning o f a ll m anifested being, w hich simultaneously v eils and theophanies, t o t he esoteric t awhîd .
reveals t he i nvisible. The f irst test i s t he test o f t he Veil. Rûzbehân i s w ithout doubt here
Deprived o f t he c onsciousness t hat governs this v ision, w e remain in in t he g reat t radition o f S ufism, b ut he b rings t o i t a very personal a nd
the w orld o f d uality, the w orld o f o ppositions; the p ious believer as extraordinary intuition, m arking a summit o f b oth e xperimental
well a s the d ogmatic theologian a re then, b asically, p olytheists w ho mysticism a nd speculative mysticism. T he “ Hidden T reasure”
ignore themselves. produced t he world i n o rder to b e k nown and to k now itself in
However, i t is not b y turning away from the v isible and the s ensible creatures. The S pirit is t he primordial establishment b y w hich t he
that t his c onsciousness can h atch. T he visible m ust be perceived a s Holy Spirits subsist, t hat is, the pre-eternal spiritual i ndividualities o f
a v eil, and transformed into a m irror. I n the s um o f h uman e xperiences, beings. N o doubt e ach atom of b eing is a n e ye e ntirely a bsorbed in
there is o ne privileged o ne which alone can lead t o l iving t his the c ontemplation o f t he Light which g ave it origin. But the Divine
transfiguration, and it is that o f h uman l ove for a being of b eauty: Being then e xperiences j ealousy w ith r egard to i tself: by o bjectifying
commotion a nd ecstasy o f t he s oul b efore t heophany. R ûzbehân itself t o i tself, by r evealing itself, it is n o l onger i dentically i ts own
imparts a d ecisive orientation t o S ufism, distinguishing o n the o ne witness to i tself; he h as a witness o utside of h imself, a nother than
hand the c ase of t he p ious ascetics for w hom h uman l ove was not a t himself.
the beginning o f t he s piritual path, and o n the o ther h and the c ase o f
those f or w hom t he h e h uman love i s at t he b eginning of d ivine l ove, And t his i s the f irst V eil. Also the Divine Being tries to t ake h imself
because it is o ne and the s ame b ook, that of o ne and the s ame l ove, back t o h imself; h e d iverts this S pirit f rom contemplating H im, a nd
but y ou have t o l earn t o r ead the t ext. Only t he l atter, o f w hich sends b ack h is c reature t o t he contemplation o f i tself. This vision o f
Rûzbehân t ypifies the c ase par excellence, deserve t o b e designated itself b y itself is t he second Veil. The t est o f t he Veil i s t he very
as Faithful of l ove, b ecause o f t heir a ffinity with the F edeli d'amore, meaning o f C reation: the descent o f t he Holy Spirits into t he earthly
Dante's companions. O n this v ery path, Rûzbehân i s not a fraid t o condition h as n o o ther end than t o l ead t hem to t he victorious
figure as a m alâmati, a s o ne of outcome o f t his t est.
For t his, the mystic m ust discover his knowledge o f
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VIII In I ranian Islam Argument from Book I II IX
oneself as being the own gaze w ith which G od c ontemplates himself, nal o f love, to orchestrate the great t hemes of The E ternal Witness
as being himself t he witness b y w hich he a ttests to himself. Then t he and T he Eternal Bride. Already S ohrawardî had p ut us o n t his p ath of
veil b ecomes a m irror. B ut t o s eek beyond the V eil is, s ays Rûzbehân, the t ransfiguration of Eros. H ere a lso l ove is not transferred from one
to fall i nto t he “madness of t he inaccessible”. A world o ther t han itself, object to another o bject, f rom a h uman o bject to a d ivine object; i t i s
God h as n ever l ooked a t i t s ince C reation; h e l oathes i t. T hose who a metamorphosis of the subject which is accomplished. Hence t he
attain t o t he consciousness of w itnesses are the e yes through w hich typification of t his m etamorphosis in the couple o f Majnûn and L ayla
God s till looks at t he world, and t hereby a lso still "concerns" i t. T hey (the Tristan a nd Y seult of the mystical epic i n Persian a s i n Arabic).
may be ignored by e veryone, but it i s t hanks to them t hat t he w orld At the h eight o f his love, Majnûn becomes t he “mirror of God”. It i s
can l ast. M uch b etter than a s ocial r ole, these m ystics f ulfill a function God himself who, i n the gaze of the lover f or t he beloved, contemplates
of cosmic s alvation. The i ntuition o f a R uzbehan here i s v ery c lose to his o wn eternal face.
that of a M aster E ckhart. T he g aze by w hich I know God is n one o ther
than t he gaze by w hich God k nows me. A nd this i s t he s ecret of the This i s r eaching t he vision of the vision, t his e soteric t awhîd o f
theophanic v isions by which R ûzbehân progresses t owards esoteric identity f or which there i s no l onger either I + I, n or I = I; b ut I x I = I. I t
tawhîd . can t hen h appen that, in the intoxication of trans-consciousness, the
mystic utters the famous excess of al-Hallâj: A nâ'l-Haqq ( I a m God).
The case of al-Hallâj preoccupied Rûzbehân t hroughout h is life; h e
This progression is ensured by the dialectic of love, for it alone lavished the e xplanations and e xcuses of his famous "theopathic
discovers t he identity o f t he witness a nd t he w itnessed, of the locution." M oreover, i t i s to Rûzbehân that w e owe t he conservation
contemplating and t he contemplated. She fills a whole work i n P ersian of a work b y a l-Hallâj, i n his voluminous "Commentary on t he
which is perhaps R uzbehan's m asterpiece: L e J asmin des F idèles paradoxes o f the Sufis", of which we recently p ublished t he Persian
d'amour. “With the eyes of t he heart I contemplate uncreated b eauty; text, a nd w hich is a v eritable Sum of the Sufism of his time.
with t he eyes of t he intellect, I endeavored to understand t he s ecret
of t he human form. I f t he dialectic of l ove reveals the s ecret of
theophanies, it is b ecause t heophany i s i n e ssence t he " phenomenon
of the divine" in beauty. O ur era o f “ demythologizing” has w orked so
hard t o “ desacralize” beauty t hat this f eeling of the n uminous i n t he ARGUMENT F ROM BOOK I V
presence o f b eauty m ay appear to i t a s s omething s trange, if not
foreign. I t i s, on the other h and, a f undamental f eeling among all o ur Book I V t akes up t he question already begun in Book I , n amely
Iranian F aithful of L ove. It i s no l ess so w ith an I bn ' Arabi, w ho for that o f the r elationship between Shi'ism and S ufism. T he w orks o f
eight c enturies i nfluenced all of I slamic spirituality, and w ho i s o ne o f four great a uthors of the 14th and 1 5th centuries A D (the s econd of
the m ost i llustrious w itnesses t o t his m ystical r eligion of beauty as t he them u nfortunately remaining anonymous) are studied in the course
supreme d ivine a ttribute. of the f our chapters that m ake up t his b ook.
I. The first is devoted t o Sayyed Haydar Âmolî (born i n 720/1320;
Rûzbehân adopts t he neoplatonic thesis: “Even before t he died after 787/1385-86), whose c onsiderable work, often c ited by
existence of t he worlds, t he Divine Being i s i tself love, the l over a nd later a uthors, h ad r emained u npublished u ntil n ow. We r ecently
the beloved”. He i mmediately finds himself f aced with the g reat procured t he edition o f two o f his treatises which make up a v eritable
problem a gitated i n Sufi c ircles f rom the b eginning: i s i t appropriate to Sum of Shiite Philosophy; for m any others, alas! we have not yet
use the word love with regard t o G od? Who loves the m ystic when he been able t o f ind a ny m anuscripts. Haydar Âmoli is a m an from the
speaks of h is l ove for God? The e ntire book of Jasmin answers these North; he s pent the first h alf o f his life in his native Taba r estan, a
questions, in a s eries of c hapters a nalyzing o n t he o ne h and the province which today f orms part o f Mazan d eran, o n t he southern
prophetic m eaning of b eauty, c ontemplating the p rophet o f Islam a s a shore o f the Caspian Sea. Those o f his works which have b een
prophet of t he religion o f b eauty, a nd o n t he o ther h and r evealing , accessible t o us s o f ar, themselves provide us w ith t he elements o f a
with a ll the resources o f a P latonic i nspiration, the p reeter s ource moving spiritual a utobiography,
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X In I ranian I slam Argument f rom Book IV XI
particularly typical o f a n Iranian s piritual. Coming from a large Shiite as a disciple of I bn 'Arabi, t o whom he repeatedly refers. H e applies a
family in T abarestan, Sayyed H aydar, after having s tudied in p articular large part o f h is effort to m arking the passage from the theological
in I sfahan, l ived u ntil the a ge o f t hirty i n a brilliant a nd fulfilled youth. tawhîd to w hich t he prophets h ave i nvited, to the ontological t awhîd to
He i s e ven t he minister of h is sovereign a nd thereby associated for a which the " Friends o f G od" belong, f ollowing t he holy Imams. T hese
moment with t he a dventures o f t he t ime. Then h e goes t hrough a deep pages show to w hat e xtent the thought of Shiite Iran w as able t o
spiritual c risis which m akes h im renounce all worldly career a mbitions, assimilate the t heosophical teaching of I bn 'Arabi, b ecause it found
and throws h im o n the r oads a s a " pilgrim o f G od", d ressed in a poor there i ts own good, and b ecause the Fosûs of I bn 'Arabi w ere a lso
Sufi c oat. H e t ravels to t he S hiite h oly p laces of Iraq w here h e will considered to belong t o t he phenomenon of t he Holy Book, s ince t he
spend the e ntire s econd p eriod o f his l ife, busy producing a work of author h ad received heavenly inspiration f rom the Prophet. However,
massive dimensions. despite his d evotion to t he thought and w ork o f I bn 'Arabî, there is a
point on which H aydar  moli manifests an irreducible o pposition,
This w ork c an b e s aid to m ark a g reat m oment i n the d evelopment namely the p oint which f or a S hi'ite decides t he very m eaning o f
of t he p hilosophy a nd s pirituality of S hi'ism; i t would suffice to s how us prophetology. W ith all t he Twelver S hî'ites, Haydar  moli professes
that S hiite t hought a s s uch is n ot, a s some modernists would h ave it, that t he S eal o f t he walâyat, w hich i s the esoteric o f p rophecy, c annot
a p olitical creation of t he S afavid p eriod. A nd this work is p ar excellence be a prophet, namely J esus, as I bn 'Arabi w anted. T his S eal is and
among t hose w hich b ring u s an a nswer t o t he s erious question can o nly b e the Mohammadian I mam, i n t he person o f the First I mam
concerning the o riginal r elations between S hi'ism and Sufism. On such as Seal of t he universal walayat , a nd i n t he person o f t he Twelfth
a d ecisive q uestion for t he u nderstanding o f I slamic spirituality in Imam a s Seal of t he Mohammadian w alayat.
general, t he r esearcher i n religious s ciences prefers to l eave t he f loor
to those c oncerned t hemselves a nd t o be guided by their answer. T his
is w hy here, d uring B ook I , w e have a lready been strongly inspired b y It is a lso t he w hole fate o f S hiite historiosophy t hat i s at s take h ere (a
the texts o f H aydar  molî. historiosophy whose f ull significance i s shown here in B ook VII), and
Haydar Âmolî c ould n ot compromise.
Like so m any o f h is colleagues, S ayyed Haydar i s distinguished by
This q uestion, t herefore, h e tackles head-on, b ecause, i t seems, it a particular aptitude for visions i n t he mundus imaginalis, an aptitude
arose f or h im a nd h is entourage in a p articularly acute way. H is that goes hand in h and with his taste f or diagrams. T he diagram of a
response i s t hat o f an e sotericist, f or whom Shi'ism is e ssentially the vision contemplated i n t he night sky o f B aghdad, i llustrates in a s triking
esotericism o f I slam. This i s w hy, according t o h im, any S hiite who way the s tructure o f t he pleroma of the "Fourteen I mmaculates".
limits h imself t o the e xoteric, m utilates the v ery teaching of t he h oly
Imams. O n t he o ther h and, t he S ufis, b y professing t he e soterics of II The s econd chapter analyzes a t reatise d ating from the same
divine r evelations, t urn out t o be t he “ true Shi'ites”. Unfortunately t hey period, b ut u nfortunately remained a nonymous, a nd w hich a mply
have forgotten t heir origin, a nd t hey have mutilated t heir o wn esoteric comments o n a f amous h adîth r eported b y the Prophet: “The Qurân
doctrine, i nsofar a s t hey have b anished imamology f rom it. Sayyed has a n exoteric m eaning a nd a n esoteric m eaning; i n t urn, this esoteric
Haydar w ants t o p ut a n end t o t his s ituation o nce and for a ll, by meaning h as an e soteric m eaning, a nd s o o n up to s even esoteric
dismissing back to b ack Shi'ites vituperating S ufism, and Sufis depths. T he h adith, by thus s tating the golden r ule o f s piritual
vituperating Shi'ism. It t hus has t o f ace u p on several fronts: vis-à-vis hermeneutics, o f t he interiorization o f t he meaning o f Q ur'anic
legalistic S unnism, v is-à-vis the S hiites f orgetful of t he e soteric, vis-à- revelation, l eads u s back t o t he "phenomenon of t he Holy Book", amply
vis t he S ufis f orgetful o f their o rigin a nd o f what they owe e ssentially studied here in B ook I, a s being the foundation on which t he meaning
to S hi'ism. I t i s a s imilar situation t hat M ullâ Sadrâ Shîrâzî w ill h ave t o and the v ery vocation of S hi'ism a re d ecided. From t his point of v iew,
face, some t wo centuries l ater, a nd it i s the t ragic situation t hat the our treatise i s situated between the great hermeneutical work o f
spiritual persons b elonging to t he t hree b ranches of t he A brahamic Semnânî studied later, and t hat o f Haydar  moli who devoted to t he
tradition h ad t o f ace respectively. Shi'ite s piritual h ermeneutics of the Qurân a m onumental w ork i n s ix
large volumes. Our t reatise p oses the problem very w ell in t erms that
are familiar to all h ermeneutics of t he tradition.
To c arry o ut this f ace t o f ace, Sayyed H aydar behaves
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In Iranian Islam
XII Argument from B ook I V XIII
Abrahamic: what does the t ext r evealed in a specific l anguage a nd a t here, by the author himself, faced w ith t he serious problem: i s there a
a s pecific time represent i n relation t o the eternal t ruth t hat i t s tates? prophetology, i s there a S ufism, authentically p ossible i n t he absence
How to account for t he p assage from the divine W ord t o i ts h uman of S hiite i mamology? The p hilosophemes a re p resented i n s uch a w ay
articulation?
that i t i s a ppropriate t o s peak o f a n imamology w hich does n ot dare or
The f oreseeable objection i s indeed this: if t he divine W ord i s e ternal, which no longer dares to s peak i ts name. A nd this is a d ramatic a spect
if a s a corollary the e vents that i t reveals are e ternal, then what a bout in the history o f S hiite thought.
the n otion o f event? Our author d ismisses the objection b y precisely IV. T he f ourth a nd last c hapter of t his b ook f ocuses on the work a nd
opposing to it the i dea of an eternal e vent, i n connection with w hich the doctrine o f o ne of t he greatest masters of I ranian s pirituality,
before a nd t he a fter are n ot p osed i n terms of t he irreversible 'Alaoddawleh Semnânî (736/1336) whose, b y a p aradox which alas! is
quantitative time o f chronological history. If the phenomenon o f t he not unique, t he w ork ( in Persian a nd Arabic) is still entirely in m anuscript.
Book m arks the irruption o f t he d ivine Word i n time, i ts s piritual He belongs t o t he generation preceding t hat of H aydar  moli.
hermeneutics (ta'wîl) brings it back to a time w hich is n ot that o f h istory.
Like this o ne, h e goes t hrough a d eep s piritual crisis which, as a y oung
Here w e s ee t he h ermeneutics of t he B ook at w ork: it i s t his w hich has page o f t he Mongol ruler A rgun, m akes him a S ufi.
led our t hinkers to c onfront and d ominate t he problem of h istorical t ime. His d octrine i s in l ine w ith t hat of N ajmoddîn Kobrâ ( 1221), t he great
master o f C entral Asian Sufism who w as t he first t o b e attentive to t he
As f or t he s even e soteric d epths, they are r espectively f ixed b y a colored p hotisms w hose a ura manifests i tself in t he spiritual
designation o f the B ook borrowed from the Qurân itself. Each consciousness of m ystics.
designation corresponds t o a degree o f s ignificance and t herefore The doctrine of S emnânî is characterized b y a h ermeneutics p ushing
relates t o the g roup o f people w hose level of u nderstanding corresponds to t he extreme limit a r adical interiorization o f t he Koranic d ata. T he
to t hat d egree. Hermeneutics is thus inseparable f rom philosophical connection noted above b etween h ermeneutics a nd anthropology,
anthropology; w e w ill verify t his fundamental c onnection twice m ore between the degrees o f s ignificance a nd the levels of c omprehension,
below, c haracteristic of a spirituality b ased o n the different l evels of is m odalized h ere b y c ombining, in a v ery o riginal way, with t he theory
meaning a nd u nderstanding of t he H oly Book. of t he phenomena o f c olored l ights. perceived in t he mundus i maginalis.
At t he same time, t he succession of t he prophets, t he idea of w hich
III. The t hird chapter studies a h ermeneutical w ork by Sâ'inoddîn reactivates i n I slam t he prophetology o f t he Verus Propheta p rofessed
Ispahânî ( 830/1427), a n author w ho belongs to a whole f amily d ynasty by primitive Judeo-Christianity, is also radically internalized h ere.
of Shi'ite thinkers a nd s pirituals. The w ork in question interprets a Interiorization takes place in e ffect t hrough a p hysiology of t he subtle
particularly enigmatic Qur'anic verse: "The Hour b ecame i mminent and organism, hidden under t he envelope o f t he physical b ody o f m an. The
the M oon s plit" centers o r organs of t his s ubtle p hysiology (latîfa) are seven i n n umber:
(54:1). O ur author p resents u s w ith a sort of e xercise in practical they a re, not as for S chiller the “stars o f y our d estiny”, b ut the “prophets
hermeneutics, admirably illustrating t he connection mentioned a bove of y our b eing”. Each i ndeed typifies a p rophet, f rom t he "Adam o f y our
between a nthropology and h ermeneutics, between modes o f b eing a nd being", passing through the "Abraham o f y our being" to t he "Mohammad
modes of understanding, between levels of u nderstanding a nd of y our b eing". Each l atîfa h as its own a ura or c olored l ight; the
individuals t hey concern. perception o f t his a ura announces to t he mystic t he degree of g rowth o f
This i s how the h ermeneutics of this verse at i ts d ifferent l evels of his subtle body, t hat is to s ay o f h is b ody o f r esurrection.
meaning, a llows the a uthor t o sketch a religious typology , encompassing
all the f orms of consciousness then represented in Islam. F ollowing t he
order of a growing e soteric p enetration, we have successively t he All t he Qur'anic data r elating t o t he various prophets must t hen b e
jurists and t he traditionists ( the s pecialists o f t he hadîth), t he perceived a s r elating t o t he organ o r subtle c enter w hich corresponds
philosophers of Islam ( here t he s cholastics o f t he Kalâm), t he to i t. The typology which, in S â'inoddîn Ispahânî d istributed the levels
peripatetics, the I shrâqîyûn or Platonists c ontinuators of S ohrawardî , of u nderstanding between s everal g roups o f p eople, is therefore
the Sufis, t he H oroufis, the S hiites. Again we are s et radically internalized h ere; these l evels relate to t he centers o r organs
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XIV In I ranian I slam Argument of the V XV
Subtles of e ach spiritual. Dominating t he apparatus of t he seven l atîfa o f tician b ook” w hich, in addition to solid s ystematic t reatises (several o f
the " prophets o f y our being", t here i s another t o w hich Semnânî which remained unfinished), l eft us e cstatic c onfessions o f which w e will
mysteriously a lludes on several o ccasions, and w hom h e designates, by read t he translation here. T heir i nterest is t o show us, on the o ne hand,
the v ery name of t he Angel o f knowledge and r evelation. , l ike latîfa the Archetypal Images w hose v ision i s p erpetually imminent t o the S hi'ite
jabra'êlîya, the “ angel G abriel o f y our being”. Now, i t is a t t his s ummit o f consciousness, and on the o ther hand, to show us t he A vicennaian t heory
mystical a nthropology that w e g limpse, in Semnânî, t he secret of a n of t he world exploding i nto a n intensely d ramatic vision, whose s tory
imamology w hich, here again, does n ot dare o r d oes n ot want t o s peak offers m any reminiscences o f the s tory of ecstasy r ecorded b y P lotinus i n
its n ame. his Enneads, a nd which o ur philosophers k new from the s o-called
As f or the s even latîfa, S emnânî a nalyzes a nd d escribes i n detail the Theology o f Aristotle.
cosmic a gents a nd influxes t hat constitute them. I t i s a g rand vision, r ich Molla S ADRÂ SHÎRÂZÎ ( 1640), the m ost illustrious pupil o f Mîr Dâmâd,
in t radition and at t he s ame time very personal. is o n the other hand a f igure par excellence o f the " Platonicians of Persia".
The m ystic S emnânî turns o ut to b e a profound m etaphysician, w hose His c olossal w ork includes, a mong o ther t reatises, t wo l arge S ummaries:
system c alls for m any comparisons. T his is w hy the work of S emnânî the one e ntitled "The F our S piritual V oyages", a nd the o ne which i s a
turns out t o b e a crucial m oment n ot only for t he spiritual culture o f I ran, commentary on Kolaynî (widely used here in Book I ), a nd which, while
but a lso f or all research in m etaphysics and m ysticism. being u nfortunately remained unfinished, c onstitutes a m onument of the
prophetic p hilosophy o f Shi'ism. M olla S adra first comes to the a ttention
of t he philosopher by h is metaphysics of being, w hich u psets t he v enerable
metaphysics o f essence to substitute f or i t a m etaphysics giving p rimacy
ARGUMENT FROM B OOK V from t he outset to the a ct of existing. We c an speak here of the " topicality"
of M olla S adra's p reoccupations. This f undamental o ption d etermines t he
Book V commemorates the great b oom w hich marked t he Safavid positions o f t heses c haracterizing the o riginality o f the m aster w ho has
Renaissance i n I ran in t he 16th a nd 1 7th centuries. Certainly, the flowering left h is mark o n Iranian p hilosophy u ntil today.
of p hilosophical thought, w ithout analogy e lsewhere in Islam, d oes n ot
arise from nothingness; we s ketched i n Book IV what p receded, as w e
said i n t he p rologue t o w hat difficulties t his R enaissance exposes o ur
routine p eriodization of t he history of p hilosophy. I sfahan w as then the Molla S adra i s the p hilosopher o f metamorphoses a nd transubstantiation
metropolis of c ulture a nd the arts i n Iran, which unfortunately does n ot studies. H is v ision i s t hat of a fall of the S oul to the b ottom o f the a byss,
mean that our philosophers e xperienced no difficulty t here. More t han whose ascent, by r eaching the l evel o f the h uman f orm, finally e merges a t
twenty t hinkers and spirituals c ould b e cited a s h aving i llustrated w hat we the threshold o f t he s piritual world ( Malakût); t here i s n othing e volutionary
have a lready p roposed t o designate a s t he School of I sfahan. T hree o nly, about this v iew, a s s ome have said too q uickly; it i s the v ision o f a w orld
eminent a mong all, c ould b e retained here. B oth these p hilosophers t hat in ascension by a d ivine a ction perpetually at work. W hile professing t he
unites t he n ame of t he p restigious c ity, t hey present very d iverse transcendental unity o f being, M olla S adra's m etaphysics only admits an
tendencies. The Iranian bio-bibliographic directories a re generally c ontent attribution o f b eing b y a nalogy to the d ifferent d egrees o f intensification or
with an overly s ummary c lassification between “ peripateticians” (Mashshâ'ûn) degradation of the a ct of being d etermining the e ssences. T hereby, i t
and “platonicians” (Ishrâqiyûn). These “ peripateticians” are not quite w hat founds its p rinciple of “intrasubstantial” or “ transubstantial m ovement”, t he
we are u sed to classifying under this name. effects o f w hich extend into the p osthumous d evelopment of the h uman
being. Molla S adra professes a n otion o f matter close to that of his
contemporaries the “ Cambridge P latonists”, a nd such that the b oundaries
between spirit and matter are abolished i n the m ediation of the m undus
A n otorious example is that o f M ÎR DÂMÂD ( 1631) who was the imaginalis w hose metaphysics inaugurated by S ohrawardî i s c ompleted
“mastermind” o f several g enerations o f Iranian p hilosophers. His by M olla S adra.
considerable work h as r emained l argely u npublished, a s i f eclipsed later
by t hat of t he m ost b rilliant of h is p upils, M olla S adrâ S hîrâzî. I f w e class
Mîr D âmâd a mong the p eripatetics, it s hould b e specified t hat h e is a
"peripatetic He completes it w ith his doctrine o f the c reative Imagination, i magina-