Pure Gold from the Words of Sayyidi Abd al-Aziz al-Dabbagh: Al-Dhabab al-Ibriz min Kalam Sayyidi Abd al-Aziz al-Dabbagh PDF
Preview Pure Gold from the Words of Sayyidi Abd al-Aziz al-Dabbagh: Al-Dhabab al-Ibriz min Kalam Sayyidi Abd al-Aziz al-Dabbagh
Basic Texts of Islamic Mysticism BTIM-1-al-Lamati_CS2.indd i 9-8-2007 10:55:14 Basic Texts of Islamic Mysticism Editor Bernd Radtke VOLUME 1 BTIM-1-al-Lamati_CS2.indd ii 9-8-2007 10:55:14 Pure Gold from the Ê # Words of Sayyid Abd # Ê § al- Az z al-Dabb gh Ê § (Al-Dhabab al-Ibr z min Kal m Ê # # Ê § Sayyid Abd al- Az z al-Dabb gh) By È § ãÊ A mad b. al-Mub rak al-Lama A Translation with Notes and an Outline by John O’Kane and Bernd Radtke LEIDEN • BOSTON 2007 BTIM-1-al-Lamati_CS2.indd iii 9-8-2007 10:55:14 This book is printed on acid-free paper. A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISSN 1875-0664 ISBN 978 90 04 16415 4 © Copyright 2007 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Hotei Publishing, IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands BTIM-1-al-Lamati_CS2.indd iv 9-8-2007 10:55:14 In memoriam RichardGramlich TABLEOFCONTENTS Preface ix Translators' Introduction xi An Outline ofthe Ibriz 1 Author's Introduction: AI-cArabI aI-FishtaIl's predictions. The birth of al-Dabbagh, his illumination, his meeting with the Prophet, and reports ofhis miracles 113 ChapterI: AI-Dabbagh explains difficulties in J:tadiths 199 ChapterII: AI-Dabbagh explains difficulties in Qur~anic verses 403 ChapterIII: On the darkness that enters men's bodies and works 519 ChapterIV: The Council ofthe godly (Dlwan al-~aliQln) 577 Chapter V: On the office of spiritual guide and on being a properdisciple 611 ChapterVI: A commentary on what the RaJiyya says about the qualities ofthe shaykh and the disciple 681 Chapter VII: Difficult sayings of spiritual masters explained, and the debate about al-GhazzaII's words: 'There is not in possibility anything more wonderful than what is.' 745 ChapterVIII: On Adam's being created by gradual stages 827 ChapterIX: Light-filled and gloom-laden illumination, and the difference between the majdhilb and the fooL 839 viii TABLEOFCONTENTS ChapterX: A description ofBarzakh and the spirits that reside there 877 ChapterXI: A description ofParadise and its different degrees 893 ChapterXII: A description ofHell. 913 Appendix 925 Bibliography 933 Indexes ProperNames 945 Subjects 959 PREFACE As has been the case with other of our scholarly undertakings, the origin of this book goes back to Bergen in Norway where Bernd Radtke became acquainted with the literature and the world of ideas associated with more recent Sufism. Back then, at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, he read some passages of the Ibrzz in a desultory manner in a printed edition and acquired a first general impression of its contents. Only in Beirut in 1993 did he come across the new improved edition of the Ibrzz-which provides the basis for the present translation-and then set about reading the work more systematically. The result of his reading was a series of four articles,l along with the decision eventually to make the work's contents accessible to a larger public in an English translation. But how was this ambition to be realized? First John O'Kane had to be won over for the task and this was not particularly easy. John had an instinctive sense of the difficulties such a task would entail and was at the time committed to a number of other projects. To begin with, and by way of gauging the demands of producing a full translation, he set himself to translating the introductory chapter of the Ibrfz that presents al-Dabbagh's vita. But at that stage the project had to be put on hold-we were both engaged in other commitments. John undertook a translation of the Manaqib al-carifin of Aflaki, Bernd Radtke was busy with the alleged autochthonous Islamic enlightenment as well as preparation of the nomenclature for an Encyclopaedia of Islamic Mysticism. Likewise, during this period we cooperated to produce an English translation of Hellmut Ritter's Meer der Seele that especially put demands on John. Then in the spring of 2003 Bernd plucked up his courage and began a German translation of Chapters One to Twelve which he finished by the end of January 2004. The German translation provided a most valuable basis to work from and greatly facilitated producing our final English translation. By autumn of 2004 John was ready with the English version and sent it to Josef van Ess who generously took the time to read through it with his 'DerIbrfz'; 'Ibrlziana'; 'Zwischen Traditionalismus'; 'Syrisch'.
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