The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought PDF
Preview The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought
cover cover next page > title : The Tao of Islam : A Sourcebook On Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought author : Murata, Sachiko. publisher : State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin : 0791409147 print isbn13 : 9780791409145 ebook isbn13 : 9780585068886 language : English subject Women in Islam, Islam--Doctrines, Islamic cosmology, Tao. publication date : 1992 lcc : BP173.4.M87 1992eb ddc : 297/.1978344 subject : Women in Islam, Islam--Doctrines, Islamic cosmology, Tao. cover next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/cover.html [9/1/2011 7:30:20 PM] page_iii < previous page page_iii next page > Page iii The Tao of Islam A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought Sachiko Murata Foreword by Annemarie Schimmel STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS < previous page page_iii next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_iii.html [9/1/2011 7:30:21 PM] page_iv < previous page page_iv next page > Page iv Disclaimer: This book contains characters with diacritics. When the characters can be represented using the ISO 8859-1 character set (http://www.w3.org/TR/images/latin1.gif), netLibrary will represent them as they appear in the original text, and most computers will be able to show the full characters correctly. In order to keep the text searchable and readable on most computers, characters with diacritics that are not part of the ISO 8859-1 list will be represented without their diacritical marks. Production by Ruth Fisher Marketing by Bernadette LaManna Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1992 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address the State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Murata, Sachiko, (Date). The Tao of Islam: a sourcebook on gender relationships in Islamic thought / Sachiko Murata: foreword by Annemarie Schimmel. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-0913-9 (alk. paper). ISBN 0-7914-0914-7 (pbk.: alk. paper) I. Women in Islam. 2. IslamDoctrines. 3. Cosmology, Islamic. 4. Tao. I. Title. BP173.4.M87 1992 91-2610 297'. 1978344dc20 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 < previous page page_iv next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_iv.html [9/1/2011 7:30:22 PM] page_v < previous page page_v next page > Page v CONTENTS Foreword by Annemarie Schimmel vii A Note on Dates and Citations from the Koran xi Introduction 1 The Intellectual Tradition in Islam 2 The Feminist Critique of Islam 4 The Background of the Present Book 4 Chinese and Islamic Thought 6 Theological Polarity 8 Signs of God 10 Cosmic Correspondences 14 Human Equilibrium 15 The Plan of the Book 17 Part 1 1 The Three Realities 23 Signs in the Horizons and the Souls 23 Qualitative Correspondence 27 Qualitative Levels 31 Human All-Comprehensiveness 33 file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_v.html (1 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:23 PM] page_v Children of the Elements 37 The Myth of Adam's Creation 39 Human Becoming 43 The Cosmic and Human Books 45 Part 2: Theology 2 Divine Duality 49 God and the Essence 49 Incomparability and Similarity 51 Complementary Names 55 God and His Vassal 57 The One and the Two 58 The Creation of the Many 61 The Differentiation of the Undifferentiated 62 Being and Knowledge 66 Majesty and Beauty 69 Awe and Intimacy 74 Social Implications of Divine Duality 76 3 The Two Hands of God 81 file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_v.html (2 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:23 PM] page_v Right and Left 82 The Views of Koran Commentators 84 Fingers and Feet 85 The Two Hands in the Futuhat al-makkiyya 88 The Fusus al-hikam 91 Mu'ayyid al-Din Jandi 92 'Abd al-Razzaq Kashani 96 Dawud Qaysari 99 Sadr al-Din Qunawi 101 Sa'id al-Din Farghani 105 Farghani on the Two Handfuls 109 Part 3: Cosmology 4 Heaven and Earth 117 The Creation of the Cosmos 118 The Tao of Heaven and Earth 121 Heaven and Earth as Correlative Terms 123 Similitudes 127 Shifting Relationships 130 file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_v.html (3 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:23 PM] page_v The Seven Heavens 133 The Four Elements 135 The Virtues of the Earth 139 < previous page page_v next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_v.html (4 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:23 PM] page_vi < previous page page_vi next page > Page vi 5 Macrocosmic Marriage 143 Fathers and Mothers 144 Universal Marriage 147 Triplicity 151 The Pen and the Tablet 153 The Intellect and the Soul 155 Natural Children 158 Changing Relationships 161 The Faces of the Intellect 164 The Two Wings of Gabriel 168 6 Human Marriage 171 Marriage in Society 171 Man's Degree over Woman (I) 173 Man's Degree over Woman (II) 177 Mutual Love 181 Women Made Lovable 183 The Fusus al-hikam 188 file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_vi.html (1 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:24 PM] page_vi Mutual Longing 190 Witnessing God in Women 191 Marriage and Creation 193 Perfect Sexual Union 195 The Symbolism of Grammatical Gender 196 Spiritual Counsel 199 7 The Womb 203 Universal Worship 203 The Mercy of Existence 206 Nature as Wife and Mother 209 Love for Parents 212 The Womb as Microcosm 215 The Womb as Nature 218 Part 4: Spiritual Psychology 8 Static Hierarchy 225 Principles of Ta'wil 225 Names of the Unseen 229 Signs of the Microcosm 229 file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_vi.html (2 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:24 PM] page_vi Spirit 232 Soul 236 Intellect 238 The Spirit's Kingdom 242 Heaven and Earth 243 9 Dynamics of the Soul 249 Struggle on the Path to God 249 The Soul's Evil 254 Conflicting Character Traits 257 The Soul's Receptivity 260 Manliness and Chivalry 266 Negative Masculinity 269 Adam, Eve, and Iblis 273 The Soul's Animals 277 Purifying the Soul 283 10 The Heart 289 In the Koran and the Hadith 289 Between Spirit and Soul 292 file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_vi.html (3 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:24 PM] page_vi The Heart in the School of Ibn al-'Arabi 299 The Birth of the Heart 304 The Heart's Birth According to 'Izz al-Din Kashani 306 The Heart's Birth According to Ibn al-'Arabi's School 311 The Soul as Virgin Mother 313 The Perfected Heart 314 True Men and True Women 316 Postscript 321 Appendix I Chronological List of Authors Cited 327 Appendix II Notes on Authors Cited 329 Notes 333 Bibliography 357 Index of Koranic Verses 363 Index of Hadiths and Sayings 379 General Index 385 < previous page page_vi next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_vi.html (4 of 4) [9/1/2011 7:30:24 PM] page_vii < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii FOREWORD In my presidential address during the International Congress for the History of Religion in Rome in August 1990 1 summed up many discussions with and remarks of colleagues and students by stating that it is high time that the history of religion be studied not only from a typical Western vantage point but also that it take into consideration other ways of looking at concepts like religion, God, revelation, and so on. To be sure, there are a number of scholars, especially from East Asia, whose contributions to the history or phenomenology of religion are remarkable, not only in the field of their own religious traditions such as Buddhism, Confucianism or Shinto, but also in the study of other religions such as Islam. Nevertheless, our outlook seems still to be determined largely by our "biblical" background and the "classical" approach to scholarship. Another topic that frequently came up during the discussions in Rome was the role of the feminine element in the various religious traditions. Here again, the inherited way of studying women's rules from an "external" viewpoint was considered important. But other interpretations, like the "spiritual role of the feminine" in the history of religions, were also mentionedaspects which my late teacher and friend Professor Friedrich Hailer in Marburg discussed decades ago in his classes. It was he who liked to quotewith a certain sadnessthe remark of the German Indologist Moriz Winternitz: "Women have always been the best friends of religion, but religion has generally not been a friend of women." The truth of Winternitz's statement becomes particularly evident when it comes to the study of Islam and women's position in Islam. Islam has barely been studied from the phenomenological viewpoint in order to integrate its structures into the structures of other religions. Not a single book on the phenomenology of religion deals with Islam, which is generally considered to be uninteresting and uninspiring and to he, at best, a perfect example of a "legalist" religion. It is certainly much easier to look only at the surface and judge that the possibility of polygamy and easy divorce are negative features and to point constantly to the concept of purdah (although the overstressed application of veiling developed only after a certain period) than to try to see the more positive sides of Islam. Medieval Western remarks, according to which women have no soul in Islam, were happily taken over by scholars and even more by the general public. Very few scholars have tried to look beneath the surface and to discover structures that would surprise those who have been brought up with the traditional, negative attitude toward Islam. And unfortunately, recent events in the Islamic world have supported the convictions of the critics and the impression that women, in a militant, fundamentalist society, are an oppressed group without any tights, not able to voice their opinions or to have a say in < previous page page_vii next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_vii.html [9/1/2011 7:30:25 PM] page_viii < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii their own religious affairs. A look at the role of women in the Turkish war of liberation in the early 1920s or at the active participation of women in the Indian independence movement and the quest for Pakistan in the 1940s can easily prove the contrary. Given these facts it is perhaps not surprising that a new approach to gender relations in Islam comes from a Japanese woman, Sachiko Murata, who, after a thorough study of Islamic law and of the esoteric tradition of Islam, offers in this book the fruits of her investigations and reaches conclusions which may surprise many readers. Dr. Murata rightly points out that in Islam, as in every religion, the principle of unity, which differentiates itself into duality and from there into plurality, is central; hence the title of her book, The Too of Islam. One can say without exaggeration that the problem of unity and its working in creation has been a central topic of theological, and especially mystical, thought in Islam. When I was teaching at the Faculty of Islamic Theology (Ialhiyat Fakültesi) in Ankara, Turkey, in the 1950s and tried to explain to my students Rudolf Otto's definition of the two aspects of the Numen (the Divine or the Totally Other), that is, the manifestation of the mysterium tremendum and the mysterium fascinansthe majestic, wrathful and the loving-kind, beautiful aspect of the One Divine Beingmy students reacted with amazement: "But we have known that for centuries!" they said. "We always knew that God has a jalal side and a jamal side, the aspects of Powerful Majesty and Wonderful Kindness, and that these two fall together in Him as kamal, perfection." Their remark was to the point, and writing as a phenomenologist of religion I feel that there is no difficulty in naming the overpowering, masculine, jalal aspect as yang and the loving-kind, beautiful, jamal aspect as yin. For everyone knows that only by the togetherness of these two principles can life continue. There is no life without the systole and the diastole of the heartbeat, without inhaling and exhaling, or without the two poles between which the electric current can move. Long ago the Sufis interpreted the divine creative order kun, "Be!" (which is written in Arabic with the two letters k.n.) as pointing to the "two-colored yarn" which veils, like a fabric, the basic unity of the Divine Being. Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi in particular has described the constant interplay of the two aspects of life in powerful prose in Fihi ma fihi and alluded to it in ever so many verses in his lyrical Diwan and his Mathnawi. And does not the mystical interpretation of the Arabic alphabet connect the first letter, the slim, straight alif with its numerical value of one, to the first manifestation of the Divine Unity; and the second letter, ba', with its numerical value of two, with the beginning of the created universe? For the Koran's first letter is the ba' of the word bismillah, "In the name of God." Given this general tendency in Islam to organize things and mental states in dual groups and to see everything as created under this aspect, how could the masculine and the feminine sides to life not he equally important? For without their cooperation no new life can exist on earth. Not in vain did Rumi see "mothers" everywhere: Virtually everything in the cosmos is a mother, giving birth to something higher than itself whether it is the flintstone that "gives birth" to the spark, which in turn produces fire when it meets congenial matter, or the earth that, fertilized by the sky, produces plants as the result of the hieros gamos, the sacred marriage. Rumi even described woman, in the first book of the Mathnawi, as someone whom one would be tempted to call "creator." To correct the traditional misunderstanding of women's roles in Islam it would suffice to see how the Qur'an mentions the muslimun wa muslimat, the mu'minun wa mu'minat together: the male and the female Muslims, the male and female believers. Women have the same religious duties as men (with the exception that they cannot perform these duties in a state of female impurity). The Prophet himself emphasized in a famous saying the fact that 'God has made dear to me from your world perfume and women, and my spiritual consolation is < previous page page_viii next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_viii.html [9/1/2011 7:30:26 PM] page_ix < previous page page_ix next page > Page ix in prayer"a saying which forms the basis of Ibn al-'Arabi's chapter on Muhammad in his Fusus al-hikam. The role which the prophet's first wife, the mother of his surviving children, played in his spiritual development cannot be overrated: Khadija, the "mother of the faithful," by her loving care and understanding, gave him the strength to endure the frightening experience of the first revelation that descended upon him to shake him to his innermost heart, for she believed in his message. Later, his youngest wife, 'A'isha, not only played an important political role but also was the source of many hadiths in which she informed the listeners of the Prophet's customs and sayings, thus inaugurating the list of women who studied, transmitted, and taught Hadith in the Islamic Middle Ages. One must not for-set Fatima, the Prophet's youngest daughter, who married his cousin 'Ali, became the mother of Hasan and Husayn, the second and third imams of Shia Islam, and was elevated in Shia piety to an extremely high positionbe it as a kind of miner dolorosa whose two sons fell victim to political machinations (even though that happened decades after her death) or as intercessor or, in mystical terminology, as umm abiha, "her father's mother." One could go on and enumerate the women who played a role in the history of mystical thought and practice, and it is evident from Sufi biographies that most of the future spiritual leaders received their first religious inspiration from their pious mothersdid not the Prophet state that "Paradise lies at the feet of the mothers"? This feminine side to Islamic life is usually overlooked, since most scholars, being male, have never lived in the company of women in a Muslim home and hence have not seen how important a role women, and especially mothers, play in their homes, be it in Turkey or in the Indo-Pakistani world. Scholars might read of some medieval Muslim queens, such as Raziya Sultana of Delhi (1236-40) and her near contemporary Shajarat al-Durr of Egypt (1246-49) or mention the names of some princesses who influenced their consorts in their political decisions and were eulogized by great poets. Or they may have heard of a few highborn ladies who excelled in poetry, calligraphy, or religious pursuits. But of the inner family life, little has been known to them. Moreover, it is all too easy to judge a foreign civilization from the viewpoint of twentieth century Western standards. Wiebke Walther, in her fine and extensive study Die Frau in Islam (Women in Islam), has remarked that even in Germany in some areas men still had the legal right to beat their wives in the 1880s. There is one verse in the Qur'an which due to its context has often been misinterpreted but which points exactly, in my understanding, to the ideal gender relation: "Your wives are a garment for you, and you arc a garment for them" (2:188). A garment is, according to ancient religious ideas, the alter ego of a human being. The garment can serve as a substitute for the person, and with a new garment one gains as it were a new personality. Furthermore, it hides the body, hinders the looking at the private parts, protects the wearer. According to this interpretation, husband and wife are so to speak each other's alter ego, and each of them protects the partner's honor. This seems to show how well the yang-yin principle works in marital relationships: Husband and wife arc equal in their perfect togetherness. Many of the disrespectful sayings about women, especially among ascetics and mystics, stem from the fact that in Arabic the word for soul, nafs, is a feminine noun and, based on the expression in sum 12:53, it is often understood as the nafs ammara, "the soul that incites to evil." Therefore the nafs is usually represented under the image of a stubborn, restive horse or camel, a black dog, a snake, a mouse, but also as a disobedient woman. Whoever has read medieval Arabic and Persian texts is well aware of this application of the term nafs, whose major external projection is dunya, the "world of matter," again a feminine noun. But similar deprecative descriptions of the dangerous woman and Frau Welt, "Mrs. World," can also be found in medieval Christian writings and sermons, where only the virgins are extolled as they strive to < previous page page_ix next page > file:///D|/downs/[Jul2011]/0791409147__gigle.ws/0791409147/0791409147/files/page_ix.html [9/1/2011 7:30:26 PM]
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