My philosophical outlook is shaped by several different strands of thought. The first is the Islamic gnostic systems as epitomized by the Primal Point (Sayid Ali-Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab) and the Babi/Bayani movement which he founded. Second, the Nimatullahi Sufi Order (Javad Nurbakhsh) and Naqshbandi Sufi Order (Mawlana Shaikh Nazim al-Haqqani) and the numerous individual Sufis who through selfless service and unbounded love have attracted thousands towards a deeper and more meaningful inner life. I also feel particularly connected to St. Francis of Assisi.
Amongst the classical Islamic philosophers, I find the works of Ibn Arabi to be completely unsurpassed in all of Islamic philosophy. (Though Ibn Arabi is such a deep ocean that it is unlikely I will be able explore more than mere drops of his vast output). Other philosophers I particularly feel some kinship with are the Master of Illumination, Shahab al-Din Suhrawardi and Mulla Sadra Shirazi.
A hint to the perplexed: often, what is unsaid or only partial said is more important than what is explicitly articulated.
My heart has become capable of every form.
It is a pasture for Gazelles and and convent for Christian monks
and a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Kaa'ba,
and the tables of the Tohra and the book for the Quran.
I follow the religion of Love: whatever way Love's camels take,
that is my religion and my faith.
-- Ibn Arabi, Tarjuman al-Aswaq (tr. Reynold A. Nicholson)
There is a difference between those who circle the heart within
and those who perform the outward motions of the hajj.
Annihilation of the self is the way of the former;
the latter endeavor to correct pronunciation.
Why persist in arguing with such false pretenders?
Unaware of the mysteries, they will always remain obstinate.
They profess to follow the "straight path,"
so why do they proceed so crookedly?
As long as their eyes see double
they will lack true vision.
-- Javad Nurbakhsh
"Between the world of pure spiritual Lights and the sensory universe, at the boundary of the ninth Sphere (the Sphere of Spheres) there opens a mundus imaginalis which is a concrete spiritual world of archetypes-Figures, apparitional Forms, Angels of species and of individuals; by philosophical dialectics its necessity is deduced and its plane situated; vision of it in actuality is vouchsafed to the visionary apprerception of the Active Intellect. [This] is the world to which the ancient Sages alluded when they affirmed that beyond the sensory world there exists another universe with a contour and dimensions and extension in a space, although these are not comparable with the shape and spatiality as we perceive these in the world of physical bodies. It is the eighth keshvar, the mystical Earth of Hurqalya with emerald cities; it is situated on the summit of the cosmic mountain, which the traditions handed down in Islam calls the mountain of Qaf."
-- Henry Corbin
"The greatest war, jihad al-akbar, is against one's own inner demons. For they do not wish for us, their host, to succeed in our life's Art. For the demon knows that he is immortal and being jealous of his own immortality does not wish anyone else to gain what he has. (The difference between an angel and a demon is that the latter is consumed by jealousy. Hence, he is stuck to the earthy existence of being trapped in a human body, a form of hell). For, if we die without having achieved what we have set out to achieve, we will turn to dust. From dust we come and to dust our demon wants us to return."
-- Ayn Ha
"O my Lord, make me advance on and on up the steps of the sciences. Make me turn round and round in the degrees of the mysteries of the realities. Protect me within the pavilion of Your Protection and the hidden secret of Your Veil from the arrival of those thoughts which do not befit the glories of Your Majesty."
-- Ibn Arabi, whispered private prayer for Friday morning.
"Grant me complete gnosis and universal wisdom, so that there remains nothing knowable without me coming to know the subtle threads of its intricacies, which are spread throughout existence. By this may I drive away the darkness of created things which prevent the perception of the realities of Signs, and by this may I dispose freely over the hearts and spirits, kindling true love and friendship, right conduct and guidance."
-- Ibn Arabi, whispered private prayer for Wednesday.
Kumail ibn Ziyad, one of Ali's chosen disciples, once demanded of his Master, behind whom he was was seated on a dromedary, "What is Truth?".
"What hast thou to do with the Truth?" answered Ali, "for verily it is one of God's mysteries, and a jewel out of His treasure-house."
Then said Kumail, when Ali has spoken for some while after this fashion, "O my Master, am I not worthy to share thy secret?"
"Yes," answered Ali, "but the matter is a great one."
"O my Master", said Kumail, "dost thou desire those who beg at the door of thy bounty to be turned away?"
"Nay, verily," answered Ali, "I will answer the call of such as are troubled, and will sprinkle upon thee somewhat of the overflowing fullness of the Station of the Truth; receive it from me according to thy capacity, and conceal it from such as are unworthy to share it."
"O Kumail, the Truth is the revelation of the splendors of Divine Majesty without a sign"
"O my Master," said Kumail, "I understand not thy meaning; explain it to me further."
"The effacement of the conjectured, and the clearing of the known," continued Ali.
"Explain more fully," demanded Kumail.
"The rending of the veil by the triumph of the mystery," said Ali.
"O my beloved Master," rejoined Kumail, "tell me more."
"The attraction of the Divine Unity through the nature of the apprehension of its Oneness", added Ali.
"Tell me more clearly," repeated Kumail.
Then said Ali, "A light shining forth from the Morning of Eternity and irradiating the temples of Unity."
A while later, said Ali, "Extinguish the Lamp for the Dawn has indeed arizen."
Know, O beloved, that man was not created in jest or at random, but marvelously made and for some great end. Although he is not from everlasting, yet he lives for ever; and though his body is mean and earthly, yet his spirit is lofty and divine. When in the crucible of abstinence he is purged from carnal passions he attains to the highest, and in place of being a slave to lust and anger becomes endued with angelic qualities. Attaining that state, he finds his heaven in contemplating of Eternal Beauty, and no longer in fleshly delights. The spiritual alchemy which operates this change in him, like that which transmutes base metals into gold, is not easily discovered, nor to be found in the house of every old woman. It is to explain that alchemy and its methods of operation that the author has undertaken this work, which he has entitled "The Alchemy of Happiness".
-- Al-Gazzali in "The Alchemy of Happiness"
Discard the fruits of prophesy and the outer shell of belief and practice. The days of genuflecting towards an empty cubical stone structure are over, so are the days of mortification, self-flagellation and physical pilgrimage to graves and ruined mosques and churches. The soul has left these stone and wooden buildings and only an echo of the divine presence remains.
I once saw a ruined church, a mere shell of it former self. Three of its walls still stood but the roof had fallen away. Pews had rotted and where there were once worshippers there was now only grass and wildflowers. I could almost hear the echos of the vanished choir, the sounds of men and women beseeching the Lord to grant their wishes and relieve their pain. It was dark then, the dawn had not yet risen, the light of the sun had not yet made itself manifest over the far horizon. Yet, I knew that the dawn was close by. I wrapped my cloak closer to keep out the last of the cold morning breeze. What joy it was to behold the sunrise! I was alone in the husk of that ruined church and found myself a fallen stone to sit on.
It is morning now and these rotting walls and the fallen altar are of no more use. A candle can not illuminate what has already been brightly lit by the rays of the sun.
-- Ayn Ha
"But let me share with you as usual the day's small find (which today is something that I noticed in the Stoic writer Hecato). Limiting one's desires actually helps to cure one of fear. "Cease to hope," he says, "and you will cease to fear." "But how," you will ask, "can things as diverse as these be linked?" Well, the fact is, Lucilius, that they are bound up with one another, unconnected as they may seem. Widely different though they are, the two of them march in unison like a prisoner and the escort he is handcuffed to. Fear keeps pace with hope. Nor does their so moving together surprise me; both belong to a mind in suspense, to a mind in a state of anxiety though looking into the future. Both are mainly due to projecting our thoughts far ahead of us instead of adapting ourselves to the present. Thus it is that foresight, the greatest blessing humanity has been given, is transformed into a curse. Wild animals run from the dangers they actually see and once they have escaped them worry no more. We however are tormented alike by what is past and what is to come. A number of our blessings do us harm, for memory brings back the agony of fear while foresight brings it on prematurely. No one confines unhappiness to the present."
-- Seneca, from Letter 5
Now I a four-fold vision see,
And a four-fold vision is given to me;
'Tis four-fold in my supreme delight,
And three-fold in soft Beulah's night
And two-fold Always. --- May God us keep
From Single vision, and Newton's sleep.
-- William Blake
What is "Newton's sleep" that Blake refers to above? It a statement by Newton that "God can only be known by his attributes". This knowledge that depends on reasoning and experimentation, according to Blake, is a profound sleep compared to the self-knowledge of the spiritually awake which is obtained by direct experience. In fact, experiential knowledge far surpasses that which is obtained merely from attributes. Of course, this does not mean one should not study attributes of the physical world! Quite the contrary: a careful study of the physical world can be deeply rewarding. However, one must keep the signified in mind while studying the Symbol. Otherwise one risks turning the Symbol into an Idol.
An example may suffice: consider a man who has spent hours reading a map of Paris, learning the shape of every street and the location of all the important sights. Yet, this "knowledge" is completely superficial and can not be compared to that of the man who has walked the streets of Paris and explored its monuments himself, experienced the bustle of the city's life and tasted the food it has to offer.
This experiential aspect of self-knowledge hence has always been emphasized by all great Sufi Masters. According to them half an hour of zikr can give you the true and sweet taste of Realities (Haq) that volumes of theology can not convey. It is better to experience once, but profoundly, then to read a library of books but still remain in Newton's sleep.
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower;
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And Eternity in an hour
-- William Blake
Ammar Hakim. Updated September 1st 2021
d_|_| |