Islamic civilization and mysticism

By: Aria Omrani

Sufism is actually like the flower of the tree of Islam or it can be called the jewel in the crown of Islamic civilization. The goal of Sufism is to lead man from the world of Form, to the world of Spirit. Form is the veil of the spiritual world, but at the same time it is its symbol and the ladder by means of which union with it can be attained, but a Form that has become so polished and refined by traditional art and knowledge, the darkness and opacity of multiplicity has been lifted from it so that like a mirror, it reflects the beauty of the spiritual world. This form can be a geometrical figure in an architecture, a design in painting or a calligraphy, or a melody in a music.

In the field of the arts and sciences the influence of Sufism has been enormous. In nearly every form of the arts ranging from poetry to architecture, the affinity with Sufism is even more marked. The Sufis live even in this life in what one might call the front courtyard of paradise, and hence breathe in a climate of spiritual splendor whose beauty is reflected in all that they say or do or make. Islam itself is deeply attached to the aspect of the Divinity as beauty and this feature is particularly accentuated in Sufism, which quite naturally is derived from what is essential in Islam. It is not accidental that the works written by Sufis whether they be poetry or prose, are of great literary quality and beauty. Sufism lies where love and knowledge meet; now the ultimate and common object of both love and knowledge is none other the Divine Beauty. It will then be seen that art, in a theocentric civilization like Islam, is linked to esoterism or mysticism of Islam, the most inward dimension of tradition, ”Sufism”.

In the field of Islamic literature what is most universal belongs to the domain of Sufism. It was the spirit of Sufism that raised Arabic and Persian literature from local lyric and at most epic verse to a didactic and mystical literature of the most universal dimension, enriching Arabic most of all in the prose form and Persian in the poetic.

Moreover, many of the more local Islamic languages reached their apogee in the hands of Sufi writers, the very genius of Sindhi, for example, seems to have been exhausted by a single Sufi poet, shah’ Abd al Latif.

Like Italian and German, which in a sense owe their birth to the mystics, Dante and Eckhart, many of the Muslim languages owe their very development and subsistence as Muslim languages to the genius of Sufi poets.

Nearly the same situation can be observed in the fields of music, architecture, caligraphy and miniature. Many of the outstanding Muslim architects have been attached to Sufism through the guilds of masons and builders. Similarly many of the masters of calligraphy and miniature have been affiliated with Sufism, often even more directly, in the sense that they have belonged in many cases directly to a Sufi order rather than to a particular guild, which is in turn connected with an order. As for music the tradition of classical music, Arabic and Persian as well as Turkish, has been cultivated over the centuries mostly by those attached to Sufism and in Sufi gatherings. Many of the Muslim masters of Indian music have been attached in one way or another to the Sufis orders of the subcontinent. The music of North India has been composed and performed to a large extent by Sufi masters such as Rida Quli Khan, Alauddin Khan and Bismillah Khan.

Sufism polished and perfected the music of ancient Persia until it became a way that within it, a spiritual dimension came into being. Today, for Persians as well as other Muslims, traditional Persian music can be a song of the eternal world in the world of time and place, a spring full of grace for satisfying thirsty soul and a guide from its own wondrous beauty to the beauty of Absolute. Dr. Hossein Nasr writes: “The influence of Sufism on Persian music derives from the fact that Sufism has made of music a vehicle for the ascent of the spirit to the transcendent world, but only for those who have taken upon themselves the difficulties of asceticism and spiritual discipline, the first stage of which is piety and fear of God”.

The Sufis have been the cultivators of the arts, not because this is a goal of the Sufi path but because to follow Sufism is to become ever more aware of the Divine Beauty which manifests itself everywhere and in the light of which the Sufi makes things of beauty in conformity with the beauty of his own nature and also according to the traditional artistic norms, which reflect the Beauty of the Supreme Artisan.

In the field of education also the role of Sufism has been profound, for the central task of Sufism is the education of the whole of the human person until it reaches the full realization and perfection of all of its possibilities. The direct participation of many Sufis such as Khwajah Nizam al-Mulk, the Seljuq vizier, in the establishment of universities or madrasah as well as the role of Sufi centres in the administration of education makes the influence of Sufism inseparable from the development of education in Islam. Again, during certain periods such as the post-Mongol period when the formal educational system was destroyed in certain regions, the Sufi centres remained the sole depository of even formal academic knowledge and the basis from which the traditional schools sprang up once again. It may seen surprising that, Khayyam, a man so well versed in the arts and sciences of his day should consider the ‘way of purification’ of the Sufis as the best way of acquiring knowledge.

The symbolic manifestations of Sufism in Islamic civilization:

Symbolism is perhaps, one of the most sacred and beautiful manifestations of Sufism in Islamic civilization. Symbols are vehicles of transmission of Divine realities, which transform us by carrying us to the higher states of being form, which they originate. Known as a world unto themselves (alam-i-mithal), they are the place of encounter between the world of Archetypes or intelligibles and the sensible, phenomenal world.

In Sufism, symbols stem from the Quran and the tradition (hadith). Symbols connected to sound, light and the intellect are among the most profound expressions in Sufism. The Word (Quran) is both a sound and a light; for the light is the meaning of the Word. The Word is as a mirror where the Divine reverberates outwardly. It is through sound that the world will be reabsorbed at the Day of Judgment.

The niche (mihrab), which directs one towards Mecca, and the porch (iwan), which waits patiently to catch the light (the niche of the Shaykh Lutfullah Mosque and the porch of the Imam Mosque in Isfahan are two masterpieces of these forms in Islamic architecture) symbolize the presence of the Divine Name (Nur).

The niche is the place where the leader in prayer stands and recites the daily prayers. The Divine words, which reverberate from the niche, are symbols of the Presence of God. The porch under which the Sufi meditates, symbolizes the Way or transitional space between the temporal and spiritual worlds. The porch can be viewed as the locus of the soul moving between the garden or court taken as the spirit, and the room, seen as the body. Its bisected form leaves it an incomplete form, capable only of uniting man to the spirit and thereby accomplishing the iwan’s own reabsorbation.

The bridge symbolizes the human being as mediator between heaven and earth, as container of both human and divine nature, and it relates to the role of mankind both as the vice-regent (khalifah) of God on earth, responsible for preserving nature, and as the servant of God, acting out His will. On the spiritual journey these two concepts must be bridged, so that one retains the balance of one’s own nature while at the same time realizing that all is God.

The minaret reflects the vertical and transcendent dimension of man’s otherwise two-dimentional material existence. It represents man, who alone among the creatures stands upright, and it recalls the soul, aspiring to return to its origin.

The dome (Gunbad) is the Divine Throne. The Sufi concept of the centre, circle and sphere inherent in things, is realized in the dome, seen as the Divine spirit, which encompasses the universe.

The Chahar taq is an architectural symbol of transformation; a mandala in plan, its shape is that of a dome resting on a square. The niche of a mosque, a font, and a shrine to a saint are placed within this space, which resolves the transformation of the circle into the square. This space then symbolizes the Sufi’s place of life, death and spiritual rebirth.

The geometrical interlacement is a unique kind of the symbolism of geometric patterns in Islamic architecture, perfect examples of which are already to be seen in the Great Mosque of Damascus in Syria. The shapes of interlacement are normally built up from one or several regular figures inscribed in a circle which are then developed according to the principle of the star-shaped polygo, which means that the proportion inhering in the basic figure are re-echoed at each level of development. Different design of an analogous nature may interpenetrate and form a continuous network of lines, which radiate simultaneously from one and several centers.

Geometrical interlacement doubtless represents the most intellectually satisfying form, for it is an extremely direct expression of the idea of the Divine unity underlying the inexhaustible variety of the world. Divine Unity as such is beyond all representation, because its nature, which is total, lets nothing remain outside itself.

Nevertheless, it is through harmony that it is reflected in the world, harmony being nothing other than unity in multiplicity (al-wahdah fi’l-kathrah), the same as multiplicity in unity (al-kathrah fi’l-wahdah). Interlacement expresses the one aspect and the other. But it is in yet another respect that it recalls the unity underlying things, namely that is generally constituted from a single element or a single line, which comes endlessly back upon itself.

One of the most beautiful of all symbols, which has found in Islamic architecture, carpet design and poetry, is that of the Garden of Paradise.

Paradise is described in the Quran as being four gardens (Quran: LV, 62). These are interpreted esoterically as four stages through which, the Sufi travels on the inward journey. The four gardens are called: The Garden of the Soul, the Garden of the Heart, the Garden of the Spirit and the Garden of the Essence.

The Garden of the Soul contains three things: a fountain, flowing water and the fruit of trees. The fountain symbolizes perceptions of particulars: forms and ideas. Having reached this fountain, the Sufi gains knowledge of certainty or yaqin (three stages of certainty are distinguished, based upon the language of the Quran: the knowledge of Certainty or ‘ilm al-yaqin’, the eye of Certainty or ‘ayn al-yaqin’, the truth of Certainty or ‘haqq al-yaqin’. The water which is found here symbolizes Light; knowledge which gushes from the Fountain of the Spirit, flows to the Garden of the Heart and from there feeds the faculties of intuition which are veiled by psychic forces in the Garden of the Soul. The water gives full flavor to the fruits grown from trees of meditation. The Garden of the Soul and the Garden of the Heart, together symbolize the totality of the perfection of human nature. The Sufi enters the Garden of the Heart and finds a fountain, water which flows, a tree and fruit of this tree. The fountain is the Fountain of Immortality. The Sufi, by drinking of this fountain attains to the Eye of Certainty (ayn al-yaqin). The water which flows in this garden is the intellect; a knowledge, which has been illuminated by revelation. The tree in this garden is the tree of Immortality. Its fruits are universal meanings, which relate all forms and images to the inner sameness existing within all things.

The Sufi, then turns toward the Garden of the Spirit and finds a fountain, a tree and water which gushes forth. The fountain is the Fountain of Knowledge, which appears like veils of light, behind each of which shines the Light of Essence itself. The water in this garden is like the oil in the verse of Light, which burns though no fire touched it.

By drinking of the fountain of this garden, the Sufi gains the Truth of Certainty (haqq al-yaqin). The tree of knowledge grows next to the fountain and the fruit of this tree, symbolizes contemplation of Divine Light and the appearance of Divine Majesty and beauty. Finally, the Sufi enters the garden of Essence. Upon entering this garden, Sufi finds the Fountain of Knowledge of the Unity of Being. The water, which gushes forth, is pure light and the fruit of this garden is the pomegranate, which is the symbol of integration of multiplicity in unity.

The mandala is one of the beautiful symbols which is found in Islamic architecture and carpet design (the plan of inner space of the Taj Mahal in India is a masterpiece of this form. It consists of five equally sized octagons, all touching, and grouped in the shape of a mandala). The mandala as a reflection of the cosmos and cosmic processes within all things, works through numbers and geometry, beginning with Unity, moving through its theophany and back to Unity. To the Sufi it evokes the surrender to self and the reintegration of the many into the one.

Unlike other forms, the Sufic forms and symbols open inwardly toward the infinite because it is from the essential and supra-formal Centre that they originate. The reason for the persistence of Sufic forms and symbols is none other than this fact that although outwardly they are forms subject to time and space, their inner content leads to the Infinite. Hence they reflect even in the transient world of time and space, the permanence that belongs to the Spiritual World. They thus fulfill the perennial need of man to transcend the finite, to go beyond the transient and seek the permanent.

References
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