Stages_of_spiritual_awakening_in_divan_e.pdf

Ahwal-e-Irfan in Divan-e-Shamsi Tabrezi Stages of Spiritual Awakening in Divan-e-Shams Tabrez By: Xaenub Mirza Doctoral Candidate Istanbul Aydin University- Turkey

Dedication

This brief and borrowed ascending flight of making sky circles is dedicated to my father: Asad, whose voice gives me bearing, and whose Singularity always guides me home.

1

Introductory Notes This paper is an attempt in tracing the stages of ‘Irfan’ defined in Divan-e-Shams Tabriz, discussing Rumi more as a mystic in a maze of spiritual bewilderment coming upon ‘fana’a’ in a journey of devotion and revelation. Also, words associated closely with esoteric Islam (irfan, ishraq, fana’a) are discussed with a line of inquiry leading into where so much is lost in translation with their English counterparts. To add dimension to the treatment of the stations of irfan (muqamat/ahwal), Hafiz’s stance is held against Rumi’s, though because of the difference in their personal histories and landscape, it is only to emphasize the scope of mystical experience. An effort is made to read the verses/odes with a conscience to the states (ahwal) of the mystic as defined by Dhu’nun and Al-Arabi. Words with indo-Persian, Arabic or Turkish origins are translated in parenthesis. ____________________________________

We can safely assume that Rumi’s world was turned on its head on his encounter with the mysterious Shams Tabriz. It is Rumi: the grand scholar, the high voice on religion, the protégé of generations of religious sages, prophesized by Farid Attar to reach the highest eminence when he was only a child (xvii) in his fine robes, leading a crowd of reverent disciples who is compelled to get off his horse when Shams takes its reins in his hand. The step down from the horse is beautifully metaphorical, as is Sham’s question: ‘One day, as he [Shams] was seated at the gate of an inn, Rumi came by, riding on a mule, in the midst of a crowd of students and disciples on foot. Shams arose, advanced and took hold of the mule’s bridle, addressing Rumi in these words, 'Exchanger of the current coins of deep meaning, who knows the Names of God! Tell me, was Muhammad, the greater servant of God, or Bayazid Bistami?'‛ (Manaqib al-Arifin) The question that makes him (Rumi) drop to his knees. Once the two men embrace, so close to the ground, they choose never to rise again but in a new design of worship and 2

devotion- they rise not to stand, but to whirl in the transcendental dance (sema), launching the primordial dynamics of ‘pir’ and ‘murid’. Rumi’s agony after that point is a reflection of the fire that has always tormented Shams. Shams needs Rumi, to give his ideas an artistic shape, he needs Rumi to be the one ‘companion who can bear’ him. ‚I implored God to allow me to mix with and be a companion of His friends (awliya-ye khwod). I had a dream and was told, "We will make you a companion of a saint." I asked, "Where is this saint?" The next night I was told in a dream, "He is in Anatolia (Rum)." After a while, I had another dream and was told, "It's not yet time. All things come in the fullness of time‛. (Maqalat 759-60) Again: ‚I wanted someone of my own type to make into my qibla [the direction one faces in prayer] and turn to, for I had grown tired of myself. Do you understand what I mean by having grown tired of myself? Then, having turned into a qeble, he would understand and comprehend what I am saying‛. (Maqalat 219-20) The cloaked, bitter and bitterly resented Shams is the Socratic figure who shifts the axis with his entrance, and marks the permanence in that shift with as dramatic a departure. Rumi in turn, has needed Shams to ‘unlearn his learning’ (xviii), to be his guide to ‘irfan’ and to set his life to the same fire that engulfed Shamsuddin Haq- The great sun of gnosis. ‘The story of my life can be defined in three words I was raw, cooked and then burned.’ (Rumi) And: ‘I burned, I burned, I burned’. (Rumi) Again the quiet, consuming suffering in: ‘He who set the world on fire in me And made a hundred tongues of flame speak from my mouth, When fire raged around me holding me captive, 3

I sighed: He placed his hand on my mouth’. (kulliyat e Shams Tabrezi #450) The repetitive whirling quality of his verses is replicative of the hypnotic trance of fire itself, rising and falling, uncontrollable, terrifying and beautiful. ‚Set your life on fire. Seek those who fan your flames‛ Interestingly, the metaphor takes a fascinating shape of an initiation ritual at the Mevlevi convent later. The first test of the applicant was a retreat of three days in the kitchen, as an accepted place ‘where man was cooked’ (Erdogan, p. 40) ‘Who annihilated whom? Shams or Rumi?’ is a question which has been of interest to scholars recently (Eshots). As satisfying as contemplating the beautiful destruction might be, it is safe to proceed with the understanding that Rumi’s own prolific writing(s) document his journey from a scholar to that of a lover. As annihilation (fana’a) is the final stage of ‘irfan’, the query needs to be held off till a later part of this discussion. The more immediate question that raises its head is why does Shamsi’s name appear on the title page of a book that has never been attributed to him? Why do most odes end on his name? Why does a poet who ranks with Hafiz burn with love, ‘lay on a brow’ (xvi) of an impoverished dervish? Among the religious-philosophical sects of the period, the doctrine that was generally held was that man; left to his own devices will inevitably go astray. Therefore, he needed a master to guide him in the right path. The master (from hereon, called ‘pir’) is God’s representative, his actions, his crimes are colored by higher love, a higher wisdom that the disciple (called ‘murid’ from hereon) cannot fully fathom till he graduates to later stations (Arabi). According to Murtada Mutehari, 'irfan, is concerned with ontology, and discusses God, the world, and the human being. This aspect of 'irfan resembles theological philosophy (falsafeh-ye ilahi), which also seeks to describe being. Like theological philosophy, 'irfan also defines its subject, essential principles and problems, but whereas philosophy relies solely upon rational principles for its arguments, 'irfan bases its deductions on principles discovered through mystic experience (kashf) and then reverts to the language of reason to explain them’ (Iranian falsefah). Irfan is also called ‘tasawwuf’ in eastern-indo Sufism, the core of its meaning resting on ‘tawhid’ (oneness/singularity of God) and ishraq. One who arrives at this awareness is an 4

‘Arif’ (urafa pl.). At its base, it is gnosis; drinking from the chalice of the Supreme Reality:

Sharab e Lutf e khudawandra kerani neest Wa kuz karanash numayad qasoor e jam bood The wine of God’s grace hath no brim If it appear to have a brim, tis the fault of the cup’ – Translation by R. A. Nicholson At its most vague: it is spiritual wisdom and awareness. The tree as branched out above, as in its roots below. The metaphysical chain of being, extending from one being to the Ultimate One (Plotinus- insights later). Separately, in varying traditions, the seven stages of Irfan have been described as: 1. Seeking 2. Love 3. Wisdom 4. Self Sufficiency 5. Monotheism (/tawhid) 6. Astonishment 7. Annihilation (fan’a) From here on, the paper will attempt to trace these stages through the verses and odes in Divan-e- Shams Tabriz, finding corresponding elements in the arcana of Islamic mystical philosophy (Ishq) as experienced by Mevlevi e Ma’anawi: Jalal Uddin Rumi. 1. Seeking Perhaps a preceding event of separation (hijr) is as important to note as the event of acknowledging the commitment to seek. Where is the stock of this separation, the foundation of this divide? Does the fountain consider itself separated from earth when it is compelled to break through and pour alongside its cheek? Is it the river that never finds its way to the sea?

5

Is it the weight of having been created a form distinct and apart from the most Ancient form? (Qaim, Qadeem, Wajud: Al- Ghazali’s litany). bishnu az nay chun hikayat mikunad az juda’iha shikayat mikunad kaz nayistan ta mara bubridah’and dar nafiram mard u zan nalidah’and sinah khwaham sharhah sharhah az firaq ta biguyam sharh-i dard-i ishtiyaq har kasi ku dur mand az asl-i khwish baz juyad ruzgar-i wasl-i khwish (Mathnawi- Vol. 1) (Listen to the reed flute, Its song of separation: Ever since I was cut from the reed-bed, Men and women have moaned from my sound. I need a heart torn by separation, So you may understand the pain of love’s desire. Whoever’s been taken from his home Always wishes to return). Given the source of this separation, the overwhelming desire to reunite/ return (or the process thereof: wisaal) becomes not only the wayfarer’s path but the act of life itself. The search stems not from a question, but from an answer, an acceptance that there is no respite but in the arms of the beloved- the only obstruction remaining in this non-linear tangent of time is: of when, of waiting, of persistently burning till the being is extinguished to unbeing. In Rumi’s narrative of belonging and exile, the abstract hierarchies are given a more concrete form: it is Shams. He seeks Shams as truth, as wine, as the sea. Aznakeh tauba hajoor ast wa band napazeerad Ghulooway maujay choo koohisaar wa gharsh e derya (Let vows bind all, ye cannot bind the free 6

And mountain-surging thunder of the Sea). (T. 9. 11) Elsewhere he remarks: Gar tu aashiq e ishqi wa ishq rah joya Bikyer khanjar e tez wa babur kalwi e haya Bidaan keh sidday azeem ast dar rawash namoss If thou art love’s lover and seekest love, Take a keen poniard and cut the throat of bashfulness. Know that reputation is a great hindrance in the path. (3) It is not just the act of seeking, but seeking from a place of absolute humility, whereby you may be answered and you may very well be declined. The flippancy with which the Beloved treats the lover is recurrent in mystical poetry. The door may be opened, or the lover may be shunned. Under no circumstances is the Beloved reproached, his cruelties are also his attention, his displeasure is His will, his neglect is His grandeur. The lover’s service is to continually seek, to implore, to plead, to stand outside the door till he is admitted inside. Interestingly, this pattern took a more practical form in the Celebi order; the applicant had to stand outside for as many days as the Sheikh decreed, after which he was either allowed to enter or asked to leave. I broke an ascetic’s door: with a prayer he banned me Saying, ‘Go, may all thy life be without peace’ No peace, no heart is left me, on account of his prayer, By the Friend, who thirsts for our blood- May God befriend him! My body is like the moon which Is melting for love, My heart like Zuhra’s lute- may its strings be broken Look not on the moon’s waning nor on Zuhra’s broken state; Behold the sweetness of his affliction- may it wax thousandfold! (19) The act of punishment is welcomed as the ‘polishing of mirror’(‘If you are irritated by every rub, how will your mirror be polished?’- Rumi), as Hafiz in his inimitable style remarks ‘it burned and I cried laughing - more’. Seeking is nearly thematic in Rumi’s verse- particularly in Divan-e-Shams Tabriz which is written 7

in memoriam. In a pronounced mystical sense, Shams can be considered an alias or takhallus for Rumi. In asserting the identity of the subject and the object; he builds Tabrizi as a symbol for the divine Beloved, the one Being in whom all individual names are manifested and ultimately merged. He continually calls upon this search as his reckoning, as his identity, as the only truth about his existence (‘Do not turn me away, saying ‘go away’/ I would not exist, my beloved, if I didn’t stand here’ #450). This yearning for completion echoes of the nearly hermaphroditic tradition (Alloya) that the soul is torn and halved: ‘My soul is from elsewhere. I am sure of that. And I intend to end up there’. Without the actual presence of his pir, and the doomed possibility that he may never answer, Jalaluddin begins the process of reacting to his own demands: ‘water also seeks the thirsty’ and again, ‘what you seek is seeking you’. Indicating the omniscient nature of a destiny he cannot escape, nor deny, but is tormented by constantly, in a symphony of self- deconstruction so he is only strung like a lute, crippled into playing the heart’s loudest, and most painful song: Man Ba Tu Cheneen sokhteh khar mann taaki Wazz ma tu cheneen kasheeda daaman taaki Een kaar bikaam dushmanaanam ta chand Mann darr gham tu, tu farigh az mann taaki How long will I keep burning in your flame? How long will you still turn away from me? How many friends will turn from me in shame? How long will I be in your pain? How long will you be free of me? (#1957) Seeking becomes the first step in this journey which organically builds itself to the point that a complex mechanism propels its own obliteration, and in it finds freedom. The way of love is not a subtle argument. The door there is devastation. 8

Birds make great sky-circles of their freedom. How do they learn it? They fall, and falling, they're given wings.

2. Love Kooyand Ishq cheest bikku tark e ikhtiar They say, ‘What is love?’, Say ‘Renunciation of will.’ (51) The progression of irfan works in an inverse relationship with the deconstruction of self. As self gets diminished, irfan reaches its apex. However, the stages are not milestones on this landscape of solitary discovery- the seeker may experience one or more stations (ahwal) simultaneously. He may also be stalled for many years, like in the case of Hafiz (Ladinsky, p.44), till the veil lifts. Hafiz’s love makes him laugh out in euphoric ecstasy, laughter being ‘the purest sound’, it makes him careless: That the saint is now continually Tripping over Joy And bursting out in Laughter And saying, ‚I Surrender!‛ (9) Rumi’s love is scalding. It makes him pensive, it makes him wise, it makes him seek ‘more’, it makes him careful. It is in this regard, that translators often strip the verse from its core environment: of an esoteric awakening, and fashion it to the semblance of an all-encompassing love that is innocuous and accommodating. Not to say that Rumi’s love is not the aforementioned, but the orders (ehkamat) do not end there. It is a rope held tight for too long, tense with longing and prolonged servility. It is the love that is kindled after having walked through fire, after having yearned for release, for death, for a moment of the beloved’s visage. It is a love that has been trodden, chastised to walk the range between despair and hope.

9

E keh behnagham e dard, rahat e jaani mera E keh betalkhi e fikr ghunj e rawani mera O thou who art my soul’s comfort in the season of sorrow O thou who art my spirit’s treasure in the bitterness of dearth! (23) Love, lends itself to a variety syntax, but ishq complicates the simplest question. The problem compounds notably when to fit the syntax, an entire verse is deconstructed to form only an ‘echo held inside the mountain’ (27). Love can be translated into gradients in indo-persian-turkce subtext (pyar, mohebet, aashqui, qurbet- indicating intimacy etc.) but ishq cannot be contained within the lexicon of love alone to cater to all compositional requirements. It is a tumultuous, passionate, unrestrained love that is specific in its aim. Az shabnam ishq khaak adam gul shud Sadd fatinda wa shor darr jahan haasil shud Sadd nashtar ishq bar rug rooh zadind Yak katreh az aan chakeed wa namish dil shud The dew of love turned dust of man to mud, From which sprang up unruly passion's horde. Their hundred lances pierced the veins of Soul. What we call Heart is one drop of its blood. (#521) The Beloved is omnipresent; it is his gestures that move the world: birds sing His glory, each petal wakes up to His grace. He is ‘yaar e be-misl’, yet most familiar and ultimately best loved. Az Kinaar e khuweesh yaabim her dammi man booye yaar From the bosom of Self, I catch continually a scent of the beloved (1- 105) And: The scent of you will never leave my memory. The vision of your face won’t leave my eyes. A lifetime long I've dreamt you, night and day. That life has passed, the dream won't go away. (#450) 10

Exodus is impossible. Though, the thought of fleeing occurs to preserve existence (hasti) and to end the torment. The Beloved cannot be held by sight, nor can He be borne, but He cannot be surrendered, and He cannot be disregarded. Ro cho aatish, meh cho aatish ishq aatish her she khawish Jaan zashtahayi e berham dar fughan ain al farar A face like fire, wine like fire, love afire- all three desirable The soul by reason of the mingled fires, was wailing ‘Where do I escape?’ (11-12. 105) Hafiz: Thine eye hath wrought my ruin, but so my love Send it, a thousand welcomes to the woe! It is perhaps not fair to give only a brief section to this subject in any academic discussion. However, since it can only be inconclusively submitted for the peculiarity of a particular inquiry, for present purposes let us only view it in the light of irfan. For this reason, comparative and competitive analyses are not included, lest the scope get too vast for the intended cause of exposition.

3. Wisdom Such an ambivalent, tightly coiled love, which is neither requited nor denied, must exalt a novice to a master. Wisdom in the poetry of Rumi has many nuances, just like ‘tark e ikhtiyaar’ is aptly translated as ‘renunciation of will’ by Reynold Nicholson- ‘Ikhtiyaar’ can have variations in meaning and intent, it can be ‘choice’, it can be the right of preference, it can be freedom, it can be abandonment of ‘self’. Similarly, wisdom appears differently in the Divan, it is at times, called ‘aqal’, at others called ‘fehm’- but most importantly it is conventional wisdom reversed. It is insanity that is wisdom, and ‘mujnoon’ or Zulaikha who are the wisest of all. And what is wisdom, but the will to choose to perish at the feet of the beloved? Nisaar paii tu khuwaham beher dammi dil o jaan Keh khaak bar sar e jaani keh khaakpaai e tu neest 11

I desire continually to fling heart and soul at thy feet Dust on the head of the soul which is not the dust of thy feet (39) Wisdom then becomes an eye which perceives reason as a tether, a shackle that must be broken to view the Beloved. Ashtar e deewana e sar mast e man Silsila e aqal dareedan gharift My frenzied intoxicated soul Began to rend reason’s tether. (295) And then: Aqal amad o pand aashikaan pesh girift Dar reh banashist wa rehzanni keesh girift Choon dar sar shaan jaigeh pand nadeed Paai humee boseeda wa reh khaweesh girift Reason came forward to lecture the lovers; Like a bandit in ambush he lay. But he saw that their heads had no room for reason, So bowed at their feet and went on his way. (#367) For where is reason in this relentlessly self-disparaging pursuit? Whereby the instinct of self-preservation is compromised into a willful negation and the journey carries you further and further away into the recesses of the Unseen. Though you have no feet choose to journey in yourself (111) It is wisdom to let yourself be carried away, to dirge your own inconsequentiality, to know that your agonizing love is the only thing that makes you existent but to want to know: If you feel any desire for me, then say so. If you live without love, alone, I want to know. If your heart holds a place for me, then say so. 12

Say if it’s so, or say no, but tell me the truth. (#1582) And so one must continually lament the Beloved’s neglect- lamenting (as opposed to Hafiz’s laughter) being the sound of the spheres, riven and circling in trance, bemoaning the separation from aql e qul, embodied by Shams Tabriz: ‘Tis said, the pipe and lute that charm our ears Derive their melody from rolling spheres; But Faith, o’erpassing speculation’s bound, Can see what sweetens every jangled sound. (Remembered Music-Quodlibet)

4. Self Sufficiency Even more intricate than the will to madness is the will to embrace silence. To accept that: Tu kun nida wa tu awazeh deh keh sultani Turrasat lutf e jawab wa turasat ilm e sawal Cry out and proclaim that thou art king; Thine is the grace of answer, and thine is the knowledge of question. (119) The danger to confuse self-reliance with resignation is immense. In fact it can be closest to peace, or ‘tazkiah’ (muqamat of the Sufi in the course of which he masters his ‘nafs’ /self). A contentment that the soul is no longer writhing in torment but patiently waiting:

Makanam la makan baashid nishanam bi nishaan baashid Na tan baashid na jaan baashid keh man az jaan e jaana nam My place is the placeless, my trace is the traceless Tis neither body nor soul, for I belong to the soul of the Beloved. (125) The soul has already travelled further away from the body, from its earthly bounds. It is no longer constrained by time and space, but is held in suspension 13

between the two: somewhere between Ibn-e-Arabi’s ‘Qaf’ and the world of material. Here the theme of ‘waiting’ takes on a more active role and the pining becomes compulsive. In the ongoing dialogue between the two selves (one part assuming the nature of the Beloved), a certain ‘takrar’ (confrontation) continues to take place. Yaan khana dar aa ee jaan yaan khana bepardazim O Beloved, enter the house, or I will leave it (135) In a sense of spiritual ascension by coming to own the attributes that define wala’yah (friend of Allah), in this case particularly of ‘Al-Qayyum’ (asma e husna- The Great Names), the seed is sown. In Ibn-e-Arabi’s ‘Journey to the Lord Of Power’, the state of self-discipline is grasped, wherein the ascetic requires no motivation for his litany anymore, he is the caller and the call- however: Will your pain submit to a cure? Never. Or desire ever leave you? Never. The seed of patience is sown in the heart, You say. But will it ever sprout? Never (#951) Never in this narrative, is not a curse, but a promise, a promise which exists outside ‘ikhtiyar’ (will). It is the only choice available when all else has been denied or abandoned- and it is found to be ‘sufficient’. This silences the wayfarer, as the accepted ‘language of God’ (50), for: To be tangled, oh so briefly, in your love Is to know disaster, close at hand and real. Honest Mansour spoke true, as love must do, And he was hung by the rope of his zeal. (#576) Or as Iqbal says: Mansoor ko hua lab e goya paiyaam e maut Ab kya kisi kay ishq ka dawa karay koi? 14

His talking lip was death’s message to Mansoor How can anyone claim to love another now? (Bang e Dara. 56) 5. Monotheism From ‘Wav’ (‘Elevator of Degrees’- Ibn-e-Arabi’) to ‘Qaf’ (Footstool of Power), the soul, hitherto a tightly wound up coil, has finally come undone and spent it’s fragile autonomy on infinity. The tide of singularity washes over a languishing cry, and is silenced in submission. Khamosh kardum wa az ghair e ahl banhuftam I hold my silence and keep the unworthy in the dark (103) Because: Dar jahaan e wahdat e sheh een ad’dara ghunj neest In the world of Divine Unity is no room for Number. (105) In this, Rumi has actualized Shams as himself. He (Rumi) is his beloved (Shams), for he lives within him, there is no discord, no dichotomy. God is one, the Ultimate and so is his ‘Kibriya’ (Divine Authority)- rhythmically unified over the entire reach of time and space. ‘Alif’ is extended in the cry of ‘Hu’. The skin of being so closely sutured with the singularity of the Beloved, that the thought of separation, not only inconceivable to the consciousness of the lover, would irreparably lacerate the soul- the soul that no longer has awareness outside the ‘Haqq’ (truth) of Gnosis. The bridge between Man and God is no longer impassable (the bridge being the ‘pir’ standing in for the Apostle), there is no divide between spirit and matterPlotinus’s first and last link of a single chain: Absolute Unity- The highest beauty, the Highest Thought, The Highest Good, and yet above it- so inconceivable that it can only be expressed by negation: Nahi hai tu toh inka’ar kaisa Naf’fi bhi teray honay ka pata’a hai 15

Why deny Your reality if You don’t exist Negating your existence is proof of your being. (Translation is my own) Mystics must adhere to a certain holistic code of life that comprises law, the path and the truth (shariat, tariqat, haqiqat). Nasafi in this regard has said: ‚O Dervish! He who accepts what his Prophet has said is of the shariat, and he who performs what his Prophet has performed if of the tariqat and he who sees what his prophet has seen is of haqq (truth‛. *xxviii+ It is challenging to attribute the canon of ‘Unity of Being’ to Rumi because the theological foundation of Islam, which is the source of his thought, has its main pillar in ‘tawhid’ (Unity of God): Say: He is Allah, Absolute Oneness (Quran 112:1) For this, monotheism became a common denominator for all theological, mystical and philosophical schools of Muslim thought. Principally, it means that God transcends and is radically different from the world. Additionally, it also means that God has attributes and acts by which He appears everywhere to the wayfarer (arif). Both these affirmations, transcendence and anthropomorphism, makes the Islamic worldview distinct from the pantheist one, which is based on the flow of God in the World. It is perhaps best to assume that the ‘Unity of Being’ (as discussed earlier tracing to Plotinus), is derivative of monotheism (tawhid), since the unity of God in Himself is a path to unity of God with the world: Wherever you turn, the Face of Allah is there (Quran 2:114) Hence, we see traces of pantheism present in the name of God ‘The Real’ (alhaqq). According to Sufis, this name indicates that other beings are nothing but false and imaginary. We all know the famous hadith in which God says, ‘I was a hidden treasure, and I want to be recognized, so I created the world’. The ambivalence between the two (monotheism and pantheism) is reflected on the 16

corpus of Rumi, to the point that we are unable to decide his view since it embodies both sides of unity, transcendence and immanence of God. ‘Where there is ruin, there is hope for treasure’ (Mathnawi) Rumi does not sacrifice his metaphors and symbols, full of contradictions for the sake of being in harmony with philosophical concepts and demonstrative discourse (especially not in Divan-e-Shams Tabrez). The traces of this conflict are not wholly obliterated, but in lofty moments, the clashing characters are swept away in a flood of divine harmony, for it can be said for Jalaluddin ‘This is not poetry borrowing the forms of pantheistic speculation, but pantheism assuming to itself the faith and position which transmutes speculative thought into religion’ ( Symonds, p. 120). The equivocity of the notion of wahdat al wajud (unity of Being) is realized through a chain of transformations, where the mystic (salik) moves from monotheism to pantheism. As in the case of Rumi who sees truth in Shams ul haqq. Jaanam zappi e ishqat Shams ul haqq e Tabrezi My soul in pursuit of thy love, Shams ul Haqq of Tabriz (75) And: Bi dolat e makhdoomi e Shams ul Haqq e Tabrezi Ni ma tawaan deedan wa ni beher tawaan shud Without the power of imperial of Shams ul Haqq of Tabrez One could neither behold the moon nor become the sea. (79) From love of One to the actualized love of another till they merge into One for one is naught but the other. Aan lujja bood aen e aan mauj Aan mauj cheh bood aen e derya What was that mass of waters? Nought but the wave. 17

What was that wave? Nought but the Sea. [xxxxix] This is what leads to the awareness of unity of Being from immanent unity (pantheism) to human unity with God (ittihad), and finally divine unity with man (hulul): Barf buddam kudakhtam ta keh zameen mirra bakhoorad Ta humesh dood e dil shuddam ta soo e aasmaan shuddam I was snow and melted away, so that the earth drank me up Till I became one mist of soul and mounted to the sky. (236) 6. Astonishment The experience of Unity of Being appears to be immersed in a hard paradox, where he feels that the beloved is both transcendental and nearer to him at the same time. Indeed, the lover is scattered between being jealous of his Beloved, who urges him to say ‘no existence but Him’ (Rubaiyat, p.32), and the avidity of being absorbed by him to say ‘nothing in this dress but God’. Therefore, we find it difficult to overcome this aporia without annihilating the self in the Other or ‘melting’ into him without abolishing the duality among I and you. This process, of abolition is a spiritual evolution which lifts the ‘veils’. In an exploratory paper by Dr. Carl Ernst, he lists Ibn-e-Arabi’s ascent in 7 levels: The Ascent: [I-a] Unveiling of the sensory world. [I-b] Unveiling of the imaginal world. [I-c] Unveiling of the world of abstract meanings. [I-1] God will show you the secrets of the mineral world [I-2] God will show you the secrets of the vegetal world [I-3] God will show you the secrets of the animal world. [I-4] The Infusion of the world of life-forces into lives [I-5+ "If you do not stop with this, He reveals to you the ‘surface signs" [I-6] Next the light of the scattering of sparks becomes visible. [I-7] Then the light of the ascendant stars (tauhid) and the form of universal order 18

[I-8] The proper adab (manner) for entering into, standing in and leaving the Divine Presence. In Rumi’s ascent to the final negation of self, the theme of ‘return’ begins to complete the round. Ibn al-’Arabi treats the mystical ascent-and-return in four key places. He recounts his own mystical journey through the stars in The Nocturnal Journey (Kitab al-Isra) written in 594. He writes in ‘The Journey to the Lord of Power’ (Risalat-ul-anwar fima yumnah sahib al-khalwa min al-asrar, literally "Treatise on the lights in the secrets granted one who undertakes retreat.") in 602 / 1204. This work was also composed in Konya, Turkey. The very notion of "journeying to God" is paradoxical. Since all is of God, any journeying is only for our benefit -so that we can deepen our capacities to understand what always is; so that we can recognize God’s "signs in the souls and on the horizons." (Quran 41:53). Subsequently, we can become more aware of both, the timeless perspective of God and the time bound unfolding perspective of humans. As T. S. Eliot’s put it: "We shall not cease from exploring and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time" (The Waste Land). Choonz zindan barhi baaz darr aan kard shawwi When you escape from captivity you will return to that orb. (187)

7. Annihilation As Juan de la Cruz suggests ‘to die spiritually so far as the senses are concerned, during life’ is fana’a (self-annihilation). Here it is interjected that true knowledge is only attainable by the destruction or absolute submission of self. How wonderful is the path of Love, Where the headless one lifts up his head (is exalted)- Hafiz The just orbit is whole, whereby the seeker returns to himself as another. In losing himself, in ‘buying bewilderment’ he has attained perpetuity.

19

Now the Divan is truly authored by Shams Tabrez, for other than his realization the ‘self’ of Jalaluddin is non-existent. And because Jalaluddin does not exist, and his cord is irrevocably tied to another, his unbeing is the hulul (immersion) of the Highest Reality. Az bazkeh banazdeek tawaam mi dudam Waz ghayat amaizash tu mahjooram Waz kassrat paidashudagi mastooram Waz sehat basyaar chenain ranjuram I'm so close to you that I'm far apart, So completely merged that I'm separate, So vastly exposed that I'm concealed, So whole and sound that I'll never be healed. (#1121) And: Zeengonay keh mann be neesti kharsandam Chandeen cheh deed bhar hasti pandam Rozi keh ba taigh neesti bakshandam Gareenda e mann barest keh oo man khandam. I'm content with this way: nonexistence. Why so much advice about existence? The day I die by that blade, Not-To-Be, I will laugh at whoever cries for me. (#1250)

For most part, the Divan is a flood of intoxication, ecstasy and loss. According to Daulat Shah: ‘There was a pillar in Mawlana’s house and when he was drowned in the ocean of love he used to take hold of that pillar and set himself turning around it. Meanwhile, he versified and people wrote down the verses’. The superficial consciousness sacrificed for and fused in higher consciousness. The death of one, is the

20

resurrection of the other. Consequently, these verses will not be for every ear, as the famous quote: ‘We are known by our own kind, while the others deny us‛. Our own kind, Dhu’l nun (245 AH) is said to have introduced the doctrine of ecstasies (ahwal) and mystical stages (maqamat). According to Jami (Nafatahu, p. 36), Dhu’l nun is said to be the head of this sect, being the first to interpret the symbolic ‘isharat wa ibarat aaward’, whereas Junaid (297 AH) systemized and composed writings on the subject. However, it is Jalaluddin Rumi who despite his genius demonstrates that ‘alif’ (The first letter of the Arabic script, the Prime) is all you need to learn of love. That ascent is not through learning (unlike the intellectual angle of Al-Ghazali) but is an act of grace, propelled by a ‘descent’. The grace which ultimately makes one ‘return’ to the source of ishq, of truth and of elemental deconstruction in dis(re)covery. Ee dar dil mann nashisteh bagshaada darri Jaz tu degri najwaeem wa koo degri Baahir keh z dil daad zaaram daffai guft Tu dafa mudda keh neest az tu guzri You opened my heart's door, sat down inside. Who else is there but you that I should seek? When my love cries out, they turn away. Don't shut me out. Beyond you there's no way. (#1726) And: Ta haasil dardam sabab darmaan gasht Pastem bulandi wa kuff’r eeman gasht Jaan o dil o tann hijab reh bood kanoon Tann dil sha’dd wa dil jaan sha’dd wa jaan janaan gasht

21

The harvest of my pain was its own peace and remedy. As low as I had sunk, I rose, faith restored from blasphemy. Body, heart, and soul obscured the path, until Body melted into heart, heart in soul, and soul in love itself. (#262, from Rumi's Kolliyaat-e Shams-e Tabrizi- Tehran)

____________________________________________

22

References Affifi, A. E. (1974). ahwal. The mystical philosophy of Muḥyid Di̕n-Ibnul ʻArabi̕ (pp. 91-120). New York: AMS Press. Aviv, R. (n.d.). A Rumi of One's Own. Poetry Foundation. Retrieved September 17, 2013, from http://www.poetryfoundation.org/article/179906 Bell, G. L. (1928). Poems from the Divan of Hafiz,. London: W. Heinemann. Consciousness of sexual Identity. (n.d.). Hermaphroditus. Retrieved September 17, 2013, from http://www.alloya.com/texts/Gender.pdf Corbin, H., & Fox, L. (1995). Mundus Imaginalis. Swedenborg and esoteric Islam (p. 1). West Chester, Pa.: Swedenborg Foundation. Eshots, Y. (2012). Shams and Mawlana: Who annihilated into whom?. Mevlana Research in Konya, 2, 1. I Heard God Laughing Quotes By Hafiz. (n.d.). Tripping Over Joy. Retrieved September 17, 2013, from http://www.goodreads.com/work/quotes/70583-i-heard-god-laughingpoems-of-hope-and-joy Iqbal, M. (1948). La-Hasil . Bang-e-Dara (p. 56). Delhi: Kamal Pub. House. Mutehari, M. (n.d.). Light Within Me. Al-Islam.org by the Ahlul Bayt DILP - Home. Retrieved September 17, 2013, from http://www.al-islam.org/LWM/ Nicholson, R. A. (1989). Song Of the Reed Flute. The Mathnawi of Jalalu'ddin Rumi (p. 1). Lahore: Islamic Book Service. Nicholson, R. A. (2003). Introduction . Selected poems from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz. (pp. xv-li). Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications. Safavi, D. S. (2010). The Practice of Mysticism (irfan-i Amali) in Islam . London Academy of 23

Iranian Studies, 12, 8-24. Seeker, t. (n.d.). Ibn 'Arabi and the Mystical Journey. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Retrieved September 28, 2013, from http://www.unc.edu/depts/sufilit/ALARABI.htm Selected poems from the Dīvāni Shamsi Tabrīz.. (2003). Lahore: Sang-e-Meel Publications. The Divan. (n.d.). Poet Seers. Retrieved September 12, 2013, from http://www.poetseers.org/thepoetseers/rumi/divan/ Watt, W. M. (1953). The faith and practice of al-Ghazālī. London: G. Allen and Unwin. as, n. h. (n.d.). THE IRANIAN: Poetry, Rumi. Iranian.com News, Blogs, Art and Community. Retrieved September 29, 2013, from http://iranian.com/Arts/rumi.html Aflākī, S. a., & Shah, I. (1978). The hundred tales of wisdom: life, teachings, and miracles of Jalaludin Rumi from Aflākī's Munaqib, together with certain important stories from Rumi's works traditionally known as The hundred tales of wisdom. London: Octagon Press. Eliot, T. S. (199). The waste land. Champaign, Ill.: Project Gutenberg. Erol, E., & Konya, T. (2005). How to join the mevlevi convent?. Mevlânâ's life, works, and the Mevlânâ Museum (p. 40). Konya: [Altunarıi Ofest]. Gamard, I. (2008). Rubaiyat. The quatrains of Rumi: complete translation with Persian text, Islamic mystical commentary, manual of terms, and concordance (p. 32). San Rafael, CA: Sufi Dari Books. Ladinsky, D. J. (1999). Introduction. The gift: poems by the great Sufi master (p. 44). New York: Arkana. Maqālāt-i Shams-i Tabrīzī,. (13491970). Tihrān: ʻ 24

Nicola̕s, A. T. (1989). Introduction . St. John of the Cross (San Juan de la Cruz): alchemist of the soul : his life, his poetry (bilingual), his prose (p. 50). New York: Paragon House. Quodlibet., & Consultants., P. I. (n.d.). Q U O D L I B E T: Rumi “Remembered Music―. Q U O D L I B E T. Retrieved September 30, 2013, from http://quodlibet-sarah.blogspot.com/2013/01/rumi-remembered-music.html

25