Ibn Tufayl (Abubacer) was born early in the 12th century in Granada and died in Morocco in 1185. He studied ibn Bajja and became a mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, poet, and was court physician and perhaps a judge for the second Almohad prince Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (r. 1163-1184). Ibn Tufayl is famous for his philosophical romance Hayy the Son of Yaqzan, which is based on characters from a visionary recital by Avicenna. In the introduction he recommended the illuminative philosophy of Avicenna, and he reviewed the philosophies of ibn Bajja, al-Farabi, Avicenna, and al-Ghazali. Hayy son of Yaqzan, which means "Alive son of Awake," is born alone on an island and is raised by a gazelle until he is seven years old. He observes nature and learns how to take care of himself. When the doe dies, he learns of the spiritual principle of life found in the heart. By the time he is 35 Hayy has become absorbed in contemplating the creator and necessary being, whom he believes will lead him to eternal bliss. He recognizes that divine essence of the soul and observes in animals what relates to his body. He finds that emulating this animal element interferes with the higher vision, which begins to open when he turns to the second emulation within himself. Pure vision comes from the third emulation of the necessary being.
In analyzing food Hayy decides that fruit is the most pure, followed by early plant growth in vegetables; animals and their eggs can be eaten when the others are not available, but no species should be exterminated. He keeps his body pure by washing it and using aromatic herbs. His contemplation of the necessary being is enhanced by closing his senses and by spinning himself rapidly like the celestial bodies. Hayy falls into the error of identifying himself with God, but divine mercy helps correct this. From a nearby island Asal gives his money to the poor and comes there to be a hermit. At first Hayy communicates by gently stroking Asal, who eventually teaches him language. Hayy describes the essence of truth, and Asal tells him about the inhabited island. Hayy is surprised that people waste their time on superfluous things, but he agrees to go and teach them what he knows. However, people soon became hostile to his ideas that challenge their way of life, and they are content following the authorities. So Hayy asks to be forgiven and says he believes they are guided on the right path. Asal goes with Hayy back to the solitary island, where they worship God until they die. Ibn Tufayl concluded that he wrote this book, because others may wish to climb the heights that eyes fail to see.
Ibn Rushd, known in the West as Averroes, was born into a family of distinguished jurists at Cordoba in 1126. He knew the first Almohad ruler 'Abd al-Mu'min at Marrakesh in 1153 and wrote a book on medicine. In 1168 the court physician Ibn Tufayl introduced Averroes to that ruler's son and successor Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, who asked him to write commentaries on Aristotle. The next year Averroes was appointed a judge at Seville, and in 1171 he returned to Cordoba and later was chief judge there. In 1182 he replaced the retiring Ibn Tufayl as court physician. Averroes fell out of favor during a holy war against Spain in 1195, and all his works were burned except those that were considered scientific. After a brief exile he lived in retirement at Marrakesh until he died in 1198. Best known in Europe for his extensive commentaries on Aristotle, the writings of Averroes were translated into Hebrew and Latin and had considerable influence in bringing the ideas of Aristotle to Jews and Christians.
Averroes criticized the philosophic criticisms of al-Ghazali in his Incoherence of the Incoherent. Averroes blamed democracy for emphasizing private life and for its lack of control of people's desires, and in his commentary on Plato's Republic he concurred with the government deceiving people in order to maintain its class system. Believing that truth was not always persuasive, Averroes advised compelling people also as though they were children. Yet he regretted that women were not treated equally in Islamic society. He wrote that one of the causes of poverty in their cities is that women are not allowed to do anything except procreate and raise children. He agreed with Plato that women could be philosophical governors.
Averroes wrote The Decisive Treatise Determining the Nature of the Connection between Religion and Philosophy about 1180. He believed that everyone should follow Islamic law but that only the elite could understand philosophy. Averroes argued that the law commands the study of philosophy and that this is best done by demonstrative reasoning. Thus the religious thinker as well as the lawyer must study logic. He believed that the demonstrative and dialectical methods are superior to the rhetoric used for the common people. For Averroes demonstrative truth and scripture could not conflict. If the apparent meaning is different, then the scripture must be interpreted allegorically. This stimulates the learned to greater study, but metaphorical interpretations must never violate the Islamic consensus that is certain.
Averroes argued that al-Ghazali's criticisms of al-Farabi and Avicenna were only tentative, and he contended that the Aristotelians do believe God has an omniscient awareness that does include particulars. Averroes warned against the learned setting down allegorical interpretations in popular writings, as al-Ghazali did, because they can confuse the common people, who rely on the apparent meaning. Thus he warned that the philosophical view of scripture should not be taught to the majority. Everyone must attempt to understand the symbols by their own ability, because to tell someone the inner meaning without helping them to understand it destroys their simpler belief without replacing it with something better. Even worse is to give people allegorical interpretations that are false, and he argued that hostile sects arose in Islam because of the wrong use of allegory by the Mu'tazilis and the Ash'aris. Averroes believed that these harms could be cured by teaching people the apparent meanings, but he supported the Muwahhid policy of censoring any deviation from the consensus of Islamic law.
Khwajah Nasir al-Tusi was born February 15, 1201 in Tus; his father was a prominent Shi'i jurist. Al-Tusi studied at Nishapur, and he joined the administration of a local Isma'ili prince. Al-Tusi wrote many books on a variety of subjects. When the Mongols destroyed the Alamut fortress in 1256, he and the historian al-Juwayni helped to preserve the library and astronomical instruments. He served Hulagu when the Mongols attacked Baghdad and was stationed at the gate to protect innocent people. Although it was reported by some that he saved the lives of many Muslim scholars, others said that al-Tusi destroyed the libraries of his adversaries and persuaded Hulagu not to fear killing the last 'Abbasid caliph. After helping Hulagu consolidate his authority in Baghdad, al-Tusi went to the Shi'i center of learning at Hillah to see the Shi'i jurist Muhaqqiq-i Hilli. Tusi supervised the construction of the astronomical observatory at Maragha, which was sponsored by Hulagu and became a great center of learning. After Abaqa' Khan was wounded by a bison while hunting, al-Tusi supervised the surgery. Tusi died at Baghdad in 1274, the same year as the death of Thomas Aquinas to whom he has been compared.
The Nasirean Ethics of Tusi was written in 1235 when he was already a celebrated scholar. Tusi based his ethics on the knowledge of God, the prophet Muhammad, and the succeeding imams, and he recommended cultivating the virtues of asceticism and the fear of God. He considered injustice and tyranny the worst vices, and he denounced the material gains of the world. He believed that accumulating wealth is unnecessary, futile, and bad; greed and avarice should be avoided. He argued that poverty is better than wealth just as truth is better than a lie, being trustworthy is better than being unreliable, and silence is better than speech, because too much talk is hazardous. For Tusi the highest virtues also include being kind, patient, forgiving, and controlling anger. One should be neither envious nor hostile. Humility is a virtue, and arrogance is a vice. Being generous is better than being stingy. One should be brave and control desires. He recommended companionship with the wise and good friends while avoiding those who are ignorant and do wrong.
Tusi included ethics in practical philosophy along with social and political issues. He distinguished natural virtues which do not change from conventional virtues that do alter because they depend on community consensus. The human soul is the subject of ethics because it is the origin of good and bad acts, and humans are more noble than plants and animals. The noblest humans are prophets and saints. The ultimate goal of knowledge is serenity and certainty, while the ultimate end of action is to achieve harmony and balance in relationships and society. Al-Tusi criticized those who make enjoyment of things their purpose in life, because they have subjected the soul to ephemeral lust. The bestial and savage aspects of the soul can be controlled by the angelic admonishing soul. He believed happiness comes from wisdom, courage, piety, and justice.
Tusi wrote that correction disposition is the noblest of disciplines. He adopted the psychology and classical virtues of Socrates and the ancient Greeks. Wisdom is the virtue of the theoretical faculty, justice the virtue of the practical faculty, courage the virtue of the irascible, and continence the virtue of the appetites. Within wisdom he defined the seven virtues of wit, understanding, mental clarity, learning, intellect, retention, and recall. The eleven virtues he described as part of courage are greatness, bravery, high-mindedness, perseverance, mildness, calmness, vigor, patience, humility, honor, and compassion. The twelve species under the virtue of continence for Tusi are shame, meekness, right guidance, peace, tranquillity, fortitude, contentment, gravity, moderation, order, freedom, and liberality. He also found under liberality the eight virtues of generosity, preference, forgiveness, manliness, attainment, charity, supererogation (doing more than required), and leniency. Twelve virtues under justice are sincerity, amity, fidelity, concern, care of kin, requital, fellowship, fairness, affection, acceptance, reliance, and devotion. Tusi suggested that love is the quest for nobility, virtue, and perfection, and the more one yearns for perfection the easier it is to attain it.
Tusi believed that disposition can be changed by education and that ethics is a noble art. Justice is the most noble virtue, and as with music, it depends on balance. He suggested that justice depends on what he called mahabbat, which means "loving kindness" or "friendship." Happiness is physical, social, and spiritual. Physical happiness depends on acquiring knowledge that benefits the body's health. The knowledge that aids social happiness is political, economic, social, religious, and cultural. Spiritual diseases are healed by curing vices such as anger, envy, vanity, stubbornness, frivolity, enmity, fear of death, lust, idleness, and sadness. In domestic ethics Tusi suggested that a good wife is a partner to her husband in wealth and management of the household and his representative when he is absent. He did not recommend polygamy although he did still believe that a wife should fear her husband, should be concealed from strangers, and should not be encouraged to follow her desires.
Tusi described six stages in the path of purifying the soul. The first starts the movement and requires faith, persistence, intention, honesty, trust in God, and purification of all thoughts, words, and deeds. The second stage of overcoming barriers is achieved by repentance, asceticism, poverty, hardship, introspection, and abstinence from sin. In the third stage of progress in the spiritual quest one must master solitude, thinking, fear, hope, patience, and gratitude. In the fourth stage success depends on will, ecstasy, love, knowledge, conviction, and serenity. In the fifth stage of completing the quest the virtues are faith, contentment, surrender, monotheism, unity, and oneness. The sixth and final stage assimilates all the preceding stages and annihilates the individual in God so that there is no longer a seeker or seeking. Tusi believed that on the day of judgment all concealments would disappear, and reality will shine as good and bad acts are accurately measured. By drawing on the philosophy of the Greeks, Indians, and Persians in addition to the teachings of the Qur'an and the traditions Tusi provided a more comprehensive ethics than the theologians who depend only on the Islamic law.
Maimonides' Guide for the Perplexed
Moses Maimonides was born into a distinguished family of Jews at Cordoba on March 30, 1135 and was well educated by his father Maimon. In 1148 the fanatical Berber Almohads led by the Mahdi ibn-Tumart conquered Cordoba and gave the Jews and Christians the choice between converting to Islam, exile, or death. The Maimon family continued to practice Judaism privately but hid by outwardly appearing as Muslims. About 1159 they went to Fez in Morocco. Moses studied rabbinical Judaism, philosophy, and medicine. After his teacher Rabbi Judah ibn Shoshan was arrested for his religion and was executed in 1165, the Maimon family moved to Palestine for a few months before settling in Egypt near Cairo. There Jews could practice their religion unless they had previously submitted to Islam, in which they case they were put to death. After his father died, and his brother David, a jewelry merchant, lost his life and the family fortune in a shipwreck, Moses took up the profession of a physician. He became quite successful and even treated the famous Sultan Saladin and his son al-Afdal, to whom he dedicated a popular collection of health rules. Maimonides also taught and became the leader of the Cairo Jewish community in 1177. Ten years later he was accused of being a renegade but was acquitted, because he had never really adopted Islam. Maimonides argued that the Torah revokes all obligations made under compulsion. When Saladin conquered Palestine, Maimonides persuaded him to let Jews settle there.
Maimonides was only 16 when he began writing on logic and the calendar. He spent ten years writing, also in Arabic, his commentary on the Mishnah that was completed when he was 33. Then he began his magnum opus on the code of Jewish law called the Mishna Torah, which was written in Hebrew and took another ten years. He wrote in Arabic a shorter Book of Precepts for less sophisticated readers, and he wrote in Hebrew a digest of the Palestinian Talmud called the Laws of Jerusalem. In 1176 Maimonides began his Guide for the Perplexed, which took fifteen years and applied rational philosophy to Judaism. He wrote this in Arabic but with Hebrew letters so that it could only be read by Jews, and he supervised a Hebrew translation. The Guide for the Perplexed was translated into Latin and many other languages, becoming his most influential work. Maimonides died at Cairo in 1204. His writing often caused controversy in the Jewish community, and in 1233 The Guide for the Perplexed was burned as heretical by Rabbi Solomon of Montpellier in France. In reaction others had Solomon arrested and put to death. Maimonides became recognized by many as the greatest Jewish philosopher, and his creed was used as a part of the orthodox liturgy.
In his introduction to The Guide for the Perplexed Moses Maimonides explained that he aimed to enlighten religious people who believe in the holy law and conscientiously fulfill its moral duties, but because of philosophical studies their reason finds it difficult to accept a literal interpretation of the scripture. He hoped that his work would alleviate that perplexity and anxiety by explaining the obscure metaphors that are found in the prophetic books. To teach in these disciplines without using parables and metaphors one would have to resort to expressions so profound and transcendental that they would be no more intelligible for understanding the divine will just as one must follow the laws of nature in regard to the body. Maimonides emphasized the general principle of abstaining from excessive indulgence in bodily pleasures which Solomon compared to a married woman who is a harlot.
In the first part of his Guide for the Perplexed Maimonides gave five reasons for not beginning with the study of metaphysics. First, it is too difficult, subtle, and profound; second, human intelligence is insufficient; third, long preparatory studies are required; fourth, moral conduct and the development of character are also indispensable for intellectual progress as the passions of youth must be moderated; and fifth, responsibilities for the material needs of the body, especially for a wife and children and even more if one desires superfluities, retard such study. Influenced by Avicenna, Maimonides declared that God exists as a necessity without a cause, is intelligent and therefore incorporeal. God is really beyond human knowledge. The divine attributes of intelligence, omnipotence, wisdom, mercy, love, unity, and will are absolute when applied to God and thus have a completely different meaning than their human qualities.
In the second part of the Guide Maimonides agreed with 25 philosophical propositions; but he challenged the Aristotelian idea that the universe is eternal, because it contradicts the creation and miracles by God. He defined prophecy as an emanation sent by God through the active intellect, using both the rational and imaginative faculties, and he considered it the highest human attainment. Yet prophecy transcends the human development of the rational and imaginative faculties. In addition to perfecting the mental and imaginative faculties the wise must also achieve moral perfection by suppressing every thought of bodily pleasure and every foolish ambition. He noted that the imagination is affected by the body, because prophecy can be blocked by mourning, anger, and other emotions. The divine influences the various degrees of intelligence and enables us to think. By means of the intuitive faculty the intellect can pass over all the causes and draw inferences instantaneously, enabling some to foretell coming events. Prophets must have highly developed intuition and courage. Prophets using intuition are able to conceive ideas that reason alone cannot comprehend nor ordinary imagination envision. Maimonides described humans as social beings who naturally seek to form communities. As nature's most complex species the human race has the greatest diversity of individuals.
Maimonides takes up ethical questions in the third part of his Guide. He warned against our desire for eating, drinking, and sensuality, writing,
Intelligent persons must, as much as possible, reduce these wants,
guard against them, and feel grieved when satisfying them,
abstaining from speaking of them, discussing them,
and attending to them in company with others.
Man must have control over all these desires,
reduce them as much as possible,
and retain of them as much as is indispensable.
His aim must be the aim of man as man,
viz., the formation of ideas, and nothing else.
The best and sublimest among them is
the idea which man forms of God, angels,
and the rest of the creation according to his capacity.
Such men are always with God.2
A good constitution helps the soul rule over the body; but a bad constitution may be conquered by training. Solomon and others advised reducing the desires of the body and all the vices originating from lust and the passions. Thoughts about sin are even more dangerous than the sin itself, for one sins only by the animal nature; but thinking is the formal faculty of the nobler self that should know better. It is therefore ignoble to use this faculty in service of the lower desires.
Maimonides argued that evil is only a relative condition that implies the non-existence of a good condition. Thus all evils are negations or privations. Death is lack of life, illness lack of health, poverty lack of wealth, and ignorance lack of knowledge. God cannot create evil, because all God's works are perfectly good. God creates only the possibility of evil in the creation of the corporeal element that can be destroyed. Incorporeal beings are not subject to destruction or evil. Humans cause great evils because they lack wisdom as the blind man without a guide stumbles and does injury to himself and others. So humans in their ignorance may harm themselves and others; but knowledge of the truth removes hatred and quarrels, preventing mutual injuries. Ignorant people see much evil in the world, because they mistakenly believe that everything exists for them; but if they considered the whole universe and their small portion of it, they would find the truth and see their error. Humans are exposed to various evils, but these can be exposed as defects in the persons themselves.
We complain and seek relief from our own faults;
we suffer from the evils which we, by our own free will,
inflict on ourselves and ascribe to God.3
The first kind of evils Maimonides described results from our having a body that is subject to a beginning and destruction. The second class of evils some humans cause to others by using their strength in violence or theft. Yet these are rare occurrences except in wars, which are also not usual. The third class of evils is what one causes to oneself by one's own actions. For Maimonides this is the largest class, because they come from vices. The ignorant may constantly be in trouble and pain, because they cannot get all the superfluous things they desire. Thus they may expose themselves to great dangers and suffer the consequences. Their error is in believing the universe should satisfy all their excessive desires; but the wise and virtuous understand the wisdom of God displayed in the universe.
Those who observe the commandments of the law and know their purpose see God's mercy and truth, and they seek what the Creator intends for them which is comprehension. They preserve the body but do not strive for what is superfluous, being contented with what is indispensable. When we seek what is unnecessary, we may have difficulty in finding what we need. The more we desire the more difficulties we encounter, because our strength and resources are spent on what is unnecessary. Maimonides observed that the most necessary items to human existence are the easiest to acquire. Air is most necessary and most plentiful. Water is needed often but is easy to find, and the most basic foods are cheaper. The rarest luxuries are the most expensive to acquire. Maimonides divided human actions into those that are in vain, purposeless, unimportant, and good. An action is in vain if it's object cannot be attained because of obstacles. Sometimes people act without thinking of a purpose. He defined unimportant actions as those that seek something trivial. Useful actions are good because they serve a proper purpose.
In his commentaries on Jewish law Maimonides had carefully described 613 precepts, which in the Guide he summarized as having the following purposes:
Every one of the six hundred precepts serves
to inculcate some truth, to remove some erroneous opinion,
to establish proper relations in society, to diminish evil,
to train in good manners, or to warn against bad habits.
All this depends on three things;
opinions, morals, and social conduct.4
Another object of the law is to make humans reject, despise, and reduce desires, which may disturb the social order and the economy of the family. Lust diminishes intellectual energy, injures the body, shortens life, multiplies worries, and increases envy, hatred, and violence in taking what others possess. Maimonides believed the law also promotes politeness and sensitivity to one's neighbors. The law is intended to increase purity and holiness by reducing sensuality. Maimonides divided the 613 precepts into the following fourteen classes: fundamental principles (repentance and fasting), prohibition of idolatry, moral improvement, charity, preventing wrongs and violence, punishments and fines, business transactions, holidays, religious rites, the temple, sacrifices, ritual purity, forbidden foods, and sexual conduct.
The first class is most important because it involves learning, teaching, and prayer. Believing in the results of repentance enables us to improve. In the fifth class on damages readers are reminded that we are responsible for every damage caused by our actions or property. Maimonides condones killing a person who is about to commit either murder or rape. The rule for punishment is that it should be according to the crime except that injuries can be compensated by payment. Four conditions that affect punishment are the greatness of the crime, its frequency, the amount of temptation, and whether it was done secretly. Involuntary transgressions should not be punished. Sins committed in ignorance are blamable, because one should be more careful and considerate. For crimes committed knowingly one must pay the penalty prescribed by law. Maimonides believed that one who sins insolently seeking publicity should be put to death. He also recommended capital punishment for crimes that destroyed religious faith as well as those prescribed for many crimes in the Torah.
Maimonides advised meditating by yourself in intellectual worship of God. He emphasized that loving kindness (hesed), judgment (mishpat), and justice (zedakah) are to be practiced on the earth. Justice means giving everyone their due and showing kindness as it is deserved. When we walk in the way of virtue we act rightly toward our intellectual faculty. Judgment is the act of deciding what is right, whether merciful or punishment. Loving kindness is prompted by the moral conscience and is what enables us to attain perfection of the soul. Maimonides delineated four levels of perfection. The lowest is acquiring property. The second involves the health of the body. The third kind of perfection is the moral improvement of character. The fourth is perfecting the highest intellectual faculties and gaining the correct metaphysical beliefs about God. For Maimonides moral improvement prepares one for the highest human aim, which is knowledge of God. He concluded his treatise urging his readers to seek God, who is near to all who call in truth and turn to God. Those who go towards God without going astray will find God.
Moses Maimonides married late in life, and his son Abraham Maimonides (1186-1237) also became a religious leader of Jewish mysticism called hasidut that was strongly influenced by Sufism. Abraham's Compendium for the Servants of God was a monumental treatise on law and ethics similar to his father's Code of Laws (Mishna Torah). Abraham Maimonides argued that much of Sufism was based on the ancient traditions of Israel's prophets that had been lost in the exile, including their simple dress, solitary meditation, and the guidance of a master. Abraham's son Obadyah Maimonides (1228-1265) also carried on the tradition and wrote a mystical manual on ethics for the spiritual traveler called The Treatise of the Pool, which used many Sufi terms.
Sufism of Gilani, Suhrawardi, and Ibn 'Arabi
A Sufi master is called a pir, and 'Abd-al-Qadir Gilani (1077-1166) was one of the most popular teachers of the mystical doctrine. As a boy his mother sewed eighty gold coins into his coat and sent him to Baghdad for religious education, warning him never to speak falsely. When a robber of the caravan asked him if he had any money on him, Gilani admitted he had the hidden coins. Gilani explained to the chief robber he could not begin his religious quest by telling a lie, and the chief was converted from his life of crime. At Baghdad Gilani was severely disciplined by a syrup vendor and then practiced night worship on his own, reciting the entire Qur'an. Pir Gilani lectured at a madrasa college on the Qur'an, the traditions, and the law. When he was about fifty, he decided that marriage was a social duty. Gilani took four wives and had 49 children. Gilani preached outside the city to large crowds in a building that was constructed for him. He received large amounts of money which he distributed to the poor. He founded the first fraternal order (tariqa) that was named Qadiriya after him. These fraternal orders became the social groups for the Sufis.
Some of Gilani's sermons on practical morality were collected by one of his sons as Revelations of the Unseen. He expounded on ten virtues he believed led to spirituality even though none of them is required by Shar'ia law. First, do not swear by God, either truthfully or falsely. Second, speak no untruth, even in jest. Third, do not break a promise. Fourth, do not curse or harm anything. Fifth, do not pray for or wish for harm to anyone. Sixth, do not accuse anyone of religious infidelity. Seventh, do not attend to anything sinful. Eighth, do not impose any burden on others. Ninth, do not expect anything from human beings. Tenth, only notice in others what may be superior to oneself.
The Persian philosopher Suhrawardi (1153-1191) was called the Master of Illumination and the Martyr. He studied philosophy and psychology at Isfahan and was influenced by Zoroastrian concepts of angels. Suhrawardi traveled widely to meet Sufi masters and practiced asceticism in spiritual retreats. At Aleppo he tutored the governor Malik Zahir Shah, a son of Saladin. However, his theosophical views were disliked by the orthodox jurists. The famous judge al-Fadil advised Saladin to have Suhrawardi put to death, and by the Sultan's order the prince had him executed the year King Richard arrived at Acre.
Suhrawardi believed that mysticism and philosophy are compatible because the principles of philosophy can be validated by the experience of illumination. Suhrawardi was having difficulty understanding how humans know, but in his meditation he saw Aristotle telling him that first one has to know oneself. Suhrawardi wrote The Philosophy of Illumination for those who seek knowledge that is both mystical and discursive. He believed that those who master both philosophical reasoning and the wisdom of illumination are "vicegerents of God" (khalifat Allah). He identified the source of being as light, which is essential to all cognition, and all beings are illuminations of the Light of Lights (God). He adopted the classical psychology that is also found in Avicenna's work that distinguishes the vegetative, animal, and intellectual aspects of the soul. Suhrawardi described the five internal senses as sensory communion, fantasy, apprehension, imagination, and memory. The moral virtues of the Sufi path he emphasized are truthfulness, humility, compassion, honesty, and not being jealous of others. The degree of one's purification in this world will determine the ontological status of the soul in the next world. Suhrawardi wrote more than fifty works in his short life and had much influence on the Illuminationist tradition.
Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi was born in an Arab family at Murcia in Andalusia on August 7, 1165. He was educated in Seville and sought Sufi masters in Spain and North Africa. As a youth he met Averroes at Cordoba, and he was initiated into Sufism at Tunis. Ibn 'Arabi went to Mecca in 1201 and wrote love poems, Interpreter of Desires, to a young woman, whom he believed symbolized wisdom. He wrote that forgiveness is better than capital punishment. He lived an ascetic, saintly existence. When someone gave him a palace, he quickly gave it to a beggar. Ibn 'Arabi suggested that four things are needed for salvation-serving those in need, a pure and peaceful heart, good will to believers, and thinking well of everyone. He traveled to Egypt, Baghdad, and Aleppo; he spent years at Mecca but completed the 560 chapters of his Meccan Revelations at Damascus, where he died in 1240.
Ibn 'Arabi found imagination to be the link between sense perception and the intellect. He taught perpetual transformation leading to a mystical union of the self with the real. The images that manifest the deity are constantly changing, and each is valid but only for the moment. Clinging to an image leads to idolatry. The infinite is paradoxically within all and beyond all, identical and other, immanent and transcendental. This theological view that God is both in the entire universe and transcendent beyond it is called panentheism. The polished mirror of the human heart is capable of every form. Joy and sorrow are experienced as one passes away in union with the beloved. The mystic does not become one with God but rather realizes that one already is one with God. As the images change, one may participate in the perpetual co-creation, continually annihilating and re-creating. Ibn 'Arabi called Muhammad the Logos of God, and he identified all true prophets with this universal person who is cosmic, prophetic, and mystical. He believed in the essential unity of all religions, and he found that the essence of this one religion is love. Because of the unity of God, in his Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom he argued that the soul should rule in humans just as humans are kings on Earth. The theosophical ideas of ibn 'Arabi were later systematized by his followers. His ideas especially influenced Persians such as the poet Jami, Mahmud Shabistari who summarized them in his Secret Rose Garden, and the great theosophist Mulla Sadra.
Ibn 'Ata'illa was a teacher in the Shadhili Sufi tariqa (path) at Alexandria, and he wrote his Book of Wisdom before his own master died in 1288. His aphoristic sayings are designed to help Sufi students on the mystical path. He asked how the heart can be illumined while the forms of creatures are still reflected in its mirror? Or how can one journey to God while shackled by passions? How can one enter the presence of God without purifying oneself of forgetfulness? How can one understand the mysteries if one has not repented for offenses? It is better to look out for vices hidden in yourself than to look for the invisible realities that are veiled. Actually reality is not veiled from you, but you are veiled from seeing it. Ibn 'Ata'illa wrote that no action arising from a renouncing heart is small, and no action coming from an avaricious heart is fruitful. When God's justice confronts you, no sin is minor; but when God's grace faces you, no sin is major. Unless hope goes with action it is merely wishful thinking.
Sufi Literature of Sana'i and 'Attar
The Persian poet known as Sana'i was born in the middle of the 11th century in the Ghaznavid empire that ruled Afghanistan and parts of India and Iran. He wrote panegyrics to his patron, Sultan Bahram Shah. Sana'i wrote the first great Sufi poetry in the verse forms of ode (qasida), lyric (ghazal), and rhymed couplet (masnavi). His Enclosed Garden of Truth (Hadiqat al-haqiqa) contains 10,000 couplets and was written about 1131. In the first book of The Enclosed Garden of Truth Sana'i of Ghazna began by praising God and suggesting that reason is unable to attain knowledge of God. Prayer can lead to God by polishing the mirror of the heart. He told the parable of how an elephant is perceived differently in a city of the blind by those who handle its ears, trunk, and legs, which seem to be like a rug, pipe, and pillars. Because no mind knows the whole, fools are deceived by fanciful absurdities. He asked how can anyone who does not know one's own soul know the soul of another? How can the Godhead be known by the hand or foot? Sana'i suggested that the steps to heaven are many and are best attained by wisdom and work, for sloth results in impiety.
Sana'i recommended worshipping God in both worlds as if one could see God with the outward eye; though you do not see God, your Creator sees you. When you have grappled with death, you will no longer turn away from death and will come to know the world of life. Only in the annihilation of one's own existence does one enter the road to eternal life. The pious are those who give thanks for divine kindness and mercy; but unbelievers complain the world seems unjust. Sana'i advised his readers to end all imitation and speculation so that your heart may become the house of God. Your own soul distinguishes unbelief from true religion and colors your vision. Selflessness is happy, but selfishness is most miserable. In the eternal there are no unbeliefs and no religions.
Sana'i described the journey on God's road as belonging to the person with sharper vision and wisdom. To turn your face toward life you must put your foot down on outward prosperity, put out of your mind rank and reputation, and bend your back in divine service to purify yourself from evil and strengthen your soul in wisdom. By looking on divine truth cut yourself off from the false world, leave behind those who contend with words, and sit before the silent. Travel from the works of God to the divine principles, and from the principles to the knowledge of God. From knowledge one enters the secret and reaches the threshold of poverty. When you have become a friend of poverty, your soul destroys the impure self, and your self becomes the soul inside you. Ashamed of all its doings, it casts aside all its possessions and melts on the path of trial. When your self has been melted in your body, your soul by steps accomplishes its work. Then God takes away its poverty; when poverty is no more, God remains.
Sana'i believed that the phantoms of sleep are ordained so that humans may understand their hopes and fears. Then his poem proceeds to interpret the meaning of various symbols in dreams. He warned against making your understanding captive to your body in the three prisons of deceit, hatred, and envy. No one who regards the self can see God; whoever looks at the self has no faith. Sana'i recommended that if you are on the path of true religion, cease for a time contemplating yourself. He believed that anger, passion, hatred, and malice are not among the attributes of the one God, the creator, who is merciful. God draws you by kindness that may appear like the anger of a noose. So long as one seeks for love with self in view, there waits the crucible of renunciation. For those new on the way of love, renunciation is a key to the gate. Desire for a mistress brings gladness, but it is far from God. The legion of your pleasures will cast you into fire; but desiring God will keep you as safe as a virgin in paradise. To Love God says, "Fear none but me." To Reason God says, "Know yourself." God tells Love to rule as king. When the reasonable soul finds the water of life and expends it in the path of the Holy Spirit, then the Holy Spirit rejoices in the soul, and the soul becomes as pure as Primal Reason.
Farid al-Din 'Attar was born at Nishapur in northern Persia on November 12, 1119, but sources on his date of death vary from 1193 to 1234. According to legend he was killed in 1221 after he was captured by the Mongols of Genghis Khan at Mecca; he advised against accepting a ransom of gold until it was increased but then suggested accepting an offer of straw. His name indicates that he may have been a chemist or sold perfumes, and a legend tells that a dervish induced him to leave his father's profession to study Sufism. 'Attar traveled for 39 years to Egypt, Syria, Arabia, India, and Central Asia before settling in his native Nishapur. He wrote at least 45,000 rhymed couplets and many prose works, and he was greatly admired by the Sufi poet Rumi. 'Attar wrote biographies of Sufi saints, but the allegorical Conference of the Birds, completed in 1188, is considered his greatest work.
