American Academy of Religion

Imamate and Love: The Discourse of the Divine in Islamic Mysticism

Author(s): 'Abd al-Hakeem Carney
Source: Journal of the American Academy of Religion, Vol. 73, No. 3 (Sep., 2005), pp. 705-730
Published by: Oxford University Press
Stable URL: [Link]
Accessed: 10-09-2015 17:26 UTC

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at [Link]
info/about/policies/[Link]
JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content
in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship.
For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@[Link].

Oxford University Press and American Academy of Religion are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend
access to Journal of the American Academy of Religion.

[Link]

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

and

Imamate

of

the

Divine

Love:
in

The

Islamic

Discourse

Mysticism

'Abd al-HakeemCarney

In the Christiantradition, CharlesWilliams championed the idea of a

"romantictheology,"where romantic love becomes a means of understandingand gainingknowledgeof God. Dante was the main inspiration
for this work, for whom the figure of Beatricebecame a theophany and
vision of God. The idea of a romantictheology is not new to the Islamic
tradition,with thinkerssuch as Ibn 'Arabiexploringthe meaning of love
in the context of an overalltheology of Divine love. This articleseeks to
explore the way that some Islamicmystics (particularlythe theosophists
Ibn 'Arabiand ShaykhAhmad al-'Ahsd'i)have grappledwith this question, and how in the Shi'a context the theophanic function of beauty
becomes a means of approachto the Hidden Imam.

THE WAYOF AFFIRMATIONAND THE WAY

OF REJECTION
THE ANGLICAN THEOLOGIANCHARLESWILLIAMS(d. 1945)
set himself the ambitious task of elucidating the bases of a "romantic
theology," a novel way of understanding human love and the sacrament of [Link] sharing similarities with certain schools of
mysticism, Williams sought to distinguish his project of a romantic
theology from previous theologies that attempted to chart a way
toward mystic communion with God (Williams 1990: 37). Ratherthan
seeking such experience through rigorous asceticism (as was often,
though certainly not always, the way such mystical experience was
sought in the Catholic and Anglicancommunities), Williams'sromantic
'Abd al-HakeemCarneyis a Ph.D. student at the School of Orientaland AfricanStudies (SOAS) at
the Universityof London, London NW6 7EQ, UK.
Journalof theAmericanAcademyof ReligionSeptember2005, Vol. 73, No. 3, pp. 705-730
doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfi076
? The Author 2005. Publishedby Oxford UniversityPress,on behalf of the AmericanAcademyof
[Link] [Link] permissions,please e-mail:[Link]@[Link]

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

706

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

theology endeavored to find the seeds of such an experience in the

realm of ordinary human relationships. It should be noted that Williams was not rejectingthe ascetic mysticism of Catholic saints such as
St. John of the Cross and opposinghis ideas of a romantic theology to
that system. Rather,he was merely presenting an alternativeexperience
of God, which locates God both "above" and "below," in a way that
transfigures ordinary human experience into a mystical communion
with God. This path, he writes, is as equally necessaryand legitimate as
those world-renouncing ascetics who attempted to achieve union with
God through the abandonment of marriage and the satisfaction of
physical desire (Williams 1994: 10-11).
Williamsdevoted severalof his works to this [Link] of the most
significant were his manuscript Outlines of Romantic Theologyand his
explorationof Dante, TheFigureof [Link] was, certainly, not Williams'sonly interest:he was a prolific authorwho wrote in
many intellectualdisciplinesand media, spanning theology, literarycriticism, poetry, and fiction. But one can see the seeds of his theory of
romantic theology in some of his other works as well. He was a member
of the famous Oxford literary circle known as the "Inklings,"whose
luminariesincluded C. S. Lewisand J. R. R. Tolkien. Likethese two wellknown authors, Williams wrote a number of fantasy stories. But what
differentiatedWilliams'sstyle of fantasyfrom many other writerswas the
role of the [Link] focusing his stories on strictly"fantastic"tales of mythicalworlds,Williamswas much more concernedwith
the ways the supernaturalcould explode onto the scene of everydayliving. When Williamsturns to romantictheology, one can see how he finds
human, romantic love to be a seminal example of such an "explosion"of
the supernatural,where the lines between human and Divine become
blurred.
The possibility for such a transfigurationof human relationshipsis
intimatelylinked to the distinction Williamsdrawsbetween what he calls
the Way of Affirmationand the Way of Rejection,a taxonomy that lies at
the heart of his study TheFigureof Beatrice(1994: 8-10). This classification was an attempt broadly to interpret two ways that the God/world
relationship has been understood in Christian theology. The former
methodology is able to locate God within the realmof createdbeings in a
way that one can experienceGod through His creation without identifying God with His creation in the manner of pantheism. Williams finds
the best expression of this Way in the words of St. Athanasius:"Not by
conversion of the Godheadinto flesh, but by takingof the Manhood into
God" (quoted in Williams 1994: 9). The Way of Rejection takes the
opposite tack; it is that which posits an incredible and insurmountable

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Carney:TheDiscourseof the Divine in IslamicMysticism

707

gapbetweenGod and creation,whichcan leadto a kind of contemptus

mundi("worldhatred").
On these issues, the school of the greatAndalusianmystic Ibn
'Arabi(b. 1165/d.1240)canbe of [Link] school
of Ibn 'Arabi(knownas the Akbarior Akbarianschool)has hadnearly
unparalleledinfluenceoverthe developmentof Islamicmysticaltheology. His workwas voluminous,coveringperhapshundredsof books,
His school, which
includingthe mammothal-Futihdtal-Makkiyyah.
waslaterdubbedthe madhhabwahdatal-wujud(the schoolof the unity
of existence),opensup the wayfor approachingthe universeprimarily
as a Divine discourse,which then makesthe questionabout mystical/
Divine experienceversusordinary/profane
experiencefar less important. ForIbn 'Arabi,the communicationsof the Divineare not something that come purelythroughesoteric,[Link] Abti
al-'Ald 'Affifi, the great commentator on Ibn 'Arabi's
is [Link]
[Link]
(the Bezels of Wisdom),' writes, "everythingin creationFu.s
The
Ibn
reminiscent
of
so
of
Kabbalah,
'Arabi,
[rasil]."
letter-mysticism
is instructive in this [Link] 'Arabi goes to great lengths to create a
new taxonomy of cosmic reality, with each level or component of the
esoteric universe signified by certain letters of the Arabic alphabet. By
choosing to depict the cosmological hierarchyas one of a series of letters, we are led to an idea whereby the entiretyof the universeis structured as a language, parallel to Lacan's famous maxim that "the
unconscious is structuredlike a language"(161-193). Mysticism, then,
does not consist in seeking out ecstatic experiences that are beyond the
pale of everyday life. Rather, it is based upon a kind of listening,
whereby the gnostic pays attention to the discourse that is all around
him but, hitherto, he has been heedless of. It is a matter of finding God
in His immanence to Creation, which means taking the Creation as
nothing less than a Divine communication, a discourse between God
and humans that demands to be heard.
One should understandthat Ibn 'Arabi'sbelief in the "unityof existence" is not the same as a pantheism that makes a complete identity
'Fusuisal-Hikam(Bezelsof Wisdom)is 'Ibn 'Arabi'smost famousand commentedupon
work,alongsideof his
al-Makkiyah(The MeccanRevelations).The lattertext is a
massiveencyclopediastretching
over thousandsof pages,while the Fusuisis far more concise
al-Futuha.t
andspansonlya [Link] dividedinto a seriesof "bezels,"eachbezelbeingthe
gnosticwisdomassociatedwith a specificProphet(the firstchapteris the "wisdomof Adam,"
the second is "the wisdomof Seth,"and so on until the ProphetMuhlammad).
Most of the
majorthemesof 'Ibn'Arabi'sworkarecontainedin thiswork,albeitin a veryconciseandoften
abstruseform. It has spawneda vast literatureof commentaries,the notable being that of
Kashini,Qaysari,andAffifi.

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

708

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

between God and [Link] relationshipis much more fluid and, as

Ian Almond correctly points out, "bewildering"to all of our rational
faculties (516-517). The mystical realizationof God's immanence is not
a type of "reintegration"into the all-encompassing monadic One of
Neoplatonism. Rather, it is to sense the explosion of the supernatural
into the realm of the natural,the type of bursting in that one can find in
many of Williams's works (such as his War in Heaven, where the Holy
Grail is discovered to have been residing in a small English church). In
Ibn 'Arabi'sthought, however, it is not so much that the Divine suddenly enters into the human realm, in the way of a historical Incarnation. Rather, the Divine is always-already present in creation, and
creation is always-alreadypresent in the Divine. This is because the
God/servant distinction is always, at its very essence, fundamentally
chaotic (as will be discussed below), and the mystic only realizes that
which has always been in front of his eyes. This is why the followers of
Ibn 'Arabi'sschool alwaysreferto the realizationof the unity of existence
as the spiritual state that separates the true mystic from the rest of
humanity.
To speakof the cosmos as a Divine discourse,especiallyin the framework of Ibn 'Arabi'sthought, also means avoiding the privilegingof any
given readingsof that [Link] everythingin this universeis a rasila Messengerbearinga messageto the individualwho experiencesit-this
does not assume that every message (risalah,the message of the rasil) is
the same, nor that it is experiencedin the same way by differentpeople.
For Ibn 'Arabi,the way in which the Divine epiphany (which is nothing
other than a communicative discourse) becomes particularizedfor individual people is describedby the sayingof the greatSufi Ibn Junayd:"The
water takes on the color of the cup" (Ibn 'Arabi 1946:vol. 1: 32). When
the water is understood here to refer to the Light of Divine self-disclosure, we are led to the important concept of "capacity" (isti'dad),
whereby the Divine epiphany is received by the heart of any person
accordingto that person's particularreceptivecapacity(Ibn 'Arabi1946:
vol. 1: 61 and vol. 2: 23) and will be "colored"by that person's nature.
According to this line of thought, people cannot help but understand
God in accordancewith their [Link] exists is a mirror
for the Divine, but the Divine Effulgenceis colored and shaped, we can
even say distorted, by the imperfections and irregularitiesinside each
particularmirror.
All of this is the Islamic "Wayof Affirmation,"which stands in contrast to a long tradition that is similar (though not identical) to the
ChristianWay of Rejection analyzedby Williams. In Islamic terms, the
Way of Rejectionwould fall under the classificationof what is known as

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Carney:TheDiscourseof the Divine in IslamicMysticism

709

tanzih,whichliterallymeansexaltation,but indicatesa negativetheology

that casts God entirelybeyondthe world. The school of Ibn 'Arabi,
nonethelessseeksto balGod'sTranscendence,
althoughacknowledging
ance this with a doctrineof God'[Link] this, the universe
becomesso many"words"of Godbecomingmanifest,andit is thisway
[Link] textualityof this Divinediscourse
liesin the natureof thecosmicmirrorof discourse,andthe impossibility
of reachingsomekindof "absolutetruth"is [Link] fora very
simplereason:Thereis no otherwayfor theGodheadto manifestHimself,
topartakein thisdiscourse,
exceptthroughthesemirrors,which"corrupt"
thatdiscourse.
No one is ableto "see"Godexceptthroughthisdiscourse,
a discoursethat constantlyshiftsunderthe weightand pressureof the
signifiersthatmakethatdiscoursepossible,alongsideof the interpretation thatany givenpersongives(consciouslyor unconsciously)to that
discourse.
Here,it is importantto realizehow the Divine discoursebecomes
corruptedwhenit reacheshumanbeings-and the fundamental,essential causeunderlyingthat [Link] is not so much that the subject
"reads"
into the Divinediscoursethatwhichhe wantsto [Link] is rather
the [Link] is somethingimplicit
in the subject'sverysubjectivity,
in his existenceas a beingthatis simula
and
manifestation
of the Divinediscourse(for everytaneously sign
in
the
the
universe,including subjecthimself,is a "word"in that
thing
Divinediscourse),andat thesametimemarkstheentryof a fundamental
negativitywithin the Divine being, as a not-Godthat assureshim no
otherroleexceptas servant('abd)to the [Link], these"twonatures"(a union that existsin a non-hypostaticfashion) that are united inside the servant,is made clear in Ibn 'Arabi's
Huwa,"Him,not Him."Charles
descriptionof the universeas Huwa/LT
Williamsalso makesampleuse of a similarexpression,borrowedfrom
perviousChristiantheologians,in his studyof Dante'sbelovedBeatrice
as an epiphanicformof the Divine:"Thisis Thou,thisalsois not Thou."
THE HIDDEN TREASURE
In orderto lay out this middleway betweenabsolutenegationand
absoluteaffirmation,one muststudythe exactnatureof the [Link] Sufis,the questionof whythe universewas createdis
"answered"
by the hadithof the HiddenTreasure,whereAlldhsaysthat
"Iwasa HiddenTreasure,andI lovedto be [Link] I createdthe creatures,so thatI wouldbe knownthroughthem."Yet,unlikeotherSufis,
Ibn 'Arabiis emphaticthat the DivineEssenceitselfcan neverbecome

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

710

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

manifest. When Allah created the universe, He sought to manifest all of

Himself that could be made known. But owing to the infinity of the
Divine being, there is alwaysa leftoverafterthis processof cosmic signification, that which can neverbe named and yet is the cause of the cosmos
coming into being.
We find "preceding"(we must be very careful about reading too
much temporalityand sequence into these events, as in many ways they
have always-alreadyoccurred) the creation of the Universe a moment of
what Ibn 'Arabicalls Divine [Link] is what Henry Corbin describes
as the sadness of the hidden God yearningto be known. Yet it is not just
creation in actuo that God longs toward; even more importantlyis His
longing toward every being's potential or relative existence within the
Divine Being. Before creation existed, it still existed as the beloved of
God. How is it possible to love that which does not exist?This is because
nothing in the cosmos was ever truly nonexistent. It is impossible to
bring the absolutelynonexistent into being, for otherwiseit would not be
absolutely nonexistent but still have some kind of existence in potentio.
Rather,everythingthat exists alreadyexisted "inside"of God (though we
should also be carefulabout using wordswith spatialindications,because
we are not speakingof inside or outside in anythingapproachinga physical sense) before they existed. Here we find Ibn 'Arabithoroughlyrejecting any idea of creation ex nihilo. Everything comes from God and
subsists through Him, and the unity of existence will allow no other
understanding of the situation. To imply that there was a creation ex
nihilo implies beings that have their origin in an Other, even if that Other
is nothing but the nihilo from which they were born.
These pre-creationexistentsare what are known in Ibn 'Arabi'sschool
as al-'aydnal-thdbitah,the "fixedentities."But even though they already
existed within God, they remained sealed inside the crypt of His
Unknowability,His [Link] Divine Sadnessis, ultimatelythen, the
Sadnessof these fixedentities,which arenothing otherthan Divine Names,
yearningto be freeand to burstinto the world of manifestexistence.
Part of the reason that these Divine Attributesremain hidden is the
fact that there is no locus for their manifestation. A name such as the
Creator(al-khiliq, one of the ninety-nine Names) cannot be said to exist
so long as there is no [Link] the act of creation is done, until this
Name has gone into act, it remains hidden. The same can easily be seen
to applyto Names like the Forgiver(if there is no sin, there can be no forgiveness) or the Destroyer(if nothing exists, there is nothing to destroy).
The word for potential in Arabic (bi'l-quwwah),which literally means
"somethingwith the strength"or "somethingwith the ability,"stands in
opposition to the word for actuality (bi'l-f'il), which literally means

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

711

"withact"or "withaction."It is onlythatactionthatbringstheseNames

into manifestbeing,whichbringstheminto existenceas such.
Theuniverse,then,is the discoursethatseeksto appeasethissadness.
It createsa locus wherebythe activityof the Divinemay becomereal.
Theneedforsucha discourseis feltby allof the DivineNames,including
the [Link] be God,he musthavebeingoverwhich
he is [Link] sovereigntyis not establishedwithouta [Link] a
Creator(khdliq)requirescreation(khalq),so a God(ildh)requiresa [Link] createdbeingIbn'Arabicallsma'lhh,fromthepassiveparticiple of the word ilah, which means God. There is no adequate
translationfor this word in English-literallymeaning"God-ed"(like
"create-ed")-butwhatis importantto realizeis thatthe only waythat
one term(God)canbe establishedis by the existenceof the otherterm,
thateverysubject(faYil)requiresan object(ma'fil) to be constitutedas
[Link] whatCorbinrefersto as a uniosympathetica,
a "sympathetic
union"wherebyeachtermin the signifyingchainguaranteesand protectsthe existenceof the [Link] is foundmemorablyin one of Ibn
'Arabi'spoems:"ByknowingHim,I giveHim Being"(quotedin Corbin
1997:124), but even betterexpressedin the wordsof the seventeenth
centuryChristianpoetandcontroversialist
AngelusSilesius:"Iknowthat
withoutme,thelifeof [Link] destroyed,he mustperforce
giveup theghost"(quotedin Corbin1997:130).
Theuniverse,then,is the creationof a symbolicorderwherebysignifierssuchas "God"[Link] findthe meaningof the universebeingstructured
likea language,liketheLacanian
[Link] is
not merelythatthe universeis a discourse,a communicativeact that is
Rather,it is that everysignifier
part of the Divine self-contemplation.
comesinto beingonlybecauseit is not [Link] the differentialsemioticsat theheartof Lacanian
wherebya sigpsychoanalysis,
nifier'sexistenceis alwayspredicatedon its negativerelationshipto
[Link] Lordis only the Lordbecauseof His servants;they make
HimLord,theygiveHimexistence
as Lord,whileHe givesthemexistence
as [Link] the meaningof Angelus'swords:Creationheraldsthe
beginningof a relationshipbetweenGod and humanitythat is based
uponthe symbolicorderandtheboundsof negativitytherein.
If we areto viewthe universeas a Divinediscourse,thenit behooves
the listenerto adoptsomesortof analyticalframework
by whichto listen
to thatdiscourse,in orderto understandwhatis beingcommunicated.
Religionbecomesthe meansby which this Divine revelationbecomes
but nonethelessthe entirediscoursewill be "colored"
intelligible;
by this
this
framework.
from
to
no
there
seems
be
religious
escape
Ultimately,
it
is
of
the
Divine
discourse
essence
the
of
dilemma; part
(or any
very

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

712

Journalof theAmerican
Academy
ofReligion

other signifyingdiscourse)that thereis a certain"signalloss"in every

communication,that the act of observationinevitablycorruptsthe
observedto some degreeor another,andthatthe signifiedis constantly
slippingunderthe thumbof the [Link]"semioticviolence,"then,
becomesimpossibleto avoid,andthis is the meaningof the famousdictumof Ibn'Arabiandhis followersthatGodis onlymanifestedby things
thatveil Him.
Theinterdependence
of Godandcreationis, ultimately,the "source"
of the variouscontradictionsbetweenreligions,and the factthat God's
communicationto humanityis alwayscoloredby the individualimperfectionsof the individualsbeing communicatedto. For Ibn 'Arabi,the
experienceof the Divinewithinhumanityis not the resultof a sudden
arrivalof the Divineon the humanscene,and it is herethatthe Muslim
Ibn 'Arabipartswayswith a Christiantheologianlike CharlesWilliams,
for whom the historicalevent of the Incarnationwas so important.
to hisHistoryoflslamicPhilosophy
Corbin,in theintroduction
(1993:2-4),
hasattemptedto differentiate
betweentraditionalChristianunderstandings of the Crucifixionand the mysticaltheologyof thinkerslike Ibn
'[Link],
God "comes"to humanityat a specifichistoricaltime. Thereis a rupture,similarto the suddenruptureof the
intothenaturalthatoccursin so manyof CharlesWilliams's
supernatural
[Link],he argues,is "meta-historical,"
a
and this intermixturebetweenDivine and profaneis always-already
partof ourrealityas createdbeings.
In thiswayAlmondfindsthe theosophyof Ibn'Arabicloseto thatof
Derrida:Derrida'sdeconstructionis not an attemptto introducechaos
into textsthatarealreadystatic,whichis whatwe wouldnormallyunderstandfromthe phrase"deconstructing
a text."The text is not an edifice
thatis thenbrokendownto its elements;rather,Derridandeconstruction
the contradictions,
is an attemptto reveal(as a kindof phenomenology)
thatarealways-already
confusions,and bewilderment
presentin the text
of
The
text
in
a
is
state
(Almond:518).
subjectto theshiftdisarray,
always
an
is fundamentally
of
as
edifice
and
its
ingpatterns language,
appearance
a veil overits own [Link],however,is not limitedto
worksof literature:
EvenGodHimselfis caughtup in thisconfusion.
ForIbn'Arabi,the bewilderment
thata mysticmayexperiencewhen
of
the
existence
not
is
realizing unity
broughton by a suddenentryof
describesthe IncarnaGod into humanlife, in the waythatKierkegaard
itselfon the conthrust
as
a
that
tion
fundamental"absurdity" suddenly
science of humanityand demands faithful [Link],this
bewildermentis the resultof a fundamentalchaosin the veryconcept
and ideaof [Link] DivineEssencemaytranscendthis confusion,and

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

713

it is herethe comparisonbetweenDerridaand Ibn 'Arabibreaksdown

(Almond:524),butGodis not the sameas the [Link] the
DivineEssenceas relatedto man, whereasthe Essencein itselfis God
removedfrom any relationshipto [Link] is God as the Theos
Agnostos,the fundamentallyunknowabledeity. Indeed, the Divine
Essenceis not confusedpreciselybecauseit is unknownand always
[Link] Lacanianstandpoint,we haveseenhow the very
conceptof God alreadypresupposesentryinto a differentialsystem(the
semioticsystemthat givesthe word "God"meaning)that alwayslacks
"fixed points,"where semiotic chains are formed through negation,
devoidof [Link] such,it is onlytheprocessof knowingthat
createsthe confusion,thatdistortsthe DivineEssenceby attemptingto
fit it to thesignifier"God,"a signifierthatis alwaysopposedto "creation."
Almond'sanalysisof Derrida'sreadingof the incidentof Babelin the
HebrewBibleis tellingin this [Link] storyof Babel,whereGod
thwartsthe Shemitepeople'sattemptto builda towerto the heavensby
scatteringtheminto myriaddifferentpeopleswithmyriaddifferentlanhis powerto
guages,is not merelya storyof a jealousGoddemonstrating
an [Link],the Shemiteprojectwas doomedto fail
becauseit was seekingto find thatwhichcannotbe found:a transcendent, monadicOne. The Shemites'attemptto reachthe heavenswas
basedupon a beliefin the ultimate"simplicityof God"(Almond:521);
but whatthey foundwas nothingbut confusion,nothingbut negative
[Link] collapseof their projectwas not so much thwartedby this
MonadicOne,but ratherthe Divinerevealedto themthe confusionthat
was inherentin all conceptualizations,
theologies,and belief-systems
ascribedto [Link],
Whatis evenmoreinteresting
of
thanthiscontemporary
allegorizing
biblical
is
the
Derrida
sees
God
a
for
deconstrucas
pride
way
synonym
tion... Godis thearch-deconstructor
of thestory- it is Hewhoconfoundsthesignsystemof theShemites
it, fracturing
it, and
byfissuring
no longerknowwho
causingit to doubleandtripleuntiltheShemites
to do. Forallthishumbling,
theyareor whatit is theywereplanning
and
Godis not simplyan
Derrida's
however,
abasing, confounding,
butalsoa Godwhodeconstructs
agentof deconstruction
Himself...
WhenGod deliversconfusionand chaos upon the designsof the Shemites,

Heactually
isinflicting
onthem.(521)
Himself

From here, we can now turn towardthe concepts of prophecy,

sainthood,and imamatein Islamicmysticism,doctrinesthat seek to
understandthe wayin whichGod has "inflictedHimself'on humanity
[Link] spiteof the factthatMuslimtheosophistshavealways

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

714

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

rejectedthe ideaof the Incarnationand the hypostaticunion,this does

of God
not meanthat thereis absolutelyno senseof sudden"rupture"
onto the [Link] may alwaysbe immanentin Creation,and
Creationmayalwaysbe immanentin Him, but the majorityof human
beingsareentirelyunawareof this and arecomfortablein the clarityof
an unquestionedGod/worlddichotomy(Almond:527-528).Butin order
on his own,
to awakenpeoplefromthis,Goddoescreatesuch"ruptures"
figuresin the
throughthe form of sendingtheophanic(God-revealing)
formsof Prophetsand [Link] dual purpose:their
exotericfunctionof bringinga messagefromGodbut also theirfundamentallytheophanicfunctionwherebythey serveto manifestGod in
[Link] not markan entryof Godinto history;they
onlyserveto deconstruct,for theirown sake,humanbeings'comfortable
beliefin the God/[Link],one of the singularlymost
importanttheophanicfiguresfor Ibn 'Arabi,who perhapsmost highof Godandman,wasJesushimself.
lightedthe interdependence
THE FIGUREOF JESUS:BETWEENDIVINITYAND
HUMANITY
The specialplaceof JesuswithinIbn 'Arabi'sthoughtis instructive.
Ibn 'Arabialwaysconsideredhimselfto havea specialrelationshipwith
[Link] has been said that everygnosticformsa particularattachment
with a particularProphetor saint, and it was the figureof Jesusthat
seemsfirstto have "initiated"Ibn 'Arabiinto the [Link]
wasJesuswho firstappearedto himandinstructedhim to clingto ascetiof Allahthroughouthislife,andso it wasthisfigcismandremembrance
urewho firstplacedhim on the [Link] his [Link] 'Arabidevotesan
extensivediscussionto Jesusas the embodimentof prophecy,arguing
thatJesusis the ultimatesourceof the esotericwaldyah(sainthood)that
liesat the coreof exotericprophecy,givingit its energyandefficacy.
Whatmakesthe figureof Jesusso importantis, perhapsmorethan
anythingelse,the miraculousnatureof his [Link] Muslimsbelievein
the ImmaculateConception,thoughthe Qur'anadamantlydeniesany
notion that Jesusthe Son of God, an idea that Muslimsgenerallyconsider to be a logical [Link] the fact remainsis that Jesuswas
conceivedby the HolySpiritand as suchhasa muchcloserrelationship
to God than any being who is born by the intermediaryof a physical
[Link] absenceof the father figure and its replacementby the
Divinespiritelevatesthe statusof Jesusand then begs the question:If
Jesuswas conceiveddirectlyby God'sSpirit,then in whatway is Jesus
notGod?

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

715

We find that the answer that Ibn 'Arabiand his school give is reminiscent of the dictum that CharlesWilliams finds so important:"This is
Thou, this also is not Thou."Al-Qaysiri,one of the most importantcommentatorson Ibn 'Arabi's
takes up this discussion with regardsto
[Link],
the verseof the Qur'an:"They
have disbelievedwhen they say Jesus the
son of Mary is God" (5:7). Ibn 'Arabi and al-Qaysiri'sanalysis of this
verse hinges upon the phrase:"Jesusthe son of Mary. .. " and initiates a
discussion on the two natures of Christ, a discussion that was of paramount importance in early Christianity,giving impetus to the entire
monophysite controversy and leading to the doctrine of hypostatic
union.
The method of tafsir(Qur'aniccommentary)that Ibn 'Arabiemploys
throughouthis work is quite importanthere, and is worth a brief digression before returningto the question of [Link] 'Arabihas been called
the "grammarian"of Islamicmysticism,owing to his constant attemptto
focus on the absolute letter of [Link] this standpoint, we can
say that Ibn 'Arabiis the ultimate literalist,but not in the way we would
associatewith the crude "traditionalism"of some Muslim [Link],
Ibn 'Arabi'sconcept of tafsirhinges on the idea that the Qur'an, being
written by God Himself, was written the way it was for a reason. God
could have chosen to construct the text in any way, yet for some reason
he chose to use the words and phrases that He has in this Qur'an. The
main reason for this, according to Ibn 'Arabi, is the way in which the
Qur'anictext can [Link] 'Arabiargues,explicitly,that any
meaning that can be read into the text that is not grosslyblasphemousor
contradictoryto the generalspirit of the text is a [Link] this
reason, we find him continuallyfocusing on the exact words used in the
Qur'anand in the [Link] of the supreme examplesof this
is his discussion of the Prophet Muhammadin his Fusus,where the bulk
of the discussion focuses on a seeminglyinnocuous grammaticalmistake
in a narrationof the Prophet. That mistake, that gap in the discourse,
opens up the space for an entire discussion on gender relationships
within Islam, and on the nature of sexual desire and human love. It is

onlybecausethe text (in thiscasethe hadith)lendsitselfto thatinterpretationby theprecisewayin whichit is writtenthatIbn'Arabifindsspace

for discussionandembarkson an attemptto unfoldthe manifoldmeaningshiddenin [Link] the textas such,the
revealedword,as wellas the cosmosthatis equallyan actof Divinerevelationandself-disclosure.
In regardto Jesus,whatis importantfor Ibn 'Arabiandal-Qaysiriis
the factthatAllahhas usedthe phrase:"Jesustheson ofMary."At first
glance,onecouldeasilydismissthisasa typeof formalismthatis common

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

716

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

to Arabs,the use of patronyms (kunyah)to referto people, in the same

way one would refer to Ali the son of AbuiTdlibas a mark of respect,or
the ProphetMuhammadson of '[Link] is something common to
the Semitic tradition, Hebrew as well as [Link] one thing we immediately notice is that Allah is not using a patronym,but rathera matronym,
something that is usually not done. One would always refer to Imam
Husayn (the third Shi'ite Imam) as Husayn the son of Ali (the First
(the
Imam), but one would never refer to him as the son of
to her in
[Link]
Prophet's daughter), in spite of the immense reverencegiven
the Shi'itetradition. In the case of Jesus,it is impossible to use the patronym as there is no pater as far as Islam is concerned, since it would be
blasphemyto referto God as the Fatherof [Link] why not abandonthe
tradition of using patronym instead of using a matriarchalsubstitute for
the profoundlyabsent Name of the Father?
Al-Qaysiridoes not analyzethis question, but his tafsirof the verseis
instructivein giving an answer:The use of the phrase "Jesusthe son of
Mary"refers first and foremost to the human nature of Christ, what is
known in Arabicas his nasut (from the Arabicword for humanity, nas).
The reason for this is that referringto Jesus as the physical offspring of
Maryamposits him in his utmost humanity, as having been a child born
and raised by a mother, as being brought into this world through the
medium of a human form. This stands in contrast to his Divine nature,
his lahiit (coming from the Arabicword for God, ildh, which is the same
root for the word Allah). This lah it stands above his human nature,
beyond the physical reality of his birth, the world of spirit that existed
before that birth and will continue to exist afterhis death (which has not
occurred and will not occur until the Day of Judgment, according to
Islam's Docetic understandingof the crucifixion) (Corbin 1983:62-65).
On the basis of this distinction, which is fully drawn out by Ibn 'Arabi's
commentators, Ibn 'Arabi's analysis of the verse runs as follows: The
statement that Jesus is God is not blasphemy. It is, in fact, correct.
Al-Qaysiriwrites explicitly that the statement that Jesusis God is correct
and true insofar as Jesus is a specific epiphanic manifestation of the
Divine Being (al-haqq). And the statement that he is the son of Mary is
true without any doubt. The act of disbelief, according to Ibn 'Arabi,is
the union of the two statements,that is, that Jesusthe son of Mary (meaning his nasut) is God. It is the confusion of the human nature of Jesus
(symbolizedby referringto him as the son of Mary) and the Divine that
is the source of the problem, not the idea that Jesusas a theophanicbeing
is identicalto God.
The conjunction of these two statements collapses the distinction
between the Way of Rejectionand the Way of [Link]

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Carney:TheDiscourseof theDivine in IslamicMysticism

717

in the verseis important here: The word "disbelieve"as in "they disbelieved." As is well known, the word for disbelief in Arabic (kufr) also
means to "cover" something up. For this reason legal penalties that
require expiation (such as having to feed ten poor people when one
breaksan Islamicallyrecognizedoath) are referredto as kafarah,meaning that they cover up the sin one has done. The act of kufrin this verse
refers, fundamentally,to covering up the Divine (Almond: 534). The
Christians,as far as Ibn 'Arabi is concerned, have covered up God by
reducingHim, literallyconfining Him, as al-Qaysiriwrites, to the physical aspect of Jesus,physicality,which is nothing other than the not-God,
the LaiHuwa. They have located God within the space created by the
negation within the Divine that brings forth the created universe and
affirmsHis Existenceas a god (ildh).
Whether or not this is a fair accusationagainstChristianity(it probably is not, because the Fatheralwayshas his own independent existence
on some level and the Incarnationis not total in that sense) is another
issue. What is important here is to recognize the importance of the way
that the Akbarianscholarsunderstandthe split in the subjectivityof Jesus
between his lahuitand nasat. The problem is not that Jesusis God; this is
accepted on face value. The problem is rather that Jesus as a physical
being is also a negation of God, becauseby bringing God out in a particular form (in the case of Jesus,a particularlyhigh form), Jesusqua Jesus
is a negation of God, that space in which the Manifest God may come
into being.
It is this not-God, this negation that constitutesthe "space"where the
subjectcomes into being that constitutesthe distortion in the Divine discourse. The nature of his role as a gap in the Divine discourse is that
which constitutes his very being, and this is related to the fundamental
nature of the Divine [Link] find, then, the subject poised upon a
precipice:The servantis the gap in the signifying structure;yet we have
alreadyseen how there is no other way for the Divine to initiate his discourse, to come into being, without the [Link] servantbecomes a
death-bearerfrom one perspective,and yet it is that being which gives
"life"to the ManifestGod.
The Shi'a theosophists have made similar analogies to God and His
Creation,based upon the hadith of the Hidden Treasurequoted above.
The monolithic Oneness of the Divine Entity remains always hidden.
When God desired or loved to be Manifest,this led Him to will the Creation of the Cosmos. In doing so, He makes Himself manifest through
beings, but nonetheless, none of these beings ever capture the purity of
the Divine [Link] Divine Essenceis absolutelyOne, it can never be
touched or grasped by even the highest gnostics or Prophets. This is

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

718

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

because it can never become Manifest by definition, for Manifestation

entails limits
and differentiation, something possible in the
but
cosmos
([Link])
impossible in regard to the Divine Essence itself.
physical
This "station"(maqdm)is known as the Station of Essence(maqlm adhdhat), the state of absolute undifferentiationand unity. It is that Thing
that is lost in the discourseof Divine self-disclosure,that which the gnostics and Prophetshunger for but are alwaysforbiddento achieve.
It is in this way that the Shi'ite Imams discuss the need for Prophets
and Imams. The Imams are said to be the "Proofsof God" (hujjajAllRh),
the beings by which he is able to be known. In spite of the fact that these
Imdmsare "the overwhelmingproof' (al-hujjatal-bdlighah),nonetheless
they are not God in Himself, without any aspect of non-Divinity intermingled. The error that the Shi'ite Imams and the Akbarianschool of
mysticism find with Christianityis the (perhapsalleged) belief that God
can be entirelyknown throughthe figureof Jesus,that there is a complete
Incarnationby which it is proper to say that "Jesusis God." The Imdms
make God known but they, themselves, also function as veils. They
"limit"the Divine Effulgencein a way that makes it known.
The doctrine of the "primordialcloud" is important to this discussion. There is a hadith of the Prophet where he was asked "Wherewas
your Lord before creation?"To which he responded: "In a cloud, with
neither air above it or below it." Ibn 'Arabi examines this hadith and
finds the phrase "with neither air above it or below it" indicating something very differentthan a cloud in the [Link] cloud is the original,primordial Divine Manifestation, the "Merciful Breath" by which Alldh
received the "sadness"of His potential modes of existence as a manifest
being. This breath is referredto as a cloud, because it is nebulous and
unformed. It is an epiphany, but not one that actually manifests anything. Some theosophists, such as Shaykh Ahmad al-'Ahsd'i or
Khomeini, have identified this cloud with the Divine Will, which none
can grasp. In order to make this cloud signify something, there must
emerge a being within the cloud that makes it limited and defined; and
throughits delimitedexistenceit becomes a locus of Divine Manifestation
(mazhar).This originalbeing, the firstlimitedentity (at-ta'yyunal-'awwal)
is the MulhammadanReality(al-haqqiqatal-muhammidiyah),the soul of
the ProphetMulhammador his "bodyof light,"his being as [Link] this
reason the Prophetbecomes the perfectand most suprememanifestation
of the Divine.
At this point we must consider the figureof the Imam in Shi'ite mysticism. The science of letters used in Islamic mysticism (referred to
above) and Kabbalah is also instructive here. The original cloud is
referredto as the letter alif, the "A"sound, which consists of a vertical,

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

719

[Link],as it is bent
or twistedin waysto maketheshapesof the restof the [Link]
limitedbeing,the firstindividuation,
is represented
by the letterbd,consisting of a concave curved line with a dot [Link], then, are
the first two letters of the Arabic alphabet:a vertical straightline and a
horizontal concave line with a dot underneath. There is, however, an

intermediary
stagebetweenthealifandthebd,whichis thebdmuhammilah
(undottedba) or the alif mabsit(the "laidout"alif).The realityof the
Prophetcan be saidto consistof this undottedbi. It is somethingnow
differentfromthe primordialcloud,but an undottedbddoes not [Link],tJ and tha,havea similar
shapeand are only distinguishedfrom the bJ by the numberof dots.
Whatmakesthis firstindividuationproperlyindividuated,then, is the
placingof this dot, and in this regardthereis a famoushadithof Imam
'Ali:"Iam the dot underthe ba."Withthe additionof the supportand
or logostakeson its form,
wilayatof Imam'Ali,the Muhammad-reality
becomesproperlydistinguishedfrom the cloud, and servesas the first
manifestation
of the Divine.
This"dottedness"
withregardsto the Imdmindicatesthatthe Imdm's
functionis to differentiate
betweenthe worshiperand the worshipped,
betweenGodandHis Creation,in orderthatGodmayManifestHimself.
He allowsGod to ManifestHimself,for a god (ildh)cannotbe a god
withouta servant(ma'lulh,the one who is "lorded"over).It is this distinctionandseparation,
madepossibleby thecreationof theProphetand
Imim 'Ali,thatallowsthe worldto existandallowsGodto be manifest.
Withoutthe introductionof this "dot,"which in a veryrealsensecorruptsthe Divineepiphany,Godwouldremainin the Stationof Essence
as an unknowable,[Link] accountsfor the absolutely
privilegedplaceof knowingone's Imdmin Shi'ism,whichbecomesthe
centerpointof faithandits [Link] in linewiththe
hadithof theProphet:"Hewho doesnot knowthe Imamof histimedies
the deathof ignorance."
THE IMAM:EPIPHANYOF THE EPIPHANY
Thisdoctrine,however,begsthe questionabouthow one is to have
knowledgeof the Imamduringthe periodof his [Link] doctrineof the "HiddenImam"is perhapsthe mostfamousideaof Twelver
Shi'ismand that which has come to differentiateit from other Shi'ite
[Link] mainsectariandifferencebetweenSunniIslamand Shi'ismis
theShi'abeliefthat,afterthedeathof the Prophet,Godcontinuesto send
theophanic,[Link]'ismis foundedon the beliefthatthere

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

720

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

is alwaysa "proof' (hujjat)of God on Earth,and this figure is the Imim.

A hadith of the sixth Imim Ja'faras-Sddiqstates, "If the Earthwere to be
free from the Imam, it would be destroyed"(Kulayni: 179). There are
twelve such figures after the Prophet, the first being his cousin 'Ali Ibn
Abi [Link] final Imam, MuhammadIbn Hasanal-Mahdi,went into a
state of Occultation over a thousand years ago and continues to live in
that state until he will returnat the end of time.
The idea that there is alwayssuch a figure on Earthis also of crucial
importancein Ibn 'Arabi'sthought, in spite of his Sunni [Link]
his Divine Governanceof the Human Kingdomhe writes,
In the prophetswhomGodhassentsincethe creationof humanity,and
especiallyin the last and seal of them,Mubammad(mayGod'speace
andblessingsbe uponhim), we aregivena clearvoicethatspeaksguidanceto our [Link] untilthe
end of time, in everyagethe worldwill containa spiritualPole [qutb].
His nameandplacemaynot be knownto all,yet he is the guideof the
in whomGod'sordinancesaremanifest.
time,the divinerepresentative
of
Allouterandinner,materialandspiritualdecisionsin thegovernance
life come finallyfromhim. Somehe blesseswith love and compassion
[Link] [Link] is bothinsideand outsideof you.
Whenyou meethim you will knowhim. If you do not knowhim,then
he is not there.(16)
is not merely a political or pontifical successor to the
The
Imam
[Link] describeshis role as being fundamentallyinitiatic(1994:
131-134). He guides those who are able to accept the bewildermentthat
occurs when the God/man relationshipis deconstructedand brings them
to higher levels and experiencesof God. The task of the Prophet was to
bring the exoteric revelationand establishthe bases for the SacredLaw;
but the Imdm is taskedwith the interpretation(ta'wil) of this sacredtext
(Corbin 1993: 11-13), which in many ways is nothing but a deconstruction of that text.
Furthermore,the very substanceof the Imam is theophanic. It is not
merely his teachingsthat direct the believersforwardbut his very reality.
Shi'ite theosophists never understood the Imdm in the limited way that
the traditional doctors of law have, as being merely an explicator of
dogma and laws. For this reason they have been continually challenged
by Sufis and other groups (such as the Shaykhis)who believed that the
Imdm was more than meets the eye. Ratherthan being a mere physical
being, he is also a being of Light, and is described in many hadiths as
being the Light of God. Recognizingthe Imam in his realityas a being of
Light is of crucial importance to the mystic seeking closeness to God.

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

721

A hadith quoted by Shaykhisand Ismailis is instructivein this regard.A

companion of Imam 'Ali narrates,
I wassittingoncein the presenceof the Commander
of the Faithful'Ali
IbnAbiTdlib,Peacebe on him,whenthereenteredSalmanandJundub
(AbEDharral-Ghaffari),
mayGodbe [Link]
[Link],"Youarewelcome,you,whobotharefaithfuland
sincere,andwho promisedtheirGodto remainso. Verilythisis neceshisfaithuntil
saryforeveryfaithful(mu'min),forno onewillaccomplish
he recognizesme reallyin my LuminousSubstance.
If he onlyknowsme
in thisway,his heartwillbe testedby Godas to the strengthof his faith,
andhe willbe content;thushe [Link]
onewhofailsis he whodoubtsandis obsessedbydoubts."
The Imam, then, representsa type of rupture,whereby the Light of
God becomes manifest in a physical form. The Imam furthersthis rupture through his own teachings, his own ta'wil. Certainly this is not
alwaysthe case. Sometimes this interpretationof the sacredtexts is itself
very exoteric in nature, such as those hadithswhere the Imam explains
how a certainverse of the Qur'anindicatesa legal ruling. But many other
hadithsactuallyseem to "play"with the Qur'anictext in a deconstructive
way, often in a way that threatensorthodoxy. An example would be the
tafsirof the verse;"TheEarththat day [the Day of Judgment]will be illuminatedwith the radianceof its Lord (rabb)"(39:69). In the earlycollection of tafsir-relatedhadiths,the tafsirof Qummi, the sixth Imam as-Sidiq
is reportedas saying that the Lord of the Earthis not God, as would be
expected by many "orthodox" believers, but the Imim himself. In
another hadith,the same Imam is asked about the vision of God by one
of his most important companions, Abli Basir. AbUiBasir states in the
hadith:
I saidto Abli'Abdilldh
"Tellme aboutthe visionof Godthe
Exaltedand [Link]
the believerssee Him on the Day of Judg[[Link]]:
ment?"TheImamsaid:"Yes,andtheyhavealreadyseenHimbeforethe
I so asked:"When?"
To whichhe said:"WhenAllah
Dayof Judgment."
saidto them:"AmI not your Lord,and they said'Yes,Indeed!'"2 He
then pausedfor a whileand said:"Indeed,the believerssee him in the
worldbeforethe Dayof Judgment.
Do you notseeHim rightnow?"[i.e.,
rightnowwhilehe is sittingwiththeImam].I said:"MayI be yoursacrifice!MayI tellothersaboutwhatyouhavesaid?"TheImlm said:"[Link]

2This refers to a verse of the Qur'an (7:172) where Allah took all the souls of the children of
Adam, before they were placed in bodies, and asked them to testify to the Lordshipof God.

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

722

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

you tell this to people, the ignorant deniers will not understand it the
way you would tell them." (As-Sadfiq:118)
A number of Shi'ite hadiths where the Imim's status is discussed and
elaborated are distinctly unorthodox, if not anti-orthodox, and seemed
to be written as a provocation. The infamous Khutbat al-Bayydn is one
such hadith. This hadith is very important to the "Malang" community of
Twelver Shi'as in the subcontinent, who are characterized by their
extreme devotion and love towards the Imams, even though this hadith
has generally been rejected as a forgery by the orthodox "ulami (scholars). It is a sermon of the First Imam, Imdm 'Ali, where he explains the
exalted status that he has before Alldh. A selection of this hadith, as
recorded in the book Nahj al-Asrjr, reads as follows:
I am the one who has a thousand books from the books of the Prophets.
I am the one who speaks every language of the world. I am the Lord
of Noah, and the one who rescued him. I am the Lordof Jonah,
(.sJhib)
and
the one who saved him. I am the companion of the Trumpet. I am
the raiserof those who are in the graves.I am the Lordof the Day of Resurrection.I have raised the heavens by the permission and power of my
Lord. I am the Forgiving,the Merciful (rahim), and indeed my punishment is most painful ... I am the companion of the dominion and all
that exists. I am the creator.I am the one who forms the beings in their
wombs. I am the one who gives vision to the blind. I know what lies
inside the minds, and I can tell you what you have eaten and what you
have stored in your homes. I am the mosquito, by which Allah casts his
example. I am the one whom Allah raised up, and the Creation was in
darkness,and they were called to my obedience, but when I appeared
they denied me. This, just as Allah- May He be Exaltedand Glorifiedsaid:"Andwhen there came to them what they alreadyknew, they disbelieved in it." I am the one who fashions meat upon the bones, and then
causes it to grow accordingto its measure.I am the one who carriesthe
Throne of Allah, alongside of the Pure Ones from my children.I am the
bearer of knowledge. I am the knower of the Qur'an's interpretation,
and all the books from before. I am the one made firm in knowledge. I
am the face of Allah in the heavens and Earth,just as Allah the Exalted
said: "Everythingperishes, save for the face of Allah."I am the Lord of
the Despots and the Tyrants,and the incineratorof both. I am the gate
of Allah, of which Allah the Exaltedsaid: "Indeed,those who denied our
signs and held themselvesproud, for them the doors of the heavens shall
never be open."
119-128)
(Rid.:

Almond discussesthis type of "blasphemous"languageand its role in

deconstruction. He discusses how mystics such as Dionysius, the

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

Carney:TheDiscourseof the Divine in IslamicMysticism

723

(an importantChristianmysticof the sixth cen(Pseudo-)Areopagite,

that
it
was
to referto Godwithseeminglyabsurd
tury)argued
preferable
termslike "drunk"or "hungover,"
becausesuch termsbetterrepresent
the bewilderingand distantnatureof Godbetterthantraditionalterms
like"theAlmighty"or "theWise"(525-526).Thoughthe Imamsarenot
applyingsuchtermsandnamesto God,theyarein a sensedoingsomething more blasphemousfrom the Islamicstandpoint:arrogatingfor
themselves
traditionaltermslike "theAlmighty,""theWise,"and even
To use "blasphemous"
termsto describeGod mayupset
"theCreator."
orthodoxconceptionsof God,but it doesnot deconstructthedichotomy
of God/manin a waythatmost [Link] the
Imamhimselfto describehimselfas "theCreator"threatensthatedifice
in an unprecedented
way.
In both his wordsand his verybeingthe Imamthreatensthe [Link],the Imdmis of nearly
infiniteimportancein the spiritualdevelopmentof the believer,andit is
he who helpsfurtherthe processof "theological
Pivotal
deconstruction."
in the developmentof a mystical"Imamology"
wasthe figureof Shaykh
who soughtto redressone of themostimportantissues
Ahmadal-Ahsd'i,
Twelver
Shi'ism:
The issueof how one is to havecontactwiththe
facing
who
is
the
means
of approachtowardGodat all times,whenthe
Imam,
is
in
a
state
of
[Link] ShaykhAhmad's
Imam
followershaveinspiredgreatcontroversy
by optingforan understanding
of the Occultationbywhichthe Imdmhasbeen"ravished"
(in thewayof
EnochandJesus)to the realmof archetypal
images,theworldnamedby
Suhrawardi
as Hurqalyd(Walbridge
andHossein:160),whichis situated
on theplaneof imagination('Jlamal-khayydl).
Thesegroupshavegenerallybeenregardedas heterodox,anda kindof orthodoxyhasbeenestablished:the believersform their relationshipwith the HiddenImdmby
the Imdmby
obeyingthe jurists(fuqaha),who indirectly"represent"
for
an orthodoxy
his
The
fact
that
law.
some,
(and,
explicating
enforcing)
wasestablished,
however,doesnot meanthatthe officialpositionproved
to Shi'asthroughouthistory.
satisfactory
It was not until the comingof ShaykhAhmadal-Alhsd'i
in the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth century that a recognized scholar of

the traditionalclericalmold beganto questionand offera reformulation of this doctrine,basedon philosophicaland theologicaldevelopments from the IsfahanSchool of Iran and the spreadof Akbarian
theosophy. ShaykhAhmad appearsrelativelylate in the history of
Shi'itethought,andeventhoughhe wasof Araborigin,we can see him

as one of the last flowerings of the Persian intellectual renaissance that

began during the Safavid period and was exemplified by theosophists

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

724

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

like Mull Sadrd and Haydar 'Amiili. Even though Shaykh Alhmadis
clearly a part of the tradition startedby Ibn 'Arabi (Cole 2001: 85-87),
one can view his work as an attempt to bring Shi'ismback to its roots, by
reemphasizingthe esoteric and cosmic function of the Imam. Juan Cole
describeshim as offeringthe "the'warmheart'of Sufismwhile re-affirming
a Shi'a nativism" (2001: 91), and this is an apt description. Unlike the
Persian theosophist Haydar 'Amilli (b. 720/1320), who in his Jami'u
al-Asrdr,seemed to be driven by a need to legitimate Sunni Sufism in a
Shi'away (al-'Amuili:224).
One of the main tasks ShaykhAhmad and his followers set for themselves was the attempt to find a "place"whereby a believer could have
contact with the Imam, could experience the Imam, and receive the
teachings and guidance that were the Imim's task to spread. Shaykh
Ahmad advanced a reformulationof the idea of Imamate as it had been
accepted and popularizedby Shi'a orthodoxy. The Imam was not merely
a physical being, a person who may have received inspiration (ilham)
but was nonetheless chained to the same mortal coils as ourselves.
Instead, the Imam was a being of light as well, with a supra-physical,
luminary existence. His physical body was merely one aspect of him;
alongside this, he is possessed of a body of light that transcendsphysicality and any kind of Occultation that occurs on the physicalplane. In this
reformulationShaykhAhlmadwas only following a theme that is present
throughout the Shi'a corpus of hadith, which asserts that the Imams
were the first createdbeings, dwelling with bodies of light by which they
praised God for millennia, the light from which all the rest of creation
was drawn (Amir-Moezzi: 29-44). Here he found recourse to the concept of Imagination as found in Ibn 'Arabi and elaborated by
Suhrawardiand Mulld Sadrd. It was in this realm, given the name of
"Hurqalyd"by some, that the Shaykhis believed that this encounter
between the spiritually-seekingbeliever and the luminous reality of the
Imam was to take place.
The previous discussion about the nature of the Divine epiphany
should open a way to understand how the Shaykhis understood the
"epiphany"of the Imam during the ghaybahand its relationshipto the
imaginal faculty: Just as the Divine epiphany takes on the color of its
"cup," so the epiphany of the Imam to an individual believer should
always be something highly individualized and personal, taking place
within the believer's"eye"of mystical and imaginal perception. In spite
of the hierarchicaltendencies of the Shaykhi movement after Shaykh
Ahmad, Shaykh Ahmad did not seem to be interested in creating
yet another mystical tariqah where the masses were subordinated to a
single Shaykhwho was due absolute obedience. Rather,he seemed to be

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

725

workingtowardthe creationof a highlyindividualizedconceptionof

Imamateduring the ghaybah,where each believerstruggledfor this
extremelypersonalassociationwiththe Imdmof his time,unmediatedby
[Link],spiritualized
communityis whatCorbinrefersto
when he writes:"Theidea of the occultationof the Imam forbidsall
socializationof the spiritual,all materialization
of the spiritualhierarchiesandformswhichwouldidentifythesewith the constitutedbodies
of theexternal,visiblehistory;thisideais onlycompatiblewiththestructure of a spiritualsodality, a pure ecclesiaspiritualis"(quoted in
Arjomand:163).
Thisideaof a personalrelationshipwiththe Imamis not new,when
we understand
thatthe"Imim"in thiscontextdoesnot referto themere
physicalpersonagebut ratherto the Muhlammad-Logos
brieflydiscussed
ThisMuhammad-Logos
above,the Imamin his "LuminousSubstance."
is referredto by manynamesin the worksof Muslimtheosophists:The
FirstLight,the Pen,Lightof the Prophet,the FirstIndividuation,
andso
[Link] of mostinteresthereis theonereferred
to in many
TheUniversal
or FirstIntellect(al-'aqlal-kullor al-'aqlal-awwal).
hadiths:
a
number
of
hadithsstatethatthe Prophetandthe Imamswere
Though
the firstto be created,a numberof othersstatethatthe 'aqlwasthe first
[Link] theosophistsdo not considerthis to be a contradictionbut
haveinsteadarguedthatthis provesthatthe UniversalIntellectand the
are two terms for the same thing. This Universal
Muhlammad-Logos
Intellectseemsto performthe same functionas the ActiveIntellectof
[Link] is the sourceof all knowledge,the meansby
whichthe HiddenDivinecommunicatesto His [Link],
it is statedin anotherhadithin di-Kafi,is the one whose "'aqlis complete,"and he is "on the level of the Prophets,Imdms,and saints"
(Kulayni:23). Thisideaof 'aqlseemsto be verysimilarto the Avicennan
ideaof the"HolyIntelligence"
possessedbythe Prophets,the perfect'aql
thatallowsone to receiveDivineRevelation.
Thedreamof obtainingsomekindof unitywiththe UniversalIntellectwasthemotiveforcein a greatdealof Hellenicphilosophy,especially
in the [Link]-Farabidevotessome attentionto it in his The
[Link] arguesthatspiritualandintellectualpurification
andthe pursuitof philosophyas mysticalpraxiswillallowthe philosophicalsageto receiverevelation(Walzer:245).Buthe doesnot go into great
detailabouthow a contactwith this celestialentitycan be made,only
remarkingthat this is the fruit of [Link] only thinkersthat
madea consciousendeavorin chartingout a specificpath towardthis
UniversalIntellectwerethefedelid'amour,of who Dantewas the most
famousmember.

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

726

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

Dante's "mysticism," if we may discuss such a thing, ultimately

focused on the way that the Universal Intellect could be "discovered"
through a physical, sensuous apparition. For the fedeli d'amour, the
means of makingcontact with and obtainingthe wisdom of the Universal
Intellectwas based on two [Link] firstwas philosophy as understood
in the Neoplatonic sense, and in this way thefedeli were no differentfrom
the Hellenized philosophers of the Islamic world like al-Farabiand even
Ibn Sina. But the second revolved around the "theology of romantic
love," chartedout by CharlesWilliams:The UniversalIntellectbecomes
"typified"in the form of a physical beloved, a real being in the sensual
world (the 'alam al-hissahin Islamic terms), who is exalted by the heart
and imagination of the lover to such an exalted point that they become
the locus of the Universal Intellect's [Link] discussed above
the words of St. Athanasius,quoted by CharlesWilliams:"Not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of the Manhood into
God."In light of the semioticviolence inherentin the Divine disclosureit
may not be possible to speak of "takingthe Manhood into God" in any
[Link] may be possible,in a way acceptableto Ibn 'Arabi
or the Shi'ite theosophists,is the taking of the "humanhood"(the nasiit)
up to the level of the highestDivine epiphany,which is the UniversalInteland the "luminousbody"of the Imam.
lect, the Muhlammad-Logos,
It was preciselysuch an exaltationof the physicalbeloved that defines
the Divine [Link] Beatrice of the Divine Comedy,especially the
Paradiso,was an imaginal manifestation of the Universal Intellect. She
acted as Dante's guide, bringing him through the realmsof the Paradises
and teaching him the interpretation(ta'wil) of what he saw there. This is
precisely the function of the Imam in Shi'ite theosophy: disclosing the
secrets of ta'wil, the inner meanings of religion, whether we mean the
Imam in the sense of the physicalpersonageof the Imam or the "bodyof
light,"the Muhammad-Logos,referredto in so many Shi'ite [Link]
Imamateis not merelya pontifical,magisterialoffice that teachesdogma;
rather it is the means for obtaining an understanding of the esoteric
teachings of Islam. Corbin writes in this regard:"Not even the Shi'ite
Imamate has the characterof a dogmatic pontifical authority;it is the
source, not of dogmatic definitions, but of the inspiration of the ta'wil
[interpretation,hermeneutics], and it is all the adepts, from degree to
degree of the esoteric hierarchy,who form the 'Temple of light' of the
Imamate, which from degree to degree repeats the aspect of an initiatic
companionship (that of Salman the Persianwith the Prophet)" (Corbin
1997:83).
This is preciselythe function that Beatricefilled for Dante. As a physical manifestationof the UniversalIntellect,she became his "Imam"in a

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

727

[Link] Imamin the literalsenseof the word,meaning "theone who comesbefore,"becauseshe wasthe one who leadshim
on hisjourney,alwaysstandingin the forefrontandteachinghim as one
[Link] alsotheImamin thisspecifically
Shi'itesense,asbeingtheone whodisclosesthe ta'wilandwhoallowsthe
believerto progressto higherstagesof [Link] seemsthatit would
not havebeenpossibleforDanteto havethiscommunionwiththe Intelof [Link] 'Arabiwrites
ligencewithoutthe materialintermediary
that"Therecanbe no witnessing(shahidah)withoutmatter(mddah),"
a
referenceto the factthatthe Divinecan neverbe knownexceptthrough
material manifestations(mazhdhir).Beatrice,thereby, became the
"material
support"bywhichDantewasableto witnessthehighestdisclosureof the Divine,the [Link] standpointof Shi'ite
theosophy,thiswas his"personalrelationshipwiththe Imam,"whichin
was still possiblebecauseof the luminousand
spiteof his Christianity,
celestialaspectof the [Link] factthatthe "Imam"in this casetook
the formof Beatricewasbecauseof Dante'sown uniquenessas a person.
Othersin the entourageof thefedelid'amour,suchas GuidoCavalcanti,
had theirown uniquebelovedthatwas nonethelessa manifestation(or
placeof manifestation)for the [Link] watertakeson
the colorof the glass,whetherit be the primalwaterof Divineepiphany,
or the epiphanyof the epiphanyin the formof a mysticalcommunion
withthe Imam.
Corbinarguesthat thereis a long historyto this "secretreligion,"
the religionof personalcontactwith the UniversalIntellectthat, for
Shi'ism,is the heavenlyaspectof the [Link] the epiphany takes on a unique, feminine form, combiningboth aspects of
Divine Beauty(jamil) and Divine Grandeur(jaldl). This "religion"
spansdenominationalaffiliationsand has an internalunity and cohesion all its own:
ThemysticalIranian'Ushshaq
of
andtheFedelid'amore,
companions
Dante,professa secretreligionthat,thoughfreefromanyconfessionis nonethelesscommonto [Link]
arydenomination,
confineourselves
studies
to mentioning
thedelicateandaccomplished
thathaveshownhowtheBeatrice
of theVitanuovatypifiestheActive
or Wisdom-Sophia,
thatholdfor
andhowthearguments
Intelligence
Beatrice
in Love"[the
holdno lessforallthe"ladies"
of the"Faithful
Fedelid'amour]
whoresemble
herin everypoint- she,forexample,
who in GuidoCavalcanti
or in Dino
takesthe nameof Giovanna,
Che fa
Compagniappearsas "l'amorosaMadonnaIntelligenza,
nell'almala sua resizenda,
Che co la sua bieltam'ha'nnamorato."
(Corbin 1997:267)

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

728

Journalof theAmericanAcademyof Religion

The mystical love-union, then, becomes an event taking place in the

'alam al-khayydl,the World of Imagination, or the 'dlamal-mithal, the
World of [Link] was complying with the Shaykhidictum to
see one's Imam in the Hurqalya, and the Heaven of the Paradisowas
nothing other than this [Link]'s Mi'rdjwas the result of his
spiritualunion with Beatrice,something that could occur in the World of
Archetypesthough it was denied to him in the physical world. Corbin
writes,
Nothingcouldbe clearerthan the identityof this "amorosaMadonna
who hasher residencein the soul, andwithwhosecelestial
Intelligenza
beautythe poet has fallenin love."Here is perhapsone of the most
beautifulchaptersin the verylong "history"of the ActiveIntelligence,
in
whichstillremainsto be writtenandwhichis certainlynot a "history"
theacceptedsenseof theword,becauseit takesplaceentirelyin thesouls
of [Link] possibleintellectof
the human soul with the Active Intelligenceas Datorformarum,Angel of

andexperienceas a love union.(Corbin

Knowledgeor Wisdom-Sophia
1997:267)

Here, we see that the soul of the poet or philosopheris endowed with
a specialpower:to exalt a physicalbeloved into the World of Archetypes,
whereby it becomes capableof receivingepiphanyor, more properly,an
epiphanyof the epiphany.
The figureof Beatricewithin Dante's writingswas an imaginalepiphany of the Imam as "LuminousSubstance,"which is nothing other than
the [Link] spiritualcontact with the Imam is formed on
what might be considered a very mundane level, a young man's unrequited love for a girl. But this love has a fundamentallytransformative
aspect, turning the Beloved into something that she is not, something
higher and more exalted, and yet still "her"in every sense. Beatricewas
this luminous entity that Dante seemed almost to worship; and yet she
still remainedthe same Florentinegirl. Love causes a kind of transfiguration of the beloved, by which she becomes the vehicle for something infinitely higher than her mere physical reality. Ibn 'Arabi writes in this
regard:
If we lovean existingbeing,we onlylovethe manifestation
of our [true]
belovedwhichis withinthatsensiblebeingfromtheworldof [Link] lovethatbeing,we "lighten"
thatbeing[i.e.,makeit into
subtlematter],by raisingit to the level of the [Link]
clothewith a beautythat was aboveits beauty[as a physicalbeingof
densematter],andwe raiseit to a planewherethereis no possibilityof

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

TheDiscourse
Carney:
of theDivinein IslamicMysticism

729

conflictwith it nor separationfromit. As such,one neverceasesto be

unitedwithit ... Becausemy belovedis in my imagination,then I will
neverceasebeingcloseto [Link] such,my belovedis fromme, in me,

and with me. (1911: vol. 2, 337-338)

For all mystics, the real beloved is alwaysGod. But God can only be
known in his manifestation,and his perfect manifestation for the Shi'a
theosophists (of which the Shaykhisare the seminal example) is the figure of the Imdm. The Imam becomes the actual beloved, then, because
He is the perfect manifestation of the only God that can be loved, the
manifest God who makes Himself (albeit incompletely) manifest in the
form of the Imam. The creative power of love desires to make this
this Universal or PrimordialIntellect, manifest in a
[Link]-Logos,
form that may disclose its secrets. The Way of Affirmation finds the
means by which the "manhood,"the nasilt,may be raisedto this level, by
which on an absolutelyindividuallevel, deep within the heartof the poet
or the beloved, one discoversthis unity with the Imam, is illuminatedby
his light, without the medium of fuqahdwho are (in the eyes of the mystics at least) blind to such teachings.
REFERENCES
al-'Ahsd'i,ShaykhAhmad
1993

Almond,Ian
2002

Rasd'[Link]:Dar al-'Alamiyyah.

"TheHonestyof the Perplexed:

DerridaandIbn

Journalof theAmerican
'Arabion 'Bewilderment.'"
Academyof Religion70/3:515-537.

Amir-Moezzi, TheDivineGuidein EarlyShi'[Link]:State

MohammadAli Universityof NewYorkPress.
1994

Tehran:InstitutFranco-Iranian
'Amlili,
JJmi'u al-Asrdr.
1969 de Recherche.
[Link]
SaidAmir
Arjomand,
1984

The Shadow of God and the Hidden Imam.

Chicago:Chicago UniversityPress.

Cole,JuanR. I.

"ShaikhAhmad'Ahsa'iandthe Sourcesof Reli-

2001

gious Authority." In The Most Learned of the

Shi'a,82-93. Ed. by [Link]:

OxfordUniversityPress.
Corbin,Henry
1983

CyclicalTime in Ismaili [Link]: Kegan

Paul International.

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

730

Journalof theAmerican
Academy
ofReligion
1993

History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Kegan

Paul International.

1994

The Man of Light in Iranian [Link] Lebanon, NY:Omega Publications.

1997

Alone with the Alone. Princeton:Princeton UniversityPress.

Ibn'Arabi,Muhiad-Din
1911

al-Futiuhait
al-Makkiyah,vol. 2. Cairo:publisher
unknown.

1946

Ed. by AbUial-'AlaAffifi, 2 vols.

[Link].s
Cairo:[Link].
publisherunknown.

al-Kulayni,Muhammad
1401 Hijri

[Link]: Ddr as-Sa'b and Ddr Ta'rif alMatbti'.

Lacan,Jaques
2002
Ri<d,SayyidGhuldm
IHusayn
n.d.
As-Sadliq,ShaykhAbli
Ja'far
n.d.
Walbdrige,John and Ziai,
Hossein
1999

Ecrits:[Link]:Routledge.
Nahj al-Asrdr. Karachi: Ralhmat Allah Book
Agency.
KitJb [Link]:Instit Franco-Iranien
de Recherceh,1969.
The Philosophy of Illumination. Provo, UT:
BrighamYoung UniversityPress.

Walzer,Richard
1985

Al-Farabion the [Link]:Clarendon Press.

Williams, Charles
1990

Outlines of Romantic [Link] Rapids,

MI:Wm. B EerdmansPublishingCo.

1994

TheFigureof [Link]:Brewer.

This content downloaded from [Link] on Thu, 10 Sep 2015 [Link] UTC
All use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions