DOCSLIB.ORG

A Sufi Reading of the Gospel of John Based on the Writings of Muḥyī Al-Dīn Ibn Al-ʿarabī (1165-1240 CE)

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
A Sufi Reading of the Gospel of John Based on the Writings of Muḥyī Al-Dīn Ibn Al-ʿarabī (1165-1240 CE) The World Could Not Contain the Pages: A Sufi Reading of the Gospel of John Based on the Writings of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165-1240 CE) Michael Wehring Wolfe Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY 2016 © 2016 Michael Wehring Wolfe All rights reserved Abstract The World Could Not Contain the Pages: A Sufi Reading of the Gospel of John Based on the Writings of Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165-1240 CE) Michael Wehring Wolfe This dissertation addresses the question: how might the Sufi master, Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165-1240 CE), have read the Gospel of John? Although the Gospel of John belongs originally to the Christian tradition, this dissertation is a contribution to Islamic Studies, endeavoring to illuminate Ibn al-ʿArabī’s distinctive manner of reading religious texts and to highlight features of his negotiation of a dual heritage from Jesus and Muḥammad. To set Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought against an Islamic backdrop and situate it in an Islamic context, this dissertation adopts the device of constructing a commentary, guided by seminal passages in Ibn al-ʿArabī’s written corpus, on an Arabic translation of the Gospel of John: the Alexandrian Vulgate, widely circulated in the Arab world during Ibn al-ʿArabī’s time. This amounts not only to a comparison between Johannine doctrines and Ibn al-ʿArabī’s doctrines, but also a comparison between the latter and historical Muslim commentaries on the Christian scriptures—particularly the Biblical commentary (in circulation by the thirteenth century) attributed to the famed Sufi theologian Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, and the fourteenth-century Muslim Biblical commentary by Najm al-Dīn al- Ṭūfī (d. 1316 CE). Part I of the dissertation establishes a foundation for the commentary, inquiring into Ibn al-ʿArabī’s general attitudes towards non-Islamic religions, then considering autobiographical accounts of his relationship to Christianity, the question of his familiarity with the New Testament, and illustrations of his creative engagement with Christian doctrines. Part II of the dissertation constitutes the commentary, considering Ibn al-ʿArabī’s possible views on a number of Johannine doctrines: Jesus’ claim to have been the son of God; Jesus’ claim to have been one with God; the doctrine that Jesus was the embodied Word; the expiatory and epistemic functions of the embodied Word (paralleled by a dialectic relationship between two divergent kinds of witnessing); and the rumor, at the end of the Gospel of John, that the Beloved Disciple would never die. Table of Contents Acknowledgments iv Dedication vi Part I. Background 1 Chapter 1. The Opening Question 2 1.1. How Might Ibn al-ʿArabī Have Read the Gospel of John? 2 1.2. A Review of Comparative Studies of Ibn al-ʿArabī 9 1.3. An Akbarian Reading of the Synoptic Gospels 23 1.4. Muslim Objections to Johannine Doctrines 27 1.5. Muslim Commentaries on the Gospel of John 37 1.6. Arabic Translations of the Gospel of John 50 1.7. Editions of the Fuṣūṣ and the Futūḥāt 54 1.8. An Overview of the Coming Chapters 56 Chapter 2. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Views on Religious Pluralism 59 2.1. Popular and Academic Understandings 59 2.2. Keller’s Dissenting Views 66 2.3. Religious Pluralism in the Fuṣūṣ 69 2.4. The Fuṣūṣ vs. the Futūḥāt 78 2.5. The Generations Following Ibn al-ʿArabī 82 2.6. Poetic Tropes vs. Doctrinal Positions 90 2.7. Less Eirenic Statements 96 i Chapter 3. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Relationships to Jesus and Christianity 104 3.1. The Meaning of ʿĪsawī 104 3.2. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Familiarity with the New Testament 121 3.3. Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Trinity 134 Part II. An Akbarian Commentary on the Gospel of John 160 Chapter 4. Sonship and Oneness 161 4.1. Views on the Sonship of Jesus in Muslim Biblical Commentaries 161 4.2. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Views on the Sonship of Jesus 171 4.3. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Views on the Oneness of Jesus and God 187 4.4. Jesus and Shaṭḥiyyāt 206 4.5. Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Criticisms of Shaṭḥiyyāt 216 4.6. Jesus and Taʿrīfāt 225 Chapter 5. The Word and the Body 240 5.1. The Testimony of Two Witnesses 240 5.2. The Word 256 5.3. The Body 277 5.4. The Expiatory Work of the Embodied Word 291 5.5. The Epistemic Work of the Embodied Word 301 Chapter 6. Annihilation and Subsistence 333 6.1. The Disciple Who Would Not Die 333 6.2. The Undying Disciple and Khiḍr 348 6.3. Ibn al-ʿArabī and Khiḍr 377 ii Chapter 7. Closing Thoughts 394 Bibliography 401 iii Acknowledgments I would like to express my deepest gratitude for my advisor, Peter Awn, who has stood by me with unwavering support throughout the various challenges, interruptions, and setbacks I have faced on this long and zigzagging road to completing my dissertation. Without his dependability, guidance, and encouragement, going above and beyond for me, I could never have reached the other side of these obstacles. I would also like to express my gratitude for all the members of the faculty at the Department of Religion at Columbia University and the Department of Religion at Barnard College, as well as members of the administration at Columbia’s Department of Religion and the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, for their ongoing support and their generosity in giving me every opportunity I needed to complete this trek. I would like especially to thank the members of my defense committee—Elizabeth Castelli, Rachel McDermott, Wayne Proudfoot, and Bob Somerville, in addition to Peter Awn—for a very stimulating and pleasurable conversation at my defense. I would like to voice my gratitude for various key players in this process who have, in unofficial capacities, offered me insightful guidance in my work on this dissertation: Eric Winkel, who read drafts of my dissertation and liberally shared with me his expertise in Akbarian studies, as well as his permission to cite his prepublished translation of the Futūḥāt; Michael McCoy, who directed me to crucial resources at precisely those moments when I needed them; Joshua Falconer, who engaged me in long discussions of the Gospel of John and the Odes of Solomon; the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society, for nurturing ever-deepening explorations of Ibn al-ʿArabī, with special acknowledgement of Stephen Hirtenstein for generously sharing drafts from his prepublished new translation (with Cecilia Twinch and Jane Clark) of the Fuṣūṣ; Zahraʾ Langhi, who directed my attention to aspects of current research in Christian-Islamic relations; iv and Father John Bethancourt at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in Santa Fe, for enriching my understanding of the Gospel of John from an Orthodox perspective. I also wish to express my appreciation for: Abdulaziz Sachedina at the University of Virginia, who first introduced me to Ibn al-ʿArabī in 1995; Chorouq, who gave me the gift of Ibn al-ʿArabī in Arabic; the Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order, especially Shaykha Fariha Fatima al- Jerrahi and Baqi Atman, for their spiritual guidance; Wahid Miller, who welcomed me into his home on the mountain and shared with me his teachings; Penny Russell, who has patiently taught me the Mevlevi turn; St. John’s College in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where I have taught since 1999, for giving me an exceptionally extended leave of absence to pursue my studies at Columbia University; Laura Cooley, Librarian at Meem Library at St. John’s College, upon whom I depended heavily for numerous interlibrary loans; Andrea D’Amato and Isla Prieto at the St. John’s College Bookstore, for making it the best bookstore in Santa Fe; my students at St. John’s College, who have been a cheering section for me; Molly Padgett, whose hospitality made my return trips to the city warm and comfortable; my dear friends, Andrew Beckham and Carol LaRocque, Bill and Natalie Blais, and Kevin Groark, for their affectionate and knowing camaraderie over the years; my daughter, Lila, who constantly inspires me and challenges me to keep up with her; and my parents, Dewey and Carol, who have always believed in me and have given me their love and encouragement every step of the way. Above all, I’d like to express my gratitude to God for the wondrous and unforeseen ways the stars have lined up, making it possible for me to compose this dissertation in a very narrow window of time. v Dedication This dissertation is dedicated with love and gratitude to the memory of my father Dewey (1946-2009) and to my mother Carol. vi Part I Background 1 Chapter 1 The Opening Question 1.1 How Might Ibn al-ʿArabī Have Read the Gospel of John? He has sent down upon thee the Book with the truth, confirming what was before it, and He sent down the Torah and the Gospel aforetime, as guidance to the people… — Qurʾān 3:3-4 1 We begin our study with the end of the Gospel of John. This is how the final verse of that Gospel reads in the Revised Standard Version: But there are also many other things which Jesus did; were every one of them to be written, I suppose that the world itself could not contain the books that would be written. (John 21:25 RSV) 2 This is how the same verse reads in Arabic— Wa faʿala yasūʿ hadhā wa umūr kathīra law annahā kutibat wāḥdatan wāḥdatan ẓanantu an lam yasaʿuhā al-ʿalām ṣuḥufan al-maktūba.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • A Sufi Reading of Jesus
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by The University of Sydney: Sydney eScholarship Journals... Representations of Jesus in Islamic Mysticism: Defining the „Sufi Jesus‟ Milad Milani Created from the wine of love, Only love remains when I die. (Rumi)1 I‟ve seen a world without a trace of death, All atoms here have Jesus‟ pure breath. (Rumi)2 Introduction This article examines the limits touched by one religious tradition (Islam) in its particular approach to an important symbolic structure within another religious tradition (Christianity), examining how such a relationship on the peripheries of both these faiths can be better apprehended. At the heart of this discourse is the thematic of love. Indeed, the Qur’an and other Islamic materials do not readily yield an explicit reference to love in the way that such a notion is found within Christianity and the figure of Jesus. This is not to say that „love‟ is altogether absent from Islamic religion, since every Qur‟anic chapter, except for the ninth (surat at-tawbah), is prefaced In the Name of God; the Merciful, the Most Kind (bismillahi r-rahmani r-rahim). Love (Arabic habb; Persian Ishq), however, becomes a foremost concern of Muslim mystics, who from the ninth century onward adopted the theme to convey their experience of longing for God. Sufi references to the theme of love starts with Rabia al-Adawiyya (717-801) and expand outward from there in a powerful tradition. Although not always synonymous with the figure of Jesus, this tradition does, in due course, find a distinct compatibility with him.
    [Show full text]
  • The Concept of the Perfect Man in the Thought of Ibn 'Arabiand Muhammad Iqbal: a Comparative Study
    THE CONCEPT OF THE PERFECT MAN IN THE THOUGHT OF IBN 'ARABIAND MUHAMMAD IQBAL: A COMPARATIVE STUDY A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate St udies and Research in partial fulfîllment of the requiremeat for the degree of Mast er of Arts Institut e of Islamic St udies Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research McGill University Mont real May 1997 National Library Bibliothbque nationale du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OnaiwaON K1AW CNtawaON K1AW Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive Licence allowing the exclusive permettant a la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microforni, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfichelfilm, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT Author : Iskandar Amel Tit le : "The Concept of the Perfect Man in the Thought of Ibn '~rabiand Muhammad Iqbal: A Comparative Study" Department : Inst it ute of Islamic St udies, McGill University, Montreal, Canada Degree : Master of Arts (M.A.) This thesis deals with the concept of the Pcrfect Man in the thought of both Ibn '~rabi(%O/ 1 165-63811 240) and Iqbal ( 1877- 1938).
    [Show full text]
  • Abide in John's First Epistle
    BY JOSEPH BECKLER BIDE IN john’s FIRST EPISTLE he word abide (Greek, meno) carries Abide in the Greek context carries a sense synonymous meanings such as remaining, of remaining or staying in place. The word in Tstaying, living, dwelling, lasting, enduring, its general usage described an idea of endur- and continuing.1 The Greek New Testament uses ing or of someone holding his or her ground, meno 112 times. of its usage, the Johannine group even when facing adversity. Overall, the word 2009 Summer of literature (the Gospel of John; 1, 2, 3 John; and BI revelation) uses the term 66 times.2 having a LESSON REFERENCE proper understanding of abide is thus important BsFL: 1 John 2:3-17 55 when reading any of John’s writings. ILLUSTRATOR PHOTO/ KRISTEN HILLER (2486) meno communicated a strong sense of tenacity, new heaven and new earth (Isa. 66:22).4 Looking and this certainly shaped the understanding of exclusively at the Old Testament usage, abide those who used the word. For the modern reader, suggests more than a casual “sticking around.” understanding the meaning of abide, as related This word emphasizes the enduring, eternal, and specifically to the Jewish community and the dependable nature of God. early Christian movement, requires looking at meno’s usage in the Greek translation of the Old Abide in 1 John 2:3-17 Testament, the Septuagint. John’s writings, as mentioned above, used abide The Septuagint used abide (meno) in translat- in a brilliant theological fashion. The Book ing Hebrew words that carried the sense of of 1 John was written to a group of Christians standing, lasting, remaining, enduring, being who dealt with the threat of gnostic influence.
    [Show full text]
  • Rituals of Islamic Spirituality: a Study of Majlis Dhikr Groups
    Rituals of Islamic Spirituality A STUDY OF MAJLIS DHIKR GROUPS IN EAST JAVA Rituals of Islamic Spirituality A STUDY OF MAJLIS DHIKR GROUPS IN EAST JAVA Arif Zamhari THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY E P R E S S E P R E S S Published by ANU E Press The Australian National University Canberra ACT 0200, Australia Email: [email protected] This title is also available online at: http://epress.anu.edu.au/islamic_citation.html National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication entry Author: Zamhari, Arif. Title: Rituals of Islamic spirituality: a study of Majlis Dhikr groups in East Java / Arif Zamhari. ISBN: 9781921666247 (pbk) 9781921666254 (pdf) Series: Islam in Southeast Asia. Notes: Includes bibliographical references. Subjects: Islam--Rituals. Islam Doctrines. Islamic sects--Indonesia--Jawa Timur. Sufism--Indonesia--Jawa Timur. Dewey Number: 297.359598 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher. Cover design and layout by ANU E Press Printed by Griffin Press This edition © 2010 ANU E Press Islam in Southeast Asia Series Theses at The Australian National University are assessed by external examiners and students are expected to take into account the advice of their examiners before they submit to the University Library the final versions of their theses. For this series, this final version of the thesis has been used as the basis for publication, taking into account other changesthat the author may have decided to undertake.
    [Show full text]
  • Understanding the Concept of Islamic Sufism
    Journal of Education & Social Policy Vol. 1 No. 1; June 2014 Understanding the Concept of Islamic Sufism Shahida Bilqies Research Scholar, Shah-i-Hamadan Institute of Islamic Studies University of Kashmir, Srinagar-190006 Jammu and Kashmir, India. Sufism, being the marrow of the bone or the inner dimension of the Islamic revelation, is the means par excellence whereby Tawhid is achieved. All Muslims believe in Unity as expressed in the most Universal sense possible by the Shahadah, la ilaha ill’Allah. The Sufi has realized the mysteries of Tawhid, who knows what this assertion means. It is only he who sees God everywhere.1 Sufism can also be explained from the perspective of the three basic religious attitudes mentioned in the Qur’an. These are the attitudes of Islam, Iman and Ihsan.There is a Hadith of the Prophet (saw) which describes the three attitudes separately as components of Din (religion), while several other traditions in the Kitab-ul-Iman of Sahih Bukhari discuss Islam and Iman as distinct attitudes varying in religious significance. These are also mentioned as having various degrees of intensity and varieties in themselves. The attitude of Islam, which has given its name to the Islamic religion, means Submission to the Will of Allah. This is the minimum qualification for being a Muslim. Technically, it implies an acceptance, even if only formal, of the teachings contained in the Qur’an and the Traditions of the Prophet (saw). Iman is a more advanced stage in the field of religion than Islam. It designates a further penetration into the heart of religion and a firm faith in its teachings.
    [Show full text]
  • Marcia Hermansen, and Elif Medeni
    CURRICULUM VITAE Marcia K. Hermansen October 2020 Theology Dept. Loyola University Crown Center 301 Tel. (773)-508-2345 (work) 1032 W. Sheridan Rd., Chicago Il 60660 E-mail [email protected] I. EDUCATION A. Institution Dates Degree Field University of Chicago 1974-1982 Ph.D. Near East Languages and Civilization (Arabic & Islamic Studies) University of Toronto 1973-1974 Special Student University of Waterloo 1970-1972 B.A. General Arts B. Dissertation Topic: The Theory of Religion of Shah Wali Allah of Delhi (1702-1762) C. Language Competency: Arabic, Persian, Urdu, French, Spanish, Italian, German, Dutch, Turkish II. EMPLOYMENT HISTORY A. Teaching and Other Positions Held 2006- Director, Islamic World Studies Program, Loyola 1997- Professor, Theology Dept., Loyola University, Chicago 2003 Visiting Professor, Summer School, Catholic University, Leuven, Belgium 1982-1997 Professor, Religious Studies, San Diego State University 1985-1986 Visiting Professor, Institute of Islamic Studies McGill University, Montreal, Canada 1980-1981 Foreign Service, Canadian Department of External Affairs: Postings to the United Nations General Assembly, Canadian Delegation; Vice-Consul, Canadian Embassy, Caracas, Venezuela 1979-1980 Lecturer, Religion Department, Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario M. K. Hermansen—2 B.Courses Taught Religious Studies World Religions: Major concepts from eastern and western religious traditions. Religions of India Myth and Symbol: Psychological, anthropological, and religious approaches Religion and Psychology Sacred Biography Dynamics of Religious Experience Comparative Spiritualities Scripture in Comparative Perspective Ways of Understanding Religion (Theory and Methodology in the Study of Religion) Comparative Mysticism Introduction to Religious Studies Myth, Magic, and Mysticism Islamic Studies Introduction to Islam. Islamic Mysticism: A seminar based on discussion of readings from Sufi texts.
    [Show full text]
  • “Fight Is an Inside Path” – a Minor Field Study of How Members of Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order Perceive Religious Freedom in Mexico
    Södertörn University | School of Historical and Contemporary Studies Bachelor thesis 15 hp | Religious studies | Fall 2014 The program of Journalism target religious studies “Fight is an inside path” – A minor field study of how members of Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order perceive religious freedom in Mexico By: Sandra Forsvik Supervisor in Sweden: Simon Sorgenfrei Supervisor in Mexico: Israel Rojas Cámara Abstract The interests for academic studies of contemporary Sufism and Sufism in non-Islamic countries have become more popular, but little has been done in Latin America. The studies of Islam in this continent are limited and studies on Sufism in Mexico seem to be an unexplored area. As a student of journalism target religion I see this as an important topic that can generate new information for the study of Sufism. This thesis is therefore aimed to describe the group of Sufis I have chosen to study, Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order in Mexico, linked to Human Rights in form of how members of the Sufi order perceive Religious Freedom in Mexico. A minor field study was carried out in Colonia Roma, Mexico City during October and November 2014. The place was chosen because this is the place where Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi Order exists in Mexico. The investigation is qualitative and based on an ethnographic study of eight weeks and semi structured interviews with three dervishes of the Sufi order, where two of them are men and one is a woman. Based on my purpose I have formulated the following questions: – How do members of Nur Ashki Jerrahi Sufi
    [Show full text]
  • The Kāshif Al- Ilbās of Shaykh Ibrāhīm Niasse: Analysis of the Text
    THE KĀSHIF AL- ILBĀS OF SHAYKH IBRĀHĪM NIASSE: ANALYSIS OF THE TEXT Zachary Wright The Kāshif al- Ilbās was the magnum opus of one of twentieth- century West Africa’s most infl uential Muslim leaders, Shaykh al- Islam Ibrāhīm ‘Abd- Allāh Niasse (1900–1975). No Sufi master can be reduced to a single text, and the mass following of Shaykh Ibrāhīm, described as possibly the largest single Muslim movement in modern West Africa,1 most certainly found its primary inspiration in the personal example and spiritual zeal of the Shaykh rather than in written words. The analysis of this highly signifi - cant West African Arabic text cannot escape the essential paradox of Sufi writing: putting the ineffable experience of God into words. The Kāshif re- peatedly insisted that the communication of “experiential spiritual knowl- edge” (ma‘rifa)—the key concept on which Shaykh Ibrāhīm’s movement was predicated and the subject which occupies the largest portion of the 1 Portions of this article are included in the introduction to the forthcoming publication: Zachary Wright, Muhtar Holland, and Abdullahi El-Okene, trans., The Removal of Confu- sion Concerning the Flood of the Saintly Seal, Aḥmad al-Tijānī: A Translation of Kāshif al-Ilbās ‘an fayḍa al-khatm Abī al-‘Abbās by Shaykh al-Islam al-Ḥājj Ibrāhīm b. ‘Abd- Allāh Niasse (Louisville, Ky.: Fons Vitae, 2010). See Mervyn Hiskett, The Development of Islam in West Africa (London: Longman, 1984), 287. See also Ousmane Kane, John Hunwick, and Rüdiger Seesemann, “Senegambia I: The Niassene Tradition,” in The Writ- ings of Western Sudanic Africa, vol.
    [Show full text]
  • ALAN WILLIAMS Full Interview Final
    The Operation of Divine Love An Interview with Alan Williams by David Hornsby, January 2020 What would you say is the profound and universal message of the Masnavi? I’ve been thinking about this for a very long time. The main message cannot easily be put into intellectual terms, and that is the problem, and why Rumi addresses the reader through poetry: poetry immediately addresses a different level of the mind from the literal, intellectual mind. The message is intended for the inner being or higher mind. And, to hear this message, one has to be very patient and attentive. The message is about the realisation of union with our true reality – but that is a conditional promise of a result, if you like, because we have to give up everything in order to know union, and very few of us are able or prepared to do that. Rumi went to great pains to explain what he meant in the best possible way, through ordinary language, through stories and fables, but also by direct conversation with his readers, guiding them along the way. This is really what I talk about in my Introduction to the first book, that he has a way of leading the reader into a receptive state so that it is easier to understand what he has to say: to contemplate subtle realities that are much subtler than what we are normally used to reading in ordinary literature, even in other Persian, Sufi poetry. One of the people commenting on your books, Ahmad Karimi Hakkak, has said that they are “intensely relevant not just to our time, but to all humanity through the millennia”.
    [Show full text]
  • The Notion and Significance of Ma[Rifa in Sufism
    Journal of Islamic Studies 13:2 (2002) pp. 155–181 # Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies 2002 THE NOTION AND SIGNIFICANCE OF MA[RIFA IN SUFISM REZA SHAH-KAZEMI London At the heart of the Sufi notion of ma[rifa there lies a paradox that is as fruitful in spiritual terms as it is unfathomable on the purely mental plane: on the one hand, it is described as the highest knowledge to which the individual has access; but on the other, the ultimate content of this knowledge so radically transcends the individual that it comes to be described in terms of ‘ignorance’. In one respect, it is said to be a light that illumines and clarifies, but in another respect its very brilliance dazzles, blinds, and ultimately extinguishes the one designated as a ‘knower’ (al-[a¯rif ).1 This luminous knowledge that demands ‘unknowing’ is also a mode of being that demands effacement; and it is the conjunction between perfect knowledge and pure being that defines the ultimate degree of ma[rifa. Since such a conjunction is only perfectly realized in the undifferentiated unity of the Absolute, it follows that it can only be through the Absolute that the individual can have access to this ultimate degree of ma[rifa, thus becoming designated not as al-[a¯rif, tout court, but as al-[a¯rif bi-Lla¯h: the knower through God. The individual is thus seen as participating in Divine knowledge rather than possessing it, the attribute of knowledge pertaining in fact to God and not himself. In this light, the definition of tasawwuf given by al-Junayd (d.
    [Show full text]
  • Abd Al-Karim Al-Jili
    ‛ABD AL-KAR ĪM AL-JĪLĪ: Taw ḥīd, Transcendence and Immanence by NICHOLAS LO POLITO A thesis submitted to the University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of Theology and Religion School of Philosophy, Theology and Religion College of Arts and Law University of Birmingham September 2010 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. ABSTRACT The present thesis is an attempt to understand ‛Abd Al-Kar īm Al-Jīlī’s thought and to illustrate his original contribution to the development of medieval Islamic mysticism. In particular, it maintains that far from being an obscure disciple of Ibn ‛Arab ī, Al-Jīlī was able to overcome the apparent contradiction between the doctrinal assumption of a transcendent God and the perception of divine immanence intrinsic in God’s relational stance vis-à-vis the created world. To achieve this, this thesis places Al-Jīlī historically and culturally within the Sufi context of eighth-ninth/fourteenth-fifteenth centuries Persia, describing the world in which he lived and the influence of theological and philosophical traditions on his writings, both from within and without the Islamic world.
    [Show full text]
  • Elijah, Election, and the Use of Malachi in the New Testament
    Criswell Theological Review 2.1 (1987) 99-117 [Copyright © 1987 by Criswell College, cited with permission; digitally prepared for use at Gordon and Criswell Colleges and elsewhere] ELIJAH, ELECTION, AND THE USE OF MALACHI IN THE NEW TESTAMENT CRAIG L. BLOMBERG Denver Seminary, Denver, CO 80210 At first glance, the book of Malachi seems not to play a prominent role in the NT. To be sure, key themes from this last oracle of OT prophecy reappear in the later Scriptures. One may compare, for example, the Jews' contemptuous treatment of their sacrifices (Mal 1:7-14) with Paul's admonitions to the Corinthians concerning the Lord’s Supper (1 Cor 11:17-34), the disobedience of the priests and Levites (Mal 2:1-12) with Jesus' consistent critique of many of the Pharisees and Sadducees in his day, God's hatred of divorce and his monogamus designs for marriage (Mal 2:13-16) with Jesus' and Paul’s teachings on the same topics (Mark 10:1-12 pars.; 1 Corinthians 7), the promise of the Lord's coming in righteousness to his temple both to save and to judge (Mal 3:1-4; 4:1-3) with the repeated NT emphasis on the fulfillment of these prophecies in Christ's first and second comings, or the insistence that God's blessings are contingent upon the faithful stewardship of one's tithe (Mal 3:8-12) with Paul's teaching on the collection for Jerusalem (2 Cor 8-9).1 Yet only two explicit quotations from Malachi find their way into the pages of the NT.
    [Show full text]