The Mystical Element in Mikhall lKu6aymah's Litesary Works and Its Affinity to Islamic Mysticism

BY Yeni Ratna Yuuingsib,

A thesis submitted to the Facul* of Graduate Studies and Research in partial ialflllment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts

Institute of Islamic Studies MCGLU University Montreal

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Author : Yeni Ratna Yuningsih Title : The Mystical Element in MikhaU Nucaymah's Literary Works and Its AfEmity to Islamic Mysticism Department : Institute of Islamic Studies Degree : Master of Arts

This thesis investigates the mystical elements in MikhS'ïl Nu'ayrnah's literary works and their affiity to Islamic mysticisrn, elaborating in particular on the notions of oneness of being and the transmigration of soul. These two themes are the more prevalent ones in Nucapah's mystical thought when compared to such other themes as love and asceticism, which can also be found in his works. However, the notion of oneness of being seems to be the basis of his mystical concepts as well as the goal to which other themes are directed. The notion of the transmigration of soul is therefore developed by Nucayrnah in the context of the idea of oneness of being. The mystical thoughts of Mla'ii Nucaymah conceming the two notions above, are to be found in a number of his works, such as &-d al-MaCa-d,al-Marai& The Book of Mirdaid, Liqa', his autobiography Sab'ïiin and his collections of poems Hams alJufun. Auteur :Yeni Ratna Yuningsih. Titre :L'élément mystique dans I'oeuvre littéraire de Mïkh3.1 Nuca~ahet ses affinités avec le mysticisme islamique. Département :Institut d' Études Islamiques, Université McGill. Diplôme : Maitrise es Arts.

Ce mémoire explore les éléments mystiques de l'oeuvre littéraire de MikhSlil Nu'aymah ainsi que son avec le mysticisme islamique, en élaborant particulièrement les notions de l'unicité de l'être et de la transmigration de L'âme. Ces deux thèmes semblent plus prévaloir dans la pensée mystique de Nu'aymah que d'autres thèmes tels que l'amour et l'ascétisme et que l'on retrouve aussi dans ses oeuvres. Toutefois, la notion d'unicité de l'être semble être le fondement des concepts mystiques de l'auteur, de même que l'objectif visé par les autres thèmes. Le concept de la transmigration de l'âme est donc développée par Nu'aymah dans un contexte d'unicité de l'être. La pensée mystique de MikhSQ NuCamahportant sur les deux notions ci-haut mentionnées, se retrouvent dans plusieures de ses oeuvres telles que le Zad al-Ma'ad, &-Marail, Le livre de Mirdiid, son autobiographie Sabtïn et son recueil de poèmes Hams al-Jufün.

..- Ill Transliteration

The Arabic transliteration in this thesis follows the system used by the

Institute of Islamic Studies at McGill University. The table of transliteration is as foliows:

b=+ dh= i =L 1 =J

Short : a= ; ; i= Y ; U=L - - Long : a=[. ; 'r= u=~ '2 -'

Diphthongs : ay= $1 ;aw=,I

Ta marbütah wili be transliterated as "h" for example, Nu'aymah = ;i; and as "t" when in a construct phrase. such as mdatal-wujud =

+?JJ 1 gJ-3 Acknowledgments

There are a number of individuals and institutions deselving of my deepest appreciation and sincerest gratitude for their support and help during my studies and in research for this thesis. First, special thanks go to my academic and thesis supervisor, Prof. Hermann Landolt, who not only provided expert supernision and criticism of my thesis but also gave me a deeper understanding of Islamic mysticism. I am also grateful to Prof. Issa J. Bouflata who guided me through my frst year of study and introduced me to the richness of mahjar literature, especiaiiy the works of MiikhS'il Nu'aymah. 1 have been fortunate to benefit from the kindness and expertise of two such respected scholars. 1 would like also to extend my appreciation to Wendy Allen, the present Director of the McGiii-Indonesia IAIN Development Project, as well as to all the oficials of this project both in Jakarta and Montreal for their assistance during my course of study, especiaily Joanna Gacek, Lori Novak, Susy Ricciardelii, Phi1 Williams and Anni Yoesoef. Special thanks are also due to the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) for providing me with a fellowship, without which my intention to study at McGill might not have been realized. My deep gratitude is also due to Prof. A. Üner Turgay, the Director of the Institute of Islamic Studies and al1 the staff for their concem and support throughout my courw of study. 1 also would like to thank Prof. Dr. H. Quraisy Shihab and Dr. Azyumardi Azra, the former and present rectors, respectively, of the State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Syanf Hidayatullah, Jakarta, for granting me permission to leave my duties as junior lecturer during a the two years that it took me to complete my degree. My special thanks are also due to the staff of the Islamic Studies Library especially Salwa Ferahian, Wayne St. Thomas, and Steve Millier who not only assisted me in obtaining sources but also extended to me a very warm friendship during my time at the Institute.

1 dso owe a considerable debt to Steve Millier for patiently editing my thesis and casting it in more fluent English. My special gratitude also goes to Pak Thalib (Abdul Muthalib), for his help in translating some references of my thesis. Last but not least, 1 wish to express my deepest thanks and love for my beloved husband, Mizan Sya'roni, who gave unstintingly of his patience, tendemess, and understanding at aii times but especially during the writing of this thesis. My deepest gratitude and love go also to my parents, K.H Dadun Sanusi and H. Euis Nurlaela, my brothers and sisters and my whole farnily for their inspiration, affection and support. This thesis is dedicated to those people who have given me their enduring love and support, including my beloved grandmother, Atikah

(may Allah forgive her) who passed away while 1 was enrolled in the Pre- Departure Program in Jakarta, and my late uncle, Drs. Kingkin Berlian Bachtiar, S.H (mayAllah forgive him) who was very supportive and asked me to share one day my cultural and academic experiences in McGili

with him. 1 wish I could have fulfiiled his request. Table of Contents

.. Abstract ...... LI ... Résumé...... LU Transliteration...... iv Acknowledgment...... v .. Table of Contents ...... vu Introduction...... 1 Chopter One: Mikha'il Nii6aymah: An Exceptional Lue...... -10 1. Early Life in Biskinta ...... 10 2 . An Initial Passageway to the East ...... -15 3. In the Path of Christ ...... 18 4 . Poltava, the Gate to the New World ...... 20 5 . The Dream is Reaked ...... 26 6 . Back to the Cradle of Biskinta ...... 37 Chaptet 'ho: A General View of Sirfkm...... 40 1 . Mysticism and Sufism ...... 40 2 . Some of the Main *fiThemes ...... -49 2.1. WaMat al-Wu@ (Oneness of Being)...... 50 2.2 . TaBasukh (The Transmigration of Soul) ...... 70 Chapter Three: An halysQ of the Mysticai Elament in MIkha'il Ndaymah's Literary Works...... -80 1 . Oneness of Being ...... 82 2 . The Transmigration of Sou1...... 96 Conclusion...... 106 Bibliography...... 112

vii Introduction

The significance of MikhaQ Nu'aymah (1889-1988) to the

development of modem Arabic literature lies in his contribution to

mahjarl Literature, the emergence of which can be traced back to the tum

of the nineteenth century, when a number of writers from the Arab

world, especially Lebanon and Syria, emigrated to other countries, such

as Amenca, Australia, Africa, Japan, China, Egypt, and France. Among

these countries, America seemed to be the favorite destination?

Prominent Arab writers such as JubrEn Khalil Jubra, Amin al-Rihani,

Nasib 'Afidah, Rashid AyyÜb and Mlkha'il N~'aymah,~were among the

muhja7iyyz.i-n (immigrants)to the United States.

'~heword mahjar is derived from the root h-j-r, whose m-r is hijfah., rneariing emigration from one place to another; see 'Abd Allah al-'AiiiyiE, Lisün al-'Arab al-Mu-. (Beirüt: DSr al-Ji, 1977), vol. 6, 17. The word al-rnahjar indicates the Arab diaspora, Arabs living abroad, specificaiiy in the New World. This meaning is taken from Hans Wehr, The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Wrilten Arabic, 4th ed., tr. (Ithaca, New York: Spoken Language Se~ces,Inc, 1994), 1194- 1 195. See also Kamal Nash'at, Shi? al-MahJ'ar (Cairo: ai- DSr al- Misriyyah li al-Ta'lif wa &-Teamah, 19661, 9-10. In this work, however, mahjar literature refers to the literahue written by Arabs immigrants in the countries of North and South America. aNash'at, Shi? al-Mahjar, 9-10; Yeni Ratna Yuningsih, "ShuCarS' al- Mahjar wa Khasa'is Ashcarihim" (Undergraduate thesis, MN Syarif Hidayatullah, Jakarta, 1995), 5. 3For more elaboration on the mahjar writers, see JÜrj Saydah, Adabuna wu Udabü'unü (Beiriit: DZr al-'ILm Ii al-Maliiyin, 1957),209-525. in this book the writer presents short biographies of no less than 120 Arabic writers who 0 emigrated to both South and North America. a The immigrants to America may be divïded into two groups in tems of destination. Those who emigrated to North America were called -

ff'at al-mcrhjar al-shama7ï while those who went to South America were

called fi'at al-mhjar ai-jafzu-bL4 The main reasons for their emigration

were generally either political or economic.5 They left their beloved

homelands in the hope that the New World would give them a better life

and freedom to five as well as to express their ideas-

Mahjar literature itseif, which began to emerge in the early

twentieth centuq, is considered by some to have been a new departure,

indeed a Wual renaissance, for modem Arabic Iiterature.6 This new

Stream of Arabic literature, which became more influential with the

41sS Al-NSZFr=i, Aàub al- Mahjar (Cairo: DéZr al-Macarif,1977), 17. Afthough the ones who made up the mahjar shama7ï were fewer in number, their influence was greater than that of the people of the mahjar januir'. They were also dserent in that they were more dynamic because they were more enthusiastic to fkee themselves and Arabic fiterature from tradition, while the latter tended to want to preserve their ancestors' iiterary heritage. Ibid., 18. STbid., 17. in addition to these two reasons, education was another motivation behind their emigration to those countiies. Nasib 'Afidah and Mikhà5l Nucapah were said to have emigrated to the United State for this reason specifically. Sayde however claims that the main reason for their immigration was cornmonly economic problem facing in their native countries. Saydah, 'Adabuna Wa'udabfina, 23. 6The fust renaissance of modem Arabic literature occurred at the beginnùig of the 19th century. The Western impact on the Arab East at this time stirred the region fkom the dull lethargy of the three prevlous centuries. This historical background is discussed in Nadeem Naimy, MiWtail Na*: An Introduction (Beinit: Amencan University of Beirut, l967),1-67. See also Shafiq al-BiqaE, Adab 'Asr al-Naheh (Beiriit: DSr a1-W fi al-Malayin, 1990), 16-25. The importarice of rnahjar literature and its infiuence on the development of modem Arabic literature is discussed in Anw* al-Jundl, al-Shi'r al-'Arabi al- Mucci$ïr: Tatawwuruh wa 'Acl~uh1875-1940 (Beirüt: Maktabat al-Macarif, e 1960),563-565. 3

establishment of al-Rabitah al-Qalamiyyah (Pen-Bond) in New York in 0 1920, offered a Iiterq freedom not only in form but also in contenL7

The distinguishing trait of these writers may be traced to the

turbulent political, econornic and social ciimate of the Arab countries

from which they ernigrated.8 These circumstances shaped their thought

and fuelled their desire for freedom from the restrictions of politics,

reiigion, traditional thought, and linguistic expression? Additionally,

their attachment to the outside world, and especially the West,

broadened their horizons and gave them a new perspective.

Mïkha'ïl Nu'aymah was one of the most important figures in this

new rnovement with which he shared his revolutionary thoughts

regarding the nature, function and structure of Arabic literature. He saw

literature as a vision of Me in its underlying essence, in its cosrnic

"oneness" and its indivisible unity. The poet, through his intuitive

faculty, grasps this phenomenon and articulates it in his poetic

8Muhammad Shafiq Shayya, FaLsafd ='fl Nu'aymah (Beinrt: Manshürat Besun ai-Thaqafiyyah, l979), 16- 17. Mattiyahu Peled shows how the political conditions prevailing in Palestine innuenced Palestinian literary themes. Mattiyahu Peled, Aspects of Modern Arabic Literature (Paris: Peeters, 1988), 143-183. 9Ariis Maqdisi, al-mi;jht al-Adabiyyah fi al-'Alam al-'Arabi al-Hadith (Beirüt: D5r al-'llm Li al-Malàyk, 1988), 280-287. See also J. Brugman, An Introduction to the History of Modem Araoic Literature in Egypt (Leiden: E.J. Bfl, 19841, 106. Nucaymah also intended to send literature in a new direction where the emphasis would be on content, not form, as was the case with traditionai literature.11 This was because, in his perception, language is not the goal of Literature but rather the tool or medium allowing one to convey essential meaning. Hence, the Arabic language, like all other languages, is neither sacred nor profane. For hirn, as a human creation, it is like Me itself, which undergoes the evolutionary process directed towards self-perpetuation, selecting what is best and destroying whatever is unsuitable in the course of its constant tran~formation.~2This is probably the reason for his violent attack on the traditionalists' over- reliance on verbal ski11 alone and on the inflexible rules established by classical philologists, grammarians, lexicographers and prosodists which were accepted by the neoclassicists of his tirne as absolute and sacred law. 13

The message that Nucaymah wanted to convey, moreover, was universal, not limited to his own people but shed at the world at large.

Therefore, he did not lirnit himself by writing only in his native tongue

------LOMounah Khouri, Sudies in Lontemporary Arabic Poetry and CritZakm (Piedmont, CA: Jahan Book Co, 1987),44. LlIbid., 45. "Md. (Arabie), but chose aiso to compose in English or sometimes transtated his original Arabic works into that language. Nor did he restrict himself to wrîthg for only one kind of literary medium; indeed the vehicle for his message could be anything from a poem to a play, from an essay to a speech, or from a short story to a novel.14

Above aIl, Nu'aymah was disthguished frorn his colleagues in the

'Pen-Bond," not only by his more advanced education but also because of his wider life expenence which was so obviously influential on his attitudes and thoughts. Shafiq Shayyâ divides the influences on Nu'aymah's thought into Western and Eastern. These influences evidently swayed him, though he admitted that he was more affected by the Eastern mode of thought than the Western. He was also intrigued by the philosophies of different faiths, including Christianity, Hinduism,

Buddhism, Taoism and Islam.15 This unique and universal mode of Me and thought make it possible to analyze his works from a number of perspectives. Those who might be interested in lookïng at his works from

i4C. Nijland, Mï7c3uf'iZ Nu'aymak Promotor of the Arczbic Literary Revival (Belgium: Nederlands Historisch-Archaeologisch Instihiut Te Istanbul, 1975), 28. Nu'aymah's bibliography includes one volume of poems, four volumes of short stories, one biography, a three-volume autobiography, three plays, two of which are simple dialogues between two persons, one volume of aphorism, four novels, ten volumes of essays, one travelogue, one volume of press interviews, and what may be called a book of prayers, ccwpkted on 4 August 1972, a total of thirty volumes of some six thousand pages. Whafiq Shays Falsafat Mïkh,ü5?Nu'aymah, 313. Although there is some evidence of Western influence on him, however, on one occasion Nu'aymah stated that his poems (shi'r) had never been influenced by American, 6 a the Hindu angle, for instance, would easily be able to find passages showing his affmity with Hindu teachings. l6 Furthermore, IsIamic

mystical concepts can also be observed in his works, not to mention

Christian doctrines, for he was after all a Christian.

This study will endeavor to uncover the affmity between

Nu'aymah's mystical themes and Islarnic mysticism, particularly the

notions of 'oneness of being" and 'the transmigration of the soul." In my

opinion, these two themes are the prevailing ones in Nucaymah's thought,

compared to such other ones as love, or asceticism, which are also

plentiful in his works. In addition, although both themes have been

discussed by several authors, their examination has remained general,

bnef and rather sketchy, inviting deeper analysis and further

elaboration. Muhammad Shafiq ShayyG, for example, in his Falsafat

MzXhÛJiZ N~~ayrnuh,~~deals with the notion of sufism in Nu'aymah's

works, but makes only passing reference to the topic. Other works such

British or French models. Nadirah Jamil Sarraj, Shu'arcï' al-RaXtah al- Qalarniyyah- DiraSàrtfi Shi'r al-Mahjar (Cairo: DZr al-Macarif,19 571, 3 14. 1fjNu'aymahYsfamous work The Book of Mirdad, for example, was described by an Indian author, who modified the work into a play, as best expressing the Vedantic, non dualistic thought of Indian philosophy. Of course the author admits that it does not necessarily mean that Nucaymah was indebted to Indian philosophical thought or scriptures. P. Ramanand, Müdad. MiJchail Naimy's Famous Work "The Book of Mïrdad" Made into a Play in Three Acts (Bombay: Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, 19731, xi.

"~eefootnote no. 8 above. as Munu's M3chcï't? N~'aymah,~~Na'iifi's Adab al-Mahjarylg Nijland's

Mîkhaha'r'lNuCaymh, Promotor of the Arabic Litemry ReviuaPO and S. H.

Nadeem's A Cntical Appreciation of Ambic Mystical Poetry21 give only a

very brief analysis of the notion of mysticism in Nu'aymah's writings. A

reasonably comprehensive account of Nu'aymah's mystical thought may,

on the other hand, be found in Ma&asY IkiWzÜ'rZ Nucaymah: al-Ad13 al-

w,2* Dabbagh's Mikhi1 Naimy: SomAspect of His Thought as Revealed

in His Writiqs23 and Nadeem Naimy's Mikhil Naimy: An Introduction.24

Nonetheless, their anaiyses of the themes under discussion here are not very deep and none of them specifically link any of his concepts to

Islamic mysticism.

Nu'aymah's attachment to Islamic mysticism, like that of other

rnahjar writers, was not as close as it was to cther forms of mysticism such as Hindu or other eastern religions. This phenornenon does not indicate that they were not interested in Islamic mysticism or that they

'"alid Me,MWuï'71 Nucaymah (Cairo: Al-Hay'ah al-Misriyyah al- 'Ammah li al-Kuttab, 1992).

lgsee footnote no. 4 above. 20See footnote no. 14 above. 21S. H. Nadeem, A Critical Apprecidion of Arabic Mystical Poetry (Lahore: Islamic Book Se~ce,1979).

3~usseinDabbagh, Milchail Naimy: Some Aspects of His Thought as Revealed in His Writings (Durham:University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, 1983).

24 See footnote no. 6 above. intended to ignore it but, as Nu'aymah once told 'Abd a1-mal-Ashtar,

this was because of their limited access to the prhq sources.25

However, they were often exposed to Islamic teachings through their

Muslim friend, Nasib 'Md&, who shared with them the histoy of the

Arabs and Muslirns.26 Additionally, they were also familiar with the ideas

of some of the more famous medieval Islamic mystics such as Ibn 'Arabi,

al-Hallâj and Ibn al-Farid, although largely from secondary sources.

Nucaymah for example, admits that he had never read any of al-Hallaj's

works but did read soniething about him in writings by

others.2~Nonetheless7some scholars regard these very same figures as

controversial, accusing them of being free thinkers rather than dogmatic

Muslirns.28 This may have been part of the attraction to Nu'aymah, who

was himself a free-thinker.

This study will look at the affmity of the mystical element in

Nucayrnah's literary works to Islamic mysticism in general. This means

that in presenting the two themes in chapter two below, they will not be

treated in an exhaustive manner. In analyzing both themes, however.

25 This conversation was held in Beirut, 5 December 1957. 'Abd al-Km al-Ashtar, al-Nathr al-MahjarL. Kutta3 al-Ra3-h al-Qalamiyyah (Cairo: Matbacat Lajnat al-Ta'Ef wa al-Tarjamah wa al-Nashr, 196 l),vol. 1, 84-5.

26 Ibid., 85. This issue was also raised by Nu'aymah during al-Ashtar's visit to Beirut on 5 December 1958.

='gDabbagh, MiWzail Naimy: Some Aspeds, 53; According to al-Ashtar, there are certain Islamic mystics who are mentioned in the works of mahjar Y

certain thinkers will be adduced only as being representative of

particular concepts. Thus, this study's significance lies in the fact that,

not only does it raise an awareness of Islamic mystical themes in modem

Arabic Literature, especially in the oeuvre of Nu'aymah, but also because

it brings muhjar literature, through a discussion of Nu'aymah's works,

into the wider literary discourse.

By employing bo th analytical and comparative approaches, in

Chapter One we wiil proceed by investigating Nu'aymah's life and times.

This will serve to define the background and characteristics of his works,

especially with regard to mystical themes. Chapter Two will be devoted to

a discussion of sufism, examining in particular the notions of 'oneness of

being and 'transmigration of soul." The last chapter wiU restrict itself to

examining Nu'aymah's literary works and their &ni@ to the notions

inherent in the above two themes.

writers although only in passîng figures such as al-Haiiâj, al-Ghazali, Ibn Sina and Ibn al-Fgd; see al-Ashtar, al-Nathr al-Mahjac, 84. Chapter 1

1Mkhall Nu6aymah:An Exceptional Life

1. Early Life in Biskinta

Mikhâîl Nu'aymah -- sometimes written as MikhaV Nakah or

Mikhail Naimyl -- was born on 17 October 1889 in Biskinta2, a srnall

village of almost two thousand inhabitants located on Sannin (Sannh),

one of the highest, most beautiful, and most famous rnountains in

Lebanon, some twenty kilometers north-east of Beir~t.~At the tirne of his

~MïkhiiTlwas the name of his grandfather, which he was given in keeping with the tradition of preserving ancestors' names. His name is written in the three forms mentioned above. Nu'aymah is what his teachers called him, while Na'imah is how some Egyptians and some other Arabic speakers referred to bim, and how he refers to himself in his autobiography. Naimy on the other hand is how he is best known to Engiish speakers. See h4ikh55.l Nahah, al- MajmU'ah al-Kamilah (Beirüt: Dar al-W li al-Maliiyïn, 1979), 34; Nadeem M. Naimy, MiWunl Naimy: An Introduction (E3eirut: American University of Beirut, 1967), 68. Accordkg to a biographical sketch written by Roger Monroe for the Law alumni of the University of Washington in 1971, he was known to his fellow-students as Mikhail Joseph Nu'ayma (Naimy); see Farhat J. Ziadeh, "Mïkhail Nu'ayma (Ney)," Al-'Arabïyya, Journal of the Arnhmn Associdion of Teachers of Arabic, vol. 15, no. 1 & 2, Spring and Autumn 1982, 5. Facsimiles of his academic diplornas may be found in Mikha5l Nu'aymah, Sab'üx Hwyah 'Umr (2 889-1959) al-Marmlah al-Thüiniyah( 1 919-1 932) (BeirÜt: Dàr Sàdir Li al- Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr/Dâr Bamt Li al-Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr, 19601, between pages 64 and 65.

2 Al-HawSfï believes that Nucayrnahwas born on 22 November 1889. See -ad Ibrahim al-Hawar'i, (ed.), Shu'ar* Mucügrzïn (Cairo: Dk al-Macarif, 1984), 53 1. 3Nairriy, Milchail Naimy: An Introduction, 68. See also Nabah, al- Majmucah, 44, 46. The same point is found in Girdhari L. Tikku (ed.), Islam and Its Culhtral Divergence (Chicago: University Of Illinois Press, 1971),54. A more comprehensive treatment of the environment in the village and its influence on the people Living there is to be found in al-Hawân, Shucar6' Mu'ci$imfUn,518- 529. birth, the district of Mount Lebanon, in which Biskinta was located, was

an autonomous region (mut~amfiyyah)under the direct rule of a

Christian govemor-general (mutasamJ appointed by Istanbul and

approved by the foremost European powers -- France, Britain, Austria,

Pnissia, and Russia. These countries were to supervise the 'règlement

organique' or the new organic statute for Lebanon, instituted on 9 June

1861.4 As a haven for the religious IIlinorities that inhabited it, Mount

Lebanon was at that tirne like an island encircled by two seas: on the one

hand the Mediterranean giving it access to the West and on the other,

the Ottoman Muslim world surrounding it on its three other sides.Vhe

fact that the mountain was strewn with monasteries, temples and holy

shrines made it more a religious refuge than a homeland, more a place of worship than an administrative unit.6 This unique condition may have contributed to the high leveI of religiosiw of most of its inhabitants.

Nu'aymah's family was a case in point.

Nuca~ahwas bom into a poor family. His father Yüsuf was a religious, hard working farmer who only owned a small piece of land. His mother Lawah, an iliiterate housewife who nevertheless had a powerful religious spirit and attitudes, was devoted to the up-b~gingof her children and worked alongside her husband in struggling to make a

4 Philip K. Hitti, Lebanon in Histo~fromthe Earliest Times to the Resent, 3rd ed. (New York: St Martin's Press, 1967),441. SIbid., chapter XXX. living from the less than fertile soil.7 Nucaymah had two elder brothers, 0 Adib and Haykal, one of whom later brought Nu'aymah to the United

States for econornic and educational reason~.~

Among the many immigrants to the Americas who devoted

themselves to the development of Arabic literature, Nucaymah the poet,

novelist, cntic, essayist, and mystic, was unique. He was nch in culture

and values. This may have been the result of his travels,g which impacted

greatly on his thought, Me, character and works.1° Despite his family's

7 The harshness of the soil was one reason for the emigration of some Lebanese to other countries, such as the United States. Hitti, Lebanon, 473. Nucapah's father emigrated to San Francisco in 1890 when Nu'aymah was ten months old, hoping that he could earn more for his family. He gave the responsibility for his family during this absence to his parents, (then in their seventies) and his wife. Nu'aymah still clearly remembered how she wodd often ask him to pray: 'Son, Say with me: 'O Lord, bless my father in America with success. May the solf he touches turn in his hands to gold, O Lord, bring him back safe to us. Lord, keep my brothers.' FuiaIly, after a couple of years, he decided to remto Biskinta to take up farming again, but without making any of the substantial changes to his fdy's fortunes that he had originally set out to achieve, Nu'aymah was by then slmost seven years old. See Naimy, MiWzail Ncncnrny:An Introduction, 7 1.

8 Nu'aymah, Sab 'Ün... al-Marlplah al-Th6niyah ( 1 91 9-1WZ), 35. He also has two other younger brothers, NaJrb and Nasib and a sister, Ghdiyah; Hussein Dabbagh, MiWraiI Naimy: Some Aspects of His Thought As Revealed in His Writïng (Durham: University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, l983),2. See also Naiiny, Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 1 19- 122.

9F0r this reason, Mitii Salim Biil~lscalled Nu'aymah al-Raealah or the great traveler. Mitri Salim BUlus, Fi Adab al-NaWh al-T.haniyah (Beirüt: al- Matba'at Bibh wa Shirkah, 1985),93.

10 This kind of influence is mentioned in almost every account of his life. However, Shafiq Shayya elaborates this notion more systematicaily. He divides the influence on Nu'aymah's thought into two categories: Western and Eastern a (the latter includhg Islam, Hinduism, Taoism, Buddhism). Shafiq ShayyS, a Orthodox Christian affiliation, Nu4aymahhimself did not follow Orthodox practices. He felt deep ties to dinerent worlds, east and west, and ailowed

these to influence his religious outlook.

Nu'aymah's Me may be described as having four stages.lLThe frst

was his life in his native village, Biskllita, before he was sent to Nazareth,

Lebanon, in order to pursue his studies on a scholarship. It was there

that he learned Russian. The second stage was marked by his life in

Russia and bis attachment to Russian culture for almost six years. The

third was the period of his adventure away from home, a twenty-year

stay in the United States, before his return home in 1932, which marked

the fourth and fial stage in his life.12

As a young boy, Nu'aymah was quite different from other children

his own age. He possessed a serious, ambitious and inquiring type of

character. He also showed great attachment to nature. Unlike his peers

he was aloof, quiet and contemplative, so rnuch so that he was

LlNu'aymah himself divided his life into three periods: frst, his Me in Biskinta and Russia; second, his connection with Western society represented by his twenty-year stay in the United States; and fmdy the penod followirig his rehun to his home village. This division is refiected in the division of his autobiography "SabiTXi."into three volumes. See dso Tikku (ed.), Islam and 22s Cultural &*vergence, 53. Here, 1 divide Nu'aymah's Me into four stages based on the development of his study in order to emphasize the progress of his thouet.

12 This break-down may be found in Dabbagh, MiWuziI Naimy, 2-44; a Naimy, MiWzail Naimy: An Introduction, 68-140. a nicknamed in the family 'the silent lady."'3 His sensitivity to the world around him would always inspire his meditations. He said: The sound of

the swaying corn moved me in such a way as even the greatest

orchestras could hardly hope to do to the sou1 of a great lover of

music."L4

Indeed, Nucaymah was proud of his village, Biskinta. For him

Biskinta was the place of his dreams, not only because it was where he

was bom and raised, but mostly because of its peace and friendliness,

which gave him the freedom to cornmunicate with nature. This kirid of

feeling emerged early in his childhood, especially as his father had

emigrated to the United States. As mentioned above, Nucaymah's father

was defeated by the harshness of the latter country and fmally retumed

to his home village to take up farming again. This experience led

Nucaymah to believe that his own village was much better than any

foreign country. Living abroad, in his opinion, was too great a burden to

bear. Furthemore, his admiration for and awareness of his own land

13Ibid.,78 ; Al-Hawail, Shucar6' Muc*-n, 53 1; 'Abd al-Kafïm Al-Ashtar, al-Nutb al-Mahjani Kutta-b al-Ra-bitah al-Qalamiyyah (Cairo : Matbacat Lajnat al- Ta'Iif wa al-Taamah wa al-Nashr, 196 l), 80. 14Dabbagh' Milchail Nizimy, 3. ThurayyS Maasdescribes this attitude as one of Nucaymah's +zïfi characteristics, which remained with him throughout his We. According to the author, Nucaymah's +-fi attitude can be identified in the early penod of his He, as reflected in his autobiography SabCÛn Thurayya Maas, Milcha'iZ Nu'aymak al-A& al-m(Beirüt: D5r Bayrüt, 1964),14-34. He admits the influence of nature on his Me in MikhaX lu'ayrnah, Sab'u~ Hikayah 'Umr (1 889-1959), al-Mar&zlah al-Tsalithuh (1932-1 959) (BeirÜt: Dâr a were strengthened after he came to be familiar with other countries and cultures such as Russia, France, and the United States -- where he had

problems in dealing with cultural, social, political and economic

differences. l5

Living in a family faced with difficult economic conditions,

Nu'aymah preferred spending most of his time at the sakhnt-b, a piece of

land about a square kilometer in area, perched at the foot of Mount

Sannin, about 1,700 meters above sea level, and five kilometers to the

east of Biskinta. There he was accompanied only by the singing birds and

the blowing winds, and could withdraw into his own world rather than

play with other children. Later, this place became his sumrner home,

where he found his own world.16

Growing up in a religious atrnosphere and among religious people,

Nu'aymah was inclined towards a religious mode of thinking. This

inclination became more pronounced at the seminary schoors in

Nazareth and Poltava, which he began attending at a young age.

2. An Initial Passageway to the East

16~aimy,Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 71. See also Sh6q Shayy5, Falsafat Mîkhü'51 Nu'aymah, 18. The establishment of a Russian school in Biskirita in 189917 provided Nu'aymah with his fxst step into another world. This school had been founded by the Russians in order to patronize the Greek

Orthodox Chnstians of the Ottoman empire, just as France had claimed patronage over the Maronites, Britain over the Protestants and Druzes, and Turkey over the MusIirn~.~~The education it offered was free for the

Greek Orthodox of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. l9

For the villagers, especially the people of Biskinta at that tirne, the school was considered modem compared to the traditional kutta-b. The local version of this latter type of school, where Nu'aymah had studied as a child, had oniy two classrooms and was managed by two teachers, one of whom was a half-illiterate. In addition, the kuttab also applied a traditional rnethod of study, which discouraged active student participation. In the presence of their teacher they had to remaui silent and to follow what the teachers said.20 Therefore, it was not surprising

17 The establishment of this school was part of the development of a school system in Beinit dominated by great numbers of ethnic and religious schools, includirig Muslim, Maronite, Greek Catholic, Jewish, Italian, and Protestant schools. The first Russian school was founded in 1887 in Beirut, dong with other Russian schools in various cities of Palestine, Syria and Lebanon. Naim N. Atiyeh, "Schools of Beirut," in Beirut-Crossroads of Cultures (Beirut: Librarie du Liban, 1970),145. that the people of the village, especially the students, received the - establishment of the Russian school enthusiasti~ally.~

They considered the school an ideal one not only because it was a

physical improvement on what they had had before, but also because it

applied modern methods of teaching. As a result, the school was able, in

a relatively short time, to rise to a position of eminence among foreign

schools and frnally to influence education in Beirut and elsewhere in the

region.22 This new school was managed by a graduate of the Russian

Teacher's Institute of Nazareth. This graduate was competent in the fields

of pedagogy, science instruction and school administration, and operated

the school with the assistance of five male and three female teachers.23

The teaching of Arabic, which involved reading selections from Arabic

literature past and present, was a priority at this school, and came

before arithmetic, history, geography, and introductory Russian.

Although Russian was the lowest priority, it later became an important

tool for Nu'aymah enabling him to acquire further knowledge about

2lThis great enthusiasm was expressed by the people of Biskinta through reciting tahlii? and takbz'r, as Nu'aymah explains in his autobiography. See Na'imah, al-Majmu'ah, 76. ZZAtiyeh, Bbt-Crossroaàs, 145. The success of this Russian school may have resdted from a number of factors: first, new teaching and administrative policies which had never ercisted before in traditional schools; second, a program of student subsidies which made available, free of charge, books and study matenals; and Wd, innovations in methods of teaching, as exempEed by the application of the Frobel method in pre-school education, which method the Russian school is credited with havuig introduced in Beirut. 0 23NaFmah, Al-Mnj?nu"ah, 77. e Russian culture and values through its poets and philosophers, who ultimately influenced his thought.24

Besides his dream of becoming a scholar, which was also his

mother's wish, Nu'ayrnah's natural inclination to learn in general and to

leam Arabic in particular motivated him to absorb all the knowledge

offered by his Russian school and Ied him to read further on his own.25

As a result, he was chosen fkom among his peers to pursue higher

studies at the Russian Teacher's Institute in Nazareth in 1902.26 Thus

one may Say that Nu'aymah's Me in his native village and early studies in

Russian schools laid a strong foundation for his intellectual and spirituai

journey.

3. In the Path of Christ

In December 1902, the twelve-year-old Nucayrnah left for Nazareth to begin his training as a teacher and administrator in Greek Orthodox school. He did so under a four-year sponsorship £tom the Russian

Imperid Palestine Sociew (aldam'iyyah al-Imbiram-nyyah a&&ï-siyyahal- Falastim!yah). Dunng his period of study in Nazareth, Nu'aymah devoted himself to the serious reading of a wide variety of works, especially those

--

24 In his autobiography Nu'aymah admitted the influence of Russians like Tolstoy, Nikitin, Lermontov and others. The effect of nineteenth-cenhuy Russian literature is underlined in NajibuUah, 1s lamic Literdure: An Introductory History with Selections (NewYork: Washington Square Press, Inc, 19631, 179.

25 NaUny, MiWzail Naimy: An Introduction, 75.

26 Dabbagh, MiWurd Naimy, 5. dealing with the history of Arabic literature from pre-Islamic times to the

age of decline. He also read on mathematics, geography, the history of Russia and the Russian language. Nu'aymah was introduced to the

writings of a Muslim scholar for the first time through the Alfyah of Ibn

Malik in the commentw of Ibn 'AqjV7

In his fourth year of study at Nazareth, he becarne more familiar

with the Russian language and tried to read in Russian before he could

fuily understand it. His attachment to the Great Russian novelist Tolstoy, whom Nu'aymah acknowledged as a major influence on his thought,

dates from this period. Nucaymah also read and admired the works of other Russian thinkers. He once said, "The more rny knowledge of the Russian Ianguage increased, the greater becarne my enthusiasm to read

in it- Whiie still in Nazareth, 1 read some of the novels of Jules Verne

translated into Russian. I also read some stories of Chekhov and Tolstoy,

and read through DostoyevsQ's Crime and Punishment in spite of the

fact that 1 did not understand even half of what I read."*S Nazareth represented an important stage for Nu'aymah, shaping his religiosity as a Christian in addition to serving as a bridge to Russian literature.29 Living where Christ had been bom and had lived, taught and suffered, Nu'aymah confirmed the Christian element in his personality;

" NaÜny, MiFchail Naimy: An Introduction, 76-77.

29Accordùig to Bülus, Nucaymah'sXe in Nazareth raises Mopoints: frrst Nu'aymah's stronger religiosity, and second, his persistent search for 0 knowledge, despite the difficulties he faced. Bülus, Fi Adab al-Nah@ah, 98. a although he was later influenced by other philosophies and attitudes to Me, it remained the cornerstone of his character and philo~ophy.3~The character of Christ and the ideals he stood for and preached took hold of Nu'aymah more and more as he read the Bible and participated in the excursions arranged by the Institute at Nazareth to the biblical sites of Palestine. Wherever he found hirnself, the images of the Master were

transformed for young Nu'aymah into living images that seemed to cany

hirn a~ay.~'Nevertheless, his point of view towards his own religion may

be considered moderate because his devoutness did not seem to arouse

in him the feeling that Christianity alone was nght and that other beliefs

were wrong.32 In this period, Nu'aymah's reiigiosiw was that of an Orthodox Christian. The religiosity he had brought from his home village was sharpened not only through the teachings of Christ learned in the classroom but also frorn his own readings.

4. Poltava, the Gate to the New World

~-- 3O Dabbagh, MMLNaimy, 7.

31 N*y, Milchail Naimy: An Introduction, 8 1. There are some most important places that Nu'aymah had ever visited Le., Mount w, Lake Tabariyyah, and the Jordan river. See Bülus, jKAdab al-Nah&zh, 7.

32 Dabbagh, Milchail Nairny, 9. This kind of attitude was demonstrated in. his views on paradise and heil. For Nu'aymah, paradise is not the monopoly of Christians but a place where ail goo? people desewed to live. Heil is, by the same token, the ultimate destination for evildoers, whatever the* religion. As a yourig boy from a Greek Orthodox Christian family and trained in seminary school for a couple of years, this mode of thinking is a bit surprising. His deep reflection and contemplative attitude gave greater force to this view. However, it is probably premature to say that this was the fîrst seed of his 'unity of m religions" view, which was one of his modes of thought. a When his four period of study in Nazareth ended in 1906, Nu'ayrnah was selected for a second time to continue his education, this

time at Poltava, through a scholarship offered once again by the Irnperiai

Russian Palestine Society.33 From "holy Lebanon" to YholyPalestine," he

now found hirnself in 'holy Russia," where he faced a new life experience.

His academic achievements were obviously the main reason behind his

winning this opportuniS. Nu'aymah thus began his studies at the

Theological Seminary in Poltava, Uhaine. The semulary was in real.i?yno

more than a secondary school with a six-year program: the first four

years were devoted to secular studies and some theology, the last two

years entirely to priestly ~tudies.~~In addition to his strong intention to

accomplish his mother's dream that he should bring honor to the farnily,

the spirit of competition and thirst for personal distinction among his

fellow students, as well as his natural inclination towards learning,

motivated him to work harder.35

After Nazareth, which had shaped his Christian faith, Poltava was

a place where Nu'aymah discovered new dimensions as Christian. His

readings in certain Russian poets and novelists (such as Lermontov and

JJNaimy, Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 84-5. The Imperid Russian Palestine Society provided scholarships to Palestinians in the hope of establishing for the Greek Orthodox in the !.:-Aworld an educational system similar to that in Russia. This society also succeeded in founding some schools which spread out aU over Syria and Lebanon.

35 Nucapah's addiction to reading tended to endanger his eyesight. Naimy, Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 88. Tolstoy), as well as his meditation and refiection about the worid in which he lived, made him critical of everything. Nature, people's

attitudes, even religion became the objects of his thought. In terrns of

religion, for instance, he questioned his entire understanding of

Christian doctrine as weU as what he himself practiced as a Christian.

He said, True Christianity is not fulfiiied by standing in the church for two or three hours on Sundays, Saturdays and Holidays, but by applying the teachings of the Bible and its injun~tions."~~Furthermore, he said,

"After my retum from Russia, 1 began to feel that the garment which the

Church had wanted me to Wear was too srnall, and that parts of it were being tom all the tirne?' This anti-clerkal mode of thinking betrays the influence of the Russian novelist Tolstoy, who separated Christ from the

Church. For Tolstoy, the Church, corrupt as it was, as every world- infected institution is bound to become, cannot be the body of Chnst.

Nor for that reason can Chnst, the only way to salvation, be institutionalized. Salvation, without which iife remains empty and frightfully meanîngless, is fully independent, outside both the church and al1 worldly institutions. Consequently, to be really Christian is to be

"Dabbagh, Mikhnil Naimy, 11. Nikitin inspired Nu'aymah to keep a diary, which at first was iritended to give him the opportunity to express his thoughts and feelings and to exercise his literary fluency. As a result, he wrote about 750 pages in fourteen months, and this became one of the most detailcd and beautiful records of his ideas, passion, literary greatness, spiritual beauty, and human perfection. Tt documented the books he read, the things he achieved, and the impact on him of the environment in which he lived. Wbid., 19. institution-free, as simple, pure, and natural as Christ.38 Nu'aymah found a new understanding of Christ, whom he conceived apart from the

Church and independent of it. According to Nu'aymah, Christ is the

Savior not because he can bestow salvation on others but because his iife, character and teachings are a proof and guarantee that the only way to human salvation is to follow in his foot~teps.~~Not surprisingly,

Nucaymah took a new turn in his Christianity in Russia, where his reiigious journey found its fmishing touch? One might argue however that he was not simply a young man who came to a new place without any guiding principles. Indeed, he had brought with him a nurnber of such principles, many of which he had drawn from his family, his people and the lands he had Lived in previously.

Besides contributhg to Nu'aymah's religious mode of thinking,

Poltava offered him some new experiences which shaped his literary art.

Nu'aymah's fiirst attendance at a theatre, a ballet and other art performances inspired hïm to mite poetry, short stories, and plays. In his fourth year of study at Poltava, he even tried to compose a poem in

Russian, entitled "The Frozen River," inspired by the frozen face of the small river Sola in the Ukrainan winter. This poem was published in his

3aNadeem Naimy, The Lebanese Prophets of Nau York (Beirut: Amencan University of Beirut, 1985),63.

39 Ibid. NNaimy, MiIchal Naimy: An Introduction, 88. school's magazine and later became popular in Arabic under the tittle "al-

NQhr al-Mutajammid."

Nu'aymah had been especially drawn to the works of Lermontov;

these had inspired him to write poetry. The latter influenced Nu'aymah's

views on love, humanity and ~ivilization.~1It was nevertheless in Tolstoy

that he found the supreme confirmation of his ideas. Nu'aymah even

considered him as his teacher, second only to Christ in terms of

influence. He wrote in his autobiography, "Pardon me, Lev Nikolayevich. 1

am indebted to you for many ideas that Lit what was obscure in my

spiritual world. In many of your later publications that I read last year

[19081,1 fell upon a light that would guide me in evev step 1 took. Yes,

for this respect, and without your knowing it, you have become my guide

and teacher. "42

For a man like Nu'aymah, coming from a poverty-stricken,

backward, even medieval, existence in a land suffering from the 'steriüw

of five centuries of Ottoman isolation, Russia proved a whole world of

new experiences, exceedingly rich and manifold. This is not to Say that

the Russia of that time was especiaily advanced, but only that it was a

huge melting pot in which various ideas, trends and activities, whether

"Qabbagh, Milchail Naimy, 10; Naimy, .Milchail Nairny: An Introctuction, 87. For the influence of the Russian poet Lermontov, see ibid., 90-3. 42Ibid., 93.WaGd Munir also stresses the influence of this Russian poet in his INkhZZ Nz~'aymah(Cairo: al-Hay'ah al-Misriyyah alcAmmah ii ai-Kuttab, a l992), 199. His genuine conception of fiterature i.e., that it should serve as a social, politicaï, economic, literaq or religious in nature circulated a arnong the intelligentsia, who were detennined to shape Russia's

Nucapah's interest in Arabic literature did not cease with his new-

found enjoyment of Russian literature. Instead, he became more aware of

Arabic fiterature's development, and he even suggested ways to reverse

the stagnancy of Arabic literature at a üme when Jurji Zayd& and

ManfalÜfl were the prominent writers in the Arab world.44 Nu'aymah

kept in touch with the development of Arabic literature through Arabic

papers and magazines such as al-Hila7.45

Nucapah's rebellion against the literaxy conventions of the Arab

world had, in fact, grown in Russia through his deep attachment to

Russian literature and through his comparisons between Russian and

Arabic literature. However, these comparisons always concluded that

literature in its tnie sense was lacking in the Arab world. Nothing being

produced there could be considered in any sense independent. His great

concem was clearly reflected in his statement, "1 could not help

comparing our literature and the Russian. God! How great is the abyss

separating us from the West. How thick is the darkness in which we live,

realistic picture of human life, deeply iduenced Nu'aymah. This concept was basic to the emergence of "a realist school" of literature.

43 Naimy, Milchail Naimy: An Introduction, 87. 44Dabbagh, Milchctil Naimy, 12.

45 Naimy, Mikhad Naimy: An Introduction, 100. and how strongly attached to the crust of life are we to the exclusion of m its very heart!,..How exceedingly poor you are, my country!"46 This

keenness to contribute to the development of literature in his country

stimulated him to write a play in Arabic based on daily Lebanese life, one

he would not finish until 19 16. It was entitled Fathers and Sons (al-AM

wa al-B~nt(in).~~At this point, NuCaymah's dream to revive Arabic

literature found its impetus. Therefore, one might Say that Nucaymah's

critical attitude towards his literary and spiritual heritage began to take

shape in this period.

In 19 11 Nucaymah concluded his studies in Poltava and left that

summer to return to his home village, bringing with him a desire to

foment revolution in his country's literature and religiosiv.

5. The Dream is Realized In the year of his return frorn Russia, and after a short stay in his

home village of Biskinta, he went to the United States with his brother

Adlb following his rejection by the law faculty of Sorbonne in Pari~.~8He

wanted to study law because he felt that of the three important aspects

of his life -- Le., spiritual, literary and social -- the third had not yet been

realized. Nucaymah perceived that his training at the seminaries in

Biskinta, Nazareth and Poltava had given him a foundation upon which a to build his spiritual project. His dream to reform Arabic literature had originated while he studied in Russia; nevertheless, he realized that he

lacked the means to contribute to the building of a good society, one

where justice would be applied. By studying law he felt that he could

acquire the means to do SO.~~

Nu'apah lived with his brother and his sister-in-law in Walla

Walla, Washington, a small town on the American west coasLS0 Here he started to learn English to prepare himself for university. His strong

desire to learn helped him to overcome any embmassment he might

have felt at attending a primary school in order to perfect his English. 5i

After eight months, his English was considered good enough to permit

him to study at the University of Seattle, Washington. In the autumn of

1912, Nu'aymah entered the university and later majored in law and the

arts, both of which he was rnost interested in.52

His studies in the United States introduced him to the treasures of

Anglo-Saxon fiterature. He had no difEculty in fiding his way through

this new body of writing, having already mastered Russian iiterature.53

48Dab bagh, Mikhail Naimy, 2 0. 49Nhy, MiIchQil Naimy: An Introduction, 107.

"Ibid., 19; Dabbagh, Milchail Naimy, 2 1. His previous ambition to study law in France was, thus hally, realized. 5'~u'aymah, SabC

criticism, headed by Belinsky, to its Engiish counterpart, represented by

Matthew Arnold, Hazlitt, Shelley and Coleridge; from Lermontov and the

Russian Romantic poets, to Keats and the rest of the British

Romanticists; from Pushkin, the Shakespeare of the Russian language,

to Shakespeare himself; from Dostoyevsky, Chekhov, Gogol and Gorlq,

to the perhaps lesser but equally attractive Hardy, Austen, Carlyle and

Dickens.S4 This eagerness to learn more about other literatures

encouraged him to read voraciously.

Furthermore, the more he read and learned about other

iiteratures the more he becarne vividiy aware of the scandalous gap which separated the Russian and English world of letters from his native tradition. Nucaymah believed that he was equipped to bridge this gap through his learning. However, he realized there was no medium that he could use to express hirn~elf.~~Fortunately, his eagerness and enthusiasm for Arabic literature was evenrudy fulfilled when in April

19 13 he unexpectedly received a copy of al-Fimu-n (The Arts), an Arabic

üterary penodical published in New York by Nasib 'Afidah, Nu'aymah's friend and former classrnate at the Teacher's Institute of Nazareth.56

SqIbid., 1 1 1.

55 Ibid. 56 Nu'aymah, Sab 'zin... al-Marmlah al-Tha-niyah ( 2 91 9-19321, 28. This periodical was part of a new trend in Arabic literature because a it revealed a new stream of literature different from its predecessor,

which relied too much on ornamental style and linguistic jugglex-y? The

contributors to this periodical - among them JubrSn KhaIil JuOrM,

Amin al-EZ&in? and Nasib 'Afidah58 -- expressed themselves as Arabs,

but in a manner that was more appropriate to the literary spirit of the

modern world in which they lived. Nu'aymah was impressed by this first

issue of al-Funùn because he felt that the writers shared his conception

of Arabic literature. He was optunistic that by means of this periodical,

Arabic literature would enter a new era in which it would function as a

vision of life in its underlying essence, cosmic oneness and indivÉsible

unity.59 Nu'ayrnah tried to give expression to this dream in his frst

article for al-Fumïn entitled 'Fa& al-Amal bard Lay1 al-Ya's" (The Dawn of

Hope after the Darkness of De~pairj,~Oin which he expressed his

rebellion against traditional Arabic literature. In his view, the latter was

based only on omamentation, traditionalism, hypocrisy and triviality - in

SDabbagh, Mihi1 Naimy, 21.

3 In that edition, Jubr5n wrote a poem entitled U'AYyuha al-Layl"; Nasib 'Aridah, whose nickname was "AIif" contributed one poem "Amarii,"and Anun al-mani presented his work "Bulbul al-H-~j-~wa al-Mawt." Nucayrnah, Sab 'Ûn... al-Marhlah al-Thâniyah ( 1 9 1 9-1 9321, 29.

59Mounah A. Khouri, Studies in Contemporary Arabic Poetq and Cn'titisrn (Catifornia: Jahan Book, l98?),44. Nucaymah,Sab 'Ün... al-Mar@dahaI-Mniyah ( 1 91 9-1932), 30. short, it was a 'mummified literature."6' This sharp attack on the 0 existing literq steritity in the Arab world and a careful outline of the

basic characteristics of the new one -- the living literature expected of the

new generation -- was warmly received by Arab emigrants in the United

States, and it was predicted that it would influence the future

development of Arabic literature? As a result, he was asked by the

editor of this periodical to contribute more ideas. As his hopes to revive

Arabic literature were raised, Nu'aymah produced works which breathed

a new and revolutionary spirit into Arabic literature -- literary criticism,

short stories, poems, a play and a novel. After its ninth issue in 1913,

fuiancial problems forced al-FumCn to cease p~blication.~~His works

continued however to be published in another serni-weekly penodical, al-

Sa'ih, established in New York in 19 12 by another old fnend by the name

of 'Abd &-Mas& Haddad.64

After three years of absence, al-fimin reappeared in 1916 with

more revolutionary contributions from enthusiastic emigrants like

Rashid AyyÜb, IliyC Abu Madi, Amin Mushriq, William Katsffis and 'Abd

ai-Masih Haddiid. Nucaymah distinguished himself among the

contributors to this revived periodical. His role in its success was more

"LDabbagh, MiWzail Naimg, 22. See also Salma Wadra Jayyusi, Trends and Movements in Modem Arabic Poetry, vol. 1 (Leiden: E. J. Brill, l977),108. 6'~ucayrnah,Sabcün ... al-Marwlah al-Tiuïniyah(1 91 9-1 9321, 32. 63 Dabbagh, Milchail Naimy, 22.

64 Naimy, Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 1 14. important than before, as he was not only a creative writer but also a a critic who examined and sifted through the current literatures,

discarding, rejecting and even satirizing what he deemed traditional,

superficial and -cially deficient, and laying down the literary

principles which he believed the new movement ought to foll0w.6~ His

contributions were numerous: the story "The Festivai of Death"

(Mahrajan al-Mawt), the poems 'the Frozen RiveP(al-Nahr al-Mutajammid),

"Cornraden (Akhi), 'Who are You, My Self?"(Man Anti Y6 Nafçl), the play

'Fathers and Sons" (Al-Ab3 wa aZ-BanÜin)Jthe novel "Mernoirs of a

Vagrant Soul" (Mudhakkarüt al-Arqash., and the two critical essays,

"Arabic Dramayal-Riwayah al-Tu~nthr7iyyah al-'Ambiyyah) and The

In October 1916, Nu'aymah moved to New York from Seattle after

graduating from university in order to pursue more active involvement in

this periodi~al.~~After the appearance of producing the twelfth issue of

its second volume in May 19 17, al-Funzin suspended publication for two

months before launching its third year in August 1917. In November of

that same year, after bringing out the fourth issue, the periodical again

osIbid., 115.A.n account of Nu'ayrnah's literary career as a critic may be found in Jean Gibran and Kahlll. Gibran, Kahlil Gibran- His Life and World (New York: InterLink Books, 1991),337. 66Naimy, Mikhail Nairny: An Introduction, 1 15-1 16.

67 The year 19 16 marked his first meeting with Kablil Gibran at the office of al-Funün jean Gibran and Kahlil Gibran, Kahlil Gibran. His Lïfè and World, 338. had to close down, only to resume publication in April 1918 when

0 NuCayahwas appointed as director and assistant editor?

However, only two issues were produced before he was calied up by

the United States Amy for overseas military setvice in France in 25 May

1918, when the United States declared war on Gerrr~any.~~Tt may seem

strange that a person like Nu'aymah should have let himself become

involved in war. But he regarded himself as having been guided by The

Unseen Hand to do so. This sense of being directed by a greater power

always arose whenever he met with unpredictable expenences. He

beiieved that Our own will plays but a srnall role in shaping our iives.

There is a force other than our own that shapes Our de~tiny.~OThis

attitude should not of course be seen as being inconsistent with his

cornmitment to harmony with nature and with people. Nevertheless,

NuCaymah'shomiQing experience in violent battle left deep impressions

on him which lasted aU his life and strengthened his already formulated

conviction concerning the futility of modern society and civilizattion.71

When the war ended, Nu'aymah was selected to join other

promising and educated soldiers to follow course at Rennes University.

68Nairny, Miichail Naimy: An Introduction, 1 1 7. 6QIbid.,117. There is no information on the reason behùld Nu'aymah's decision. AI-Funün survived for two months before dlsappearing in August 1918. 7oDabbagh, MiWiail Naimy, 23.This kind of power is iden-ed by Nu'aymah as the Essence, or God, Whose power comprehends everythirig. More a comprehensive discussion will be presented in chapter three. a He attended lectures in French on the history of French literature and the history of France. Through these two subjects, dong with other

courses in French art and the le@ and constitutional history of France,

his literary horizons and mastery of foreign languages were further

expanded.72 When this short period of study in France ended, he

returned to Walla Walla, to live with his two brothers, AdTb and Haykal.

Due to his studies in France, Nu'aymah found himself more than

ever concerned about the development of Arabic literature. It is

noteworthy that with every study of a new foreign literature, he compared

its development with his own and sought ways to improve it. After

receiving a letter from his coiieague in New York, Jubrk Khalil Jubrari,

in which the latter asked him to promote Arabic literature by

reestablishing al-Funun in the autumn of 19 19, Nu'aymah decided to

return to New York to do just that.'3 However, for fmancial reasons, this

effort failed, forcing Nucaymah, Jubrk KhaEl Jubr5n and Nasib 'An-

to turn to al-=Fh, a periodical with a circulation liniited to the Arab

community. This periodical became an aiternative organ for expressing

éheir ideas concerning Arabic lite~ature.~'

In New York, Nu'aymah earned money as a salesman for a

Company run by three wealthy Syrian emigrants. His inclination to

71 Nainly, Milchail Naimy: An Introduction, 1 18. 72Dabbagh, Mikhail Naimy, 25. Wbid., 2 6. Also Naimy, Milchail Nairny: An Introduction, 1 1 9. m withdraw into his own world did not cease because of this. He still isolated hirnself in a smaU dark room under the gigantic buildings of

Manhattan for meditation and self-examination.75

After realizing that it was impossible to reestablish al-Funuiiz,

Nu'aymah and his colleagues decided to unite its progressive, literq-

minded circle of authors and launch an avant-garde literary movernent

dedicated to raising Arabic literature from its medieval state to modern

standards. After two consecutive meetings held on April 20 and 2 1 1920,

the group, the so-called 'Pen-Bondw (al-Riibitah al-Qalamiyyah), was

founded, most of the members having corne from a2-Fhu.h Meanwhile,

the periodical al-Sa'* was to take the place of al-FunÜn as the main

organ through which the voice of the Ra3ttah was to be communicated to

the world. Nucaymah was appointed as the secretary of the Ruiitah and

Khalil JubrSn as its president.76 Nu'ayrnah's role in this new group was

conspicuous. This was not only because of his remarkable literary

productivity but also due to his efforts to set down the rules of the Bond.

He wrote its constitution, expounding therein the aims, ideals and main

literary principles to which the Ra3itah should devote itself.77 Nu'aymah

'"Dabbagh, Mikhail Naimy, 26.

76Naimy, Milchail Naimy: An Introduction, 1 19-120. According to the rules agreed on by al1 members, the president was caiied "Chieftain" and the secretary "Councellor." See Jean Gibran and Kahlil Gibran, Kahlil Gibran-Hîs Life and World, 338. a 77Naimy, Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 12 1. was therefore instrumental in making the Raiah the most influential 0 movernent that modem Arabic literature has ever hown. He was,

moreover, the only one of all his colleagues to deal with Literary criticism.

To those Arabs were struck by the new movement in New York, he was

the outstanding figure. In his articles he would convey the literary theory

and the different concepts behind the new movement, just as in his

creative writings they would see theory and concept put into practi~e.~S

Nu'aymah's popularity reached Egypt, Syria and Lebanon, which fmally

gave him access to a wider public for his works.79

In his quest to elaborate further upon the spiritual and

philosophical line of thought that he had been developing since his time

in Russia and which he continued to do during his studies in the United

States, he began to move not only within the sphere of Russian

spiritualists and thinkers like Tolstoy, but also in much broader spheres

79As a result of this popularity, Nucaymah was asked by the Egyptian publisher Muhji al-D-m Rida to submit a collection of his essays as a mode1 for those who wished to follow the new style in Arabic Literature. This book appeared in the summer 1923 in Cairo under the title al-Ghirba7, 'the Sieve." See Naimy, MiWuzil Naimy: An Introduction, 124. Nucaymah's book is in many ways a manifesto of the mahjar movement in Noirth Amerka. The twofold aim of the Pen Bond, namely, the repudlation of traditional excessive verbiage and conventionalism, and the attempt to rise above provincialism by making Literature primarily the expression of universal human thought and feeling, are given clear and vehernent expression in this book. M. M. Badawi, A Cntical Introduction to Modern Arabic Poetry (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, a where Tolstoy was only one of many stars.80Moving on from Tolstoy, for instance, the line of reading which Nucaymah followed swung from

Buddhism, Taoism, Hinduism and other theosophies of the East, to

Plato, St Augustine, Savoranola, Spinoza and innumerable similar

devotees of the universal and divinely established truth in the West. This

is not to mention, of course, his debt to al-Halliij, Ibn 'Arabi and various

other similarly-minded figures in the Musli. Arab heritage whom

Nu'aymah himself admits he only knew as that time at second hand.

in his third year of studies at Washington University, Nu'aymah

was for the first time introduced to the idea of the transmigration of the

sou1 or metempsyciwsis through a fellow student. He was attracted to the

concept and fïïally came to believe it, even to the point of making it the

center of his philosophical tho~ght.~2

Nucaymah'slife in the United States may be considered as the most

important stage in his career because it was the peak of his literary and

goNaimy, Mikhail Naimy: An Introduction, 109. SlIbid., 109. A sirnilar point was aiso adduced in Shafiq Shayyà, Falsafd MiWuï7l Nu'aymah, 318. 82Nuraymah, Sab 'Ün... al-Marmlclh al-wniyah ( 1 919-1 932)) 45. There were some of his works uifluenced by his belief in the notion of metempsychosis such as "Liqa'," aM~a~lDespecially in the episode "Habbdân min al-Qarnlf; his letter to his brother Nasib who lived in France at that tirne in his autobiography "Sab'u-n" under subtide "Mas'u1iyyah anantuhü Tntahatm and in 'a-d al-MaccZd" on subtitie "al-Mault wu al-Hayak" See also Dabbagh, a Mikhail Naimy, 5 1. spiritual joumey. His dream of leading an Arabic literq revival was

eventually achieved through his long effort and sacrifice.

6.Back to the Cradle of Biskinta

After about tweniy years of wandering throughout the West and

more than thirty years of experiencing different countries and different

values, Nucaymah fmally decided in 1932 to retum to his home village

Biskinta to iive in peace and serenity away from the harshness of

civilization he had experienced at first hand abroad. When he arrived in

Biskinta, he found that the village where he had been born and had

spent his childhood was difierent from what it had been before. There

had been some changes to the physical condition of the village and its environment.83 Returning from the developed world, however, he came to

feel closer to his origins and found himself condemning Western civilkation-- in his view a civilization of machines and crises? He spent his time in meditation and self-reconciliation in a hut made from tree branches of trees to the South of Shukhrui, leading a life which was close to his soul's in~lination.~5

SqDabbagh, Mikhail Naimy, 4 1. 8sNucaymah, SabcÜn-.. al-Marmlah al-Tha7ïthah (1 932 1 959-1,48. He tells us that he spent most of his time in this hut. He retumed to his home ody for eating and drinking and for reception of his guests; Also Dabbagh, Mikhail Naimy, 41. After his return to Biskinta, one of the main themes of his talks,

writings and general outiook revolved round the bankruptcy of modem

Western civilization, and its inherently inhuman nature and harshness.86

In the last period of his Me, at the age of forty-three, he took a vow of

chastiw and devoted himself to asceticism and the examples of Buddha,

Lao-Tzu, Christ and al-Halliij.87 He demonstrated his asceticism by

refusing an offer from a politician in his country to selve as a member of

parliament. He explained that, were he to accept membership in

parliament, "1 would lose my self and all that 1 have built over the years.

What 1 have built for my self is too dear for me to sacrifice for the sake of

a seat in parliament or in the cabinet."88 He also repudiated a large sum

of money to take part in a propaganda campaign for a "certain c0untry."8~Nu'ayrnah therefore was not only acknowledged as a famous

Arab writer, but as one whose integrity inspired the highest respect and admiration.

Nucaymah's works began to appear in translation in about this period as well. In 1956 NuCamahhad the chance to revisit Russia when

87Gregory Orfalea and Sharif Elmusa (eds.), Grape Leaves, A Century of Arab Amerfcan Poetry (Salt Lake City: University Of Utah Press, 1988), 56. Nutaymah haci chosen asceticism as his Mestyle. His views on tfue love made him decide not to devote his love to women. Therefore he preferred not to ma- during his iifetime. More elaboration on this notion can be found in his three volumes autobiography 'Sab 'un." Dabbagh, MikhuiL Naimy, 43. he was invited by the Russian Wnters Union to share his ideas.90 As a

result of this visit, he wrote a book entitled Ab'ad min Musku wa min

Wa-@n&n (Far frorn Moscow and Wa~hington).~~He also made several

trips to Arab countries like Syria, Palestine, Iraq, Kuwait and Tunisia,

besides visiting India in 1965.92

In Biskinta, Nu'ayrnah constantly produced books and articles,

including a biography of Jubr5n KhaIil JubrSn which aroused a great deal of controversy in the Arab world owing to the novel way he chose to write it. The Book of Mird6d lconsidered the pinnacle of his thought and originally 'written in English), Mudhakkarcft al-Arqash (translated as

Mernoirs of a Vagrant Soul), Liqa" (which he cailed TU We Meet")-were ali written in Biskinta.93 Nucaymah's idealistic longing to contribute to the weke of other people as well as to his countxy remained alive to the end of his Me. His mystical mode of thinking and life, which first developed during childhood, reached its peak in his last years.

9*Nu'aymah, Sab 'Ün.- . al-Marblah al-Thâniyah (191 9-1 9321, 63;Bülus, Fi Adab al-NaWh,108. Chapter 2 A General View of Sufisni

1. Mysticism and Sufism

In this section we will examine the nature of mysticism vis-à-vis

sufïsm in order to understand why Mikha5.l Nucapah is described by

some scholars as a 'mystic" and by others as a U SU^."^ Our discussion of this subject, moreover, will serve as a useful preliminary to analyzing many of Nu'aymah's literary works which feature mystical as well as sufi elements.

As an abstract concept, the word mysticism has no comprehensive defdtion sufficient to account for its range of meaning. Accordingly, there are many different explanations of what it denotes. However, there is at least rudirnentary agreement that mysticism is at the core or occupies the very inner aspect of all religions.2 Therefore, one rnight Say

IHussein Dabbagh, Mikhail Nimy: Some Aspects of Hïs Thought As Revealed in Hk W*ng (Durham: University of Durham, Centre for Middle Eastern & Islamic Studies, 1983), 50. Accordïng to the author, Nu'aymah's mode of thinking revealed iri his works is mystical-humanitarian. See Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Trends and Movements in Modern Arabic Poetry (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1977), vol. 1, 107. ThurayyS Maas, Mr7chaT Nu'aymah- al-Adib al--

irnplementation. The urge to compare different kinds of mysticism,

borrowing Zaehner's word, is similar to discerning between like and

like.3 However, differences unquestionably exist due to the fact that the

various interpretations of mystical experience and the process of

attaining the ultirnate goal of union with God or a like power are viewed

in the light of heterogeneous theological and philosophical justifcations.4

The term mysticism has been in relatively current use from about

the year 1900 onward~.~The texm itself is onginally borrowed from the

Greek word mustës, meanirig a person who has been admitted to secret

knowledge of the realities of Ne and deathm6The emergence of the term

is unreal, and that reality is eternal, not in the sense of being everlasting, but in the sense of being out of he. A.C. Bouquet, Comparative Religion-.A Short OutLine (London: Cassel, 19611, 288. See also W. R. hge, Mysticisrn in Religion (London: Hutchinson's University Libréuy, n.d.), 25; AJ. Arberry, Su.m An Account of the Mystics of Islam (London: n. p., 1950) , 11. 3R.C. Zaehner, Hindu and Muslim Mysticism (Odord: Oneworld, 1994),2. Louis Dupre, 'Mysticisrn," in The Encycbpedia of Religion, vol. 10, 246. See also Arberry, Su$km, Il. According to Inge, the only point on which the rnystics speak wïth an uncertain or divergent voice refers to the value of the sensible objects, and of our knowledge of the world of time and space, as syrnbols of ultirnate rew. Inge, Mysticism in Religion, 26. See also Steven T.Katz (ed.), Mysticisrn and PhiZosophical Analyszs (New York: Oxfbrd University Press, 19781, 96. SBouquet, Comparative Religion, 288. This tenu also is seen as a p henomenological concept, developed by Western scholars. Katz (ed.), Mysticism and Philosophical Analysis, 75.

6 Bouquet, Comparative Religion, 288. Another explanation of the root of this word is offered by Frager in his introduction to Essential Su.m. He says that the root of the word mysticism is the Greek word myein meaning, "to close 0 the eyes," which is also the root of the word rnystery, James Fadiman and mysticism and its popularity can be traced back to the strong m assumption that there are some aspects of faith, including types of

experiences, spiritual goals, practices, etc., which cari be found in almost

any religion and in the realms that border on religion, such as

philosophy, art, literature and science7

Pringle Pattison viewed the meaning of the term from two

standpoints, Le., philosophical and religious. The first inclines to see

mysticism as the endeavor of the human mind to grasp the divine

essence or the ultimate reality of things, while the second perspective

tends to view it as an effort to enjoy the blessedness of actual

communion with the highest. Here, God is the final object and

experience.8 Another defïnition is also adduced by Zaehner, who says

that mysticism is the realization of a union or a unity with or in (or of)

something that is exceedingly, if not infinitely, greater than the empincal

self? In stating this, Zaehner seems to imply that there is an inherent

hannony embracing all kinds of mysticism. This harmony is the ultimate

objective of all mysticism, i.e., the realization of being united with

Robert Frager fed.), kentia1 Suflsm (San Fransisco: Harper San Fransisco, 1997),1. 7Katz (ed.), Mysticïsm and Philosophical Analysis, 75; Fadiman and Frager (eds.), Essential Sufirn, 2. The author draws an analogy between the relationship of religion to mysticism and that of a tree to its branches: both bring forth fruit, dthough in the first case this Utis the Truth or God. ' Inge, Mystiakrn in Religion, 25. 9R.C. Zaehner, At Sundry Times: An Essay in the Compatison of Religions (London: Faber and Faber, 1958),17 1. a 'something" greater than oneself, by which he means God. For these reasons, it is obvious that the problem of defining mysticism is rooted in

the relativity of the meaning of the word itself'.

Yet there is another aspect to mysticism that must be

acknowledged, and this is the fact that it often ensues from a feeling of

dissatisfaction with the extemal aspects of religion. This leads to an

extension of reLigious practice to the domain of the inner aspect of one's

faith, which means to live totally the meaning of one's belief, not only in

outward aspects but also on the level of psychological and spiritual

experience.l0

The mystical dimension of Islam is commonly designated by the

technical term tasawwuf (Arabic) or sufism." The terrn itself was first

used in a texts dating from the third century of Islam, roughly equivalent

IO Katz (ed.), Mysticisrn and Philosophical Analysis, 96.

11 As far as the mystical dimension of Islam is concemed, the term sufism is mostly cited by several authors to express this kind of meanùig. Martin Lings clearly states that sufIsm is another name for Islamic mysticism. See Martin Lings, The Koranic Origins of Sufism," S@ A Journal of Su.rn, no.18 (summer 1993), 5. The word +Ci-Ritself means an adept of the mysticd path of Islam. See Frederick Mathewson Denny, An Introduction to Islam,2nd ed. (New York: Macmillan Publishg Company, 19941, 220; Peter J. Awn, 'Sufism ," The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 14, 104; Sayyid 'Abd al-Hayy, Muslim Philosophy, vol. 1( Dacca: Nawroze Gtabistan, l964), 109; John Alden Williams (ed.), Islam (New York: George Braziller, 1962), 136. However, Ikbd Ali Shah felt that it was indispensable for him to attach the adjective aIslamic" before the word "sufisrn" in order to make clear the comection of this form of mysticism to Islam. Ikbal Ali Shah, Islamic Su.m (London: The Mayflower a Press, 1933), 14. a to the ninth century C.E.12 It is one of the manifestations of islamic religious life, specificaiiy the heraspect of this life, and represents the

highest stage of spiritual development. This is the case because on

becoming a --fi, men desire to have direct contact with the ultimate

realiw, that is God.13 In order to reach this ultimate goal, ++ÜFs place

particular stress on kashf (unveiled) as the source of knowledge. The

basis of sufism lies in man's aspiration for a direct, personal approach to

God so as to achieve union with Him through love.I4

l2 Julian Baldick, Mystical Islam (New York: New York University Press, 1989),30; Fadiman and Frager (eds.), Essential Sufzsm, 2; Muhammad 1. M. Bahman, "Sufi Mysticism in Islam," The Muslirn World, vol. 2 1, no. 1 (January 1931), 29. Al-Laythï states that the term did not emerge during the period of the prophet Muhammad, but appeared only in the second centuxy AH. See Kasan Maammad Al-Laythl, Al-Teawwuf fi al-islam (Cairo: Diü al-Fikr ai- vadith Li al-Wb' wa al-Nashr, 1965), 8. Al-Qushayri also provides similar information; see 'Abd &-Km ibn Hawazin AZ-Qushayr'i, Al-Rtsa7ah al- Qusha@yyah (Beirüt: Diir al-Kitab al-'Arabi, n.d.), 7-8. Regarding the emergence of the term, Ai-Sarriij claims that it has been known suice pre- Islamic times, quotirig in support of this one tradition of M-ammad Ibn Ishaq Ibn Yasar : There was an occasion in the pre- Islamic period when there was no one who perform @wÜÏ, untd there was a Wwho came fkom a remote area performed it and then left." See Abu Nasr ai-Sârraj al-msi, Al-Lumac Ff al- Ta+nxmmf (Cairo: D5.r al-Kutub &Hadithah bi Misr, 1960), 42-3.

13 This stage is the highest stage that men can reach in their religious life. According to Ali Shah, generaiiy speakùlg there are three stages in this life. The first is the level of afaithwwhere the individual accepts al1 the religious commands unreservedly without applying any rational understanding of the meaning and purpose of that injunction. The second one is the stage of "thought" where the total submission to the religious commandments is followed by a rational attempt at understanding them. Here, religious life seeks a kind of metaphysical fouridation, a lo@cdlyconsistent view of the world wîth God. The third is the highest stage where the religious Me develops the ambition to corne into direct contact with God. This elaboration can be found in Ikbal Ali Shah, Islamic Sufïsm, 76. Junayd al-Baghdad? also gives a similar definition of sufisrn, i.e., as having contact with God without any mediator. Al- QushayYi, Al-Risa7ah, 127; Al-Sarr5,j, Al-Luma', 45. e 14'Abd al-Hayy, Muslim Philosophy, 109. a According to Nasr, sufism encompasses three elements: the nature of God, the nature of man and spiriniai virtue~.~~Sufism provides the

means for men to reaiize union with Divine by seeking within themselves,

by breaking all their ries with the outer world by immersing themselves

in the Divine Nature, which resides at the centre of their heart. By doing

so, men are elevated from the lowly state of asfal sc$En and reinstated in

their primordial perfection of aban taqwim where they find within

themselves all that they had sought outwardly in the quest to become

one with God.16 Sufism is the path which leads from the particular to the

universai, from multiplicity to unity, from form to the Supra-Formai

Essence. 17

The origin of the word ta.+awunrf has been the subject of much

debate. Some Say that the word is derived from the Arabic word e-f,

meaning wool, since the edy gijTs are said to have worn rough woolen

garments as the symbol of their rejection of the world. l8 Another line of

- --- Weyyed Hossein Kasr, Suj? Essays (Albany: State University of New York Press, 19'73), 34. Wbid., 32-33. This explanation recalls Martin Ling's view that sufism is one way to regain the lost state of primordial perfection in which men were in a state of intimacy with God, since they were created in the image of God. See Martin Lings, "The Koranic Origins of Sufism," 5. ITNasr, Sufi Essays, 32 - 18 Peter J. Awn, "Sufism," 104. See also M. Demy, An Introduction to Islam, 220. The explanation of the term's derivation from the word .cT is the one most widely accepted. Compare Titus Burckhardt, An Introduction to Su.m, trans., D.M. Matheson (London: The Aquarian Press, 1990), 15. This term could even stem fkom as far back as the beginnings of Judaism. The Prophet mentioned that Moses was dressed in wool when God spoke to him on Mount Sinai. Lings,The Koranic Ongins of SuGsm,"6. Ab6 Nasr al-SarrSj was speculation has it that the word is derived from saff; meaning "rank,"

a implying that w-js werw originally seen as an elite group among

Muslims. Some Say that it denves from %.ah, meaning bench, alluding

to the people of the bench, or the intimates of the prophet Muhammad

who gathered at the frst mosque in Medina, while others say that it

cornes from safa', purity, thus ernphasizing the moral uprightness

essential to the way of life? Lings has adduced another explanation

of the word's origin: that it is a passive form of the verb sifa meaning 'he

chose him for himself as a fnend."if the subject of this verb is God, then

the passive --fi means 'He was chosen as a friend by GO^."^^ Another

possible origin of the word sufism is the Greek word sophia, meaning

wisdorn.21

Like the term designating it, the phenornenon of sufism is also a

matter of debate,22 with some scholars believing that it is a natural

growth in Islam, in other words that it is derived from Islamic s0urces,2~

also convinced that the term h3d its origin in the clothes worn by the +-fTs rather than in their knowledge or actions or states. Al-Sarrâj, Al-Lumac, 40.

l9 Peter J.Awn, 'Sufism," 104-5.

20 Lings, *The Koranic Origin of Sufism," 6.

21 Bouquet, Comparative Religion, 291. However, this is etymologically doubtful because the Greek letter sigma noxmaiiy becomes sin (s)in Arabic and not sa;d Titus Burckhardt, An Introduction fo Sufisrn, 15. 22Regarding the origin of sufism, Bahman adduces four theories, i.e., the esotenc Islam theory, the Aryan reaction theory, the theory of Neo-platonist origiri and the theory of independent origin. Further explanation cari be found in Bahman, "Sufi Mysticism in Islam," 29-30- 23M. Demy, An Introduction fo Islam, 220; David Waines, An Introduction a to Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge UniversiSr Press, 19951, 138. Waines stated a while others are certain that it had its origin in non-Islamic sources such as Neo-Platonism, Gnosticism, Hinduism, Buddhisrn, Zoroastrianism,

Christian and Jewish rny~ticisrn.~~The vast development in the study of

sufism, especially in the West, may be one reason for this difference in

opinion.25

that while 'he sharïcah is the exoteric or outward dirnensiorit of Islamic faith, sufïsrn or ta+aummf is the esoteric one. This proves, in the eyes of the rnystically-inciined, that sufism is undoubtedly part of Islamic religion. J. N. D- Anderson (ed.), T-he world's Religions (London: The Inter-Varsity Fellowship , 1950),75-

24M. D enny employs the terms 'pre-Islamic" and "extra-lslamic" sources in order to distinguish between dBerent types of non-Islamic sources. M-Denny,An Introduction to Islam, 220. Bouquet states that there is a foreign element which has worked its way into the growth of sufisni which is quite inconsistent with the original doctrine. See A. C. Bouquet, Cornpc~~ve Religion, 290, 292. However, Titus Burckhardt states that the idea of relating the ongin of sufism to non-Islamic elements came from the orientalists who apprehended the contradictions of the position of sufism itself in Islamic tradition. On the one hand it is the spirit or heart of Islam (mal-Islüm or Qalb al-Islüm), while on the other it represents at the same the the outlook which is, in the Islamic world, the most fkee in relation to the mental hmework of that world. Titus Burckhardt, An Introduction to Sufïsrn, 16. The same idea is offered by 'Abd al-Hayy who states that western scholars who favor the idea do so because they found it difficult to harmonize the philosophy of love with the transcendental overlordship of Allah. 'Abd al-Hayy, Muslim Philosophy, 125- 132.

'I This analysis is given by Hossein Nasr who says that as a result of the increased number of Mush and Western scholars who study sufism, three types of writings on sufism in the West can be identified- T3e first includes those which range from the most damaging and prejudiced criticism to some authors who offer sympathetic and often penetrating studies such as L. Massignon, H. Corbin, E. Dermenghem, L. Gardet, C. Rice, F. Meier and P. Filipanni-Ronconi, which border in some cases on actual participation in the world of sufism. He would also include excellent translatio~sby B. de Sacy, R. A. Nicholson and A. J. Arbemy. The second includes the works claiming to be associated with difFerent current wïfi movernents in the West, works which often contain many genuine teachings of the founder but wEch have become intermixed with al1 kirid of extraneous matters, making the sifang of the wheat from the chaff difficuk especially for the beginner. The third is the truly authentic expositions of sufism emanaorig fkom genuine teachings, such as 0 Some scholars who favor the first opinion insist that although there was non-Islamic influence on sufism, the Qur'Gn and the traditions

of the prophet Muhammad (.dith) are its primary so~rces.~~Asthe two

main foundation stones of the Islamic faith, the Qur'Sn and the bdz'th

can be seen as those of sufisrn as well because it is itself a branch of the

Islamic faith, especially concemed with contemplation? Like other non-

+$T believers and the fuqaha', the --fi view the Qur'an and the &&th

as the source and the primary guidance for the implementation of their

religious Me. Nevertheless, the %-fis dfler from them in that the latter

are shcrrfcah-oriented, and depend on an exoteric mode of interpretation

(tafsir),whereas the ~Üfrs, who are admittedly only a minority among

believers, employ esoteric interpretation of the Qur'iin and tend trwards

allegorical and symbolic kinds of interpretation (ta'm7).28 Furthermore, as

those of R. Guenon, M. Lings, J. L. Michon, L. Schaya and especially F. Schuon and T. Burckhardt. Nasr, Sufz Essays, 15. 26M. Denny, An Introduction to Islam, 220; Titus Burckhardt, An Introduction to SufiSm, 17. A similar account is offered by Al-Sarr5.j who bases himself on Q. Ali 'Imr5n: 18. He interprets the phrase 'MC al-'llm Qà'im bi al- Qist as three groups of Muslims Le., ahi al-&dith, fiqahâ' and sqFs AU of them are the heirs of the prophets who preserve the Qur'Sn and the !ydith. Al-SarrZj, Al-Lumac,2 2. 27Seyyed Hossein Nasr (ed.), ïslarnic SpiritualiC/: Foundations (New York: Crossroad, 1987),239. 28M. Denny, An Introduction to Islam, 22 1. According to Frager, it is impossible to ignore the existence of the Qur'Sn and the lpz&ith as the ongin or the source of sufism. For him, in order to reach the stage of maCrifah(gnosis) in which the +-fiarrives at the an ongoing state of attunement with God and with Truth, tarQah (the mysticai path) which refers to the derpractices of sufism and -ah (-th) that pertains the inner meaning of the sufi practices and refers to the direct expex-ience of the presence of God within, there is one stage that preceded them i.e., the stage of (religious iaw) in which the moral the prophet Muhammad is often held up as the prototype of the life,

0 one could Say that the Qur'Sn is a major source for that tradition.

Indeed, one hadith records that when 'A'ishah was once asked about the

prophet's character, she said that his very nature was the Qur'Sn (KÜM

KhuZuquh al-Qur'ciin).

As indicated above, the two labels of 'mystic" and 'siifin are applied

to Nu'aymah by some scholars. Both mysticism and sufism serve as

paths aJiowing human beings to reach the ultimate reality or Truth that

is God. There is a universal concept or cornmon ground that binds the

worlds of mysticism and sufism. Burckhardt nghtly States, therefore,

that the difference between sufism and other kinds of mysticisrn can be

reduced to a question of doctrine.29

2. Some Major SuinThemes:

Two particular themes of Islamic mysticism will be discussed in the

course of this chapter. This of course does not rnean to Say that other

themes are less important, such as love or asceticism or self-evaluation;

and ethical principles of Islam, which are rooted in the Qur'5n and the hadith, are founded. Fadiman and Frager, Essential Sufisrn, 12. In this context Burckhardt gives an example of different interpretation of Q. 17: 14 and Q. 4: 104. When the Qur'àn says that he who accepts God's guidance will be guided himself (Li nafsih) and that he who remains ignorant is so by himself ('ala- nafsih). The exoteric interpretation of this verse is iimited to the idea of the recompense and punishment while the süfi understands the verse in the sense of the prophet's sayings: "He who ~OWShimself (nafsah)knows his Lord." Burckhardt, An Introduction to Su.m, 42, 25. a 'gBurcWiardt, An Introduction to Sujkrn, 24. it only means that two themes Le., oneness of being, and the

transmigration of soul, are the prevaient issues in Nu'aymah's Literary

works, especiaiiy in reference to those works which 1 will discuss in the

next chapter. Moreover, it may also be noted that in the history of Islamic

mysticism, both of the themes are controversial in that each has proven

to be a source of perpetual contention, not only between theologians and

*fis but also among --fis themselves.

2.1. Wahdat al-Wujüd (Oneness of Being)

The doctrine of oneness of being, one of the most contentious

beliefs to come out of the speculative tradition in sufism, began to

emerge towards the end of the ninth and the beginning of the tenth

century C.E.30 This new trend in sufism was developed at a tirne when

translations of Greek and other philosophical works into the Arabic and

Persian languages were being made. Muslim mystics began to interpret

various theological notions and philosophical theories resulting from this

process on the basis of their spiritual experiences.31

30 Margareth Smith, Readingsfiom the Mystics of islam (London: Luzac & Company Ltd, 1950). 5; R. S. Bhatnagar, Dimensions of Classical Su. Thought (Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1984). 51. Until the third century Hijrah, sdsm was more ascetic and devotional in character than speculative and doctrinal. Dhrl al-NÜn al-Misrï is considered to have been the fnst exponent of this süfi doctrine. 'Abd al-Hayy, Muslim Philosophy, 1 1 1; Louis Massignon, 'Ta~wwuf," The Encydopedin of Islam, new edition (Leiden: E. J. BriU, 19981, vol. 10, 683. According to him the development of the doctrine of "existentid monism," began in the 7th (8th) century. a 31 Bhaînagar, Dimensions of Classical, 5 1. a Those who believed in this doctrine maintained that God, the One reality in His solitariness and concealment, desires to share His reality

with His creatures. In doing so, He manifests His beauty to those whom

He created. This Led to the doctrine of divine universaliSr and of an

absolute unity, which maintained that the gloxy of God is to be found in

al1 things, but in varying degrees.32

Additionally, the discussion of the concept of wawtal-w.id May

be viewed as an attempt to answer the cosmogonical hypothesis

concerning the origin of the world and the relationship between the world

and the Creator.33 The --fis who employ the concept of oneness of being

try to explain the reality of the world in relation to God, the Creator. They

consider it to be true that, in addition to this transcendence, which

implies His uniqueness and absoluteness in His Oneness, the reality of

the world and its contents as His creatures indicate that immanence is

another of His attributes.

Wa-t al-wujGï is variously translated as 'Oneness of Being,"

'Unity of E~istence,"3~'Unity of Being,"35 or Transcendent Unity of

32 Smith, Readings, 5. =Mir Valiuddin, 'Reconciliation Between Ibn 'Arabi's Wadat al-Wujüd and the Mujaddid's Wedat al-Shuhüd," Islamic Culture, 25 (1% l), 43.

34 William C. Chittick, , Poetry and Mysticism in Islam The H&itage of &mi, Amui Banani, Richard Hovannisian and Georges Sabagh (eds.), (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1934)' 70. However, Chittick States in the following pages that the problem of understandhg wcz@dat al-wuMd is in the term mjid itself for there is no satisfactory translation for it. the term itself is usualiy ascribed to the influential

Spanish thinker Ibn 'Arabi (560-63811165-1240),and though it is

considered as the defming characteristic of his mystical views, it is,

surprisingly, nowhere to be found in Ibn 'Arabi's works. This is in spite of

the fact that he frequently discusses wujuCl and describes it as

possessing the attribute of oneness or unity, employing such term as

wawah, wa&dcfniyyahand af~adiyyah3~

Nonetheless, there were some sfls prior to Ibn 'Arabi who are said

to have rephrased the shuhndah, 'there is no god but God," which is the

basis of Islamic practices and concepts, to read, 'there is nothing in

wuMd but God" and "there is nothing in the two worlds except my Lord.

The existent things (MW&-&al.) all things except His wufiid are non-

existent (macdu-in).**These formulae express succinctly the concept with

which Ibn 'Arabi is usually credited. It may even be said that our

understanding of the term wa- al-wu.-d owes more to the thought of

35S.S. Khusro Hussaini, 'Shuhud Vs Wujüd: a Study of Gisudirais," Islamic Culture, vol. 59, 110.4 (October 1985),323. 36Seyyed Hossein Nasr, "Existence (wuNd)and Quiddity (rnfiyyah) in Isldc Philosophy," International Philosophical Quarterly, vol. 29, no.4, issue no. 116 (Decernber 1989), 420.

37 Chittick, Poetry and Mysticisrn, 72; William. C. Chittick, 'Ibn al-'Arabi and Mter in the Arabic and Persian Lands and Beyond," section in 'Tasawwuf," in The Encyclopaedia of Islam, new edit?:on (Leiden: Brill, 1998), vol.10, 317. Here, Chittick stresses the point that it is misleading to Say without qualification that Ibn 'Arabi believed in any specXc doctrine. 38Ibid., 71. The fist quotation is attributed to Ibn predecessor Mahif Karkhi (d. 200/815-816), and the second to Abu 'Abbas Qassab. Other süfis are also mentioned such as Khwiija 'Abdallah An- (d.481/ 1089) and 0 al-GhazàIi (d. 505/ 11 11). his disciples than to Ibn 'Arabi himself.39 This does not of course take

O anything away from the importance of the concept in Islamic mysticism.

The su-js of the third century Hijrah believed that the idea of

waMat al-wuNd was as old as Islam itself, because the concept has been

indicated by God in the Qur'ân: 'And We are nearer to him than his

jugula vein (Q. 50: 16)."40 The later yijEs also acknowledged the concept

as a fundamental spiritual tnith traceable not only in the Qurk but

also in the prophetic tradition. Thus even though he systematized the

concept,41 we wili refer to wawt al-mjui not so much as Ibn Wabi's

achievement, but as a --ficoncept per se.

2.l.a. AlqAllaj (A.H. 244-309/857-922)

Al-Husayn Ibn Mansür al-Hallàj was one of the most controversial

figures in Islamic mysticisrn. His utterance "am-al-Naqq," '1 am the

Truth," and other expressions of 'union with Godn found in his writings

and preaching led him to be brut* executed in 922.42Although he has

been descnbed as a her-tic, his position in Islamic mystical poetry is

important, since he symbolizes for many mysticai union and suffenng in

-

39 Chittick, Poe- and Mysticism, 73. Among these disciples were Sadr al-D-m Qunawi, SaFd al-D'iri Farghanl, Ibn Sawdikïn, 'Afif ai-D-m Tilimsiïni, Awhad al-D-in Bdyanl, Sacdal-D-in HammÜy5 and 'Aiiz al-D-rn Nasafi.

40 Nadeem, S.H, A Critical Appreciatiorz of 21rabic Mystical Poetry (Lahore: Islamic Book Service, 1979),xzaü.

42 A.J. Arbeq (translater), Muslim Saints and Mystics: Episodes From the Tadlchirat al-'Awliya" "Mernorial of the Saints" by Fafid al-D-rn 'A* (London: m Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1966),264; 'Abd al-uayy, Muslim Phîlosophy, 112. love.43 Later on, in the folk and high poetty of Persianate countries, he

was considered the highest representative of wamt al-wujùd, ,'oneness

of being," although this perception was countered by Massignon in his

outstanding work The Passion of al-Hallaj, Mystic and Martyr of Islam,"

where he indicates that al-Hallâj's ideas are in fact closer to waMat al-

shufid7 'unie of ~itness."~~

The presentation of his doctrine was based on terminology fured by

his forerunners. Nearly all his vocabulary, his principal allegories and

even his mles of mystical life can be traced back to the earlier +Ü$?s. His

originality consists in the superior cohesion of the definitions and of the

firmness of intention which led him to the public affirmation, at the cost

of his Me, of a doctrine which his masters dared not render accessible to

According to al-Hallàj, three phases of asceticism must be

undergone by a szijfiin order to achieve union with God ('ayn al-jam). The

first is asceticism of the senses, which irnplies that the su!has to put

aside all worldly desires. In this regard he employs such tems as

taMh3, taqn3 and tafn-d. The second phase is the asceticism of the heart

43Annemarie Schimmel, 'al-Hallaj," The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 6, 173. 44Sc&~ael, "al-Hallaj," 174; Historians have diltrerent perceptions of tbis man. Most early authors represent hirn as a wily conjurer whereas the later sqi3 writers regarded hirn as a saint and martyr who defended al-Hailàj from suffering because he disclosed the great secret, i.e., the union between the sou1 and God. See 'Abd al-Hayy, Muslim Philosophy, 112. a 45Nadeem, A CrZtiml Appreciation, 57. which includes a passive purification. There are a number of states that a one should go through here as well, i.e., idtirai-, bal& istihlak al-

&iyyah, khal$, fa~-''an awsüf al-bashariyyah The last is the

asceticism of the spirit in which the -Jf5 renounces his own self in the

union with

Like the other +Fs who maintained the transcendence of God

alongside His immanence, A-HallZj also insisted that the Essence of God

cannot be perceived or known to human beings. In his important work

Kitab al-Tawcrsin he devotes one chapter (Tasin al-Tanzih) to the

transcendence of God. He states:

The first seeker opens the door of knowledge and does not see. The second opens the door of purity and does not see. The ehird opens the door of comprehension and does not see. The fourth opens the door of meaning and does not see. None saw Aiiah in Kis essence nor in his volition, nor in speech nor in His He-ness.47

The passage above seems to attest that God in His Essence is

hidden and certainly not manifest to human perception. The He-ness

that emphasizes the distance between God and human beings indicates

the transcendence of His Essence. Al-HnU@ refers to this idea in a later

passage of his TcCsin al-Tarn% where he says that, situated on the plane

of divinity (minedrah al-uluEyyah). God remains transcendent over al1

46 Ibid., 57-8. 47Ibn Mansür al-Hdaj, "Kitab al-TawGs--, " in Turath al-HallaJ= Akhbàiuh, 0-wcïnuh, Tcnuenuh, 'Abd al-Laqf al-Rawi and 'Abd al-Uàh al- Nabhanl (ed.) (Damascus: De al-Majd li ai-nba'ah wa al-Nashr wa al- Khadamiit al-Tiba'iyyah, 1996), 186. The translation is taken from Aisha Abd dependent things. He is free from ali imperfections and causes, and what

is more, His Oneness does not refer to arithmetical oneness because by

connecting uone" with Him means limiting Hirn in number.48

However, in order to explain the existence of the universe

(ùicluding human beings), al-HaliZj tries to adduce the idea of the 'self-

manifestation of God," or tajallc in order to relate human existence with

the existence of God. He employs the term tuXSUt in order to account for

the human aspects of God. In this state, God descends from His Essence

to His manifestation. Regarding this notion he states:

Glory to Him Who created His humanity as the secret of the light of His radiant Divinity. Then He appeared for His creation in the form of one who eats and drinks. Until His creatures saw Him with a glance which goes from one eye-brow to another.49

In these passages, al-Hallaj implies that God manifests Himself in

the form of His creatures, as one divine tradition signifies, in order to be

known. Furthexmore, in his view, God's manifestation is not limited to

one hdof manifestation, whether a perscjn or a place or any other part

of the universe. This is because God cannot be related to the notion of

place or the or any description whatsoever. In the words of other +-u-fis

Ar-Rahman at-Tujumana, The Tawusin of Mansur al-Hallaj (Berkeley, London: Diwan Press, 1974),60.

49 al-Hallâj, DZiuc5n al-Hallcïj, 73. The translation is quoted from Nadeem, 0 A Critical Apprecidrdron,66. such as Ibn 'Arabi, there is no mhiyyah in the Essence of Gad? Al-

Hailaj insinuates this idea in one of his verses:

1 saw my Lord with the eye of rny heart And 1 asked Him,"Who art Thou?," He replied," Thee." It is tme because "where" is lost in Thee and %hereWdoes not exist in relation to Thee. Time cari not imagine Thee so that it may be able to teach imagination where Thou art. It is Thou Who embraces ail "where" including 'non-where". So, where cari you be?51

His idea of the immanent God cornes across more clearly in these

passages. The fast passage especiaüy can be best understood by referring

=Ibn 'Arabi states that this Essence has no quiddity (màhiyyah). It cannot be defined in the way other beings can: Since the being of the Red permeates the cosmos, no one denies Him. Mistakes &se from seeking to know His quiddity, and this leads to the disagreements concerning Him which have becorne manifest in the cosmos. See Ibn 'Arabi, al-Fu/rchat ai-Makkiyyah, 'Abd al-Qadir (ed.) (Cairo: Di3 al- Kutub al-'Arabiyyah al-Kubra, l938), vol. III, chap. 341, 352-3. The translation is taken fFom Chittick, Ibn 'Arabi's Metuphysics of Imagination, 8 1. 51Al-Hallgj, DnuÜn al+lallàj, in indh al-HallaJ, al-Rawi and al-Nabhani (eds.) . The translation is quoted from Nadeem, A Critical Apprecidion, 67. to certain verses of the Qur'Sn such as Q. 2: 115;52 Q. 57: 4;53 and 58:

Al-Hallaj's controversial words al-Haqq" may be understood

as the expression of a *fi who believed in the 'oneness of being" in the

sense that he perceived the relationship between God, mankind and the universe as one perpetual chah However, the correlation does not admit the penetrabiliw of the essence of God, since He in His very Essence

remains unique and transcendent. Hence, His utterance, which is

usudiy interpreted as a '~luh"tendency or pantheism is still questi~nable.~~

52 To Allah belong the East and the West: withersoever Ye tum, there is AUah's countenance, for Allah is AU-Embracing, All-Knowing." 'Abdullah Yüsuf 'Ali, The Meaning of The Holy Qur'Ün, new edition I (Maryland: Amana Corporation, l994),49.

53 '.He it is Who created the heavens and the earth in six days, and is moreover fkmly established on the Throne (of authority), He knows what enters within the earth and what comes forth out of it, what comes down from heaven and what mounts up to it. And He is with you wheresoever ye may be. And AUah sees well ail what ye do." Yüsuf 'Ali, The Meaning of The Holy Qur'an, 1420-1421.

54 "Seest thou not that Ailah doth know (all) that is in the heavens and on the earth? There is not a secret consultation between three, but He makes the fourth among them-nor between five but He makes the sixth-nor between fewer nor more, but He is with them, wheresoever they be: in the end will He tell them the truth of their conduct, on the day of Judgment. For Allah Has full knowledge of all things." Yüsuf 'Ali, The Meaning of The Holy Qur'àn, 1434. 55I.n defending this notion, Nadeem offers three points. First is that al- Hallàj did not sin against the truth, rather his execution is more caused by being offensive to law. He was accused for "betraying the secret of His Lord" by proclaiming to ali and sundry the supreme mystery which ought to be reserved to the elect. Second, he spoke under the intoxicating influence of ecstasy. He imagined himself to be united with the divine essence, when in fact he was only united with one of the divine attributes. Third is that he meant that there is no essential difference or separation between Cod and His creatures, inasmuch as a the divine unîty includes dl being. A man who has passed away, leaving 2.1-b- Ibn %rab3

Ibn 'Arabt known as the greatest spokesman for wawat al-wuNa has long had the reputation of being one of the cornpanions of self-

disclosure (as- al-tajalli) as well.56 His concept of waMat al-wujujudis based on his view that the universe may be observed as an eternal chain of divine manifestations, demonstrating numerous divine properties and perfections. This concept implies that God appears to the observer in both transcendent and immanent guises." For ibn 'Arabi, creation is visualized as the emanation of Being upon the heavenly archetypes, bringing them from their state of non-being or from that of a hidden treasure into externaked existence. It is a set of mirrors, which reflect divine names and qualitie~.~~ Ibn 'Arabi draws upon his concept of being in systematizing the

theory of wawat al-wujuci. He does not begin his philosophy of being on the concrete level of ordinary reality; rather he considers that all things of the physical world are but dreams. The whole structure that is called

"reality" for him is not being (wujui3)in the real sense. Being does exist in reality, yet only a little of it is visible to us, just as dreams are to a man

behind his phenomend self, now exists qua his red self, which is God. Nadeem, A Critical Apprecidion, 68. 56William C. Chittick, The Self--Disclosure of God, finciples of Ibn al- 'Arabk Cosmology (Albany: State University of New York Ress, 1998), 52. 57Alexander Knysh, "Orthodoxy' and 'Heresy' in Medieval Islam: An Essay in Reassessment,"The MusLim World, vol. 88,no. 1 (January 19931, 58. SSeyyed Hossein Nasr, Three Mulim Sages Auicenna, Su&awar~ fin e 'Arabt'(New York: Caravan Books, l969), 1 1 1-1 12. who is asleep. He identifies this reality in the real sense as the absolute 0 being which is the fist ontological category for Ibn

In Kitab It2shti' al-Dawü'ir, Ibn 'Arabi expresses the view that there

are three ontological categories: being that exists by itself (al-wujud li

dhatih), also called Absolute Being (al-urujuC1 al-muflaq); being that exïsts

by virtue of another (by Allah) (mawja bi AlIah taCa7a],also cded limited

being (al-wujud al-muqayyad);and being that is neither existing nor non-

exisüng (j5am.Ü 16yatî@if bi al-wujujudwa Ia bi al-'adam), or a combination

between the frst and the second categones.60

In dealing with the first category of being, Ibn 'Arabi applies a very

strict technical terminology. He states that the Absolute Being is

absolutely inconceivable and unapproachable. It is unknowable to

human beings because it transcends all qualifications and relations that

are humanly conceivable. In this sense it is anlcar al-nafirat "the most

indeterminate of aU that is indeter~ninate"~~but at the same time it is the

- 59 Abu al-'AiCi' al-'Afifi (ed.), Shae 'Alci F* al-mm, (Cairo: DSr niya' al-Kutub al-'Arabiyyah, 1946), 104. To point to being as unreal existence ibn 'Arabi employs the word khayal. He says that the whole of being is 'imagination within imagination" lchaya-2:fi khayal, which means that the world which we observe is a resdt of our personai faculty of imagination. '-1 interprets the word lchaya-2: as something does not have red existence (w.-d -1; ibid., 110. 6OMuhyl al-D-m ibn 'Arabi, Kita-b Insha7 al-Dawfir wu alJad6üiI in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), KIa'nese Schnften des Ibn 'Arabi (Leiden: E.J. Brill, 1919), 15; Hussaini, "Shuhud Vs Wujud: a Study of GisudiraZ," 326-7.

6l'Afifi jed.), Fu* al-Hikam, 188. most unknown of the entire unknown which Ibn 'Arabi called 'czmQ" or

the 'abysmai darkness."62

Ibn 'Arabi's identification of the fxst being as Absolute Being is one

of the issues which invited the greatest controversy. Those who opposed

this First categov felt that ident-g God as Absolute Being means

hiting His absoluteness. If God is the Absolute Being, this implies that

others are non-being. Hence, other beings such as the universe and its

contents, are nothing other than the existence of God, the Absolute,

which means that the existence of God is limited to their existence?

However, neither does the term %bsoluten indicate that it should

be taken in the sense of a limited and determined existent or existence; it

means Something beyond all existents that exists in a limited way,

- 62Toshihiko Izutsu, A Comparative Study of the Key Philosophical Concepts in Su.m And Taoism. Ibn 'Arabi And Lao-Tm, Chuang-Tzu (Tokyo: The Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1966), 17. Ibn 'Arabi explains the term 'arna" as a supposed reality wherein it is supposed that god remained hidden before he created the universe. He States further: The ocean of 'Amf' is a demarcation between God and the universe. In this ocean the possible is attributed with al1 the divine names which are in our hands, such as knowing, the able etc.. . Muhyi al-D-Tn Ibn 'Arabi, al-F-Üt al-Mukkïyyah, 'Abd al-Qadir al- JaZayir, (ed.), vol. 1, 5 1; '=(ed.) , Fu++ al-HiIcam, 1 1 1. 6JThis kind of simplistic understanding of ibn 'Arabi's concept is one reason why some --fi accused him of being a heretic. This point is aiso what most of the @fi use to differentiate between the idea of wa- al-w.d and tualjdat al-shuhüd See Yohanan Friedmann, Shaykh Amad SSzrhindEAn Outline of His Thought and a Study of His Image in the Eyes of Prosperity. (Montreal: Institute of Islamic Studies, 1971)' 85. In dealing with this kind of issue, Ibn 'Arabi elaborates on the possibility of being "rnaw~d?and 'mac& at the same time without reducing or eliminating the transcendence of the a Absolute. See Ibn 'Ara'oi', Kitci-b Insha', 6. Something that lies at the very source of ail such existents and makes a them exist. It is Existence as the ultimate ground of eve1ything.6~It has

no equal and exists through itself; moreover, through it everything else

exists. The first categow is identified by Ibn 'Arabi in his Kitab InshÜ' al-

Dawa"iP5 as God or Ali& the Creator.66 In order to emphasize the

transcendence of this Absolute Being, Ibn 'ArabT states in his Risalat al-

Aediyyah (Treatise on Unity) as follows:

He is, and there is with Him no after nor before, nor above nor below, nor far nor near, nor union nor division, nor how, nor where nor when, nor time nor moment nor age, nor being nor place. And He is now as He was. He is the one without oneness and the Single without singleness. He is not composed of name and named, for His name is He and His named is He ... He is not in a thing nor a thing in Him, whether entering in or proceeding forth.. .67

In the above passage, Ibn 'Arabi tries to maintain the

transcendence of Divine Reality to an extrerne degree. He tries in al1 his

arguments to prevent any kind of identification of Absolute Being with Its

manifestations.

Unlike the first category of being, the second category cm only

exist through the Absolute Being. It exists by the grace of God, not by

64 IZU~SU, The Key Philosophical Concepts, 18. 6s This book was written between 1193 and 1198 C.E du~gwhich period Ibn 'Arabi crossed and re-crossed the straits of Gibraltar to visit the cities of North Afiica, especially Tunis and Fez, in search of master. S.A.Q. Hussairii, The Pantheistic Monism of Ibn 'Arabi (Lahore: S.H. Muhammad Ashraf, 1970),28- 66Ibn 'ArabT, Kita3 Insha', 15. GTNasr, Three Muslirn Sages, 107. itseif or for itself. Its existence is limited by the existence of God HimseLt

This being is also idenmed as possible being because its existence

depends on the desire of the Necessary Being to give preponderance

(taj-J to the existence of possible being as opposed to non-existence.68 in

this context, the term uruNd is not considered to designate God's Reality,

but to point out that in fact He does exist and cmbe found. Ibn 'Arabi

identifies the second category as the world and all it conta in^.^^

The third category is the combination between the first and the

second categories or between God and the world, but at the same time it is neither God nor the world. It is the link between God or the Absolute and the limited being which can be said to take the form of tajallior self- manifestation. 70 In this regard Ibn 'Arabi offers an analogy of the relation between the thing to which is attributed neither being nor non-being, neither tempornliw nor eternity, and the universe, to the relation between silver and the vessels and instruments of which it is made, such as the kohl-container, the earring and the ring. Only from this manifestation is the reality (.lqïqah) of the silver made kn0wn.~1 This third category is also the root of the universe. Ibn 'Arabi says:

This third thing is the root of the universe, the root of atom and the sphere of Me. To it are attached all created things and the worlds which comprise the absolute. It is from this third thhg

osIbn 'Arabi, al-Fu- al-Makkîyyah, 'Abd al-Qadir (ed.), III, 2 17, 670. 69Ibn 'Arabi, Kita3 Iwhà7, 15.

70 Hussaini, "Shuhud Vs Wujüd: a Study of Gisudiràz," 326-7.

71 Ibn 'Arabi, Kita3 1mhcï7, 19. that the universe came into being. It is the realiw of realities, the universal-world conceived by thought, a thing that appears as the eternal in the eternal and as the temporal in the temporal. If you say that this thing is the universe, you are nght. If you say that it is God who is eternal, you are right. If you say that it is neither the universe nor God but it is somethùig conveying some additional meanuig, you are nght. Al1 these views are correct, for it is the whole comprising the eternal and the temporal. It does not multiply with the multification of things and it is not divided with the division of things. It is divided by the division of conceptions. It is neither existent nor non-existent. It is the universe, yet it is not the universe. It is the other and it is not the other, for otherness is between two things. Relation is co~ecting one thhg with another by which a third factor cornes into being.72

The third category is also identified as 'the breath of the

compassionate" (nafus al-ra@a%., ureality of realities" (&&ut al-

mqa"iq), "permanent archetypes" ('acyÜnal-thbitah) , "the penect man "

(al-Ima-n al-ka-mil), "the renliw of being Muhammad" (al-bqiqah al-

Mu?yrnmadiyyah), etc.73 This category, Hermann Landolt points out, has

many aspects in common with logos, a mysterious entity in Greek

philosophy. Therefore, Ibn 'Arabi's concept is also called a logocentric

In expounding the link between the first category and the third, Ibn

'Arabi develops the concept of the presences of being (&zdar&t). The term

presence (bdrah) is used to refer to elristing things other than God and

Tbid., 17. The translation is taken from Hussallii, The Pantheistic Monism, 53-54.

73 Hussaini, "Shuhud vs Wujud: A Study of Gisudirâz," 326-7.

74 Landolt, Hermann. "Simnanl on Wahdat al-WuH&" in Collected Papers on Islamic Philosophg and Mysticism, M. Mohaghegh and H. Landolt 7ed.) 0 (Tehran: IWO), 10 1. This 0 sornehow identical with the He (huwa).75 hierarchical system or series of degrees is proposed to show the absolute remoteness of the

Absolute Being. In this regard, al-QSshSni briefly explains that,

according to the +ifT world view (UN al-taw@), there are five worlds

( 'awalim), each of them representing a presence or an ontological mode of

the absolute reality in its self-manifestation?

The first is the plane of the Essence (dh2). It is the world of

Absolute, non-manifestation (al-ghuyb al-m@laq) or the mystery of

mysteries (ghayb al-ghuyzi-b).The second is the plane of the attributes

and the names (@.&rat al-@fat wu al-as-') which includes the presence

of divinity (mdrahuluhiyyah),the plane of actions (bdrat al-a.al) or the

presence of lordship (hnbmh rububiyyah). The fourth is the plane of

images (mdrat al-amthal) and imagination (Watal-khaya7) and the f~th

is the plane of the senses al-Wss) and sensible experience (mdraf

al-mushühdah).77

------7William C. Chittick, Ibn 'Arabi's Metaphysk of Imagination: The Sufi Path of Knowledge (Albany: State University of New York Press, 1989), 5. 76The notion of five divine presences of God is not an original concept of in 'Arabi. It was developed by his disciples, among them al-QunGWi, al- Farghd, al-Qayw and al-Q5sh&. William. C. Chittick, "The Five Divine Presences: From al-Qunâwl to al-Qaysaxi," me Muslirn World, vol. 72, 1982, 122; In his commentaries, 'Afit?l also elaborates that every mawfiid rnust occupy one of the five presences (&@kat) or more, i.e., .&at al-dm, -$rat al-'uqü(, .@rat al-amah, lpxjrat al-mitha7, and &@rat al-?ùss. Ibn 'Arabi al-ffihrn, 'Afifi (ed.), vol. 2, 80. 77Muhyi al-D-in Ibn 'Arabi, R.~L&al-Hikmm, 'Abd al-Raziq al-Qashanl (ed.) a (Cairo: Matba'ah al-MaymUniyyah, 13 12 H), 1 10. At the frst hadrah, -rat al-dhi, the Absolute remains in its

absoluteness without any manifestation. This is because it is the source

of ail tajalliyat. Since there is no tajizlli at this stage, there is discernible

no multiplicity at all, not even a shadow of it. The Absolute at this point

is said to be at the level of unity (ahadiyyah),which means the essential,

primordial and absolutely unconditional.78 In this respect, Ibn 'Arabi

sometirnes calis it al-ghae rneaning absolutely self-suEcient.79

The second hu&ah is the plane where tajallz'begins to occur. Here,

the Absolute manifests itself as God. In other words, the Absolute is

present at the level of "oneness" (wa3diyyah). This level is also known as

the level of 'being lsnown," after having been a hidden treasure (kanz

makhfi7 on the frst level. This is the frst plane of self-manifestation,

which is the plane of names and attributes. As it is impossible to defme

the Essence (dha3) of the Absolute Being, the only possible way to

recognize Him is through His attributes, such as His being existent

(mw*d), knowing ('ah), wWng (mund)and mighty (qadi~j-80 In Ibn 'Arabi's words, the idea is elaborated as follows:

78 IZU~SU,The Key Philosophical Concepts, 17, 20. 79 Ibn 'Arab'i Fmal-Efikam, (ed.), 144. The name of al-ghanï is attributed to the Essence because it is a name which is exclusively given to God without being shared with His creatures. Ibn 'Arabi caiied it asma" al- tanzrk

80 Ibn 'Arabi, aI-Futz&d al-Makkiyyah, 'Abd al-Qadir (ed.), vol. II/pt 2, 14, 568-570. The prophet Moses also used this method of referhg to the divine amibutes when he was asked about God by Pharaoh. See Ibn '&bi. F- al- O Hibm, 'Afifï(ed.), 208. If we examine the universe as to what it is and understand its reality, its setting and source, and if we examined in detail the divine manSestation in it, we find the divine essence to be too pure to have any likeness of or relation with the earthiy world or the creation because the reality forbids this. Then when we examirie as to which force operates in this world, we fmd that it is the beautifid names whose manifestations and effects are openly and clearly realized-not by themselves but through their semblance, not through their reaiities but thirough their virtues. Thus, the holy essence is left holy and pure.81

The passage above indicates that God presents Himself through the properties of His Essence. Everything that exists manifests something of the Divine presence. However, every name of God has its own presence, which means that God presents Himself to His creatures in various modalities. In each case it is God who reveals Himself, who is present in every created thing, but God as the Abaser (al-mu&Ii) is not the same as Cqd the Exalter (al-mu%). Nor is God the life giver (al- rnuhy] the same as God the Slayer (al-mmit).82Thus, on this plane there occurs within the Absolute an opposition of various ideas, which, exteriorized, become the concrete things of the world. When it descends from the first plane to this stage, the Absolute is no longer absolutely self-sufficient, because just as the world is in need of God, God for His part needs the world, or al-Qashki expresses it The world is in need of the Realiiy for its existence (wujui), while the Reality is in need of the

8tIbn 'Arabi, Kita3 In~h~',32. 82Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 6. world for its self-manifestation (-hUii).''83 This is because the Absolute is only known when it descends to the stage of 'God."

Therefore, although the Divine Essence is absolutely transcendent and above all differentiation and distinction, on the plane of wa+diyyah there are principles, modalities, or qualities from which al1 qualities of

Being and all modalities of knowledge denve. This kind of seemingly paradoxical relation between the divine Essence and the qualities is what lies between tam'h and tashb17t,~~

On the third plane, the plane of am,the Absolute manifests Itself as Lord (rabb).This presence is the plane of names specifically concerned with the Divine actions in administering, sustaining and controlling the affairs of His creatures.85

The fourth hadrah, the h@rat al-amfhal or hadrat al-khayal, is where the Absolute manifests Itself as half spiritual and haif material. It is a frontier between the pure spiritual world which uicludes the first three planes, and the pure material world which consists of the fi plane.86 Khayal or imagination plays an important part in Ibn 'Arabl's concept. He designates this term as the opposite of 'aql, the former being inclined to see connections and sameness and the latter tending to see

83 Ibn 'Arabi, Fmal-eïkarn, ai-QSshanl (ed.), 24. 84Nasr, Three Muslim Sages, 109; Chittick, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, 69; Chittick, "Ibn 'Arabi and After in the Arabic and Persian Lands and Beyond,"318. 85Izutsu, The Key Philosophical Concepts, 108. dinerence and otherness. Hence, through the presence of imagination the

presence of God is perceivable because by this plane one can witness His

immanence.87 The last is a hadrah where the Absolute manifests itself as

the sensible world (mushhadah).

There is an organic relation between each of the planes whereby

the lower ones function as symbols or images of the higher. Therefore, al1

things that exist on the plane of orduiq reality, Le., of worldly and

material existence, are symbols of the things that exist on the plane of

images, just as everything that exists in the world of images is a form

representing a state of affairs on the plane of the divine names and

attributes. Moreover, every attribute is an aspect of the Divine Essence in

the act of self-manifestation. The idea of tajall< one of Ibn 'Arabi's key

terms beside wujud and khaz~a7,~~is in fact nothing other than the

descent of the Absolute from its absoluteness in order to manifest itseif

on levels that are to us more real and concrete.89

From the explanation above, it can be seen how Ibn 'Arabi endeavors to demonstrate his understanding of the notion of 'oneness of

being." He indicates that 'oneness of being" does not mean that God is only immanent in creation or that He is absolutely transcendent. The

8ci 'Mifi(ed.), Fu* al-Hikam, 74.

87 Chittick, 'Arabi and After in the Arabic and Persian Lands and Beyond,"318.

WIbid., 8 1 ; Izutsu, The Key Philosophical Concepts, 15. right attitude for him is that God is both immanent and transcendent. He

says:

If you say He is transcendent you confine Him If you assert His immanence you limit Him But if you Say both the things you are rightly guided, and will be the leader and chief of Gnostics. One who asserts the duality of God and His creation is a polytheist, and one who upholds their essential unity is a true monotheist. If you believe in the separate entity of the creation, you should guard yourseif against immanence. And ifyou believe ody in God, and are aware of transcendence When you see Him simultaneously transcendent and immanent in phenomena you will know that you are both He and not He.m

It should be understood then, that waMat al-wugd means there is

no actual division whatsoever because all multipliciw is caused by Our

different point of view in relation to our knowledge of it. Ibn 'Arabi States

as foilows:

So Creator in the veq ground of creation in this respect, ponder a while! But in another respect He is not one with his creation, so remember Him. One who understands what 1 say WUnever be lacking insight. No body comprehends it except the man gfied with a vision In union or in separation, the essence is always one Plurality is His veil and vanishes when He reveais His glory1

2.2. ~cuiükukh(The Transmigration of Soul)

The transmigration of soul, also called reincarnation or, in Arabic, tarzcLsukh, is a doctrine according to mhich the soul or self is rebom in a senes of physicai or preternatural embodiments, which are customarily

"O (ed.), FMal-Hibm, 70. a human or animal in nature but which may in some instances taise the form of divine, angelic, demonic, vegetal, or astroiogical objects, such as

Sun, moon, stars and planets.92 In another sense tam-mkh means the

diffusion and distribution of the divine spirit among the beings of our

world.93 This very notion of metempsychosis (or more correctly, according

to some, umetensomatosis")is found particularly in tribal or non-literate

cultures ali over the world, such as in Austraiia, Western and Southern

Africa, and both North and South Arnerica. Nevertheless, the doctrine

has been most elaborately developed in India where it is mùred up with

the teachings and practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism

and Sufism. Moreover, the elaboration of the doctrine can also be traced

through the philosophical tradition of ancient Greece, where the idea is

identified primarily with the philosophical Lineage of Pythagoras,

EmpedocIes, Plato and Pl0tinus.~4 Closer to us in tirne, the theme is

developed in Goethe, many English poets, Joyce, Jung and Gauguin. It

9? J. Bruce Long, reinc carnation,^ The Encyclopedia of Religion, vol. 12, 265.

93 B. Cana De Vaux, Tan5sukh," First Encyclopaedia of Islam (1 913- 1936), vol. 8 (Leiden: E-J. Brill, 1987),648. The transmigration of sou1 is also put in the similar meaning with rebirth, reincarnation, and more accurately rnetensoinatOsis, "passage fkom one body to another," and palingenesis, "to begin again." J. Bruce Long, "Reincamatio~" 265. The concept is also discovered in certain Near Eastern religions, in the teachings of Manichaeism (a third- century CE Persian religion founded by the prophet Mani), in some modem schools of thought such as the Theosophy of H. P. Blavatsky and Annie Besant, and the humanistic psychology of thinkers like C. G. Jung and Fritz Perls and it also appears in perennial philosophy of Aldous Huxley. Ibid.

94 J. Bmce Long, "Reincarnation,"265. has traveled through the centuries and is always represented by a philosophical, religious or, indeed, artistic current.g5

In philosophy, the concept of rnetempsychosis has been discussed in both its metaphysical and ontological contexts. It tries to explain, for example, how the soul is created and how the relation between spirit and matter, soul and body, must be deterrnined, as must the question of pre- existence as well as that of the finality of the soul. Empedocles (490-430

B.C.),under the influence of the writings of the mystic-mathematician

Pythagoras, for instance, asserted that nothing in the cosmos is either created or destroyed. AU living things undergo transmutation in accordance with the relationships among the four basic elements (air, fie, water and earth). The souls of the impure are condemned to transmigrate for thirty thousand years through numerous types of incarnations. In the course of this transition, various lifetimes are affected in diverse ways by each of the four elements. Escape from this dark destiny is achieved through a lengthy purification process, the primary requirement of which is the avoidance of eating the flesh of anirnals whose souk may once have inhabited human bodies.96

95RonaldBonan, "On Metempsychosis," in Diogenes, vol. 142 (Summer 1988),95. J. Bruce Long, "Reincarnation,"268. For monotheistic religions, particularly Judaism, Christianity and

Islam, the belief in the transmigration of souls is generaliy absent?

However, as WUbe seen later, a number of sects even within these

religions were believed to hold to this doctrine. In Judaism, for instance,

the doctrine is to be found in Qabbalah, according to which

rnetempsychosis (giI~l)was regarded mainly as an opportunity given to

a wicked mm to make amends for his former sins and rarely as a

purgative period. Since the 13" century the notion of grgr2gulhas been a

central qabbalistic tenet. There were differences of opinion as to the

number of possible reincarnations (a maximum of three or more) and whether transmigration was into human bodies only or also into animals,

plants, or even inanimate objects.98 In the tradition of Christianity,

interest in the doctrine of reincamation was also evident at certain

periods and in certain circles, despite the rejection of the notion by

orthodox Christianity.g9

Like Judaism and Christianity, Sunni Islam has always considered

belief in the transmigration of souls a deviation from true doctrine and

98Moshe Idel, 'Qabbalah," in The Encyclopedia of R.-ligion, vo1.12, 124. 99R. J. Zwi Werblowsky, Transmigration,"24. The rejection of the notion by orthodox Christianity was because it is regarded incompatible with Christian anthropology, i.e. the interpretation of the nature of man, with belief in hell and paradise, and above all with the doctrine of redeeming grace as O made available to man by Christ's sacrifice. O those who hold the belief to be heretics.loOSome sources even classi@ this belief as non-Islamic, and those who hold the belief as infrdels. lor Ibn

al-Jawii, for example, accuses those who believe in the transmigration of

souls of being influenced by Iblis.

Another Muslîm scholar who opposed the notion of tam-mkh in

Islam was al-Ashcari. He condemned the concept as being taught by a

certain sect which sought to avoid the doctrine of the Day of Judgement,

that is, the doctrine holding that the dead wiil be raised for the second

time in another world where they wiIi be responsible for their deeds

during their lifetime. lo2

The notion of reincarnation in Islam -- which is believed by some

Islamic figures such as &-MaCam,al-Khawarizmi, 'Ali Sami al-Nashshe

and Ibn al-Jawzi to be a borrowing from Eastern religions, particularly

Hinduism and Buddhism, and from various different sources of Greek

philosophy, such as qrthagoras and Plato103 -- was also subject to

discussion by a number of MusIim scholars. Shahrastani, for example, in

1ooSee Jamal al-D-m Abü al-Faraj 'Abd al-R-5n Ibn al-Jawii al- Baghdâdi, Naqd al-'nrn wu al-'Ulamc2 Aw Talbik 'IbfEs (Damascus: IdSrah al- Tiba'ah al-Muniriyyah, n. d.) , 77.

'O' Abi Mu&immad 'Ali fin Hazm al-Zahin, Al-ma! Ji al-MM wa al- Ahu,a7 wu al-N-1 (Beiriit: D6.r &Makifah, l986),9 1. 1mAbÜ Al-Hasan Ibn IsmSl al-'Ashcaxi, Maqald al-'lslcfmiyyfn wa khtilüf al-M~allin(Cairo: Maktabah al-Nahdah al-Misriyyah, 1950), 114; Abc al-Fa* al-Shahrastani MQU)~'~~al-Milal wa al-Niwl (Beirüt: Mu'assasat Nasir al-Thaqafah, 19811, 202-3. lmcAbd AU* SalUm al-Samdl< al-Ghuluww wa al-Firaq al-Gha7iyah fi a al-Haqicüât al-IslcFmiyyczh (Baghdad: DeAwsat Li al-Nashr, 1972),129. his al-Milal wu al-Nil@, divides taMsukh into four types: 1) mkh, the migration of a soul from one human to another; 2) maskh, from a human to an animal; 3) f-kh, frorn a human to an insect; and 4) ruskh, from a human to a plant. IO4 Furthermore, al-Shahrastarii expiains the precept of transmigration of soul as having been characteristic of, on the one hand, a certain number of extremist Shi5 groups and on the other of some of

Mu'tazilis.

Within ShTSsm, the notion of taruiSukh was adopted by the

KaysGniyyah, 105 the Hiishimiyyahlo6 and the Kamiliyyah. loi Sacd ibn 'Abd

Allah al-Qudalso attributes it to the Mukfiamrnisah as weii as to their

'Alya7iyyahrivals, disciples of Bashshar al-Sha'iri. It permeates the 'Book of Shadows" (Kita-b al-@'llah), supposedly relating conversations between

JaYar al-Sadiq and the ghü7f al-Mufaddal ibn 'Umar al-JuTi. Finally, it is still today part of the creed of the DNZS and of the Nu=yriyyahLo8

The notion of tana-mkh in Shi'ism is closely linked to that of hulul

'immanence" or 'inhabitation" of the divinity or of a divine element in a particular creature. A characteristic of sorne extremist Shi? groups is actually the fact that they went so far as to de@ 'Ali and his successors to the ImiÜnate. Consequently, they used to Say that 'the spirit of God"

Al-Shahrastarii, M~usu~~atal-Milal wa al-N-1, 37.

105 Ibid., 63.

'O6 Ibid., 65.

'O7 Ibid., 75. (eAllah, ru* al-na- or 'the spirit of sanctity" (n$z al-ads)or a =divine

particle" @cz' ilaw had 'inhabitedm (&lIaf) 'AE, then, from him, had

'transmigrated" (tarufsakhat) into the person of al-Hasan, then of al-

Husayn, etc., until the end of the chain. Some, furthemore, placed the beginning of the process earlier than this, with Muhammad, or even with

Adam. Such was the belief, among the Kaysariiyyah, of the above mentioned supporters of 'Abd Allah ibn Mu'awiyah, as weli as of the

BayZniyyah, disciples of Bay5n ibn SimC5n.This was also the case of the

Khattiibiyyah, disciples of AbÜ al-Khattab &Asa&; the disciples of al-

Muqanna'; and certain followers of AbÜ Muslim al-~hur~sani.~~~

The discussion on the notion of tam-kukh within Shi'isrn can also be found in AshC~'sMaqa7d al-lsla-mijytn,He divides Shiïsm into three; the Ghdiyah, the Rafdah and the Zaydiyyah, each of which was divided into srnall sects. Then he fmds that among the Ghaiiyah the notion of tan6sukh was developed by the Janahiyyah (the followers of 'Abd AU& ibn Mu'awiyah ibn 'Abd Allah ibn JaTar DhÜ al-Janaayn), the

Khattabiyyah and the Saba'iyyah.LLOThe notion was also found among the Rafdah, most of whom held the belief that the dead will return to the world before the Day of Judgrnent. A few of them, however, rejected the notion of an afterlife. They maintained that there is no such thing, and

1O8 D-Gimaret, "Tanasukh,*in The Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. 10 (Leiden: Brill, 1998), 182. e that a soul reincarnates into different forms. Consequently, a good person, after his death, will be rewarded by reincarnating into a body

which has no pain or defects, while a bad person will be punished by

reincarnating into a body affiicted by just the opposite.111 Furthermore,

al-Ash'ari notes that among the Zaydiyyah were those who hold the

notion of tamkukk * l2

Among the Ism~~sas weU there were some who held the notion of

tarÜzsukh They did not admit the passage of the soul into the bodies of animals, but they did admit successive lives in which the souk are active

in the world of birth and death until they have recognized the Imàm; they

then rise to the world of light. Another ShX sect that believed in

tanasukh was the Nusayfis, who believed that the sinner against his faith

wLLl retum to the world as a Jew, Sunrii MusLim or Christian; the infidels

who have not known 'Ali corne back as camels, mules, asses, dogs or

O ther similar animals. 13

As mentioned above, the notion of tcznüsukh is said to be

characteristic of some MuTafis. Among them, according to Shahrastani,

were the disciples of mmad b. Ha'it who taught that God frst created

beings in a kuid of Paradise. Those who were guilty of some disobedience

were expelled thence by Him into our world in the form of men or

"O Al- Ash'an, Maqa7àt al-Isltïmiyyiin, 6 5-86. "' Ibid., 114. " Al- Ash'ari, Maqa7Üt aL-1s lamïyyin, 13 7.

"3 B. Carra De Vaux, Tan5sukh," 648. animals according to the gravity of their sins; they then migrated from 0 fom to form unüi the effects of the* sins ceased. Il4

The Khabi-yyah (the followers of -ad b. Khàbit) and the

Hadathiyyah (the followers of al-Fadl al-Hadathi) were other Mu'tazilites,

who iikewise developed the notion of tam-sulch They held that those who

obeyed God in al1 things were allowed to remain in heaven where he had

placed them from the beginning. Those who were disobedient in all

things God cast out of heaven and put in a place of punishment, namely,

hell. Those who were partly obedient and partly disobedient God sent to

this world and clothed them in these gross bodies. In this world he also

subjected them to adversity, suffering, hardship and cornfort, pain and

pleasure. He gave them different forms, some having the form of men and

some of animds according to the measure of their sins. Those who had

sinned less and obeyed more were given a body more beautifully formed

and their sufferings were Iess. Those whose suis were greater were given

a body less beautiful in form and suffered more. Such souls wiil never

cease being animals over and over again, one form succeeding another,

as long as their acts of disobedience rernah115

114 B. Carra D. Vaux, TanSsukL,"649. More comprehensive discussion can be found in Rainer Freitag, Seelenwanckrung in der islamichen Hhresie (Berh: Klaus Schwarz Verlag, l98S),1 13- 127.

115 A. K. Kazi and J. G. Flynn (translators), Muslim Se& and Diukions, (London: Kegan Paul International, 19841, 54. It is translated from the section of Al-Shahras-, al-Milal wa al-N-1. Ibn Hazm in his al-Milal wa al-Ahwa' wa al-Niel mentions that

among those who taught the notion of tanrisukh were mmad ibn Habit,

mmad ibn Naüs and Abu Muslirn al-Khurasani. They developed the

notion of taruikukh in the context of reward and punishment, They

maintained that souls, after their separation from bodies, migrate to

other bodies either human or animals in accordance with their behaviour during their lifetime. Accordingly, the sou1 of the sinner Viq) wiil migrate to a vicious animal. As to those whose deeds duMg their lifetime

were al1 bad, amad ibn Habit maintains that they will be sent to heu

and will stay there forever. On the contrq, those whose deeds are aU

good wiil be sent to paradise and wiil stay there forever.li6

- - 116Ibn Hazm, al-Milal wa al-Ahwa" wu al-NiMl, 90. Chapter 3 An Analysis of the Hystical Element in MIkha'Il Nu6aymah's Literasy Works

Mikha'il NuCaymah's works are considered a turning point in the history of Arabic literature due not only to the eloquent language that he uses to express his thoughts but also because of the message that he tries to convey of his own genuine experience as a human being.

Rirthermore, Nu'aymah was among the few Arabic poets to have spoken sincerely and directly of his feelings. Indeed, Nu'aymah himself saw language is the ideal medium for expressing the deepest human emotion and thought, and not rnerely as an aesthetic vehicle. Hence it is not surprising to see that his works are mostly concemed with the basic issues of human life and especially social, philosophical or spiritual themes. l

Nucayrnah tried to avoid employing poetic forms that he felt were a betrayal of the pnnciples of true literature, such as the ghazal (Love poetry), hija' (invective poetry), ritha-' (elegy) or mdh(panegyric poetry)-2

' The issues that he raises throughout his entire literary oeuvre are the genuine result of his inquiries into such issues as the notion of good and bad, Life and death, whether there wiLL be another life after this life or whether evildoers and good doers will retain the results of their deeds. See 'Abd al- Keal-Ashtar, al-Nathr al-MahjarC Kutta1, al-Ra-bitah al-Qalamiyyah (Cairo: Matba'at Lajnat al-Talif wa al-Tarjamah wa al-Nashr), vol. 1, 49. 2 It is interesting to see how Nu'aymah was consistent in holding this principle. At the the of the death of his close fnend, Khaul Jubrari, for example, unlike his other fellows of al-R5bi.i Qalamiyyah, Nu'aymah was not He defmes a poet not as someone who plays with armcial language, but as a prophet who cari see with his spiritual eyes what can not be seen by others, much as a painter capable of molding his innermost thoughts and feelings in beautiful verbal images as a musician endowed with a special sensibility for delightful rhythms and harrnonious sounds, and lastly as a philosopher or as a priest whose humanistic function is to serve the "God" of Truth, Justice, Goodness and Beauty ar,d to satisQ man's spiritual need for these ultimate values.3 Therefore the true poets,

attracted to write un'thc or poems of lamentation to show his deep grief and sadness for his fkiend's death. Nadirah Jamil Sarraj, Shucara' al-~Ü&fahal- Qalamiyyah :Dirci;süt_F Shi? al-Mahjar (Cairo: Diü al-Macarif,1957), 3 18; 3 Mounah A. Khouri, Shcdies in Contemporary Arabic Po- And Cntiasrn (Piedmont. CA: Jahan Book Co. 1987), 44. This principle confirms KhaIil Juorari's view. In his work entitled 'Dam'ah wa 'Ibtiscfmah" (Tears and Laughter) says of the poet that: He is a link between this and the coming world. He is a pure spring fkom which all thirsty souls may drink. He is a tree watered by the river of beauty, bearing Fruit which the hungry heart craves; He is a nightingale, soothing the depressed spirit with his beautiful melodies; He is a white cloud appearing over the horizon, Ascending and growing until it fiUs the face of the sky. Then it fdson the flowers in the field of Me, Opening their petals to admit the light. He is an angel, sent by the goddess to preach the deity gospel; He is a brilliant lamp, unconquered by darkness and inextinguishable by the whd. It is filled with oil by Ishtar of love, and lighted by ApoIion of music. .... Poet, you are the Me of this He, and you have triumphed over the ages despite their severity. Poet, you wiil one day mie the heart, and therefore, your kingdom has no ending. Poet, exadne your crown of thoms; you will find concealed in it a budding wreath of laurel. according to Nucaymah, wiU be aware of how important it is to express a their ideas sincerely, honestly and realistically without being driven by

an external leitmotif. In fact, Nu'aymah's works constitute a genuine

expression of his own spiritual joumey to seek the tnith, which explains

why so many of the issues he addresses are mystical in nature. In this

chapter the discussion will be devoted to two of Nucaymah's mystical

themes, Le., the notions of "oneness of being" and "the transmigration of

soul."

1. Oneness of Being

The seeds of Nu'aymah's inclination towards oneness of being, in

the sense that he saw a unity between nature, mankind and the Creator,

were planted during childhood in his home village of Biskinta, Lebanon.4

His personality differed from that of other children of his age, in that he

was a boy who always felt closer to nature and was curious about the

world around hirn. To discover the meaning behind natural phenornena

demanded that he lead a solitary life, to ailow himself to become closer to

nature. This potential, which was nurtured in the course of various

experiences in his life, especialiy after his experimentation with different

kinds of beliefs and philosophies, enabled him to End answers to the

------. - See Kahlil Gibran, Tears and Laughter, btansiated fkom the Arabic version "Dam'ah wa 'ibtïsümah" by Anthony Rizcailah Ferris (New York: Bantam Book, 1974),44-6.

4 Al-Ashtax, al-Nathr al-Mahjmi vol. 1, 50. had, 0 questions he particularly &ter his return home from Amerka. Therefore, most of the works that he produced in the fmal phase of his

life feature more philosophical and spiritual motifs. These include such

works as Mudhakkar6t al-Arqashs and The Book of Mir&-d.6

The notion of 'oneness of being," which is a common therne in his

works, is considered the center point of his rnystical thought.7 While it is

not easy to systematize his thinking on this topic, there are a number of

technical terms he repeatedly employs, such as khayd (imagination), al-

'alam al-saghif (rnicrocosm) and ab 'alam al-kabir (macrocosm), Mqqah

(the essence), al--m al-kawnf (the cosmic order), which might help us

to grasp what he is saying.

Nuca~ah'sview of the relationship between nature, mankind and

God is based on the notion of khaya7 (imagination). His understanding of

the concepts of oneness of being and the transmigration of sou1 cannot

be separated from his understanding of this idea. By believing in the

5 It was first published in book form in Beirut in 1949. The book was later translated into English and published in New York in 1952. According to the author's own statement in SabcünIII, 2 19, it was translated as Memoirs of a Vagrant Soul. "bfished originaliy in English (Beinit, 19480. Nu'aymah (SabcunIII, 219) mentions an English edition published in New York in 1950. The English edition of 1962 (London) lists the Beirut edition of 1948 and a Bombay edition of 1954. An Arabic translation by the author appeared in 1952 in Beirut. The Book of Mirdad consists of guidance to an assembly of monks who, in eheir turn, as the biblical disciples, go out into the world to preach the gospel they have received. Here Nu'aymah strikes us as God-man preaching to other men the way to salvation. power of imagination, he rejects the dualist conception of the phenornenon of the world. For him, the differences, distinctions and contrarieties that human beings perceive result from the perception of the human reasoning faculty whose power is lirnited by what the senses tell it; this fds short of what the imagination is capable of doing, since the latter is able to go beyond the senses? He states further that through imagination (khayaZ) it is possible for men to make blind men see, paralyzed men wak, and bring the dead to Me, not by giving them sight, hearing or animation, but by the power to awaken the power of the imagination. which can replace ali these faculties: sight, hearing and the breath of life.9

Nu'ayrnah treats the meaning of khuya1 (imagination) in a more philosophical and mystical context, rather than restncting it to the literary plane. According to him, imagination is the faculty which enables human beings to see with their eyes closed, to hear while their ears are sealed, to smeli while their nostrils are plugged, to taste while their lips are closed, or to touch while their hands are paraiyzed.1° It is the power that provides the means for human beings to understand metaphysical

- -- 7 7% al-NSiin, Adab al-Mahjur (Cairo: Diir al-Ma'àrif, 1977),380; Munir WaGd, MiWZ'71: Nucaymah (Cairo: al-Hay'ah al-Misriyyah al-'Am~ahLi al- Kuttab, 1992),105. 8Nucaymah,al-Bayüdir (1 940-1 944) (Beinït: Maktabat Sâdir, 1959), 7 1. 9Mikh55ï Nucaymah,Zàd al-Macad (Beulit: Maktabat Sàdir, n. d), 1 7. truths which are beyond the power of the externat senses.ll It is in fact 0 the only means to comprehend ReaLity (Wqqah).l2 Through the

imagination men are able to penetrate beyond the physical world and

free themselves from the limited faculty of the senses.13 Therefore, the

existence of the Creator and His creations and other contradictory

phenomena e.g., life and death, good and bad, happiness and suffenng,

etc., are one in Reality (M!ah),because they corne from it and wül

return to it,

Furthermore, he clearly equates imagination (khya7) with faith

(I&)).l4 He States that imagination (khaya1) and faith (Iman) are like

twins: both are at the highest limit of our understanding, and beyond

what reason can attain due to its unrefiability. This argument indicates

that he places imagination (khayal) higher than reason. He says that

reason can become imagination if one is open to enlightenment.

Likewise, imagination will deteriorate into rezson if it becomes closed to

inspiration. l5

By his philosophical and mystical explanation of imagination

(khaya7) Nu'aymah tries to show that we are able to comprehend

" Ibid. %id; Nu'aymah, al-BaycCdr, 7 1. Besides Nu'aymah, Jubriin KhaGl JubrGn was another who believed in the potential power of imagination to reach the ReaLity (haqsqah).See al-Ashtar, al-Nathr al-Mahjae vol. 1, 78. " Nu'aymah, Zad al-MacÜd, 14; Nu'a-=ah, al-Baya&, 7 1. '' Nucaymah,&id al-MacÜd, 78. I5 Ibid. metaphysical worlds, such as the one in which we fmd ourselves now,

one that does not exist yet, one which hasn't any power to exist, or one

that we will experience in the future. This is because imagination

(khayal) will penetrate them in order to witness Realiw in a real sense.16

Nu'aymah seems to perceive Reality (mqah)as having much in

common with the Essence (dhâi).He states that there is only one tgzqiqah

which is eternall7 and it is not subject to change or fluctuation. Its

existence cannot be identified with time, place or any other attribute. But

its existence is in every place and in every thing.18

Unlike other existing things, both Reality (Iqz'qah) and the

Essence (dhat) axe independent, meaning that their existence does not

depend on other existences even though they share a common origin and

will retum to the same point as weU.lg In the language of some sufZs,

such as Ibn 'Arab?, the Essence does not have quiddity (rnahiyyah).That

is why the Essence cannot have ascribed to it any attributes, because It

is inde~cribable.2~Nucaymah identifies this Essence as the power that comprehends all things as uAliah," that is God, The Creator.21

l6 Ibid., 7. '' Nu'aymah, al-Maraw (BeinTt: DGr Sadir, n.d), 12. 18 Nu'aymah, =d al-MaC6d,12 ; see also Nu'aymah, al-Maruil, 12.

19 Ibid.; He also employs the tenn 'al-masdar al-Ela" to indicate the same thing. Nu'aymah, al-Marmil, 50; Mikhii'il Nu'aymah, al-Baycïdit, 70.

20 Nu'aymah, Zâd al-MaCa&22.

21 Ibid. Nthough he stresses that the Essence or God cannot be describeci by any attributes, the name "A?lahWis attributed to the Essence in order to aUow us to discuss or talk about Him. It is ody one of the many other names applied to the Essence. Some people may cd Him Quwwah

(Power), or Ira-dah (Willingness) or Na-ms (Law of Nature). They refer to

Him in accordance with their own understanding of the Essence.*"

However, the name uAilah," God, according to him, is the more perfect and more appropnate in meaning, because it is beautiful, respectable and well-known among people.23

Although Nu'aymah does not seem to subject his concept of Reality

(.lqiqah) to systematic review, he nevertheless consistently emphasizes that there is a tnie Renlity beyond this reality which cannot be reached by the human senses, yet its existence is sensible and discernable to a certain degree. He acknowledges the existence of this Reality by stating that behind the order of this Universe, which makes the stone fawhen one drops it, or the sun rise from the East, etc., there is the Creator who creates this order of the Cosmos (al-niqiirnal-kawmJ.24

22 MikhiiTi Nu'aymah, Sab'üx HiWh 'Umr (1 889-19591, al-Marmlah al- Thaniyah (1 91 1-1 932) (Beinit: DSr SGdir/DSr Baynit, 1960),324.

23 Ibid. ; Naimy, The Book of Mudàd, 4 1 ; See also the Arabic version of the same, entitied MUckid, 73.

24 Nu'aymah, al-Mara*il, 1 14-1 5. This order is only one and it is unchangeably established by the a Creator? Through the order of the Cosmos, created behgs will try to

perfect themselves continuously. For example, it is by virtue of the

cosmic order (ab-m al-k.awm!,which determines that life cornes from

death or vice versa, that creation becomes perfe~t.~~Through the

dialogue between Arqash (the central figure in his work Mudhakkarat al-

Arqaçh) and death, for example, Nu'aymah elaborates that the task of

'death* is to bring eveming into perfection. Nu'ayrnah believes that

=deathVcauses the world to become more dynamic because without

death everything would grow endlessly and life become static.

Furthemore, death makes the world constantly wider and larger,

because in the circle between life and death, the world and its

inhabitants become baianced.27 Hence, for him death is not the end of a

thing, but a pause in Me and a bridge between one life and another,

through which the world approaches perfection.28

As was discussed earlier, Nu'ayrnah's basic idea of the reai Reality

(?uqiiqah)or the Essence (dhai),implies that the realities other than the

Essence are only forms (mhor amthal) of It. In his view when God

creates Wis creation, He creates His Essence in them. Hence the whole of

creation that emanates from Him is Himself, meaning that human beings

Ibid., 115.

'6 Ibid., 1 14. z7 NuCaymah,Mudhakkaràt al-Arqash (Beinit: Diü Sadir, 1959),52-4. '@ who originate in Him are the image of AU*, the source from which they corne. 29

He stated just such an idea, for example, on the occasion in the

annual gathering of the school al-Jami'ah al-Wataniyyah, Lebanon in

1932.30 He explained that the ultirnate goal of human life is to know

oneself. That was because in his view human beings represent the world

in which other worlds, such as the Universe, are united together.

Therefore by knowing themselves, they actually know the whole of the

world, whether seen or ~nseen.~'

From his point of view, furthermore, there is no difference between

hurnan beings and the Universe; the partition between them is in fact

engendered by human beings themselves. He consequently argues that

at the very beginning of creation, there was the 'In (AM] and "Universe"

(al-'Ham)without any separation: Amiis al-'-'Alam just as al-'Alam is AM:

However, when the fïrst period of time began, the universe delivered a

child, cded a 'human being," who was beautiful and perfect such that

- - - 28 This point will be elaborated upon in the next part of this chapter.

30Nu'aymah, .%id al-MaCÜd,45; Nu'aymah, al-Muraml, 64. 3Wu'aymah, Zü-d al-MaCÜt 45; The same idea of dtybetween human beings and the universe is dso expressed in a letter he sent to his brother Nasib. He says that when you ask your self Who am 1," this means that you have asked about the main goal of Me. Because 'Y is closely related to every thing in the universe whether seen or unseen. Therefore your knowledge of '1" is the highest degree of knowledge, i.e., the knowledge of the Universe. Nu'aymah, Sabcün... al-M-lah al-ThLniyah, 322. he was in full unity with the universe. Nonetheless, the separation

e resumed when the universe asked the human being:

al-'alam :man anta? - ins6n :ana- ana The Universe: Who are you? Human Beirig: '1" is '1"

al-'alam :wa man ana? i-n :anta al-'a7am The Universe: And who am I? Human Being: You are the Universe.

Here, human beings create a division between themselves and the

~niverse.~~Nu'aymah also insinuates the same notion in his poem

addressing a worm, entitled u~~dah*:

Wamü 'antafi 'ayn al-@yu72 damimah Waeghar qadran min nWwu 'uqbh In the eyes of life, thou art not ugly, Nor thy the value is less tha.that of vultures and eagles.. .

Li'umnmnIcay6 uWzta7ur ma-fi?z.ayatifu~~ Mw&b qadr aw tafMd?muï-n By thy troth, sister, in ou.life There are no grades of worth of differences of value33

MagzhinrhQnrhQfial-fawn tub&- li n&ir Kdhzhzrdashkcï1 cad-dat alwàn Life's manifestations appear to the onlooker Of numerous shapes and many colors

wa aqnumuhü b-n min al-bad'i wu- Tajallat bishihabin am tajaiid bi&iiàdan But its constitutive element is ever one Whether it is rndested in stars or in worms.34

33MikhâTil Nu'aymah, Hams a1Ju.-R (Beirüt: DZr Bayrüt/ DGr Sadir, 1959), 85-6. The translation is quoted fkom S. H. Nadeern, A Critical Appreciation of Ambic Mystiml Poetry (Lahore: Islamic Book Service, lgïg), 240-1;An almost similar treatrnent is also applied to his story about a crow. See Nu'aymah, al-Murahil, 134-5. 34NuCaymah,Hams alJufu-n, 86. The translation is taken fi-om Issa J. Bouilata, "Mikhail NRirny: A Poet of Meditative Vision," Journal of Arabic a Literafure, vol. 24, part 2 (July 19931, 178. Some part of the translation can be When human beings try to explore the division between them and

the world ra7am), Nu'amah says it is similar to those who look for the

division between shadow and the thing that causes it3=Of course the

effort would be useless for there is no difference between them, since the

shadow is the thing and the thing is the shadow; hence, man is the

Universe and the Universe is man, so that fmdy he says that the man is

Iïak "God. "36

Although he does not use any specific term in expressing this idea,

it is obvious that he is relying on the idea of macrocosm and rnicrocosm

in elucidating the image of the Essence. From his elaboration it seerns

that he perceives the Universe as a large world or macrocosm and

human beings as a srnalier world or microcosm in which all the other worlds become composed together in them. Again, using this kind of

explanation, he attempts to explain the close relationship between the

Universe, men and God; he says that they are in their Reality one. He expresses the notion, for exarnple, in his poem 'al-Ta'ih? (The Wanderer):

A Wia7i4r- rahrnah- bim6 bard yadahi In lam akun saddxï fa satutu man ana? O My Creator have mercy Upon the creation of Thine hands

found in Salma Khadra Jayyusi (ed.) Modern Arabic Poetry: An Anthology (New York: Columbia University Press, IgS'i), 94.

35 Nu'aymah, al-Mara.il, 128-9.

36 Ibid., 137. If I am not Thine echo Whose voice may 1 be then?37

Nu'apah's main philosophical or mystical notion, Le-, oneness of being,

is obvious here.

He expresses this concept in a number of literary media not only

poeixy, novels, stories, and sermons but also in his letters, such as those

written to his younger brother Na~ib.~~Moreover, he sometimes draws

analogies with any subject to prove his idea of 'oneness of being."

Nu'aymah, for example, compares gnosis (al-maCrifah)and Allah (God) 39

in the following passage where he says:

al-macr$ah ka Allah, fi kulli maIcain Knowledge is similar to the existence of Ali*, because He is in every place

Wa al-la&-na yqtiubuînahcï- fi maIcain &-na kulli amlcinah Ica al- ladhina yatlubuna A Il& fi al maca7n'&la ghayr And those who seek knowledge only in a certain place are similar to those who only seek Aiiah in the temples

Fa laAllaX fZ al-rna'bid wa&iïhci; wa 16 al-macti!ahjT al rna'ahid al- 'ilmiyyahfaqe

3?Nu'apah, Harns a1JuJu-n, 54. The translation is taken from C. Nijland, MtCduxT Nucaymak. Romotor of the Arabic Literary Revival (Belgium: Historisch- Archaeologisch Instituut te Istanbul, 1975), 39; See also Nadeern, A Critical Appreci&*on, 240. 38Nasib was one of Nu'aymah's brothers who had studied agriculture at the University of Montpellier in France. This information is taken fi-om Hussein Dabbagh, Milchail Naimy: Some Aspects of His Thought As Revealed in His Writings (Durham: University of Durham, Centre For Middie Eastern and Islamic Studies, 1983), 36. Nu'aymah's letter to him of 2 March 1931, in whÏch he responds to his brother's news that he had fiailen in love with a young French girl, can be considered an accurate statement of Nu'aymah's beliefs and thought, as he admits himself in his autobiography. See Nu'aymah, Sabcün-... . al-Marblah al-ThcEniyah, 322. 39The lecture was delivered in aLJÜinicahal- Weaniyyah, Lebanon at the a end of June 1932. See Nu'aymah, ZÜ-d al-MacÜd,45. Indeed, AU& is not only in the temples, just as lcnowledge is not only available in the academic institutions.~

In the above passage Nu'aymah acknowledges that there is only

one reality, that is, the Reality of the Essence, or God. As a result he

insists that God comprehends evely single thing in His creations; in

other words he believes that the image of God can be found in every

place in the Universe and in all its contents, including men.4LThe whole

of creation, whether observable or not, is the living body of God, its

Creator; therefore when He sees the existence (al-wu.4in its totrrlity, He

says 'Ha-dha- Amw (This is Me).42 Indeed, this notion will be better

understood from his poem entitled Ibtihalat (Supplications):

KamiAllàhumma 'aynayya bishu'a' min @ïyn3rrr icay tarab Anoint, O Lord rny eyes With the rays of Thy light That 1 may see Thee

fijamF al-lchalq..ji &id al-qubur fi nustU- al-jaww, fi wjal-bi@ur fi sahahanja 1-barmi fi al-qdui? fi a 1-lurlâ',fi: al-tibr, fi rami al-qafar In the whole creation: in the worm of the grave, in the eagles of the sky, in the waves of the sea, in the cisterns of the land, in the flowers, in the grass, in the gold dust, in the sand of the deserts,

Ibid., 46.

42 Nucapah,al-Bayüdir, 57. A similar account is presented by Nukymah in MLMizXi Nu'aymah, "al-NÜr wa al-Dayjür,"in al-MafiUrah al-Kamilah (Beiriit: DSr al-% li d-Malam, 1971), vol. 5, 593. He states that nature (-tabfcah)is the visible body of the unseen God (anna al-taErah hiya al-jasad al-rnarqÙ.ir Li al- e ilaX al ladhi lüyurq~ur). fiqur@ a l-burs, fi wjh al-salr'in fi y ad alqatil, fi na 'sh al-qatil fr sani al-'Ûs7 finaj'al- fWTm43 fi yad al-mumn, fikc@ al-bakhïl In the wourids of the lepers, in the face of the hedthy man, in the hand of the killer, in the bier of the killed, în the nuptial bed, in the grue1 of the weaned, in the hand of the benefactor, in the pslm of the miser

jzfi'ad a1-sha ykh, fi n@z al-saghi? fi 'ddi'üal- 'alim, fijahL al-juhul jïghinà al-muthri: wufi faqr al-faqli fiqadhâ al-'dùr, fi-- al-batd In the heart of the elder, in the spirit of the younger, in the pretense of the leamed, in the unawareness of the ignorant, in the richness of the wealthy, in the poverty of the poor, in the filth of the adulterer, in the purity of the maiden

Wu idha- ma- süwwd hàsaktat al-nuwm al-'am4 fa 'ghrnib Allahmrnaja.ytUrturilâantastam And when the silence of the deep sleep converses with them Close down, O Lord, their lids until they awake.44

Nucaymah's conception of God may be seen as having two aspects,

the one inseparable from the other. From the arguments that he offers in

his works, one can say that these two aspects are transcendence and

immanence. On the one hand he always insists that God is the Essence

to Whom no attribute or description of any liind can be applied. He is the

One beyond human perception, the One Whose names are many but

whose Essence is one and only one. On the other hand the Universe,

which encompasses both nature and humanity, is evident proof of His

43 In the original text, the verse reads: fi naj' al-Qatz'l. However, Nijland, prefers the word 'nacsh" instead of 'naj'". Additionally, for the hemistich: fi Nacsh al-FatFm in he chooses the word " najcninstead of 'nacshn In this context 1 will use this alternative. See C. Nijland, Mîkhü'il Nucaymah, 35-6. ''~u'aymah, Ham alJufufun, 35-6. The translation is taken from C. a Nijland, Mi7chE1SZ Nucaymah,35-6. many-sideness. However, these attributes do not contradict His

uniqueness. In order to prove his argument, Nu'aymah draws an analogy with 'thought" Wb).He explains that many sentences, movements and actions employed when one cornmunicates or expresses an idea do not necessarily portray the 'thought." They are only exterior aspects which may change. The 'thought" mkr) itself that stimulates them remains separate, or in Nu'aymah's word fahuwa h.~wa.~~

In making this cornpaxison he desires to Say that the manifestation of the Essence cannot be perceived as the Essence Itself, any more than extemal appearance of thought fundamentally shows the thought itself

(tilka mtqcirhir jïIcn'ka wa laysat fiIcraka) .46 Hence, the transcendence of

God is not reduced by His manifestations because His Essence retains Its absoluteness. God's manifestation of HirnseIf in His creation is in order to reveal Himself to His creation. Otherwise, according to Nu'ayrnah, He would be an Absolute Silence (Wmt Mu-). In his opinion, God's self- disclosure is by His '1":

.. .By it is the Creator self-created. By it is the Formiess One made to take on a multiplicity of forms through whîch the creatures sh& pass again to formlessness.,.When God says 1, nothing is left unsaid. Worlds seen and worlds unseen; thùigs born, and things awaiting birth; time rolling by and time as yet to roll-all, all, excepting not a grain of sand, are uttered fort. and pressed into that Word, By it were all thirigs made. Through it are all sustaïned..-47

-

45 Nu'aymah, Sab'Gn.. .al-Mar&zlah al-ThaThaniyah,324.

47 Mikhail Naimy, The Book of Mirdùi& the Strange Story of a Monasteq Which Was Once Called The Ark (London: Clear Press in Association witb 2. The Transmigration of Sod

Nu'aymah's first encounter with the idea of the transmigration of

the sou1 (or as other call it, metamorphosis (taq~mmus)~8or

metempsychosis) may be traced to the period when he was a student at

the University of Washington. Through his roornmate -- a young

Scotsman who was a member of a theosophical s~ciety,~gand with whom

he shared a room in his third year at the university -- he became

acquainted with theosophical beliefs, particularly the notion of

metempsychosis. It was because of this belief, which left its mark on

almost everything he wrote afterwards, that he acknowledged his meeting

as a turning point in his Life.50 Indeed, the notion constitutes the

eventual fundamental basis of his philosophical doctrine, i.e., that our

Element Books, 19621, 41. The Arabic version can be found in MikhS5l Nu'aymah, Kitai Muà&& MimTah wa Md(BeirÜt: DeBap-t 1i al-Tibà'ah wa al-Nashr' /Dâr Sadir li al-Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr, 1959),71. 48This term is used by al-Ashtar, al-Ndhr al-Mahjmi 49. "bis sociew was founded by Madame Blavatsky and Mrs Annie Besant in New York in the late nineteenth century. It sought to b~genlighterunent to the western world through Eastern religions and metaphysics. The belief of the Theosophical Society were mixture of religion, philosophy and occultism. Its religious teachings consisted of four fundamental points: (1) the unity of God, (2) the threefold emanation of God, (3) the hierarchy of beings consisting of spiritual intelligence, and (4) universal brotherhood, subject to the recognition of varying degrees of man's development. See Tara Chand, History of Freedom Movernent in India, vol. 2 (Delhi: Government of India, Ministry of Infoxmation and Broadcasting, 1967), 426-27. See also Ted Hoderich (ed.), The Oxford Companion to Philosophy (New York: Odord University Press, 1995), 871; al- a Ashtar, al-Ndhr al-Muhjan', 49. a life is govemed by a 'Cosmic Order," and that death is no more than a 'pause" in a continuous movement which will ultimately lead man to

become one with the Absolute.5' In this respect, the notion of

reincarnation is determined in the context of oneness of being, the

concept which allowed hirn to disclose his dualist per~eption.~~With this

new understanding, he came to perceive Me and death, humankind and

nature, and even God and the universe as a single perpetual chain.

If growth be the child of decay, and decay be the child of growth; if life be the mother of death, and death be the motber of Me, then verily were they but one at every point of Time and Space... The wheel of Tirne revolves in the voids of Space. Upon its rim are ail the thirigs perceivable by the senses which are unable to perceive a thing except in Time and Space. So things contkuc to appear and disappear. What disappears for one at a certain point of The and Space appears to another at another point.. .. 53

Nu'aymah's discussion of metempsychosis is, as is the case with his

notion of oneness of being, scattered throughout a number of his works,

particularly those written after his return home from the United States.

These include his autobiography, "Sab'ün," letters and short stories,

SLDabbagti, Mikhail Naimy: Some Aspects, 23. The notion of the transmigration of soul had, in fact, given the mahjar literary writers including Khalil Jubr5n and Nu'aymah, the answer to the eschatological question which they had failed to resolve, such as the question of the notion of the other imaginaq world where kiuman beings live forever after their death. The transmigration theory allowed them to believe that 1-aman beings wiU be responsible for theîr deeds forever, sirice according to it, death is only an intemehg penod for another life, which implies the enduring reckoning of hurnan's deeds.

53 M"iWiàTL1 Nu'aymah, The Book of MüdEd, 92. such as Liqa ',s and al-Yawm al-Akhir.SS The most comprehensive account

of Nucaymah's thought is nevertheless to be found in his The Book of

" Lm' (Encounterj first appeared in Beirut, 1946. An English translation of Liqa7 and twelve other stories was published in Bangalore, 1957, with the titLe We Meet. Liqu7 tells us a story of Leonardo, a violinist, and a woman he loves. Leonardo in Li@ flees human society to cleanse himseif of the last remnants of sexual longing in order to effect a spiritual union with the girl he loves. They both die in the process, but here it is spontaneous death which forms the climax and proof of the new symbiosis. Remarkable is the complete passivity of the girl, who is unconscious fkom the moment Leonardo makes his first attempt to play the soul-uniting melody on Es violin until he succeed in his effort, after a period of self-imposed withdrawal. See C. Nijland, lUWuiT NuCaymah..-Romotor of the Arabic Literq Revival, 5 1.

55 Parts of this novel were published in four issues of al-Funüi volume III, issue 3 (October 1917), p-177-186; 4 (November 1917), 255-274; 5 (May 1918), 320-333; 6 (June 1918), 427-440. Nijland notes that al-Ymm al-Ah-r was Nu'aymah's last novel. It is the account of one day in the life of Dr. Müsa ai-'Ashkat'i, the main character, who has been told by a mysterious voice at rnidnïght that the coming day would be his last. In the course of th? day the main character cornes to perceive the utter firidity of his eartbly concerns and occupations, and turns into another man. The change, however, is effected only after a Stream of events which all tax his feelings to the utmost. His mute son addresses him and miraculously overcomes a pardysis of the legs; the oniy son of the mayor of the village dies at the age of three; the othemorldly messenger, who had announced the beginning of the last day, presents himself disguised as a beggar at the door of the main character; his gardener discovers a pot filled with golden coins in the orchard in the mountains, but Mû& ai-'Ashkaii not wanting the treasure donate it to the gardener, who again does not accept it; on the way back fkom the garden Müsà al-'Ashkarï is witness to an accident with a shot-gun injuring a bird hunter. He returns to the garden and asks the gardener to help him b~gthe wounded man to a hospital. They no- the police, and both are taken into custody on suspicion of man-slaughter. They are released only after the wounded man has regained his consciousness and has affmed their innocence. Back home he hears that his son has left with a man who calls himself "The Unnamed." He has a dream in which he sees the Unnamed together with his son rowing upstream on the river time. He goes to the airport to meet his wife who had previously eloped to Switzerland, but had cabled that day that she would return the same evenïng. The plane crashes while lariding and bums. At home he fmds a second cable informing him that his dehad missed the plane, but in the course of the day he has reached a state of serenity, making him imperturbable. His old Me has ended and a new life lies ahead of him. See Ibid., 51-52. Nu'ayrnah's notion of the transmigration of souk can probably be

best explahed through his concept of death, which he mentions

elsewhere in his works. In his Mudhakkara? al-Arqash, for example,

Nu'aymah views death not as the end of Me, but as something that exists

in order to bring human Me to perfection. This can be seen from the dialogues between Arqash (a central figure in this novel) and death, in which Nu'aymah implies the irnpossibility of the universe achieving perfection without the existence of death.56 He argues that the span of

Me is too short a period to achieve that aim.

Furthermore, he says that death is merely designed to put an end to the physical desires of man, not to his unfulfi'ied yearnings for justice, mercy, peace, love and other longings which aim at a kind of life free

Nu'aymah, Mudhakkard al-Arqash, 51-57; Sirnilar idea is also presented in his novel 'Till We Meer which is the English version of his Arabic novel 'Liqâ'." He says that human Life is like the whole length of Time which is not limited by the death. NuCaymahstates: .. .How stupid of me and aLl men to measure life by such a link as the span between the cradle and the grave, and not to know that our lives extended the whole length of time.. . See Mikhail Nsiniy, TiIZ We Meet and Tutelue Other Stories (Bangalore: The Indian Institute of World Culture, 1957), 85; see also Mikhafl Nu'aymah, ai- Mma+l, 122-124. in this story Nu'aymah, as he does in expressing his idea of oneness of being, employs an analogy of the iives of two seeds of wheat. They live side by side feeling that they have met and hown each other before. Then they realize that they are the reincarnation of two seeds that feli in love in a previous Me. This analogy may dso be applied to the life of Leonardo and Baha in his novel Till We Meer who lived as a couple in love with each other who from sadness, pain or even death. The yearning for something, according

to him, presupposes the existence of that thing. As man's life is

ïnsufficient for this task, he argues, so there must be a continuation of

life after death. "For how cari you, or anybody else, be sure that the earth

is the only place where you fulfiill your earnings, or that your Iife is the

only share you have of time, when in fact compared with it the age we

iive is no more than a fleeting moment?"57

As indicated above, Nucapah's notion of the transmigration of

souls is developed in relation to the notion of oneness of being, according

represent the reincarnation of a couple who iived long time before them and died with their love unfulfilled. -NuCaymah, Sab'ün.-. aL-Mcu@xlah al-ïki7ithah (1932-lgSg), 235. The same inchation is also expressed by Nu'ayniah's by believing in the 'transportation of the spirit" of human beings to the other world. In his novel Tili We Meet" he iliustrates the idea by saying that the spirit of two human being, Leonardo and Baha, a couple who died with their physical love unfidfUed, are transported. The notion may be seen in the following quotation: "Secrecy is necessary for the good name and reputation of the two. For how shall people ever beiieve and understand that Leonardo and Baha have been transported?"

Tes, transported to the world prepared for them eons ago." " 1 cannot understand you." "If you cannot understand, who shall? Know, my fi-iend that Baha and Leonardo have been transported from earth to heaven, in spirit. I saw them so transported with rny own sinful eyes. Last night as 1 sat alone in the quiet of my house &ter having put q children to sleep, I saw Baha and Leonardo locked in a tight embrace and wrapped in a mantle of light. Then 1 saw them rise slowly as rises a columri of incense-smoke Iln the temple. A veil of pearly haze was drawn across the skies. Suddenly the veil was rent in the centre and wrapped in fight, slip through that opening which was immediately closed behind them leaving the skies as completely veiled as before." Mikhail Ney, Till We Meet, 39-40. to which 'there is not God and Man, but there is God-Man or Man-God.

There is the One. However multiplied, however divided, it is forever

One."58 Nonetheless, since 'man is a god in swaddling-bands,*59 he should pierce the veils and break the seals in order to achieve the joy of

Perfect Balance (al-tawciimn al-kÜiZ).W This is the task of man in his repeated lives, that is to Say, to seek the key to self-unveiling and self- unsealing. For this purpose, man has to be conscious of Being through his understanding of his own existence; he should understand his I

(ana),which Nu'aymah calls al-kalimah al-mubdi'ak For ''1 is the center of your Me whence radiate the things that make the total of your world, and whereunto they converge. If it be steady, your world is steady: then no power above, and no powers below can sway your right or left. If it be shifting, your world is shifting; and then are you a helpless leaf caught in a angry whirl of wind? Hence, it is by his Consciousness and then his

Understanding that man attains the joy of Perfect Balance, that is God,

The Prima1 Consciousness (al-damir al-awwalij and the Spirit of

Understanding (ni@al-fahm.

A theme essential to the notion of the transmigration of souls as explained by Nucaymah is that of punishment and reward. It was

Nucayrnah's belief that every day is Judgrnent Day. Man is rewarded or

'' Nu'aymah, The Book of Mu~d,58.

59 Ibid., 43. Ibid., 41. punished daily according to his âttitude towards God's Law (Nhls),

0- which, as we shall see below, is love. Zn this respect, NuCaymahexplairis

three kinds of Judgment Day, expressed in the dialogue between Mirdad

and Bennoon in The Book of Mirdd. In answering Bennoon's question

concerning Judgment Day, Mirdiid says:

Your days are not alike, Bennoon. Some are serene. They are the hamestings of hours x-ightly lived. Some are beset with clouds. They are the gifts of hours half-asleep in Death and half-awake in Life. While others dash on you astride a storm, wiîh lightning in their eyes, and thunder in their nostrils. They smite you from above; they whip you from below; they toss you right and left; they flatten you onto the earth and make you bite the dust and wish you were never bom. Such days are the fruit of hours spent in willful opposition to The Law.62

The doctrines of oneness of being and the transmigration of souls,

combined with a belief in reward and punishment helped Nu'aymah to

develop the notion of love for everything. For him, the oneness of being

reflects the equality inherent in the Universe, by which no one is nobler

or more essential than the other. Consequeatly, there is no enemy, only

friends, for uwhat you dislike and cast away as evil is surely liked and

picked up by someone, or something else as goodan63He goes on to Say:

Remember that the Word is one. And you, as syllables in The Word, are in reality but one. No syUable is nobler than the other, nor more essential than the other. The many syllables are but a single syllable - even The Word [God]. Such monosyllable must

61 kid., 39. 6'Ibid., 60. 631bid.,45. you become if you would know the passing ecstasy of that unutterable Self-Love which is a love for aU - for everytkLing.64 Nu'aymah maintains that to arrive at Self-Love man should be a

Tree of Life (shajarat al-Nyah) and pour his whole heart into eveIy single

part of the 'tree." Men should beware of dividing against each other. Like

a tree, they should not set fmit against fmit, leaf against leaf, bough

against bough, nor set the stem against the roots, nor set the tree

against the mother soi1;65 rather, men should not hate each other, since,

according to Nu'aymah, hatred is the pus of death, while love is the Sap

of life.66 Accordingfy, Man should always leam to love, for 'no lesson is

required of Man other than love."

Nucayrnah's concept of love is deterrnined in such a way that Man is able to find his real self. This can be attained so long as man should rid himself of hatred in his heart. The true love needs no rewards; it is the one of which man is not proud. Man should fill his every gesture, step, wish or thought with it. Since there is no separation between man and the Universe, so man's love for others means his love to himseif.

Indeed, Nu'aymah is of the opinion that no love is possible except the love of self.G7

Ibid., 48. "~bid.,62 661bid,,63.

67 Ibid., 63. a A true love is the one by which man is not pained; it is not the one on which man prides himself. Hence, the love of a man for a women is

not love. Furthermore, being not-hating does not necessarily meam equal

love, for "love is an active force."

Love is not a virtue. Love is a necessi@; more so than bread and water; more so than light and air. Let no one pride himself on loving. But rather breathe in love and breathe it out just as unconsciously and freely as you breath in the air and breathe it out. For Love needs no one to exalt it. Love will exalt the hem that it hds worthy of itself. Seek no rewards for Love. Love is reward sufficient onto Love, as Hate is punishment sufficient unto Hate. Nor keep any account with Love. For, Love accounts to no one but itself. Love neither lends nor borrows; Love neither buys nor selis; but when it gives, it gives its all; and when it takes, it takes its all. Its very taking is giving. Its very giving is taking. Therefore is it the same today, tomomow and forevermore.68

The concept of love is essential to ha'aymah's notion of the

transmigration of souls, since the former is the core of the moral

message that should guide a man through his respective lifetimes.

Nu'aymah states that it is only with Love that one can be freed from the

wheel of Time, that is, the chain of reincarnation. In his eyes, mankind

would be weaned away forever from the Earth by loving the Earth and its

contents. When Love is the only residue of all your account with the

Earth, then wiU the Earth acquit you of her debt."69

68 Ibid., 64.

69 Ibid., 98. * Finally, a clear explanation of Nu'aymah's concept of love in relation to his notion of oneness of being may best be understood from

his poem below:

God is your captain, sail, my Ark! Though Heil unleash her furies red Upon the living and the dead, And sweep the skies of every mark, God is your captain, sail, my Ark!

Love is your compass, ply, my Arkl Go north and south, go east and west And share with ali your treasure chest. The storrn shall bear you on its crest A light for sailors in the dark. Love is your compass, ply, my ArkI

Faith is your anchor, ride, my Ark! Should thunder rom, and lightning dart, And mountains shake and fall apart, And men become so faint of heart As to forget the holy spark, Faith is your anchor, ride, my ArkP

70 Ibid., 66. Conclusion

The Christian Lebanese poet Mikha'ïl Nu'aymah was considered both a mystic and a Of alI the rnystical concepts that he expressed interest in, oneness of being and metempsychosis were the most prominent. These two notions were central to his works, particularly in the period after his return home from the United States.

It is not however, an easy task to discuss NuCaymah'sthought in any organized fashion since, rather than systematizing his thoughts in separate work, Nucapahtouched on them on many separate occasions, whether in novels such as Mudhakkarat al-Arqash (Mernoirs of the

Vagrant Soul), Liqa" (Till We Meet) and The Book of Mirdad, in stories such as Zà3 al-Ma'a2 (Provisions for the Hereafter), al-Maraw (Stages) and al-Bayaadir (The Threshing Floors), in collections of poems such as

Ham aIJufÙfÙn (Eyelid's Whisper), or in his three volumes of autobiography entitled Sab k-n (Seventy).

After analyzing the mystical element in Nu'aymah's works, and especially the two central concepts mentioned above, one cannot deny that they indicate a certain affmity to the concepts with which Muslim mystics had dealt for centuries. Thus, as regards the notion of oneness of being, on the one hand, we fmd figures such as Ibn 'Arabi, al-Hallaj, Dhu al-NÜn al-Misfi and Ibn al-Farid all contributing to its development, while a in the case of the transmigration of sou1 on the other hand, there is evidence that it was adopted by several Islamic sects.

The extent to which Nu'aymah's understanding of these concepts

was influenced by Islamic mysticism and sects must however remain a

matter of debate. However, historically speaking, it is possible that he is

to some extent influenced by the BeMashi order,l a order from

Turkey Ottoman because he lives in the Lebanon, a country which used

to be under the Ottoman Empire. It is tnie of course that in his works

dealing with these two notions Nucaymah employed a number of

technical terms similar to those found in the works of Mustim *fis. The

term 'a7am al-khayd, for example, by which he means the world lying

between the .vorld of sensation and the world of spirit, is similar in its

usage to that found in Ibn 'Arabi's doctrine of waMat al-wujud This and

other examples provide ample evidence of the affinity of Nu'aymah's

mystical thought to Islamic mysticism. Further evidence of his debt can

be seen in his express admiration for mystical thinkers in the Islamic

tradition, such as Ibn 'Arabi and others.2

Nevertheless, despite Nu'aymah's clear debt to the notion of

oneness of being, he does not use the term wawat al-wujud explicitiy in

expressing his pantheistic thought. In the absence of any explicit

LSee, for instance, John Kingsley Birge, Ike Beldushi Order of Ddhes (London: Luzac & Co., 1937),22-86. acknowledgment, we must look to the evidence of such texms as dM

(Essence), al-haqrqah (Re*), al-Mmal-kawni (The Cosrnic Order) and

khuyal (imagination),which are terms invariably used in connection with

to the notion of wa- al-wzijhGd.In addition, he employs his own terms

such as al-taw&un al-ka-iI (the Perfect Balance), which resembles the

notion of Essence (dm),and the Absolute Silence (al-+mt al-m-q),

which is similar in nature to the concept of the hidden treasure (al-kanz

akmakhfz) which refers to the He-ness of God in Islamic mysticism.

Nu'aymah's adoption of the notion of oneness of being reflects his

belief in the essential unity of the different and contradictory phenornena

that the human senses perceive: good and bad, life and death, richness

and poverty, animals and men, men and vegetation, men and the

Universe, and the Universe and God. He insists that in their Re- they

are one, because they are the form ($Ü?ah) of their Creator, God.

Therefore, al1 of God's creatures have equal value. For him, men are no

more praiseworthy than animals; nor are animals less deserving than

men? Likewise, the wealthy are no more honorable than the poor, nor

are the poor less respectable than the rich. Even the intelligent and the

"~bdal-K& al-Ashtar, al-Nathr al-MahjarE Kutta3 al-Rab- al- Qalamiyyah (Cairo: Matba'ah Lajnah al-Talif wa al-Tajamah wa ai-Nashr, 196 l), vol. 1, 84-5. 3Nu'aymah's story about a man and a crow or his poem addressing a worm which he acknowledges as his sister are the proof of this attitude. See Mikha5.i Nu'aymah, al-Murai2 (BeirÜt: Maktabah Sàdir, n.d ) 125-137; MïkhiiU Nu'aymah, Hams aE-Jufi.lfi.ln(Befit: Diir BayrÜt li al-Tjba'ah wa al- a Nashr/DSr Sdir li al-Tiba'ah wa al-Nashr, 19591, 83-6. foolish are equaUy deserving of respect, for they, like aü creation, are inasmuch as they are, images of Goda4

In his view, there is no "God and men" or "God and the Universe"

but simply God-men and God-the Universe, because God's manifestation

of Himself moves from being the Absolutely Silent to His &In. His 'In bnngs

the Universe into existence as His

Even the idea of the transmigration of soul-- the belief that Our Me

is govemed by the Cosmic Order and that death is merely a pause

between one Me and another before the final return to the Creator-- is for

Nu'aymah rooted in oneness of being. This is because this notion

contains no dualism (thum-'-ah). It also leads him to the notion of love,

which seems to be the most important aspect of his notion of the

transmigration of soul. According to Nu'aymah, love is the only freedom

from the wheel of Tirne, from the seemingly endless chain of

' Mikhâ5l Nu'aymah, al-Bayâdir, 1 940-1944 (Beinit: Maktabat Sàdir, 1950), 76. MikhâTi1 Nucaymah, The Book of Mkd6d.The Sfrange S'y of A Monastery Which Was Once Called The Ark (Clear Press in Association With Element Books, 1962), 41. This notion is similar to that of Jalal. al-D-m Rhi, a +z.iifrpoet of Persia and the founder of Mawlawiyyah order. Regarding the idea of love he says : When a man and a woman become one, You are this One; when the identities are effaced, You are this Unity. You have fabricated this 1 and this Us so that you could play the game of adoration with Yourself . So that aLL the 1s and the Yous become a single soul and are submerged in the Beloved. See Eva de Vitray-Meyerovitch, fim2' and Sufzsm (California: The Post-Apollo Press, 1987),102. See also ibid., 106. reincarnation. In his view, Man can be weaned away forever from the e Earth by loving the Earth and aii it contains. men love is the only

residue of all your account with the Earth, then wili the Earth acquit you

of her debt."6

These points confi our hypothesis that Nucayrnah's mystical

thought is centered in his notion of oneness of being. Almost all his ideas

-- whether mystical, ethical, or social-- stem from that notion; Nu'aymah

directs his thoughts to proving this notion. Thus, the idea becomes both

the basis and the goal; it is the starting point as well as the ultimate

objective. One could aimost say that he employs 'a circular method of

reasoning," at the core of which lies his conception of oneness of being. It

is also interesting to note that Nu'aymah views the idea of oneness of

being and the transmigration of soul as an inseparable concept which is,

in fact, similar to that of Bektashi orderm7However, it does not

necessarily imply that he is influenced by this order.

Ibid., 98. 7Frorn the poet of Qaygusuz Abdal, it seems that the idea of the transmigration of soul is derived fkom the stand point of oneness of being. In the Delil Budala, the author expresses the whole circulation of the entFre existence passes through the various level of experiences: as vegetation, animals and human beings. At the level of human experience, God sometimes makes Qaygusuz Abdal as a king, but sometime as a slave; sometimes as a father and sometimes as a son. Pr he level of animal experience, God sometimes makes him as a dog, a Lion, a jaguar which iived around the mountain or a fish which lives in water. At the level of vegetativ experience, sometimes God makes him as plants, sometimes as fiowers. In short, there is no permanent situation in him. According to Freitag, this is not the best idea of transmigration of soul (tanasuWt), but rather it is tanckdch in the sense of oneness of being (wa@ddal-wujud)). Freitag, Seelewanderung, 220-21. The mystical-humanitarian mode of thinking that Hussein

Dabbagh attributes to Nucaymah can be seen in the fact that the latter

endeavored to apply his mystical thought in support of his view of love,

justice, and equality.8 This is what makes Nucaymah's role so important

in the development of modem Arabic literature. His appreciation of

unadomed language and his deep mystical and philosophical insights

placed him in the foremost rank,

8 Hussein Dabbagh, MiWuriL Naimy: Some Aspects of His Thought As Reuealed in His Wntings (Durham: University of Durham, Centre For Middle a Eastern and ïslamic Studies, 1983),50. Bibliography

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