Major Trends in Islamic Mysticism

Signature Humanities Course

Provisional Syllabus

University of Chicago

Tue Thu : 11:00 AM-12:20 PM

Stuart Hall 102

Instructor: Yousef Casewit

Assistant Professor of Qurʾanic Studies, University of Chicago Divinity School

Course Description: This course examines Islamic mysticism, commonly known as Sufism, through an exploration of English translations of some of the greatest masterpieces of Sufi literature in Arabic and Persian. The goal is to gain first-hand knowledge of a broad spectrum of literary expressions of Islamic spirituality in their historical context, and to understand exactly what Sufis say, and how they say it. Each of the units will comprise of lectures and close readings of excerpts from the text in Arabic/Persian and English translation. The average reading load per unit is 100 pages.

No Prerequisites: Open to all undergraduates.

Course Readings: Chittick, William, Sufism, A Short Introduction, Oxford: One World Publications, 2000. Sells, Michael, Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qurʾān, Miʿrāj, Poetic, and Theological Writings, (New York: Paulist Press, 1996) Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual Autobiography, al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, McCarthy trans., Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1999. Vincent Cornell, The Way of Abū Madyan, Cambridge UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1994. Safi, Omid, Radical Love: Teachings from the Islamic Mystical Tradition, New Haven: Yale University Press, 2018.

Lecture Sequence:

Week I - Situating Islam & Sufism

Required Reading: Chittick, William, Sufism, A Short Introduction, Oxford: One World Publications, 2000.

Morris, James, “Situating Islamic ‘Mysticism’: Between Written Traditions and Popular Spirituality,” in Mystics of the Book: Themes, Topics, Typologies, New York, P. Lang, 1993.

Recommended Reading: Ernst, Carl, The Shambala Guide to Sufism, Shambala Publications Inc., 1997. Lings, Martin, What is Sufism? London, Islamic Texts Society, 1995.

Week II - Virtue Ethics

Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī (d. 467/1074)

The Risāla al-Qushayriyya represents the culmination of over two centuries of works, which appeared from the 3rd/9th century onward of compendia of Sufism back on Sufi ethics, attainment of virtues, and practical aspects of the Path. It is a thorough description of the virtues, stations, and states of the soul

Required Reading: Martin Nguyen, Sufi Master and Qurʾan Scholar: Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī and the Laṭāʾif al- Ishārāt, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2012. (Chapters 1-2: “The Life of al-Qushayrī” + “Sufi pedagogy and spiritual training,” pp. 23-87) ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Qushayrī, Principles of Sufism, Von Shlegell trans., Berkeley: Mizan Press, 1992, (Sections 1-2: Repentance + Striving, pp. 1-18).

Week III - Islamic Spiritual Psychology: Spirit, Soul, Heart, Body, Intellect

Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273)

Rūmī’s introduction to his Mathnawī is considered to be one of the summits of Persian Sufi poetry.

Required Reading: Nasr, Seyyed Hossein, Islamic Art & Spirituality, Albany : State University of New York Press, 1987 (chapters VII, Rumi, Supreme Poet & Sage pp. 114-32; + Chapter VIII Rumi & the Sufi Tradition, pp. 133-50). Seyed Ghahreman Safavi & Simon Weightman, Rūmī’s Mystical Design: Reading the Mathnawī, Book One, Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009.

Recommended Reading:

Chittick, William, The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi, Albany : State University of New York Press, 1983. Nicholson, Reynold, The Mathnawí of Jalálu'ddín Rúmí, edited from the oldest manuscripts available, with critical notes, translation & commentary, Messrs. Luzac & Co., 1925-40. (vol. 1)

Week IV - The Renunciant Tradition

Shuʿayb Abū Madyan (d. 594/1198)

Shuʿayb Abū Madyan’s al-Qaṣīda al-nūniya, translated by Vincent Cornell, is a supplication that continues to be recited across North African Sufi lodges to this day. It is a poem-prayer which assumed the status of religious mystical litany in the Muslim West.

Required reading: Vincent Cornell, The Way of Abū Madyan, Cambridge UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1994. (Introduction, pp. 1-36; Qaṣīda in Nūn, pp. 136-59.)

Week V - Masterhood and Discipleship

Mūlay al-ʿArabī al-Darqāwī (d. 1238/1823)

Mūlay al-ʿArabī al-Darqāwī’s al-Rasāʾil al-Darqāwiyya, consists of letters of advice to a disciple with guidance for the general reader. His rasāʾil continue to be read and circulated in Sufi lodges across the Arab world, and especially in North Africa.

Required Reading: Le Tourneau, “Darḳāwa,” EI2. Mūlay al-ʿArabī al-Darqāwī, Letters of a Sufi Master, T. Burckhadt trans., Louisville KY: Fons Vitae, 1998.

Week VI - Divine Love

Aḥmad al-Ghazālī (d. ca. 517/1123)

Here we look at one of the greatest works of Persian Sufism, in which the realities of divine knowledge are expressed in the language of love.

Required reading:

Aḥmad al-Ghazālī, Sawāniḥ: Inspirations from the World of Pure Spirits, Nasrollah Poujavady trans., London, New York: KPI in association with Iran University Press, 1986.

Week VII - Symbolism of Light Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111)

In this unit we explore a sample of Sufi commentary on the Qurʾān and ḥadīth which deals mostly with the qurʾānic “verse of light” (āyat al-nūr) and the ḥadīth of the seventy-thousand veils of light and darkness.

Required Reading: Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, Deliverance from Error: Five Key Texts Including His Spiritual Autobiography, al-Munqidh min al-Dalal, McCarthy trans., Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 1999. (Deliverance from Error: The Translation, pp. 53-98). Griffel, Frank, al-Ghazālī’s Philosophical Theology, Oxford: Oxford UP, 2009, pp. 19-96. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī, The Niche of Lights, David Buchman trans., Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah: 1998.

Week VIII - Union with God

Abū Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj (d. 310/922)

In this unit, we will read one of the most accessible forms of early Arabic Sufi poetry by the famous Ḥallāj. We look at sections from his Ṭāwasīn and Dīwān.

Required Reading: Louis Massignon, Hallaj: Mystic and Martyr, trans. H. Mason, Princeton University Press; Abridged edition, 1994. Sells, Michael, Early Islamic Mysticism: Sufi, Qurʾān, Miʿrāj, Poetic, and Theological Writings, (New York: Paulist Press, 1996), Chapter 9: Hallaj: Iblis as Tragic Lover (The ṬāSīn of Before- Time and Ambiguity), pp. 266-280. Van Cleef, Jabez, The Tawasin Of Mansur Al-Hallaj: A Mystical Treatise On Knowing God, & Invitation To The Dance, Madison, New Jersey: Spirit Song Text Publications, 2008.

Week IX - Philosophical Mysticism

Muḥyī al-Dīn b. al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240)

In this section we dip into the Fuṣūṣ, the most important doctrinal work of Sufism and the source of a vast commentary tradition. To supplement our understanding of his dense Chapter 1 on Adam, one of the cornerstones of his work, we will read Corbin’s Alone with the Alone.

Required Reading: Ibn al-ʿArabī, The Ringstones of Wisdom: Fuṣūṣ al-Ḥikam, Caner Dagli trans., Chicago: Kazi Publications, 2004. (Introduction + Chapter 1 Ringstone of the Divine Wisdom in the Word of Adam: pp. 1-18). Corbin, Henri, Alone with the Alone: Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn ʿArabī, Princeton: Princeton UP, 1998.

Recommended Reading: Addas, Claude, Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn ʿArabī, P. Kingsley trans., Cambridge UK: Islamic Texts Society, 1993. Izutsu, Toshihiko, Taoism and Sufism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1984.

Week X - Sufi Practice

Ibn ʿAṭāʾ ʾLlāh al-Iskandarī (d. 709/1309)

In this unit we explore two different genres of Sufi literature. The first is exemplified by Ibn ʿAṭāʾ ʾLlāh al-Iskandarī’s “do-it-yourself” manual on the practices of Sufism entitled Miftāḥ al-falāḥ. The second is his book of aphorisms (ḥikam).

Required Reading: Makdisi, George, “Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Allāh,” EI2. Danner, Victor, “The Shādhiliyyah and North African Sufism,” in Islamic Spirituality: Manifestations, Nasr ed., vol. II, pp. 26-48. Al-Iskandarī, Ibn ʿAṭāʾ ʾLlāh, The Key to Salvation: A Sufi Manual of Invocation (miftāḥ al-falāḥ wa-miṣbāḥ al-arwāḥ), trans. Mary Ann Khoury Danner, Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 1996. (Chapters 1-2, “On the Nature of the Invocation,” and “Benefits of the Invocation.”) Danner, Victor, & Thackston, Wheeler, The Book of Wisdom, New York: Paulist Press, 1978. (pp. 1-150).

*** Grading: Attendance (10%): Students are expected to be active learners and must come to class having read the assigned weekly readings and be prepared to share their informed perspectives with the rest of the class. There will be discussion sessions led by the TA. The participation grade of 5% will be based on attendance taken randomly in 5 lectures.

Presentation (30%): Student will give a 15 minute presentation on the life, historical background, central doctrines, primary and secondary literature on one of these figures available in European languages in the discussion session. Written Assignment (60%): The written assignment will consist of a 15 page essay (double- space, MLA style) on a topic related to this course. Each paper should include scholarly sources, i.e. peer-reviewed journal articles or book chapters. All responses will be evaluated based on the following: a) the overall strength of your main thesis argument, b) evidence and support of your arguments (including the diversity and quality of your references), c) clarity and coherency in your writing style given the condensed nature of the written assignment.

Please note:

1. Late submissions will receive a 2% penalty per day (excluding weekends)

2. Plagiarism is the representation of the work of someone else as one’s own work and is a serious academic offence.