Charity and Compassion: Interreligious Perspectives

ISSN: 2218-7480 RELIGIONS/ADYĀN Price: $10/QR 30 Editor-in-Chief: Published by the Doha Internation- • Dr. Patrick Laude, Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar, Editor-in-Chief. al Center for Interfaith Dialogue P.O. BOX: 19309 Doha, Qatar Editorial Board: • Dr. Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Chairman, Doha International Center for Tel: +974 486 46 66 Interfaith Dialogue. +974 486 55 54 • Dr. Dheen Muhammad, Associate Dean, College of Sharī’ah and Fax: +974 486 32 22 Islamic Studies, Qatar University. +974 486 99 00 • Dr. Mark Farha, Visiting Assistant Professor, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. • Dr. Roger Bensky, Professor at the Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar.

Administrative and Editorial Staff: • Ellen Lafouge, Graphic Designer. • Hamdi Blekic, Head of Public Relations, Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue. Charity and Compassion: • Firose ‘Abdul-Khader, Editorial Assistant, Doha International Interreligious Perspectives Center for Interfaith Dialogue. • ‘Abd-ar-Rahman El-Khalifa, Editorial Assistant. • Yasmeen Al-Sayyad, Editorial Assistant.

International Advisory Board: • Dr. Akinade Akintunde, Professor of Theology, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. • Dr. Rodney Blackhirst, Philosophy and Religious Studies, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. • David Bakewell Burrell, C.S.C., Hesburgh Chair of Theology & Philosophy, Notre Dame University, United States of America. • Dr. James Cutsinger, Professor of Religious Studies, University of South Carolina, United States of America. • Dr. Amira El-Zein, Professor of Arabic, Georgetown University School of Foreign Service in Qatar. • Dr. Eric Geoffroy, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies, University of Strasbourg II, France. • Dr. Ibrahim Kalin, Chief Policy Adviser to Prime Minister Recep Cover: Copyright, Kai-Henrik Barth, Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey. Pushkar, Rajasthan, India, • Dr. Jean-Pierre Lafouge, Associate Professor, Department of September 20, 2009 Foreign Languages and Literatures, Marquette University, United Pictures Credits and Copyright: States of America. • Dr. Oliver Leaman, Professor of Philosophy and Zantker Professor p. 33. Abda Latif Al-Mitwali of Judaic Studies, University of Kentucky, United States of America pp. 6, 14, 19, 21, 29, 38, 49, 56, 65, • Dr. Rusmir Mahmutcehajic, Professor, University of Sarajevo, 70, 79, 80, 85, 86, 132, 135. Kai- Bosnia-Herzegovina. Henrik Barth • Dr. Kenneth Oldmeadow, Philosophy and Religious Studies, La Trobe University, Bendigo, Australia. pp. 119, 122. Nuria Garcia • Dr. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies, The George Washington University, United States of America. p. 55. Jennifer Jones • Dr. Jacob Neusner, Professor, Bard College, New York, United pp. 24, 127. Patrick Laude States of America. • Dr. Eliezer Segal, Professor, Department of Religious Studies, p. 76. Aun Ling Lim University of Calgary, Canada p. 102. Aramia Neguib • Dr. Reza Shah-Kazemi, Research Associate, The Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, United Kingdom. • Dr. Arvind Sharma, Birks Chair of Comparative Religion, McGill 2 University, Montreal, Canada. RELIGIONS / ADYĀN A Scholarly Journal Published by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue

Religions/Adyân is an annual and bi-lingual (English and Arabic) publication in interfaith studies published by the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue with an emphasis on interreli- giousdialogue and the relations between Islam and other faiths. In a world of religious misunderstandings, violence, and hijacking of religious faiths by political ideologies, Religions/Adyān intends to provide a welcome space of encounter and refl ection upon the commonalities and shared goals of the great religions of the world. The title of the journal suggests religious diversity while suggesting the need to explore this diversity in order to develop keys to both a deepening of one’s own faith and a meaningful opening to other creeds. The Qur’ân suggests a commonality of faith and a striving for the Truth within the context of religious diversity: “To each among you have we prescribed a law and an open way. If God had so willed, He would have made you a single people, but (His plan is) to test you in what He hath given you: so strive as in a race in all virtues. The goal of you all is to God; it is He that will show you the truth of the matters in which ye dispute.” (The Table Spread 5:48, version of Yusuf Ali) As a refereed international publication published the Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue, Religions/Adyân fi nds its inspiration in the universal message of monotheism broadly understood, while engaging the various religious faiths that share common principles and values within this broadly defi ned context. Religions/Adyān encourages comparative studies and interreligious exchanges in a spirit of dialogue and mutual enrichment. Its aim is to promote understanding between religious faithful of various traditions by exploring and studying the rich fi eld of their theological and spiritual common grounds, their mutual and constructive relationships, past, present and potentially future, a better understanding of the causes of their confl icts, and the current challenges of their encounter with atheism, agnosticism and secular societies. In addition, Religions/Adyân wishes to highlight and revive the universal horizon of Islam by fos- tering studies in the relationships between Islam and other religions and civilizations in history, the arts, and religious studies. This is also a way to revitalize intellectual discourse in Islam, within the context of an interactive and cross-fertilizing engagement with other faiths. The essays published in Religions/Adyān exclusively engage the intellectual responsibility of their authors, and do not necessarily refl ect the views of the DICID. They are published as part of an on- going dialogue on religions, and should not be construed as the expression of the positions of any sponsoring organization.

3 Charity and Compassion: Interreligious Perspectives

4 CONTENT

Editorial 07 by Patrick Laude

A Conversation with Rabbi Steinsaltz 08

On Love, Passion and Fidelity 14 by Archbishop George Khodr

A Charter for Compassion 21 by Karen Armstrong

The Confucian Perception of Religious Pluralism: Globalization and Diversity 29 by Tu Weiming

Loving Compassion in Islam and Buddhism: Rahma and Karunā 43 by Reza Shah-Kazemi

Love and compassion in the Abrahamic religions 57 by Oliver Leaman

Compassion in Traditional and Secular Morality 65 by M. Ali Lakhani

Can Creatures ‘adorn themselves’ with the Names of God? 76 by David B. Burrell

Further Observations on Love (or Equality) 86 by Nur Yalman

Shared Typologies of Marital Love and (Com)passion in Islam and Christianity 102 by Mark Farha

The Face of the Praised 119 by Rusmir Mahmutćehajić

Book Reviews 140

Contributors 145

English Abstracts of Articles in Arabic 148

5 6 EDITORIAL

One year ago, the launch issue of Religions-Adyān was published. This fi rst out- put was met with a high degree of interest and enthusiasm both in Qatar and around the world. Taking stock of these promising beginnings, the Doha Interna- tional Center for Interfaith Dialogue and its Chairman Dr. Ibrahim Al-Naimi have supported the conception and realization of the fi rst numbered issue that will be, so we hope, a major landmark in providing our journal with a wider diffusion. Our initial issue was centred upon the common grounds shared by the world’s religions, as a foundation for further inquiries and exchanges. When faced with the consideration of a theme for the current issue, none seemed more appropriate than the virtues of charity and compassion. There is no religion that does not teach that the Supreme Reality involves goodness and love, and does not call mankind to reach perfection by treating other human beings with compassion and charity. This is the golden rule upon which all religious ethics are based. Now, it must be recognized that the notions of charity, compassion and love are not without some elements of diffusiveness or ambiguity, and sometimes may even refer to realities that are not necessarily contingent upon, nor consonant with, religious principles. After all, everybody “loves love,” but in what ways do religiously informed compassion and charity differ, in their understanding and practice, from the basic human, and even secular, forms of benevolence? More- over, the words love, charity and compassion may be translated in different ways in various languages, while human love covers a whole spectrum of manifestations, from motherly love to the love of God. Finally, as much as religion is about love and charity, it is also about law, fear, knowledge, and many other dimensions. Attention must be paid, therefore, to the ways in which these manifold aspects relate to, and sometimes intersect with compassion. The goal of this issue is to explore some of these matters and show that the notions of charity and compassion have much richer and deeper layers of meaning than may appear at fi rst sight. While mercy, charity and compassion are indeed common principles among believers of all traditional faiths, they are also the very conditions for the possibility of a meaningful dialogue across faiths. Through a richer understanding of the meaning of loving bonds between mankind and God and among mankind, we enable ourselves to engage in a more fertile encounter with other faiths.

Patrick Laude Editor-in-Chief

7 A Conversation with Rabbi Steinsaltz

Patrick Laude: What are the of the word rahamim, compassion – rhm Hebrew words that would – also carries the meaning of love (a similar best encapsulate the meanings word is found in other Semitic languages of love and compassion in too). In many cases, the difference between the words is that the term “love” is religion? What do these words used towards one who is of equal or higher suggest? status, while “compassion” is connected Rabbi Steinsaltz: The Hebrew words for with whoever is of equal or lower stand- love – ahavah – and compassion – raha- ing. In the broadest sense, there is a certain mim – are used in the language in a gen- linguistic and intrinsic difference between eral way, namely, there is no linguistic dis- the two words: love contains an element tinction between the use of the words in of wanting something, while compassion a religious sense and in a secular sense; is mostly connected with the notion of giv- moreover, the terms are not always con- ing. There are, however, other distinguish- ﬁ ned to humans but sometimes are used ing features between the two words when even in regard to animals. used in a purely religious sense, vis-à-vis There is a general distinction between God (and in Biblical and post-Biblical think- love and compassion, although the root ing this love is mutual and expressed both

8 ways – from God to man and from man to be found in the Talmud? God), as it assumed that the human ability RB. In the Talmud – which is a compila- to love God is, in itself, a mark of Divine tion of the Oral Law and is much more grace, of God loving this person; while detailed and elaborate than the Scriptures when used in the human sense they may – love and compassion are treated in a as well be one-sided. very detailed way. In fact, in Talmudic or even pre-Talmudic times a new term was PL. What is the specifi cally coined: Gemilut Hasadim. This term has no Judaic perspective on human adequate translation into any other lan- love, i.e. conjugal love, but also guages, and its various loose translations friendship? are not very enlightening. On the whole, Gemilut Hasadim is a very generalized no- RB. As stated before, the meaning of the tion of charity. But while charity is con- word “love” is very general, and therefore nected with giving fi nancial help to the the main distinction between love in the destitute, Gemilut Hasadim is the general religious sense and in the general sense is admonition to help other people in every not the power and depth of the emotion, sphere of life and give them every kind of but in its subject. help they might need. Unlike charity, which In common usages the word “love” may is mostly to poor people, Gemilut Hasadim sometimes be downgraded to mere liking is for everybody who needs assistance, or plain desire; but the general meaning of even temporarily or subjectively, regardless love contains two elements: the wish to be of whether the receiver is poor or rich. closer to the subject of love, and the wish In this sense, Gemilut Hasadim bears to give more and more to this subject. In the fullest meaning and is the actual ex- this sense, love in the human context may pression of the term “compassion”, which be more specifi c, or more confi ned, than literally means “to feel with somebody Divine love, but essentially is not different else,” whenever that person has any prob- from it. In fact, in many Jewish sources the lem. Gemilut Hasadim involves a very large love relationship goes both ways: on the set of instructions and advice, and the im- one hand, love between human beings is portant place that this set of instruction oc- seen as derived from Divine love; and on cupies in Jewish life is refl ected in the Tal- the other, human love is often used as a mudic saying, that Gemilut Hasadim is one symbol for Divine love. of the three pillars upon which the world Friendship, in a fullest sense, is not con- stands (Pirkei Avot – Ethics of Our Fathers sidered different from love, even though in 1:2). practice it expresses itself in different forms On a more theological level, all acts of and ways than conjugal love, for instance. Gemilut Hasadim are a part of the very On a deeper level, friendship that does not general notion of imitatio Dei. Indeed, in contain the element of love is not consid- many cases it says that a certain deed is ered true friendship, but only a mutual not just a good deed which is benefi cial for agreement to work together, or at least not society, and that a certain intention is not to harm each other. only right in the sense that it is a positive mindset and a state of spiritual devotion, PL. What are the main lessons but that according to Scripture it is the way about love and compassion to in which God Himself acts.

9 The importance of Gemilut Hasadim is centripetal power of constraint, Gevurah, such, that sometimes not only whatever is the power that works from the periphery directly connected with “good deeds,” but inwards and which keeps a certain equilib- practically the entire body of command- rium in existence. ments and instructions that deal with our According to this view, Mercy, Raha- world (not necessarily those of direct wor- mim (or Tifereth, in Kabbalistic terminol- ship) is seen as included within Gemilut ogy), is seen as a combination of the cen- Hasadim, since any good deed that is done trifugal and centripetal powers, because by people (including some rituals) is seen Mercy is not only an outburst of an inner as a way in which people give something feeling, but also a reaction to the outside in order to make the very structure of the existence. The object of love may be any- world higher and nobler. Doing all these thing and anybody, and a gift of love is deeds it is part of sanctifying the universe. not meant to fulfi ll any lack in the object; In this sense doing good deeds, giving and rather, it is an expression of the innermost helping others, saying pleasant things etc., drive: to love, to give. Mercy, on the other goes beyond the realm of human needs hand, although it too contains the notion and is part of the general notion that doing of giving and sharing, is judgmental, be- positive acts toward everything – animals, cause it starts with the notion that some- plants, and even inanimate objects – is body or something is in need, is lacking. also an act of Gemilut Hasadim. Accord- Fulfi lling such a need is an act of mercy, but ing to this view, the act of doing anything mercy is invariably a response or reaction positive, whatever its object, is considered to something which is seen as a lack or a a display of mercy and compassion, and blemish. Whereas love is based on an in- therefore has an aspect of Divine worship. ner drive to give, to be closer, regardless of whether the recipient actually needs any- PL. Has Kabbalah something thing, Mercy starts out from the recipient, specifi c to teach us about love? from the object, and is an attempt to fulfi ll RS. In the world of Kabbalah there is a fur- a want. In this sense, Mercy is more de- ther distinction between love and mercy. fi ned and more “objective” than love; that The basic idea is that love, on any level, is why it is seen as a very central power: stems from within and is fundamentally judgment treated with love. non-judgmental. Very broadly speaking, In fact, some Jewish sources say that the love – or its outward manifestation as name of the Lord (Y-H-W-H) is the name Chesed, which is the attribute of goodness of the attribute of Mercy, which is the cen- as well as showing goodness – can be seen tre point, that combines both the inner self as defi ning one of the main powers in the and the outer existence. Human beings world, which is an emotion or deed that may feel mercy most strongly when they fl ows from within out unto the world in encounter pain and suffering; but in the general, to specifi c objects within it, and eyes of the Lord the whole world, being most specifi cally to people. This force may intrinsically confi ned and incomplete, de- be seen as the centrifugal power of the serves mercy. This is how the verse “and universe, whereby things go from the cen- His mercy is on all His deeds” (Psalms 145) ter (or the self, in human terms) to the pe- is understood: all creatures, even the Arch- riphery: giving, embracing, sharing, keep- angels, deserve this kind of mercy. Mercy ing the world in balance. Parallel to it is the in people can be felt towards anybody (or

10 anything) that is suffering for whatever rea- PL. It has also been written son. Love has in it a certain amount of re- that Judaism is more centered spect for and appreciation of the beloved, on fear of God than on love while mercy does not have this limitation; and knowledge of God. How the farthest and the lowest can equally be objects of mercy. would you respond to this view? How do you see the PL. Considering the ternary of relationship between fear and “Abrahamic religions”, some love, knowledge and love in writers have associated hope to Judaism? Judaism, charity to Christianity RS. Judaism deals both with love of God and faith to Islam. How do you and with fear of God; however, in order to see the specifi city of Judaism defi ne it properly it should be stated that in relation to these three Judaism as a living religion is unique among “virtues,” and particularly in world religions in that it is very much concerned with the knowledge of God. There relation to charity, or more is a huge drive in Judaism to attain more broadly to love? and more of this knowledge. Furthermore, RS. If I were to make such a succinct def- in Judaism there has never been a defi ned inition of these three religions, I would do it group or caste of “the knowledgeable very differently – namely, by relating more ones”; on the contrary: everybody – young to the core ideas and self-understanding of or old, rich or poor, scholarly or ignorant – these religions, rather than by attaching a is expected to be knowledgeable, although slogan to each. I think that even linguisti- there always will, of course, be differences cally, and surely historically, Islam is the between individuals, and there will always religion of acceptance of yoke and subjec- be those who are more capable of study- tion to God (as far as I know, this was how ing and gaining knowledge, and others Muslims and Islam defi ned themselves in who for many reasons cannot do that to an the beginning); Christianity is mostly about equal degree. In fact, the Messianic dream Divine redemption, and Judaism is over- of Judaism, which is also the very last and whelmingly theocentric, as it concerns it- summarizing sentence in Maimonides’ self mainly with being connected to God Code of Law, is: “for the earth shall be full and doing His will. In this context, charity is of the knowledge of the Lord, as the wa- a very broad view of everything. The gen- ters cover the sea” (Isalah 11:9). The act of eral aim of life is to fi ll gaps, to give, to attaining this knowledge is considered not mend whatever exists, from the inanimate only the fulfi llment of a wish, but an act of to the human beings. Nobody and noth- worship. ing is complete, and making things better is our way of continuing God’s creation. PL. Is there a universality of Charity towards human beings, then, is basically the same thing: it is the attempt to Judaism, and how would you fulfi ll the lacunae of existence in whatever defi ne or suggest it? way; sometimes it can be done with a coin, RS. In Judaism, there are two aspects. One sometimes with a compliment. is the particular duties and commandments that are pertinent only to Jews,

11 while the other is a very clear view of a PL. Some important intellectual universal religion which is the dream and fi gures in Judaism defi ned desire of Judaism to share with the world. the relationship of Jews The commandments of this universal reli- with other communities as a gion are formalized as the Seven Noahide commandments (those which pertain to “confrontation” (not in the all of Noah’s descendants – namely, every negative sense of the term human being). They are general precepts but in the general sense of about faith and behavior which are the “being confronted” by alterity); common human heritage: belief in God, what do you think of this prohibition of murder, adultery and incest, assessment? creating a just society, and caring for the RS. The confrontation of Judaism with oth- well-being of all other creatures. This “re- er communities stems from the assumption ligion of Adam,” of humanity, is seen as that the Jews shouldn’t be different. How- the ideal way of life for humanity in gen- ever, difference does not necessarily mean eral, and therefore spreading it (but not the animosity or hatred; it is just the acknowl- commandments that pertain particularly to edgment of the fact that religions, like in- Jews) is seen as an ideal. dividuals, are different. Love between man PL. How do you understand and woman begins with the acknowledg- ment of difference. Difference, then, may interfaith dialogue from a be one of the main forces that create love. Jewish perspective? What But the desire to enforce uniformity – by is/are its goal(s)? What are force, by laws, by temptation – creates a its prerequisites? What are negative response. Confrontation is some- its pitfalls and limits? What times just the natural reaction to an invita- can Jews bring to interfaith tion such as “You have to join us.” In those dialogue? places where the notion of difference was accepted (e.g., India), there was also no RS. Interfaith dialogue can be a positive feeling of confrontation. deed, if it is done with care, understanding and sensitivity. Its main goal is, mostly, listening and getting to know each other. PL. Given the highly politicized The pitfall of such interfaith dialogue may and sensitive context that be in all kinds of missionary attempts, in surrounds the relationship which the other is seen as lacking some- between Abrahamic faiths, and thing essential that does not make it pos- particularly Muslims and Jews sible for him to attain fulfi llment and re- in the modern world, what demption. Judaism can share some of the would you say to a Muslim many treasures it has accumulated in its about your faith that may help more than 3000 years of existence, some of which can surely be useful and helpful him or her understand the for others. In its essence, Judaism is not a Jewish point of view? missionary religion, and this fact can surely RS. It is a great pity that the relationship contribute to creating a better, saner rela- between the Abrahamic religions is con- tionship with other religions. nected to politics. In the long run – as can

12 be seen from any examination of the existing problems between Muslims and Jews – these problems are based on misunderstandings and on creating justifi cations for hatred. The modern combination of nationalism and religion can be lethal, both psychologically and literally. The fi rst and obvious results appear at fi rst in hating and fi ghting a real or imaginary enemy. But in a very consistent way it develops into a toxic mixture which destroys both nation and religion. Hopefully, this phenomenon will subside, even though many people with short-sighted views try to fan the fi res instead of quenching them. The main thing to say to Muslims about Judaism is to offer them to gain a better, more comprehensive view of the Jewish faith. Hatred is so often based on ignorance and prejudice, both of which can be cured by trying to know more, to understand better.

13 On Love , Passion and Fidelity By Archbishop George Khodr

14 Is it not strange – or at least conspicuous as an institution or as a state of conscious- – that Christ does not utter a single word ness. The essential element of this (multi- on the kind of love which man and woman faceted) “revolution” is that it has severed feel towards each other? By the same to- sex from love even as it isolated it from ken, he does not say a word about beauty, the marital bond. This may be likened to a and there is not a single letter in the New puerile regression, as the adolescent who Testament about natural infatuation. When fancies sex to be everything – and indeed he says: “Look at the lilies of the fi eld” then many an adult - may live his whole life as a it is not to call to mind their magnifi cence, hostage to an instinct which, stripped from but to draw attention to God’s care for love, will end in the dead end of monotony them.1 And when Paul commands the love and a self-consuming boredom. between the sexes, he does so by drawing It seems to me that in absence of re- an allegory to Christ’s love for the Church.2 ligious convictions we are bound to stray, There is thus no allusion to anything akin to not only in this perishable body, but also the throbbing of hearts and mutual (sexual) in denial of the sovereignty of God over attraction, and the latter is not stipulated it. If you follow the course of history, you as a precondition for marriage in the Holy will know that periods of decadence and Scripture. debauchery have not been alien to this, Likewise in Islam, the Qur’ān does not or any other, region. Likewise, a myriad mention the term “love” [hubb] in its hu- of sexual deviations have always been man meaning. The Qur’an does employ practiced. Yet in my estimate these were the verb “love” several times, but in a dif- practiced without being codifi ed as legiti- ferent context. The descended scripture mate vices, whereas today you have some elaborates on the role of men and women people who seek to enshrine deviation as a in marriage, its contract, conditions and guiding concept. ethics; the closest it comes to speaking of In order to understand marital love intimacy between the spouses is the verse: we must know that the Greek language “Truly your women are garments unto you, encompasses two different words, Eros, and you are garments unto them” (Al-Baq- which is love in the sense of a desire for a ira, 187). Yet there is no allusion to love as thing or a person, and Agápē, which sig- we know it in the modern age. Yet modern nifi es the love of God for man and man man, since the Arab age of ignorance (ja- for God, as well as fraternal love. Agápē hiliyya) - which contains and prefi gures a is derived from Hebrew or Arabic.3 If you lot of modernity – has not only written a lot say in Greek “Agapáō” or “I love” it be- about love but also come to regard it as the comes clear that the Greek and the Arabic very node of modern life. expression are one voice. Eros is the natural It seems certain to me that the “sexual attraction of the two sexes to each other. revolution” which fi rst erupted in the West It is not restricted to the carnal force but has reached and intruded us so that talk it usually has a connotation of some form about infi delity has now become common- of arousal. It is mentioned peripherally in place in our media, whether it be in fi lms, the Old Testament to indicate the emotive books or print magazines. Our entire civi- force which unifi ed the spouses, reaching lization is turning towards an aggrandize- its utmost expression in the Song of Songs ment of sex, fomenting its “freedom” to the and in the Book of Hosea. Yet passion degree of questioning the family, whether or lust – with which I translate the word

15 Eros/’Ishq – do not appear a single time in there is no trace here of any ardent emo- the New Testament; as if the Gospel implic- tion as a prerequisite for the contract. itly places it within the context of the natu- Within the Oriental Christian environ- ral man (or the psychological man in the ment, it was commonplace for the kin literal meaning of the Greek word). When of the man to select a young girl for him the New Testament speaks about mar- which he would only see in the Church riage, it says that it is an eternal contract after her entrustment to him by the fam- predicated on the love which does not dif- ily. In some circles this tradition might well fer from what the Lord said in this regard: continue until the present day. In this re- “Love your neighbor like yourself”: we are gard, the famed French poet Paul Claudel to love another human being in devoting said: “Marriage is not a product of love our attention towards him and offering our but of mutual agreement.”5 If the passion service to him. is preserved beyond the phase of the hon- You must understand that it is not for- eymoon, this is wonderful. But the same bidden for you to marry a woman with fl ame might not endure, or it may not re- which you share no natural, physical love. main in the same form once married life If the latter is provided, then this is natu- has become drudgery, or empty through ral, and Christianity takes account of the the routine of sex, or overshadowed by the innate state you fi nd yourself in without task of the upbringing of children. turning it into a fundament of theology. In Christianity, we do not come across What is more, there are civilizations such any infatuation with, or aggrandizement as the Indian civilization which are re- of, passionate love, nor did we fi nd it is a plete with examples of passion between central notion upon which the endurance the deities as illustrated by the statues in of the marital bond is predicated. As for the temples carrying an overt sexual con- what Hollywood, the media and advertis- notation; yet they too do not speak about ing industry have to say about the lifestyle love as a precondition for marriage. Denis of homosexuals and lesbians, that is an- de Rougemont claims in his famous book other matter. It bears no relation whatso- L’Amour et l’Occident (Love in the West) ever to the spiritual heritage of the mono- that the West learned about such passion- theistic religions, nor to the faith traditions ate love from the Andalusian troubadour of the Far East. The question may then be bards and that romantic, chivalric love is formulated as follows: “How do you sanc- essentially an Arab invention.4 If we were tify this element of our nature so that it to amend this thesis we might say that this does not jeopardize your integrity of be- amour-passion is Oriental in origin, and ing and soul? How do you prevent the love perhaps the Song of Songs made its way which is in you from becoming a destruc- into Hebrew from the Sumerians or the tive force? How do you not fall into a to- like. Likewise, the Qur’ān does not seem to tally bodily state, into an isolated fi xation mention love as a precondition for the con- with sex, into an introversion and preoc- tract of marriage. What it has to say about cupation with the ego, and, conversely, a the relationship of the spouses is: “They desire for domination over the other, by are garments unto you and you are gar- means of power and money? How do you ments unto them (Surat Al-Baqira, 187) as preserve the humanity of the relationship, well as: “And He created love and compas- that is to say its completeness, including its sion between you” (Surat al-Rum, 21). Yet sexual aspect; how do you tame and do-

16 mesticate it without “turning neither into and image. Likewise, we shall arise on the an angel nor a devil” to paraphrase Pascal: Day of Resurrection in bodily form, and we “He who wants to pose as an angel, acts shall remain in it, giving light and praise in as the brute.”6 the Kingdom forever. Christianity is not to Christianity does not claim that married be confounded with corporal asceticism. life will automatically guarantee you this What it does denote is an emancipation wholesome, humane mode of life, even from the all-consuming fi xation with the though it does maintain that marriage is body, even as she is an emancipation from the natural setting for your humanity to the total devotion to the bare intellect un- reach its fulfi llment due to the framing enlightened by God. We do not suppress of love within the covenant which God the body even as we do not suppress the has concluded. For if God has dwelled in mind. Rather, we are to monitor them and your presence and in the presence of your to call the Lord to ward over them so that spouse, then it is He who has bestowed on we may remain true to our divine image, both of you that serene purity by which that is to say loyal to our unifying, inte- you stave off the supremacy of one over grating code of living. And the means to the other, as well as the self-enjoyment by achieve this integration of life is love. means of the other, without compassion Paul the Apostle had this to say: “Oh ye and charity. men, loveyour women as Christ loved the I repeat that Christianity does not teach Church, and submit yourself for their sake man anything about a love desire innately (Ephesus 25:5).8 The love referred to here is residing in him, even as it does not teach the charity (Agápē/mahabba) bequeathed him about food or drink. Christianity prods to us by God. If the intent here had been man starting from the state in which he the natural arousal or emotional attraction or she is, and bestows on him what ush- then the apostle would have had no reason ers from on high. It does indeed accept the to utter any injunction. One does call for an beautiful [bodily] desires as long as these already existing or pre-supposed emotion are wedded to love. This by way of prin- or desire. One calls for an obligation. As ciple. The Lord said: “He who looks at a the famous philosopher Kierkegaard men- woman to lust for her has committed adul- tioned: To love your neighbor as yourself tery with her in his heart” [Matthew 28:5]. means that it is your duty to love him. The Notice the choice of words in his expres- apostle exhorted man to love his wife un- sion: “the lust for her.” The text did not til death, and this is not something which prohibit lust but it does censure raw lust in comes from mere nature. Passion [‘ishq] so far as you are not to look at your wife does not suffi ce as it is bound to “with- as if she were a mere “good”, for she is er like the desert fl ower” in the words of a person, that is to say a full and equal Isaiah.9 It is in need of the love [mahabba] being.7 In your request for her complete which descends from your Lord. personality in the marital union lust is set Paul goes further in his contemplation aside, dissolving in the full being. That is on the matter, saying: “He who loves his why there is no sense to the talk of the wife loves himself.” This complete corre- ill-informed purporting that Christianity spondence and identifi cation of the two is antagonistic towards the physical body. individuals cannot occur unless God be- Some of the patristic fathers have said that stows on them his great favor and kindness the body was created by God in his liking so that all aversion - stemming from dif-

17 ferences in character - dissipates between patibility. This is a shallow and ludicrous them. By necessity, the relationship of love expression. You will fi nd “hearts whose has its moments of mutual attraction and love reviles each other,” as the poet says. repulsion. This is why there is this repeated In times of discord, there is then a call for clash between the two lovers. The state of reconciliation which comes about amongst the lover does not save man, and does not us [Christians] by ways of Jesus Christ. He make him one with the other as the divine who wants something else apart from this word wants: “For this reason, man shall has chosen hell for himself, moving from leave his father and mother and cleave to divorce to divorce. Such a person may his wife, and the two shall be one body.”10 choose to immerse himself in the fl ame In fact, the two beings are susceptible to of the fl esh, blood and agitation without hate. Shared tastes, affi nities of minds, partaking in a marriage like the wonder- intelligence, and beauty may prepare the ful wedding of Cana which Jesus and his way for union, but these are not inevitable disciples were invited to. guarantees. The fl esh, sentiments and lust Jesus transformed water into wine, a are places of possible meeting, yet any- symbol for divine ecstasy and the last sup- thing from the earth is no more than an per. There is no human being, whatever energy or a possibility. There is no union his allure and attraction, who can immerse between man and woman until and unless you in his being forever since none of us the divine care [‘atf] descends on them. At is overfi lled with the same abundant ten- that point, the two are part of the body of derness, understanding, solicitude and Christ. warmth night and day. Conversely, it is im- There is no way for lust [‘ishq] to be possible for you to consistently inspire ad- transformed into the divine love [mahabba miration in your counterpart with the same ilahiyya] bestowed on the husband or wife, energy day in and day out. For this reason, or both of them together. In writing these it was seen as indispensable for the groom lines I did not deny the great importance of to show a capacity for spiritual giving prior desire in marriage and its benefi cial role for to his entering a nuptial union. If he is an its perpetuation, but rather I did not deem immature adolescent he will confuse mar- it an essential component in the formation riage and lust in his mind and (falsely) sup- of Christian matrimony. God alone, in his pose that the latter contains the power of unending love, is the creating element in perpetuation. whose absence there is no meaning to the To be sure, my counsel to a man is not sacred mystery of marriage. These lines are to marry a woman who does not attract a rejoinder to all the modern movements him, relying solely on the divine blessing. claiming, in a nutshell: “If there is nothing This would be a big gamble since we are of left of love, there is nothing left of mar- fl esh and blood. However: maybe the lust riage.” You may expend your entire energy and infatuation will not be an overfl ow- for a spouse you desire or on one you do ing river, nor a blazing fl ame, but perhaps, not desire. The most odious thing in my on the level of your natural dispositions, mind is for a marriage to be dissolved be- there is a kind of mutual attraction and un- cause it appeared to the court that there derstanding. There is a minimum level of was a lack of harmony between the two shared characteristics making cohabitation parties. “Scientifi c books” may speak in under one roof possible. The upshot of this manner about the lack of sexual com- what I said is simply: do not think that lust

18 is everything and that marriage will endure to a mere registration in the archives of the with it. I additionally stated that the divine state and church. At fi rst, the unifi cation love manifested in the spousal union is of the spouses is an oath and a contract; what sanctifi es the house, and allows mar- to the degree that the vow is realized, the riage to ascend from a mere co-existence family becomes a small church and an im- to an abode for God’s presence. age prefi guring our life in the Kingdom of The Lord teaches us from where we God. As man struggles to bring his life in are. Should we be in a married state, he unison with God, the struggle for the unity will rear us from and in it. Should we be at of his house and family proceeds in lock- work, he will do the same there. Your Lord step. Everything else is merely an alignment does not eliminate anything existing but of body to body, or wealth to wealth. For sanctifi es and impels everything to com- this reason I am not a believer in teaching municate with the Divine so that this cre- what is called the “preparation for mar- ation can assume its full meaning. Marital ried life” or the “approaches to sex” since love is but the implementation of the com- there is no sex apart from emotions, and mand to love your neighbor, yet it is also in no emotions outside of the entire being, emotional accord with our natural instincts and no being, at depth, without God. May which it transmutes from their natural state each of us seek to be at one with the Lord, to one in which you are in harmony with may one cleanse oneself in seeking this God, as if, in married life, we have tasted communion, for this is what enables one to something of heaven. meet the other in a balanced and healthy Marriage then begins in the natural state of mind. As for the man who fancies realm, and endures through divine blessing. that his money or prestige may safeguard Any relation devoid of the latter amounts the loyalty of his woman, he is deceiving

19 himself. And the woman who calculates that her charms shall retain her husband is equally foolish. Nothing external can truly summon the other. The problem is that we do not seek the inner essence of the other, but his body or what is in his possession. Once we learn how to enter into matrimony while each of us is in our God-given splendor, then we will have married in the true sense and become initiated to the secret. Translated by Mark Farha

NOTES 1 “And why are you anxious about clothing? Consider the lilies of the fi eld, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the fi eld, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O men of little faith?” (Matthew 6: 28-30) 2 “Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her” (Ephesians 5:25). 3 For more on the possibly Semitic etymology of Agápē, see the supplement with Semitic, largely trilateral roots in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, (Boston: Houghton Mifl in, 2006), pp. 2056-2066. and the groundbreaking studies by Theo Vennemann, Europa Vasconica - Europa Semitica. Trends in linguistics. Studies and monographs, (Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003). 4 Denis de Rougemont, L’Amour et l’Occident, Livre II, « Les Mystiques Arabes » (Paris : Libraire Plon, 1972), p.111. 5 Paul Claudel, L’Otage suivi de Le Pain Dur et Le Père humilié (Paris: Gallimard, 1963). 6 « L’homme n’est ni ange ni bête, et le malheur veut que qui veut faire l’ange fait la bête. » Blaise Pascal, Les Pensées, (Paris: Guillame Desprez et Jean Desessartz, 1714), VI, 358. 7 “Once she is man’s equal, woman cannot be ‘man’s goal’ as Novalis supposed, thus reviving courtly mysticism. Yet at the same time, she escapes the bestial abasement that sooner or later must be the price of divinizing a creature. But this equality is not to be in a modern sense of revindication of rights. It emanates from the mystery of love. It is but the sign and proof of the victory of Agape over Eros. For the truly reciprocal love exacts and creates the equality between the lovers. God manifests his love for man in exacting that man be holy as God is holy. And man evidences his love for a woman by treating her as a fully human person, not as a fairy from some legend – half-divine, half-bacchante, a fantasy of reverie and sex.” “La femme étant l’égale de l’homme, elle ne peut donc être ‘le but de l’homme’ comme le croira cependant Novalis, renouvelant la mystique courtoise et les vieilles traditions celtiques. En même temps, elle échappe à l’abaissement bestial qui tôt ou tard est la rançon d’une divinisation de la créature. Mais cette égalité ne doit pas être entendue au sens moderne et revendicateur. Elle procède du mystère de l’amour. Elle n’est que le signe et la démonstration du triomphe d’Agapè sur éros. Car l’amour réellement réciproque exige et crée l’égalité de ceux qui s’aiment. Dieu manifeste son amour pour l’homme en exigeant que l’homme soit saint comme Dieu est saint. Et l’homme témoigne de son amour pour une femme en la traitant comme une personne humaine totale – non comme une fée de la légende, mi-déesse mi-Bacchante, rêve et sexe. » Denis de Rougemont, L’Amour et l’Occident, p. 338. 8 The imperative “love” invoked by Paul corresponds to the Greek “agapáō” referred to in the preface of this essay. 9 (Isaiah 40:8) 10 (Genesis 2: 24), (Matthew 19:6).

20 A Charter for Compassion

By Karen Armstrong each its unique insights. But on one point they agree. They all insist that compassion As a religious historian, it has long been lies at the heart of the spiritual and ethical frustrating to me that religion, which life; that it is the test of true religiosity; and should be making a major contribution that it helps to bring us into relation with to one of the chief tasks of our time — to what is called God, Nirvana, Brahman or build a global community where people of Dao. It is an ideal that has a direct bearing all persuasions can live together in harmo- on our polarized world. ny — is often seen as part of the problem. Every single one of the world faiths All too often the voices of extremism and has developed its own version of what hatred drown the more moderate voices has been called the Golden Rule: “Do that speak of respect for every single hu- not treat others as you would not like to man being. As a result, religion is often be treated yourself” — or, in its positive seen as inherently intolerant and the reli- form: “Always treat others as you wish gious traditions are widely assumed to be to be treated.” One of the ﬁ rst to insist locked in sterile rivalry. This of course is not that religion was inseparable from altru- correct. The great traditions are profoundly ism was Confucius (551—479 BCE). When different; each has its particular genius and his disciples asked him: What is the thread

21 that runs through all your teaching? What clashing. If I have the gift of prophecy, can we put into practice all day and every understanding all the mysteries there day? Confucius replied: “Never do to oth- are, and knowing everything, and if ers what you would not like them to do I have faith in all its fullness, to move to you.”1 The Golden Rule required you — mountains, but am without charity, then “all day and every day” — to look into your I am nothing at all. If I give away all that I possess, piece by piece, and if I even let own heart, discover what gives you pain, them take my body to burn it, but am and then refuse, under any circumstance without charity, it will do me no good whatsoever, to infl ict that pain on anybody whatever.4 else. A story attributed to the Rabbi Hillel, the older contemporary of Jesus says that Compassion is not an attitude of slop- one day Hillel was approached by a pagan, py, uncritical benevolence. It is not solely who promised to convert to Judaism if he about pity. The English word comes from could recite the whole of Jewish teaching the Latin patior and the Greek pathein, while he stood on one leg. Hillel replied: which means to “suffer or endure.” The “That which is hateful to you, do not do Golden Rule requires a disciplined effort to to your neighbour. That is the Torah and “experience with” the other. “All day and everything else is only commentary; Go 2 every day” you have to make a deliberate and study it!” It was an extraordinary and intellectual and imaginative attempt to put deliberately provocative statement: there yourself in somebody else’s shoes. was no mention of the existence of God, All the traditions also make it clear that the creation of the world, the Exodus from you cannot confi ne your benevolence to Egypt or the 613 commandments of the your own ideological, national, familial or Law of Moses. This was all merely “com- religious group. You must have what the mentary,” a “gloss” on the Golden Rule. Chinese sage Mozi (480—390 BCE) called In the same spirit, H. H. the Dalai Lama jian ai, “concern for everybody.”5 It was has said: “My religion is kindness.” For incumbent upon you to honour the for- Jesus, like Hillel, the meaning of the Law eigner. “If a stranger lives with you in your and the Prophets could be summed up in land,” says the biblical book of Leviticus, the command: “Always treat others as you “do not molest him. You must count him would like them to treat you.”3 In an oft- as one of your fellow-countrymen and quoted hadith, the Prophet Muhammad love him as yourself — for you were once said: “Not one of you can be a believer if strangers in Egypt.”6 Here again we see he does not desire for his neighbour what the fundamental dynamic of the Golden he desires for himself.” This did not, of Rule. Remember the suffering you experi- course, imply that all the other rituals, be- enced in the past, and refuse to infl ict it on liefs and practices were worthless or irrel- the stranger in your midst. In the Qur’an, evant. Rather, it suggests that if religious which in its entirety can be seen as a call to enthusiasm issues in hatred, intolerance, or compassion, God tells humanity: “Behold unkindness instead of compassion, something is gravely amiss. St Paul expressed we have created you all out of a male and this memorably: a female and have made you into nations and tribes so that you may come to know 7 If I have all the eloquence of men or of one another.” The experience of living angels, but speak without charity, I am compassionately in your own community, simply a gong booming or a cymbal which is bound to include some people

22 do not ﬁ nd congenial, prepares you for and attainable. Indeed, it is essential; we the more challenging task of becoming ac- have witnessed too many exploitative, self- quainted with the foreigner and the alien. interested and short-term policies which The purpose of a nation or a tribe is not to have lamentably failed to treat other na- kill, occupy, colonise, dominate, conquer or tions with the respect they deserve. Many exploit other peoples to all. of our current problems can be traced back Jesus took the teaching of Leviticus a to such behaviour. step further. The compassionate ideal is not a sentimental or romantic dream. The great You have heard how it was said: You teachers and prophets who preached the must love your neighbour (Leviticus Golden Rule were living in times like our 19:18) and hate your enemy. But I say own in which violence and warfare had this to you: love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you; in this way reached unprecedented heights. They were you will be sons of your father in heaven, also living in a nascent market economy, for he causes his sun to rise on bad men which brought beneﬁ ts but also prob- as well as good, and his rain to fall on lems. This is particularly clear in the case honest and dishonest men alike. For if of the Prophet Muhammad, who brought you love those who love you, what right the Qur’an to his people when Mecca had have you to claim any credit? Even the reached the zenith of its commercial pow- tax collectors do as much, do they not? er and at a time when tribal warfare had And if you save your greetings for your reached a crescendo. In this climate of ag- brothers, are you doing anything excep- gression and greed, the Qur’an’s compas- tional? Even the pagans do as much, do they not? You must therefore be perfect, sionate message asserted that this was the just as your heavenly Father is perfect.8 sustainable way forward. Today in a dramatically shrunken world, The written Torah does not include the we are all neighbours. We have never been teaching “hate your enemy.” Jesus was us- so tightly meshed together. When the ing a contemporary Aramaic idiom, which value of stocks falls in one country, there meant “you do not have to love your en- is a ripple, domino effect throughout the emy.” But Jesus insisted that we do. The markets of the world. What happens in word “love” needs commentary. Neither Afghanistan, Iraq or Gaza today can have Jesus nor Leviticus, which he was quoting, repercussions in New York or London to- required emotional tenderness towards morrow. The entire human race faces the the enemy. Leviticus is a legal text and talk terrible possibility of environmental catas- about feelings would be as inappropriate trophe. We cannot live without the other; as they would be in a Supreme Court rul- our fates are tightly bound together, and ing. “Love” was a legal term, used in the we have become aware of our deep inter- ancient Near East in international treaties. dependence. And yet we are dangerously Two kings would promise to “love” each divided. In an age where, increasingly, other, which did not mean they would be- small groups will have powers of destruc- come best friends, but that they undertook tion that hitherto belonged only to the na- to give their allies practical help and loy- tion state, it is clear that unless we learn alty. You would come to his aid and seek to apply the Golden Rule globally, treating his best interests, even if this went against all peoples, all nations as we would wish your own. This kind of “love” is practical to be treated ourselves, we are unlikely to

23 prizes to people they think have made a difference but who, with their help, could make even more of an impact. They give you some money, but more important- ly they give you a wish for a better world, which they will try to make true. Other winners have included former President Bill Clinton, the scientist E. O. Wilson and the British chef Jamie Oliver. I asked TED to help me to create, propagate and launch a Charter for Compassion, which would be composed by leading thinkers and activists in all the major faiths and would restore the Golden Rule to the centre of religion and morality. At a time when the world faiths are seen to have a viable world to hand on to the next be at loggerheads, this would be an act of generation. We have to “love” each other cooperation, demonstrating that despite in the practical sense prescribed by Leviti- our differences we could work together for cus. We need a global democracy, where a more peaceful world. all voices are heard and where everybody’s I cannot praise the energy and creativity aspirations and fears are taken seriously — of TED highly enough. First they created a not simply those of the rich and the pow- multilingual website and people were in- erful. Any ideology that preaches hatred, vited to comment, week by week, in Ara- suspicion or exclusion is failing the test of bic, Hebrew, Urdu, English and Spanish on our time. a draft charter which I had drawn up. This Even though the world faith traditions was to be a grassroots document to which are uniquely positioned to make a major people had a sense of ownership. Hun- contribution to the creation of a peaceful dreds of thousands of people from all over and just world order, we do not hear this the world responded and their comments compassionate voice. But I was also aware were collated and presented to the Coun- from my travels that in people all over the cil of Conscience, a panel of thinkers from world — in the East and the West — there six major religions (Judaism, Christianity, Is- was a hunger for a more compassionate lam, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucian- expression of religion. Then in 2008 I heard ism), which met in Switzerland in February that I had won the TED Prize. Every year, 2009. Council members included H.E. Ali TED Conferences (www.ted.com) awards Gomaa, Grand Mufti of Egypt, Archbishop

24 Desmond Tutu, the Reverend John Chane, To return to the ancient principle Bishop of Washington, Rabbi David Saper- that any interpretation of scripture stein, director of the Religious Action Cen- that breeds violence, hatred or dis- tre of Reform Judaism, and the Reverend dain is illegitimate. Peter Storey, who had worked alongside Tutu and Nelson Mandela in the struggle To ensure that youth are given ac- curate and respectful information against apartheid. In Switzerland we began about other traditions, religions and to put the Charter together and continued cultures our discussions by email. This was the fi nal draft on which we all agreed. To encourage an informed empathy with the suffering of all human be- The principle of compassion lies at ings — even those regarded as en- the heart of all religious, ethical and emies spiritual traditions, calling us always to treat all others as we wish to be We urgently need to make compas- treated ourselves. sion a clear, luminous and dynamic force in our polarized world. Root- Compassion impels us to work tire- ed in a principled determination to lessly to alleviate the suffering of transcend selfi shness, compassion our fellow creatures, to dethrone can break down political, dogmatic, ourselves from the centre of the ideological and religious boundar- world and put another there, and ies. to honour the inviolable sanctity of every single human being, treating Born of our deep interdependence, everybody, without exception, with compassion is essential to human re- absolute justice, equity and respect. lationships and to a fulfi lled humanity. It is the path to enlightenment, It is also necessary in both public and and indispensible to the creation of private life to refrain consistently a just economy and a peaceful glob- and empathically from infl icting al community. pain. To act or speak violently, out of spite, chauvinism or self-interest, to We were all convinced that the Charter impoverish, exploit or deny basic human rights to anybody, and to incite must essentially a summons to action. It hatred by denigrating others — even could not simply be a statement of intent; our enemies — is a denial of our like any religious teaching, it should issue common humanity. in dedicated practice. The Charter implies that we have a We acknowledge that we have choice. We can either emphasize those as- failed to live compassionately and pects of our tradition — religious or secu- that some have even increased the lar — which are aggressive, exclusive, and sum of human misery in the name of intolerant, or we can stress those that ad- religion. vocate respect for the inviolable rights of We therefore call upon all men and others. This will require a creative effort. It women: means that we have to study our scriptures to bring their compassionate ethos to the To restore compassion to the centre fore; it also requires us to look seriously at of morality and religion. those texts that are often abused or tak-

25 en out of context by extremists to justify One of the most exciting develop-men- atrocity. How should they be understood in ts since the launch is that people clearly do our troubled world? We need to take great feel that they own the Charter. Instead of care about the way we educate the young waiting for directives from on high, they about other nations and different religious have taken the Charter and are running traditions. We need to raise consciousness with it. Only today I learned that one of about bigoted, uncompassionate speech in our partners has adapted the Charter for the same way as feminists and civil rights the use of children and is working to have activists made people aware of the bias in it included in primary school curricula. th their language on matters of gender and Our Ethiopian partners declared April 5 race. This reminds us that it is possible to Golden Rule Day and on that date the change habits of heart and mind. We can fi rst Golden Rule Ceremony was held in change our world, if we make a deliber- the United Nations Building in New York. ate, concerted effort, working together We hope to make this an annual oppor- across the religious, political and economic tunity for the media, educators, and reli- divides. gious leaders to focus on the importance The Charter was launched in sixty dif- of compassion, bringing it to the forefront ferent locations throughout the world on of people’s minds. Our Australian partners will present the Charter in the Parliament November 9th, 2009. On plaques, designed in Canberra on June 21st 2010, and are pro bono by a member of the TED com- working with two major universities to munity, the Charter, now translated into get students involved. In Singapore, par- several different languages, was put up in liamentarians are working to integrate the religious houses of worship across the road Charter with public policies. In Malaysia, as well as in such locations as the Karachi partners erected a Wall of Compassion in Press Club and Sydney Opera House. That Kuala Lumpur and founded an organiza- weekend hundreds of sermons in various tion dedicated to promoting the Charter. religious traditions were preached on the On April 24, 2010, Seattle declared itself Charter and thousands affi rmed the Char- the fi rst City of Compassion and invited ter on www.charterforcompassion.org on other cities to do the same. the day of the launch, including HH the Da- We are fortunate that the Fetzer In- lai Lama, Queen Rania of Jordan and Rich- stitute, which has long been working to ard Branson. We need a lot of signatures advance Compassion and Forgiveness, if the Charter is to have “teeth” and we has taken the Charter under its wing. shall shortly be starting a big promotional The Fetzer team are especially keen to pro- campaign to encourage more people to mote an international Youth Movement affi rm. We now have nearly 200 partners for compassion. Education is crucial. I have located in almost every region of the globe become acutely aware that many people and the numbers are growing almost daily. are confused about the meaning of com- These are institutions that have long been passion. The word seems to have fallen working in the fi eld but now have the op- out of the public domain so that it is often portunity to work together. They have their equated with feeling sorry for somebody. own website and we are planning virtual This mistaken idea is both widespread and conferences every few weeks so that part- engrained. I recently gave a lecture in the ners can share ideas and projects. Netherlands in which I explicitly said that

26 compassion did not consist solely in that ing practically in impoverished regions in kind of sympathy. But when the text of East Asia, Africa and the Middle East, and my lecture was published in Dutch in the returning with new insight about the pain newspaper De Volskrant, on every single and problems of the wider world. occasion, English word “compassion” was On the last day of my visit, I was privi- translated with the Dutch word for “pity.” leged to meet H.E. Sheikh Nahyan ibn I have therefore just completed work on Mubarak al-Nahyan, Minister of Higher Ed- a “Vook” (www.vook.com). This is a new ucation and Scientifi c Research at his Majlis technology, a cross between a book and in Abu Dhabi. He too gave the Charter his a video; people will be able to download wholehearted support. Badr and I then left it onto the I-pads and other electronic de- for Dubai, where I addressed members of vices. My vook is entitled “Twelve Steps to the local chapter of the Young Presidents’ a Compassionate Life,” and I hope it will Organization. At the end of the evening, enhance people’s understanding of what one of them promised that his company compassion involves. It will also appear in would become the Compassionate Com- several languages as a short book. pany. It was an inspiring visit and I very In April 2010, I visited the United Arab much look forward to returning. The Char- Emirates to promote the Charter there. ter is now enshrined in all the buildings Some months before the launch, TED- of Crescent Petroleum, it will be installed ster Badr Jafar, Executive Director of the throughout University City in Sharjah; and Crescent Petroleum Group of companies, both H. H. Sheikh Sultan and H. E. Sheikh undertook to promote the Charter in the Nahyan have undertaken to put plaques up Middle East and, despite his massive busi- in all the buildings they control — which is ness obligations, has been a heroic am- a lot of buildings. The UAE could well be- bassador of compassion in the region. As come a global leader in the work to create soon as Badr presented the Charter to H.H. a more compassionate world. Sheikh Sultan bin Mohamed al-Qassimi, The task before us is immense. As I Ruler of Sharjah, he immediately saw its said on November 9th when I unveiled the relevance, became the fi rst Arab leader to Charter in Washington DC, the launch is affi rm the Charter, and warmly invited me only the beginning of a voyage. The chal- to the UAE. During my visit, I spoke about lenge is to translate the Charter into cre- the Charter at the American University of ative action that will make compassion an Sharjah as well as the neighbouring Uni- effective force in the world. That will not versity of Sharjah and was enormously be easy. Compassion is a human quality; impressed by the intelligent interest of the it is what makes a mother get up every students. Somebody told me that after one night to tend her child, no matter how ex- of my lectures she had come across a large hausted she feels. It is what makes us stay group of students, passionately discussing with our dying relatives, instead of walking how best they could live a compassionate away when they are approaching the end life. They were quick to grasp the global of their lives, as other species do. We have implications of the Charter, not only be- to cultivate compassion as assiduously as a cause Sharjah’s University City welcomes dancer enhances her natural ability to run students from over 45 different countries, and jump and, after years of disciplined but also because many of the students take practice, fi nds that she is able to move with part in a project called Global Vision, work- unearthly grace and perform feats that are

27 impossible for an untrained body. The great sages of the past tell us that the disciplined practice of compassion enables us to develop new capacities of mind and heart. Those who practice the Golden Rule assiduously have found it personally transformative. But we must not forget that greed, selfi shness and aggression are also human characteristics — and that they characterise a good deal of life in the 21st century. The fi rst decade of our century has been a decade of war and terror. To make the second a decade of compassion will require a mighty effort. But we should not despair. Nor should we succumb to the voices of scepticism. The fact that so many people in so many different parts of the world have been excited by the Charter and are working so creatively with it shows that there is appetite for the task. I drew great encouragement from the wise words of Sheikh Nahyan. Speaking of the duty incumbent upon us all to do all we can to make the world a better place, he told me a story he had heard from an environmentalist. There was once a forest fi re; all the animals gazed aghast, paralysed by the spectacle of the approaching inferno. But the elephant kept fi lling his trunk at a nearby stream and repeatedly, tirelessly attempted to extinguish the fl ames. When the more sceptical animals laughed at him, he simply replied: “At least I am doing something to ward off the confl agration."

NOTES 1 Analects 15: 24 cf. 4:15 in Arthur Waley, trans. and ed., The Analects of Confucius (New York, 1992) 2 B. Shabbat 31a 3 Matthew 7: 12. All quotations from the Bible are taken from The Jerusalem Bible. 4 I Corinthians 13:1—3 5 The Book of Mozi 3.16 6 Leviticus 19:34 7 Qur’an 49.13 in Muhammad Asad, The Message of the Qur’an (Gibraltar, 1980). 8 Matthew 5:43 —48

28 Family, Nation, and the World

by Tu Weiming racy, and secular ethics. While the vogue for things Chinese that overwhelmed Eigh- teenth-century Europe was more a craze An unintended consequence of Matteo for chinoiserie than a quest for philosophi- Ricci’s 'introduction’of Catholicism to Chi- cal insight, Confucian China was an intel- na and the Jesuits’ China experience in the lectual challenge to the self-reﬂ exivity of seventeenth century was the Chinese intellectual contribution to the Enlightenment some of the most brilliant Western minds. in Europe. Through missionary reports, Unfortunately, the effects of the Enlighten- intellectuals in France, England, Italy and ment mentality, especially in its nineteenth- Germany became aware of the humanis- century Eurocentric incarnation, on China tic splendor of Chinese civilization. Mon- and her self-perception as a developing tesquieu, Voltaire, Quesnay, Diderot, the modern state has been devastating. philosophes, the physiocrats, and the De- The modern West’s dichotomous mode ists were fascinated by Chinese world view, of thinking (spirit/matter, mind/body, physi- cosmological thinking, benevolent autoc- cal/mental, sacred/profane, creator/crea-

29 ture, God/man, subject/object) is diametri- have only just begun to see indications cally opposed to the Chinese habits of the that the Chinese thinkers are recovering heart. Informed by Bacon’s knowledge as from this externally imposed and internally power and Darwin’s survival through com- infl icted malaise. petitiveness, the Enlightenment mentality With all of its boundless energy and is so radically different from any style of creative impulse, the Enlightenment men- thought familiar to the Chinese mind that tality is incapable of refl ecting on things it challenges all dimensions of the Sinic at hand, oblivious to the “holy rite” of world. The Enlightenment faith in instru- human-relatedness, and ignorant of self- mental rationality fueled by the Faustian cultivation as an art of living. The collapse drive to explore, know, subdue, and con- of the former Soviet Union may have de- trol made spectacular progress in science, stroyed the Chinese Communist faith in technology, industrial capitalism, nation- the inevitable historical process precipi- building, democratic polity, legal system, tated by the revolutionary vanguard in educational institution, multinational co- the strategy of class struggle for universal operation, and military hardware.1 As the equality. However, the assumption that hu- international rules of the game, defi ned in man beings are rational animals endowed terms of wealth and power, were super- with inalienable rights and motivated by imposed on China by gunboat diplomacy, their self-interest to maximize profi t in the the Chinese intellectuals countenanced the market place is a persuasive, if not inspir- inevitability of Westernization and acted ing ideology in the People’s Republic of accordingly. China. Market economy, democratic polity, The sense of urgency that prompted and individualism, perceived by Talcott Par- May Fourth (1919) generation Chinese sons as the three inseparable dimensions thinkers to advocate wholesale westerniza- of modernity, are likely to loom large in tion as a precondition for cultural survival China’s intellectual discussion. The Enlight- was disorienting and self-defeating.2 The enment mentality is live and well in cultural deliberate choice to undermine rich spiritu- China. Understandably, scholars like Vera al resources and to embark on a materialist Schwarcz and Li Zhehou have argued, in path to save the nation led to revolution- their refl ection on the May Fourth move- ary romanticism and populist scientism. ment, that the basic intellectual problem in The demand for effective action and de- the tragic history of China’s modernization monstrable results was so compelling that was that national sentiments to save the the life of the mind was marginalized. As nation overshadowed the need for a deep a consequence, there was little room for understanding of the Enlightenment. This refl ection, let alone meditative thinking. lamentable outcome made China’s march For philosophy, the outcome was disas- toward modernity painfully tortuous. The trous. In this regard, the modern fate of assumption is that the concerted effort Chinese intellectuals was much worse than to learn from the West was frustrated by their Indian counterparts. While centuries the burning desire for national survival. As of colonization did not break the backbone a result, the time was too short and the of Indian spirituality, the semi-colonial sta- space too limited for Enlightenment ideals tus prompted the Chinese intelligentsia to such as liberty, equality, rationality, and due reject in toto and by choice all the spiritual process of law to grow and fl ourish in the traditions that defi ned China’s soul. We Chinese intellectual soil. It may have taken

30 centuries for science and democracy to be- of the Sinic world. Both Kang Youwei and come fully established in Western Europe Tan Sitong propounded the destruction of and North America, but the Westernizers family particularism as a precondition for and, by implication, the modernizers had the revitalization of inclusive Confucian hu- only a few decades to try to transform Chi- manism. Xiong Shili, the Confucian thinker, na in the spirit of science and democracy. straightforwardly condemned the family as However, some of the diffi culties lay in the the source of all evils. ambiguity of the Enlightenment mental- The rise of Maoism, as the ruling ide- ity itself as well. The Chinese Westernizers ology for China’s modernization in the and modernizers, seasoned in the Enlight- 1950s, further intensifi ed the critique of enment mentality, were all committed po- Confucian family ethics. As the confl uence litical activists with a passion to save China of several seemingly incompatible currents from the dark history of backwardness, its of thought, all under the disguise of the own feudal past. “Enlightenment mentality”: positivistic sci- The ills of the Chinese family as charac- entism, romantic revolutionism, agrarian- terized by the authoritarianism of the three ism, iconoclasm, industrial modernism, and bonds (domination of the father over the nativistic spiritualism, the thought of Mao son, the ruler over the minister, and the Zedong was incompatible with Confucian husband over the wife) have been thor- humanism in general and Confucian family oughly critiqued by some of the most ar- ethics in particular. The belief that totalistic ticulate and infl uential writers in modern social transformation based on the univer- China. Ba Jin’s novel, The Family, represen- sal laws of historical progress is possible, tative of the iconoclastic ethos of the May that continuous revolution as the develop- Fourth generation, poignantly reminds us ment of consciousness as well as mate- that the Confucian idea of “home,” in the rial goods will eventually eliminate China’s perspective of contemporary consciousness backwardness, that the peasants are the informed by Western liberal democratic motive force for China’s march toward mo- ideas, is actually a “prison house” denying dernity, that the destruction of China’s feu- the basic rights of the individual and en- dal legacy is required to welcome the brave slaving the creative energy of the young. new world may have been a naive and dis- Indeed, Confucian family ethics as depicted torted version of the Enlightenment, but, by the indignant pen of Lu Xun with tell- for almost half a century, it was taken for ing effectiveness was no more than “ritual granted as a hope, a faith, indeed a light teaching.” Such an outmoded education, source for the future. In this peculiar ver- instead of humanizing the world, contains sion of the Enlightenment, Confucian con- the subtle message of cannibalism, or, in ceptions of community, not only the family his graphic phrase: “Eat people!” The slo- but all modalities of human interaction (the gan, “Down with Confucius and Sons!” fi ve dyadic relationships for example) were was directed against the feudal past in relegated to the dustbin of history. general and the Confucian family in par- In a contemporary perspective, while ticular. Understandably, even those who we are willing to grant that the modern- advocated the revival of Confucian human- ization project as exemplifi ed by the West- ism, acknowledged that the Confucian ern Europe and North America is now the family ethic was the single most important common heritage of humanity, we should cultural factor inhibiting the modernization not be blind to the serious contradictions

31 inherent in the project and the explosive alent of community in the three cardinal destructiveness embodied in the dynam- virtues of the French Revolution, has re- ics of the modern West. The legacy of the ceived scanty attention in modern Western Enlightenment is pregnant with disorient- economic, political, and social thought. ing ambiguities. The values it espouses The willingness to tolerate inequality, the do not cohere as an integrated value sys- faith in the salvifi c power of self-interest, tem recommending a coordinated ethical and the unbridled affi rmation of aggres- course of action. For example, the confl ict sive egoism have greatly poisoned the between liberty and equality is often unre- good well of progress, reason, and individ- solvable. ualism. The need to express a universal in- An urgent task for the community of tent for the formation of a “global village” like-minded persons deeply concerned and to articulate a possible link between about degradation of the environment, so- the fragmented world we experience in cial disintegration, and the lack of any form our ordinary daily existence and the imag- of distributive justice is to rethink the En- ined community for the human species lightenment heritage. The paradox is that as a whole is deeply felt by an increasing we cannot afford to uncritically accept its number of concerned intellectuals. Un- inner logic in light of the unintended nega- derstandably, the basic unit in any society, tive consequences it has engendered for past and present, namely the family, looms the global community; nor can we reject its relevance, with all of the fruitful am- large in contemporary political discourse. biguities it entails, to our intellectual self- The idea of global stewardship implicit in defi nition, present and future. There is no this line of thinking demands a new ethic easy way out. We do not have an “either- signifi cantly different from the Enlighten- or” choice. ment mentality. The possibility of a radically different From the Confucian perspective, this ethic or a new value system separate from requires, at a minimum, the replacement and independent of the Enlightenment of the principle of self-interest, no matter mentality is not realistic. It may even ap- how broadly defi ned, with the golden rule pear to be either cynical or hypercritical. stated in the negative: “Do not do unto oth- We need to explore the spiritual resources ers what you would not want others to do that may help us to broaden the scope of unto you.” The recognition that what we the Enlightenment project, deepen its mor- cherish as the best way to live our lives may al sensitivity, and, if necessary, creatively not be applicable to the concrete situation transform its genetic constraints in order to of our neighbor is the initial step toward an fully realize its potential as a world view for empathetic appreciation of the integrity of the human community as a whole. the other. Since this version of the golden rule is stated in the negative, it will have to A New Ethic for the Global be augmented by a positive principle: “in Community order to establish ourselves, we must help A key to the success of this intellectual joint others to establish themselves; in order to venture is to recognize the conspicuous ab- enlarge ourselves, we have to help us to sence of the idea of community, let alone enlarge themselves.” An inclusive sense of the global community, in the Enlighten- community, based on mutual benefi t and ment project. Fraternity, a functional equiv- fruitful interchange, rather than the zero-

32 sum game in an economic calculus, need the synergy engendered by individual ini- to be cultivated. tiatives with group orientation has made Industrial East Asia, under the infl u- this region economically and politically the ence of Confucian culture, has already most dynamic area of the world since the developed a less adversarial, less individu- Second World War. alistic, and less self-interested modern civi- The Westernization of Confucian Asia lization.3 It is now widely acknowledged (including Japan, the two Koreas, mainland that the co-existence of market economy China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore, with government leadership provides an and Vietnam) may have forever altered its important impetus for rapid economic de- spiritual landscape, but its indigenous re- velopment in Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, sources (including Mahayana Buddhism, Hong Kong, Singapore, and, more recently, Taoism, Shintoism, shamanism, and other the People’s Republic of China. Scholars folk religions) have the resiliency to resur- in comparative politics have also noticed face and make their presence known in a that the development of democratic polity new synthesis. in East Asia is not at all incompatible with In the Confucian perspective, neither meritocracy. Indeed, educational elitism, capitalism nor socialism (both exemplify through competitive examinations, may the Enlightenment mentality) addresses have been instrumental in developing a the issue of primordial ties: the embedded- style of leadership which enables the pub- ness of the human condition. Specifi cally, lic sector to continuously attract the best the vital importance of ethnicity, gender, talents among college graduates. In short, language, land, and religion in defi ning the

33 concrete living human being in a unique is greatly valued in all modern societies. If nexus of human relationships. The abstract a Confucian society, based on its cherished universal principle in either the capitalist value of “learning for the sake of oneself” or the socialist conception of the homo and the moral imperative of continuous economicus totally fails to account for the self-realization, can generate ideas of basic complexity and variability of human settle- liberties and rights and develop a legal sys- ments that physically constitute the global tem to protect the privacy of its citizenry, community. The primordial ties, as cultur- its belief in the person as a center of rela- ally specifi c and historically contextualized tionships rather than as an isolated individ- ways of fashioning the human community, ual may be conducive to stable democracy. are diametrically opposed to the Enlight- In its basic belief, the Confucian tra- enment assumption that modernization dition apparently lacks ideas of radical naturally leads to homogenization. On the transcendence, positive evil, and transcen- contrary, Confucian inclusive humanism dental rationality. As a result, Confucian may provide rich resources for us to devel- societies may not have rich resources to op an ethic that celebrates cultural diver- check the abuses of power by autocratic sity, respects difference, and encourages a or paternalistic regimes. Modern Confu- plurality of spiritual orientations. cian societies must learn to appreciate the The caveat, of course, is that, having psychology of suspicion in conceptualizing been humiliated and frustrated by the im- the proper relationship between the gov- perialist and colonial domination of the ernment and the governed. Lord Acton’s modern West for more than a century, the liberal dictum that “power tends to cor- rise of industrial East Asia also symbolizes rupt and absolute power corrupts abso- the instrumental rationality of the Enlight- lutely” is particularly instructive to East enment heritage with a vengeance. Indeed, Asian intellectuals, who have been too the mentality of Japan and the Four Mini- much seasoned in the Confucian scholar- Dragons is characterized by mercantilism, offi cial mentality to cultivate a critical spirit commercialism, and international competi- against the dictatorial tendency of strong tiveness. Surely, the possibility of their de- rulership for their own well-being. The veloping a more humane and sustainable idea of God as the Absolute has been, by community should not be exaggerated. and large, effective in rendering all worldly However, this need not undermine the per- structures of power relative in the West; suasive power of the Confucian idea that the unintended healthy consequence of despite ethnic, linguistic, religious, social, making political authority subsumed under political, and economic diversity, human a more transcending framework of mean- community ought to be inclusive. ing is eminently suited, as a prescription, to In the modern liberal-democratic per- the East Asian vulnerability toward authori- spective, the Confucian humanism clearly tarianism. Yet, the Confucian theory of the suffers from manifold shortcomings. In its Mandate of Heaven, based on the ethic overall spiritual orientation, the Confucian of responsibility of the elite, is more con- tradition apparently lacks a strong commit- genial to democratic polity than, say, the ment to individualism. The issue of indi- divine right of kings. The Confucian ideas vidualism as a refl ection of modern ethos of benevolent government, the duty-con- is complex but, undeniably, the dignity, au- sciousness of the elite, and the right of the tonomy, and independence of the person people to revolution are all consistent with

34 democratic demands for civility, impartial- an adversarial division of labor within a ity, and public accountability. Actually, the constitutional framework, loyal opposition Confucians are noted for their commit- and total political participation. Authori- ment to cultivating the value of reasonable- tarianism, either harsh or soft, continues ness in ordinary daily human interaction for to haunt East Asian democracies. The pen- they believe that true social harmony is at- chant for consensus formation undermines tainable only through communication and the dynamism, engendered by a creative negotiation. tension inherent in an adversarial system, in In its political philosophy, the Confu- East Asian political culture. The patient tol- cian tradition apparently lacks concepts erance and informed understanding of the of liberty, human rights, privacy, and due role and function of the loyal opposition, process of law. The Confucian predilection characterized by most western democra- for rightness, duty, public-spiritedness, and cies, is yet to have a presence in East Asia. ritual may have undermined the East Asian Surely, multi-party elections have already capacity to fully integrate freedoms of indi- become a reality of life for all industrial vidual expression, inalienable political and East Asian politicians. Even The People’s civil rights, respect for the private sphere, Republic of China is experienced in vot- and an independent judiciary. However, in ing behavior. However, while the political a complex modern society, we can no lon- process within a constitutional framework ger afford to underscore the value of liber- is being worked out in most industrial East ties without considering adequate political Asian societies, it will take years to create measures to protect the economically disad- an ethos of civility and openness in intra- vantaged. The ills of an inefﬁ cient welfare party communication. The idea of govern- system notwithstanding, the government ment for, of, and by the people is no longer must ensure that vicious competitiveness merely wishful thinking in Japan and the enhanced by market forces does not lead Four Mini-Dragons, but democratic polity, to unbearable inequalities. This requires the far from being an institutionalized mecha- cultivation of a strong sense of culpability nism fully integrated into the ordinary way and answerability of business and govern- of life, remains contentious, disruptive, and ment elite to the well-being of society at even explosive. large. Confucian concern for duty is not at In interpersonal praxis, the Confucian variance with the demand for rights. Ac- tradition apparently lacks the precedents tually, for a discourse on self-interest and of social contract, civil society, and public privacy to have the salience it deserves, the sphere. However, the fruitful human inter- development of a public sphere, where the action involved in “network capitalism,” spirit of impartiality is respected, is both which has successfully extended to virtually desirable and necessary. Paradoxically, the all corners of the global community, sug- formation of a civilized mode of conduct (a gests that the ethical requirements of com- ﬁ duciary commitment to the public good) plex business transactions, such as trust, by legal professionals may still be the most reliability, responsibility, and obligation, effective way to curtail concern for self- rooted in Confucian culture, are a salient interests. feature of this approach. Although, with- In its institutional structure, the Confu- out a well-developed legal system, this way cian tradition apparently lacks a mechanism of generating wealth is hardly universaliz- and checks and balances against autocracy, able, it has already created a unique style

35 of economic and social development with his profi t through rational calculation in far-reaching implications for the rest of the the market place adjudicated by a legal world. The emergence of public institu- framework is certainly incompatible with tions in business, mass media, academia, the Confucian perception of the self as a religion, and the profession, independent center of relationships and the Confucian of the political center and yet instrumental emphasis on duty-consciousness, general in shaping its long-term policies, enables well-being, rightness, sympathy, and the industrial East Asia gradually to develop moral transformation of ritual. full-fl edged civil societies. While it is diffi - The re-presentation of the Problematik cult to predict the course of action of these of community in European and American emerging institutions which have made political discourses in recent years is symp- the idea of civil society intelligible to East tomatic of the confl uence of two appar- Asian intellectuals, the increasing plural- ently contradictory forces in the late twen- ism inevitably leads to new constellations tieth century: the global village as both a in thought, religion, ethics, aesthetics, and virtual reality and an imagined community world views. Whether or not a truly func- in our information age and the disintegra- tioning public sphere adjudicated by com- tion and restructuring of human together- municative rationality will come into being ness at all levels, from family to nation. in each of these newly industrial countries, It may not be immodest to say that the the density of the human network and Confucian tradition can provide a spiritual the complexity of the cultural texture have resource for us to develop a new vision of made them a remarkably modern exem- community from the core of the Enlight- plifi cation of “organic solidarity” in Dur- enment project itself. The need to go be- kheim’s conception of division of labor as a yond the Enlightenment mentality, without necessary condition for modernity. either deconstructing or abandoning its The above discussion of the limitations commitment to rationality, liberty, equal- of the Confucian tradition in the liberal- ity, human rights, and distributive justice, democratic perspective and the possible requires a thorough re-examination of the Confucian responses to the Enlightenment kind of global ethic that is necessary for mentality suggest a new ethical horizon. human survival and fl ourishing. In ethical terms, what Confucian East Asia exemplifi es is a signifi cantly different form of modernity. Surely, market econo- Implications my, democratic polity, and individualism If we assume, as dictated by the East Asian are all present in East Asian modernity, but example, that traditions shape the mod- government leadership, meritocracy, and ernization process and, in a substantial communitarianism have so fundamentally way, defi ne the meaning of being modern, restructured the market as the “invisible what is the status of the claim that moder- hand,” democracy as an adversarial system, nity must be conceived in terms of three and the individualistic ethos that the basic inseparable dimensions: market economy, rules defi ning modernity in Western Eu- democratic polity, and individualism? Sure- rope and North America do not necessarily ly, the case at hand enhances the convic- apply. The idealized notion of a human be- tion that market economy, as a powerful ing as a rights-bearing individual motivated engine of modernization, is a constitutive by self-interest who attempts to maximize part of modernity.

36 It is worth noting, however, market in the betterment of the human condition economy, as it has been practiced in East through self-effort, commitment to family Asia, is not at all incompatible with strong as the basic unit of society and to family and comprehensive government participa- ethics as the foundation of social stability, tion. Often, political leadership provides trust in the intrinsic value of moral educa- necessary guidance for a functioning mar- tion, belief in self-reliance, work ethic, and ket. In both domestic coordination and mutual aid and a sense of an organic unity foreign competition, economically sophisti- with an ever-extending network of rela- cated government offi cials are often instru- tionships provides rich cultural resources mental in allowing for the smooth func- for East Asian democracies to develop their tioning of the system and for creating an own distinctive features. environment for healthy growth. Collabo- It is true that the Confucian rhetoric, ration between offi cialdom and the busi- as in a discussion of Asian values, may be ness community is the norm in East Asian used as a strategy for criticizing the indis- societies and the pervasive and fruitful in- criminate imposition of Western ideas on teraction between polity and economy is the rest of the world. The new agenda to a defi ning characteristic of East Asian po- broaden human rights from exclusive em- litical economy. The authority of the gov- phasis on political and civil rights to include ernment in adjudicating economic matters economic, social, and cultural rights may may take different forms: direct manage- very well be perceived of as a strategic ment (Singapore), active leadership (South maneuver engineered by Asian leaders to Korea), informed guidance (Japan), passive divert attention from blatant human rights interference (Taiwan), or positive non-inter- violations by authoritarian regimes in East ference (Hong Kong)--but the presence of Asia. While the need for East Asian soci- the government in all weighty economic eties under the infl uence of Confucian decisions is not only expected but also de- culture to free themselves from nepotism, sired by the business community as well as authoritarianism, and male-chauvinism is the general public. obvious, democracy with Confucian char- The universal applicability of democrat- acteristics is not only imaginable but may ic polity notwithstanding, the East Asian also become practicable. manifestations of the democratic idea East Asian intellectuals are actively in- strongly suggest that democratization as a volved in probing the Confucian tradition process is not necessarily incompatible with as a spiritual resource for economic de- bureaucratic meritocracy, educational elit- velopment, nation-building, social stabil- ism, and particularistic social networking. ity, and cultural identity. But, the echoes The western democratic experience itself of the iconoclastic attacks on Confucius has been signifi cantly shaped by traditions and Sons still reverberate in the halls of of pragmatism, empiricism, skepticism, and academia and in the corridors of govern- gradualism as in the English case, anti-cler- ment throughout Japan and the Four Mini- icalism, rationalism, culturalism, and the Dragons. Paradoxically, the Confucian per- revolutionary spirit as in the French case, sonality ideals (the authentic person. the and romanticism, nationalism, and ethnic worthy, or the sage) can be realized more pride as in the German case. And the con- fully in a liberal democratic society than ei- tinuous presence of a strong civil society as ther in a traditional imperial dictatorship or in the American case. The Confucian faith a modern authoritarian regime. East Asian

37 Confucian ethics must creatively transform among Chinese intellectuals that Cultural itself in light of Enlightenment values be- China is no longer an agrarian society with fore it can serve as an effective critique its vast majority statically wedded to the of the excessive individualism, pernicious land. For it is also one of the most dynamic competitiveness, and vicious letigiousness migrant communities in the world. of the modern West. With more than 36 million ethnic Chi- Intellectuals in the Confucian world nese overseas, primarily in Southeast Asia have been devoted students of Western and throughout the world, it is impossible learning (Dutch, British, French, German, to relegate the most enduring and domi- and American) for more than a hundred nant ethical system to the background by years. As they became seasoned in the consigning it to either the “feudal past” or “universal” discourses exclusively informed the “agrarian present.” China encompass- by the Enlightenment mentality of the es not only the largest farming population modern West, they began to raise chal- but also one of the most enterprising mer- lenging questions by drawing from their chant classes in the emerging global com- own indigenous spiritual traditions. The munity. If we assume that culture matters, transvaluation of Confucian values as a that values people cherish or unconsciously creative response to the hegemonic dis- uphold provide guidance for their action, courses of Western Europe and North that the motivational structure for people America seems a natural outcome of this is not only relevant but crucial to their eco- intercultural communication. Part of the nomic ethics, and that the life-orientation impetus came from a critical awareness of a society makes a difference in the eco-

38 nomic (and political) behavior of its people, If we broaden our scope to include both whether or not our current ethical thinking industrial and socialist East Asia, the pres- can provide strong enough of a moral basis ence of Japanese, Korean, and Vietnamese for the kind of global stewardship essential communities throughout the world further to world peace is vitally important. enhances the need to understand Confu- The matter is immensely complicated cian ethics. by the decision of the political leadership I would like to quote, at this junction, of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), a paragraph from Edwin Reischauer’s pro- through the “reform and open” policy, to phetic statement made in 1973 and sub- join the restless march toward modernity sequently published as “The Sinic World in narrowly defi ned in terms of wealth and Perspective” in Foreign Affairs: power. Already, an internal migration of The peoples in East Asia...share certain more than 100 million people has occurred key traits, such as group solidarity, an within the PRC mainly from the country- emphasis on the political unit, great or- side to the cities, especially those along the ganizational sills, a strong work ethic, southeastern coast where economic devel- and a tremendous drive for education. opment has been most vibrant. As the tidal It is because of such traits that the Japa- waves of commercialization begin to over- nese could rise with unprecedented whelm the Chinese interior, the pressure of speed from being a small underdevel- migration will be greatly enhanced. oped nation in the mid-nineteenth century to being a major imperial power In the perspective of “Cultural China,” in the early twentieth century and an a second migration, as contrasted with the economic superpower today.... And fi rst migration of millions of Chinese from now her record is being paralleled by all Guangtong and Fujian provinces to South- the other East Asian units that are un- east Asia in the nineteenth century, is un- encumbered by war or the economically derway. Chinese with substantial fi nancial blighting pall of communism, namely, resources in Southeast Asia, for reasons South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and of political security, economic opportu- Singapore, which, like Hong Kong, is essentially a Chinese city-state. Through- nity, cultural expression, or education for out the non-East Asian countries of their children, have begun to emigrate to Southeast Asia, Chinese minorities re- Australia, Canada, and the United States main so economically and educationally in the last two decades. The number will dominant as to cause serious political be greatly increased as residents of Hong and social problems. One cannot but Kong and Taiwan join the process. In the wonder what economic growth might United States, ethnic Chinese from South be in store for Vietnam, if peace is ever Vietnam and students from the PRC in re- achieved here, and for China and North Korea if their policies change enough cent years have literally altered the land- to afford room for the economic drive scapes of Chinatowns and international of which their people are undoubtedly student communities throughout the coun- capable.4 try. On the other hand, it should also be noted that there has been a steady fl ow of If we maintain that Confucian ethics is highly qualifi ed professionals in science and an underlying East Asian value, two qualifi - engineering returning from North America cations are required. First, the implicit des- to industrial East Asia in recent decades. ignation of East Asia as “Confucian” in the

39 ethicoreligious sense is comparable to the validity and limitation of employing “Chris- tian,” “Islamic,” ”Hindu,” and “Buddhist” in identifying geopolitical regions such as Eu- rope, the Middle East, India, or Southeast Asia. The matter is confounded by the religious pluralism of “Confucian” East Asia. However, it is not at all diffi cult to imagine that Shintoist or Buddhist Japan, shaman- ist, Buddhist or Christian Korea, and Dao- ist or Buddhist China are all constitutive parts of the East Asian spiritual landscape. Second, Confucian ethics so conceived is not a simple re-presentation of traditional Confucian teaching. Rather, it is a way of conceptualizing the form of life, the habits of the heart, or the social praxis of those societies which have been under the infl u- ence of Confucian education for centuries. As we are confronted with the issue of a new world order in lieu of the exclusive dichotomy (capitalism and socialism) imposed by the super powers, we are easily tempted to come up with facile generalizations: “the end of history,” “the clash of civilizations,” or “the Pacifi c century.” The much more diffi cult and, hopefully, in the long haul, much more signifi cant line of inquiry is to address truly fundamental issues confronting the global community: Are we isolated individuals, or do we each live as a center of relationships? Is moral self-knowledge necessary for personal growth? Can any society prosper or endure without developing a basic sense of duty and responsibility among its members? Should our pluralistic society deliberately cultivate shared values and a common ground for human understanding? As we become acutely aware of our earth’s vulnerability and increasingly wary of social disintegration what are the critical spiritual questions to ask? Since the Opium War (1939), China has endured many holocausts. Prior to 1949,

40 imperialism was the main culprit, but since dimensions of human fl ourishing must be the founding of the PRC, the erratic lead- sought. ership and faulty policies must also share The time is long overdue to move be- the blame. Although millions of Chinese yond a mindset shaped by instrumental died, the neighboring countries were not rationality and private interests. As the seriously affected and the outside world politics of domination fades, we witness was, by and large, oblivious to what actu- the dawning of an age of communication, ally happened. Since 1979, China has been networking, negotiation, interaction, in- rapidly becoming an integral part of the terfacing, and collaboration. Whether or global economic system. More than 30% not East Asian intellectuals, inspired by the of the Chinese economy is tied to interna- Confucian spirit of self-cultivation, family tional trade. Natural economic territories cohesiveness, social solidarity, benevolent have emerged between Hong Kong and governance, and universal peace, will ar- Quangzhou, Fujian and Taiwan, Shandong ticulate an ethic of responsibility as Chi- and South Korea. Japanese, European, and nese, Japanese, Koreans, and Vietnamese American as well as Hong Kong and Tai- emigrate to other parts of the world is pro- wanese investments are present in virtually foundly meaningful for global stewardship. all Chinese provinces. The return of Hong We can actually envision the Confucian perception of human fl ourishing, based Kong to the PRC, the confl ict across the upon the dignity of the person, in terms Taiwan Straits, the economic and cultural of a series of concentric circles: self, fam- interchange among overseas Chinese com- ily, community, society, nation, world, and munities and between them and the moth- cosmos. We begin with a quest for true erland, the intra-regional communication personal identity, an open and creatively in East Asia, the political and economic in- transforming selfhood which, paradoxi- tegration of the Association for Southeast cally, must be predicated on our ability Asian Nations, and the rise of the Asia-Pa- to overcome selfi shness and egoism. We cifi c region will all have substantial impact cherish family cohesiveness. In order to do on our shrinking global community. that, we have to go beyond nepotism. We The revitalization of the Confucian dis- embrace communal solidarity, but we have course may contribute to the formation of to transcend parochialism to fully realize its a much needed communal critical self-con- true value. We can be enriched by social sciousness among East Asian intellectuals. integration, provided that we overcome We may very well be in the very beginning ethnocentrism and chauvinistic culturalism. of global history rather than witnessing We are committed to national unity, but the end of history. And, from a compara- we ought to rise above aggressive nation- tive cultural perspective, this new begin- alism so that we can be genuinely patri- ning must take as its point of departure otic. We are inspired by human fl ourishing dialogue rather than clash of civilizations. but we must endeavor not to be confi ned Our awareness of the danger of civilization- by anthropocentrism, the full meaning of al confl icts, rooted in ethnicity, language, humanity is anthropocosmic rather than land, and religion, makes the necessity of anthropocentric. On the occasion of the dialogue particularly compelling. An alter- international symposium on Islamic-Confu- native model of sustainable development cian dialogue organized by the University with emphasis on the ethical and spiritual of Malaya (March 1995), the Deputy Prime

41 Minister of Malaysia, Anwar Iberhim, quot- transcends secular humanism, a blatant ed a statement from Huston Smith’s The form of anthropocentrism characteristic of World’s Religions. It very much captures the Enlightenment mentality. Indeed, it is the Confucian spirit of self-transcendence: in the anthropocosmic spirit that we ﬁ nd communication between self and commu- In shifting the center of one’s empathic nity, harmony between human species and concern from oneself to one’s family nature, and mutuality between humanity one transcends selﬁ shness. The move and Heaven. This integrated comprehen- from family to community transcends nepotism. The move from community to sive vision of learning to be human can nation transcends parochialism and the very well serve as a point of departure for a move to all humanity counters chauvin- new discourse on the global ethic. istic nationalism.5

We can even add: the move towards the unity of Heaven and humanity (tianrenheyi)

N otes

1 For more on Weber’s distinction between instrumental and value-oriented rationality, see: Max We- ber, Economy and Society, ed. Guenther Roth and Claus Wittich. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978). pp.6-20. 2 Chow Tse-Tsung, The May Fourth Movement. Intellectual Revolution in Modern China (Cambridge/ Mass.: Harvard University), 1960. 3 Tu Weiming, “Industrial East Asia: The Role of Culture,” Bulletin of American Academy of Arts and Sciences,Vol. 38, No. 7, April 1985: 9-20. 4 Edwin O. Reischauer, “The Sinic World in Perspective,” Foreign Affairs, 52, No. 2, January 1974, 341-48. 5 Huston Smith, The World’s Religions: Our Great Wisdom Traditions, (San Francisco: Harper’s, 1991), 182.

42 Loving Compassion in Islam and Buddhism: Rahma and Karunā

By Reza Shah-Kazemi expression in this quality, for when the illusion of separation is overcome, the suffering of the ‘other’ cannot be separated from Compassion, even on the human plane, oneself; the virtues of compassion and is not just a sentiment, it is an existential mercy, generosity and love thus become quality. This existential quality presupposes the hallmarks of the character of one who a concrete sense of participation in the suf- has truly realized Unity. Likewise, but from fering of others, as is expressed by the ety- a different angle: when self-centredness is mology of the word: com-passion means overcome, together with the worldliness, to ‘suffer with’ another. The metaphysics subtle or overt, which feeds it, then the of tawhīd ﬁ nds its most appropriate ethical same qualities centered on compassionate

43 love will fl ow forth naturally and sponta- dominate the nature of one’s conduct in neously: these qualities, inherent in the relation to others; this ideal, at once ethi- spiritual substance or fi tra of each soul, will cal and spiritual, derives its ultimate justifi - no longer be constrained or suffocated by cation and transformative power from the coagulations of egotism and worldliness. fact that it expresses on the human plane Rather, compassionate love will emanate a principle which is rooted in the heart of to the whole of creation, the compassion- the Absolute. ate soul will refl ect and radiate the all- In both traditions compassion is in- encompassing grace of God. Speaking of separable from love, mahabba in Islam two types, those who reject God and those and mettā in Buddhism.2 In Buddhism one who believe in Him, the Qur’ān declares: even fi nds the compound maitrī-karunā ‘love-compassion’ which expresses the in- Unto each, the former and the latter, do tertwining of these two principles; in Islam, We extend the gracious gift of thy Lord. likewise, Rahma cannot be adequately And the gracious gift of thy Lord can translated by the single English word ‘com- never be confi ned (17:20). passion’ or ‘mercy’, but requires the addi- This is because God’s Rahma, being in- tion of the element of love. A compelling fi nite, can be excluded from nowhere, and reason for translating Rahma as ‘loving from nobody: My loving Compassion en- compassion’ and not just ‘compassion’— compasses all things (7:156). and certainly not just ‘mercy’—is provided by the Prophet’s use of this word in the fol- Islam and Buddhism are not so far apart lowing incident. At the conquest of Mec- from each other as regards the role of this ca, certain captives were brought to the quality of compassionate love. Despite Prophet. There was a woman among them, their very different conceptual starting- running frantically and calling for her baby; points, both traditions stress this human she found him, held him to her breast and quality as a key ethical trait; and for both fed him. The Prophet said to his compan- traditions, this human quality is inseparable ions: ‘Do you think this woman would cast from the Absolute—from Allāh in Islam, her child into the fi re?’ We said, ‘No, she and the Dharma, or the Void (Shūnya) or could not do such a thing.’ He said, ‘God Nirvāna in Buddhism.1 is more lovingly compassionate (arham) In this article we intend to show ways to His servants than is this woman to her 3 in which the Islamic conception of Rahma child.’ The Rahma of God is here defi ned helps to render explicit what is largely im- by reference to a quality which all can rec- plicit in the earliest texts of the Pali canon; ognize as love: the mother’s acts of com- in this respect, it can be seen to serve a passion and mercy stream forth from an function similar to that of Mahayana Bud- overwhelming organic love for her child. dhism, wherein compassion comes to play One cannot love another without feeling a determinative role, elevated as the very compassionate to that person, while one principle, cosmological and not simply ethi- can feel compassion for someone without cal, which motivates the Buddhas and Bo- necessarily loving that person. dhisattvas. We would therefore argue that The Jewish scholar Ben-Shemesh goes for both Muslims and Buddhists, the qual- so far as to translate the basmala as ‘In the ity of loving compassion must determine Name of God, the Compassionate, the Be- the core of one’s personality, and it must loved’ to bring home this key aspect of love

44 proper to the root of Rahma.4 He argues ing them the means—the ‘noble eightfold that in both Arabic and Hebrew the mean- path’—to eliminate that cause. It is clear, ing of love is strongly present in the root then, that even in early Buddhism compas- r-h-m, and gives the following evidence: sion was not just a cardinal virtue, it went Psalm number 18 contains the phrase: Er- to the very heart of the Buddhist upāya, hamha Adonay—‘I love thee my Lord’.5 In the ‘expedient means’ or ‘saving strategy.’ Aramaic/Syriac, the root r-h-m specifi cally However, it is not hard to see that in the denotes love, rather than ‘compassion’. later texts, those from which the Mahay- One can thus feel the resonance of this ana branch of Buddhism derive, the stress Syriac connotation within the Arabic Rah- on compassion goes well beyond anything ma. Moreover, there is epigraphic evidence found in the earliest texts, those of the Pali that early Christian sects in southern Ara- canon, upon which the Theravada branch bic used the name Rahmānan as a name of of Buddhism is based. In the latter, com- God, and this would probably have been passion is indeed fundamental and indis- understood as ‘The Loving’.6 pensable, but it remains a human virtue; God’s Rahma is described by the Proph- in Mahayana texts, by contrast, it takes on et as being greater than that of the woman altogether mythological dimensions, and for her child, implying that the transcen- enters into the defi nition of what most dent prototype of this most loving and closely approximates the Personal God in compassionate of all human qualities is Buddhism, namely, the Buddha of Infi nite found in the divine Reality. It is interesting Light, Amitābha. By tracing the compas- to note that the Buddha refers to an almost sionate function of Gautama the sage back identical image in order to bring home the to its principial root, Mahayana Buddhism meaning of mettā, the love that is insepa- helps to solve a logical problem within the rable from karunā. This is from a passage in very structure of Theravada Buddhism, or the Mettā-sutta (‘Teaching on love’) in the at least makes explicit what is implicit in Pali canon: the earlier tradition. The logical problem is this: If, as the Buddha preached, there is no Even as a mother watches over and pro- ultimate reality pertaining to the individual tects her child, her only child, so with a soul (this being the doctrine of anattā, ‘no boundless mind should one cherish all soul’), from where does the compassion living beings, radiating friendliness over derive its substance, and its enlighten- the entire world, above, below, and all ing effi cacy? If the soul is but a conglom- around without limit. So let him culti- eration of empirical and psychic envelopes vate a boundless good will towards the (skandhas), with no essential reality, can entire world, uncramped, free from ill will or enmity. Standing or walking, sit- the compassion manifested by such a soul ting or lying down, during all his waking have a more substantial reality than these hours, let him establish this mindfulness ‘envelopes’ themselves? In other words, of good will, which men call the highest what is the ultimate source of the compas- state!7 sion of the Buddha? A simple answer would be that this It is out of compassion, indeed, that the source is none other than the enlightened Buddha preached his Dhamma: his desire state itself: compassion fl ows forth from was to liberate people from suffering by en- the very nature of Nirvana or Shūnya. But lightening them as to its cause, and show- the question remains: how does compas-

45 sion spring forth from an impersonal or as the ‘Pure Land’, let alone that state supra-personal state, when the very nature of Nirvāna wherein the various Buddhas of compassion is so clearly personal, that is, themselves are all transcended. it so intimately implies a personal will, ac- It is clear, then, that Mahayana Bud- tively and compassionately involved in the dhism comes close to the Islamic concep- lives of suffering humanity, a personal will tion of divinity as regards the root of the which, moreover, must at the same time be quality of compassion. Both traditions transcendent or absolute. It must be tran- make explicit a metaphysically irrefutable scendent, otherwise it could not save rela- principle, one about which the Buddha tive beings through its compassion; but it himself was silent, but which he did not must also assume a dimension of relativity, contradict: compassion cannot be exhaust- otherwise it would have no relation to lived by its purely human manifestation; on ing human beings. It is precisely this combi- the contrary, it derives all its power and nation of absolute transcendence and per- efﬁ cacy from its supra-human, absolute sonal compassion which is expressed in the or ‘divine’ source. This source is transcen- Islamic conception of divine Rahma, and in dent, but insofar as it radiates towards all the various heavenly Buddhas depicted in creatures, it assumes a ‘personal’ dimen- later Mahayana texts.8 sion, for it consists of an active, conscious According to these texts, the principle and loving will to save all creatures: and of compassion, so perfectly embodied in to speak of such a will is to speak of some Gautama the sage, is depicted as a prin- kind of ‘person’ directing that will. ciple transcending his own empirical in- In one respect, then, this can be seen as dividuality. He insisted that one can only a personalization of the Absolute, bestow- ‘see’ the Buddha in the light of the reality ing upon the pure, ineffable and incon- of the Dharma, the supreme principle,9 of ceivable Essence a personal or anthropo- which he is an embodiment: ‘Those who morphic dimension, a dimension without by my form did see me, and those who which it cannot enter into engagement followed me by my voice, wrong are the with human persons. For the pure Abso- efforts they engaged in; me those people lute has no relation whatsoever with any will not see. From the Dharma one should conceivable relativity. But this personal di- see the Buddha, for the dharma-bodies mension does not in any way diminish the are the guides.’10 The compassion proper intrinsic absoluteness of the Absolute. For to the Dharma is universal; Gautama the the manifestation of such qualities as com- sage manifested this quality in one particu- passion, love, and mercy does not exhaust lar modality. This relationship between the the nature of the Principle thus manifested. particular and the universal is expressed in In Islamic terms, the pure Absolute is the Buddhism by means of the mythology of Essence (al-Dhāt), transcending the Names cosmic Buddhas existing in unimaginably and Qualities which are assumed by the distant aeons prior to the earthly appear- Absolute in its relationship with the world; ance of the Gautama. Mahayana texts transcending these Names and Qualities therefore present a picture of a ‘Personal implies transcending those ‘personal’ di- God’ with diverse traits—the Ādi-Buddha, mensions of God which presuppose and Vairochana, Amitābha, etc—without manifest these Names and Qualities. whose grace and mercy, one cannot attain The Islamic synthesis between two con- salvation into the celestial domains known ceptions of God—the supra-Personal and

46 the Personal—can be seen as analogous to and al-Muhīt, ‘the All-Encompassing’. Now the synthesis effected by Mahayana Bud- it is from this all-embracing dimension of dhism between the two dimensions of the divine reality that compassion springs: for it Absolute. For the personal and supra-per- is not just as being or knowledge, presence sonal dimensions of Allāh, comprising all or immanence, that God encompasses all, the qualities designated by all of the divine it is also as Rahma: My Rahma encompass- Names, are in perfect harmony and per- es all things, as we saw above. The angels, fect synchronicity. There is no contradiction indeed, give priority to God’s Rahma over between asserting, on the one hand, that His knowledge (‘Ilm) when addressing Him the Essence of God infi nitely transcends as the one who encompasses all things: all conceivable ‘personal’ qualities, and on You encompass all things in Rahma and the other, that God assumes these personal ‘Ilm (40:7).11 qualities for the sake of entering into com- It might still be objected: God is certain- passionate, enlightening and saving rela- ly ‘merciful’ but He should not be called tionship with His creatures. This Islamic syn- ‘compassionate’ as He does not ‘suffer’ thesis can help to show that what has been with any creature. Mercy, it will be argued, called Mahayana ‘theism’ does not violate is the more appropriate word by which to early Buddhism’s insistence on the imper- translate Rahma. One may reply as follows: sonal nature of the Absolute, the transcen- insofar as compassion is a human virtue, dence of the Dharma/Nirvāna/Shūnya vis- à-vis all conceivable qualities, personal or it cannot but be rooted in a divine qual- otherwise. ity; it is this divine quality of Rahma which serves as the transcendent archetype of the Oneness and Compassion human virtue of compassion. The relationship between this divine quality and its hu- Islam also helps to answer the question man refl ection is characterised by two ap- which might be posed to a Buddhist: what parently contradictory principles: similarity is the connection between the metaphysics (tashbīh) and incomparability (tanzīh). Thus, of unity—in terms of which there appears in respect of tashbīh, God as ‘The Com- to be no ‘other’, no ‘dualism’, Samsāra and passionate’ can metaphorically be said to Nirvāna being ultimately identical—and the manifest sympathy for us in our suffer- quality of compassion—which logically presupposes both an agent and a recipient of ing; and it is out of this ‘com-passion or compassion, thus, a duality? Or it might be ‘sym-pathy’ that He graciously lifts us out asked: is there a contradiction between the of our suffering. However this conception absolute transcendence of Reality, and the needs its complement: the point of view compassionate manifestation of this Real- deriving from the principle of tanzīh: in- ity? We would answer in terms of Islamic asmuch as the quality designated by ‘The metaphysics that the oneness of Reality Compassionate’ has no self-subsistent es- strictly implies compassion. For the one- sence, but subsists solely through the Es- ness of God is not simply exclusive, it is sence as such, it cannot possibly be subject also inclusive—it is both Ahad and Wāhid, to any relativity. The inner dimension of this it is both transcendent and immanent. As divine quality must perforce transcend the al-Wāhid, all-inclusive oneness, God en- sphere within which suffering and other compasses all things, whence such divine such relativities are situated, failing which Names as al-Wasi‘, ‘the Infi nitely Capacious’ it would not be a transcendent quality, that

47 is: one that is rooted in the utter transcen- to desire for His creatures, when He pos- dence of the divine Essence. sesses perfectly and infi nitely all that He Conversely, on the human plane, com- could possibly desire? Can the Absolute passion as Rahma is evidently a virtue desire the relative? Al-Ghazālī addresses which one must acquire and cultivate; it this question, fi rst in theological mode, must therefore be present in God, failing and then in terms of the metaphysics of which our human quality of compassion oneness, from the point of view of ma‘rifa. would lack any divine principle; compas- One can legitimately apply the same word, sion would then be a human effect with- love (mahabba), both to man and to God; out a divine cause. This is made clear in but the meaning of the word changes the prophetic saying on the Rahma of the depending on the agent of love. Human mother for her child: human compassion love is defi ned as an inclination (mayl) of is akin to the compassion of God for all the soul towards that which is in harmony creatures, except that divine compassion with it, beauty both outward and inward, is absolute and infi nite, while human com- seeking from another soul the consumma- passion is relative and fi nite. The essence tion of love. Through this love it attains of the quality is one and the same, only its completeness, a mode of perfection which ontological intensity, or mode of manifes- cannot be attained within itself. Such love, tation, is subject to gradation. al-Ghazālī asserts, cannot be ascribed to The aspect of transcendence proper to God, in whom all perfections are infi nitely God implies that this attribute, when as- and absolutely realized. However, from a cribed to God, has an absolute and infi nite higher, metaphysical point of view, one can quality, in contrast to the relative, fi nite indeed say that God loves His creatures. participation in that quality by human be- God’s love is absolutely real, but His love ings. In the human context, then, compas- is not for any ‘other’ being or entity. Rath- sion manifests two things: a virtue whose er, it is for Himself: for His own Essence, essence is divine, on the one hand, and qualities and acts. There is nothing in being a human capacity to suffer, on the other. but His Essence, His qualities and His acts. In the divine context, the transcendent Hence, when the Qur’ān asserts that ‘He source of human compassion is affi rmed, loves them’ (5:54), this means that ‘God but the susceptibility to suffering, which does indeed love them [all human souls], accompanies the human condition, is to- but in reality He loves nothing other than tally absent. As between the human virtue Himself, in the sense that He is the totality and the divine quality—or simply: between [of being], and there is nothing in being the human and the divine—there is both apart from Him.’12 essential continuity and existential discon- Al-Ghazālī demonstrates that God is tinuity, analogical participation and onto- the entirety of being by reference to the logical distinction, tashbīh and tanzīh. holy utterance (hadīth qudsī), in which Another way of resolving the apparent God speaks in the fi rst person, on the contradiction between divine compassion tongue of the Prophet: ‘My slave draws and divine unity is provided by al-Ghazālī. near to Me through nothing I love more If compassion be understood as a mode of than that which I have made obligatory for love, then one can reformulate the ques- him. My slave never ceases to draw near tion and ask whether it is possible to as- to Me through supererogatory acts until I cribe love to God: can God be susceptible love him. And when I love him, I am his

48 hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he grasps, and his foot by which he walks.’13 It is the saint, the walī Allāh (literally: friend of God), who comes to understand the reality that God alone is—that there is no reality by the divine reality—and this understanding comes through effacement, fanā’, in that reality, and this, in turn is the function of God’s love: ‘My slave never ceases to draw near … until I love him.’ It is from this divine love that the saint comes to see that God loves all creatures, and that the reality of this love is constituted by God’s inﬁ nite love of Himself. This love is expressed not just by the term mahabba but also by Rahma, which encompasses all things.

Rahma as Creator Turning now to another aspect of compassion, that of its creative power, we see again that what is left implicit in early Buddhism is rendered altogether explicit both in Islam and in such Mahayana traditions as Jodo Shin. In both traditions, the Creator is nothing other than the ‘All-Compassionate’, or the ‘All- signifi cant action be initiated with a rec- Loving’; but whereas this conception is en- ollection of the compassionate source of shrined in the very heart of the Qur’ān, it creation. In terms of the two divine Names emerges in Buddhism only in certain Ma- deriving from the root of Rahma, the fi rst, hayana traditions. al-Rahmān is normally used to refer to the The Muslim consecrates every important creative power of Rahma, and the second, action with the utterance of the basmala, al-Rahīm, to its salvifi c power. Combining the phrase: Bismillāh al-Rahmān al-Rahīm. these two properties of loving compassion, This formula also initiates each of the 114 the creative and redemptive, one sees that chapters of the Qur’ān (except one). It is ultimately nothing can escape or be sepa- altogether appropriate that all ritual and rated from God’s all-embracing Rahma.

49 This is why calling upon al-Rahmān is tan- ing the very nafs, the Self or Essence of tamount to calling upon God: Call upon God. The use of the image of ‘writing’ here Allāh or call upon al-Rahmān (17:110). If can be seen as a metaphor for expressing al-Rahmān is so completely identifi ed with the metaphysical truth that Rahma is as it the very substance of God, then it follows were ‘inscribed’ within the deepest real- that the Rahma which so quintessentially ity of the divine nature. God’s ‘inscription’ defi nes the divine nature is not simply upon Himself is thus God’s description of ‘mercy’ or ‘compassion’ but is rather the Himself, of His own deepest nature. infi nite love and perfect beatitude of ulti- The creative aspect of the divine Rahma mate reality, which overfl ows into creation is vividly brought home in the chapter en- in the myriad forms assumed by mercy and titled ‘al-Rahmān’ (Sūra number 55), it is compassion, peace and love. al-Rahmān who ‘taught the Qur’ān, cre- Rahma is thus to be understood primar- ated man, taught him discernment’ (verses ily in terms of a love which gives of itself: 1-3). The whole of this chapter evokes and what it gives is what it is, transcendent invokes the reality of this quintessential beatitude, which creates out of love, and, quality of God. The blessings of Paradise upon contact with Its creation, assumes the are described here in the most majestic nature of loving compassion and mercy, and attractive terms; but so too are the these being the dominant motifs of the re- glories, beauties and harmonies of God’s lationship between God and the world. As entire cosmos, including all the wonders of was seen above, God’s transcendent Rah- virgin nature, these verses being musically ma is alluded to by the Prophet in terms of punctuated by the refrain: so which of the the most striking expression of Rahma on favours of your Lord can you deny?. In this earth—that expressed by a mother who, chapter named after al-Rahmān, then, we after searching frantically for her baby, are invited to contemplate the various lev- clutches it to her breast and feeds it. els at which Rahma fashions the substance ‘Call upon Allāh or call upon al-Rahmān; of reality: the Rahma that describes the whichever you call upon, unto Him be- deepest nature of the divine; the Rahma long the most beautiful names’ (17:110). that is musically inscribed into the very reci- It should be noted in this verse that all tation of the chapter; the Rahma that cre- the names are described as ‘most beauti- ates all things; the Rahma that reveals itself ful’, including therefore all the names of through the Qur’ān and through all the rigour as well as those of gentleness. But signs (āyāt) of nature. One comes to see the most important point to note here is that God has created not only by Rahma, that the name al-Rahmān is practically co- and from Rahma but also for Rahma: … terminous with the name Allāh, indicating except those upon whom God has mercy: that the quality of loving mercy takes us to for this did He create them (11:119); and the very heart of the divine nature. In two within Rahma: My Rahma encompasses all verses we are told that Rahma is ‘written’ things (7:156). upon the very Self of God: He has written Combining these two properties of lov- mercy upon Himself (6:12); Your Lord has ing compassion, the creative and redemp- written mercy upon Himself (6:54). The tive, or the ontological and salvifi c, we see word kataba, ‘he wrote’, implies a kind of why it is that ultimately nothing can escape inner prescription, so that Rahma can be or be separated from God’s all-embracing understood as a kind of inner law govern- Rahma, which is the divine matrix contain-

50 ing the cosmos. The word ‘matrix’ should Amida is the Supreme Spirit from be taken quite literally, in relation to its whom all spiritual revelations grow, and to root: ‘mother’. The word for womb, rahim, whom all personalities are related. Amida derives from the same root as Rahma. The is at once the Infi nite Light (Amitābha) and entire cosmos is not just brought into being the Eternal Life (Amitāyus). He is at once by Rahma, it is perpetually encompassed by the Great Wisdom (Mahāprajna: daichi)— Rahma which nourishes it at every instant, the Infi nite Light—and the Great Compas- as the mother’s womb nourishes and en- sion (Mahākaruna: daihi)—the Eternal Life. compasses the embryo growing within it. The Great Compassion is creator while the 15 One should note here that in Buddhism, Great Wisdom contemplates. one of the terms denoting the Buddha is Some lines later, we read about the uni- Tathāgatagarbha, which literally means the tive power of love; this can be compared ‘womb’ (garbha) of the Tathāgata, the ‘one with the compassionate love which is thus gone’. This womb or matrix not only spiritually required and logically implied by contains all things, it is also contained with- the metaphysics of tawhīd: ‘In love … the in the soul, being one with the immanent sense of difference is obliterated and the Buddha-nature (Buddhadhatu) which each human heart fulfi ls its inherent purpose in individual must strive to realize. perfection, transcending the limits of itself and reaching across the threshold of the In the Islamic worldview, God’s Rahma is spirit-world.’16 not just mercy; rather it is the infi nite love In love, the sense of difference is oblit- and overfl owing beatitude of ultimate reality, one of whose manifestations is mercy. erated: the unity of being, which may be In this light, one can better appreciate such conceptually understood through knowl- perspectives as the following, within Jodo edge, is spiritually realized through love, Shin Buddhism: ‘The inner truth is: From whose infi nite creativity overfl ows into a the Eternal Love do all beings have their compassion whose most merciful act is birth’.14 Such a statement articulates a di- to reveal this very oneness. To return to mension of causality left completely out of al-Ghazālī: the perfect and eternal love account by the earlier Buddhist scriptures, of God creates the human being in a dis- where the entire emphasis was on escape position which ever seeks proximity to from the round of births and deaths. The Him, and furnishes him with access to the only important point about the ‘birth’ of pathways leading to the removal of the beings was the existence of the ‘unborn’ to veils separating him from God, such that which one must fl ee for refuge: the process he comes to ‘see’ God by means of God by which beings were born was thus seen Himself. ‘And all this is the act of God, and as a process of enslavement to the inelucta- a grace bestowed upon him [God’s crea- bility of suffering and death. In Mahayana ture]: and such is what is meant by God’s Buddhism, however, one can fi nd expres- love of him.’17 This enlightening grace of sions of love and compassion which are God towards His creatures is constitutive of identifi ed with the creative power of the His love for them, a love which in reality Absolute. This passage from Naturalness is nothing other than His love for Himself. shows that the Absolute reveals its ‘Eternal Human love and compassion, by means Life’ through the dimension of its ‘Great of which the sense of difference is obliter- Compassion’: ated between self and other, can thus be

51 made clear by the following verses of Mil- arepa, the great poet-saint of Tibet:

Without realizing the truth of Many-Being-One Even though you meditate on the Great Light, You practice but the View-of-Clinging. Without realizing the unity of Bliss and Void, Even though on the Void you meditate, You practice only nihilism.18

The truth of ‘Many-Being-One’ can be read as a spiritual expression of tawhīd, and mirrors many such expressions in Is- lamic mysticism, indeed, the literal meaning of tawhīd being precisely a dynamic integration, not just a static oneness. It is derived from the form of the verb, wahha- da, meaning ‘to make one’. Phenomenal diversity is thus integrated into principial unity by means of the vision unfolding seen as a unitive refl ection herebelow of from this understanding of tawhīd. In these the oneness of the love of God for Him- verses, Milarepa tells one of his disciples that however much he may meditate on self within Himself. Absolute compassion the supernal Light, if he regards that Light and transcendent oneness, far from being as being separate from all things by way mutually exclusive are thus harmoniously of transcendence, then he cannot realize integrated in an uncompromisingly unitive the immanence of that Light in all that ex- tawhīd. ists, that immanence by virtue of which the The compassion which we have been ‘many’ become ‘one’, the ‘face’ of reality examining is clearly an overfl ow of the be- being visible in everything that exists. In the atitude which defi nes an essential aspect absence of this vision, then meditation on of ultimate Reality, the oneness of which the Light results only in ‘clinging’—cling- embraces all things by virtue of this coming, that is, to a false distinction between the One and the many, a duality which will passion, precisely. Inward beatitude, prop- imprison the meditator within the realm of er to the One, and outward compassion, multiplicity. It is when Milarepa addresses integrating the many, is a subtle and im- the intrinsic nature of the Void, however, portant expression of the spiritual mystery that the similarity with the Islamic concep- of tawhīd. We observe in this affi rmation tion of the beatifi c rahma of God emerges of tawhīd another conceptual resonance in a striking manner. ‘Without realizing between the two traditions, a resonance the unity of Bliss and Void’, any medita-

52 tion on the Void is but nihilistic. The Void from whom compassion fl ows to all is one is intrinsically blissful, or it is not the Void. in whom ‘the overfl owing Void-Compas- Nirvana and the Void (Shūnya) are identi- sion’, as Milarepa calls it in another verse, cal in essence, the term Nirvāna stressing has been realized: it ceaselessly overfl ows the blissful nature of the state wherein from the Absolute to the relative, and to one is conscious of the Absolute, and the the extent that one has made oneself ‘void’ term ‘Void’ stressing the objective nature for its sake, one becomes a vehicle for the of the Absolute, transcending all things are transmission of the Compassion of the ‘full’—full, that is, of false being. Milarepa’s Void: verse makes clear this identity of essence, and shows moreover that it is precisely because the Void is overfl owing with beati- Rechungpa, listen to me for a tude that the experience of the Void can- moment. not but be blissful: it is far from a nihilistic From the centre of my heart stream negation of existence and consciousness. Glowing beams of light. Knowing and experiencing the beatitude … This shows the unity of mercy and of the Void thus cannot but engender in the Void.20 the soul a state of being refl ecting this beatitude, and a wish to share that beatitude with all beings: such a wish being the very essence of compassion, which is not simply To conclude this article, it may be objected a capacity to feel the suffering of others as that however remarkable be the similari- one’s own—which articulates one level of ties between the Islamic and the Jodo Shin ethical tawhīd—but also, at a higher level conceptions of the loving compassion that of tawhīd, a capacity to bring that suffering articulates the creativity of the Absolute, to an end through making accessible the Jodo Shin cannot be taken as representa- mercy and felicity ever-fl owing from ulti- tive of the broad Buddhist tradition, and is mate Reality. This is the message—which is rather an exception proving the rule. To this, immediately intelligible to any Muslim—of we would reply that the Jodo Shin presen- the following verses of Milarepa: tation of this crucial theme—God as Cre- If in meditation you still tend to ator through compassion—does not prove strive, that the two traditions of Islam and Bud- Try to arouse for all a great dhism can be crudely equated as regards compassion, this theme; rather, it simply demonstrates Be identifi ed with the All-Merciful.19 that the differences between the Islamic conception of God as Creator through Here, we see the All-Merciful being compassion and the Buddhist silence on identifi ed with Absolute Reality, referred the question of such a Creator need not be to earlier as the Void, but here, the char- seen as the basis for a reciprocal rejection. acter of the Void is clearly affi rmed as in- Rather, the very fact that at least one Bud- fi nite mercy. To identify with this mercy is dhist school of thought affi rms the idea of to identify with the Absolute; arousing for a compassionate Creator shows that there all ‘a great compassion’ means infusing is no absolute incompatibility between the into one’s soul a quality which refl ects the two traditions as regards this principle. infi nite compassion of the Absolute. One There is no need to claim that the principle

53 plays an analogous role in both traditions, nication’, shows convincingly that the concept of far from it: deﬁ nitive, central and inalien- ‘Dharma’ is a bridge linking Buddhism to the other able in Islam; and conceivable, possible, religious traditions: ‘If Dharma corresponds, on the one hand, to the absoluteness and inﬁ nitude of the and, at least, not absolutely undeniable in Essence, the dharmas for their part correspond to Buddhism. the relativity and contingency of the accidents.’ M. Pallis, A Buddhist Spectrum (London: George Allen Notes & Unwin, 1980), p.103. It should be noted that just as Dharma can mean both Reality and the Law or 1 It is all too often stated that Buddhism is ‘atheistic’, Norm or Rectitude which leads to that Reality, so the insofar as it does not speak about the Personal God. Arabic concept of Haqq refers both to the ultimate But, as Frithjof Schuon explains, the Buddhist no- Reality and the human obligations and duties fash- tion of the Void, or of extinction, is God conceived ioned by conformity to that Reality. in subjective mode, as a ‘state’; what is called ‘God’ in the theistic traditions is conversely, the Void consid- 10 Vajracchedikā, 26a, b. Cited in Buddhist texts through ered objectively, as principle. F.Schuon, Treasures of the Ages eds. E. Conze, I.B. Horner, D. Snelgrove, A. Buddhism (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 1993), p.19. Waley (Oxford: Bruno Cassirer, 1954), p.144. See also our Common Ground between Islam and Bud- 11 It is interesting to note that in Tibetan Buddhism, dhism (Louisville: Fons Vitae, 2010), on which this there is likewise a certain priority of compassion article is based. over knowledge, as far as the manifestation of these 2 Anukampā and dayā, translated as ‘sympathy’, are qualities is concerned on earth, for the Dalai Lama, closely related to the idea of compassion. See Har- representing the Bodhisattva of compassion (Chen- vey Aronson, Love and Sympathy in Theravada Bud- rezig, the Tibetan name of Avalokiteshvara) has dhism (Delhi, 1980), p.11. As Reverend Tetsuo Unno priority over the Panchen Lama, who represents the notes in his introduction to Kanamatsu’s Naturalness Buddha of Light (Opagmed, the Tibetan name for (p.xiii), the author uses the English word ‘love’ to Amitābha). See M. Pallis, The Way and the Mountain translate karuna, normally translated as ‘compassion’. (London: Peter Owen, 1991), pp.161-162. 3 Bukhārī, Sahīh, kitāb al-adab, bāb 18 hadīth no. 5999 12 Al-Ghazālī is here cites the saying of Shaykh (Bukhari summarized: p.954, no.2014); Muslim, Sa‘īd al-Mayhinī. This is from ‘The Book of love Sahīh, kitāb al-tawba, hadīth no. 6978. and longing and intimacy and contentment’ of his 4 See A. Ben Shemesh, ‘Some Suggestions to Qur’an Ihyā’ ‘ulūm al-dīn (Beirut: Dār al-Jīl, 1992), book 6, Translators’, in Arabica, vol.16, no.1, 1969, p.82. part 4, vol. 5, p.221. 13 5 Ibid. An-Nawawī’s Forty Hadith, p.118, no.38. It is cited 6 there from Bukhārī, Kitāb al-riqāq, p.992, no.2117. See Albert Jamme, ‘Inscriptions on the Sabaean 14 Bronze Horse of the Dumbarton Oaks Collection’, Kenryo Kanamatsu, Naturalness—A Classic of in Dumbarton Oaks Papers, vol. 8 (1954), pp. 323-324 Shin Buddhism (Bloomington: World Wisdom, 2002), et passim. p.113. 15 7 E. Conze, Buddhist Scriptures (Baltimore, 1968), Ibid., p.63. p.186. 16 Ibid., p.64. 8 This celestial level of the manifestation of the Bud- 17 Al-Ghazālī, Ihyā’, op. cit., pp.221-222. dha-principle is referred to as Sambhoga-kāya, in con- 18 The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa, (tr. Gar- tradistinction to the Dharma-kāya—which pertains to the supra-manifest Essence—and the Nirmāna-kāya, ma C.C. Chang) (Boston & Shaftsbury: Shambhala, the human form of the earthly Buddha. 1989),vol. 2, p.526. 19 9 Marco Pallis, in his important essay, ‘Dharma and Ibid., vol.2, p.561. Dharmas as Principle of Inter-religious Commu- 20 Ibid., vol.2, p.445.

54 55 56 Love and compassion in the Abrahamic religions

By Oliver Leaman

Talking about the role of love and compas- worth spending some time here looking at sion in religion is always problematic, since the Islam=love idea, since it is quite popular we have a very positive attitude towards now, especially in its contrast with the rath- love and most things associated with it. As er grim stereotype of Islam that persists in a result, advocates of a particular religion many minds. This idea is very much based tend to see that religion as embodying love on a particular interpretation of Islam as in the strongest possible way, and by com- Sufi sm, a form of mysticism which empha- parison with other religions often rather sizes the personal relationship between the better than they do. No-one has anything believer and God, and which often inter- bad to say about love and compassion, and prets this relationship very much along the if it can be shown to be what a religion is lines of love and affection. For example, “all about”, that seems to be even better. when someone is loved, he can get those An added bonus occurs if the religion is who love him to act in certain ways with- thought by many to be about something out acting himself, since the lovers all try to else entirely. So for example when a lot of please the loved one, and admire his quali- people have negative views of Islam due ties even if the loved one does not directly to its putative connections with violence respond. This is not a bad way to see the and terrorism, what better way of defusing relationship between God and his crea- the situation than by arguing that Islam is tures and has the advantage of explaining in fact imbued with values that are based how the distance between him and us is on love and compassion, that the Prophet maintained, even though we are affected himself in his sayings and lifestyle embod- greatly by him. There are also antinomian ied such values, and any interpretation of trends in Sufi sm, the suggestion that the Islam that takes a different attitude is sys- rules of Islam and the doctrinal principles tematically misleading? This simplistic ap- of a particular approach to religion are not proach is strenuously pursued, for instance, so important, especially when compared by Gülen and his many followers, and really with the emotional links between people, does not do justice to the complexity and and we fi nd this quite often in Rumi when sophistication of a religion like Islam. he refuses to distinguish between Muslims On the other hand, many Muslims do and the People of the Book, on occasion, compare their religion with Christianity on as though this difference does not matter. this topic and argue that on the contrary Anyone can love God, and if all who seek the latter pays too much respect to love, to do so are equally respected from a re- and as a result is unbalanced. Christianity ligious point of view, then the distinction is seen as being too “soft” in its emphasis between religions becomes less signifi cant. here on love, while Judaism as too “hard” Let us see how this might work for in its materialism. Islam is the religion in the Christianity and Judaism. It is often now middle, with just enough love and also ma- argued that Paul did not really set out to terialism to hit the happy mean. But it is establish a huge distinction between Juda-

57 ism and the new religion of Christianity, love one another (mutahabinna) for My although he is often credited, or blamed, sake, sit together for My sake, visit one an- with this accomplishment. He seems to be other for My sake, and give generously to arguing most of the time against Christians one another for My sake’.” It is often said who insisted that in order for a gentile to that Islam refers to love a good deal less be a Christian he or she would have to con- than Christianity, yet we should not notice vert to Judaism fi rst. This seemed to Paul that the customary reference to God does to be an exaggerated demand, and he op- involve two expressions, al-rahman and posed it. Provided the gentiles agreed to al-rahim, both of which involve love since abide by the seven Noahide rules that all they are often translated as the compas- righteous people are supposed to follow, sionate and the merciful, and it is diffi cult the rules that were set in the Hebrew Bi- to make sense of those terms unless they ble at the time of Noah, they can become are linked with love. Yet in the rest of the Christians. This was of course a clever move Qur’an it is certainly true that love is often for the new religion to make and greatly referred to negatively, as when people love increased its attraction. The notion that to believe something false, or do some- Jewish law is harsh and infl exible is something they should not. times suggested in the New Testament, Judaism and Islam both regard law as but just as often Jesus speaks of the law a very important way for people to work with respect and denies that he has come out how they are to live. Christians often to overturn it. Many would say that the di- see law as something rigid and insensitive chotomy between love and law is a false to the feelings of those who are covered dichotomy anyway. After all, Christianity by it. The thing about law is that it estab- says some quite harsh things also about lishes rules which apply to everyone in the people which puts its status as a religion community and establishes rules of how based on love into jeopardy. For example, to live that make it possible for the indi- we are told that “If anyone comes to me vidual to understand and follow religion. and does not hate his father and mother, In doing this he or she acts in the way that his wife and children, his brothers and God wishes them to act, as they see it, and sisters--yes, even his own life--he cannot there is nothing in itself harsh and infl exi- be my disciple” (Luke 14:26). We need to ble about this. There are certainly rules that acknowledge also Mark 3:31-35 and Luke are diffi cult to follow, and the two Jewish 11:27-28 where again Jesus seems to pri- legal schools of Hillel and Shammai distin- oritize supporters over family, which is per- guished themselves often in terms of how haps a rather strong way of saying that one diffi cult they made life for those following should not prioritize family over everyone them. The school of Hillel was invariably else, but still seems to be rather inappropri- gentler than the School of Shammai, and ate in a religion said to be based on love. saw this as a virtue. Whether we should There are plenty of similar passages in the see it as a virtue depends on whether one hadith, where ordinary love is said to be thinks that religion should present the indi- secondary and love of God and his Prophet vidual with relatively easy or relatively dif- primary, so that the former is made pos- fi cult tasks to perform. sible by the latter. In the hadith collected by Malik there is “God said, ‘My love (ma- habbati) necessarily belongs to those who

58 Compassion and animals the companionship of their offspring and It is not diffi cult to fi nd reasons to be com- vice versa. passionate in Judaism. First of all we need The Jewish and Islamic modes of ani- to pay some attention to the reason that mal slaughter are complex but basically involve the quick cutting of the throat of human beings were created in Judaism. the animal, after a short prayer, with a very Adam was created by divine breath to look sharp implement, and the rules are clearly after the garden. Adam is made from the designed to avoid pain as far as possible. dust of the ground and his role is “to till it However, in modern times there are other and care for it” (Gen 2.15). He is assisted by methods of killing which seem to most the creation later on of a woman to be his observers to be more satisfactory. For ex- companion, but before the woman arrived ample, if an animal is fi rst of all stunned, he was with the animals whose names he then killed, surely the pain is even less. The was taught. After the fl ood God says to problem from a Jewish and Muslim point Noah and to his sons and said “I now make of view of this procedure is that if the ani- my covenant with you, and with your de- mal is fi rst stunned, it is not possible for it scendants after you, and with every living to be killed appropriately according to reli- creature that is with you, all birds and cat- gious law. This has led to a debate about tle, all the wild animals with you on earth, whether it should be allowed for Jews and all that have come out of the ark” (Gen Muslims to kill their animals in ways that 9. 8-11). The ox and the ass are not to be contravene ordinary standards of animal yoked together, presumably because one welfare, although of course talking about is stronger than the other and this would animal welfare when this involves killing be unfair, and on the Sabbath the ani- millions of animals is perhaps a strange mals are supposed to rest, and also can be form of expression. In recent times the de- looked after even though this might con- bate has been widened to include wider stitute what would otherwise be forbidden issues of cruelty where factory farming is work. There are many stories about how at issue, although the kosher nature of the animals have important roles in the life of slaughter is technically not in question. If the world, and how our attitudes to them the Torah and Qur’an emphasize compas- reveal much about us. Moses and David, sion for all creatures, and indeed care and for instance, as shepherds are supposed to concern for all life, then should Jews and have behaved in ways that would suggest Muslims be allowed to treat the earth and strength in a leadership role, since a good the creatures on it as available to them to shepherd has to be pay attention to the be used and exploited, or should they rath- weakest of his followers and those most er see themselves as in partnership with prone to going astray. Levi was the brother our environment and responsible for tak- who discovered Benjamin’s money in his ing care of it? sack, it is also suggested, because he unlike Abraham Kook (1865-1935) is an un- the others attended to his animals’ needs usual thinker on the treatment of animals. before his own, a meritorious disposition He was a very traditional rabbi, indeed the displaying care and compassion for weaker fi rst (Ashkenazi) chief rabbi of Palestine, yet creatures. Not sacrifi cing parents and chil- regarded Judaism as advocating vegetari- dren together is another rule that perhaps anism. He suggested that the very complex allows parents to enjoy, at least for a time, rules about eating animals were designed

59 to make us think that it would be better we are supposed to think about the words to give up that practice! For example, Jews we are using, and we refl ect on them and are supposed not to mix meat and milk, on what they might mean in a particular so rules developed about what constitutes situation. We perhaps give some money to meat and milk products, and what degree charity, and then think about why we do of separation should exist. Some go so far it, and we eat a cracker that has a kosher as to have two kitchens in which meat and or a halal sign on it, a symbol that it is ko- milk products can be prepared, and two sher or halal, and we think about the laws sets of cutlery and crockery for each type of kashrut or halal and what their purpose of food. Then dead animals that have been might be. slaughtered appropriately might still raise According to Maimonides, unless we an issue, such as if a drop of blood found explore the reasons for the command- on the animal rendered it potentially un- ments we are really operating on a very acceptable, and a visit to the rabbi might superfi cial level in following them. It is bet- be required. Keeping kosher is time con- ter to follow them superfi cially than not suming and often diffi cult, and Kook sug- to follow them at all, of course, but the gests that perhaps the strict rules about whole point of even the ostensibly minor meat and its consumption and production ceremonial laws is to change us as people, are designed to make us wonder whether to make us acquire the right frame of mind we ought not to do without it altogether, and the ability to understand why we act which he saw as raising us to a higher level in the ways we do and have the feelings of moral consciousness. The Torah works we possess. God has given us laws he with us rather than against us and realizes wants us to follow not for his sake, since that we tend to enjoy meat and often see he needs nothing from us, but for our the world as our possession to use as we sake, since these ways of acting are in our wish, and seeks to wean us gradually from interests. They are in our interests as ac- this notion by putting in front of us obsta- tions particularly because if we think about cles in the form of Jewish law which do not what we do we start to change into the prevent us from doing what we want, but sort of people who take an intelligent and make it tougher and more convoluted. self-aware view of who we are. There is a He is using here a very important idea in nice story in the Talmud of a calf who es- Jewish thought, an idea that Maimonides caped from the slaughterer and who end- enunciated very clearly, and that is that ed up in the prayer house and hid under God could just create in us a disposition to the cloak of the great Judah Hanasi, the behave in whatever way he wants us to, compiler of the Mishnah, pleading with but prefers to allow us to get to that dispo- him to save him from the knife. Hanasi sition gradually through our own efforts, said, quite reasonably, that the calf should albeit aided by his law. After all, a disposi- return to the fate which had been estab- tion, a way of doing things and thinking lished for him, presumably with slaughter about them, is acquired by us on the whole as its end. The passage ends up criticizing gradually, over time, and the point of a re- him, although everything he says is techni- ligion is to get us to think about what we cally correct, since it is rather heartless to are doing, and why, through the mecha- reject such an appeal from a creature who nisms of the religion. We go to pray and manages to escape from the knife. Heaven although the prayers may be familiar to us, was not pleased with Hanasi’s actions here,

60 or rather absence of actions, and it is said the complexity per se that should make us that for that reason, his lack of compas- think about the rationale for what we are sion, a lack of compassion was shown to doing, Kook would argue, but the fact that him. He relieved the situation though later so much care is taken to ensure that the on when his servant uncovered a group eating and killing of animals is done in just of kittens in his house and was about to the right sort of way. That should get us to destroy them, only to be prevented by his think about the whole process and in his quoting the verse Ps 145.9 “His mercy is terms raise the issue of how we reconcile upon all his work”. As a matter of custom that with the compassion that we should we often do treat animals who escape in feel for other forms of life on the earth. situations like that of the calf rather dif- Despite his argument and that also of ferently from the rest of the animals who Maimonides that law makes us think about just end up being killed. Why are we com- what the deeper purpose of what we are passionate about this particular case, and doing involves, there is an argument that are apparently encouraged to be so by the law can take us in an entirely different di- Talmud (Bava Metzia 85a) when in general rection. We can become so entranced by we have no compunction, as a culture, in the law, so enmeshed in the legal processes doing to death for our pleasure huge num- and learning what the law requires of us, bers of similar creatures? Why were the kit- that we ignore or become abstracted from tens spared, and their sparing approved by what the aim of the law might be. This heaven, when presumably there is nothing is not really an objection to Maimonides wrong with destroying animals in our hous- since he understands that this is possible, es that we regard as objectionable? he talks about a category of people who are skilled in the law yet who are not re- Love and law ally advanced in coming close to the truth This raises an intriguing question about since they remain at the legal level without compassion, which is how can we justify enquiring into what the law is really for. limiting our compassion to particular ob- It is worth pointing to this danger of law, jects? If it is right to be compassionate in though, that it tends to have an intellectual all cases where a certain situation applies, structure of its own that can be satisfying which surely it is, unless compassion is to in itself and we may well stay at that level rest on nothing more than a whim, then and not delve any deeper. To go further, should we not be compassionate in all such the greater the complexity of the law, the cases? This is the point of the command- greater the sense of achievement in mas- ments, according to Maimonides, they help tering it, and perhaps the less of a tenden- us move from the particular to the general cy there is to wonder what it represents. It by helping us think about why we do what becomes an end in itself. In this sense law we do. So for example we follow the rules operates contrary to compassion, since we of what we are allowed to eat and then may do what we ought to do legally with- come to wonder what the point of these out asking any of those more searching rules are, except to obey the word of God. It questions about what the law is actually must be more than that, and surely as Kook supposed to bring about. What the law says it might be to question the whole activ- usefully addresses is the idea that people ity of killing and eating animals, the source have to be treated in general terms, and of the complexity of kashrut. But it is not that is why in the Anglo-American tradi-

61 tion justice is depicted as blindfolded, so ish community, and he is supposed to be that she does not notice the individuals constantly attuned to what is taking place who come before her, just the deserts of around him. their cases in general. But compassion ap- Yet how is this possible, except in a sto- plies to individuals, and although we may ry that is supposed to have as its moral the acknowledge that we ought to be com- idea that we should be interested in the passionate to everyone who deserves it, welfare of others? If someone is really in it is very diffi cult to act in this way. If we tune with all the feelings of even a limited spread compassion around too thinly, there group of people, how will that individual is not enough to go around even to ap- manage to function? Will he not be so af- ply to those close to us. Yet at the same fected by those sufferings, and also plea- time that we limit our compassion to only sures, that he will be unable to concentrate a few, we acknowledge our duty to apply on his own affairs or even carry out his it to everyone, and it is this paradox that basic religious functions on behalf of the the Abrahamic religions are very interested community? It would be like trying to have in exploring a conversation with one person while carrying on a conversation with lots of other Love and responsibility people all at the same time. Religions are In one of the stories that Buber so much good at emphasizing the signifi cance of enjoyed, the tzaddik, the authentic com- compassion, but they are also excellent at munity leader in the mystical pietistic explaining how to maximize compassion movement of Hasidism, is expected to take while allowing the other aspects of life to thorough responsibility for all that goes continue. In Judaism the yetzer ha-ra, the on in the neighborhood, not limited to his evil inclination, that leads us to do evil ac- congregation or whom he knows. Rebbe tions, comes in, as one would expect, for Mordechai of Neshkhizh said to his son, a lot of abuse, and yet it is also praised the Rebbe of Kovel, “He who does not feel as a faculty that allows for a lot of good the pains of a woman giving birth within things also. It is involved in the notion of a circuit of fi fty miles, who does not suffer ambition, of competition and the desire with her and pray that her suffering may to succeed. Unless we have these desires be assuaged, is not worthy to be called a we shall do very little in life, unless we are tzaddik.” His younger son Yitzchak, who saints, and most of us are not saints. It is later succeeded him in his work, was ten the point of religion to direct our evil incli- years old at the time. He was present when nations in positive directions, and for this this was said. When he was old he told the to happen what religion does is work with story and added, “I listened well. But it was who we are, where we are and how we very long before I understood why he had can become better. It does not just tell us said it in my presence.” (Buber, 1991,164). to reform and improve, on the contrary, it The degree of empathy and compas- works with those negative aspects of our sion referred to here is evidence that the personality and thought to direct and trans- Hasidic tzaddik is supposed to have an al- form them into more positive directions. A most organic connection with the body of tzaddik is a very unusual person, certainly the community as a whole, and there are very different from most members of the many such stories. The community in these community. This leads to another danger, stories is certainly not limited to the Jew- the opposite of feeling dissatisfi ed if one

62 is not perfectly compassionate to everyone who perhaps are more comfortable help- (and everything?) around one, the danger ing people directly who need to be helped, of feeling that since this is an ideal one is and who have the interpersonal skills to unlikely to meet, one does not need to try. achieve something signifi cant in this area. As it says in the very practical Pirkei Avot Not everyone does. For them to do this (Ethics of the Fathers 2.16): “You may not other people need to make resources avail- complete the task but you are not therefore able to them for their work, and so are per- excused from trying to complete it”. This haps better regarded as indirectly compas- still does not help us a lot since it leaves sionate. There is no general formula that open precisely how compassionate we would suit everyone and every situation, ought to be, what is the level of compas- and again religions are very good at invit- sion that is acceptable and compatible with ing the individual to think about how he bringing about the appropriate degree of or she can best participate in the project of improvement in the world that we are ca- making the world a better place, what in pable of through our ordinary activity. Hebrew is called tikkun olam. Another Hasidic story that is often quoted is of a rabbi called Zusya who regretted Religion and law not being Moses, by which he presumably We return to the topic that started this dis- meant that he regretted not reaching the cussion, the idea of religion as expressing heights of prophecy and leadership es- or identifying a middle position, something tablished by Moses. Moses is supposed to that Islam very much prides itself on. Love have said to him that his role was not to is certainly important, but surely it is too be Moses but to be Zusya, and we are re- vague and variable an emotion to base minded of the passage from the Pirkei Avot one’s behaviour on entirely. This is why where we are told to be both for ourselves, many religions like Islam and Judaism think but not only for ourselves and to regard law is important as a way of working out the present time as the time when things how to act. Basing our actions on love and ought to be done (1.14). That is, we should compassion would make those actions too not constantly put off what we know we subjective, it might be argued, and also ought to do because we are waiting for the would not help us learn from them, since time to be right. This brings out nicely the instead of looking for principles to follow sort of balance that is involved in being a and think about we would be forever re- human being, and for different people the fl ecting on our personal experiences and amount of compassion that their lives en- feelings. The latter are certainly important compass will differ. For example, there are but their role in helping us understand why people who perhaps would fi nd it easier we act as we do and what we ought to do and more effective to work for a living in is necessarily rather limited. Here again the some commercial fi eld where they can earn Abrahamic religions like Islam and Judaism money and then dispose of it in charitable are rather clever in suggesting that love directions, to an extent, and where their and compassion need to be embodied in improvement of the economic structure something more solid than just in what we of their country is in itself a helpful activ- are experiencing at a particular time. ity. Their ordinary work creates the context within which compassion can be effective as directly carried out by others, those

63 Buber, M. (1991) Tales of the Hasidim, New York: Shocken Eshots, Y. (2006) ‘ishq, in Leaman, O. (ed) The Qur’an: an encyclopedia, London: Routledge, 310- 14 Gülen, M. Fethullah (2006) Toward a global civilizatrion of love and tolerance, New Jersey: Light Leaman , O. (1997) Moses Maimonides, London: Routledge ------(2009) Islamic philosophy: An introduction, Cambridge: Polity ------(2010) Judaism: An introduction, London: I. B. Tauris

64 Compassion in Traditional and Secular Morality

By M. Ali Lakhani tional worldview is in terms of its existential perspective. For the modernist, the start- But a certain Samaritan…had compas- ing point can be framed in these terms: sion on him. “I exist, and the world exists around me”; (St. Luke: 10, 33) while from the traditional vantage, the formulation would be: “Only Absolute Real- Mercy is the ﬁ rst word of God; it must ity exists, and neither I nor the world has therefore also be his last word. any independent reality”. These different Mercy is more real than the whole world. existential perspectives—which might be (Frithjof Schuon)1 termed “anthropocentric” and “theocentric”2, respectively—inform one’s under- standings of identity and relationship, and One of the principal ways in which mod- will tend to indicate signiﬁ cantly different ernism can be distinguished from the tradi- conceptions of human purpose and val-

65 ues, conceptions which lie at the core of form the understanding of compassion in so many issues facing the contemporary the various faith traditions. world, including its defi nitions of morality. While the modernist perspective tends * to be secular3, the traditional perspec- * * 4 tive tends to be religious . These different From a traditional perspective, Reality is the worldviews—modernist and traditional— intimate unity that transcends all relativis- have given rise to differing conceptions of tic conceptions of oneness. It is the all-em- “humanism”. The modernist conception bracing Presence of the Absolute Beyond- of secular humanism holds that man alone, Being, which transcends contingency and governed by the instrumentality of Reason, limitation, yet penetrates to the core of all is the arbiter of human values, while the existence. The nature of this Reality is not traditional view of spiritual humanism pro- physical or psychic, but spiritual. This ever- ceeds from the understanding that human present core or spiritual Center is, in man, values are inscribed into the spiritual core the Heart, whose cardial quintessence is of one’s innermost self, and can be dis- compassion.6 cerned not by merely discursive reason, but In Islam, this principle of transcendent by the instrumental grace of the transcen- unity, known as “tawhīd”, is refl ected in dent Intellect which is the spirit’s cognitive the testimonial creed or “Shahāda”, ac- faculty. Thus, for the modernist, the para- cording to which “There is no reality if not gon of humanity is the “Enlightenment” the Reality” (“lā ilāha illā’Lah”). This prin- man, while for the traditionalist, it is the ciple is present in all the major faith tra- “enlightened” man. ditions. By whatever name this Reality is The purpose of this brief essay is to trace termed (Ptah, Brahman, YHWH, the Tao, the metaphysical contours of the tradition- the Monad, the Godhead, Allāh, Haqq), by alist understanding of compassion, and to whatever hypostasis, or by whatever expe- examine the implications of modernist at- rience (nirvana, samadhi, satchitananda, tempts to defi ne a moral philosophy con- fanā’), it is the same Reality and principle structed on secular humanistic values. We that is being apprehended. In the words will conclude with a few remarks on the of the Rig-Veda: “With words, priests and central importance of compassion in both poets make into many the hidden Reality worship and morality. which is One.”7 Principially, Reality is the Origin and While the particular viewpoint and illustra- transcendent Center. Existentially, it is the tions offered in this paper will be Islamic5, radiating Circle of Existence, with multiple the perspective described will be traditional dimensions, within which it is immanently and universal, and therefore will be found present. Teleologically, it is the reality of re- to exist in all the major faith traditions. We union within the principial Center, so that will refer to correspondences in other faith the Origin (Alpha) is also the promised End traditions as an illustrative reminder of this (Omega). Each of these ways of appre- universal perspective, though this paper is hending Reality—principle, manifestation, not intended to be a comparative survey and purpose—refl ects the compassionate of particular theological expressions of the nature of Reality, and we shall now con- universal metaphysical principles that in- sider each of these aspects in turn.

66 From the principial perspective, tran- Arabic term Rahmah, whose root letters, scendent Reality is Beyond Being and be- R-H-M, signify the sense of a nurturing yond all limitation, and its Essence is there- womb—the womb that is the existential fore beyond all name and understanding. matrix. The term Rahmah, denotes com- Nevertheless, the ineffable Absolute has passion in two senses—as both Benefi cent revealed itself in three ways: through its Grace and Benevolent Mercy. It is the root creation, its holy books and messengers, of the Koranic Names of Mercy, ar-Rahman and our innermost Self. Each of these re- and ar-Rahīm, which correspond to these ceptacles of the Divine Word bears the two senses of Grace and Mercy, the for- imprint of the Divine Spirit of Presence. mer describing the projecting “Mercy of It is for this reason that mankind is urged gratuitous gift” (rahmah al-imtinān) which in the Koran to seek evidence of Reality is synonymous with the divine nature, both within the outer world of creation and the latter describing the reintegrating and also within oneself: “We shall show “Mercy of obligation” (rahmah al-wujūb) them Our signs upon the horizons and in exercised based on divine discrimination.9 their selves”.8 These “signs”—which also These terms are contained in the verse of include the Koranic verses themselves— consecration—Bismi Llāhi ar-Rahmāni ar- are symbolic gateways to the Divine Trea- Rahim, “In the Name of God, the Infi nitely sury of the qualities and attributes of Re- Good, the All-Merciful”. The importance ality, which in Islam are called “The Most of this verse is evident in the fact that it Beautiful Names” (al-asma’ al-husna). They is used to commence all but one surah of 10 represent all the archetypal qualities and the Koran, and is uttered by every Mus- attributes manifested in creation, which lim in prayer. Commenting on the Names include both the rigorous (masculine), and of Mercy, Martin Lings explains how they the clement (feminine), aspects of Reality. relate to the divine nature: These are the “names” that God revealed to Adam (or primordial man), so that their Amongst the most striking features knowledge is thereby inscribed pre-existen- of the Revelation were the two Divine tially within the Adamic Heart and, in their Names ar-Rahmān and ar-Rahīm. The word rahīm, an intensive form of rahīm, quintessential reality, constitute its primor- merciful, was current in the sense of dial nature (fi tra). According to Muslim tra- very merciful or boundlessly merciful. dition, God has kept for Himself the name The still more intensive rahmān, for lack of His Essence. Yet, this “Hidden Treasure” of any concept to fi t it, had fallen into can be known by the Heart—the cardial disuse. The Revelation revived it in ac- Center of the innermost self—within which cordance with the new religion’s basic it resides, for, in the words of a sacred tradi- need to dwell on the heights of Tran- tion, “God has said: The heavens and the scendence. Being stronger even than earth would not be able to contain Me, yet ar-Rahīm (the All-Merciful), the name I dwell in the heart of the true believer.” ar-Rahmān refers to the very essence or root of Mercy, that is, to the Infi nite Be- This interiority is, as we shall see, the most nefi cence or Goodness of God, and the intimate proof of divine compassion, but it Koran expressly makes it an equivalent is also the foundation of gnosis. Hence, it of Allāh: “Invoke God (Allāh) or invoke is also said, “Whoso knows himself, knows the Infi nitely Good (ar-Rahmān), which- his Lord.” The quintessence of the indwell- ever ye invoke, His are the names most ing “Hidden Treasure” is designated by the Beautiful.” (Sūrat al-Isrā’, XVII:110)11

67 This scriptural affi rmation of the equiv- From the perspective of the divine man- alence of the divine nature with the root of ifestation, there is no existence but God. Mercy and “Infi nite Benefi cence or Good- Existential Being is Mercy. The analogy of ness of God”, is reiterated in another im- light or illumination is frequently employed portant Koranic verse, “He has prescribed to express the idea of creation14 and this is Mercy for Himself.”12 The Arabic words because it is in the nature of light to give used to describe this prescription (kataba of itself—or, according to the well-known ‘ala nafsihi r-Rahmah) can be rendered “He Platonic and Augustinian maxim, it is in the has inscribed (or written) Mercy upon Him- nature of the Good to communicate itself. self”, conveying the sense that the quality Relating this to our discussion of the divine of Rahmah (Grace and Mercy) is integral nature of Grace and Mercy, existence can to (“written upon”) the divine nature and be understood as inherent within the di- is not contrary to any outward manifes- vine nature, as the gracious response of tation of the Divine Acts, no matter how the Absolute to those possibilities of existence latent within Itself—that is, within seemingly contradictory these may appear. 15 In other words, such outward contradic- the Divine Treasury of archetypes from tions—such as the evils, sufferings, and which creation emerges. It is important apparent imperfections of this world—are here to understand creation not in a chron- ologically linear and historic sense, but in not evidence of God’s lack of compassion, a trans-historical and metaphysical sense but merely of our own metaphysical priva- as a dynamic process of the ever-renewing tion, spiritual ignorance or moral failings. theophany. Thus, according to Ibn ‘Arabi’s For, as the Koran also explains, “Whatever famous theory, creation is a perpetual pro- good comes to you is from God, and what- cess of instantaneous annihilation and re- ever evil comes to you is from your own creation, occurring within an ontological soul.”13 The Koranic explanation of God’s continuum whose very core is Mercy. Ibn compassionate nature as “written upon” ‘Arabi likens this to the process of breath- Reality can be understood in this sense: ing. God creates through the breath of His though God is all-powerful and possesses Speech, through his inhalation and exhala- powers of wrath, severity and rigor—as tion, through spiritual projection and spiri- well as those of gentleness, compassion, tual reintegration, which Ibn ‘Arabi calls and mercy—He cannot transcend His own the Nafas al-Rahmānī or “Breath of the All- good nature, which, like that of a good Merciful”.16 God is as intimately present parent, is to be maternally loving, com- within us as our breathing. We are not only passionate and merciful, despite the ap- originated in and through compassion, but pearance of paternal rigor. For this reason, are embraced and sustained within the though God possesses rigorous attributes oceanic Spirit of Mercy. The enveloping na- as well as clement ones, the divine nature ture of this sustaining Spirit is referred to transcends these archetypal polarities, and in the Koranic verse, “My Mercy embraces is intrinsically compassionate. This accords everything”17—which further affi rms the with the famous hadīth, “God has said: central principle of tawhīd, emphasizing Verily, My Mercy precedes My Wrath!”, both the transcending oneness of Reality and this precedence has profound salvifi c and its integrally compassionate nature. and eschatological implications, as we shall Implicit in the principle of tawhīd is the see. notion of the divine imprint. It is a universal

68 theme in faith traditions to view man as be- without the means at hand for our own ing created “in the divine image”18, with salvation—though in the end all salvation the Divine Spirit breathed into his soul19, or is nothing but Grace. Our task is merely to view Reality in terms of a metaphysical to respond to God’s compassion—present correspondence between Earth and Heav- within His “signs” and in the latent capaci- en20 by virtue of the presence of the divine ties of our Heart—and to do so through imprint within manifestation. This derives our own God-given compassionate nature, from the understanding that creation is by seeking refuge in the intimate “heav- the Divine Self-Revelation: it is the exteri- en” of His Radiant Presence, from the dark orization of the divine principle, with each “hell” that is blind to the Face of God.24 level unfolding hierarchically from principle This response requires a re-orienting “con- to manifestation through successive lev- version”—or “turning away” from dark- els, and each unfolding level refl ecting the ness toward Light—which is the essence of higher level and thereby bearing the divine repentance. It is in this sense that repen- imprint from which all things originate. It tance is Mercy. This profoundly comforting is in this sense that the Heart—that is, the message assures the faithful that they can compassionate core of man’s primordial na- seek refuge in the comfort of God within ture or fi tra—contains God. The fact that their own Heart, which refl ects His intrin- all creatures therefore contain something sic Mercy. The three dimensions of mani- of God, and are intrinsically good21, is a fur- festation—the outer creation, the revealed ther confi rmation of the All-encompassing Word (transmitted in the scriptures and nature of Divine Mercy, which embraces all through divinely inspired messengers), and things. A corollary of this is that the Divine our innermost Self—are all “signs” of the Image or the “Face of God” is everywhere. Face of God and of His compassionate and Thus the Koran states, “Wheresoever you gracious reaching-out to mankind.25 There turn, there is the Face of God.” 22 This is are “tongues in trees, books in running the saving Face, or salvifi c Presence of Mer- brooks, sermons in stones, and good in ev- cy, of which the Koran states, “Everything 26 will perish save His Face”23—for Rahmah erything.” It is only when we are blind alone is Absolute, “embracing everything”, to our innermost self that we lack the eyes transcending all polarizations, and the orig- to see. As we noted earlier, the intimacy inating source and eschatological end of of God’s compassion is evident in our very everything that is contingent. breathing—and the Beauty of the Divine From a teleological perspective, the end Face is as much taken-for-granted as is our of everything is to retrace its way back to its own breathing. The antidote to this human Divine Source. In our end is our beginning. “forgetfulness” is the practice of divine The purpose of human life is the Self-dis- “remembrance” (in Islam, dhikr), about covery that is the counterpart of Divine Self- which we shall have more to say later—but disclosure. Self-search proceeds through for now, we shall pause. We have surveyed levels of interiority, each level mirroring the how the traditional worldview places com- processes of exteriorization. From the outer passion at the very heart of Reality, in its we are led by degrees to the inner sanctum metaphysical nature, its existential reality, of the Heart—and what leads us to that and as the raison d’être of human exis- Center is our own receptivity to its com- tence. We will now contrast this with the passionate and radiant Light. We are never modernist perspective.

69 If transcendent unity is at the heart of tra- Goodness and outer Beauty—as is evident dition, modernism by contrast is character- in the Platonic dictum of “Truth, Good- ized by fragmentation and deracination. In ness, and Beauty”. Truth is the primordial a deconstructed world, there is an urgent perception of theophany. It is the gracious need to discover the “terra fi rma” upon perception of the symbolist spirit, not the which to construct the edifi ces that are human synthesis constructed out of an at- vital to human existence. The traditional omized universe. Reality is the sacred Pres- worldview emphasizes that Reality is inti- ence of Goodness and Beauty. It is neither mately interconnected, and this intercon- material nor mental, but profoundly spiri- nectedness—vertically, between man and tual. It is to be discerned not by human rea- God; and horizontally, between man and soning but by the self-refl ective Intellect— his fellow creatures—constitutes the foun- by that transcendent faculty within us that dation of traditional ethics and aesthetics, enables us to look receptively, beyond by which virtue is related to beauty. There appearances, to perceive our own Heart is a profound connection between inner refl ected everywhere. This compassionate

70 core is both the intrinsic beauty within us— dent roots, terms such as goodness, love, Goodness, or, in Arabic, ihsān—and the and compassion become no more than extrinsic goodness in creation—Beauty, or, malleable personal morals or else abstract in Arabic, husn. Both Goodness and Beauty ideas without any proper underpinning in are aspects of the Divine Face—the Mercy reality. In our times we are all too aware that encompasses everything. But in the of changing moral standards. This is pre- modernist conception, these vital connec- cisely because modernist versions of motions are either lacking or, where appar- rality are deracinated, without spiritual ently present, are superﬁ cially grounded in roots. In this regard, Frithjof Schuon has human constructs derived from rationalis- noted how modernist values differ from tic arguments or subjective preferences.27 traditional virtues: “Morals can vary, for They are not rooted in the Absolute and they are founded on social exigencies: but therefore lack any metaphysical objectivity. virtues do not vary, for they are enshrined It is beyond the scope of this paper to at- in the very nature of man; and they are in tempt a proper demonstration of how dif- his primordial nature because they corre- ferent modernist schools of thought—that spond to cosmic perfections and, a fortiori, 28 is to say, those that reject the traditional to Divine qualities.” Secular moral con- axiom of the transcendent and immanent, structs that fail to root morality in primor- Absolute ground of Reality—are subject to dial virtue cannot fully engage us because fatal errors that manifest either as relativism they do not engage us ontologically. When or false reductionism. Sufﬁ ce it to say that, morality fails to engage us, we become however noble the intention to construct a “heartless”. This is what the Koran terms secular basis for morality, it is self-evident kufr or the “covering up” of the Heart. An that the lesser cannot construct a path to example of disengaged morality is found the greater, but can only walk across the in Dostoevsky’s masterpiece, The Brothers Karamazov, in Ivan Karamazov’s famous path that the greater holds out to it. All speech on love, where he says, “The idea attempts to construct a secular morality of loving one’s neighbor is possible only as based merely on constructs of rational con- an abstraction: it may be conceivable to sensus or secular humanistic “values” are love one’s fellow man at a distance, but doomed to failure insofar as they are root- it is almost never possible to love him at ed in the modernistic denial of transcen- close quarters”.29 There is a dangerous dis- dence and thereby deny the metaphysical engagement underlying that sentiment, an foundations of “virtue”. For man is much amorality bordering on blindness. Another more than the sum of his thoughts, and the example of this blindness—this one involv- universe is much more than the sum of its ing a more substantial “covering up”—is parts. Both man (the microcosm) and the found in the chilling moral rationalization universe (the macrocosm) derive from the provided by Harry Lime to his friend Hol- same Origin and Center, and it is this meta- ly Martins (in Graham Green’s The Third physical intersection of (metacosmic) Real- Man), when Martins asks Lime about his ity, which alone can form the construct of “victims” in their famous encounter on the any foundation of morality. Ferris Wheel: It is meaningless to speak of modernist conceptions of morality because they MARTINS: Have you seen any of your are not grounded ontologically in virtue. victims— Without anchoring virtue in its transcen-

71 HARRY: Victims? Don’t be melodra- tachment is the movement towards Real- matic. Look down there. All of those hu- ity, and is the removal to a higher (spiritual man beings… don’t they look like dots? and participative) plane. It is only through Would you feel any pity if one of those the verticality of detachment that we can dots stopped moving forever? If I of- engage the interiority of compassion. It is fered you 20,000 pounds for every dot by living in cardial sympathy with our fel- that stopped moving, would you really, old man, tell me to keep my money? Or low creatures, by seeing them not reduc- would you calculate how many dots you tively as mere “dots” on the landscape, could afford to spare? Free of income but ontologically as translations of our very tax, old man. Free of income tax. It’s the selves, that we can engage our true human only way to save money nowadays— potential for compassion. It is our capac- … ity for the realization of this potential that You’re just a little mixed up about things constitutes the essence of our humanity. in general. Nobody thinks in terms of Modernistic humanism, however laud- human beings. Governments don’t, so able its aims, cannot arrive at the heart of why should we? They talk about the compassion, for it is precisely its oblivious- people and the proletariat. I talk about the suckers and the mugs. It’s the same ness to the Presence of the Heart that fun- thing. They have their fi ve-year plans, damentally undermines its aims. The Heart and so have I— is both the vital center of one’s being and the qualitative seat of compassion—and it MARTINS: —You used to believe in is no accident that these meanings coin- God— cide in the term “heart”. But the search … for our center is not a solipsistic enterprise HARRY: —I still do believe in God, old for we live within a larger universe whose man. I believe in God and Mercy, and all center is none other than the immanent that. The dead are happier dead. They Self that is our own transcendent Heart. don’t miss much here, poor devils…30 This is the identity of Brahma and Atmā in Ivan Karamazov’s conception of neigh- Vedantic terminology. It is this ontological borly love is as dangerously abstracted and coincidence that resonates within us, and disengaged as Harry Lime’s empty concep- its resonance is what we feel as compas- tions of God and Mercy. Both examples sion. This is the vital essence of Reality— involve a reductionism—the erasure of the transcendent and compassionate unity the reality of the “neighbor”—and relativ- of being that lies at the center of all faith ism—placing self-interest above objective traditions. interests—that typify the fl aw of spiritual blindness in modernist conceptions of hu- * * * manism. There can be no real engagement of compassion when we are blind to Real- The humanistic appeal of the recent initia- ity—that is, blind to the spiritual “in-sight” tives promoting a Charter of Compassion31 of “Heart-vision”. This spiritual disengage- and “A Common Word”32 based on Love, ment contrasts with the traditional virtue points to an existential truth that is central of spiritual detachment, which, through to traditional teachings, namely, that the interiorization, engages compassion. While qualities of compassion and love lie at the disengagement is a fl ight from Reality to a very heart of reality. These are important lower (infernal and self-limiting) realm, de- initiatives because they are attempts to

72 drill below the surface of our differences to is its spiritual center; while morality, in its the spiritual core of those Heart-centered spiritual sense, is the operation of virtue values that can unite us as human beings. through the compassionate illumination of These values are metaphysically rooted, the soul. As it is compassion that has origi- transcending theological differences while nated and sustains us, so it is compassion respecting them, and they point to an un- that continually calls to us to respond to it derlying spiritual humanism that is vital for from our Heart-Center wherein it lies—the us to promote in these troubled times. Hidden Treasure within our soul. And this But there are two signiﬁ cant dangers response is both reintegrating prayer and in this enterprise33: abstraction and senti- transforming virtue. Prayer is the remem- mentalism.34 With regard to abstraction, it brance (dhikr) of the existential verity of is important for any initiatives that advo- tawhīd. We remember who we really are, cate humanistic universal values to avoid so that we may “act out in God’s eye what promoting them as “a priori” neo-Kantian in God’s eye we are.”36 Remembrance is categorical imperatives, for—as the quoted our witnessing of the sacred Presence of words of Ivan Karamazov indicate—there the Face of God within and around us. This is a danger that values can be abstracted can only be done by being Heart-centered. of any meaningful reality when they are This is the essence of dhikr. Though human removed from their metaphysical under- beings may feebly attempt prayer, in truth pinnings. A “value” is truly valuable only they can at best “get out of the way”, for when it operates as a “virtue”—that is, it is the Heart alone that prays—hence the when it is transformatively and alchemical- Koranic verse, “Remember Me, and I will ly operational within us. There is a further remember you”.37 When God remembers danger—that of sentimentalizing values so us, it is the Heart that opens (in self-remem- that they become mere expressions of emo- brance) to its own compassionate nature. tion rather than operative virtues grounded It is through this compassionate opening in the moral intelligence of the Heart.35 It that the illusory boundaries between the is important in this regard to recall that the soul and the spirit, and between the “self” Heart is the seat of the Intellect, and that and the “other” dissolve. We are able to love and compassion are above all aspects discern the sacred within us and thereby its of moral intelligence. resonance in all things. There is no virtue Earlier in this paper, we referred to the without this transcendent foundation. We vertical relationship of man and God, and can be virtuous only when we are respond- the horizontal relationship of man with his ing out of our Heart—when our actions fellow creatures. These relationships dictate are “heart-felt”, and addressed not to the the two central obligations of mankind: “other” but to the transcendent Self. Thus, worship and morality. But the point we according to the famous hadīth of Gabriel, wish to emphasize here is that the relation- “Spiritual virtue (ihsān) is to adore God as ships and obligations are integrally linked: if thou sawest Him: and if thou seest Him it is because we worship God or the greater not, He nevertheless sees thee”. Spiritual Reality, that we owe moral obligations to morality is integrally based on faith and all that is holy or sacred within creation. worship. Virtue is the “in-sight” of com- Compassion is central to both worship and passion. It is what enables us to be com- morality. Worship is the self-surrender of passionate, like the Good Samaritan, act- the soul to the compassionate core that ing out of our innermost nature, in the

73 faith that God sees us, and in the knowl- 7 Rig-Veda, X, 114.2; see also Rig-Veda, I, 164.46: edge that “All that lives is holy”. “Being One, the sages name Him variously.” 8 Sūrat Fussilat, XLI:53: The “horizons” refers to the Notes macrocism, while the Self is the microcosm. Each of these contains “signs” of the metacosmic Reality. 1 Frithjof Schuon, “Spiritual Perspectives and Hu- 9 man Facts”, translated by P. N. Townsend. Perennial This distinction by Ibn ‘Arabi is discussed by Books, Middlesex, 1987, p. 56. Toshihiko Izutsu in Sufi sm and Taoism (University of California Press, Berkeley, 1983), chapter IX, “Onto- 2 Non-theistic perspectives, such as that of Bud- logical Mercy”, p. 116 et seq. dhism, are intended to be embraced within this 10 defi nition: while we recognize that the terminology The verse of consecration is absent only in Sūrat is not ideal, its selection is primarily a matter of con- at-Taubah (IX), stressing the rigorous nature of this venience, with the caveat that the term “theocentric” particular revelation. is not intended to refer to any particular limited con- 11 Martin Lings, Muhammad: His Life based on the Ear- ception of divinity, but to embrace a conception of liest Sources, Unwin Paperbacks, London, 1983, 1986, ultimate Reality which is Absolute and Infi nite and chapter XVI, pp. 46 and 47. Perfect, whether expressed in theistic terms or not. 12 3 Sūrat al-An-‘ām, VI:12. That is, it privatizes religion, sometimes regard- 13 ing it as an irrelevant anachronism, if not rejecting Sūrat an-Nisā’, IV:79 it outright—the latter tendency being better under- 14 For example, “Light is the progenitive power” stood as “secular fundamentalism”. (Taittiriya Samhita, VII: 1.1.1) 4 That is, it views all aspects of existence through 15 See Sūrat Al-Hijr, XV:21: “There is no thing its theocentric lens, though this does not necessarily whose storehouses are not with Us, but We send it place it in confl ict with either empirical science or down only in a known measure.” The Storehouses those secular aims that reject theocracies—the ten- are the Divine Treasury, the archetypal realm out dency to such a confl ict within the religious outlook of which things are brought into existence as the being better understood as “religious fundamental- “Speech of God”. ism”. 16 The word for “breath” (nafas) is a cognate of the 5 One of the reasons for this paper’s focus on Islam word for “self ” (nafs), demonstrating etymologically is that, though compassion is central to the message the link between creation and the divine nature. of Islam, the conception of Islam in the “West” is— 17 Sūrat al-Ar’āf, VII:156. for historical and other reasons that are beyond the scope of this paper—dominated by images and un- 18 For example, Book of Genesis, 1:27; and the had- derstandings of the faith, of its sacred scripture, and ith: “God created Adam in His own form.” of the Holy Prophet, that derogate from the central- 19 For example, Book of Genesis, 2:7; and Sūrat As- ity of its compassionate message. Sajdah XXXII:9: “Then He fashioned him in due 6 Etymologically, the word “compassion” is derived proportion and breathed into him of His Spirit.” from the terms “passio” (suffering) denoting an in- 20 For example, Katha Upanishad, IV.10: “Whatever is tense feeling or suffering, and “com” (with) denoting here, that is there. What is there, that again is here.” participation. It conveys the sense of participation 21 in the suffering of the “Other” to the point where Book of Genesis, 1:31: “And God saw every thing distinctions between the Self and the Other are dis- that he had made, and, behold, it was very good.” solved in a sense of fellow-feeling. As such, the term Note also William Blake’s dictum, “Everything that is strongly linked to “sympatheia” (Gr.), from “syn” lives is holy”—the term “holy” conveying that it (together) and “pathos” (feeling). However, as Dante bears the divine imprint, being “of the whole”, and has noted (in Il Convito, II.ix.2), compassion is a hu- “wholesome” or good. man predisposition of the soul to certain qualities 22 Sūrat Al-Baqarah, II:115. that are inherent in (its) nature: “Compassion is not a 23 passion; rather a noble disposition of the soul, made Sūrat al-Qasas, XXVIII:88. ready to receive love, mercy, and other charitable 24 The presence of Hell does not contradict the passions.” This primordial predisposition has meta- inherent Mercy of the Absolute, for the purpose physical roots, as we discuss in this paper. of hellfi re is precisely to burn away the impurities

74 within us that keep us from Heaven. According to 30 Radio Script of Graham Greene’s “The Third Muslim tradition, when all is purifi ed and fi nally re- Man”, Shamrock Eden Publishing, Kindle edition stored to its primordial condition at the end of time, released March 7, 2009. God will stamp out the fi res of Hell. 31 http://charterforcompassion.org 25 That God has not abandoned man, in some Deis- 32 tic sense, is evident in the many scriptural revelations, http://acommonword.com and in the ever-renewing theophany itself. The fact 33 No doubt the initiators of the Charter of Com- that there were diverse scriptural revelations (each passion and A Common Word are well aware of with the language of their own folk—see Koran, these dangers. No criticism is intended of these 14:4), and the fact that we exist and that existence is laudable initiatives, yet it is important to bear in mind being sustained, are themselves expressions of Di- how diffi cult it is to avoid these appealing universal vine Mercy. values of “compassion” and “love” fi nding appeal 26 William Shakespeare, As You Like It, II.1.13. merely at the level of “values” rather than as ontological “virtues”. 27 One recent example of a modernist attempt to construct a system of ethics based on secular hu- 34 Abstraction reduces forms and particulars to manism is that of Jurgen Habermas, presented in The generalized mental concepts. It is the excessively Future of Human Nature, Polity, 2003. In his review “dry” intellectualism of Truth without Presence. of this work in the journal, Sacred Web, Vancouver, It expresses itself through various forms of philo- Volume 13 (www.sacredweb.com), the traditionalist sophical humanism and syncretism. Its charity is scholar Ibrahim Kalin considers the feasibility of either disengaged or condescending. Sentimental- Habermas’ project. Kalin comments (in the review, ism, by contrast, is the excessive attachment of the which is titled, “All Too Human…And That is the emotions to particular forms. It is the excessively Problem”) on the diffi culty of doing away with reli- “moist” emotionalism of Presence without Truth. It gion when discussing any system of ethics. He asks expresses itself in certain forms of evangelism and (at p. 156), “Can one construct a secular ethics with New-Ageism. Its philanthropy is sentimental and total disregard to the religious and the metaphysical? therefore not disinterested. Assuming that one can, the question is then: can one 35 sustain it? The known history of secular humanism See the quotation from Dante, supra, at footnote does not provide us with any convincing answers 6, which emphasizes the distinction between com- that this project can be completed without violating passion and mere (sentimental) passion. rules of logic or subverting religious arguments into 36 This phrase is derived from Gerard Manley Hop- a quasi-religious and quasi-secular discourse.” kins’ sonnet, “As kingfi shers catch fi re…”, where he 28 Frithjof Schuon, “Spiritual Perspectives and Human writes: “…Acts in God’s eye what in God’s eye he Facts”, supra, p. 62. is—/Chríst—for Christ plays in ten thousand places,/Lovely in limbs, and lovely in eyes not his/To the 29 Fyodor Dostoevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov”, Father through the features of men’s faces.” translated by Andrew H. MacAndrew, Bantam Clas- sic, 1981, p.285. 37 Sūrat al-Baqarah, II:152.

75 By David B. Burrell

To introduce us to the genre proper to his celebrated commentary on the ‘Ninety-nine Beautiful Names of God’, al-Ghazālī opens by offering readers the goal of ‘adorning Can Creatures themselves’ with these names.1 For this is not a mere speculative ‘adorn themselves’ with adventure into ‘naming God’, but an exercise meant to effect some- the Names of God? thing in readers who will under- take the disciplines indicated with each name in the form of ‘admo- nitions’. Now any Muslim who dares to speak of love, charity, or compassion will be reminded immediately of God’s own names, for these English terms already suggest a number of them (with Qur’anic references). Besides the ubiquitous Al-Rahman, al-Rahim [the Infi nitely Good, the Merciful], consider Al-Wahhāb [The Bestower] (3:8, 38:9, 38:35), Ar-Razzāq [The Ever- Providing] (51:58), Al-Karīm [The Bountiful, The Generous] 27:40, 82:6), Al-Wakīl [The Trustee, The Dependable] (3:173, 4:171, 28:28, 73:9), Al-Afuww [The Pardoner, The Effacer of Sins] (4:99, 4:149, 22:60), Ar-Ra’ūf [The Compassion- ate, The All Pitying[ (3:30, 9:117, 57:9, 59:10), Now inspired by the Muslim convention that whoever intends to name a child with one of these names must prefi x it by ‘abdul-‘, as in ‘Abdul-Khadr’, we might well ask whether we can ever ‘adorn ourselves’ with any of these names. And pursuing that query will open a rich vein of comparative refl ection for Christians and Mus- lims. To take a name paradigmatic

76 for the exercise of love, charity, or compas- ing whether we had fulfi lled it: who of us sion, we may ponder ‘al-Ghaffar’, where could ever be sure of loving with our whole the intensive fi fth form of the Arabic verb heart, or all of our soul or strength? And suggests a rendering like ‘One who never might we not surmise that to be Jesus’ very ceases to forgive’ or ‘One whose forgiv- point: reminding the ‘lawyer who asked ing continues to forgive’ (Qur’an 20:82, him a question to test him’, as Matthew 38:66, 39:5, 40:42, 71:10, 13:16, 14:48, puts it, to seek the answer in his own scrip- 38:65, 39:4, 40:16). Christians would be ture. Following directly upon the founda- reminded of Jesus’ way of responding to tional shema, the pride of place is given to the query of Peter: ‘Lord, how often shall a command which defi es execution! my brother sin against me and I forgive Moreover, the fi rst of the letters of John him? As many as seven times’? As if to explains why that must be the case. After dispense with any such accounting, Jesus a convoluted lead regarding a command- turns the number offered into a multiplier ment at once new and old, John focuses carrying us beyond calculation: ‘I do not on ‘the message you have heard from the say to you seven times, but seventy times beginning, that you should love one an- seven’ (Mt 18:21)! Might this maneuver other’ (1 John 3:11). Yet to remind us that suggest how al-Ghaffar stands ready to we are unable to fulfi ll that injunction, he forgive us? Indeed, I would propose there goes on to exhort: can be no other reading of Jesus’ response. For he can hardly be suggesting that any Beloved, let us love one another; for of us would be capable of repeating the love is of God, and he who loves is born act of forgiving that many times! Indeed, of God and knows God. He who does were it necessary to do so, we would have not love does not know God, for God is to wonder whether the act could ever be love. In this the love of God was made manifest among us, that God sent his effi cacious? Yet that wonderment might only Son into the world, so that we well prove to be the thread we need. might live through him. In this is love, For Christians speak readily of loving not that we loved God but that he loved and of forgiving, yet closer scrutiny of the us (1 John 4:7-10). lives of exemplary Christians, in the light of scriptures offering them access to the One What distinguishes this form of know- who animates their lives, suggests that ing is that it follows upon doing--‘he who truly loving or forgiving lies quite beyond does not love does not know God’, much their power to effect. Let us begin with the as Al-Ghazālī offers an exercise to follow admonition attached to the shema, ‘Hear, if we are have any inkling of the import of O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord’ a divine name. And for John that exercise (Deuteronomy 6:4-5), which Jesus cites in recapitulates the way Jesus completes his answer to an ostensibly academic ques- answer to the lawyer: ‘this is the great and tion; ‘which is the greatest commandment fi rst commandment. And the second is like of the law’? ‘You shall love the Lord your it. You shall love your neighbor as yourself’ God with all your heart, and with all your (Leviticus 19:18, Mt 22:38-39). As John soul, and with all your might’ (Mt 22:36- elaborates it: 38). But this admonition puts the gram- mar of ‘commandment’ to a severe test, Beloved, if God so loved us, we also for we would have no way of ascertain- ought to love one another. No one has

77 ever seen God; if we love one another, brother or sister from your heart’ (18:34- God abides in us and his love is perfect- 35). But how can Jesus be so unequivocal ed n us (4:11-12). if, as I have been intimating, forgiving itself is an impossible undertaking for us? For John’s form of address offers the deci- the very reason that John gives: though sive clue: he is addressing those already we cannot hope to fulfi ll these command- ‘beloved’ by God, so can expect them to ments ourselves, we are never alone, we understand the import of what he is say- who are ‘beloved of God’. And here we ing: fi nd the hidden key to Jesus parable of the ungrateful servant. The force of the par- by this we know that we abide in him able turns on the apparent contradiction: and he in us, because he has given us one who has been forgiven fails to forgive; of his own Spirit. … So we know and yet the servant could never have acted as believe the love God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in loves abides he did had he truly accepted forgiveness. in God, and God abides in him (4:13- In fact, the contradiction is only appar- 16). ent. The original servant never received forgiveness for he never acknowledged Moreover, the source of this knowledge his fault; he simply breathed a sigh of re- is lief at having been reprieved. Yet failing to acknowledge any fault kept him outside the anointing you have received from the kingdom of God, for only those able him [which] abides in you, [so] you have to admit sinfulness are able to ask for and no need that anyone should teach you; receive forgiveness, and so be admitted as his anointing teaches you about ev- to the kingdom. For it is only in receiving erything, and is true (2:26-7). God’s forgiveness that we can forgive others, yet to receive we must ask, and to ask John even fi nds it superfl uous to issue we must acknowledge our need. Resting this original commandment to ‘beloved’ on our own laurels, we can never forgive, already anointed, as if to emphasize what for we will always be busy ‘editing and a strange form of command it is: evoking re-editing a yet more elegant version of the active presence of God to remind us ourselves’ (Kierkegaard). Such is the dy- that we ought not take these commands namic of the invitation to love, charity, or to be exhortations to fulfi ll, as though we compassion issued by the Christian scrip- could carry them out ourselves. tures and the Qur’an. It quickly becomes Yet to return to Jesus’ admonition to an invitation to seek the presence of the forgive ‘seventy times seven’ times, he God who commands, so that we may be confi rms his point with a story of a servant released from our own preoccupations whose master forgave a huge debt when enough to hear those commands and be he implored him to do so, only then to turn empowered to fulfi ll them. around himself to throttle a fellow servant who owed him far less (Mt 18:23-33). And Jesus endorses the master’s punishment— Parallel Muslim Testimony ‘to deliver him to the jailer till he should So far our focus has been on forgiving, as pay all his [original] debt’—by insisting: the acid test of love, charity, and compas- ‘so also my heavenly father will do to ev- sion, and as a way of showing how we ery one of you, if you do not forgive your can only connect with the reality intimated

78 by the ‘divine names’ via that reality itself. qudsī, love for being known initiates As the fi rst letter of John puts it: ‘not that creation, so it is knowledge of God that we loved God but that he loved us’. Reza brings about a love which consummates Shah-Kazemi elucidates the more meta- creation. In other words, it is conscious- physical aspects of divine love in Muslim ness of God that attracts the love of God, and this love reveals the ultimate tradition, stemming from the hadīth qudsī: meaning of the fi rst testimony of Islam, ‘I was a hidden treasure, and I loved to be ‘No God but God’. It is this dimension known, so I created the creation in order to of tawhīd as union that the saints or 2 be known’. the ‘friends of God’ (awliyāh Allāh, sing. walī Allāh) have realized. [this] knowledge … is not abstract but concrete, not just posited discursively but Such knowledge results in the ‘state of ‘realized’ spiritually, that is, made ‘real’; the ‘friend of God’,’ the ‘slave’ who has since ultimate reality is at one with love, ‘drawn near’ to God, to the point where ‘realized’ knowledge must be a perfect God loves him’, as another hadīth qudsī, synthesis between the two principles, expresses it: ‘My slave never ceases to just as it must integrate knowledge withdraw near to Me through supereroga- in being. Without the dimension of love, tory acts until I love him. And when I knowledge remains abstract; realized love him, I am his hearing by which he knowledge is thus overfl owing with love, hears, his sight by which he sees, his and the consummation of love is beatifi c hand by which he grasps, and his foot union with the Beloved, thus, tawhīd in by which he walks’.3 Here Reza Shah- its deepest spiritual signifi cance of ‘mak- Kazemi invites us beyond the obvious ing one’. Just as, according to the hadīth import of this saying, to see the way in

79 which al-Ghazzālī interprets this saying, and His acts’. Hence, when the Qur’ān one of the most oft-quoted in the works asserts that ‘He loves them’ (5:54), this of the Sufi s. Book six of volume four of means that ‘God does indeed love them his Ihyā’ is entitled ‘The Book of Love [people], but in reality He loves nothing (mahabba) and longing and intimacy other than Himself, in the sense that and contentment’. In his discussion on He is the totality [of being], and there the love of God for man, he writes, in is nothing in being apart from Him.’ theological mode, that whereas one can Al-Ghazzālī proceeds to show how this legitimately apply the same word, love, love of God for Himself … most clearly both to man and to God, the meaning manifests itself, and this he does by ref- of the word changes depending on the erence to the saying: ‘God is the hear- agent of love. Human love is an incli- ing, sight, hand and foot of the one He nation (mayl) of the soul towards that loves, and the one He loves is the one which is in harmony with it, beauty both who draws close to Him through super- outward and inward, seeking from an- erogatory prayer.’ other the consummation of love, for its perfection cannot be achieved within it- Finally, and most signifi cantly for our self—and such love cannot be ascribed inquiry: to God, in whom all perfections are infi - nitely and absolutely realized. This capacity to attain this degree of However, at this point al-Ghazzālī ‘nearness’ is itself an expression of the shifts into a completely different mode eternally real love of God. According to of discourse, and asserts that God’s love al-Ghazzālī, this perfect and eternal love is absolutely real, and that His love is not of God creates the human being in a dis- for another—such is inconceivable— position which seeks proximity to Him, but rather is for Himself: for His own and furnishes him with access to the Essence, qualities and acts: for ‘there pathways leading to the removal of the is nothing in being except His Essence veils separating him from God, such that

80 he comes to ‘see’ God by means of God mative power from the point of view of Himself. ‘And all this’, says al-Ghazzālī, walāya, that sanctity which is the fruit ‘is the act of God, and a grace bestowed of the purest tawhīd, which in turn is upon him [God’s creature]: and such is predicated upon the complete efface- what is meant by God’s love of him.’ ment of all that is other than God—only This enlightening grace of God towards then can one speak about God’s love for His creatures is constitutive of His love Himself through His creatures. …. To see for them, a love which in reality is noth- a saint is thus to witness something of ing other than His love for Himself; and the divine reality which he has rendered there is a clear link between this divine transparent by his very effacement in love of God for Himself and the highest that reality. realization of mystical tawhīd. Christian Testimony of John of Although on the surface the saying the Cross appears to make God’s love the result of contingent actions—the voluntary perfor- We may readily compare this unitary view mance of religious acts of devotion— di- of creator and creature with John of the vine love is the eternally pre-existent reality, Cross’s presentation of the inner dynam- 4 for God is not subject to change: all that ics of a life of faith. John is disarmingly can change is the perception of the soul, forthright in identifying the goal of that which, mysteriously, comes to see its own journey: ‘the union and transformation illusory nature and the unique reality prop- of the [person] in God’ (Ascent of Mount er to God; evidently, only God can ‘see’ this Carmel 2.5.3); as well as the means: ‘faith reality, whence the saying: God becomes alone, which is the only proximate and the ‘eye’ by which the saint sees, and the proportionate means to union with God’ saint ‘sees’ both his own nothingness and (2.9.1). He is at pains to distinguish this in- the sole reality of God. In other words, it tentional union from the ‘union between is only possible to assert that God loves God and creatures [which] always exists [by Himself as and through His creatures, from which] God sustains every soul and dwells the point of view of one who has gained in it substantially. ... By it He conserves their this ‘proximity’ to God and thus comes to being so that if the union would end they a realization that it is indeed God and not would immediately be annihilated and himself who ‘sees’ through him, ‘hears’ cease to exist’ (2.5.3). So John will pre- through him, and so on. Such a knowledge sume the unique metaphysical relation of is only granted, according to al-Ghazzālī in all creatures to their source which Meister another treatise, to those who have seen Eckhart elaborated from Aquinas’ ‘distinc- through the illusory nature of their own tion’, and does not hesitate it to call it a existence, and this can only occur as a con- union--indeed, an ‘essential or substantial 5 sequence of realizing the state of fanā’, ex- union’. This grounding fact attends all tinction, annihilation, in God. It is this that creatures, hence it is natural and found in the highest category of knowers of God everything (though displayed differently in undergo, it is this self-dénouement that animate from inanimate, and in animate, provides them with the ultimate realization differs from animals to humans, though of the principle of tawhīd: among humans it can still be found in ‘the greatest sinner in the world’), while the The love of God for Himself through His intentional union is supernatural and can creation assumes an altogether transfor- only be found ‘where there is a likeness of

81 love’ [such that] God’s will and the [per- truth, in unfailing service of that ultimate son’s] are in conformity’ (2.5.3). goal for the sake of which our will is com- In her study of Shankara, Sara Grant manding our mind’s assent’.8 Unlike ordi- shows how the ‘non-reciprocal relation of nary belief, then, faith must be an act of dependence’ which attends all creatures the whole person, involving a personal and of a free creator eliminates any prospect critical quest for a truth which outreaches of ‘heteronomy’ between those two wills, our proper expression. John assesses our but let us attend fi rst to the internal con- concepts sharply: ‘nothing which could nection between faith and union which possibly be imagined or comprehended John confi dently asserts.6 What makes in this life can be a proximate means of this sound so startling is our propensity to union with God’ (Ascent of Mount Carmel confi ne such talk to ‘mystics’ as we tend 2.8.4), since ‘nothing created or imagined to reduce faith to belief: holding certain can serve the intellect as a proper means propositions to be true. This long and for union with God; [rather], all that can be complex debate in Christian theology cuts grasped by the intellect would serve as an oddly across confessional lines, so the best obstacle rather than a means, if a person we can do here is to remind ourselves that were to become attached to it’ (2.8.1). John of the Cross could well have been responding from the Iberian peninsula to Culminating in Al-Ghazzālī on sixteenth-century winds from northern Eu- trust in God rope. He does so by elaborating key asser- The operative alternative to conceptual tions of Aquinas to defuse debates polar- knowing in Islam is trust, the epitome izing intellect and will in the act of faith. of which is found in the state of tawak- For Aquinas, ‘faith is a sort of knowledge kul, elaborated by Al-Ghazzālī in the cen- [cognitio quaedam] in that it makes the tral book of his Ihyā’ ‘Ulūm al-dīn as the mind assent to something. The assent is complement to tawhīd, which culminates not due to what is seen by the believer but in the believer’s profound conviction ‘of 7 to what is seen by him who is believed’. the unalterable justice and excellence of The one who is believed is, of course, the things as they are ..., of the `perfect right- incarnate Word of God, Jesus, as mediated ness of the actual’.9 Eric Ormsby sees through the scriptures, so this peculiar ‘sort this conviction as the upshot of the ten of knowledge’ is rooted in an interpersonal years of seclusion and prayer following relation of the believer with Jesus. It is that Al-Ghazzālī’s spiri tual crisis. By ‘the ac- relation at the root of faith which John of tual’ he means what God has decreed, the Cross sets out to explore, quite aware itself the product and refl ection of divine that what results from it will ‘fall short of wisdom. And in asserting the primacy of the mode of knowing [cognitio] which is the actual over the possible, Al-Ghazzālī properly called “knowledge” [scientia], for shows himself a true theologian. For such knowledge causes the mind to assent philosophers, contingency tends to be- through what is seen and through an un- speak the logical fact that ‘whatever ex- derstanding of fi rst principles’ (Ibid.). More ists could always be other than it is’. Yet positively, Aquinas will characterize faith as while it may be ‘logically correct and per- ‘an act of mental assent commanded by the missible to affi rm that our world could be will, [so] to believe perfectly our mind must different than it is, it is not theo logically tend unfailingly towards the perfection of correct and permissible--indeed, it is

82 impious--to assert that our world could There are stages of trust in divine provi- be better than it is. The world in all its dence, to be sure, which Ghazzālī cata- circumstances remains unimpeachably logues as (1) the heart’s relying on the right and just, and it is unsurpassably ex- trustworthy One [wakil] alone, (2) a trust cellent’.10 Yet the excel lence in question like that of a child in its mother, where the is not one which we can assess indepen- focus is less on the trust involved than dently of the fact that it is the product of on the person’s orientation to the one divine wisdom, so Al-Ghazzālī directs us to in whom they trust; and (3) the notori- the second part where prac tice will allow ous likeness of a corpse in the hands of its us to traverse domains which speculative washers, where the relevant point is that reason cannot otherwise map. such trust moves one quite beyond peti- What sort of a practice is tawakkul: tion of any sort. Yet the operative factor is trust in divine providence? It entails ac- present already in the initial stage, which cepting whatever happens as part of the is not surpassed but only deepened by sub- inscrutable decree of a just and merci- sequent stages: trusting in the One alone. ful God. Yet such an action cannot be The formula for faith here is the hadith: reduced to mere resignation, to be cari- ‘There is no might and power but in God’, catured as ‘Islamic fatalism.’ It rather en- which Ghazzālī takes to be equivalent to the Qur’anic shahādah: There is no god tails aligning oneself with things as they but God, thereby reminding us that the really are: in Ghazali’s sense, with the truth hadith does not enjoin us to trust in power that there is no agent but God Most High. or might, as attributes distinct from God, This requires surrender since we cannot but in God alone. It is in this context that formulate the relationship between this he selects stories of Sufi sheikhs, offering single divine agent and the other agents them as examples to help point us towards which we know, and also because our or- developing specifi c skills of trust ing: hab- dinary perspective on things is not a true its of responding to different situations in one: human society lives under the sign such a way that one learns by acting how of jāhiliyya or pervasive ignorance. Nor things are truly ordered, the truth of the can this resignation be solely intellectual, decree. The principle operative through- as though I could learn ‘the truth’ so as to out is that a policy of complete renun- align myself with it in the way speculative ciation of reliance on customary means reason is supposed to illuminate practical [asbab] is contrary to divine wisdom, the judgment. For this all-important relation- Sunnah Allāh, but those who journey in ship resists formulation. Nevertheless, by faith will learn that means are of different trying our best to act according to the con- kinds, hidden as well as manifest. viction that the divine decree expresses the So there is a school whereby we learn truth in events as they unfold, we will allow how to respond to what happens in such ourselves to be shown how things truly lie. a way that we are shown how things are So faith [tawhīd] and prac tice [tawakkul] truly ordered. This school will involve are reciprocal; neither is foundational. learning from others who are more prac- The understanding given us is that of one ticed in responding rightly; Al-Ghazzālī’s journeying in faith, a salik, the name which judicious use of stories is intended to in- Sufi s characteristically appropriated for timate the Sufi practice of master / dis- themselves. ciple wherein the novice is offered way

83 of discerning how to act. Philosophy no Notes longer pretends to be a higher wisdom; 1 Al-Ghazālī on the Ninety-Nine Beautiful speculative reason is wholly subject to Names of God, translated by David Burrell practical reason; the inevitable implica- and Nazih Daher (Cambridge: Islamic Texts tion of replacing the emanation scheme Society, 1992; Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, with an intentional creator, evidenced 1998) also in Maimonides. So the challenge of 2 See Reza Shah-Kazemi, ‘God ‘the Loving’, understanding the relation of the free cre- in Miroslav Volf, Ghazi bin Muhammad, and ator to the universe becomes the task of Melissa Yarrington, eds., Common Word: Muslims and Christians on Loving God and rightly responding to events as they hap- Neighbor (Grand rapids MI / Cambridge UK: pen, in such a way that the true ordering Eerdmans, 2010) 88-109. These quotations, of things, the divine decree, can be made however, are taken from a portion of his con- manifest in one’s actions-as-responses. tribution which was omitted form the printed Al-Ghazzālī expresses this relationship be- version, which we are indebted to the author for supplying. tween speculative and practical reason by 3 noting that we need to call upon both Sahīh al-Bukhārī, Kitāb al-riqāq, no.2117, p.992. knowl edge and state [of being] in guiding 4 our actions according to a wholehearted John of the Cross, The Spiritual Canticle, The Living Flame of Love in Collected Works of St. trust in God. What he wishes to convey John of the Cross (Washington DC: Institute by those terms in tandem is an awareness of Carmelite Studies, 1991). of the very structure of the book itself: 5 See Robert Dobie: Logos and Revelation: the knowl edge which faith in divine uni- Ibn ‘Arabi, Meister Eckhart, and Mystical ty brings is only gained through practice, Hermeneutics (Washington DC: Catholic Uni- leading one to an habitual capacity to versity of America Press, 2010), and Reza align one’s otherwise errant responses to Shah-Kazemi: Paths to Transcendence according to Shankara, Ibn Arabi and Meister Eck- situation after situation according to the hart (Bloomington IN: World Wisdom Books, guidance that faith offers. 2006); French trans. Shankara, Ibn ‘Arabi et These reﬂ ections have shown how the Maître Eckhart : La Voie de la Transcendance faith of these diverse communities in a (Paris: L’Harmattan, 2010) free creator converges to challenge us to 6 Sara Grant, Towards an Alternative Theology ﬁ nd ways to articulate the ensuing rela- (Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame tionship between creatures and creator, Press, 2002). and notably free creatures, so as to give 7 Summa Theologiae 1.12.13.3. due homage and gratitude to divine wis- 8 Summa Theologiae 2-2.4.5. dom in creating. 9 Al-Ghazālī on Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence, tr. David Burrell (Louis- ville KY: Fons Vitae, 2002). 10 Bernard McGinn and David Burrell, eds., God and Creation (Notre Dame IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1990) 257.

84 85 Further Observations on Love (or Equality)

By Nur Yalman presence in spirit was an encouragement to the rest of us to emulate his (or her) contri- An essay dedicated to Talat Halman 1 butions to our existence. Societies throughout history have often had such revered I oftentimes saintly personages held up as André Malraux in his Les Noyers de a source of inspiration for the rest of hu- l’Altenburg writes of the decline of interest man kind. The great prophets or exemplary in the modern world of the “admirable” teachers like Confucius or the Buddha have person; a person whose life and actions shown “the way” for human kind with were highly esteemed and held up as ex- their radiant personal examples. Islam is amples for the rest of humanity, whose no exception. Beginning with the beloved

86 prophet himself, it also has its extensive list ior which inform personal relations in small of “saintly” personages and their myths. In towns and villages. In this sense, the rise Iran such “teachers” are simply referred to in Islamic politics in recent years in Turkey as “mercii taklid” (lit. locus of emulation). may be interpreted as partly a reaction to In Turkey, the saintly personages whose the materialist and instrumental values so simple or elaborate tombs provide a sacred heartily espoused, and so callously fl aunted geography for the countryside, which are by the Westernized elite. The greedy and often venues for pilgrimages, have always shameless fi nancial scandals in the “mod- had this kind of attraction for the ordinary ern” sector compounded by high infl ation people. It is indeed impressive for an an- has served to remind people of the attrac- thropologist to see the degree to which the tions of an imagined alternative timeless, mystical teachings of the contemplative pure, and ethical way of life. orders, and especially the actual personal Although much of the paper concerns narratives of the “saints” (evliya) have the question of love and equality, it is not penetrated into public consciousness (Hal- intended to distract attention from the man 1981). A great deal of the ethos of untold suffering, the terrible toll of vio- the Turkish countryside can be seen to be a lence and hate that has been so much in refl ection of these ethical teachings which evidence in recent years (Sayari 1985). This have become so deeply rooted in the hearts was so even before the Kurdish revolt in and minds of the people that their origins Southeastern Turkey (see Yalman, von Bru- are no longer recognized or even known. inessen?) for particular local reasons, and The paper that follows attempts to bring has now escalated with complicated inter- to the surface the interplay between the national dimensions involving Iraq, Syria mythic history of a famous dervish order and other countries. (the Mevlevi) and the cultural forms which The paper therefore deals with only one can be observed in the life of simple people positive facet of the cultural ethos of reli- in the eastern provinces of Turkey. Not only gious life in Turkey. It refers to a happier pe- do the present cultural forms bear a close riod before the rise of Kurdish irredentism. affi nity to the values expressed by the mys- It also highlights the contrast between the tics since ancient times, they also represent deeper rhythms of culture and demands of a fascinating contrast to the consumerist- immediate political action. capitalist values that now inform much of Western life. In Turkey, the consumerist- II capitalist way of existence is developing In looking back over Islamic political philos- rapidly, “converting” the masses to a con- ophy it is diffi cult not to see the connection sumerist-capitalist ethos especially among with certain very “modern” preoccupations the growing middle and professional class- of the social sciences. There is the preoccu- es, but the expression of “traditional” Is- pation with certain central concepts such lamic values remains very strong. This is still as equality and justice in the community, in evidence not only in the resurgence of but there are also the discussions on the Islamic discourse both on television and in triad of prophecy (nebi), tradition (had- the large number of published books and ith) and reason (akhil). These are evidently papers — there are immense book fairs in the main issues worthy of speculation for the courtyards of the great mosques in Is- Farabi, Ghazzali, Ibn Khaldun and others. tanbul — but also in expectations of behav- It is surely noteworthy that this same triad

87 which might be restated as charisma, tradi- (Schimmel 1991) whose work is closely re- tion, and rationality is the cornerstone of lated to Rumi, does not mince his words: Weberian sociology and not unrelated to the thoughts of Pascal who also writes of “God’s revelation in man” and “the hu- inspiration, tradition and reason. The Is- man being as a true reﬂ ection of God’s lamic philosophers were evidently thinking beautiful images” are recurrent themes along lines which have been familiar in a in Yunus Emre’s poems: non religious context. He is God Himself - humans are his im- These apparently academic concerns in ages. See for yourself: God is man, that Islamic thought are enlivened from time to is what He is. It is a duty for the mystic time by the irresistible upsurges of emo- to love God, and to become, through tion. The vehicles for spiritual emotion are love, the perfect man.“ the brotherhoods, known as the tariqat (from tariq: the “way,” the “path”), which And, “See all people as equals, are organized communities which bring the See the humble as heroes.” pious together to celebrate their devotion to God. These communities are formed “We regard no one’s religion as contrary to ours, True love is born when all faiths around the metaphors of “love” and “ad- are united as a whole.” (Halman 1981), oration”: the love of man for God, and pp.9-14. the love of man for man in the most general sense. The tariqat are always formed How these lofty concerns about love around the memory of an exemplary saint- and equality have been translated into ly (veli-pl. evliya) personage. They celebrate practice and how Islamic societies have the Saint’s life and personal example and dealt with the more profound forms of allow individuals to dedicate themselves to social inequality remain completely con- living their lives in his image. There are hun- temporary issues everywhere that Islam is dreds of such communities active in the Is- practiced. One could well say that the one lamic world today (Popovic 1986, 58). One serious question which torments Islamic of the most famous of these brotherhoods society in this age is the preoccupation is that of the Mevlevi, formed in memory of with the political form taken by the social the beloved mystic poet Celaleddin-i Rumi contract. How Islam as is reﬂ ected in these after his death in the year 1273, which has high expectations to be put into practice as come down to our day with their central a political regime? The question is worthy shrine (tekke) and mausoleum (turbe) in of sustained analysis with care and depth. Konya in central Anatolia. The metaphor of This paper on the cultural expressions “love” for God is most clearly expressed in of love (and equality) attempts to portray the parable of Rumi and his adoration for some of the elements which characterize Shems-i tabrizi which is recited in devotion- the relations among Muslims. The underly- al Islamic poetry in many places and diverse ing expectation of equality which provides languages. It needs no great insight to see legitimacy for the sense of community is that the overwhelming “love” of man for often near the surface. It cannot be dis- man must embrace “equality” too, albeit missed in discussing the nature of social hi- in an abstract and general sense. Halman erarchies, and administrative classes in the writing of another celebrated mystical Islamic East. It is certainly true that the gap poet, the great Yunus Emre (d.1320-21?), between expectations and practice has

88 been quite painful in most Islamic coun- are closely related ideas. Given the caste tries, but it is useful to have a clear idea of hierarchy as an elaborate social and reli- some of the cultural aspirations. gious system of categories which fully de- termines the trajectories of individual lives, III “renunciation” allows for a sense of “lib- This paper is not about the sexes, but it is eration”. In other words, the renunciation about the sentiment of love and “equal- of the world turns out to be an powerful ity”. But, as my Indian friend, the sociolo- religious mode which permits the specially gist T.N.Madan, so perceptively noted, it gifted individual to escape from the strict does border on the question of how “di- crucible of caste connections, to liberate vine adoration” may even penetrate some himself from family ties and obligations, of these vexed concerns of “equality” and provides a prestigious cultural open- among human beings. The paper there- ing, a greatly valued different “route” for fore is about that old but central concern some special persons. So the Hindu san- in Islam (and Christianity) that is the subject nyasi is greatly respected, but only on the of love between men and God, which in condition that family and social ties have turn is a powerful metaphor for love (but been abandoned. The sannyasi therefore not sex) among men (and women) in con- undergoes funeral rites for himself and nection with certain doctrines of equality is “reborn” outside his caste, in a special among men (and women) in these vital re- casteless state (Dubois 1906). Thus, he ligious traditions. can be respected as a saintly fi gure by all The subject of “equality” in Islam, and castes. That at least is the theory. of the metaphor of Dionysian love, which “Renunciation” is a well recognized we may accept as the religious dimension theme in Islam and Christianity as well, but of equality, stands in stark contrast to what the conditions are very different from the a great French anthropologist has written Indian case. In Islam, especially in keeping about India. Professor Louis Dumont has with the concern about avoiding the cre- written subtly and imaginatively of “hierar- ation of a privileged group with privileged chy” in the culture of Hinduism, and of the access to Divine truths, the more extreme doctrines of renunciation, which we could forms of world renunciation have always regard as the religious dimension of hierar- been discouraged by the doctors of Islamic chy. On this latter point, we have Dumont’s law, the Ulema. Piety and humility is valued celebrated Frazer Lecture in 1958 (Dumont but ascetic otherworldliness in not consid- 1980), whereas on the Islamic side the situ- ered to be a privileged or indeed accept- ation has not been fully clarifi ed. Nonethe- able form. So, although there are many less, we may have here, in this highly ideal- traditions of “otherworldly” behavior, ized formula, equality and love on the one much mortifi cation of the fl esh especially hand, hierarchy and renunciation on the in some tariqat communities, and among other, an almost mirror image-like com- the Shi’a during Muharram celebrations, parison of two religious world-views which Islam has no monasteries and nunneries have intermingled with such bitter intimacy which are such important institutions in for more than a thousand years in India. many other religions. Dumont has an unusual perspective on In writing of equality in the culture of Indian civilization. He has argued that “re- Islam, and of the doctrine of love, I do not nunciation” and caste as a sacred hierarchy mean of course that there is no “inequal-

89 ity” among Islamic peoples. A mere men- what of the friendly hospitality among our tion of Islam in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh intellectual circles and Universities to schol- and of Islamic “castes” of the sub-conti- ars of the most astonishing backgrounds nent, not to speak of all kinds of Islamic (Gibb and Bowen). groups elsewhere, would be enough evi- I do not want to give the impression dence of inequality. There are also the “no- of an early utopian Marxism. The open- ble” tribes of Arabia, as well as the intense ness of recruitment appears to have given preoccupation with pollution in many parts a tremendous emphasis to the need for to indicate that, in practice, the relations achievement and power, because so much of inferiority and superiority are as much seems possible and open to the individual. a part of daily Islamic experience as any We have the words of Sir Adolphus Slade, other. While this is indeed often enough an Englishman who served as an offi cer in the practice, the high ideals of Islam do the Ottoman Navy in the 1820’s. turn around the principle that there are no privileged persons in Islam, or rather that a It is curious to observe the similarity of person’s worth depends upon the moral- advantages which are enjoyed by na- ity of his or her intentions, behavior, and tions in opposite spheres of knowledge, piety. This may lead to the gates of heaven and separated by perfectly distinct manners and religion. Hitherto the Osman- but even in the worldly kingdoms, once ley has enjoyed by custom some of the converted to the belief of Islam--i.e., have dearest privileges of freemen, for which “surrendered” (teslim) to the Will of God-- Christian nations have so long struggled. they must be given an equal chance to rise He paid nothing to the government be- in society. Hence the promise of Islam, for yond a moderate land tax, although lia- instance, to Black Muslims in America, and ble, it is true, to extortions, which might other oppressed peoples elsewhere. be classed with assessed taxes. He paid Hence also the many celebrated cases of no tithes, the vacouf (waqf) suffi cing the converts who went on to become the for the maintenance of the ministers of highest offi cers in the Islamic states. This Islamism. He traveled where he pleased without passports; no custom house of- is true for the Arabic, Persian and Turkish fi cer intruded his eyes and dirty fi ngers and even Mogul Empires, and comes from among his baggage; no police watched a conception that whoever accepts the sa- his motions, or listened for his words. cred constitution--the shari’a- -is a full “cit- His house was sacred. His sons were izen”. The openness of recruitment to the never taken from his side to be soldiers, highest positions of the state has meant unless war called them. His views of am- that at least among the Ottomans, men of bition were not restricted by the barri- every possible cultural background in east- ers of birth and wealth; from the lowest ern Europe, Poles and Albanians, Bosnians origin he might aspire without presump- and Serbians, Macedonians, Montenegrins tion to the rank of pasha; if he could and Greeks and Armenians and Georgians read, to that of grand vizir; and this consciousness, instilled and supported and of course the peoples of western Asia, by numberless precedents, ennobled Arabs, Persians, Kurds, Circassians, and his mind, and enabled him to enter on many others were completely assimilated the duties of high offi ce without embar- in the service of the empire and of Islam. rassment. Is not this the advantage so Recruitment to the Ulema too, appears to prized by free nations? Did not the ex- have been quite open, reminiscent some- clusion of people from posts of honor

90 tend to the French revolution?...For this Or in a lighter vein, about this fraternity, freedom, this capability of realizing the the Syrian leader, Shukry el Kuwatly, had wildest wishes, what equivalent does the apparently complained about the intracta- sultan offer? It may be said none. (Lewis ble attitudes of his countrymen: “Fifty per- 1968: 125-126). cent of Syrians think that they are national leaders, 25% think they are prophets, and However, the notion of “equality” is so the rest think they are God.” vivid in the minds of some Islamic scholars that Maududi, the celebrated activist writer IV in Pakistan is said to have declared: “If you The interest in Love as a social doctrine can want to see Islam put into proper practice, be said to arise with the mystic tariqats very go to see the China of Mao Tse Tung”. I early in Islam. There is much talk of the would not argue the case of a similarity of heart (Al Ghazzali): Love in this sense is a intention between Marxism and Islam, or dangerous even subversive doctrine. So are even of a political attraction, when we have the tariqats regarded to this day in many had case after case of unspeakable hostility places. The love of men for God, and for both in the Middle East and inside the for- each other has a Dionysian quality diffi cult mer Soviet Union of communism and Islam. for the authorities to control. Suffi ce it to say that they had met on the Such irrepressible and all consuming ground of equality, but obviously parted love is expressed in highly emotive rituals, company in the fundamentals. the passion plays of the Shi’a, or the ritual Equality of opportunity was not achieved chanting (dhikr) of the various Dervish or- in Islamic states for Muslims, but something ders, or the sema (whirling) of the Mevlevi, like it seems at least to have been intended. and, in all cases, it is reported that the ef- In this sense, Islam has always given the im- fect of the communal ritual is the submerg- pression of a “fraternity” (and “sorority”) ing of the individual in an “ocean of love” to outsiders. Since it is at least a utopian in his group. movement, if not often a tide of social re- The degree to which the Middle East at volt, there is also the constant interest in least was susceptible to such ideas can be proselytization which is another facet of understood from the fact that love-”divine open recruitment. Consider, for instance, love” (“tasavvuf”) mysticism is the largest the education of the great Persian poet, and most persistent subject in the poetry Sadi, known for his sexually free views. We and music of the Ottoman and Persian and have the words of G.M. Wickens:”It is usu- indeed Mogul Empires. The stream ran ally accepted that Sadi received his early ed- deep and wide for many centuries. It is in ucation in (Shiraz) and then proceeded to full fl ood still. The major poets such as Yu- the famous Nizamiyya Academy at the ca- nus Emre and Celaleddin-i Rumi, Sadi and liphal metropolis of Baghdad... Prestigious Hafi z and many others too numerous to institution though this was at different pe- mention were much involved with mystic riods of its existence, Sadi would not have orders and their entire and vast corpus is found himself excluded by the modern about divine love. Behind the divine spiri- obstacles of poverty, entrance standards, tuality one senses the powerful imagery limited enrollment, course requirements, of love as a metaphor for human relations centrally set quotas, and all the rest.” (The (Andrews 1985). Again, the insistence is on Gulistan of Sa’di). communal joint Mystic experience. Individ-

91 ual mystic experience and ecstasy is said to individuals, I am tempted to say through belong properly to Christians (for Mevlana, “vibrations.” Governments in the Middle see Schimmel 1992; Schimmel 1993). East are always complaining that formal- The metaphor of love, the love of men ity, order, rules and organization cannot for God and for each other has certain po- be effectively maintained and are going litical implications. It denies, of course, the to the winds. In Turkey, which has made a machine-like quality that well-run societ- massive effort during the Republic to cease ies sometimes come to exhibit. Love as a all these “vibrations,” there are pejora- consuming passion would deny formalities, tive terms expressing this combination of and would undermine social barriers. It warm, personable, informal disorder--”alla would erode the privileges of small closed Turca.”. This is opposed to alla Franca groups which often run the important in- meaning cold, distant, elegant, formal. The stitutions in societies, and would insist that East is laubali, annoyingly informal and un- the hierarchical structures, built up with necessarily friendly; it has no time sense. such care, and which depend of people The West in the archetype, is formal, struc- keeping their places and doing their du- tured, organized and obsessed with punc- ties, be brought down. It would insist that tuality. The stereotype at least, fi ts in with men be level with each other, dissolve the the complaints of the author of The Green- barriers separating them and unite with ing of America. one another in a sense of community and One meets the expressions of these cul- identity and become one with each other tural preoccupations in unexpected ways. and with God. During fi eld work in eastern Turkey in the I am not advocating the ritual of love town of Malatya, I was much impressed as a practical solution to social problems. by the fulsome bodily contact that was I merely observe that these sentiments constantly taking place between men. I which from time to time rise to the surface used to spend time in the shop of an in- in the West as well, permeate the work of formant friend, a small merchant of about the poets mentioned above. It is character- fi fty who was in the dried fruit business. istic of a major theme in Islamic writing. In We would sit on great mounds of apricots reading them, one takes these matters and and apples and prunes and discuss matters the element of social protest in the mystic of local interest. Now and again his friends orders almost for granted (Basgoz 1981). would come in. Even though, in this small It is often mentioned as a deeply humanist town, he encountered them almost every concern. day, they would be kissed, caressed, their The contrast with the hierarchy, rituality cheeks stroked and examined with a special and sense of structure in Dumont’s depic- cultural gesture much like that of a gastro- tion of India is striking. These mystic move- nome examining the ripeness of a peach. ments, all based on love, are a threat to Then after the fi rst pleasantries and much whatever social order and administration laughter, sometimes horseplay, the friends they have encountered. would stand arm in arm, or hand in hand How does this humanism appear in for many minutes and talk. This expres- “anthropological” terms? An intriguing sion of cordial intimacy was accompanied feature of the Islamic world, at least in by a self conscious effort of great trust in the Middle East, is that it is a “vibe” cul- many matters, but in particular, in matters ture. People must relate to each other as of money. These friends were merchants,

92 and hence considerable sums would pass the more successful, even rapacious, larger back and forth between them for business landlords could be heard saying, “I am an purposes. They would trust each other and old man. My needs are few. All I need is a other friends with immense sums of money. piece of bread and a bit of cheese (iki lok- In an almost medieval context where banks ma peynir ekmek) to keep me going.” This and personal checks were not in great use, was an expected cultural expression again (I am writing of the 1960’s) this almost ritu- of a way of life most evident in the care al trust between friends--and friends not so freeness of the Dervish orders. It was be- close--was perhaps understandable but still ing manifested among ordinary people not very impressive. The group of friends tend- necessarily members of Dervish groups, ed also to pray together ﬁ ve times a day of- who, while making protestations of pov- ten in the same mosque, and though these erty and lack of needs, were quite often people were merchants and involved in bit- engaged in cut throat struggles with other ter politics in the small town and province to which they belonged, there was a con- political groups, and even numerous blood stant denial of the importance of money feuds between the various clans of the lo- and wealth, a claim that these were surface cality. It may be recalled that Khomeini too, matters, and that beyond money what was when he returned to Iran, made a great im- important was a good moral family, a good pression leading a very humble existence. name, honor and a circle of thoughtful chil- He too is said to have dined on a simple dren. The preoccupations of a consumer meal of bread and yogurt in the evenings. society, the labels and fashions would not It did not prevent him from sweeping away have been further from their minds. Even the vast machinery of the Shah regime.

93 This culture of detachment in worldly in the city of Konya, with many students matters, in particular to money, was also at this University and many interested in expressed in the indifference shown to his work and lectures in the town. He was dress. My friends, though important mem- on very good terms with the court of the bers of the community, would go around Seljuk kings. He was, in other words, a very unshaven, in old clothes which looked as successful intellectual concerned with his if they had been slept in since they had books, papers, lectures and deeply inter- been fi rst put on months ago, old crum- ested in the explication of religion. pled shirts and overcoats frayed around the Suddenly, on the 29th of December edges and buttonholes. They wore western 1244, a revolution took place in his placid “business suits,” but as they prayed every life. He met a man called Sems-i tabrizi in day on their knees, and as they took their Konya (the “sun” of Tabriz). The circum- ablutions numerous times in the course stances of their meeting are not very clear. of the day, the sleeves of their coats and There are many diverse accounts. Sems trouser bottoms would be rolled up and apparently simply grabbed the bridle and down, and the backs of their shoes would stopped his horse on the street. Sems is said be pressed down from washing their feet. to have been a man good for nothing. He There were, of course, occasions when might have been called a “hippie” at this they would be spruced up, but it did seem time. However, it is clear that he exempli- as if the religious preoccupation with purity fi es “love” and the mystery of the “divine” and cleanliness, a state most evident to the in the story. Upon meeting Sems, Mevlana inner man took precedence over how they is stunned by his alien way of life. He goes appeared on the outside. And these were through what we may call a mental crisis merchants supposedly in competition in and falls irresistibly in love with Sems. He the capitalist modern world. stops his lectures. He ceases to see his students, friends, members of the court. He V withdraws with Sems into a cell in the col- The preoccupation with love is rendered lege where they stay together engaged in most explicit in the story of the life of one friendly discourse for forty days. (A ritual of the poets of Islam, Mevlana Celaleddin-i number often associated with austerities). Rumi. The stature of Rumi in Islamic litera- During this time, the population of Konya ture is like that of Chaucer or Shakespeare is increasingly incensed. There are great ri- in English. His story has been told many ots outside the college. The Seljuk throne times. He is also the saintly spirit which ani- itself is said to be endangered. Friends of mates the famous Mevlevi order of “Whirl- Mevlana fear for the life of Sems. Finally, ing Dervishes” which has survived to this Sems departs. This departure occasions the day. He was born in Balh (Central Asia) on most extraordinary gushing forth of lyric September 30, 1207; but lived most of his poetry on the subjects of love and separa- life in Konya, Central Turkey, and died in tion from Mevlana. He feels he must see Konya on 17 December 1273. The time is Sems again. His son, Veled Cebebi goes to one of great upheavals in the Islamic world; fi nd Sems, and succeeds in bringing him the rise and fall of great states; great in- back to the hostile environment of Konya, vasions of Turkish speaking peoples from but once again their intimate happiness is Central Asia. Mevlana was a professor of threatened by the mobs. Sems leaves fi - law like his father. He was greatly admired nally, never to return. There are traditions

94 suggesting that he may have been killed and the U.S. Nicholson writes, “We see (see Schimmel 1993, 1992). Then Mevlana him standing out as a sublime mountain travels to Damascus to ﬁ nd Sems, but is un- peak; the many other poets before and af- successful. He spends the rest of his days, ter him are but foot-hills in comparison” again in Konya, at his College, with his stu- (p.26). dents, but this time his life has meaning, My description of the relations among which is predicated on divine love. He com- men in eastern Turkey, and the life of Mev- poses vast and still deeply moving works of lana are separated by many centuries. But poetry on the allegory of Love. the teaching of Mevlana concerned with It should be observed that the entire mysticism and love ran as a powerful cur- story has a heavy religious tone and the in- rent energizing intellectual and emotional cidents in Konya are interpreted in entirely life for many centuries. There is little doubt metaphysical terms. Nicholson notes that that the culture of Turkish society has “Sultan Walad likens his father’s all-absorb- been profoundly affected by the powerful ing communion with this “hidden saint” stream of mystical thought (Sapolyo 1964). to the journey of Moses in company with The entire Mevlevi order, together with nu- Khadir (Koran, xviii, 64-80), the sage whom merous other manifestations of popular Is- Muslim mystics regard as the supreme hi- lam, indeed all the tariqats, was outlawed erophant and guide of travelers on the Way by the Turkish Republic in the 1930s; but to God.” (Nicholson 1970, p.19) What is all evidence suggests that their teaching clear to the commentators, and in the po- and traditions were carefully maintained. etry, is that Sems-i tabrizi is turned into the Since the 1960s public and private in- master symbol of divine love between men terest in these traditions has experienced and God, and between humans. Nicholson a great reawakening (Gunes-Ayata 1994). again, “In this union of loving souls all dis- Interestingly enough, these Orders were tinctions vanish: nothing remains but the originally outlawed since they appeared to essential Unity of Love, in which “lover” express too much “otherworldliness” and and “beloved” have merged their sepa- “fatalism” to the positivist modernizers rate identities” (Nicholson, p.21). It is not such as Ataturk or Inonu who set the direc- fortuitous that “sems” is named after The tion of the young Turkish Republic (Mardin Sun. He gives direction to the life of Mev- 1989; Mardin 1994). lana and meaning to his existence, but he is both united with Sems and separated. The VI rituals relating to this story, especially the The difference between men in eastern Tur- commemoration of the death of Mevlana key, and the formality and relative distance and his reunion with God, can still be seen in the relations of men in Sri Lanka, where every December in the town of Konya at I spent much time in ﬁ eld work in small vil- the college of Mevlana. The books of po- lages was always striking to me. In Sri Lanka etry - almost all in Persian - have been the too, like in South India, there are concerns basis for the tariqat from the 13th century about body pollution. The different castes to our day. Many would regard them as the maintain degrees of space between each central religious element in the Turkish and other. The act of kissing, even between indeed Anatolian psyche. The rituals ac- husband and wife, has heavy overtones of companied by courtly mystical music have pollution and is almost never seen in pub- taken place from time to time in Europe lic. The anxiety about bodily pollution ap-

95 pears even in unexpected contexts such as the manner of food consumption. There is little doubt that commensality expresses a certain kind of “equality” in both India and the Islamic East. The difference is that in the Hindu case, the tendency is to eat separately and to deny the “equality” that eating together would imply. The many descriptions of the Brahman male eating in his home in splendid isolation, or the public marriage feasts of Jaffna Tamils eating in strictly “hierarchical” rows on separate mats in a happier time before the civil war which has overtaken them, stand in eloquent contrast to the constant attempt made in the Middle East to get men to eat together around a round copper tray, and, if possible, from the same pot of soup or the same plate of rice. I recall vividly seeing the local Muslims in Pottuvil in Sri Lanka showing their solidarity in great public ceremonies by cooking rice in enormous caul- drons in public and having a ceremonial feast for all to see. It seems to me again, that the symbol is the same, but its context and message is different; food brings out “hierarchy” in India and Sri Lanka, but implies “equality” in the Middle East. Finally consider how much the preoccupation with Love, worldly involvement, and equality contrast with the predominant values of Hindu-Buddhist civilization of “hierarchy” and “detachment” from the world. The master symbol of this renunciation is the Sannyasi or indeed the Buddha. The Buddha’s sacred quest in search of Nirvana liberation involves the touching story of giving up his family, abandoning his wife Said b. Abi’l-Khair (d. 1049) the following and child to be detached from the world. story is told: Even his horse Chantaka dies understanding that he will be abandoned when the They said to him, ‘So-and-so walks on Buddha in his incarnation as Prince Sid- the water’. He replied: ‘It is easy enough: dharta takes ﬁ nal leave of him. How very frogs and water fowl do it.’ They said, different from the conception of piety on ‘So-and-so ﬂ ies in the air’. ‘So do the the Muslim side. Of the mystic poet, Abu birds and insects’, he replied. They said,

96 ‘So-and-so goes from one town to an- is not subject to the discipline, respect, other in a moment of time.’ ‘Satan’, he and obedience of wifely love. It is a love rejoined, ‘goes in one moment from the among equals which is bound to be East to the West. Things like these have more intense and more sweeping than no great value.’ And he added: ‘The true the love between a superior and an in- saint goes in and out amongst the peo- ferior. Fear, respect, sense of inequality, ple and eats and sleeps with them and absence of liberty...is all distracting fac- buys and sells in the market and marries tors in the intensity of love...” (Hence)... and takes part in social intercourse, and the love of the gopis for Sri Krishna was never forgets God for a single moment’ wild and dashing like the storm or the (Grunebaum 1951, pp. 71-72). gale and it swept everything before it... it knew no check or restraint. The gopis If we can claim that the principle of forgot themselves absolutely. They for- “equality” in Islam fi nds its most prominent get their own bodies, their dress, their religious expression in the cult of love such homes, their people (husbands, sons, as that of Mevlana, and that as Dumont daughters, parents-in-law...) They were has claimed, “renunciation” is one of the not aware of how time was gliding... central values of Hindu civilization, where (Singer 1966, p. 131). do we place the extraordinary love cults in Hindu history and experience? What do we In other words, all social structures of do with the Divine Love of God Krishna and time dissolve in the passion of love. And the Gopis, the exquisite Bhajans of South more pointedly: India, the superb Vaishnava traditions of Bengal and elsewhere? Nityananda, unlike Caitanya, was decid- In fact, we have evidence that these edly conscious of the social signifi cance of the bhakti doctrine. Not only was he important traditions of love in Hindu civi- himself casteless, as a member of an lization also powerful metaphors of social Avadhuta ascetic order, not only did he equality. “...the followers of Bhakti are “stay with the Sudras” as indeed Cai- persons who consider poverty and service yanya himself had done, not only was as positive virtues for...devotion. ...They he “apostle to the Banyas” but he has stress the understanding of the misery of been accused by tradition of allowing others, compassion and impartiality toward “degraded elements”-- some thousands all persons regardless of class. Their stan- of Buddhist monks and nuns, presum- dards include modesty, ...freedom from ably Tantrics-- into the Vaishnava fold. pride in birth, actions, class, caste, wealth Indeed, Caitanya says, “Hear, O Ni- or status” (Hopkins 1966, p. 18). “...Bhakti tyananda. Go quickly to Navadvip. It is religion itself is considered an act of com- my promise, made with my own mouth, passion on the part of the Lord by which that ignorant and low-caste and hum- women, Sudras, and those who have fallen ble people will fl oat upon the sea of from twice born status might be brought prema (love)...you can set them free by to better condition” (Hopkins 1966, p. 19). bhakti”(Dimock, Jr. 1966, p.53-54).

The great intensity of the gopis love for This makes the point neatly, it would Krishna...comes from its being the love seem, for Divine Love expressed in com- of a woman for her lover. This kind of munal ritual and feeling as a revolutionary love is even more intense than the love and leveling force in society. It is a point of a woman for her husband, because it of profound contact in Hindu and Mus-

97 ties of the superstructural conceptions of the universe (to revert to a Marxist idiom) which is most worthy of our attention. Islamic mysticism and Bhakti with their intense attention to the “inner” and individual particularity of the person, their fer- vent pleas for individual spiritual liberation, are both indeed a metaphors for ultimate human freedom. They do understand each other. Robinson in a recent review writes of religious tolerance in Bangladesh, which is ‘a striking feature of this world’: “A Mus- lim mystic sings of the longing of Radha for Krishna, and his Muslim audience is enrap- tured by this metaphor of the soul’s longing for God.” “All of us, Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Buddhists,” Haripada Pal (described [by art historian Kathleen A. Foster] as one of the ‘fi nest sculptors at work in the modern world’) declares “are here in this vexed place, struggling to endure for a brief span. The world is one, and we are one, all of us alike in the drop of God we contain” (Robinson 1998). This longing is expressed in the language appropriate for lim devotionalism. But in the Hindu case, a different age but the intention is crystal it is a minor theme of a great civilization, clear. whereas in Islam many have said that little All the Musim mystics from the great else matters. martyr al-Hallaj onwards have sung of the In both cases I have written in the same sanctity of the individual and his (or her) vein as Louis Dumont. These appear to be vision of God. The martyrdom of al-Hallaj fundamental principles on which different (857-922) at the hands of a cruel tyrant civilizations base their most profound con- in Baghdad on 26 March 922 has passed ceptions of human existence and meaning. into Muslim legend. It is also the subject In both cases, the vision is religious and of an extraordinary feat of French scholar- therefore more diffi cult to understand for ship which has brought the matter to the persons brought up in the anti-religious attention of western readers (Massignon positivist, utilitarian and pragmatic tradi- 1982). Sung and celebrated through the tions of the late 19th and 20th century in centuries, the story of the dreadful inci- the West. In both cases, it seems profi tless dent (Arberry has 28 March 913 as the to reduce these principles to merely utili- fateful date) is a master narrative of this tarian or pragmatic ones such as economic passionate claim for individual illumination facts, social categories or power relations. as against oppressive and unjust authority. It is the dialectical interplay between these The compendium of Attar (b.1119-d.1220) infrastructural bases and the singulari- contains a long list of those who suffered

98 similar fates (Attar 1990, pp.264-71). Islam tivals. 1951. shares this passion for the free inner life of Gunes-Ayata, Ayse. “Pluralism versus Author- the individual (and its proper expression) itarianism: Political Ideas in Two Islamic Pub- with the other world religions. This is what lications.” In Islam in Modern Turkey: Religion, brings Massignon, the Catholic scholar, so Politics and Literature in a Secular State, ed. Richard Tapper. London & New York: I.B.Tauris close to al-Hallaj. The mystical orientation & Co., 1994. to individual spiritual experience is to speak Halman, Talat S. “Yunus Emre’s Humanism.” about human dignity, individuality, sanctity In Yunus Emre and His Mystical Poetry, ed. and decency in a different voice. As we re- Talat Sait Halman. Bloomington, Indiana: In- call the gentle memories of Mevlana Cela- diana University, 1981. leddin-i Rumi and Yunus Emre, the genera- Hopkins, Thomas J. “The Social Teaching of tions of Islamic poets in many languages, the Bhagavata Purana.” In Krishna: Myths, the musicians as well as the love songs of Rites, Attitudes, ed. Milton Singer. Honolulu: the Gopis for Krishna, we should remem- East West Center Press, 1966. ber that the critique of the state authorities Lewis, Bernard. The Emergence of Modern Tur- (in any guise) in personal life, so necessary key. London: Oxford University Press, 1968. in our world to-day, is entirely in their spirit. Mardin, Serif. Religion and Social Change in Modern Turkey: The Case of Bediüzzaman Said References Nursi. SUNY Series in Near Eastern Studies, ed. Said Amir Arjomand. Albany, N.Y.: State Andrews, Walter G., Poetry’s Voice, Society’s University of New York Press, 1989. Song. Seattle: University of Washington Mardin, Serif. “The Naksibendi Order in Turk- Press, 1985. ish history.” In Islam in Modern Turkey: Reli- Attar, Farid al-din. Muslim Saints and Mystics: gion, Politics and Literature in a Secular State, Episodes from the Tadhkirat al-Auliya (Memo- ed. Richard Tapper. London & New York: rial of the Saints). Translated by A.J.Arberry. I.B.Tauris & Co., 1994. London: Penguin Group (Arkana), 1990. Massignon, Louis. The Passion of al-Hallaj: Ayata, Sencer. “Traditional Suﬁ Orders on Mystic and Martyr of Islam. Vol. XCVIII. Trans- the Perihery: Kadiri and Naksibendi Islam in lated by Herbert Mason. Bollingen Series, Konya and Trabzon.” In Islam in Modern Tur- Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1982. key: Religion, Politics and Literature in a Secu- Nicholson, Reynold A. Rumi: Poet and Mys- lar State, ed. Richard Tapper. London & New tic (1207-1273). ed. A. J. Arberry. London: York: I.B.Tauris & Co., 1994. George Allen & Unwin, 1970. Basgoz, Ilhan. “Yunus Emre’s Transforma- Robinson, Francis. “Quotidian Treasures.” tion.” In Yunus Emre and His Mystical Poetry, New York Times Book Review (March 8, ed. Talat Sait Halman. Bloomington: Indiana 1998): 24. University Press, 1981. Sapolyo, Enver Behnan. Mezhepler ve Tarikat- Dimock, Jr., Edward C. “Doctrine and Practice lar Tarihi. Istanbul: Turkiye Yayinevi, 1964. among the Vaisnavas of Bengal.” In Krishna: Myths, Rites, Attitudes, ed. Milton Singer. Ho- Sayari, Sabri. On Terror in Turkey. Rand Cor- nolulu: East West Center Press, 1966`. poration, 1985. p. 7124. Dubois, Abbe J.A. and Beauchamp, Henry K. Schimmel, Annemarie. Ausgewåhlte Gedichte, Hindu Manners, Customs and Ceremonies.Ox- Yunus Emre, Seçme Siirler. Koln: Onel Verlag, ford: Clarendon Press, 1906. 1991. Dumont, Louis. Homo Hierarchicus: The Caste Schimmel, Annemarie. I am Wind You are Fire: System and its Implications. Chicago: Univer- The Life and Work of Rumi. Boston: Shamb- sity of Chicago, 1980. hala Publications, 1992. Grunebaum, Gustave von. Mohammedan Fes- Schimmel, Annemarie. The Triumpal Sun: A

99 Study of the Works of Jalaloddin Rumi. 1993. Singer, Milton. “The Radha-Krishna Bhajanas of Madras City.” In Krishna: Myths, Rites, Attitudes, ed. Milton Singer. Honolulu: East West Center Press, 1966. Yalman, Nur, "Islamic Reform and the Mystic Tradition in Eastern Turkey," European Journal of Sociology, (1969), 10: 41-60.

Note 1 I met Talat when we were young boys at that legendary school in Istanbul, Robert College. We were both interested in literature with the signifi cant diff erence that I read novels whereas he not only composed poetry but did so in those amazingly complex classical Ottoman meters. I knew something about recent literature, or so I pretended, whereas he could read and even understand those enigmatic courtly poets writing in their obscure Arab- Persian Ottoman forms in the 16th century. I regret to say that this diff erence has endured except that now his expertise in the entire sweep of Turkish literary and epic adventures from the earliest writings in Central Asia to the sparkling outpourings of the latest poetry (and literature) radiates from many universities. Quite apart from Talat’s contributions to an understanding of the Turkish mind in America (not a task for the faint hearted), apart from his eff orts as minister culture and ambassador for Turkey, representative at UNESCO and similar public service duties, his most important contribution has been to make both Westerners and Westoxicated Turks understand the depth and richness of the Turkish literary and spiritual heritage. Talat was one of the early voices among the secular republicans to draw attention to the profundity and continuing vitality of the humanist spiritual tradition in much of the Turkish literary heritage. This after all is no small achievement considering the immense corpus of works spanning a period longer than a millennium that is hardly glimpsed at in the West and often neglected in Turkey. The brief work that follows owes much to our conversations over the years about the powerful current of humanism in Turkey.

100 101 Shared Typologies of Marital Love and (Com)passion in Islam and Christianity

By Mark Farha love (mawadda, rahma, misericordia) and compassion (mawadda, misericor- A comparison of the extensive literature on dia) [see appendix].1 Like most traditions, spousal love and affection across the ages Christianity and Islam have come to discard shows that Islam and Christianity have dis- ephemeral impulses and infatuations as a tinguished terms associated with lust and foundation for marriage.2 The Danish phi- passion (‘ishq, hawā, eros) from spousal losopher Kierkegaard once marveled that

102 “in the whole New Testament there is not mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and found a word about (emotional) love in the they twain shall be one fl esh?’ Where- sense in which the poet sings of it and pa- fore they are no more twain, but one ganism defi ned it;”3 much the same could fl esh. What therefore God hath joined be said about the Qur’ān and Islam. together, let not man put asunder. [Mat- While it may be conceded that love has thew 19:4-6] not fi gured as the centerpiece of Muslim theology per se,4 one may call into ques- Jesus’ above reference to the notion tion the facile deduction that the Qur’ān of a pre-existential unity of the sexes in itself is silent on this existential topic. From God’s cosmos is also an integral part of the the dawn of Islam, this majestic verse from Qur’ānic conception of marriage: the Sūrat al-Rum has constituted the tex- tual touchstone for all subsequent Muslim It is He who created you from a single soul (min nafsin wāhidatin), and conceptualizations of the marital nexus: made from it a mate of like nature, in order that you might dwell with Among His signs is this: That He created her. [al-‘Araf 7:189] for you, from your souls, spouses that you may fi nd repose in them, and [that] Part of an ancient, universal cosmolo- He has created love [mawadatan] and 7 compassion [rahmatan] between you. gy, the pre-existential “tri-unity of love, Verily, in that are signs for those who re- lover and beloved” surfaces in neopla- 8 fl ect. [30:21] tonic Islamic writings, and the account of the creation of Adam in from clay Kenneth Cragg goes so far as to speak of and the fashioning of Eve from his rib traces of a “marital benediction and sacra- [2:30-34]. The conjugal union signals ment” in [30:21],5 and indeed the homage but a reconstitution of the separated to God as the ultimate source for the affec- sexes in one fl esh/one species (jinsin tion between the spouses is in full accord wāhidin), hence the familiarity (isti’nās), with the Christian consecration of mar- intimacy, tranquility (sukūn), rest (istiqrār) riage. Yet the common ground extends and serenity (tumā’nīna) retrieved within further. In his authoritative commentary marriage.9 The ultimate repose referred on this verse, the fourteenth century exe- to in [30:21] is essentially a “resting of gete Ibn Kathir employs language highly the hearts” (sukūn al-qulūb) as al-Razi put reminiscent of that found in Jesus’ fait, and is effected by the attracting forces mous discourse in Matthew: of mawadda and rahma.10 Given that the customary Arabic trans- Truly man will cleave for his wife, be lation for Christian love (agápē) in the Gos- it out of love or compassion felt to- pels has been mahabba, it is particularly wards her, be it that she may beget relevant to point out that the major medi- children from him or…due to har- eval Muslim mufassirūn in fact equate ma- mony and familiarity (ulfa) between them.’6 habba with the Qur’ānic mawadda, while reserving their unadorned opprobrium for 11 Have ye not read, that He who made ‘ishq and hawā. Such latter, passionate them at the beginning made them male infatuation, while celebrated by many a and female [Genesis 2:24] and said, For poet, generally met the censure of classic this cause shall a man leave father and commentaries as irrational caprice and an

103 anti-social, “devlish desire”.12 The chief mordial relationship between Adam and defect of lust (shahwa) and fi ckle forms Eve. To illustrate the difference, the clas- of “love” (hubb) is that they are more sic commentators cite a pithy saying by akin to a sexual whim (nazwa jasadiyya) Ibn ‘Abbas: „Love (mawadda) befi ts adults which does not lend itself to the continu- while mercy (rahma) is due to the small ity of a conjugal union (dawām al-ishrā).13 and weak.“17 Nonetheless, it would be The Muslim commentators of the Qur’ān misleading to view mawadda and rahma, would thus readily second Luther’s admon- spousal and social love, so to speak, as two ishing advice: unrelated categories. Fakhr al-Din Razi ends up by positing mawadda as “the in- A wife is easily taken, but to have abid- stance which results in rahma.”18 Thus, he ing love, that is the challenge. One who hints at a link between private and public fi nds it in his marriage should thank the spheres in Islam. Lord God for it. Therefore, approach Its sharp rejection of heedless devo- marriage earnestly and ask God to give tion does not imply that Islam was inimical you a good, pious girl, with whom you can spend your life in mutual love. For towards compassionate love. Nor did the sex establishes nothing in this regard; Qur’ānic commentators gloss over sexual there must also be agreement in values desire. Rather, sensuality was relegated and character (ut conveniant mores et to a secondary position within the larger ingenium).14 framework of the marital codependency between man and woman: Writing half a millennium earlier, Ibn Hazm foreshadows this skepticism towards shah- Thus God established between man wa which he defi nes as an affection that and woman love and compassion by does not pass beyond the “beauty of the means of marriage, an arrangement form.”15 Fakhr al-Din al-Razi makes an not known to other animals. The ob- analogous distinction between shahwa jective being [the establishment of] domestic life…since man is dependent and rahma as it is invoked in 30:21. Pictur- on mutual acquaintance (ta‘āruf) and ing a mature marriage in which the wife cooperation (ta‘āwun) necessary recip- has aged, fallen ill and “left the state of rocal love (tawadd) and commiseration desirability (shahwa), al-Razi highlights the (tarāhum).19 importance of rahma: The precondition for procreation, emo- For we may still fi nd between two tional and sexual attraction (hubb) to one’s spouses (qarīnayn) mutual respect un- spouse is validated as the natural conse- beknownst even among blood relatives. quence of the mutual longing for com- This is not due to the existence of desire (shahwa) which indeed may have ended pleteness, but subordinated to the active with age, but rather because compas- affection (mahabba) kindling cooperation 20 sion (rahma), which is from God, has between the spouses. This crucial dis- remained.16 tinction made by the renowned Qur’ānic exegete al-Tabatabai mirrors Immanuel Implicit in rahma then is a hierarchical, Kant’s differentiation between “pathologi- asexual relationship of commiserating mer- cal love” and “practical love.”21 The for- cy (shafqa) or compassion (rā’fa), whereas mer instinctual attraction may be likened mawadda is often interpreted as the pri- to the passionate, burning Eros which has

104 been lamented as a disease - or lauded as – are twofold. For one, this kind of love a Daemon - in Plato’s symposium, Ovid’s almost always unfolds outside the con- Ars Amatoria, the famed Arabic couples fi nes of marriage and thus is predicated Leila and Majnun, Jamil and Buthaina, the on what is perceived as a selfi sh claim to tragic European couples of Abelard and exclude third parties, neglect social obli- Heloise, Tristan and Iseult, the Trobadors gations and shut off the private from the of the Provence and Aquitaine, the me- public realm.28 Secondly, from a religious dieval Minnesaenger, Juan Ruiz’ Libro de perspective, the command to “be in love” Buen Amor, or De Amore by Andreas Ca- appears nonsensical at best, and detri- pellaneus amongst countless others. The mental to human freedom and agency at striking similarities between the European worst.29 Nor do the religious notions of courtly love and the Arab ‘Uthrī and Hijāzī “mercy and compassion” presuppose any love poetry has led a number of scholars to of the “admirable” qualities in the object document multiple historical links and liter- of love the poets are wont to exalt.30 Ki- ary affi nities between the two genres via erkegaard underlines that the Gospel’s Muslim Andalusia.22 Like de Rougemont, command to love one’s neighbor, can, by Werner Sombart, an economist, locates the defi nition, not be conditioned on subjec- beginning of what he calls the “seculariza- tive tastes and predilections, but on objection of love” in the early Middle Ages when tive human need alone.31 Care for the per- southern Europe began to exchange goods son, in other words, must take precedence and ideas with the Near East.23 over the infatuation with passion. In De- nis de Rougemont’s critique, such Passion The marks of this unrequited and unrealiz- d’amour – whether it takes the sublimated able love (amor de lohn, amour lointaine) form of courtly love, the more explicit form are a usually unreachable beloved pined of carnal ribaldry, or the literary obsession after by a servile suitor, in part a refl ection with (extra-marital) romance - is but a form of the feudal system with its rigid class hi- of escapism fomented by “mechanical erarchies. 24 Insurmountable obstacles only boredom” (l’ennui mécanique).32 Yet in spur the intensity of this passion which is tracing the origins of the “heretic” myth almost always illicit and secret in contradis- to the Troubadors’ denigration of con- tinction to a public vow of fi delity which ventional matrimony, de Rougemont fails constitutes marriage.25 Tellingly, both in to suffi ciently acknowledge that negative its Oriental and Occidental manifestations, views of marriage in fact preceded the ad- the word for matrimonial love (mawadda, vent of any “Carthar heresy”: In the early mahabba, Agápē) is absent from almost phases of Christianity, St. Paul, Origin and the entire body of this genre of literature Tertullian viewed marriage as a concession extolling extramarital expressions of pas- to our carnal nature and made their pref- sion (‘ishq, hubb, hawā, eros).26 So too is erence clear for celibate life.33 Such was the role of God as the indispensable lode- the perceived rift separating Christian love star of the matrimonial troth. (agápē) from wedlock that some scholars have stipulated a total alienation of the The misgiving Christianity and Islam show two up until the 18th century.34 for this kind of all-consuming love – which There is some exaggeration in this the- at times may be sublimated into a Platonic, sis, at least as concerns its historical chro- spiritualized adulation of the beloved27 nology and categorical claim. Augustine’s

105 foundational treatises or the homilies of einigung).38 Even if most of these disquisi- St. John Chrysostom in the eighth century tions largely pertained to love outside of could display a high esteem for marriage; marriage, they contain a certain ambiguity likewise St. Gregory Nazianzen hailed the which precludes a clear-cut categorization “true chastity” of marriage in his writ- within the binary dichotomy of eros and ings.35 Even within the genre of Medieval agápē. Chaucer, for instance, attempts to Minnesang and troubadour love lyric, the reconcile the courtly love paradigm with picture is not always clear. It is true that marriage. In his Franklin’s Tale, the hero there are precious few odes to marital love. Arveragus vows to be at once “a servant in Yet the ennobling qualities of courtly love love, and lord in marriage,” affi rming that “love wol nat been constreyned by maist- may not invariably have been incompatible 39 with Christian love (agápē). Saint Francis rye.” Be that as it may, there is no doubt that by the time of the Reformation in the of Assisi for instance converted the ideals th and virtues of courtly romance he sought 16 century, Erasmus and Luther unequiv- as a youth into a Christian, and even mo- ocally exalt and validate love in marriage. Luther even deems marriage as superior to nastic ideal of self-abasing service to God celibacy, thereby inverting the prior hierar- and those in need. Likewise, the homage chy of the Church.40 paid to love’s ennobling features in the In this sense, Islam may be said to have admittedly burlesque Spanish classic Libro preceded the vindication of the marital de Buen Amor – possibly inspired by Ibn state in Christianity.41 Five centuries prior Hazm’s earlier, strikingly similar digest of to Luther, in the most detailed treatise on love’s refi ning power36 - need not be at the origins and characteristics of love, the odds with marital love: Tawq al-Hamama (The Dove’s Necklace), the Zahirite jurisprudent (faqīh) Ibn Hazm The man who serves women has many [d.1064] highlights the causal link between good qualities…he strives to be vigor- the pre-eternal unity of selves and the ous, forthcoming, generous; the good man does not fl inch from serving wom- growth of an earthly union of the spouses en, for with hard work, he will live a life in marriage: “As the cause of [this] cohabi- of great pleasure…love makes the igno- tation He made the fact that she is made rant man wise, makes the dumb speak from him…as for [the genesis of] true love, with eloquence, love makes the coward there is no other reason save the reunion 42 bold, and the lazy sharp and quick. It of souls.” Ibn Hazm defi nes marriage keeps the young man youthful, and as the restoration of the original state of makes the old man’s age fall away.37 complementary wholeness, harmony and soothing security (sakīna) as outlined in What is more, the earliest extant lyrical love 7:189 and 30:21.43 While conceding that poetry in German by Dietmar von Aste and all ordinary love waxes and wanes accord- Der von Kürenberg, while acknowledg- ing to distance and nearness, he maintains ing that there is no love without suffering, that this is not so for the “true love ema- largely focuses on the joy of communion nating from the soul (nafs).” Hence Ibn al- of the lovers. De Rougemont himself Hazm is insistent on drawing our attention acknowledges that the German mystic to an absolute, ontological love between Meister Eckardt speaks of a deliberate, the sexes which is not contingent upon any voluntary communion of wills (Einigung), outer causes such as beauty or even exter- not a fate-induced, Platonic union (Ver- nal affi nity (munāsaba), but rather fi nds its

106 real, original cause in the “essential sub- or neighbor may result in the ultimate act stance of the soul” (fī thāt an-nafs).44 of “self-sacrifi ce” for a fellow human be- It thus bears repeating that both in the ing,49 suicidal love is consumed in the im- Christian understanding of marital Agápē molation of the self and other, whether in and the Islamic interpretation of mawadda excessive aggrandizement or servile de- in 30:21, physical love and infatuation be- basement. Denounced in Greek, Roman, tween the sexes is not denied its place, but Arab and Chinese traditions as a sickness rather framed in a broader cosmic duality often associated with melancholy,50 this of male and female, and subsumed under egocentric obsession with emotive in- the spouses’ continual, willed submission toxication lends itself to dramatic poetic (Islām) of their selves to God in a spirit of expression due to its inbuilt anguish and self-renunciation (Gr.: kenosis). As Muslims tragedy as Kierkegaard pointed out.51 A supplicate God in the Fātiha to guide them, masochistic yearning for the reprimand of so too Christians pray daily for God’s “will the beloved fi nds expression in this famous to be done” in the Our Father, following Arabic verse likening passion to a drug-like the example set by Jesus himself in the Gar- addiction: “Stop reprimanding me, even if den of Gethsamane: “Not my will, but Your your censure is seductive; Heal me with her 52 will be done” (Mark 14:36).45 who is my disease.” In the West, one Translated to the marital relationship, of the most famous examples this kind of Islam and Christianity affi rm that overcom- self-destructive delirium was Goethe’s Die ing the division of the two genders is only Leiden des Jungen Werther. The tragic end possible in an “at-one-ment” with their of this novel, in which the jilted lover com- creator, God. Ibn Hazm affi rms that “the mits suicide after his fi nal rejection, trig- noblest love is the love of that pair of lov- gered a spat of suicides by German adoles- ers who love each other in God.”46 And cents taken by the storyline. Suicide then Saint Exupéry formulates a parallel insight: stands revealed as the ultimate fl ight from “To love is not to gaze at one another but reality, while sacrifi cial love is the ultimate to look in the same direction.”47 Only such act of confrontation. If passionate desire a love which constantly orients itself to its amounts to a form of escapism from the eternal source (as highlighted in 30:21) can strictures of life and the dread of death, re- aspire to be perpetual in destiny thanks to ligiously grounded love confronts both and the unfailing grace of God. The marked thus liberates man from the clutches of a agitation of the paramours contrasts with false deity: the soothing state of the couple whose relationship is secured by faith in God, for The God Eros is the slave of death be- “in the remembrance of God do hearts fi nd cause he wishes to elevate life above our rest” [Al-Ra‘d 13:28]. fi nite and limited creature state. Hence the same impulse that leads us to adore This is not to say that marital love need life thrusts us into its negation. There be a somber affair devoid of fervid devo- lies the profound woe and despair char- tion. Yet despite misleading surface resem- acterizing Eros, his inexpressible bond- blances, a fundamental distinction must be age; and in making this bondage evi- drawn between sacrifi cial and suicidal loves. dent Agápē has delivered Eros from it. While the former is a “love unto death,” Agápē is aware that our terrestrial land the latter may be described as a concealed temporal life is unworthy of adulation… death-wish masquerading as “love.” 48 If but that it can be accepted in obedience an overfl ow of pity for one’s spouse, friend to the Eternal.53

107 Both Eros/‘Ishq and Agápē/Mahabba may es to shoulder the loads of life. While‘Ishq/ be seen as expressions of the soul’s search Eros seduces with its promise of release for immortality. Yet in addressing man’s from all earthly ties and bondage, mar- ardent hunger for eternal life, Christianity riage, by contrast, constitutes a pledge to unmasks the empty promise of avaricious tie a perpetual bond. If passionate love is desire by inverting its ideals.54 Instead the dream of a supra-terrestrial existence, of revelling in beauty, riches, showcased marital love connotes a conscious commit- virtues and elusive states of spiritual and ment to make the transcendent immanent sexual ecstasy, Christ inverts the order in the here and now. As such, the marital by speaking of lightness in the darkness, bond, properly conceived, entails an eman- a richness in poverty, the salvation of the cipation of bride and bridegroom, at once (penitent) sinners, the blessedness of suf- from the internal illusion of infi nite free- fering, the love hidden in affl iction and dom, as well as from external coercion.61 disease. All this is anathema to the he- To be sure, despite the great emphasis donist or sentimentalist in pursuit of a fan- on marriage being predicated on a fully tasy from which the shadow sides of tran- conscious decision, it would be mistaken sient life and its suffering are screened out to assume too radical a dichotomy be- in aloof denial of death and time.55 Torn tween will and vocation. Even the Church, asunder by ever-shifting external pursuits ever since elevating marriage to a sacra- and the insatiable desire for rapturous re- ment, recognizes marriage as a sacrament, lease from our terrestrial, transient state, recognizes an element of mystery and di- this mode of ex-istence,56 far from result- vine grace animating and sustaining matri- ing in the desired deliverance, paradoxically monial love. Without revisiting the age-old reduces us to an animal solely occupied by theological debate in Islam between free its surroundings. Ortega calls this falsifi ed will and predestination (between adherents mode of externalized life alteración.57 It of “jadriyya” and “qadriyya”), we may rest is to be shed for our authentic, “in-sisting” satisfi ed with the Hadith which establishes inner soul (enismismiento)58 which binds a reciprocal relationship between human us to humanity at large. This transition effort and divine support, thus affi rming is comparable to Kierkegaard’s journey in God’s grace without suspending our re- Either/Or from the peripheral aesthetic life sponsibility: “Anyone who approaches Me to our personal core, or Heloise’s introspec- by one handspan, I will approach him by tion after her conversion from carnal love one arm’s length; anyone who approaches to spiritual love.59 Ortega underscores Me one arm’s length, I will approach him that this transformation rarely if ever can by a cubit; if he comes to Me walking, I be achieved without suffering. will come to him running.”62 There thus is room for God’s soothing serendipity in Lovers never attain to a love of self love. By humbling ourselves before God, abandonment, of true fusion of soul we give him space to unfold. and not merely of body, until the heavy pestle of sorrow has bruised their hearts The Maturity of Marital Love: and crushed them in the same mortar of suffering...if bodies are united by plea- Spousal, Social and Spiritual sure, souls are united by pain.60 Realms United Even long before Sigmund Freud’s semi- The chief mark of marriage, its oath of fi - nal psychoanalytic studies, there has been delity, entails the acceptance of the spous- a human penchant to regard the sexual

108 instinct as just that: a biological inborn pearance and captivating words belied by natural libido that may be channeled or their poisoned hearts and barren deeds. repressed, but essentially one that lies out- Beginning with Kierkegaard, nineteenth side the domain of our human volition and century European philosophy would fi nd it- control. Marriage in this sense is reduced self in an existential revolt against another to a remedy for concupisience, a means form of speculation and sophistic word- for stilling man’s “sexual thirst.”63 Ortega play. Kierkegaard was particularly upset Y Gasset reveals the fallacy of this perva- with Hegel’s hubristic infatuation with ab- sive preconception in asserting that sexual stract reason. Yet in his early years, Hegel desire is overwhelmingly “the work of our in fact too rejected the platonic, cerebral magnifi cent ability to imagine which is no conception of love as mere passive contem- longer an instinct, but precisely the op- plation of (absolute) beauty. Instead, Hegel posite, a creation.”64 As a product of our defi ned genuine love “existentially” as a 66 self-constructed imagination, cupidity and “lived bond of virtues.” To illustrate his concupiscience are not so much a result of defi nition of love as enacted charity, Hegel extraneous infl uences or set bodily func- draws an analogy between Arab Bedouin tions than of our inner disposition as Jesus hospitality and the last supper shared by points out: Jesus. Such communal meals, far from being “a mere symbol of friendship” are “an Nothing from outside can defi le a man… act, a feeling of friendship manifested, an 67 the things that come from within a man embodiment of the spirit of love.” In this are what defi le a man. For from with- very fi rst elaboration of his famous dialec- in, out of the heart of men, come evil tic, Hegel identifi es the lived charity of hus- thoughts, adulteries, immoralities, mur- band and wife as the synthesis of Hellenic ders, thefts, covetousness, deceit, sham- beauty (sensuality) and Hebraic moralism lessness, jealousy, blasphemy, pride…All (reason).68 He would thus anticipate his these evil things come from within, and caustic critic Kierkegaard who made it his defi le a man (Mark 7:18-23). calling to aver that Christian martial love (Agápē) is neither a sentiment nor an idea, In a sense, the fraudulent freedom which but an act.69 beckons in passion’s sea of enchantments No less frequently we fi nd a sustained and ecstasies is the antithesis of the often effort on the part of the Qur’ānic com- prosaic, quotidian obligations demanded mentators to emphasize the broad exis- by acts of charity and compassion. Yet the tential and practical implications of love latter are prioritized by religion. We may instead of confi ning it to the private, and well recall that Islam and Christianity in at times anti-social emotional satisfaction many ways began as responses to societ- shared exclusively between lover and be- ies misled by enthralling eloquence. The loved as the courtly love tradition – in both Qur’ān's rebuke of the poets as “those its Arab-‘uthrī and European variants - is who say what they practice not” (26:226) wont to celebrate. Tabatabai offers a sug- is analogous to Jesus’ denunciation of the gestive interpretation of mawadda as emo- hypocrisy of the outwardly impressive, tional love (hubb) in practice which fi nds its prideful Pharisees.65 Silver-tongued, super- analogue in the axiomatic Confucian virtue cilious mockers, the Pharisees and the po- (jen/ren) as concretized emotional love (ai), ets embody vainglorious wordsmiths who “redeeming the world through human ef- lead the people astray with a splendid ap- fort.”70

109 That Islam defi nes compassion as an balancing the respective male and female active posture is also evident from Arabic predispositions of “spirit and sense” (Geist etymology. Edward Lane and the Lisān und Gemuet), serves to spawn new “men al-‘Arab tell us that the Arabic root verb (and women) of integrity” whose inclina- wadda – of which mawadda is the verbal tions and comportment anticipate the laws noun or masdar – does not only signify to of reason and morality.75 “love or wish” but also “to do good, to The (male) intellect and female sensi- affect.”71 The English speaker will notice bility need each other in order to connect that affection in English too is etymologi- abstract concepts to the concrete world cally connected to a verb denoting action: of nature. In Schiller’s worldview, the to affect. This basic linguistic parallel car- aesthetic “is” (beauty or “das Schöne”) is ries an ethical and religious import as well. quintessentially feminine and poetic, while For the mark of genuine, marital love is the ethical “ought” (truth or das Wahre) that it will not stop at the satisfaction of is actively discovered by the male intellect the spouses but rather will serve as a main- and philosophy (see appendix). Willhelm spring for positive social implications. The v. Humboldt contends that male sprit (der state of sakīna, the soothing bliss of the Geist) roams in the ethereal spheres search- marital union alluded to in 30:21, is not an ing for the absolute abstractions of trans- end unto itself - in which case Islam would temporal truth, whereas the female feel- be reduced to self-suffi cient stoicism - but ing (die Gesinnung) is prone to rest with rather the comforting ground of faith from the individual, concrete being, the tangible which new deeds of mercy may take root: details of the here and now.76 Humboldt “It is He who sent down peace of reassur- traces this inclination to woman’s natural ance (sakīna) into the hearts of the believ- vocation (die Naturbestimmung) to receive, ers that they might add faith unto their give and preserve life, a duty which impels faith. And He placed compassion and her to remain faithful to immanent real- mercy in the hearts of those who followed ity. Woman teaches man in marriage to him.” [Al-Fath 48:4] not seek pleasure but love, thus enhancing Ibn Hazm further insists that authentic male beauty and dignity which is depen- marital love will reveal itself as a source dent on active nature prevailing over the of knowledge (‘ilm), promote the sharing pleasure principle (der Genuss).77 While of goods and provide the energy neces- woman is innately reasonable, man must sary for exertion in work and affection in make himself reasonable. Through the human relations (mahabba al-qirāba).72 matrimonial union, duty and desire (Pfl icht To Fakhr al-Din Razi, the Qur’ānic allu- und Neigung) are reconciled and joined to sion to mawadda and rahma emerge as vanquish the joint enemy of egoism.78 In dialectic, disciplining forces which may at Schiller’s refl ections on the beautiful soul, once safeguard the sacred and prevent beauty manifests itself as a female state humans from yielding to the loathsome and a male deed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr (makrūh).73 Hegel echoes this point of cites an Arabic proverb refl ecting a similar view in concluding that the best antidote idea: “Goodness is outward and beauty against adultery is not merely negative pro- inward in man, while in woman beauty hibitions, but alerting our consciousness to is outward and goodness inward.”79 In the holiness of love.74 Schiller holds up the sum, marriage allows for the mutual tem- good Samaritan as a metaphor of gratu- perance of gender-specifi c exaggerations: itous, freely-disposed philanthropy rather man’s impetuousness and imperiousness, than externally dictated duty. Marriage, in woman’s devotement and abnegation are

110 reﬁ ned into an “independent, conﬁ dent that its discovery is a sign (āya), one which femininity and a gentle, sensitive masculin- should lead to contemplation and spur mu- ity.”80 tual completion:

Conclusion: In the Fulcrum of As God put desire in man and woman Faith to the end that the world should be preserved by their union, Any attempt to drive a wedge between So hath he implanted in every part of the sensual, social and spiritual spheres existence the desire for another part, of marital affection will inexorably impair Each in love with the other for the each domain. In Kierkegaard’s vocabulary, sake of perfecting their mutual work.83 the human condition mandates a constant striving for an accord between the aes- This spousal love, so majestically an- thetic, the ethical and the religious dimen- nounced in the Qur’ān and consecrated in sions of life.81 It is this third perspective the Gospels, is, once placed between the which holds the secret of a synthesis. For genders by God, bound to en-gender fur- only by constantly calling to mind the eter- ther compassions which may aid and ani- nal source and sustenance of our earthly mate society at large: relationships can we prevent passionate inclinations from descending into dissipa- And the equivalence of this [spousal tion and promiscuity while simultaneously and domestic] love and compassion shielding our ethical concern from self- (mawadda wa rahma) is witnessed in righteous conceit and hypocrisy: “Verily we the larger civil society between individu- belong to God and to him we shall return” als, each of whom takes comfort in the [Baqira, 156]. It is He who is the ultimate other through empathy as they show guarantor of our integrity.82 pity for the poor, the aged and weak By relating itself to the absolute, marital who no longer are able to master the duties of life.84 love acknowledges human limitation and imperfections and thus implies a constant Across the centuries and confessions, posture of forgiveness, prayer and com- the spousal relationship, blessed by passion. Eros/‘Ishq, by contrast, akin to a God, is enthroned as the supreme sen- drug, derives its vitality from the ceaseless pursuit of intoxicating illusions of ecstasy timent.Thus Ibn Kathir affi rms: “There and rapture, whether mental or physical in is no greater affection (ulfa) between two souls that that which is found be- nature. The highest form of marital love 85 does – to be sure – make room for the tween spouses.” Some three centuries fl ame of passion, but it does so by embed- later, the same hierarchy is ascertained by ding these impulses within the broader Martin Luther: milieu of Agápē/Mahabba/Mawadda. The The love between man and woman is, later is revealed by Islam and Christianity or should be, the greatest of all loves… as an epiphany of God’s love for human- Now there are three kinds of love: fraud- ity which is gratuitously entrusted to us so ulent love, natural love and marital love. that we may pass it on to others. Perhaps False love seeks its own, as one loves the single most signifi cant insight yielded money, goods, prestige and women by Sūrat al-Rum 30:21 then is that marital outside of marriage and in violation of compassion owes its existence and destiny God’s command. Natural love obtains to God’s original gift. The Qur’ān indicates between a father and a child, between

111 brother and sister, between friend and The love of husband and wife is the in-laws and the like. But transcending force that welds society together. Be- them all is matrimonial love which is a cause when harmony prevails, the chil- spousal affection which burns like a fi re dren are raised well, the household is and seeks nothing other than the wel- kept in order, and neighbors and rela- 86 fare of the husband or wife. tives praise the result. Great benefi ts, both for families and states, are thus Though on the opposite end of the theo- produced.88 logical and political spectrum during the Reformation, the Catholic Bishop St. Fran- Ultimately, such a marital relationship cis de Sales espoused a similar vindication promises to afford an enlargement of con- of marital love: sciousness within the “school of equality” which love is.89 For in the act of loving, Above all else I exhort married people to have that mutual love which the Holy each spouse goes out of him- and herself Spirit so highly recommends to them O to discover the truer, deeper identity of 90 you who are married, it means nothing self and other. The particular character- to say, ‘Love one another with a natu- istics of each of the genders is preserved in ral love’ – two turtle doves make such the relationship, yet in jointly confronting love. Nor does it mean anything to say, the marvels and miseries of daily life, the ‘Love one another with a human love’ spouses touch upon their shared human- – the pagans have duly practiced such ity: “Love thy neighbor as thyself’ does love. With the great apostle I say to you, ‘Husbands, love your wives as Christ not mean to love him as much as you love also loved the Church,’ and you wives, yourself, for self-love is devoid of meaning. love your husbands as the Church loves It means ‘love him as he whom you are’, her savior.87 i.e. love is to sense a life similar to one’s own, not a stronger or a weaker one.”91 Muslims and Christians of all denomina- No longer are sorrows and joys of the tions thus fi nd themselves in full concord world indulged in as a means to a self-cen- that the marital relationship – in order to tred end viewed through the impoverished be sustained – must be recommended to and myopic vision of the aloof narcissist or and referred to its creator by husband and the frantic consumerist, but rather they are wife if it is to endure and withstand both transmuted by love into occasions of com- the oscillations of time and our penchant munal celebration and consolation. Far for self-centeredness. In this sense the from masking our weakness and embel- rich body of writings on marital love found lishing our insuffi ciencies,92 outreaching within Islam and Christianity remain well- compassion overcomes our mortality by springs from which we may draw strength embracing it. Far from blinding us to reality and inspiration to fulfi ll the mandate of 93 compassion decreed for couples, families as the arrows of cupid might, respond- and society alike. All the writers included ing to the needs of our neighbor, whether in this study would have readily agreed child or parent, spouse or stranger, alone with the following synopsis of the salutary opens our eyes to God’s incessant and in- gifts bestowed by marriage which belongs fi nite supply of mercy. The more we com- to no confession and no age: mit ourselves to love and give, the more we shall see and receive.94 In the moment

112 of mercy and in the act of compassion, the tyranny of time is overcome in the communion which is life eternal.

Appendix: Cross-Cultural Lexica of Love

Greek Eros Philia Agápē Arabic ‘Ishq, Shahwa, Hawa Mawadda, Mahabba, Rahma English Passion, Lust Compassion, Love, Mercy German Leidenschaft, Lust Barmherzigkeit, Liebe, Mitleid

Chinese (Self) love 愛 ai 仁; rén 兼愛, jiān ài (Mozi) (universal love) J. Ruiz, Libro Cobdicia (cupidity) Amor de Dios (charity) de Buen Amor Cruel “Don Amor” Misericordia Hegel Hellenic Beauty Hebraic Moralism Christian Charity Poetry (Hölderlin) Philosophy (Kant) Religion as “Living bond of virtues” Schiller Das Schöne/Beauty Das Wahre/Truth Schöne Sittlichkeit Freedom Necessity Freely Desired Duty Kierkegaard Aesthetic Life/Love Ethical Life/Love Religious Life/Love (Either/Or) Johannes the Seducer Judge William The Knight of Faith Preferential love Love of Neighbor Love by vow of Eternal Ortega Y Alteración Ensimismamiento Gasset (life governed by (life governed from within) external sensations) Wilhelm v. Fantasy in the realm of Geist in the realm Humbolt possible and particular of necessary and general Miguel de Love of self-alienating Spiritual, Sorrowful Love & Unamuno abandon in pleasure Pity in action, consciousness and ideas “ex-sistere” “in-sistere”

Immanuel Pathological Love Practical Love Kant Denis de Passion d’Amour, Amour comblée, Rougemont Pagan Myth of Desire Marital, Christian love Martin Luther False Love Natural Love Marital Love (money, fame, sex) (children, siblings)

113 Notes rata, The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender 1 Relationships in Islamic Thought (New York: Susanne Enderwitz, Liebe als Beruf: al Abbas Suny Press, 1992), 7. b. Al-Ahnaf und das Ghazal, (Beirut: Orient In- 8 stitut, 1995), 172. “Ce Tawhid dont le secret est la tri-unité 2 néoplatoniciennne de l’amour, de l’amant St. Paul, Augustine and St. Gregory deemed et de l’aimé." Henry Corbin, tr., Le Jasmin des celibacy superior to marriage. In an (in)fa- Fidèles d’Amour. Kitab-e ‘Abhar al-’Ashiqin: mous, polemical tract against marriage, St. de Ruzbihan ibn Abi al-Nasr Baqli (d. 1209) Jerome warned that “too ardent a lover of (Teheran: Institut Français de Recherche en his own wife is an adulterer” which itself is Iran, 1987), 13. an expression of earlier Roman and Greek 9 attitudes. Glenn Olsen, ed., Christian Mar- Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Mafatih al-Ghayb al- riage: A Historical Study (New York: Herder & Mushtahar bi al-Tafsir al-Kabir (Istanbul: Herder, 2001), 118. Ibn Taymiyyya adopted 1881), 472-473. Sayyid al-Qutb, Fi Zilzal al- a similarly negative attitude towards love in Qur’ān vol. 21-25 (Cairo: Dar Ihya’ al-Kutub marriage. Joseph Bell, Love Theory in Later al-‘Arabiyya, 1950), 36. Muhammad Mutawali Hanbalite Islam, (Albany: SUNY Press, 1979), Sharawi, Ahkam al-Usrah fi al-Bayt al-Muslim 231. In Africa, India and China excessive love, (Cairo: Makataba al-Turath,1998), 21. Qur- even within marriage, was commonly seen as tubi places primary emphasis on woman a “threat to the solidarity of the extended as the means for sakan, which he defi nes family.” Stephanie Coontz, Marriage: A His- as the abode in which man’s sexual thirst tory (New York: Penguin Books, 2005), 15- (ghula) is stilled. Muhammad ibn Ahmad al- 18. Georges Duby, The Knight, the Lady and Qurtubi [d.1273] al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Qur’ān, the Priest, (Chicago: Chicago University Press, vol. XIV, (Cairo: Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1963), 1993), 28. 17. Abu Talib al-Makki in his Qut al-Qulub 3 goes even further and elevates sexual Soeren Kierkegaard, Works of Love [1847] satisfaction to the ultimate objective. (New York: Harper, 2009), 59. 10 4 Qurtubi, 17; al-Razi, 473. John Milton too This too may be contested. The Qur’ān in- saw in marriage a means of “banishing lone- vokes words related to hubb in no less than liness through agreeable companionship.” twenty-two instances, for instance in [3:31]: Cit. in Jeff rey Watts, The Long Reformation „If ye do love God follow me: God will love (Wadsworth, 2004), 294. [yuhibbikum] you and forgive you your sins 11 for God is most compassionate and merciful.” al-Razi, 857; Ibn Kathir, 367; Qurtubi, 17. Besides the ubiquitous references to God as 12 Simon Kuntze, “Love and God,” in Ghazal the compassionate and merciful (al-rahman as World Literature, ed. Thomas Bauer and al-rahim) with which every citatation is pre- Angelika Neuwirth, (Beirut: Orient Institut, faced, Al-Wadud (the loving) is one of the 2005), 163. cherished ninety-nine names of God. (11:90 13 Abd al-Salam Tirmanini, al-Zawaj ‘and al- and 85:14). Arab fi al-Jahiliyya wa-al-Islam, (Kuwait: al- 5 Kenneth Cragg, The Dome and the Rock (Lon- Majlis al-Watani, 1983), 321. don: Speck, 1964), 150. 14 Luther cit. in Steven Ozment, Protestants: 6 Isail Ibn Umar Ibn Kathir, [d.1373], Tafsir al- Birth of a Revolution, (New York : Doubleday, al-‘Azim (Beirut: Dar al-Qalam, 1983), 368. 1992), 162. 7 On the complementarity of souls, see 15 Ali ibn Ahmad Ibn Hazm [d.1064] Tawq al- Plato, Lysis 221-220 in Plato: Complete Hamamah, (Beirut, Librairie al-Hayat 1960), Works trans. by Alexander Nehamas and The Qur’ān mentions “love of desires” (hubb Paul Woodruff , ed. by John M. Cooper (Hack- al-shahawat) as human lust for worldly ett 1997). Sachiko Murata compares the goods, but ranks nearness to God as superior: Qur'ānic cosmology with the Chinese “Fair in the eyes of men is the love of things notion of a “Great Ultimate” (Tai Chi) they covet: women and sons; heaped-up from which male and female, heaven and hoards of gold and silver; horses branded (for earth, ying and yang emanate. Sachiko Mu- blood and excellence); and (wealth of) cattle

114 and well-tilled land. Such are the possessions (which recognizes marriage as a contract) of this world’s life; but nearness to God is the than in Christianity. At least since the Fourth best of goals.” (3:14) Lateran Council in 1215 (and probably even 16 Al-Razi, 473. before) - mutual consent was offi cially declared as a suffi cient basis for marriage (con- 17 „Al-mawadda lil kabīr wa al-rahma lil sensus facit nupitas). Febvre, 335. saghīr.” Abu al-Fazl Maybudi, Rashid al-Din, 26 Kashf al-Asrar wa Uddat al-Abrar (Tehran: Iq- The “school of love” (mathhab-i ‘ishq) bal, 1910), 446. Muhammad ibn Ahmad al- found in the satiric poetry of Hafi z and the self-deprecatory malamati is discussed in Qurtubi [d.1273] al-Jami li-Ahkam al-Qur’ān, Hafi z and the Religion of Love in Classical Per- vol. XIV, (Cairo: Dar al-Kitab al-Arabi, 1963), sian Poetry, ed. Leonard Lewisohn, (London: 17. I.B. Tauris, 2010). 18 Al-Razi, 473. 27 Amongst many a mystic, the dividing 19 Abd Allah Ibn ‘Umar al-Baydawi, Anwar al- lines between human love (‘ishq insani) and Tanzil wa Asrar al-Ta’wil (Damascus: Dar al- divine love (‘ishq rabbānī or illāhī) is well- Rashid, 2000), 243. nigh impossible to draw. Ritter tells us that 20 Muhammad Hussein Al-Tabataba’i, al- amongst the Muslim mystics who follow the sober school of Junaid, earthly love is seen Mizan fi Tafsir al-Qur’ān (Beirut: 1970), 166. as a symbolic (majāzī) preschool (Vorschule) 21 Immanuel Kant, “Metaphysik der Sitten,” in for the true, (eigentliche/haqīqī) love of God. Kant’s Gesammelte Schriften, Teil I. (Gruyter Certainly the views expounded by Ibn Dawud 1975), 671. (d.909) in his seminal treatise on love, the 22 The theory of an Arabic origin of romantic Kitab al-Zahra, as well as the famous ‘uthrite love was explored by the likes of A.R. Nykl, poets like Jamil would confi rm this thesis, as Hispano-Arabic poetry and its relations with they extolled chastity in love as a mark of the old Provençal troubadours (1946); Marie- divine martyrdom. Helmut Ritter, Das Meer Rose Menocal, The Arabic Role in Medieval der Seele, (Leiden: EJ Brill, 1978), 460ff . Sub- Literary History: A Forgotten Heritage (Univ. limated desire however might still conceal Of Pennsylvania, 1990); The Legacy of Mus- a form of passion. Schiller makes an intrigu- lim Spain, ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Manu- ing observation in this regard, claiming that ela Marín, (Brill Academic Publishers, 2001) „however abstract we may think, something amongst many others. sensual lies at the root of our thinking.“ “So abstract wir auch denken moegen, so ist es 23 De Rougemont surmises ancient Mani- doch immer zuletzt etwas Sinnliches, was chean and Orphic precedents as a source of unserem Denken zum Grund liegt.” Friedrich inspiration. De Rougemont, 62. Werner Som- Schiller, Schiller’s Saemtliche Werke, (Stutt- bart, Economic Life in the Modern World, (New gart und Tuebingen, 1847), 135. Brunswick: Transaction Publishers, 2001), 28 p.171. The zenith of passion was reached in When Abelard proposed to marry Heloise, the hedonism of the Renaissance, when one his secret mistress rejected his off er, claiming poet exclaims: “love is nothing but pleasure.” that both his career and their love would suffer, thus affi rming the incompatibility of love 24 Even in its formal rejection of social con- and marriage. Cit. in Coontz, 17. vention, this poetry often absorbed the lan- 29 guage of slave and master: “Do not seek glory De Rougemont, Love in the Western World (‘izz) in love (hubb), since only the slaves of (Princeton N.J., Princeton University Press, love’s law are free men….I am your slave, tor- 1983), 311. ment you if you will, whatever you will of me, 30 “Christianity has never taught that one do it, whatever it is! Accept my love, I give it must admire his neighbor – one shall love as a gift. Then reward me with rejection – that him.”Soeren Kierkegaard, Works of Love is love.” Abbas ibn al-Ahnaf (d.809) cit. in [1847] (New York: Harper, 2009), 67. Boase, 459, 467. 31 “To love the beloved, asks Christianity – 25 The stipulation of public witnesses to mar- is that loving?...‘Do not the pagans do like- riage was traditionally more explicit in Islam wise?’” Kierkegaard, 66-67.

115 32 De Rougmont argues that Hollywood and (Stuttgart: Reclam, 1978). The Council of the media have further capitalized on this Trent in 1563, in no small part as a response myth. De Rougemont, 17. to the Protestant elevation of marriage, re- 33 Marriage here was seen as a concession confi rmed a 1184 edict declaring matrimony to human concupiscence. “But if they cannot as a sacrament. contain themselves, then let them marry; for 41 One notes for instance that formal ven- it is better to marry than to burn.” (1 Cor. 7:9). eration of the Holy Family by the Church only De Rougemont, 85. began in the 19th century. 34 “Nowhere do we fi nd in the course of these 42 Ibn Hazm, 14. th th centuries [16 -18 ] any attempt whatsoev- 43 Despite invoking the duality of the sexes, er to address the rapport between love and Ibn Hazm curiously vehemently rejects Ibn marriage in its depth…Love was but found Dawud’s neoplatonic notion that souls are outside marriage… Everything and everyone “divided spheres”(aruwah maqsuma). For rejected love-marriages.” Lucien Febvre, more on Ibn Dawud and his Kitab al-Zahra, Amour Sacre, Amour Profane (Paris: Gallimard, see Enderwitz, 181. 2001), 322. Other scholars have maintained 44 that the alienation of marriage from passion Ibn Hazm, 115. led the latter to be channeled into prostitu- 45 By the same token, Jesus defi nes a believ- tion, pederasty, adultery, and concubinage – er as “anyone who does His Will, the will of the last fed by Roman prohibition of marriage Him who sent me.” (John 7:17). between classes. (Olsen, 109). 46 Ibn Hazm, 12. 35 Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout 47 Life, tr. John Ryan, (New York: Doubleday, "Aimer ce n’est point nous regarder l’un 1989), 222. l’autre mais regarder ensemble dans la même direction ." Antoine de Saint Exupéry, Terre 36 “A man in love will give prodigally to the des hommes, (Paris: Gallimard, 1972), 225. limit of his capacity, in a way that formerly 48 he would have refused; as if he were the one There are countless examples in poetry of this close association of passion and death, receiving the donation…all this in order that of which Oscar Wilde’s famous sonnet is but he may show off his good points and make one vivid example: “Yet each man kills the himself desirable. How often has the miser thing he loves, but all let this be heard, Some opened his purse-strings, the scowler relaxed do it with a bitter look, Some with a fl atter- his frown, the coward leapt heroically into the ing word, The coward does it with a kiss, The fray, the clod suddenly become sharp-witted, brave man with a sword.” Oscar Wilde, The the boot turned into the perfect gentleman, Ballad of Reading Gaol [1898], (Ittaca: Cornell the stinker transformed himself into the el- University Press, 2009). egant dandy, the sloucher smartened up, the decrepit recaptured his lost youth…and all 49 “Greater love has no one than this, that he because of love!” Ibn Hazm, 35. The theme lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13). of love’s power to purify and transmute is al- 50 Roger Boase, “Arab Infl uences on European ready found earlier in Plato’s Symposium and Love-Poetry,” in The Legacy of Muslim Spain, later in Ibn Sina’s Risāla fī al-‘Ishq (Treatise on ed. Salma Khadra Jayyusi, Manuela Marín, Love). (Brill Academic Publishers, 2001), 461. The 37 Juan Ruiz, Libro de Buen Amor [The Book of notion of passionate love as a form of “di- Good Love], tr. Raymond S. Wills, (Princeton: vine madness” precedes Islam and Christi- Princeton University Press, 1972), 155-156. anity, appearing in Plato’s Phaedrus 265 and Symposium 202. See Plato: Complete Works 38 Denis de Rougemont, L’Amour et l’Occident, trans. by Alexander Nehamas and Paul Wood- (Paris: Librairie Plon, 1972), 169ff . ruff , ed. by John M. Cooper (Hackett 1997). 39 Cited in Boase, 468. 51 “For what the poet shall celebrate must 40 “One cannot remain unmarried and have in it the anguish which is the riddle of chaste.” Martin Luther cited in Fathers, 189. his own life: it must blossom, and alas, it must Vom Ehelichen Leben und Andere Schriften perish. But Christian love abides…but that

116 which has being cannot be sung about – it 63 Qurtubi, 17. must be believed and it must be lived.” So- 64 Ortega Y Gasset, Man and Crisis, 102. eren Kierkegaard, Works of Love [1847] (New York: Harper, 2009), 26. 65 “Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, hypo- crites! Because you are like whitewashed 52 Abu Nuwwas cited in Adonis, Die Gesänge sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men des Mihyars des Damaszeners, (Zürich: Am- beautiful, but within are full of dead men’s man Verlag, 1998), 4. bones and of all uncleanness. So you also 53 Denis de Rougemont, Love in the Western outwardly appear just to men, but within you World (Princeton N.J., Princeton University are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. “(Matthew Press, 1983), 311. 23; 27-28) (Mark:7:7). 54 Miguel de Unamuno, The Agony Of Christi- 66 “Ein lebendiges Band der Tugenden, eine anity, tr. Reinhardt, (New York: Dover Publica- Lebendige Einheit.” Hegel, G. W. F., Theologi- tions, 1960), 15, 97. sche Jugendschriften, ed. Herman Nohl (Ber- 55 Soeren Kierkegaard, Either/Or. A Fragment lin, 1923), 297. See Plato’s Symposia for his of Life (London: Penguin Books, 1992), 373. ode to the love of the beauty of bodies, souls, knowledge and absolute beauty. De Rouge- 56 Unamuno suggests this etymology to mont notes that this love remains contem- sharpen the contrast between the “in-sist- plative and restricted to the mind. As such, ing”, demanding nature of a conscious state and the indiff erent, distracted and “ex-isting” Platonic love remains a sublimated form of unconscious mode of life. See Unamuno, 182. desire (Eros). See De Rougemont, 168. 67 57 José Ortega Y Gasset, Man and Crisis (New G. W. F. Hegel, Theologische Jugendschrif- York: Norton & Company, 1958), 91. ten, ed. Herman Nohl (Berlin, 1923), 297. Also see appendix to this article. 58 This neologism could be translated as “to 68 be set and centred within oneself.” “In the spirit of the Hebrews, there stood 59 between impulse and action, desire and “The nature of the conqueror is constantly deed, trespass and pardon an impassable outside itself; that of the possessor inside gulf, an alien court of judgment…what held itself.” Kierkegaard, 459. “My love, which them together was chains, laws given by a brought us both to sin, should be called lust, superior power…a living bond of virtues, a liv- not love...Those who are Christians are whol- ing unity, is quite diff erent from the unity of ly occupied with the inner man.” The Letters concept…just as virtue is the complement of of Abelard and Heloise, tr. Radice, (London: obedience to the law, so love is the comple- Penguin Books, 1974), 153, 174. ment of the virtues.” Hegel, G. W. F., Theolo- 60 Miguel de Unamuno, The Agony Of Christi- gische Jugendschriften [1790-1800] ed. Her- anity, tr. Reinhardt, (New York: Dover Publica- man Nohl (Berlin, 1923), 295. tions, 1960), 135. 69 “To be in love is a state; to love, an act. A 61 “How can you force the bride to yield to state is suff ered or undergone, but an act has marital and sexual union, how can you com- to be decided upon (in marriage).” de Rouge- pel her to marital accord and friendship when mont, Love in the Western World, 310-311. it was God who decreed mercy and love be- 70 tween the spouses? Indeed this can only be Tabatabai, 166. For more on the Confucian done by rousing her anger and aversion to- perspective, see the contribution of Tu Wei- wards her husband, and what kind of love and Ming in this volume. merry is there in that?” Ahmad bin ‘Abd al- 71 Edward William Lane, Arabic-English Lexi- Halim Ibn Taymiyya, al-Masa’il al-Mardaniyya con, (Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society: 1984), (Damascus: 1964), 116. 293. Lisan al-‘Arab, ed. Muhammad ibn Mu- 62 Hadith by Bukhari cited in Riyad as-Salihin karram Ibn Manzur (Cairo: Dar al-Misriyah, (The Meadows of the Righteous), Al-Imam Abu 1966), 468. Zakariya Yahya bin Sharaf An-Nawawi Ad-Di- 72 Ibn Hazm, 14. mashqi (Lahore: Dar-us-Salam Publications, 73 1999), chapter 52, no. 440. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, 473.

117 74 Hegel, Schiller and Schleiermacher all lay 82 “Only the sensing of the whole, i.e. love, is great emphasis on the individual’s interior, able to prevent the dissipation of the self.” pure intent (Gesinnung) rather than exterior, “Nur die Empfi ndung des Ganzen, die Liebe, communal laws as the best guarantee for a vermag die Zerstreuung des Wesens zu verhin- preservation of morality and marriage. They do not deny the validity of the laws of reason, dern.“ Hegel, Theologische Jugendschriften, but merely advocate an alignment of disposi- 270. tion with dogma. Hegel pursued a more “sci- 83 Reynold Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam entifi c” method to arrive at the synthesis via his notion of reason Verstand than the Ger- (London: Routledge, 1975), 123. man romantics who valorized “sentiment”, 84 Muhammad Hussein Al-Tabataba’i, al-Mi- but in the end both discounted the force of zan fi Tafsir al-Qur’ān (Beirut: 1970), 166. law as a gateway to the absolute, or even as an effi cient restraint on immoral behavior. 85 Ibn Kathir, 238. Hegel, G. W. F., Theologische Jugendschriften, 86 ed. Herman Nohl (Berlin, 1923), 398. In this „Vom Ehelichen Stand,“ Cited in Eheglueck reasoning, they were informed by Luther as und Liebesjoch: Bilder von Liebe, Ehe und Fa- well as Romans 13:10: “Love is the fulfi ll- milie in der Literatur des 15. Und 16. Jahrhun- ment of the law.” derts, ed. Maria Muller, (Beltz Verlag: Wein- 75 „Ein sittliches Wesen.” Friedrich Schiller, heim und Basel, 1988), 208. Uber die Notwendigen Grenzen beim Gebrauch 87 des Schoenen (1795). Francis de Sales, Introduction to the Devout Life, tr. John Ryan, (New York: Doubleday, 76 Willhelm von Humbolt, Gesammelte Wer- 1989), 220. ke, (Berlin, 1841/1988: Walter Gruyter), 258. 88 77 von Humbolt, 226 St. John Chrysostom cit. in John Witte, From Sacrament to Contract (WJK: Louisville, 78 von Humbolt, 258. 1997), 21. 79 S.H. Nasr, “The Male and the Female in Is- 89 lam,” Traditional Islam in the Modern World, "L’amour est une école d’égalité, d’entraide (Suhail Academy, Lahore, 1990). et d’écoute mutuelle. Une école où la décou- A similar idea is expressed in the Proverbs: verte de soi est découverte de l’autre, où la “As water refl ects a face, so a man’s heart re- découverte de l’autre est une découverte de fl ects a man.” (Proverbs 27:19). soi." De Rougemont, L’Amour et L’Occident, Ibn ‘Arabi even goes so far as to say that 338. “God is more perfectly seen in a human 90 Ortega Y Gasset, On Love: Aspects of a Sin- being than in any other being, and more gle Theme (New York: Meridian Books, 1957). perfectly in woman than in man.” Ibn al- 91 ’Arabi, Muhy ad-din Muhammad, Tafsir al- Hegel, G. W. F., Theologische Jugendschrif- Qur’ān al-Karim (Beirut: Dar al-Yaqza, 1968), ten [1790-1800] ed. Herman Nohl (Berlin, 339. 1923), 295. 80 Friedrich Schlegel, [1795] „Über die Dioti- 92 “Love always speaks medaciously, what ma“ in Kritische Schlegel Ausgabe, Hrsg. Ernst is crude in itself seems good in the eyes of Behler, (Munich: 1967), 91. The complemen- love.” Juan Ruiz, 163. tarity of the sexes in marriage in fact already became a familiar trope in the Middle Ages. 93 “Love looks not with the eyes, but with the Hicmar, Archbishop of Reims, viewed mar- mind, And therefore is winged Cupid painted riage as a mitigation of “woman’s cunning- blind.” William Shakespeare, A Midsummer- ness and man’s roughness.” Duby, 33. night’s Dream, Act I, Scene I. 81 Soeren Kierkegaard, Either/Or. A Fragment 94 of Life (London: Penguin Books, 1992), 468- “C’est l’amour qui fait voir. La vision est en 469. proportion de l’amour. " Corbin, 15.

118 Th e Face of the Praised

By Rusmir Mahmutæehajiæ Almost as a rule, one ﬁ nds the following text inscribed calligraphically in the mihrabs I have fashioned thee as of Bosnian mosques: “Whenever Zacha- 1 a work of art for Myself. riah went in to her in the mihrab.” One Qur’an, 20:41 ﬁ nds similar inscriptions in the mosques of other areas, but little detailed research has I will raise them up a Prophet been done on them. The Zachariah in the from among their brethren, inscription is the prophet of God and priest like unto thee. at the Temple in Sion,2 the father of the Deuteronomy, 18:18 prophet John [the Baptist], and the person

upon whom he enters is the Virgin Mary, Verily of an immense magnitude the mother of the Messiah Jesus. The in- is thy nature. Qur’an, 68:4 scription is one part of a Qur’anic verse that refers to Mary as being in the mihrab 3 Out of the depths have I cried of the Mosque or Temple. unto thee, O Lord! For the Muslim tradition, the mihrab is Psalms, 130:1 the symbolic centre or focus of the mosque

119 or place of worship and so of all human This descent begins in the Light of the life. What does the inscription mean and Praised, the universal “seed”, the maternal why is it found at this central place? prophecy, and the principle of reception in Those who fi rst inscribed this unfi n- absolute purity, quietude, and service. The ished sentence in their mihrabs must have end of the ascent is also the Praised as the had clear answers to these questions. Their universal “fruit”. descendants today do not. They have either lost or forgotten them. What has been 1 forgotten can be recalled, however, as true The mihrab inscription we are discussing forgetting does not exist, at least within is from the Recitation, the Word God sent the human self or for the real. Forgetting down through the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of is simply a condition of the self where its the Holy, to the Praised.5 That Word cap- indestructible core is obscured by false rep- tures all of existence in verbal form as it resentations and false knowledge. relates to God, the only true Being. In this The core is cut off from the periphery, way, existence and its relationship to God which comprises the body, analytic Reason, are brought together in human language. the passions, and so forth. We then mis- The focus of the entire discourse is the take the periphery for the self as a whole. name of God. Nothing can contradict or What is lost can be found, however, so equal it. Human being, however, is dual- long as it is true. The truth cannot be lost. ity, being both male and female, and is the Only human beings can be lost. When we obverse of that revelation of Unity. This is fi nd ourselves, we also fi nd the truth that why it is in the Recitation that we should has been hidden from us. The inscription at look for answers as to why Mary was in the heart of the mihrab offers us signs with the mihrab. ontological, cosmological, anthropological, God told the prophet Moses that He and psychological references. To under- had shaped him as a work of art for Him- stand them, we must have recourse to the self.6 He told him that He would raise up framework of traditional intellectuality and a Prophet like him.7 All the prophets swore perennial wisdom. oaths in pre-existence to this Prophet who The disclosure of these signifi ers is of was like Moses.8 That Prophet’s nature is crucial importance for the process of lib- of an immense magnitude,9 and he is our eration from forgetting or oblivion. Liberat- most beautiful example.10 This is why the ing ourselves, we disclose or discover our Word was revealed to him in the form of hearts as treasuries of immediate knowl- the Book from which the text on the Virgin edge – knowledge which does not depend was copied. on anything external, but on which human The Recitation describes many and self-realisation itself depends.4 In this way, complex forms of relationship between we may realise ourselves in line with our God and humankind. God is the fi rst cause authentic nature. Memory or recollection is and the source of all existence. Human therefore our highest possibility. In it, we being refl ects and focuses existence. God fi nd both our beginning and our end. owes nothing to anyone. We owe our ex- Finding our beginning and end entails istence to God. Our relationship is of crea- the discovery of both arcs of our existence ture and Creator. – the fi rst marking universal descent from God and human beings are always re- the One, the other ascent to the same One. lated in one way or another. God partakes

120 of this relationship as both absolutely near forms of being-at-peace, faith, and beauty, and absolutely far, alike and incomparable. on the one hand, and rebellion, conceal- He has every claim on us, but indulges us ment, and idolatrous association, on the and counterbalances our ability to sink to other. the lowest depth in the existential battlefi eld with his offer of redemption and re- 2 turn to Him. This bond takes on form both Although undergoing constant revela- in and outside of language and may be in tion, the human self as a whole remains either direction. concealed.11 Revelation and concealment The bond in language descends from come together and are refl ected in the above, from God to humanity, as the face. What is revealed speaks of what lies Revelation. Ascending from below, from hid, as its higher reality. From moment to humanity to God, it can assume various moment, we turn our faces to the world forms of address – witness, praise, prayer, and to other people, searching for this repentance, sacrifi ce, etc. The non-linguis- higher reality. But our faces fi nd rest no- tic bond from above includes signs on the where. We cannot fi nd that peacefulness horizons of the world and in history. The and rest in which we might be absolutely bond from below involves various forms of peaceful, before the Face. This is because, human duty, ritual, and art. no matter where we direct our face or God is the Lord to Whom the most what we encounter in the world, we can- beautiful names belong. We are His ser- not abide there for ever. We are searching vants, and, as such, it is ours to receive for more than is in all the world. It is only and put on that through which our Lord through this eternally higher world and reveals Himself. To be worthy to serve our what it contains that our path towards our Lord, we must display absolute humility, object has any sense at all. quietude, loyalty, and openness to receive This being so, we change from moment and bear what He gives us. In this way, we to moment, as the self alters with each fi nd ourselves between the abnegation of new moment. Our face also changes, as in mere appearance and rising up through each new moment it engages with some reality as received from and revealing our aspect of the Divine Face Which is both re- Lord. Where we stand is determined by our vealed and hidden from us. And so we may voluntary reception of confi dence as the well ask: where does it lead, this change in form of our relationship with God. Acting our face? without this faith in God we become vio- The answer to this question remains lent and ignorant, in arrogance, rebellion, hidden from us, so long as we look for it in resistance, and closedness. terms of our being-within-change. In fact, God extends two possibilities to us, His no fi nal answer is possible, even though it perfect and most rebellious servants. On the become the focus of our life, will, knowl- one hand, He is infi nitely good and merci- edge, power, and our faculties of hearing ful, clement and kind, loving and forgiving and sight. None of the potential answers of His servant who is bound to Him in a can transcend the difference to which our bond of peace. On the other hand, God is inability to turn our faces to and abide in wrathful and severe, jealous and chastising, Peace testifi es. but always absolutely just. These two pos- This invincible difference appears in the sibilities in our relations with God take the form of a relationship between the seeker

121 and the Sought, between the face and the and the external world. We are turned to- Face. There are always two, but we yearn wards this world with all our being. This after the One, revealed in and affi rmed by turn would seem to be focused in our face. that pair. We fi nd ourselves always within It is through our face that we address the duality, constantly reminded of our higher world as a whole. That world is a mirror and more beautiful faculties. No matter image of our face, just as our face is a mir- how high we rise, this higher and more ror image of world. beautiful state remains out of reach, but Everything we learn in our relationship we want to unite with it, nonetheless. with the world comes about, or perhaps is This aspirational desire emerges as will. quickened, within us. Our face expresses We desire the Face of our Lord, in which this interior, as well as the exterior with we will fi nd everything our original and which it is constantly related. Consequent- fi nal potential promises us. Our life and ly, one may say that existence as a whole our death, ritual and sacrifi ce, these are is the obverse of the human face. We and the way of virtue on which we are guid- the world are two sides or two aspects of 12 ed by our desire for the Lord’s Face. In one face, as every pair affi rms and reveals our quest for the Face, through which we the One. may overcome duality, we are constantly Both the horizons of the world and faced with the terrible void of oblivion or the self are differentiated into an infi nity forgetting. Our need to overcome the void of signs in continuous fl ux. Each sign has leads us to fi ll the world with the expecta- two sides and a contrary, as everything in tion of receiving God and returning to Him existence is part of a pair.14 There is noth- through linguistic and ritual communion ing within the horizons of the world or the with the face. This quest takes on the form self that is not part of a pair. The mem- of witness: “All that dwells on the earth is bers of a pair can never be reduced to each undergoing annihilation, and there subsists other, obliterating the differences between the Face of your Lord, Possessor of Majesty them. Only absolute unity can encompass 13 and generous giving.” them and the differences between them. It is the same with the human face. Every- 3 thing brought together and refl ected in it As individuals, we experience the duality takes on a different aspect with each new that runs throughout existence primarily in moment, irreducibly different from that terms of the opposition between the self which has just past and that which is com-

122 ing. Whatever its condition, the human self sense, which is to say they reveal the Unity always partakes of the pair of the face and towards which we aspire. the Face. We and the world are a pair. Nothing in Having turned our faces towards the our selves or the external world is so sta- horizons of the world to gaze at the heav- ble or all-embracing that our quest can be enly expanse, we return to our own selves brought to an end: there is no level we can tired and confused, for the majesty and reach which is not a depth in comparison beauty of what we have seen does not re- to the One and the Most-High. The human veal itself to us as showing the Face clearly face is continuously turning to look for the oriented towards us, the Face Which is to Face Which will unite and bring fulfi lment unite everything that spurs us on to cease- to all, before Which we will be alone be- less searching and turning, the Face in fore the Alone, standing before Him Who Which all duality will be resolved. But we Stands, suffi cient before the All-Suffi cient, desire that orientation. No matter what we and praised before the All-Praised. seem to be looking at, it is ourselves we So, we are continuously searching for are searching for. Return from the expanses our own face, in which to fi nd and realise of the horizons to the self recalls us to our all that our highest moment entails, that own inner self as the likely habitat of the we may take on the aspect of the Face Face we seek. As a result of this act of rec- in undifferentiated fullness, in union with ollection, the horizons and the signs they what we know as beauty. This endeav- contain lose their role as sources of knowl- our steers us towards the horizons, which edge. They become reminders of what we nonetheless remind us of the core or heart already hold within ourselves. of the self. There is nothing in the external world which is not related in some way to 4 our core, as the point of confl uence where The beauty revealed to us by the horizons all distinctions disappear and differences and other people’s faces does not last. It appear as Unity. This possibility is above calls to us continuously, only to fade. It ap- and beyond all fi nitude. Only Unity is in- pears briefl y, but the memory of it stimu- dependent of everything but itself, while lates us all the more to search for it. Our what is outside Unity depends on It. To re- experience of beauty in the horizons of the turn and ascend to the self means to fi nd world recalls us to the self as beauty’s real one’s all in Unity. habitat. Nowhere in the world can it take root and become permanently available. 5 It resides within us: we belong to beauty Experienced by the self as news that arises and bear witness of it. But the signs in the from its own core, majesty and beauty are world do recall it, as well as the veil of for- worthy of praise. Whenever we fi nd full getting which covers it. confi rmation in either the world or the self What we see as beautiful is in fact how of identity that transcends duality, we rec- we would like to see ourselves from the ognise in what we have found that self for point of view of the Beautiful. This desire which we are looking. When we fi nd it, it pervades our entire being, inside and out, appears to us as a fl ash of the absolute. As beginning and end. We are always some- soon as we see it, it disappears. We bear where between inside and outside, begin- witness, however, as we recall that it came ning and end. These are pairs in the fullest from our own centre. In the indestructible

123 core of our being, we know that what has The visible world is our face. In this way, been shown us in the world and in our we and the world are a pair, one term of own self is the one truth. This is why our which refl ects the other. consciousness is always discovering and re- We fi nd ourselves in the world, so covering the crucial confession that there is that whatever confi rms our expectations no self but the Self, no face but the Face. is worthy of praise. But we also bring to- Revealing and remembering beauty gether within our own selves whatsoever speak of the human heart as comprehend- is worthy of praise in either ourselves or ing beyond time and space, as compre- the world. We bring it together, fi rstly as hending all time and all space. Drawing our the recipients of the praise by which God attention to this possibility, to our return to reveals His being All-Praised and then as it, God spoke to us through the Praised, givers of what we have received through commanding him to say: “Say: ‘Believe in Praise of the Giver. it, or believe not; those who were given the No matter how high we raise ourselves knowledge before it when it is recited to in the heavenly heights or how low we them, fall down upon their faces prostrat- descend within ourselves, we are always ing’, and say, ‘Glory be to our Lord! Our within the boundaries and we can never Lord’s promise is performed.’ And they fall do away with them. This is why existence down upon their faces weeping; and it in- 15 as a whole appears to us, in both the world creases them in humility.” and in our own selves, as twofold – as a We all have knowledge of this thanks world within reach of our sensory percep- to the act of our creation. We all have one tion and another beyond its reach. We and the same original nature, pure and en- cannot overcome this duality, no matter dowed with everything we need to return what our condition. We cannot, because it to God, as He told us: “So set thy face to is through it that Unity is revealed as both the debt, of the pure – God’s original upon source and end of everything in existence. which He originated mankind.”16 While the fi rst world seems closer to Whenever that which we already know us, it is not. The principle of the second is within ourselves is revealed to us in the higher in value: everything visible derives course of our quest for the self, it becomes from the invisible. The invisible and the all our desire to abnegate this pair, to re- inaudible are the principles of the visible alise ourselves in Unity as the source and and the audible. Whatever our condition, end of all things manifest, and to abnegate we are always “suspended” between two our own face before the Face, which is our possibilities: falling into the material depth greatest promise in eternity and infi nity. or rising to the height of the Spirit. On Thus, we bear witness that there is no face each level we reach there is a visible sign but the Face and that we can realise our selves only in the Face. of its essence. This sign is, in fact, there to remind us of our essence. The Praised said: This House (Ka‘ba) is one of 15, seven 6 in the heavens up to the throne and seven The world reveals us to ourselves. The hori- up to the limits of the lowest Earth. The zons are in our image writ large, while we highest one, which is near the throne, are the image of those same horizons writ is the ‘visited house’. Every one of these little. Whatever we comprehend in the ex- houses has a sacred territory like that of ternal world is comprehended in our heart. the Ka‘ba. If any one of them fell down,

124 the rest would fall down, one upon the this couple be reduced, either to the other, other, to the limits of the lowest Earth. And takes on the form of witness of the One and every house has its heavenly or earthly wor- of their irresistible attraction for the One. In shippers, like the Ka‘ba.17 any such act of witness, both are turned to Knowledge is the relationship of the Peace as the Goal in Which all differences knower to the known. Unity, even if will be resolved. Consequently, one can say known, cannot be limited by anything. If that each thing is a recipient and a revela- we want it, there is no knowledge which tion of Peace, just as being-at-peace is our might limit the approach to Unity. No point way of relating to both our beginning and on the path of approach or ascent is fi nal. our end. As long as we are in the world of duality, The Face we seek, in and through Which the upward path to Unity remains open. we want to see ourselves, is irresistibly at- This ascent depends on the heart, which tractive. We love this perfect Face, but It re- contains all the points or degrees, from the mains always out of our grasp. It reveals and lowest to the highest. Once the heart falls, then conceals itself before us. To attain It, the entire revelation of the One has fallen. it is not enough to be completely at peace before It; we must set out on the upright 7 road, the road of the fortunate, on which We want to be what we know and to know the Praised or real individual is our example what we are. This will is a desire for union. and our guide. As such, he reveals duality as As knowing subjects, we need that which the non-differentiation of perfect masculin- we know. Nothing can remove this need. ity and perfect femininity in the same self. This is because the Known is always out of reach of our knowledge and, consequently, 8 irresistible and unfailingly attractive. The The One confi rms the not-One as the ineffa- name for this inextinguishable desire of the ble principle of all things. Duality and limit- human self is love. Unity is constantly at- less multiplicity also confi rm the One. Given tracting to Itself whatever serves to reveal that multiplicity announces the One, it also It in the world of duality. It attracts because announces the most beautiful name of the there is nothing real in all existence that One. The most beautiful names are scat- does not come from It and belong to It. In tered throughout the cosmos, but brought this process of attraction, the pairs wish to together in human being. To complete this become manifest and return to the One. gathering of the names, their own created Our love for what we know is made mani- principle, the Breath of the Creator was in- fest in the confession that there is no self spired into us, that we might bring them but the Self. together again and return them to the One, Through the continuous discovery of and so even to the not-One. beauty and majesty the self which seeks It is through our imagination that we the Self shows its inexhaustible nature and transcend boundaries, and it is this which consequently both its concealment and enables us to seek the Named among the its disclosure. It cannot be reduced to any names and so return to or discover Him in of its appearances, any more than any of His own Breath at our core. The earth and those appearances have any reality without the heavens extend before us, far exceed- It. Every manifestation of the One, how- ing us in magnitude, but we have our place ever, includes two. The impossibility that within them and another beyond them, in

125 our consciousness and our imagination. are fullness; not male or female, but male There is in them nothing real but the Real. and female. This means that the full hu- Consciousness of this is our most profound man being is the union of all divisions. This content, as is clear from the words God is shown at the level of signs in the praise spoke through the Praised: “My earth and of the One as the All-Praised.20 When indi- My heaven embrace Me not, but the heart vidual things, and therefore also their con- of My believing servant does embrace traries and so existence as a whole, praise me.”18 The heart of the faithful servant their reason and end, they are returning mentioned in this holy tradition is that es- the praise with which the One as the All- sential place in which all contradictions are Praised revealed Himself. The All-Praised is reconciled. beyond all difference, even though He re- Faith is our relationship, as beings of veals Himself through differences. faith, with God the Faithful. This relation- When an individual reaches perfec- ship takes place on the basis of what can tion and recognises in him or herself the only be a little knowledge, regardless how vicegerent, which is to say a follower of great it may appear, as it is subject to con- the complete human being, it is in and stant change in both its object and form. through the perfect balance of the male Even such knowledge, however, is suf- and female aspects. God is the All-Praised. fi cient for us to recognise the Face which His Self-revelation is like an emanation of irresistibly attracts our own faces, as its es- His praise. This emanation is creation as sential nature is to intimate the Unchang- the reception of praise and being from the ing. This force of attraction is love. In faith, All-Praised. Everything through which God knowledge and love are one. reveals Himself as the All-Praised receives In this mutual attraction of the human His praise. As this revelation contains noth- face and the divine Face, our external ho- ing that has not been received from God as rizons and the self and the world of scat- the All-Praised, praise is the mode of exis- tered signs are oriented along an axis that tence for all things. The most sublime sign passes through all the worlds towards the of this praise is the Praised as the maternal throne of the One. Through the Praised, prophet who corresponds to the maternal God said of this: “We have seen thee turn- book, in terms of his simultaneous priority ing thy face about in the heaven; now We and fi nality in creation.21 will surely turn thee to a direction that shall God’s fi rst manifestation is in Praise and satisfy thee. Turn thy face towards the Holy the Praised, mindful always that none are Mosque; and wherever you are, turn your praised but the All-Praised. What we fi nd 19 faces towards it.” on the lower levels of existence is a series of images of the Praised as revealing the 9 All-Praised. They are bound by the relation Human beings are both male and female. of praise. When praise is focused and fl ow- Our form of being is manifest in or through ers in the self, human being is perfected this split in two which together reveal the and reaches its fullness. Such a one is a One. The full discovery of humanity re- perfect example to all others in all their quires that we transcend this division. To circumstances and conditions.22 Through transcend division is to be on the path of such an individual, the Light is sent down return to the One. The full manifestation of from on high to the lowest level of exis- the One is the fullness of humanity. For we tence23 to be a shining lamp to every self

126 on every level of existence.24 The path back you conceal, to God belongs all that is to God, the All-Praised, lies through this in the heavens and in the earth; God is perfect individual. All-sufﬁ cient, All-praised.25

10 And it is He who sends down the rain after they have despaired, and He un- God the All-Praised spoke plainly of this folds His mercy. He is the Protector, the revelation through the Praised and we may All-Praised.26 read in the Recitation of the universal individual as the ﬁ rst recipient of praise and of All that is in the heavens and the earth the Praised as the fairest example, as well magniﬁ es God. His is the Kingdom, and as of the sending down of praise into all His is the praise, and He is powerful over the worlds and of how they are gathered everything.27 in our essence: And He is God; there is no god but He. To God belongs all that is in the heavens His is the praise in the former as in the and in the earth. We have charged those latter; His too is the Judgment, and unto who were given the Book before you, Him you shall be returned.28 and you, to remain conscious of God. If

127 Proclaim thy Lord’s praise, and be of thou not seen how to God prostrate all those who prostrate themselves, and who are in the heavens and all who are serve thy Lord, until the Certain comes in the earth, the sun and the moon, the 29 to thee! stars and the mountains, the trees and the beasts, and many of mankind?”34 This ab- Surely thou art before Our eyes. And proclaim the praise of thy Lord when negation is the rejection of mere appear- thou arisest, and proclaim the praise of ance for the sake of the Real, the annihila- thy Lord in the night, and at the declin- tion of the face to reveal the Face. In this ing of the stars.30 way the self shows its dissatisfaction with all its conditions except that of being a face But those who believe and do righteous before the Face, of looking upon the Be- deeds and believe in what is sent down loved and being looked upon by His eyes to the Praised – and it is the truth from alone. their Lord – He will acquit them of their In this process of discovery, the world evil deeds, and dispose their minds appears as glory thanks to the praise of aright.31 the Lord. This discovery is expressed per- The Praised is not the father of any one fectly by the ascent through the night to of your men, but the Messenger of God, the Light, through the fl esh to the Spirit. and the Seal of the prophets; God has The path is trod from the lowest depth to knowledge of everything.32 the highest height. One who has experience of standing before the Upright and 11 being praised before the All-Praised can When it is a woman who is addressing this fall to the lowest depth again and from it sought after Face as the perfection of the call the self to embark upon the upright self, then she perceives it as the Praised in path towards the realisation of our authen- male form. When it is a man who is the ap- tic potential. pellant, then he addresses it as the Praised The One affi rms Suchness or Essence, in female form. As the Face brings together while duality affi rms the One. As the fi rst and meets all expectations, It is beyond all revelation of the Lord as the All-Praised distinction. It is neither the female nor the and as the universal man, the Praised must male Praised; It is both. The Face resolves be fully dual, for nothing can affi rm the all differences: “And call not upon another One that is not such a duality. Such a dual- god with God; there is no god but He. All ity is made up of the perfect or fi rst recep- things perish, except His Face.”33 This is tion and the perfect or fi rst giving, perfect the Face Which is before and beyond ev- femininity and perfect masculinity. The erything in existence. In and through It we One sends down and publishes His Word accomplish our ascent and return to our through the Praised. This Word is the Book. highest moment. Having received it, the Praised is a maternal This return includes realisation of the prophet. The book he has received is ma- witness that there is no face but the Face. ternal. It contains everything that reveals Conscious of this and mindful of the Unity the One. which encompasses all things in Its revela- This same One sent down and revealed tion, we abnegate ourselves before the His Word through the Virgin. This perfect Face that we might be made in Its fullness. word was the Anointed. He contained God said of this in the Recitation: “Hast nothing he had not received: like the

128 Praised, the Anointed said nothing on his tic Owner, for the sake of whom they are own account.35 The nature of the Praised present and towards Whom they lead. and that of the Virgin are determined by In each instant of our existence we the Book and the Anointed, respectively. imprint our individual face upon the Cos- The only woman mentioned by name in mos. This imprint is an image in constant the Book sent down to the Praised is Mary. change. No such image can be identifi ed She is therefore a sign of the perfect du- with the Face, though each bears witness ality through which the One is revealed. of It. The Cosmos thus provides the frame The Praised and the Virgin are one and the of the mihrab or battlefi eld on which we same revelation of the One at the begin- strive to attain the Face. There are count- ning of the arc of descent and at the end less instances of the mihrab and only con- of the arc of ascent. fi dence in the permanent presence of the Face is suffi cient to fi ll them. Only with the 12 Face can the multiplicity of Its Revelation To glorify and praise the Lord means stand- be re-offered to Him as total victory over ing before the Face and the Praised and the Gap that subsists between the face and willing exit from duality: to become That the Face. Which one stands in front of and regards The battlefi eld (mihrab) is therefore a and nothing more. This desire is affi rmed key symbol of our effort to overcome this symbolically by falling in prostration, deny- Gap and to see ourselves as the Beloved ing any form of self but the Self, and sacri- sees us, as beloved by the Beloved. The fi cing all mortal things for the Living. attractiveness of the Beloved, whether The world is continuously revealed experienced as male or female, is move- within us in ever-changing ways, as it itself ment towards Peace and being-at-peace. changes from moment to moment. Duality The further from the manifestation and the cannot be mastered, but we do not accept closer to that by which He is manifest, the this. For us, the world becomes a battle- closer we are to Peace and so to union as fi eld on which to master duality and real- our goal. Union means sacrifi cing duality ize ourselves in the One and the Beautiful. for realisation in the One. Attaining the goal of our endeavour can One should stress that the mihrab, in seem impossible. But that is precisely what all of its forms in all the different types of we desire. We launch a war against the im- mosque or place of worship, necessarily in- possible, for no incomplete apprehension volves the act of sacrifi ce. This is because of existence can satisfy any self open to the every ritual is at heart a sacrifi ce. The hu- Self. In this way, we are always struggling man self is split between two poles – death with what appears before us, as we crave and immortality. Presence in the world of the Real Which nothing can mimic or re- disorder and suffering is an aspect of the duce to seeming. mortal self. Transcending the mortal self All our powers are trained on that goal. via immortality entails leaving the world of All who obstruct this endeavour are our death and suffering for the triumph of eter- enemies. Our greatest enemies are those nity over all forms of appearance. This is conditions of the self which imprison us effected by suffering that loosens the self’s in our sensual nature, the passions which attachment to sensation and the things of take the form of enjoyment in the beauties the world, an attachment that has become of the world, separated from their authen- unmindful of the Beauty they reveal.

129 What the self of the lower levels experi- His will is to lead us to our goal. Every- ences as suffering and pain is the passage thing comes from God and it all returns from closure to individuation and realisa- to Him as the Gatherer-in and the Goal of tion in the Self, the move from the signs to the journey being taken by all of existence the Signifi ed. Bearing witness that there is and each thing within it. This all, each and no self but the Self and dying in our mortal every particle, is under a debt to what is self, we are born to erectness in the Self. other, in the fullest meaning of that term. The battlefi eld within both ourselves and There is no atom or butterfl y, no animal or the world involves sacrifi cing the mortal to constellation, no angel or spirit that does attain the Eternal. In this way, the Praised, not participate in this com-union whereby as the goal, as the model followed, be- every thing is at once alone and with all comes an example of dying to attain life, the rest. of giving to receive, of leaving to return. Human will is also involved in how we In the mihrab, we are alone. It is a place relate to God. We have countless duties to- for the individual to withdraw from his or wards God. But we also have one claim on her own diversity, from being in duality, so Him. This claim is the right to return and as to return to Unity as the Real. We ascend to self-realisation, and it is both absolute to the mihrab for the sake of the Beloved, and perfect, and each and every self was to be with Her alone and that She might be made for it in accordance with our original with us alone, rapt in mutual regard. nature. God has opened to us the path to Himself: to see Unity in duality as Its per- 13 fect revelation, in that duality that appears That the world glorifi es its Lord through as the union of male and female in pure praise means that it reveals what it has re- and full self-realisation through return to ceived. The act of praise thus relates God the original Unity. the All-Praised with the world as praised. We recognise what we have received God is the Possessor and the Giver of in the world only by rejecting any illusion praise, while the world is its recipient and of possessing it other than through the promulgator. God alone possess and gives, Giver. When this relationship to the totality so that what He is not is nothing, save it of existence as the recipient of praise from be His Face. Both the world and man are God, its Giver, fi nds expression in human essentially or ontically poor in comparison being, as the focus of existence, then we to God the All-Suffi cient. The truth of this can speak of human being as both praised cannot be altered. It cannot wane, but it and praiser of God the All-Praised. For God may be that forgetting covers it with a veil and human beings relate through the act of ignorance. of praise. There is nothing in the self that has The perfect reception of praise from not been received from God. We are fully God and the restoration of life, will, power, in debt, and God is our Creditor. We are knowledge, speech, hearing, and sight to bound by debt.36 In this way, God’s abso- the Giver is our highest faculty. It affi rms lute claim on us is established, so that we the Praised as source and refuge of all exis- have a duty towards God, which means to- tence. All prophecy is discourse on this fac- wards all of existence with all its contents. ulty of humanity. Through such discourse But, we did not arrive in existence of our we receive news and are reminded of that own will. That was the will of the Creator. part of the self in which God resides. In

130 our constant quest for the One we turn to- making this oath they accept God’s choice wards the horizons, the ends of the earth, that they remind others of their primordial and the heavenly heights, but none of this oath and so help free them from oblivion. satisfi es us. We are just reminded of our Through this act of liberation, they are re- highest and most sublime faculty, so that vealed as free agents, undetermined except we ask: Where is God? And the Praised has by their authentic nature, for there is noth- an answer to this question: “In the hearts ing in the heart but this fullness for which of his faithful servants.”37 He also says: and with which we were made to travel “The hearts of all of Adam’s children are as through the worlds. They are witnesses of one heart held between the fi ngers of the the Praised as a mercy to the worlds, as the All-Merciful. He turns it where He will.”38 Apostle who is always and everywhere the best example imprinted in the self. 14 While there have been one hundred and twenty four thousand prophets, none The Praised is the most beautiful example of them is before or after the Praised. He to us all and a mercy to the worlds. He is their seal in pre-Existence, when we is therefore our highest moment. As the were all just intentions of the Creator. The most sublime and the mightiest pattern, Praised remains the seal of all the proph- the Praised is, accordingly, important for ets, even now that they have all entered each of us as we realise our selves after his existence and borne witness to that which mighty pattern. To do this we must follow they swore an oath in pre-Existence. the Praised on the path from the periphery to the core of humanity, in which all differentiation fades. This is the confession of 15 Unity and return. The Praised is that individual and prophet Nothing can satisfy us but attaining who testifi es from the fullness of human this sublime moment. It may appear to lie nature that one can pass from the battle- outside the self, somewhere in space and fi eld in this world of duality to the fullness time, in culture and history. If anything of of Peace. And so, he is the champion of the sort is to be found there, it is only as the people-of-peace. This does not mean a sign for the self that it cannot attain re- his condition can be distinguished from his alisation anywhere but in the self, but only desire, as peaceful and a person-of-peace, through, above, and beyond all sensible to connect with Peace through being-at- things. But we are fi tted by our authentic peace. nature, the principle given to us at creation, The Praised is in the world of duality, to fi nd and realise ourselves. Each of us is but as perfect reception of God and the aware of this possibility of self-realisation restitution of what has been received in in our original nature which is equivalent to accordance with His will. Receiving, he re- the oath sworn to God in pre-Existence to veals the Giver; giving, he reveals the God bear witness to what we know, namely our to whom all returns. Standing in the mi- highest faculty – the Praised as the mighty hrab, he gazes upon the Virgin Mary as pattern and the light sent down. the best of all women in all the worlds. In Prophets are people who swear to God her, he regards himself, and through her that they will bear witness amongst their he sees himself as she sees him out of that fellows, with whom they live, of that which perfect duality which is the revelation of they know in their hearts as God’s news. By the One. The Word was sent down into

131 Peace and the resolution of duality. In this perfect example, our division into male and female is un- riddled as duality that reveals the One. Mary looking at the Praised and his looking at her share the form of perfect human recollection of God. The faces of Mary and the Praised, turned to each other, reveal the perfection of the One and the unity of the Perfect. These two know each other by means of their original perfection and the Unity their faces reveal, through the same single heart held in the ﬁ ngers of the All-Merciful. Neither Mary nor the Praised seek in the byways of the world the Face of Him they praise, to whom they return what they have received. They are before the Face, looking at It and through It alone, bearing witness of It in all they do. God said of this: “To God belong the East and the West; whithersoever you turn, there is the Face of God; God is All-embracing, All-knowing.”39 As the perfect example of being in the mihrab, the Praised is both alone and together with all of existence. The Holy Spirit came down to him there, on account of his perfect receptivity, which is marked by the face of Mary, just as It did the world – once as the Anointed or Christ, to her, bearing the word of God. Through then as the Recitation. this Word that descended, the Praised rose The Word was sent down into the world up to Peace. To those who desire that path through Mary and the Praised so that who- of ascent, God said through his Apostle: ever received it might arise through its “Say: ‘I turn in Peace my face to God, and agency to his or her authentic nature in whosoever follows me.’”40 Turning his which everything has been received in all face to God, the Praised sees Mary. And fullness. The Praised and Mary regard each Mary, turning her face to God, sees the other without cease, as in the eyes of the Praised. This is how the One is revealed in other they see their own self-realisation in

132 perfect duality through the confession that God promised us that we will fi nd Him, there is no face but the Face. on condition that we seek Him with all God enlightens the face of the Praised our heart and all our self.44 When we at- with the Light of heaven and earth. This tain that level of full seeking, then we are same Light bathes Mary’s face. Those who turned towards the Face, enlightened by It, seek the Face yearn for this Light revealed and through It we see ourselves. Then, the through the face of the Praised, who said Face is all there is for us. This is why the of such seekers: “My people most loved by Praised sees himself through Mary’s face. me from my community would be those He is in the world, but always turned to- who would come after me but everyone wards God. In this way, he is the example amongst them would have the keenest de- of perfect seeking and of being on the path sire to catch a glimpse of me even at the back to God. Only love, the yearning to be cost of his family and wealth.”41 united, can guarantee that the traveller will fi nd what he or she seeks.45 16 The Praised and Mary, as a pair, are the per- 17 fect revelation of the One. The reference to God is the All-Merciful, the Ever-Merciful. the prophet Zachariah in the inscription in His mercy encompasses all. The Praised, as the mihrab relates to the word of God: “So his fi rst revelation, is the most beautiful ex- remember Me, and I will remember you.”42 ample to us all, a mercy to the worlds. This Whenever we are such that we remember mercy takes the form of the receiving and God, then God remembers us. When we passing on of Peace. God speaks of this in remember God, we are following the most the Recitation: beautiful example of the Praised as the per- We have not sent thee, save as a mercy fect apostle and the incarnation of the full- unto all worlds. Say: “It is revealed unto ness of humanity. This remembrance and me only that your God is One God; are you this following are our path to self-aware- then people of Peace?”46 ness and fl ourishing in knowledge. Say: “My prayer, my ritual sacrifi ce, my The Praised is the perfect example for living, my dying – all belongs to God, the those who have hope in God and the Last Lord of all worlds. No associate has He. Day and who remember. It was to them Even so I have been commanded, and I am that God said: “I am with My servant the fi rst of those that are in Peace.”47 whenever he remembers Me and his lips Peace is our highest possibility. God is move.”43 Remembering God is the discov- Peace and Peace comes from Him.48 All ery of the beauty at the core of the human of His creation and everything in it reveal self. This discovery draws us irresistibly to Peace. They are at-peace and relate to God union with the beautiful as our means of through being-at-peace.49 This is also the ascent out of duality. The Praised is perfect case for us, in our authentic and original in remembrance and so in his love of God. condition, and so also as we fi nally resolve The Virgin Mary is also perfect in remem- our involvement in the world of duality. In brance, and so in her love of God. Facing realising or discovering our original nature- each other, the Praised and Mary reveal the in-peace, we discover the Praised as our Face in contrast to Which everything in ex- highest moment, the moment of the self istence fades and with Which the many is for which we should be willing to give ev- revealed as unition. erything – our family and all our wealth.

133 Any turn towards God on the upright which there will be no further turning, nor path leads us to bear witness to the Praised any face but the Face of the One. as our champion and our highest possibil- When the face and the Face are re- ity. The Praised, as servant to his Lord, says lated in this way, it is the most beautiful “I”. His “I” is dual, as it was created to state achievable, the mighty nature of the reveal the uncreated “I” as the One. The Praised. God, the angels, and all His friends dual “I” of the Praised bears within itself testify to this. Acceding to this witness is the Virgin as perfect and so the feminine the only proof for his followers. When the aspect of perfect masculinity. This pair is Praised, as the maternal prophet, is denied made one in the mighty nature of full hu- and insulted, he cannot be hurt by it. De- manity. nial and insult only harm the deniers and Being a person-of-peace is a refl ection of insulters, as by it they remove themselves our will. Although we always remain such in even further from their higher aspects. our original nature which is realised through No condition of the human self on the return to God, it is within the bounds of our path of ascent and return can supplement will to deny this aspect of our being. Once the model of most beautifully standing be- we have brought our will into line with our fore God. This is why the Praised is the seal nature and assumed the mantle of a person- of the prophets. He is the true self of the of-peace, our little knowledge never ceases faithful which is satisfi ed only by identifi ca- to grow with regard to God the All-Know- tion with the Praised, the servant and the ing, Who encompasses everything with His apostle of God. The faithful recognise the knowledge. This orientation refl ects faith as condition of their selves as insuffi cient for the mode whereby the person-of-faith re- what is needed to follow the Praised as the lates to God the All-Faithful. closest and dearest of humankind.50 In our little knowledge, we bear witness Our knowledge is constantly grow- of the One, turning towards Him. Only in ing. However little it may be, it is always union with Him are we satisfi ed. This is enough to point us towards God and the why we are always striving to be beauti- Praised. Ignorance is never an excuse for ful, in order that the Beloved will look denying and insulting our higher possibili- upon us and see that we are so. We are ties. It cannot be, because, independently always looking at ourselves through the of everything outside, we bear within our- eyes of the Beloved. We look and we hear. selves knowledge of our Lord and redeem- In equating ourselves thus, we do nothing er. Given that we recognise our higher that God does not do. possibilities in the Praised, our love for him transcends all others. 18 This is a conscious choice which trans- That the Praised was sent as a mercy to forms the meanings of everything within the worlds and a witness to the unity of the horizons or in the self. “None of you God was revealed through him, as God’s are faithful,” said the Praised, “unless I am servant. It is as such that he is revealed in dearer to him than his child, his father, and full perfection through his other aspect, all others.”51 Following the Praised cannot through the perfect pair and the full wit- be separated from the love of the faithful ness of Peace. Each self is constantly turn- servant for the Faithful Lord. Only in this ing. This means that the face is in constant love and discipleship does the Faithful Lord quest for peace or for the condition in love His faithful servant.52

134 Zachariah was a man remem- bered by God and therefore mindful of God. He saw human perfection in the Virgin Mary. What he saw in her was just the image of the Praised as the sublime potential in each of us. Her reception of perfection was revealed in the Teaching: “And when the angels said, ‘Mary, God has chosen thee, and puri- ﬁ ed thee; He has chosen thee above all women in the worlds. Mary, be obedient to thy Lord, prostrating and bowing before Him.’”53

19 The war in the world of the manifold can never be brought to a close on the basis of human con- ﬁ dence in our own powers. This is because we realise ourselves in and through Beauty, against which we cannot war. We can turn against ourselves. The more resolutely we love It, because Beauty attracts us irresist- oppose the Praised, the servant and apostle of ibly. It increases us in knowledge by means God, the higher the dark tide rises within the of this attraction. The closer we are to It, self, urging us on to evil. The Praised, who is the better we know It, and the better we the mercy sent to the worlds, never abandons know It, the more we love It. This is why us, remaining as witness to our discipleship the Praised, who wants to see us attain and our apostasy. perfection, says we are not named under God has not left one of us bereft of sign of war, but of beauty. It is in relation the possibility of meeting the purpose to God as the Beautiful that we discover for which we are in the world. His mercy the beauty in our own selves and act in all exceeds His wrath.55 This mercy compre- things we do on the basis of our connec- hends everything that is, and all things end 54 tion to Beauty as the Owner of all beauty. in it, but with the just distinction of the However close we come to the boundaries righteous and the guilty, with just wages of the world, piercing ever higher, they remain, for both good and evil. As the mercy to the so that in our feeling of weakness new veils worlds, the Praised will be our advocate on fall upon our face. Unwilling to remove these that day, as he himself told us, on that day veils and confess that our love has made that of resurrection when we shall all be in fear: of which we can only know but a little every- I shall start off and come below the thing to us, everything without division, we Throne and prostrate myself before my become opponents of the Praised. And so we Lord; then God will reveal to me and in-

135 spire me with some of His Praises and always been peripheral to the semantic fi eld. Glorifi cations which He will not have In all traditional teachings, the heart is con- revealed to anyone before me. Then it sidered the core of the self and the principle will be said: “O, The Praised! Raise your of the unity of human existence. As such, it head; ask and it will be granted; inter- is both source and end. All existence comes cede and the intercession will be accept- from it and returns to it, less in a temporal sequence than in absolute unity. The entire ed.” I will then raise my head and say: self is a manifestation of the heart. The hu- “O my Lord, my community, my com- man self entirely depends on the heart, but munity.” It will be said: “O, The Praised! the reverse is not true. Whenever one of the Bring in by the right gate of Paradise countless multitudes of possible conditions those of your community who have no of the self is taken to be independent of the account to render.” They will share with heart and suffi cient in itself, an apparent the people some other door besides this hindrance may arise to the harmony of the door.56 one in the many. In such a case, a departure continues within the self, as it travels down towards its lower and darker parts. Then consciousness and power are without guidance, Notes and they are applied as a violence and igno- 1 The full verse runs as follows (Qur’an, 3:37): rance: between the heart and the self there “Her Lord received the child with gracious fa- lies a boundary which appears in the form vour, and by His goodness she grew up come- of hardening, rusting, and corruption. Con- ly, Zachariah taking charge of her. Whenever sciousness and power lack connection to the Zachariah went in to her in the mihrab, he source and the mouth, and so lack guidance. found her provisioned. ‘Mary’, he said, ‘how That the heart is the principle of the self, its comes this to thee?’ ‘From God’, she said. Tru- source and issue, does not mean that it gives ly God provisions whomsoever He will with- birth to phenomena nor that any phenomena out reckoning.’” gives birth to the heart. It is at the same time 2 The mosque at Sion or the Remote or Far- in and with all things, and beyond them. The ther Mosque (ar. al-masjid al-aqsā) is one of Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of the key symbols of our being placed between Confi dence descends upon it and within it, two extremes – the most beautiful height and so that it reveals the Living, through all His the lowest depth. Names that are scattered across the horizons 3 and focused within the self. As both source The Arabic noun of place masjid, derived and issue, the heart is precisely the Flux, the from the verb sajada (“to prostrate one- coincidence of coming into being and going self”) and whose derivative form in English out of being, of giving and receiving, waning is “mosque,” has cognate forms and a long and waxing, of inhalation and exhalation. It history in most Semitic languages (See: is Intellect as the recipient of knowledge and Mahmutćehajić, The Mosque, 84n11). Its ba- the maximum of closeness to God as the One. sic use is to designate a place of worship or 5 temple, such as exist in all the Abrahamic See Qur’an, 16:102. The Bosnian translation religions. Each mosque has its focal point of the Arabic noun qur’an is Učenje, for which or mihrab at which the battle for the soul is the normal English equivalent is the Reci- fought out. The mosque being referred to is tation. This was the revelation made to the known in Arabic as al-masjid al-aqsā (“the Prophet, the Praised (ar. Muhammad), which Farther Mosque”). after having been received was uttered or recited in Arabic, and only then written down 4 The heart is one of a few key concepts for in the Book. this discourse. Its immediate reference is the physical heart, the central organ of the indi- 6 See Qur’an, 20:41. Martin Lings has trans- vidual through which the blood, as the bearer lated God’s words to Moses into English as of life, must pass. In the modern period, this follows: “I have fashioned thee as a work of meaning has become practically the only art for Myself.” (Lings, Splendours of Qur’an one, while for traditional intellectuality it has Calligraphy and Illumination, 17)

136 7 See Deuteronomy, 18:18. discourse given in this text is formed around 8 See Qur’an, 7:157. the divine name of the All-Praised (ar. al- Hamīd). This fi eld also contains the human 9 Ibid., 68:4. name of the Praised (ar. al-Muhammad) as the 10 Ibid., 33:21. fi rst revelation of God’s being praised. The re- 11 lationship between God being the All-Praised The term the Self as used in this text cor- and his revelation through the Praised is the responds to the Arabic nafs. The noun is here act of praise (ar. al-hamd). These forms cor- used to signify the “human self or sense of respond to the verb “to praise” (ar. ha-mi-da). self” and the “entire personality” of a being In this relationship, God is the Creator, while that comprises body and the ineff able life human being is created. This relationship substance, somewhat opaquely designated does not change. This is why every semantic as “soul.” The creator gave the self inner fi eld in any discourse on this relationship is harmony and such qualities as its role in cre- subordinate and dependent on the fi eld cen- ation required. God breathed into its heart tred around the name of God. (See further in: His Spirit. Accordingly, the self is everything Izutsu, God and Man in the Koran, 75–77) comprehended by the extremes of “absolute 21 physicality” and “Spirit.” Any form lying be- The translation “maternal prophet” is tween these extremes which does not belong for the Arabic nabiyy ummiyy (See Qur’an, exclusively to one of them but is related to 7:157); the concept of the “maternal book” both is “soul.” corresponds to umm al-kitāb (Ibid., 13:39). On the semantic fi elds and the chains which 12 See Qur’an, 2:272–73. The prophet David link them back to the verbal root umm and said: “When thou saidst, seek ye my face; the reasons for interpreting them as they are my heart said unto thee, Thy face, Lord, will in this discourse, see: Denny, “The meaning I seek. Hide not thy face far from me; put not of the ummah in the Qur’an” and Goldfeld, thy servant away in anger.” (Psalm, 27:8–9) “The Illiterate Prophet (Nabī Ummī): An in- 13 Qur’an, 55:26. quiry into the development of a dogma in 14 Islamic tradition.” See Qur’an, 43:12. 22 15 See Qur’an, 33:21. Qur’an, 17:107–109. 23 16 Ibid., 7:157. Ibid., 30:30. 24 17 Ibid., 33:46 Wüstenfeld, Die Chroniken der Stadt Me- 25 kka, 6, 10; cited in: Wensinck, “The Ideas of Qur’an, 4:131. the Western Semites Concerning the Navel 26 Ibid., 42:28. of the Earth”, 51–52. It is appropriate at this 27 Ibid., 64:1. point to recall the architectural and symbolic form of the Temple of Sion (al masjid al-aksā). 28 Ibid., 28:70. There are on the plateau of Sion, which is the 29 Ibid., 15:98–99. location of the Second Mosque, two buildings 30 of crucial signifi cance – the fi rst is the Dome Ibid., 52:48–49. of the Rock, while the other has 15 doors. 31 Ibid., 47:2. In this way, the goal of return is signifi ed by 32 the Dome – that is, self realisation within the Ibid., 33:40. heart and passage from the lowest depths to 33 Ibid., 28:88. the most beautiful height. 34 Ibid., 22:18. 18 Ghazālī, Ihyā’ ‘ulum al-dīn, 3:12. This sa- 35 See: John, 7:18, 14:10 and Qur’an, 26:192– cred tradition is generally accepted among 95, 16:102. Sufi s, but is not to be found in the exoteric 36 collections of the prophet’s sayings. See : In modern times, it has been usual to trans- Hakīm, al-Mu‘jam al-sufi , 1265–66. late the Arabic term dīn as “religion.” This 19 captures only the derived meaning of the Qur’an, 2:144. term. “Debt” or “obligation” would seem to 20 The most important semantic fi eld in the be a more comprehensive and exact transla-

137 tion of this key concept of Qur’anic discourse. 47 Ibid., 6:162–63. 37 This tradition may be found in: Ghazāli, 48 See Qur’an, 59:23. The Praised said: “My Ihyā’ ‘ulum al-dīn, 3:1238. God, You are Peace, and Peace is from You; 38 Muslim, 4:1397. You are blessed, the Possessor of majesty and honour!” (Muslim, 1:292) 39 Qur’an, 2:115. 49 See Qur’an, 3:83. 40 Ibid., 3:20. 50 Ibid., 33:6. 41 Muslim, 4:1478. 51 Muslim, 1:31. 42 Qur’an, 2:152. 52 See Qur’an, 3:31. 43 These traditions are given in: Graham, Di- 53 vine Word and Prophetic Word in Early Islam, Qur’an: 3:42–43. 130. 54 Imam ‘Ali, the son of Abu-Talib, said: 44 See Deuteronomy, 11:13. Referring to this “When the Beautiful One (Hasan) was born, command, Mary’s son said: “Thou shalt love I gave him the name of War (Harb). God’s the Lord thy God with all thy heart, with all Apostle came – may he always be with the thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all Peace of God! – and said: ‘Show me my son! thy strength.” (Mark, 12:30) The addition What name have you given him?’ I said: ‘War.’ “with all thy mind and with all thy strength” He said: ‘No, for he is the Beautiful One.’” (Ibn refl ects the condition of humanity in the end Hanbal, 2:164, tradition 730) times of this period. (On this see more in: 55 God says: “My mercy exceeds My wrath.” Lings, A Return to the Spirit, 29–43) (Bukhari, 9:482) 45 God revealed to man, according to Deuter- 56 Muslim 1:131–32. onomy (6:5): “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.” This sequence of BIBLIOGRAPHY “with all thine heart”, “with all thy soul”, and Arberry, Arthur J., The Koran Interpreted, Lon- “with all thy might” represents the condition don: George Allen & Unwin, 1980. of humanity after the Fall. In the condition of original purity, the heart, as the centre of Bukhārī, Imam al-, Sahīh al-Bukhārī, 1–9, being, represented the perfect balance of ev- trans. Muhammad Muhsin Khan, Beirut: Dar erything peripheral. In similar fashion, Intel- al-Arabia, 1985. lect, as the unifi cation of everything in exis- Denny, Federick Mathewson, “The meaning tence, is the link of everything revealed with of the ummah in the Qur’an”, History of Reli- the Revealer. Once the limits of the world in gions, 15/1 (1975): 34–70. which we had been placed had been violat- ed, the periphery, and so the self and power, Ghazālī, Abū Hāmid al-, Ihya‘ulūm al-dīn, came to appear separate and independent 1–4, Cairo: Matba’at al-‘Āmirat al-Sharafi yya, of the heart, and so there was a process of 1908–1909. falling or “development.” The heart remains Goldfeld, Isaiah, “The Illiterate Prophet (Nabī the unquailing core of the self, that lies in a Ummī): An inquiry into the development of a twilight of forgetting and somnolence. For dogma in Islamic tradition”, Der Islam, 57/2 the self to be turned towards the heart as its (1980): 58–67. core, there must come some stimulus from Graham, William A., Divine Word and Pro- the self, from the will, and from the power phetic Word in Early Islam: A Reconsideration still at our disposal. This possibility is from of the Sources, with Special Reference to the time to time reinforced by the direct sending down of additional aids in this endeavour: Divine Saying on Hadith Qudsi, The Hague: through the prophecies by which we are re- Mouton, 1977. minded of all the heart comprehends. (See Hakim, Su‘ād al-, al-Mu‘jam al-Sūfī, Bayrut: further in: Lings, A Return to the Spirit, 29–43) Dandara, 1981. 46 Qur’an, 21:107–108. Ibn Hanbal, Ahmad, al-Musnad, Bayrut: Dār

138 al-S)ādir, s.a. Izutsu, Toshihiko, God and Man in the Koran: Semantics of the Koranic Weltanschauung, Tokyo: The Keio Institute of Cultural and Linguistic Studies, 1964. Lings, Martin, A Return to the Spirit: Questions and Answers, Luisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2005. ______, Splendours of Qur’an Calligraphy and Illumination, Vaduz: Thesaurus Islamicus Founda- tion, 2005. Mahmutćehajić, Rusmir, The Mosque: The Heart of Submission, New York: Fordham University Press, 2006. Muslim, Imam, Sahih Muslim, 1–4, trans. ‘Abdul Hamid Siddiqi, Riyadh: International Islamic Pub- lishing House, s.a. Wensinck, Arnt J., “The Ideas of the Western Semites Concerning the Navel of the Earth”, in: Wensinck, Studies of A. J. Wensinck, New York: Arno Press, 1978, 1–65. Wüstenfeld, Ferdinand, Die Chroniken der Stadt Mekka, Leipzig: Olms Verlag, 1858.

139 BOOK REVIEWS

Review of Paul L. Heck. Common (Grund in German) to describe God as Ground: Islam, Christianity, and “the ground of Being.” But Tillich had Religious Pluralism. Washington, been shaken so profoundly by the catas- DC: Georgetown University Press, trophes of twentieth-century Europe that he knew the Grund could often appear as 2009, 240 pages. an Abgrund (abyss); for Tillich, the experience of God always involves negativity, By Leo D. Lefebure the shock of non-being that shakes the foundations of all our usual assumptions. In this wide-ranging, engaging, and in- While H. does not invoke Tillich’s image of formative survey of Muslim-Christian re- the ground that can also be an abyss, the lations, Paul L. Heck of Georgetown Uni- questions posed by Tillich hover around versity searches for what he hopes will be H.’s discussion, as in H.’s apprehension that “common ground,” but he also issues a the common ground between Muslims and chilling warning: “The common ground Christians may vanish at any moment. The may be there one moment and gone the contemporary encounter of Muslims and next” (6). Nonetheless, he ventures the Christians has indeed been profoundly af- hope that even in the most diffi cult mo- fected by the shock of non-being, by catas- ments, “it [the common ground] is still trophes and violent confl icts. Many both there, potentially if not always actually” past and present would frame the relation- (6). In light of this wager, H. explores vari- ship between the two traditions in harsh, ous points of contact and convergence be- irreconcilable terms. In this horizon, H.’s tween Islam and Christianity, ranging from search for common ground is fundamen- divine revelation to moral and social teach- tally an act of hope that the convergences ings to perspectives on God and politics. between the two traditions will prove to Areas of disagreement and divergence are be of greater and more lasting importance frankly acknowledged but are accorded than the divergences and disagreements. relatively less signifi cance. H. moves on the boundary between two The German Protestant theologian Paul great traditions, trusting that in the long Tillich famously used the image of ground run the common ground will hold fi rm.

140 The foundation of his hope is that Ju- H. bases his claim for a shared common daism, Christianity, and Islam share “com- ground in the scriptural heritage, which is monality of purpose” (35), which H. de- interpreted as prophecy calling forth sanc- scribes as “reception of the word of God tity, beginning and ending in the one God. in the human heart” (36). He interestingly Following Tarif Khalidi, H. argues that since proposes that both Christianity and Islam the Qur’an speaks of Jesus, it is “a gos- can be understood as “rooted in the book pel in a certain sense even if not squaring of Isaiah” (36). Judaism, for H., “stands at with Christian belief” (34). There has been the heart of both Christianity and Islam. . . much discussion in recent biblical scholar- . the common ground is ultimately tripar- ship over the genre of the gospel and the tite” (2). Despite this strong affi rmation, H. role of Mark in its origin. In terms of lit- focuses principally on Islam and Christian- erary form, to characterize the Qur’an as ity, relegating Judaism for the most part to yet another gospel may seem to be a bit of the margins of the discussion. The silence a stretch; in terms of theological perspec- of the unheard Jewish interlocutor provides tives, this interpretation could reinforce the an evocative, elusive framing of all that is age-old Christian interpretation of Islam said, raising further questions and chal- as the last and greatest of the Christologi- lenges. cal heresies. Nonetheless, H.’s provocative Indeed, much of H.’s discussion is tenta- claim stimulates refl ection on what a gos- tive and exploratory, often beginning and pel is or is not and also on how to relate concluding in the interrogative mood. He the multiple meanings of euangelion in refuses to pin down religions into “distinct Christianity to what Muslims mean by the cages of identity” (6), preferring to view Injil received by Jesus (Isa). them as active, dynamic subjects in mo- Some of H.’s claims about the Christian tion. The chapter titles are all questions. tradition are open to question. He rightly Again and again, after comparing various points out that it is only the Gospel of John aspects of the two traditions, H. draws no that explicitly calls Jesus God, but he rather defi nitive conclusion but rather poses ques- puzzlingly argues that this is “not as God tions for further refl ection, questions that the Creator” (35). Given the Johannine are left to hang in the air, intriguing and in- affi rmation that all things were created viting the reader to think further along the through the Word which became incarnate lines that H. has suggested. As a result, no in Jesus (Jn 1:3, 14), the basis for H.’s dis- strong thesis emerges from H.’s discussion; tinction between “God” and “God as Cre- every perspective can be considered from a ator” remains unclear; his claim would not different vantage point. be accepted by the later mainstream Chris- For the Western Christian reader who tian tradition, which understood each of is unfamiliar with Islam, H. provides a the three Persons of the Trinity to be Cre- wealth of introductory material that is of ator. H. also asserts that in Christian his- great value. H. devotes relatively less at- tory prior to John Calvin in Geneva, Swit- tention to instructing the Muslim reader on zerland, “the state had been understood the background of Christianity; as a result, to enforce religion but not defi ne it” (137). some of H.’s generalizations about Chris- Again the basis for H.’s distinction is un- tianity could raise questions for those fa- clear. The fi rst seven ecumenical councils miliar with the variety of often confl icting of the Christian Church were all synods of Christian perspectives. the Roman Empire, convened by the Byz-

141 antine Emperor and presided over by him with an affi rmation reminiscent yet again or his delegate. Emperors from Constan- of Tillich’s approach to faith: “Doubt is in- tine to Justinian to Heraclius I to Leo III and tegral to religion” (72). Constantine V involved themselves directly Throughout the discussion H. wishes not only in enforcing Christian dogmas but to problematize the meaning of and ap- in deciding and defi ning them. proach to religion itself; but his framework After proposing a certain common remains resolutely theistic, even Abraha- ground in belief in divine revelation, H. mic. In his conclusion he writes: “Religion cautions: “But the common ground is not solid” (40). This in turn introduces a very holds the human soul to be sacred. Reli- thought-provoking discussion of the place gion also speaks of God as sacred” (222). of doubt in the life of faith. Christian theo- Buddhists traditionally do not believe ei- logians have long refl ected on the relation ther in a human soul or in a creating God; of doubt and faith, from Peter Abelard in accordingly, they would have diffi culty the twelfth century to John Henry New- recognizing their place in H.’s notion of man in the nineteenth to Paul Tillich and “religion.” Thus H.’s refl ections on “reli- the crisis of existentialism in the twentieth. gious pluralism” remain within a theistic For Christian readers, H. introduces the horizon and would need to be reframed important voice of the medieval Sufi theo- to include non-theistic traditions of South logian, Ghazali, who insisted that religion and East Asia. Nonetheless, H. has surely is not a matter of intellectual defi nitions accomplished his goal of provoking further alone but rather an enthusiastic embrace refl ection on what common ground Mus- with the heart. H. compares Ghazali’s insistence on the necessary roles of both lims and Christians do and do not share. reason and revelation to various Christians This work merits the attention of all those ranging from early modern Jesuits to Pope interested in the relationship between Is- John Paul II. H. concludes his discussion lam and Christianity.

142 Review of Kenneth Cracknell, States provides the useful the necessary In Good and Generous Faith: intellectual and experiential framework for Christian Responses to Religious dealing with issues and themes connected Pluralism, Cleveland, Ohio: The with interreligious relations. He writes as a scholar who has invested so much time Pilgrim Press, 2006, 265 pages. and effort in developing useful paradigms that can allow Christians to develop inter- By Akintunde E. Akinade religious dialogue that is sustained by love, compassion, and friendship. There are perhaps few other subjects in our In Good and Generous Faith is divided contemporary world that deserve urgent into fi ve chapters. The fi rst chapter deals attention as interreligious relations. Schol- with salvation history for religious plural- ars continue to explore some of the hard ism. Cracknell encourages Christians to questions in the relationship of Christians move beyond a skewed understanding of with people of other faiths from different salvation history. He advocates for a new perspectives. The answers to these ques- understanding of salvation history that is tions are not simple and clear-cut, but the relevant to religious pluralism. The next subject is unavoidable. In the context of chapter deals with a Christology for reli- present day globalization and transnation- gious pluralism. Through a cross-cultural alism, Christians are inevitably thrown into analysis and exploration, Cracknell deals the context of religious pluralism. with the universal presence of the Word In the twenty-fi rst century, the global in this chapter. His intention in these two landscape is a patchwork of many religions. chapter is provide an inclusivist salvation Our world has become increasingly inter- history and an inclusivist Christology that connected and interdependent—almost will “enable Christians to behave with a to the point of becoming a global village. new openness and generosity towards oth- Religious traditions that used to be self-en- ers in light of their understanding of the closed and accustomed to living in isolation purposes of God”(p. 97).The third chap- from one another now fi nd themselves in a ter provides an excellent articulation of situation where they can no longer ignore an ethic for religious pluralism. This is an the presence of others. With increased mi- ethic that is based on friendship and hu- gration, missionary activities, and refugee mility. The hubris that is usually associated movements, religions have also shifted with religious exclusivism only creates an their counties of origin. For example, there atmosphere of monologue and thrives on are mosques in the so-called Bible belt re- caricature and faulty hermeneutics. The gions, Hindus in California, Sikhs in Boston, fourth chapter deals with the spirituality of Buddhists in New York City, and Christian religious pluralism. The last chapter deals churches in Pakistan. Thus, one of the with a missiology for religious pluralism. pressing challenges in this millennium is This chapter ultimately reveals that Chris- how to critically respond to this inevitable tians have created a false dichotomy be- religious diversity. tween mission and interreligious dialogue. Kenneth Cracknell is pre-eminently Cracknell maintains that this is a spurious qualifi ed to write on the subject of inter- bifurcation. For him, Christians in the religious engagement. His academic od- twenty-fi rst century must regain the cour- yssey in Nigeria, England, and the United age to share the good news of Jesus Christ

143 with their neighbors and friends with great provides a balm in Gilead that can heal our humility and deep courtesy. world. Our contemporary global landscape The book concludes with two appen- is punctuated by several events of sacred dixes. The fi rst one entitled “Ambivalent fury and violence. In recent times, violence Theology and Ambivalent Policy” deals and confl icts in the name of religion have the contributions of the World Council reached an appalling crescendo. Rigid, of Churches to Interfaith Dialogue from dogmatic, and exclusive understanding of 1938-1999. The second appendix deals with religious plurality and Christian self- theological categories have also exacer- understanding. These two studies provide bated existing fragile relations. In times like helpful theological insights for dealing with this, Cracknell’s position concerning ‘good religious pluralism. Through the offi ce of and generous faith’ provides compelling Dialogue with People of Living Faiths and insights that can engender peace, recon- Ideologies and the Offi ce on Interreligious ciliation, and peacemaking. His voice radi- Relations, the World Council of Churches ates with hope for our new global village has been at the fore-front of interreligious we now call home. This book encourages dialogue and has formulated an impressive Christians embrace and celebrate religious Christian theological response to religious pluralism. This is not a position that wa- pluralism. These two appendixes underscore the ambivalence of the World Coun- ter down Christian theological categories. cil of Churches toward interfaith dialogue Rather, it compels them to be the harbin- for over fi ve decades. ger of God’s love for all people all over the In a world that is sated with existential world. This message is at the heart of the nihilism and interreligious apathy, this book Christian Gospel.

144 CONTRIBUTORS

Rabbi Adin Steinsaltz is an internationally renowned scholar, philosopher, social critic and author. In 1988, Time magazine praised him as a «once-in-a-millennium scholar.» Born in Jerusalem in 1937, Steinsaltz studied sciences at the Hebrew University, in addition to rab- binical studies. He has served as scholar in residence at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. and the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. Rabbi Steinsaltz has authored some sixty books and hundreds of articles on subjects including Talmud, Jewish mysticism, Jewish philosophy, sociology, historical biography, and philosophy. Many of these works have been translated into English.

Metropolitan George Khodr was born in Tripoli, Lebanon, in 1923, and has been the Greek Orthodox Archbishop of Mount Lebanon since 1970. In 1942, Khodr founded the Mouvement de la Jeunesse Orthodox (MJO) and the journal Revue an-Nur. Since that time, Bishop Khodr has been at the forefront of interreligious dialogue in the Middle East. He has taught as a Professor of Arabic Culture at the Lebanese University, and as Professor of Theology at the University of Balamand. Renowned across the Arab world for his highly reﬁ ned classical Arabic prose, far-reaching erudition and intimate familiarity with the full spectrum of Christian and Muslim philosophy, history and theology, Bishop Khodr has been writing a popular weekly column for the leading Lebanese daily An-Nahar for two decades. His latest publications include Vanished Faces/Wujuh Ghabat (Arabic) (Beirut, 2009) and Et si je Disais les Chemins de L’Enfance (Paris: Cerf, 1997).

Karen Armstrong, born in 1944, is a British author of numerous works on comparative religion, who ﬁ rst rose to prominence in 1993 with her highly successful A History of God. A foremost proponent of interfaith dialogue, she asserts that the great traditions have in common an emphasis on the spirituality of compassion, as epitomized in the Golden Rule: Do unto others as you would have others do unto you. Awarded the TED Prize in 2008, she called on drafting a Charter for Compassion in the spirit of the Golden Rule to identify shared moral principles across religious traditions, in order to foster peace and global under-

145 standing. It was unveiled in Washington, D.C. in November 2009. Signatories include Prince Hassan of Jordan, the Dalai Lama, and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Tu Weiming, Harvard-Yenching Professor of Chinese History and Philosophy and of Con- fucian Studies at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute from 1996-2008, was born in February 1940 in Kunming, China. He grew up in Taiwan and received his M.A. (1963) and Ph.D. (1968) both at Harvard. He taught Chinese intellectual history at Princeton University (1967-71) and the University of California at Berkeley (1971- 81). He also taught at Peking University, Taiwan University, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Ecole des Hautes Etudes. He has been on the Harvard faculty since 1981 and was appointed in 2008 and currently serves as the Director of the Institute of Advanced Humanistic Studies at Peking University. He is on the board of the Chinese Heritage Center in Singapore, a member of the “Group of Eminent Persons” appointed by Koﬁ Annan to facilitate the Dialogue among Civilizations, a participant of the World Economic Forum, and a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. He has published over 30 books in both English and Chinese, and more than a hundred articles primarily focusing on the modern transformation of Confucian humanism. A ﬁ ve-volume anthology of his works was published in Chinese in 2001.

Dr. Reza Shah-Kazemi specializes in comparative mysticism and Islamic Studies. He is the founding editor of the Islamic World Report and currently a Research Associate at the In- stitute of Ismaili Studies in London with the Department of Academic Research and Pub- lications. He received degrees in International Relations and Politics at Sussex and Exeter University, before getting his doctorate in Comparative Religion from the University of Kent in 1994. He later acted as a consultant to the Institute for Policy Research in Kuala Lampur. His books include The Sacred Foundations of Justice in Islam and My Mercy Encompasses All: The Koran’s Teachings on Compassion, Peace and Love.

Dr. Oliver Leaman is currently in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Ken- tucky, USA. He previously taught in England and the Middle East. He writes mainly in the area of Islamic and Jewish philosophy, and his most recent publications are Islamic Aesthet- ics: an Introduction (Edinburgh University Press), Islam: the Key Facts, co-written with Kecia Ali, and Jewish Thought: an Introduction, both published by Routledge. He organised the second edition of Ninian Smart’s World Philosophies, which appeared in 2008 and the second edition of his Brief Introduction to Islamic Philosophy has been published by Polity in the autumn of 2009 as Islamic Philosophy: an introduction. His Judaism: an introduction to be published by I B Tauris in 2010.

M. Ali Lakhani is the founder and editor of the journal, Sacred Web: A Journal of Tradition and Modernity (www.sacredweb.com). He has edited and contributed to the anthology on ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib, titled “The Sacred Foundations of Justice in Islam” (World Wisdom, Indiana, 2006). His book of essays titled “The Timeless Relevance of Traditional Wisdom” (World Wisdom) is forthcoming. Lakhani is a graduate of Cambridge, and practices law in Vancouver, Canada.

146 David Burrell, C.S.C., Theodore Hesburgh Professor emeritus in Philosophy and Theology at the University of Notre Dame, currently serves as Professor of Ethics and Development at Uganda Martyrs University. Efforts since 1982 in comparative issues in philosophical theology in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam are evidenced in Knowing the Unknowable God: Ibn-Sina, Maimonides, Aquinas (1986) and Freedom and Creation in Three Traditions (1993), Original Peace (with Elena Malits,1998), Friendship and Ways to Truth (2000), as well as two translations: Al-Ghazali on the Ninety-Nine Beautiful Names of God (1993) and Al-Ghazali on Faith in Divine Unity and Trust in Divine Providence (2001); and more recently, essays exploring Faith and Freedom (2004) and Learning to Trust in Freedom (2009), as well as a theological commentary on Job: Deconstructing Theodicy (2008).

Nur Yalman is Senior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows and Professor of Social An- thropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Harvard University Emeritus. Dr. Yalman’s realms of expertise include social and political conditions in South Asia, the Middle East and Japan, contemporary social theory and theorists as well as the anthropology of religion. His most recent book, coauthored with Daisaku Ikeda, is entitled A Passage to Peace: Global Solu- tions from East and West (I.B. Tauris 2008). Further notable publications include “Islam and Secularism - Plato and Khomeini: Questions concerning the Open Society and its Enemies” in The Future of Secularism ed. T.N. Srinivasan (Oxford University Press, 2007); “Religion and Civilization” in Dialogue of Civilizations: a New Peace Agenda for a New Millenium, eds. M. Tehranian & D.W.Chappell (I.B. Tauris 2002); "Some Observations on Secularism in Islam: or the Cultural Revolution in Turkey," Daedalus, 102 (1973), pp. 139-67; "On Secularism and Its Critics: Notes on Turkey, India and Iran," in Contributions to Indian Sociology 25, 2. (Sage Publications 1991) as well as his monograph Under the Bo Tree: Studies in Caste, Kin- ship, and Marriage in the Interior of Ceylon, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1967).

Mark Farha is Visiting Assistant Professor for Government at the School of Foreign Service of Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar. He holds a BSFS from Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, as well as a Masters in Theological Studies and a PhD in History and Middle Eastern Studies from Harvard University. Since 2008, he has been teaching core courses on Comparative Political Systems, as well as upper-class electives on Lebanon’s History, Society and Politics, Globalization and Geopolitics in the Middle East, Problems of Identity in the Middle East and Secularism in the Middle East at the School of Foreign Ser- vice of Georgetown University in Doha, Qatar. His forthcoming book is entitled Secularism Under Siege in Lebanon’s Second Republic: Global and Regional Dimensions of a Malaise.

Rusmir Mahmutæehajiæ was elected Vice President of the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1991. He also served as Minister of Energy, Mining, and Industry. He is currently professor of applied physics at the University of Sarajevo, where he also lectures on the phenomenol- ogy of the sacred. He is the founder and president of International Forum Bosnia (Sarajevo), an NGO which advocates the strengthening of civil society in Bosnia. He is co-editor of the periodical Forum Bosnae, and author of numerous historical-philosophical, sociological, and political books and articles. His works Bosnia the Good: Tolerance and Tradition, Sarajevo Essays and On Love are available in English.

147 ABSTRACTS OF ARABIC ARTICLES

Complexity of the Concept of Love and Mercy in the Sacred Charity by Frithjof Schuon Scriptures and the Holy Qur’ān The love of God must translate into the love by George Tamer of the neighbor because it consists in re- The concept of love is as essential to Chris- moving from our soul that which obstructs tianity as the concept of mercy is to Islam. the Presence of God, thereby abolishing In Christianity, God is love and loving; in that which separates us from our neigh- Islam, He is merciful and compassionate. bor. In this sense the love of God is not a To believe in God means, in both religions, sentiment but a whole spiritual and moral not only to provide a verbal confession, but attitude that makes room for Divine Love. also to practice love and charity towards Thus, love of God and the neighbor is nei- human beings. Both the Bible and the Ko- ther contrary to the love of oneself nor to ran present love and charity among hu- fear. In fact love of God as our Cause and man beings as an indispensable response that of others implies that one should love to God’s original love and mercy towards both oneself and the neighbor. As for fear man. it is the precondition of love because it is a Based on the biblical defi nition of God necessary basis for any understanding of as love, the Trinity can be seen as divine God. With respect to the neighbor this fear love fl owing between the Father, the Son translates intio respect. The basis for all authentic love is love of God because, in the and the Holy Spirit. Beyond this, in Chris- author’s words: “The fi rst act of charity is tianity, love is the most sublime form of di- to rid the soul of illusions and passions and vine revelation and forms the very essence thus rid the world of a malefi cent being; of God’s attitude towards man from the it is to make a void so that God may fi ll it beginning of creation onwards. Humans and, by this fullness, give himself. A saint is are, thus, expected to reciprocate God’s a void open for the passage of God.” love for them by mutually loving each other; love becomes, therefore, the main

148 component of Christian identity and a dis- and the Coran. The starting point is the tinguished rule of life. paradox that we fi nd in the principles of Similarly, in the Koran, the faithful, in each religion: Although the Abrahamic reli- order to be rescued on the Day of Judg- gions call for charity and mercy, the practic- ment, must be committed to God’s univer- es of some groups and individuals among sal mercy. Believers are called to mutually the faithful tend to incite to violence and the rejection of the other. It is argued that practice charity which, thus, appears as a there is need for rethinking the meaning communicative action in which all human and nature of religions so that they may beings should participate. By doing so, become the foundational good and ulti- they respond appropriately to God’s im- mate goal of mankind. mense mercy – it is this mercy which is the raison d’être of the creation and all God’s The Other In the Perspective of actions, encompassing everything that has al-Amir Abd al-Qadir al-Jazairi been and that will be in this world and in the Hereafter. by Abd-al-Baqi Meftah Both Christianity and Islam consider Al-Amir Abd al-Qadir’s (1808-1883/ 1222- love and mercy to be divine graces granted 1300 AH) perception of the other is rooted to human kind in order to form human in his deep understanding of the truths of bonds, not only within the boundaries of Islam, and in the signs the Quran bears. Al- Amir’s perception of the other was further the religious community, but also within embodied in his own behavior towards humankind as a whole; indeed, in contrast both friends and enemies, whether during to the Aristotelian tradition, both religions his long struggle to defend his country for share the important principle that human more than twenty fi ve years, the fi ve years society is not established on the necessity he spent in prison in France with more of fulfi lling the material needs of human- than a hundred members of his family and kind. From the theological standpoint of friends, or in Damascus where he fi nally both Christianity and Islam, human society settled. The most important principles on is based on the belief that God – loving, which al-Amir’s perception of the other rest are the following: being a mujtahid in merciful and compassionate – has created the fundamentals of faith, the necessity of all human beings of one soul and grants protecting freedom of faith, the recogni- to humanity, from His immense love and tion that people are different in denomina- mercy, what makes them love Him as well tions, beliefs, and ways of life should be a as what makes them treat each other with vehicle for the synthesis of knowledge and love and mercy. the enrichment of communication, behold- ing al-Haqq (the Truth) exalted in every be- Compassion and Charity in the lief system out of respect for the different convictions people hold and their diligence “Abrahamic” Traditions: A Study in seeking al-Haqq. Al- Amir summarized in Inter-religious Dialogue his understanding of religion by saying: “all and Discourse (Message and religions rest on two fundamentals: exalt- History) by Ali Mubarak ing the Almighty God, and being compassionate towards His creatures. The rest are In this paper, the author studies and dis- all secondary details and without much cusses some defi nitions relevant to the con- importance. The Muhammadian Sharī’ah cepts of mercy and charity in Abrahamic is what gives the biggest value to respect, religions, in reference to the fundamental mercy and compassion, and all that pro- scriptural sources, i.e. the Torah, the Bible motes harmony and rejects discord.”

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