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The Influence of Islamic Sufism on Jewish Kabbalah

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The Influence of Islamic Sufism on Jewish Kabbalah The Influence of Islamic Sufism on Jewish Kabbalah Uthman Khan Khan 2 Table of Contents INTRODUCTION 3 WHAT IS KABBALA 5 A FEW SIMILARITIES 7 COSMOLOGY 12 ABRAHAM MAIMONIDES 15 CONCLUSION 17 BIBLIOGRAPHY 18 Khan 3 Introduction Is it really a tug of war between religion and spirituality or are both concepts on the same side of the fence. Is one religion is truly influencing another religion and is this influence lower the ranking of one religion over the other? This is one of many questions that can be raised and taken to another level of dispute and it can be religious ego or a cultish subjectivity that causes it. Muslim scripture refers to the Christians and the Jews as ahl al-kita@b and creates a link between the three faiths. Understanding this connection is crucial before letting ones prejudices dictate ones relationship with others. Muslims and Jews have been interconnected and have significant common features within their respective traditions, apart from the conflict in the Middle East. However both faith traditions originate from Abraham who called to monotheism, a shared doctrine within both Judaism and Islam. The relationship is closer than one can imagine as the Jews affirm their descent from Isaac, the son of Abraham and his wife Sarah, and Muslims from Ishmael, the son of Abraham's Egyptian slave Hagar. The Qur’a@n repeatedly praises Moses and Muslims have considered him as one of the arch prophets (ulu@ al-‘azm), and Muslims, like Jews, believe that Moses alone spoke directly to God. Jews and Muslims both circumcise their male offspring, the Jews at puberty and the Muslims at birth. Both religions also ban the consumption of pork. Even in spirituality, from Judaism the Kabbalah sprung out which is similar to Sufism originating from Islam. Sufism not only formulated in the beginning of the 9th century under the influence of Neo-Platonism but many attempts have been made to prove that Sufi@ ideologies have originated from the first generation of Islam and from the Qur’a@n. The same challenge exists within the Kabbalah that its advent and codification is post Khan 4 ninth century, also under the influence of Neo-Platonism and many attempts and assumptions claim its origins from the earlier days of Judaism and derived from the Torah. In this Paper I wish to look into the Kabbalah and Sufism and how both practices intersected with one another wherein Sufism played a big role in influencing the practices and theory of the Kabbalah. I will start by briefly talking about the Kabbalah and the main concepts within it, and then talk some of the similarities and how chronologically Sufism preceded the Kabbalah in many points. I will also look briefly into the cosmology of Sufism and the Kabbalah. Finally I wish to look into one major Kabbalistic figure, the son of Moses Maimonides, Abraham who took the lead in Jewish spirituality. I wish to thank Dr. Yehezkel Landau for his mentorship and guidance in the topic of Judaism and the Kabbalah and I know that this is a very vast topic that cannot be covered in a few pages of research rather it requires volumes. I tried my best to open up the topic at an exploratory level and I tried to ensure complete neutrality and objectivity in the references used and read prior to compiling and critiquing this topic. I pray that this paper will be a doorway leading to the exploration of the topic of the Kabbalah and Sufism. Khan 5 What is Kabbala Kaballah has nothing to do with eschatology rather it is strictly the mystical path of Judaism. As in every religion there is always some sort of mysticism involved and these paths may be at many times an intrinsic part of the religion. For example in Islam the concept of ih{san means to worship God as though you are seeing him and if you cannot see him them know that he is seeing you.1 Even in Christianity mysticism has been connected in the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions.2 In the case of Judaism the Torah contains many stories of mystical experiences, from visitations by angels to prophetic dreams and visions. The Talmud contains vague hints of a mystical school of thought that was taught only to the most advanced students and was not committed to writing. There are several references in ancient sources to ma'aseh bereishit (the work of creation) and ma'aseh merkavah (the work of the chariot [of Ezekiel's vision]), the two primary subjects of mystical thought at the time. Eventually these mystical teachings were put in writing in books like the Zohar.3 Because of its depth and spiritual nature, discussions on magic, amulets, demons, exorcism, dreams and interpretations, and God’s names and attributes are all included. Within the Kabbalah there are a few fundamental concepts such as the concept of God as the ein sof, the ten sefirot also known as the Kabbalistic tree of life. 1 Ibn Rajab, Ja@mi‘al-‘ulu@m wa al-h{ikam, 93 2 Christian mysticism, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_mysticism, last modified on 14 November 2014, (Accessed September 29 2014). 3Tracey Rich, Kabbalah and Jewish Mysticism, 2011, Judaism 101, http://www.jewfaq.org/kabbalah.htm, (Accessed September 29 2014). Khan 6 The Kabbalist refer to God transcendent as ein sof. The word refers to god in His pure essence: God in Himself, apart from His relationship to the created world.4 The sefirot is a fundamental concept of Kabbalah that during the process of creation an intermediate stage emanated from God’s infinite light to create what we experience as finite reality and these channels were called the ten sefirot.5 It is believed that through these powers God created and ruled the universe, and it is by influencing them that humans cause God to send to earth forces of compassion or severe judgment. The right side represents the principles of unity, harmony and benevolence and it is associated with the bestowing of generous goodness upon our world. It is the considered masculine side. The left side is the side of power and strict justice and it symbolizes the female side, representing the fearsome awe of God, and the principles of separation and distinction. The unrestrained dominion of the left side gives rise to evil. The middle column of the sefirot structure represents the ideal balance of divine mercy and justice.6 Sufism, is very similar to Kabbalah in its being the mysticism within Islam and is a concept in Islam, defined by scholars as the inner and mystical dimension of Islam. 7 Islamic Sufism was very much influenced by Neo-Platonist philosophy. 8 Perhaps the reason why many people involved in it would simply follow it because it was very 4 Gershom Scholem and Moshe Idel. "Ein-Sof." Encyclopaedia Judaica. Ed. Michael Berenbaum and Fred Skolnik. 5 Harav Ginsburgh, The Ten Sefirot: Introduction, Jan 27 2014, Gal Einai, http://www.inner.org/sefirot/sefirot.htm, (Accessed October 12 2014). 6 Eliezer Segal, The Ten Sefirot of the Kabbalah, n.d., Jewish Virtual Library, http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/Sefirot.html, (Accessed October 11 2014). 7 Sufism, Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sufism, last modified on 17 November 2014, (Accessed October 11 2014). 8 Kamuran Godelek, The Neoplatonist Roots of Sufi Philosophy, n.d., The Paideia Project, http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/CompGode.htm, (Accessed September 22 2014). Khan 7 philosophical and hard to understand yet logical and thus it must be true. Many Sufis have argued that Sufism originated from the Qur'a@n and was compatible with mainstream Islamic thought and did not contradict Islamic Law in any way rather it was necessary to its complete fulfillment.9 Nevertheless Sufi Muslims have been less opportune in their own religion and affiliation than Kabbalist with the Jews that Muslim fundamentalists have always attacked the Sufis, while Kabbalah seems to have been assimilated into Orthodox Jewish observance on the most part. The religious consciousness shared in dialogue between the Muslim Sufis and the Jewish Kabbalist provides a positive example for the believers in each of the two religions today. 10 A few Similarities The Kabbalah has been strictly Jewish since the time of its inception even though its roots were traced back to Moses, or even Abraham or Adam. The issue of whether or not there had been external influence or not is one that has been discussed in academic circles and A.S. Halkin, states that: "In all the vast literature of the Kabbalah, there is no trace of a non-Jewish source or influence”.11 Nevertheless there are many similarities with Sufism that are very much apparent within the kabalistic literature. Ibra@him b. Maymu@n (the famous Maimonides’ son) was in the forefront of Jewish spirituality and constructed a defense of his father's strict rationalism out of a Su@fi@ mold and string of Pseudo-Maimonidean writings stressing an interiorized Neo-Platonism, 9 Sufism, Wikipedia. 10 Stephen Schwartz, Islamic Sufism and Jewish Kabbalah: Shining a Light on Their Hidden History, Huffpost Religion, (Dec 5 2011), http://www.huffingtonpost.com/stephen-schwartz/sufism-and- kabbalah_b_989875.html, (Accessed September 29 2014). 11 Tom Block, Abraham Maimonides: A Jewish Sufi, Sufi Magazine, London, England, Winter 2001, http://tomblock.com/shalom_jewishsufi#_ednref2, (Accessed October 3 2014). Khan 8 which had surfaced in the thirteenth century.12 The same Neo-Platonism had influenced Ibn ‘Arabi@ also who was from the same era. This era was one wherein there seems to have been a lot of the Kabbalistic outbreak.
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