Advances in Language and Literary Studies ISSN: 2203-4714 www.alls.aiac.org.au A Flight Within: Keat’s Nightingale In Light of the Sufis Hend Hamed Ezzeldin* Faculty of Al-Alsun, Ain Shams University, Egypt Corresponding Author: Hend Hamed Ezzeldin, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history Sufism is the mode of religious life in Islam in which emphasis is placed on the activities of Received: March 05, 2018 the inner self than external rituals and performances. The essence of Sufism lies in its internal Accepted: April 30, 2018 transcendental experience. The aim of Sufis is to delve into the human soul and see through its Published: June 30, 2018 darkness in order to reach the ultimate truth. Sufi poetry is abundant with images that present Volume: 9 Issue: 3 the human soul as a mystery that could be decrypted via contemplation, meditation, and inner Advance access: May 2018 vision. The target of Sufis is to reunite with the Universal Self that is the ‘truer’ self of every human (i.e. God). Likewise, Romanticism is founded on the doctrine that all creation began in harmonious unity. Romantic poets share Sufis’ quest for truth and an illuminating path towards Conflicts of interest: None reaching the essence of the Divine. A renowned Romantic poet, John Keats, contrary to his fellow Funding: None Romantics, never alluded to sharing any interest with the orient or the spirituality it incarnates. However, by attempting a Sufi reading of his poem ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, this research paper will attempt to highlight the underlying philosophy and uncover the spiritual implications hidden Key words: within Keats’ ode and propound a solid connection between Sufi and Romantic ideologies. Sufism, Romanticism, Annihilation, Nightingale, Keats, Spirituality INTRODUCTION movement in Europe and the culture of the Islamic world” Interest in the Orient has always been a main feature of Eu- (2). Nasr claims that the “appeal of Sufism in Europe is to ropean writings. Seen as a far-distant other, many writers, a remarkable extent due to the writings of Persian Sufi po- throughout the 18th and the 19th centuries, created a large ets and philosophers such as Sana’i, Maulavi (Rumi), Attar, body of literature, either translating or adapting from original Sa’adi, Hafez, Mahmud Shabestari, Shah Ne’matollah Wali, oriental texts. Authors from France, Austria, and Britain bore and Jami” (3). For example, in 1807, when Lord Byron was the responsibility of conveying the messages of Oriental lit- only 19 years, he made a list of the books that he had read. erature to the Western readers. In her book Borrowed Imag- This list included, among others, “Arabia-Mahomet, whose ination: The British Romantic Poets and the Arabic-Islamic Koran contains most sublime poetical passages, far sur- Sources, Samar Attar stresses the profound influence of Ara- passing European poetry. Persian Ferdousi, author of Shah bic works on the Romantics and regrets that these influences Nameh, the Persian Iliad, - Sadi and Hafiz, the Oriental Ana- were not explored by European scholars. In addition to The creon” (Moore). Islam was, thence, a “spiritual resource for Arabian Nights, other sources were available to the Roman- Romantic writers, and Sufism in particular played a role in tic writers in abundance such as “pre-Islamic poetry, Arabic this stimulation” (Einboden 7). This paper aims to explore history and literature, Muslim mystic poetry, and numerous John Keats’ ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ from a Sufi perspective oriental tales” (Attar 14). Persian Sufi literature had its im- attempting to translate his inner journey into spiritual, Sufi mense impact on the Romantics as well; as through this lit- terms to showcase a Romantic self that has deep passion in erature interest in the Orient was risen. In his article “Persian spiritualism and transcendentalism. Sufi Literature: Its Spiritual and Cultural Significance”, Hos- sein Nasr maintains that “it was the universal spiritual appeal 1Sufism in Romanticism of Persian Literature and the effect that the inner meaning of the Quran and the spirituality of the Persians that attract- Although centuries apart, these disparate theological, phil- ed some of the late 18th century and early 19th century Ori- osophical and mystical movements (Sufism and Romanti- entalists at the beginning of contact between the Romantic cism) share specific ‘archetypal themes’ that could hardly be Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.alls.v.9n.3p.121 122 ALLS 9(3):121-127 dismissed. The term ‘Sufism’ came to light in the 19th cen- the Divine light and reveal it to others” (Schimmal 13). The tury as ‘tasawouf’. The word comes from ‘suf’ (wool), a great Sufi Muhyi’d-Din Ibn Arabi used to pray, uttering these reference to the woolen garments worn by early Sufis. Et- words: “Enter me, O Lord, into the deep of the Ocean of ymologically, the word ‘sufi’ is derived from ‘safa’ (which thine Infinite Oneness” (qtd in Sharda 23). means purity), or it could be associated with ‘saff’ (which As per Sufi teachings, finding one’s way in this world means rank) as though the Sufis were the ones selected to is not to be realized via the external world, but in the in- become purified from all worldly defilements or as though ner landscape of the soul. The “spiritual quest takes us deep they were spiritually first-ranked in virtue of their commu- into the hidden places of the soul, across the rivers, moun- nion with God (Stoddart 1). Tasawouf, in addition, denotes tains, and great oceans of the psyche” (Vaughan-Lee xii). “a path, a journey, a journey of the heart. Such a journey has St. Augustine once said that “people travel to wonder at the a beginning; a point of departure that leads towards a desti- height of the mountains, at the huge waves of the sea, at the nation. A Sufi takes an inner journey to attain the knowledge long compass of rivers, at the vast compass of the ocean, of self, a knowledge that leads towards understanding the at the circular motion of the stars, and they pass by them- Divine” (Angha). A Sufi is a mystic, a person who endeav- selves without wondering” (qtd in Vaughan-Lee xii). Inner ors towards intimate knowledge or unity with God through transformation and truth-seeking is a flight that begins from contemplation, meditation, and inner vision. Since its begin- within to without, not vice versa. In Sufism, being “was of nings, Sufism has been called the ‘knowledge of hearts’ or an undifferentiated unity interrupted by material creation the ‘knowledge of spiritual states’. Being “the knowledge of which resulted in the separation of humanity (as lover) from the inner (ilm al-batin), as opposed to exoteric knowledge God (as Beloved)” (Dabashi 381) and that is why when the (ilm az-zahir), it proposes an alternative and paradoxical ex- self searches for truth, it has to apprehend that the answer planation of the world, which most often is incomprehen- lies within its boundaries. The Sufi path is “subversive rath- sible to exoterists” (Geoffroy 50). Interest in Sufi teaching er than confrontational. It works from within, from the self grew in many parts of the Islamic world reaching its zenith which lives in the very depths of the unconscious, with se- in countries located within the ambit of Persian cultural in- cret recesses of the heart” (Vaughan-Lee 4). As for the mind, fluence. from a spiritual perspective, it has its own limitations. It is Being estranged from God and alienated from spiritual- known as “the slayer of the Real, for it stands between the ity, man finds himself lost in this world; striving to find the seeker and the Real self, while its constant chatter defers us meaning behind his existence. His involvement in the mate- to our inner voice” (Vaughan-Lee 1-2). Spiritual truth “em- rial, rather than the spiritual, world makes him perplexed and braces rather than separates the opposites. Truth is not on the he, consequently, loses stability in life. Such estrangement of level of duality, but the experience of oneness” (Vaughan- man from God generates an impulse for man to return to his Lee 2). A real Sufi always seeks to understand the essence origin. This schism “is not merely the separation between the of truth, reality, and his origin and he is well-aware that he subject and the object of his perception, but also an inner di- will find explanations for all his questions within, not with- vision in man’s selfhood” (Kirschner 161). Each individual out. Sufism is spiritualism against materialism. As an ascetic spirit separated from the Spirit of the Divine desires to return philosophy, “Sufism guarantees redemption from miseries and reunite with it. It is “due to this state of alienation that of life, the knowledge as redeemer is identified with God” the soul longs to return to its origin” (Kirschner 125). Sufism (Sharda 23). Thus, according to Sufism, the supreme Truth proposes a unity or a re-unity, as it were, with the Universal or Reality is God. Spirit, i.e. God. The Sufis embark on a journey known as the One way of identifying with the Divine is through con- Sufi path: a path of love and devotion which leads to reunite templation or meditation, or at-tafakkur. One hour, or even with the Spirit of God. Hence, the Sufi aims at connecting one moment of meditation “is worth more than the good the outer physical reality with a timeless and space-less di- works accomplished by the two species of beings endowed mension experienced only within the self.