{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (7)]}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:66][19910410:1202g]{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (7)]}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

[continued]

‘Some mystical leaders claimed to have received their khirqah [‘the frock of the master, originally made from shreds and patches] directly from al-Khidr, * a mysterious immortal saint.’

**

*{[[Redbook9:79][19910411:0935#]{Khidr]}[11th April 1991],] p79↓ – C Chris†opher Raphael (Israfil)}

**– ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 23

[continued]

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{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (6)]}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:66][19910410:1202f]{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (6)]}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

[continued]

‘“I follow the religion of love wherever its camels turn”’

*

*– ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22: 22], quoting Ibn al-‘Arabi, c1200CE(ff)

[continued]

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{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (5)]}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:66][19910410:1202e]{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (5)]}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

[continued]

‘To [the Persian as-Suhrawardi “al-Maqtūl”]* is attributed the philosophy of ishrāq (“illumination”), and he claimed to unite Persian (Zoroastrian) and Egyptian (Hermetic) traditions. His didactic and doctrinal works in Arabic among other things taught a complicated angelology (theory of angels); some of his smaller Persian treatises depict the journey of the soul across the cosmos; the “Orient” (East) is the world of pure lights and archangels, the “Occident” (West) that of darkness and matter; and man lives in the “Western exile”.’

*

*[– ibid. (Encyclopaedia Britannica 22: 22)]

[continued]

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{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (4)]}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:65][19910410:1202d]{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (4)]}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

[continued]

‘For spiritual education, symbols taken from medicine (healing of the sick soul) and alchemy (changing of base matter into gold)* were also used.’

**

*

		C
	/	/
R~	/
	r~

**– ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22: 22]

[continued]

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{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (3)]}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:65][19910410:1202c]{The Path (Tariqah) [continued (3)]}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

[continued]

‘The mystery of unity and diversity was symbolised, for example, under the image of mirrors that reflect the different aspects of the divine, or as prisms colouring the pure light.’*

**

*(cf earlier vol[umes] [] re Soul-colours)

**– ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22: 22]

[continued]

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{The Path (Tariqah) [continued]}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:65][19910410:1202b]{The Path (Tariqah) [continued]}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

[continued]

└→

‘The symbolism of wine, cup and cupbearer, first expressed by Abū Yazīd al-Bistāmī in the 9^th century,* became popular everywhere, whether in the verses of the Arab Ibn al-Fārid, or the Perian ‘Iraqi, or the Turk Yunus Emre, and their followers. The hope for the union of the soul with the divine had to be expressed through images of human yearning and love. The love for lovely boys ** in which the divine beauty manifests itself – according to the alleged Hadith “I saw my Lord in the shape of a youth with cap awry” – was commonplace in Persian poetry.’

***

*{2048U~A~896CE}

**cf C – [+C]

***– ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 22 (immediately following [last] previous extract)

[continued]

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{The Path (Tariqah)}[10th April 1991]

[Redbook9:64-67][19910410:1202]{The Path (Tariqah)}[10th April 1991]

19910410.1202

*

*[Marginal notes and footnotes in order:]

{cf T.VI?

TXVIII?}

{2048U~A~896[CE]}

{2048U~A~896CE}

{2048J~1280CE}

{cf [[Redbook9:105][19910414:1104#]{ – Love and Death}[14th April 1991],] 105,

[[Redbook9:89][19910413:1056#]{Sufis}[13th April 1991],] 89}

‘...rely upon such terminology of worldly experience as that of love and intoxication – often objectionable from the orthodox viewpoint.’

– ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 21

[continued]

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{[Islamic] Mysticism [continued (4)]}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:63][19910409:2243d]{[Islamic] Mysticism [continued (4)]}[9th April 1991]

.2243

[continued]

‘He who knows God talks much.’

*

** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 19 (quoting from the Hadith)

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{[Islamic] Mysticism [continued (3)]}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:63][19910409:2243c]{[Islamic] Mysticism [continued (3)]}[9th April 1991]

.2243

[continued]

‘He who knows God becomes silent.’

*

** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 19 (quoting from the Hadith)

[continued]

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{[Islamic] Mysticism [continued]}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:63][19910409:2243b]{[Islamic] Mysticism [continued]}[9th April 1991]

.2243

[continued]

‘The introduction of the element of love, which changed asceticism into mysticism, is ascribed to Rābi’ah al-’Adawīyah (died 801[ce]), a woman from Basra, who first formulated the Sūfī ideal of a love of God that *|was disinterested, without hope for paradise and without fear of hell.|* In the decades after Rābi’ah, **|mystical trends grew everywhere in the Islamic world, partly through an exchange of ideas with Christian hermits.’|**

***

*|[Marginal emphasis]|*

**|{NB}|**

*** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 19

[continued]

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{[Islamic] Mysticism}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:63][19910409:2243]{[Islamic] Mysticism}[9th April 1991]

.2243

‘Mysticism* is that aspect of Islamic belief and practice in which Muslims seek to find the truth of divine love and knowledge through direct personal knowledge of God. It consists of a variety of mystical paths that are designed to ascertain the nature of man and God and to facilitate the experience of divine love and wisdom in the world.’

**

*(ie Sufism)

** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 19

[continued]

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{[Qur’ānic] Interpretation [continued]}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:62][19910409:1553j]{[Qur’ānic] Interpretation [continued]}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘Form of Hadith and criteria of authentication. That Muhammad observed, “Seek knowledge, though it be in China” or “Beware of suspicion, for it is the falsest of falsehoods” reveals the matn or “the meat of the matter”. The formula introducing such a Hadith would speak in the first person: “It was related to me by A, on the authority of B, on the authority of C, on the authority of D, from E (here a companion of Muhammad) that the Prophet said....” This chain of names constituted the isnād on which the saying or event depended for its authenticity. The major emphasis in editing or arguing from tradition always fell on the isnād, rather than on a critical attitude to the matn itself. The question was not, “Is this the sort of thing Muhammad might credibly be imagined to have said or done” but “Is the report that he said or did it well supported in respect of witnesses and transmitters?” The first question would have introduced too great a danger of subjective judgement or independence of mind, though it may be suspected that issues were in fact often decided by such critical appraisal in the form of decisions ostensibly relating only to isnād. The second question certainly allowed a theoretically objective and reasonably precise pattern of criticism.’

*

* – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 11

[continued]

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{[Qur’ānic] Interpretation}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:61-62][19910409:1553i]{[Qur’ānic] Interpretation}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘Qur’ānic exegesis gained new significance with the appearance of modernism towards the end of the 19^th century. The modernists, who sought to revive Islam from its degradation* and to reconcile it with what they found valuable in Western scientific traditions, set up the principle of returning to the pure and uncorrupted Islam of the “ancestors”.** As a consequence, the interpretation of the oldest and original source of Islam was regarded as imperative, and attempts were made to establish the principles necessary for a correct understanding of the Qur’ān.’

***

*[sic]

**cf Christian Reformation

*** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:] 9

[continued]

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{Morality [in Islam]}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:61][19910409:1553h]{Morality [in Islam]}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘Recognition of the unity of God does not simply rest in the intellect but entails consequences in terms of the moral struggle, which consists primarily in freeing oneself of narrowness of mind and smallness of heart.* One must go out of oneself and expend one’s best possessions for the sake of others.’

**

*[NB]

** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:7]

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{Death and Resurrection}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:60-61][19910409:1553g]{Death and Resurrection}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘Eschatology. In Islamic doctrine, on the Last Day, when the world will come to an end, the dead will be resurrected and judgement will be pronounced on every person in accordance with his deeds. Although the Qur’ān in the main speaks of a personal judgement, there are several verses that speak of the resurrection of distinct communities that will be judged according to “their own book”. In conformity with this, the Qur’ān also speaks in several passages of the “death of communities”, each one of which has a definite term of life. The actual evaluation, however, will be for every individual, whatever the terms of reference of his performance.’

*

* – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:7]

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{Prophets}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:60][19910409:1553f]{Prophets}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘All prophets are human and never part of divinity: they are simply recipients of revelation from God. God never speaks directly to a human: he either sends an angel messenger to him or makes him hear a voice or inspires him. Muhammad is accepted as the last prophet in this series and its greatest member, for in him all the messages of the earlier prophets were consummated.... The angel Gabriel brought the Qur’ān down to the Prophet’s “heart”. Gabriel is represented by the Qur’ān as a spirit, but the Prophet could sometimes see and hear him.’

*

* – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:7]

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{Repentance [in Islam]}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:60][19910409:1553e]{Repentance [in Islam]}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘… It is always possible for a sinner to repent (tawbah) and redeem himself by a genuine conversion to the truth. There is no point of no return, and God is always willing and ready to pardon. Genuine repentance has the effect of removing all sins and restoring a person to the state of sinlessness with which he started his life.’

*

* – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:7]

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{Satan’s Pride}[9th April 1991]

[Redbook9:59][19910409:1553d]{Satan’s Pride}[9th April 1991]

.1553

[continued]

‘According to the Qur’ānic teaching, the being who became Satan (Shaytān* or Iblīs) had previously occupied a high station but fell from divine grace by his act of disobedience in refusing to honour Adam when he, along with other angels, was ordered to do so. Since then, his work has been to beguile man into error and sin. Satan is, therefore, the contemporary of man, and Satan’s own act of disobedience is construed by the Qur’ān as the sin of pride.** Satan’s machinations will cease only on the last day.’

***

*[According to other interpretations, it seems that Shaytān may also/alternatively be a general description of devils, of whom Iblīs is leader]

**{

cf ‘Lucifer’

}

*** – ibid. [Encyclopaedia Britannica 22:7]

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