REL 450.

56 Honors Seminar in Religion Professor Barbara Sproul Spring 2010

Riley Kellogg rileybk@gmail.com May 5, 2010

The Beloved in the Mirror the Seer and the Seen in Sufi Poetry
Naught is as his likeness; and He is the Hearer, the Seer1

We are the mirror as well as the face in it. We are tasting the taste this minute of eternity. We are pain and what cures pain, both. We are the sweet, cold water and the jar that pours. Mawlana Jalaloddin Rumi 2, 3, 4
English version by Coleman Barks
1 2 3 4

When my Beloved appears, With what eye do I see Him? With His eye, not with mine, For none sees Him except Himself. Ibn Arabi 2
English version by Reynold A. Nicholson

, , ,

1 2

Quran (42:11) Poetry Chaikana website http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com. 3 Many Sufi poems are untitled. Some translators give the first line of the poem, or an emblematic phrase within it, as a title. In this paper, I will give the title, if any, provided by the translator, or the name of the larger work from which the verse is excerpted. 4 Taste, or zawq, is an important aspect of religious experience as addressed in Islamic philosophy, and is often described as knowledge that is non-intellectual, non-rational. Zawq connotes the direct personal experience of a thing, rather than just an intellectual grasp of it. While one can describe a salty food, that is no substitute in our understanding of saltiness for having tasted it. Just so one can describe aspects of religious experience, of God, of reality, but that is no substitute for having tasted that reality. The word sapiential is often used to elucidate zawq. The common definition of sapiential is of or related to wisdom; wise. But the usage in Islamic philosophy is closer to another meaning of the Latin root sapere: to taste, be wise. I think that this dual meaning implies that wisdom, as distinct from knowledge, requires engagement of the entire being and not only the intellect.

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Introduction What is seen, and by whom, when we look into a mirror? When we look into our hearts and souls? Is there a relation between these two acts? Does God look back at us from within our selves? What does God see when he looks at the creation? Are we a mirror in which God is seeing Himself? Sufi poetry is one religious literary tradition that uses the image of the mirror as a metaphor in discussing the soul, and the relationship between man and God. The Quran says Naught is as his likeness5. How, then, is the mirror a metaphor for seeing God, or for God seeing? The Sufi answers to these questions are not unified; different writers have used the image to denote different specific aspects of the human identity and its relation to the holy. What is common in the examples that follow is that they are all posing similar questions about the ultimate nature of man and his relation to God. The mirror is a metaphor that speaks at once of unity and duality, oneness and separation, the self and the other each holding the seed of its complement.6 Man is the mirror in which God finds his reflection, yet we see God in ourselves. The paradox is compelling intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. There are many examples of this imagery in Sufi poetry, found throughout centuries of poetic works from the early Arabic Islamic poetry of the ninth century C.E., through Persian Islamic poetry starting in the eleventh, and later the languages of India and Africa, through the present day with poets writing in those and many more languages.7 A bit of background is in order on both Sufi thought and the use of poetry to convey that thought. Sufism is a term used to denote the mystical tradition of Islam, and literature,
5 6

Quran 42:11 This has a parallel in the concept of yin yang in Taoist philosophy. Other parallels will be addressed in a later section of the paper. 7 Ernst, pp. 147-178. I will be looking here at Persian poems mainly, with some Arabic.

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dance, music, and religious practices that are associated with, or make up, that tradition. Sufism is not a sect, or a unified school of thought. What makes a person a Sufi has never been well defined, though it has been much studied. For the purposes of this paper, I will draw on the sources that have been included under the designation Sufi by scholars in the field, and will generally use the word to refer to the mystical traditions of Islam. The term mystical will be used here to denote the practices and thinking associated with the experience of, search for, or recounting of direct and participative contact or union with God. This is distinct from religious practices in themselves: prayer, e.g., is a mystical practice if its aim or result is an experience of union with God, and is not mystical if it is done for the purpose, and with the result, only of performing the actions prescribed by the rules of ones religion. The word God, for the purposes of this paper, denotes an omniscient, omnipotent, transcendent, immanent, sentient being that is the source of existence in its manifest forms and the embodiment of existence in itself.8,9 The human soul or spirit will refer to the interior, non-physical being; all of the elements of psychology: perceptive, emotive, cognitive, aesthetic, as well as that which can only be referred to as the spiritual sense. This is the aspect that partakes of mystical experience. Why Poetry? You must take these poems as mirrors; for you know that a mirror has no form of itself, but rather reflects the face of anyone who looks in it. Just so, a poem has no one particular meaning of itself, but presents to each reader his state of the moment and the completeness of his case. Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani10 Sufism is known, more than most other religious literary traditions, for its extensive
8 9

There are some problematic issues raised by this definition, to which I will return later. I will follow the practice found in many religious traditions of capitalizing the word God, and referent pronouns. 10 Nameha-ye Ayn al-Qozat (Teheran, 1969) vol. 1, p. 216. Cited in Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 10.

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use of poetry as a means of expression and teaching. Even in works of prose expounding philosophy, writers have often interpolated poetic passages.11 The poetry of this tradition often has two sides to it: the exoteric or exterior, and the esoteric or interior. Many poems may be read either way: as referring to the things and events of this world or as referring to God and His actionsor as carrying both meanings at once.12 For example, many Sufi poems in the Classical Persian tradition describe various aspects of the universe in terms of Gods beauty, and particularly His beautiful face. When we read a line describing the sight of ones beloved turning his head toward one at dawn, his black hair falling away from his shining face as his eyes open, and praising the beauty perceived in this sight, the poem may be read also as describing the beauty of God and His creation. The lovers shining face is the sunrise, his glance the rays of sunlight, his black tresses the darkness of night falling away from the horizon as light fills our sight. Poetry is uniquely well suited for conveying meaning that is non-linear, non-literal, non-logical, and symbolic. Its allusive quality allows or, rather, necessitates that the readers own experience plays a role in the formation of meaning, to a greater extent than is the case with prose. Poems can speak in metaphor rather than be directly descriptive. The symbolic and associative use of language allows poetry to carry several possible meanings in one phrase. Poetry, say Wilson and Pourjavady, is the language of love; when one loves, one sees beauty, and is impelled to speak beautifully about it. Sufism is the condition and practice of
11

Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 4. Court patronage was for several centuries the main source of income for most poets, and thus one of the main styles of poetry we have from that period. The poetry of this style had very specific forms and conventions, as did the esoteric / metaphorical style of both writing poetry and reading it. Ernst points out that the intersection of these forms and conventions has had the result that a great deal of poetry that was almost certainly written with only the exoteric meaning intended, has been embraced by Sufis as conveying esoteric meaning. One imagines that the Sufi would not find this problematic: he is concerned with the wine of Truth and not with the vessel from which it pours (if I may be permitted the metaphor). As Ibn Arabi wrote, My heart embraces every form (Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 9).
12

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loving God and Truth; it is natural that expressions of this condition take poetic form.13 Wilson and Pourjavady discuss two understandings of symbolism14: In the first, words are primarily a system of reference to the concrete and manifest world, and are then used as metaphors for mystic experience, which can not be expressed directly and demands the use of metaphor and symbol. In the second, words are more akin to Platonic ideals. They refer primarily to that which has Divine or transcendent realityi.e. light, love, existenceand are used only metaphorically to refer to the world. In this second type of understanding, the use of language in its double meaning, exoteric and esoteric, both speaks of the exile of man from his original and fundamental unity with the Divine, and is a part of the journey to reunite with it. As these writers put it: these two ways of looking at symbolism are not mutually exclusive. One might say that the first is valid from mans point of view, the second from Gods point of viewalthough ultimately Reality is One, and the very idea of there being more than one point of view is merely a separative illusion. Sufism uses language to shatter this illusion, but to do so it must begin where man finds himself.15 There are several major, recurring themes used in Sufi poetry: God as the Beloved, with man as the hopeless yet hopeful lover, swooning with devotion and desire; that of the moth and the flame, wherein man is drawn irresistibly to Gods flame, and his separate self is annihilated in the moment of union with God; that of wine, with Gods presence the intoxicant which makes man forget his separate self and pass away into drunken ecstasy; and that of the mirror, where man variously sees himself reflected in the eye of his

13 14

Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 4. Wilson & Pourjavady, pp. 5-7. 15 Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 6-7. This world between is the liminal space where Ibn Arabi locates the activity of the creative imagination of man, which forms a major subfield of his writing, and of Sufi philosophy and psychology in general.

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beloved / Beloved, sees God in himself, and is the mirror which God created in order that He might see and admire Himself. All of these themes are facets of the First Pillar of Islam, the philosophy of Unity, or Tawhid.16 Philosophical Basis / Background The first authority for Islamic knowledge, philosophy and guidance is the Quran, which is believed to be the word of God transmitted verbatim, directly from Him to the prophet Mohammed in the first half of the seventh century CE. The Quran says that God is ultimately beyond the grasp of human perception17: God is larger than human perception: Vision does not encompass him; he encompasses vision.18 The eye cannot see itself. There is a colloquial expression, to wrap ones mind around a thing, meaning to grasp and understand it. We cannot grasp something larger than our fist; nor can we, with our finite minds, understand a reality larger than the reality of our finite selves; Sufi thought says that we can seek to transcend the limitations of our finite, manifest selves and surrender to an awareness of our participation in the larger reality. The second authority consists of the hadith. Hadith are sayings of Mohammad (the Messenger of Allah), passed down first orally, then in writing. They are instructive in proper behavior of the individual (in sometimes surprisingly minute detail) and in understanding of God and the universe, and are standard references for the formulation and interpretation of Islamic law. They take the form of On the authority of so-and-so (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that [so-and-so said that so-and-so said that] the Messenger of
16

Tawhid is the First Pillar of Shia Islam, followed by Resurrection, Prophecy, Leadership of the Twelve Imams, and Justice. The Pillars of this branch are more conceptual than those of the Sunni, which are prescriptive of the duties of the believer: Profession of Faith, Prayer, Fasting, Alms-giving, and Pilgrimage to Mecca. 17 Ernst, p. 42 18 Quran 6:103

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Allah (peace be upon him) said The hadith are categorized as to their strength (from sound or authentic, through fabricated) depending upon a carefully researched and rated standard of reliability applied to the sources cited in the chain of transmission. There are two types of hadith: prophetic hadith and sacred hadith (hadith qudsi). The prophetic are sayings that are attributed to Mohammad, speaking from his own wisdom, or that recount events that took place in his presence, and of which he approved. The sacred are those that convey ideas attributed not to Mohammad but to God speaking through Mohammad, that Mohammad said were revealed to him in dreams or visions. In short: the Quran is Gods thought in Gods words. Sacred hadith are Gods thought in Mohammads words. Prophetic hadith are Mohammads thought in Mohammads words. The following two sacred hadith are central to my discussion of Sufi thinking on human identity in relation to God: I I was a hidden treasure and I wanted (or loved) to be known. So I created the World so that I might be known.19 Alternate translation: I was a treasure that was not known, so I loved to be known. Hence I created the creatures and I made Myself known to them, and thus they came to know Me.20 II My servant never ceases to seek nearness to Me until I love him. Then, when I love him, I am his hearing through which he hears, his sight through which he sees, his hand through which he grasps, and his foot through which he walks.21
19

Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 42. Translations of these poems and hadith often conflate love and desire, with different translators offering one or the other in rendering the same verse. This apparent ambivalence in the writing is important to the understanding of Divine love as expressed by the Sufis; they express this love as passionate, often seemingly as erotic. This is tied to the intoxicated abandon of surrender to the Beloved. 20 Chittick article. 21 Chittick article. The full text of the hadith is: Those who seek nearness to Me seek nearness through nothing I love more than the performance of what I have made incumbent upon them. My servant never ceases to seek nearness to Me through supererogatory works until I love him. Then, when I love him, I am his hearing through which he

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The first of these hadith is fundamental to an understanding of Islamic cosmology and cosmogony, since it gives the motivation for Gods act of creation, and thus of the existence of all manifest forms. It is also illuminating on the relationship between man and God, and on the nature of divine love. The second hadith is germane to these ideas as well, and takes them further to describe the transformation of man in the process of receiving divine love. Taken together, they portray the universe as being created by God, out of God himself; then man, separate from Him, wishing to be near Him; then man working devotedly to elicit Gods love to bring about the desired nearness; then God bestowing his love; which finally results in God being (once again) the motive force and the essence of mans existence, the individual and relative self having been obliterated in the union with the Divine. God created the world out of a desire to be seen and admired, and to have a vantage point from which to see and admire Himself; out of loneliness. All created beings and things, are, in this view, manifestations of God; God in the process of looking at himself. The worlds creation is not only by, but from God. The creation expresses the infinite in finite form, in space; manifests the timeless in time. In that we are God looking at himself, we are reflections of him; the seer and the seen are one and the same. The focus of the philosophy of Ibn Arabi was Unity, or Tawhid, which he used to resolve the theological problem of Gods simultaneous immanence and transcendence by an insistence on absolute and radical oneness of being.22 There is no god but God was extended in his philosophy to indicate that there is no existence but existence; everything that is is of the substance and essence of God.

hears, his sight through which he sees, his hand through which he grasps, and his foot through which he walks. 22 Wilson, pp. 8-9.

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To bridge the gap separating mans point of view and Gods point of view, it must find a world between them, a world where Gods Light is parceled out to lend existence to the myriad things, and where by reversing the process the myriad things can be reunited with that light.23 Ibn Arabi speaks of the creative imagination as occupying this intermediary world between things: matter and spirit; the manifest and the potential; the contingent and the absolute or necessary. This is the space in which man may see through the veil of the physical, created world into the eternal aspect of reality. He wrote of devotion and prayer as the process of polishing the mirror of the heart, removing the rust and grime that dim ones vision of God, which is to be found reflected therein.24 There is a tendency in human nature to veil this understanding of our unity with God from our consciousness by a focus exclusively on the things of the material, created world. We experience our being in terms of our finite existence, as differentiated from one another and from the source of our being. Yet it is equally in our nature to seek and find awareness of this transcendent aspect of reality. The human is unique in creation in his ability to recognize his essential unity with God, and to emulate or reenact a portion of the creation through prayer, and through the paradox of an active and willing surrender of the will to the absolute, the Real25. This privilege of man was given to him when god made a Covenant with man: Am I not your Lord? man answered, Yea, verily we witness ([Quran] Viii, 172).26 For man, his distinctive cognitive attribute, the ability to be aware of his original unity with and present separation from God, makes this separation an exile. Man yearns for
23

Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 6-7. Ibn Arabis philosophy of the creative imagination of man forms a major subfield of his writing, and of Sufi philosophy and psychology in general. 24 Chittick article. 25 God is frequently referred to as the Real in Sufi writing. 26 Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 35

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reunion, and the path towards it is mans proper pursuit. The journey to union with God is often depicted as a long, dangerous and difficult one, requiring great courage and fortitude. There are many stations and states along the path, technical terms for where one is in respect to the journey of spiritual development. There have been epic poems on the subject of this journey, including the famous allegory The Conference of the Birds by Farid al-Din Attar, which narrates a variety of excuses for not undertaking the journey, and many of the perils and trials found along the way. The ultimate ontological unity of man with God, however, presents a paradox in the description and prescription of the path to wisdom and union with God: we are already one with Him and have merely forgotten it. So the journey to God, to union with the Beloved, which often seems so long and arduous, is really only a matter of realizing that we already are, and have always been, at the place we seek to reach. Of opening our eyes, or of waking up to the fact that the goal is at hand and always has been. We are one with God; our separation and exile is ultimately only illusion. This has led to some very short poems on the subject: Take one step outside yourself: The whole Path lasts no longer than a step. Shah Nematollah Wali27 However, for most people, the path does in fact last longer than a step, and requires much study, preparation, and effort; hence the need for instruction in making the journey. For others, it is a step that needs to be taken repeatedly. And even when one has reached a state of mystical union with God, as long as one lives as a human that union is not complete and permanent. Ones nature as a creature remains; one is a wave and distinct, if
27

Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 34

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not utterly separate, from other waves and from the ocean of which each wave is a part. So the need for ongoing instruction and reminders of the true nature of ultimate reality remains.

Selected Poems28 As mentioned above, there is a rich body of sources for this study. I have chosen eight poems as representative examples of the theme of the mirror and the concept of unity, and offer some commentary on each. They are presented in no particular order, except in such a way as I hope will make the ideas flow well from one o the next. From the Divan-i Shams-i Tabriz by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi Let go of your worries and be completely clear-hearted, like the face of a mirror that contains no images. If you want a clear mirror, behold yourself and see the shameless truth, which the mirror reflects. If metal can be polished to a mirror-like finish, what might the mirror of the heart require?
28

One issue of poetry in translation must be raised, if only to say that it will not be addressed here in depth. There is always the tension in translating any work between producing a literal translation of the meaning of the words, and producing a like effect in the reader to that of the original text. Due to the allusive nature of poetry, the resonances of neither the words, nor the poem as a whole, can be fully conveyed by a literal word-for-word translation. Some have argued that it is impossible to render a true translation of a poem; even the most painstaking effort will inevitably be an interpretation, and have a different flavor. (In a phrase popularly attributed to Robert Frost, Poetry is what gets lost in translation or, even more emphatically, A poem is that which cannot be translated) Beyond that is the danger of the translator-poet, intentionally or not, substituting his own intentions and meaning for those of the original author. Ernst addresses this last point (pp. 169 173) and notes that Sufi poetry generally has lately suffered from reinterpretation into a somewhat generic New-Age mold. I cannot address the fidelity with which the original authors intents have been transmitted in the Englishlanguage versions of the poems cited here; that is for another effort. I will address, rather, the ideas found in them, without strict concern for their historical provenance.

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Between the mirror and the heart is this single difference: the heart conceals secrets, while the mirror does not. In this poem the mirror has several different roles, but the issue of Unity does not come into it. In the first third line, the heart is to become free, a blank slate with no contents of its own, to reflect what God may put in it. In the fifth line, the reader is admonished to look into it as a conscience, which will reflect the shameless truth of his condition. The heart is capable of hiding the truth, of duplicity, where the mirrorwhether an actual mirror or a well-polished heart-and-soul-mirrorcan do nothing but reflect the truth. The poem seems to suggest that if we behold ourselves in the mirror that reflects the truth, we will see the need to polish our hearts clean. It further suggests that this is a demanding and difficult task. From the Divan-i Shams-i Tabriz by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi All through eternity Beauty unveils His exquisite form in the solitude of nothingness; He holds a mirror to His Face and beholds His own beauty. he is the knower and the known, the seer and the seen; No eye but His own has ever looked upon this Universe. His every quality finds an expression: Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space; Love, the life-giving garden of this world. Every branch and leaf and fruit Reveals an aspect of His perfectionThe cypress give hint of His majesty, The rose gives tidings of His beauty.

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Whenever Beauty looks, Love is also there; Whenever beauty shows a rosy cheek Love lights Her fire from that flame. When beauty dwells in the dark folds of night Love comes and finds a heart entangled in tresses. Beauty and Love are as body and soul. Beauty is the mine, Love is the diamond. They have together since the beginning of timeSide by side, step by step. This poem makes clear and full use of the mirror theme, and also that of the Unity of Being. God, here referred to as Beauty, creates the universe out of himself; in the solitude of nothingness. Every created thing is a manifestation of some divine aspect or quality. The process of creation is the unveiling, and the created things, or manifestations, are the mirrors in which he beholds His own beauty. The poem also says that this process happens All through eternity. The creation, in other words, was not an event in the past, but is a process happening both outside of time, and through all time. God continues to create, to look, to reveal himself to himself. This is the definition of the existence of things. Eternity becomes the verdant field of Time and Space: the process of Gods self-revelation is that which creates time and space. Love may be seen as the mutual desire for reunion between man and God, who have [been] together / since the beginning of time. Time does not exist except in reference to the ongoing creation and existence of the manifest universe. No eye but His own / has ever looked upon this Universe, because no other eyes but his exist.

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From the Masnavi by Jalal ad-Din Muhammad Rumi How can I retain my senses about me, When the Beloved shows not the light of His countenance? Love desires that this secret should be revealed, For if a mirror reflects not, of what use is it? Knowest thou why thy mirror reflects not? Because the rust has not been scoured from its face. If it were purified from all rust and defilement It would reflect the shining of the Sun of God. This poem seems to be of two parts; the last four lines could be read as an answer to the first four. In the first four lines, the poet appears to be expressing the hopeless desolation of the lover whose Beloved is indifferent to him, is turned away and will not show His face. If the lover cannot relate to the object of his love, if he cannot reflect God, of what use is his existence? The second four lines seem an admonishment answering his plaint: his mirror is not reflecting, not because God will not look at him, but because he has not polished his mirror; he needs to clean his heart and soul of mistaken thinking in order to produce a clear reflection; then he will be able to see the shining sun, which is the face of God. Bewilderment by Gharib Nawaz 29, Tell me: if the hidden treasure is now on display at the bazaar, shouldnt the Gnostic leave his cell and wander forth? Tell me: why should he pitch camp on the plain of manifestation? No doubt to cast His reflection on the mirror of Creation but anyway, what do I know? This dream confuses me: no wonder my livers upset. Listen, if creatures were made to reveal Him, why are they veiled? But then, of course, veils themselves are very revealing well then, if Im His veil Ill make my exit and let Him become I, the seer of what is seen.
29

Wilson & Pourjavady, pp. 114-117. Moin is a pen name of Nawaz. It is common for the last few lines of a poem be addressed to, or to refer to, the author, often in a self-deprecatory manner.

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Hell see Himself in my mirror. He himself will become both the seeker and the Sought. Stop ! all I get out of this is a maze of riddles! Words, words if it was difficult before, what a headache now! If hes the only one who knows Himself, and we have no share in it, then tell me: from whom was He hidden and to whom revealed? Only the jeweler who cracks the oyster can really appreciate the pearl and himself become the pearl. Break the shell of water and clay from heart and soul that the gloom of your being may be bathed in light. There is no otherall are mirrors reflecting the Friend: you look in the mirror, you see His faceand He becomes the Beloved. In the midst of annihilations feast he who drains the cup of permanence will grab the rope of ANA L HAQQ and swing from the gibbet. If the sakis face reflects in the hermits glass of red Hell turn to the bar and become a prize drunk and whoever catches the Beloveds tress in his little noose will rip up his rosary and make it a Christian sash. What is the secret that peeps from behind the curtain to make these dullards suddenly so aware? I mean: considering Gods grace and mercy it's not surprising if a pious servant should fall into sin. Ah, when he comes at dawn to visit His patient all the healthy folk in the neighborhood will play sick. You are asleep. The Beloved cradles your head in His lap; a blessing on your eyes, the day you finally awake! Who takes one step outside himselflike the leg of a compass will whirl round and round the whole circle So much wine, cup after cup you poured for Moin, his drunken heart has lost the desire to sober up.

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This wonderful poem draws on many different images and themes, and makes many references to other writers. The first line refers to the sacred hadith of the hidden treasure; ANA L HAQQ (literally, I am the Truth) refers to the famous words of Hallaj which led to his martyrdom; Who takes one step outside himself refers to the two-line poem by Shah Nematollah Wali quoted earlier, like the leg of a compass may refer to a poem by Omar Khayyam that uses geometry as an allegory in discussing God; whirl round and round may refer to the Mevlevi dervishes, I will not attempt to address all references and facets of this rich poem here. The humor that the writer finds in his bewilderment is apparent; the absurdity of the paradoxes of realizing a radical unity of Being is palpable. The lines about the prize drunk and the Christian sash are shockingalcohol being forbidden in Islam, and to a saki, or holy man, in particular, and the thought of conversion to Christianity equally unthinkable. These lines illustrate that if true enlightenment has been reached, earthly rules and divisions become meaningless. If you are one with God, it does not matter whether you wear a Muslim rosary or a Christian sash. And one might say that the rules of conduct and prohibitions on certain actions and indulgences are there for the sake of aiding one in reaching a state of enlightenment and union; once this state has been reached the rules are no longer necessary. In the end, the writer is overcome with the intoxication of Gods presence and ceases to be interested in finding the answers to the questions posed by the logical, rational mind in earlier lines. One significant point in this poem is this: all are mirrors reflecting God; and the next line, you look in the mirror, you see His face. This emphasizes the apprehension that all elements of creation are Gods self-manifestation, rather than putting the emphasis on

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finding this truth within oneself, thus and would seem to indicate finding God in all of creation: looking outward rather than only inward for this truth. This following is the most elaborately constructed metaphorical treatment of the mirror theme that I have seen. The Tale of the Uniquely Beautiful Mirror Maker by Sayyed Shah Jahangir Hashemi 30, 31
There was an idol once (by which we mean To say, a youth whose beauty could inspire Idolatrous praise) who lived in Syria And earned his keep by making mirrors in The city of Aleppo. Sweet were his lips, His mouth a rosebud, cheeks as fresh as rain Upon the desert, and his face was called The Mecca of true lovers. Like the vault of heaven His eyebrows curved, or like two crescent moons. The sun in shame before his loveliness Drew close upon its face a veil of cloud And at his kiss the Fount of Life might flow From sterile rock. No one can tell, no pen Of poet celebrate such perfect grace. Now no one in Aleppo loved this youth As much as he himself; so fond was he Of his own beauty that he wished no bliss But to admire himself unceasingly As with a hundred eyes. So, to that end, He set out to construct a palace which Would be unique as he who planned to live In it. All arts, of mason, architect And carpenter, he orchestrated in His work; but last and most important he Himself set out with all his skill to make The interior of his castle one vast hall Of mirrors: every wall and ceiling,
30

Wilson & Pourjavady, pp. 39-42. The authors state that this is a rather free translation of the poem. 31 1468-69 1539-60; Persian

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Every inch of surface he contrived to coat With magic glass backed by gold enamel Far more lustrous than the light of sun Or moon, each of the mirrors made of glass Like gemstone varied as a rainbow, each As clean and polished and reflective as The finest Chinese import. To be brief, His palace rivaled heaven. It was fine And perfect as your sweethearts eye when you Yourself, the pupil of her beauty, see Yourself reflected in its mirrord depths. The bright house was complete but empty still Till he, the mirror maker, entered in To view itand himself. Ah, then the veil, The curtain of sweet unity was torn From the face of eternity. Ah, then The companionship of the mirror-hearted ones Began. His face, reflected in each glass Found its own reflection in the next And next and next. Then, and only then, Were his exquisite down, his beauty spot At last revealed in all their purity And grace. At last the beauty that he owned Was finally unfolded to his sight In every sweet detail in ecstasy. O Hashemi! This place of vision, like the sky, Is nothing but the reflection in one place Of one supreme and perfect Beauty. We Are like mirrors of this mirror house Gazing from Above as from Below Like the eye grown simple. So be cut Off from yourself, that the sun of His grace might shine According to the polish of your soul. For nothing but the One is to be seen Reflecting to infinity in all This carnival of mirrors, where the form Of every glance is but the shadow of That Form Divine, and all the world is but

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The double of His Essence, Space, and Time The book wherein He writes His magic signs. And if our mirror has gone dark Our treacherous eyes grown dim with cloud It is our faults that veil the spark Of His perfection. Cry aloud O Hashemi Then woe is me!

This poem is a paean to God, amply expressive of joy and love. The reflected images are one in respect to that which is manifested in them, many in respect to the loci of manifestation.32 This is the essential description of the entire mirror metaphor, and may also be the esoteric point intended in employing this style of home decoration in actual fact as well as in poetry. This was a fashionable style that reached its peak in Iran in the nineteenth century.33 The house decorated with a plethora of mirrors is brightly illuminated, the better to show all the elements of the home and its furnishings, since all lighting is amplified by reflection. And all decorative elements are multiplied, producing a lush and sumptuous atmosphere of plentitude. In the esoteric reading of this poem, the mirror maker is a metaphor for God, and the construction of the house of mirrors for the creation of the universe. The mirror makers own beauty is the beauty of Gods perfection. He constructs this house, but it is empty until he enters it; that is, the myriad forms of the creation have no being without God; they are just empty names. Then His own beauty is visible to Him in all its detail, in all of its elements and facets. The phrase The
curtain of sweet unity was torn From the face of eternity is a curious one; usually it is the myriad forms that are referred to as a veil over truth. The companionship of the mirror-hearted
32 33

Wilson & Pourjavady, p. 42. ibid.

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ones Began, and they reflect the beauty of God not only directly from His source, but by reflecting one another. There is again the admonishment to keep ones mirror polished in order to present a clear reflection of Gods grace and beauty.

Riddle by Gharib Nawaz34 Lord, whose face is this reflected in spirit's mirror? Such beauty painted on the inner screen-who is he? Each atom in all space is filled... Who transcends the galaxies, shows himself in every molecule-who is he? Sun in the costume of various specks of dust sparks forth various rays of light at every moment-who is he? Outwardly you appear in the meat of our existence but he who is hidden in soul's marrow who is he? In soul's fete every now and again he sings a new song, melodies of peace touching the veils of the people of the heart-who is he?
34

Wilson & Pourjavady pp. 118-119.

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He who manifests himself upon himself makes love to himself in the name of lovers-who is he? How many times, Mo'in will you drag yourself and me between us? He, the goal of I and thou, is thereright there! Who is he? Nawaz here reiterates all we have heard about the myriad forms of Gods Selfmanifestation, and the unity of all creation with God, leaving the reader in no doubt. But he throws in another angle: even he has perpetrated a kind of dualism, since by speaking to (or even of) God, he has admitted an I and a thou. He must transcend this, must leap out of himself or over his shadow and speak from the Station of Divine Awareness itself, where only One exists.35 It is worth noting here, though, that in Sufi interpretation of some Quranic verses, ambiguity over the object (him/it) becomes a centerpiece of linguistic play and mystical meditation. Because we are in the context [of] mystical union with the divine, the standard grammatical distinction between self and other, human and divine, reflexive and nonreflexive, begins to break down. At this point the translations make use of the ambiguity of the object pronoun and the breakdown of the reflexive/nonreflexive grammatical distinction at the point of mystical union.36 The following two poems do not mention mirrors, but are about the Unity of being. The first one, Maghrebis The Game, but is a wonderful story of the creation as Gods selfmanifestation, and of his desirein this case, due to jealousyto be reunited with man.
35 36

Wilson & Pourjavady p. 119. Sells, Early Islamic Mysticism, p. 82.

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The Game by Shamsoddin Maghrebi37 Craftily my idol without you and me somewhere eternally makes love with Himself a narcissist worshiping Himself night and day now the idol, now the idolater. The whole of His essence curls itself up into a tongue to speak about Himself: the Joseph of His beauty attires Himself in heaven and earth as brocade robes. He hides Himself, peeks out from the collar of the universe, adorns Himself with scarves of spirit and flesh; arrayed in gowns of body and soul He finds a thousand assemblies crowded with Himself, draws up His armies on the field throws the world into battle and strife: unrest and turmoil boil up from the planet as the army of His loveliness begins its charge. From swirling clouds of black night the sun rises: His face emerging from behind tangled curls, His cheeks, His lovelocks make riots break out in China, Tartary and Bulgaria. Child, old man, young man, woman all become the place of manifestation of His beauty's sun: He speaks from every mouth, that the tale of His own advantage might reach His own ears. When love sees His own beauty manifest in the drapes and veils of I and We jealousy flares up and He orders His beauty Rip from your limbs the clothes of other-than-me. So He strips naked His beauty and resides serene in His own essence: When the tides of the ocean of Unity swell the multiple universe is sucked back into Himself, Then in that instant O Maghrib there will be no other, nothing but essence, no space, no time.
37

Wilson 37

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Here is a rather free interpretation of this poem: Without you and meGod, Being, exists without any manifest, finite, created beings Love exists in the beginning that is, outside of manifest time; but in this realm there is no one and nothing other than God to love or be loved; he loves himself; is, himself, love. As in John 1:1, the word is the first act of creation: He speaks about Himself, and the utterance of self produces a reality at once one with and separate from the speaker. Joseph (Genesis 37-50) is often invoked in Islamic writing as the epitome of beauty; God creates the universe to be His coat of many colors, to wrap Himself in beauty and invite admiration. He further dresses Himself in the beings of the universe; they / we are at the same time the clothes he tries on and the mirror he looks into to admire himself in his finery. He draws up His armies on the field sounding like a child playing with toy soldiers, with the same knowledge that they are only His playthings; no true harm will come to anything Real in the battle. All people are his manifestations, created so that he might have admirers and hear them sing his praises. But when people forget where they came from, and believe in the reality of their own existence, He becomes jealous. He orders them to renounce their relative, worldly identity and devote themselves to contemplation of their Divine origin and essence. His orders, however, are the imperative experienced as love of God and desire to reunite with him. The reunion, when the multiple universe is sucked back into Himself, brings serenity; there is no other, nothing but essence, no space, no time. This happens in [an] instant; it cannot be placed in ongoing time; eternity and pure essence are outside the framework of time and manifest being.

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From the Rubaiyat, Omar Khayyam38 Whose secret Presence through Creations veins Running Quicksilver-like eludes your pains, Taking all shapes from Mah to Mahi; and They change and perish allbut He remains; A moment guessedthen back behind the Fold Immerst of Darkness round the Drama rolld Which, for the Pastime of Eternity, He doth Himself contrive, enact, behold. These two quatrains distill into their eight lines the entire concept expressed by Maghrebi in the preceding poem. The transcendent, eternal God is completely immanent in all of creation, from Mah to Mahifrom fish to moonmeaning all things earthly and celestial. All mutable and mortal creation is His Self-manifestation; the process of His being in space and time, enacted for His own pleasure.

Some Parallels from Other Traditions39 The religious use of the imagery of the mirror in religious literary traditions is not unique to the Sufis. There may be some actual influences where different traditions came into contact with one another, possibly between the development of Sufism and the Christian mystic tradition that arose in Egypt, Syria and nearby areas of the Near and Middle East prior to the ninth century C.E.; and with Greek mystery cults, and religious traditions traveling west from India. But there are also simply common use of images that are apt in describing an aspect of the human condition and experience.

38

Fitzgerald, Quatrain LI and LII. The extent to which the Rubaiyat attributed to Khayyam is his, and to what extent it is Fitzgeralds, has been a subject of some debate. The quatrains, nonetheless, are beautiful poetry, and relevant here. 39 I would like to expand this paper into an extended comparative study at some time in the future.

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The historian Margaret Smith is most focused on the Christian mystical tradition; she quotes Thomas of Marga40 who was a Nestorian Assyrian Bishop in what is now Armenia in the middle of the ninth century C.E. This passage is eloquently expressive of ideas that clearly fit a Sufi world-view as well: Certain of the fathers have written in their books that there existeth in the heart a glorious intellectual mirror which the Creator of natures formed from all the visible and spiritual natures which are in creation for the great honour of His image, and as a means for discovering His invisibility; and He made it a tie, and a bond and a completion of all natures... Another instance in the Christian tradition is this, by Clare of Assisi, which parallels particularly the poem by Rumi at the opening of this paper, in its reference to the sweet taste of knowledge of God: Place your mind before the mirror of eternity! Place your soul in the brilliance of glory! Place your heart in the figure of the divine substance! And transform your whole being into the image of the Godhead Itself through contemplation! So that you too may feel what His friends feel as they taste the hidden sweetness which God Himself has reserved from the beginning for those who love Him. The Platform Sutra is the fictionalized biography of the Sixth Patriarch of Chan, or Zen, Buddhism, Hui-neng.41 The following verse is said in the sutra to have been written by the monk Shen-hsiu:42 Shen-hsiu hoped with this verse to demonstrate to the master of the monastery, the fifth patriarch, that he had achieved a level of understanding that might put him in line for the position of Sixth Patriarch.
40 41

Smith, p. 32 (quoting from Thomas of Marga, Book of the Governors, V. xv.) The original text was written circa 700-720 C.E.. 42 Yampolsky, pp. 130-132

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The body is the Bodhi tree, The mind is like a clear mirror. At all times we must strive to polish it, And must not let the dust collect. This verse is a solid admonition to be vigilant in ones spiritual life. We have seen a similar admonition to polish ones mirror in the poem by Rumi that begins Let go of your worries, and there are many more Sufi poems that issue the same advice. The Fifth Patriarch told Shen-hsiu that he had not reached true understanding. He told Shen-hsiu to think about it some more and to try to see [his] own original nature. The verse showed some understanding of the nature of being, but it was not the enlightened understanding of self-nature he was looking for. Hui-neng, a novice at the monastery, saw the verse and was moved to write the following verses in reply to / refutation of Shen-hsius: Bodhi originally has no tree, The mirror also has no stand. Buddha nature is always clean and pure; Where is there room for dust? The mind is the Bodhi tree, The body is the mirror stand. The mirror is originally clean and pure; Where can it be stained by dust?

The two rebuttals are much the same.43 As we have seen expressed in Sufi poems, there is one understanding of the mind as mirror, and the importance of keeping it clean so as to present a clear and unsullied reflectionwhether of Allah or of the Buddha-nature. But beyond this is the perception that the reality of body and mind is an illusion; they are temporal manifestations that are necessarily contingent, relative, and thus lacking in Reality. The existence of the mirror is itself an illusion, like attributing existence to a wave without reference to and reliance on an ocean. In the poem below, written by a

43

Yampolsky says that the presence in the text of these two verses attributed to Hui-neng as rebuttal to Shen-hsiu indicates the poets uncertainty over which of them is the better. In a footnote, he notes that later versions have changed the third line of this to: From the beginning not a thing is.

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contemporary of Hui-neng, the mind of man and the objects of perception are no longer seen as a mirror of God, Reality, or Truth, but are themselves the dirt on the mirror: Mind and Senses by Yung-chia Hsan-cheh (Yka Genkaku)44 The mind is an organ of thought and objects are set against it: The two are like marks on the surface of the mirror; When the dirt is removed, the light begins to shine. Both mind and objects being forgotten, Ultimate Nature reveals itself true. What this poem seems to suggest, actually, is not that the objects of manifest reality are dirt on a mirror that reflects God or Ultimate Nature. It seems, rather, that the perception of them as actual things that have reality in and of themselves is an error and an impediment to reaching true understanding of ones nature and ones relationship to and participation in the ultimate Reality.

Conclusions For all the radical oneness and unity at the heart of much Sufi thought, it does present some problems. 1. The first problem is in the definition of God as both absolute and personal, as both Being and a being. How can that which is without limit, that which encompasses all, have self-awareness? Awareness of self seems to require awareness of the boundaries of selfwhere self ends and not-self, or other, begins. That-than-which-there-is-no-other has, by definition, no such boundaries. Actually, the word encompasses is imprecise, for it implies a gathering into or circling around from outside. This is, of course, a problem for any religion or view that posits a single, unitary self-aware deity or transcendent principle.

44

Suzuki, p. 236

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Some systems of thought, such as Taoism, avoid this problem by conceiving the principle of ultimate reality as non-personal. Sufism seems to embrace the contradiction. 2. It is often said in Sufi writing, both prose and poetry, that God is self-sufficient, and has no need of anything or anyone. This is a basic attribute of that which is necessary and absolute, in contrast to the things of creation, which are contingent and relative. This is part of the way in which his role as the Beloved is articulated; the beloved is independent; He has no need for the lover, but grants His love to the lover only through His mercy. If God is self-sufficient, why is it that He is lonely? Why would He have the desire to be known? This desire marks Him as not self-sufficient, not absolute. He is relative, or desires to be: to be the object of sight and of love to a subject. This also portrays Him as narcissistic45, vain; evincing human characteristics that are not among mans best. But poetry, and Sufism, embrace opposites and paradoxes. There is a practical difficulty, too, in the expression of such radical unity as we find here: although the doctrine of Tawhid leads directlyand perhaps inevitablyto identity of the religious seeker with God, this is a dangerous position to espouse. Mansur al-Hallaj was famously executed in 922 CE as a heretic, largely based on his exclamation: Ana lhaqqI am the Truth.46 This was taken as a statement that he himself (his finite, human self) was God, and as such was the height of hubris, heresy, apostasy. His other similarly controversial statements included There is nothing wrapped in my turban but God, and There is nothing in my cloak but God. The educated Sufi would know the (presumably) intended, esoteric meaning of these statements, and would also know that any person who
45 46

See the poem by Maghrebi, further on in this paper, where this is explicitly stated. Hallaj was not the only Sufi mystic executed on charges of heresy; among others, Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani, quoted earlier, suffered the same fate in 1131 C.E.

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was aware of their identity with God, and properly trained in experiencing it, would be able to make the same statement; there is nothing in anyones cloak but Godnothing but God anywhere at all. As Rumi explained the meaning of this declaration: When a fly is plunged in honey, all the members of its body are reduced to the same condition, and it does not move. Similarly the term istighraq (absorption in God) is applied to one who has no conscious existence or initiative or movement. Any action that proceeds from him is not his own. If he is still struggling in the water, or if he cries out, Oh, I am drowning, he is not said to be in the state of absorption. This is what is signified by the words Ana l-Haqq I am God. People imagine that it is a presumptuous claim, whereas it is really a presumptuous claim to say Ana l-abd I am the slave of God; and Ana lHaqq I am God is an expression of great humility. The man who says Ana l-abd I am the slave of God affirms two existences, his own and Gods, but he that says Ana l-Haqq I am God has made himself non-existent and has given himself up and says I am God, i.e. I am naught, He is all; there is no being but God's. This is the extreme of humility and self-abasement. Most mystics were aware, however, of the difficulty that the general populace, untrained in understanding symbolic language would have grasping this, and of the dire consequences that could ensue from an exoteric interpretation of an esoteric statement. Thus most chose, prudently, to keep the language of the works they produced for the public ambiguous; explicit statements of unity with God were saved for addressing their fellow mysticsif they were made at all.47 Poets may not have wished to follow in Hallajs footsteps, but they often invoke his insight; his exclamation and martyrdom have attained the status of a recurring theme in Sufi poetry. So God desires to be known. Since the Sufi position is that He is One, it is necessary for Him to create the universe in order that there should be a knowera seer. There is nothing that is not God out of which He can create the universe, its inhabitants and components; He must create them out of Himself. All of creation is of one substance, and
47

That the danger posed to a writer by misreadings of symbolic expression persists to the present day is attested by the fatwa issued against Salman Rushdie following publication of his book The Satanic Verses.

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one essence: the same substance and essence as the Creator. Thus in the final reckoning He has not so much created as transformed; the seer and the seen are one and the same. To say that one is the mirror and the other the one looking into it is pointless, since the mirror is the one looking into itself. All creation is the process of Gods Being in time and space. anyway, what do I know? This dream confuses me: no wonder my livers upset Stop ! all I get out of this is a maze of riddles! Words, words if it was difficult before, what a headache now!

Addendum I: Additional Poems There are many more poems that I would like to examine from this perspective, but space considerations must limit the number included here. As an addendum, I am including just a few other poems that employ either the theme of the mirror or the unity of God and the creation. At a future date I would like to revisit this topic and address more poems, in more depth. Two poems from Kitab al-Tawasin, by Mansur al-Hallaj 48 I. I am He whom I love, and He whom I love is I: We are two spirits dwelling in one body. If thou seest me, thou seest Him, And if thou seest Him, thou seest us both. II. Thy Spirit is mingled in my spirit even as wine is mingled with pure water. When anything touches Thee, it touches me. Lo, in every case Thou art I!" All Pervading Consciousness by Farid al-Din Attar And as His Essence all the world pervades Naught in Creation is, save this alone. Upon the waters has He fixed His Throne, This earth suspended in the starry space, Yet what are seas and what is air? For all Is God, and but a talisman are heaven and earth To veil Divinity. For heaven and earth, Did He not permeate them, were but names; Know then, that both this visible world and that Which unseen is, alike are God Himself, Naught is, save God: and all that is, is God. And yet, alas! by how few is He seen,
48

Reynold A Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam

Blind are men's eyes, though all resplendent shines The world by Deity's own light illumined, O Thou whom man perceiveth not, although To him Thou deignest to make known Thyself; Thou all Creation art, all we behold, but Thou, The soul within the body lies concealed, And Thou dost hide Thyself within the soul, O soul in soul! Myst'ry in myst'ry hid! Before all wert Thou, and are more than all! This poem does not use the theme of the mirror, but is all about Unity of Being; nothing exists except as a manifestation of God. The forms of creation are veils of God, hiding His Presence from man, though He is there to be found by those who can see. Looking for your own face by Attar49 Your face is neither infinite nor ephemeral. You can never see your own face, only a reflection, not the face itself. So you sigh in front of mirrors and cloud the surface. It's better to keep your breath cold. Hold it, like a diver does in the ocean. One slight movement, the mirror-image goes. Don't be dead or asleep or awake. Don't be anything. What you most want, what you travel around wishing to find, lose yourself as lovers lose themselves, and you'll be that.

49

translated by Coleman Barks, The Hand of Poetry: Five Mystic Poets of Persia

Wonder by Ibn Arabi50 O Marvel! a garden amidst the flames. My heart has become capable of every form: it is a pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks, And a temple for idols, and the pilgrim's Ka'ba, and the tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran. I follow the religion of Love, whichever way his camels take. My religion and my faith is the true religion. We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her sister, and in Qays and Lubna, and in Mayya and Ghaylan.

50

Wilson & Pourjavady p. 9.

Addendum II: Chronology of Primary Sources I found it useful while writing this paper to have a reference to the dates of the sources I was using. I include it here in case it is useful to the reader. Chronology of primary sources, poets and thinkers cited51 Born 570 600 638 665 c. 800 858 1048 1098 1145-6 1165 Died 632 632 ?? 713 713 850 922 1113 1113 c. 1221 c. 1236 1240 Name Mohammed Qur'an Hui-neng Yung-chia Hsan-cheh Thomas of Marga Mansur al-Hallaj Omar Khayyam Ayn al-Qozat Hamadani Farid al-Din Attar Gharib Nawaz Ibn Arabi Persia Iran, India Murcia, Spain); Mecca; Andalusia; Damascus, Syria Assisi, Italy Balkh (in what is now Afghanistan), Persia, Konya Turkey North Africa; Tabriz, persia Persia Guangdong Province, China Where?

1193-4 1207

1253-4 1273

Clare of Assisi Rumi

1331 c. 1346 1468

1431 1406-7 1539

Shah Nematollah Wali Shamsoddin Mohammed Shirin Maghrebi Sayyed Shah Jahangir Hashemi

51

The information in this table was drawn from various sources, including those works cited in this paper and listed at the end, and various websites, including wikipedia.org.

Works Cited
Arberry, Arthur. Sufism: An Account of the Mystics of Islam. London, 1968. Chittick, William C. The Divine Roots of Human Love. http://www.ibnarabisociety.org/articles/divinerootsoflove.html. Originally published in the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society, Volume 17, 1995. Corbin, Henry. Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi. Princeton, NJ: Bollingen Series XCI, Princeton University Press, 1969. Fitzgerald, Edward. Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. New York, 1956: Grosset & Dunlap. Fourth Edition translation, originally published 1879. Halligan, Fredrica R. The Creative Imagination of the Sufi Mystic, Ibn Arabi. Journal of Religion and Health, Vol. 40, No. 2 (Summer, 2001), pp. 275-287 Hui-neng. The Platform Sutra of the Sixth Patriarch: The Text of the Tun-Huang Manuscript. Yampolsky, Philip B., Translation, Introduction, And Notes. New York, 1967: Columbia University Press. Ibn Arabi. Journey to the Lords of Power: a Sufi Manual on Retreat. Rochester, VT: Inner Traditions International, 1989. Melchior-Bonnet, Sabine. The Mirror: a History. New York: Routledge, 2001 Poetry Chaikana. http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com Sells, Michael. Early Islamic Mysticism. New Jersey, 1996: Paulist Press. Smith, Margaret. The Way of the Mystics: The Early Christian Mystics and the Rise of the Sufis. New York, 1978: Oxford University Press. Suzuki, Daistz Teitaro. The Essentials of Zen Buddhism. Westport, 1973: Greenwood Press. Wilson, Peter Lamborn & Pourjavady, Nasrollah, trans. & commentary. The Drunken Universe: An Anthology of Persian Sufi Poetry. New Lebanon, 1987. Omega Publications.