When Deschamps was a little boy in Orleans, he was treated to some plum pudding by a neighbour, Mr. de Fortgibu. Ten years later he again encountered plum pudding in a restaurant in Paris. He wanted to order some, but the waiter told him that another customer had already ordered the last remaining dish. Deschamps looked; it was Mr. de Fortgibu who had ordered the dish. Years later Deschamps was again offered some plum pudding at a gathering. As he ate, he recalled the earlier incidents and told his listeners that the only thing missing at that moment was Mr. de Fortgibu. Suddenly the door burst open, and a very old man verging on senility staggered in. Who should it…
The Months of the ‘Arefin (Gnostics)
1. Muharram: sanctification and coming-forward; station of beginning. 2. Safar: renunciation, aspiration and denudation; its earth relinquishes the plants of evil deeds 3. Rabi’ al-Awwal: customary practice; mutual social relations 4. Rabi’ ath-Thani: unveiling; mystical perceptions 5. Jumada al-Awwal: What do you think? 6. Jumada al-akhirah: ? 7. Rajab: the loftiest shrine 8. Sha’ban: the barrier 9. Ramadan: the everlasting 10. Shawwal: the source of quiddity+++- 11. Dhul-Qadah: the earthly expanse 12. Dhul-Hijjah: spiritual joy.
The Perfect Man
In the teachings of Ibn al-‘Arabi there is a central position to the perfect man (al-insan al-kamil). That is why Qutb ad-din bin Ibrahim Abd al-Karim al-Jili (d. 1403 according to Titus Burckhardt and ca. 1428 according to Richard Gramlich) has written a complete book dedicated to this subject. In this book of al-Jili the 60th chapter is the central one. In his own words: “This chapter is the real subject of all the chapters in this book, yes the whole book, from its beginning to its end, is an explanation of this chapter. Therefore understand the meaning of these words!” I hope to give some attention to this important chapter. Titus Burckhardt has given a partial translation to the…
The new moon
A certain court poet once was in difficult financial circumstances: “One day – it was the eve of the day on which the new moon of Ramadan was due to appear and I had not a farthing to meet all the expenses incidental to that month and the feast which follows it – I went thus sad at heart to the Amir ‘Ala ud-Dawla…” He informs the Amir about his state, who advises him to return at the time of the evening prayer as the king will go up and look for the moon. “At sundown the king came forth from his pavilion, with a crossbow in his hand and ‘Ala ud-Dawla on his right hand. I ran forward to…
The Supreme Name
There are people, according to ar-Raazi, who hold to the opinion that the supreme name is a specific name and that people are able to know it. Some of the names suggested, are: 1. Hu or Huwa (He) 2. Allah 3. Al-Hayy, al-Qayyum (The Living, The Everlasting) 4. Dhu’l-jalaali-wa’l-ikraam (The Lord of Majesty and Bounty). 5. The supreme name can be found in the ‘isolated letters’ at the beginning of several Qur’anic chapters (different suggestions are offered). As Baba Farid, who is one of the most important Chishti Sufis, is holding the third opinion as referred to above, here is what ar-Raazi among other things writes about it: “It has been reported that Abu ibn Ka’b asked the messenger of…
The works of shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi [part 2]
Shaykh Ibn al-‘Arabi tells something very impressive when he was writing chapter 558 of The Openings Revealed in Makkah, dealing with the most beautiful names of Allah. He makes it clear that al–Momît, the One Who causes death, is necessary for you in order to avoid being among those who have killed their hearts by neglecting to do the remembrance (dhikr) of God. The shaykh tells this when writing about al-Momît: “I was busy writing this chapter […] when I heard someone reciting a poem, who was standing at the corner of the house wherein I was. Although I could hear his voice, I could not see him. I don’t know who was reciting these lines: Pass on your heritage,…
Dervish ‘Abdullah meditating in a hammock
Dervish ‘Abdullah lay lazily in a hammock under a flowery ceiling of beautiful white wisteria above him. Enjoying the sun, he marveled at the beauty of the flowers. He was grateful for their beauty. Then he realized that maybe the flowers weren’t there just to be looked at and admired by him. This thought came into him, because he became aware of subtle movements above him. He shook his head and broke free from the pleasant hypnosis of the flowery beauty. He looked deeper, more attentively at the many flowers. Suddenly he saw a bee emerge from one flower and fly to another flower. And another bee, and another bee. The dervish saw many bees flying, buzzing, among the flowers….
The Queen of the Desert
Just suppose you are able to make an interview with Isabelle Eberhardt (1877-1904), one of the changed ones or abdal. What would you ask her? Perhaps some of your questions are similar to the ones as given below: Q: Can you give us some biographical details? A: My Russian mother was called Nathalie de Moerder-Eberhardt. Trophimovsky, my father, was a remarkable man. My father and mother did not marry one another. My father was a former priest of the Russian Orthodox Church. He was an anarchist and raised me as a boy. He taught me Latin, Greek, Russian, German, Turkish and Arabic. My father helped me to read parts of the Qur’an in the original. Its teachings gave me a…
Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi
To make a start there is this charming quatrain of Mawlana Jalaluddin Rumi (# 1218 in my edition of the Divan): Dar bagh shodam sabuh o gol michiam Vaz didan-e baaghbaan hami tarsidam Shirin sokhani ze baaghbaan be shenidam Gol raa cheh mahall keh baagh raa baghshidam I was in the garden in the morning and I was gathering roses And all the time I was afraid that the gardener would see me. The gardener, however, only spoke these kind words: ‘A few roses are nothing as I give you the complete garden’. Mawlana Rumi writes (# 84 in the edition of Foruzaanfar): Chun gol hamaye tan khandam na az raahe dehaan tanhaa Ziraa keh manam bi man baa shaah-e…
The Shaykh’s Cat
During the morning meditation, the cat of a certain khanegah often caused quite some disturbance. So shaykh Ahmad, the resident Sufi Pir, ordered that the cat always had to be tied up when that practice got performed.. After the death of shaykh Ahmad, the cat still got tied up during the morning meditation. When the cat died, another cat was bought in order to “properly” tie it up during the meditation. Several elaborate Sufi handbooks were written in later ages by scholarly followers of shaykh Ahmad about the symbolical meaning of tying up a cat.