Al-Ghaza¯lı¯’s Philosophical
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Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯’s erstwhile teacher al-T.urt.u¯shı¯ tried unsuccessfully to meet with al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯.
21 In the meantime, in Baghdad, the two Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯s joined the pilgrimage caravan that would leave Iraq in the fall of 489/1096. This was the pilgrimage in which al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ also took part, although he joined the caravan that started in Syria. The father, Abu¯ Muh.ammad ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ used the gathering of scholars during the pilgrimage to propagate the virtues of the Almoravids and of Yu¯suf ibn Ta¯shifı¯n. Although this did not have an immediate effect, his son, Abu ¯ Bakr, claimed that the good tidings about the Almoravids reached al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ and prepared him to respond positively to a later request by the Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯s. Indeed, a year later al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ wrote a letter and a legal opinion in support of m os t in f lue n t i a l s t u de n t s a nd e a r l y f ol low er s 6 3
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¯ ’ s ph ilosoph ic a l t h e olo g y Yu¯suf ibn Ta¯shifı¯n. 22 During the pilgrimage, however, the three did not meet: Al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ was on the Syrian caravan of the pilgrims, while the two Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯s were on the Iraqi one. The two Andalusians only glimpsed the great scholar from afar. 23 They returned to Baghdad in early 490/1097, and al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ returned to Damascus. In his book Protective Guards Against Strong Objections , Abu¯ Bakr ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ says that he fi nally met al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ in Baghdad in Juma¯da II 490 / May–June 1097. 24 This was right after al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ arrived in Baghdad from Syria. The personal acquaintance with al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ was an important event for the young Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯. By now, he was twenty-one years old, and al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ was the great “Da¯nishmand” 25 who had left his posts in Baghdad less than two years earlier and was now on his way back to his hometown, T.u¯s. Abu¯ Bakr ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ studied closely with al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯, and the latter devoted some considerable interest to his disciple. Abu¯ Bakr nowhere mentions that he accompanied al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ during his travels to Khorasan; the two likely just spent a couple of months together in the summer of 490/1097, when al- Ghaza¯l
ı ¯ stayed at the “Riba¯t. of Abu¯ Sa ¶d right across from the Niz.a¯miyya madrasa.” 26
Abu¯ Bakr and his father remained in Baghdad after al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s depar- ture in the late summer or early fall of the same year they met. The two Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯s had their audience with the twenty-two-year-old caliph al-Mustaz.hir and his vizier ¶Amı¯d al-Dawla ibn Jahı¯r, a son-in-law of Niz.a¯m al-Mulk, in Rajab 491 / June 1098. They achieved their goal and secured a caliphal docu- ment supporting Yu¯suf ibn Ta¯shifı¯n. 27 After this success, they traveled back via Syria and Egypt. In Alexandria, Abu¯ Bakr ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ studied a second time with al-T.urt.u¯shı¯. 28 At this point, al-T.urt.u¯shı¯ had already become a fi erce opponent of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s teachings. In 503/1109 or later, he wrote a response to a yet-unidentifi ed Ibn Muz.affar who had asked him about al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s works. In his answer, al-T.urt.u¯shı¯ claims to have met al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ and shows appreciation for his “understanding and intelligence” ( al-fahm wa-l- ¶aql ). Yet the letter mostly expresses al-T.urt.u¯shı¯’s serious critiques of what he regarded as contradictions in al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s œuvre and his adaptation of philosophical doctrines, particularly in his Revival of the Religious Sciences . 29 This epistle was quoted later by infl uential biographers of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ such as al-Dhahabı¯, al- Subkı¯, and al-Murtad.a¯ al-Zabı¯dı¯. 30
In Muh.arram 493 / November–December 1099, Abu¯ Bakr’s father died at age fi fty-seven. That same month, Abu ¯ Bakr left Alexandria, where he had spent about a year. In one of his works, he lists all the books he took home from the Muslim East. This list offers a helpful clue to the dating of some of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s books, as it verifi es that certain of his books were indeed published before 493/1099. 31
¯ Bakr ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ made his way back to Seville where he arrived in 495/1102. By now, he was twenty-six years old, hav- ing spent ten of his years in the Muslim East. Back in Seville, he became a ven- erated scholar and teacher and the main source for the spread of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s
works and doctrines in the Muslim West. m os t in f lue n t i a l s t u de n t s a nd e a r l y f ol low er s 6 5 Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯’s First Report of His Meeting with al-Ghaza¯lı¯ In his extant works, Abu ¯ Bakr ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ describes his fi rst meeting with al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ at least twice. The most vivid picture of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ is given in The Rule of Interpretation ( Qa¯nu¯n al-ta 7wı¯l ), a book that he wrote in 533/1138–39 in Seville, 32 forty-eight years after the reported event took place in Baghdad. Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ describes the intellectual climate in Baghdad: 33
[In Baghdad,] I engaged in exchanges with the scholars and I regu- larly went to their teaching sessions. In particular I went to Fakhr al-Isla¯m Abu ¯ Bakr al-Sha¯shı¯ 34 the faqı¯h and the ima¯m of the times. Here, suns of insight rose for me and I said to myself: “God is great! This is the goal that I always wanted to achieve and the kind of time that I always wanted to spend and that I longed for.” [In Baghdad,] I studied, I restricted myself [to study], and I quenched my thirst [ for knowledge]. I listened [to the scholars] and retained [their teachings] in my memory, until the Da¯nishmand [al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯] came across us [ scil . Abu ¯ Bakr and his father]. He stayed in the Riba¯t. of Abu¯ Sa ¶d right opposite the Niz.a¯miyya Madrasa. 35 He had turned away from this world and had turned towards God the Exalted. We walked to- wards him, presented our credentials, and I said to him: “You are the guide that we were looking for and the ima¯m that will give us right guidance.” We met with him and our meeting was by way of ma ¶rifa . We took from him what is above the ledge ( al-s.uffa ); and we realized that whatever has come down to us in terms of information about the unknown is beyond theoretical inisight ( fawqa l-musha¯hada ) and is not for the ordinary people ( al- ¶umu ¯m ). And had the poet Ibn al-Ru¯mı¯ known [al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯], he would not have said: If you praise a man who is absent, do not exaggerate in his glory and be to the point! Because, when you exaggerate, you go to the utmost extreme with him. So he falls short where you glorify him, because of the advantage of the absent over him who is there. 36
ı ¯] was a man, who when you saw him with your own eyes, you saw an outward beauty ( jama¯l ), and when you experienced his knowledge you found that it was a swelling sea. The more you learned from him, the greater your delight would be. I developed strong ties with him and I became inseparable from his carpet. I seized his isolation and his agility, and every time he attended to me, I exhausted him with my expectations. He allowed me [to share] his place and I was with him in the morning, the after- noon, at lunchtime, and at dinner, whether he was in casual clothes or in his formal attire. During these times, I could ask him without
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¯ ’ s ph ilosoph ic a l t h e olo g y restraint, like a scholar at a place where the shackles of enquiry are entrusted [to him]. I found him to be welcoming towards me regard- ing instruction and I found him true to his word. One of God’s friendly deeds towards me and His granting of success to me was that, when He let me stay in Syria, He did so at a blessed spot among scholars. This would become a stepping-stone for my meeting with those who had found the truth ( al-muh.aqqiqu¯n ), who could correct what I had understood, who could comment on what I had assembled, who could clarify what I had made obscure, and who could complete what I had left diminished. Whatever I had understood from these preliminaries, it made me ready to receive the real truths ( al-h.aqa¯ 7iq ) hidden within them, and it limited the risk that their meaning would evade me. It was as if someone enters the Garden of Eden and gathers the gold together with the sand, and then carries it to the foundry for his later use. 37
In a second book, Protective Guards Against Strong Objections ( al- ¶Awa¯s.im min al-qawa¯s.im ), Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ gives another account of his meeting with al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯. The context is different from the one in The Rule of Interpretation, as this second work is much more concerned with al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s doctrine than the fi rst book. It is less enthusiastic about al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ and more critical of his teachings. Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ understood well that al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ theology was heavily infl uenced by his reading of falsafa , and indeed, he criticizes this theology in more than one pas- sage of his œuvre. As Ibn Taymiyya quotes Abu ¯ Bakr ibn al- ¶Arabı¯, “Our Sheikh Abu
¯ H . a¯mid entered deeply into the bellies of the fala¯sifa and when he wanted to get out, he couldn’t.” 38 Here, Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯’s critique falls in line with some of the criticism voiced in al-T.urt.u¯shı¯’s Letter to Ibn Muz.affar . But although al- T.urt.u¯shı¯ went as far as recommending the burning of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s books, 39
Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ always respected al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯, despite their differences regarding the teachings of falsafa. The following passage from Protective Guards Against Strong Objections expresses Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯’s reservations about al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s teachings on the soul. This book is essentially a popular reworking of some of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s own objections against the arguments of the fala¯sifa and the Isma¯ ¶ı¯lites. 40 It quotes “strong objections” ( qawa¯s.im ) presented by the fala¯sifa as well as by the Isma¯ ¶ı¯lites and counters them with “protective guards” ( ¶awa¯s.im ), that is, counterarguments. On the one hand, Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯’s book relies heavily on several of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s works: The Intentions of the Philosophers , The Incoherence of the Philosophers, and Infamies of the Esoterics . 41 On the other hand, al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ appears sometimes on the side of those who bring forward “strong objections” ( qawa¯s.im ) that need to be refuted, particularly when he restates philosophical teachings without what Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ considered the appropriate measure of criticism.
m os t in f lue n t i a l s t u de n t s a nd e a r l y f ol low er s 6 7 Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ begins his book with a discussion of epistemological ques- tions, leading him to refl ections on the nature of the soul. He reports the posi- tion of some Sufi s, in particular al-H . a¯rith al-Muh.a¯sibı¯ (d. 243/857) and the Ash ¶arite Abu ¯ l-Qa¯sim al-Qushayrı¯ (d. 465/1071). They said “that knowledge will only be achieved through purity ( t.aha¯ra ) of the soul, chastening ( tazkiya ) of the heart, the untying of the relationship between the heart and the body, and the disenfranchising from material motives such as fame and riches.” 42 This is an extreme position ( ghulu ¯w ), Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ says, because there is no connection between the knowledge that a person acquires and any pious deeds that his heart—meaning his soul—has performed. Similarly, there is no connection between certain practices in one’s worship and the unveiling of some kind of hidden knowledge. The subject of whether Sufi practice or the asceticism of the “friends of God” ( awliya¯ 7 ) leads to superior religious insight seems to be the focal point of the dispute about al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s work in the Muslim West. Before Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ wrote this book, the grandfather of the philosopher Ibn Rushd, Ibn Rushd al-Jadd (d. 520/1126), had issued a fatwa¯ dismissing the position of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ and other Sufi s on this subject. 43 Although Ibn Rushd al-Jadd ex- empted “moderate” Sufi s such as al-Qushayrı¯ from his criticism, Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ specifi cally names him as one who presented the problematic position that pious deeds—such as the Sufi practice of invoking the names of God—may lead to superior religious knowledge. Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ vigorously denounces this: It is simply not true, he writes, that the practitioner of Sufi dhikr “will see the angels and hear what they say; until he will reach to the spirits of the prophets and hear their words.” 44 Using the book’s method to discuss the pros ( ¶awa¯s.im ) and the cons ( qawa¯s.im ) of a certain position, Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ cites an objection (a qa¯s.ima ) to his position. This objection was presented by al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ during the months that they studied together in Baghdad: I conferred about this with Abu ¯ H . a¯mid when I met him in Baghdad in the month of Juma¯da II 490 (May–June 1097). Earlier, namely in the year eighty-six (1093), which was at this time about fi ve years ago, he had accepted the Sufi path ( al-t.arı¯qa al-s.u¯fi yya ) and made himself free for what it requires. He had put himself in seclusion ( al- ¶uzla ) and renounced all groups. Due to reasons that we have explained in the Book on the Arrangement of the Travel 45 he devoted himself exclu- sively to me and I read all of his books under his instruction and heard the book that he named The Revival for the Religious Sciences (al-Ih.ya¯ 7 li- ¶ulu¯m al-dı¯n ). 46 I asked him for guidance in order to reach his convictions ( ¶ aqı¯da ). I also asked for an explanation of his method ( t.arı¯qa ) so that I could reach complete insight ( ta¯mm al-ma ¶rifa ) into the secret of those hints and indications that he had put into his books. And yes, he answered me. His response opened the right way for the postulant to reach the loftiness of his level and the heights of his station. 47
ı ¯ gave a long response, heavily infl uenced by Avicenna’s explanation of how prophets reach their superior level of insight and why they may have an
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¯ ’ s ph ilosoph ic a l t h e olo g y almost supernatural infl uence on the world around them. Avicenna had taught that prophets spontaneously receive their insights in either their imaginative faculty or their intellect. 48 Prophets lack the impeding forces of ordinary people that suppress visions while they are awake and receive sense data. Therefore, prophets receive in their waking hours visions that ordinary people receive in their sleep. 49 Prophets also benefi t from the power of intuition ( quwwat al-h.ads ) and have the capacity of immediately fi nding the middle term of a syllogism. This capacity gives a prophet perfect theoretical knowledge without instruc- tion, solely through intellectual intuition ( h.ads ). 50 Finally, prophets also have a strong practical faculty of the soul ( quwwa nafsiyya ¶amaliyya ) that can affect other beings and worldly processes. All souls have the capacity to effect physi- cal changes in their own bodies; the extraordinary powers of a prophet’s soul have also the capacity to bring about changes in natural objects outside their own bodies. Prophets have the capacity, for instance, to cause storms, rain, and earthquakes or even to cause people to sink into the ground. 51
ı ¯’s answer to his student draws on these teachings. Here, al- Ghaza¯l ı
has purifi ed his soul from the bodily passions: If the heart purifi es itself ( t.ahhara ) from the relationship with the sensibly perceived body and devotes itself to the intelligibles ( al-ma ¶qu ¯l ), the truths ( al-h.aqa¯ 7iq ) are revealed to it. You will under- stand these things only through personal experience ( tajriba ) and keeping company with those who have already mastered it. Being in their presence and rubbing shoulders with them will help you under- stand these things. 52
A certain school of thought ( t.arı¯q min al-naz.ar ), al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ says, claims that the heart is a refi ned substance or a polished gem—a jawhar s.aqı¯l (meaning both)—and that it refl ects knowledge like a mirror refl ects. A mirror can be used to present to us things that cannot be seen without a refl ection, such as things in the next room or around a corner. If the mirror is not constantly pol- ished, al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ says, it becomes tarnished. Likewise, the heart suffers from “certain harms that accumulate and befall it.” If the heart is purifi ed, however, it is “like a mirror from which the tarnish has disappeared and that now refl ects those things perfectly.” Sometimes these truths ( h.aqa¯ 7iq ) that are received by the purifi ed heart appear as clear insights; sometimes they appear as symbols or representations ( mitha¯l ). Ibn al- ¶Arabı¯ proceeds in his report of al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯’s response by saying that the soul ( nafs ) gets stronger when the heart is purifi ed and becomes cleaner. Every soul has “an infl uencing faculty” ( quwwa ta 7thı¯riyya ), giving it an infl u- ence over its own body as well as over the bodies of other people: An example is given by the man who walks on a line on the ground that is as wide as the span of a hand. Would he walk on such a line up on a highly elevated wall that is as wide as a forearm, he would be unable to hold on to it since he imagines himself falling from the
m os t in f lue n t i a l s t u de n t s a nd e a r l y f ol low er s 6 9 wall. When the soul realizes these circumstances and it becomes set upon it, the body becomes affected by it and it quickly falls. 53
When the purifi cation of the heart makes the soul stronger, the soul develops the capacity to infl uence and affect bodies other than its own. Al-Ghaza¯l ı ¯ here
gives the example of a person’s strong love or desire for another person. Once the other person knows that he or she is loved and desired, this person often also develops a strong love and desire for the one who loves. Thus can one soul affect the feelings of another soul. This happens whenever the affection of a soul is strong. The soul is particularly strongly affected when it is purifi ed: The soul’s infl uencing faculty and its readiness to receive insights increases with its purity ( bi-s.afa¯ 7iha¯ ). Now, you believe in the send- ing down of abundant rain showers and the spontaneous growth of plants and similar things that are miracles violating the habitual courses. And what I have spoken about is similar to this. These are the souls of the prophets and their infl uence on other bodies are the signs that give evidence of the prophets’ conditions. 54
ı ¯ mentions all elements of Avicenna’s prophetical psychology: imaginative revelation, intellectual revelation, and the prophets’ strong practical and motive faculty, which is here called “the infl u- encing faculty.” The letter is, in fact, heavily infl uenced by Avicenna’s presenta- tion of the particular properties ( khawa¯s.s. ) of prophets and of “friends of God” ( awliya¯ 7 Alla¯h ) in his Pointers and Reminders . Download 4.03 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: 
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