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HEYTHROP COLLEGE
UNIVERSITY OF LONDON
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End-of-Year Essay/Undergraduate Dissertation/Psychology
Research Project
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your Student Identification Number.
Student ID Number 080414
Degree/Diploma Title ABRAHAMIC RELIGIONS - B.A. (HONS)
Year of Degree 1 2 3
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Module Code AR306
Module Title Spirituality and Mysticism in the Abrahamic Faiths
Essay/Dissertation/
Project Title
Hasidism and Sufism: Spirituality in Judaism and Islam
Word Count 4387
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2
Arabic Characters
b
t
th gh
j f
q
kh k
d l
dh m
r n
z h
s w
sh y
Long Vowels
a
u
i
Hasidism and Sfism: Spirituality in Judaism and Islam
List of Transliterations
Short Vowels
3
Hasidism and Sufism: Spirituality in Judaism and Islam
Introduction
In an era when media and politics over-shadow relations between Muslims and
Jews, maybe there is a solution spirituality. I will initiate by defining fism and
asidism, alongside the definition process I will analyse and contrast between
the two. Thereafter, I will focus my attention on the Pr (sheikh) / Tsaddik and
murd / asidim, and examine their centrality in both spiritualities using Arabic,
Persian and Urdu poetry. I will examine the notion of the Tsaddik through four
channels as approached by Rachel Elior. I will conclude by briefly analysing
individuals, Abraham Maimonides and Bar, who in the medieval period were
inclined towards Islamic mysticism - taawwuf. And alongside the medieval, I will
also look at similar examples in the contemporary modern period Pr Inyat
Khan and Rabbi Zalman Shalomi.
Defining fism and asidism
Jonathan Brown and Martin Lings simply explain Sfism as: the the art of
knocking on the door of the divine.
1
Brown further quotes a famous Sfi saint
Ab Bakr al-Shibl as describing Sufism as, comforting the heart with the fan of
purity, clothing the mind with the cloak of faithfulness, acquiring generosity and
rejoicing in meeting God.
2
Pr Dhul-Fiqr of the Naqshband arqat (order)
illustrates how one is to acquire taawwuf, he quotes Hasan al-Basr, hum ne
taawwuf ql wa ql se nah balke tark-e-lazzt se skh we acquired taawwuf
not through argumentation and debate, but by casting aside materialistic and
worldly desires.
3
Junaid al-Baghdd once said in a poem:
1
Brown, J. A. C. (2009). Hadith: Muhammads Legacy in the Medieval and Modern World. (p.
184).
2
ibid.
3
Ahmad, Z. F. (2003). Majlis-e-Faqr (
.:
.
14
13
Accessed online [07.05.2011]: http://www.chowk.com/Views/Three-Tales-Of-Sufi-Wisdom also
in Urdu: Rm, J. (2009). ikyt-e-Rm ( .: . ). Trans. by Sufi Asif Mahmood.
14
Rm, J. (2009). ikyt-e-Rm (. .:). Trans. by Sufi Asif Mahmood. (p. 21)
7
Mevlaw could never have become the Maula (Master) of Rm,
till he became the slave
15
of Shams Tabrez
However, even for the famous jurist of Islam, al-Shfi, the acquiring of exoteric
knowledge depended upon a spiritual state of taqw and tark al-ma. Imm al-
Shfi once complained to his teacher regarding his weakness in memory and
expressed this incident in a poem:
16
I complained to [my teacher / my sheikh] Waq regarding the weakness of my memory.
He prescribed for me the abstinence from sins. For indeed al-ilm [sacred knowledge] is
a nr (light) from my Lord. And the light of Allah is not given to a sinner.
Interestingly, when Thnw was asked the definition of a f, he replied with
determination, . .` lim b amal - A scholar, who implements his
knowledge.
17
Hence, it is bringing to life the letters of the sacred texts and
becoming the embodiment of the sacred knowledge that is the spiritual aim of
Islamic spirituality. Iqbal expresses this notion in his poem, of how a mumin
(believer) is not the one who merely recites the sacred text, but is in reality the
sacred text.
. . _ .
! : , ` > ..:.
- . - -:.
18
! ,
. , . `
, ,
15
Slave here refers to murd (follower).
16
Thnw, A. A. (1425H) . Tufa al-Ulem : ...-.
:. :.,,,
, _ .,
.
26
those who believe in the revelation sent down to you [Muhammad], and in what
was sent before you, those who have firm faith in the hereafter (Quran 1:4). It
will be deduced [from this verse] that belief will be on all mashikh ahl al-aq
(the masters of the true path) just as itiqd (belief) with ones own master,
however ittib (following the f path) is only of ones own sheikh. Just as the
identical command regarding the following of Prophets. It is evident from this
exegesis that the fs, despite their silsilas, have resorted to deducing ul
(principles) of taawwuf from interpretations of the Quran.
The Tsaddik
Rachel Elior has systematically explained the role of the Tsaddik in Hasidism
through four notions; (1) Charisma; (2) Mutual devotion and responsibility; (3)
Embodiment of the divine dialectic; and (4) linking the divine and the material.
Elior explains the notion of Charisma, The Tsadik derives his authority from the
26
Thnw, A. A. (1424H). Bayn al-Qurn (
:
). (p. 4)
11
charisma of divine election, a sense of divinely inspired mission and a
consciousness of revelation through immediate contact with higher worlds.
27
The f sheikh, in this notion, is one with the Tsaddik, but as elaborated earlier
the difference between both in this context would be the silsila, which is believed
to reach back to the Prophet himself. However, there is a distinction between the
function of the ulem and the uf masters, similar to that of the tzaddikim and
the normative rabbis. However, it is clear that both do merge, so there will
certainly be ulem who are also f masters, and this I believe to be the
normative practice now in the Muslim world. For instance the madrasa (Islamic
Seminary) of Bury is famously known for its uf influence on traditional subjects
and methodology. Sf mystic-jurists of the sub-continent, such as Mufti Taq
Uthmn, call for a merging of the sciences of taawwuf and fiqh. However, at
times it is felt that ufism begins to influence jurisprudence and vice versa. But
this is then rebuked by jurists by differentiating the status of taqw (
) and
fatw ( ).
Elior further explains the notion of Mutual devotion and responsibility, The
relationship between the tsaddik and his Hasidim is based on an all-embracing
nexus of spiritual brotherhood and social responsibility.
28
This relationship is
termed hitkasherut vehitkalelut (affiliation and absorption), it could be seen as the
two wheels of the same cycle, as they both need each other for this spiritual
movement on a difficult path. Embodiment of the divine dialectic, Elior
elaborates as, the tsaddik embodies the dialectical tension between
transcendence and sublimation, the process of emanation from nothingness so
as to bring abundance into the world. He moves between different states of
consciousness so as to confront both divine nothingness and physical being.
29
This notion I believe is quite unique to Hasidism.
Lastly the idea of Linking the divine and the material, Elior understands as, the
tsaddik devotes himself simultaneously to God and to the world. In an
attempt to reunite the divine element in the material world with its source in the
27
Elior, R. (2008). The Mystical Origins of Hasidism. (p. 130)
28
ibid.
29
ibid.
12
heavenly world, he strives to elevate the mundane; at the same time he attempts
to draw down the divine abundance from on high for the benefit of the world.
30
This idea is similar to Rms dervish, when he circles in the f dance, with one
hand up towards the divine and the other lowered towards the world: it is where
he takes from the divine and distributes to the world. Further to this point at the
death of Umar ibn Abd al-Azz (Umar II), the Byzantine emperor exclaimed, If a
man subsequent to Jesus Christ had the miracle to bring people back from the
dead, it would have been Umar ibn Abd al-Azz. I dislike the monk, who escapes
from the world and resides in his abode of worship. That monk amazes me, who
kept the material world beneath his feet and even then lived a life of an ascetic
[referring here to Umar II].
31
It is interesting to note all the similarities in the tales; poetry; purposes and above
all the belief in One God; and a belief system that leads back to Prophet
Abraham: surely there must be some inclination of both towards the other.
Recently, when the kosher phone came into the market designed for the needs
of the Hasidim, the Muslim was the first to say, right, I am certainly buying that
for my child.
32
And delightful is what Dr Jonathan Gorsky believes, that despite
differences in theology, the Abrahamic faiths come together in spirituality.
33
In
the medieval period there are many examples of Jews, who were inclined
towards ufism such as Abraham Maimonides who once said,
"Thou art aware of the ways of the ancient saints of Israel, which are not or but
little practiced among our contemporaries, that have now become the practice of
the Sufis of Islam, on account of the iniquities of Israel."
34
Goiten has written an article A Jewish Addict to Sufism focusing on a Jewish
Sf Bar, and a letter from his wife to the Rabbi urging the Jewish community to
30
ibid.
31
Sajjad, Z. A. and Shahabi, I. A (1991). Trkh-e-Millet t. .
:
). Idrah Tlft e Ashrafiyyah:
Multan, Pakistan [Urdu]
Thnw, A. A. (1425H) . Tufa al-Ulem ( : : ,.: ... -.
.: : :: : - -- -
. . . . t Idara-e-taleefat-e-Ashrafiyya: Multan, Pakistan. [Urdu]
http://www.poetry-chaikhana.com/
Accessed online [27.04.2011]
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/7636021.stm
Accessed online: [10.05.2011]
Inayati-Maimuni Tariqat of Sufi Hasidim | The Desert Fellowship of the Message
Accessed online [10.05.2011]:
http://www.zimbio.com/Judaism/articles/144/Inayati+Maimuni+Tariqat+Sufi+Hasi
dim+Desert