Songs of love and devotion

Preface

Most of the discourses and writings on Chowk have expressed eloquently the thoughts of the writers, regarding essentially three subjects: Islam, Pakistan and women. This article contains the writings of authors who have looked deep into the vision of Islam, within the Islamic tradition itself, and it is it is precisely this vision that can provide us with the self reflection of the Muslims own traditions.

Some of the writers on Chowk have advocated alternative interpretations, based on the influence of their exposure to the West. But to do so would mean replacing something that has withstood onslaughts through time with an interpretation that has its basis in an alien thought process. Those who have posed questions have done so because their approach is based on that other vision. How, then, to speak of Islam for those who find themselves using another set of lenses?

Rumi has the answer:

The lover who seeks the beloved and knocks on the door of love will find that he has been knocking from within. That is how.

To find the vision of Islam and Muslims means that we must speak the language of Islam. Islam cannot be experienced or understood from outside itself.

The authors whose writings are contained here have done just that.

Such is the power of the writing of the authors (listed at the end) in particular Sachiko Murata, that I have simply put her words down as is. From the other readings I have translated, paraphrased and attempted to make readable the concepts described within. All those books are listed at the end.

“Bina ishq na manzil hath aawe

Bina ishq na bandian baatan ne …”

Islam and the Quran generate a great many questions among non-Muslims.

On Chowk there have been several articles that have posed these same questions, as well as the replies to these articles.

Even Muslims need these questions answered because we are being subjected to somewhat narrow, literal interpretations, and need a deeper understanding of Islam; an understanding that is needed even more urgently today.

These questions have consistently been the same: about the position and treatment of women in Islam, about the Islamic view of other religions, etc.

· Why does the Quran and Islam treat women so badly?

· Why does the Quran accept slavery and servants in society?

· Why is the Quran and Islam against other religions and why does the Quran say that Christians should be killed?

· Why are men considered superior to women in Islam?

· The Quran sounds harsh. Is it because it was written in a different time and era that it sounds so harsh?

· Why is God described as ‘wrathful’ and ‘severe’, etc? God should be described as Love.

· Why is Allah referred to as male? Islam seems to be a patriarchal/male religion. What if God is really female?

· What does Islam think of Jesus?

· What does Islam think about Heaven and Hell? About Satan?

These are the questions that always come up, and therefore these pages are directed toward you, who have asked and are reading this; you who have taken the first step toward understanding Islam.

All religions came from the same Source.

I heard Mr. Kabir Helminski address an audience once and what he said was something worth remembering. He said:

"If you are a Christian and Jesus is your link, then hold on to that link with both hands and do not let it go.

If you are a Jew and Moses is your link, then hold on to that link with both hands and do not let it go.

If you are a Buddhist and Buddha is your link, then hold on to that link with both hands and do not let it go."

All religions link to the same Source.

To understand Islam our starting point has to be the Quran.

Those who have asked specific questions have most probably encountered some aspect of Islam and Muslims in the media or have probably read a translated version of the Quran, such as the one by Marmaduke, Ahmed Ali or Gibb. These are among the most widely read translated versions of the Quran in the Western world and may even be used by teachers in colleges and universities.

Whatever views and judgements exist in the West are due, in no small part, to these translations.

This does not in any way absolve those Muslims who have emphasized a restricted interpretation of Islam. They also have added to this view.

People ask if the tone and views in the Quran are because it was written in a different time and for a different era, and that it may not be relevant or applicable now.

The answer is simple: The Quran has remained unaltered and unchanged since it was revealed. It remains today as it was from the beginning, with all the words intact in their original meanings.

The Quran is never modified. Nor is it a question of the Quran being written for another era. The Quran was ‘written’ outside of our time, its timelessness and flexibility are permanent. It is, however, important to read these same translations because then it becomes very clear why the negative view of Islam persists in the West (and why it continues to do so.)

By the West I mean not only the people of the various western nations and cultures, but also those people who have a western outlook because of education, upbringing etc.

Islamic thought begins with Allah. Muslims begin with the profession of Unity, the ‘tawhid’, that there is no god but God:

‘Allah was, and there was none with Him.”

The word ‘Allah’ literally means ‘the One’ (from ‘al-Lah’).

There are two traditions in Islamic thought: the ‘intellectual’ tradition and the ‘jurist’ tradition. The representatives of the ‘intellectual’ tradition ask the ‘why’ of things, and not simply the ‘how’. This is the ‘Hadith’. The representatives of the ‘jurist’ tradition tell the people ‘what’ they must do and not ask ‘why’. This is the ‘Sharia’ or the ‘Kalaam’.

Proponents of the ‘Kalaam’ have been called "fundamentalist" or “Islamist” or something equally strange by Westerners. But this imposes a category that does not, that cannot, exist in Islam. All Muslims believe in the Quran. By this definition all Muslims would have to be categorized as ‘fundamentalist’. A Muslim is a Muslim.

In truth, the word ‘fundamentalist’ does not exist in the language. It is a word coined by the Protestants, a word that we do not have an equivalent for. The criteria for being a Muslim is to follow the Sharia and acknowledge a certain basic creed; none of which could be said to be exclusively 'orthodox’.

Islamic history does not have a universally recognized ‘orthodox’ school of thought. Instead, there are a large number of schools that discourse and debate amongst themselves about how the creed is to be understood. The result of this is a long and dynamic history of intellectual interaction.

All Muslims follow the Hadith and the Sharia:

This means that Islam can only be followed in its entirety.

Islamic thought and all Muslims, begin with Allah:

“There is nothing real but the Real’

From Murata (1):

To conceive of Allah, we must grasp the limitations of our own conceptions and this means that we have to acknowledge that there are things that we will never ever know.

None knows Allah but Allah. This is the basic assertion of the ‘tawhid’. Hence we have ‘two’ Allah’s: the Allah of our conception and the Allah who is beyond our conception. This duality is only the nature of human discussion about Allah. We affirm Allah’s Unity, and this duality never implies absolute separation, but rather, complementary dimensions of a single reality

To conceive of Allah is to realize the Nameable and the Unnameable, the Known and the Unknown: Allah is absolutely and infinitely Real, while the cosmos are only relatively real.

Thus the Reality (al-haqq) lies beyond the grasp of the created reality. As soon as we name the nameable, we need to recognize the Unnameable, that which we cannot grasp.

But the nameable demands the relationship of pairs that are inherent in it’s own nature.

So we begin with a double duality: First the nameable and the unnameable, and then the relationship of pairs that define the laws of the nameable.

Therefore in Islamic thought, Allah who can be discussed forces us to acknowledge Allah who is beyond discussion.

For duality to be found, it must be connected to the One, who is beyond all duality.

The qawwal sings: "Tu hi tu, tu hi tu, tu hi tu"

You and you, only You.

Before the existence of the universe there was nothing but the Creator. All Muslims agree that the existence of the universe depends on this one Reality.

‘To say one is to say two, and to say two is to say one.’

It is this dualistic approach that dominates in social teachings. There is also a polar approach that is found in Islam that is complementary and stresses interconnectedness. This polar approach is stressed in spiritual teachings.

To distinguish, to discern, one must first become aware of dualities, of opposites.

The ultimate aim is always the establishment of the unity and interrelatedness of all reality. Everything in existence is in constant need of divine replenishment. Nothing stands still in creation and no phenomena remains constant in two successive moments.

Thus at each instant ‘Mercy’ and ‘Gentleness’ create all things in the universe, And just as His ‘Mercy’ creates, His ‘Wrath’ destroys. Every succeeding universe represents a new universe, similar to the preceding universe, but different.

Each new universe represents a new self-disclosure of Allah, and never repeats itself, since Allah is infinite.

"...Tu khyalon, tajassus tu hi aarzoo

Aankh ki roshni, dil ki aavaaz tu

Tha bhi tu, hai bhi tu

Ho ga bhi tu hi tu ..."

From Murata (1):

All things in the universe are paired with other things.

Among the fundamental principles of creation are the Pen (al-qalam) and the Tablet (aI-lawh).

In the Hadith the Prophet said that Intellect (‘aql’) was the first thing created. Here Intellect (or First Intellect) does not mean human intellect as we understand it.

The First Intellect is the Pen, active, luminous and governs the Tablet. The Tablet is an invisible, spiritual reality upon which the Quran is "written".

It is this which places the Quran outside of our ‘time’, and why it remains timeless.

All creatures are latent and undifferentiated in the Intellect’s knowledge, just as ink is present inside the Pen. Then by means of the Intellect, Allah creates the whole universe, much as an entire page is written by a pen as it puts down the thoughts of a writer.

Muslims never see anything as exclusively active (male) or exclusively receptive (female). Everything in the universe has both these qualities. Thus the pen has a masculine side to its nature and because Allah created it as a means to bring the rest of the universe into existence, the Pen has a face turned toward the universe. It ‘writes’ on the Tablet and the cosmos comes to exist as the ‘written words of Allah. This first spiritual reality is called the First Intellect’ (aql), at least partly because it has a receptive or female side to its nature. The Intellect has a face turned toward Allah through which it receives constant replenishment from His light.

At the same time, it limits and constricts the light through its own limits as a creature. In order to bring the universe into existence, the Pen needs a place within which to write. Without the Tablet, no duality could appear within spiritual existence, and without duality there could be no physical universe.

Just as the Pen is called the First Intellect, the Tablet is called the Universal Soul, In relation to Allah, the First Intellect is receptive, dark, female. but in relation to the Tablet it is active, luminous, male.

The Pen has two faces. With one face it looks at Allah and with the other it looks at the Tablet and everything below it.

In the same way the Tablet has two faces. With one face it looks at the Pen and with the other it looks at the worlds below it. We see in it both creativity and receptivity. It is said to have two faculties: the faculty of knowing, (through which it receives from the Intellect), and the faculty of acting (through which it exercises control). It knows the details of the existence of all things. It acts by bestowing existence upon that which it knows.

Pen and Tablet illustrate the workings of the active and the receptive (the ‘jalaal’ and the ‘jamaal’) within the spiritual or invisible world. The First Intellect is considered the first reality to emerge from the One, or Allah’s first step in bringing the manyness of the cosmos into existence. Intellect is the spirit considered as the most luminous dimension of the human being, the nearest to Allah, and thus the first dimension of the microcosm to enter into existence.

Intellect is that which discerns the hidden and unveils the Unknown. Our everyday senses and awareness bear the responsibility for the discernment of the Known, whether known now or to be discovered and known at a later time.

The namable Known and the unnameable Unknown is everything that exists - and everything that does not exist.

These are the ‘Ten Thousand Things’, or the ‘kamaal’. The ‘kamaal’, is the union of the active and the receptive (the ‘jamaal’ and the ‘jalaaI’).

We must consider and accept both: Those things that exist, in our world, in our thoughts and imagination, in the universe ... as well as those things that we cannot conceive of, those things that do not exist.

The first stage to be set is that of an altered perspective, an altered reality, because without an altered perspective there can be no true awareness.

To become aware we must acquire perspective.

This basis of Islam is essential in altering perspective: that Muslims do not see anything as purely male or purely female, active or receptive.

This is called the polar approach: that everything is in pairs. Establishing Unity shows how polarity itself is the primary principle through which unity manifests itself. Islamic views on the feminine can in no way be separated from Islamic views on the masculine. It is this view that is the basis also for understanding the Islamic views on women.

What are those verses?

‘And the husband has rights over the wife, like obedience toward him.’

“They have rights like those over them, with honor.”

“And what is the right of the wife over the husband?”

The Messenger of Allah replied: "That he not hit her in the face and not abuse her, that he feed her with what he eats, that he clothe her with what he wears, and that he not keep himself apart from her. You have taken them in trust from Allah ... and among your rights over them is that they not spread your bed for someone you dislike. If they do that, strike them with a striking not severe. They have the right over you that you provide for them and clothe them with honor.

... But the men have a degree above women.

He has the obligation to expend his properly for her and she has the obligation to serve him because of this.’

Said the Prophet: “The best of you is the best of you to his wife.’ Be good to your wives for they are your helpers. They own nothing of their own and you have taken them as a trust from Allah. Be good to them and desire the best for them.

They have more through the dower they contract to give them and the support they provide for them. In addition, they have through the blood money, since the blood money for a man is twice that of a woman; Through inheritance, since a man’s share is twice that of a woman; Through divorce since this is in a man’s hands

These have been used numerous times to portray Islam as backward and against women, that they provide clear proof that Islam aims to subjugate women in society, a view that is used by some who have a narrow interpretation of the words in the Quran.

When Islam was revealed women in Asia and Europe lived in the deepest, darkest levels of oppression. It was common to trade them as one would trade goods, to use them as mere working animals or to just kill baby girls at birth by burying them alive because they were perceived as having no value.

Islam granted rights to women, the likes of which the Western world is just now beginning to give to its women, more than a thousand years later. It was nothing less than revolutionary.

Women were afforded a position equal to and more than men.

It is clear that the words stress the importance of the marriage bond as the foundations of the community and society. At the same time, these verses also set up a certain irreversibility in the husband-wife relationship, and the two functions may not be mixed.

Yet there is something else hidden here.

And those with a deeper understanding can see it: That in these verses lies clear proof of the dominating power of women. The firmness with which the superiority of men is stressed points to a certain power in women that needs to be faced.

If men are so superior, why does the point have to be emphasized so much?

Because, in fact, men are really the weaker sex, weaker than women in many ways, and require a Divine support, the backing of Allah and the prophet so that a balance be established for the right relationship.

Women share in all levels with men, even in being "Qutb", the supreme spiritual ruler of the age, upon whom the existence of the cosmos depends. Moreover, women have certain attainments that men cannot reach.This article is a compilation of texts mainly from “The Tao of Islam” and the other books listed below:

1. The Tao of Islam - Sachiko Murata (State University of New York Press)

2. The Secret of Secrets - Hazrat 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani (Islamic Texts Society)

3. Early Islamic Mysticism - translated by Michael Sella (Paulist Press, New York)

4. Seven Doors to Islam - John Renard (University of California Press)

5. Mohammed - Karen Armstrong (Harper, San Francisco)

6. Koliyat-e-Shams (Shams-e-Tabriz) - Jallaluddin Rumi (Iran Press)

7. Living Islam - Shaykh Fadhalla Haeri (Element Books, associated with Zahra Publications)

8. The Power of Myth - Joseph Cambell (Doubleday books)

9. The Bezels of Wisdom – Ibn-al-Arabi (translated by R.W.J. Austin; Paulist Press)

10. Deciphering the Signs of God - Annemarie Schimmel (State University of New York Press)

11. Mystical Dimensions of Islam - Annemarie Schimmel (State University of New York Press)

12. Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn'Arabi - Henry Corbin translated by Ralph Manheim (Princeton/Bollington paperbacks)

13. The Masnavi - Jallaluddin Rumi (Karim Zamani; Iran Press)

14. The Teachings of Don Juan; A Separate Reality; Journey to Ixtlan; Tales of Power; The Second Ring of Power; The Eagle's Gift; The Power of Silence; The Art of Dreaming - all by Carlos Casteneda (HarperPerennial)