Gnostics of Eighth Century
`Ala'uddin Simnani: In the beginning he was a senior government official. Later he relinquished that job and joined the fraternity of the gnostics. He spent all his riches in the way of Allah. Ala'uddin Simnani who is the author of a number of books, has a special theory of gnosis which is discussed in the books of
tasawwuf. He died in 736 A.H. The famous poet Khwajwi Kirmani was one of his disciples. He composed a poem in his praise.
Abdur Razzaq Kashani: He was a great gnostic scholar of the eighth century. He wrote commentaries on Muhyuddin Ibnul `Arabi's Fusus and Khwaja Abdullah's Manazilus Sa'irin. Both these commentaries have been published and are used by the scholars.
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In the course of giving a life account of Abdur Razzaq Lahiji the author of the Rawzatul Jannat has said that the Shahid Thani has paid glowing tributes to Abdur Razzaq Kashani. Heated discussions took place between Kashani and `Alaa'uddin Simnani regarding the questions of theoretical gnosis advanced by Muhyuddin Ibnul 'Arabi.
Abdur Razzaq Kashani died in 735 A.H.
Khwaja Hafiz Shirazi: Although he enjoys world fame, we know scarcely anything about his life. Anyhow it is an undisputed fact that he was a scholar, gnostic, memorizer of the Qur'an and a commentator of it. He has alluded to these facts at a number of places in his poetry.
He has referred to his preceptor and spiritual guide also, but it is not known who that spiritual guide was. The gnostic poetry of Hafiz is of the highest quality, but it is not easy for every one to get to its subtleties. All the subsequent gnostics admit that Hafiz himself passed through the high stage of gnosis personally,
Some distinguished scholars have written commentaries on some of the verses of Hafiz. For example the famous philosopher of the ninth century Jalaluddin Dawani compiled a whole book explaining one couplet of his. Hafiz died in 791 A.H.
1
Shaykh Mahmud Shabistari: He composed an excellent mathnawi named Gulshan-e-Raz devoted to the subject of gnosis. This book is regarded as one of the best books of Tasawwuf, and it has made the name of Shabistari immortal. Several commentaries on it have been written. The best of them is perhaps that of Shaykh Muhammad Lahiji. It has been published and is available. Shabistari died in about 720 A.H.
Sayyid Haydar He is an eminent gnostic scholar. One of his books is Jimi`ul Astir, which is a deep study of Muhyuddin `Arabi's theoretical gnosis. This book has been recently published. Another of his books is the Nassun Nustis, which is a commentary on the Fustis. Sayyid Haydar was a
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1 Hafiz is the most favourite poet of the modern Iranians. Some opportunists have tried to prove him to be a materialist or at least not a strict believer in Islam. We have repudiated this mischievous idea in our book, `The Causes of Inclination to Materialism.'
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contemporary of Allamah Hilli. The exact year of his death is not known.
Abdul Karim Jili: He is the author of the well-known book, al-Insan al-Kamil (Perfect Man). Ibnul 'Arabi was the first to advance the theory of perfect man. Later it became an important doctrine of Islamic gnosis.
Ibnul `Arabi's pupil and disciple, Sadruddin Qunawi has elaborately discussed this doctrine in his book, Miftahul Ghayb. As far as we know two gnostics have independently written two books each named
al-Insan al-Kama. One of them is Azizuddin Nasafi and the other is 'Abdul Karim Jili. Both the books have been published. Abdul Karim Jili died at the early age of 38 in 805 A.H.
Gnostics of Ninth Century
Shah Ni`matullah Wali: He is a direct descendant of Imam Ali and is one of the famous sufis and gnostics. At present the Ni`matuullah order is one of the most well-known sufi orders. His tomb at Mahan in the region of Kirman is a place of pilgrimage for the sufis.
He is said to have died at the age of about 95 years in 820 or 827 or 837 A.H.
Sa'inuddin Ali Tarkah Isfahani: He is a learned gnostic well-versed in Ibnul `Arabi's system of theoretical gnosis. His book Tamhidul Qawald, which has been published testifies to his erudity. Well-known scholars appreciate this book and regard it as authentic.
Muhammad ibn Hamzah Fannari Rumi: He was a scholar of the Uthmani Empire. He had the knowledge of many sciences and was the author of a large number of books. His fame in gnosis and mysticism rests on his book, Misbahul Uns, which is a commentary on Qunawi's Miftahul Ghayab.
It is not easy to write a commentary on Muhyuddin Ibnul `Arabi's books or those of Sadruddin Qunawi, but Fannâri has successfully done this job and his work has been appreciated by the later gnostic scholars. This book has been published with the late Mirza Rashti's notes by litho in Tehran. Unfortunately some of the notes are not legible owing to bad printing. Mirza Rashti was a gnostic scholar of the last century.
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Shamsuddin Muhammad Lahiji Nurbakhshi: He is a commentator of Mahmud Shabistari's Mathnawi, Gulshan-e Raz, and was a contemporary of Sadruddin Dashtaki and Allamah Dawdni. He lived in Shiraz. In the Majalisul Mu'minin Qazi Narullah says that Sadruddin Dashtaki and Allamah Dawani who were distinguished scholars of their time held Muhammad Lahiji in great respect.
He was a disciple of Sayyid Muhammad Nur Bakhsh, who was a pupil of Ibnul Fand Hilli. The chain of his preceptors, as mentioned by him in his commentary on the Gulshan-e-Raz, goes from Sayyid Muhammad Nur Bakhsh up to Ma`rtif Karkhi and then through Imam Riza and his forefathers to the Holy Prophet. Shamsuddin Muhammad Lahiji calls this chain the "Chain of gold."
(Silsilatuz Zahab).
Lahiji's fame rests largely on his commentary on the Gulshan-e-Raz. This book is regarded as one of the best books of sufism. As he has mentioned in the preface of his book, he started the compilation of it in 877. The exact year of Lahiji's death is not known. Apparently he died before 900 A.H.
Nuruddin `Abdur Rahman Jami: His ancestral line goes to Muhammad bin Hasan Shaybani, an eminent Jurist of the second century. Jami was an outstanding poet, and is regarded 1as the last great poet of sufi poetry in Iran.
In the beginning his nom de plume was Dashti. Later he changed it to Jami, first because he was born at Jam, a town in the province of Mashad and secondly because he was a disciple of Ahmad Jami known as Zhindah Pil. He himself says: "I was born at Jam and my writings are inspired by Shaykh al-Islam Jami. For these two reasons my nom de plume is Jami."
Jami was the master of several sciences, such as syntax (grammar), morphology, theology, principles of jurisprudence, logic, philosophy and
tasawwuf. He was the author of a large number of books, including a commentary on Muhyuddin's Fususul Hikam, a commentary on Fakhruddin 'Iraqi's Lanffit, a commentary on Ibn Fariz's Ode rhyming in `ta', a commentary on Qasidatul Burdah, a hymn in praise of the Holy Prophet, a commentary on Farazdaq's panagyric on Imam Zaynul `Abidin, the Lawà'ih, the Bandristan, in which he followed Sa`cli's style and the Nafahatul Uns, a memoir of the sufis' lives.
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Jami was a disciple of Bahà'uddin Naqshband, the founder of the sufi order known as the Naqshbandiya. Just as Muhammad Lahiji's personality was superior to that of his preceptor, Sayyid Muhammad Nur Bakhsh, similarly Jami was a more distinguished and better scholar than his preceptor, Baha'uddin Naqshband. As at present we are discussing the scientific aspect of gnosis and are not concerned with sufi orders, we have mentioned Muhammad Lahiji and Abdur Rahmân Jami, but not their preceptors. Jami died at the age of 88 in 898 of the hijrah.
This is a brief account of the development of mysticism in Islam from its beginning up to the end of the ninth century. In our opinion after that the history of mysticism and gnosis underwent a complete change. So far sufi scholars were considered to be the eminent sufis themselves. They were attached to regular orders and their books were standard books of mysticism and gnosis. But with the beginning of the 10th century the situation changed.
(i) Now even the most prominent sufis did not possess that amount of knowledge and capability as their predecessors did. Perhaps it would be correct to say that after the ninth century mysticism became a mixture of hollow rituals and self-made innovations.
(ii) Secondly some persons who did not belong to any sufi order acquired more proficiency in the gnostic ideas of the Muhyuddin school than regular sufis.
For example Mulla Sadra Shirazi (d. 1050 A.H.), his pupil, Fayz Kashini (d. 1091 A.H.) and his pupils' pupil Qazi Sa`id Qummi (d. 1103) had more knowledge of the theories and ideas of the Muhyuddin's school than the most prominent sufis of their age, although none of them belonged to any sufi order. Such examples still exist.
The late Agha Riza Qamsha'i and the late Agha Mirza Rashti were not practising sufis, but were among those philosophers and scholars of the past 100 years who were experts in theoretical gnosis.
It may be said that this practice has started since the time of Muhyuddin Ibn al-Arabi when theoretical gnosis was founded and it acquired the shape of a philosophy.
We mentioned earlier Muhammad bin Hamzah Fannari.
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Perhaps he was also one of those who were not practising sufis, but were highly proficient in theoretical gnosis. Such a practice has become conspicuous since the 10th century onward when a class of such people came into existence who were experts in the theory of gnosis, but were not practising sufis or at least did not belong to any regular order of the sufis.
From the 10th century onward we meet many individuals who were really devoted gnostics and sufis, but not only they did not belong to any regular sufi order, but were indifferent to these orders and either denounced them totally or criticized some of their practices.
A characteristic of this group was that they were mostly jurists and divines and as such they were very particular about maintaining harmony between the mystic beliefs and practices and the rules of external religion and morality. This story also has a history, but this is not a proper occasion to narrate it.
Stages and Stations
The gnostics say that in order to attain to true gnosis it is necessary to pass through certain stages and stations, without passing through which, it would not be possible to attain to gnosis.
Gnosis and theosophy have one common feature, but each of them is distinct from the other in many respects. The feature which they have in common is that both of them in a way aim at gaining the knowledge of Allah, although the basic objective of theosophy is to gain the knowledge of the universe. Yet in its own way it aims at gaining the knowledge of Allah also, though that is not its sole aim.
On the contrary to the gnostics the knowledge of Allah is all that they want. They believe that in the light of Allah's knowledge from the angle of monotheism they perceive everything in its true perspective. In other words according to them, the perception of everything else depends on the knowledge of Allah.
Another difference between theosophy and gnosis is that a theosophist or a philosopher seeks mental and intellectual knowledge which can be compared to the knowledge that a mathematician gains through pondering over the mathematical problems. But the knowledge which a gnostic seeks is based on his personal and inner experience and his inward feeling and
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observation, and may be compared to the knowledge gained by a researcher in his laboratory. The philosopher seeks that may be certain and definite knowledge but the gnostic seeks true and absolute knowledge.
The third difference is that the philosopher uses reasoning and arguments whereas the gnostic gains knowledge by the purification of his heart and changing his self. The philosopher wants to study the universe by using the telescope of his mind, whereas the gnostic stimulates his entire existence to teach the truth, and wants to pass away from his self by joining the Truth just like a drop of rain that passes away into the river.
From the view-point of a philosopher understanding the truth is the natural perfection that man is expected to attain, but in the eyes of a gnostic man's perfection is to gain access to the Truth. According to the philosopher the imperfect man is he who is ignorant, whereas according to the gnostic the imperfect man is he who is away from his origin and does not have access to the Truth.
The gnostic regards gaining access as perfection, not knowing and understanding. He considers it necessary to pass through several stages and stations in order to reach his goal and obtain true gnosis. It is passing through these stages which is called "spiritual journey".
In the books of tasawwuf these stages and stations have been elaborately discussed. To throw a brief light on the subject we here quote a summary of the ninth chapter of Abu Ali ibn Sina's book al-Isharat.
Abu Ali Sina is a philosopher, not a gnostic. Yet he is not a dry philosopher. Towards the end of his life he was drawn to gnosis and in al-Isharat, which is apparently his last book, he has devoted one whole chapter to the description of the stations of the gnostics.
Instead of citing any passages from the books of the gnostics we deem it better to give a summary of the ninth chapter of al-Ishirat, which is an exceptionally high standard work.
Definition of Zahid, `Abid and Arif
"An ascetic
(zahid) is he who renounces wordily goods and pleasures and a worshipper
(abid) is he who is strict in performing
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such acts of worship as prayers, fast etc. He who diverts his attention from every thing other than Allah and concentrates his mind on the world of divinity with a view to illuminate his soul in the radiance of Divine light, is called gnostic
(alif). In many cases one can simultaneously have all these three qualities or two of them."
Although Abu 'Ali Sina here has defined ascetic, worshipper and gnostic only, yet by implication he has also defined asceticism, worship and gnosis.
This definition shows that asceticism means the renunciation of worldly desires and vanities; worship means the performance of such acts as prayers, fast and recitation of the Qur'an; and gnosis means the diversion of mind from everything other than Allah and its concentration on Him with a view to enlighten the heart. The last sentence of Abu Ali Sina alludes to an important point, that is that one can simultaneously be an ascetic and a worshipper or an ascetic and a gnostic. One can also be an ascetic as well a worshipper and a gnostic both. Ibn Sina has not further elucidated his point, but what he means to say is that one can be an ascetic and a worshipper without being a gnostic but one cannot be a gnostic without being an ascetic and a worshipper.
To make this point more clear it may be mentioned that every gnostic is necessarily an ascetic and a worshipper also, but every ascetic or every worshipper is not necessarily a gnostic.
Ibn Sina points out that the asceticism of a gnostic is different from that of a non-gnostic, for each of them has a different philosophy of asceticism. Similarly the philosophy of a gnostic's worship is different from that of a non-gnostic's worship. The nature and spirit of the asceticism and worship of a gnostic are different from those of a non-gnostic.
Ibn Sina says that the asceticism of a non-gnostic is a sort of barter trade for he buys other worldly benefits in exchange for this worldly goods. On the other hand the asceticism of a gnostic means purging of his heart of everything that may obstruct his attention to Allah. The non-gnostic's worship also is a sort of business. He is a workman who works for wages. He adores Allah in this world so that he may be recompensed in the next. But to a gnostic the worship which he performs is a sort
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of spiritual exercise and a constant practice of being attentive to the Divine essence and inattentive to the world.
Gnostic's Goal
Ibn Sina says: 'The gnostic seeks Allah alone. He is not concerned with anything else. In his eyes there is nothing more important and more valuable than gnosis. He worships Allah because worship is due to Him and because it is an appropriate and decent way of expressing man's relation to Him. The worship of the gnostic is free from any element of fear or hope of reward.'
In other words the gnostic is an absolute monotheist in his objective. He seeks Allah alone. He does not seek Him for the sake of gaining any benefits in this or the next world, for if he does so, his main aim would be these benefits and he would be seeking Allah only as a means of obtaining them, not as his sole objective. In this case his real deity would be his lower self to please and satisfy which he requires all the bounties and pleasures.
A non-gnostic seeks Allah for the sake of His bounties, and a gnostic seeks His bounties for the sake of Himself.
Here a question arises. If it was true that the gnostic did not seek anything except Allah, then why did he worship Him? He must have some objective. In reply to this question Abu Ali Sina says that the gnostic worships Allah for two reasons: Firstly because Allah deserves to be worshipped. It is a common practice that when a person finds any conspicuous good quality in another person or thing he automatically praises that person or thing, not in the hope of getting any benefit, but simply because that person or thing is praiseworthy. This rule applies to all commendable persons in all walks of life.
Another reason for the gnostic's worship is that worship in itself is a good thing, for it represents the relation between man and Allah. It is a job worth doing. Therefore it is not necessary that a hope of any reward or a fear of any punishment should be the motive of worshipping Allah.
Imam Ali has said: "Allah, I do not worship You because I am afraid of Your Hell or because I hope for Your Paradise. I worship You because I have found You worthy of being worshipped."
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In this saying the worthiness of the worshipped has been mentioned as the reason of worship.
The gnostics stress the point that if man's objective in life, especially in acts of worship is anything other than Allah, then he is guilty of duality. The gnostics have stated this point in a very fascinating manner and elucidated it by quoting attractive stories. We give just one example here. This story of Mahmud and Ayaz has been related by Shaykh Sa`di in the Bostan.
Sa`di says: Somebody criticizing Sultan Mahmud of Ghazni once said that Ayaz was not handsome at all. It was surprising that the Sultan still loved him. Was there any sense in being enchanted by a flower having neither beautiful colour nor good smell? Somebody reported this incident to Mahmud. He said: "I love him because of his lovely habits and good manners, not because of his fine figure." Sa`di says: "I have heard that once upon a time a camel passing through a narrow passage lost its balance and fell. A box full of gold and jewelry which was on its back came down tumbling and was smashed. The Sultan did not care for the precious goods and left the place hastily. His retinue busied themselves with collecting and picking up the scattered gold and jewelry. No one except Ayaz went with the Sultan. The Sultan was pleased to see him and asked him what he had picked up out of that booty. Ayaz said: "I am following your Majesty. Being at Your Majesty's service I paid no attention to the precious stuff."
After relating this story Sa`di comes to his main point and says: "You are really selfish if you have an eye to the generosity of your friend and not to your friend himself. For the saints of Allah it is against the rules of "spiritual path" to wish Allah to grant them anything other than Allah."
First Stage
The first stage of the spiritual journey is called by the gnostics
"iràdah" (intention).
Irezdah means emergence of a strong desire and wish to hold fast to the path that leads to Truth and stimulates the soul to attain to its real goal. This desire may be created by an argument or by faith.
This first stage of spiritual journey, which is the keystone of the entire structure of gnosis requires some explanation.
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The gnostics have a maxim enunciating that the end is the return to the beginning.
Obviously there are only two ways, in which the end can exactly be the beginning. In one case the motion should be along a straight line and the moving thing should after reaching a particular point change its direction and come back to the point from which it had started. It has been proved in philosophy that a change of direction always involves a pause, though it may be very slight and imperceptible. Moreover these two movements would be in the opposite directions. According to the other hypothesis the motion should be along a curved line equidistant all along from a particular point. In other words the motion should be circular.
Obviously the circular motion will end at the same point from which it had begun. Anything moving along a circular line will at first be moving away from its starting point and will at last reach a point farthest from the starting point. This point will be the point at which the diameter of the circle drawn from the starting point will end. After reaching this point the moving thing will begin to return to its starting point without a pause.
The gnostics call the line of motion that goes from the starting point to the farthest point the 'descending curve' and the line of motion that comes from the farthest point to the starting point "the ascending curve". There is a special philosophy of the movement of things from the starting point to the farthest point. It is called by the philosophers the principle of causation and by the gnostics the principle of manifestation. When the things move along the descending curve it appears as if they were being pushed from behind. This philosophy is based on the doctrine that everything wants to return to its origin. In other words everything away from its home wants to come back to it. The gnostics maintain that this tendency exists in every particle of the universe including human beings, though in them this tendency sometimes is not very conspicuous, for they are often engrossed in other things which divert their attention from it. In man this dormant tendency is usually awakened only when his attention is repeatedly drawn to it. It is the awakening of this tendency that is called intention.
In his treatise named
"Istilahat" which has been published
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on the margin of
Sharh Manazilul Sa'irin Abdur Razziq Kashdni defines intention as under:
"Intention is a flame of the fire of love. When it is kindled in his heart man begins to respond to the call of Truth."
In his book Manazilus Sa'rin Khwaja Abdullah Ansari defines intention as follows:
"Intention means responding to the call of Truth of one's own accord."
It is necessary to point out that although intention has been described as the first stage, in reality it is the first stage following a few preliminary stages of development known as
Bidayar (beginnings),
Abwab(doors),
Mu'amlat (dealings) and
Aakhlaq (good moral qualities). After the beginning of the state of real gnosis the first stage is intention. The gnostics call it and the subsequent stages the principles.
Mawlavi explains the maxim, "the end is the return to the beginning" in the following words:
"The parts turn to the whole like a nightingale longing for a flower. Anything that comes out of the sea and then goes back to it, returns to its origin."
Mawlavi in the preface of his Mathnawi has included a short poem entitled "the complaint of a flute". This poem which represents the pain of longing and a sense of nostalgia illustrates intention, the first stage of gnosis in the language used by the gnostics. Mawlavi says:
"Listen to what the flute says. It is complaining of separation. It says that since it has been cut off the jungle and brought here people are tired of its loud wailing. It wants its chest to burst open so that it could express the pain of its home-sickness. Whatever is separated from its origin is always in the- quest of the meeting time."
Ibn Sina defining intention says: "Intention is that longing which man feels when he finds himself lonely and helpless and wants to be united with the Truth so that he may not have a feeling of loneliness or of helplessness".
Riyazat (Spiritual Exercise)
Ibn Sina says that next to intention
riyazat is essential for a gnostic.
Riyazat has three aims:
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(i) To remove every thing other than Allah from the path;
(ii) To make the appetitive soul submissive to the contented soul;
(iii) To soften the inner self with a view to make it fit for receiving enlightenment.
Thus the first stage is intention, which is the beginning of spiritual journey. The second stage is that of preparation, which is called
riyazat. According to certain schools of thought
riyazat means treating oneself harshly or inflicting physical pain on oneself as is practised by the jogis in India, but Ibn Sina has used the word in its real sense.
In Arabic
riyazat originally meant breaking and training a young horse. Later this word was used and is still being used in Arabic in the sense of physical and athletic exercise. The gnostics apply it to the spiritual exercise done for preparing the soul for gnostic enlightenment.
In any case here
riyazat means spiritual exercise, aiming at three objectives: The first objective is to get rid of all the causes of diverting attention from Allah; the second objective is to set the inner and spiritual faculties in a proper order with a view to gain inward composure. It is this process which is termed as subordinating the appetitive soul to the contented soul. The third objective is to change the inner condition of the soul, which is described as softening the inner ground of the soul
(taltifus sirr).
Ibn Sina says that correct type of asceticism helps in achieving the first objective, for it removes all barriers and distractions. There are several factors which contribute to the achievement of the second objective, that is subordinating the appetitive soul to the contented soul. One such factors is the acts of worship provided they are performed with one's whole heart. Another factor is good voice used for the delivery of heart-warming spiritual words, such as Quranic verses, supplications or gnostic verses. The third factor is preaching and counselling provided the preacher or the counsellor has a pure heart, eloquent expression and effective voice and is able to lead the people to the right path.
Pure thoughts and platonic love are the things which help in the achievement of the third objective, that is softening the
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inner self and purging the soul of all impurities. Love must be spiritual and intellectual aroused by moral qualities of the beloved, not by lust and cupidity.
Ibn Sina further says that when intention and
riyazat of the gnostic have progressed to a particular extent, he beholds the glimpses of divine light and feels a reflection of the glory of Allah on his heart which he finds very pleasing but it passes away very quickly like a flash of lightning.
This state is called
`awqat' (times) by the gnostics. The more a gnostic does
riyazat the more often he is seized by this state. When he has made further progress this state may overcome him even without any
riyazat. Whenever he thinks of the Divine world he is seized by a state in which he sees the manifestation of the glory of Allah in everything. At this stage sometimes the gnostic feels restless from within and his restlessness is felt by those sitting by him. Thereafter with further
riyazat that occasional condition is changed into composure. The gnostic gets familiar with his 'state' and he does not feel restless or uneasy. He feels as if he is in permanent communion with Allah. The gnostic fully enjoys this condition and when this condition occasionally disappears he feels distressed and grieved. Perhaps up to this stage others around him also can know his inward feeling of happiness or grief. The more the gnostic becomes familiar with this state, the less perceptible become his inward feelings. At last a stage comes when people see him among themselves, but he is actually somewhere else, his soul at that time being in another world.
The last sentence reminds us what Imam Ali said to Kumayl bin Ziyad Nakhal about the
walis (Muslim saints, friends of Allah). Imam Ali said:
"Springs of knowledge and wisdom gush out of their hearts. What appears to be difficult to those who live in ease and luxury, seems to be easy to them. They are familiar to what scares the ignorant. Their bodies are with the people, but their souls are in the higher world."
Ibn Sina says that so long as the gnostic is at this stage, perhaps this state comes over him occasionally but gradually he becomes able to bring it over him of his own accord whenever he likes. Then he goes a step further. He no longer needs to
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bring this state over him, as he begins to see the manifestation of Allah's glory everywhere and in everything. This state be comes a permanent feature for him though the people around him remain completely ignorant of it and notice nothing queer to draw their attention.
So long this state of the gnostic mostly depended on spiritual exercises and the acts of self-mortification, but after passing this stage even without performing any act of self -mortification he finds his heart shining like a polished mirror in which he beholds the manifestation of Allah's glory every moment. He enjoys this position and feels happy and delighted at the establishment of his connection with Allah. In this position he has an eye to Allah and an eye to himself (like a man with a mirror who sometimes looks at the mirror and sometimes at his own reflection. At the next stage even his own existence gets out of his sight. He has an eye to Allah only. If he sees himself, he sees in the same way as a man looking into a mirror sees the mirror while his attention remains fixed on the reflection, for at this time he is not expected to pay attention to the beauty of the mirror. At this stage the gnostic attains proximity to Allah and thus his journey from the creation to the Creator ends.
This was a summary of a part of the chapter 9 of
al-Isharat.
It may be mentioned here that the true Muslim gnostics believe in four journeys: (i) A journey from the creation to the Creator; (ii) A journey with the Creator in the Creator, (iii) A journey from the Creator to the creation; and (iv) A journey in the creation with the Creator.
In the second journey the gnostic or the novice gets acquainted with the Divine Names and Attributes and himself gets invested with these attributes. In the third journey he comes back to the creation for their guidance but is not separated from Allah. In the fourth journey he makes a journey among the people but accompanied by Allah. In this last journey the gnostic remains with the people and among the people and helps them gain proximity to Allah.
The summary which we have reproduced from Ibn Sina's 'shark relates to the first journey only. He has briefly discussed the other three journeys also, but we do not find it necessary to reproduce any more extracts.
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In his commentary on the Sharat Shaykh Nasiruddin Tusi says that Ibn Sina has described the first spiritual journey in nine stages. Out of them three stages are related to the beginning of the journey, three stages to the journey itself and three stages to the end of the journey. These stages become clear if we carefully study the description given by Ibn Sina.
Riyazat literally means exercise. Ibn Sina means by it the rituals, liturgy and the acts of self-mortification carried out by gnostic. These rituals and acts are numerous and the gnostic has to traverse different stages while performing them. Ibn Sina has treated the matter briefly, but the gnostics have very detailed discussions on the subject, which can be seen in the books on sufism, for example al-Asffir al-Arba`ah by Mulla Sadra.
