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Meanings, Words, and Names: Rābi‘a’s Mystical Dance of the Letters

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Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion

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Abstract

The present paper is divided into two parts with three sections each. The first part endeavors to pierce through the extravagance and flamboyance expressed in the “Rābi‘an” stories in order to unravel Rābi‘a the teacher, pedagogue, and innovator. The revolutionary edge in Rābi‘a’s doctrine and how instrumental it was in establishing Sufism as a love-based form of devotion has been the subject of numerous scholarly publications and is in no need of being rehashed. Her poetry as a whole, however, has not been the subject of a systematic inquiry. The second part, therefore, analyzes the language of some of Rābi‘a’s poems and sayings. It focuses in particular on her technical terms and generally her sophisticated written expression, which she developed in support of her mystical teaching. Her astute use of language connects well with the rhetorical skills reflected in the “stories.” However, Rābi‘a’s eloquence is not only indicative of a person naturally adroit with retorts. It rests on her formidable command of Arabic, which is also expressed in her mastery of intricate Arabic meters. A thorough analysis of her verses reveals her ability to seize on the structural and semantic layers of her native language not just for greater aesthetic appeal but also for a more perfect grounding of her teaching of unconditional love. The last sections of the present paper will show how Rābi‘a’s most creative techniques presuppose an advanced reflection on language.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Here is a selection: Lewisohn 2014; Derin 2008; Lumbard 2007; Helm 1994; Smith 1994; Ernst 1993; Sakkakini 1982.

  2. 2.

    In her recent doctoral dissertation Khedija Kchouk mentions Basra and Damascus as Rābi‘a’s possible birth places (Kchouk 2012, p. 49).

  3. 3.

    For instance, Ibn Khallikān (d. 681/1282), Ibn Shākir (d. 764/1363), and Ibn al-‘Imād (d. 1089/1679). See El Sakkakini 1982, p. 82.

  4. 4.

    Ibn al-Jawzī (d. 597/1201). See Kchouk 2012, p. 49. In her later separate exposé on Rābi‘a, which mostly overlaps with the Rābi‘a dissertation chapter, Kchouk (2013) opts for the earlier date of 752.

  5. 5.

    The Arabic ‘yā’’ has two underdots, the ‘bā’’ only one. See, Smith 1994, p. 170; Kchouk 2012, p. 48.

  6. 6.

    In a variant added to Farīd al-Dīn al-‘Aṭṭār’s Tadhkirat al-Awliyā’ (Memorial of the Friends of God), it is said that Rābi‘a “fell into minstrelsy,” which suggests that she might have been a courtesan (Baldick 1990, p. 234), a detail also used in the Egyptian movie “Rābi‘a al-‘Adawiyya” directed by Niyāzī Muṣṭafā in 1963. Rābi‘a’s mastery of sophisticated meters in her poems (she uses at least 8 of the 16 existing Arabic meters; see Kchouk 2012, p. 71) could be read as a clue to underline her past as a singing slave-girl (qayna, pl. qiyān), since that profession required great artistic refinement. However, al-Jāḥiẓ, who wrote about slave-girls (al-Jāḥiẓ 1980) and mentions Rābi‘a in some of his other work, does not report that the saint of Basra had been one. Kchouk relies on some more sources relating that Rābi‘a was a musician (Kchouk 2012, pp. 72 and 74) and also orders her poems according to different life stages, from dissipated and hopelessly enamored young woman to repentant Sufi. Courtesan or not, there is strong evidence that Rābi‘a was a freed slave (for the story of her emancipation see Sells 1996, p. 156). It would explain how she was able to live most of her adult life without a male guardian, since emancipated female slaves indeed enjoyed greater freedom than free women in Islam.

  7. 7.

    Generally speaking, for the reliability of sources on early Sufis, see Silvers 2015, p. 26.

  8. 8.

    There is general consensus among scholars that asceticism (zuhd = renunciation) preceded mysticism in Islam and that there is overlap between the two movements in that a Sufi is also a zāhid but an ascetic need not also be a ṣūfiyy. Rābi‘a played a major role in the transition from mere zuhd to ascetic Sufism. About the question whether she may be called a Sufi in the historical sense, see Silvers 2015, p. 26.

  9. 9.

    According to Baldick, who assumes that Christian precedents were used to model Rābi‘a’s story, wittiness and repartees are typical elements used in stories of repenting female Christian saints who had been courtesans in pre-Islamic Iraq (whereas asceticism was the mark of ancient Syrian Christian women); see Baldick 1990, p. 237. While Baldick takes the earlier Christian hagiographical elements as a foil used to recount the life of a fictional Rābi‘a, I interpret the parallels to reflect the survival of a sophisticated Iraqi intellectual culture into the Islamic period.

  10. 10.

    For references to the “acusmatici” see Kirk et al. 1983, pp. 232–233.

  11. 11.

    The English translation mistakenly transliterates the name as Salih al-Marri. In the version recorded by al-Sulamī, Rābi‘a answers: “The door is already open… But the question is: Who wishes to enter it?” (ās-Sulamī 1999, p. 80). Al-‘Aṭṭār also uses the story in The Conference of the Birds (Attar 1984, p. 171).

  12. 12.

    Rābi‘a was about 16 years old when Ḥasan al-Baṣrī died at the age of 86 in 110/728.

  13. 13.

    It may also reflect the rivalry between ascetics and mystics from a Sufi point of view (see Upton 1988, p. 8.).

  14. 14.

    In fairness, al-‘Aṭṭār also reports the following story: “It is related that a group came to Rabi‘a to put her to the test. They said, ‘All the virtues have been dispersed upon men. The crown of nobility has been placed upon the heads of men, and the belt of magnanimity has been tied around their waists. Prophecy has never descended upon any woman. What can you boast of?’ Rabi‘a said, ‘Everything you said is true. But egoism, egotism, self-worship, and (79:24) ‘I am your highest lord’ have not welled up in any woman. And no woman has ever been a pederast” (Sells 1996, p. 166).

  15. 15.

    However, ās-Sulamī (1999) does coin terms for female Sufis by, for instance, calling them endearingly ‘niswa’ and ‘niswān’ (the regular plural for women is ‘nisā’’), creating thereby parallel terms to the masculine ‘fitya’ and ‘fityān’ to suggest that women too embody the ideal of spiritual chivalry (futuwwa); see pp. 66–68. Also, he considers ‘ta‘abbud’ (= servitude) a form of spiritual submission in which women excel (p. 54). Both the feminine chivalric term and the ideal of servitude are expressed in the title of his work: Dhikr al-Niswa al-Muta‘abbidāt al-Ṣūfiyyāt, meaning literally: The Remembrance of Submitting and Sufi Women.

  16. 16.

    As Sells points out, it is not clear whether the female ‘pīr-zāne’ used by al-‘Aṭṭār is to be read as a teaching title, especially since the latter combines it with the epithet ‘weak’ (Sells 1996, p. 152).

  17. 17.

    A few pages later Cornell cites an intriguing passage quoted by al-Hujwīrī (465/1073 or 469/1077), according to which: “All of Sufism consists of appropriate actions (ādāb): for every time there is an appropriate action; for every station there is an appropriate action; and for every state there is an appropriate action” (ās-Sulamī 1999, p. 67). This would suggest that what makes one a mu’addib is the ability to teach the right action (adab) for the right stage in life, the right mystical development, and the right mystical state.

  18. 18.

    The image of the crooked wood used to describe the student reminds one of a similar metaphor in Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics, 1109 b 5.

  19. 19.

    See footnote 14. There is another story conveying the rivalry between male and female Sufis. Al-‘Aṭṭār thus writes that Ibrahīm ibn Adham had spent 14 years to reach Mecca and that he “roared with jealousy” when he found out the Ka‘ba had left her customary place to greet Rābi‘a (Sells 1996, p. 158).

  20. 20.

    For the original Arabic see Badawī 1962, p. 90.

  21. 21.

    The insertion of the Arabic terms is mine. They were gleaned from al-Ghazzālī 1968, p. 386. Al-Hujwīrī writes: “Maḥabba is derived from ḥubb, which means a jar completely brimful of water such that nothing more can be poured into it. In the same fashion, when love is collected, within the seeker’s heart, it fills it to the point of saturation, so that only the sayings of the beloved object can be contained in his heart” (Lewisohn 2014, p. 160). The quotation makes one wonder if the water Rābi‘a allegedly wished to pour over hell fire was possibly a metaphor for love.

  22. 22.

    In the original French text the exhibits are called “une escuellée pleinne de feu” and “une phiole pleinne d’yaue” (Joinville 1874, p. 242–243, §445).

  23. 23.

    “Elle portoit en une de ses mains un flambeau allumé, d’autres disent un reschaut, ou un vaisseau d’une braize ardante, & en l’autre une cruche pleine d’eau, …” (Camus 1641, p. 82).

  24. 24.

    “…parut une Dame avancee en âge, modestement, mais honnestement vestüe, dont le pas grave, & le maintien venerable, tesmoignoit qu’elle avoit quelque dessein d’importance & serieux. Elle se mit au milieu du chemin, & arresta tout court le Frere Yves, …” (Camus 1641, p. 78).

  25. 25.

    The insertion of the original Arabic ‘shawq’ is mine.

  26. 26.

    Modern-day educator Caleb Gattagno pointed out the difference between the two terms by emphasizing how “costly” memorizing is, since it requires a deliberate mental effort. Retention, however, is perception-based and easy to recall as needed (Gattagno 1976, especially pp. 50, 58, and 116). Gattagno who also taught mathematics became famous for his successful teaching in silence and use of colored rods. He introduced the “ogden” as a unit to measure the effort used to learn. Retention is effortless and—unlike memorization—permanent.

  27. 27.

    About this (weak) ḥadīth see Lumbard 2007, p. 347.

  28. 28.

    More recently, the palm of the right hand with four raised fingers, indicating the number four, has become the symbol of Egyptian protesters who used to assemble on the square called after the adjacent mosque dedicated to Rābi‘a.

  29. 29.

    Regarding Rābi‘a’s full name, I follow al-Sulamī: “Rābi‘a was from Basra and was a client (mawlāt) of the clan Āl ‘Atīq” (ās-Sulamī 1999, p. 74), which gives the most plausible background for her name. As Cornell clarifies in a footnote on the above quoted page, Āl ‘Atīq was a sub-clan of ‘Adī ibn Qays, which is reflected in al-‘Adawiyya and al-Qaysiyya.

  30. 30.

    Badawī 1962, p. 173 f.

  31. 31.

    Al-mashūqatu and shawq are derived from the same triliteral (or triconsonantal) Arabic root ‘sh-w-q.’ Henceforth, al-mashūqatu will be referred to as “the one afflicted with shawq.”

  32. 32.

    Kchouk 2012, p. 77. ‘Ḥafr’ in “fī al-ḥafri” could be a noun, like the etymologically related ḥufra (= hole), and possibly mean well, which is one of the meanings gleaned from E. W. Lane’s Arabic-English Lexicon (London: Williams and Norgate 1863). But, as my colleague Adly Mirza reminded me, it could also be a gerund and then refer to the action of the verb ḥa-fa-ra (to dig, hollow out, burrow, or furrow). Since Rābi‘a is exploiting the shape of the letters to express her state of mind, she may well be alluding to the outline of bā’ (ب) in the isolated position that looks, indeed, furrowing. Considering that bā’ is also the middle consonant in Rābi‘a’s name, it is tempting to relate her “letter-image” with a saying attributed to ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib, Islam’s fourth Caliph, stating that the opening chapter of the Qur’ān is the heart of Islamic scripture, the opening verse the heart of that chapter, the opening word ‘Bismallāh’ the heart of that verse, the opening letter bā’ the heart of that word, the (subscript) dot the heart of that letter, and, finally, ‘Alī the dot itself (Knight 2016, p. 67). This is not to suggest a Shī‘a affiliation but that more authors have been inspired by the shape of the Arabic bā’ and projected onto it steadfastness, centeredness, and/or holiness (see also the quotation in footnote 33).

  33. 33.

    See http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=Hbb. This online Qur’ānic concordance also connects to Lane’s Arabic-English Lexicon. Ibn al-‘Arabī correlates ḥubb with ḥabba (= grain or seed), making love both the creator and the creation of the seed; see Gloton 2000, p. 42. A similar rapprochement between love and seed is already alluded to by Aḥmad al-Ghazzālī when he speaks of the diacritical dot in the letter ‘bā” of “yuḥibbuhum” (‘He loves them’) “that was cast on hum (them) till yuḥibbūnahu (they love Him) grew out” (Ghazzālī 1986, p. 68). See also footnote 21.

  34. 34.

    Al-Ghazzālī 1968, p. 386. For variants, see Badawī 1962, pp. 64, 73, 110, 119, 123, and 162. Kchouk 2012 only mentions vv. 1 and 4 (p. 89). For Ormsby’s English translation see al-Ghazzālī 2011, p. 52. According to Geert Jan van Gelder this poem was originally about profane love but was then “recycled” either by Rābi‘a or some other mystic (Van Gelder 1993, pp. 66–76, at p. 45). While van Gelder may be right about the poem having been reused, what he fails to recognize is that the two presumably older versions he invokes do not mention any Sufi terms: neither hawā nor shughl nor dhikr nor kashf nor ḥujb. The adaptation, assuming it is one, is rather dramatic. I am not aware of any literature discussing ‘shughl’ as a technical Sufi term. To mention but two classical works, neither Louis Massignon (1922) nor Anawati and Gardet (1961) list it. However, my analysis of al-Ghazzālī’s interpretation of Rābi‘a’s verses clearly indicates that it is one (see below).

  35. 35.

    See http://corpus.quran.com/qurandictionary.jsp?q=hwy

  36. 36.

    The insertion of the Arabic terms is mine. They were gleaned from al-Ghazzālī 1968, p. 386.

  37. 37.

    The insertion of the Arabic terms is mine. They were gleaned from al-Ghazzālī 1968, p. 387.

  38. 38.

    This is an aspect neglected in the current debate about love conducted among analytic philosophers such as Harry Frankfurt, David Velleman, Niko Kolodny, and Simon Keller. (I am much indebted to my colleague George Tsai for pointing out this debate to me.)

  39. 39.

    Here are the URL links. Umm Kulthūm: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFZ_HhedXME, Aïcha Redouane: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lplduylUulY, Aḥmad Ḥawīlī: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPRdjNfYrNk, Rim Banna: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3bFiWWEgIv0

  40. 40.

    Cf. Badawī 1962, pp. 73 and 123. Remarkably, none of the modern Arab artists associated with Rābi‘a’s poem about the two loves opted for that substitution.

  41. 41.

    Ormsby quotes Abū al-Ḥusayn al-Nūrī (d. 295/907) as a source for the controversial use of ‘ishq in respect to God (see al-Ghazālī Al-Ghazzālī 2011, p. XVI).

  42. 42.

    For classical references against the use of ‘ishq see contemporary Fatwa No 267511 on the following site: http://www.islamweb.net/emainpage/index.php?page=showfatwa&Option=FatwaId&Id=267511 (retrieved August 12, 2016). Knowing the use of the term in profane love literature, one can understand conservative scholars who warn against it in a religious context. For instance, al-Jāḥiẓ who wrote about the ravaging effect of seductive slave-girls, states that ‘ishq is: “a malady which smites the spirit, and affects the body as well by contagion” (al-Jāḥiẓ 1980, p. 28), and “we have seen and heard of many a one who has been utterly destroyed, and suffered long torment and wasting away, because of the malady of passion” (p. 29). For more on the classical controversy, see Griffen 1972.

  43. 43.

    Abū al-Qāsim Junayd (297/910) related ‘ishq to ‘ashaq (mountain peak) in a similar effort to intensify the meaning of passionate love; see Lewisohn 2014, p. 160.

  44. 44.

    I follow Kchouk who reads “‘alā qadami al-tadhalluli” (Kchouk 2012, p. 95) against Badawi’s “‘alā qadami al-tadallulili” (Badawī 1962, p. 173). ‘Nafs’ (self) is a negative term in Sufism, since the Self is to be overcome or, as this verse expresses it, “subjected.”

  45. 45.

    Rābi‘a’s fascination with letters was possibly inspired by the loose letters that precede some Qur’ānic chapters. Officially, letter mysticism appears later, especially in the works of the Andalusians Ibn Masarra (319/931) and Ibn al-‘Arabī. A similar play with letter shapes and names is indicated in the title of Abū al-Ḥasan al-Daylamī’s eleventh-century ‘Aṭf al-Alif al-Ma’lūf ‘alā al-Lām al-Ma‘ṭūf (The Inclination of the Intimate Alif to the Lām Towards Which It Inclines); see Lumbard 2007, p. 350.

  46. 46.

    The English translator puts the names of Arabic letters instead of the terms within brackets, which does not help the reader unfamiliar with Arabic language to understand the use of Rābi‘a’s device.

  47. 47.

    The insertion of the original term within brackets is mine. It was gleaned from the Persian on-line edition: http://www.sufism.ir/books/download/farsi/ayat-hosn-v-eshgh-vo1-2.pdf

  48. 48.

    In Arabic, ‘qiyām’ is a male noun, while ‘qiyāma’ is female. Since Persian language is genderless, ‘qiyām’ may cover both meanings.

  49. 49.

    The insertion of the original term within brackets is mine. It was gleaned from the Persian on-line edition: http://www.sufism.ir/books/download/farsi/ayat-hosn-v-eshgh-vo1-2.pdf

  50. 50.

    It appears to me that Rabi‘a is making use of saj‘ in these lines, which is an ancient form of prose that predates Islam and is rhythmic as well as rhymed (with some irregularities) but does not employ a meter. Her lines also exhibit some beautiful assonances. I have separated the sentences to allow the reader less familiar with Arabic to quickly recognize the original terms and their translations. For more on saj‘, see Adonis (2003, pp. 17–18) and Stewart (2008).

  51. 51.

    Badawī 1962, p. 172 f.

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Albertini, T. (2017). Meanings, Words, and Names: Rābi‘a’s Mystical Dance of the Letters. In: Knepper, T., Kalmanson, L. (eds) Ineffability: An Exercise in Comparative Philosophy of Religion. Comparative Philosophy of Religion, vol 1. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-64165-2_13

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