Ali and Metaphysics by Allamah Tabataba i

7/29/2019 Ali and Metaphysics by Allamah Tabataba i

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B i s m i l-L a h i r-R a h m n i r-R a h m

IN T H E N A M E of G O DT H E IN F I N I T E L Y G O O D , T H E E V E R- M E R C I F U L

A l l a h u m m a s a l l i a l M u h a m m a d i w w a a l l i M u h a m m a d

O G O D , S E N D B L E S S I N G S U P O N M U HA M M A DA N D U P O N H I S I M M A C U L A T E F A M I L Y !


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Al and thePhilosophia Divinus[Al wal-Falsafah al-Ilahyyah]

Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tabtab

TRANSLATEDby FADL ASADI AMJAD & MAHDI DASHT BUZURGI


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In the Name ofGodthe Infinitely Good, the Ever-Merciful

All praise is Godsand the best of blessings for Muhammad

and his Immaculate Family!

MAN has always been and will always remain in outward

existence, in its qualities and reality. He is not concerned with

anything else, nor does he turn away from it. Indeed, for man,

there is nothing other than this outward reality.

It is self-evident from his judgments of reason and

verdicts of his conscience that there is such a reality, and his

acceptance of this outward existenceexternal beingsis apriori and genuine knowledge, meeting all the conditions ofself-evidence.

If we observe a newborn child, with his freshly given

conscience, we will notice that sometimes it takes the breast to

feed itself milk and at other times it tries other things in search

of food. After trial and error, however, the child limits its

choice to breast-feeding and turns away from other means.


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* * *

Al ibn Abu Taliband Tasawwuf

By Caner K. Dagli

I am the abode of knowledge,

and Al is its gate.

The Prophet


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NO FIGURE IN THE EARLY HISTORY OF ISLAM, except the Prophethimself, has been the locus for so much controversy and

debate as that of Ali ibn Abi Talib. These controversies exist

on more than one level, ranging from questions of politics and

history to issues in theology and metaphysics. The intellectual

breadth and spiritual depth of Ali has inspired deep reverence

on all parts of the Islamic world, both among the Shiis and

the Sunnis, and although most of the conflict between these

two major branches of Islam hinges on Ali, one side could

never accuse the other of having inadequate love and respectfor him. In this way, paradoxically, Ali unites Muslims in

their love for him, but his centrality in opposing viewpoints

makes him a source of serious contention.

Moreover, we find within the Sunni world another

debate with Ali at its center, and this is the question of

esoterism in Islam, whose major manifestation is Sufism. The

Sufis recognize two types of authority, corresponding to two

types of knowledge. In terms of political authority, theorthodox Sunni position is well known. Although the Prophet

left no explicit instructions as to that would succeed him

politically, most of the community agreed upon Ab Bakr as-

siddiq, the Prophets long time friend and a respected figure

among the Companions, as the first Khalifah, or caliph of

Islam. He appointed Umar ibn al-KhaTTab, who himself

appointed a council of six men who in turn elected Uthman

ibn Affan. After Uthmans assassination Ali became the

fourth caliph.No Sunni denies that, in terms of temporal authority,

this was the proper course of events. In the Sunni world,

although there existed no separation between church and state,

the caliph was only and administrator, and while he might

have been prominent spiritually speaking this was not

considered a requirement for the office of caliph. The caliphs

authority was considered as having come from God, but in the

Sunni world, especially after the first generation, it was the

ulama, or scholarly classes, who would be responsible for


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the transmission of religious and spiritual knowledge and whowould act as the final authorities on religious matters.

The sultans, the caliphs, the jurists and the generality

of the scholarly classes represent exoteric authority in Sunni

Islam. The Sufis, however, recognize a chain of spiritual

authority, which is more or less independent of the exoteric

authority and in principle, takes precedence over it. We say

independent not in the sense that Sufism is inherently

antinomian; the opposite is true. But the judgment of a scholar

of the Exterior (a-ahir) could never, for the Sufi, overrule theteachings of an authentic spiritual master, a scholar of the

Interior, or the Hidden (al-baTin). This is because the exterior,

whose regulation is carried out by the Shariah, or Divine

Law, exists as a support for the inner life, the interior, whose

development is carried out by the tariqah, or spiritual path.

Differing interpretations of the meanings of spiritual

and temporal authority have led to misunderstanding between

the Shiah and Sunni as well as between certain elementswithin the Sunni world itself. The spiritual authority given to

Ali by the prophet is a reality accepted by both Sunni Sufis[1]

and Shiis, but they have differed as to its ramifications in the

temporal realm. As the first Imam of Shiism, Ali combines

both types of authority into one person, and according to

Shiism the proper order of things demands that the Imam

should rule both spiritually and temporally. However, whereas

in Shiism the esoteric aspect of Islam was projected into the

community at large, so that the distinction between exotericand esoteric becomes somewhat blurred, the Sufis have been

content to practice their way within the framework established

by exoteric authority. This is why they acknowledge Ali as

the main transmitter of the inner secrets (there were others,

such as Ab Bakr) without there being a necessary

contradiction with an exoteric authority not possessed of these

secrets. In other words, the vertical hierarchy and the

horizontal hierarchy need not mix. From the Sufi point of

view, the most profound mysteries were not meant for

everyone, and teaching them to the generality of believers


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would do much more harm than good, the clearer demarcationbetween the exoteric and the esoteric having the advantage of

avoiding such dangers.

From what has just been said we can conclude that

the best way to understand the conflict centered on Ali is to

see the `horizotal` disagreement between the Shiis and the

Sunnis as a sort of projection of the vertical distinction

between esoterism and exoterism. This becomes clearer when

one examines the profound similarities between Sufism and

Shiism. The Imams of Twelver Shiism are also greatspiritual masters in the Sufi chains of transmission, or silsilah.

If one leaves aside the Shariite and also cosmic

functions of the Imam, his initiatory function and role as

spiritual guide is similar to that of a Sufi master In fact, just

as in Sufism each master is in contact with the pole of his age,

in Shiism all spiritual functions in every age are inwardly

connected with the Imam. The idea of the Imam as the pole of

the universe and the concept of the quTb in Sufism are nearlyidentical.[2]

The main difference, then, is how far the spiritual

authorities must extend into the temporal realm. Ali happened

to combine these two aspects within himself to the highest

degree, being both the main recipient of the Prophets inner

teachings and the head of the Islamic state. Discussing the

debate on succession would take us too far afield here, but it is

important to remember that most profoundly the question is

one of the esoteric/exoteric distinction, and not of politicalmachinations and power struggles. No intelligent discussion of

Alis spiritual role is possible without understanding this

point.[3]

* * *

Ali ibn Abi Talib was the son of the Prophets uncle, and was

ten years old when the Prophet received his first revelation.

From early adolescence he was raised in the prophets

housedhold, due to financial trouble in his own fathers house,


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and remained close to the Prophet until the Prophets deathsome twenty-three years later. It was during this time, the

Sufis claim, that the Prophet imparted the inner teachings of

the new religion to Ali. Although one could rightly say that

all of the members of that original apostolic community in

Makkah were saints,[4] there is not only the question of

sanctity but also that of intellectual qualification. Not every

metaphysician is a saint, and similarly not every saint is a

great metaphysician. Ali combined in himself the vertical

perfection we call sanctity with a tremendous depth andbreadth on the horizontal plane. Islamic tradition remembers

Ali as a great warrior of his age, never defeated in combat

and always gracious to his foes. His virtue off the battlefield

was similarly well known, and he has come to be known in the

Muslim world as a sort of patron of the poor and a model of

what the West would call chivalry, the Islamic futuwwah.

Most importantly, he was known in his own time and up to our

present day as having possessed a keen intelligence andprofound wisdom, being a great teacher as well as extremely

eloquent in his use of Arabic.[5] In the Shii world the

distinction given to Ali is well known.

Among the Sunnis, the Sufis consider him to be the

main transmitter of the spiritual teachings of the Prophet, and

all the Sufi orders except one trace their origins through him.

[6] Also, one finds the curious exception made when his name

is mentioned: for the other companions, the honorific rai

Allahu anhu (may God be pleased with him) is customarilyused, but in the case of Ali one often hears the phrase karram

Allahu wajhah, literally, may God honor his countenance.

Later we will see how this formula relates to Alis spiritual

function in the Islamic world. All the descendants of the

Prophet, revered in both the Sunni and Shii worlds, trace their

lineage back to the marriage of Ali with Fatimah, the

Prophets daughter. Through Ali passes the spiritual authority

of the prophet, to him the physical trace of the Prophet in this

world, his descendants, trace their lineage, and with him the

Golden Age of Islam, the original Madinah, comes to an end.


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Our main aim in this short essay is to look at theoriginal sources in Sufism to see how the spiritual teachings of

Islam are related to Ali. We might say Islamic esoterism

instead of simply Sufism because the Nahj al-Balaghah and a

commentary of some of its passages by the Shii scholar

Allamah TabaTabai were also used as sources. Without

entering into the debate about the authenticity of the Nahj al-

Balaghah, it is sufficient to mention that even from the Sunni

point of view there is much in this book which comes from

Ali, and that the Shii-Sunni conflict has resulted in theunfortunate phenomenon of throwing the baby out with the

bath water. Most Sunnis tend to doubt Shii reports about

Ali, out of concern for a certain pious exaggeration from

the Shii side, and are surely cut off from many authentic

traditions. Therefore we thought it appropriate to use some of

the most important and well-known passages of the Nahj al-

Balaghah as selected by TabaTabai, none of which beings

what a Sunni might label as specifically Shii. In any event,as was stated above, it is in Sufism and the most esoteric

aspects of Shiism that consensus can be reached about Ali.

Unfortunately, there is little serious work in Western

scholarship devoted to Ali, aside from rather poor translations

of Arabic sources and some books written in English of a

polemical nature from India and Pakistan, but there is a

wonderful translation of some excerpts from the Nahj al-

Balaghah[7] translated by Thomas Cleary entitled Living and

Dying with Grace. This dearth of material is a curiousphenomenon, considering the importance of Ali, and

considering that volumes have been written about later

political and historical figures in Islamic history. Between the

Prophet and the luminaries of the later generations there exists

a gap in modern scholarship. We hope to use some of the

Traditions (ahadith) regarding Ali, and from the later writings

the Mathnawi of Rumi, to see what they can tell us about Ali

and Sufism.

Futuwwah: Ali as the Paragon of Spiritual Chivalry


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The word futuwwah literally means youth but can be

translated as mystical youth or spiritual chivalry.[8] We

say spiritual chivalry because the traditional virtues of

chivalry, such as courage and generosity, are not limited to the

plane of action but must exist at the highest levels of ones

being. According to Sufi tradition, it is with Seth that

futuwwah became a spiritual path, and whose dress was the

khirqah, or cape. By the time of Abraham, this khirqah had

become too heavy, which may be a reference to thedecaying nature of things and the impossibility of those of

later times to match the spiritual practices of their

predecessors. Therefore Abraham instituted a new kind of

futuwwah, which was transmitted by him through his

prophetic descendants. The Prophet himself received it, and

transmitted it to Ali, who then becomes identified as the pole

of futuwwah.[9]

Ali himself was quite young as compared to theother luminaries of the apostolic age of Islam. This fact

combined with his legendary fighting ability and his

intelligence and virtue made him the fatal par excellence in

Islam. When one reads of Ali one can see his energy and his

powerful virtue come through the pages. His counsels and his

actions were of the nature of a striking sword and of a well-

aimed arrow. When informed that Ali had challenged him to

single combat to end a battle, Muawiyah knew he would

surely kill me since it was well known Ali had never beendefeated in combat. His later writings are a testament to his

nobility and intelligence, and his ascetic detachment from the

world and its luxuries earned him the title Ab Turab, or

Father of Dust, given to him from the Prophet himself.[10]

In the Mathnawi of Rumi, we find a beautiful

narration of an incident that took place between Ali and an

infidel knight which has been traditionally considered to

have taken place at the Battle of Khaybar. Ali had gotten the

better of this warrior and was hovering over him about to kill

him, whereupon the infidel knight spat upon the face of Ali.


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Quite to the knights surprise, Ali sheathed his sword, sparinghis life.

Learn how to act sincerely from Ali: know that the Lion of

God was purged of (all) deceit. In fighting against the infidels

he got the upper hand of (vanquished) a certain knight, and

quickly drew a sword and made haste (to slay him). He spat on

the face of Ali, the pride of every prophet and every saint; He

spat on the countenance before which the face of the moon

bows low in the place of worship. Ali at once threw hissword away and relaxed (his efforts) in fighting him. That

champion was astounded by this act and by his showing

forgiveness and mercy without occasion. He said, You lifted

your keen sword against me: why have you flung it aside and

spared me? What did you see that was better than combat with

me, so that you have become slack in hunting me down?[11]

As this passage continues, the knight implores Ali totell him what he has seen, to give the mysterious reason for his

pardon. The knight has already undergone a spiritual

transformation sparked by Alis strange action, and now

seeks to understand how Gods mercy has come upon him:

O Ali, thou art all mind and eye, relate a little of that which

thou hast seen!

The sword of thy forbearance has rent my soul, the water of

thy knowledge has purified my earth.

Tell it forth! I know that these are His (Gods) mysteries,

because tis His work (way) to kill without sword

Thine eye has learned to perceive the Unseen, (while) the eyes

of the bystanders are sealed

Inasmuch as the moon (even) without speech is showing the

way, when it speaks it becomes light upon light.


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Since thou art the gate of the city of Knowledge,[12] sincethou art the beam of the sun of Clemency, Be open, O Gate, to

him that seeks the gate, so that by means of thee the husks

may reach the core.

We should notice first that Rumi wrote that he spit on

the face of Ali. As was stated before, Islamic tradition gives

Ali the distinction of the special honorific karram Allahuwajhah. The face the knight spat on would be the same

countenance the very sight of which would have atransformative power over his soul.[13] Here we may equate

Alis face with the moon, and the light upon light as the

reflected rays of the sun.

The dark night of the soul covered over (kafir) isillumined by the light coming from the moon, but the moon

gives off light precisely because it is not in the dark of night,

but is in the presence of the solar rays, the rays of the Divine

Intellect, which it reflects to those who have not yet achievedvision of the Divine sun. The knight admits as much, when he

speaks of the moon showing the way without speech. The

unexpected sparing of his life opened the inner eye just

enough so that he could see the moon of Alis face shining

upon him, inciting him to ask Ali what he had seen, just as

one who has seen the moon but not the sun would wonder

what the source of that magnificent light could be.[14] For the

knight, Ali is Gods light in this world, a saint who God made

a light among men.[15] We might also remember here theverse about Moses

Moses said to his household: Verily beyond doubt I have seen

a fire. I will bring you tidings of it or will bring you a flaming

brand that ye may warm yourselves[16]

From a state of infidelity (kufr), the knight in fact becomes a

spiritual seeker, which Rumi represents with the series of

question, What have you seen? Tell it forth! Here Rumi


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brings out Alis role as the first great master in Islam after theprophet.

If the knight represents the beginning of the path,

then Ali represents the end of it:

He said, I am wielding the sword for Gods sake, I am the

servant of God, I am not under the command of my body.

I am the lion of God, I am not the lion of passion: my deed

bears witness to my religion.

In war I am (manifesting the truth of) thou didst not throw

when thou threwest: I am (but) as a sword and the wielder is

the (Divine) sun. I am a shadow, the sun is my lord, I am the

chamberlain, I am not the curtain (which prevents approach)

to Him

The sword of my forbearance has smitten the neck of myanger; the anger of God has come on me like mercy.

I am plunged in light although my roof is ruined; I have

become a garden although I am (styled) B Turab (the father

of dust).

Since (the thought of something) other than God has

intervened, it behooves (me) to sheathe my sword

And that which I am doing for Gods sake is not (done in)

conformity, it is not fancy and opinion, it is naught but

intuition.

I have been freed from effort and search, I have tied my sleeve

to the skirt of God.

If I am flying, I behold the place to which I soar; and if I am

circling, I behold the axis on which I revolve;


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And if I am dragging a burden, I know whither: I am themoon, and the sun is in front of me as a guide.[17]

For the saint, all activity is according to the will of

God and for the sake of God. The higher self, the lion of God,

dominates the lower self, the lion of passion. Ali is shown

here as having completely given up his own will to the Will of

God. This is faqr, or the spiritual poverty the Sufis speak of.

But poverty in relation to this world and ourselves is plenitude

in relation to Heaven and the next world,[18] as we see in the

line about the garden and Ab Turab. When the knight spit onthe face of Ali, the conflict was brought down to the personal

level, a level beneath the dignity of Ali. It seems that Rumi

does not interpret this incident as revealing some sort of fault

in Ali which he then moved to correct by withdrawing his

sword. Rather, as a result of intuition, not fancy, he knew at

that very moment what to do. We can see here an illustration

of how a spiritual master acts in a way, which befuddles the

disciple into moving farther along the path. He says to theknight:

Since I am free, how should anger bind me? Nothing is here

but Divine quality. Come in!

Come in, the grace of God has made thee free, because His

mercy has the precedence over His wrath.

Come in now, for thou hast escaped from the peril; thou wert a(common) stone, the Elixir hath made thee a jewel.[19]

The last line is reminiscent of the spiritual alchemy,

which the master helps the disciple perform. Through his

action and not through explicit instruction, Ali helps to bring

the seeker to the truth.

On the surface this passage from the Mathnawi is a

prime example of futuwwah, of chivalric mercy and

generosity on the battlefield. The brave warrior will claim no

glory for himself; he fights only for his Lord. Any deed

performed only with personal ambition in mind will yield no


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real fruit. But at a more profound level, it is the story of Alias master and the knight as disciple. As a result of the intuition

upon which the perfect sage acts,[20] he took action to guide

one to the truth. From this point of view, Ali did not

withdraw his sword so that he may save himself from acting in

anger and not for God, but to save the knight from believing

that he was dying for this reason. He saves the knights life,

and his soul.

Initiation

In concluding our examples drawn from the Mathnawi, we see

Rumi using Ali to explain the initiation and its role in the

spiritual quest. He quotes the saying of the Prophet to Ali:

When every one seeks to draw nigh to God by means of some

devotional act, do thou seek the favor of God by associating

with his wise and chosen servant, that thou Mayst be the firstof all to arrive (to gain access to Him).[21]

Then Rumi has the Prophet say to Ali:

Come into the shade (protection) of the Sage whom no

conveyor can carry off the Way.

His shadow on earth is like Mount Qaf, his spirit is (like) the

Simurgh that circles (soars) exceedingly high.[22]

If I should tell of his qualities until the Resurrection, do not

seek (expect)and conclusion and end to them.

The (Divine) Sun has veiled Himself in Man: apprehend (this

mystery), and God knows best what is right

O Ali, above all devotional acts is the Way (of God) do thou

choose the shadow (protection) of the servant of God


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Everyone took refuge in some act of devotion and discoveredfor themselves some means of deliverance.

Go thou, take refuge in the shadow of the sage, that thou

mayst escape from the Enemy that opposes (thee) in secret

When the Pir [master] has accepted thee, take heed, surrender

thyself (to him): go, like Moses, under the authority of

Khizr

God has declared that his (the Pirs) hand is as his own, since

he gave out (the words) the Hand of God is above their hands.

[23]

Of course, while the Prophet is speaking here of the

primacy of deeper spiritualized knowledge as opposed to

multiplication of devotional acts, the Sage he is speaking

about is himself, in his function as Alis spiritual guide. Rumiuses this first model of master-disciple relationships in Islam

as a means of counsel for the spiritual seeker, but it also serves

to illustrate the Sufi perspective that the Prophet himself was

the first Shaykh of Sufism, and that Ali was his main

successor, even though in those earliest times these realities

did not carry the names they do now. Rumi uses the story of

Khir and Moses as well as the verse, which describes the

reality of the initiation, symbolized by the giving of the hand,

which is a vertical pact with God above all else.The following passage from the Nahj al-Balaghah

speaks of esoterism and the initiation:

Here (and he pointed to his heart) I have abundant knowledge,

if only I could find people to bear it. Unfortunately, I have

found learners who are not faithful to it, applying it to the

devices of belief in this world Thus does knowledge die out

with the passing of its bearers. O God! Certainly the earth is

not devoid of those who rise in honor of God for good reason,

either openly and notably, or in fear and obscurity, so that the


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proof and clarifications of God may not be in vain. But howmany are they, and where are they? They are, by God, fewest

in number but greatest in rank with God. By them God

preserves the divine proofs and clarifications until they entrust

them to others like them and plant them in their hearts of

others like them. By them knowledge enters into real insight,

and they are imbued with the spirit of certainty.

They consider easy what seems hard to those who lead a life

of comfort, and they take to what the ignorant are averse to.They are physically in the world, yet their spirits are

suspended in the highest liberation. They are the deputies of

God on earth, and are those who invite people to the religion

of God. Oh, how I long to see them![24]

Here Ali was speaking of none other than the

esoteric teachings of Islam and the idea of the khawass, or

spiritual elite. He was speaking of the true mysticalknowledge, which can only be carried by those who are

transformed by its truths. This is why it dies out with the

passing of its bearers; books cannot convey such knowledge,

they can only speak of it. He also echoes here the fact that

many are called, but few are chosen, making note of those

who did not make proper use of what he had taught them.

Even in the time of Ali those qualified to receive spiritual

teachings and pass them on to others like them were in the

minority, although sanctity was of course much morewidespread. This explains why out of thousands of

Companions of the Prophet, and even of the smaller group

who were closer to the Prophet, only a small handful of men

were to pass on the inner teachings of Islam, with Ali

functioning as the main channel for this transmission. At the

end of this quote we see Ali longing to see those spiritual

elite who will come after his time in this world has ended, who

will carry on the teachings he received from the prophet.[25]

Again in the Mathnawi we have a reference of Ali, Like

Ali, sigh into the well[26] This refers to the tradition that


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tells that Ali once whispered into a well the secret, esotericdoctrine taught to him by the Prophet, along with a warning

against its being divulged. As stated above, these teachings

would cause more harm than good to the generality of people

(al-awamm). In the well known hadith, Ibn Abbas, the

famous Quranic exegete of the first generation, was once

given the true interpretation of a particular passage of the

Quran by the Prophet, and when the people asked him about

it, he told them the true interpretation they would stone him.

Similarly, Ab Hurayrah, the most prolific of hadithtransmitters of the first generation, stated that he had two

stores of knowledge from the Prophet: the first he taught

openly, and that if he were to divulge the second the people

would slit his throat. Facts such as these are quite enough to

demonstrate the existence of an esoteric tradition living within

the exoteric tradition. One ought to remember here that both

Ibn Abbas and Ab Hurayrah are pillars of exoteric authority

in Islam.In the Sufi tradition it is related that the Prophet once

said to Ali, You are of the rank of Aaron in relation to

Moses, except that there will be no prophet after me. Perhaps

we may examine this statement in light of the prophetic hadith

stating that there will be ulama (those endowed with

knowledge) of my ummah who will be of the rank of the

prophets of the Children of Israel. Here we can draw a

parallel between the spiritual function of at least some of the

Hebrew prophets with the great saints of Sufism, linesbeginning respectively with Aaron and Ali.

We can understand the role of the later Hebrew

prophets and that of the Sufi saints as the renewal of the spirit

and inner teachings of the original revelation (none brought a

new religion), and so by analogy and not direct parallel, since

Sufism draws a clear distinction between a saint and prophet

(who is also a saint), we can say that Ali had the same

relationship to the Prophet as Aaron did to Moses. No Hebrew

prophet after the Sinatic revelation was of the same rank as


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Moses,[27] just as no saint in Islam could duplicate the role ofthe Prophet.[28]

Sight and knowledge

No discussion of Ali and Sufism would be complete without

speaking about the notion of knowledge one can have of God

in this world. In a sense, the reason detre of Sufism is to tear

away the veils, which separate man from God in this world.

To see this world fully as what it is to see it transparently. Tothis effect, Ali is once reported to have said, If the veil were

lifted my certainty would not be increased. We might

consider this in relation to the hadith about the four caliphs,

where they each state how they see God in relation to the

world. The first three stated that in relation to a thing they see

God with it, before it, and behind it. Then Ali said, When I

see a thing, I see God.[29] Here is an illustration of the

degrees of knowledge one is capable of in this world. WhenAli talks about the lifting of the veil, he is speaking of the

lifting if the veil of Gods creation, the outer veil. His certainty

would not be increased because his inner veil had already been

lifted. Similarly, he said, I would not be worshipping a lord I

have not seen.[30] All of these statements refer, not to seeing

in the ordinary sense, but to the inner eye in man, the eye of

the Heart, or the Intellect. This is what Ali was referring to

when he said, God has given man nothing more valuable than

the Intellect.[31] In a saint like Ali, this eye is wide open,and he sees all things thought it, and hence sees all things in

God. This is why he can make the rather bold statement that

he does not worship a lord he has not seen, and truthfully say

that he does not see anything apart from God. It is not a

question of seeing in the ordinary sense, and the Sufis would

rebuke anyone claiming to see God with his two eyes. Rather

we must understand sight in a symbolic sense. Since we

identify sight more than any other sense with knowing a thing

and comprehending it, Islamic esoterism speaks in the


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that the inner signs can lead us to all that is hidden from us (al-mud mar). The last verse is a concise statement of man as the

locus for manifestation of all the Divine Names. This poem is

one of the earliest statements of the same idea the Sufis speak

of when they say, The universe is a big man and man a little

universe. Every thing contained in the macrocosm (al-kawn

al-kabir, the universe) is also contained in the microcosm (al-

kawn as-saghir, man). This means that man, in his central

position in the universe, has the capability of knowing the

principles of all things sapientally and existentially, derivingfrom the fact that every object of his knowledge has a

counterpart within himself that derives from the same

principle, and here we are referring to the Divine Names and

Qualities.

Also there is the enigmatic hadith attributed to Ali:

All the Quran is contained in the srat al-fatihah, all of this

surah is contained in the basmalah, all of the basmalah in theba with which it begins, all the letter ba in the diacritical

point under it and I am that diacritical point.[35]

The dot of the ba represents the intersection of the

horizontal and vertical axes of reality, the alif of iqra! and

the ba of bismi rabbika, or Recite in the Name of your

Lord, the first verse revealed to the Prophet.[36] This cross is

the symbol of Universal Man. The horizontal line of the cross

represents human perfection at this level of being, and thevertical line the realization of other states of being. So these

states are ranked, in integral expansion, in the double sense

of amplitude [horizontal] and exaltation [vertical].[37]

Ali is declaring in the language of symbolism that he has

realized this station. Also, one may see the point as the

principle of all writing, hence symbolically as the principle of

all manifestation. In commenting on this subject, the Shaykh

Ahmad al-Alawi wrote:


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He is being (kain) not as the result of temporal origin

(hadith), and existent (mawjd) not having come from non-

existence (adam). He is with everything, not through

association (muqaranah); and he is other than everything, not

through separation (muzayalah). He is active (faal), not in the

sense of possessing movements and instruments. He was

seeing when none of his creatures were to be observed by

Him. He was alone (mutawahhid) when there was none with

whom to be intimate and at whose loss to feel lonely.[40]

This above passage can be seen as a description of

the Divine Qualities, which relate God to his creation, how

God affects but is not affected, the Unmoved Mover. The

following passage explains this relationship in reverse,

describing how manifestation leads us back to the Principle.

By his giving sense (tashir) to sense organs (mashair) it isknown that he has no sense organs. By his giving substance

(tajhir) to substances (jawahir) it is known that He has no

substance. By his causing opposition (muaddah) among

things it is known that he has no opposite (idd). By his

causing affiliation (muqaranah) among affairs it is known that

He has no affiliate (qarin). He opposed darkness to light,

obscurity to clarity, moisture to solidity, and heat to cold. He

joins together those things, which are hostile to one another,

and separates those, which are near. They prove (the existenceof) their Separator (mufarriq) by their separation and therir

Joiner (muallif) by their junction. This is (the meaning of) His

Words-He is the Mighty and Majestic And of everything

created we two kinds; haply you will remember. (p.39 Quran

LI, 49)[41]

Here Ali is expounding upon the fundamental

duality of all manifestation, the realm of opposition which is

the manifestation of the Divine, which itself is not subject to

any type of opposition. In these three short passages we have a


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discussion of the Principle in itself, the Principle as it relatesto Manifestation, and Manifestation as it relates to the

Principle.

Ali and interpretation of the Quran

Unfortunately, not much remains of Alis interpretation of the

Quran. He wrote an esoteric commentary on the Quran,

which is now lost, and which survives in fragments in the

commentary of Jafar as-sadiq.[42] Even without a great bodyof material directly attributable to him we still can get an idea

of his understanding of the Quran. The Prophet said, O

People, among you is one who struggles with the

interpretation (tawil) of the Quran as I struggle with its

revelation (tanzil),[43] referring to Ali. Ali himself said,

No verse has been revealed without me knowing for what it

was revealed, and where it was revealed[44] The towering

figure of Quranic commentary Ibn Masd said, The Quranhas been revealed with seven readings, each with an inner

meaning and an outer. Ali ibn Talib knows the outer (al-ahir)

and the inner (al-baTin).[45] The Sufis have always held that

each verse of the Quran holds meaning upon meaning,

revealing truths much deeper than the surface meaning of the

text, a meaning that is of course also true on its own level.

Some have assigned four levels of meaning, others seven.

These numbers must be understood metaphorically, of course,

since in principle the meanings of each verse are infinite. IbnArabi said that each time one reads a verse a new meaning

should be made clear. Therefore, when Ibn Masd said that

Ali knows the inner and outer meanings, this means that he

was qualified to interpret the symbols (ayat) of the Quran.

The manifest is finite and limited to what we might

say about it, but the hidden includes every thing that the

manifest is not, and is therefore infinite, and the scope of

interpretation goes all the way up to the level of the Divine.

The hadith about the dot of the bi is enough to show what the

words of the Quran, even its very letters, have to say about


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our very day very few texts exist which describe the actualpractices of Sufism even though the practices are alive and

well all over the world. We mention this only because

researchers need to take more seriously the aspects of Sufism,

which were not meticulously documented.

In this paper we have painted mostly broad strokes.

Although touching upon many of the important sayings and

teachings of Ali related to later Islamic esterism, the scope of

this paper does not allow us to go into any great detail as to

the meaning and proliferation of these sayings in the Islamicesoteric tradition. For example, in the school of Ibn Arabi, in

such figures as Abd al- Razzaq al-Kashani and Daud al-

Qaysari, one finds frequent reference to Ali in the context of

their very subtle metaphysical discussions. This must not be

interpreted as simply some pious or sentimental attachment to

a great religious figure.

Rather, these later metaphysicians knew full well that

they were describing realities to which Ali had spoken in amore synthetic and symbolic way, which was fully in accord

with his function as well as with his proximity to the original

revelation. This is an only example. There is no doubt that a

thorough study of the Sufi literature and oral tradition

regarding Ali would keep a scholar occupied for many years.

We must not forget that in the context of Sufism, we

are speaking about the second link in a continuous, living

chain consisting of only four or five dozen such links, and

which is supplemented by an extensive written tradition. If wehope to gain any real understanding of what comes later in this

tradition, we ought to be looking closer to the source and not

chasing after borrowings and the like. The information

presented in this essay should show that the most central

doctrines of Sufism were not novel in their conception but

only in their formulation, and that Ali had a full, integral

knowledge of the realities of which later Sufis would speak

using intricate explications of doctrine. We hope that in the

future this colossal figures role will not continue to be passed

over in silence, and that this short essay has established in the


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readers mind the connection of Ali to very heart of theIslamic tradition, which is the transmission and assimilation of

truth regarding the nature of Ultimate Reality, and whose

fountainhead is the revelation given to the Prophet.

Notes

[1] We say Sunni Sufis because Sufism is not confined to the

Sunni world, but exist among the Shiah as well.

[2] S.H. Nasr, Sufi Essays, New York, 1991, p.111.

[3] For further reading on this topic see Frithjof Schuon

Seeds of a Divergence in his Islam and the PerennialPhilosophy.

[4] Lecture by S.H. Nasr, Fall 1997.

[5] One cannot help inserting here that, He is like Arjuna,

Mother Teresa, and Shankaracharya all rolled into one.

[6] The Naqshabandiyyah trace their origin through Abu Bakr,

but also claim to be connected to Ali through Jafar as-Sadiq.

[7] Actually, I did spot a complete translation of it somewhere.

[8] S.H. Nasr, Spiritual Chivalry,Islamic Spirituality, vol. 2,ed. S.H. Nasr, New York, 1991, p.305.

[9] ibid.

[10] Perhaps dispense with this paragraph.

[11] Rumi,Mathnawi, trans. R. A. Nicholson, Lahore, vol. 1,p.202.


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[24] Cleary, Thomas, Living and Dying with Grace: Counselof Hadrat Ali, Boston, 1996, pp.81-83. A shorter version ofthis is found inHilyat al-Awliya.

[25] It is interesting to note here an incident where the Prophet

was with a group of Companions, and mentioned to them that

there would be those who would come after him who would

be like fifty of you. They asked, Fifty of them, or fifty of

us? and he replied, Fifty of you.

[26] Nicholson, vol. 4, p.517.

[27] Of course here we are not including Christ in the line of

Hebrew prophets.

[28] On the issue of degrees of prophecy and their function,

one can look to the philosophy of Suhrawardi.

[29] There is another version of this hadith where Ali insteadrecapitulates the three previous statements all together. (S.H.

Nasr, lecture).

[30] Tabatabai Allamah, A Shiite Anthology, ed. and trans.William C. Chittick, London, 1981, p.38.

[31] Nicholson, vol. 4, p.643.

[32] Quran, XLI, 53.

[33] Taken from Nasr, S.H. Ideal and Realities of Islam,Cairo, 1989, p.63.

[34] Lecture, S. H. Nasr Fall 1997.

[35] Guenon, Rene, Symbolism of the Cross, London, 1975,p.6.


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[36]. Lings, Martin, A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century,Cambridge, 1993, p.149.

[37] Tabatabai, p.30.

[38] ibid.

[39] ibid., p.39.

[40]. Lecture by S.H. Nasr, Fall 1997.

[41]. Abu Nuaym Ahmad ibn Abdallah, Hillyat al-Awliya,Beirut, 1967, p.67.

[42]. Dhahabi, Muhammad Husayn, al-Tafsir wa l-Mufassirin, Cairo, 1995, p.96.

[43] ibid., p.97.

[44] There is a hadith of Ali, whose reference I could not findfor this paper, where he encourages learning the science of

Arabic letters.

[45] Dhahabi, Madrasahs of Tafsir.

[46] Ibn Abbas said, Whatever I have taken of tafsir is on

the authority of Ali. Dhahabi, p.96.

CANER K. DAGLI is a Fulbright Award

winner for research in Turkey. He earned

a B.A. from Cornell University, an M.A.

from George Washington University

where he was a student of Seyyed Hossein

Nasrand a Ph.D. from Princeton

University. His dissertation is entitled,From Mysticism to Philosophy and

Back. He specializes in Islamic


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philosophy, mysticism in world religions, and Sufism. He isan Adjunct Professor in the Religious Studies Department of

George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia, specializing in

Comparative Religion and Islamic Philosophy. He has taught

courses on Islam and Mysticism, and on the relationship of

Religion and Science, as well as on Values and Responsible

Life.

Mr. Daglis interest in religion and mysticism,

particularly Islamic studies, has been fueled in part by his

heritage. Though Mr. Dagli was born and raised in NewJersey, his parents are of Circassian background. His father is

from the Caucasus Mountain region in Russia and his mother

is from the same ethnic group originating in Turkey. These

areas, primarily Muslim enclaves, offer a natural starting point

for Mr. Daglis studies.

Mr. Dagli is a Special Advisor to the Royal

Hashemite Court of Jordan for Interfaith Affairs.

* * *

Ali and Metaphysics by Allamah Tabataba i

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