McAuley, Ibn Arabi Pp. 59-92

3Ibn 'ArabI and the Qur'an: A Series O'foems

1. IBN 'ARABI'S QUR'AN POElVIS: AN OV'ERVIE\!\T

AJ110ng the nlost ren1arkable contents of the BLllaq Dfwan is a set of poems,each of which is dedicated to the spirit (rfi~) of a sura of the Qur'an. 1 Everysura is given a poern) and some suras are given two or even three. The poemsrange in length fron1 three to eighteen verses. Ibn 'Arabi tells us that the poemswere delivered by 'the inspiration of the InOlnent (warid al-vvaqt) , \,yithoutaddition and \vithout the operation of th~ught or' deliberation'?

I anl not a\vare of any other work quite like this in Islan1ic literature. It \,yascon11Don for poets to \tvork phrases froln the Qur'an into their poems, whetherin devotional \tvorks or indeed for an incongruous, jocular effect. 3 Poets alsofreely referred back to stories from the Qur'an. The Persian poet Jalni took thepractice further by con1posing a full-blow'n rOlnantic nlath'nalvl aroundthe story of Joseph and Zulaykha.4 But perhaps because of the doctrine ofthe Qur)an)s inimitability, and the perceived dichoton1Y between the Qur'anand poetry that ,vas discussed' in Chapter 2, a set of poems systematicallyengaging ,vith the style and content of the Ql.lr'an is something far moreunusua1.5 The only other exalnp1e I have CaIne across in pre-lllodern literatureis that of the thirteenth-century N u~ayrI ('AlawI) poet Makzlln al-Sinjati, who\tvill also be discussed below.

Because of the unusual nature of the Qur'an poellls, they have beenn1entioned in several overviews of Ibn ~L\rabI's \-York and of the literature ofthe period.6 They have also been studied in a luore sustained way in three

1 BCllaq, pp. 136-79/Basaj, pp. 131-70.2 Bl:llaq, p. 179/Basaj, p. 170.3 For some examples see Claude France Audebert,

1. My creation was TraIn vvatei', and the other elementsflo\v 1'0111 it, so seekn1e on the vvater.

p. 162; Th. Emil HOlnerin, (Arabic Religious Poetry', in Roger Allen and D. S. Richards (eds),Arabic Literature in the Post-Classical Age (Calnbridge History of Arabic Literature, Cambridge:Can1bridge University Press, 2006), p. 172.

7 Bachnlann, (Ein Gedicht zur ((Sure der Dichter" aus clem Dfwcm von Ibn 0.1- ArabI', Journalde linguistiqiie arabe 25 (1993), pp. 25-90; (in Tafslr...jlTI Yets~Jl. Zu Einer Gruppe vonGedichten inl (Diwan' Ibn .al- Arabls', DerjslqllL~51l~(J)j88),pp. 70-82;

'11 Cf. the poems discussed in Chapter 4 3 and Chapter 7 4a.12 On \vater in Ibn ArabI's thought see FU~D~, pp. 170-3.13 BCLlaq, p. 176/Basaj, p. 167.14, Patricia Crone, l'vleccaJ1 Trade and the Rise of Islam (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), p. 209.15 On this association see further Chodkiewicz, Ocean, pp. 72-3,16 This poem has been analysed in great detail by Bachlnann CGedicht', pp. 29-49), so there

is little point in discllssing fully here. 1\1y translation builds on Bachmann's German versionof the poenl,

2. 'Vater has no lilnit that surrounds it,that is how I aln in being, 'with nlY nanles. ll

3. God has varied words to describe "water;whoever has seen thenl can do 'without indications.

4. What He lnentions in his creation canle fro111 svveat,and the allusion 111akes any open statenlent unnecessary.12

'In a,siluil'ar way, ';orrie of the poelns- pick IIp:Dn~a-'poin(ofterrhinology or ofetyn101ogy, drawing parallels between "words that appear to share the san1eroot (if notin ways that would convince a lexicographer), One example is thepoen1 on SLtra 106, Quraysh. 13 This short sara hinges on the 111ysterious yvord[hif, which has given rise to a great variety of explanations. In the yvords of one

. - , exasperated sceptical-historian,

the sura refers to the fact that Quraysh used to trade in Syria, or in Syria and theYemen, or in Syria and Ethiopia, or in all three" and n1aybe also in Iraq, or else totheir habit of spending sumnler in Ta'if, or else to ritual- visits to Mecca, Itcelebrates the fact that they began to trade, or that they continued to do so, orthat they stopped; or else it does not refer to trade at a11. 14

Ibn ~ArabI's short poem sidesteps the philological and historical issuescOlTIpletely, focusing instead on a pun bet\veen Quraysh and, taqarrush (togather, to be pure, Of to make a profit), and between the tenn illl!and ta'lifand

u~la, lllean'ing 'familiarity' .15In other cases, Ibn 'ArabI follows a \vhole sara through its progression,,,quotingfr~m'it freq{;ently and' son1~tilnes adopting its fhyme~ Perhaps unSUf-prisingly, this tends to happen lllore often \tVithMeccan saras, yvhose short,clipped, anq. rhYlning phrases lend then1selves most easily to tHat approach.These poen1s COlne across as lllore alnbitious stylistically, and also comeclosest to 'ilnitating' the Qur'an. The poen1s discussed in this chapter fallinto both categories: S01l1e pick up on a phrase or part of a sara, and othersfollo\v a sara 1110re closely.

As regards the second question-ho\v these pOelTIS relate to the Qur'anictext-the first place to look is the poen1 on Surat aI-Shu 'ara', in which the.supposed condelnnation of poets occurs. 16 Here, Ibn ArabI comlne.nts on theQur'an's perceived condelnnation ofpoets, \vhich \vas discussed in Chapter 2,

61Ibn 'Arabr and the Qur'ah: .A. Series oj~ Poen1s

If the people kJlel ,vhat the Qur'an has brought,they would proclainl it in every verse.

section 1. He begins by reaffinning the distinction bet\veen scripture andpoetl)T:

Yet the concluding verse suggests a closer relation bet',veen the Qur'an andpoetry: ..

Ibn 'Arobts A-iystical Poetics62

1. Poetry is sonletilnes to be praised) son1etilnes to be blan1ed;that is ,vhy n1)' Lord nlade a distinction in it ...

2. If you praise ,vith it S0111eOne deserving, it is high;if you praise \vith it S0111eOne ,,,,ho stands in the \vay of understanding,

3. it is ]ovv. That is vvhy I said about it \\That you heard:that poetlY is son1etLInes to be praised, s0111etinles to be blamed.

\\Thile the Qur'an and poetry remain distinct) Ibn 'Arabi says that 'when thecontent of the Qur'an has been correctly realized, it calls for poetry. Thisinsight is a good placeto start discussing Ibn 'Arabi's Qur'an poen1s.

It is also important to realize that 1110st of the poel11s are not pril11arily aboutthe relation bet\veen the Qur'an and poetry. To understand \Ivhat they have totell us about the topic, we l11ust pay attention not only to yvhat they say, butalso to how, they operate. To do so requires SOlne awareness of Ibn ,ArabI'svie\vs qn the Qur'an, and of the Sufi interpretive, tradition more generally.17

Early Sufi con1111entary developed from meditations on the meanings ofspecificc1yas, vvhich were read as referring to the human soul in its quest forGod. I8 Ja \far al-~adiq (d. 765) is said to have introduced the idea that the saineaya could have different levels of meaning) depending on the listener's spiri-tual leveL 19 Ja \far represents an intersection bet\veen the SUfiSID and thedifferent strands of Shia Islan1. The development of sYlnbolic readings alsoo\ves l11uch to thelatter, ,vhich took certain passages in the Qur'an as referringto the Shia in1alTls.20

In Sunni SUfiS111, Ablll-Qasi111 al-QushayrI (d. 1073) developed the idea thata given aya of the Qur'an has' different levels of Ineaning acc.ording to thereader's level of spiritual a,vareness. AI-Qushayrfs project .\vas to demonstrate

17 This is a vast topic that cannot be addressed in full here. A classic account of SufiC0111111entaries before Ibn ArabI's tilDe is:_ Paul N\,vyi!l, Exeg~secor(lniqtle et la71gage mystique(Redferthes de l'Institut de Lettres Oriental-es de.. B.eyrouth 49, Beirut: -Dar .el-Masbreq, 1970).,A succinct but perceptive i rervievv, extendi.ng to Ibn ArabI and beyond) is Knysh, '?lUlsm'.

]8 Ibid., pp. 135-7.19 Ibid., pp. 139-40.20 ,The attribution of Ja' far al-$adiq's \vorks is itself problen1atic; the Twelver Shia revere him

as their sixth lInaID, but later Sunni Sufi sources also clain1 him as one of their own. Nvv)Tiacontends that \vhetber or not his yvritings really go back to hilTI, there is a core of distinctiveideas that can be found both in Sunni and in Sllia transmissions of those writing's (Exegesc)pp. 159-60).

63Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur)an: A Series ofPoernsthe essential con1patibility of SUfiSll1 vv-ith InainstreaID SunniSll1 and Ash' arikalcnn.21 His polyselTIOllS reading of scripture helped to aCCOlTIIl1odate differ-ent understanding of the text.

Given his ovvn self-confidence as Seal of the Saints, Ibn 'ArabI goes furtherthan lllany in elnphasizing his own inspiration as a source of authority. This isthe vie~N expressed in his poen1 on Sura 57, al-~adld?2 T'he po ill focuses onthe Qulanic aya'He is the first, t~te"las( the outvvard; thein\vard) (Q57:3~4).23It is 'North pausing to loo~ ,at this poen1:

1. The la\v is tvvo la\""s, the lavv of the prophets and that of the \vise;and each is taken care of,' for those who understand it,

2. by GOd)24 foi' God established itas an upright law Jor the one 'who kno\vs, when he learns.

3. God is the one \'vho inspires itto their hearts) while fhey do not perceive

4. the detern1ination and the \,yisdon125 that he has cast into the heart,because they claim that they are scholars ('ulama').

5. But they do not realise that it is God who makes them know-that is what the saying of the ancients has told us--:-

6. for they are 'ignorantof what \ve kno\vof the God who detennined according to the Truth.

7. So \ve will be n10re blessed than them in our resurrection)"vvhile they clain1 that ton10rrO\V; they \-vill be the leaders

8. in spirit; but their proce'ssions have betrayed then1)so even if they are blessed) they "'rill not lose any [reason to) rel)ent.

9. For \/\le kno\v26 \vhat they profess27 and believe,and we cannot see that they have any precedence in our kno\vledge;

10. and \ve are the people of witnessing in our way (tariqa),\vhile they, with their thoughts, are be\vildered and blind.28

This poeln CaInes across as a blistering attack on exoteric religious scholars.The t\yO [or111s of law (shar ') referred to in verse 1 are probably the outvvardhnv, as put forward by the prophets, and its inner 111eaning, \vhich is given to

21 Knysh,'~ufiSIT1 p. 144:-', Btdaq, pp. 158-9iBasaj, p. 151. NIetre: bnsJt-23 The in1portance of this ciya for Sufi ,thought can hardly be overestin1ated;. see further

Chapter 8\:'6,2-1 VvTa-kLdluhu fa-h~va rJwr'iyyun li-nwn fahimall 'inda l-ilnhi: the verb fa 'a can also mean

'to observe', suggesting the alternative translation 'each of these is observed by those whounderstand'. Ho\vever, it is n10re difficult to connect this translation to the 'by God' in thefollo"wing verse. '

25 These two words are identical in writing, but the 111etre suggests that the first is (lukm andthe second hikarn.-

26 Prefer~ing the reading na '[nmu (Ibn ArabI, Dfwan. Yusuf Aga 5463, f.377a).27 1\1(1 q(ihihu: the verb qalC1 should probably be taken in its secondary n1eanL'1g oCto profe s',

but the prirnary sense 'to say' 'would not be out of place either.28 On the connotations of the tenD nfkdr see Chapter 5 6.

29 See further Chapter 4 4.30 Quot,ediri Aust.in, Sufis) p. 105 (~r. A-ustin).31 Quoted in Austin) Sufis) p. 65 (tr. Austin).

God forbid) nlY brother, that you should think that I blame the jurists for beingjurists or for their practice of jurisprudence, for such an attitude is not pern1issiblefor a Ivluslinl and the nobility of the La\v is beyond question. Ho'wever, I docensure tho;;e jUl~ists \.-vho, harbouring merely worldly aims, cynically study theLa\v vyith the sale object of acquiring fan1e, of putting then1selves in the publiceye, and \\rho indulge in constant hair-splitting and useless controversy.30

No less important than the -infinite possibilities of interpretation is a strongcon1111itn1ent to the letter. of the text. It is often thought that rnysticis1l1 isantithetical to a literal reading of scripture. This is certainly not true of Ibn'ArabI. Chodkiewicz points out that he approving~y.quotes a report froln theearly jurist Mali~ ibn Anas according to which'd-olphin meatnlay'not be eaten'on the grounds that the Arabic word for a dolphin lite 'allyrneans \,rater-pig'.

Ibn 'Arabi's j\Jystical Poetics64the Sufis. The tenn ~uk(1nuf, \vise people', appears here to refer to Sufis,presu111ably in contrast to the 'ula/no.', \vho are the conventional scholars.True kno\yledge descends on the heart, \vhich is the organ of perception in theSufi tradition?9' Ibn ~t\rabl is probably not" trying to demonIze c6h\':e"iitio-nal"'scholars as such. He himself \vrote prolifically on lllatters of.fzqh, and in othercontexts qualified his distaste for fuqaha':

The poem does, however, create a space for Sufi hermeneutics to exist along-side the lllore usual Qur'anic sciences. Ibn 'ArabI stresses the relevance, indeedthe prilnacy, of Sufi inspiration as -a-gtti-de-te-t-h-e-Hely---BBBk-. In the Qur'anpoelns, he takes this idea further still by clain1ing that the poenls were revealedby 'nl01nentary inspiration' rather than as a result of his ovvn thinking.

In his own approach to the Qur'an, Ibn 'ArabI clii1gs to and develops thebelief that the Qur'an has infinite Ineanings that affect listeners in different\vays at differen't'times; Ariy gloss he provides fbI' a given Qur~anic.tenn "doesnot c.onstitute its definitive Ineaning: the meanings are shifting all the tilne. Anexan1ple is this vision:

[T]he Imarn was reciting the chapter of the Quean entitled (The Tiding'. Whenhe caIne to the place where God says, (Have vIe not made the earth a resting placeand the n10untains for supports', I becan1e abstracted [roln the Imarn and hisrecitation and sa\vinwardly our Shaikh, Abu Ja \far, saying to n1e, (The restingplace is the world and the supports are the believers; the resting place is thecon1munity of the believers and the supports are the gnostics; the gnostics arethe resting places and the prophets are the supports; the prophets are the restingplace and the apostles are the support; the apostles are the resting place andthen \\That?'31

32 Chodbewicz, Ocean, p. 19.33 Goldziher, Richtungen, pp. 245-7.Goldziher's discussion of Ibn ArabI's Qur'anic hern1e-

neutics ren1ains useful, but needs correcting in one ilnportant respect: the cornnlentary that hebelieved to be by Ibn ArabI \vas in fact the vvork of Abd a1- Razzaq a1- Kashanl, or al-QashanI (d.1329), although the most recent edition ren1ain obli\'ious to the fact (see Knysh, '~Clfisn1', p. 156).

34 This notion is stated explicitly in the work of Ibn A.rabI's Andalusian predecessor IbnBarrajan, who appears to ha-ve been a strong int1uence (Denis Gril, 'La "Lecture superieure"du

Corarl:>-selo.Il- Ibn~Bay.ragan\ Arabica 47 [2000], -p.p. S10~22). The corresponding.notion in al-Kasha"ni's Tafslr is tatbiq) or 'parallel' (Goldziher, Rich tLl l1gen , pp. 243-5). \Vithout knowing thatthe Taf'i]" was by a different autbor, Goldziher nevertheless noticed this difference interminology.

35 Chodkiewicz, Ocean. 36 i\ettler, Sl~fz lv1etaphysics.

It does not Inatter that dolphins are unrelated to pigs: the Qur'an prohj~its theeating of anything called a pig.32

This feature of Ibn 'Arabi's thought \vas noticed con1paratively early inlllodern scholarship by one of the pioneers of Islan1ic studies, Ignaz Goldziher.Goldziher chuckled at the later Sufi authors' propensity to read mystical111eanings into anything and everything, do vn to nursery rhyl11es. 33 I-Ie char-'acterized the Tajsfr,

37 BCllaq" p. 163/Basaj) p. 155. lY'Ietre: tm,vfl.

2. 'IF YOU BEND IT, YOU BREAK IT): THE POEMON SURATAL T AHRIM 37

Ibn ArabI's pOe1TI on Surat-al-Ta1:lrim is based on ayas' i~S~which_recount anincident bet"veen the' Prophet Muhalnmad and his \Ivives. Ibn 'ArabI refersback to this incident in the light of a prophetic hadith on W0111en. The parts ofthe Qur'an that deal 'itV'ith daily occurrences in the life of MuhalTIll1ad and hisC0111ffiunity in Medina appear at' first sight to be least promising for Sufi

, ,~nlerpretatiol1. So. hOTN does Ibn ArabI dra\v a spiritual messag~.Qut ofQur'anie passages regarding the Prophet's relations with'"hI; - ,,,rives? Aildhovv does he nlake it into the stuff of poetry?

Ibn 'Arnbts i\IIystieal Poetics66

been chosen partly because they exen1plify son1e of the \vays in "vhich Ibn~Arabi approaches the Qur'an, and partly because they cover son1e of the 111ajorQur'anic thelnes: la\\T and daily events in lvIuharnmad's tilDe, the distinction,bet,,\! een believers and unbelievers; and the oaths of the-- s'libttei !vie'cearY sriffis .. ,

The first t"vo poems are n1editations on sl11a11 segments of the Qur)anicoriginals, in the light of Ibn ArabI's metaphysics. Both base themselves on anincident fron1 the Prophet's life and go on froID there to explore his status andthe nature of the creative felninine.

The third and fourth poen1S are nlore daring and probably more all1bitious.Here) the originals are Meccan suras \'\lith tighter phrases and a consistentrhyme. In both ca'ses, Ibn Arabi adopts the rhyme of the ol~iginal and closelyfo11o\vs the plotline of the sura. While quoting frequently frolTl the Qur'anic111aterial, he places it in a very different context. As Chapter 4 \vill sho\,v nlorefully, the usual vvay to reply to another poet is to use the same metre andrhyme. The fact that Ibn ArabI adopts the Qur'anic rhymes is therefore farfrOITI casual. It signals Ibn ArabI's intention to deliberately ilnitate the Qur'an jor at least to' complelnent it in some way.

The chapter concludes by ~omparing the last poenl "vith another audaciousQur'an ilnitation by a contertlporary of Ibn 'Arabi, the Nu~ayri poet Makzl111

. al-SinjarI (c.118~-1240).ThecoDlparison sheds light 011 the different vvays in'tV'hich the two poets use the Qur) a~1. vVhile IV{akzllll CGIneS closest tOvvrltin'ga new version of the Qur'an) Ibn Arabi's poem can be seen 1110re as a parallel.It runs alongside the sacred text) reinterpreting it in often daring "\Tays) butll1aintaining the distinction between the Qur'an and poetry.

< 38 AI-Tabari,)ami' al-BayrU1) s.v. Q66:1-5. For yet aIlother account, which conflates this storywith another one, see Barbara Stowasser, '\Viyes of the Prophet', EQ.

39 ~ot all versions given by al ~Tabari naIne all of the protagonists: some of then} refer to 'oneof the Prophet's wives', and SODle to 'a concubine'.

As is often the case, the Qur'an's treatlnent of the incident betvveenM uhaIiln1ad and his wives is in itself difficult to follow: it is less a narrativethan a reference to events that the original listeners \vould already have beena\vare of. The style of this passage is typical of the Inore prolix lvledinan sflras.

1. Prophet, \vhy do you forbid what God allowed for you, seeking to make.youryviv(:j) ~ontent, v/henGod is forgiving and cOD1passiqnate?

"2. God has ordained for you the absolutiori ofyou I' oaths. God is your Protector,and I-Ie is the All-la10,ving, All-\Vise.

3. The Prophet confided sonIe talk to one of his \vives. "{When she divulged it,and God disclosed that tohirTI, he TI1ade known part of it and turned aside~ froln another part. \-"'Then he told her, she said,

1. 1 an1 anlazed-at a WOlnan \A!hos deceit stands up-tothe best of God's servants, and his Supporter on High,43

Ibn 'ArabI s treatn1ent of the incident assurnes an understanding of the storythat goes broadly along such lines-. Ho~vever, he also Inakes a connection \vitha Prophetic hadith that gives advice about \V0111en:

Ibn ArabI uses this argun1ent to account for Muhan1mad's having had moreth~n the usual lilnit of four wives.. These ideas are jI~portant if \ve are tounderstand the poeln at hand. Hovvever, his precise point elnerges only fron1 adetailed reading..

The first three verses fornl a clearly defined segnlent, and are 1110re or less aparaphrase of the Qur'anic incident:

Ibn 'Arabi's j\;lystical Poetics68

Vioman is like a rib: if you straighten it, you break it; ifyou \'Vant to enjoy it, enjoyit \,yhUe it is bent.

Or, in an alternative version:Take good care of \von1an, for she "vas created from a rib. The ITIOst bent part of

the rib is the upper part, and if you try to straighten it, you break it vVolnan ",vascreated fron1 a bent rib. If you \vant to straighten it, you 'will break it, and breakingit is divorce. If you seek to enjoy, yeu should do so 'when it is bent.40

This hadith is a comment on the idea thatEve \vas created from Adaln's rib.The Qur'an does not mention this idea as such. It does, hovvever, state thatGod created inankind 'from a single self (nafs vva~ida), and created frOlTI it its111ate' (za11/jaha;Q4: 1). The 'single self \vas often understood as referring toAdam; and Ibn ArabI fo11ovvs that explanation. 41

To Ibn 'ArabI, the idea that man and woman ,vere created from a single selfis significant in metaphysical terlns. In the chapter on Muhamn1ad in theFu~u~, Ibn 'Arabi goeson todravv a le$son about the in1portance of \VOD1en inMuhartlInad's life. As Nettler puts -it, ,

[A]s 'kno\vingoneself~i( possible~is' the path to k110\\;ing--Go'd, tl1-en n1an'-sknowledge of God is a direct function of his relationship \,vith\voil1an. In n1,ln'skno\ving hin1self through \VOlllan, he is then able to lU10\V God; and in knowingG-od con1es the realisation and con1pletion of one's ontological standing.42

40 Muhanlil1ad ibn Isnl~i'll al-Bukhari, Ie reeueil des traditions maltometanes (aI-}ami'al-~al!il!),' ed. Ludolf Kreht 4 vols.(Leiden: E.]. Brill, 1862-'1908), in_-tl~e chap'terKitab a~;Nikal), voL 3, p. 440.

41 Nettler,-Sufi Metaphysics, p. 181 n16.42 Nettler, Sufi A1ettlphysics) p. 183.43 Reading yuqc'hvimu as an active verb, makruhc1 as sLlbject, and bi-khayri 'ibadi Ilahi wa--'ml~

ihiri I-a 'l(1 as indirect object. The fonllulation is unusual, since we \,vould usually expect a directobject rather tban the preposition bi. But the C0111pUer of the Inanuscript clearly thought that theline should be read this way, since he gives the heading wa:-qiila ayqan fiman qawama l-iqtidarat-flahI, and his notes are generally well-infonned.

H Bihi tilbla: the verb could refer to a Inale addressee or to a \",Toman in the third person. Soone could just as \vell read, \Yhich is an affliction for her:. I.have. preferred ,to. translate .!for you' inorder to preserve a contrast with the following vei'se, but'the anlbiguity may well be deliberate.

-is

[h]adGabriel not conTe in hunlan ornl, but in son1e other, 'whether anin1aL plantor mineral, Jesus \vould have been able to. quicken the dead only by taking thatform to hin1self and appearing in it.

In another respect, the. qualities of Mary influenced the type of person Jesusturned out to be. He had a lneek disposition because his n10ther ,vas atpeace when Gabriel ble\v his spirit into her. Had she been "anxious at thetilne, 'Jesus would have turned out too surly to bear, because of his lTIother's"state of Inind at' that tilne~'51 l\10reover) Ibn ArabI appears to illlply thatJesus' nleekness ,vas the result of a felninine side, which represents Mary'sinfluence:

47 Cf. Affifi} Tn 'liqat} p. 182. In the FutCd!at, Ibn ArabI likens Jesus to Eve and lvlary to Adanl.In Corbin's words,

Just "as a Fenlinine "had bee..!l existentiated by a Masculine without the rnediatioll of alllotller, n~l1l1ely;Eve created by Adan1 and standing in a passive relation to AcLinl, so itwas necessary that a Ivlasculine should be borne by a Feln"inine without the J11ediation of afather; and so Jesus ,vas borne by lvlaryarn [lvlary] .. , Thus the relation of lvlaryanl to Jesusis the antetype to the relation of Eve to Adanl. {Corbin> Alone, p. 163)

The ideas discllssed here resonate with Corbin's treatment of the (creative felninine' (ibid.)pp. 157-75), wi~h the caveat that Corbin's analysis tends to roam over several authors andperiods. -

'18 Cf. Cha"pter 1 2c. 49 FU~fl~, p. 139. 50 Fu?u~) p. 140. 5] Fu~n~} p. 139.

Ibn 'Arabts f\1ystical Poetics70'lerses 8 to 9 are an extrell1ely succinct allusion to ideas that Ibn Arabidevelops 1110re fully in the chapter on Jesus in the Fu~ft~. Verse 1-0 acts asa cap, ro~nding off the poe~ and calling on the listener to heed its n1essagt,"Yet ""altl=rbugh- the" ide~rs--ser 6tLL' Ii1" the" Fu~u~ help" tinderstand \vhat sort ofargtlll1ent Ibn Arabi is n1aking, the precise nature of the analogy remainselusi\re. In the chapter on Jesus in the Fu~u~, Ibn ArabI argues that Jesus \vasunique in that he vvas conceived \vhen an angel, identified in the exegeticaltradition as Gabriel, visitedl'v'1ary and bIe"v his spirit into her (Q19:17-22).This means that vvhereas other hUlnan beings are created by a 111aterial fatherand lTIother, Jesus "vas the product of a hUl11an, material n10ther and a spiritualfather. 47 "Jesus" is therefore a" fitting SYIDbol for the combination of the D1aledivine spirit \vith thelnaterial and feluale principle of Nature, an act thatunderlies the creation of the heavenly spheres.48 -

In one respect, Jesus' abilities reflect the action on hLtn of the spirit that ,vasblovvn into lv1ary by Gabriel: 'Jesus caIne forth raising the dead because he "vasa divine spirit.'49 So the quality for "vhich Jesus is relnelnbered vvas Inadepossible by his spiritual side: this is "vhat verse 9 refers to by saying, 'Thelv1erciful supported his spirit,vith the Spirit.'5o Ibn ArabI adds that Jesus ,vasable to raise the dead only in hUlnan form, because Gabriel had appeared tolYfaryin hUlnan [orn1:

, .~ .

52 Q9:29, a reference to a tax owed to the Muslims by Christians living in !vluslirD regions. Ofcourse, Ibn Arabi refers to \vhat he sees as the Qur'an's account of how Christians should behave,rather than to anything ~n Christian teaching as such. . .

53 Fz;/~ii;t;; p. 140.' Here;' the 'feminine side appears to be associated -with nleekness, whereas thepoem sees wonlen primarily as cOl11plaining. I an1 not sure ho\v Ibn ArabI \vould have explainedthe contrast.

S4 Having said that, I an1 unsure \\hat to 111ake of the phrase 'he did not do that again' (wa-mdthmlnc?) at the end of v. 9, It ,,,,ould seenl to suggest a contrast between Jesus and WOlnan. Godupported Jesu~ v/ith His spirit. He took woman into his care, but-apparentLy-did not repeat

the action of supporting her with His spirit. The verb thannli l1:eans to do something again, or tosay something again, or to count s0l11ething as t"\yO, but it is unclear what it refers to in thiscontext.

55 Not that- fell1ales are .the only. hlUllans.) rho. hD\V signs.of.ilnperfec ion. It is 'NOrth noticingthat Ibn ArabI also uses a Sil11ilar image to talk about nlen. In the FU'tl~(u1t, he states that all ofcreation is 'on a straight path', but adds that (the straightness of a bow is in its crookedness'-inother words, even apparent unperfections, in men as well as in WOlnen, are a part of God's plan(Chittick, SPOK, pp. 302-3).

Jesus cam~ forth with hunlility such that his C0111nlunity \vas cOluluanded 'thatthey should pay the poll-tax (kharaj) frorn their hand, hUInbling themselves',52and that if any of them 'were struck on one cheek, he should offer also the. other,and that he should 110t react against hiin or seek retribution. This comes froin hismother's side, since WOD1an is Ibvvly and hUlubl~.53

In short, Jesus was a hybrid) part spiritual arid part 111ateriaL This 'idea appearsto Ine to underlie the cornparison of women \'\Iith' lesu.sin. verse B. W qn1en"fulfil their role through the nature of their tabl'a, the passive and feminineprinciple. Jesus \tvorked his miracles because G9d 'supported his spirit' (v. 9);but according to verse 8, this happened through his nature, \rYhich "vas hisfelDinine side. 54

'The'implication SeelTIS to be that any faults that appear in WOlllan' are. in factdue to her nature) which is part and parcel of her Inetaphysical significance. Soif nlan is to enjoy WOll1an, he must accept her for what she is, including whatC0I11eS across as faults. 55

This leads us back to 1vluhammad'shousehold. Muhamlnad' would havebeen justified in divorcing the troublesonle wives referred to in Q66:1-S. He\rYould have had the support of God, the angels, and the believers. Indeed, Godhad prolnisedhim better 'wives in return. But Muhamlnad understooda deeper reality that led hin1 to do otherwise.

This poeln is a good example of the 'Nay Ibn i-\rabI 9perates in the Qur'anseries. It takes as its point of departure a day-ta-day incident in the life oflvluhanl1nad and his ,vives" and places.it into the, context of .his Sui} rn~ta~physics. At the san1e tilDe, \rYe are not allowed to forget about the originalmeaning. The do\vn-to-earth tone of verses 6 to 7 presupposes that 'rYe aretalking about ell1pirical, flesh-and-blood \rYOlnen, and not only about someCOS111ic principle of fenlininity.

Ibn '.Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series ofPoen1s 71

3. 'THERE IS NO STATION): THE POEM ON SORATAL-AHZAB 56

56 BC1.laq, pp.'149-50/Basaj, p. i43. lvIetre: kami/.57 A]-Tabari) Jami' al-Bayan) vol. 10, pp. 262-4) S.v. Q33:9. The battle is said to have taken

place in 627. On the battle see \Vatt, lv1uha77lmad at Jvledina (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1966),pp. 34-9 for a narrative that blends several historical traditions, including S0111e references toSCuat al-Al!zab, see. Martin Lings, 1\1uhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources (Cam-bridge: The Islamic Texts Society, 1991), pp. 215-28. l\1y concern,here is not to uncover theactual historical events, but to see then-i tllrough the exegetical lrraterial that would have beenfanliliar to Ibn 'Arabi and to his readers.

In this sense) the poen1 reflects the point that \,vas I11ade first by Goldziherand then 1110reJully by Chodkie\vicz. Ibn Arabi)s approach to the Qur)an doesnot usually involve seeking out a spiritual sense,and then jettison~ng the literaisense'that' gave rise fo'it. 'it -i~; because tne vlome'I1"inK1lih'aiiin1ad')s'life-'act"lik~\'"real ,yomen on a day-to-day basis (in Ibn ArabI's understanding at least!) thatthey are able to exelnplify a 1110re comprehensive point about feI11ininity.

FrOln a literary point of vie\v) Ibn Arabi rnaintains the connectionby shifting backvvards and forwards bet\Neen day- to-day language and Sufitechnical vocabulary. This jarring quality is ,,\That has put n1any readers off IbnArabI's poetry) but it is also an integral part of the Inessage he is trying to

",.. . ."',.. .

convey.

Ibn 'ArabI's Alystical Poetics72

Sllra 33, al~A1).zab; is like,,yise concerned prilnarily vvith the status of theProphet's \vives. It also describes a battle that pitted the nascent Muslin1coiTim\iriify of Mediiiaagaihst 'itsopponet1ts. IblY ~rabfs' pOelTIOl1 thestira'\,yanders Inore than IliaDy of the other ones, following through a series ofassociations tp.at begin from a phrase in the Qur)an. It is worth discussing herebecause sorne of the ideas it raisesfollovv nicely froln the poeln onal-Ta1).rlll1:Ibn 'Arabi touches on the nature of felnininity, while integrating it into hisunderstanding of sainthood. Once ag'ain) it is best to begin by taking a brieflook at the contents of the sura.

S1u-at al-A1}.zab begins by stating that adoptive sons should not be consid-ered as blood reJ,ations (aya 4), and that they should be nalned after theirnatural fathers where possible (aya 5). It then goes on to consider a battle(ayas 9-27). The exegetical tradition has it that this was the Battle of the'Trench, in \vhich the Meccans besieged the Mi.lslilTIS in Medina;57 ,The Qllr)an, ,takes to task some hypocrites who sought an excuse to escape, and called out)'0 people ofYathrib [Medina], you cannot 111ake a stand (lti muqama lakum)so ,vithdravv!) (aya 13).

58 For anaCCOllnt of this incident see Lings, i\tIuhamnwd, p. 213 and, in a distinctly lessreverent tone, 1CLXll1e Rodinson, lvlohammed (Harnl0nds\,,-orth: Penguin, 1973), pp.204-8.

59 Al-Tabari and al-Zarnakhshari both cite the variant vo,vellings nwqama and J71lAqama.The former l11eans (place to stand'. The latter refers to the act of staying or remaining sOJllewhere.Al-Tabari, Jami' nl-Bayan, vol. 10, p. 270; al-Zalnakhshari, Kashshal vol. 3, p. 528 .

.,.._ ,.??-,-, Seel,..fQr,~nstan,ce"","A..bLL l,..-Qasirn"Abd-.a.l-.Karinl aLQushayri> Risala> ed,.-lvla' ruf Zurayq and, Ali Abd'al-Hcll11id' Ba.l~aji (Beirut: Dar al-Jllbayl, 1990), pp. 56-8.

61 AI-Qushayri, Lafd'if, vol. 5, p. 155.62 Ibn Arabi (attr.), Tajsfr al-Qu/an ai-karim, ed. :"1u..tafa Ghalib (Beirut: Dill: al-Andalus,

1978), vol. 2, p. 284.

The remainder of the sura addresses relations between the Prophet and hiswives. The latter are to set an exaluple) and areparticul'al~ly,,yarned against anyInisconduct (aya 30). l i hey are to stay in their houses, and not to display theirbeauty (ayas 33, 59). The believers are not to enter the \vives> quarters vvithoutpennission, and should speak to them frOITI behind a veil (aya 53). There isalso a succinct 'efe 'ence to !v1Uhanl111ad>s 'lnarriage to the forn1er ife of his

"adoptive sonZayd (aya 37).58 ThIS 'incident is often taken cas a reasoJ!: f6rthe " ,injunction regarding adoptive sons at the beginning of the sara. l\1uhalnnlad'is not the father of anyofyour men)) but is 'the Seal of the Prophets> (aya 40)and is 'a beautiful exarnple> (aya 21).

Ibn 'ArabI's poem begins with a reference to a fe\v vvords from the accountof thel?attle of theTrer~~h. Hovvever, ,it-places~these\,vGrds in a,completelydifferent context:

1. People of Yathrib> there is no station (la rnaqd111a) for a knower\'\Tho is the inheritor of the Prophet of Hashinl, Muhal11mad.

In the Qur>an, as we have seen) the phrase 'Ya ahla Ya.thriba la muqarnalakuln> is uttered by the hypocrites seeking an opportunity to escape. It rneansthat the Muslilns do not stand a chance in battle. While the usual reading is himuqama, the alternative la rnaqama vvas also allovved.59 As Sufism developed)the word maqam had COlne to refer to a station on the Way, often as opposedto the 1110re transient 'states' (a~vval).6oThe techni~al sense was IllOst usually",_.~~pt_ ~,~~tiIlc~J~9rp,it~, J!l~aD:ing~ in"~hisQu(~1.~,i~,,aya,-_/\l-Qush~yrIn1akes

SOIne fairly general_ comlnents about cowardice, but does not read anyesoteric meaning into these lines.61 Even the cOlnmentary by 'Abd al-Razzaqal-Kashani, '\-\Those fondness for allegorical interpretation was noted by Gold-ziher, completely passes over this passage.62

Ibn 'ArabI, unlike these other Sufis, does take the phrase in a Sufi technicalsense. The phrase 'inheritor of the PfOp her' in verse 1 is a reference to thesaints. The phrase la rnaqama in this verse must then be taken in the samecontext. In the Futuhat, Ibn ArabI uses the phrase in reference to the PerfectHuman (al-insan al-kamil), vvho has reached the 'station of no station>

'.' (.nlaqan1-.lit maqchn )"., According to Ibn ~rabI) if the Sufi is in one, station, heis by definition not in another. The 'station of no station>, in contrast, is that of

73Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur)an: A Series of Poems

2. :His ascent enconlpassed all of the great stations,which is how' he becalne Inaster at the resurrection.

The next three verses further describe the Prophet Muhalnn1ad in l11etaphy-sical ternlS:

3. l\'lay God bless Hinl out of His 111ercy:for his sake) the purified spirit bo\ved

4. to his father, Adanl,66 \vhen the realities ,vere asleepto our words; and he "vas a guide away from discord.67

5. For the cOlnprehensive \vords \vhose nanles arein Adam, belong to the one brought close, Al;nlad.68

Ibn 'Arnbts ~..1ystical Poetics74

perfection, \vhich is an equilibrium bet\veen all of the Divine Nanles. God actsthrough the Sufi through His name Allah, \vhich cOlnprehends all of the othernames. 63 This level of pronlinence among the Sufis is seen as analogousto that' of lviuhamrnad ani6hg' the 'ptb'phets.64'~Like-'the Perfect Human)'lvluhamlnad encompasses all other levels. This happens by virtue of hisascent to\vards GOd: 65

The call for God to bless the Prophet (v. 3) brings us back to Siuat al-Al;zab: itis here that believers are told that 'G'od and his angels bless the Prophet' andare instructed to 'bless the Prophet and greet hinl' (v" 56).

The interrelation bet\veen Muhan11nad and AdalTI is one that Ibn 'ArabIpursues elsevvhere.Muhan1mad and Adam are respectively the last and first ofthe prophets. Verse 5 strengthens the connection between the tvvo. God taughtAdaln the names of all created things (Q2:31); Muhan1n1ad points 1110Stperfectly to God) through the ''''ords (kalimat) to which Adal11's names refer.As Nettler points out, each prophet in the Furu~ represents a particular .wordexcept for Muharrlmad) who has been given 'all of the ,~ords'.69One 111ight seean analogy here with the Sufi, whose station encon1passes all other stations.

63 Chittick, SPOK, pp.,37;;-6. See further Sells, 'Garden', pp. 301-6.64 On the Perfect Hll1nan see Chapter 1 2d.65 Q17:l-2, 50:1-18, see, iniTIOre detail, ChapterS S.66 See e.g. Q2:34; 7: ll.67 lVal-J:zaqa'iqu nuwwamunl'ar! qarvliru1 wa-min inshiqaqin qad hac::hl. This line is convo-

luted in syntactic tenns. I have read min inshiqaqi11, with IvlS. Yusuf Aga 5463 f.373, ratber than'an inshiqaqin as in Bltlag. This reading helps prise away the second part of the hen1istich fromthe fIrst, so that 'an qalvlina is 'a~tached to thesleeping truths in the first helTIistich whereas qadhada C0111es to refer back to I\/luhanl111ad. The solution is inelegant, but seenlS to 111e to be thebest available. It is supported by the fact that the Qur'an often uses \vords with the root SH-Q-Qin contrast with the guidance (hudii) provided by the Prophet (e.g. Q2:176; 4:115; 47:32).

68 Al:l1Dad is a synonYlD of Muhan11nad. The tenD 'brought close' (muqClrrab)seen1s to beused generically in the Qur'an. It is applied alnong others to Jesus (Q3:45), to S0I11e of the angels(4:172), to Moses (Q19:52), to those ,vho believe and do good works (Q:34:37), and to tbe blessed(Q56:11), but also to Pharaoh's magicians \vho wish to draw dose to hiln (Q7:114; 26:43).

69 Nettler, Sufi i\1etaphysics, p. 180.

70 A hadith says that 'won1en are the like (or full sisters) of men' (innamii l-nisii' shaqii'iq aIrijal). \Vensincl', Concordanceet i-ndice\, dglatrndi.fionmu ulnwne, (Leiden: E. J. ,Brill, 1992, 6\'~ls), vol. 3, p. 162. . . ,

71 There is no space here for a detailed discu sian of the whole chapter. For a close textualanalysis see 'l.\fettler, Sufi l'rlctnphysics) ch. 10,

72 Quoted in Nettler, Sl~fi i\1etaphy5ic5, p. 191.

6. His speech joined fen1alesto rnales,with the most special attribute of praise, and linked them.

7. Fen1ininity is an accident that becomes' realised,just like Inasculinity, do not hesitate,

8. Definition, OJ-add) joins us, if you are true to nle,for they are like us70-do not ansvver the one who reb~ts this.

So far, then, the poem builds on a phrase from the Qur'an, but takes'it in anunusual context. The link to the Qur'anicsura is suggested through. the'blessing of the Prophet. But the poeln goes on from there to discussthe significance of the Prophet's metaphysical status, in terms that must beunderstood in the light of Ibn Arabi's other works. At the same tilne, a parallelis esh b ished betvveen the status of the Proph t and that of his inheritor, thePerfect Human. The exact nature of the parallel is not made .explicit: the'poelnshifts deceptively betvveen the t\vo.

The next three ve'rses appear at first to mark a complete break:

75Ibn "Arabf and th e QurJan: _A Series of Poen1S

Hovv did the Prophet 'join females to lnales' (v. 6)? It seems to n1e'that thephrase jama 'a l-inatha ild l-dhukuri kala,muhu has to be understood asalllbiguous. The term jama 'a means to join, but the jam '. is also a granlmaticaltenn lueaning plural. So vve could also understand Ibn ArabI as saying, 'Hisspeech gave a ferninine plural to n1ales.'

If this reading is correct, then Ibn ArabI is referring to an argtllnent that heInade in the Fu~u~, again in the chapter on lvI~thanlmad.After elaborating onthe connection benveen '1vI:uhammad"arldAdain, Ibri' ~t\rabi gives a-lengthy,\vord-by-v-lord interpretation of a hadith of the Prophet: u~bibtu min dunya-kum thalath: al-niscf lval-tfb }val-~alat ('I have been made to love three thingsfroln this ,,,Todd of yours: "vomen, perflune and prayer')? 1 Ibn ArabI points outthat to say 'three things', lVIuhanllnad used the feminine fonn thalath, \ryhereasthe '\vords for wornen, perfume, and prayer taken together y\,ould usually requirethe 111asculine form thalatha. Ibn ArabI sees a deeper reason for this gramlnati-cal oddity: just as the masculine \vord for perfume is situated benveen thefenlinine '\vords for \vomen and prayer, 'lnan is situated betv\'een the [divine]

.essence froln \vhich he emerges,an~ worna I1 \\Tho enlerges from hiln'.72Coming back to the poem, Ibn ArabI seems to lnean that since lnen and

,\vonlen elnerge from 'a single self, the rnaleness and femaleness of f1esh-and-blood human beings can also be seen as sOlnething secondary, 'an accidentthat becolnes realised' (v. 8). And because \V0I11en \\Jere derived (ishtaqqa) from

73 Fu~~{?~p. 216.74 Assurning that qawl! at the beginning of "I". 10 runs over frOITI Y. 9. Agail ) thi is not an

,elegant solution, but I cah.not see what else 'qawlT'could refer to. 'Is true for all tilne' is the bestI can 111ake of ta'abbada, which may be derived from abC/d) 'eternity)., The lnore usual 111eaning ofta>ahbadn, 'to return to the "vild', cannot apply here.

75 This line looks as if it refers to a proverb, ,vbich I have not been able totra.ce.76 On the active and passive principles i.n cosnlological tenDs} in the context of the hadith on

'the tl1ree,thii1gs, see Corbin) Alone, pp~ 166-8.77 Q5: 110; cf. Q3:49. 78 FU~fl:-, p. 140.

Adam,73 the very act of division or definition (~add can Inean either) is \vhatthey have in C0111mon \\ ith 111en.

Tp _Su~D1~_~:i,?e"tq~ argument ?o far:lv1uhammad held the 'station of nostation', \vhich rep;ese~lt~ -the .~;ftiIYlate '~'Clliilil)dunl'~ above' arid beyoild' allYother station. As part of this statioll, he understands the complexity of rela-tions bet\veen Inale and female) but sees that at least as far as elnpirical hLllnanbeings are concerned, both of these qualities go back to one self.

,rrhe next three \ erses explore another tension similar to that betvveen 111aleand felnale, t.he tension bet\veen active and passive principles:

9. Do not be 'veiled in passivity,(infi ,~alJ,for Jesus \vas before, and \vhat I ~ay is true for all tin1e.J4

10. And Jesus did not doubt that his beingwas God's spirit, sanctified and supported.

11. God knows that ,'\'~hat I have said is true:the perfume-seller cannot put right vvhat has gone bad?5

Here) Ibn ArabI rejoins the themes that we savv in the poem on Sluat al-Ta1).rIm. We have seen ho\v Ibil Arabi imputes a fen1inine side to Jesus, an~also ho\v passivity is often portrayed as felninine, where activity is seen asInasculine?6 '

hi. tl1is COl1.text, it seenls tdrhe' thafyetanothet side of the question is hinted-at. We saw bl~iefly in Chapter 2, section 1 how Ibn ArabI discusses the problen1of whether Jesus' miracles were performed byhin1 or by God. The discussion

, takes place in the fonn of an excursus on the gralnlnar of a Qur'anic passage.The Qur)an says, 'You create from the clay a forIn like that of a bird with 111ypern1ission, and yOll blow into it and it beco111es a bird by my pennission.'77Does the phrase 'with my pern1ission) refer to the blo\ving, or to the fact thatthe clay becolnes. a' bird? One would aSSU111e) says Ibn ArabI, that it refers tothe blo\ving: it is Jesus that blows, but through God's permission. However,one could also take it as referring to 'it becomes'. In that case, it is throughGod's pennission that the bird becolnes alive) but the blowing is Jesus'o\'vn act..78,

Most Qur'an COlnlnentators believe that the act of creation is exclusivelyGod's. Affifi con11nents that such a position is also consistent-\vith the Ash 'arl

.76 Ibn 'ArabI's J\1ystical Poetics

79 Affifi, Ta 'lfqat) p. 183.80 Cf. Q20:61: wa-qad khnba man iftara ('whoever forges has e\'er failed').

1 Chodkiewicz, Ocean, p. 37. 82 Ibid., p. 37.

kaliirn vie\v that God creates all hUlnan acts?9 To Ibn 'ArabI, both vievls arevalid: the act belongs to the h un1an or to God depending on one)s perspective.

It seeIns to me that this 111ust be Ibn ArabI's point in Inentioning Jesus andpassivity (infi 'al). Not only is Jesus a cOlnbination of active (the spirit) andpassive (nature): he also illustrates through his Iniracles ho\-'\' one can be bothan agent and the Ineans through \vhich God works. This is another contrastthat dissolves'once one hasxeached the 'station": of no station':

The final four verses elnphasize the -sanle point, using a different example:

12. An exanlple has come to you~becauseof 'what 'was saidas SODlething well supported in the shart' a, I will not nalne it (outright),

13. out of courtesy for God, whose glory is great,for tilDe is like' a doth" for the pllreessence:

14. the leaf of comparison carries out its function (~ukrn),and it is redunda11t when the command appears,

15. as in 'what was said-

83 BLdaq) p. 157/Basaj, p, ISO, Metre: rajaz.84 Q54:1-4.

4. "AI ARNING IS OF NO USE': THE POEMON SORATAL-QAMAR83

The hO~l[-dra'\vs close and 'th'e ]1100n IS spilt. \tVhen they see a'sign, they tlirn J\,vayand say> (Continuous sorcery!' They cried lies and followed their ovvn vvhi 11S>, butevery Inatterhas been settled. Such tidings have COlne to then1 as contain adeterrent> far-reaching \visdon1-but yvarning is of no use.84

Ibn 'Arabts Mystical Poetics78

al- Talfriln. In the latter, the Prophefs vvives are exelnplars of a higher realit),but they are nevertheless flesh-and-blood 'VOlnen. Indeed, it is because they areordinary \V0111en that they are best sqi.ted.toexernplify' a P9int that goes beyondthemselves: 'In the 11oem'on sitra al- l~~zab; ho\vever:' the'Iiiik'js 'n10fF-elusiVe. ,-There is no obvious si111ilarity behveen the situation on the battlefield in Nleccaand the station of no stations. The fact that the one can be eA1:rapolated froID theother is a testament to the in1poliance of selnantic associations for Ibn ArabI.

But in another, ll10re general, sense, the p'oem does not stray too far fron1th~ sura. After all, most of the reluainder of the sf/.ra discusses l\1uhamIllad'vvives. In verses 6 to 8, "vhen Ibn 'Arabi discusses Inale and female principles,one is 'reminded of this theme' in the"st'ira. The sura' 8.150- c'alls 'Muh~nllnad'a beautiful exalnple' and the 'Seal of the Prophets>. Given the analogy behveenthe Seal of the Prophets and the Seal of the Saints, ideas such as these havein1plications for Ibn 'ArabI)s understanding of sainthood. The poeIn>s connec-tion \vith the sura is therefore not as tenuous as it Inight appear at first.

So, on one level, the poeln is based on a far- fetched pun on the vvord muqarn.On another l,evel, it plays on ideas that Ibn ArabI \'\TQuld have found scatteredthroughout the sura. In that sense, it elnbodies vvhat he might have seen as thesura>s' 'spirif.

The poen1 on SClra 54> al-Qamar, is one of the Inost intricate in the Qur>an s.eries.It casts the speaker in a dran1aticdialog~e with a sinner, "veaving together wordsand phrases frOID the sura. The poeln's interaction with the Qur'anic text isdifferent from that of the t\VO poelns that have just been discussed. Surat al-Qalnar has the short, intense phrases typical of the Meccan period. Ibn ArabI'spoeln constantlyrefers'back-to the original, and keeps up its sustained-r rhYlne~

The sura is largely abortt those \!\Tho refuse to accept God>s \-\lords, anda dOlninant theme is 'that of 'Rarning. The recurrent phrase dhuqu 'adhabrwa-rzudhuri, ('Taste n1Y chastisement and warnings') encapsulates the overall tone.

The sura begins \vith a \t\Tarning of the Day of Judgement:

:; Cf. Chapter 1 2'c.,6 I have translated a'rajas 'breezes'.l\:lore usually, a'raf(sil1g. 'urf) would Inean high places,

However, (/ 'r~1f can also refer to \\inds that blow froln high place: Alfred de BibersteinKazin1irski, Dictionnaire (/rabe-frarz~ais) 2 \'ols (Paris: 1\'1aisonneuve, 1860), S,\,. '-R-F. Ibn

1. The 111atter (amr) is brought close when the moon is split [aya 1],Because it is in the Tablet, an inscription recorded [aya 53).

2. Good sir, do not say that\-vhen the eye sees it, that is continuous 111agic [aya 2J.

3. Were it not for \vhat you have seen)then nobody could have used itas'a source of orders or prohibitions.

4. The earth smiles and shows its goodness)v.'hen the clouds bestow pouring wnter (aya 11)

5. The Sun bestows its light on iton the n10rning after the day \vhen it has rained.

6. The earth of the at1110sphere appears in greenery)sho\\!ing to the gaze the unseen things that it had hidden.

7. The perfume of the air is pleasant froln its breezes,S6

79Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur>an: A Series of PoemsThere follo'ws a reference to the stories of previous prophets. and of the peoplesthat refusedto heed their advice: the peoples of Noah (ayas 9-16), Ad (15-21)Tharnlld (23-31), Lot (33-39), Pharaoh (41-2). All of these lead to a generalwarning ofpunishrnent in the afterlife (43-53). 'The sura ends by contrasting the

situation~ of the hell-bound with that of the God-fearing, 'in gardens and a river,in a safe ph c to sit, in the pres nee of an oIl1nipotent I(ing) (54-5).

The CO11t1"(:lst 'pet\veen cataclysD1 (and Hell) on the one hand and Paradise(and safety) on the other hand also underlies Ibn ArabI's poen1..lifter a three-verse introduction that recalls the sura and addresses an l1nnalned interlocu-tor, there are two segments of six verses each. The first celebrates springtilneand'lush gardens, ending on a call to give thanks to God and be\vare of his"viles. 'fhe second turns abruptly to a,poignant dialogue yvith the interlocutor.The final verse, which-as often, with Ibn 'ArabI~is an exhortative cap, endsthe poeln on a note of praise and gratitude,

The introductory seglnent uses terms that COlne respectively froln thebeginning and from the end of the sura (phrases that echo ti1e Qur).an havebeen italicized):

By bringing together phrases froin either end ,of the sura, this first lineeffectively encornpasses all that COlnes bet\een the two.\Vhere the Qur'aritells us that. great and small sins are all written dO\fvn, Ibn 'ArabI refers us to theTablet, in vvhich God's kno\ledge is preserved. 85 The listener is presumablyone of those 111entioned in the sura as denying God's sign3~'F-h-i-s-fel-lowi-flg--~-~---seglnent appears to expand on those signs, and develops an ilnage of ease thatis redolent of garden poetry:

The introduction of nature imagery at this. poeln appears to be a devicesuggesting that the very same attributes that are a punishlnent to the

So we opened the doors of the sky \vith pouring \vater, and we Inade the earthburst op'eri irito sour-ces>so :the"'vva"telAs hiet f6r: -a nialter that had been decreed '...vVe have left this as a sign, so is there any that \vil1ren1en1ber? (ayas 11-15)

" ,

Froln a literary point of vie\", this segment deftly evokes a rich tradition ofArabo- Persian poetry, in \\ hich nature ilnagery can sYlnbolize the generosityof a patron or the divinely ordered COSITIOS.89 The recurrent personification-the earth' and sun besto\ving kindness, the earth sIniling, the stars apostro-phized-is characteristic of such poerrls. It also emphasizes that the naturalscene is not sOlnething de'scribed froID outside, but rather a symbol of ease and

generq~ity.. .-In its Qur'anic context, the seg1nel1t is apparently, used to turn the s11ra on

its head. Verse 2 leads us to expect a' reference to God's cataclysn1ic signs; thesura speaks Inostly of punishInent for unbelievers, and has much less to sayabout God's n1ercy. Instead, \'\That \ve find are the 'signs' that the Qur'an oftenevokes as evidence of God's Inercy.90 In the poem, 'pouring water' (v. 4) isbeneficial: it is given generously by the clouds and makes the earth sn1ile. In itsQlu"anic context, however, the phrase has rr10re sinister connotations. vVhen,Noah's' people reject hislnessage, God floods theIn:

Ibn 'Arab(s A;fystical Poeticsso I said to the stars, 7 (\A/hat ne\\'s is this! ss

8. I sa,v Hin1 bright-faced and laughing,vv'ho had be~n cailed angry _and stern.

80

Arabi probably also' has in Inind the word 'arj, a sweet sl11ell, ,vhieh often occurs in lyric

\Ve sent ~ali1; in warning. So they said, are "ve then to falla,,,, a hUlnan being justlike us? Then \,\Te \'vould indeed be error and insanity! (aya 24).

unbelievers are also a sign of grace. The vengeful God is seen 'bare-faced andla,ughing'.91 Ibn 'Arabi ends this seglnent by urging the \lnbehever to thank God:

The sinner repeat's'wll'atthe 'people otThan1ud said to their Prophe't $aliD,according to the Qur'an:

81Ibn 'ii.rabf and the Qur'an: A Series of PoenlS

11. I said, (I can see only a believerin what is brought by (God's) detenninationand decree.'

12. l-Ie said, 'You are ,vrong in thinldng you kno\v 111e;for since I .turned nlyback .[aya 45],

13. righteousness turned its back on IDe, and its den10nfrightened me, so that I said, "Is there any that will renlel11ber?" '93

10. I warned hiJn of the ruse and he' said, 'Do not sayWhat you have just said, for warning is ofno use' [aya 5].

Here, it is the unbeliever that quotes the Qur'an .against himself. ,His appro-priation of the Qur'a,n's.vocabular.y- dra\

17. So praise be to God \Alho gave humanitythe praise of a thanking thankful one \",ho gives thanks for thankfulness.

.He ends the poen1 with acap'v"hich recalls verse9..butgoes .further, thankingGod for his very ability to give thanks:

94 Fu~r{~, pp. 126-30; Nettler, St~fi l\;letaphysics, ch_ 11.95 lzutsu) Sufis'rl1 and Taoism, p. 169.96 George Herbert, The Complete EnglishvVorks, ed. Ann Pasternak Slater, Everyman's

Library (London: David Campbell, 1994) p, 184.

Ibn 'Arnbf's i'vlystical Poetics82

The dilen1lnaexplored in this poeln is silnilar to that faced by the Prophet Lotin the Fu~.u.~. We are told that Lot's particular \"lisdol'll is that of lnastery(n1ulk). Yet Lot's calls to his people all go unheeded) and his \!\Tisdom isprecisely that of inability) that is of knowing \vhen nothing can be done.94Else\vhere in the Fu~u~) Ibn 'ArabI defends the notion that although God givesexisteI1ce to 'everyone) .the individualpetsbil':s "statU's a's'sa" believer' or" sinnerdepei1ds on their pern1anent essence, ,vhich even God cannot change.95 T'hislast idea. n1ight explain the reference in verse 1 to the Tablet) on \vhich thepermanent essences are preserved.

The poeln reads like George Herberes famous (Love bade me \VelColne) inreverse. In Herberes poeIn, the speaker refuses Love's invitation and insists onhis own guilt:

15. Ho\v great the difference behveen a person in gardens and a river,in the safe place to sit of (111 ornnipotent King, '

16. and a person 'who is lost, to \vhorn has been said'You loser, taste the touch of Saqar.'

In the Qur'an, the sinners speak in jest. Here, the same \\ ords are taken inearnest, and the sinner seen1S to be the teacher. The spea).

97 Bulaq, p. 172/Basaj, pp. 163-4. ?vletre: wafir.98. Angelika. N euwir.th,~ 'Jnlager.y and 11etaphors in the Introdu -tory Sections of the 1V1akkan

Oms', {n G. R. Ha\\1ing arid Abdul~Kader A. Shareef, Approaches to the Qur'an (London andNew York: Routledge, 1993), pp. 3-36, OD pp. 22-3.

99 For the debate, with various solutions, see e.g. al-ZamakhsharI, nl-Kashsh~f, vol. 4pp. 7S8-60; Fakhr aI-Din al-Razl, lVlnjatfJ.l al-Ghnyb (Cairo, 1289/1872-3, 8 vols), voL 8,

The features that we sa\'\' in the poen1 on Stu'at aI-Qalnar are also found ina lTIOre concentrated foru1 in the next poem. Sura 9L al-Shanls, is typical of theshorter lvIeccan S(lras in its vivid in1agery and its use of short, tersephrasev.Ibn ~A:rabi's poenl reflects. these features~ and his tightly packed verses vvithanlbiguous pronouns defy interpretation.

The first part of the sura, ayas 1-10, consists of a series of oaths. The secondpart, ayas 11-15, refers to the story of the Prophet" ~alil! and his she-can1el,which ,vas halTIstrung by the unbelieving people of Thamlld.

Ibn Arabl's'po'elTI'-refersonly to-the first part, vvhich"rul1s,

1. By the sun and its forenoon;2. by the Moon as it fo110'w5 it;3. by the day, as it lights it up;4. by the night, as it covers it;5. by the sky and what built it;6. by the earth and ,,,hat laid it out;7. by a soul and v{hat gave it balance,

8~ and inspired its \vrongdoing and its piety;9. he succeeds who purifies it,

10. and he is lost ,,,rho corrupts it.

NeLfvvirth COIDrnents that this "'passage cons-ists entirely'of coritrasting pairs. Ayas1-4 evoke contrasts in the celestial bodies, and ayas 5-6 do the saIne for heavenand earth. These exalnples lead naturally to the contrasts in the hLu11an soul (ayas7-8). The rhythm of the opening lines leads up to this point, maintaining thelistener's attention. The mention of those \'\'ho have corrupted their souls (aya 10)introduces the exalnple of Thamlld, vvhich the remainder of the sura considers.98

In its syntactic details, the sara gives rise to questions. Does 'By the day, as itlights it up' (aya 3) imply that the day lights up the sun? Most COlnmentatorsagree that the object of the verb is the darkness, or the \vorld, or the earth, eventhough none of these had been Inentioned previously. Different explanationsha\Te bee"ii advanced.''''The SaIne" is true 'ofayas 5-6: God built the sky and laidout the earth, but ,\Thy is He called \vhat' rather than \vho'? There is no spaceto go into these questions here: suffice it to say that the sura contains severalarnbiguities. 99 The same is true of Ibn Arabfs poeln.

83Ibn 'Arabi and the Qu/an: A Series of Poenl.S5. 'vVHEN THE SUN OF SOULS SHOvVS ITS DAWN': THE

POEM ON SORAT AL-SHAMS 97

Ibn 'Arabf's lvIysticnl Poetics

pp. 580-1; Abll Ali al-Tabrisi, Mrljm.a \ al-bayiii1 If. tafslr al-Qur'an (Beirut: Ivlanshllrat DarMaktabat al-f:1ayat, n.d, 6 vols), vol. 6, p. 152.

100 Bimii talL'lha~ lit. 'with what follows it', seen1S a\vkward. It is ten1pting to accept the readingin MS. Yusuf Aga 5643 f.383: tara bad,- al~quhlbi biha taUihii i

6. For my sake, Iny Lord vvas [engaged] in sonIC business107and your fruits reached their ripeness.

7. 'IVe will finish 108 with you out of generosity to\Nards you,to give109 your souls vvhat they 'wish of thern [the fruits?].

'The earth and sky .ar~ put there by God, \,vho is described in the third person;bllt'fhey itre also 'dUl:s,"'pllt there for the sake of the speaker and/ol: the otherhearts. Once again, there is a correspondence betvveen the iteITIS described inthe Qur'an-th~ sun, lTIOon> sky, and earth-and items in the spiritual world.

The second half of the poem turns the ernphasis from the meaning of thecelestial bodies to God>s constant activity for the sake of the perfect hun1ans:

10-1: The variant in 1'/15. Yusuf Aga 5643 would further en1phasize this point: the sun islnanifested in the crescent as it reaches its ji.illness.

10- Cf. Corbin) Alone) pp. 120-35, esp. p. 128.106 Corbin, Alone, p. 129..1 07... Q5.5.~2 9~ ...',~.'10 Q~~:3f. .-109 I ha \'e read li-tu '[n) as the only vowelling of the BCllaq text that lnakes sense.

Alternati\'esthat respect the lnetre could be li-tu \ta,.'~1ay (the souls) be given') or for that nlatterli-) 1l 'ri, 'rnay He gi\re (the souls) ... ' ~lore extensive lnanuscript e\'idence might clarify tl1ings.

85Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an.: A Series of POe71'lSIbn 'Arabi may also have a rnore intricate analogy in n1ind. \tVhen the sun

rises at daw~1, the moon disappears; but it is because of"the sun's light that then10011 is able to shine at night. 104 This is a Tnotif that occurs often in Ibn'ArabI's \vritings: vvhen creation is visible, God is hidden and 'Nhen \ve look atGod, creation is hidden. los

The 1 .[-t Dw verses take that idea further:3. Through my inner consci~nc~, I aIl1 to its (the moon)s) reality

as the sun> as it gives its light.4. For in being> I an1 none other than it (the moon) in essence Caynan

in being through us, it (the moon) is none other than it (the sLln).

In vers~ 3, Ibn.AtabI ~olnp~reshiso\vnrole to that of.the sun, illuminating theother he-arts. It" isperhaps worth bearing in mind that as Corbin ren1arks, Ibn'ArabI often prefers the phrase ana slrr al-Ifaqq ('I alll the secret of the Truth')to al-1j:allaj's anc( l-J-faqq, (I 31TI the Truth.' The reason is that just asthe creature needs God, God needs the creature as a place in which to bemanife.sted. 106 T'he relationship between the two is often expressed as one ofidentity, but in mediate tenns: in the following verse, 'In being 1 alnnoneother', and (in being through us, it is none other'.

5. So that is our sky> when He built it [ilya 5]>and this is our earth> ,,\Then He laid it out [aya 6].

10. The darkness covered it ,vith the secret of 111y existence;the daytin1e lit it up, but did not reveal it. 1l4

A pun is apparently intended bet\veen sada.) the \varp, and sudd, alone: God\veaves His essence into man because He knew lTIan \J\Tas alone. ll1 The fU1altwo verses appear to ll1e to continue the pun) although by this stage the poemhas become even lTIOre cryptic:

]10 E.g. al:...Tabar!, Jami \ al-Bayiin, vol. II, .p. 593. . ' _. _,111 Cf. Q75:36: a-vahsabu l-instl71u an vutraka sud(? ('Does Dlan rhi.nk he "will be left alone?'),

In the Qur'al1, the in~pli'catiol1 is that nlanJ thiilks be will be left to sin with ilnpunity. If Ibn ArabIhad this "1y(1 in mind, then once again he redefines a threat as an act of generosity.

112 Literally 'hislits night'. This could "vell .mean the night pertaining to the day (usually thenight before, but in context perhaps the one after). I would not read too nluch into this pronoun,

]13 Lane, Lexicon, vol. 4, p, 1,336, s.v. S-D-iVand S-D-Y.] 14 Reading 'wa-jalhlha I-naharu wa-mfi jalfihli, as required by the 1netre. Jolla" 'lit it up', is the

san1e verb llsed in aya 3. The second verb can only be jnla, ,,,,hich usually I1leanS to become

Ibn 'ArabI's Mystical Poetics86

To a reader fan1iliar ,,,rith exoteric Qur'anic con1mentary, verse 7 represents yetanother inversion of recei, ed \visdoln. In the Qur'an, the phrase sa-nnfrughulakuln is said to t\\'o listeners, traditionally held to be Inankind and the jinl1)and is usually taken to Inean \\Te'vvill turn to Y6Q\'ot:\ve~' "iIfde-~l~vith' oll ....... ".The expression is usually understood by con1lnentators as a threat. IIO In thepoen1) the phrase (here sa-11Clfrughu n'zinkum rather than sa-nafrughu lakurn)is used here to denote an act of generosity: 'to give your souls ,,\That they \vish'.

The follovling verse complenlents the fruit metaphor \vith a "\veaving n1eta-phor) expressing the 'internvining) of God and Inan:

8.He 'weaves into them (the souls) an essence (dh~t)9f His.,~:~T~!since 1 have learned that they ,vere its \varp.

9. The daytin1e tortures us \vith loneliness (suda) and Vioes;The night1l2 tortures us ,vith its de'w (nada.).

Theword 5uda echoes the "vord sada, 'dew\ \,vhich is in turn echoes by nad(]) anear-synonym. for sadd, in the second her'nistich. Yet sada is specificaUy- the' .riight-dew that nourishes seedlings. Both nada. and sada. are associated \N'ithgenerosity. 113 We would therefore expect to find it associated \vith goodthings, and not \vith torture. I can only assume that this paradox continuesthe inversions that ,vere hinted at earlier in the poem. Verses 6-7 take phrases,which in the Qur)an \vere associated }vith threats, and apply them to generos-ity. Verse 9 takes sOluething that \vould normally look like generosity, but says'we perceive it as a threat. Ibn Arabi luight be alluding to another sort ofintertwining that only the initiate can fatholTI.The contrast n1ay be intendedto Inirror the contrasting 'wrongdoing' and"piety) of aya 6) both of \A/hich arestated to have been 'inspired'. by God.

The final verse takes us back to the Qur'anic con'text:

6. (BY THE SETTING OF THE SUN, BY THE RISINGOF THE MOON': T'HE 'RA'IYYA SHA1VISIYYA'

OF MAKZON AL-SINJARI

revealed) as anintr~n.siti\~e verb. Lane also allovl"s it in the sense o['to display, discover' (Lexicon).. -' v~i."2) p>446: .: "~':rL-'{~~)'. i thG;k It nl~'s't be meant in contrast with jalln, even though Lane seenlS

to l11ake the two synonymous,115 H. Hahn) (1\u?ayriyya') in E12, vol. 8) p. 147. Halm also gives a basic overvie\\ of NU?J)'fl

religion and its adherents.

NU9ayrlsn1, novladays known as Alawisn1, is a heterodox sect that apparentlydeveloped from an offshoot of tenth-century Shia Islam. Its theology, p~rts of

, which are traditionally revealed only to initiates, centres on the divinization ofAll as the first element in a trinity consisting of~'\lI, lv1uhamlnad, and his

, cO~1}pal~QJ.:l,S.a?nal~Far,isi. As ~ historical figure, 1-1akZLll1 seelns to have beenthe leader of a Bedouin tribe that caine to the rescue of the N u~ayrls of WesternSyria in 1223, and several Nu~ayrI tribes trace their descent back to hiln. us

87Ibn 'Arabf and the Qur'an: A Series of PoenlSThe felninine 'it' in the first hen1istich could refer back to the souls or to theessence. Since the two' are intertvvined, perh'aps' either could' be intended.The essence is probably preferable: the verse \vould- then mean that the divinestrand in creation is alternately hidden and lit up, but that even when it is lit upit is not perceived.

vVhatthis _po 111 does 's part of a tradition of Sufi hern1ene1.. tics and ofQur)an cornmentary- lTIDIe ge'nerally;The interpretive Inethod -is to take SOlne -features of the original text-ttle sun, 11100n, sky, and earth-a.nd peg theln tospiritual realities such as God's essence and the souls.

At the same tilne, the poem is very different froln a prose cOlnn1entary.Having established the sort of analogues vve l11ight expect, it dr

He is also reInen1bered an10ng Nu~aYTls as the author of a higWy regardedcollection of poetry. 116

One of his best-kno\vn poelns is a 316-verse qa~lda kno\vn as the 'Ra'iy)laShalnsiyya;. Nvv,ia: reports that N~~ayrIs consider itai1'"'ificbYfip~rra'SIe"rri'iilel~'~-~"""::"piece. 1l7 In the opening segment of this poen1, Ivlakzun appears to imitate thestyle and cadence of son1e of the Meccan suras:

J16 An excellent overview of his DZ1.van is given in Pa~11'Nwyia, 'l'v1akzClll al-Sir;jari, i10etell1ystique alaouite', Studia lslamica 40 (1974), pp. 87-114.

117 Nv\ryia, '1Vlakzlln', pp. 93-4.11 S For r'ny translation of Y",T. 1-3, I have referred back to Nwyia's French ttanslation (Nwyia, .

'Makzll11', p. 94 n 1).119 Al-zahnj' can also 111ean Venus. I all1 not sure ho\v to interpret this reference.120 In As'ad All, Me? 'nj(:It Allah l'va/'-1vlakzzJ.n al-Sinjtirl. (Beirut: Dar al-Ra'id aI-ArabI, 1972,

2. vals), vol. 2) pp. 114-15. The metre of the paein is rCljaz.

It ''\Till not be possible here to elucidate ali of these in1ages, \vhich belong in aNu~ayrl coslTIological context. The intention is instead to see \'\That function theiinages perfonn in the pOelTI, and hovv Makzlln's use of. Qur'anic tennsCOInpares \-vith that of Ibn 'ArabI.

One crucial difference between the two is that !vIakzun's piece is an- intro-duction to a lTIuch longer work. T'he opening seglTIent should not really betaken on its own: it should be seen in relation to the poenl. as it develops.Unfortunately, the poelTI cannot be considered here in full. Quite apart fron1considerations of space, the 'Ra'iyya' abounds in references to secret N u~ayridoctrines,and the secrecy extends even to thepublished text The edited:'Ra'iyya Shalnsiyya' contains. 249 verses, vlhereas a manuscript consulted byN\vyia has 316. N\vyia concludes that the editor, hilTIself a Nu~ayrl) has

Ibn 'ArabI's }vlystical Poetics88

1. By the setting of the sun, by the rising of the n100n,by the da\vn star as the night lea\res;

2. By chaos after order) by stillness,by lTIotion, by \vhat is destined, by destiny;

3. By the planets advancing and retreating in th'eir orbitsby v{hat the da\-\7n hides of then1, and \vhat it unveils;1l8

4. By the seeing of essences of the shado\vbefore which, despite seeing cleady, the intellect falls short;

5. By the secret of the proclamation of guidance in its concealment,\,vhen it appears, and by its revelation when it conceals;

6. By the perfun1e of the feast of the covenant in its \veek,\vhich revolves in its 1110nths that are lul0\Vn;

7. By the solar spherein its radiant1l9 path,by the one \'\Tho .calls for ,vhat was rejected;

.8. I have 1vitnessed the unseen, and the one\vho took place in it, witnessing by eye ... 120

89Ibn 'Arabi and the Qur'an: A Series of Poemssystematiquement pratique la taqiya en negligeant to~tS les poen1es au Ies vel'Sdans lesquels Makzlln pai-Ie en alaouite, soit pour attaquer les sunnites (surtout.A.bu Bakr et (lTmar) soit pour exprin1er les articles du dQgme proprementalaouite. ]21

The published text can therefore be taken as little ITIOre than a guide to thepoeJ!l'_~.C(~)l!tents. 1 everthe.less, I can see two elernents that might a.ccount ; Jr1\1akzuri s in1itatio!1 of the Qur'an, both of \,yhich are helpful in understandingIbn Arabi's pOeln.

The first is the fact that the 'Ra'iyya ShaInsiyya'taken as a vvhole roains overthe entire range of Nu~ayri coslTIology. The function of the opening passageattempts to evoke all of this in one breath. In this regard, and despite obviousdifferences; .the celestial bodies in the poelns by Ibn A~abI and MakzllU callattention to siJnilar motifs.

The second is that the 'Ra'iyya Shamsiyya' ends ''''ith a passage that steps backto sing the praises of the pOelTI itself. Takenin the light of this cOl~cluding section,lVlakzlln's in1itation of the Qur'an appears Illore daring than that of Ibn 'ArabI.1\1akzun's pOelTI follows the style of the Qur'an in order en1ulate it rhetorically,enlphasizing his own poetic project. Ibn Arabi tinitates it in order to runalongside it: he replicates its rhymes and patterns, but does not try to .Juake hisvvork sound like it and preserves the dichotolny between Qur'an and poetry.

As regards the first point) a cursory look at the poeln is. enough to give anidea of the number of topics it covers: .

.',. .""'Seven principles that are embodied in the pillars' of Islam, the signs ofnature, houses of worship, objects mentioned in the Qur'an) the sevenspheres (vv. 12-30);

T'ruth can be accessed through forms but is superior to all of then1(vv. 31-6);

T'he creation through the Pen and Tablet {v. 38); The sinner and his fate (vv. 50-70); Interpretations of the five pillars of Islam (vv. 82-99);

,.References to Aristotle) Plato, Zoroastrians, and figures froin early Islam-ic history (vv. 106-19);

The secret truth, and its inaccessibility to the urivvorthy (141-50);References to AbrahalTI, Joseph, l\1oses, David and Goliath, Job, Jonah,John (the Baptist, apparently cOllflated \vith Zachariah, v. 176), Jesus, theSeven Sleepers, and Dhu l-Qarnayn (vv. 154-82);

Fe~~,~T.~.~"a?~ c

122 For an in-depth analysis of selected Nu?ayrI texts see 1Vleir Ivt Bar-Asher and AryehKofsky, The Nu~ayrf-l\lnwi Religion: An Enqr-Liry into its Theology and Literature (Leiden: Brill,

2002) .. A summary of this doctrine can be found in SulaynlanEfendl al-Adhanl, al-Bakura al--sul,aym{miyya fl kashf al-diya.na al-Nu;;ayriyya (Cairo: Dar al-$al)wa, 1990), cb. 4, and inEdnlUI1q. E. Salisbury, 'Notice of the Book of Sulayman's First Ripe Fn~it) Disclosing theMysteries of the Nusairian religion', JAOS 8 (1866), pp. 227-308, on pp. 282-92. Tbe BflkfIrais an overvievv of Nu?ayri beliefs vlritten in the Inid-nineteenth century by a Nu~ayri whoconverted to Protestantis111. Salisbury's article is a detailed account of this work with translationsof substantial passages. Although a late work, it contains lTIUCh. infonnation that reflects earlier~ doctrines: Bar-Asher and Kofsky, The l\fujaYl~l- Alirwf ReligioJ1, po 3~ . . .. ..

. 123 BaIrn,

92 Ibn 'Arabts Mystical Poetics

felt that nothing like this had been achieved before (v. 244). B) challengingother poets to produce son~ething like it, he calls to mind the Qur'anicchallenge to 'produce another aya Jike it' t11at upderpinned th~ "~octrine6f i jai. 133 "This need not rndi'I1- that" he "lnt"e"11dea-to'p"rod'uce'-ano'fher" Q\ii-"an,or to rival it: it is not unkno,vn for poets to praise their 0'" n 'York in hyperbolictern1S. But it is possible that his Nu~aYr1 beliefs made hiln less "vary ofin1itating the Qur'an than Lis Sunni counterparts. The Kitab al-J\tlnjnlu',after alL is divided into chapters kno\vn as 5ilras. That \vould explain \r\ThyMakzun's poem begins vvith a section that in1itates the Qur'an not only in itscontent, but also in its rhetorical style.

This last point leads us to the big diffeience hef\veeri the""iY6eln by Makzluland the one by Ibn 'ArabI, \vhich is also the" main benefit of comparing the t\NO.Ibn 'ArabI does in1itate the rhyn1es of the Qur'an, but there is no doubt that theperson talking to us is still Ibn 'ArabI. lvlakzlln's opening section is not acomment on any particular sura: it replicates the style and cadence of all ofthem, producing sOlnething that is recognizably Qur'anic but also entirelyne\v. Ibn ArabI, on the other hand, stays within the confines of his sura, even ifhis thinking leads hin1 in unexpected directions.

In ans\.ver to the second question that was asked at the outset of this chapter,Ibn 'A~abl's Qur'an pOelTIS sho~l~,d_nqt.b~ _s~e,n "(ls a;n ,attelnpt_,to rival t~e "IIqlyBook stylistically) much less to replace"it. As aclosereadilig of each of the fourpoelllS has sho,,\7n," Ibn Arabi constantly interacts \'\7"ith the Qur'an, lTIovingbackwards and forwards bet\veen it and his own interpretations. Where heimitates the Qur)an's rhynles, he does so in order to put his readers in thecontext of the sura and to create sOlllething that runs in parallel \vith it.

What are the i111plications for the relation between the Qur)an and poetry?This series of. poeills sho~vs Ibn 'Arabi putting poetry' to a" new use, andemulating the C2ur'anin a \vay that would have shocked S01l1e of his con-ten1poraries. Ulti111ately) ho\.vever, the distinction bet\veen the Qur'an andpoetry is still there.

133 On the application of this Qur'anic challenge to poetry, see further Cbapt~r9 2c.