This is because these poets wrote the poems like love letters to God. I am stunned by the words, which detail infatuation with God, until now, my heart remains captivated.
By
SARAS DEWI
·5 minutes read
Kompas
Portrait of Indian author and poet Rabindranath Tagore, circa 1935.
Growing up in a family with various religious views has enabled me to see various sides of the meaning of spiritual life. I grew up with a deep curiosity about various religious philosophies, exploring them through the works of Ibn Arabi, Rabi\'ah Al Adawiyah, Adi Shankara, to Rabindranath Tagore.
There is something mysterious about these works. No matter how often these poems are read, they always present something new. As a teenager no more than 19 years old, when I first read these poems, I over and over again imagined their meaning. This is because these poets wrote the poems like love letters to God. I am stunned by the words, which detail infatuation with God, until now, my heart remains captivated.
Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi (1165-1240) was admired and loved as al-Syeikh al-Akbar, or the great teacher. He is a Sufi, philosopher and poet who hailed from Mursia, Spain. His teachings are so influential today. His works, such as Fusus al-Hikam (Pearl of Wisdom), then Al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah (Illumination of Mecca), to Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (Interpreter of Longing), have become a guiding light on the journey of mysticism.
The uniqueness of the work
Professor William C. Chittick, a researcher and translator of texts on mysticism and Islamic philosophy, explained the uniqueness of Ibn Arabi\'s thinking. He said that there was a distinction between Ibn Arabi\'s position between kalam (theology) and philosophy. Ibn Arabi criticized both, more precisely he wanted to go beyond the existing limitations in theological or philosophical approaches which were still tied to reason. Ibn Arabi emphasized on a realization to reach the truth (haqq). This realization involves openness, a willingness to explore within oneself.
The foundation of Ibn Arabi\'s teachings is love. He believed that the purpose of the formation of this cosmos rests on the breath of the All-Merciful God (Breath of Al-Rahman). He supposed that the breath is eternal, that breath is a sign of the creativity of God who continues to create life. Ibn Arabi explained that with the will and love of God, all this life continues.
The unity of the form being wrapped in the love of God can be realized if the human heart can reveal what is essential.
The process of life and transformation can occur in a continuous manner because God resides in every breath that is exhaled to the creature. The unity of the form being wrapped in the love of God can be realized if the human heart can reveal what is essential. This disclosure, according to Ibn Arabi, is simply not the result of thought or intellect.
Henry Corbin in his work titled Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi explained that Ibn Arabi uses the heart (qalb), which allows intuitive awareness to reveal the true nature. The heart in this context can be understood as a pure heart, and from that purity humans can make an imagination about the unification of the universe.
AFP/ YASIN AKGUL
Dervish dance or Sufism dance is featured in the commemoration of the death of Jelaleddin Mevlana Rumi (Jalaluddin Rumi), Sunday (16/12/2018), in Istanbul, Turkey. Rumi is a poet and founder of Sufism.
What Ibn Arabi referred to was not just any imagination, but the absolute imagination (al-khayal al-mutlaq). Furthermore, Corbin examined this imagination or what he called mundus imaginalis (al-fictional realm), which is also related to the entire system of the world that is believed to be, like the visible or unseen world. However, Ibn Arabi reminded us that we should not be trapped in dualism, he presupposed how the spiritual can be manifested or corporealized, and vice versa, the physical, everyday body can be spiritually abstracted.
In Ibn Arabi\'s view, theophany can occur because of the creative energy of love.
Theophany is the divine incarnation into a form that can be perceived by humans. In Ibn Arabi\'s view, theophany can occur because of the creative energy of love. Even, in Futuhat al-Makkiyah, he said, humans will realize that all that exists is actually the love from God as a lover, humans can realize this if they succeed in removing the curtain which covers their thoughts.
Professor Sa\'diyya Shaikh, a researcher of Sufism and its relation to the concept of gender, in his work titled Sufi Narratives of Intimacy, provided an interesting perspective on Ibn Arabi\'s teachings. He raised an erotic element in Ibn Arabi\'s writing that love between two humans through the fusion of two bodies is a way to display the truth.
He also quoted Ibn Arabi who discussed the creative power of women. Ibn Arabi rejected the view that the masculine power is dominant over the feminine one. Ibn Arabi\'s teachings emphasized the uniqueness of the masculine and feminine aspects, but he gave emphasis on the feminine attributes that are often neglected in theophany ideas. In fact, love and compassion, according to him, are aspects of femininity that underlies the creation of life (mawujudat).
AP PHOTO/MARK SCHIEFELBEIN
Tursunjan Mamat holds a copy of the Quran in the Arabic and Uyghur languages during a government organized visit for foreign journalists to his home in Aksu in western China\'s Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region on April 20, 2021. Under the weight of official policies, the future of Islam appears precarious in Xinjiang, a remote region facing Central Asia in China\'s northwest corner. Outside observers say scores of mosques have been demolished, which Beijing denies, and locals say the number of worshippers is on the decline.
In the book The Principle Upanisads, the work of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, a philosopher and statesman from India, readers will find Radhakrishnan\'s comments which analyze the ancient texts of Upanisad associated with the teachings of Sufism. He quoted Jalaluddin Rumi, as well as a Sufi woman, Rabi\'ah al-Adawiyah. In the Brhadaranyaka Upanisad it is stated that all knowledge and wisdom is the breath of God. Likewise in the Prasna Upanisad which mentions the virtue of worship on vital breath (prana). Radhakrishnan also quoted one of the Rabi\'ah poems which talks about total obedience to God, Radhakrishnan mentioned the similarity to the idea of Bhakti or love in the Hindu tradition.
Kompas
Saras Dewi
It is very difficult to define love, as according to the Sufis there are limitations to human words to capture it perfectly. There is something unspoken about love. However, the poetic language of Ibn Arabi and Rabi\'ah invite us to imagine that behind all differences, humans are actually united by love. As Rabi\'ah said, "In my soul there is a temple, a shrine, a mosque, a church // that then dissolve // All dissolve in God."
SARAS DEWI, Lecturer of Philosophy from the University of Indonesia
