The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on SúfiismHujviri, ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman
Islamic
The Kashf al-mahjúb: The oldest Persian treatise on Súfiism
Hujviri, ‘Ali ibn ‘Usman
Sufism -- Early works to 1800
You must know that, according to the opinion of some, passion is a term
applied to the attributes of the lower soul, but, according to others, a
term denoting the natural volition (_irádat-i ṭab`_) whereby the lower
soul is controlled and directed, just as the spirit is controlled by the
intelligence. Every spirit that is devoid of the faculty of intelligence
is imperfect, and similarly every lower soul that is devoid of the
faculty of passion is imperfect. Man is continually being called by
intelligence and passion into contrary ways. If he obeys the call of
intelligence he attains to faith, but if he obeys the call of passion he
arrives at error and infidelity. Therefore passion is a veil and a false
guide, and man is commanded to resist it. Passion is of two kinds: (1)
desire of pleasure and lust, and (2) desire of worldly honour and
authority. He who follows pleasure and lust haunts taverns, and mankind
are safe from his mischief, but he who desires honour and authority
lives in cells (_ṣawámi`_) and monasteries, and not only has lost the
right way himself but also leads others into error. One whose every act
depends on passion, and who finds satisfaction in following it, is far
from God although he be with you in a mosque, but one who has renounced
and abandoned it is near to God although he be in a church. Ibráhím
Khawwáṣ relates this anecdote: “Once I heard that in Rúm there was a
monk who had been seventy years in a monastery. I said to myself:
‘Wonderful! Forty years is the term of monastic vows: what is the state
of this man that he has remained there for seventy years?’ I went to see
him. When I approached, he opened a window and said to me: ‘O Ibráhím, I
know why you have come. I have not stayed here for seventy years because
of monastic vows, but I have a dog foul with passion, and I have taken
my abode in this monastery for the purpose of guarding the dog
(_sagbání_), and preventing it from doing harm to others.’ On hearing
him say this I exclaimed: ‘O Lord, Thou art able to bestow righteousness
on a man even though he be involved in sheer error.’ He said to me: ‘O
Ibráhím, how long will you seek men? Go and seek yourself, and when you
have found yourself keep watch over yourself, for this passion clothes
itself every day in three hundred and sixty diverse garments of godhead
and leads men astray.’“
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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