Three Iranian Sufis Of The 4th And 6th Century Hijri Killed For Practising Wahdat-ul-Wujud Before An Arab Philosopher Ibn Arabi Institutionalised The Concept Of Unity Of Existence
By S.
Arshad, New Age Islam
1 January
2020
It is
generally believed that the Arab Sufi and philosopher Ibn Arabi was the first
to introduce the Upanishadic philosophy of Advaitavad in Islam which was known
as Wahdat-ul-Wujud. It is true that Ibn Arabi authored the first book on the
philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud named Fusus-al-Hikam and established and
institutionalised Sufism, especially the philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud in
Islamic religious discourse. The book was largely inspired by a Sanskrit Book
Amrit Kund which was available in Arabic. The philosophy of Advaitavad is based
on the Upanishadic belief that God is manifest in all His creations and dwells
in all the living and non-living beings as its soul. Therefore, He is called
sarvabhutantaratma (indwelling soul of the entire material world). The
Upanishads also say that every part of the universe is a part of the Supreme
Being and so His realisation can be achieved by contemplating on self and
annihilation of self into Him.
Arab Sufi and philosopher Ibn Arabi
-----
Ibn Arabi
borrowed the idea of Wahdat-ul-Wujud from Upanishads but presented arguments in
its favour from the Quran. Thanks to this, Muslim ulema of his time could not
refute it or reject his philosophy with plausible arguments. Though there were
still some ulema who termed his philosophy un-Islamic, his philosophy gained
acceptability among the larger section of ulema and sufis in the 7th century
Hijri.
But before
Ibn Arabi institutionalised the philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud in Muslim
religious thought in the 7th century and made it acceptable to the Arab world,
three prominent sufis from Iran were killed by the then rulers at the
provocation of the then ulema. The reason was that before Ibn Arabi, the
philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud was a new theory and was considered un-Islamic,
indeed even declared Kufr.
Though Ibn
Arabi gave the philosophy a concrete foundation in Islamic religious thought,
it was the legendary Sufi Hussayn bin Mansur Hallaj (d. 309) who first
introduced the idea to the Muslim Sufis. He had travelled to India and had come
in contact with the Hindu sages who believed in Advaitavad. He learnt about the
Upanishadic Shloka "Aham Brahmasmi" ( I am Brahma) which a
siddha asserts after his dissolution in Brahma (God). Hussayn bin Mansur's
slogan 'An al Haque' (I am God) was inspired by the Sanskrit Shloka Aham
Brahmasmi. The then ulema declared his slogan based on heresy as Haq
is one of the 99 names of God.
An-al-Haq’ (I am the truth) – this statement would be the death of
Mansur Al-Hallaj.
-----
This philosophy was new to the ulema of the Arab world in the the early
centuries. Therefore he was declared a heretic (Kafir) and was brutally killed
and his body was burnt. He was killed on the fatwa of the ulema of his time.
Another Sufi
who was martyred for his belief in Wahdat-ul-Wujud or the absoluteness of the
existence of God was Aynal Qazath Hamdani. His real name was Abul Mo'ali
Abdullah bin Mohammad and he was a disciple of the great Sufi Ahmad Ghazali
Tusi. He was well versed in Islamic sciences and was influenced by the Greek
philosophy. Like many other Sufis, he was also influenced by the ideas of
Mansur Hallaj and believed in wahdat-ul-Wujud. The ulema of his times issued a
fatwa against him declaring him Kafir. The minister of the caliph ordered his
hanging. After he died due to hanging, his body was burned.
It is also
said that Aynal Qazaath's grandfather Abul Hasan was a Qazi and a very
influential person. Therefore, the post of Qazi was transferred to his son and
then to his grandson. This caused a heartburn among the ulema of his time. They
conspired to dislodge him from his post. His belief and practices provided them
a golden opportunity and they were able to convince the caliph that Aynal
Qazaath's beliefs and ideas were against the principles of Islam. He was killed
in 525 Hijri at the young age of 33.
The third Sufi
who was killed for having belief in Wahdat-ul-Wujud was Shahabuddin Suhrawardy.
Like his two predecessors he was also an Iranian. His real name was Abul Fat'h
Yahya bin Habsh. The ulema of his time ran a vilification campaign against him
and the entire Damascus started calling him Kafir. Finally, Sultan Salahuddin
Ayyubi ordered his execution in 587 Hijri.
The killing
of the three great Sufis of the 4th and 6th century Hijri demonstrates that the
Islamic world could not reconcile to the new philosophy of Wahdat-ul-Wujud
introduced by Hussayn bin Mansur in the end of the 3rd century Hijri as the
Islamic religious thought was dormant and stagnant. The conservative ulema did
not accept any new idea or way of realising God. The Sufis on the other hand
were liberal minded people and travelled to distant lands in search of
knowledge and during their travels and meeting with the scholars of other
religions, they came across new ideas which broadened the horizon of their
thought. They did not hesitate to assimilate new ideas that did not clash with
their religious beliefs in their thought process.
But the
contemporary ulema who stuck to the traditional beliefs and way of thinking
could not accept the new ideas and declared them Kafir.
However,
when Ibn Arabi, an Arab philosopher, presented the philosophy of
Wahdat-ul-Wujud with the help of irrefutable arguments from the Quran, the Arab
Islamic world reluctantly and gradually came to terms with the new reality. It
also speaks of the Arab supremacism which prevents the Arabs from accepting any
new idea from the Ajami (non-Arab) people. So when an Arab philosopher presented
the same philosophy in their own language, they accepted it. After that no sufi
from Iran was killed on charges of heresy.
-------
S.
Arshad is a columnist with NewAgeIslam.com
URL: https://newageislam.com/islamic-ideology/three-iranian-sufis-4th-6th/d/123946
New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism