THE DIALECTIC OF LOVE IN EARLY PERSIAN SUFISM
Keywords:
SUFISMAbstract
In modern English, the word "mysticism" generally carries negative connotations, not least that of irrationality. I normally avoid it in my writings about the Islamic tradition, preferring instead the term Sufism, which at least suggests an appropriate cultural specificity and calls for a definition, I will not try to define it here; I instead, let me cite a description of mysticism by a specialist in Christianity.
References
On the meaning of the term, see W. Chittick, Sufism: A Short Introduction, Oxford: Oneworld, 2000.
Ursula King, Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies throughout the Ages, Mahwah, NJ: Hidden Spring, 2001, 3.
The Persian text has often been published in Iran. Nasrollah Pourjavady translated it into English as Sawanih: Inspirations from the World of Pure Spirits, London: KPI, 1986.
Rashid al-Din Maybudi. Kashf al-asriir wa uddat al-abrdr, edited by 'AlI
Asghar Hikrnat, ten volumes, Tehran: Danishgah, 1331-39/1952-60. Annabel Keeler recently published a long introduction to the book: Sufi Hermeneutics: the Qur 'an Commentary of Rashid al-Din Maybudi, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006. SAhmad Sam'ani, Rawh al-arwiih fi sharh asmii' a/-malik al-fattdh, edited by
Najib Mayil Harawi, Tehran: Shirkat-i Intisharat-i 'Ilmi wa Farhangl, 136811989. For
details on Sam'ani and selections from his work dealing with the fall on Adam, see Chittick, Sufism, chapter 9.
Mathnawf, edited by R. A. Nicholson, London: Luzac, 1925-40, Book 2, vss. 552-53. For more of RiimI's teachings on these points, see Chittick, The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Riimi, New York: State University of New York Press, 1983, especially pp. 200-206.
