Da: Kashf
al-mahjūb [The Revelation of the Mystery], di al-Hujwīri († 1072)
[= Dātā Ganj Bakhsh],
traduz.
Nicholson, London 1959.
Abul al-Qasim Qushaysi said: "There are two ways, one wrong and one right. The wrong way is man's way to God, and the right way is God's way to man. |172| Whoever says he has attained to God has not attained; but when anyone says that he has been made attain to God, know that he has really attained"- It is not a question of attaining or not attaining, and of salvation and non-salvation, but one of being caused to attain or not attain, and of being given salvation or being not given salvation. (p. 163).
"Station" (maqām) = "standing in the Way (tarīq) of God, and his fulfilment of the obligations appertaining to that station and his keeping it until he comprehends its perfections... It is not permissible that is [= he?] should quit his station without fulfilling the obligations thereof...
"State" (hāl) - is something that descends from God into a man's heart, without his being able to repel it when |173| it comes, or to attract it when it goes by his own effort.
Accordingly while "station" denotes the way of the seeker and his progress in the field of exertion and his rank before God in proportion to his merit, the term "state" denotes the favour and grace which God bestows upon the heart of His servant and which are not connected with any mortification on the latters's part. Station belongs to the category of acts, "state" to the category of gift. Hence the man that has a "station" stands by his own self mortification, whereas the man that has a "state" is dead to "self" and stands by a "state" God creates in him (Ascetica ↔ Mistica) (p. 181).
One of the Shayhhs (dei Tayfūrīs) said: "Conemplatives (mushāhadāt) are the result of mortifications (mujāhadāt) striving; vita purgativa)". My own view is |174| that although mortifications are always excellent, intoxication and rapture connot be acquired at all; hence they cannot be induced by mortifications, which in themselves never become a cause of intoxication" (p. 184).
While all mystics have affirmed the need of mortification and have declared it to be an indirect means (asbāb) of attaining contemplation, Sahl (fondatore della tarīqa Sahlūs) asserted that mortification is the direct cause ('illat) of the latter... Others on the contrary hold that there in not direct cause of union with God, and whoever attains to God does so by Divine grace (fazal) which is independent of human actions" (p. 201). Hujwīri sta per la seconda posizione.
According to he unanimous opinion of all the saints who seek God, the station |175| of union (jama') belongs to the perfection of saintship. Now in this station(?), man attains such a degree of rapturous love that his intelligence in enraptured in gazing upon the act of God (fa'al) and in his longing for the Divine Agent (fā'al) he regards the whole universe as that and sees noting but that (p. 237).
Sul "subsistence" (baqā) e "Annihilation" (fanā) - Rigetta l'interpretazione della annichilazione assoluta e della identificazione con la sussistenza divina. Interessante notizia sulla dottrina nestoriana della... "sussistenza divina di Maria e Gesù" (p. 242-246).
fanā is annichilation of sconsciousness of manhood ('abūdiyyat; bandag) and subsistence in the contemplation of Godhead... Hence all one's actions are referred to God |176| not to one's self... [unitas operationis]
And whoever explains these terms otherwise, i.e. annihilation as annih. of substance, and subsistence as "subsistence of God (in Man)" is heretic and a... Christian (sic), as has been stated above (245-46).
qurbat: "Proximity" (to God) -- è la parola più ricorrente per esprimere lo stato e la vocazione del Sufi.
Knowledge of God is the science of Gnosis ('ilm ma'arfat), whereby He is known to all His prophets and saints. It cannot be acquired by ordinary means but is the result of Divine guidance and informations (p. 16).
On "Gnosis of of God" (ma'arfat):
According to the view of orthodox Muslims, soundness of reason and regart to |177| evidences are a means (sabab) to gnosis but not the cause ('illat) thereof: the sole cause is God's will and favour, for without His favour ('ināyyat) reason is blind (p. 268).
Knowledge of Him is attained only by unceasing bewilderment of the reason, and His favour is not procured by any act of human acquisition, but it is miraculously revealed to man's hearts...
The knowledge gained is in the one case a matter of logic, in the other it becomes an inward experience (p. 270).
Gnosis is continual amazement (hairat). Amazement is of two kinds: 1) amaz. at the essence a (2) amaz. at the quality. The former is polytheism and infidelity...; the latter in gnosis, because the quality of God lies beyond reason's scope (p. 275).
|178| On the (tawhīd) Unification...
... This indicates the annihilation of human attributes and perfect resignation to God in the state when a man is overpowered by the revelation of His Majesty, so that he becomes a passive instrument and a subtle substance that feels nothing, and his body is a repositary oft he Mysteries of God to whom his puch and actions are attributes... " (p. 283).
(tawba) Repentence is the first station of pilgrims on the way to the Truth... Etymologically tawbat means "return"... and involves turnig back fron what Gof gas forbidden through the fear of what He has commanded (p. 294).
On Love (muhabbat)
God's love on Man is His good will towards him and His having mercy on him... |179| [It] consists in showing much favour to him and givin<g> him a recompense in this world and the next and making him secure fron punishment and keeping him safe from sin, and bestowing him lofty "states" and exalted "stations".
Man's love towards God is a quality which manifests itself... in the form of veneration and magnification, so that he seeks to satisfy his Belaved and becomes impatient and restless in his desire for vision of Him, and cannot rest with anyone excwpt Him, and grows familiar with the remembrance (dhikr) of Him... (p. 307).
... It is impossible that Man's love of God should be similar in kind to the love of His creatures towards one another, for the former is desire to comprehend and attain the beloved object while the latter in [= is] a property of bodies (p. 308).
Love is a Divine gift, not anything that can be acquired (p. 310).
|180| muhabbat and 'ishq (excessise love)
Much controversy among Shaykhs...
Opinioni. 1) È attribuibile all'uomo non a Dio. Such love ('ishq) is the attribut of one who is debarred fron his beloved...
2) Dio non può esser ogg(etto) di 'ishq "because such love involves a passing beyond limits, whereas Go in not limited.
3) The moderns assert the excessise love ('ishq) is properly applied only to the desire of attaininng the essence and in as such as the essence of God is not attainable, the term 'ishq is not rightly used in referenze to Mans's love towards God, although the terms muhabbat and "pure live" (safawwat?) are correct... While muhabbat may be produced by hearing, 'ishq cannot possible arise without actual vision: therefore it cannot be felt towards God who is not seen in this world...; but Man feels muhabbat towards God because God, through |181| His attributes and actions, is a gracious benefactor to His friends (p. 310).
Eretici: [They] declare that a man may attain to such a degree of love that obedience is no longer required of him, a doctrine which is sheer heresy. It is impossible... because the law of Muhammad will neve be abrogated...
On marriage and celibacy.
Evils of celibacy: 1) the neglect of an Apostolic custom ("Three things I loved in the world: scent, women and prayer"); 2) the fostering of lust in the heart and the danger of falling into unlawful ways.
Evils of marriage: 1) preoccupation of the mind with other than God; 2) the distraction of the body for the sake of sensual pleasure... (p. 361).
I<n> our time it is impossible for anyone to have a suitable wife whose wants are not excessive and whose demands are not |182| unreasonable. Therefore many persons have adopted celibacy and observe the Apostolic Tradition. "The best of men in latter days will be those who are light of back" i. e. who have neither wife nor child (p. 363).
Removal of lust: 1) by self-constraint (takalluf), i.e. hunger; 2) by something which "lies outside the sphere of human action and mortification...: [it is] an agitating fear o<f> a true love, which is collected by the dispersion of (sensual) thoughts: a love which extends its empire over the different parts of the body and diverts all the senses of their sensual quality" (p. 364).
tajallī: the bessed affect of Divine illumination on the hearts of the ??? whereby they are made capable of seeing God with their heart (p. 389).
wajd = ecstasy
|183| sharb: sweetness of piety and delight of miraculous grace and the pleasure of intimacy shurb (drinking)...; a novice without sharb is a strange to (the duties of) the novitiate, and a gnostic ('ārif) with sharb is a stranger to gnosis, because the novice must derive some pleasure (sharbī) from his actions... but the gnostic ought not to feel such pleasure, lest he should be transported with that pleasure instead of with God (p. 392).
Guardingo (cautious) riguardo poesia e similtudini o gesti "amorosi" (p. 398) (erotic symbolism)
Item per la musica; contro la danza, pederastia (youth simbolo dell'Amato) (416).
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1) mubtadiyān: beginners (incipienti)
2) mutawassitān: middlemen, middleroaders (proficienti)
3) kāmilān: adepts (perfetti)
* * *
Egli stesso è caduto in peccato di pederastia? (p. 420)
|184| I have found this universe on abode of Divine mysteries, which are deposited in created things. Substances, accidents, elements, bodies, forms and properties - all these are veils of Divine mysteries. From the standpoint of tawhīd it is polytheism to assert that any such veils exist, but in this world everything is veiled, but its being from tawhīd, and the spirit is held captive by admixture and association with phenomenal being. Hence the intellect can hardly comprehend those Divine mysteries, and the spirit can but dimly perceive the marvels of nearness to God.
Di qui il bisogno della vita sufica, intesa come processo di superamento dei "veli" (p. 9).
* *
tawfīq : strength whereby a man renders obedience to God (p. 6).
|185| In this our time the science of Sufism is obsolete, especially in this country.
Cause:
1) gente cha va dietro passioni
2) 'ulama: have formed a conception of Sufism which is quite contrary to its fundamental principles (p. 7).
* * *
[Prof.] Khāja Sādiq: l'unica religione a diffondersi senza violenza o guerra è l'induismo e buddismo. Islam: guerre (non durante la vita del Profeta) di espansione, come fatto storico d'infedeltà alla brotherhood islamica; infedeltà storica alla dottrina islamica.
Uno studente dice che anche durante la vita del Prof(eta) la guerra è stata usata per la diffusione dell'Islam. Reazione degli "ortodossi".
|186| Conversazione con Shāhzād sulla Costituzione dello Stato Islamico. Sostiene la perfetta "libertà" per i "zimmi" [= cittadini non musulmani di stato islamico, letteralmente "protetti"] ma in pratica non possono essere incaricati d'uffici delicati; l'insegnamento, anche universitario, deve essere controllato e impostato sec. la dottrina islamica (caso dei Professori del "Islamia College" dismessi).
Stato aconfessionale è impensabile in Islam se non a costo di rifiutare - almeno parzialmente - l'Islam storico.
Buona percentuale di "atei" tra gli studenti. Provengono da due "opposte province":
1) media o bassa borghesia: svegliati ai problemi sociali, coscienti delle ingiustizie sociali delle presente società, e gettatesi al comunismo;
2) alta società, gente "bene", che |187| ha tutto e quindi non ha più bisogno... di Dio.
Da diversi studenti vengo interrogato su Mussolini. Muss(olini) riscuote molta ammirazione (stadio psicologico dell'"idolo" socio-politico?). Mhd Aref Raja mi dice che Mussolini ha dato all'Italia quello che le mancava: forza politica e militare, coscienza guerriera, senso del "soldato" and "bravery".
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Presso gli studenti a tendenza snobistica di Pseudo-intellettuali, Machiavelli riscuote molta ammirazione. Atiq nomina anche Cesare Borgia, come ideale del principe machiavellico con parole lodative. Non pare conoscano altro dell'Italia. |
Ricordo. Una volta, nel corridorio durante l'intervallo delle lezioni, uno dei professori mi chiese (non in tono ironico, ma proprio per avere informazione): "C'è ancora il papa a Roma?". Oh yes, gli dissi. |
|188| Esempio di una mentalità "essenzialista" in confronto d'una "esistenzialista" (Essenza-Accidente).
Acqua: sorgente; stagno; fiume; oceano; iceberg; lago; cascata.
Per il primo: sotto [sono?] la stessa cosa e differiscono solo accidentalmente".
Per il secondo: differiscono essenzialmente (il poeta è di fronte in realtà "diverse" quando considera una sorgente zampillante e quando considera uno stagno, o il mare.
Tutto dipende dalla scelta iniziale: che cos'è per te la "realtà" sorgente, stagno, mare...
Conversazione con Shāhzād.
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Stato idelogico islamico. Abbandono della fede islamica significa dovere di abbandono della società socio-politica musulmana. Depreca l'atteggiamento fanatico della uccisione e persecuzione dell'apostata. |
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| |189| Casi di proteste di massa contro Fazlūr Rahman, o pubblicazione di ritratto di Mhd in una rivista americana; la protesta (intesa come sa<l>vaguardia e rispetto dell'altrui fede) deve rimanere nell'ordine e limite di correttezza. Deplora il bando in Pak. di un'opera di Russel. Dice che una risposta dovrebbe rimanere ed esser data sul piano di Russel stesso, non dell'intervento politico o poliziesco. |
Ricordo. Fazlūr Rahman, pakistano, esimio studioso di filosofia e cultura islamica; dai metodi storiografici "troppo occidentalizzanti", secondo il comune sentire locale. Non più gradito in Pakistan. Proprio a Lahore, 1969, rupie 16,80, acquistai (e ancora conservo) il suo Prophesy in Islam. Philosophy and Orthodoxy, London 1958. |
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[Prof.] Chaudhri Qādir mi chiede a scuola d'illustrare l'Umanesimo europeo con le implicanze religiose. Segue interessante conversazione. Islam sente lo stesso problema dell'Europa del XIV-XV-XVI secc. Ma non pare possa ammettere una completa autonomia delle scienze umane, tanto meno lasciare la comunità musulmana organizzarsi in società aconfessionale. L'incondizionata libertà delle scienze ha portato alla bomba atomica... |
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Ospitalità. Visita a
Lahore con Jomier. Sciopero dei taxisti. In 28
Warris Road concordo con un taxista un
percorso secondario, a beneficio dell'ospite. A un certo punto dobbiamo
attraversare il grande Mall. Gli scioperanti ci accerchiano e ci bloccano, con
cartelli e urla. Temo per il taxista. D'istinto esco dalla vettura, alzo le
braccia, parlo agli scioperanti: "Sono io il responsabile. E' qui con noi un
ospite straniero, desidera visitare il mazār di Ganj Bakhsh prima di lasciare il
nostro paese. Ve lo chiedo a titolo di ospitalità". Il capo dà un'occhiata
all'interno del nostro taxi, ordina di liberare la strada e di lasciarci
passare. Avevo dimenticato l'episodio. Me lo ricordò anni dopo, con emozione, lo stesso Jomier! |
|190| Predico il ritito ai tre pakistani domenicani che l'8 vestono l'abito domenicano: i primi tre domenicani a fare il noviziato in "loco" pakistano! Il Signore benedica questo inizio.
Vacanze natalizie a Lyallpur.
