THEOSOPHIC STAGE OF MYSTICISM

Here we find the philosophical element superadded to the mystical. According to Vaughan’s classification we can call the Sufism of this period theosophic mysticism. It is at this stage that the monotheism of the orthodox Sufis gives way to a thorough-going pantheism, not the pantheism of the atheist who dissolves Deity in creation, but the spiritual pantheism that delights to lose humanity in the Deity by over­coming an admitted alienation. This was but a natural step. As Professor Browne remarks, the step from quietism to pantheism is neither long nor difficult. Thus, Abu Yazid (Bayazid) of Bistam and Junaid of Baghdad made no secret of their ideas on this point.

“I am the Ocean without bottom, without beginning, without end”, asserts Bayazid. “I am the throne of God, the preserved tablet, the Pen (or Creative Word) of God, I am Gabriel, Michael, Israfil; I am Abraham, Moses, Jesus.”

Not content with self-deification, he would demand worship too! And how neat the syllogism by which he justifies this claim:

“I am God: there is no God but me: therefore worship me.”

These, however, are only the lesser mysteries. Bayazid was in possession of some greater and still stranger mysteries, and it was only out of merciful consideration for frail human beings that he did not reveal them. “Should I speak of my greater experi­ences”, said he, “you could not bear to hear them; therefore it is that I tell you somewhat of the lesser ones only.”

To Junaid is ascribed a similar saying:

“For thirty years God spoke with mankind by the tongue of Junaid, though Junaid was no longer there, and men knew it not.”

Philosophical doctrines and terminology now find their way into the works of the Sufis. It is now almost impossible for the adepts to dissociate the Infinite from abstraction. Universal soul and uni­versal mind become the bywords of Sufism, and the prophet himself is identified with the Logos. Thus Maulana Rumi calls the world the outward form of the Universal Reason, and maintains that he who grieves him (meaning thereby, according to Whinfield, the Prophet) must expect tribulation.

“The whole world is the outward form of Universal Reason,

For it is the father of all creatures of reason.

When a man acts basely towards Universal Reason,

Its form, the world, shows its teeth at him.”