7. Redes de asistencia social. Una alternativa para la distribución de ayudas
7.6. Son las SAN una nueva DRLS. Una discusión conceptual
annihilation)
Baqa and fana are key concepts in sUFism. They
are employed by Sufis in their discussions about mystical experience and union with God. At issue is whether any aspect of a mystic’s individual- ity (or selfhood) really remains or abides (baqa) when mystical union or annihilation (fana) is experienced, and whether true self-annihilation can really be attained. A common teaching story used in connection with this subject is that of the moth that is drawn to the light of a candle only to perish in the flame: Does the moth completely perish, or does something of the moth continue to exist in a transformed state after it is consumed by the flame? The roots of such discussions are based partly in human speculation about life (existence) and death (the end of existence; nonexistence).
When people are born into the world, are they born into true life? When they die, does life truly come to an end? Pre-Islamic Neoplatonic think- ers in the Middle East, among whom were many Christian mystics, identified the living God with true existence and viewed worldly existence as a kind of nonexistence. Therefore, for a Sufi influ- enced by Neoplatonism, to be truly alive meant
finding a way out of this corrupt world, which he considered to be a kind of death or prison, and returning to a mystical union with God, the source of life. Sufis heeded a saying of mUhammad,
which stated “Die before you die.” For them, this meant not that they should physically die, but that they should strive to purify themselves of worldly existence so that all that remains is God. Some Sufis maintained that the attributes of the indi- vidual are thereby replaced by those of God. Such discussions about baqa and fana also addressed questions concerning the relation between body and soul and whether the soul was divine and immortal.
Formal Islamic doctrine has tended to affirm life in this world as a gift from God and to anticipate an aFterliFe of immortal existence in paradise or hell, based on a final judgment of one’s
beliefs and actions. However, Neoplatonic ideas surfaced early in the history of the Muslim com- munity. The qUran itself emphasizes the distinc-
tion between the transitory nature of life in this world (al-dunya) and eternal life in the hereafter (al-akhira), which is qualitatively better. More- over, an oft-quoted passage in the Quran states, “Everything on [the Earth] is transitory; all that subsists is the face of your lord (God), the one of majesty and generosity” (Q 55:26–27). This state- ment implies that life is fleeting and that only God subsists permanently.
In the ninth century, as Neoplatonism became more influential among Muslim intellectuals, Sufis promoted the idea of the relationship between baqa and fana as states of mind or consciousness that were not limited to physical life and death. The first Sufi to be credited with developing such a doctrine was Abu Said al-Kharraz of Baghdad (d. 899). He taught that baqa meant abiding in the contemplation of God’s divinity, thus stressing the difference between the mystic and God, while fana meant the annihilation of one’s awareness of being an imperfect human. Al-Hujwiri (d. ca. 1077), a Persian mystic, went further to say that annihilation comes by way of a vision of God’s
majesty, which so overwhelms the visionary that he becomes “dead to reason and passion alike, dead even to annihilation itself” (al-Hujwiri, 246). This line of thought characterizes the attitude of
al-JUnayd (d. 910) of baghdad and other “sober”
Sufis toward mystical experience. They believed that the mystic continued to experience a perfected awareness of the self after annihilation in God.
Others, known as the “intoxicated” Sufis, took a different tack. They maintained that the mystic could completely shed his or her human attributes by following the mystical path and ultimately achieve ecstatic union with God. abU
yazidal-bistami (d. ca. 875) and mansUral-hal- laJ (d. 922) were important Sufi visionaries who
were included in this group. Al-Hallaj was also credited with introducing the idea that the mysti- cal quest was comparable to that of the lover seek- ing union with his or her Beloved (God), a theme that lies at the heart of the rich poetic traditions associated with Sufism.
One of the most beautiful expressions of a sober Sufi understanding of the relation between baqa and fana occurs in Farid al-Din Attar’s Con- ference of the Birds (composed ca. 1177). This Persian poem tells the story of a flock of birds who gave up their worldly attachments in order to find Simurgh, their king. After traversing seven valleys, each valley representing a different spiritual station, they are finally admitted to the inner chamber of Simurgh, where they discover that they are identical to their king and surrender themselves to annihilation, only to abide once again in their individual selfhoods at the end of their quest. In later Sufi thought, the way to union with God required prior annihilation in the Sufi master and Muhammad, both of whom were believed to be reflections of God’s light.
See also allah; hal; maqam; persianlangUage andliteratUre; tariqa; soUlandspirit.
Further reading: Farid Ud-Din Attar, The Conference
of the Birds, trans. Afkham Darbandi and Dick Davis
(New York: Penguin Books, 1984); Ali bin Uthman al-
Hujwiri, The Kashf al-Mahjub: The Oldest Persian Trea-
tise on Sufism. Translated by R. A. Nicholson (Delhi: Taj
Company, 1997); R. A. Nicholson, The Mystics of Islam (New York: Schocken, 1975); Annemarie Schimmel,
Mystical Dimensions of Islam (Chapel Hill: University of
North Carolina Press, 1975).
Baqli, Ruzbihan
(1128–1209) leading mystic of 12th-century Iran, famed for his accounts of his visionary experience and controversial ecstatic sayings Ruzbihan Abu Muhammad ibn Abi Nasr al-Baqli al-Fasawi was born in Fasaa, a province in the south of iran. When older, he moved to thenearby city Shiraz, where he delivered sermons at the town’s famous old mosqUe and enjoyed a
large following among the townfolk, as well as some of the local rulers. In his aUtobiography,
Ruzbihan explains that his spirituality is unrelated to his upbringing because he was born and raised in a family that was ignorant about God and was unable to understand him. He defines his call to mysticism in terms of his special relationship with God. Ruzbihan had spiritual experiences as early as age three. At age 15, he was addressed by voices from the unseen world (ghayb) calling him a prophet. One day around this time, as he was
leaving his shop for afternoon prayers, he heard an extraordinary voice and followed it to a nearby hill. There he saw a handsome shaykh telling him
about God’s oneness (tawhid). Ruzbihan describes
this event as a turning point in his spiritual awak- ening. For the rest of his life, he experienced mys- tical states, and secrets were disclosed to him.
Ruzbihan’s writings are in Persian and in Ara- bic. They describe the visionary events that consti- tuted the life of the author and the knowledge that he acquired by these events. Best known today as the author of Abhar al-ashiqin (The jasmine of lovers), Kashf al-asrar (The unveiling of secrets), and Sharh-i shathiyat (An exegesis of ecstatic say- ings), Ruzbihan also wrote on a range of subjects including tafsir (interpretation), hadith, and fiqh
(Islamic jurisprudence).
Sharh-i shathiyat is a classical reference on Islamic mysticism. It is a compilation of sayings by entranced mystics as they were experiencing spiritual states. Abhar al-ashiqin is a masterpiece in Persian belles lettres. It provides a geography of love whence God’s attributes of “might” (jalal) and “beauty” (jamal) come into view. Ruzbihan’s autobiography, Kashf al-asrar, which he began writing at age 55, is a unique document in the genre of Muslim aUtobiography. While similar to
many Muslim biographies and autobiographies, Kashf al-asrar concerns the inner spiritual life of the author/protagonist, but unlike most of them, its plot is not centered on the external events that advance the story of his life. In this respect, Kashf al-asrar differs from the works that constitute the canon in the medieval Islamic biographical and autobiographical literature.
Today, Ruzbihan’s shrine is a pilgrimage site in his hometown, Shiraz.
See also sUFism.
Firoozeh Papan-Matin Further reading: Ruzbihan Baqli, Abhar al-ashiqin, eds.
Henry Corbin and Muhammad Muin (Tehran: Ket- abkhane-ye Manuchehri, 1987); Carl Ernst, Ruzbihan
Baqli: Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism (Richmond, Va.: Curzon Press, 1996).
baraka
Baraka is an Arabic term for blessing used by peoples of the Middle East and followers of Islam. It has been understood both as a specific force that emanates from God and as a more impersonal power that brings about prosperity or good luck at the same time that it counteracts evil forces. According to the qUran, baraka is a
power that God can both bestow and withhold, a notion similar to that of berakhah in Judaism. If people are mindful of God and do good things, they qualify to receive divine blessing and pros- perity; if not, they will not receive it. prophets,
as God’s agents, can also bestow blessings, as abraham and moses do in the Quran. Like a kind
of electricity, it was thought to emanate primarily from God to his creation through the Quran and intermediary prophets and saints. Once islam
became a fully institutionalized religion in the ninth century with hierarchies of political and religious power and aUthority that involved rul-
ers, soldiers, Ulama, administrators, commoners,
and slaves, then baraka itself was also thought of as a sacred power that flowed from God through a hierarchy of supermundane beings. Today the ordinary person still has simply to hear or see the Quran to benefit from its baraka. It can also be obtained by touching a saint, a saint’s relic, or even a person who has visited the kaaba, a
shrine, or similar holy place. Indeed, obtaining baraka is one of the main reasons people perform pilgrimages.
As an impersonal force, baraka is supposed to be present in certain stones, trees, natural springs, or manufactured objects—especially in pre-Islamic cultures, among the bedoUin, and in
rural populations. Egyptian peasants still believe that the antiquities of the ancient Egyptians have this power, and they take scrapings from the pyramids and temples to place in amulets or to mix into a potion with other substances to cure a disease. The idea of blessing also has become diffused in the everyday speech of Muslims and non-Muslims in the Middle East, who use words derived from the Arabic word baraka to wish each other a happy holiday and to congratulate someone upon marriage or some other success in life.
See also egypt; miracle; wali; ziyara.
Further reading: Michael Gilsenan, Recognizing Islam:
Religion and Society in the Modern Arab World (New
York: Random House, 1982); Edward Reeves, The Hid-
den Government: Ritual, Clientelism, and Legitimation in Northern Egypt (Salt Lake City: University of Utah
Press, 1990); Edward Westermarck, Ritual and Belief in
Morocco. 2 vols. (New York: University Books, 1968).