Paths to the Heart: Sufism and the Christian East by James Cutsinger

Author:James Cutsinger [Cutsinger, James]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: World Wisdom, 2003, 9780941532433
Published: 2011-11-19T21:56:43+00:00

The Metaphysics of Interfaith Dialogue The Metaphysics of Oneness and

Dialogue with the Other

What is meant by the phrase “the metaphysics of oneness” is the metaphysical interpretation given by the Sufis to the fundamental message of the Quran, the principle of tawhîd, expressed in the creedal formula: Lâ ilâha illâ’Llâh —no god but God. Whereas theologically the statement is a relatively straightforward affirmation of the uniqueness of the Divinity, and the negation of other “gods”, metaphysically the formula is read as an affirmation of the true nature of being: no reality but the one Reality. Kashani comments as follows on one of the many verses affirming the central principle of tawhîd, namely, 20:8: “Allâh, there is no god but Him”: “His unique essence does not become multiple, and the reality of His identity derives therefrom, and does not become manifold; so He is He in endless eternity as He was in beginningless eternity. There is no He but Him, and no existent apart from Him.”7 We have here not only an affirmation of the oneness of God to the exclusion of other gods, but also, and more fundamentally, the affirmation of a unique reality, which is exclusive of all otherness, or rather in relation to which all otherness is unreal.

The shift from “theological” tawhîd to “ontological” tawhîd is one of the hallmarks of another great representative of the school of Ibn Arabi, Sayyid Haydar Amoli (d. 787/1385), in whose works one observes a remarkable synthesis between Shi’ite gnosis and Sufi metaphysics. He refers to the “folk of the exterior” ( ahl al-zâhir) who pronounce the formula Lâ ilâha illâ’Llâh in the sense conveyed by the following Quranic verse, an exclamation by the polytheists of the strangeness of the idea of affirming one deity: “Does he make the gods one God? This is a strange thing” (38:5). This monotheistic affirmation is, for Amoli, the essence of the tawhîd professed by the folk of the exterior, and is called “theological” tawhîd ( at-tawhîd al-ulûhiyy). In contrast, the “folk of the interior” ( ahl al-bâtin) negate the multiplicity of existences, and affirm the sole reality of Divine being; their formula is: “There is nothing in existence apart from God ( laysa fi’l-wujûd siwa’Llâh)”, and they cite the verse “Everything the excellent work by Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din, The Book of Certainty (Cambridge, 1992), which offers a concise and profound exposition of Sufi gnosis based principally on Kashani’s commentary on certain Quranic verses.

7. Kashani, Tafsîr, Vol. II, p. 17.

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Reza Shah-Kazemi

is perishing save His Face” (28:88) in support. This, Amoli maintains, is “ontological” tawhîd ( at-tawhîd al-wujûdiyy).8

Despite appearing to be the concern only of mystics with an oth-erworldly and introspective orientation, such metaphysical perspectives on the central Quranic message of tawhîd are in fact highly pertinent to the theme of dialogue. In particular, the implications of tawhîd with respect to notions of “self” and “other” are potentially of considerable value in helping to overcome one of the key obstacles to authentic and fruitful dialogue in today’s multi-religious world.

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