The seduction of philosophers and mystics – Grand Ayatollah Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani
Since the time of Al-Ma’mun (d. 833 CE), when the philosophy of the Greeks got introduced to the Muslims, the holy texts of Islam and the fundamentals of religion became targets for the interpretations of philosophers. Therefore, they molded the meaning of texts on their opinions. And the culture of disregard for the dictums of Sharia and their misinterpretations in accordance with principles of ancient philosophy, even (Aristotelian) physics, took root. Thus, they distanced themselves and the people from the textual themes of religion, like the idea of the unity of God and His attributes, the accident and eternity, the Creator and the created, etc. They interpreted these ideas in a way that did not agree with the apparent meaning of the text.
So, they built their faith on conjectures and anticipations, and they interpreted religion in a way that was not intended by its founder and the rightful interpreters (PBUT). They reasoned about religious wisdom on foundations that were laid by those who did not follow the path of the prophets and were not enlightened by the heavenly rays of guidance. So, their minds became unconstrained, and they wandered away in these paths and came up with strange terminology that does not comply with the terminology of the Noble Qur’an. And they became captive to alien concepts like affirmation (الاءِيجاب), incarnation (الحلول), union (الاتحاد), and unity of being (وحدة الوجود).
They interpreted the relationship between the accident and the eternal as the connection of the effect to the cause, not as the relation of creation with the Creator, and these themes are clearly different. There is no comparison between the relation of the Creator to the creation and the relation between cause and effect. What is comprehended from the second term is not meant by the first, and what is understood by the second is not conveyed by the first. The two paths are not the same and do not reach the same destination.
The causes can come in sequence, like the first cause followed by the second, . . ., etc, but the Creator can’t be labelled as first, followed by a second creator, and so on. Similarly, the effect can be a sequence of the first effect followed by the second and then the third, and so on, but the creation is not sequential, such that the first would create the second, and then the third will follow, and so on. [Yes, some reports in the Hadith literature say that God created this or that first (أَوَّلُ مَا خَلَقَ اللَّهُ . . .) but what is meant by it is not what these people intend to say in sequential causality, i.e., the first effect is the second cause and second intellect, and the second effect is the third cause from which the third effect originates, and so on . . .] So all the creation, even if some of it longitudinally fell before others, is created by only one Creator, attributed equally to Him, and not sequentially like the second effect, who is the third cause, is the effect of the first effect and the second cause, and so on.
And the books of the philosophers, along with that content which might even appear to be in agreement with the revelation of the heavens, do not agree completely with it and what is established by the Book and the Sunnah. In it is wheat and the chaff, therein the truth and the false are mixed, certain themes agree with what the prophets brought and some contradict it, and that is because they, especially the ancient philosophers, who might ceremonially have clung to some customs of old religions brought by prophets, had over the time become renegade in their thoughts and their minds had become void of prophetic guidance.
And those (Muslim) philosophers who followed them stepped on their footprints and went along the same lines as them, except that they sought to create a bridge between the ancient philosophical dogmas and the teachings of the Book and the Sunnah. It is as if they wanted to mould the religion into what their minds had come to believe in. Therefore, only a few of them could avoid mistakes, stumbling, and slipping.
Therefore, we see that great contemporary sages used hyperbole to emphasize the misreading by famous Muslim philosophers of the belief of bodily resurrection (معاد جسمانی), which could be an exaggeration, may God save us from it. [For example, see the treatise of Mulla Ismail ibn Muhammad Husayn Mazandarani (d. 1763 CE) on interpreting the Quranic verse: And His Throne was on the water. [ وَكَانَ عَرْشُهُۥ عَلَى ٱلْمَآءِ 11:7 ]] This is despite the fact that they were speculating about topics that they were not required to investigate, instead they were forbidden from going deeper into them.
Do those who follow the path of Aristotle, Plato, Socrates, the Stoics, the Peripatetics, Al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, and others, are on the right path or the ones who are guided by the light of Muhammad and his household, may God’s blessings be upon them, and who follow their path? We do not make any hasty generalization in judging specific individuals as belonging to the first category or the second, and we hope that most of the Muslim philosophers belong to the second group. As for their reckoning, it is up to God Almighty.
The temptation of the Mystics and the Sufis
Among those who misinterpreted the holy text and moulded its meaning according to their whims and fantasies, the most deviant ones, harmful and unbecoming of them are the Mystics and the Sufis.
They manipulated the fundamentals and branches of religion and adjusted them to their unscrupulous opinions to justify their malicious deeds. They wrote flimsy treatises in delusive terminology. They forbade the good and enjoined the evil. They came with a variety of different cult orders and diverse rules and customs for spiritual transcendence, something that contradicts the explicit proclamations of the holy text. Their interpretations are weaker than the spider webs.
It suffices you to read some of their books, the biographies of their saints, and their poetry to come to know that they are as far apart from faith and religion as the earth and the sky. May God save the Muslims from their wickedness. They went astray because of their absurdity and preoccupation with occultism and their withdrawal of Thaqalayn (ثقلین) – the two treasures of guidance.
The most dangerous among these to themselves and to others are those who have produced a blend of the so-called gnosis and the Greek philosophy, thus adding fuel to the fire.
If someone wants to know what the Mystics and their followers are up to, they should refer to the exegesis of the Quran written by Mulla Abd al-Razzaq al-Kashani (d. 1335 CE), in which one can find many such misrepresentations.
For example, in the parable of the noble verse: <<And look at your donkey>> [وَٱنظُرْ إِلَىٰ حِمَارِكَ 2:259] the donkey is speculated to be the Prophet Ezra, (1) the small hills of Safa and Marwa are interpreted as heart and soul. (2) In the verse <<As for the wall, it belonged to two orphan boys in the city>> [وَأَمَّا ٱلْجِدَارُ فَكَانَ لِغُلَـٰمَيْنِ يَتِيمَيْنِ فِى ٱلْمَدِينَةِ 18:82], the boys are interpreted as theoretical wisdom and the practical wisdom. And in the verse <<created you from a single soul>> [خَلَقَكُمۡ مِّنۡ نَّفۡسٍ وَّاحِدَةٍ 4:1], the soul is interpreted as the rational spirit, and in the verse <<and out of it created its mate>> [وَّخَلَقَ مِنۡهَا زَوۡجَهَا 4:1], the mate is interpreted as the animal spirit.
Their literature contains plenty of misinterpretations of the holy texts. Those who are interested may refer to Fusus al-Hikam of Ibn Arabi (d. 1240 CE), etc. Here I do not want to elucidate any further, as my intention was only to point out their corruption in brief.
Source: Grand Ayatollah Sheikh Lotfollah Safi Golpayegani, “Lamhat-un fi al-Kitab wa al-Hadith wa al-Madh’hab” [لمحاتٌ فی الکتاب والحدیث والمذہب], vol. 3, pp. 388-392, Grand Ayatollah Safi publications, Qom, 1391.
References:
1. Tafsir Mulla Abd Al-Razzaq al-Kashani, vol. 1, p. 147.
2. Tafsir Mulla Abd Al-Razzaq al-Kashani, vol. 1, p. 100.
