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THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM
by Reynold A. Nicholson
Routledge, Kegan Paul, London
[1914]
THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM
INTRODUCTION
THE title of this book sufficiently explains why it is included in a Series 'exemplifying
the adventures and labours of individual seekers or groups of seekers in quest of reality.'
Sufism, the religious philosophy of Islam, is described in the oldest extant definition as
'the apprehension of divine realities,' and Mohammedan mystics are fond of calling
themselves Ahl al-Haqq , 'the followers of the Real.' { Al-Haqq is the term generally used by Sufis
when they refer to God.} In attempting to set forth their central doctrines from this point of
view, I shall draw to some extent on materials which I have collected during the last
twenty years for a general history of Islamic mysticism--a subject so vast and many-sided
that several large volumes would be required to do it anything like justice. Here I can
only sketch in broad outline certain principles, methods, and characteristic features of the
inner life as it has been lived by Moslems of every class and condition from the eighth
century of our era to the present day. Difficult are the paths which they threaded, dark
and bewildering the pathless heights beyond; but even if we may not hope to accompany
the travelers to their journey's end, any information that we have gathered concerning
their religious environment and spiritual history will help us to understand the strange
experiences of which they write.
In the first place, therefore, I propose to offer a few remarks on the origin and historical
development of Sufism, its relation to Islam, and its general character. Not only are these
matters interesting to the student of comparative religion; some knowledge of them is
indispensable to any serious student of Sufism itself. It may be said, truly enough, that all
mystical experiences ultimately meet in a single point; but that point assumes widely
different aspects according to the mystic's religion, race, and temperament, while the
converging lines of approach admit of almost infinite variety. Though all the great types
of mysticism have something in common, each is marked by peculiar characteristics
resulting from the circumstances in which it arose and flourished. Just as the Christian
type cannot be understood without reference to Christianity, so the Mohammedan type
must be viewed in connexion with the outward and inward development of Islam.
The word 'mystic,' which has passed from Greek religion into European literature, is
represented in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, the three chief languages of Islam, by 'Sufi.'
The terms, however, are not precisely synonymous, for 'Sufi' has a specific religious
connotation, and is restricted by usage to those mystics who profess the Mohammedan
faith. And the Arabic word, although in course of time it appropriated the high
significance of the Greek--lips sealed by holy mysteries, eyes closed in visionary rapture-
-bore a humbler meaning when it first gained currency (about 800 A.D.). Until recently
its derivation was in dispute. Most Sufis, flying in the face of etymology, have derived it
from an Arabic root which conveys the notion of 'purity'; this would make 'Sufi' mean
'one who is pure in heart' or 'one of the elect.' Some European scholars identified it with
«sophós» in the sense of 'theosophist.' But Nöldeke, in an article written twenty years
ago, showed conclusively that the name was derived from suf (wool), and was originally
applied to those Moslem ascetics who, in imitation of Christian hermits, clad themselves
in coarse woollen garb as a sign of penitence and renunciation of worldly vanities.
The earliest Sufis were, in fact, ascetics and quietists rather than mystics. An
overwhelming consciousness of sin, combined with a dread--which it is hard for us to
realize--of Judgment Day and the torments of Hell-fire, so vividly painted in the Koran,
drove them to seek salvation in flight from the world. On the other hand, the Koran
warned them that salvation depended entirely on the inscrutable will of Allah, who guides
aright the good and leads astray the wicked. Their fate was inscribed on the eternal tables
of His providence, nothing could alter it. Only this was sure, that if they were destined to
be saved by fasting and praying and pious works--then they would be saved. Such a
belief ends naturally in quietism, complete and unquestioning submission to the divine
will, an attitude characteristic of Sufism in its oldest form. The mainspring of Moslem
religious life during the eighth century was fear--fear of God, fear of Hell, fear of death,
fear of sin--but the opposite motive had already begun to make its influence felt, and
produced in the saintly woman Rabi‘a at least one conspicuous example of truly mystical
self-abandonment.
* * *
So far, there was no great difference between the Sufi and the orthodox Mohammedan
zealot, except that the Sufis attached extraordinary importance to certain Koranic
doctrines, and developed them at the expense of others which many Moslems might
consider equally essential. It must also be allowed that the ascetic movement was inspired
by Christian ideals, and contrasted sharply with the active and pleasure-loving spirit of
Islam. In a famous sentence the Prophet denounced monkish austerities and bade his
people devote themselves to the holy war against unbelievers; and he gave, as is well
known, the most convincing testimony in favour of marriage. Although his condemnation
of celibacy did not remain without effect, the conquest of Persia, Syria, and Egypt by his
successors brought the Moslems into contact with ideas which profoundly modified their
outlook on life and religion. European readers of the Koran cannot fail to be struck by its
author's vacillation and inconsistency in dealing with the greatest problems. He himself
was not aware of these contradictions, nor were they a stumbling-block to his devout
followers, whose simple faith accepted the Koran as the Word of God. But the rift was
there, and soon produced far-reaching results.
Hence arose the Murjites, who set faith above works and emphasized the divine love and
goodness; the Qadarites who affirmed, and the Jabarites who denied, that men are
responsible for their actions; the Mu‘tazilites, who built a theology on the basis of reason,
rejecting the qualities of Allah as incompatible with His unity, and predestinarianism as
contrary to His justice; and finally the Ash‘arites, the scholastic theologians of Islam,
who formulated the rigid metaphysical and doctrinal system that underlies the creed of
orthodox Mohammedans at the present time. All these speculations, influenced as they
were by Greek theology and philosophy, reacted powerfully upon Sufism. Early in the
third century of the Hegira--the ninth after Christ--we find manifest signs of the new
leaven stirring within it. Not that Sufis ceased to mortify the flesh and take pride in their
poverty, but they now began to regard asceticism as only the first stage of a long journey,
the preliminary training for a larger spiritual life than the mere ascetic is able to conceive.
The nature of the change may be illustrated by quoting a few sentences which have come
down to us from the mystics of this period.
"Love is not to be learned from men: it is one of God's gifts and comes of
His grace."
"None refrains from the lusts of this world save him in whose heart there
is a light that keeps him always busied with the next world."
"When the gnostic's spiritual eye is opened, his bodily eye is shut: he sees
nothing but God."
"If gnosis were to take visible shape all who looked thereon would die at
the sight of its beauty and loveliness and goodness and grace, and every
brightness would become dark beside the splendour thereof." {Compare
Plato, Phædrus (Jowett's translation): "For sight is the keenest of our bodily senses;
though not by that is wisdom seen; her loveliness would have been transporting if there
had been a visible image of her."}
"Gnosis is nearer to silence than to speech."
"When the heart weeps because it has lost, the spirit laughs because it has
found."
"Nothing sees God and dies, even as nothing sees God and lives, because
His life is everlasting: whoever sees it is thereby made everlasting."
"O God, I never listen to the cry of animals or to the quivering of trees or
to the murmuring of water or to the warbling of birds or to the rustling
wind or to the crashing thunder without feeling them to be an evidence of
Thy unity and a proof that there is nothing like unto Thee."
* * *
"O my God, I invoke Thee in public as lords are invoked, but in private as
loved ones are invoked. Publicly I say, 'O my God!' but privately I say, 'O
my Beloved!'"
These ideas--Light, Knowledge, and Love--form, as it were, the keynotes of the new
Sufism, and in the following chapters I shall endeavour to show how they were
developed. Ultimately they rest upon a pantheistic faith which deposed the One
transcendent God of Islam and worshipped in His stead One Real Being who dwells and
works everywhere, and whose throne is not less, but more, in the human heart than in the
heaven of heavens. Before going further, it will be convenient to answer a question which
the reader may have asked himself--Whence did the Moslems of the ninth century derive
this doctrine?
Modern research has proved that the origin of Sufism cannot be traced back to a single
definite cause, and has thereby discredited the sweeping generalizations which represent
it, for instance, as a reaction of the Aryan mind against a conquering Semitic religion, and
as the product, essentially, of Indian or Persian thought. Statements of this kind, even
when they are partially true, ignore the principle that in order to establish an historical
connexion between A and B, it is not enough to bring forward evidence of their likeness
to one another, without showing at the same time (1) that the actual relation of B to A
was such as to render the assumed filiation possible, and (2) that the possible hypothesis
fits in with all the ascertained and relevant facts. Now, the theories which I have
mentioned do not satisfy these conditions. If Sufism was nothing but a revolt of the
Aryan spirit, how are we to explain the undoubted fact that some of the leading pioneers
of Mohammedan mysticism were natives of Syria and Egypt, and Arabs by race?
Similarly, the advocates of a Buddhistic or Vedantic origin forget that the main current of
Indian influence upon Islamic civilization belongs to a later epoch, whereas Moslem
theology, philosophy, and science put forth their first luxuriant shoots on a soil that was
saturated with Hellenistic culture. The truth is that Sufism is a complex thing, and
therefore no simple answer can be given to the question how it originated. We shall have
gone far, however, towards answering that question when we have distinguished the
various movements and forces which moulded Sufism, and determined what direction it
should take in the early stages of its growth.
Let us first consider the most important external, i.e. non-Islamic, influences.
I. CHRISTIANITY
It is obvious that the ascetic and quietistic tendencies to which I have referred were in
harmony with Christian theory and drew nourishment therefrom. Many Gospel texts and
apocryphal sayings of Jesus are cited in the oldest Sufi biographies, and the Christian
anchorite ( rahib ) often appears in the role of a teacher giving instruction and advice to
wandering Moslem ascetics. We have seen that the woollen dress, from which the name
'Sufi' is derived, is of Christian origin: vows of silence, litanies ( dhikr ), and other ascetic
practices may be traced to the same source. As regards the doctrine of divine love, the
following extracts speak for themselves:
"Jesus passed by three men. Their bodies were lean and their faces pale.
He asked them, saying, 'What hath brought you to this plight?' They
answered, 'Fear of the Fire.' Jesus said, 'Ye fear a thing created, and it
behoves God that He should save those who fear.' Then he left them and
passed by three others, whose faces were paler and their bodies leaner, and
asked them, saying, 'What hath brought you to this plight?' They
answered, 'Longing for Paradise.' He said, 'Ye desire a thing created, and it
behoves God that He should give you that which ye hope for.' Then he
went on and passed by three others of exceeding paleness and leanness, so
that their faces were as mirrors of light, and he said, 'What hath brought
you to this?' They answered, 'Our love of God.' Jesus said, 'Ye are the
nearest to Him, ye are the nearest to Him.'"
The Syrian mystic, Ahmad ibn al-Hawari, once asked a Christian hermit:
"'What is the strongest command that ye find in your Scriptures?' The
hermit replied: 'We find none stronger than this: "Love thy Creator with
all thy power and might."'"
Another hermit was asked by some Moslem ascetics:
"'When is a man most persevering in devotion?' 'When love takes
possession of his heart,' was the reply; 'for then he hath no joy or pleasure
but in continual devotion.'"
The influence of Christianity through its hermits, monks, and heretical sects ( e.g. the
Messalians or Euchitæ) was twofold: ascetic and mystical. Oriental Christian mysticism,
however, contained a Pagan element: it had long ago absorbed the ideas and adopted the
language of Plotinus and the Neo-platonic school.
II. NEOPLATONISM
Aristotle, not Plato, is the dominant figure in Moslem philosophy, and few
Mohammedans are familiar with the name of Plotinus, who was more commonly called
'the Greek Master' ( al-Sheykh al-Yaunani ). But since the Arabs gained their first
knowledge of Aristotle from his Neoplatonist commentators, the system with which they
became imbued was that of Porphyry and Proclus. Thus the so-called Theology of
Aristotle , of which an Arabic version appeared in the ninth century, is actually a manual
of Neoplatonism.
Another work of this school deserves particular notice: I mean the writings falsely
attributed to Dionysius the Areopagite, the convert of St. Paul. The pseudo-Dionysius--he
may have been a Syrian monk--names as his teacher a certain Hierotheus, whom
Frothingham has identified with Stephen Bar Sudaili, a prominent Syrian gnostic and a
contemporary of Jacob of Saruj (451-521 A.D.). Dionysius quotes some fragments of
erotic hymns by this Stephen, and a complete work, the Book of Hierotheus on the
Hidden Mysteries of the Divinity , has come down to us in a unique manuscript which is
now in the British Museum. The Dionysian writings, turned into Latin by John Scotus
Erigena, founded medieval Christian mysticism in Western Europe. Their influence in the

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