Some Aspects of Islamic Mysticism in the Rawh al-arwah

Abstract

The Rawh al-arwah, written by an erudite preacher Shihab al-Din Ahrnad-i Sam'ani (d. 534/1140), is the first complete commentary in Persian on the Divine names (al-asma' al-husna). In this significant Sufi treatise, the author has emphasized on the superiority of the human being to the angels by arguing that the heart of human beings, unlike those of the angels, is the treasure of love and pain.
Although some of the points that Sam'ani discussed are traceable to Maybudi's Kashf al-asrar (written after 520/1126), a well-known -Persian Qur'anic exegesis with mystical inclination, the originality of his thought and style of preaching (wa'z) in the Rawh al-arwah is evident. This text unquestionably forms a decisive element for formation of Persian Sufi literature in its historical development.
It seems that Sam'ani, an eloquent preacher with great talent as poet and tradition narrator (muhaddith), was under the influence of the Ash'arite school of theology. In this treatise, he extensively discusses such topics as acquisition of the predestination (kasb-i taqdir), the omnipotent power of God (qudrat), beatific vision of God in the Hereafter (ru'yat), and inner speech (kalam-i nafsi). This author concludes that Ash'arite doctrines informed the framework of Sam'ani's mystical thought and that his various discourses, tinted with mysticism in the text, were formed mainly under the influence of these theological dogmas.
This author's investigation into the mysticism of the Rawh al-arwah makes it clear that this treatise constituted an important work that marked a turning point in the development of Persian Sufi thought during the 6th/12th century. The beauty of God (jamal) causes an aesthetic sense (dhawq) in the heart of an ascetic (zahid), and the sense transforms him a narrator of the divine beauty. The aesthetic sense gifted by the Divine beauty is one of the main characteristics by which one can distinguish tasawwuf (Islamic mysticism) from zuhd (Islamic asceticism).
Sam'ani's thought had an extensive impact on the Persian mystical literature. Particularly, the poetry of Farid al-Din 'Attar (d. 627/1229 or 618/1221), one of the most gifted Sufi poets, can be considered as the one that shares the same characteristics as Sam'ani's Rawh al-arwah.