Islamic esotericism

Recalling the concept of ‘Western Esotericism’ that was introduced in Chapter 3, the references made by Schimmel to Gnosticism, Hermeticism and Neo-Platonic thought are highly significant. I would like to suggest that the concepts, doctrines as introduced by Nasr, as well as his practice can be classified as ‘Western Esotericism’ in the sense as defined by Antoine Faivre. In fact, Nasr himself conflates the Traditionalist doctrines, which I have already classified as Esotericism, with Doctrinal or Gnostic Sufism. The doctrines of correspondences, living nature, imagination and mediation and the experience of personal initiation- the five central features of ‘Western Esotericism’ - are part of the type of Sufism that is expounded by Nasr. It takes more to substantiate this claim, but would like to classify Nasr’s understanding of Sufism accordingly.

One of the most striking parallels, of course, is the orthodox Islamic prophetology, shared by Sunnis and Shi’is. Nasr refers to it occasionally, although hardly in his environmental work. It is an essential part of Ibn Arabian thought. It claims that all the prophets - from Adam, Noah to Moses, Jesus and ultimately Muhammad - have all expounded One Divine timeless and universal (perennial) Truth to humanity. The crucial difference with contemporary Western Perennialists is the Islamic claim that Islam has abrogated all previous revelations; it is the most perfect exposition of ‘Perennial wisdom’. Muhammad is the last and the Seal of the Prophets¹⁹¹. Nasr position about ‘Islam’ as the seal and abrogation of all previous authentic religions is not made explicit in the work I have read. This would need further research. Generally, his appreciation of other authentic religions does not suggest a claim of superiority of Islam.

Persian Nationalism or Confessional Esotericism?

I would like to point out a few other aspects at this point. These are not well researched, but are related to some questions that came up when being confronted with Nasr’s expositions of theoretical or Gnostic Sufism. What is the most interesting about these expositions is perhaps what is left out. For example, Nasr does not relate the Ibn Arabian tradition, the Shi’ite Gnostic

191See for example: Keller, Nuh Ha Mim, ‘On the validity of all religions in the thought of Ibn Al-Arabi and Emir ‘Abd al_Qasir: a letter to ‘Abd al-Martin’, 1996. Also: Neusser, Omar K, ‘On the Common Eternal principles, And That Islam resigns, Living Islam (accessed: http://www.livingislam.org/o/pern_e.html) . and Mere Islam, Islam and Perennial Philosophy (http://www.mereislam.info/2005/12/islam-and-perennial-philosophy.html)

currents and its synthesis in what he calls the Irfan tradition, to another major Persian philosophical school, the School of Illumination or Ishraq tradition of Shihab al-Din Suhrawardi (d1191), the shayk al Ishraq¹⁹². This is surprising, considering that in his younger years Nasr worked on the critical editions of the complete Persian works of Suhrawardi and wrote a book about Ibn Sina, Suhrawardi and Ibn Arabi, The Three Muslim Sages (1963), the most widely translated of all his work¹⁹³ To Suhrawardi, Ishraqi philosophy is the only authentic actualization of the ‘perennial philosophy’ of mankind, which is thought to have its origin in the divine revelations received by the Prophet Idris (Hermes) and was transmitted via two separate channels: Egyptian-Greek and ancient Iranian¹⁹⁴. Considering its close affinity to Traditionalist perennial philosophy, it is odd that Nasr does not discuss its relation to the Persian ‘Akbarian’ traditions. I can only guess at his reasons¹⁹⁵. One of these could be related to Surhrawardi’s controversial interpretation of history, which has become politicized within the framework of Persian ‘sacred nationalism’, and an equally politicized view of the Orient as the abode of light and the Occident as the abode of darkness. Such views are increasingly heard within the Iranian Ni’matu’llahi order of Javad Nurbaksh¹⁹⁶. Possibly Nasr wishes to distance himself from this ‘nationalist’ debate. Although he has dedicated his life to the exposition of

‘Persian mysticism’ and has close contacts with Ni’matu’llahi¹⁹⁷, I have not found any direct allusions to Persian nationalism in Nasr’s work.

Even so, Nasr has been severely criticized for what some consider ‘confessional esotericism’ or

‘Islamic apologetics’, a ‘means to promote a personal or ethnic or religious chauvinistic agenda’¹⁹⁸. Accusations of biased historicism or even a ‘Nasr School on Persian Philosophy’

192Nasr discusses it, considering it the most important encounter between Sufism and philosophy in Islam, but does not relate it to the Irfan explicitly in the appendix of the Garden of Truth or in his article.

Nasr, S.H, Garden of Truth, 2007. p185; Nasr, S.H. ‘Theoretical Gnosis and Doctrinal Sufism and Their Significance Today’ in: Transcendent Philosophy 1, 2000, p.1-36.

193 In fact, Nasr is taken as the main source of information for an entry on the Ishraqiyya in the Encyclopedia of Religion. Izutzu, Toshihiko, ‘Ishraqiyya’ in: Encyclopedia of Religion, second edition, p.4552-4556. Izutzu translated Three Muslim Sages into Japanese and was instrumental in introducing Nasr to a Japanese public. .

194 The Iranian branch was represented in ancient Iran by the mythical priest kings Kayumarth, Faridun, and Kay Khusraw. See ‘Ishraiyya’ in: Encylopdia of Religion.

195 It could be related to the same divergence of views that affected his relationship with Henry Corbin, a close associate at the Imperial Academy and a specialist of Suhrawardi’s philosophy. Nasr and Corbin disagreed about the essence of the ‘imaginal consciousness’, the world of archetypal or symbolic images. Corbin connected these views with Jungian psychology, which Nasr opposed.

196 See the discussion about the ‘Perzianization of Sufism’ by Leonard Lewisohn in his article ‘Persion Sufism in the contemporary west: reflections on the Ni’imatu’llahi diaspora’ in: Malik, J, Hinnells, J, Sufism in the West, Londin, New York: Routledge, 2006.

197 This is indicated for example by the fact that Nasr has written a foreword to a book about Nurbaksh. They have also collaborated in the Heritage of Sufism series edited by Lewissohn. Lewisohn, L. (ed.), The Heritage of Sufism, Oxford: Oneworld, 1999.

198 Dimitri Gutas of Yale University writes: ‘An outgrowth of this approach [of confessional esotericism], which has become increasingly popular in the last 20 years (as it follows the rise of religious fundamentalism in both

can be heard elsewhere¹⁹⁹. Nasr responds to this criticism on several occasions, explaining how he perceives the relationship between Western scholarship and its ‘historical criticism’ and traditional Islamic scholarship.²⁰⁰ Whether this criticism is legitimate, we will have to leave aside here.

Another interesting aspect I would like to point out is the strong resonance between Ismaili doctrines and Nasr’s interpretations of Islam and mysticism. Some have suggested that Nasr has an Ismaili background, which is said to be the source of some controversy in Turkey²⁰¹. Nasr’s sympathy for Ismaili doctrines is clearly visible in his expositions about this subject. In An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia (2005) Nasr outlines Ismaili and ‘Hermetico-Pythagorean philosophies’ referring to these as ‘philosophy understood in its traditional and time honoured sense’, associated with the ‘esoteric (batini) truths of religion’. In his mind these are authentic manifestations of the Timeless perennial wisdom. The Rasa’il Ikhwan as-Safa (Treatises of the Brethren of Purity) is of particular interest. It is one of the central scriptures to the Ismailis and is highlighted by Nasr in several of his publications²⁰².

What is of particular interest in the Treatises is not only their assertion of the esoteric nature of true philosophy, grades of initiation, and degrees of knowledge and the wedding between philosophy and spiritual realization combined with moral rectitude so characteristic of Ismailite philosophy in general, but their clear exposition of Islamic Pythagoreanism and Hermeticism²⁰³.

Nasr also points out how one of the treatises of the Ikhwan as-Safa ‘The Debate between Man and the Animals’ is particularly relevant in the light of the environmental crisis. This treatise has also been highlighted by several other Muslim environmentalists as an illustration of Islamic ecological thought²⁰⁴.

At a time when man is usurping the rights of other creatures and destroying the natural environment on the assumption of his absolute rights over creation, the philosophical arguments provided by the Ikhwan concerning the rights of animals are of incredible

the Islamic world and the West), is the view that Islamic philosophy, theology, and mysticism are closely related and that their common inspiration and origins are to be found in the Qur’an and hadith. This approach which can be called Islamic apologetics is taken by a number of Muslim scholars, foremost among whom is Seyyed Hossein Nasr’. In: Gutas, D.,‘The Study of Arabic Philosophy in the Twentieth Century, an essay on the historiography of Arabic Philosophy’, in: British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies, (2002, p.29(1), 5-25.

199 John Walbridge, The Wisdom of the Mystic East: Suhrawardi and Platonic Orientalism, 2001.

200 Nasr, S.H. ‘Introduction’ in: Encyclopeadia of Islamic Spirituality, volume One Foundations, 2000.

201 Edis, T., An Illusion of Harmony, Science and Religion in Islam, New York: Prometheus Books, 2007. p.34.

Edis: ‘Nasr’s Ismaili Shii background is usually a more weighty reason for controversy than any of the scientific deficiencies of his views’. Edis states this as a matter of fact. I have not found any references within the English literature to confirm this.

202 S.H. Nasr., An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, Albany: State University of New York Press, revised edition 1993. First edition 1964.

203 Nasr, S.H., Amanirazavi, M. (eds) An Anthology of Philosophy of Persia, 2005. p.11

204 For example, the Malaysian scholar Adi Setia who will be discussed in Chapter 6.

timeliness and display an ‘ecological philosophy’ that is of the greatest significance for the formulation of an Islamic philosophy of the environment and a response to the current environmental crisis²⁰⁵.

A more in-depth analysis of Nasr’s views regarding the Ismailis will need to be left for other occasions.