Sufism of Gilani, Suhrawardi, and Ibn 'Arabi

A Sufi master is called a pir, and 'Abd-al-Qadir Gilani (1077-1166) was one of the most popular teachers of the mystical doctrine. As a boy his mother sewed eighty gold coins into his coat and sent him to Baghdad for religious education, warning him never to speak falsely. When a robber of the caravan asked him if he had any money on him, Gilani admitted he had the hidden coins. Gilani explained to the chief robber he could not begin his religious quest by telling a lie, and the chief was converted from his life of crime. At Baghdad Gilani was severely disciplined by a syrup vendor and then practiced night worship on his own, reciting the entire Qur'an. Pir Gilani lectured at a madrasa college on the Qur'an, the traditions, and the law. When he was about fifty, he decided that marriage was a social duty. Gilani took four wives and had 49 children. Gilani preached outside the city to large crowds in a building that was constructed for him. He received large amounts of money which he distributed to the poor. He founded the first fraternal order (tariqa) that was named Qadiriya after him. These fraternal orders became the social groups for the Sufis.
Some of Gilani's sermons on practical morality were collected by one of his sons as Revelations of the Unseen. He expounded on ten virtues he believed led to spirituality even though none of them is required by Shar'ia law. First, do not swear by God, either truthfully or falsely. Second, speak no untruth, even in jest. Third, do not break a promise. Fourth, do not curse or harm anything. Fifth, do not pray for or wish for harm to anyone. Sixth, do not accuse anyone of religious infidelity. Seventh, do not attend to anything sinful. Eighth, do not impose any burden on others. Ninth, do not expect anything from human beings. Tenth, only notice in others what may be superior to oneself.
The Persian philosopher Suhrawardi (1153-1191) was called the Master of Illumination and the Martyr. He studied philosophy and psychology at Isfahan and was influenced by Zoroastrian concepts of angels. Suhrawardi traveled widely to meet Sufi masters and practiced asceticism in spiritual retreats. At Aleppo he tutored the Governor Malik Zahir Shah, a son of Saladin. However, his theosophical views were disliked by the orthodox jurists. The famous judge al-Fadil advised Saladin to have Suhrawardi put to death, and by the Sultan's order the prince had him executed the year King Richard arrived at Acre.
Suhrawardi believed that mysticism and philosophy are compatible because the principles of philosophy can be validated by the experience of illumination. Suhrawardi was having difficulty understanding how humans know, but in his meditation he saw Aristotle telling him that first one has to know oneself. Suhrawardi wrote The Philosophy of Illumination for those who seek knowledge that is both mystical and discursive. He believed that those who master both philosophical reasoning and the wisdom of illumination are "vicegerents of God" (khalifat Allah). He identified the source of being as light, which is essential to all cognition, and all beings are illuminations of the Light of Lights (God). He adopted the classical psychology that is also found in Avicenna's work that distinguishes the vegetative, animal, and intellectual aspects of the soul. Suhrawardi described the five internal senses as sensory communion, fantasy, apprehension, imagination, and memory. The moral virtues of the Sufi path he emphasized are truthfulness, humility, compassion, honesty, and not being jealous of others. The degree of one's purification in this world will determine the ontological status of the soul in the next world. Suhrawardi wrote more than fifty works in his short life and had much influence on the Illuminationist tradition.
Muhyiddin ibn 'Arabi was born in an Arab family at Murcia in Andalusia on August 7, 1165. He was educated in Seville and sought Sufi masters in Spain and North Africa. As a youth he met Averroes at Cordoba, and he was initiated into Sufism at Tunis. Ibn 'Arabi went to Mecca in 1201 and wrote love poems, Interpreter of Desires, to a young woman, whom he believed symbolized wisdom. He wrote that forgiveness is better than capital punishment. He lived an ascetic, saintly existence. When someone gave him a palace, he quickly gave it to a beggar. Ibn 'Arabi suggested that four things are needed for salvation-serving those in need, a pure and peaceful heart, good will to believers, and thinking well of everyone. He traveled to Egypt, Baghdad, and Aleppo; he spent years at Mecca but completed the 560 chapters of his Meccan Revelations at Damascus, where he died in 1240.
Ibn 'Arabi found imagination to be the link between sense perception and the intellect. He taught perpetual transformation leading to a mystical union of the self with the real. The images that manifest the deity are constantly changing, and each is valid but only for the moment. Clinging to an image leads to idolatry. The infinite is paradoxically within all and beyond all, identical and other, immanent and transcendental. This theological view that God is both in the entire universe and transcendent beyond it is called panentheism. The polished mirror of the human heart is capable of every form. Joy and sorrow are experienced as one passes away in union with the beloved. The mystic does not become one with God but rather realizes that one already is one with God. As the images change, one may participate in the perpetual co-creation, continually annihilating and re-creating. Ibn 'Arabi called Muhammad the Logos of God, and he identified all true prophets with this universal person who is cosmic, prophetic, and mystical. He believed in the essential unity of all religions, and he found that the essence of this one religion is love. Because of the unity of God, in his Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom he argued that the soul should rule in humans just as humans are kings on Earth. The theosophical ideas of ibn 'Arabi were later systematized by his followers. His ideas especially influenced Persians such as the poet Jami, Mahmud Shabistari who summarized them in his Secret Rose Garden, and the great theosophist Mulla Sadra.

Ibn 'Ata'illa was a teacher in the Shadhili Sufi tariqa (path) at Alexandria, and he wrote his Book of Wisdom before his own master died in 1288. His aphoristic sayings are designed to help Sufi students on the mystical path. He asked how the heart can be illumined while the forms of creatures are still reflected in its mirror? Or how can one journey to God while shackled by passions? How can one enter the presence of God without purifying oneself of forgetfulness? How can one understand the mysteries if one has not repented for offenses? It is better to look out for vices hidden in yourself than to look for the invisible realities that are veiled. Actually reality is not veiled from you, but you are veiled from seeing it. Ibn 'Ata'illa wrote that no action arising from a renouncing heart is small, and no action coming from an avaricious heart is fruitful. When God's justice confronts you, no sin is minor; but when God's grace faces you, no sin is major. Unless hope goes with action it is merely wishful thinking.