Passion Before Me, My Fate Behind Passion Before Me, My Fate Behind Ibn al-Fāriḍ and the Poetry of Recollection Th. Emil Homerin Cover illustration of a manuscript page featuring verses from Ibn al-Fāriḍ’ s Wine Ode together with verses from his poem al-Dālīyah, courtesy of the Memorial Art Gallery, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY. Used by permission. Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 2011 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher. For information, contact State University of New York Press, Albany, NY www.sunypress.edu Production by Eileen Meehan Marketing by Michael Campochiaro Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Homerin, Th. Emil, 1955– Passion before me, my fate behind : Ibn al-Farid and the poetry of recollection / Th. Emil Homerin. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4384-3901-3 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Ibn al-Farid, 'Umar ibn 'Ali, 1181 or 2-1235—Criticism and interpretation. 2. Sufi poetry, Arabic—History and criticism. I. Title. PJ7755.I18Z683 2011 892.7'134—dc22 2011003164 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Contents Preface vii Acknowledgments xi Plan of the Work xiii On Translation, Transliteration, Pronunciation, and Time xv INTRODUCTION 1 Life 1 On the Sufi Path 3 Words of Love and Longing 8 Luminaries 14 1. MYSTICAL IMPROVISATIONS 31 Master Poet 31 Homage to al-Mutanabbī 32 Transformations 49 Riddles & Rubā˜īyāt 54 2. LOVE’S SECRETS 63 Tryst 63 Love Talk 65 Hymns of Devotion 69 Sun and Full Moon 77 “You Have Been Remembered” 84 3. JOINED AT THE CROSSROADS 103 The Changing Ode 103 Sacred Fire 108 Turn Aside at Ṭai 118 Holy Pilgrimage 128 “Greetings from Su˜ād” 136 vi CONTENTS 4. THE BELOVED’S WINE 143 Blood-Red Wine 143 A Liberated Spirit 147 Two Intoxications 152 Drunk by a Glance 157 Immortal Wine 165 Wine of the Covenant 172 5. POEM OF THE SUFI WAY IN “T”–MAJOR 177 The Great Ode 177 Together Alone 178 Shifting Guises 191 Love’s Sweet Season 203 Spirit and Matter 207 Yesterday’s Tomorrow 212 Manifest Sites 215 Shadow Play 221 Poet & Guide 228 Covering Reality 231 Two Masters 239 CONCLUSION: THE POETRY OF RECOLLECTION 243 I But not “Me” 243 Content and Form 245 Beginning to End 246 Meditation and Recollection 249 Notes 253 Bibliography 293 Index 307 Preface From the beginning, mystical perceptions of life have been part of the Islamic world, and by the ninth century CE, they began to appear in Arabic poetry. Many medieval and modern readers have viewed this poetry as verse accounts of Sufi doctrine refl ecting a mystic’s endeavors to describe an experience of great profundity and overwhelming emotion. Yet, too often, such explanations are based on romantic notions of poetry that focus on an individual’s lonely self-struggle, and they isolate this poetry from its larger social, religious, and literary contexts. Certainly, some poets attempt to depict a religious experience or to evoke similar moods by aesthetic means. However, the words of a poem are meaningful only if they convey to others an experience of life that imaginatively involves and moves them. Mystical verse, then, is as much a collective as an individual vision of reality that interprets human existence in order to imbue life with sense and signifi cance. Therefore, to understand and appreciate the depth and eff ect of Muslim mystical poetry, we must examine this verse not only in context of the life of a particular poet, but also in light of systems of religious belief and their expression within established literary traditions. At the heart of the Arabic poetic heritage is the lyric ode (qaṣ īdah) and the love poem (ghazal) that served as the primary vehicles for Arabic poetic expression beginning with their pre-Islamic usage. The formal and symbolic dimensions of this verse served as a foundation for Islamic mystical poetry providing a method of speculation and communication concerning things of collective importance. Nevertheless, many pre- Islamic beliefs were no longer acceptable in the Islamic milieu, and so they were recast in new forms, often humanized and assimilated by the symbolic and evocative nature of metaphor. Thus, the primary symbols of Arab culture were perceived and colored by Muslims and their concerns, receiving a specifi c complexion over time. The multiple, often subtle, meanings of these symbols lent themselves to religious and vii viii PREFACE poetic usages whose function was to establish humanity’s meaningful existence in a seemingly indiff erent world. Many motifs and metaphors of Islamic mystical poetry refl ect this process of mythopoesis, and poets used them to deepen the feeling and impact of their verse. The mystical character of this poetry was further enhanced by the use of rhetorical strategies (badī˜), including antithesis, alliteration, and paronomasia, which off ered new and exciting opportunities for both abstraction and synthesis to the point of synesthesia. Perhaps no one was more sensitive to this Arabic poetic legacy than ˜Umar Ibn al-Fāriḍ. Born in Cairo in 576/1181, Ibn al-Fāriḍ became a respected religious scholar and poet, known for his mystical themes. One of Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s sons, Kamāl al-Dīn Muhammad, apparently possessed a manuscript of poems written by Ibn al-Fāriḍ in his own hand prior to his death in 632/1235, and these poems became the core of a collection entitled the Dīwān Ibn al-Fāriḍ compiled and arranged by ˜Alī, Ibn al-Fāriḍ’ s grandson. ˜Alī prefaced the poems with stories of Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s saintly life, and he ended his collection with an appendix of a few additional poems thought to be by his grandfather. ˜Alī’s collection was read and copied often over the centuries, and it has remained the standard edition of Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s verse until today.1 In his poems, Ibn al-Fāriḍ persistently evoked and at times articulated a mystical view of existence suff used with divine love and light. Essential to this verse is dhikr, “recollection,” in both its poetic and mystical aspects. Poetically, the act of recollection often initiates a poem on love, loss, and longing. Especially in religious poetry, the poet may project his reverie on to various poetic personas to enact an interior drama through which he voices his thoughts and feelings as he seeks a divine presence within. On occasion, meditative disciplines have informed the shape and content of such verse, leading to what has been referred to as meditative or contemplative poetry.2 In Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s case, the Sufi practice of dhikr, the “recollection” or meditation on God, is echoed in many of his poems, particularly the famous al-Khamrīyah wine ode and his Sufi classic the Naẓm al-Sulūk, “The Poem of the Sufi Way.” In these and other poems, Ibn al-Fāriḍ drew from the Arabic poetic tradition and Islamic mysticism to evoke a view of existence in which the seeker might be transformed by an epiphany revealing his intimate relationship to the divine beloved. In his verse, Ibn al-Fāriḍ expressed the spiritual concerns and longings of many Muslims, and the enormous popularity of his Arabic poetry led to his enduring reputation as the greatest Arab Sufi poet and, over the centuries, to his veneration as a saint. Although Ibn al-Fāriḍ’ s saintly status has declined over the past two hundred PREFACE ix years, Arabs and Muslims continue to show unfailing esteem for his refi ned poetry. Signifi cantly, Ibn al-Fāriḍ ’s own contemporaries viewed him primarily as a poet. This is not to deny the importance of Islamic mysticism to him and his verse for which he became so famous among later generations. However, the beauty of his poetry, its moods, meanings, and spiritual import can be more fully grasped and appreciated within the contexts of both Islamic mysticism and Arabic poetry where Ibn al-Fāriḍ remains the sulṭ ān al-˜āshiqīn, “the sultan of lovers.”