Document Type : Research article
Authors
1 Ph.D Condition, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Dorood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dorood, Iran.
2 Corresponding Author, Assistant Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Dorood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dorood, Iran
3 Associate Professor, Department of Persian Language and Literature, Dorood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dorood, Iran.
Abstract
Highlights
"Noor" and "Nafs" in Ancient Thought and the Tasavof Saiar of Bastam
Afshar Azizi Dolatabadi
Department of Persian Language and Literature, Dorood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dorood, Iran.
Fahimeh Asadi (Corresponding Author)
Department of Persian Language and Literature, Dorood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dorood, Iran.
Alireza Fatemi
Department of Persian Language and Literature, Dorood Branch, Islamic Azad University, Dorood, Iran.
Introduction
Bayazid is one of the famous Sufis of Khorasan in the early Islamic centuries. His mystical status is commendable among mystics . He was born in about 161 into a Zoroastrian family of Bastam who had recently converted to Islam. Researchers consider Bayazid to be one of the heirs of Hikmat Khosravani, whose era of life is not far removed from the history of Iran before Islam. Bayazid, while fighting against the desires of the nafs, indulging in pleasures and desires, and striving for the nafs, made the merciful nafs prevail over the evil nafs. With the presence of the heart and asceticism, he was able to reach the position of "Sultan al-Arifin" by removing behavioral and moral obstacles, self-knowledge and God-knowledge. Strands of Iranian cultures and beliefs of the past or a crystallization of the main components of Hikmat Khosravani have been preserved in his speech. When his sayings are studied, signs of this Iranian heritage are seen in his quotes in the form of the two elements of light and nafs. In Iranian wisdom and Bayazid's Sufism, light is the most fundamental and central transcendental element that overshadows other elements. The sun, fire, and avalanche in ancient Iran, the Muhammadan light, and the light of lights in Bayazid's Sufism, whether in the world of intellect or the world of nafs, are all in search of a common, sovereign and absolute truth that is a metaphor for the position of oneness, and individuals benefit from it according to their degrees.
Literature Review
A considerable number of books and articles have been written on the subject of light and the nafs. Some of the research that has been done in this field include: The article “Bayazid Bastami and His Mystical Initiation,” written by Fatemeh Modarresi and Qasem Mehravar Gigloo, in Persian Language and Literature Journal, Sanandaj Azad University, Spring 2012. He has said: Action and knowledge lead the mystic to the truth through annihilation. This article has distinguished Bayazid from his contemporary mystics objectively and subjectively. It considers Bayazid’s idea of unity of being and attainment as the foundation of the wisdom of illumination. In all his works, Bayazid saw the lover and the beloved as one and entered the world of monotheism. Another article is “Mystical Symbolism in Bayazid Bastami’s Mi’rajnameh” written by Maryam Hosseini, Ilham Rousta’i Rad, in Mystical Studies Journal, which states: The illustrated world of Sufism helps in recognizing the world of Mi’raj, which is a world of light.
Discussion
In Zoroastrianism, the interpretation of existence, angelology, and the sanctity of fire are based on light. Mysticism is based on these two directions of light and darkness, Minoan and Gita, heavenly and earthly, and expresses the path of the seeker from darkness to light, from the universe to the Minoan world, and from matter to the luminous origin of existence. The mythological realm of the Khosravani sages in the light-centered and interpretative system of "Suhrawardi" has been transformed into a kind of illuminating and mystical transformation, and has been interpreted and explained based on his light system and esoteric understanding. Bayazid, by transforming some of the concepts of the Fahlavi sages, changed their content from myth to mysticism and made them more personal than before. Light is the main hero and the final winner of the heavenly battles. In the Avesta, victory belongs to illumination and light. Light is a Quranic word, and one of the most prominent and meaningful images in Sufi beliefs. The word light is mentioned 43 times in the Quran, and it is used in the meanings of guidance, prophet, heavenly path, leader, and reward. Light is the most central title discussed by Khosravani’s wisdom and the link between Bayazid and the prophets and saints in his mystical ecstasy. Due to its freedom from any materialism and malleability, the word light is a suitable context for encompassing immaterial and metaphysical phenomena and, in general, pure concepts. Among the prominent meanings of this symbol can be listed the identity and position of each of the prophets, true love in contrast to virtual love, the heart of the believer, the truth of the existence of the Holy Prophet, the finality of the status (PBUH), the phenomena and experiences of the mystic, the light of faith and knowledge, the religion of God. The first stage of the journey and the starting point of the Sufi mystical path and conduct is the knowledge of the self. The foundation of the self is also similar in Sufi and Mithraic thought. His inner epic world begins with himself. His initial cosmic struggle is a battle with the demon of the self, and his opponent will not go on forever, but will try to overcome the seeker each time with various tricks. The self, which is the mediator between light and darkness, can become both superior and inferior. But it is possible to imagine that the self in Sufi thought and the cow in the eyes of ancient religions and Mithraism are on the same side and close to each other. The cow (apparently a bull), which here corresponds to the Sufi concept of the inferior self, is forcibly brought to the place of worship and there engages with the conditions and rules of the superior self. Bayazid was inconsistent in his use of the terms heart and nafs. Sometimes he uses the self to mean the heart (or nafs). If the self is the refuge of evil, the heart is for him the abode of divine knowledge. Therefore, every nafs is a mixture of qualities that can both ascend and fall. When God breathes the nafs into the human body, the nafs is revealed to be the intermediary between the nafs and the body. The nafs, which is the mediator between light and darkness, can be both sublime and abject. However, it is possible to imagine that the nafs in Sufi thought and the cow in the view of ancient religions and Mithraism are on the same side and close to each other.
Conclusion
Light and nafs are dual functions of Bayazid’s mysticism that do not have a fixed conflicting front, but can be in continuation and complement each other with their opposite element. Therefore, the existential level of all beings depends on their degree of proximity to the supreme light and the degree of their illumination and enlightenment. The nafs is a kind of conventional consciousness that lies between light and darkness and imperfection and perfection. Bayazid considers the nafs to be one of the obstacles to human happiness, and considers the sorrow caused by incompatible events to be expedient. Bayazid’s goal is to unite the nafs with the spirit in the path of conduct so that as a result of this union it becomes a mirror of the unity of existence so that through knowing the nafs, one can achieve knowledge in one’s spiritnafs. In Bayazid’s mysticism, if the nafs of a person is a mixture of his pure nature, it can reach the throne and accompany him in the vision of the kingdom and the heavens.
Keywords: Bayazid Bastami, noor, far, nafs, shohood.
referenses
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Ebrahimi Dinani, G. (2011). The Ray of Thought and Intuition in Suhrawardi’s Philosophy (2nd ed.). Tehran: Hikmat Publications.
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Baghli Shirazi, R. (1955). Sharh-e Shathiyat (Edited by H. Corbin). Tehran: Institute of Iranian Studies.
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