The Spiritual Path of Love in Ibn al-'Arabi and Rumi Author(s): William C. Chittick Source: Mystics Quarterly, Vol.

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The Spiritual Path of Love in Ihn al-Arabi and Rumi

The paths whereby Muslims approach God can be classified under three broad headings: knowledge, activity, and love. In one respect, knowledge precedes the other two paths, because Islam, in contrast to certain other religions, places primary stress on understanding the nature of things. It is sufficient to remember that Islam begins with a statement or a "witnessing" Muslims, is a self-evident fact,not a belief: "There isno (shahada) which, for in but otherwords, "There is nothing truly real but the abso or, God," god

down in the God by Muhammad-that Koran message brought from is, the as well as in Muhammad's "S?nna," his custom orwont, or theway inwhich Koranic message intopractice. As for love, the later tradition sees he put the itboth as God's underlying motivation for creating the universe and as the God's love for creation. By following the path of internalhuman response to human love, beings complete God's creative act. the Islamic tradition recognizes thatGod can be approached Although through knowledge, activity, and love, it rarely considers the three paths as separate from each other. Islamic thinking is fundamentally unitary and uni tive.Certain authorities and schools may stress one of these approaches over the other two, but, by and large, they take all three into account. Hence, by

lutely Real."1 In another respect, activity takes pride of place, because knowledge tends to become the domain of a relatively small number of people, while allMuslims without exception are expected to observe the "Shariah." This is thename given to thedetailed guidelines for activity as set

speaking here about the "path of love in Ibn al-'Arabi and Rumi," I do not mean to suggest that these two authors neglected the paths of knowledge or activity. Indeed, in the case of Ibn al-'Arabi, one can make a strong case for giving knowledge priority over the other two paths.

most part, love is not stressed in early expressions of Islamic spiri For the tuality.However, theKoran speaks of love in a number of key verses that make clear its fundamental role. For example, God addresses Muhammad in theKoran with thewords, "Say [to the people]: 'Ifyou loveGod, follow me, and God will love you'" (3:31). In otherwords, thosewho loveGod must recognize theKoran as God's message and follow its practical and active

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will demon embodiment provided byMuhammad's example. Thereby they strate their love forGod, and God in turnwill love them. But all lovers in Islamic history have recognized that the primarymotive power thatbrings about love between God and human beings is not human God gives bywhich people are able to love, but divine love, or the grace that the authorities read the followingKoranic verse as estab the basic lishing hierarchy of love: "He loves them, and they love Him" God loves human beings, then human beings loveGod. First (5:54). Early expressions of Islamic spirituality,whether or not love is stressed, tend to take the form of prayers and supplications or pithy sayings.2 But from the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries-the fifth to the seventh love him. Hence

Islamic centuries-a number of extremely important authors appear who map out a detailed spiritual psychology of love.The famousMuhammad al Ghazali (d. a.h. 505/a.d. 1111) sometimes writes about human and divine love, but his less well-known brother, Ahmad Ghazali (d. 520/1126), devotes most of his relatively short Persian work, Sawanih, to love as the

underlying, unitive reality of the soul, and thiswork then provides inspira tion for dozens of later treatises in Persian and other Islamic languages.3 Ahmad's disciple 'Ayn al-Qudat Hamadani (d. 525/1131) plays an important role in formulating a psychology andmetaphysics of love. Perhaps most pro found and original in approach-in a period ofmany great masters-was Ahmad Sam'ani (d. 534/1140), even though he has remained almost com modern scholars. The recentpublication of his 600-page pletely unknown to Persian commentary on the divine names has shown thathe rankswith the

present-day Spain and died inDamascus in 638/1240. His younger contem porary, Jala al-Din Rumi, was born inBalkh inpresent-dayAfghanistan and moved inhis youth to Konya (now inTurkey), where he died in 672/1273.6 He composed about 65,000 verses of breathtaking Persian poetry along with a number of shortprose works. The Persianate world, from Turkey to India,

greatest authorities of Islamic history in the exposition of love'smysteries.4 Ibn al-'Arabi and Rumi can be considered the greatestmasters of the tradi tion ofwriting on divine and human love. Ibn al-'Arabi,who wrote prolifically in Arabic, is Islam's foremost mystical theologian and philosopher.5 He composed more than 500 prose works, some of them of enormous length, Murcia in along with tens of thousands of verses of poetry. He was born in

writ mulations of Islamic spiritual teachings after them are guided by their 5

looks back on Rumi as the greatest spiritual poet ofhistory, just as thewhole Islamic world considers Ibn al-'Arabi the greatest theoretician of Sufism, that is, themystical and spiritual dimension of Islam.7 Ibn al-'Arabi and Rumi belong to two differentcurrents of Islamic spiri Most for tuality. Each in his own way marks the high point of a tradition.

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ings.One can differentiate theperspectives of the two authors in many ways, but one can also look at the common elements, an especially easy taskwhen

or similar themes.

considering the question of love.8 In what follows, I will illustrate how Ibn al-'Arabi explains certain dimensions of love's reality and, at the same time, offera few appropriate examples ofRumi's poetical expressions of the same

Love's

Creativity

Love cannot be defined, though its effects and consequences can be described. On this point Ibn al-'Arabi the theoretician and Rumi the poet agree completely: Love has no definitionthrough which its essence can be known.Rather, it is more. He who defines lovehas nothing given descriptiveand verbal definitions, not known it, hewho has not tasteditby drinkingitdown has not known it,and hewho says that he has been quenched by it has notknown it,for love isdrinking without quenching. (FutuhatII 111.2; cf. II 325.10)
Someone

"When you become like me, you'll know; When itcalls you, you'll tell its tale." (Diwan 29050-51) motive force for God's creativ In the broadest sense, love can be called the to a the prophet famous saying attributed to Muhammad, ity.According create theworld?" God replied, "I was a David asked God, "Why did you

asked, "What is loverhood?" I replied, "Don't ask about these meanings

hidden treasure and I loved tobe known. Hence I created the creatures that I might be known." In one of his many commentaries on this saying, Ibn al-'Arabi tells us that the kind of knowledge thatGod loved to achieve through creation was originated in time, since God already knew himself and all things in eternity:

he turned his God "loved tobe known." In accordancewith lovefor the things, were in the stateofnonexistence. while they desire towardthem They were the root [ofcreation]throughthepreparednessof their He said to them, possibility. hemight be knownby everysortofknowledge. "Be!", and theycame tobe, that Knowledge originatedin timeas yethad no object, since theonewho knows by was not yet qualifiedby existence.9 means of it Arabi explains the In another passage, Ibn al-c meaning ofGod's love tobe known while commenting on theKoranic verse, "And He iswith you wher 6

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ever you are" (57:4). Love is a name given to God's attribute of never letting the creatures out of his sight and always being concerned for theirwelfare: to themin relationto their God's love forthecreaturesis attributed being.He is whether they exist [in thecosmos]or not. Justas he wherever theyare, with them with themin the stateof with themin the stateof theirexistence,so also he is is He witnesses them their nonexistence,since theyare objects of his knowledge. because no propertycomes over him thathe and he loves themforall eternity, he always loveshis creatures,justas he did not alreadypossess.On thecontrary, His words, "I loved tobe known,"giveus knowledgeof the alwaysknows them.
situation as it is in itself....

the things world is finite, within itare evernew, and engendered Though this theirengendering has no end, since thepossibilitieshave no end.The possible neverhad a beginning withGod, justas their endlessness is fixed and nec things withGod. His Being has no beginning,so his lovefor his servants has no essary beginning. (FutuhatII 329) Rumi often alludes to theHidden Treasure. He points out thathuman be must imitate God because of the treasures of divine potentiality that are ings

concealed within their selves:

God created theuniverse for manifestation, ofwisdom stayhidden. lest the treasure He said, "I was a hidden treasure." Listen!
Lose not your substance! Make yourself manifest!10

In one of his prose works, Rumi explains the significance of theHidden Treasure in some detail:
God says, "I was a hidden treasure and I loved to be known." In other words, "I

known.11

was to created the whole cosmos, and thegoal inall of it make myself manifest, sometimesthrough God isnot the gentlenessand sometimesthrough severity." kindof king for whom a singleheraldwould be sufficient. Were all theatomsof theuniversehis heralds, they would fall shortand be incapableofmaking him

Rumi epitomizes the idea ofGod's creative love by comparing the world to a mirror inwhich the beauty of love is displayed: God said to love, "Were itnot foryour beauty, would I concern mirror of existence? (Diwan 26108) myselfwith the Rumi frequently points to love as the fundamental motive for creation by Muhammad: "But for thee, I commenting on a divine saying addressed to

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would

full and complete knowledge of God made possible on the created level. Through them alone can theHidden Treasure be completely known: Love makes theocean a boiling pot,
love grinds down mountains the earth with said

not have created the heavenly spheres." Here the Prophet-who represents theperfection of thehuman state ispictured as theultimate goal of creation, since only through human beings, created inGod's image, is a

to sand.

Love splits theheavenswith a hundred splittings,

love shakes its outbursts. "But

Pure lovewas pairedwithMuhammad,

for its sake God to him,

for thee

. ..":

"Were itnot forpure love, why would I create the spheres? I raised thecelestial wheel on high so thatyoumight grasp love's exalted rank." (MathnawiV 2735-37, 39-40)

Love for the True Beloved

God created theworld through love, so love brings about separation, dis tinction, and multiplicity. It is the origin of all movement and change. Within the created order, love keeps theuniverse in a constant state of trans formation and flux, and because of love, theworld subsists. As Rumi putsit,
The creatures are set in motion by love,

without beginning. loveby eternity The wind dances because of the spheres, wind. (Diwan 26108) the treesbecause of the his destiny and decree God's wisdom through
made us lovers of one another.

world That foreordainment paired all parts of the

and set each of them in love with itsmate....

male The female inclinestowards the so thateachmay perfecttheother's work. God placed desirewithinman andwoman so the union. world might subsist throughtheir III 4400-01, 14-15) (Mathnawi Ibn al-'Arabi explains that all creaturely love derives from divine love: Hence God is The Prophet said, "God isbeautiful and he lovesbeauty." . . . described as one who loves beauty, and he loves the cosmos, because there is God is beautiful, nothingmore beautiful than the cosmos. At the same time whole cosmos loves God. The beauty lovable.So the while beauty is intrinsically

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while thecosmos is theplace where of God's handiworkpermeateshis creation, he becomesmanifest.Therefore the loveof thedifferent partsof thecosmos for God's love forhimself. (FutuhatII 114.8) each otherderives from Love's motivating force does not cease with the externalization and main tenance of the cosmos, since the knowledge desired by God in "loving tobe known" has not yet been fully achieved. It is not sufficientfor the cosmos means that the jewels of theHidden merely to exist. Although its existence Treasure have become manifest as creatures,most of them do not recognize

themselves forwhat they are, nor do theyunderstand that their own loves God's love. In order for creation to achieve its purpose, and desires reflect human beings must come to know that all creatures are nothing but God's self-manifestation.They must see themselves and all things in the divine context and recognize God in and through the created world. Hence, just as love brings about separation-the creation of the cosmos-so also itbrings about union, or the return of the cosmos to itsproper place inGod. motion byGod and directed toward him. All love In short, all love is set in to is at rootGod's own love become manifest and be known. In the last analy sis,God alone is lover and beloved. This is precisely themeaning of the declaration of divine unity: "There is no god but God." In other words,

God"

no love but God's." Hence, as Ibn al-'Arabi puts it, "None loves god but (Futuhat II 113.2), and "There is no lover and no beloved but God" (Futuhat II 114.14). Ibn al-'Arabi tells us that lovers understand thiswhen they reach the point of seeing God in everything that exists: he sees God only through The loversees that himself,and that God, not through himself.It is God who loveshim God only through he loves God, not through who loveshim.The lover looksat him in everyexistent self-it isnot the lover none loveshim but he.God is means him. Hence knows that the lover of thing by loverand beloved, seekerand sought. (FutuhatII 331.17)

"There is no reality but the ultimate Reality," and every lesser reality is rooted inGod's unique Reality. Love, wherever it is found,manifests divine mother of all love. "There isno god but God" means that "There is love, the

practice than theory, he constantly reminds his readers of the relevance of his discussions to their own situation: Lovers must seek theBeloved, runningon face and head likea flood to his stream.

Rumi provides many parallel accounts of the vision ofGod's love in all things.But in keeping with his perspective, which is orientatedmore toward

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He himselfdoes the seeking,andwe are like shadows. All our speaking is theBeloved's words. water inhis river, Sometimeswe rejoice like we boil likecarrots in a pot-through thought At times he skimsoffthefoam: "Such is theFriend's nature."
His mouth sometimes we are bound like water in his jug.

He comes like the spirit'sspirit,leavingno escapenever

to our ear, he whispers, so our soul may at once take on his fragrance. have I seen a spirit as his enemy.

He will melt you with softness, making you frailas a hair but youwould not take the twoworlds fora hair of his. We sitwith theBeloved saying,"Beloved,where [ku]are you?" Drunk, we coo [ku] in theBeloved's lane. (Diwan 4650-57) Ibn al-'Arabi and especially Rumi constantly remind their readers that God. But people are veiled love for any creaturely thing can only be love for true from the their object of their love. Ibn al-'Arabi ignorance perceiving by
writes,

within every manifest None butGod is loved intheexistentthings.It ishewho is beloved to theeyeof everylover-and thereisno existentthingthatisnot a lover. The cosmos is all loverand beloved, and all of itgoes back tohim_Although him by the love no lover loves anybut his own Creator, the lover isveiled from loved for world,money, position,and everything Zaynab, Su'ad,Hind, Layla, this words writing about all these existingthings in theworld. Poets exhaust their
without

love poem that is not aboutGod, hidden beyond theveil of forms. (Futuhat II 326.19)

knowing,

but the knowers

never hear a verse,

a riddle, a panegyric,

or a

Rumi expresses the same ideas with thesewords: that All thehopes, desires, loves,and affections things people have fordifferent
father, mother,

When peo God, and these thingsare veils. food,drink-all thesearedesires for will world and see theeternal King without theseveils, thenthey ple leave this were veils and coveringsand thattheobject of their desirewas know thatall these will be solved, all thequestions difficulties One Thing. All their in realitythat hearts will be answered. had in their and perplexities thatthey They will see all Discourses 46) thingsface to face. (Fihimafihi 35; cf.Arberry,

friends,

the heavens,

the earth, gardens,

palaces,

sciences, works,

All love is in truth love forGod. Love is good since it is divine, but it remains a deceptive veil so long as lovers do not recognize its true object. This is one of Rumi's favorite themes:

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ofGod inhis independence Love is an attribute him. love foranythingelse derives from The beauty of theothers is gold-plated: outwardly it is light,inwardlysmoke. When the lightgoes and the smoke appears,
derivative love turns cold. The beauty returns to its source; there remains a corpse-putrid, the moon's reflection leaves

The moonlight goes back to the moon,

disgraced,

ugly. .. .

the dark wall.

mine of gold. who have eyes love the But those Each day theirlove increases, mine has no partner in itsgoldness Since the Hail, O Mine ofGold! In you there isno doubt. VI 971-975, 79-80) (Mathnawi Love is an ever-present reality,but inordinary circumstances it tends tobe dispersed and wasted because people fall in lovewith the Beloved's reflec tions.Here we come back to the centralityof knowledge. Even thoughRumi devotes all his works to love, he frequently reminds us that true love depends lovermust be able to distinguish gold from gold

upon discernment. The plate:

Love makes thebitter sweet, love turnscopper to gold, Love makes dregs intopure wine, love turnspain intohealing. Love brings thedead to life,
love makes

But this love resultsfromknowledge. When did a fool ever siton this throne? How can faulty knowledge give birth to love? It gives birth to love,but love fora dead thing. When it sees itsobject's color in the thing, Faulty knowledgehas no discrimination it thinksthat lightningis the sun. (Mathnawi 11 1529-35) In short, love forGod grows up out of the basic declaration of faith, the assertion ofGod's unique reality: "There is no god but God." Since love is a divine attribute, it follows that "There is no true lover and no truebeloved but God." Once the lovers clarify theirvision of things and open the eye of their insight, they see things as they truly are. Then their love is complete, since they live in the joy of experiencing their own union with the object of their love. As Rumi puts it, 11
it hears the beloved's voice in a decoy.

the king a slave.

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The joyand heartacheof lovers ishe,

their wages and salary for service

is he.

were to contemplateother than theBeloved, If they be love? That would be an idle fancy. how could that Love is thatflame which, when itblazes up,
burns

With the swordof "no god" love slays "other than God." After "no god" what remains? Look carefully:
There remains

away

all except

the everlasting

Beloved.

Hail, O great love,burning away all others! It is he alonewho is first and last, all else grows up fromthe eye thatsees double. (MathnaweiV 586-591)

"but God,"

the rest has gone.

The Religion ofLove

It is unfair toRumi to try to systematize his ecstatic vision of love. The only real way to appreciate his teachings is to savor his poetry, though, of course, English translations can never be anything but pale imitations of the

me offer in conclusion three of his ghazals or love original. Nevertheless, let poems to suggest some of theways inwhich he expresses themysteries of love. No attempt will be made, however, to explain the images and allusions.12 Nor will I try to prove thatRumi is talking about the divine Beloved rather than a human beloved (the ambiguity is increased inPersian because pronouns have no gender). From within the perspective of an Ibn al-'Arabi or a Rumi, this question does not arise. Proof enough is provided by the declaration of faith: "There is no beloved but God." As Ibn al-'Arabi

puts it in a passage already quoted, "The knowers never hear a verse, a rid dle, a panegyric, or a love poem that is not about God, hidden beyond the veil of forms."13

If someone falls in lovewith thatsplendorof the meadow, me. don'twonder thathe's losthis heart in love like Don't speak of patience-patience will never findthe way to theheart thathas been testedby that Friend. When love rattlesitschain, ofPlato and Avicenna goesmad. the intellect No spiritescapes love By the spiritof love!
even within-a hundred fortresses, a hundred bodies. a lion, love is a great lion-catcher. If you become an elephant-love rhinoceros! is a mighty Become

If you flee to thedepths of a well, love's ropewill bind your neck likea bucket.
Become a hair-love is a great hair-splitter.

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Become

a kebab-love

Love is the world's sanctuary,the source of all justice, even if it ofman andwoman. waylays the intellects Silence! For speech's homeland isDamascus, theheart with such a homeland, don't call ita stranger. (Diwan, ghazal #920) me? What would happen, youth, ifyou became a lover like -every daymadness, everynightweeping.
His

is a spit.

twohundred lightsreachingyour eyes fromthatface. You would cut yourselfofffromyour friends, world: youwould wash your hands of the "I have detachedmyself from myself, I have become entirely Yours. "When Imix with thesepeople, I amwater with oil,

image not out of your eyes for one

instant

separate." outwardly joined, inwardly desires, you would becomemad Leaving behind all selfish but not anymadness thata physician could cure. If foran instantthephysicians tastedthisheartache, would escape theirchains and tearup their books. they Enough! Leave all thisbehind, seek amine of sugar! Become effacedin thatsugar like milk in candy. (Diwan, ghazal #244)

If anyone asks you about houris, show your face and say, "Like this." riseup beyond the roofand say, "Like this." When someone looksfora fairy princess, show your face tohim.
When someone talks of musk, let loose your tresses and say, "Like If someone says to you, "How do clouds this." If anyone speaks to you about the moon,

Undo your robe,buttonby button,

and say, "Like this."

part from the moon?"

Ifhe asks you about the Messiah, "How could he bring the dead to life?" Kiss my lipsbeforehim
When

mean tobe killed by love?" what does it Show my soul tohim

and say, "Like this."

and say, "Like this." someone says, "Tell me,

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If someone

in concern state, this."

Show him your eyebrow,

bent over double,

asks you about my

The spirit breaks away fromthebody,

then again it enters within. show the deniers, Come, enter the house and say "Like

and say, "Like

this."

Inwhatever directionyou hear the complaintof a lover, That is all of it, my story, byGod, like this. I am thehouse of everyangel, blue like the sky my breast has turned Lift up your eyes and lookwith joy I told the secretofunion with theBeloved
to the east wind alone. at heaven, like this.

Then, throughthepurityof itsownmystery, the eastwind whispered, "Like this." Those are blindwho say,
"How and can the servant this." reach God?"

Place the candle of purity in thehand of each I said, "How can thefragrance of Joseph The fragrance ofGod blew from the world of his Essence and said, "Like this." I said, "How can thefragrance of Joseph give sightback to theblind?" Your breeze came and gave light Perhaps Shams al-Din inTabriz will show his generosity, and inhis kindnessdisplay his good faith,like this. (Diwan, ghazal #1827) William C. Chittick State University ofNew York at Stony Brook Notes 1. On the general Islamic stressupon knowledge, cf. F. Rosenthal, Knowledge Medieval Islam (Leiden: Brill, 1970). Knowledge in Triumphant:The Concept of 2. For examples of supplications,cf. 'Ali ibnal-Husayn,al-Sahifatal-sajjadiyya:The Psalms of Islam, trans. W.C. Chittick (Oxford:Oxford University Press, 1988). whose liveshave been lookedback upon as expres There were also certainfigures
to my eye: "Like this." go from one city to the next?" say, "Like

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sions of love, thegreatexamplebeing al-Hallaj (d. a.h. 309/a.d. 922). Cf. L. Massi Uni gnon,The Passion ofal-Hallaj:Mystic and Martyr ofIslam, 4 vols. (Princeton: Press, 1982). versity Pure Spirits, translated N. Pourjavady World of 3. Cf. Sawanih: Inspirations from the (London:KPI, 1986). llmi wa Farhangi, 1368/1989).See also Chittick, "Ahmad Sam'ani on Intisharat-i Adam's Fall," Persian Sufismfrom itsOrigins to Rumi, ed. L. Lewisohn (London: Khaniqahi Nimatullahi, forthcoming). 5. On Ibn al-'Arabi's life, works, and teachings,seeC. Addas, IhnArabi ouLa quite TheSufiPath of du soufre rouge(Paris:Gallimard, 1979);W. Chittick, Knowledge: Ibn al-Arabi's Metaphysics ofImagination (Albany:SUNY Press, 1989); "Ibn al-'Arabi and His School," Islamic Spirituality: Manifestations, ed. S. H. Nasr (New York: Crossroad, 1990), pp. 49-79; H. Corbin, Creative Imagination in the Sufism ofIbn Arabi (Princeton:Princeton University Press, 1969). Rumi (Boston: 6. Cf. A. Schimmel,I Am Wind, You Are Fire: TheLife andWork of Works ofJalaloddin Rumi Shambhala, 1992); The TriumphalSun: A Study of the W. Chittick,TheSufiPath of Love: TheSpiritual Teach (London: Fine Books, 1978); and "Rumi the Rumi Mawlawiyya," IslamicSpiritual of (Albany:SUNY, 1983); ings Manifestations,pp.105-126. ity:
7. I use the word 4. Rawh al-arwah fi shar hasma} al-malik al-fattah, ed. N. Mayil-Hirawi (Tehran:

with emotionalism, and anti-intellectualism, it does not sentimentality, express Sufism's basic goals. Of course Sufism has its own currents of sentimentality, but these do not represent itsmainstream. For various reasons why the term "mys associated

even thosedeeply imbued with theperspectiveof love,are fundamentally cognitive or "gnostic" (in the etymologicalsense).To the extentthatthe term"mysticism"is

"mystical"

here with

some hesitation. Most

expressions

of Sufism,

ticism"isnot quite appropriateforSufism, seeChittick, Faith andPractice ofIslam: ThreeThirteenth Century Sufi Texts (Albany:SUNY Press, 1992), pp. 165ff.
8. For some of the differences between

the Manifestations, esp. pp. 113-117; "Rumi Mawlawiyya" in Islamic Spirituality: andWahdat al-wujud,"TheHeritage ofRumi, ed. A. Banani andG. Sabagh (Cam bridge:Cambridge University Press, forthcoming).
9. Futuhat II 167.12. Ibn al-'Arabi calls the immediate

their perspectives,

see Chittick,

"Rumi

and

tionthe"Breathof the are the creatures while the individual words that All-merciful," become articulated within theBreath (cf. Chittick,SufiPath of Knowledge, p. 126). 10.Mathnawi, ed. and trans. R. A. Nicholson (London:Luzac, 1925-40), IV 3028-29 (my translations).
For

effect of God's

love for crea

11. Fihimafihi, ed. B. Furuzanfar (Tehran:AmirKabir, 1348/1969), pp. 176-177.

a translation of the passage in context, see A. J. Arberry, Discourses ofRumi (Lon

don: John Murray, 1961),pp. 184-185.

12. Explanations for many of themcan be found in my SufiPath ofLove.

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al-'Arabi's

13. One shouldperhaps mention in thiscontextthecontroversy thatsurroundedIbn

short collection of poetry called Tarjuman al-ashwaq, which he dedicated

to a beautifulPersianmaiden calledNizam whom he met at the Kaaba in Mecca. After writing thepoems hewas accused ofhavingbeen overcomeby profane love. In Of reply,he wrote a long commentaryon the collection, explaining its imagery. did notneed thecommentary, and those who sawwith theeyeof insight course, those were not im of evil intentions who were predisposed toaccuse the mystically inclined pressed. Cf. R. A. Nicholson, The Tarjuman al-Ashwaq (London: Luzac, 1911);H. Chittick, "TheWorld of Imaginationand pp. 136ff.; Corbin, Creative Imagination, Poetic Imageryaccording to Ibn al-'Arabi,"Temenos 10 (1989), pp. 99-119.

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