Journal Of Islamic Denominations

Journal Of Islamic Denominations

The Position of Historical Events in the Mystical Conduct (Sīrah) of the Prophet (SAWA) in a Selection of Mystical Prose Texts from the First Seven Centuries

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors
1 PhD Candidate, Faculty of Law, Theology and Political Science, Islamic Azad University, Science and Research Branch, Tehran, Iran
2 Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Assistant Professor at Imam Khomeini International University, Qazvin, Iran
3 Ph.D. Professor, Professor at Iranian Institute of Philosophy and Wisdom (IRIP), Research Institute of Religions and Mysticism, Tehran, Iran
10.22034/jid.2025.339261.2338
Abstract
The two variables of "state" (ḥāl) and "era" (zamāneh) cause the quality of encountering phenomena — which themselves sometimes possess various layers and aspects — to differ. This difference is clearly evident in the diversity of works concerning a single subject. The "being a subject" of the Prophet (SAWA) and his conduct (Sīriah) for the historian, the traditionist (muḥaddith), and the mystic (ʿārif) is something well indicated by the plurality of compiled works; however, the issue is what characteristics and differences does the "method of narration" (rivāiyat) and "treatment" (pardākihtan) of it have compared to other intellectual and scientific currents? The historical events of the Prophet's era are specific and enumerable; but the method of confronting, reporting, and explaining them by the mystics is different and unique. In this article, five events — the Prophet's birth (vilāidat), mission (biʿthat), ascension (miʿrāj), migration (hijrat), and demise (vafāt) — have been selected to be addressed in a selection of mystical prose works. Undoubtedly, one never expects a Sufi to explain and analyze historical events within the context of time and place; rather, they reflect the historical event in the horizon of "meaning" (maʿnā).
Keywords
Subjects

The Holy Qur'an. Translation by Mohammad Mahdi Fooladvand.
Abū Nuʿaym al-Iṣfahānī, ʿAbdullāh ibn Aḥmad. n.d. Ḥilyat al-Awliyā' wa Ṭabaqāt al-Aṣfiyā'. Cairo: Dār Umm al-Qurā.
Al-Sharīf al-Raḍī, Muḥammad ibn al-Ḥusayn. 1414 AH. Nahj al-Balāgha. Edited by Fayḍ al-Islām. Qom: Hijrat.
Anṣārī, Khwājah ʿAbdullāh. 1377 Sh. Majmūʿa-yi Rasā'il-i Fārsī-yi Khwājah ʿAbdullāh Anṣārī. Edited by Muḥammad Sarwar Mawlā'ī. 2nd ed. Tehran: Ṭūs.
Anṣārī, Khwājah ʿAbdullāh. 1387 Sh. Manāzil al-Sā'irīn. Translated by ʿAbd al-Ghafūr Rawān Farhādī. Tehran: Mawlā.
ʿAyn al-Quḍāt al-Hamadhānī, ʿAbdullāh ibn Muḥammad. 1373 Sh. Tamhīdāt. Edited by ʿAfīf ʿAsīrān. 4th ed. Tehran: Manūchihrī Publications.
ʿAyn al-Quḍāt al-Hamadhānī, ʿAbullāh ibn Muḥammad. 1377 Sh. Nāma-hā-yi ʿAyn al-Quḍāt. Edited by ʿAlī Naqī Munzawī and ʿAfīf ʿAsīrān. Tehran: Asāṭīr Publications.
Al-Balādhurī, Aḥmad ibn Yaḥyá. 1417 AH. Ansāb al-Ashrāf. Researched by Suhayl Zakkār and Riyāḍ Ziriklī. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
Al-Baqlī Shīrāzī, Rūzbihān. 1374 Sh. Sharḥ al-Shaṭaḥiyyāt. Edited by Henry Corbin. 3rd ed. Tehran: Ṭūḥūrī Publications.
Al-Baqlṭ Shīrāzī, Rūzbihān. 2008. Tafsīr ʿArā'is al-Bayān fī Ḥaqā'iq al-Qur'ān. Edited by Aḥmad Farīd al-Mazyadī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Emami Khātūnābādī, Muḥammad Riḍā. 1362 Sh. Jannāt al-Khulūd. Qom: n.pub.
Ernst, Carl W. 1391 Sh. Following Muhammad (PBUH). Translated by Qāsim Kākā'ī. 3rd ed. Tehran: Hermes.
Ghazālī, Muḥammad. 1386 Sh. Iḥyā' ʿUlūm al-Dīn. Translated by Mu'ayyid al-Dīn Khwārazmī. 6th ed. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Al-Ghazālī, Muḥammad. n.d. Iḥyā' ʿUlūm al-Dīn. Edited by ʿAbd al-Raḥīm ibn Ḥusayn Ḥāfiẓ al-ʿIrāqī. Beirut: Dār al-Kitāb al-ʿArabī.
Al-Gīlānī, ʿAbd al-Qādir. 1412 AH. Al-Safīna al-Qādiriyya. Edited by Muḥammad Sālim Bawwāb. Beirut: Dār al-Albāb.
Al-Ḥallāj, Ḥusayn ibn Manṣūr. 1386 Sh. Majmūʿa-yi Āthār-i Ḥallāj. Edited by Qāsim Mīrākhūrī. Tehran: Shafī'ī Publications.
Al-Ḥamawī, Saʿd al-Dīn. 1362 Sh. Al-Miṣbāḥ fī al-Taṣawwuf. Edited by Najīb Māyil Hirawī. Tehran: Mawlā Publications.
Al-Ḥaqqī Burūsawī, Ismāʿīl ibn Muṣṭafā. n.d. Tafsīr Rūḥ al-Bayān. Beirut: Dār al-Fikr.
Al-Hujwīrī, Abu al-Ḥasan ʿAlī. 1375 Sh. Kashf al-Maḥjūb. Edited by V. A. Zhukovsky (Zhūkufskī) and Valentin Alekseyevich Zhukovsky. 4th ed. Tehran: Ṭaḥūrī.
Ibn al-ʿArabī, Muḥyī al-Dīn. 1422 AH. Muḥāḍarat al-Abrār wa Musāmarat al-Akhyār. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Karīm al-Nimrī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Ibn al-ʿArabī, Muḥyī al-Dīn. 2003. Kitāb al-Maʿrifa. Edited by Muḥammad Amīn Abū Jawhar. Beirut: Dār al-Takwīn.
Ibn al-ʿArabī, Muḥyī al-Dīn. n.d. Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir.
Ibn Hishām, Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Malik. n.d. Al-Sīra al-Nabawiyya. Researched by Muṣṭafā al-Saqqā, Ibrāhīm al-Abyārī, and ʿAbd al-Ḥafīz Shalbī. Beirut: Dār al-Maʿrifa.
Izadi, Mahdi. 1394 Sh. "Analysis and Comparative Study of the Prophet's Ascension from the Perspective of 'Michael Sells' and 'Annemarie Schimmel' with an Intra-Religious View". Comparative Theology, No. 13. pp. 43-58.
Al-Kāfijī, Muḥammad ibn Sulaymān. 1963. Al-Mukhtaṣar fī ʿIlm al-Ta'rīkh (In the book ʿIlm al-Ta'rīkh ʿind al-Muslimīn by Rosenthal). Baghdad: n.pub.
Al-Khargūshī, Abū Saʿd ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Muḥammad. 1427 AH. Tahdhīb al-Asrār fī Uṣūl al-Taṣawwuf. Edited by Sayyid Muḥammad ʿAlī Imām. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Al-Kharrāz, Abū Saʿīd Aḥmad ibn ʿĪsā. 1421 AH. Kitāb al-Ṣidq aw al-Ṭarīq al-Salīma. Edited by ʿAbd al-Munʿim Khalīl Ibrāhīm. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Al-Kulaynī, Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb. 1430 AH. Al-Kāfī. Qom: Mu'assisa ʿIlmī Farhangī Dār al-Ḥadīth.
Al-Majlisī, Muḥammad Bāqir. n.d. Ḥayāt al-Qulūb. Tehran: n.pub.
Makkī, Abū Ṭālib. 1417 AH. Qūt al-Qulūb fī Muʿāmalat al-Maḥbūb. Edited by Bāsil ʿUyūn al-Sūd. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Maybudī, Abu al-Faḍl Rashīd al-Dīn. 1371 Sh. Kashf al-Asrār wa ʿUddat al-Abrār. Edited by ʿAlī Aṣghar Ḥikmat. 5th ed. Tehran: Amīr Kabīr.
Mustamlī Bukhārī, Ismāʿīl. 1363 Sh. Sharḥ al-Taʿarruf li-Madhhab al-Taṣawwuf. Edited by Muḥammad Rowshan. Tehran: Asāṭīr.
Nafarī, Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd al-Jabbār ibn al-Ḥasan. 1417 AH. Al-Mawāqif. Edited by Arthur J. Arberry (Yūḥannā Arbirī). Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Nasafī, ʿAzīz al-Dīn. 1386 Sh. Al-Insān al-Kāmil. Edited by Marijan Molé. 8th ed. Tehran: Ṭaḥūrī Publications.
Qushayrī, Abu al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm. 1374 Sh. Al-Risāla al-Qushayriyya. Edited by Badīʿ al-Zamān Furūzānfar. 4th ed. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Qushayrī, Abu al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm. 1392 Sh. Ādāb al-Sulūk, Sharḥ Asmā' al-Ḥusnā, Mi‘rāj-nāma. Translated by Maḥmūd Riḍā Iftikhārzāda. Tehran: Jāmī.
Qushayrī, Abū al-Qāsim 'Abd al-Karīm. 1422 AH. Sharḥ Asmā' Allāh al-Ḥusnā. Edited by ʿAbd al-Ra'ūf Saʿīd and Saʿd Ḥasan Muḥammad ʿAlī. Cairo: Dār al-Ḥaram lil-Turāth.
Qushayrī, Abu al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm. 1981. Laṭā'if al-Ishārāt. Researched by Ibrāhīm Basyūnī. 3rd ed. Egypt: Al-Hay'a al-Miṣriyya al-ʿĀmma lil-Kitāb.
Qushayrī, Abu al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm. 2007. Kitāb al-Mi‘rāj. Edited by Louis Ṣalībā. Beirut: Dār al-Maktaba Bīblīyūn.
Qushayrī, Abu al-Qāsim ʿAbd al-Karīm. 2007. Naḥw al-Qulūb (Riyāḍat al-Nafs). Edited by Ibrāhīm Shams al-Dīn. 2nd ed. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Rāzī, Najm al-Dīn. 1386 Sh. Marmūzāt-i Asadī dar Mazmūrāt-i Dāwūdī. Edited by Muḥammad Riḍā Shafīʿī Kadkanī. 3rd ed. Tehran: Sukhan.
Rāzī, Najm al-Dīn. 1425 AH. Manārāt al-Sā'irīn ilā Ḥaḍrat Allāh wa Maqāmāt al-Ṭā'irīn. Edited and Researched by 'Āṣim Ibrāhīm al-Kayyālī al-Ḥusaynī al-Shādhilī al-Darqāwī. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Ṣāḥib ibn ʿAbbād. n.d. Al-Muḥīṭ fī al-Lugha. Edited by Muḥammad Ḥasan Āl Yāsīn. Beirut: ʿĀlam al-Kutub.
Sajjādī, Jaʿfar. 1379 Sh. Farhang-i Iṣṭilāḥāt-i Falsafī-yi Mullā Ṣadrā. Tehran: Organization for Printing and Publications, Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance.
Al-Sakhāwī, Shams al-Dīn Muḥammad. 1382 AH. Al-Iʿlān bi-al-Tawbīkh li-man Dhamma al-Tārīkh. Edited by Franz Rosenthal. Baghdad: n.pub.
Al-Samʿānī, Aḥmad. 1384 Sh. Rūḥ al-Arwāḥ fī Sharḥ Asmā' al-Malik al-Fattāḥ. Edited by Najīb Māyil Hirawī. 2nd ed. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Al-Samʿānī, Aḥmad. 1384 Sh. Rūḥ al-Arwāḥ fī Sharḥ Asmā' al-Malik al-Fattāḥ. Edited by Mujīb Māyil Hirawī. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications.
Al-Sarrāj, Abū Naṣr. 1914. Al-Lumaʿ fī al-Taṣawwuf. Edited by Reynold A. Nicholson. Leiden: Brill Press.
Shafī'ī Kadkanī, Muḥammad Riḍā. 1392 Sh. Zabān-i Shiʿr dar Nathr-i Ṣūfiyya. 5th ed. Tehran: Sukhan.
Shams, Muḥammad ibn 'Alī. 1385 Sh. Maqālāt-i Shams-i Tabrīzī. Edited by Muḥammad ʿAlī Muwaḥḥid. 3rd ed. Tehran: Khwārazmī Publications.
Shaykh al-Ishrāq, Yaḥyā ibn Ḥabash. 1375 Sh. Rasā'il-i Shaykh al-Ishrāq. Edited by Henry Corbin et al. 2nd ed. Tehran: Institute for Cultural Studies and Research.
Al-Sulamī, Abū ʿAbd al-Raḥmān. 1369 Sh. Majmūʿa-yi Āthār-i Sulamī. Tehran: University Publishing Center.
Al-Ṣūlī, Muḥammad ibn Yaḥyā. 1341 AH. Adab al-Kuttāb. Beirut: Al-Maktaba al-ʿIlmiyya.
Tāj al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad. 1382 Sh. Qiṣṣa-yi Yūsuf (Al-Sittīn al-Jāmiʿ li-Laṭā'if al-Basāṭīn). Edited by Muḥammad Rowshan. Tehran: Scientific and Cultural Publications Company.
Al-Tustarī, Sahl ibn ʿAbdulāh. 1423 AH. Tafsīr al-Tustarī. Edited by Muḥammad Bāsil ʿUyūn al-Sūd. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-ʿIlmiyya.
Ūzjandī, Abū Manṣūr; et al. 1383 Sh. In Barg-hā-yi Pīr. Edited by Najīb Māyil Hirawī. 2nd ed. Tehran: Nashr-i Ney.
Yaḥyā, ʿUthmān. 2001. Mu'allafāt Ibn al-ʿArabī: Tārīkhuhā wa Taṣnīfuhā. Egypt: Al-Hay'a al-Miṣriyya al-ʿĀmma lil-Kitāb.