Voices of Islam (201 page)

three chapters concerning music are translated from the
Kitab adab al falasifa

(Book of the Practice of the Philosophers) by Hunayn ibn Ishaq. 10. Shiloah (1964), 126–127.

1. Ibid.
   

2. Ishaq al-Mawsili was a singer, composer, theoretician, and historian, as well as a jurist. He played a considerable role in the transmission of a highly refi ed Arabo-Persian musical tradition under the Abbasid Caliphate. His father Ibrahim (d. 804
   CE
   ) was himself a consummate musician. A regular guest of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid, he headed the most richly endowed music school of Baghdad. See Farmer,
   History,
   124–126.
   

3. Farmer,
   History,
   156.
   

4. Cited by G.H. Farmer, ‘‘The Religious Music of Islam,’’
   Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
   1952: 60–65, and also in M.M. Sharif,
   A History of Muslim Philosophy,
   vol. 2, 1126. Chapter 58 of this latter work contains a good summary of musical theories, which were expressed in different epochs and in different regions of the Muslim world.
   

15. Shiloah (1966), 192–193.

1. This passage is from the eighth book of the quarter of the
   Ihya’
   dealing with social customs (
   ‘adat
   ). It was translated into English by E.B. MacDonald,
   Journal of
   

   86
   Voices of Art, Beauty, and Science
   

   the Royal Asiatic Society
   (1901): 195–252 and 705–746, and (1902), 1–28. This
   

   passage appears in (1901), 199.
   

2. Hujwiri,
   Kashf al-Mahjub,
   419.
   

3. Al-Ghazali in MacDonald trans. (1901), 730–731. The hadith to which al-Ghazali alludes states: ‘‘If you do not weep, try to weep,’’ and it is often cited to justify certain Sufi practices, such as the sacred dance. See Martin Lings,
   A Sufi Saint of the Twentieth Century: Shaikh Ahmad al-‘Alawi, His Spiritual Heritage and Legacy
   (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1973), 92–93.
   

4. Ahmad ibn ‘Ajiba, his master Muhammad al-Buzidi (d. 1814
   CE
   ), and the latter’s master Mawlay al-‘Arabi al-Darqawi (d. 1823
   CE
   ), belong to the great initiatic line of the Shadhiiliyya, who, in Morocco, gave rise to numerous ramifications such as the Darqawi order, founded by the last cited of these spiritual masters.
   

5. Abu al-Qasim al-Junayd (d. 911
   CE
   ) is called the ‘‘Master of the Circle’’ of the Sufis or ‘‘Master of the Way’’ (
   Shaykh al-Tariqa
   ). He lived and died in Baghdad and is considered one of the most important teachers of Sufi doctrines.
   

6. Jean-Louis Michon,
   Le Soufi marocain Ahmad Ibn ‘Ajiba et son Mi’raj: Glossaire de la mystique musulmane
   (Paris: Vrin, 1973), 241–242.
   

7. Ahmad Ghazali,
   Bawariq al-ilma’,
   in Robson,
   Tracts on Listening to Music,
   

   98–99; and Mole´,
   Les Danses sacre´es,
   205–206
   

8. On the subject of these quaternary correspondences, which the Arabs sys- tematized from Greek sources, but which also had roots among the ancient Semites, see H.G. Farmer,
   Sa‘adiyah Gaon on the Influence of Music
   (London, U.K., 1943), 9.
   

9. On the theory of the mode in Arabo-Islamic music, see in particular,
   

   R. Erlanger,
   La Musique arabe, volume V
   (Paris, 1949). On its current practice in diverse areas of the Arabo-Muslim world, see S. Jargy,
   Musique arabe
   (Paris: Presses Universitaires Franc¸aises, 1971), 49–69.
   

10. The earliest term used in Arabic for the mode was
    sawt,
    literally, ‘‘voice,’’ a term that clearly marks the principally vocal character of Arabo-Islamic music during its first period. Later, authors spoke of
    tariqa,
    ‘‘way’’ or ‘‘manner of acting,’’ a term that has also fallen into disuse.
    

11. See K. Reinhard and U. Reinhard,
    Les Traditions musicales—Turquie
    

    (Paris, 1969), 69–70.
    

12. Sayyed Hossein Nasr, ‘‘The Influence of Sufi on Traditional Persian Music,’’ in
    The Sword of Gnosis,
    ed. Jacob Needleman (Baltimore, Maryland: Penguin Books, 1974), 330–343.
    

13. Farmer,
    History,
    25.
    

14. Erlanger,
    La musique arabe,
    vol. 1, 14–16.
    

15. Examples of
    ta‘ziya
    music with transcriptions can be found in N. Caron, ‘‘La musique chiite en Iran,’’ in
    Encyclope´die des musiques sacre´es,
    vol. I (Paris, 1968), 430–440.
    

16. The Ahl-i Haqq sect has been thoroughly studied by Mohammad Mokri, who sets the number of its adherents at approximately 500,000. See Mokri,
    L’E
    ´
    soterisme kurde
    (Paris, 1966) and ‘‘La musique sacre´e des Kurdes’’ in
    Encyclope´die de musiques sacre´es,
    vol. 1, 441–453.
    

17. On the
    nawba
    and the music of the Western part of the Islamic world (
    al-Maghrib
    ) in general, consult J. Rouanet, ‘‘La musique arabe’’ and ‘‘La musique
    

    Music and Spirituality in Islam
    87
    

    maghrebine,’’ in
    Encyclope´die de la Musique et dictionnaire du Conservatoire,
    ed.
    

    A. Lavignac and L. de la Laurencie (Paris, 1921–1931); see also, P. Garcia Barriuso,
    

    La Musica Hispano-Musulmana en Marruecos
    (Madrid, 1950).
    

18. In Morocco, the modes of a
    nawba
    are called
    tuba‘
    (plural
    tubu‘
    ) instead of
    

    maqam.
    

19. Henri Corbin,
    En Islam iranien,
    cited by Seyyed Hossein Nasr in ‘‘L’Islam e la Musica secondo Ruzbahan Baqli, santo patrono di Sciraz,’’
    Sufi musiche e ceremonie dell’Islam
    (Milan: Centro di Ricerca per il Teatro, 1981).
    

20. Ruzbihan Baqli,
    Risalat al-Quds,
    cited by Jean During, ‘‘Revelation and Spiritual Audition in Islam,’’
    The World of Music: Sacred Music, Journal of the International Institute for Comparative Music Studies and Documentation
    24, no. 3 (1982): 68–84.
    

21. Cited by William Chittick in
    The Sufi Path of Love: the Spiritual Teachings of Rumi
    (Albany, New York: State University of New York Press, 1983), 326.
    

22. N. Caron and D. Safvate,
    Iran—les Traditions musicales
    (Paris, 1966) 232.
    

23. Jean During, ‘‘Ele´ments spirituels dans la musique traditionelle iranienne contemporaine,’’
    Sophia Perennis
    1, no. 2 (Autumn 1975): 129–154.
    

24. Reinhard,
    Traditions musicales: Turquie,
    105.
    

25. Cited by J. Sharif,
    Islam in India
    (London, U.K., 1975), 289.
    

26. Concerning the different styles of Hindustani music, consult A. Danie´lou,
    Northern Indian Music
    (London and Calcutta, 1949–1952). The spiritual value of Indian music and the vigor that the music of Mogul India experienced under the in- fl of Islam have been analyzed in depth in the article by L. Aubert, ‘‘Aperc¸us sur la signifi ation de la musique indienne,’’
    Revue Musicale de la Suisse romande
    no. 2, (May 1981) (34th year): 50–61.
    

27. Yanavalkya Smriti
    cited by Whitall N. Perry,
    A Treasury of Traditional Wisdom
    (London, U.K.: George Allen & Unwin, 1971), 685.
    

28. Seyyed Hossein Nasr, ‘‘Traditional Art as Fountain of Knowledge and Grace,’’ in
    Knowledge and the Sacred
    (Edinburgh, U.K.: Edinburgh University Press, 1981), 272.
    

10
‌

R
EGAINING THE
C
ENTER
: G
ARDENS AND

T
HRESHOLDS

•

Virginia Gray Henry-Blakemore

It is more than coincidental that many doorways throughout the world exhibit a corresponding set of symbolic motifs that point to the One manifesting itself as duality—a duality and a world that must return to that One. The shape of this is basically a triangle, whose apex is a single point and whose lower angles indicate the masculine and feminine. This is a deeply satisfying shape, full of harmony and balance, which can represent the Divine Source and the manifested world.

This center, or apex, may be represented by a Tree of Life, the Axis Mundi, the Fountain of Immortality, a Throne, a Mountain, Royalty, a sun disc, and so on. Also, the center can refer to the Gardens of Paradise where the Tree and Fountain are located. It is interesting that in sacred structures through- out the world this Garden or sacred grove is recalled in architectural features. A church, for example, will have a cross, which corresponds to the Tree, and a baptismal font, which corresponds to the Fountain. The Sacred Mosque in Mecca has the Ka‘ba or Cube, which represents the Divine Center and the well of Zam Zam, the Fountain. Atop the mountainous temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia are images of Buddha surrounded by four pools with a moat beyond.

Just as the entrance to the Gardens of Paradise is protected by two cherubim, who ‘‘keep the way of the Tree of Life’’ (Genesis 3:24),
1
sacred structures invariably have fl ing guardians at their thresholds. One fi

paired lions at the door of each Burmese Buddhist temple and sphinxes in Egypt. Over the gates to Christian churches are paired creatures, such as griffi or cherubim, on either side of Jesus or Mary. This configuration continues to be used for secular doorways, which may exhibit palmettes and vases, which again bring to mind the Garden and Fountain. Often public libraries and other institutions have guardian lions at their entranceways. In the steppes of Central Asia, the threshold to the yurt is decorated with

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Voices of Art, Beauty, and Science

the image of the Tree of Life flanked by two mountain sheep, which are represented by their horns. This particular motif, which resembles a fl r- de-lis pattern, is used everywhere in Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, and extends to all items of daily use. According to Ananda Coomaraswamy, the guardians flanking a gateway symbolize the duality we must overcome in ourselves in order to regain the Center, or Paradise, or the Kingdom of Heaven within. This is what these particular symbols of the flanked central principle are there for—to remind us what to do and be. In the words of the German mystic Meister Eckhart, Paradise is a place where ‘‘neither virtue nor vice ever entered in.’’

The image of the Tree and the Fountain participates in an essential and archetypal reality that is part of the primordial makeup of humankind as a whole. Whether the Tree is an ash in the northern climes or a palm in the southern hemisphere is of no consequence. Neither does it matter if the forms attendant upon the threshold are those of sheep horns, split palmettes, or cherubim.

These threshold guardians, in fact, provide the conditions that qualify the aspirant to pass through the Threshold. The price of
theosis,
the attainment of transcendent character, is becoming a ‘‘veritable nonentity.’’ The hero must overcome the dragons that guard the Treasure and symbolize our own failures and inadequacies. In the
Mathnawi,
Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi remarks, ‘‘Whoever is uttering ‘I’ or ‘we’ is turned back from the Door.’’