Islamic Theology, Philosophy and Law

(Ron) #1

104 Gino Schallenbergh


al-Jawziyya agreed only for the term grief (ḥuzn) that it does not really
belong in a fulfilling religious awareness, referring to the verses in the
Koran where mankind is instructed not to grieve. All the other terms
are necessary and become even more important when faith grows
stronger.^26


2. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Discussion

of Fear and Hope

Fear and hope (khawf and rajāʾ) belonged to those stations that were
perceived by some mystics, the author of the Manāzil al-sāʾirīn includ-
ed, as deficient abodes on the path. In conventional Sufi terminology
fear forms an antithetic yet complementary pair with hope, such as
other pairs that abound in Sufi terminology and in particular in the
Manāzil al-sāʾirīn (annihilation-subsistence, constriction-release,
union-separation etc.).^27 In the traditional manuals the different aspects
and manifestations of fear were discussed. Khawf, as explained by the
lexicographer Muḥammad al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī (d. 816/1413), is in lan-
guage the expectation that an undesirable turn of events will take place,
or that something desirable stays out.^28 This aspect is also present in
religious fear. In the words of Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072)
fear is a projection of what may be ahead in the future. One is scared
about misfortune or calamities that did not take place yet. Fear of God
is in its most primitive form the worshipper’s mortification at the mere
thought of possible punishment in the hereafter.^29 In reverse, God’s
servant may also fear to be barred entry to paradise. Rajāʾ by contrast
is defined by al-Qushayrī as the expectation of the heart for something
desirable set in the future. Hope enforces the strength of the believer’s
heart and guarantees his independent acting that is preserved hencefor-


the text of the Maḥāsin al-majālis, see M. Acin Palacios’ introduction to Ibn
al-ʿArīf, Abū al-ʿAbbās: Maḥāsin al-majālis, Paris 1939, pp. 13–14. There is an
English translation as well, namely Ibn al-ʿArīf, Abū al-ʿAbbās: The Attractions
of Mystical Sessions, London 1980.
26 Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-sālikīn, vol. 3, p. 501; and Ibn al-Qayyim, Ṭarīq al-
hijratayn, pp. 295–296.
27 De Beaurecueil, La structure du Livre des étapes, p. 93.
28 Al-Sharīf al-Jurjānī, Muḥammad: Kitāb al-Taʿrifāt, Beirut 1969, p. 107.
29 Al-Qushayrī, Abū al-Qāsim: Risāla fī ʿIlm al-taṣawwuf, Cairo n. d., pp.  198–
199.


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