Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s Manipulation of Sufi Terms 119
rejoice in live. They are “released in the field of joy” (busiṭū fī mīdān
al-basṭ), as al-Anṣārī said. They are allowed to enjoy themselves; to
play music, to be in the company of women and to look undisturbed
at physical beauty. Other authors as well laid the connection between
the state of basṭ or inbisāṭ and the practice of samāʿ (audition).^83 Samāʿ
is referred to here by al-Tilimsānī as pleasant audition (samāʿ shahī).
Also other pleasures are allowed for them. A mystic in such a posi-
tion can bear the theophoric name of ʿAbd al-Basīṭ. He is free to
enjoy and respond to some calls of the carnal soul, without however
transgressing the law.^84 Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya protests vehemently
against al-Tilimsānī’s interpretation, and calls the true field of joy men-
tioned above, the words of the prophet. The other field proposed by
al-Tilimsānī, he sermons, is one that has been opened by Satan, where
he plucks the souls of the weak.^85
The second group has a particular strong vision of the Divine objec-
tive. Therefore they are allowed to be dispersed.^86 External signs can
not blur their vision. Basṭ, for this group, plays the same role for the
heart as hope does for the carnal soul, thus al-Qāshānī.^87 But for Ibn
Qayyim al-Jawziyya the men who have the best qualifications for this
group, are the ʿulamāʾ. God has released them to go among people and
teach them how to bring their religion to life.^88 The third group con-
sists of the people who function as signposts and guides on the spiri-
tual path for the itinerants. For the Sufis it is the domain of the spiritual
masters. They have knowledge about the secrets behind the states of
basṭ and qabḍ, which makes the masters particularly suited for instruc-
tion. Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya however concludes it is the domain of
the prophets only.^89
83 Al-Suhrawardī, ʿAwārif al-maʿārif, vol. 2, pp. 11–12.
84 Al-Qāshānī, ʿAbd al-Razzāq: Iṣṭilāḥāt al-ṣūfiyya, ed. by Muḥammad Kamāl
Jaʿfar, Cairo 1981, p. 112.
85 Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-sālikīn, vol. 3, p. 314.
86 Al-Tilimsānī, Sharḥ manāzil al-sāʾirīn, folio 112a.
87 Al-Qāshānī, Iṣṭilāḥāt al-ṣūfiyya, p. 37.
88 Ibn al-Qayyim, Madārij al-sālikīn, vol. 3, p. 315.
89 Ibid.
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