PART II A
عَمَاء
THE WRITINGS OF THE BAB
THE TERM `AMĀ'
عَمَاء
AN APPENDIX TO THE COMMENTARY UPON THE RASHḤ-I `AMĀ' OF MĪRZĀ ḤUSAYN `ALĪ, BAHĀ'-ALLĀH
Rev. FROM BSB 3:2 (1984).
FIRST WRITTEN IN THE EARLY 1980s --
UNDER REVISION 2006-7
LAST REVISED JAN 9th 2006
`Amā' in the writings of the Bāb
and Bahā'-Allāh
The Bāb
and Bahā'-Allāh were both significantly influenced by the `tradition
of amā'
' and its
interpretations in `irfani- theosophical Sufism. Bahā'-Allāh's earliest extant work is
entitled, Rashḥ-i `amā'
("The Sprinkling of the Divine Cloud" 1269/ late 1852) after its
opening words. The term
`amā'
(loosely = "cloud") is quite frequent in their writings. In Bābi -Bahā'i
scripture ( as in Sufi interpretations)
`amā'
is sometimes (though not
always) indicative of the hidden and unknowable essence of the Godhead.
Such complex theosophical speculations as to the
significance of `amā' as are summed up abobe were drawn on by both the Bāb and Bahā'-Allāh. They were
both influenced by theosophical Sufism which often gave mystical
interpretations to cosmological hadīth. They both used Sufi terminology
extensively. Though they rejected the monistic ontology that informs and
determines certain attempts to locate the mystery of `amā' this term is
frequently found in the massive corpus of Bābī and Bahā'ī scripture.
Therein it takes on a wide range of meanings; its semantic field
embraces key theological, cosmological and prophetological terms. It is
not always indicative of the hidden and unknowable essence of God. In
line with the late Bābī and Bahā'ī tendency to apply terms expressive of
the transcendent Godhead to realities and persons representative of the
new cycle of Divine disclosure, `amā' is sometimes `de transcendentalised'; it is sometimes given meanings that lie within the
knowable Bābī-Bahā'ī universe of discourse -- as opposed to being
indicative of the absolute essence of the Godhead. The classical senses
accorded `amā' in Islamic literatures do not always lie behind the Bābī
Bahā'ī use of this term.
The Bāb on the Ḥadith of
`amā'.
Add selection
from the Arabic text of the Bab's
commentary
It will be apropriate to begin these notes on al-`amā' by focusing on an
important early epistle of the Bab to
the prominent Babi Sayyid Yaḥyā Darābī (d. / )
which in part contains detailed
comments on the `Hadith of `amā' It
is contained in Tehran Baha'i Archives MS 6007 C. pp. 1-16. That
it was written in reply to questions posed by Siyyid Yahya
Darabi, Vahid (a leading disciple of the Bab) is clear from Fadil i Mazandarani's Asrar
al-athar vol. 4: 391 where the text is partially quoted. The Hadith of
`ama' is early on cited
in the following slightly paraphrased form:
الله
في العماء ADD
"God was in `amā' (a "cloud") above it air and below it air".
The Bab states that this tradition indicates God's isolated
independence. The term al-`amā' ("the cloud") only inadequately indicates the
divine dhāt ("Essence"). In his interpretation, the Bāb seems to underline God's
absolute otherness to such an extent
that the term `amā' only indirectly hints at His transcendent unknowability.
God's nafs ("Logos-Self") and dhāt
("Essence") are probably to be thought of as created and hypostatic realities
indicative of, yet ontologically distinguishable from, His uncreated and
absolute Ipseity. For the Bāb `amā' ("cloud") indicates God's absolute
otherness. It is derived from al-`amā or al-`amān ("blindness",
"unknowing") for vision is blinded before God's Face and eyes are incapable of
beholding His Countenance.
For the Bāb the `ḥadīth of `amā'
enshrines the mysteries surrounding the Sinaitic theophany (see Qur'ān
7:142). It was not the dhāt al-azal, the eternal unknowable Essence of
God that appeared in the malakūt al-`amā' (celestial realm of `amā' )
and radiated forth through the Divine Light on Mount Sinai, but an amr (=
lit. "command", "reality" or "Logos-Event" which God created from nothing. The theophany on
the Mount was not the manifestation in `amā'` as God's absolute
essence, not a monistic type theophany of he Divine Essence' (tajallī al-dhāt)
but the disclosure of the Divine Light (nūr) "unto, through and in His
Logos-Self (nafs), the Manifestation of God. The Bāb clarifies his
interpretation of the modes of the divine theophany including the `theophany of
the Divine Essence' (tajallī al-dhāt) found in certain Sufi treatises.
Such a theophany does not involve a manifestation of the Divine Essence
understood as a "cloud" or anything else.
For the Bab the sublime truth expressed in thie `hadīth of `ama'' is
apparent to such as consider it with the "eye of the divine unity" (bi `ayn
al tawḥīd). It is indicative of Allāh (God) inasmuch as He has ever been
alone and without relationship to anything. His nafs ("Logos-Self") is
al azal ("eternity withour beginning"); His dhāt ("essence") al-`amā'
("Beclouded") and His kaynūnīya ("being") al qidam ("Pre-Existent")
though these terms are inadequate testimonies to God's essential and
absolute isolatedness. `Amā' and hawā' ("air") really pertain to the
created nafs ("Logos-Self") of God, as opposed to the mystery of His
transcendent and uncreated essential Reality. Just as God's resting or
settling down upon the celestial "Throne" (arsh) (cf. Qur'an, ADD) has
to do with the realization of an exalted theophany (tajallī)
and not the enthronement of the absolute Godhead) so God's being in `amā'
is expressive of the station (maqām) of the manifestation (ẓuhūr) of the
"First Dhikr" (dhikr al awwāl) a term indicative of the primal divine
manifestation and locus of prophethood. As with `amā' the Bāb equates
the heavely Throne (`arsh) with
God's Knowledge (`llm) and His Power (qudrat)
which are expressive of His nafs ("Logos-Self")
Even the perception of `amā' is not the vision of the unknowable God.
The term `amā' indicates God's absolute otherness. The Bāb seems to
underline God's absolute otherness to such an extent that the term `amā'
only indirectly hints at his transcendent unknowability. God's nafs and
dhāt are probably to be thought of as created and hypostatic realities
indicative of, yet ontologically distinguishable from, His uncreated and
absolute Ipseity. The manner in which the Bāb expounds the `Hadīth of al
`amā' outrules those theosophical interpretations that are monistically
oriented. `Ama' is derived from al `amī (or al `amān= "blindness",
"unknowing") for vision is blinded before God's Face and eyes incapable
of beholding His Countenance. It is expressive of a reality that is
"Unconditioned" (mutlaq), "Absolute" (ṣirf), "Uncompounded" (baḥt) and
"Definitive" (? bātt ?) though one of the created Names of God (?).
For the Bāb the `Hadīth of al `amā' also enshrines subtle and
bewildering mysteries surrounding the Sinaitic theophany (see Qur'ān
7:142). It was not the unknowable essence of God (dhāt al azal) that
appeared in the "Kingdom of `amā' (malakūt al `amā') and radiated forth
from the Divine Light on Mount Sinai" but an amr (= lit command), here
loosely `Logos' which God created from nothing. The theophany on the
Mount was not the manifestation of `amā' as God's absolute essence or a
monistic type `theophany or the Divine Essence' (tajallī al dhāt) but
the disclosure of the Divine Light (nūr) "unto, through and in His
[God's] Self [nafs]. " In abstruse language the Bāb counters the
monistic type interpretation of the relationship between `amā' and the
`epiphany of the Divine Essence' (tajallī al dhāt) found in certain Sufi
treatises. It might be noted here that various modes of the Divine
theophany (tajallī) are mentioned in Sufi treatises; i.e. (1) tajallī al
dhāt (`the theophany of the Divine Essence'); (2) tajallī al ṣifāt (`the
theophany of the Divine Attributes') and (3) tajallī al af`āl (`the
theophany of the Divine Actions'). See for example, Shihāb al Dīn `Umar
al suhrawardī, `Awārif al Ma`ārif (Per. trans, Mahmūd ibn `Alī al
Kāshānī) translated into English by H. Wilberforce Clarke (1891; reprint
ed. Octagon Press London 1980), p. 79ff.
The individual letters of the key terms in the `Hadīth al‑`amā'
including those `amā' and hawā' are interpreted
by the Bāb on the level of various meanings alotted to their
component Arabic letters. Without going into details it may be noted
that amā' is described as an "exteriorization from God"
(al‑ẓāhir
`an Allāh)
and a "guide unto Him" (? al‑dall alayhu) and associated
with that which rose up between the "two commands" (amrayn)
and stood up between the "two gulfs" (ṭutunjayn) probably
indicating the letter
alif indicative of aḥadiyya
("Divine Unicity") the l2th Imam and Muhammad.
It was disclosed in the
"realm of interiority" (ghayb al‑buṭūn)
not the "exterior plane" (`alam al‑shuhūd) and appeared at
the beginning of a name (ism) which God singled out for His
Logos-Self (nafs)
Since like the creative
Qur'ānic imperative
كن
"Be!" (kun) the first letter
( ع)
of `amā' has a gematric value of 70 it is representative of
the "First Dhikr" (dhikr al‑awwal) and the creative and
primordial reality of the Prophet Muhammad. Such are the mysteries
of the "surface level of the inner meaning" (al‑zāhir al‑bāṭin)
of this hadith. On the innermost level of esoteric exegesis (bāṭin
al‑bāṭin)
it enshrines the mystery of "the [letter] alif which
standeth erect between the two Points"
(al‑alif al‑qā'im bayn al‑nuqṭatayn).
Before turning his
attention to the qabbalistic secrets "air" (hawā')
and concluding his epistle the Bāb states that the servant who is
desirous of fathoming the mysteries of Divine Unity perceives that
the outer sense of the `Ḥadīth al‑`amā' is expressive of the "inner
senses of al‑`amā'" (buṭun
al‑`amā');
perhaps that just as the Ḥadīth outwardly states that God was in
`amā' compassed about by air (hawā') so does
`amā'
inwardly indicate the realities enveloping the Divine Being.
The Bāb's
comments on "Air" (hawā')
are abstruse. The theophany (tajāllī)
on Sinai mentioned in Qur'ān
7:142 (which is quoted) is understood to signify the
manifestation of God's "image" (sūrat) as the "image of
the fifth" (sūrat al‑khums) and His "shape"
(shakl)
as the "form of the sixth" (shakl al‑suds); that is, the
theophany of the letters ه (=
abjad 5) and
و (=
abjad 6). When joined up these two letters form the third
person singular masculine personal pronoun, "huwa" =هو
"He is", indicative of God. These two letters are also the first
two letters of "air" (hawā'= هواء
= ه + و + ا [+ ء
). The first letter of
hawā'
( ه ) is furthermore, the last letter of
وجه = "[God's]
Face". The interpretation of hawā'
is thus, as with `amā,
discussed in the context of the
mysteries of the theophany on Sinai. On an esoteric level hawā'
is also related by the Bāb
to the disclosure of the "greatest name" (of God; al-ism al‑a`zam)
the "Book of (Imam)
`Alī
and Qur'ān
53:24-5.
Partly written
before the Bāb claimed to be in communication with the Hidden 12th
Imam
in May 1844, the Tafsīr Sūrat al‑Baqara (Commentary on the
second sūra of the Qur'ān) contains a few passages in which the term
`amā' occurs. In his preface to this major work he, at one point,
addresses those who "orient their gaze towards that Luminous Dove of the
Sinaitic Tree" (= himself or the hidden Imam) and exhorts them to fear
God and keep silent in the light of the imminent fulfiIment of
catastrophic eschatological events. He would have them beware at a time
when "the Rooster sings in the land of `amā', the birds cry out
in the firmament of the air (jaww al‑hawā') and the Peacock
screeches at the rising [place] of [the zodiacal sign] Cancer (`inda
maṭla`
al‑saraṭān)..
". i.e. beware of the imminent advent of the hidden Imam being announced
in the heavenlv realms (? Tafsīr
Sūrat al‑Baqara [TBA MS 6014 C], p. 5.).
Commenting on the meaning of the word "angels" (malā'ika) in
Qur'ān 2:30 he seems to teach that they exist in the sphere of `amā'
(and have their own `amā'‑ here "cloud" ?) (T-Baqara, 121).
Explaining the last words of Qur'ān 2‑41, he writes:
"The
servant [of God] hath not perfected the degree of his piety (al‑taqwā) until he hath risen up in the
`amā' of
Perpetuity (istiqām fī `amā' al‑ṣamadiyya)"
A hierarchy of
cosmological, theosophical and imamological meanings are given to the
"House" (al‑bayt) mentioned in Qur'ān 2:125 (outwardly the
Meccan Ka`ba). On the ninth and highest level of the esoteric senses of
this edifice it signfies the "House of the Divine Ipseity (bayt al‑huwīya)
in which the primordial Divine theophany (tajallī) took place
while on the eighth level it represents the "House of Divinity"
(bayt
al‑ulūhīyga), the "first House" which was erected in the "absolute
`amā'" (bi'l‑`amā'' al‑muṭlaq)
( T-Baqara,
p. 276.
The Bāb
draws on imagery derived from Imam
`Alī's
Khutbat al-ṭutunjiyya
(`Sermon of the Gulf'). The fact that hawā'
is said to be both above and below al‑`amā'
was perpaps among the factors which him
to use Arabic dual forms (common also in similarly abstruse pericopae of his
Qayyūm al‑asmā).
Probably the name Muhammad as the following lines
indicate or the names ( `Ali(iyy) = the Exalted) or al‑`azīm
(= the Mighty) ‑‑ both of which, like amā'
begin with the letter ayn.
This, probably, inasmuch as it is said in the hadīth
that hawā'
is both above and below `amā'
.i.e. `amā'
= alif between 2X hawa' = the letter
bā'
(
ب ) or the point beneath it. cf. باب which has an
alif
between two letter bā's
(or two `points') and the fully
written out letter waw (= واو ) of
alphabetical-qabbalistic and
eschatological importance in Shaykh and Bābī‑Bahā'ī
teaching.
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