Stephen Lambden
The Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya or (loosely) “Sermon of the Gulf” is a
five or six page oration, sermon or discourse attributed to Imam `Ali
(d. 40/661) who is considered by Shi`i Muslims to be the divinely
inspired first Imam or successor to the Arabian Prophet Muhammad (d. 632
CE). Though considered ghuluww (“extremist”), heterodox or inauthentic
by some Muslims on account of its high imamology and other doctrinally
unique and unusual cosmological, theological and related statements, It
was regarded very highly by the fountainhead of Shaykhism (al-Shakhiyya)
Shaykh Ahmad al-Ahsa’I (d. 1241/1826) and his immediate Persian
successor Sayyid Kazim Rashti (d. 1243/1844). The latter wrote a
lengthy Arabic commentary upon about half of the Khutbat al-tutunjiyya
which was published in a lithograph edition in Iran 1270/1854.
The Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya
derives its name from the five times occurring (in singular and dual
forms) Arabic quadrilateral
طتنج
(Ṭ-T-N-J= tutunj?
or
تطنج
= T-Ṭ-N-J = tatanj?).
The exact etymology, spelling and meaning of this word are
unknown although Sayyid Kazim Rashti specifically identified it with
the synonym (also found in the this Sermon)
خليج
khalij
which indicates a “gulf”, “bay” or
perhaps a watery channel or river. A few paragraphs into the
Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya Imam `Ali makes the following elevated,
cosmological declaration:
انا
الواقف على الطتنجين
“I [Imam `Ali] am the one presiding
[standing upright] over the two gulfs (al-tutunjayn).
The
reference to two gulfs here is understood in early Shaykhi literatures
to be indicative of two cosmic streams generated from the primordial
“Water” (al-ma’) as two watery Expanses reminiscent of those spoken
about in Genesis 1:6f . On one level this syzygy like duaIity is
indicative of (1) the “Divine Mercy” (rahmat) and (2) the “Divine
Wrath” (ghazb) or of other related yet antithetical dimensions like
“Paradise-heaven” and “The Fire-hell”.
In the Mashāriq anwār al-yāqīn fi
asrār Amīr al-mu'minin (“The Dawning-Place of the Lights of
Certainty respecting the mysteries of the Commander of the Faithful”)
of Rajab al-Bursī (d. c. 814 /1411) the Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya
is introduced in the following manner:
"And among
the Sermons deriving from him [Imam `Alī] -- upon him be peace -- is
that named Taṭanjiyya [Tuṭunjiyya]. While its outward dimension (ẓāhir)
is delightfully elegant (anīq) its inward dimension (bāṭin) is
profoundly deep (`amīq). So let its reciter beware about adopting a low
opinion thereof for therein are negated the anthropomorphisms of the
creatures (tanzih al-khāliq) in ways which cannot be adequately
encompassed by anyone within the domain of created beings. The Commander
of the Faithful [Imam `Ali] delivered this sermon between Kufa [now in
Iraq] and Medina [now in Saudi Arabia]" (al-Bursi, Mashariq, 166).”
We learn
from these words that al-Bursī thought that the "Sermon of the Gulf"
was delivered by the first Imam between Kūfa (now in Iraq) and Medina
(now in Saudi Arabia) (Mashariq: 166-170). The Khutba (sermon) is
declared deep and profound to the degree that it is something way beyond
accusations of anthropomorphism (“making God of human form”), over high
imamology or other apparently ghuluww ("extremist") theological
statements.
From the
very beginning of his prophetic mission which spanned a six year period
(1844-1860), the Bab showed a knowledge of the Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya.
He may have become intimately aware of this work when he attended the
classes of Sayyid Kazim for some months in the early 1840s. He regarded
this Shaykhi leader with great affection and reverence. In his Risala
fi’l-suluk (“Treatise on the Path”) the Bab referred to Sayyid
Kazim as “my Lord (sayyidī), my firm support (mu`tammad) and my teacher
(mu`allim)”. A few months before he declared his mission before Mulla
Husayn Bushru’i (d. 1849) in mid. 1844 he wrote his Tafsir Surat al-baqara
(Commentary on the Surah of the Cow) in which he cited the following
line about a vision of God and Paradise from Khutba al-Tutunjiyya,
رأيت الله والفردوس رأي العين
With the
vision of [mine own] eyes did I see [the Mercy of] God (Allāh ) and
Paradise (al-firdaws).
The
recent printing of the Mashariq anwar of Rajab al-Bursi referred
to above does not read "I saw God" but has "I saw the Mercy of God" for
direct vision of God is generally regarded as impossible in the
Abrahamic religions -- Judaism, Christianity and Islam. It appears that
this is a pious toning down of a controversial line in the Sermon of
the Gulf for the text cited by the Bab in his early Tafsir Surat
al-Baqara (Commentary upon the Surah of the Cow) (Qur’an 2) and
other writings does not have vision of the “mercy of God” (rahmat
Allah) but has `Alī declaring his direct vision of God. On a history of
religions level this is obviously designed to express Imam `Ali's
superiority to Moses and Jesus who, in Jewish and Christian scripture
and tradition, are expressly denied the request for a direct vision the
Godhead (see Exod 33:18-23; John 1:18, 4:24; Qur’an 7:143f). In several
of his works including the Tafsīr al-hā' (Commentary on the
Letter "H" ) I and II , the Tafsīr Sūrat al-ḥamd (Commentary on
the Surah of Praise", Q. 1) and the al-Lawāmi' al-badī` ("The
Wondrous Brilliances") dating from about 1846-7, For ther Bab
the reference to the vision of God in the Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya
was essentially a vision of the Mashiyyat (the Primal Will of
God) focused in his divine Manifestation (mazhar ilahi).
As early
as the 4th chapter of his weighty Qayyum al-asma’ (mid.
1844), the commentary on Qur’an 12:3 entitled Surat al-madinah (Surah
of the City), the Bab made statements which presuppose a detailed
knowledge of the “Sermon of the Gulf” and of Sayyid Kazim’s Commentary
thereon. Perhaps the reference to the twin “cities” of Kufah and
Medinah associated with the delivery of the “Sermon of the Gulf” along
with its its other dualities (e.g. tutunjayn = “two gulfs”) led to Bab
to associate the “city” motif and his deep eschatological interpretation
of the qur’anic parable of “two souls” (see Qur’an 18:32ff) as
creatively re-revealed by him towards the end of the 4th
Surah of the Qayyum al-asma’.
Addressed
by God as Qurrat al-`ayn (The solace of the eyes), the Bab is
told to “Strike for the people of the City the parable of the two
persons (al-nafsayn)”. These two “souls” represent two contrasting
religious “factions” (al-hizbayn). Individualized, the good one of the
two “souls” appears (like the Bab) in the “Sacred Mosque” (al-masjid al-ḥaram;
cf. Q. l7:1), a “vision of justice” (ru'yat al-`adl) perhaps suggestive
of the Hidden Imam or himself as his na’ib (representative) while the
other “soul” symbolizes a false messiah, another Gate (Bāb) in
opposition to the Gate (al-Bāb) and destined for hell. That aspects of
this symbolism relate to the Shaykhi exegesis of the Khutba al-Tutunjiyya is especially clear from the following verse of the Surat al-madinah,
“ For the latter [of the two “souls”] were [provided] two rivers (nahrayn)
in the land of the "two Wests" (fi ard al-maghribayn); having “two
gardens (jannatayn) in one of the two gulfs (khalijayn)”.
In expressing
his own claims in sometimes cryptic though elevated terms in his lengthy
Arabic Qayyum al-asma' ( [Deity] Self-Subsisting among the Divine
Names", mid. 1844 CE) and elsewhere the Bab often used “I am “
proclamations and dual formations echoing sayings ascribed to `Alī in
the Khutbat al-Tutunjiyya. Thus, for example, in his claim, “I am one
presiding over the tutunjayn ... al-khalijayn (“the two gulfs...
the twin bays”) (QA. 93:374-5; 109:434-5). In the following
passage from QA 54 (on Qur'ān 12:53), the Sūrat al-Ghulam (The
Surah of the Youth), the Bab appears to express his superiority to the
first two Shaykhs of Shaykhism (al-Shaykhiyya) Shaykh Ahmad and Sayyid
Kazim and underlines his authoritative exposition of the "mystery of
the two Gulfs" (sirr al-tutunjayn) as the then locus of Shi`I walaya
(“guidance”) through the hidden Imam:
و
لقد نطقت بالحرفين و لا انطق حرفا من النّفسين الاوّليين
و لا يوجد
حرفا من سرّ الطتنجين الّا بنفسی الحقّ حامل الاسمين
"We
did speak forth through two letters although there was not divulged
even a [single] letter through the two foremost souls [= ? Shaykh
Ahmad Ahsa’i and Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti]. Not even a single letter
shall be discovered of the mystery of the two Gulfs (al-tutunjayn),
save through My Logos-Self (nafsi) the True One, which is the bearer
of the Two Names (hamil al-ismayn )” [= [1] `Alī + [2] Muhammad =
the Bab?]”.
Several of
the most important references and interpretations of the twin gulfs
cosmology of the Kh-T in the Qayyum al-asma' are found in Surah 109,
the Surat al-`Abd (Surah of the Servant). Witin a very long verse we
find an esoteric, imamological expression of the claims and
eschatological function of the Bab as the one (like Imam `Ali) presiding
over those now recreated spheres of existence which are the "twin gulfs"
etc. There we again find aspects of the Bab's eschatologically charged
development of Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti's exegesis of the twin-gulfs
cosmology. The motif of [Imam]`Ali presiding over (waqif `ala) the
"twin gulfs", for example, is associated with the Bāb operating (with
the permission of God) as the eschatological Judge (ḥākim) throughout
all existence as encompassed by the twin "gulfs" of (loosely) "heaven"
and "hell".
In Surah
1098 the Bāb pictures several times pictures himself as the supreme
Duality presiding over the realms of cosmic duality. He is in various
ways symbolically of dual nature : (1) his name is [1] `Ali + [2]
Muhammad (2), (2) he is like the barzakh (ithmus) or "barrier"
differentiating two "amr"s (lit. commands") or modes of possible being
(3) he is graphically the dual structured (B+A+B = 2 b’s),
bāb = ب
+ ا
+ ب
)
the spelling of which consists of a duality of "B"s with an
upright letter "A" in the centre suggestive of his presiding as "A"
over two "b"-generated "gulfs" as the Lord of Being (4) His descent as
one named `Ali Muhammad, from Muhammad through [1] `Ali and [2] Fatima
also suggests his being transcendentally Dual, etc.
Thus we read:
ظهرت علی هيبة
الاوّلين و انبساط رحمته قد نشرت علی
لملك كرحمة
الحسنين لم ير قطب السّماء بمثله فی العدل كالعدلين و فی الفضل كالنّيّرين
الجامع فی الاسمين من اعلی الجيبين و برزخ الامرين فی سرّ الطّتنجين الواقف
كالالف القائم بين السّطرين علی مركز العالمين
"He [the Bāb] was indeed made
manifest in the form of the two Primal Ones (al-awwalayn) [= Muhammad
and `Ali?] and hath outstretched His Divine Mercy (raḥmat) such that it
was diffused within the earthly dominion (al-mulk) even as the Mercy of
the two [Imam] Ḥasans [No.2 son of `Ali and no. 11 al-Askari 2+11= 13].
It was such that its like is never seen [even] at the [very] Pivot of
Heaven (qutb al-ama') such was the [expression of Divine] Justice (al-`adl),
being tantamount to a Double [outpouring of] Justice (`al-`adlayn). And
in [the outpouring of] Divine Bounty (fadl) he is even as the twin
shining Lights (al-nayyirayn) conjoined in the two Names pertinent to
the supremely elevated twin Depths [Bosoms] (al-jaybayn) as well as the
Barzakh (Isthmus) of the two Causes (al-amrayn) pertinent to the secret
of the two Gulfs (sirr al-tutunjayn), [He is] the One presiding upright
like the standing letter "A" between the two [alphabetiical] lines (al-wāqif
ka'l-alif al-qā'im bayn al-saṭrayn) (cf the shape of
باب
= bāb ) above the midmost-heart of the two worlds (`alā markiz al-`alamayn).”
In another lengthy verse of the Sūrat al-`abd reference is
made to the people or denizens of the sphere of the two Gulfs and to the
related "two Easts" and the "two Wests" :
يا قرّه العين
فانطق
باذن اللّه علی لحن الحبيبين و قل انّی انا الحقّ بالنّورين فی
الحولين و انّی انا المكلّم عن اللّه فی الطّورين
و انّی انا المنزل باللّه هذين فرقانين علی
الحبيبين فی الاسمين هذا علی الحبيب محمّد كبير السّنّ فی
السّنّتين هذان فرقانان من ربّ العالمين
علی اهل الطّتنجين من اهل المشرقين و المغربين و انّ اللّه قد كان
بالعالمين شهيداً
O Qurrat al-`Ayn (Solace of
the Eye)!
“Cry
out with the permission of God according to the melody of the twin
Beloveds (al-ḥabibayn) and say: `I am indeed the Truth (innani anā
al-ḥaqq) in the two Lights (al-nūrayn) about the two [Sinaitic]
Locales (ḥawlayn). And I am indeed the One Who Conversed (mukallim)
with God in the twin [Sinaitic] Mounts (al-ṭūrayn). And I am indeed
the revealer through God of these two Furqāns [= Qur'āns] unto the
twin Beloveds (al-ḥabībayn) with the two Names (al-ismayn). The same
unto the Beloved Muhammad, Mighty of Practise in the two customary
formulations (sunna fi'l-sunnatayn), these two Furqāns [=Qur'āns]
from the Lord of the two worlds [revealed] unto the people of the
twin Gulfs (ahl al-ṭutunjayn), the denizens of the "two Easts" and
of the "Two Wests". And God is indeed witness throughout all the
worlds."
The Tafsīr of the
Bāb on a passage in the Sharḥ Khuṭbat al-Ṭutunjiyya of Sayyid Kāẓim
Rashtī
This
probably early, short, roughly 5-6 page Arabic work of the Bāb, opens
with the basmala and straightway refers to the Kh-ṭutunjiyya of
“Our mawlānā (“Lord”) [Imam] `Alī who, the Bab declares, opens this
sermon with a “statement expressive of a thousand degrees of praise
and salutation” (ālāf al-thanā’ wa’l-taḥiyya), namely, “Praised be to
God, who hath cleft the firmaments asunder, etc”. He then refers to
what the al-mu`allim (“the teacher”) apparently his one time teacher
Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī …
In the Name of
God, the Merciful, the Compassionate
Our Master
[Imam] `Alī said (upon him be peace) in the Khuṭbat al-Tutunjiyya
(“Sermon of the Gulf”) according to his statement expressive of a
thousand degrees of praise and salutation (ālāf al-thanā’ wa’l-taḥiyya),
“Praised be to God, who hath cleft the firmaments asunder, etc”. And
the teacher (al-mu`allim) [Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī] said -- may my spirit be
a sacrifice for him -- `I indeed do say, `In the Name of God’ and
`Praised be to God’, for I seek commencement in God” in commenting upon
the mystery of the Word (fī sharḥ sirr min al-kalimat) which hath been
commented upon by the Word of Truth (kalimat al-ḥaqq) (= Sayyid Kāẓim
himself ) – may my spirit be a sacrifice unto him – respecting the
Khuṭbat al-Ṭutunjiyya (“Sermon of the Gulf”) that he might instruct the
people [about] a portion of the fullness of the gravitas of the Book (ḥazz
al-kull min ḥukm al-kitāb)…as befits the portion so merited (kalimat al-thawāb)
and in accordance with what God had willed respecting that snow-white
Leaf (al-waraqat al-bayḍā’).
ADD HERE DETAILS
Comments
of the Bāb on Khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya IV:4 in his Tasfīr al-hā'
(Commentary on the Letter "H") (I&II) and other writings.
The
Arabic text has been cited above referring to
Imam `Alī’s
words at about his having a direct vision of God and Paradise:
w
رأيت
الله والفردوس رأي العين
With the
vision of [mine own] eyes did I see [the Mercy of] God (Allāh ) and
Paradise (al-firdaws). (Kh-T IV:4)
In the
recent printing of the Mashariq al-anwar of Rajab al-Bursi we do
not have the reading "I saw God" but a probably later alterd text
having `Ali say, "I saw the Mercy of God". Direct vision of God is
generally regarded as impossible in the Abrahamic religions (Judaism,
Christianity and Islam). It appears that the new edition of the Kh-T
incorporates a pious toning down of a highly controversial statement.
The text cited by the Bab in several of his writings including his
early Tafsīr Sūrat al-Baqara ( see above) does not have vision of the
رحمة
الله
("Mercy
of God") but has `Alī declaring his direct vision of God. In its
original context this is obviously designed to express Imam `Ali's
superiority to Moses and others in the Jewish and Christian traditions
which fail to register any direct vision the Godhead.
When Moses requests vision of God in Exodus 33:18-23 he asks to see
God's (Heb.) kabod ("glory") but is is only offered indirect
vision not of His "face" (panim) but of His "backside" (Heb. `ahorayim)
while sheltering in the "cleft of a rock". Only God's "goodness" (Heb.
tobah), the providential aspect of His Being, may be experienced when
protected by the divine "hand", not any aspect of his Essence, Self
identity or transcendent Being. Direct vision of God is impossible in
the Hebrew Bible and Jewish tradition. The Qur'an has a very similar
teaching. In illustrating this matter graphically when the divine
tajalli (theophanic self-disclosure) causes a mountain near Sinai
to be reduced to dust and Moses to fall down in a swoon (Q. 7:143).
The direct vision of the absolute divine Essence of the Godhead (dhat
Allah) is also regarded as impossible in both the Babi or Baha'i sacred
scriptures. The Bab underlined this very strongly throughout his
writings. While he cited Kh-T IV:4 at least seven times he never
interpreted it literally. His apophatic (“negative”) theology outruled
any direct vision or experience of God. The qur’anic liqa’-Allah
(“Encounter with God”) became the meeting with the mazhar-i ilāhī
(Manifestation of God) who is the personified locus of the mashiyyat
Allah (the Will of God) as the divine nafs or Logos-Self of God.
Thus the
Bab, in his epistle known as al-Lawāmi' al-badī` ("The Wondrous
Brilliances", c. 1846/7), interpreted this line to refer to Imam 'All's
inner "vision of the [Primal] Will of God" (ru'yat al-mashiyya), not in
any way a direct vision of the transcendent Deity. This is also the case
in his Commentary on the Du'a al-sabah (Dawn Prayer), where the
same line from the Kh-T (IV:4) is quoted and interpreted in terms of the
'Vision of the Divine Theophany" (ru'yat al-tajallī), understood as a
divine Manifestation not a disclosure of the divine Essence.
