Al-Fatiha - The Opening to an Integral Psychology of Islam: The Straight Path - a Shia perspective

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

The Straight Path - a Shia perspective

I asked the author of the Temple of the Living Imam blog for permission to re post one of his posts on Siratal Mustaqim. I also asked him for a brief bio. Here's his response in his own words and the text of the post:

Ok, let's see, what's important? I am a high school English teacher in rural Pennsylvania, father of three, grew up near Reading, PA, a good Catholic boy. A chance encounter with Islam during college sparked my spiritual interest and launched a ten-year trek through the Muslim world in search of the Imam. The Imam is a reality that constantly gives way to ever deepening understandings, and the blog is a way of recording personal encounters with this reality, whether through text or through spirit. Does that help? Let me know if there's anything else I can do for you! Brian

Monday, January 19, 2009

In reference to the entry of a couple days ago on the sirat al-mustaqeem, from the batini Twelver Shia exegesis of Sharaf al-Din Astrabadi called Ta'wil al-Ayat al-Dhahira fi Fadha'il al-'Itrat al-Tahira: "The path [mentioned in Surat al-Fatiha] is actually twofold. The path in this world and the Bridge in the Hereafter. As for the path in this world, that is Amir al-Mu'mineen, may peace be upon him. The one who is led to his wilayat in this world succeeds upon the Bridge in the Hereafter, and the one who is not led to his wilayat in this world does not succeed upon the Bridge in the Hereafter."

The interpretation of the verse reveals the dhahir-batin dichotomy present in so much of Islamic esoterism. According to this view, the Imam is the referent of most of the verses of the Holy Qur'an, even those that appear to be referencing something mundane and non-spiritual in nature. One can ask, "What is this path?" or "What is this Bridge?", and the answer will come,
"It is the Imam." But then the next question must be, "What is the Imam?"

That is a much more challenging question to answer, and that is the batin of the batin.

Note on translation: The words "path" and "Bridge" here are translated from the same Arabic word, sirat. By convention, the word sirat in the context of al-Fatiha is expressed as "path", while in the specific context of the description of the trials of the Hereafter is expressed as "Bridge".

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Al-Fatiha ~ The Opening

In the name of the Beloved One,
The Infinitely Compassionate, the Infinitely Merciful.
All praise is due to Allah, the Sustainer of all the Worlds,
The Infinitely Compassionate, the Infinitely Merciful,
The Sovereign of the Day of Resurrection.
Thee alone we worship and to Thee alone we pray.
Guide us to the Straight Path
of self-cultivation to the Gardens of Paradise,
the path of those upon whom
Thou hast bestowed blessings, favors and Grace,
not of those who are consciously or unconsciously immersed in Sacred Chaos,
Nor of those of who have lost their way.
~ Dr. Jalaledin Ebrahim translation
In the Name of God, the Infinitely Compassionate, Most Merciful.

All
praise is God's, The Sustainer of all worlds,

The Infinitely
Compassionate and Most Merciful,

Sovereign of the Day of Reckoning.

You alone do we worship,

And You alone do we ask for help.

Guide us on the straight path -

the path of those who have
received Your favor,

not the path of those who have earned Your wrath,

nor of those who have gone astray.

~ Sheikha Camille Helminski translation

DEDICATION

This Sacred Space is dedicated to celebrating
Al-Fatiha
or
Al-Hamd
The Opening Seven Verses of the Holy Qur'an
the one fundamental
"lived experience"
shared by every single Muslim,
with the intention of fostering a profound and abiding level of commitment to Love and Unity within the Ummah,
in commemoration on July 11, 2007 of the Golden Jubilee of the Imamat of His Highness, Prince
Karim al-Hussaini, Aga Khan,
The Imam of the Time.
Inshallah, it will also serve as a deep wellspring of inspiration, creativity and knowledge in the direction towards developing
An Integral Psychology of Islam.

THE CONTEXT

"A central element in a truly religious outlook, it seems to me, is a recognition that we all have a great deal to learn from one another. The Holy Quran speaks of how mankind has been created by a single Creator "from a single soul…" – a profound affirmation of the unity of humanity. This Islamic ideal, of course, is shared by other great religions. Despite the long history of religious conflict, there is also a long counter-history of religious tolerance. Instead of shouting at one another, our faiths ask us to listen - and learn from one another. As we do, one of our first lessons might well center on those powerful but often neglected chapters in history when Islamic and European cultures interacted cooperatively and creatively to realize some of civilization's peak achievements. The spirit of pluralism is not a pallid religious compromise. It is a sacred religious imperative. In this light, our differences can become sources of enrichment, so that we see "the other" as an opportunity and a blessing - whether "the other" lives across the street - or across the world."
~ His Highness the Aga Khan,
Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris,
June 15, 2007

REMARKS BY HIS HIGHNESS THE AGA KHAN

This programme is also an opportunity for achieving insights into how the discourse of the Qur’an-e-Sharif, rich in parable and allegory, metaphor and symbol, has been an inexhaustible well-spring of inspiration, lending itself to a wide spectrum of interpretations. This freedom of interpretation is a generosity which the Qur'an confers upon all believers, uniting them in the conviction that All-Merciful Allah will forgive them if they err in their sincere attempts to understand His word. Happily, as a result, the Holy Book continues to guide and illuminate the thought and conduct of Muslims belonging to different communities of interpretation and spiritual affiliation, from century to century, in diverse cultural environments. The Noble Qur’an extends its principle of pluralism also to adherents of other faiths. It affirms that each has a direction and path to which they turn so that all should strive for good works, in the belief that, wheresoever they may be, Allah will bring them together. Tradition honours the vocation of the learned scholars who are gathered here for this colloquium. The Qur’an itself acknowledges that people upon whom wisdom has been bestowed are the recipients of abundant good; they are the exalted ones. Hence Islam's consistent encouragement to Muslim men and women to seek knowledge wherever it is to be found. We are all familiar that al-Kindi, even in the 9th century, saw no shame in acknowledging and assimilating the truth, whatever its source. He argued that truth never abases, but only ennobles its seeker...
Does not the Qur’an challenge the artist, as much as the mystic, to go beyond the physical - the outward - so as to seek to unveil that which lies at the centre but gives life to the periphery? Is not a great work of art, like the ecstasy of the mystic, a gesture of the spirit, a stirring of the soul that comes from the attempt to experience a glimpse of, and an intimacy with, that which is ineffable and beyond being?
Remarks made on October 19, 2003 at
"Word of God, Art of Man: The Qur’an and its Creative Expressions"
at an International Colloqium sponsored by the Institute of Ismaili Studies in London, England.