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Conflicting Worldviews: Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī’s Risālat al-Rashtīyah and the Problematic of Akbarīan Mysticism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2022

Leila Chamankhah
Leila Chamankhah*
Affiliation:
University of Dayton, Ohio, USA
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Abstract

Since its earliest exposure to Iranian Sufis in the mid-seventh century, Ibn ʿArabī’s mysticism has been the subject of lively discussion and examination. It has also left its imprint on many intellectual tendencies, particularly Sufism, esotericism and ḥikmat discourse. The way Ibn ʿArabī’s books were read, interpreted and commented upon by his Iranian followers is indicative of the fact that al-Shaykh al-Akbar was too grand a figure to ignore. Even scholars such as Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsāʾī (d. 1241 AH/1826), who never hesitated in showing his distaste for Mumīt al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī in one way or another, was influenced by his discourse. However, despite the general interest of a few scholars in al-Aḥsāʾī’s so-called “love–hate relationship” with Akbarīan mysticism, our knowledge of the nature of this relationship is quite limited. Different dimensions need to be examined to see how these two apparently conflicting worldviews understood mysticism and its fundamental tenets, including the doctrines of wilāya, theophany (tajallī), tawḥīd and divine knowledge. This article cites and analyzes al-Aḥsāʾī’s key texts, focusing on Risālat al-Rashtīyah, to examine how he understands Akbarīan mysticism, and how he develops his alternative by emphasizing a definition of the correct mysticism (maʿrifah/gnosis) in its relation to the teachings of the imāms. It explains how by distancing himself from Sufism in general, and from Ibn ʿArabī’s mysticism in particular, al-Aḥsāʾī seeks to draw the boundaries of the Shaykhī cause, not only as the true representative of Twelver Shīʿīsm, but also as the arch enemy of Ibn ʿArabī’s teachings that were but misunderstandings of Islam and of the teachings of the imāms.

Keywords

Ibn ʿArabīShaykh Aḥmad al-AḥsāʾīAkbarīan MysticismShaykhī SchoolRisālat al-Rashtīyah
Type
Hermeneutics and Religious Texts
Information
Iranian Studies , Volume 54 , Issue 3-4 , July 2021 , pp. 521 - 547
Copyright
Copyright © Association For Iranian Studies, Inc 2021

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Footnotes

The author is very grateful to anonymous readers and the editors of Iranian Studies who provided her with invaluable comments during different stages of the review and publication process.

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