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3 Weeping in Islam and the Sufi Tradition Weeping is mentioned in a positive light in the Koran, the Hadith, and much of Islamic literature. Anyone who has attended a session of Koran recitation can attest that it is not only an accepted but even an expected phenomenon in Muslim praxis. But what exactly is its significance? If we want answers provided by Muslims, the best place to look is in the writings of the Sufis, who have played the role of depth psychologists and spiritual therapists for most of Islamic history. Two other major schools of thought—jurisprudence and Kalam—have little to say about the inner workings of the soul. As for the philosophers, they aimed at transmuting the soul into pure intelligence and acquiring virtue, but they rarely discussed phenomena associated specifically with religious practice. The Koran and Hadith The Koran mentions “weeping” (bukåʾ and derivatives) in seven verses and “tears” (damʿ) in two more, and these verses become points of reference for much of the later discussion. It praises weeping in connection with the recitation of its own verses: When it is recited to those who were given knowledge before it . . . they fall down on their faces weeping, and it increases them in humility (17:107–109). A hadith instructs the believers to weep while they recite the Koran, or at least to try to weep (tabåk¥).1 Many hadiths speak of the Prophet’s own weeping. One tells us that he was reciting the prayers of Abraham (14:36–37) and Jesus (5:118) for their respective communities. Then he lifted up his hands in supplication and said, “O God, my community, my community,!” and he wept. God revealed to him that he would not be disappointed.2 Another hadith tells us that he wept upon visiting the grave of his mother.3 Still another says that when his infant son Ibråh¥m died, he wept, and one of his companions said to him, “You too, O Messenger of God?” He replied that he was moved by mercy (raḥma). Then he said, “The eye sheds tears and the heart grieves, and we only say what pleases our Lord. O Ibråh¥m, we are grieved at parting from you!”4 27 28 / In Search of the Lost Heart Once when the Prophet was passing through a village, he saw a woman cooking bread in an open fire while holding her child on her hip. When flames shot up, she quickly jumped back. She later came forward and said, “Is not God ‘the Most Merciful of the merciful’ [7:151]?” The Prophet replied that He was. She said, “A mother would never throw her child into the fire.” The Prophet bowed his head and wept. Then he said, “God does not chastise any of His servants but the defiant and recalcitrant, those who defy God and refuse to say, ‘There is no god but God.’ ”5 Many hadith texts ascribe weeping to the close companion of the Prophet, the first caliph Ab¨ Bakr (d. 13/634). His daughter ʿĀʾisha (d. 58/678), the wife of the Prophet, summed up these sayings as follows: “Ab¨ Bakr was a man who wept much [bakkåʾ]—he had no control over his eyes when he would recite the Koran.”6 He seems to be the prototype for the occasional ascetic who is described by the attribute bakkåʾ. Despite the opinion of some of the Orientalists, however, there is no evidence that there was a group of people known by this label.7 Although weeping is generally praised, some authors view it as a sign of immaturity, and Ab¨ Bakr is also cited as someone who passed beyond the stage of weeping. In his seminal work, Kashf al-asrår wa-ʿuddat al-abrår (“The Unveiling of the Secrets and the Provision of the Pious”), one of the longest and most popular commentaries on the Koran in the Persian language, Rash¥d al-D¥n Maybud¥ (d. after 520/1126) explains the meaning of the Koranic verse, Then your hearts became hardened after that, so they are like stones, or even harder (2:74), by telling us that there are two sorts of hardening. In the case of the ignorant, hardening means unkindness, cruelty, and distance from God. In the case of those who are pure and knowledgeable, hardening is firmness in knowledge and purity. Then he mentions Ab¨ Bakr: “When he would see people weeping as...

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