Sufi Narratives of Intimacy: Ibn 'Arabī, Gender, and Sexuality

Chapter 1. Craving Completion: Sufism, Subjectivity, and Gender before Ibn ʿArabī

ChapterOne Craving Completion Sufism, Subjectivity, and Gender before Ibn ʿArabī The heavens and earth contain Me not, but the heart of my faithful servant contains Me.—Ḥadīth qudsī I love nothing that draws my servant near to Me more than I love what I have made obligatory for him. My servant never ceases drawing near to Me through superogatory works until I love him. And when I love him I am his hearing through which he hears, his sight through which he sees, his hand through which he grasps, and his foot through which he walks.—Ḥadīth qudsī Springing from the heart of Islam’s spiritual reservoir, Taṣawwuf, or Sufism, can be described as the process by which a believer embraces the full spiritual consequences of God’s oneness (tawḥīd).1 The goal of the Sufi path is to enable a human being, through the cultivation of virtuous excellence (iḥsān), to commune directly and experientially with her Creator. In the historical development of Sufism, one encounters varied and increasingly sophisticated notions of the mystical path, or ṭarīqa. Such a path generally entails that the Sufi aspirant, under the guidance of a spiritual master, follows a practical method of purification and refinement of the self, undergoing many states (aḥwāl) and stages (maqāmāt) that lead to progressive unveilings of the divine reality (ḥaqīqa).2 Notions of the self and its refinement, the rigors of the mystical path, and the nature of the God-­ human relationship are core concerns in Sufism. All of these concerns inform Sufi approaches to issues of gender, sexuality , and marriage. Historically, both male and female Sufis have reflected a continuum of positions on sexuality and marriage: some have strongly rejected marriage and sexuality; others have accepted the normative status 36 Craving Completion of marriage and sex in Islam without fuss; while still others have heartily extolled the spiritual virtues of marital and sexual relationships. Thischaptercommencesbyexploringsomeofthepreliminaryconstructs of personality, psychology,3 and purification in Sufism. These perspectives on human nature and spiritual endeavor provide a foundation from which to analyze varying Sufi approaches to questions of gender. Exploring Sufi understandings of human nature and psychology nudges open some of the ways in which an Islamic anthropology and its gendered dimensions are configured. I examine the ways that these underlying religious anthropologies serve varying Sufi views on asceticism, celibacy, sexuality, and marriage . I also analyze the manners in which gender ideologies permeated the lives and relations between Sufi women and men as gleaned from biographical writings. In particular, I devote careful and critical attention to the complex ways in which Sufis used gendered language to navigate discussions of spirituality, gender, and social power differentials. Core Sufi concepts of self and the spiritual path as well as the real-­ life interactions between Sufi men and women covered in this chapter allow for a social contextualization of Ibn ʿArabī’s ideas within a whole history of Sufi anthropologies and gender ideologies. This review chapter provides readers with a mapping on issues of self, gender, and some of the related developments in Sufism. While this chapter is less analytical than other chapters in this book, it provides background on some of the historical and conceptual terrain of Sufism and gender. Personality and Sufi Psychology Since the goal of the Sufi path is to deepen the God-­ human relationship, meticulous attention is given to removing spiritual obstacles within the individual that may impede progress along that path. This focus on purifying and disciplining the self has resulted in an elaborate and detailed inquiry into the mechanics of personality. Some of the organically genderless assumptions within Sufism include the priority given to an individual’s inner state in relation to behavior and thought, the view that the same spiritual imperatives apply to all humanity, and the accompanying notion that the inner is not determined by one’s biology. Exploring notions of personality and psychology within Sufism provides a necessary starting point for the exploration of its gender ideology. The components and dynamics of personality in Sufism may be concep- Craving Completion 37 tualized in relation to the tripartite relationship between the soul (nafs), the heart (qalb), and the spirit (rūḥ) as identified in the Qurʾān.4 The nafs, which can be identified as one’s self-­ awareness, is a dynamic entity determined by the spiritual state of the individual.5 It...