Allegory and Philosophy in Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ): With a Translation of the Book of the Prophet Muhammad's Ascent to Heaven

8. Allegory and Allegoresis

8. Allegory and Allegoresis Until now we have examined Avicenna's allegories mainly in terms of their relationship. to his philosophical writings, muthos in conjunction with logos. But his formulation of allegory itself deserves attention since it constitutesonly one of the many possible expressions that the genre encompasses , whether in terms of general theoretical potentiality or in regard to specific historical manifestations appearing in premodern Islamic literatures . In this chapter we will situate Avicenna's allegories and allegoreses more precisely within the realm of the praxis of allegory per se by investigating in greater detail their modes of description and metaphoric structure. Descriptional Imagery We have seen that Avicenna conceives of the cosmos as a graduated ontological hierarchy running between the two antithetical poles of pure Form (the Necessary Existent) and primary Matter (Non-Being), whose most important divisions demarcate the borders among the material (sensible), the spiritual (intelligible), and the supra-intelligible (purely Divine) realms. The directional coordinates of Avicenna's allegories mirror this conceptual structure, although each emphasizes different aspects of cosmic geography. Hayy ibn Yaq~an organizes its description along a longitudinal, West-East, axis. Risdlat at-tair adopts an ascending latitudinal perspective: the bird escapes from its cage and flees over the nine mountain ranges of the material spheres before it finally arrives at the palace of the Great King. Salaman and Absdl concentrates on the earthly portion of the scheme in its depiction of the tempestuous struggle between the animal and rational souls for control over the human psyche. Finally, the MiCraj Nama portrays Muhammad's journey as combining the terrestrial, horizontal isra from Mecca to Jerusalem, during which the prophet surveys the lower psychic faculties, with the celestial, vertical miCraj,during which he is introduced Allegory and Allegoresis 171 to the spheres, Paradise, and the divine Presence. Despite such differences in detail and emphasis, the overall cosmological paradigm remains constant , as can be seen from the chart below, drawn primarily from Hayy ibn Yaq~an but also with reference to at-Tair, Salaman and Abstd, and the Mi'ra} Nama. The West (Matter) The East (Form) The Necessary Existent (The Great King, situated above Form and Matter) The Ten Intelligences (Cherubim or Angels Drawn-Near) The Ten Celestial Souls The Material Celestial Spheres Fixed Stars The Zodiac Saturn Jupiter Mars The Sun Venus Mercury The Moon Human Beings The Rational Soul The TheoreticalFaculty (The Ordering Angel) The Acquired Intellect The Habitual Intellect The Material Intellect The PracticalFaculty (The Recording Angel) 172 Interpretation and Allegory The Animal Soul The FiveInternal Senses Memory Estimation Imagination (Cogitation in humans) The Retentive Imagination Common sense The FiveExternal Senses Sight Hearing Smell Touch Taste TheAppetites Irascibility Concupiscence Matter for Natural Species Animal Plant Mineral Primary Matter (Privation, Non-Being) Forms for Natural Species Animal Plant Mineral The Forms of the Four Elements Fire Air Water Earth Human beings, of course, hold a unique position in this cosmography because of their ability to journey throughout its disparate realms. Although few actually take full advantage of this opportunity, those who do precipitate a momentous personal transformation. Avicenna emphasizes the impact of this initiation by rendering it as a direct encounter with a representative of the intelligible world. The narrator of Hayy ibn Yaqzdn meets the attractive and beguiling Hayy; the reader in at-Tair is challenged and confounded by the "herald of God"; and in the Mi(raj Nama Muhammad is accompanied on his heavenly ascent by the Archangel Gabriel , the embodiment of the sacred divine Command. Since Muhammad Allegory and Allegoresis 173 holds the exalted rank of legislative Apostle, the Active Intelligence is reduced here to the figure of the heavenly mount, Burdq.' In regard to external mimetic representation, Idea dominates Image in Avicenna's allegories.' Close adherence to the structure of his cosmology lends his narratives an abstract, "visionary" quality. General directional coordinates are given, but details of time and place are ignored. Instead space and time are condensed, divested of commonplace particulars and everyday events. Similarly, characters are "flat," stripped of external mimetic features and unencumbered by nuances of psychological complexity. This minimalist approach to shaping a narrative world makes Avicenna's allegories initially difficult to understand because the signposts and guides one relies on to proceed are submerged in an abstract ideational system. But such minimalism also has a positive emotive impact; it creates an atmosphere of symbolism and mystery of enormous potency. Faced with...