Divine Unity in a Qa??da L?m?yya (Ode Rhyming in L?m) of Ab? Madyan al-Ghawth

Abstract

One of the greatest Andalusian Sufis of the twelfth century CE, Abū Madyan Shu‘ayb bin al-Ḥusayn al-Anṣārī al-Andalusī (d. ca. 1198 CE) is often regarded as the epitome of the synthesis between Andalusian Moroccan spirituality and Eastern gnosticism (maʿrifa), which earned him the title of muʿallim al-muʿallimīn (the teacher of teachers) of the Maghrib. This article examines his conception of divine unity (tawḥīd) as expressed in one of his poems, a qaṣīda lāmīyya (ode rhyming in Lām), which is one of the most famous poems chanted across the Islamic world. In exploring the way that this poem articulates Abū Madyan’s understanding of divine unity (tawḥīd) and its relationship to the Sufi path, this article draws upon Abū Madyan’s other works, such as his collected aphorisms, al-Ḥikam al-Ghawthīyya (The Ghawthiyya Aphorisms), as well as the works of his later commentators, such as Aḥmad ibn ‘Ajība (d. 1809) and Aḥmad Ibn Muṣṭafā al-ʿAlawī (d. 1934 CE). This article demonstrates that throughout this poem Abū Madyan articulates a vision of divine unity that anticipates what would later be known as the doctrine of the Unity of Being (waḥdat al-wujūd), outlining a process of attaining spiritual union with God that takes annihilation of the self (fanā’ al-nafs) as its prerequisite. Annihilation of the self frees one from limited temporal qualities, which are replaced by divine attributes. At this point, the Sufi becomes annihilated from his own existence and becomes subsistent only by God, and it is at this point when spiritual union takes place. Recognizing the diversity of the created world as nothing but a reflection of the unity of the divine, Abū Madyan’s work anticipates the doctrine of the unity of being that emerged and developed in the centuries following his death. This article is composed of three sections. It begins by offering a biographical sketch of the life and legacy of Abū Madyan as a Sufi notable in twelfth-century North Africa, followed by an overview of Sufi literature on divine unity (tawḥīd) and the Sufi path, and analysis of the qaṣīda itself, by means of its intertextual connections to other Sufi literature.