The Incarnation Mystery in the Writings of John of the Cross as a Reverberation of Johannine Christology

This thesis is presented in two Parts; Part I forms the full exposition of the mysticism of Hamzah Fansuri, a Malay Sufi of the 16th century who lived in Barus in North Sumatra; Part II contains his three extant prose works edited in romanised Malay and translated into English; both the edition and the translation are annotated, A general picture of the spiritual climate of the period in which Hamzah lived, together with a brief biographical sketch attempting to establish his place of birth and the span of the period in which he lived - both of them problematic questions - is presented in the first chapter. Then in the second chapter allegations concerning the heresy in his ideas levelled against him by Nuru'1-Din al-Rahiri of Gujerat, who was in Acheh in North Sumatra in 1637. are critically examined. A conclusion that the allegations were unfounded is submitted. Chapter three deals with Hamzah's mystical doctrines in the domains of ontology, cosmology and psychology. Similarities with the doctrines of Ibnu'l-'Arabi and 'Abdu'l-Karim al-Jili are noted. Chapters four and five introduce methodological concepts in a modern semantic analysis which is employed to ascertain the meanings of important concepts in Hamzah's mystical system. These concepts - the Divine Will, Being, Existence, the Self - are couched in Malay, and comparison with Arabia, Greek, Persian and Sanskrit terms with a view to establishing equivalents is attempted. In the conclusion Hamzah's contributions in Malay classical literature, both in the field of poetry as well as that of rational inquiry is stated. It is further suggested that gamzah was the first man to set down in Malay the Sufi doctrines; that he was the first man to produce systematic speculative writing in Malay, A theory on the islamization process in the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago, in which it is suggested Hamzah played an important and hitherto undiscovered role, is also presented. The Appendices contain material already given in the table of contents. The most important material there is the Index of the Semantic Vocabulary of Hamzah's mystical system, which supports everything that has been said with reference to the concepts in Hamzah's teachings - in particular with concepts explained in Chapters four and five.

In this article we pretend to explore the theme of corporeality in the mystical doctrine of the medieval author John of Ruusbroec. After explaining the radically different understanding of a body in medieval thinking we present a theoretical framework based on Patricia Dailey’s analysis of the inner and the outer body. After this, we make a first analysis of Ruusbroec’s approach to the body in het mystical experience. In Ruusbroec’s work the integration of the inner and outer body is more evident than in the previous tradition, that is, especially in the female spirituality of the 13th century. Corporeality is a theme with limited occurrence in Ruusbroec’s mystical doctrine, and it is mainly linked to Eucharistic devotion, but not exclusively.

The doctrine of the “seven grades of being”, or martabat tujuh in Malay, by which name the Indonesian variety of wujudiyya is known, was dominant in the Archipelago in the 17th century. This existential teaching was developed by Shaykh Shams al-Din al-Samatrani (1575—1630). In Aceh, northern Sumatra, the doctrine inspired considerable polemic among Muslims. It is noteworthy that the teaching was also perceived and developed in Western Sumatra. Shams al-Din's works became the primary reference for Shattariyya scholars in the Minangkabau region. Fifteen texts by Shams al-Din al-Samatrani were discovered in Minangkabau within a single manuscript containing other Sufi texts. This collection is commonly referred to as the Kitab al‑Tahqiq (“The Book of Verification”) by scholars of the Shattariyya brotherhood. The Kitab demonstrates that followers of the Shattariyya tariqa practised the teachings of wujudiyya (“the unity of being”), or the “seven grades of being”. The content of the book contrasts with the conclusion of Oman Fathurahman (2008), who argued that a dismantling of wahdat al-wujud occurred among adherents of the Shattariyya tariqa in Minangkabau. These works also link the intellectual dynamics of Acehnese Islam with that of Minangkabau. The texts provide an opportunity for comparative investigation of these two regional forms of Islam in northern and western Sumatra and their relationship. Moreover, they elucidate the early period of Islamisation and the penetration of Sufi mystical doctrines on Sumatra before the time of Shaykh Burhan al‑Din in Ulakan (1646—1692), the first propagator of Shattariyya teaching in Minangkabau. A critical period for presenting the dynamics of Islamisation in these two regions dates to the late 17th and early 18th centuries.