alchemy of happiness pt. 1

8/7/2019 Alchemy of Happiness Pt. 1

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b1trob~ctio"[The Persian text begins with the usual formula, "In thename of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful," whichprecedes virtually all works by Muslim authors. This isfollowed by a florid doxology, bless ings on the ProphetMuhammad, his family, and his companions, and astatement of the purpose and arrangement of the book. This

is considerably abbreviated in Field translation as follows 's :]now, 0 Beloved, that man was not created in jest or atrandom, but marvelously made and for some great end.1{. . Althou gh he is not from everlasting yet he lives for ,ever; and though his body is mean and earthly, yet his spirit isl ofty and divine. When in the crucible of abstinence he ispurged from carnal passions he attains to the highest and in ,place of being a slave to lust and anger becomes endowed withangelic qualities. Attaining that state, he finds his heaven in thecontemplation of Eternal Beauty, and no longer in fleshlydelights. The spiritual alchemy which operates this change in

him, like that which transmutes base metals into gold, is noteasily discovered, nor to be found in the house of every oldwoman. It is to explain that alchemy and its methods ofoperation that the author has undertaken this work, which hehas entitled, The Alchemy of Happiness . Now the treasuries ofGod, in which this alchemy is to be sough t, are the earts of the hproph ets, and he who seeks it elsewhere will be disappointedand ba nkrupt on the day of judgment when he hears the word,= Page 1 =THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 4 -"We have lifted the veil from off thee, and thy sight today iskeen."! Chapter OMe

God has sent on earth a hundred and twenty-four thousand~ndprophets/ to teach men the prescription of this alchemy, l,"owle~of Self~nhow to purify their hearts from baser qualities the crucl?leof abstinence This alchemy may be briefly descnbed as . turningaway from the world to God, and its constituents are four:.The knowledge of self..? nowledge of self is the key to the knowledge of God,2 . The knowledge of God . .

" according to the saying: "He who knows himself knows1. The knowledge of this world as it really IS . God,"! and, as it is written in the Koran, We will show "4. The knowledge of the next world as it really IS. them Our signs in the world and in themselves that , the truth~We shall now proceed to expound these four constituentsmay be manifest to them.'? Now nothing is nearer to thee thanin order. thyself, and if thou knowest not thyself how canst thou knowanything else? If thou sayest "I know myself," meaning thy1 Koran 50 there is a distinction between "apostles (singu ar , :22. " . I' Iii lural ..

outward shape, body, face, limbs, and so forth, such knowledge2 In Islam, ,",::U pprophets can never be a key to the knowledge of God. Nor, if thy


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I) h o are the bearers of a "book" of revelation and ld that thereIUSU w , . di Itlon e h(nabf/anbiya') who are simply inspired by the divine . Tra . knowledge as to that which is within only extends so far, thatapostl~ . The Koran Itself, however,when thou art hungry thou eatest, and when thou art angry .h d been 124000 prophets and 315

a , nine apo d M hammad) andidentifies o 1i1y stles ( notably M oses, Jesus, an u'.thou attackest someone, wilt thou progress any further in thistwenty-eight prophets (such as Jacob, David, Elias, or John the Baptist).path, for the beasts are thy partners in this? But real self-1 This s supposed to be a i hadtth (that is, a statement attributed to theProphet Muhammad such sayings were verified by the study of the names of ;the various authorities reported to have been involved in the oral transmissionof the tradition) This idea appears in many works attributed to al-Ghazzali: see.

Abdul Qayyum, Leiters of al-Ghazzali (Lahore, 1976), p 118 where he writes,

. ,"If you would know God, you must look into your own heart ." Cf. the Madnun,translated by A Hazarvi, . The Mysteries of the Human Soul (Lahore, 1981), p .28.2 Koran, 41 :53. Th is verse attracted much attention among both esotericShi'ites and certain Muslim mystics. It inspired the construction of elaborateparallels between the structure of the cosmos, the world, and the human body;for an example, see J . K. Birge, The Bektashi Order of Dervishes (London,1937), pp. 239-243 and illustration 1117 . Note that Ghazzali distances himself

from the notion that the physical body reveals anything about the nature orappearance of God.= Page 2 =TIlE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS KNOWLEDGE OF SELF -7-- 6 -knowledge consists in knowing the following things: What art country for the sake of merchandise, and it will presentlyreturn to its native land. It is the knowledge of this entity andthou in thyself, and from whence hast thou come? Whither arth~re its attributes which is the key to the knowledge of God.thou going, and for what purpose has thou come to tarryawhile and in what does thy real happiness and misery consist? Some idea of thereality of the heart, or spirit, may beSome of thy attributes are those of animals, some of devils, and obtained by aman closing his eyes and forgetting everythingsome of angels, and thou hast to find out which of these around except his individuality. He will thus also obtain aattributes are accidental and which essential. Till thou knowest glimpse of theunending nature of that individuality. Too closethis thou canst not find out where thy real happiness lies. The inquiry, however, into the essence of spirit is forbidden by theocc~pation figh~ing; Law. In the Koran it is written: "They will question theeof animals is eating, sleeping,. andtherefore if thou art an animal, busy thyself rn these things. concerning th

e spirit. Say, 'The Spirit comes by the commandDevils are busy in stirring up mischief, and in guile and deceit; of my Lord."?' Thus much is known of it that it is an indivisible


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Angel~ contem~l~teif thou belongest to them, do their work. essence belonging to the world of decrees, and that it is notamma~ quah~l~s;the beauty of God, and are entirely free from from everlasting but created. Anexact philosophical knowledgeif thou art of angelic nature, then strive towards thine ongm, of the spirit i

s not a necessary preliminary to walking in thethat thou mayest know and contemplate the Most High, and be path of religion, but comes rather as the result of self-disciplinedelivered from the thralldom of lust and anger. Thou shouldest and perseverancein that path, as it is said in the Koran:"Thos~also discover why thou hast been created with these two animal who strive in Our way, verily We will guide them to theinstincts: whether that they should subdue and lead thee right paths ."!captive, or whether that thou shouldest subdue them, and, in For the carryingon of this spiritual warfare by which thethy upward progress, make of one thy steed and of the other knowledge of onesel

f and of God is to be obtained the body ,may be figured as a kingdom, the soul as its king, and thethy weapon.'different senses and faculties as constituting an army. ReasonThe first step to self-knowledge is to know that thou artmay be called the vizier, or prime minister passion the ,composed of an outward shape, called the body, and an inward~he revenue-collector, and anger the police-officer . Under theentity called the heart or soul. By "heart" I.do not meanguise of collecting revenue, passion is continually prone topiece of flesh situated in the left of our bodies, but that whichuses all the other faculties as its instruments and servants. In4 Koran, 17:85.The usual nterpretation of this verse, in a narrow sense, is i

truth it does not belong to the visible world, but to the invisible,that it was intended as guidance for Muhammad in replying to criticism of hisand has come into this world as a traveller visits a foreignprophetic mission by Jews and skeptics. Cf. Qayyum, Letters, p. 108: "Theeternal God is found at a point within ourselves, which as the mystics hold, isequally God's central reality and ours, where spirit meets spirit."3 Ghazzall's explanation of the animal and angelic nature of human beings,Sd the consequent need to develop the angelic characterist ics, greatly Koran,29 :69. Throughout this section, which is much longer in the

an ., h ePersian text, Ghazzali makes frequent allusions to the concept of ,jihad,influenced, among others, St. Thomas Aquinas, who incorporated It . 1O to tSumma Theologica, sometimes following Ghazzall's text verbatim. See "striving." It should be noted, however, that he interprets jihad as "spiritualwarfare" not "holy war" and his martial imagery is purely symbolic in intent:Margaret Smith, AI-GhazalftheMystic (London, 1944), pp. 221-22. .= Page 3 =KNOWLEDGE OF SELF - 9 -THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 8-have subjected all things in the earth."6 But if his lowerplunder on its own account, while resentment is always inclinedtendencies have triumphed, after death he will ever be lookingto harshness and extreme severity. Both of these, the revenue-

towards the earth and longing for earthly delights Now the .collector and the police-officer, have to be kept inrational soul in man abounds in marvels, both of knowledge


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subordination to the king, but not killed or excelled, as theyand power. By means of it he masters arts and sciences, canhave their own proper functions to fulfill. But if passion andpass in a flash from earth to heaven and back again, can mapresentment master reason, the ruin of the soul infallibly ensues.out the skies and measure the distances between the stars. By itA soul which allows its lower faculties to dominate the higher is

also he can draw the fish from the sea and the birds from theas one who should hand over an angel to the power of a dog orair, and can subdue to his service animals like the elephant, thea Muslim to the tyranny of an unbeliever. The cultivation ofcamel and , the horse His five senses . are like five doorsdemonic, animal, or angelic qualities results in the productionopening on the external world; but, more wonderful than this ,of corresponding characters, which in the Day of Judgment willhis heart has a window which opens on the unseen world ofbe manifested in visible shapes, the sensual appearing as swine,spirits. In the state of sleep, when the avenues of the senses arethe ferocious as dogs and wolves, and the pure as angels. The

closed, this window is opened and man receives impressionsaim of moral discipline is to purify the heart from the rust offrom the unseen world and sometimes foreshadowings of thepassion and resentment, till, like a clear mirror, it reflects thefuture. His heart is then like a mirror which reflects what islight of God.pictur~din the Tablet of Fate,? But, even in sleep, thoughts ofworldly things dull this mirror, so that the impression itSomeone may here object "But if man has been , created receives are not clear. After death, however, such thoughtswith animal and demonic qualities as well as angelic, how are vanish and things are seen in their naked reality, and the saying

we to know that the latter constitute his real essence, while the in the Koran is fulfilled: "We have stripped the veil from offformer are merely accidental and transitory?" To this I answer thee and thy sight today is keen."!that the essence of each creature is to be sought in that whichThis opening of a window in the heart towards the unseenis highest in it and peculiar to it. Thus the horse and the ass arealso takes place in conditions approaching those of propheticboth burden-bearing animals, but the superiority of the horseinspiration, when intuitions spring up in the mind unconveyedto the ass consists in its being adapted for use in battle . If itthrough any sense-channel. The more a man purifies himselffails in this, it becomes degraded to the rank of burden-bearingfrom fleshly lusts and concentrates his mind on God, the moreanimals. Similarly with man: the highest faculty in him isconscious will he be of such intuitions. Those who are notreason, which fits him for the contemplation of God. If thisconscious of them have no right to deny their reality.predominates in him, when he dies, he leaves behind him alltendencies to passion and resentment, and becomes capable of6 Koran, 45:13.association with angels. As regards his mere animal qualities,7 This is Field's translation of the expression law~1 maNC4; see below, ~8.man is inferior to many animals but reason makes him ,

8 (Koran, 50:22;cf. above, Introduction, p. 4, n . 1. !superior to them as it is written in the Koran: "To man We


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= Page 4 =KNOWLEDGE OF SELFTHE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS - 11 -- 10 -Nor are such intuitions confined only to those of prophetic can move bodies extraneous to themselves. (3) The knowledgewhich others acquire by laborious learning comes to them by

rank Just as iron, by sufficient polishing can be . made into aintuition.mirror, so any mind by due discipline can be renderedth~ th~ pro~?etreceptive of such impressions. It was at truth These three, of course,are not the only marks whichhinted when he said, "Every child is born with a predispositiOn differentiatethem from common people, but the only ones thattowards Islam; then his parents make a Jew, or a Christian or , come within our cognizance. Just as no one knows the reala star-worshiper of him."? Every human being has in the depths nature ofGod but God Himself, so no one knows the real

of his consciousness heard the question "Am I not your nature of a prophetbut a prophet. Nor is this to be wonderedLord??" and answered "Yes" to it. But some hearts are like at, as in everyday matters we see that it is impossible to explainmirrors so befouled with rust and dirt that they give no clear the charm of poetry to one whose ear is insusceptible ofreflections while those of the Prophets and saints, though they cadence and rhythm, or the glories of color to one who is, ..are men "of like passions with US"l1 are extremely sensitive to stone-blind. Besides mere incapacity, there are otherhindrances to the attainment of spiritual truth. One of these isall divine impressions.

Nor is it only by reason of knowledge acquired and intuitive externally acquired knowledge. To use a figure, the heart maythat the soul of man holds the first rank among created things, be represented as a well, and the five senses as five streamswhich are continually conveying water to it. In order to find outbut also by reason of power. Just as angels preside over ther~lelements so does the soul rule the members of the body. Those the contents of the heart these streams must be stoppedfor a time, at any rate, and the refuse they have brought withsouls which attain a special degree of power not only rule theirthem must be cleared out of the well. In other words, if we areown body but those of others also. If they wish a sick man toto arrive at pure spiritual truth, we must put away, for the time ,recover, he recovers, or a person in health to fall ill he becomesknowledge which has been acquired by external processes andill, or if they will the presence of a person he comes to them .which too often hardens into dogmatic prejudice.According as the effects produced by these powerful souls aregood or bad they are termed miracles or sorceries These souls . A mistake ofan opposite kind is made by shallow peoplediffer from common folk in three ways: (1) What others only who, echoing some phrases which they have caught from SufiUsee in dreams they see in their waking moments. (2) While teachers, go about

decrying all knowledge. This is as if aothers' wills only affect their own bodies, these, by will-power,U This section gives only a very abridged version of the Persian text. By


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"knowledge," Ghazzall is referring primarily to "ilm (formal religious9 A very well-known ~adfth, or saying attributed to the Pro~hctknowledge) . It is very typical of him to emphasize that just as the religiousMuhammad . It is found in virtually all of the authoritative hadith collections,scholar should not deride the mystical experience of the Sufi, the true Sufi

l ncluding those of Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi, etc See A J. Wensinck, . . Ashould not disparage religious scholarship. In other writings, such as theHandbook of Early Muhammadan Tradition (reprint; Leidcn, 1960), p 45. .autobiographical Deliverance from Error, Ghazzall made similar observations10 An allusion to Koran 7:172 .about the sciences "the man who s loyal to Islam but ignorant thinks that : i.. .11 An allusion to Koran 18 :110. This i s one of several verses whichreligion must be defended by re jecting every sc ience connected with theemphasize the completely human character of the Prophet Muhammad (oftenphilosophers, and so rejects all their sciences and accuses them of im~rance .

.. .contrasted to the way Christians regard Jesus as divine) .\= Page 5 =THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS KNOWLEDGE OF SELF - 13-- 12 -person who was not an adept in alchemy were to go about dies not, and retainswhatever knowledge of God it possesses;saying, "Alchemy is better than gold," and were to refuse gold nay, increases it.when it was offered to him Alchemy is better than gold, but .An important part of our knowledge of God arises from thereal alchemists are very rare, and so are real Sufis. He who has

study and contemplation of our own bodies, which reveal to usa mere smattering of Sufism is not superior to a learned man,the power, wisdom, and love of the Creator. His power, in thatany more than he who has tried a few experiments in alchemyfrom a mere drop He has built up the wonderful frame of man;has ground for despising a rich man . His wisdom is revealed in its intricacies and the mutualAnyone who will look into the matter will see that adaptability of its parts; and His love is shown by His not onlyhappiness is necessarily linked with the knowledge of God. supplying such organs as are absolutely necessary for existence,Each faculty of ours delights in that for which it was created : as the liver,the heart, and the brain, but those which are not

taki~glust delights in accomplishing desire, anger in absolutely necessary, as thehand, the foot, the tongue, and thevengeance, the eye in seeing beautiful objects, and the ear In eye. To these He has added, as ornaments, the blackness of the~he.soul ~fhearing harmonious sounds. The highest functi?n of hair, the redness of lips and the curve of the eyebrows. ,man is the perception of truth; in this accordingly tt finds 1tS Man has been truly termed a "microcosm," or little worldspecial delight. Even in trifling matters, such as learning chess, in himself,and the structures of his body should be studied not

this holds good, and the higher the subject-matter of the only by those who wish to become doctors, but by those whoknowledge obtained, the greater the delight. A man WOUld. be wish to attain


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to a more intimate knowledge of God,13 just as~f ~pleased at being admitted into the. confidence pnme close study of the niceties and shades of language in a greatminister, but how much more if the king makes an intimate of poem reveals tous more and more of the genius of its author.him and discloses state secrets to him!

But, when aU is said, the knowledge of the soul plays aAn astronomer who, by his knowledge, can map the stars more important part inleading to the knowledge of God thanand describe their courses, derives more pleasure from his the knowledge of ourbody and the functions. The body may be~hatknowledge than the chess-player from his. Seeing, then, compared to a steed andthe soul to its rider; the body wasnothing is higher than God, how great must be the dehght created for the soul,the soul for the body. If a man knows notwhich springs from the true knowledge of Him! his own soul, which is the nearest thing to him, what is the use

of his claiming to know others? It is as if a beggar who has notA person in whom the desire for this knowledge hasthe wherewithal for a meal should claim to be able to feed adisappeared is like one who has lost his appetite for healt?ytown.food, or who prefers feeding on clay to eating bread . All bodilyappetites perish at death with the organs they use, but the soul In this chapter we have attempted in some degree toexpound the greatness of man's soul. He who neglects it and~suffers its capacities to rust or to degenerate must necessarilyA grievous crime indeed against religion has been committed b'y the ~an wh~j

imagines that Islam is defended by the denial of the mathematical sciences ....(W. M. Watt, The Faith and Practice of al-GhazlJ/f , p 34.) . 13 On this idea, see above, n. 2.= Page 6 =

_14 - THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESSgr~atn.ess ~fbe the loser in this world and the next. The trueman lies in his capacity for eternal progress, otherwise in thistemporal sphere he is the weakest of all things, being subject toChapter Twohunger, thirst, heat, cold, and sorrow. Those things he takesthos~most delight in are often the most injurious to him, .and 1{l1o\,\,leb5e ofGob~things which benefit him are not to obta.ined Without toiland trouble. As to his intellect, a slight disarrangement ofmatter in his brain is sufficient to destroy or madden him; as tohi~his power, the sting of a wasp is sufficient to rob of ease of t is a well-known saying of the Prophet that "He whosleep; as to his temper, he is upset by the loss of a sixpence; as knows himself, knows God"; that is, by contemplation1to his beauty, he is little more than nauseous matter covered of his own being

and attributes man arrives at somewith a fair skin. Without frequent washing he becomes utterly knowledge of God. But since many who contemplate


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themselves do not find God, it follows that there must be somerepulsive and disgraceful.In truth, man in this world is extremely weak .and special way of doing so. Asa matter of fact, there are twocontemptible; it is only in the next that he will be of value, Ifby methods ofarriving at this knowledge, but one is so abstrusemeans of the "alchemy of happiness" he rises from the rank of that it is not ad

apted to ordinary intelligences, and therefore isbeasts to that of angels. Otherwise his condition will be worse betterleft unexplained. The other method is as follows. When anece~sa.rythan the brutes, which perish and turn to dust. It is man considers himself he knows that there was a time when hefor him, at the same time that he is conscious of his supenont,Y was non-existent, as it is written in the Koran: "Does it notas the climax of created things, to learn to know also his occur to man that there was a time when he was nothing?"!helplessness, as that too is one of the keys to the knowledge of Further, he knows that he was made out of a drop of water in

which there was neither intellect, nor hearing, sight, head,God.hands, feet, etc. From this it is obvious that, whatever degree ofperfection he may have arrived at, he did not make himself,nor can he now make a single hair.How much more helpless, then, was his condition when hewas a mere drop of water! Thus, as we have seen in the firstreflect~ miniature ~chapter, he finds in his own bemg in so tospeak, the power, wisdom, and love of the Creator. If all thesages of the world were assembled, and their lives prolongedfor an indefinite time, they could not effect any improvementin the construction of a single part of the body . I

1 A free translation of Koran 76 :1.= Page 7 =KNOWLEDGE OF GOD - 17 -THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 16 -Not only are man's attributes a reflection of God'sFor instance, in the adaptation of the front and. side-teethconstru.c~IOn ~he attributes, but the mode of existence of man's soul affordsto the mastication of food, and in the of.w~ some insight into God's mode of existence. That is to say, bothtongue, salivating glands, and throat for its deglutitIOn, findGod and the soul are invisible, indivisible, unconfmed by spacea contrivance which cannot be improved upon. Similarly,~nequal and time, and outside the categories of quantity and quality;whoever considers his hand, with its five fingers ofthum~ nor can the ideas of shape, color, or size attach to them. Peoplelengths, four of them with three joints and the with onlyfind it hard to form a conception of such realities as are devoidtwo, and the way in which it can be used for graspmg, or forof quality and quantity, etc., but a similar difficulty attaches tocarrying or for smiting, will frankly acknowledge t.hat nothe conception of our everyday feeling, such as anger, pain,amount' of human wisdom could better it by altenng thepleasure, or love They are thought-concepts and cannot be .number and arrangement of the fingers, or in any otherway.

cognized by the senses; whereas quality, quantity, etc. areWhen a man further considers how his various wants ofsense-concepts. Just as the ear cannot take cognizance of color,


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~ffood lodging, etc are amply supplied from the storehouse .,nor the eye of sound, so, in conceiving of the ultimate realities,crea~ion H~she becomes aware that God's mercy is as great asGod and the soul, we find ourselves in a region in which sense-~nd ~er~

power wisdom, as He has Himself said, "My ISconcepts can bear no part. So much, however, we can see, that,greater than My wrath,"2 and according to the Prophet s saying,as God is Ruler of the universe, and being Himself beyond"God is more tender to His servants than a mother to herspace and time, quantity and quality, [He] governs things thatkli mg-c hild."? Thus from his own creation man comes tosuc . . . are so conditioned, so that soul rules the body and itsbo.d~yknow God's existence, from the wonders of his framemembers, being itself invisible, indivisible, and unlocated in anyGod's power and wisdom, and from the ample proviston made

special part. For how can the indivisible be located in thatfor his various needs God's love In this way the knowledge of .which is divisible? From all this we see how true is the saying ofoneselfbecomes a key to the knowledge of God.the Prophet, "God created man in His own likeness."And, as we arrive at some knowledge of God's essence andattributes from the contemplation of the soul's essence and2 Allributing a quotation to God usually implies the citation of a Koranichi case, however Ghazzali is referring not to the Koran but to a attributes, so we come to understand God's method of workingverse . I wn ntIs , P rop et hIl-k hadith qudsi-a divinely inspired utterance by the:: ha:omad q'noting God as saying something but one which is not regar~ed as

4 Bukhari, !iaIJil) , 79/1; Muslim, !iaIJiIJ (Cairo, 1283/1866-07), 45/115.

u. of the revelation that makes up the K oran Th h dith qudsi thus etpart . e. ~ I Strictly speaking, the hadlth says that God created Adamin his own image, butcombines features of both conventional hadith (reports of things the.Prophthis is understood as applying to all mankind In terms of . the history of Muslimid his own authority) and the Koran (direct revelation fromMuhamma d salon . theology, this concept was potentially dangerous since itimplied an element ofGod); on this phenomenon, see William Graham, D ivine Wa:~ an.d Prop/~etlctashbth, or anthropomorphism. Ghazzali, however, makes it clear that "image"Word in Early Islam (The Hague, 1977) This particular tradition . IS describeddoes not mean physical form; see above, Chapter One, n . 2. This l:Iadithseemsby Graham , Prophetic Word, pp 184-85 . (#59) . to have been one of Ghazzali's favorites; it also figures in his Jawlihir al-qur'an, translated by M. A Quasem, . The Jewels of the Qur'dn (London,1983), p.3 A fairly well-known I)adith cited by al-Bukhari, !iaIJil) (Leiden 1862-1908) , ,51.78/18; Ibn Maja, Sunan (Cairo, 1313/1895-%),37/35.

= Page 8 =KNOWLEDGE OF GOD - 19 -THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS


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- 18 -it appears on the "Tablet of Destiny.'" whence, by theand government and delegation of power to angelic forces, etc.,mediation of the forces called "angels" it assumes actuality, andby observing how each of us governs his own little kingdom. Toappears on the earth in the form of plants, trees, and animals,th~

take a simple instance: suppose a man wishes. to. writerepresenting the will and thought of God, as the written lettersname of God.s First of all the wish is conceived in his heart, Itrepresent the wish conceived in the heart and the shapet~eis then conveyed to the brain by the vital spirits, the form ofpresent in the brain of the writer.d "God" takes shape in the thought-chambers of the brain,wor . h eNo one can understand a king but a king; therefore Godthence it travels by the nerve channels, and sets in motion thas made each of us a king in miniature, so to speak, over a

fingers which in their turn set in motion the pen, and thus thekingdom which is an infinitely reduced copy of His own. In thename '''God'' is traced on paper exactly as it had ?eenkingdom of man God's "throne" is represented by the soul; theconceived in the writer's brain. Similarly, when God wills .aKo~a.n Archangel by the heart, "the chair" by the brain, "the tablet" bything it appears in the spiritual plane, which in the ISthe treasure chamber of thought. The soul, itself unlocated andcalled "The Throne;"6 from the throne it passes, by a spiritualindivisible, governs the body as God governs the universe. Incurrent, to a lower planecalled "The Chair;"? then the shape ofshort, each of us is entrusted with a little kingdom, and chargednot to be careless in the administration of it.

S Literally, the b'ismilliih ("in the name of God"), a conventional formulaAs regards the recognition of God's providence, there areused at the beginning of all writings, formal speeches, etc .6 In the Persian text, Ghazzali specificallycites.Koran 1~:3- :lGo .dJ. isfirmly many degrees of Knowledge . The mere physicist is like an antestablished on the Throne, regulating and governmg all things. Thl~ IS ~neof who, crawling on a sheet of paper and observing black lettersseveral places where the Koran (7:52 13:2; etc.) speaks of ; Go~ b~mg. fir.mlyspreading over it, should refer the cause to the pen alone . Theestablished on the throne ("arsh)." Despite the anthropomorphist Imph.catlo~Sastronomer is like an ant of somewhat wider vision who shouldf the idea of God "s itting" on a throne, many Muslims insisted on a literahs~catch sight of the fingers moving the pen, i .e., he knows that the~nterpretation of this and otherverses The dominant Ashcari theology of . Sunnielements are under the power of the stars, but he does notIslam rejected anthropomorphism, but insisted on accep.~an~ of such.verses as. I f faith "without asking how." In Ghazzali s mterpretatlon here, know that the stars are under the power of the angels. Thus,an arne e highly reminiscent of the Neo-Platonic.theory 0 I, . " .which is ~f "emanations, he ISowing to the different degrees of perception in people, disputesclearly favoring an allegorical interpretation to dIstance himself from charges

oftashbih. al-ma!Jfa~,8 This term, properly transliterated as al-lawh comes from the


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7 Known as al-kursi. This term occurs in this sense only in the famousKoran, 85:22, where it seems to refer to the Koran itself. Literalist theologians"Throne Verse" of the Koran (2 :255); the other occurrence of the word refersinterpreted this to mean the original copy of the Koran preserved on tablets into the throne of Solomon Theologians and exegetes of the Koran . w~reheaven (cf. Ghazzali , Pearl , p. 63) others took it in a rather predestinar

ian ;somewhat puzzled by the use of this term along with "arsh (see the ~re..eedl~~sense to mean the records of all the actions that have been or will be taken on'note) What is the difference between God's "throne" : (Carsh) and HIS chairearth; mystics and philosophers interpreted it in various allegorical ways Here,.

(kursi)? Were the two terms simply synonyms or fundamentall~ different? HowGhazzali attaches his own highly technical meaning to the term, which serves ascould a non_anthropomorphic God "sit" on a throne or chair? .Should these

a powerful image throughout his writings: see Hazarvi, Mysteries of the Humanwords be explained literally or symbolically? On thi~ .import~nt I~ue, see:':seSoul , pp 36-47; A. , J . Wensinck, On the Relation between Ghaziili's Cosmologyarticle "Kursi" in the Encyclopaedia of Islam (new edition; Leiden , in progr ),andhis Mysticism (Amsterdam, 1933) . /5:509(hereafter cited as EI 2) = Page 9 =KNOWLEDGE OF GOD - 21-THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 20-

of so-called illness For instance, . if a man ceases to take anymust arise in tracing effects to causes. Those whose eyes neverinterest in worldly matters, conceives a distaste for commonsee beyond the world of phenomena are like those who mistakepleasures, and appears sunk in depression, the doctor will say,servants of the lowest rank for the king. The laws of"This is a case of melancholy, and requires such and such aphenomena must be constant, or there could be no such thingprescription." The physicist will say, "This is a dryness of theas science; but it is a great error to mistake the slaves for thebrain caused by hot weather and cannot be relieved till the airmaster.becomes moist." The astrologer will attribute it to someAs long as this difference in the perceptive faculty ofparticular conjunction or opposition of the planets. "Thus farobservers exists, disputes must necessarily go on. It is as iftheir wisdom reaches," says the Koran." It does not occur tosome blind men, hearing that an elephant had come to theirthem that what has really happened is this: that the Almightytown, should go and examine it. The only knowledge of it whichhas a concern for the welfare of that man, and has thereforethey can obtain comes through the sense of touch; so onecommanded His servants, the planets or the elements, tohandles the animal's leg, another his tusk, another his ear, and,produce such a condition in him that he may turn away from

according to their several perceptions, pronounce it to be athe world to his Maker. The knowledge of this fact is a lustrouscolumn, a thick pole, or a quilt, each taking a part for the


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pearl from the ocean of inspirational knowledge, to which aUwhole." So the physicist and astronomer confound the laws theyother forms of knowledge are as islands in the sea .perceive with the Lawgiver. A similar mistake is attributed toThe doctor, physicist, and astrologer are doubtless rightAbraham in the Koran, where it is related that he turnedeach in his particular branch of knowledge, but they do not see

successively to stars, moon, and sun as the objects of histhat illness is, so to speak, a cord of love bywhich God draws toworship, till grown aware of Him who had made all these, heHimself the saints concerning whom He has said, "I was sickexclaimed, "I love not them that set."IOand ye visited Me not."12 Illness itself is one of those forms ofWe have a common instance of this referring to secondexperience by which man arrives at the knowledge of God, ascauses what ought to be referred to the First Cause in the casehe says by the mouth of His prophet, "Sicknesses themselvesare My servants, and are attached to Mychosen."139 Most English readers will be familiar with this popular story . . It is

probably of Indian origin bul was well known in the Muslim worl~; II alsoappears in Rumi's great mystical poem, the Mathnawf : See R. A. Nicholson,11 Koran, 53 :30.The Mathnawf of Ja/Q/u'ddin Rumi (London, 1930; reprint , 1977),2:71.12Th IS IS " anot her example of a hadith qudst (above, n . 2) . Manyof these10 Koran, 6 :76. In the MiCyiir a/-"ilm, Ghazzali made use of this idea ofthosespecial traditions are similar to passages from non-Muslim scripture, and thewho "love not them that set" to refer to the "elect of the elect;" see Smith,parallel of this quotation to Christ's parable of the Last Judgment (MatthewGhazt1/f, p. 34 . Some Muslims would dispute Ghazzali's suggestion t~at

24:41 -45) has been noted by Smith , GhazQ/i, p. 117 and Graham, DivineWord,Abraham practiced an astral religion. According to the modem Muslimpp. 179-80; see also EI 2 , 3 :28-29. Ghazzali repeats this same saying ina fullerinterpreter of the Koran, cAbd Allah Yusuf CAli, Tarjama macdnf a/-qur'dnform later in this work see below Chapter Eight, n. 7 ; , .a/-karfm (Riyadh, n .d.), p. 309 n 898, "This allegory shows the stages of .13 This would appear to be another lJadith qudsi , but I have not been abletoAbraham's spiritual development. It should not be supposcd that he literallyidentify it. It also does not appear in the Persian text. .worshipped stars or heavenly bodies ."= Page 10 =KNOWLEDGE OF GODruE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS - 23 -- 22-The foregoing remarks may enable us to enter a little more these matters. "He who transgresses these limits wrongs hisfully into the meaning of those exclamations so often on the own soul," as it is written in the Koran ."lips of the Faithful: "God is holy," "Praise be to God," "ThereNotwithstanding this clear pronouncement of the Koranis no god but God," "God is great." Concerning the last we maythere are those who, through their ignorance of God, do

say that it does not mean that God is greater than creation, fortransgress these limits, and this ignorance may be due tocreation is His manifestation as light manifests the sun, and it


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several different causes: Firstly, there are some who, failing towould not be correct to say that the sun is greater than its ownfind God by observation, conclude that there is no God andlight. It rather means that God's greatness immeasurablythat this world of wonders made itself, or existed fromtranscends our cognitive faculties, and that we can only form aeverlasting. They are like a man who, seeing a beautifully

very dim and imperfect idea of it. If a child asks us to explain towritten letter, should suppose that it had written itself withouthim the pleasure which exists in wielding sovereignty, we maya writer, or had always existed. People in this state of mind aresay it is like the pleasure he feels in playing bat and ball,so far gone in error that it is of little use to argue with them.though in reality the two have nothing in common except thatSuch are some of the physicists and astronomers to whom wethey both come under the category of pleasure.referred above.Some, through ignorance of the real nature of the soul,Thus, the exclamation, "God is great" means that His

repudiate the doctrine of a future life, in which man will begreatness far exceeds all our powers of comprehension .called to account and be rewarded or punished They regard : .Moreover, such imperfect knowledge of God as we can attainthemselves as no better than animals or vegetables, and equallyto is not a mere speculative knowledge, but must beperishable. Some, on the other hand, believe in God and aaccompanied by devotion and worship. When a man dies hefuture life but with a weak belief. They say to themselves, "Godhas to do with God alone, and if we have to live with a person,is great and independent of us; our worship or abstinence fromour happiness entirely depends on the degree of affection weworship is a matter of entire indifference to Him ." Their state

feel towards him. Love is the seed of happiness, and love ofof mind is like that of a sick man who, when prescribed aGod is fostered and developed by worship .certain regime by his doctor, should say, "Well, if I follow it ordon't follow it, what does it matter to the doctor?" It certainlySuch worship and constant remembrance of God implies adoes not matter to the doctor, but the patient may destroycertain degree of austerity and curbing of bodily appetites Not .himself by his disobedience. Just as surely as uncheckedthat a man is intended altogether to abolish these, for then thesickness of body ends in bodily death, so does uncured diseasehuman race would perish. But strict limits must be set to theirof the soul end in future misery, according to the saying of theindulgence, and as a man is not the best judge in his own caseas to what these limits should be, he had better consult somespiritual guide on the subject. Such spiritual guides are the14 Koran, 65 :1. This verse discusses the subject of divorce and then states,prophets, and the lawswhich they have laid down under divine "Those are limitsset by God and any who transgresses the limits of God, does :inspiration prescribe the limits which must be observed in verilywrong his (own) soul."= Page 11 =KNOWLEDGE OF GOD - 25 -THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS-24-

to him. Even if any of them do really conquer their passions,Koran, "Only those shall be saved who come to God with athey have no right to make such a claim, for the prophets, the


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sound heart.?"highest of human kind, constantly confessed and bewailed theirA fourth kind of unbelievers are those who say, "The Law~omesins. of them had such a dread of sin that they eventells us to abstain from anger, lust, and hypocrisy This is .abstained from lawful things; thus it is related of the Prophet

qua~tie~plainly impossible, for man is created with thesethat, one day, when a date had been brought to him he wouldinherent in him. You might as well tell us to make black white.not eat it, as he was not sure that it had been lawfully obtained.Those foolish people ignore the fact that the law does not tellWhereas these free-lives will swallow gallons" of wine andd~eus to uproot these passions, but to restrain them withinclaim (I shudder as 1 write) to be superior to the Prophetlimits, so that, by avoiding the great sins, we may obtainwhose sanctity was endangered by a date, while theirs is

forgiveness of the smaller ones. Even the Prophet of God said,unaffected by all that wine! Surely they deserve that the devil"I am a man like you, and get angry like others;" and in theshould drag them down to perdition. Real saints know that heKoran it is written, "God loves those who swallow down theirwho does not master his appetites does not deserve the nameanger.''" not those who have no anger at all. .of a man, and the true Muslim is one who will cheerfullyA fifth class lay stress on the beneficence of God, andacknowledge the limits imposed by the Law. He whod~,ignore Hisjustice, saying to themselves, "Well, whatever weendeavors, on whatever pretext, to ignore its obligations is

God is merciful." They do not consider that, though God IScertainly under Satanic influence, and should be talked to notmerciful, thousands of human beings perish miserably in . . 'WIth a pen but with a sword. These pseudo mystics sometimeshunger and disease. They know that whosoever wishes for apretend to be drowned in a sea of wonder, but if you ask themlivelihood, or for wealth, or learning, must not merely say,what they are wondering at they do not know. They should be"God is merciful," but must exert himself. Although the Korantold to wonder as much as they please, but at the same time tosays, "Every living creature's support comes from God," it isremember that the Almighty is their Creator and that they arealso written, "Man obtains nothing except by striving."? TheHis servants.fact is, such teaching is really from the devil, and such peopleonly speak with their lips and not with their heart.18 Literally qadaIJ hI1, cups or bowls .A sixth class claim to have reached such a degree ofsanctity that sin cannot affect them Yet, it you treat one of .them with disrespect, he will bear a grudge against you foryears, and if one of them be deprived of a morsel of food whichhe thinks his due, the whole world will appear dark and narrow1.5 Koran, 26:89, referring to Judgment Day .16 Koran, 3:134 and 53:39. These verses figured prominently in the debate .17 Koran 11:6

over predestination in Islamic theology.= Page 12 =THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS


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- 26-Chapter ThreelU1owl~ofThfs Worbhis world is a stage or market-place passed by pilgrimson their way to the next. It is here that they provideT

themselves with provisions for the way; or, to put itplainly, man acquires here, by the use of his bodily senses,some knowledge of the works of God, and, through them, ofGod Himself, the sight of whom will constitute his futurebeatitude. It is for the acquirement of this knowledge that thespirit of man has descended into this world of water and clay.As long as his senses remain with him he is said to be "in thisworld;" when they depart, and only his essential attributesremain, he is said to have gone to "the next world."While man is in this world, two things are necessary forhim: first, the protection and nurture of his soul; secondly, thecare and nurture of his body. The proper nourishment of the

soul, as above shown, is the knowledge and love of God, and tobe absorbed in the love of anything but God is the ruin of thesoul. The body, so to speak, is simply the riding-animal of thesoul and perishes while the soul endures. The soul should takecare of the body, just as a pilgrim on his way to Mecca takescare of his camel; but if the pilgrim spends his whole time inThe Mystic Dance of Ecstasy. The Sufi Mui)ammad Tabadldlni (d 1486) .feeding and adorning his camel, the caravan will leave himis shown dancing while his followers play musical intruments. Normallybehind, and he willperish in the desert.regarded as unlawful by Muslim pietists, G~azzali regard~d this as anMan's bodily needs are simple, being comprised underacceptable mystical practice (as discussed In Chapter. SIX). From a

manuscript of Klizargahi's Majd/is a/- Ushshiiq (Assemblies C of the Loversthree heads food, clothing, and a dwelling-place; but the bodily :[of God]) in the Bodleian Library, Ouseley Add . 24, f. 19lr.desires which were implanted in him with a view to procuring(Reproduced by permission of the Bodleian Library, Oxford)these are apt to rebel against reason, which is of later growth= Page 13 =KNOWLEDGE OF 'rms WORLD 29 -nIE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 28 -The deceitful character of the world comes out in thethan they. Accordingly, as we saw above, they require to becurbed and restrained by the divine laws promulgated by the following ways. In the first place, it pretends that it will alwaysremain with you, while, as a matter of fact, it is slipping awayprophets.from you, moment by moment, and bidding you farewell, like aConsidering the world with which we have for a time to do,shadow which seems stationary, but is actually always moving .we find it divided into three departments-animal, vegetable,Again, the world presents itself under the guise of a radiant butand mineral. The products of all three are continually neededimmoral sorceress, pretends to be in love with you fondles you, ,by man and have given rise to three principal occupations-and then goes offto your enemies, leaving you to die of chagrin

those of the weaver, the builder, and the worker in metal.and despair. Jesus (upon whom be peace!) saw the worldThese, again, have many subordinate branches, such as tailors,


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revealed in the form of an ugly old hag . He asked her howmasons, smiths, etc. None can be quite independent of others;many husbands she had possessed; she replied that they werethis gives rise to various business-connections and relations andcountless. He asked whether they had died or been divorced;those too frequently afford occasions for hatred, envy, jealousy,she said that she had slain them all. "I marvel," he said, "at the

and other maladies of the soul. Hence come quarrels andfools who see what you have done to others, and still desirestrife , and the need of political and civil government andyou." .knowledge of law.Thus the occupations and businesses of the world have This sorceress decksherself out in gorgeous and jewelledbecome more and more complicated and troublesome, chiefly apparel and veils her face. Then she goes forth to seduce men,owing to the fact that men have forgotten that their real too many of whom follow her to their own destruction. Thenecessities are only three-clothing, food, and shelter, and that Prophe

t has said that on the Judgment Day the world willthese exist only with the object of making the body a fit vehicle appear in the form of a hideous witch with green eyes andfor the soul in its journey towards the next world. They have projectingteeth Man, beholding her, will say, "Mercy on us! .fallen into the same mistake as the pilgrim to Mecca, who is this?" Theangels will answer "This is , the world formentioned above, who, forgetting the object of his pilgrimage whose sake you quarreled and fought and embittered oneand himself, should spend his whole time in feeding and another's lives." Then she will be cast into hell, whence she willadorning his camel. Unless a man maintains the strictest watch cry out , "0 Lord! where are those my former lovers?" , God will

he is certain to be fascinated and entangled by the world, then commandthat they be cast after her.which, as the Prophet said, is "a more potent sorcerer thanWhoever will seriously contemplate the past eternity duringHarut and Marut ."!which the world was not in existence, and the future eternityduring which it will not be in existence, will see that it is1 The Koran, 2:102, says:.....the blasphemers were not Solomon but the evilessentially like a journey, in which the stages are representedones, teach ing men magic, and such things s came down at Babylon to the aby years, the leagues by months, the miles by days, and theangels Harut and MaruI." The identity of these two angels, and the ques~ion ofsteps by moments. What words, then, can picture the folly ofwhat exactly they taught, has been an object of considerable speculation bythe man who endeavors to make it his permanent abode, andcommentators on the Koran.= Page 14 =THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS KNOWLEDGE OF THIS WORLD - 31 -- 30-forms plans ten years ahead regarding things he may never We may close these illustrations of the deceitfulness of theneed, seeing that very possibly he may be under the ground in world with thefollowing short parable. Suppose a ship to arriveat a certain well-wooded island. The captain of the ship tellsten days!

the passengers he will stop a few hours there, but warns themThose who have indulged without limit in the pleasures ofnot to delay too long. Accordingly the passengers disembark


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what knowledge he possesses with him into the next world, andthough his good deeds have passed, yet the effect. of themChapter FOl-irremains in his character. Especially is this the case with acts ofdevotion, which result in the perpetual remembrance and lovel{l1olVle"se of tl1eof God. These are among "those good things" which, as the

Koran says, "pass not away."? . NextWorl"Other good things there are in the world, such as marnage,food, clothing, etc., which a wise man uses just in proportion asthey help him to attain to the next world. Other things whichengross the mind, causing it to cleave to this world and to be s regards thejoys of heaven and the pains of hell whichcareless of the next, are purely evil and were alluded to by the will follow this life, all believers in the Koran and theAProphet when he said, "The world is a curse, and all which is in Traditions are sufficiently informed. But it often

it is a curse, except the remembrance of God, and that whichescapes them that there is also a spiritual heaven and hell,aids it." concerning the former of which God said to His Prophet, "Eyehath not seen, nor ear heard, neither hath it entered into the3 Koran, 19:76:"...the good things that endure, good deeds, are best in theheart of man to conceive the things which are prepared for thesight of thy Lord...."righteous."! In the heart of the enlightened man there is awindow opening on the realities of the spiritual world, so thathe knows, not by hearsay or traditional belief, but by actualexperience, what produces wretchedness or happiness in thesoul just as clearly and decidedly as the Physician knows whatproduces sickness or health in the body. He recognizes that

knowledge of God and worship are medicinal, and thatignorance and sin are deadly poisons for the soul. Even manyso-called "learned" men, from blindly following others'opinions, have no real certainty in their beliefs regarding thehappiness or misery of souls in the next world, but he who willattend to the matter with a mind unbiased by prejudice willarrive at clear convictions on this matter.The effect of death on the composite nature of man is asfollows: Man has two souls, an animal soul and a spiritual soul,ia tt e ~ iS o hngelicwhich nature. The seat of the animal soul is1 Another hadtth qudsi. - See Graham, Divine Word, pp. 117-19 (#2).= Page 16 =KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEXT WORLD - 35-THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 34-persistingwhen the body is done with altogether, along with itsthe heart, from which this soul issues like a subtle vapor andessential attributes which were independent of the body, suchpervades all the members of the body, giving the power of sightas the knowledge and love of God . This is the meaning of theto the eye, the power of hearing to the ear, and to everysaying, "The good things abide.'? But if, instead of carryingmember the faculty of performing its own appropriateaway with you knowledge, you depart in ignorance of God, this

functions. It may be compared to a lamp carried about within aignorance also is an essential attribute, and will abide ascottage, the light of which falls upon the walls wherever it goes.


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darkness of soul and the seed of misery. Therefore the KoranThe heart is the wick of this lamp, and when the supply of oil issays, "He who is blind in this life will be blind in the next lifecut off for any reason, the lamp dies. Such is the death of theand astray from the path."4animal soul. With the spiritual, or human soul, the case isdifferent. It is indivisible, and by it man knows God. It is, so to The reason

of the human spirit seeking to return to thatspeak, the rider of the animal soul, and when that perishes it upper world is that its origin was from thence, and that it is ofangelic nature. It was sent down into this lower sphere againststill remains, but is like a horseman who has been dismounted,its will to acquire knowledge and experience, as God said in theor like a hunter who has lost his weapons. That steed and thoseKoran: "Go down from hence, all of you; there will come toweapons were granted the human soul that by means of them ityou instruction from Me, and they who obey the instructionmight pursue and capture the Phoenix? of the love andneed not fear, neither shall they be grieved."! The verse, "I

knowledge of God. If it has effected that capture, it is not agrief but rather a relief to be able to lay those weapons aside, breathed into man of My spirit,"6 also points to the celestialorigin of ' the human soul. Just as the health of the animal souland to dismount from that weary steed. Therefore the Prophetconsists in the equilibrium of its component parts, and thissaid, "Death is a welcome gift of God to the believer." But alasfor that soul which loses its steed and hunting weapons before equilibriumis restored, when impaired, by appropriatemedicine, so the health of the human soul consists in a moralit has captured the prize! Its misery and regret will beequilibrium which is maintained and repaired, when needful,indescribable.

by ethical instruction and moral precepts.A little further consideration will show how entirely distinctAs regards its future existence, we have already seen thatthe human soul is from the body and its members. Limb afterthe human soul is essentially independent of the body. Alllimb may be paralyzed and cease working, but the individualityobjections to its existence after death based on the supposedof the soul is unimpaired. Further, the body which you havenecessity of its recovering its former body fall, therefore, to thenow is no longer the body which you had as a child, but entirelyground. Some theologians have supposed that the human souldifferent, yet your personality now is identical with youris annihilated after death and then restored, but this is contrarypersonality then. It is therefore easy to conceive of it as3 A phrase taken from the Koran, 16:107; cr . above, ChapterThree, n. 3 .2 The Persian text does not use this metaphor. It was perhaps added by a4 Koran, 17:72 .subsequent editor as the usc of the phoenix as a symbol of mystical knowledge5 Koran, 2:36.was common in later Persian poetry (notably in Farid al-Din


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In his case, the Prophet's sayings will be verified: "Death is adeath does not destroy the essential individuality of a man, andbridge which unites friend to friend," and "The world is athe Koran says, "Think not that those who are slain in the pathof God are dead; nay, they are alive, rejoicing in the presence paradisefor infidels, but a prison for the faithful.??of their Lord and in the grace bestowed on them.?" Not a word On the other h

and, the pains which souls suffer after deathis said in the Law about any of the dead, good or bad, being all have their source in excessive love of the world. Theannihilated. Nay, the Prophet is said to have questioned the Prophet said thatevery unbeliever, after death, will bespirits of slain infidels as to whether they had found the tormented by ninety-nine snakes, each having nine heads.punishments with which he had threatened them real or not. Some simple-minded people have examined the graves ofWhen his followers asked him what was the good 'of unbelievers and wondered at failing to see these snakes. Theyquestioning them, he replied, "They hear my words better than do not unders

tand that these snakes have their abode withinthe unbeliever's spirit, and they existed in him even before heyou do."Some Sufis have had the unseen world of heaven and hell died, for they were his own evil qualities symbolized, such asjealousy, hatred, hypocrisy, pride, deceit, etc., every one ofrevealed to them when in a state of death-like tranc e.""On theirwhich springs, directly or remotely, from love of the world.recovering consciousness their faces betray the n 3fi:i1'e" of the~ut Such is the doom of those who, in the words of the Koran, "setrevelations they have had by marks of joy or terror. .notheir hearts on this world rather than on the next."IO If thosevisions are necessary to prove what will occur to every thinking

snakes were merely external they might hope to escape theirman, that when death has stripped him of his senses and lefttorment, if it were but for a moment; but being their ownhim nothing but his bare personality, if while on earth he hasinherent attributes, how can they escape?too closely attached himself to objects perceived by the senses,fe~ale, Take, for instance, the case of a man who has sold a slave-such as wives, children, wealth, lands, slaves, male andobJect~. girl without knowing how much he was attached to her till sheetc., he must necessarily suffer when bereft of .thoseWhereas, on the contrary, if he has as far as possible turned .hls is quiteout of his reach. Then the love of her, hithertodormant, wakes up in him with such intensity as to amount toback on all earthly objects and fixed his supreme affectiontorture, stinging him like a snake, so that he would fain castupon God, he will welcome death as a means of escape fromhimself into fire or water to escape it. Such is the effect of love7 The question of what happened to the soul . in the interv~l between death of the world, which those who have it often suspect not till theand resurrection was hotly debated, especially since the notion that. the soulworld is taken from them, and then the torment of vain longinglingered around the tomb in a more or less conscious, or ev~n active, st~teis such that they would gladly exchange it for any number ofsupported the rituals of visiting and venerating the tombs of . sal~t~. Sufislike

mere external snakes and scorpions.Ghazzali supported this popular pract ice but conservative. rehgtou~ lea~ersregarded it as an unacceptable innovation. A good introduction to this subject


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9 ~adith $~rlJ, $~ilJmaybe found in Jane Smith and Yvonne Haddad, The Islamic Understanding of Awell-known cited by Muslim, 53/1 T ; irmidhi,(Cairo, 1292/1875-76),34/16; Ibn Maja, Sunan, 37/3.Death and Resurrection (Albany,1981),pp 31-61 . .10 Koran, 16:107.8 Koran, 3:169.

= Page 18 =THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEXT WORLD - 39-- 38-Every sinner thus carries with him into the world beyond cleaves too fondly. Many carry about within them the germs ofdeath the instruments of his own punishment; and the Koran such a hell withoutbeing aware of it; hereafter they will be likesays truly "Verily you shall see hell; you shall see it with the some king who,after living in luxury, has been dethroned and, b li u Iteye of certainty,"!' and "hell surrounds the un e levers. made a laughing stock. The second kind of spiritual hell is that

does not say "will surround them" for it is round them even of shame, when a man wakes up to see the nature of theactions he committed in their naked reality. Thus he whonow.e~pe slandered will see himself in the guise of a cannibal eating hisSome may object, "If such is the case, then who canhell, for who is not more or less bound to the world by varIOUS dead brother'sflesh, and he who envied as one who caststies of affection and interest?" To this we answer that there are stones against a wall, which stones, rebounding, put out thesome, notably the fakirs," who have entirely disengaged eyes of his own children.themselves from love of the world But even among those who .

This species of hell, i. e., of shame, may be symbolized byhave worldly possessions such as wife, children, houses, etc.,the following short parable Suppose a certain king has been :there are those who, though they have some affection for these,celebrating his son's marriage. In the evening the young mano~ ~ho,love God yet more. Theircase is like that a man thoughgoes off with some companions and presently returns to thehe may have a dwellingwhich he is fond of 10 one City, when hepalace (as he thinks) intoxicated. He enters a chamber where aanot~eris called by the king to take up a post of authority inlight is burning and lies down, as he supposes by his bride. Incity, does so gladly, as the post of authority is dearer to himthe morning, when soberness returns, he is aghast to findthan his former dwelling. Such are many of the prophets andhimself in a mortuary of fire-worshipers, his couch a bier, andsaints . the form which he mistook for that of his bride the corpse of anOthers there are, and a great number, who have some loveold woman beginning to decay. On emerging from theto God but the love of the world so preponderates in them thatmortuary with his garments all soiled, what is his shame to seethey will have to suffer a good deal of pain after death beforehis father, the king, approaching with a retinue of soldiers!p~ofess

they are thoroughly weaned from it. Many t? love God,Such is a feeble picture of the shame those willfeel in the nextbut a man may easily test himself by watchmg which way the


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world who in this have greedily abandoned themselves to whatbalance of his affection inclines when the commands of Godthey thought were delights.come into collision with some of his desires. The profession ofThe third spiritual hell is that of disappointment and failurelove to God which is insufficient to restrain from disobedienceto reach the real object of existence. Man was intended to

to God is a lie.mirror forth the light of the knowledge of God, but if he arrivesWe have seen above that one kind of spiritual hell is thein the next world with his soul thickly coated with the rust offorcible separation from worldly things to which the heartsensual indulgence he will entirely fail of the object for whichhe was made His disappointment may be figured in the .11 Koran, 102:6-7.following way: Suppose a man is passing with someU Koran, 9:49.13 The Persian text has dervish rather than fakir. companions through a darkwood Here and there, glimmering .

= Page 19 =KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEXT WORLD - 41-THE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS- 40-Thus man is capable of existing on several different planeson the ground, lie variously colored stones. His companionsfrom the animal to the angelic, and precisely in this lies hiscollect and carry these and advise him to do the same. "For,"danger, i. e., of falling to the very lowest. In the Koran it issay they, "we have heard that these stones will fetch a highwritten, "We proposed the burden (i .e., responsibility or free-price in the place whither we are going." He, on the otherwill) to the heavens and the earth and the mountains, and they

hand, laughs at them and calls them fools for leadingrefused to undertake it. But man took it upon himself: Verilythemselves in the vain hope of gain while he walks free andhe is Ignorant."!' Neither animals nor angels can change theirunencumbered. Presently they emerge into the full daylight andappointed rank and place. But man may sink to the animal orfind that these colored stones are rubies, emeralds, and othersoar to the angel, and this is the meaning of his undertakingdisappoi .ntm~nt. an~jewels of priceless value. The man'sthat "burden" of which the Koran speaks. The majority of menchagrin at not having gathered some when so easily within hischoose to remain in the two lower stages mentioned above, andreach may be more easily imagined than described. Such willthe stationary are always hostile to the travellers or pilgrims,be the remorse of those hereafter, who, while passing throughwhom they far outnumber.this world, have been at no pains to acquire the jewels of virtueand the treasures of religion.Many of the former class, having no fixed convictions aboutthe future world, when mastered by their sensual appetites,deny it altogether. They say that hell is merely an invention ofThis journey of man through the world may be divided intotheologians to frighten people, and they regard theologiansfour stages-the sensuous, the experimental, the instinctive, the

themselves with thinly veiled contempt. To argue with fools ofrational. In the first he is like a moth which, though it has sight,this kind is of very little use. This much, however, may be said


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has no memory, and will singe itself again and again at theto such a man, with the possible result of making him pausesame candle In the second stage he is like a dog which, having .and reflect: "Do you really think that he hundred and twenty- tonce been beaten, will run away at the sight of a stick In the .four thousand" prophets and saints who believed in the futurethird he is like a horse or a sheep, both of which instinctively

life were all wrong and you are right in denying it?" If hefly at the sight of a lion or wolf, their natural enemies, whilereplies, "Yes! I am as sure as I am that two are more than one ,they will not flyfrom a camel or a buffalo, though these last arethat there is no soul and no future life of joy and penalty," thenmuch greater in size In the fourth stage man altogether .the case of such a man is hopeless; all one can do is to leavetranscends the limits of the animals and becomes capable, tosome extent, of foreseeing and providing for the future. Hismovements at first may be compared to ordinary walking on14 Koran, 33:72.The term given here as "burden" is more often translated asland, then to traversing the sea in a ship, then, on the fourth

"trust." It is also far from clear that what is meant by "burden" is free-will asplane, where he is conversant with realities to walking on the ,the translator has interpolated; more conservative commentators often~hesea, while beyond this plane there is a fifth, known tointerpret t to mean the ritual obligations imposed on believers i .prophets and saints, whose progress may be compared to flying1.5 See above, Introduction, n. 2.through the air.= Page 20 =KNOWLEDGE OF THE NEXT WORLD - 43-TIlE ALCHEMY OF HAPPINESS

- 42-suffer."19This he said not because he himself was in any doubt,him alone, remembering the words of the Koran, "Though thoubut merely to make an impression on the unbeliever. From allcall them to the right way, they will not be guided."16that we have said it follows that man's chief business in thisBut, should he say that a future life is possible but that theworld is to prepare for the next. Even if he is doubtful about adoctrine is so involved in doubt and mystery that it isfuture existence, reason suggests that he should act as if thereimpossible to decide whether it be true or not, then one maywere one, considering the tremendous issues at stake. Peace besay to him: "Then you had better give it the benefit of theon those who follow the instruction!doubt! Suppose you are about to eat food and someone tellsyou a serpent has spat venom on it, you would probably refrain[This concluded the introductory material of the Persianand rather endure the pangs of hunger than eat it, though yourtext. It was followed by the "first cornerstone" of the textinformant may be in jest or lying. Or suppose you are ill and a ten chapters dealing with the various aspects of "worship" .charm-writer says, "Give me a dirham'? and I will write a (Cibddat): faith, knowledge, purity, prayer , almsgiving,fasting, pilgrimage, Koran recitation, reciting the names ofcharm which you can tie round your neck and which will cure

God, and a special type of private prayers (awrdd). In theyou," you would probably give the dirham on the chance ofnext ten chapters, which made up the "second cornerstone"


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deriving benefit from the charm. Or if an astrologer says,of the book, Ghazzali turned his attention to various"When the moon has entered a certain constellation, drink practical matters(mucdmilat) in everyday life and how the

such and such a medicine, and you will recover," though you pious Muslim shoulddeal with them Two of these chapters . ,dealing with marriage and the use of music, are translated

may have very little faith in astrology, you very likely would tryhere .]the experiment on the chance that he might be right. And doyou not think that reliance is as well placed on the words of allthe prophets, saints, and holy men, convinced as they were of a19 Many readers wil1 recognize this as the "wager" proposed by the Frenchfuture life, as on the promise of a charm-writer or an philosopher Blaise Pascal. It has been shown that Pascal was familiar with theastrologer? People take perilous voyages in ships for the sake work of Ghazzall and probably derived his argument from this text: See M .Asin Palacios, Los precedentes musulmanes del 'Pari de Pascal ' (Santander

of merely probable profit, and will you not suffer a little pain of1920) . 'abstinence now for the sake of eternaljoy hereafter?The Lord All C 18 once, in arguing with an unbeliever, said,"If you are right, then neither of us will be any the worse in thefuture, but if we are right, then we shall escape, and you will16 Koran, 18:57 I have slightly altered Field's translation . of this verse.17 Literally a "dram of silver" idiram-i sim) or a drachma; Field translatesitas "rupee."18 cAli b. Abi Talib was the Prophet Mul}ammad's cousin and son-in-law and

the fourth caliph (35-40/656-660). He is celebrated by both Sufis and Shi'itesfor his valor and piety .= Page 21 =

alchemy of happiness pt. 1

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