Grace OKeeffe

The Arabian Nights

May 5, 2008
Final Paper
Sufi Themes in the Arabian Nights

The Arabian Nights is a story about the importance of stories; more eloquently, a story
emphasizing the role of narrative in all realms, including fantasy. Though The Arabian Nights is
often passed off as children stories and simple medieval prose due to this fantastical element, the
stories reveal more than straightforward entertainment would ever hope to achieve. Though
many of the included stories were circulated in popular culture prior to the rise of Islam, the
Islamic influence is prevalent in the collection. Moreover, The Arabian Nights may best fit in the
context of Islam as a Sufi mechanism of teaching through telling stories. Perhaps just as elusive
to modern Western scholars as The Arabian Nights is Sufism, often described as the mystical
tradition of Islam. Twentieth century Sufi advocate Idries Shah believed in the overwhelming
strength of teaching through stories even those revolving around fantastical elements, and
published hundreds of Sufi stories and folktales meant to convey spiritual wisdom and
understanding through entertainment and humor. To this effect, linking The Arabian Nights and
the tradition of Sufism together is consistent and plausible. While it is clear that The Arabian
Nights is in no way an exclusively Sufi text and there is no suggestion of Sufi designated origins,
there is much evidence for a Sufi reading of The Arabian Nights. In this way, The Arabian
Nights even fulfills some role in learning and how to learn in the Sufi tradition.
One of the largest schools of Muslim philosophical thought that has gained a lot of
attention in the West is Sufism. Sufism is often described as the mystical tradition of Islam, yet
even this understanding of Sufism may create problems for mysticism does not convey the often
meticulous and scientific methods used. Scholar and Professor and Chair of the Department of
Religious Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Carl Ernst has spent most of

his life studying Sufism. Early in one of his texts entitled Teachings of Sufism, Ernst points out
that, foreign scholars hostile to Islam have seen Sufism as an essentially non-Islamic borrowing,
and some modern Sufi teachers have presented Sufism as a universal teaching detached from
Islam.1 For Ernst this is a big problem, especially since for most of the Sufi literature available,
the Quran serves as a backbone and Sufis are not the outcasts as they are often portrayed to be.
Ernst also points out that, like Islam, the term Sufism was introduced to European languages by
Orientalists, but the two terms were believed to be essentially different. Premodern Muslim
societies knew no such distinction.2 Like Sufism, The Arabian Nights is no stranger to being
subject to rampant orientalism. In the fifteenth century, Muslim philosopher Ibn Khaldun
described Sufism as the following, Sufism belongs to the sciences of the religious law that
originated in Islam. It is based on the assumption that the practices of its adherents had always
been considered important by early Muslims, the men around Muhammad3 This is a radical
departure from what the accepted modern definition of Sufism is, for here Ibn Khaldun
emphasizes the teachings of Islam rather than isolating it from where it originated. Similarly, to
take The Arabian Nights out of the context in which it originated and flourished is to
detrimentally damage and reduce understanding of the text. The Arabian Nights as individual
stories and as a collective whole thrived in a society of sometimes hidden mystical thought
where divinity and the fantastical lived on the same plane of existence as mundane life.
Idries Shah wrote in Learning How to Learn: Psychology and Spirituality in the Sufi way,
Sufi thought and action requires it own formats in which to manifest and open4 Further, in a
book of questions addressing the study of Sufism, Shah answers the questions almost exclusively
1

Ernst, Carl. Teachings of Sufism. Boston: Shambhala, 1999, ix.

in stories. Viewing The Arabian Nights as a Sufi text then, the question may easily become
what questions were these stories trying to answer? Moreover, Shah emphasizes the need for
humor in any undertaking of life but especially the often rigorous experiences of Sufism. In a
telling footnote, he writes, Not only do humorous tales contain valuable structures for
understanding. Their use also helps to weed out people who lack a sense of humor. Sufis hold
that people who have not developed or who have suppressed their capacity to enjoy humor are,
in this deprived state, also without learning capacity in the Sufi sphere. 5 The loose, fantastical
and often comical stories in The Arabian Nights would nicely fit into Shahs understanding and
provide an ideal resource to teach and learn Sufi concepts or stories.
Like many Sufi stories told, The Arabian Nights promotes an understanding of nature and
the divine that is immediate and more horizontal than hierarchal. In this sense, it is not
uncommon for demons to suddenly interfere with the lives of characters or magic used to
transport someone from one place of the earth to another. This sense of fantasy lays a
groundwork for the stories to be told and places it in a world that needs to be entered by the
reader. In Situation, Motivation and Action in the Arabian Nights, Aboubakr Chraibi states that
readers are confronted with two worlds. First, there is a world that is neither fictional nor
historical, that is rooted in daily life, with the marvelous not necessarily being excluded
secondly, there is a world with a defined referent that depends on the collective patrimony of a
nature that is either definite and historical (events) or abstract and conceptual (ideas).6 Another
Sufi teaching technique that Shah emphasizes is shock-teaching. He writes, The Sufi literature
is full of this kind of experiential teaching-material. Its presence effectively filters out the
superficial and the shallow.7 The purpose of shock-teaching is to force the student out of
5

Learning How to Learn. Pg. 21

conditioning of social, intellectual and even spiritual preconceived notions, and The Arabian
Nights readily uses this technique to provide the basis for learning. There is also an importance
placed on the act of wandering to experience for oneself, storytelling and witnessing.
Stories are not only meant to teach or suggest a course of action or be a mirror for
princes. These stories are so fantastical that readers are often experiencing the same emotions as
the characters themselves. Through this first-hand experience then, the stories are able to achieve
a state within readers that opens up the realm of alternative learning. Also a heavily reoccurring
theme within The Arabian Nights is the concept of a master-student relationship and the value of
this learning style. The constant story within a story technique is reminiscent of Sufi learning
styles where the Sufi Master tells stories or parables to his students to encourage understanding,
compassion, and experiential knowledge. Not only are the stories themselves entertaining, but
they function as a teaching mechanism if only for the king taught by Shahrazad. As readers,
moreover, we learn not only the lessons told and taught by the master storyteller Shahrazad, but
we empathize with the plights of the characters and the morals of their sufferings become real
and tangible for us.
Perhaps one of the most fantastical stories within The Arabian Nights is The Story of the
Porter and the Three Ladies. Not only does the story revolve around the rules of hospitality and
trust, it hinges itself on twists and turns fate can often take, the burden of knowing secrets and
the unlearning of the porter to provide a more readily available knowledge. After performing his
duty to the three ladies, instead of leaving the porter probes them, I have been wondering about
your situation and the absence of anyone to entertain you.8 To which the women reply, we
fear to entrust our secrets where they may not be kept. We have read in some book what ibn al8

The Arabian Nights. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 1990. Pg.70

Tammam has said: Your own secret to none reveal;/It will be lost when it is told. Here, the
emphasis upon secrets, who to entrust these secrets to, and the experience versus the simply
stated meaning of secrets are all explored. The concept of secrets is also very prevalent in
Sufism, and followers of Sufi sects are often similarly probed like the ladies for information from
outsiders who claim to have acquired knowledge like the porter. The ladies do no give up their
secret to the porter right away even after he gives a speech presenting all of his credentials to
harbor such a secret. However, later in the evening, the each of the ladies teach the porter
through word games and experience.
Though the highly erotic pool scene may seem a far cry from teachings of Sufism, the
process of learning seems to fulfill the needs of Shahs description of proper understanding and
even use shock as a tactic to teach. During the night, the porter and the three ladies engage in
some recreational drinking and become intoxicated. One by one the ladies ask the porter to name
their sex and describe their female organ. When the porter gives the wrong answer, the ladies hit
him to designate this negation. At the very end, the ladies reveal the correct names to be the
basil of bridges, the husked sesame, and the Inn of Abu Masrur.9 At the very end, the porter
asks the three ladies in the same format, and after they all get the name of his male organ wrong,
the porter states, It is the smashing mulethe one who grazes in the basil of the bridges, eats
the husked sesame, and gallops in the Inn of Abu Masrur.10 The ladies are pleased that their
didactic style of learning has worked, and the porter now has both the knowledge and experience
of understanding. In this way, only a small piece of their secret has been revealed to the porter.
As Shah wrote about the requirements of students for learning, The others have to go through
exposure to experience and teaching until their inward perceptions are able to connect with the
9

The Arabian Nights. Pg. 73-74

10

transmission.11 Here, the porter had to be exposed to the experience and knowledge of the three
ladies and their genitalia to be able to properly receive the transmission of understanding they
were offering. For true knowledge in Sufi understanding is not just a matter of robotic
knowledge of repetitive information, but an inner transformation of consciousness.
As the story progresses and becomes more complicated three dervishes and the disguised
Caliph and his companions and the original porter witness the whipping of two bitches, and
finally break their oath not to ask the three ladies about the reality of the situation. In this way,
the tales focus on a different kind of desire than just simply erotica and sexuality. Here, the men
desire and yearn for knowledge and understanding which is the basis of the Sufi quest. Sufis, in
this respect, are after ultimate Truth in the universal sense and how to live life. Just like the three
dervishes and Caliph disguised as a merchant crave understanding as to what is going on in the
house, so too do Sufi students crave al-Haqq (the Truth). But this turn in plot also plays upon
another Sufi theme: secrecy. By entering the home of the three ladies in Baghdad, all participants
agreed to not voice their ultimate curiosity Though for the most part, Sufism was accepted by the
Arab society throughout the centuries, many of the Sufi teachings may no doubt be considered
heretical to the uninitiated. The Sufi tradition therefore was forced into vows of secrecy and
oaths to protect itself from being accused of false teachings and heresy. Here, there is a dynamic
tension between these two Sufi themes in this tale, for while the on-lookers of the beatings
desperately want to know the truth of what is going on, they are also torn by their oath of secrecy
to the three ladies. Elements of Sufism contribute not only to the characters dilemmas, but also
place this dynamic tension within the reader which craves to understand what is going on just as
much as the dervishes and disguised merchants. As readers, we are left scrambling to put

11

Learning How to Learn. Pg. 34

together pieces of what we do know and try to squeeze information out of the anonymous
narrator.
Just as readers scrambled to comprehend the fantastical world of the three ladies of
Baghdad, so do they again in Shahrazads first tale to the king the reader scrambles to enter into
the realm of The Arabian Nights. Though the frame story for The Arabian Nights may have been
added at a later date, The Story of the Merchant and the Demon is thought to be one of the
original tales in the collection. The Story of the Merchant and the Demon also displays
numerous Sufi themes and modes of understanding in the context of the tales. One day a
prosperous merchant decides to visit another country and sets out on his journey for reasons
unknown to the reader. On the fourth day of his journey, he sits to eat some bread and dates and
throws the date pits behind him without looking to see where they land. After finishing, an old
demon comes to the merchant and reveals that he has killed his son with one of the thrown date
pits and that he seeks justice through the merchants own life. The usual hierarchical levels of
divinity and fantasy are undone here and The Arabian Nights first story lays the groundwork for
a more horizontal, more Sufi traditional understanding of fantastical elements entering the
normal life of merchants and by extension the readers. Moreover, this brief story also reveals the
sense that life can take unpredictable turns of fate that everyone is subject to no matter their
place in life whether they are a prosperous merchant or an old demon. The Sufi general
understanding of the uncertainty of life and the connection between all living bodies and beings
is brought to the spotlight in the ground-laying story.
Perhaps what is most commonly thought of when the topic of Sufism is raised is the
poetry that emerged out of the tradition. Ernst writes on poetry in Sufism, Of all the products of

the Sufi tradition, by far the best known and most appreciated is the legacy of Sufi poetry. 12
There is no doubt that The Arabian Nights uses poetry extensively throughout all the tales in the
collection, but the first tale on the first night told by Shahrazad also conveniently uses a verse to
conjure up some pity or at the very least hesitation within the demon. The merchant begins, Life
has two days: one peace, one wariness,/And has two sides: worry and happiness13 This mode
of literature as poetry not only links the tale to Sufism, but also once again calls upon the theme
of uncertainty of life once again. By using poetry in the Sufi tradition and within the tales of The
Arabian Nights, knowledge of the society that values poetry and storytelling is eminent. The
society that created and fueled The Arabian Nights valued the knowledge and understanding that
came out of storytelling and poetry even if on the basic level of entertainment. Taking a closer
look at the use of poetry within the Nights however, also reveals a knowledge about current
literary movements, poets and values flowing through the collective unconscious.
In The Arabian Nights, stories and the art of storytelling are commodities to be
exchanged. They are an experiential form of exchange and it is not uncommon for lives to be
saved or debts cleared thanks to a good story that intrigues the listening. Similarly, especially in
regard to modern Sufi scholar Idries Shah, Sufism presents an alternate economy of exchanging
of secrets and knowledge and stories to provide not only entertainment but to offer a new way of
learning. The Arabian Nights, like Sufi knowledge, has no beginning and has no end in that they
arrive from somewhere else beyond the mundane life. While the story of The Porter and the
Three Ladies and The Story of the Merchant and the Demon are just two brief examples of a
possible Sufi interpretation of The Arabian Nights, it is certainly at least plausible to read The
Arabian Nights through a Sufi perception and understanding. As the narrator of The Arabian
12
13

Sufism, Pg. 147

Nights is the vehicle of the people to express desires, entertainment and knowledge of what is
important, so does Sufism play a role in the vehicle of storytelling through the tales.