I

Sufism and Transcendentalism: A Comparative Study between

Ibn Arabi, Emerson and Whitman

‫ دراسة مقارنة بين ابن عربي و اميرسون و ويتمان‬:‫الصوفية و فلسفة التعالي‬

Prepared by:

Dalia Mohammed Awad

Supervised by:

Dr. Mohamad Haj Mohamad

Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirement for the

Master of art degree in English Language and Literature

Department of English Language and Literature

Faculty of Arts and Sciences

Middle East University

January- 2018
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Acknowledgement

I thank Allah, the Most Gracious and the Most Merciful, who blessed me

through providing me with strength and people who guided me in writing

this thesis. I would like to express my special thanks, sincere gratitude and

deep appreciation to my Supervisor Dr. Mohamad Haj Mohamad for his

inspiration, support and for his patience through which this thesis appeared

in its final form.

Special thanks are to the instructors of the Department of English

Language and Literature at Middle East University for their help and

cooperation. Special thanks are extended to committee members for their

generous help and guidance.

My deep gratitude is to my wonderful family for supporting and

encouraging me to pursue my dreams especially my father, mother, my

brothers and sisters.

Finally, I would like to thank my dear friends who supported me with help

and love and encouraged me to go on till the end.

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Dedication

I dedicate this work to the memory of the first person who inspired me, my

grandfather and to the memory of the woman who loved unconditionally,

my grandmother.

I dedicate this work to my parents who supported me along the whole way

and lit the darkest days with love. To my mother who is the source of

infinite love, for her help, support, caring touch and her belief in my

potentials and to my father who is the source of my strength and the one who

taught me to be patient to reach my goals.

I dedicate this work to my supportive brothers and sisters, the ones who

showed me how far I can go because they are a great blessing in my life.

Finally, I dedicate this work to my friends for their help and

encouragement through the hardest times and to my mystic friends who are

rare but still can be found.

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Table of Contents

Subject Page
Thesis Title I
Authorization II
Thesis committee decision III
Acknowledgement IV
Dedication V
Table of Contents VI
Abstract in English VIII
Abstract in Arabic X

Chapter One Introduction

1.0 Background of the Study 1
1.1 Statement of the Problem 7
1.2 Objectives of the Study 7
1.3 Questions of the Study 8
1.4 The Significance of the Study 8
1.5 Delimitations of the Study 9
1.6 Limitations of the Study 9
1.7 Definitions of Terms 10

Chapter Two Review of Literature

2.0 Introduction 13
2.1 Review of Theoretical Literature 13
2.2 Review of Empirical Literature 16

Chapter Three Methods and Procedures

3.1 Methodology 18
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3.2 Sample of the Study 18

3.3 Procedures of the Study 19

Chapter four Discussion and Analysis

4.0 Introduction 20
4.1 Sufism 20
4.1.1 Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq 24
Concepts of love and nature in Ibn Arabi’s
4.1.2 25
Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq
4.1.2.1 Ode (I) 25
4.1.2.2 Ode (XXV) 27
4.1.2.3 Ode (XI) 31
4.2 Transcendentalism 33
Concepts of love and nature in Emerson’s Poems
4.2.1 38
and Essay
4.2.1.1 Give All to Love 38
4.2.1.2 Each and All 41
4.2.1.3 Nature 44
4.2.2 Concepts of love and Nature in Whitman’s Poems 46
4.2.2.1 A Glimpse 47
4.2.2.2 A Persian Lesson 49
4.2.2.3 Chanting the Square Deific 52
4.3 Comparison and Contrast 55

Chapter Five Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusion 60
5.2 Recommendations 63
References 64
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Sufism and Transcendentalism : A Comparative Study

between Ibn Arabi , Emerson and Whitman
Prepared by:
Dalia Mohammed Awad
Supervised by:
Dr. Mohamad Haj Mohamad
Abstract

This thesis is a comparative study between Ibn Arabi , Emerson and Whitman’s

interpretation and depiction of the concepts of love and nature in Ibn Arabi’s

selected poems from Tarjuman Al Ashwaq; Emerson’s selected poems and an

extract from his essay Nature and Whitman’s poems that are selected from his

Leaves of Grass. It explores the similarities and the differences between the

interpretations of each poet for the concepts.

Adopting the methods of comparative literature and drawing upon Sufism as

well as Transcendentalism doctrine/movement, the study explores the poems/essay

of the very well-known poets through highlighting the concepts of love and nature

that each one of the poets interprets. The different ways of conveying each poet’s

perception are emphasized in an attempt to explore the differences and the

similarities between the poets’ interpretation of the concepts. The three poets have

something in common concerning the interpretation of the concepts of love and

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nature that all of them are searching for the ultimate reality by observing

everything around them .Moreover, all of them see in nature and beauty symbols

and keys that lead to the divine that manifests in every beautiful element. The

difference between the poets is in the way each one explains his beliefs and in the

way he perceives love and beauty of nature.

Key words: Comparative literature, Sufism, Transcendentalism, spirituality.

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‫الصوفية و فلسفة التعالي‪ :‬دراسة مقارنة بين ابن عربي و اميرسون و ويتمان‬
‫إعداد‬

‫داليه محمد عوض‬

‫إشراف‬

‫الدكتور محمد حاج محمد‬

‫الملخص‬

‫هذه الرسالة مقارنة بين تأويل وتصوير ابن عربي واميرسون وويتمان لمفهاهيم الحب والطبيعة في مجموعة‬

‫من قصائد ابن عربي المختارة من ديوانه ترجمان األشواق‪ ،‬ومجموعة من قصائد اميرسون‪ ،‬باإلضافة إلى‬

‫جزء من مقاله الطبيعة وقصائد ويتمان المختارة من كتابه أوراق العشب‪ .‬تكشف الدراسة أوجه االختالف‬

‫والتشابه بين طريقة كل شاعر بتأويله لهذه المفاهيم ‪.‬‬

‫وباستخدام أساليب األدب المقارن وباالستعانة بمذاهب أو حركات الصوفية وفلسفة التعالي‪ ،‬تتناول الرسالة‬

‫المقال أو القصائد ذات العالقة لكل من الشعراء المشهورين من خالل إلقاء الضوء على المفاهيم التي أولها‬

‫كل منهم‪ .‬وتبين الدراسة اختالف طريقة إدراك كل شاعر للمفاهيم ليتم شرح أوجه االختالف والتشابه بين‬

‫الشعراء في شرحهم لهذه المفاهيم‪.‬‬

‫الشيء المشترك بين هؤالء الشعراء في تأويلهم لمفاهيم الحب والطبيعة هو أنهم جميعا ً يبحثون عن الحقيقة‬

‫المطلقة من خالل التأمل بكل ماحولهم‪ .‬باإلضافة إلى ذلك أنهم جميعا ً يجدون في الطبيعة والجمال رموز‬

‫ومفاتيح ترشد إلى اإلله الذي يتجلى في كل ماهو جميل ‪ .‬الفرق بين الشعراء يكمن في طريقة شرح كل منهم‬

‫العتقاده وبطريقته في إدراك الحب والطبيعة ‪.‬‬

‫الكلمات المفتاحية ‪ :‬األدب المقارن‪ ،‬الصوفية ‪،‬فلسفة التعالي‪،‬الروحانية ‪.‬‬

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Chapter One

1.0 Background of the study

Introduction

Writing about love and nature in poetry is something profound and deep like

inscribing the first alphabet of humanity . Every poet has her/his own distinguished

understanding of love and nature. The poet describes his emotions, feelings, ideas

and imagination. Sometimes he/she may go further to put his mysticism and

symbolism in words .Poetry may be seen as mystic, symbolic and painful by a

certain poet and as flammable for another poet. The different way of describing

love and nature depends on the different and specific background of each poet.

This background includes the poet’s way of life, experiences, personality,

philosophy, memories, way of comprehending and interpreting the concepts, etc.

There are similarities and differences between a Sufi poet writing about love

and nature and a Transcendentalist poet writing about them. Yet both of them have

something in common .They both depict the same concepts that lead in their point

of view to one ultimate divine reality. The ecstasy because of the beauty of nature
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that generates that deep feeling of love is explained by these poets because their

doctrines glorify nature, the place of divine manifestation.

Aminrazavi (2014) clarifies that Sufism as an Islamic doctrine and practice can

hardly be separated from the beliefs of mainstream America .The study of the

poetry that results from following Sufism or Transcendentalism opens the door for

an interactive understanding between Islamic and American souls. Aminrazavi

states that this study “will provide a springboard for a deeper understanding of the

opportunities that literatures provides as a medium for reconciling seemingly

intractable differences.” (p.3)

Sufi and Transcendentalist thinkers address their questions along with their

mystical experiences that are full of strange beauty when the spiritual

consciousness of man is developing. For a common reader, their works seem

difficult until one dives into the unfathomable seas of these writings.

It is the power of beauty, love and nature that is perceived by imaginative

writers using this creative imagination to portray these concepts .

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Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (1165 -1240AD)

According to The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, Ibn al-Arabi (Abu Abd-Allah

Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Muhammad ibn al-Arabi al-Hatimī al-Tai) or the Greatest

Master was born in 560/1165 AD in Murcia (Southeast Andalusia Spain), the

center of a fertile age of Islamic, Christian, Jewish thoughts. When he was young,

he studied the theories of linguistics, theology, mathematics and cosmology .He

travelled through the Western Islamic world where he studied with different

scholars and mystics. He went to Mecca and resided there for three years and

finally settled down in Damascus where he raised a family, taught many learners

and completed writing many books. He died there in 638/1240 AD. He is

considered as one of the most prolific, influential, mystic writers. His unique use

of terms was of a great interest for many philosophers. He wrote more than

350works including the Futuhat al-Makkiyya which is an encyclopedia of spiritual

knowledge, Fusus al-Hikam that is an exposition of the inner meaning of wisdom.

In his Tarjuman al-Ashwaq and Diwan, he wrote a very refined Arabic poetry.

These considerable writings expose the Unity of being, the single reality that is

manifested in all images in the world. Ibn Arabi had an influence on the

philosophy and literature of the Western world and his wisdom offered an

understanding of what it means to be a real human .

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Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882)

The American poet, essayist and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, was born

on May 25, 1803, in Boston, Massachusetts. His father was a clergyman and after

his death Ralph was raised by his mother and his aunt Mary Moody Emerson. The

intelligence of his aunt influenced him through his life. He studied at Harvard and

then became a teacher for a short time .He was licensed as a minister in 1826 and

after three years he was ordained to the Unitarian church. His wife died of

tuberculosis when she was nineteen and this event affected Emerson

professionally and personally. He was so sorrowful and as a result he resigned

from the clergy. Emerson travelled to Europe and met great literary figures like

Thomas Carlyle, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge the British

writer and the very significant friend of him. Coleridge had a great belief in the

power of the individual and his visions helped Emerson to reshape his philosophy

and ideas.

Emerson was the leading spokesman of Transcendentalism, the philosophical

literary movement. He was interested in many philosophies, doctrines, texts and

literatures like Indian, Islamic, Chinese, Persian in addition to German and English

Romantics, etc. Transcendentalist writers including Emerson believe that

individuals could transcend beyond the physical world and into deeper spiritual
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experience through intuition. Akrami(2015)explains how Emerson was fascinated

with Persian poetry and how he countlessly referred to the two Sufi persian poets

Sa’adi and Hafiz in his essays. According to Poetry Foundation, his first glimpse

into Sufism that aspired his works later was through the translated work of

Thompson The Practical Philosophy of the Muhammedan People (1839). Emerson

wrote poetic prose and poetry and his works are of great importance in the

American culture. His beliefs strongly influenced the works of his contemporaries

Henry David Thoreau and Walt Whitman as Myerson(2000a) mentions: “He has

been seen as beginning a line in American poetry that runs from him to Walt

Whitman to Allen Ginsberg”(p.3). He died of pneumonia in 1882.

Walt Whitman (1819-1892)

Walt Whitman, one of America’s most significant and ingenious poets was born

on May 31,1819,in West Hills and lived in Brooklyn. He was a self-educated poet.

He started teaching at the age of seventeen to turn after that completely to

journalism. He was familiar with the Bible and the works of Shakespeare, Homer,

and Dante and was inspired by the Persian poetry. Whitman was a puzzling poet

even for the ones who admired him. He made use of paradox to create remarkable

images that were a combination between his spirituality and

sensuality.(Cliffsnotes,n.d)After reading Emerson’s essay Nature, Whitman was

highly inspired to write Leaves of Grass. Emerson had highly appreciated

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Whitman’s first edition of Leaves of Grass. In his great Leaves of Grass, he

described how the self overcomes all the boundaries to reach reality and shed the

light on the universe and the man’s relationship to it. He died on March 26, 1892.
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In this research, the concepts of love and nature are discussed in Ibn Arabi’s ,

Emerson’s and Whitman’s works by focusing on some relevant poems by each

poet. The researcher selects and concentrates on the following: “Ode (I)”,

“Ode(XXV)”, “Ode(XI)”.These poems are the focus of this discussion regarding

Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman Al-ashwaq. Likewise, selected poems from Emerson’s

poetry about love and nature are examined: “Give All to Love” and “Each and All”

and also an extract from the essay Nature. Furthermore, the poems: “A Persian

Lesson”, “A Glimpse” as well as “Chanting the Square Deific” from Whitman’s

Leaves of Grass are analyzed. The researcher compares the poems and investigates

the way each poet understands love and nature.

1.1. Statement of the Problem:

This study analyzes poems by Ibn Arabi, Emerson and Whitman that deal with

love and nature. The similarities and the differences between the three writers are

discussed. The study attempts to identify the way each poet perceives love and

nature. Moreover, the research highlights the doctrine/movement that each poet has

followed and how it has influenced his work.

1.2. Objectives of the Study:

1. Examining the similarities and the differences between Ibn Arabi, Emerson and

Whitman’s love and nature poems/extract.

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2. Investigating the way of perception of the concepts of love and nature for each

poet and how he has portrayed it.

3. Highlighting the doctrine/movement that each poet has followed in writing

poems and how it has influenced his works.

4. Identifying the themes utilized by each poet in his selected poems.

1.3. Questions of the Study:

1. What are the main similarities and differences between the selected poems of

Ibn Arabi, Emerson and Whitman?

2. How does each poet identify the concepts of love and nature and how does each

one describe them?

3. What are the thematic points used by the three poets in their selected works?

4. What is the doctrine/movement that each poet has followed in writing his work

and how it affected his poems?

1.4. The Significance of the Study:

The significance of the research emerges from concentrating more on the

concepts of love and nature in Ibn Arabi, Emerson and Whitman’s works. Further,

the results of this research will be useful for those who have interest in poetry and
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prose. Hopefully, this study may fill a gap in literature concerning these themes

because spiritual poetry has become an important subject in contemporary

literature. Moreover, this study discusses how each poet is affected by a certain

doctrine/movement.

1.5. Delimitations of the Study:

This study is limited to the work of Ibn Arabi Tarjuman Al Ashwaq and the

works of Ralph Emerson in addition to the work of Whitman’s Leaves of Grass

on love and nature. Some selected works from Ibn Arabi’s , Emerson’s, and

Whitman’s collections that deal with love and nature provide the main text for the

study.

1.6. Limitations of the Study:

The findings of the study may not be applied to other works of the same poets.

Since Ibn Arabi’s poems are read, analyzed and treated using their English

translation, they may lose some of their intentions and original flavour. The other

limitation is that Ibn Arabi belongs to a cultural and historical background which is

different from Emerson’s and Whitman’s.

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1.7. Definitions of Terms

Comparative Literature:

It is s a systemized method of study which is set exclusively in humanities.

Comparative literature includes an organized endeavor to compare two units or

items with a great focus on the points of similarity and the points of difference

between the units or items. According to Encompass Dictionary, it appeared in

European literature and then extended to its American. Finally, it becomes a

universal literary theory. Comparative literature is the study of two or more

languages or literatures especially when they are of different cultures and histories.

It deals with specific topics like writers and their biographies. (Encompass,2006).

Remak (1961) outlines comparative literature as “ the study of the relationships

between literature on one hand and other areas of knowledge and belief, such as

the arts (e.g., painting, sculpture, and music), philosophy and history”

The American School of comparative literature came as a reaction against the

French one. It focused on the literary texts themselves and their context rather the

influence between the texts. It expanded and was different in a way that the

scholars of this school“… loved always to expand the section of Comparative

Literature for the entrance of various global artistic and literary trends in this

zone.”( Abd Rahman and Shamsuddin,2012)

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Sufism:

It is an approved term for Islamic mystical tradition. Sufism is seen as a school

for the awareness of divine moral values. It’s a way to free the heart from guilt,

imperfections and bad manners. Sufism aims at the enlightenment of the inner soul

of individuals. According to the Islamic Supreme Council of America, Sufism: “is

a spiritual path which means seeking the pleasure of God and peaceful love in

one’s self”. It’s how to build harmony with all kinds of creations and following the

prophets’ tracks in one’s life. (Islamic Supreme Council of America, n,d)

Transcendentalism:

It is a philosophical movement in the early nineteenth century. This American

political literary movement was associated with Ralph Waldo Emerson as the

center of it. According to Standford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2017),

Transcendentalism was stimulated by German as well as the English Romanticism

and other philosophies. The intuition for transcendentalists is the way to truth.
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Spirituality:

According to Encyclopedia Britannica (2017), spirituality is the attribute of

being distinguished by a concern with religious questions and ethics widely

conceptualized. This term is used in a non- religious sense to indicate the idea

which dominates the mind to recognize the fundamental metaphysics, or existential

questions in the matter of the nature of the self or the soul. It introduces the deep

meaning of life with the deep religious belief that immorality is possible.
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Chapter Two

Review of Literature

2.0 Introduction:

The main aim of this chapter is to review the theoretical and the empirical

studies that tackle the themes that are related to the research. The first part reviews

views, definitions and books that are beneficial for the study. The second part deals

with the studies that have a relation with the thematic points of the research.

2.1 Review of Theoretical Literature:

William Chittick (1989) takes a major step to expose the deep visions of Ibn

Arabi. The theology, ontology and the spiritual life of Ibn Arabi are observed

closely. He interprets Ibn Arabi’s mystical views and consequently helps to

understand Ibn Arabi better. He starts with a survey of the teachings of Ibn Arabi

and continues to explain his thoughts. He gives specific definitions of Ibn Arabi’s

basic terminology and argues that Sufism should be the cornerstone in the

“harmonization” of the various branches of intellect. Chittick emphasizes that Ibn

Arabi is the one who “helped bring the teachings of Sufism into the main stream of

Islamic Intellectuality.”(p.xviii)
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Joel Myerson (2000b) explores Transcendentalism with all its phases and

highlights all of the important names that take part in forming the philosophy of

the Transcendentalists. He gives an overall vision for the historical events that

affect and inspire the theories of Transcendentalism.

Arthur Versluis (1993) investigates the history of American Transcendentalism.

He examines how the transcendentalist orientalism had been created and how the

Transcendentalists were amazed by Asian religions and affected by them. He

explains how the German idealism affected Transcendentalism. He also introduces

how Transcendentalism was a product of religions, thoughts, theories and

philosophies.

Catharina Raudvere & Leif Stenberg (2008) have examined the contemporary

Sufism that attracted the young to find a parallel way between Islamic spirituality

and modernity. They tackled the subject of movability of ideas and humans. They

give international boundaries to Sufism as a doctrine. They discussed different

ideas including: the innovation of the Sufi communities in Syria and the noticeable

Turkish Sufism.They examined the fact that contemporary Sufism exists in local

Muslim societies. They also discussed the widespread Sufi net works as well as the

traditions and the rituals of Sufis adapted by modern religiosity.

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Mehdi Aminrazavi & Jacob Needleman (2014)have juxtaposed Sufism with the

nineteenth century American writers. For them, Sufism is a “doctrine and practice

embedded in the region of Islam.”(p.xi) They explain that now it’s very hard to

isolate Islam from the views of dominant America; there are still vital touches of a

philosophical combination that resonate clearly in some important American

poetry. They assume that searching in these traces is not only a starting gate of an

intermutual understanding between the souls of Muslims and Americans, but also

way of deepening the understanding of literature as a mid-way to achieve a

harmonious adaptation to the strict differences.

Caroline F.E.Spurgeon (2016) defines mysticism as: “an attitude of mind

founded upon an intuitive or experienced conviction of unity, of oneness, of

alikeness in all things” (p.4). She investigates mysticism and finds out that

mysticism is a temper or atmosphere rather than a doctrine system of philosophy or

a doctrine. For her, the bestowal of the elements of the truth can be gained by

believing in mysticism. She discusses that some Romantic poets like Wordsworth

got the “revelation of divinity” from nature because of their mysticism. She

clarifies that the central idea of unity is all things are but phenomena of the “one

divine life” and according to this, man must “share the nature of God.”(p.5)
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2.2 Review of Empirical Studies:

Jeffry.M. Einboden (2005) proposes the mystical meaning of Emerson’s poetry

which can be understood only within the Persian outline. It clarifies that Emerson’s

works can be interpreted within the German traditional context of exegesis. It

demonstrates that Emerson’s pursuit of Eastern tradition rises from his

understanding of “German post Kantianism”.

Ahmad Almansour (2005) investigates three American pre –Civil war cases in

his study, Emerson, Hawthorne and Poe who found the East as the appropriate

environment for giving attention to nature. In the case of Ralph Waldo Emerson,

he was attracted to the notions of perfection, sublimation and divinity of Sufism

represented by its poets especially the Persian ones.

Zargar Cyrus Ali (2008) presents the writings of two 7th /13th –century Islamic

mystical poets, Muhy i al-Din ibn al-‘Arabi and Fakhr al Din ‘Iraqi from an artistic

viewpoint as they evaluate the beauty that can be detected in their writings.

According to Zagar’s study, Sufi’s Romantic poetry was misunderstood by the

poets’ contemporaries as well as the ones who study them recently. The study

examines two Muslim mystics who were from different backgrounds. A close

attention is given to Ibn Arabi in addition to an investigation for his description for
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beauty as the fundamental purpose of love .Iraqi is an admirer of the divine beauty

which is shown in humans.

Ibrahim Ahmad (2014) discusses the theory of “Divine love” in his thesis

represented by Ibn Arabi. The Meccan Openings (al-Futuhat al- Makkiyya),

chapter 178 is closely analyzed in the study because the text is considered to be

one of the very rich texts that tackles the concept of divine love. The thesis

explores deeply the metaphysical doctrine of Ibn Arabi and it refers to the love

theory which becomes a cornerstone in the Sufi tradition.

Davidson Ryan (2014) discusses the nature and the link between Blake and

Whitman in his thesis. He also studies the effect of the romantic poet on

Whitman’s writings which was obvious in the Leaves of Grass.

Apparently, the reviewed theoretical and empirical studies enriched the

researcher’s knowledge about the topic and provided the researcher with a

framework for the study. They also supported the analysis of the researcher.

However, studies that investigate the works of Ibn arabi, Emerson and Whitman

can be found but what makes this study different from the previous ones is that this

one is the first that combines together the works of these three poets in a

comparative study that highlights love and nature in their works.

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Chapter Three

Methods and Procedures

3.1 Methodology:

The methods that will be used in the study are analytical, comparative, critical

and descriptive methods. These methods will enable the researcher to clarify the

similar and the different points between the three poets’ works as mentioned

earlier. Furthermore, the study will shed the light on the way of each poet

describing the concepts of nature and love and how each poet perceives these

concepts.

3.2 Sample of the Study:

The sample of the study will include Ibn Arabi’s Odes: (I), (XXV) and (XI)

from his book Tarjuma Al Ashwaq. Emerson’s poems consist of two poems that

are: “Give All to Love” and “Each and All” and an extract from his essay Nature.

Whitman’s selected poems from his Leaves of Grass include: “A Glimpse”, “A

Persian Lesson” and “Chanting the Square Deific”. The concepts of love and

nature will be investigated in the poems from the perspective of each poet.
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3.3 Procedures of the Study:

The researcher will follow these procedures in researching and in writing the

thesis:

1. Reading the biography of Ibn Arabi.

2. Reading the biography of Ralph Emerson.

3. Reading the biography of Walt Whitman.

4. Highlighting the concepts of love and nature in Ibn Arbi, Emerson and

Whitman’s works.

5. Analyzing the similarities and differences between the three poets in

depicting and perceiving the concepts of love and nature in their works.

6. Discussing the findings in the research.

7. Making recommendations related to the findings.

8. Documenting references with primary and secondary sources according to

the APA style, fifth edition, the documentation system adopted by Middle

East University.
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Chapter Four

Discussion and Analysis

4.0 Introduction:

This chapter will present the concepts of Sufism and Transcendentalism,

through the poems of Ibn Arabi, Emerson and Whitman. It will provide a

discussion of these concepts followed by quotations and examples from the poems

to strengthen the argument.

4.1 Sufism:

According to Encyclopedia Britannica, because of the tradition of wearing wool

garments, Sufis were given their name and that was a sign of their disapproval of

the materialized temporal earthly things. So the Islamic mysticism was called

Sufism since the beginning of the nineteenth century in Western languages as a

kind of an abstract word derived from the Arabic word ‘ Tasawwuf ‘which means

to dress wool.

Historically speaking, the Islamic spirituality had grown through different

phases covering “1) the appearance of early asceticism. 2) The development of

classical mysticism of divine love and. 3) the rise of proliferation of fraternal

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orders of mystics.” However, the history of this spirituality is mostly a history of

personal experience which is mystical.

The stage which comes first arose in circles, pious ones, that were formed as a

response to the early Umayyad era (661-749) that spread worldly. Because of the

Sufis’ continual practices of continual pondering in the Holy Quran words about

judgment Day, they were looked at as ‘those who always weep’ or the ones who

saw the world as a ‘hut of sorrows’. They were also famed for the strict meticulous

realization and fulfillment of the Quranic injunction in addition to their acts which

reflect piety and notably the fondness of prayers at night.

The second phase of Islamic spirituality was mysticism when the aspect of love

was added to asceticism. It is imputed to Rabi’ah –al-Adawiyah who first drew up

the idealistic idea of the love of Allah along with fear and hope. Hope for entering

paradise and fear of hell. After that, sublime, mystical trends spread around in the

Islamic community.

The third phase started to take a final shape after the crystallization of

brotherhood and the leader centered teachings of Sufism. The thirteenth century

was overshadowed by the Mongolian invasion into the Islamic regions in the East

though it was the golden brilliant age of Sufism. Ibn Arabi, with his far reaching

theories created his system that was described as comprehensive and theosophical

and in its essence the cornerstone for the “unity of being” philosophy .This theory
 22

presents the idea of the oneness of existence which is a “manifestation of the

underlying divine reality.”

The traditional themes of Sufism were exploited for aesthetic reasons.

Moreover, the Sufi poetry possesses that very powerful effect on

Transcendentalism and Romantic poetry. It didn’t only provide an Oriental

imagery but also has some themes like the similarities between experience in love

and nature, the pride of the world and the failure of human reason to give an

explanation to the mysteries around were mundane to Sufism. However, the

Romantics and the New Englanders fell for the enchantments and wonders of

Sufism.

“The East” was seen as the cradle and the fertile womb of wisdom in the world

by possessing the mystical knowledge which was absent or missing in the West. It

became popular again as a result of its similarities with Romanticism in which they

were affected by the irreplaceable essence of the East.

The Easterner’s message has the same essence that is living with focus on love,

peace and goodness away from the materialized world.(Aminrazavi,2014)

The idealistic Utopian model inspired by the East is developed by the

intellectual masters of European and American literature because of the fact that
 23

there is nothing like this magnificent East, and that the charming Orient has that

plenty of cultures.

The captivating idea around the clichéd image of the East and Eastern cultures

maybe a result of the wounds of the Post- Civil War American Society. The scars,

inhumanity and the tragedy of the Civil War became clear. What was therapeutic

and consoling to American Society was the message perceived from the East; that

life is trials of suffering and it will not be considered life if one does not pass

through such hardships in order to be labeled under the category of a living being.

Indeed, the wisdom of the East in its core of love and brotherhood has

surpassed the barriers of worldliness. Furthermore, the Sufi poetry that was

available in the nineteenth century increased greatly as the century went on. When

the decade was close to its end, Sufi poets met the crowd who did really

acknowledge and enjoy their poetry on all levels concerning religion, literature and

philosophy. The New Englanders took from the same sources and produced an

unexampled written forms of letters, poetry and essays that manifested their

fascination with the Persian inspired ideals of Sufism. After that, the spiritual

landscape of New England spread throughout America in a form of inspired

movements like Transcendentalism which declared that the wise people of the East

approached the same universal wisdom like Emerson and Whitman. (Aminrazavi,

2014,p.3).
 24

4.1.1 Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq:

When Ibn Arabi interpreted his love, he wrote poetry to express his longing to

his beloved and his suffering in his love.

Whenever I mention a name in this book I always allude to her,

and whenever I mourn over an abode I mean her abode. In these

poems I always signify Divine influences and spiritual

revelations and sublime analogies, according to the most

excellent way which we (Sufis) follow . . . God forbid that

readers of this book and of my other poems should think of

aught unbecoming to souls that scorn evil and to lofty spirits

that are attached to the things of Heaven ! Amen ! ( Nicholson

,1911, p.4)

In his pilgrimage to Mecca, Ibn Arabi met a young Persian woman who

embodied the divine wisdom. This appealing experience gave him the opportunity

to write Tarjuman Al- Ashwaq. Nizam was the young daughter of Makinu ‘ddin.

The society of her father and aunts sculptured her noble nature. Her astonishing

beauty and silver tongue, reason and ascetics inspired Ibn Arabi to write this

volume . He glorified Nizam through his poems using vivid sensory images though

in the margins of his volume he explained that he “could not express even a small
 25

part of the feelings roused in him by the recollection of his love for her in past

times.” (Nicholson,1911, p.3)

In his preface, Ibn Arabi justified using sensory style and expressions because

the human souls can be infatuated with these charming expressions. Ibn Arabi

composed Al-ashwaq because of a request of his friends in the city of Aleppo. One

of his companions (Shamsu ‘ddin) had heard that some theologian said that Ibn

Arabi’s revelation in his preface was false. That is to say, the love poems he wrote

were severely criticized for adopting a sensual style for he is a man of religion and

piousness. Eventually one of Ibn Arabi’s strict critics acknowledged that: “he

would never in future doubt the good faith of any Sufis who should assert that they

attached a mystical signification to the words used in ordinary speech.”

(Nicholson, p.5)

4.1.2 Concepts of Love and Nature in Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq:

4.1.2.1 Ode (I)

(I)

Would that I were aware whether they knew what heart they

possessed!

And would that my heart knew what mountain-pass they

threaded!
 26

Dost thou deem them safe or dost thou deem them dead?

Lovers lose their way in love and become entangled. (Nicholson,

1911. p.67)

Poetry is like weaving the unseen with human language and poetry for Ibn

Arabi is those endless metaphors and symbols with their unbound intentions and

unfading impressions. While reading some lines of Ibn Arabi’s love poetry, any

reader could remember some pre-Islamic poetry attributed to Majnun Layla the

one who went mad for Laila’s love .Love which others regard natural phenomena

has a deeper level of meaning for Ibn Arabi as he looks deep into the implicit as

well as figurative .

In his own commentary on his lines of Ode (I), he mentioned that “They” refers

to the “divine ideas” to which the souls of gnostics are eagerly captured and the

spirits are distressed and for whose sake the God-fearing workers perform their

work of passion and devotion. Mohammadan heart, the perfect one, is the one that

intended by the word heart. It’s not restricted by stations, nevertheless, it is

obsessed with Divine Ideas for they pursue who pursues them. They (the ideas)

can’t recognize that they possess that heart because they are part of its fundamental

nature.
 27

Therefore, these divine ideas only exist in the existence of the seer and when

the seer is gone, they are dead. Ibn Arabi indicates the mountain-pass which shows

that it’s fixed and unchangeable and on the other hand, there’s the fleeting ‘state’

that is contrasted with the ‘station’. The two perplexing opposite things that baffled

lovers that the lover longs to be in full harmony with the beloved. Moreover, the

lover wants to unite with Him. So the dilemma of the lover exists when the

beloved wished to part from him.

4.1.2.2 Ode (XXV)

Love is evoked in the perceiver because of the beauty and lovability of the

perceived object .In other words, the objects awaken love because of their beauty.

The beautiful is doubtlessly divine and the divine is the reality and the existence

which love results from. So each beautiful aspect mirrors the divine since the soul

of every person has a breath from the divine spirit. (Zagar, 2010.p.5).

(XXV)

O grief for my heart, O grief! O joy for my mind, O joy!

In my heart the fire of passion is burning, in my mind

the full moon of darkness hath set.

O musk! O full moon! O bough of the sand-hills!

How green is the bough, how bright the moon,

 28

how sweet the musk!

She is the morning sun rising in a heaven, she is the

bough of the sand-hills planted in a garden.

Fear made me watch her incessantly while I watered the

bough with falling rain.

If she riseth, she will be a wonder to mine eye, or if she

setteth she will be a cause of my death.

Since Beauty bound on her head a diadem of unwrought

gold, I am in love with gold that has been wrought.

If Bilqis had seen her couch, the throne and the

pavement would not have occurred to her mind.

A musky odour which exhales its fragrance to us from

the flowers of thy lowlands or the flowers of the hills,

O ban tree of the valley, show us a branch or some twigs

 29

that can be compared with her tenderness!

… (Nicholson, 1911. pp.97-98)

The nature with its alluring and beautiful elements called Ibn Arabi’s beloved to

his mind. As a reader of the mystics of nature, one should not look at the universe

as a literal thing but observe it closely to find the symbols in nature within which

the divine is manifested and may be unveiled to the perceiver. Nature is even

mentioned in the Holy Quran “Though all the trees of earth were pens and the seas

were ink ; yet would the words of God not be spent” (Luqman,31:27) and with all

its units is a fertile place for an ordinary observer so what if the observer was a

poet who is reminded with his beloved when looking at these scenes and how

about a bewildered lover like Ibn Arabi who found a lot of symbols in nature that

awakened his memories said in his own explanation of his( XXV Ode ) that he is

afraid that the grief of love will weaken his body, the body by which he grasped

Divine Sciences. He also described the full moon that is shown in the darkness and

risen in his mind after having set in the sensible world. He compared his beloved to

the moon since her light is borrowed from the light of God who manifests Himself

in her. Next in the Ode, he portrays the green bough that is clothed with the Holy

Divine Names, it’s the same image when the leaves are there to clothe the boughs.

Other aspects of nature are mentioned in this Ode. They are veiled under
 30

profound meanings that excite him in his writing when he began to

behold her in everything. They are clear in the first three lines of Ode.

Ibn Arabi used symbolic language. He compares the bubbles to the

water which symbolizes life .When the breaths of mercy flow; the Divine

mercy that results from the Divine life appears and this is mentioned in

line 4 “smiling mouth whose bubbles I loved! And O saliva in which I

tasted white honey!” (Ode XXV) Additionally, he likens his beloved to

the sun, the illuminative guidance, repeatedly in several odes. The sun is

in heaven, the place within which the manifestation happens. In line (7)

Ibn Arabi also refers to the valley that represents the knowledge in the

hearts. He mentions the flowers that indicate the “inaccess ible veil of the

Divine glory.” Here, Ibn Arabi wants to show that the divine wisdom is

manifested in all things around.

In his article, Chittick(2009) said, “life is presupposed by every divine

quality… life also pervades all creatures, because creatures are simply

the traces and properties of the divine names.” (Chittick, 2009)

All creatures including animals have a strong presence in Ibn Arabi’s

Odes. They are given symbolic meanings. For example, the gazelles in

line 18 of the same ode refer to beauty: “Or at the sand-hills and where

the vale bends beside the guarded pasture or at La'la', where the gazelles
 31

come to browse.” moreover, in line 20 the dove seems to be like a

Gnostic’s soul where the lofty expression of the dove inflames the poet’s

yearning for God: “whenever a turtle-dove moans, is thrilled by the

remembrance of his beloved and passes away.”

Ultimately, it is shown in the last lines that beauty is in an inseparable

relationship with nature, that each one reflects the other that is to say, the

language love utters is beauty and by no means poems written by beauty

are nothing but pure love.

4.1.2.3 Ode (XI)

Ibn Arabi with his striking style, depicted a “religion of love” (din-al -hubb) a

distinct way for those whose hearts receive every divine aspect, or to put it

differently, that heart which “fluctuates to suit its Lord’s state-changing quality.”

(Zagar, 2010)

(XI)

They encompass my heart moment after moment, for the

sake of love and anguish, and kiss my pillars,

A gazelle whose pasture is between the breast-bones and

 32

the bowels. O marvel ! a garden amidst fires !

My heart has become capable of every form : it is a

pasture for gazelles and a convent for Christian monks,

And a temple for idols and the pilgrim's Ka'ba and the

tables of the Tora and the book of the Koran.

I follow the religion of Love : whatever way Love's

camels take, that is my religion and my faith.

We have a pattern in Bishr, the lover of Hind and her

sister, and in Qays and Lubna and in Mayya and

Ghayldn. (Nicholson, 1911. pp.66-7)

Ibn Arabi’s “universalisms” is shown in the lines of Ode (XI), where he

emphasizes the idea of “the Sūfī doctrine that all ways lead to the One God.”That

profound idea which asserts that love already exists in all religions. The

relationship between the sources of love is like a river and its streams. (Religions)

are the streams of the same river (source), and any path one takes will lead to the

source which love springs from. Religions are sent from a merciful God who is the

infinite source of love, and innately, humans are drawn to this source.
 33

God is the Ultimate Reality whose name is al-Wadud or the one who bears love,

and to love Him, one should know him first and those who love Him are the ones

who yearn to his supreme love that aims at union and togetherness.

Seen and expressed by other philosophers in Islam, Ahmad Al Ghazali exposes

love meaning in his Sawanih. He explained that God loved human beings before

they loved Him .This notion is taken from the Qur’anic verse “He loves them and

[therefore] they love Him.” So love starts from the side of the Divine. It is that gift

from God to all creation. (Chittick, 2013)

Finally, in Ibn Arabi’s (XI) Ode , he mentions the lovers in the Arabic poetry

who are widely known like Qays and Lubna, Bishr, the lover of Hind and her

sister, Mayya and Ghayldn who had written love masterpieces to celebrate their

love which is all about duality, tied bonds and separateness. Love for Ibn Arabi is

an inevitable source of suffering that puzzles the lovers and reveals the fragility of

human beings .Suffering is explained as the gateway to true love in his Ode.

And for Ibn Arabi, Nizam is the embodiment of beauty and the symbol of

knowledge and love.

4.2. Transcendentalism

As history tells and according to Myerson (2000b), Transcendentalism came

with its sense of novelty and the Transcendentalists were called the “New School”
 34

so the originality which accompanied Transcendentalism was everywhere in

America when there was a notable change in the life of America and Americans.

Transcendentalists borrowed ideas from many literatures, religions and

philosophies. They took whatever matches their beliefs. These borrowings were

shaped into a new system that suits their thoughts.

To many writers, Transcendentalism was primarily a religious passion,

revolution and enthusiasm and the Transcendentalists who were occupied by

Unitarianism were mostly ministers and felt that Unitarianism with its austere

structure couldn’t remove the chains of theology. The difference between Puritans

is not only huge but also unquestionable. Puritans have the idea of the original

human sin that corrupted the world; a world which is hostile, strange and saved by

chance before birth. The world for them is fated and predetermined, contrary to the

Unitarians, whose universe is ordered enough to be in progress towards the best

through the good deeds which are taken into consideration on the Day of

Judgment. Their leader William Ellery Channing (1780–1842) helped give a name

to the Unitarian movement in his speech “Unitarian Christianity”. In “Likeness to

God”, he propounded that mankind “partake” of Divinity which means that

divinity can be perceived by anyone whose life is in harmony with divinity and

that the divinity can be found within nature and humankind. They believe that if
 35

nature itself is something divine then observing nature can set the scene to analyze

and examine the representations, workings and expressions of the divine mind.

From their deep belief in the importance of intuition, Transcendentalists placed

emphasis on the individual interpretation of the religious texts. Transcendentalists’

Parents had great faith in John Locke’s standpoint of the world. To Locke, the

human mind is like an empty page on which the experiences of the individuals are

carved, so the book of lives was originally blank at birth and individuals

themselves write their own experiences. Nonetheless, the younger generation had

something else. For them Immanuel Kant’s views were the ones to adapt .They

think that the book that they are given at birth is simply not blank. This book

embraces the recognized truths of the universe and from the beginning one

intuitively reads the book than writing it. “Understanding” and “Reason” are two

terms used by Transcendentalists in their writings to differentiate between: the

intuition of Kant and the empiricism of Locke .These two terms came into the

American writing by Samuel Taylor Coleridge who explained understanding as

“the faculty according to sense” and he defined reason as "the Power of universal

and necessary Conviction, the Source and the Substance of Truths above Sense,

and having their evidence in themselves.”

 36

Transcendentalists took precedence over British writers in literature.

Moreover, they were the ones who endorsed the British Romantics when it was not

sure if the reception of their works will be certainly positive and free from doubts.

The audience which was digging in all the things around them to light upon

self-definition and poetic inspiration found something in Wordsworth and

Coleridge’s poetry which theme concurs with daily life. To Transcendentalists’

knowledge, Frederic Henry Hedge, a Unitarian minister who attended Harvard

Divinity School was one of the important sources for the German Romantics. He

wrote a review for Coleridge’s Christian Examiner (1833) indicating Coleridge’s

genius bestowal of expression as well as his attachment to the metaphysics of the

German , he lamented that he hadn’t made Kant’s transcendental philosophy

attainable to the English audience. Hedge also arranged what is in the course of

time became the Transcendental club. (Myerson, 2000b)

In his article, Goodman(2014) claims that the view of nature was alive and

used by Wordsworth and Coleridge along with Emerson.The power of the mind in

Wordsworth’s works extends through Emerson’s Nature. In his essay, he writes

that nature is biddable to spirit, he also councils each one to “Build ……your own

world”. Wordsworth has a similar style that depends on receiving from nature

where one’s heart can watch and receive universal truths .Emerson likewise has a

receptive vogue starting from Nature and on when he describes an experience in

 37

the woods : “I become a transparent eyeball. I am nothing; I see all; the currents of

the universal being circulate through me.”

Furthermore, Goodman continues that Transcendentalists show a far-reaching

interest in Asian religions. Nevertheless, Europeans discovery of the Orient

precedes the American Transcendentalists’ discovery. John S Harrison said that

undoubtedly Hermetic and Neoplatonic beliefs and thoughts prepared for the

enthusiasm and fascination of the Romantics and Transcendentalists with “Oriental

religions”. However, It is hard to define or put Transcendentalism into words as a

term because Transcendentalists themselves never acceded to its ultimate meaning,

though, one can be satisfied with this definition, “Transcendentalism is

fundamentally an intuitionism, a belief that Truth can be intuitively perceived by

higher Reason that this intuition precedes and invigorates all religious awareness,

and that it can penetrate the various forms of world religions, extracting from them

their essence.” (Versluis,1993,p.13)

Hence, Transcendentalism is an early nineteenth century movement that

combines politics, literature in addition to philosophy; stimulated by German and

English Romanticism; Hume’s skepticism; Herder and Schleiermacher’s Biblical

criticism with Emerson who is the center of this movement despite the fact that

there were other important Transcendentalist like Henry David Thoreau, Amos
 38

Bronson Alcott, Theodore Parker, Frederic Henry Hedge, and Margaret Fuller.

(Goodman, 2014)

4.2.1 Concepts of Love and Nature in Emerson’s Poems and Essays

poets for Emerson are those prophets who feel, watch, receive and say lines that

come from their own hidden world. Emerson was not only an influential essayist

and lecturer but he was also a great poet. Emerson tried to put his philosophical

ideas with lyricism in his poems. He also used traditional poetic devices in writing

his poems like rhyme though some are free form.

4.2.1.1 Give All to Love:

Love to Emerson is something inexpressible, it’s not bound to anything else .It

lifts one’s soul up because it is divine.

Obey thy heart;

Friends, kindred, days,

Estate, good fame,

Plans, credit, and the muse;

Nothing refuse.

'Tis a brave master,

 39

Let it have scope,

Follow it utterly,

Hope beyond hope,...

But 'tis a god,

Knows its own path,…

It requireth courage stout,

Souls above doubt,

Valor unbending;

Such 'twill reward,

They shall return

More than they were,

And ever ascending…

Cling with life to the maid,…

Though thou loved her as thyself,

As a self of purer clay,

Tho' her parting dims the day,

Stealing grace from all alive

 40

Heartily know,

When half-gods go,

The gods arrive (Oliver, pp.697-698)

Emerson’s poem “Give all to Love” that consists of six stanzas is about giving

everything up for love .The reader of the poem is expected to know what the

meaning of true love is. Emerson explains in his poem that love means being able

to lose the very important things in one’s life such as friends, money, plans, fame

and even muses. For Emerson, to love means to lose all life pleasures and let go

the precious things in the world without being hopeful that they will come back

again. Nevertheless, the lover is bestowed by love and many things are going to

come in return to him or to her but designed differently. Therefore, it takes too

much courage and bravery to be a lover and keep your love alive because one

should take the orders from the heart and follow them.

At the end of his poem, Emerson reminds his readers of the harsh reality of

missing. He expresses his suffering when his days become dark because of the

absence of his beloved. This idea is very clear in the lines “Tho' her parting dims

the day/Stealing grace from all alive.”

Emerson expresses a similar idea in his essay Love. He explains his feelings

towards his beloved in her presence and absence as well. He mentions that the
 41

lover “became all eye when one was present, and all memory when one was

gone”.(Oliver,2002.p.193 )

The idea of the poem is the unconditional love, love with all one’s heart and

suffering because of love.

Emerson has that deep belief that one should let go the shallow empty concepts

that impoverish the hearts of humans and this is the way to reach God and this is

what is expressed in his last words that hit in each one’s heart.

4.2.1.2 Each and All:

Like many poets, nature is an essential inspiration for Emerson and one of his

major thoughts. That is to say, the beauty that exists in nature stimulates Emerson

to write about love that every natural phenomenon is nothing but a symbol of love.

Nothing is fair or good alone.

I thought the sparrow's note from heaven,

Singing at dawn on the alder bough;

He sang to my ear, — they sang to my eye

 42

The delicate shells lay on the shore;

The bubbles of the latest wave

Fresh pearls to their enamel gave;

And the bellowing of the savage sea

Greeted their safe escape to me.

…With the sun, and the sand, and the wild uproar

…Over me soared the eternal sky,

Full of light and of deity;

…Beauty through my senses stole;

I yielded myself to the perfect whole.

…The lover watched his graceful maid,

As 'mid the virgin train she stayed,

…The gay enchantment was undone,

A gentle wife, but fairy none.

Then I said, "I covet truth;

Beauty is unripe childhood's cheat;

…Running over the club-moss burrs;

 43

I inhaled the violet's breath;

Around me stood the oaks and firs;… (Poetry Foundation, 2017)

In his essay Love he said, “The passion rebuilds the world for the

youth…Nature grows conscious Every bird on the boughs of the tree sings now to

his heart and soul …the clouds have faces as he looks on them. The trees of the

forest.”(Oliver,2002.pp.193-194) so nature is like a poem that is beyond analysis

yet one has the power to enchant and sense the beauty within it. Emerson believes

that the poet is not only a poet but also a seer or even a prophet because he can

reflect other worlds .He depicts in his Nature, the understanding of the real would

come through the manifestation of the divine with nature and here comes the role

of the poet who becomes a part of revelation using the language which may seem

perplexing but in total harmony with the indescribable and unutterable that is

received by the poet. Emerson writes another poem, Each and All and according to

Yoder(1978) the main idea of the poem is that the path to the truth is paved by the

astonishment and surprise of the poet and "that truth, beauty, and goodness are not

isolated elements but aspects of the 'perfect whole'”. (Yoder, 1978)

The sudden enlightenment of the persona in Each and All surpasses the facts of

matter; in other words, instinctly he is experiencing nature parts and absorbing it as

a whole using his senses. A poem which leaps from the beginning to a conclusion

towards the foundation of things where the beauty of nature mesmerizes such a
 44

poet like Emerson, "All are needed by each one / Nothing is fair or good alone". In

the poem, the poet uses examples from the nature, the shells, sparrow, and the

maiden to test the fundamental that “Nothing is fair or good alone”. Although the

poem includes images for the interaction between humans like the wife but the

major idea is nature. A good example is the seashell which is with its simplicity

stands in a relation to all things where it can be seen beautiful in nature and not

separately. That all nature aspects are interwoven together, the sea, the sun, the

shore and the sounds, the visual as well as the aural, to awaken the senses of a

bewildered lover of nature.

In a perfect interaction between the intellect and senses, the persona in the

poem is in a moment of knowing. This moment doesn’t come from understanding

alone but from the poet perceiving the real heart of nature and diving from the

surface to the depths of the physical world by achieving harmony with nature.

The lover is there in the poem of nature watching, speculating and maybe waiting

to be inspired more and more by nature or by the beauty of his beloved .

4.2.1.3 Nature:

In his remarkable essay Nature, Emerson explains how a wise man turns into a

child with all his inquisitiveness to seek the secrets of nature around him:
 45

The stars awaken a certain reverence, because though always

present, they are inaccessible; but all natural objects make a

kindred impression, when the mind is open to their influence.

Nature never wears a mean appearance. Neither does the wisest

man extort her secret, and lose his curiosity by finding out all

her perfection. Nature never became a toy to a wise spirit. The

flowers, the animals, the mountains, reflected the wisdom of his

best hour, as much as they had delighted the simplicity of his

childhood. (Oliver, p.364)

In his essay Nature, Emerson refers to nature as ‘she’, therefore, one can

compare nature to one’s dearest beloved with whom he can escape his sorrows and

reach to the point where he can transcend towards the divine realities or like a

mother for the man who becomes as a child in his curiosity towards nature. For

Emerson, the heat of nature opens an observer’s perception to love everything and

everyone, so love, beauty and nature are inseparable concepts that lead to each

other.

Emerson tries to free his mind from all sorts of entanglement in order to

perceive the influence and wonders of nature completely as Buell(2009) mentioned

that Emerson “opened up the prospect of a much more profound sense of the
 46

nature, challenge, and promise of mental emancipation, whatever one’s race, sex,

or nation might be.”(Buell,2009.p.5)

According to Cliffsnotes, gazing at the stars separates Emerson from the

material world. They always and forever exist in the sky so they are a reminder of

the eternity of the divine. They can always move one’s feelings and give him or

her a chance to retain the sense of wonder even with familiar aspects of nature. For

Emerson adults should have balance between the inner and the outer world to

perceive nature innately. One loses manhood when he has a pure curiosity towards

the miracles of nature; as if it is a phase of transformation when a man becomes a

child who devotes his whole being to nature with engaged senses and intertwined

soul. “In nature, which is also a part of God, man finds qualities parallel to his

own. There is a special relationship, a sympathy, between man and

nature.”(Cliffsnotes,n.d)

Emerson, the iconic writer believes that nature is the way to find divine realities

that can not be found anywhere else. For him, one should look inside his inner soul

and the outer world to achieve harmony.

4.2.2 Concepts of Love and Nature in Walt Whitman’s Poems from Leaves of

Grass

Walt Whitman is one of the most original American poets who has his own

national voice. According to Corrigan (2012), many intellectuals consider Walt

 47

Whitman as the poet of the body although Whitman and Emerson are quite similar

in their poetic ascetics. In his well-known Leaves of Grass, he discusses his own

self and expresses the mysteries of life; he explores the two spiritual elements of

man, body and soul. He also has his own relationship with nature for he considers

it divine.

4.2.2.1 A Glimpse:

The ecstasy in life is momentary or even like a glimpse. This is the depiction of a

moment when Walt Whitman tries to slow down the time or freeze it forever; he

immortalizes a moment that within the unbearable nostalgia exists. Therefore,

everyone can read Whitman’s poem Glimpse till now.

A glimpse through an interstice caught,

Of a crowd of workmen and drivers in a bar-

room around the stove late of a winter night,

and I unremark’d seated in a corner,

Of a youth who loves me and whom I love,

silently approaching and seating

 48

himself near, that he may hold me by the hand,

Along while amid the noises of coming and

going,of drinking and oath and smutty jest,

There we two, content, happy in being

together, speaking little, perhaps not a word.

(Whitman, p.122)

As Dougherty (1993) stated, a note was found on one of the scripts that were

unpublished on which Whitman wrote “Pictures”: “Break all these to several

picture”. Dougherty continued that, it means to open the helmet of one’s

consciousness and then all images will flow to be reshaped as words then poems.

“A Glimpse” is one of Whitman’s poems that depicts the freedom from the

conquering mind. It shows how someone can move from the outside to the inner

self and from the noise of the barroom to the quietness and closeness of love. An

eye that glimpses and a soul that knows and finds love. In this poem Whitman

describes a situation which is preferable for him in his poems. The poem is a

simple portrayal for a couple battling to gain a moment or a glimpse of peace

through all the turmoil of the daily life.

The speaker separates himself from the crowds to look through them for his

love, unseen to others in the corner to enjoy moments of solidarity with the one he
 49

loves. It is the power of love that brings back the stillness to the mind despite all

the noise around and it is the language of lovers when they say nothing at all.

4.2.2.2 A Persian Lesson:

The Near East with a natural setting is depicted in Whitman’s poem A Persian

Lesson. The images and the philosophy of Persia exist in this poem and the

“lesson” is given by a Sufi, who is like other Sufis, believes in intuition to reach

the truth. The effect of the Persian poet Jalal al-din Rumi is obvious. Ghulam M.

Fayez (1979) suggests that Whitman is closest to Rumi "by affinity of mystic

temper as well as poetic characteristics," and he indicates that Rumi may have been

Whitman's inspiration for "A Persian Lesson."

For his o'erarching and last lesson the greybeard Sufi,

In the fresh scent of the morning in the open air,

On the slope of a teeming Persian rose-garden,

Under an ancient chestnut-tree wide spreading its branches,

Spoke to the young priests and students.

Finally my children, to envelop each word,

each part of the rest ,

Allah is all, all, all is immanent in every life

and object ,
 50

May be at many and many-a-more removes

– yet Allah, Allah, Allah is there.

“Has the estray wander’d far? Is the reason-

why strangely hidden?

Would you know the dissatisfaction? The

urge and spur of every life;

The something never still’d –never entirely

gone? The invisible need of every seed?

It is the central urge in every atom, (Often

unconscious, often evil, downfallen,)

To return to its divine source and origin,

however distant, Latent the same in subject

and in object, without one exception”

(Whitman, pp.490-491)

In the introductory five lines of the poem, the inspiration of natural elements is

noticeable where the Sufi is about to give a lesson in the open air in the morning

under the chestnut trees in a Persian rose-garden when the reader can smell the

aromas in the morning which represent God’s messages to the man in Sufi poetry.
 51

The image of the Sufi lecturing in such a natural scene builds a mental picture

of wholeness and holiness as well. The nature that is divine inspires the Sufi to

lecture and Whitman to write. In his essay, Ford (1987) mentions that the rose-

garden image is used frequently in Sufi poetry but Whitman uses these images

unknowingly of their symbolism and mysticism in the Sufi poetry. In other words,

the Sufi poets use this kind of symbolic language that allows them to speak of

something while they mean a totally different thing. For example, the rose-garden

stands for the soul. Ford doubts if Whitman is aware of the arch image that is

connected to the prayers place in a mosque and to broaden the idea, the niche

where one communicates with God. So Whitman in his reaction to the Sufi poetry

has the same attitude of Emerson and Ibn Arabi that is the unmistakable

relationship between nature, man and the divine. According to Spring Magazine on

English Literature, the poem portrays a greybeard Sufi, metaphorically Whitman

himself, telling his students about Allah as the ‘One’.Whitman emphasizes the

doctrine of the manifestation of the divine in each and every single aspect of

universe as stated by Khosla (1987) that God is one truth “unitive” in character,

and evident to be in a “variety of forms”.

Sufism enriches the poems of Whitman that one can notice his Sufi

consciousness. A Persian Lesson is Whitman’s touch of the pure insight combined

 52

together with other mystical Persian elements to form this Sufi Transcendentalist

masterpiece.

4.2.2.3 Chanting the Square Deific

When someone like Whitman wants to find his transcendental self, it may take him

a life time or beyond. Whitman’s transcendental self is centered around religion or

soul. The religion that he tries to speak about is the discovery of the divine in all

things. It is when someone believes whole heartedly in the eternal life of the spirit

that is hidden behind every apparent phenomenon. Whitman’s understanding of

religion indicates that contradictions that result from observing the universe should

not shake one’s faith.

Chanting the square deific, out of the One advancing, out of the sides,

Out of the old and new, out of the square entirely divine,

Solid, four- sided, (all the sides needed,)…

I am time, old, modern as any …

As the Earth, the Father, the brown old Kronos, with laws,

…yet ever new, ever with those mighty laws rolling,

…Consolator most mild, the promis’d one advancing …

 53

From this side! The Lord Christ gazes! Hermes! Mine is Hercules

face,

All sorrow, labor, suffering, I, tallying it, absorb in myself ,

…Wending my way through the homes of men, rich or poor, with

the kiss of affection,

For I am affection…

And my sweet love bequeath’d here and elsewhere never dies.

Aloof, dissatisfied, plotting revolt,

Comrade of criminals, brother of slaves …

Lifted now and always against whoever scoring assumes to rule me …

Defiant, I am Satan, still live, still utter words …

Permanent here from my side, warlike, equal with any, real as any,

Nor time nor change shall ever change me or my words.

…Beyond Paradise, perfumed solely with mine own perfume,

Including all life on earth, touching, including God, including Savior

and Satan,

Ethereal, pervading all (for without me what were all? what were

God?),
 54

Essence of forms, life of the real identities, permanent, positive,

(namely the unseen,)

Life of the great round world, the sun and stars, and of man, I, the

general soul,

Here the square finishing, the solid, I the most solid,

Breathe my breath also through these songs.

(Whitman, pp.400-401-402)

Symonds (1893) comments on Whitman’s understanding of

religion:“Everything in the world is the thought of some spirit or soul, for which

the name of God is a convenient symbol.” (Symonds,1893. pp.21-22)

Whitman’s poem “Chanting the Square Deific” is about the basic concepts that

are important to the Divine. Symonds continues that the first essential side of

Whitman’s understanding of the divine using the idea of the square is law which is

proved by science in the first stanza of the poem.

The second side of the square is love that creates supreme beings such as Christ

who consoles the sufferings and sorrows in the world, Hercules and Hermes that

are referred to in the poem because they are half gods. This idea is explained in the

second stanza of the poem.

 55

The third conception is Satan’s revolution as mentioned in the first lines of the

third stanza.

And the fourth conception that forms the fourth side of the square becomes

clear according to Whitman’s attitude to the universe when he unites all these

conceptions in a more spiritual way. That is to say, there is always something

beyond love, law, hatred and the man’s religion for Whitman and this thing is

reaching the fundamental reality by unifying them all .

As if that Whitman writes this poem that consists of four stanzas for four

conceptions that are represented on a square of four sides on purpose.

4.3. Comparison and Contrast

It is worth mentioning that Sufism, represented by Ibn Arabi in this research, is

one of the most important doctrines that Transcendentalism, represented by

Emerson and Whitman, is influenced by. Despite the fact that there is no direct link

between Ibn Arabi on one hand and Emerson and Whitman on the other, the bonds

between their works cannot be denied. They all depict the same themes concerning

love and nature. In their works, the three poets show how nature, beauty along with

love are essential concepts that lead to the divine reality. They are united by their

choices in writing about these concepts. All of them pinpoint their ideas that are
 56

similar to each other, yet they express their awareness of the concepts differently.

The difference between them is a matter that depends on each poet’s perception.

As mentioned before, in Ode (XXV) for Ibn Arabi love is a deep idea and not

only a love between a man and a woman. It goes beyond the normal boundaries of

love that the beloved becomes a manifestation of the divine. Similarly, in his “Give

all to Love” Emerson’s love is a master that deserves letting go all the pleasures of

life for its sake, and when one leaves the pleasures of life for love, it means that the

one is transcending beyond the materialistic love towards the spiritual one.

Ibn Arabi suffers from the idea of his beloved being away from him and the

same is Emerson when he describes the sadness and the darkness that shed his days

when his beloved is gone. This is essential in Sufi doctrine because man must

suffer otherwise love is meaningless. Whitman tackles a similar idea in the poem

“A Glimpse” where he portrays the happiness of the lover and the quietness that

prevails everything around when the lover and the beloved are together. So one can

say that the lover will be confused and sad if his beloved is not around. The

difference between the three poets can be found in the way each one apprehends

the idea of love. For Ibn Arabi, anything can remind him with his beloved, he finds

her a manifestation of the divine giving the impression that he is a Gnostic

obsessed by the divine and his love comes from the only divine source .Emerson

does not talk about such details in his poem; his love is only spiritual that is
 57

accompanied with leaving the enjoyments of life. It is not like Ibn Arabi’s belief

that love and the beloved lead to the real divine.

Whitman’s setting in “A Glimpse” is totally different; it is not a natural scene

like Ibn Arabi’s and Emerson’s; it is a bar which is a place that leads the reader to

Whitman’s sensual love that has nothing to do with spirituality. The setting in

Whitman’s poem is unlike the tranquil one of Ibn Arabi and Emerson. So Whitman

in “A Glimpse” is not a spiritual poet like Ibn Arabi and Emerson. In his major

works, Whitman likes to celebrate the body claiming that it is the vessel that

contains the soul. According to Gentry(1990), Emerson himself did not accept

some of Whitman’s sensual poems. He was hesitant at the very beginning to

support Whitman because of this reason.(Gentry,1990)

Nature is a stimulating picture that evokes the three poets to draw memorable

pictures in their poems. It is the concept that stirs up the poets to see beyond the

things. The similarity of natural themes in Ibn Arabi’s, Emerson’s and Whitman’s

works is generally recognized. Nature for Ibn Arabi is full of symbols; he uses

these symbols that are a reminder of the divine reality that he is seeking. As

previously explained, in his Ode (XXV), Ibn Arabi is not amazed by the existent

things in nature but by what is hidden behind them that every element stands for

something divine. Likewise Emerson glorifies nature that expresses the divine, and

finds it the best place to unlock the mysteries in the universe. The difference
 58

between Ibn Arabi and Emerson is that the latter considers the man as the child of

the Mother Nature in his essay Nature.Whitman, influenced by Emerson as well as

Persian poetry describes nature in his poems and has the same attitude of Ibn Arabi

and Emerson that the divine is manifested not only in every object in nature but in

each atom as mentioned in his poem “A Persian Lesson”.

The two poets follow Ibn Arabi’s track but in different ways. The extraordinary

notion about love comes from the genius Ibn Arabi, “I follow the Religion of love”

(p.67).The core of Sufi doctrine explains that every way leads to one merciful

God. The notion of the Religion of love is only found in Ibn Arabi’s poem.

Nevertheless; Emerson and Whitman pursue a similar way of thinking but with

different components. In reference to Emerson’s life, he derives his ideas from

different sources and takes from different philosophies, theories as well as

religions. He does not mind what to take or from which spring to drink as long the

way guides to one ultimate reality. This is similar to Ibn Arabi’s notion of religion

of love though Ibn Arabi who finds his religion and calls it love.Whitman.however,

is still confused about his religion. In his poem “Chanting the Square Deific”,

Whitman’s experience is different from Ibn Arabi’s and Emerson’s. Religion for

him is a matter of discovery. He links the religion to four concepts that should be

put together to reach reality. For the three poets, the poet is a seer who is looking
 59

for the truth in all his surroundings yet each poet tries to find answers to his

questions in his own way.

 60

Chapter Five
Conclusion and Recommendations

5.1 Conclusion:
Ibn Arabi’s Tarjuman Al Ashwaq is one of the important books that depicts

his love journey towards the tranquility of the divine light. Ibn Arabi sees the real

love for his Nizam as a leading way to the divine reality. The pleasing nature with

all its symbols to Ibn Arabi is not only a mystic place to meditate but also a trigger

for the sensitive poet’s emotions to reflect. Nature calls his beloved to his mind

that both are beautiful and in both the divine beauty is manifested. He presents the

beauty of the one he loves, finds symbols in nature and interprets them in his own

mystical and religious way. In his Odes “Ode (I)”, “Ode (XI)” and “Ode

(XXV)”,love, beauty and nature are connected tightly to each other to represent the

divine source of love and beauty.

His Ode (XI) contains his universal confession that his Religion is love which

becomes like a proverb that gives a shelter for each one who still can love

unconditionally. Ibn Arabi’s way of thinking is religious. Nevertheless, his revolt

against the traditional way of thinking is remarkable. He generates a new

understanding that can be detected in the two poets’ works. Referring to Emerson,
 61

it is known that he was inspired by the Persian poet Shams-ud-Din Muhammad

Hafez-e Shirazi. Hellal(1971) mentions that Emerson himself translated some

works of Hafiz and described him in his essay The Persian Poetry: “There is no

example of such facility of allusion, such use of all materials….he fears nothing,

he stops for nothing.”

According to the Arab Encyclopedia, Hafiz is an iconic poet. He lived in the

eighth century that witnessed prosperity of Sufism. Hafiz was interested in

studying the Holy Quran and its interpretation, Al-hadith and the Arabic poetry

especially Ibn Arabi’s and Ibn Al-Farid’s poetry. So Hafiz who influenced

Emerson was himself interested in Ibn Arabi. In his book, Lewisohn(2015)

explains that it was proved that Hafiz with his sensitivity could absorb the

mystical and philosophical ideas in the culture contemporary to him and “the

mystical philosophy of Hafiz …is the complicated speculative theosophy of Ibn

Arabi and his followers.”( Lewisohn,2015,p.61). Therefore, Ibn Arabi is a very

influential figure even after centuries.Ibn Arabi influenced Hafiz and Hafiz

inspired Emerson then Whitman was influenced by Emerson’s style. Ibn Arabi’s

oneness in his religion paves the way for poets and writers after him. After

centuries, one can find Ibn Arabi’s influence in the works of Emerson and

Whitman. Thus one can admit the universality of this great poet.
 62

Regarding Emerson’s representation of love and nature, he gives a complete

vision for both; again Emerson sees nature as symbolic. In the symbols of nature

he can see the one he loves. In his poem“ Give all to Love” the loss of one’s love

may darken the poet’s day as if she was the sun that lights his days. Emerson

considers nature as a mother for the human beings which is a unique depiction of

nature where man loses his manhood and becomes an innocent child between the

arms of nature in order to find the divine truth that he is seeking.

Both, the Sufi Ibn Arabi and the Transcendental Emerson share the same belief

of the spiritual love for each and every element to reach the ultimate and finite

reality.Being influenced by Transcendentalism along with Persian Sufism,

Whitman in Leaves of Grass, portrays love and nature in his different sensual way,

though he shows his Sufi trend in his poem “A Persian Lesson” within which there

is nothing except natural beauty and tranquility. Whitman like Ibn Arabi and

Emerson is seeking the infinite truth but with a different vision for his square in his

poem “Chanting the Square Deific”.

The three great poets wrote poetry that can be studied over and over again. To

find the greatness of their poems, the reader should dare read and dive more into

the unfathomable sea of their lines and dig deep to find the hidden meanings of

their words.
 63

5.2 Recommendations:

It cannot be denied that the translators of Ibn Arabi exerted great efforts to try to

give a clear translation for his symbolic ideas. Nevertheless, a translation of Ibn

Arabi’s sophisticated works from an Arabic point of view is recommended to try to

give the exact flavor of the words.

Another recommendation is that the poems can be discussed through a feminist

approach by focusing on the female existence as a savior and an image in the

works of the three poets despite the fact that the portrayal of the female figure is

different from one poet to another. Another approach can be investigated like the

psychoanalytic by concentrating on the metaphysical aspect of the human soul that

can be studied in this case. Another recommendation is applying deconstruction

approach to interpret Ibn Arabi’s works because the works can be interpreted in

different ways.

Another recommendation is to study the symbols used by Ibn Arabi in the outline

of Sufism .

Finally, the square that is mentioned in Whitman’s poem “Chanting the Square

Deific” can be investigated in a study that each side of it has many ways to be

interpreted in.
 64

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