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Worship, Ritual and Divinity: a Perennial Glance
By Jasbeer Musthafa, (PhD, University of Western Sydney), Research Student with HIKMA (Wisdom) Association
Rituals are one of the significant and insidious traits of any religion and have been extensively examined by both classical and contemporary philosophical literature. Albeit, the social scientists have been proposed theories on and of rituals, none could exemplify them as just as Theo-Philosophical theories could do. It thus becomes clear that no theory on rituals become all-encompassing without Theo-Philosophical framework. To quote Martyr Ayatollah Sayyed Baqir Al Sadr: “In the sphere of worship, the man of the age of electricity and space prays, fasts, and performs the pilgrimage just as his ancestor from the age of the stone mill used to pray, fast and perform the pilgrimage. It is true, however, that in the civil aspect of getting prepared to perform a rite, this person may differ from that: for this travels to his place of pilgrimage in a plane, while that used to travel with a camel caravan. And when this covers his body—while saying his prayers or during other occasions— with clothes manufactured by machines, that covered his body with clothes he hand-sewed. But the general formula of worship, as well as its method and legislation, is the same. The necessity of its application has never suffered any change, nor has its legislating value been affected or shaken by the continuous growth of man’s control over nature and his own means of living”. It lead us to the point that the religious doctrines or code of law has stipulated worship and rituals not as a temporary act applied to a particular age or era but they have been laid a significant role in the life and thoughts of even the generation of nuclear energy.
Martyr Baqir Al Sadr continues: “As regarding worship, it is not a relationship between man and nature, so that it would be affected by such sort of development or progress. Rather, it is a relationship between man and his Lord. This relationship has a spiritual role which rules man’s relationship with his brother man. In both cases, however, we find that humanity historically lives with a certain number of fixed needs faced equally by the man of the age of oil (animal oil used for lighting) as well as that of the age of electricity”.
Baqir Al Sadr’s arguments become highly worth discussing in a time context, where the modernised Western and Eastern perils making attempts to marginalise rituals and sweep them under the carpet of growing secularism and individualism. For instance, one of the oldest ritualistic religious philosophies – Confucianism faced a forceful hush-up in China during second half of 20th century. Amidst, the claims of Existentialism that there is no reality except in deeds, the arguments of pragmatism that meaning embodied in practice, Marxism’s call for action and Feminism’s declarations to attend body, the world is makings leaps towards de-ritualisation and rituals and worship continue to reflect on thoughts and lives of human race.
Ayatollah Baqir Al Sadr points out: “The system of rituals in Islam is the fixed solution for the fixed needs of this sort, and for problems whose nature is not sequential; instead, they are problems which face man during his individual, social and cultural build-up. Such a solution, called ‘rituals’, is still alive in its objectives until today, becoming an essential condition for man to overcome his problems and succeed in practicing his civilized vocations.”
Theo-Philosophical arguments of contemporary discussions are more focused on to trounce the dissection between soul and body. Post-Cartesian propose that the ritualistic deeds are not merely thoughtless motions, but they are decisive aspects to the anatomy of people’s thinking. Figures like Foucault, Maurice Merleau and Wittgenstein proposes philosophical wherewithal for understanding religious rituals and ceremonies. If we closely examine the traditional Vedic and Buddhist and even Jainism, they dispute the traditional diffusion between thought and action, but Theo-Philosophical theories could illuminate us with the meaning of such rituals and become adhesive to fix the diffusing territories of thoughts.
Confucius once said: “Arose yourself through poetry, establish yourself through rituals and complete yourself with music”. After centuries in a different era, at a different territory, with a different religious fragrance Moulana Rumi said: “In the house of lovers, the music never stops, the walls are made of songs & the floor dances”. What I observe as a source of charisma that both Confucius and Rumi attained was, regardless of all disparities, this very significance they laid upon aesthetism in general and musical recreation in particular. For them it was ritual, it was spiritual exercise, with which they saw the world and world viewed them in turn. Whether it is Chinese, Vedic, Islamic, or even Western they all unanimously agree that music, especially classical music has a predominant role to play over character cultivation of a human being.
A research study on Philosophy of Rituals directed by Dr. Mariele Nientied put forward that: “The dichotomy between thought and action, fundamentally organizing most theoretical discourse on ritual, has been inherited from traditional philosophical dichotomies, like theory-practice or the mind-body dualism. Focussing on the intellectual, philosophy tends to exclude performative aspects from its concerns as they are seen as mere surface manifestations, modes of enactment or the symbolic communication of ideas, belief systems, intentions and statements that can be discussed without considering their embodiment in practices.”
Martyr Baqir Al Sadr, in the course of exemplifying the pivotal role that rituals play in a man’s life, in order to overcome his or her problems, suggests three major theological notions ahead: “the need to be linked to the Absolute One, the requirement of subjectivity in purpose and self-denial, and the need for inner sense of responsibility to guarantee implementation.”
Now naturally a question will pop up in our minds, what value is achieved through the relationship between man and his Lord in his civilized journeys?
Baqir Al Sadr response to it saying that: “If we scrutinizes the different acts of the stage-story of man in history, may find out that the problems are different and the worries diversified in their given daily formulas…Looking from one angle, the problem is loss and nonentity, which is the negative side of the problem. And from another angle, the problem is extreme in entity and affiliation. This is expressed by connecting the relative facts to which man belongs to an Absolute One, thus expressing the positive side of the same problem…Both angles of the problem meet into one essential point: deterring man’s advancing movement from a continuously good imaginative creativity. The problem of loss means to man that he is a being in continuous loss, not belonging to (affiliated with) an Absolute One, on Whom he can lean in his long and hard march, deriving help from His Absolutism and Encompassment, sustenance, and a clear vision of the goal and affiliation, through that Absolute One, his own movement to the universe, to the whole existence, to eternity and perpetuity, defining his own relationship to Him and his position in the inclusive cosmic framework.”
He continues: “In religious terminology, such an ‘Absolute’ eventually changes to a ‘God’ worshipped instead of a need that requires fulfillment. When the ‘relative’ changes to an ‘Absolute,’ to a ‘God’ of this sort, it becomes a factor in encircling man’s movement, freezing its capacities to develop and create, and paralysing man from performing his naturally open role in the march…”
The rituals have a role in constructing values and views to any society. Having said that, if we investigate more on to the process of rituals implementing values to a human society, we will inflate the standard theories of ritual. In an invocation a devotee feels through the process of some medium of communication, whether it is vocal or physical movements incorporate something onto him or her. For instance, when we say: ‘Ya Moula, or Hey Bhagvan, or Holy Father’ it brings a feeling of the presence of a Master, God or Fatherly personification to us. With that contextual assessment we can bring up an aspect of theory of invocation that the incorporating influences of some object in the process of concrescence.
Here comes the question of subjective forms of symbols and their effects invoked by a person who performs a particular ritual. The result of the proper invocation of that symbol may then be termed the feeling of success for that ritual.
To discuss more about the unifying elements of Islamic symbolism, let us take ‘Garden of Paradise’ as an example. In Islamic context, the factors or scenarios like flowing of pure water and shade are considered to be metaphorical components conveying ideas of both spiritual and physical refreshment. Even though the mentioning of Garden of Paradise is as old as 4000 BC during the Sumerian period in Mesopotamia and later in Epic of Gilgamesh, Islamic mysticism and aesthetism have been laid a predominant contribution to the artistic elucidation of the very Garden of Paradise.
In Islamic mysticism the Garden of Paradise circumambulate around two aesthetic elements – Flowing Pure Water (or endless stream of pure water) and a Shade of a Mystical Tree.
The Holy Qur’an has been laid more sanction to it while addressing the concept of mercy. At many stages we can see Qur’an addressing rain and water as mercy of God, and they remain indissoluble. Not just as mercy the flowing water stream even addressed as a reward to the righteous in Qur’an by mentioning: “Gardens underneath which rivers flow” (Chapter Yaseen). A detailed account of Garden of Paradise is followed in chapter Rahman of Qur’an.
The word ‘paradise’ is said to be derived from the Persian word ‘Pardesia’ (but the modern Persian language more often use ‘Behesht’ to denote Paradise). The literary proliferation of Paradise in Persian civilization resulted in cultivating and culturally promoting the idea of garden or parks. Even though Pre-Muhammadan Arabian civilisations considered gardens and greenery as sacred, in line with Abrahamic idea of Garden of Eden, Prophet Muhammad laid more stress to the symbolism of Garden of Paradise theoretically and proposed gardening and environmentalism practically. This is how Prophet Muhammad turned a symbolism to pragmatism. We can even say a pessimistic point where Moulavism (religious spirituality) meet Marxism (pragmatism in general).
The endlessly flowing, splashing and trickling water in the gardens of Alhambra, Isfahan, and Shiraz are the result of conceptualization of sacred symbolic elucidations of Islamic sacred texts and philosophy. Like the Garden, the Tree has also been played a vital role in Islamic symbolism.
Throughout the history, man observed and considered the tree as a link between worlds, a symbol of ascension and a symbol of bridge. The tree being a symbol has been more reflected in cosmological and mystical traditions. Mayan mysticism views The Tree as the centre of the Universe by portraying the roots of it to the water source and branches to the clouds.
The Maitri Upanishad talks about a three-footed Brahman; here the Brahman is the name of huge fig tree. The Upanishad illustrates its branches are space, wind, fire, water, earth and so on and the radiance of this tree is mentioned as the Sun.
In Assyrian and Egyptian mysticism The Tree often depicted along with the king to denote the prosperity and robust natures.
The Zoroastrian mysticism talks about a miraculous tree Haoma and asks: “Respect Haoma … his branches bow down that one may enjoy them. To the soul he is the way to heaven…”
Among Pre-Mohammadan Arabs, The Tree was commonly accepted to be the abode of Jinn (supernatural beings or force) and at some places they are even referred to be the embodiment of the Jinn itself.
The Tree symbol has also plays a pivotal role in Islamic Mysticism. Qur’an mentions The Tree with different names in different contexts. The Shajarat al-Tuba (Tree of Bliss), Zaqqum (the Infernal Tree in Hell), Sidrat al Muntaha (the Lote Tree of the Apex Boundary) are some of them. These sacred textual depiction of Tree has influenced culturally on forming ritualistic practices among the then Arabs. As Sir W. Ousley pointed out in his ‘Travels’ an oracular date-palm in Yemen annually domed with cloths and ornaments. Even though Prophet has warned on the extensive adoration that tends to divert the very spiritual concepts into superstition, the Tree has been come and gone in Islamic aestheticism from time to time.
K. Cragg mentions that: “Classical Islamic society had a belief that on the month of Sha’aban (eighth month of Hijric calendar) the Sidra tree in Paradise is shaken. Each of its leaves bears the name of a soul, and if his leaf falls off, that person dies within a year sooner or later depending on how withered the leaf is when it falls.
If we make an attempt to survey Islamic aesthetism from Sufi school of thought, we can comprehend that the Islamic interpretation of worship spectrum predominantly encompassed by the special and spatial forms of expressing the devotion that ranges from music to movements (dance), from art to architecture. Jale Erzen assess: “This order, or the interpretation of the temporal and spatial realm in which the Islamic individual and culture find themselves, relates to their complete harmony with and dependence on nature. Whereas with the Renaissance and the independence of humans from nature, through scientific discoveries and empirical approaches, Western peoples created their own order that was practical, measurable, and limited, and that they could manipulate. This is the linear order with which Renaissance people begin to see and interpret the world. In the Islamic world, for a long time still, humans’ movement, the way they understand the process of time and space, depends on nature and parallels the cosmic order and the basic underlying forms that are found in nature.”
For Moulana Rumi, the dancing dervishes represent the solar system and the planets that revolve around the Sun. At the same time that they are immersed in their own micro-cosmos, they create new worlds and make contact with eternity. Rene Rebetez interprets the ritual dance as: “the way to unite with the cosmic powers and also with eternity claims that the rotation of the dance is related to three different movements within the body. One is the movement of the electrons, the other the movement of molecules and the final one is the movement of the cells.”
Annemarie Schimmel had observed the approbation such rituals are deep rooted in Turkish and Persian families even today.
The Qur’an does not detach the physical body from spiritual; precisely the matter and meaning are interconnected and interrelated. Matter acts as a wagon of meaning, for example how a book encompasses the paper, ink and so on to produce meaning of letters written into it. This very connection, as Qur’an views, connects the material to the Supremacy of God and to some extend sanctifies the matter with the divine reflections. These reflections or communication is held through, as Qur’an says, Divine Signs. Qur’an mentions both verbal and nonverbal Divine Signs. And through these signs Divine Force, God communicate with each and every living and non-living, moving and immovable creations. Whilst God adopts a linguistic method to address to those who use linguistic methods to communicate, He also uses nonlinguistic methods to communicate those who have nonlinguistic way of interaction. Scripture being the example for former case natural changes and movements exemplifies the latter case.
Martyr Ayatollah Baqir Al Sadr comments: “When we observe the different Islamic rituals, we find in them an element of inclusion of all different aspects of life. Rituals have never been limited to specific norms, nor have they been restricted to only needs which embody the manner of glorifying God, the Praised, the High, like bowing, prostrating, praying and invoking; rather, they have been extended to include all aspects of human activity. Jihad, for example, is a rite. It is a social activity. Zakat is a rite. It, too, is a social activity, a financial one…This inclusion of worship expresses a general trend of Islamic upbringing aiming at linking man, in all his deeds and activities, to the Almighty God, converting each useful deed into an act of worship, no matter in what field or type. In order to find a fixed basis for this trend, fixed rituals were distributed to the different fields of human activity, preparing man to train himself on pouring the spirit of worship over all his good activities, and the spirit of the mosque over all places of his actions: in the field, factory, shop or office, as long as his deed is a good one, for the sake of God, the Glorified, the Sublime.”
Precisely, worship and rituals represents the relationship between man and his Lord. Mujtaba Musawi Lari ascertains: “Modern man tends to take refuge in the reasoning of the experimental sciences without stopping to consider its limits and boundaries. This attitude of mind is one of the most misleading and most destructive when God is brought into considerations.”
Materialistic being the apparatus to weigh based on quantification, modern man inclined to regard the influence of divinity as secondary or sometimes, unfortunately, tertiary.
Mujtaba Musawi Lari exemplifies it by taking a medical treatment as example. He says: “Ask a doctor how the drug works and he will answer in terms suited to your degree of knowledge, rather than in obscure technical terms. To say “God is the answer” to a particular medical problem is not a scientific answer, but a layman’s. Medical problems require medical answers. Each science must use its own technical terms in its own universe of discourse. Divinity has its own universe of discourse and its own terminology. Specialists confine themselves to one science. The independence of such sectional scientific studies from the more all-embracing study of the idea of God has left in the subconscious of many a skepticism about the Divine because they do not recognise that their work has deliberately confined itself to a small portion of reality and to that alone.”
At another instance Mujtaba Musawi Lari opines: “Man’s nature is such that the spiritual and the physical instincts must be kept in perfect balance. Both are essential to human nature. They must not fight each other for pre-eminence. By equable synthesis they must make life on earth a natural, logical, happy, and harmonious existence. There is no dichotomy between happiness in this world and happiness in the Hereafter…”
Martyr Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Beheshti proposes: “One of the most valued teachings of Islam is that for the purpose of identifying the causes and knowing their total effect we should rely on clear knowledge and proof instead of baseless myths and superstitions. Belief in physical myths causes backwardness in science and industry and privation from the exploitation of nature. This happened in the case of medicine for centuries. Similarly the superstition regarding the occult influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs and the use of the valuable astronomical appliances like astrolabe for divination obstructed human progress in many ways.
The superstitious belief in the effectiveness of the imaginary metaphysical factors is even more harmful, for it diverts man away from the principle of Unity of God and throws him into the trap of polytheism. That is why the Qur’an expressly warns against relying on superstitious metaphysical ideas (Surah al‑Najm, verses 28 and 123). It tells us that we should always depend on definite knowledge (Surah al‑Baqarah, verse 3) and clear proof (Surah Yunus, verse 68 and Surah al‑An’am, verse 58).”
The very purpose of supplication is to rightly and justly influence on human affairs. More clearly the one who is performing supplication should be sincerely attentive to the Lord and would in turn become driven ahead by the God consciousness.
“When My slaves question you about Me; tell them that I am close to them. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls Me…” (Chapter al‑Baqarah, Qur’an)
When a knowledgeable person thinks of God, he asserts with humbleness that: “I don’t know what You (God) are; You are what You are.” But at the same time he or she feels and enjoys the presence and power of that very Supreme Power through his or her interaction in the worldly life with fellow creations, whether it is living or non-living creature. This realisation which elevates to a more excellent form, self-realisation, is attained through worships, supplication and rituals. Thus, walking through the forest or watching birds and wondering at the water-fall all become one or another form of rituals. Martyr Beheshti opines: “anybody who believes in God identifies Him at least with one of His attributes by means of which he recognizes Him…”
To conclude let me quote Martyr Dr. Ali Shariati: “Your enemy is not always arms or an army. It is not necessarily a known outsider. It may be a system or a feeling, a thought or a possession, a way of life or a type of work, a way of thinking or a working tool, a type of production or a way of consumption, culturalism, colonization, religious brainwashing, exploitation, a social relation or propaganda. It can be neo colonialism, bureaucracy, technocracy or automation. At times it is exhibitionism, nationalism and racism while other times it is antifascism, bourgeoisies and militarism. It may be love for joy (epicures), love for ideas (idealism), love for matter (materialism), love for art and beauty (romanticism), love for nothing (existentialism), love for land and blood (racism), love for heroes and central government (fascism), love for individuals (individualism), love for all (socialism), love for economy (communism), love for wisdom (philosophy), love for feeling (Gnosticism), love for heaven (spiritualism), love for existence (realism), love for history (fatalism) love for God’s will (determinism), love for sex (Freudism), love for instincts (biologist), love for the hereafter (faith), superstition of idealism, gluttony of economism … These are the idols of the new polytheism.”
Conclusion: A lifestyle that glorifies God is a lifestyle of worship for it is all about Him, and He remains the Prevailing and Priority!
Reference:
Taken from: http://hikmaassociation.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/worship-ritual-and-divinity-a-perennial-glance/
By Jasbeer Musthafa, (PhD, University of Western Sydney), Research Student with HIKMA (Wisdom) Association
Rituals are one of the significant and insidious traits of any religion and have been extensively examined by both classical and contemporary philosophical literature. Albeit, the social scientists have been proposed theories on and of rituals, none could exemplify them as just as Theo-Philosophical theories could do. It thus becomes clear that no theory on rituals become all-encompassing without Theo-Philosophical framework. To quote Martyr Ayatollah Sayyed Baqir Al Sadr: “In the sphere of worship, the man of the age of electricity and space prays, fasts, and performs the pilgrimage just as his ancestor from the age of the stone mill used to pray, fast and perform the pilgrimage. It is true, however, that in the civil aspect of getting prepared to perform a rite, this person may differ from that: for this travels to his place of pilgrimage in a plane, while that used to travel with a camel caravan. And when this covers his body—while saying his prayers or during other occasions— with clothes manufactured by machines, that covered his body with clothes he hand-sewed. But the general formula of worship, as well as its method and legislation, is the same. The necessity of its application has never suffered any change, nor has its legislating value been affected or shaken by the continuous growth of man’s control over nature and his own means of living”. It lead us to the point that the religious doctrines or code of law has stipulated worship and rituals not as a temporary act applied to a particular age or era but they have been laid a significant role in the life and thoughts of even the generation of nuclear energy.
Martyr Baqir Al Sadr continues: “As regarding worship, it is not a relationship between man and nature, so that it would be affected by such sort of development or progress. Rather, it is a relationship between man and his Lord. This relationship has a spiritual role which rules man’s relationship with his brother man. In both cases, however, we find that humanity historically lives with a certain number of fixed needs faced equally by the man of the age of oil (animal oil used for lighting) as well as that of the age of electricity”.
Baqir Al Sadr’s arguments become highly worth discussing in a time context, where the modernised Western and Eastern perils making attempts to marginalise rituals and sweep them under the carpet of growing secularism and individualism. For instance, one of the oldest ritualistic religious philosophies – Confucianism faced a forceful hush-up in China during second half of 20th century. Amidst, the claims of Existentialism that there is no reality except in deeds, the arguments of pragmatism that meaning embodied in practice, Marxism’s call for action and Feminism’s declarations to attend body, the world is makings leaps towards de-ritualisation and rituals and worship continue to reflect on thoughts and lives of human race.
Ayatollah Baqir Al Sadr points out: “The system of rituals in Islam is the fixed solution for the fixed needs of this sort, and for problems whose nature is not sequential; instead, they are problems which face man during his individual, social and cultural build-up. Such a solution, called ‘rituals’, is still alive in its objectives until today, becoming an essential condition for man to overcome his problems and succeed in practicing his civilized vocations.”
Theo-Philosophical arguments of contemporary discussions are more focused on to trounce the dissection between soul and body. Post-Cartesian propose that the ritualistic deeds are not merely thoughtless motions, but they are decisive aspects to the anatomy of people’s thinking. Figures like Foucault, Maurice Merleau and Wittgenstein proposes philosophical wherewithal for understanding religious rituals and ceremonies. If we closely examine the traditional Vedic and Buddhist and even Jainism, they dispute the traditional diffusion between thought and action, but Theo-Philosophical theories could illuminate us with the meaning of such rituals and become adhesive to fix the diffusing territories of thoughts.
Confucius once said: “Arose yourself through poetry, establish yourself through rituals and complete yourself with music”. After centuries in a different era, at a different territory, with a different religious fragrance Moulana Rumi said: “In the house of lovers, the music never stops, the walls are made of songs & the floor dances”. What I observe as a source of charisma that both Confucius and Rumi attained was, regardless of all disparities, this very significance they laid upon aesthetism in general and musical recreation in particular. For them it was ritual, it was spiritual exercise, with which they saw the world and world viewed them in turn. Whether it is Chinese, Vedic, Islamic, or even Western they all unanimously agree that music, especially classical music has a predominant role to play over character cultivation of a human being.
A research study on Philosophy of Rituals directed by Dr. Mariele Nientied put forward that: “The dichotomy between thought and action, fundamentally organizing most theoretical discourse on ritual, has been inherited from traditional philosophical dichotomies, like theory-practice or the mind-body dualism. Focussing on the intellectual, philosophy tends to exclude performative aspects from its concerns as they are seen as mere surface manifestations, modes of enactment or the symbolic communication of ideas, belief systems, intentions and statements that can be discussed without considering their embodiment in practices.”
Martyr Baqir Al Sadr, in the course of exemplifying the pivotal role that rituals play in a man’s life, in order to overcome his or her problems, suggests three major theological notions ahead: “the need to be linked to the Absolute One, the requirement of subjectivity in purpose and self-denial, and the need for inner sense of responsibility to guarantee implementation.”
Now naturally a question will pop up in our minds, what value is achieved through the relationship between man and his Lord in his civilized journeys?
Baqir Al Sadr response to it saying that: “If we scrutinizes the different acts of the stage-story of man in history, may find out that the problems are different and the worries diversified in their given daily formulas…Looking from one angle, the problem is loss and nonentity, which is the negative side of the problem. And from another angle, the problem is extreme in entity and affiliation. This is expressed by connecting the relative facts to which man belongs to an Absolute One, thus expressing the positive side of the same problem…Both angles of the problem meet into one essential point: deterring man’s advancing movement from a continuously good imaginative creativity. The problem of loss means to man that he is a being in continuous loss, not belonging to (affiliated with) an Absolute One, on Whom he can lean in his long and hard march, deriving help from His Absolutism and Encompassment, sustenance, and a clear vision of the goal and affiliation, through that Absolute One, his own movement to the universe, to the whole existence, to eternity and perpetuity, defining his own relationship to Him and his position in the inclusive cosmic framework.”
He continues: “In religious terminology, such an ‘Absolute’ eventually changes to a ‘God’ worshipped instead of a need that requires fulfillment. When the ‘relative’ changes to an ‘Absolute,’ to a ‘God’ of this sort, it becomes a factor in encircling man’s movement, freezing its capacities to develop and create, and paralysing man from performing his naturally open role in the march…”
The rituals have a role in constructing values and views to any society. Having said that, if we investigate more on to the process of rituals implementing values to a human society, we will inflate the standard theories of ritual. In an invocation a devotee feels through the process of some medium of communication, whether it is vocal or physical movements incorporate something onto him or her. For instance, when we say: ‘Ya Moula, or Hey Bhagvan, or Holy Father’ it brings a feeling of the presence of a Master, God or Fatherly personification to us. With that contextual assessment we can bring up an aspect of theory of invocation that the incorporating influences of some object in the process of concrescence.
Here comes the question of subjective forms of symbols and their effects invoked by a person who performs a particular ritual. The result of the proper invocation of that symbol may then be termed the feeling of success for that ritual.
To discuss more about the unifying elements of Islamic symbolism, let us take ‘Garden of Paradise’ as an example. In Islamic context, the factors or scenarios like flowing of pure water and shade are considered to be metaphorical components conveying ideas of both spiritual and physical refreshment. Even though the mentioning of Garden of Paradise is as old as 4000 BC during the Sumerian period in Mesopotamia and later in Epic of Gilgamesh, Islamic mysticism and aesthetism have been laid a predominant contribution to the artistic elucidation of the very Garden of Paradise.
In Islamic mysticism the Garden of Paradise circumambulate around two aesthetic elements – Flowing Pure Water (or endless stream of pure water) and a Shade of a Mystical Tree.
The Holy Qur’an has been laid more sanction to it while addressing the concept of mercy. At many stages we can see Qur’an addressing rain and water as mercy of God, and they remain indissoluble. Not just as mercy the flowing water stream even addressed as a reward to the righteous in Qur’an by mentioning: “Gardens underneath which rivers flow” (Chapter Yaseen). A detailed account of Garden of Paradise is followed in chapter Rahman of Qur’an.
The word ‘paradise’ is said to be derived from the Persian word ‘Pardesia’ (but the modern Persian language more often use ‘Behesht’ to denote Paradise). The literary proliferation of Paradise in Persian civilization resulted in cultivating and culturally promoting the idea of garden or parks. Even though Pre-Muhammadan Arabian civilisations considered gardens and greenery as sacred, in line with Abrahamic idea of Garden of Eden, Prophet Muhammad laid more stress to the symbolism of Garden of Paradise theoretically and proposed gardening and environmentalism practically. This is how Prophet Muhammad turned a symbolism to pragmatism. We can even say a pessimistic point where Moulavism (religious spirituality) meet Marxism (pragmatism in general).
The endlessly flowing, splashing and trickling water in the gardens of Alhambra, Isfahan, and Shiraz are the result of conceptualization of sacred symbolic elucidations of Islamic sacred texts and philosophy. Like the Garden, the Tree has also been played a vital role in Islamic symbolism.
Throughout the history, man observed and considered the tree as a link between worlds, a symbol of ascension and a symbol of bridge. The tree being a symbol has been more reflected in cosmological and mystical traditions. Mayan mysticism views The Tree as the centre of the Universe by portraying the roots of it to the water source and branches to the clouds.
The Maitri Upanishad talks about a three-footed Brahman; here the Brahman is the name of huge fig tree. The Upanishad illustrates its branches are space, wind, fire, water, earth and so on and the radiance of this tree is mentioned as the Sun.
In Assyrian and Egyptian mysticism The Tree often depicted along with the king to denote the prosperity and robust natures.
The Zoroastrian mysticism talks about a miraculous tree Haoma and asks: “Respect Haoma … his branches bow down that one may enjoy them. To the soul he is the way to heaven…”
Among Pre-Mohammadan Arabs, The Tree was commonly accepted to be the abode of Jinn (supernatural beings or force) and at some places they are even referred to be the embodiment of the Jinn itself.
The Tree symbol has also plays a pivotal role in Islamic Mysticism. Qur’an mentions The Tree with different names in different contexts. The Shajarat al-Tuba (Tree of Bliss), Zaqqum (the Infernal Tree in Hell), Sidrat al Muntaha (the Lote Tree of the Apex Boundary) are some of them. These sacred textual depiction of Tree has influenced culturally on forming ritualistic practices among the then Arabs. As Sir W. Ousley pointed out in his ‘Travels’ an oracular date-palm in Yemen annually domed with cloths and ornaments. Even though Prophet has warned on the extensive adoration that tends to divert the very spiritual concepts into superstition, the Tree has been come and gone in Islamic aestheticism from time to time.
K. Cragg mentions that: “Classical Islamic society had a belief that on the month of Sha’aban (eighth month of Hijric calendar) the Sidra tree in Paradise is shaken. Each of its leaves bears the name of a soul, and if his leaf falls off, that person dies within a year sooner or later depending on how withered the leaf is when it falls.
If we make an attempt to survey Islamic aesthetism from Sufi school of thought, we can comprehend that the Islamic interpretation of worship spectrum predominantly encompassed by the special and spatial forms of expressing the devotion that ranges from music to movements (dance), from art to architecture. Jale Erzen assess: “This order, or the interpretation of the temporal and spatial realm in which the Islamic individual and culture find themselves, relates to their complete harmony with and dependence on nature. Whereas with the Renaissance and the independence of humans from nature, through scientific discoveries and empirical approaches, Western peoples created their own order that was practical, measurable, and limited, and that they could manipulate. This is the linear order with which Renaissance people begin to see and interpret the world. In the Islamic world, for a long time still, humans’ movement, the way they understand the process of time and space, depends on nature and parallels the cosmic order and the basic underlying forms that are found in nature.”
For Moulana Rumi, the dancing dervishes represent the solar system and the planets that revolve around the Sun. At the same time that they are immersed in their own micro-cosmos, they create new worlds and make contact with eternity. Rene Rebetez interprets the ritual dance as: “the way to unite with the cosmic powers and also with eternity claims that the rotation of the dance is related to three different movements within the body. One is the movement of the electrons, the other the movement of molecules and the final one is the movement of the cells.”
Annemarie Schimmel had observed the approbation such rituals are deep rooted in Turkish and Persian families even today.
The Qur’an does not detach the physical body from spiritual; precisely the matter and meaning are interconnected and interrelated. Matter acts as a wagon of meaning, for example how a book encompasses the paper, ink and so on to produce meaning of letters written into it. This very connection, as Qur’an views, connects the material to the Supremacy of God and to some extend sanctifies the matter with the divine reflections. These reflections or communication is held through, as Qur’an says, Divine Signs. Qur’an mentions both verbal and nonverbal Divine Signs. And through these signs Divine Force, God communicate with each and every living and non-living, moving and immovable creations. Whilst God adopts a linguistic method to address to those who use linguistic methods to communicate, He also uses nonlinguistic methods to communicate those who have nonlinguistic way of interaction. Scripture being the example for former case natural changes and movements exemplifies the latter case.
Martyr Ayatollah Baqir Al Sadr comments: “When we observe the different Islamic rituals, we find in them an element of inclusion of all different aspects of life. Rituals have never been limited to specific norms, nor have they been restricted to only needs which embody the manner of glorifying God, the Praised, the High, like bowing, prostrating, praying and invoking; rather, they have been extended to include all aspects of human activity. Jihad, for example, is a rite. It is a social activity. Zakat is a rite. It, too, is a social activity, a financial one…This inclusion of worship expresses a general trend of Islamic upbringing aiming at linking man, in all his deeds and activities, to the Almighty God, converting each useful deed into an act of worship, no matter in what field or type. In order to find a fixed basis for this trend, fixed rituals were distributed to the different fields of human activity, preparing man to train himself on pouring the spirit of worship over all his good activities, and the spirit of the mosque over all places of his actions: in the field, factory, shop or office, as long as his deed is a good one, for the sake of God, the Glorified, the Sublime.”
Precisely, worship and rituals represents the relationship between man and his Lord. Mujtaba Musawi Lari ascertains: “Modern man tends to take refuge in the reasoning of the experimental sciences without stopping to consider its limits and boundaries. This attitude of mind is one of the most misleading and most destructive when God is brought into considerations.”
Materialistic being the apparatus to weigh based on quantification, modern man inclined to regard the influence of divinity as secondary or sometimes, unfortunately, tertiary.
Mujtaba Musawi Lari exemplifies it by taking a medical treatment as example. He says: “Ask a doctor how the drug works and he will answer in terms suited to your degree of knowledge, rather than in obscure technical terms. To say “God is the answer” to a particular medical problem is not a scientific answer, but a layman’s. Medical problems require medical answers. Each science must use its own technical terms in its own universe of discourse. Divinity has its own universe of discourse and its own terminology. Specialists confine themselves to one science. The independence of such sectional scientific studies from the more all-embracing study of the idea of God has left in the subconscious of many a skepticism about the Divine because they do not recognise that their work has deliberately confined itself to a small portion of reality and to that alone.”
At another instance Mujtaba Musawi Lari opines: “Man’s nature is such that the spiritual and the physical instincts must be kept in perfect balance. Both are essential to human nature. They must not fight each other for pre-eminence. By equable synthesis they must make life on earth a natural, logical, happy, and harmonious existence. There is no dichotomy between happiness in this world and happiness in the Hereafter…”
Martyr Ayatollah Sayyed Mohammed Hussein Beheshti proposes: “One of the most valued teachings of Islam is that for the purpose of identifying the causes and knowing their total effect we should rely on clear knowledge and proof instead of baseless myths and superstitions. Belief in physical myths causes backwardness in science and industry and privation from the exploitation of nature. This happened in the case of medicine for centuries. Similarly the superstition regarding the occult influence of the heavenly bodies on human affairs and the use of the valuable astronomical appliances like astrolabe for divination obstructed human progress in many ways.
The superstitious belief in the effectiveness of the imaginary metaphysical factors is even more harmful, for it diverts man away from the principle of Unity of God and throws him into the trap of polytheism. That is why the Qur’an expressly warns against relying on superstitious metaphysical ideas (Surah al‑Najm, verses 28 and 123). It tells us that we should always depend on definite knowledge (Surah al‑Baqarah, verse 3) and clear proof (Surah Yunus, verse 68 and Surah al‑An’am, verse 58).”
The very purpose of supplication is to rightly and justly influence on human affairs. More clearly the one who is performing supplication should be sincerely attentive to the Lord and would in turn become driven ahead by the God consciousness.
“When My slaves question you about Me; tell them that I am close to them. I answer the prayer of the suppliant when he calls Me…” (Chapter al‑Baqarah, Qur’an)
When a knowledgeable person thinks of God, he asserts with humbleness that: “I don’t know what You (God) are; You are what You are.” But at the same time he or she feels and enjoys the presence and power of that very Supreme Power through his or her interaction in the worldly life with fellow creations, whether it is living or non-living creature. This realisation which elevates to a more excellent form, self-realisation, is attained through worships, supplication and rituals. Thus, walking through the forest or watching birds and wondering at the water-fall all become one or another form of rituals. Martyr Beheshti opines: “anybody who believes in God identifies Him at least with one of His attributes by means of which he recognizes Him…”
To conclude let me quote Martyr Dr. Ali Shariati: “Your enemy is not always arms or an army. It is not necessarily a known outsider. It may be a system or a feeling, a thought or a possession, a way of life or a type of work, a way of thinking or a working tool, a type of production or a way of consumption, culturalism, colonization, religious brainwashing, exploitation, a social relation or propaganda. It can be neo colonialism, bureaucracy, technocracy or automation. At times it is exhibitionism, nationalism and racism while other times it is antifascism, bourgeoisies and militarism. It may be love for joy (epicures), love for ideas (idealism), love for matter (materialism), love for art and beauty (romanticism), love for nothing (existentialism), love for land and blood (racism), love for heroes and central government (fascism), love for individuals (individualism), love for all (socialism), love for economy (communism), love for wisdom (philosophy), love for feeling (Gnosticism), love for heaven (spiritualism), love for existence (realism), love for history (fatalism) love for God’s will (determinism), love for sex (Freudism), love for instincts (biologist), love for the hereafter (faith), superstition of idealism, gluttony of economism … These are the idols of the new polytheism.”
Conclusion: A lifestyle that glorifies God is a lifestyle of worship for it is all about Him, and He remains the Prevailing and Priority!
Reference:
- Abdullah Yusuf Ali, Translation of Holy Qur’an with Commentary
- Martyred Ayatollah Muhammed Baqir al-Sadr, A General Outlook at Islamic Rituals, 1979
- Dr. Mariele Nientied, Philosophy of Ritual, 2010
- Edward Byles Cowell, Maitrayaniya Upanishad with commentary of Ramatirtha, 1870
- Kenneth Cragg, The Dome and the Rock, London, 1964
- Annemarie Schimmel, Mystical Dimensions of Islam, 1975
- Sayyid Mujtaba Musavi Lari, Knowing God
- Sayyid Muhammad Husayni Beheshti, Philosophy Of Islam (Monotheism of the Qur’an), 2013
- Dr. Ali Shariati, Hajj: Reflections on Its Rituals (Laleh Bakhtiar)
Taken from: http://hikmaassociation.wordpress.com/2015/05/29/worship-ritual-and-divinity-a-perennial-glance/
