Sayyid Haydar Amuli
Encyclopedia
Sayyid Haydar Amuli, Sayyid Baha al-Din Haydar, Haydar al-'Obaydi al-Husayni Amoli,a Shi'ite mystic and Sufi, philosophers, was an early representative of Persian Imamite theosophy and one of the most distinguished commentators of the mystic philosopher Ibn Arabi
, during the 14th century.
, in Mazandaran, located in the northern portion of present day Iran
close to the Caspian Sea
. The town of Amul at the time was known to be heavily populated by Shi'ite Muslims. . At a very young age started studying Imam Shi'ism and the attended juridical school madhhab
where he also devoted his attention to Sufism as well, until around the age of thirty years old. Haydar Amuli first began his studies in his home town of Amul. He eventually moved on to the town of Astarabad, located in near Mazandaran, and then Isfahan, located in the central portion of Iran.
In his early twenties, Sayyid Haydar Amuli returned to Amul and became a close trusted confidant and eventually a special deputy and chamberlain to Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan, the ruler of Tabaristan. Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan was the last ruler of Tabaristan and belonged to the Kinakh ariyya branch of the Bawandid dynasty. Even though Amuli had a close relationship with Fakhr al- Dawla, he soon after experienced a religious crisis. Amuli quotes in his work Inner Secrets of the Path that he started to feel corrupt and that he needed to move on to a place where he could fully devote himself to God. So Sayyid Haydar Amuli gave up his position in the court to further pursue Sufism
. His abandonment of the courtly life occurred, only a couple of years, before Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan was assassinated by his own family members.
. Eventually, Sayyid Haydar Amuli went on to embark on his pilgrimage or Hajj
, going on to visit various Shi'ite shrines and also traveling to Jerusalem as well as the region, known as the Hejaz
, where the holy cities Mecca
and Medina
reside. Unfortunately, due to ill health, Amuli had to leave Medina
. It is documented that he spent the rest of his life in Iraq. For years he studied in Baghdad among important Shi'ite scholars including, Fakhr al-Din Muhammad al-Hasan and Nasir al-Din al-Kashani al-Hilli. These two scholars were prominent figures in Shi'ism at the time. Haydar al-Amuli then settled in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf
, south of Baghdad, for over thirty years until around 1385 CE when he was last documented to be living. This is also around the same time that he completed his last work, known as his, Resalat al-olum al-aliya
.
. Amuli believed that every Shi’ite was “a believer put to the test” or moʾmen momtaḥan. This is also a Sufi belief. One of Amuli’s main ideas was that the Imams who were endowed with knowledge mystical were not just guides to the Shi’ite community but also the Sufi community. Amuli was both a critic of Shi’ites who limited their religion to a legalistic system and equally critical of Sufis who denied certain principles that originated with the Imams.
and Mohammadan walāya is, for Amuli, the Mahdī
. These ideas differ from that of Ibn ‘Arabi in that al’Arabi believes that Jesus Christ was the seal of the universal walāya.
"Indeed I swear by Allah that if the seven heavens were made of paper and the trees of the earth were pens, if the seas of the world were ink and the spirits, mankind and the angels were scribes, then they would be unable to write even a jot of what I had witnessed of the divine gnoses and realities"
Ibn Arabi
Ibn ʿArabī was an Andalusian Moorish Sufi mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdillāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn `Arabī .-Biography:...
, during the 14th century.
Early life
Sayyid Haydar Amuli belongs to the family of Husayni Sayyids from the town of AmolAmol
Amol is a city in and the capital of Amol County, Mazandaran Province, Iran. At the 2006 census, its population was 197,470, in 55,183 families.Amol and the old part of town is the first of the four towns that populate the world in which there is Nzamyh...
, in Mazandaran, located in the northern portion of present day Iran
Iran
Iran , officially the Islamic Republic of Iran , is a country in Southern and Western Asia. The name "Iran" has been in use natively since the Sassanian era and came into use internationally in 1935, before which the country was known to the Western world as Persia...
close to the Caspian Sea
Caspian Sea
The Caspian Sea is the largest enclosed body of water on Earth by area, variously classed as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. The sea has a surface area of and a volume of...
. The town of Amul at the time was known to be heavily populated by Shi'ite Muslims. . At a very young age started studying Imam Shi'ism and the attended juridical school madhhab
Madhhab
is a Muslim school of law or fiqh . In the first 150 years of Islam, there were many such "schools". In fact, several of the Sahābah, or contemporary "companions" of Muhammad, are credited with founding their own...
where he also devoted his attention to Sufism as well, until around the age of thirty years old. Haydar Amuli first began his studies in his home town of Amul. He eventually moved on to the town of Astarabad, located in near Mazandaran, and then Isfahan, located in the central portion of Iran.
In his early twenties, Sayyid Haydar Amuli returned to Amul and became a close trusted confidant and eventually a special deputy and chamberlain to Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan, the ruler of Tabaristan. Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan was the last ruler of Tabaristan and belonged to the Kinakh ariyya branch of the Bawandid dynasty. Even though Amuli had a close relationship with Fakhr al- Dawla, he soon after experienced a religious crisis. Amuli quotes in his work Inner Secrets of the Path that he started to feel corrupt and that he needed to move on to a place where he could fully devote himself to God. So Sayyid Haydar Amuli gave up his position in the court to further pursue Sufism
Sufism
Sufism or ' is defined by its adherents as the inner, mystical dimension of Islam. A practitioner of this tradition is generally known as a '...
. His abandonment of the courtly life occurred, only a couple of years, before Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan was assassinated by his own family members.
Return to Sufism
After Haydar Amuli's departure from the court, he began practicing Sufism.In the village of Tihran he began to follow a shaykh by the name of Nur al-Din Tihrani, a gnositc of Allah and ascetic. Amuli spent a little less than a month in his company before wearing the symbolic Sufi cloak or khirqaKhirqa
The khirqa is the initiatory cloak of the Sufi chain of spirituality, with which esoteric knowledge and barakah is passed from the master to the aspirant . The khirqa initiates an aspirant into the silsilah, the chain or lineage of sheikhs that goes back to the Prophet Muhammad...
. Eventually, Sayyid Haydar Amuli went on to embark on his pilgrimage or Hajj
Hajj
The Hajj is the pilgrimage to Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is one of the largest pilgrimages in the world, and is the fifth pillar of Islam, a religious duty that must be carried out at least once in their lifetime by every able-bodied Muslim who can afford to do so...
, going on to visit various Shi'ite shrines and also traveling to Jerusalem as well as the region, known as the Hejaz
Hejaz
al-Hejaz, also Hijaz is a region in the west of present-day Saudi Arabia. Defined primarily by its western border on the Red Sea, it extends from Haql on the Gulf of Aqaba to Jizan. Its main city is Jeddah, but it is probably better known for the Islamic holy cities of Mecca and Medina...
, where the holy cities Mecca
Mecca
Mecca is a city in the Hijaz and the capital of Makkah province in Saudi Arabia. The city is located inland from Jeddah in a narrow valley at a height of above sea level...
and Medina
Medina
Medina , or ; also transliterated as Madinah, or madinat al-nabi "the city of the prophet") is a city in the Hejaz region of western Saudi Arabia, and serves as the capital of the Al Madinah Province. It is the second holiest city in Islam, and the burial place of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad, and...
reside. Unfortunately, due to ill health, Amuli had to leave Medina
. It is documented that he spent the rest of his life in Iraq. For years he studied in Baghdad among important Shi'ite scholars including, Fakhr al-Din Muhammad al-Hasan and Nasir al-Din al-Kashani al-Hilli. These two scholars were prominent figures in Shi'ism at the time. Haydar al-Amuli then settled in the Shi'ite shrine city of Najaf
Najaf
Najaf is a city in Iraq about 160 km south of Baghdad. Its estimated population in 2008 is 560,000 people. It is the capital of Najaf Governorate...
, south of Baghdad, for over thirty years until around 1385 CE when he was last documented to be living. This is also around the same time that he completed his last work, known as his, Resalat al-olum al-aliya
.
Synthesis of Shi'ism and Sufism
Early on Amuli was a supporter of Imamite Shi’ism. Similar to Sufism, Shi’ism involves the ideas of šarīʿa, ṭarīqa, and ḥaqīqaHaqiqa
Haqiqa is a stage in Sufism, a mystical branch of Islam. Sufis strive to perfect themselves and come into the presence of God while still living. They recognize four stages in their pursuit of this: shari’a, tariqa, haqiqa and marifa....
. Amuli believed that every Shi’ite was “a believer put to the test” or moʾmen momtaḥan. This is also a Sufi belief. One of Amuli’s main ideas was that the Imams who were endowed with knowledge mystical were not just guides to the Shi’ite community but also the Sufi community. Amuli was both a critic of Shi’ites who limited their religion to a legalistic system and equally critical of Sufis who denied certain principles that originated with the Imams.
Pure Monotheism
Amuli also implemented and further explained the differences between pure monotheism, also known as, tawḥīd olūhī and the inner tawḥīd woǰūdī. Pure monotheism is constituted by the profession of faith lā elāha ellaʾllāh and the idea of the outward aspect of God’s unity. The inner tawḥīd woǰūdī involves the idea that nothing else exists except for God also known as laysa fi’l-woǰūd sewaʾllāh. Amuli metaphorically explains the idea of tawḥīd woǰūdī as ink and the letters that are produced by that ink. The letters by themselves do not exist without the ink. Amuli means that the physical world is only a manifestation of God’s divine names. Amuli takes to two ideas of tawḥīd and compares them to two types of šerk (association, polytheism).One type of šerk is when one associates God with other Gods. The other type is ḵafī.This is when one does not realize that there is no God but God.The Seal of Walāya
Another belief of Amuli is that the tawḥīd woǰūdī will be proved with the arrival of the twelfth Imam, Mahdī. Amuli’s idea of the twelfth Imam follows the ideas of previous scholars. Amuli specifically believes that ‘Ali was the seal of the universal walāyaWalayah
Walayah means Guardianship.Walayah or Walaya, in the most literal form of the word, means "a person, community, or country that is under the direction and rule of another". It is an Arabic word derived from the root wly, which carries the basic meanings of “friendship, assistance”, and “authority...
and Mohammadan walāya is, for Amuli, the Mahdī
Mahdi
In Islamic eschatology, the Mahdi is the prophesied redeemer of Islam who will stay on Earth for seven, nine or nineteen years- before the Day of Judgment and, alongside Jesus, will rid the world of wrongdoing, injustice and tyranny.In Shia Islam, the belief in the Mahdi is a "central religious...
. These ideas differ from that of Ibn ‘Arabi in that al’Arabi believes that Jesus Christ was the seal of the universal walāya.
Works
It is documented that Sayyid Haydar Amuli wrote over forty different works, but of those only seven remain. Asrār al-šarīʿa wa aṭwār al-ṭarīqa wa anwār al-ḥaqīqa is one of Amuli's work that is mentioned twice in the Jāmeʿ al-asrār, Amuli individually discusses his five basic principles of religion,that include: divine unity, prophecy, eschatology, Imamate, and justice. He also mentions the five pillars of Islam prayer, fasting, zakāt, haǰǰ, and ǰehād. He discusses all of these topics from three different points of view, the šarīʿa, the ṭarīqa, and the ḥaqīqa. Jāmeʿ al-asrār wa manbaʿ al-anwār is the most famous of Amuli’s writings. It is divided in to three books and each book is separated into four chapters or (qāʿeda). al-Masāʾel al-āmolīya (or al-ḥaydarīya) is a work that consists of theological and juridical ideas that are addressed by Amuli written to his teacher Faḵr-al-moḥaqqeqīn. From this work an autograph is preserved. Amuli wrote, Resālat al-woǰūd fī maʿrefat al-maʿbūd, in 1359 CE. It was completed while Amuli was residing in Naǰaf around 1367 CE. al-Moḥīṭ al-aʿẓam is a seven volume commentary that was completed around 1375 or 1376 CE. This work titled, Naṣṣ al-noṣūṣ is a commentary on another piece written by Ibn Arabi, titled Foṣūṣ al-ḥekam. This piece includes some autobiographical passages that provide information about Amuli’s life. Amuli's last work was titled, Resālat al- ʿolūm al-ʿālīya is a collection of Imamite traditions credited to Amuli. It is often debated that it was actually written by a different author.Noteable Quote
"The ocean is the same ocean as it has been of old; The events of today are its waves and its rivers.""Indeed I swear by Allah that if the seven heavens were made of paper and the trees of the earth were pens, if the seas of the world were ink and the spirits, mankind and the angels were scribes, then they would be unable to write even a jot of what I had witnessed of the divine gnoses and realities"