A Dialogue

Abstract

MOHAMMED FAGHFOORY: I read the review on my book, Kernel of the Kernel, in a recent edition of the journal [21:2] and would like to respond to some of the reviewer’s remarks. The bulk of the review is, in fact, taken from the book itself and is nothing more than a description of each chapter’s content. That is fine by itself, and your journal’s format requires that. It is, however, to his concluding paragraph that I would like to address my response, where he talks about Sufism in light of feminist literature and theories, which are alien to Islamic spirituality. First, the reviewer’s statement that “No women are found among all the Shi`ite scholars and masters of esoteric sciences” is simply wrong. As early as the first Islamic century, Sufism produced masters like Rabi`ah `Adawiyah, to whom Hasan al-Basri, the celebrated patriarch of Basrah and the first major Sufi master, referred to frequently for spiritual advice. To this, one must add prominent women like Sayyidah Nafisah (the daughter of Imam Hasan) and Sayyidah `A’ishah (the daughter of Imam Sadiq), whose mastery of exoteric and esoteric knowledge have been acknowledged by Sufi masters like Ibn `Ata’llah Iskandarani and many others. One might also mention Fatimah of Nayshabur, the Persian Nizam, and another Fatimah who was, in fact, the spiritual master of the octogenarian Sufi master Muhy al-Din ibn al-`Arabi. More problematic is the reviewer’s statement on Sufi doctrine and its view on men and women. When God decided to manifest Himself, He did so through Revelation, cosmos, and human being (microcosm). We read in the Qur’an that God is Ahad (He is One, Absolute) and Samad (Sufficient to Himself, Infinite). This means that everything is contained in Him. Thus, God ...