Kernel of the Kernel, Concerning the Wayfaring and Spiritual Journey of the People of Intellect, A Shi`i Approach to Sufism

Abstract

Kernel of the Kernel is a recension by Ayatullah Sayyid Muhammad Husyan Husayni Tihrani (d. 1995) of the oral teachings of Allamah Muhammad Husayn Tabatabai (d. 1982), one of the most prominent Iranian ‘ulama of the twentieth century. The main text has chapters entitled “Kernel of the Kernel,” “Description of the Realms Preceding the Realm of Khulus,” “Undifferentiated Description of the Path and Methods of Wayfaring toward God,” and “Differentiated Description of the Path and Methods of Wayfaring toward God.” Kernel of the Kernel concludes with a general index, an index of Qur’anic verses and ahadith, an index of the sayings of the Shi`i Imams, and an appendix of notes on saints and scholars cited in the text that contains brief biographies of 37 people. The book consists of Allamah Tabatabai’s teachings, which are augmented by an interesting commentary/introduction by the editor, Allamah Tihrani. Its core part is further prefaced by the translator’s (Muhammad H. Faghfoory) introduction and informative notes on Allamah Tihrani’s life and work. Seyyed Hossein Nasr’s foreword is the external shell that puts the text’s general esoteric trajectory and the characters involved in composing it in context. Nasr’s foreword, the translator’s notes, and the editor’s introduction are interspersed with teachings and stories of the lives of the Shi`i sages and scholars of the past several centuries. This makes the text of interest to students of Sufi hagiography in general, and of Shi`i intellectual life in particular. Kernel of the Kernel is in the genre of the Shi`i tradition of explicating the stages of the spiritual path and the doctrinal foundations of wayfaring. Allamah Tihrani begins by discussing the complementary relationship between Islam’s exoteric and esoteric aspects, and argues that the straight path means combining both of these aspects. As much as contemplation, intellection, logic, reason, and rational argumentation are praised, it is by submitting the heart that inward witnessing is achieved. This complementary relationship is the book’s underlying theme. Thus, the discussions on “the spiritual traveler” and “immersion in the Divine essence of the Lord,” for example, are balanced with such topics as “the station of being present in the world of multiplicity while simultaneously witnessing and experiencing the realms of Divine Lordship.” The text follows with a description of the inner meanings of Islam, faith, migration, spiritual struggle, submission, and ritual practices. At every step of the spiritual path, the author affirms the complementary nature of the relationship between wayfaring in the spiritual realm and being in this world. The last chapter is a condensed description of the path and the methods of wayfaring ...