~
If people are to live,
words must die.
--- Sufi saying
Mighty Arch-Patriarch
YHWH chats up an ineffably Goddess-like matriarchical manifestation of the
One Infinite Creator; She is not overly impressed:
Note:
parole = French, "words" (in this context, "[mere] words", with the connotation of tiresomely facile
lyrics to an old, old song -- "blah-blah", "yadda-yadda")
THE SACRED LANGUAGE
Classical Arabic is that version of Arabic which was used by the Koreshite tribe, hereditary
guardians of the the Temple of Mecca, and to which Mohammed belonged. Long before
Arabic became considered a holy tongue because it is the vehicle of the Koran, it was the
speech of the sacerdotal class of Mecca, a sanctuary whose religious history legend starts
with Adam and Eve. Arabic, most precise and primitive of the Semitic languages, shows
signs of being originally a constructed language. It is built up upon mathematical principles--
a phenomenon not paralleled by any other language. Sufic analysis of its basic concept
groupings shows that especially initiatory or religious, as well as psychological, ideas are
collectively associated around a stem in seemingly logical and deliberate fashion which
could hardly be fortuitous. Arabic is the nearest that is available to a parent Semitic lan-
guage, because philologically it is millennia more archaic than, for instance, Hebrew. For
this reason, Hebrew grammar is based upon an analysis of Arabic, by a study of which
the original meanings of Hebrew words, perverted through long literary usage, were
reclaimed by Hebrew scholars.
ARAB DIFFUSION IN EUROPE
The Western tradition of learning is as much a Saracen tradition as anything else; if by
Saracen we mean the concentration point, in Spain, Sicily, and elsewhere, of the many
stimuli which make up a great part of what is considered to be an outgrowth of Greek and
Latin culture.
"The period during which the literary scepter was held by France coincided with the growth
and high development of the Arabist school of Montpellier, which came under the influence of
the Arabized Jews of Spain. Montpellier, owing to its geographical relation to Andalusia on the
one hand, and Sicily and the Italian peninsula on the other . . . drew numbers of students from
the Latin West, who after having imbibed at the Arabized sources available at that time, once
more scattered themselves in Europe, thus permeating the whole fabric of medieval culture with
the gloss of of Arabian erudition. The subsequent teaching of the alumni of Montpellier, who
exercised a dominating influence over medical literature on the Continent and in England, is one
of the outstanding historical facts of the Middle Ages. The newly developing varieties of romance,
combined with the steady inpour of Arabic works from southern Spain, which were in the main
rendered into indifferent Latin, rendered both the liquid languages and sciences (including medi-
cine) particularly susceptible to Arabian influences." (Dr. D. Campbell,
Arabian Medicine, I, Lon-
don, 1926, pp. 196-97)
LANGUAGES
Many of the Adepts of Sufism, though well versed in Arabic, have refuse to use it except when
they desire to use it for a specific purpose. They traditionally adhere to this practice, even in
circles where a knowledge of Arabic is considered to be essential to a cultivated man. As a
consequence, some of even the very greatest masters have from time to time been considered
insufficiently educated by literary observers. There are many stories about this subject. The
reasons for not using Arabic are:
(1) If the Sufi is following at the time the "path of blame," he finds it necessary to incur certain
feelings of opposition in his hearers. This is best done, in the case of a highly language-conscious
people like the Arabs, by not speaking their language -- from their point of view a serious short-
coming.
(2) Because of the fixed idea of Arabic supremacy, the Sufi has to detach the individual from the
assumption that all great men must speak Arabic.
(3) The Sufi cannot be forced into the scholastic culture patterns devised by others, without com-
promising his own teachings.
(4) There are distinct circumstances when communication on a verbal basis, by familiar methods,
is not indicated. The Sufi's "state" tells him what this is. In the case of the ordinary man, such a
refinement of perception is not possible, and he therefore strives unthinkingly to communicate
information and ideas on the basic assumption that when people meet, their identity of linguistic
ability is a good and necessary thing.
The great Sufi and great Sheikh of Khurasan Abu-Hafs el-Haddadi knew no Arabic, it was
reported [in Hujwiri's
Revelation of the Veiled]. He spoke through interpreters. When he went to
Baghdad to visit such giants as Junaid, he spoke so eloquently in Arabic that he had no equal.
This is a typical story. The Sufi, for whom Sufism is more important than anything else, will em-
body in his own self-development a technique of this kind, and combine it with the impact which
he is making upon others. It is never his aim to further his own reputation in academic circles.
Those who have viewed Sufism as a Persian cult whose practitioners harbored animosity toward
the Arabs and sought to reduce the importance of Arabic as one or their techniques completely
misunderstand the role of language in Sufism. Similar techniques are reported in the use of lan-
guages other than Arabic.
QALB
The Arabic word QLB is not confined in meaning to the form QaLB (heart), which is one of its
most familiar forms. In the Sufi sense, QLB is considered to have the following meanings, all
straightforward dictionary derivations of this triliteral root:
QaLaB = to turn a thing upside-down. A reference to the Sufi dictum: "The world is upside down."
QaLaB = to extract the marrow of a palm tree. The palm tree, as noted elsewhere, is the Sufi
term for
baraka and the magic square of fifteen, which contains Sufi diagrammatic and mathematical
material. The "marrow" is used in the sense of the essence, vital portion.
AQLaB = to be baked on one side. Used for bread, and in a special Sufi sense, denoting a part
of a developmental process of transformation, analogized with turning one thing (dough) into what
seems to be another (bread).
TaqaLLaB = to be restless. Used of a sleeper, turning in his sleep. Used as a Sufi technical term
to describe the uncertainty felt by the ordinary man who is, according to the convention used by
Sufis, "asleep."
QaLB = heart, mind, soul; intimate thought; marrow, pith; best part. Also used in the compound
phrase
qalb el-muqaddas, literally "the Sacred Heart," meaning the part of mankind which partakes
of the essence of divinity.
The letters Q + L + B add up to 132, equal to the name Mohammed (M + H + M + M + D), the
Logos or essence of Mohammed. Thirty-two plus one hundred (Q) make up one third of the total of
divinity, the "ninety-nine names of beauty."
----- Four "Annotations" from Idries Shah,
The Sufis (London, 1964):
"The Sacred Language", pp. 441-42; "Arab Diffusion in Europe", p. 416;
"Languages", pp. 428-29; "QALB", pp. 438-39.