The Goddess remains the esoteric heartbeat of Islam
"The secret veiled power of the Divine Feminine is thus actively at work within Islam. Its esoteric forms uncompromisingly address the Divine with the masculine pronouns, but its esoteric qualities are all feminine. The Goddess remains the esoteric heartbeat of Islam. She is the beloved of Sufis, 'the ultimate image of God the Beloved — the breaker of all images in the shrine of the heart. She is the form leading beyond form, the obstacle to the Way and the Way...'"“Light of the East
Iran and Saudi Arabia are not normally associated with the Divine
Feminine ... we have to remember that militant Islam, like muscular
Christianity, is only one side of the coin. The reverse is a dazzling
mirror-image of Sophia who, in the persons of Fatima and Mary,
upholds the Divine Feminine within Islam...
Sophia is the mystical companion, the soul within each body, seeking
the Divine Beloved. It is she who causes the mystic to proclaim that
he belongs to no race or direction of the earth: 'My place is the
placeless, my trace is the traceless. 'Tis neither body, nor soul,
for I belong to the Soul of the Beloved.'40 Certainly, the Divine
Feminine is so marginalized in Islam, that one might be forgiven for
believing it to be totally absent.
Both Mary and Fatima are reverenced within esoteric Islam, for they
are both mothers of the Logos, the Word. Fatima inherits the role of
Spenta Armaiti, within Shi'ism, for she is The Mother of a lineage of
imams. She is seen as symbolic of the 'supracelestial earth.'41 She
is considered to be the source of the imam's wisdom because she is
lawh mahfuz or 'the hidden tablet; upon which God has written.'42 One
of her titles in Ismaeli Shi'ism is Fatima Fatir, or Fatima the
Creator, which recalls the Sophia Ergane of Proverbs.43
Ibn Arabi states that Universal nature (Tavi't al-kull) 'is the
feminine or maternal side of the creative act. She is
the"merciful 'breathing-out' of God" (Nafa ar-rahman).'44 We may
compare Sophia as the Divine Sigh of Compassion in Sirach: 'I came
forth from the mouth of the Most High.'45 This breathing out has the
effect of manifesting Sophia to the world, yet Sophia is also the
dwelling place of God for, as Ibn Arabi says: 'Where was your Lord
before creating the Creation? He was in a Cloud; there was no space
either above or below.'46
The nature of both the Black Goddess and Sophia are brought out in
Islam. The exoteric fulminations about women, so similar to those
found in Christianity and Judaism are, of course, negative
polarizations of the devouring Goddess, yet this exists side by side
with the positive image of the Ka'ba, Islam's Black Madonna. within
Islam, the Divine Male and female principles are typified by the Pen
and the Guarded tablet. The Pen is God writing upon the tabula rasa
of the World-Soul, which preserves the veiled tradition of Sufism.47
The quotation which leads this chapter is the paradoxical foundation
of Islam's veiling of the Divine Feminine. Ibn Arabi's exposition of
this paradox may help us to understand it better. 'The Absolute
manifested in the form of woman is an active agent because of
exercising complete control over man's feminine principle, his soul.
This causes man to become submissive and devoted to the Absolute as
manifested in a woman. The Absolute is also passively receptive
because, in as much as it appears in the form of a woman, it is under
man's control and subject to his orders. Hence to contemplate the
Absolute in woman is to see both aspects simultaneously, and such
vision is more perfect than seeing it in all the forms in which it
manifests itself. That is why woman is creative, not created. For
both qualities, active and passive, belong to the Essence of the
Creator, and both are manifested in woman.'48
This defination must be taken in its mystical context. For Moslems,
the feminine principle is active, and the masculine principle is
quiescent, in the manner of Christ within the womb of Mary. After
proper preparation by spiritual practices, the masculine principle
grows and is born. 'Once birth is given to the spirit, this
(feminine) principle remains as Fatima, the Creative Feminine, the
daughter of the Prophet, in a state of potentiality within the spirit
reborn.'49
The secret veiled power of the Divine Feminine is thus actively at
work within Islam. Its esoteric forms uncompromisingly address the
Divine with the masculine pronouns, but its esoteric qualities are
all feminine.
The Goddess remains the esoteric heartbeat of Islam. She is the
beloved of Sufis, 'the ultimate image of God the Beloved — the
breaker of all images in the shrine of the heart. She is the form
leading beyond form, the obstacle to the Way and the Way...'50
Sophia is herself the 'interpreter of ardent desires.' The mystical
vision of Ibn Arabi portrays the longing of all for Sophia: The
aspirations and desires of all seekers are attached to her, yet she
is essentially unknown to them; hence they all love her, yet none
blames another for loving her. Similarly, every individual soul and
the adherents of every religion seek salvation, but since they do not
know it, they are also ignorant of the way that lead to it, though
everyone believes he is on the right way. All strife between people
of different religions and sects is about the way that leads to
salvation, not about salvation itself.'51
But Sophia is also the reconciler of differences, for her love
belongs to everyone: 'She manifests herself everywhere, like the sun;
every person who holds her deems that she is with him in her essence,
so that envy and jealousy are removed from their hearts.' 52"
Caitln Matthews, Sophia: Goddess of Wisdom,
The Aquarian Press, 1992, p. 179-90.
Notes:
40. p. 74 Cragg;
41. p. 63 Corbin, 1977;
42. p. 65 ibid;
43. p. 66 iIbid;
44. p. 116 Burkhardt;
45. Sirach 24:3;
46. p. 185 Corbin, 1969;
47. p. 28 Bakhtiar;
48. p. 22 Bakhtiar;
49. p. 23 ibid;
50. Letter of Ya'quib bin Yusuf, Gnosis vol 5, p. 5, Fall 1987;
51. p. 81 Wilson, Scandal;
52. ibid)
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