Ādab as Ethical Ontology in the Doctrine of Ibn ‘At.ā’ Allāh al-Iskandarī

   The article off ers a reconstruction of the theological understanding of the concept of ādab (etiquette, good conduct) in the heritage of the Shādhilī Sheikh Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh al- Iskandarī (c. 658 AH / 1260 CE — 709 AH / 1309 CE) as an ethical ontology — a special doctrine of being whereby ādab is not a set of external requirements, but the way of actualization and realization of ‘ubūdiyya (the being of man as a servant of God). Based on the textual analysis of al- Iskandarī’s works, Tāj al-‘Arūs al-ḥāwī litahdhīb al-nufūs (“The Bride-Groom’s Crown Containing Instructions on the Self”), Miftāḥ al-falāḥ (“The Key to Salvation”), ‘Unwān al-tawfīq fī ādāb al-ṭarīq (“The Sign of Success in the Etiquette of the Spiritual Path”), Laṭā’if al-minan (“The Subtle Blessings”), and al-Tanwīr fī Isqāṭ al- Tadbīr (“The Book of Illumination on the Abandonment of Self- Direction”), the paper shows that the multi-level teaching on ādab, which comprises the distinction between its “external” (zāhir) and “internal” (bātin) dimensions, the binding of spiritual discipline to the bodily organs and the heart, and the metaphysical defi nition of ādab as the “soul” in relation to the “body” of human existence, originates in the heritage of al- Iskandarī. In contrast, the three-part model (ādab al-sharī‘a / ādab al-khidma / ādab al-ḥaqīqa) represents a later terminological treatment and systematization of al-Iskandarī’s ideas in the commentary tradition of Zarrūq A. (d. 899 AH / 1493 CE) and Ibn ‘Ajība (d. 1224 AH / 1809 CE). The article situates the concept of ādab within the context of its Ṣūfī genealogy, including the reconstructed fourfold structure of ādab in Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 638 AH / 1240 CE). It is argued that the specifi city of the Shādhilī ontologization of ethics lies not in the recognition of the divine origin of the norms of ādab, which is characteristic of Islamic theistic ethics in general, but in the particular understanding of the relationship between ādab and ‘ubūdiyya. As an ontological given, “servitude to God” precedes every human action; however, as a conscious and spiritually realized state, it is revealed and actualized through the practice of ādab.

1. Al- Anṣārī, Zakariyyā. (2000). Iḥkām al- Dalāla ‘alā Taḥrīr al- Risāla al-Qushayriyya [Clarifying the Indications in the Redaction of al-Qushayrī’s Epistle]. Beirut: Dār al- Bashā’ir al-Islāmiyya Publ. Vol. 2. 564 p. (In Arabic)

2. Al- Iskandarī, Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh. (1971). Al-Tanwīr fīIsqāṭ al-Tadbīr [Illumination on the Abandonment of Self- Direction]. Comm. by Mūsā Muḥammad ‘Alī al-Mūshī, ‘Abd al-‘Āl Aḥmad al-‘Urrābī. Cairo: Majma‘ al-Buḥūth al-Islāmiyya Publ. 478 p. (In Arabic)

3. Al- Iskandarī, Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh. (2000). Kitāb al- Ḥikam [The Book of Wisdoms]. I. R. Nasyrov (transl., comm. and notes). Ufa: RIO RUNMTs Goskomnauki RB Publ. 290 p. (In Russian)

4. Al- Iskandarī, Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh. (2004). ‘Unwān al- Tawfīq fī Ādāb al-Ṭarīq [The Sign of Divine Success in the Etiquette of the Spiritual Path]. Khālid al-Zuhrī (ed.). 1^st ed. Beirut: Dār al-Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya Publ. 104 p. (In Arabic)

5. Al- Iskandarī, Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh. (2005). Tāj al-‘Arūs al- Ḥāwī li- Tahdhīb al-Nufūs [The Bride-Groom’s Crown Containing Instructions on the Self]. Beirut: Dār al- Kutub al-‘Ilmiyya Publ. 166 p.

6. Al- Iskandarī, Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh. (2006). Laṭā’if al-Minan [The Subtle Blessings’s Divine Graces]. ‘Abd al-Ḥalīm Maḥmūd (ed.). Cairo: Dār al- Ma‘ārif Publ. 207 p. (In Arabic)

7. Al-Iskandarī, Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh. (2008). Miftāḥ al- Falāḥ wa Miṣbāḥ al-Arwāḥ [The Key to Salvation and the Lamp of Spirits]. 1^st ed. Cairo: al-Maktaba al-Azhariyya li-l- Turāth. Publ. 126 p. (In Arabic)

8. Cecere G. (2016). Tarfīq versus Tazyīq. On a Rare Sufi Term in Ibn Baṭṭūṭā and Jewish-Muslim Interactions in Medieval Egypt. Quaderni di Linguistica e Studi Orientali. No. 2, pp. 265–290.

9. Chodkiewicz M. (1986). Le Sceau des saints: Prophétie et sainteté dans la doctrine d’Ibn ‘Arabī. Paris: Gallimard. 230 p. (In French)

10. Ibn al-‘Arabī. (n. d.). Al- Futūḥāt al- Makkiyya [The Meccan Revelations]. Beirut: Dār Ṣādir Publ. Vol. 4, pp. 444–554. (In Arabic)

11. Ibn ‘Ajība, Aḥmad. (n. d.). Īqāẓ al- Himam fī Sharḥ al- Ḥikam [The Awakening of Spiritual Aspirations: A Commentary on Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh’s “Wisdoms”]. Muḥammad Aḥmad Ḥasb Allāh (ed. and introd.). 2^nd ed. Cairo: Dār al-Ma‘ārif Publ. 653 p. (In Arabic)

12. Nasr S. H. (2007). The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam’s Mystical Tradition. New York: Harper One. 256 p.

13. Nasyrov I. R. (2018). «Kniga mudrostei» (Kitāb al- Ḥikam) Ibn ‘Aṭā’ Allāh Al-Iskandarī kak literaturno- filosofskii pamytnik musul’manskogo Vostoka [Ibn ‘Ata’ Allah Al- Iskandari and His Sufi Aphorisms (Kitab Al- Hikam)]. Islam v sovremennom mire [Islam in the modern world]. Vol. 14. No. 3, pp. 73–92. (In Russian); DOI: 10.22311/2074-1529-2018-14-3-73-92

14. Smirnov A. V. (2022). Ibn ‘Arabī. Izbrannoe. T. 2: Mekkanskie otkroveniia [Ibn ‘Arabī. Selected Works. Vol. 2: Al- Futūḥāt al- Makkiyya (The Meccan Revelations)]. A. V. Smirnov (transl. from Arabic, preface, notes). 3^rd ed. Moscow: Sadra Publ. 400 p. (In Russian)

15. Zarrūq, A. (1939). Sharḥ al- Ḥikam [Commentary on the “Wisdoms”]. Cairo: Muṣṭafā al- Bābī al- Ḥalabī Publ. 341 p. (In Arabic)