White Death: Ibn al- (c) Arabi on the Trials and Virtues of Hunger and Fasting.

• Author: Khalil, Atif

The article presents an analysis of Ibn al-'ArabT's (d. 1240) treatment of fasting and hunger as it appears in chapters 106 and 107 of al-Futuhal al-makkiyya (Meccan revelations). In the process of examining this very short section of the encyclopedic text, the essay both draws out the deeper theological significance of hunger and fasting and highlights the virtues and trappings of the spiritual exercise in the mystic's thought. An attempt is also made to situate some of Ibn al-'Arabl's ideas within the broader context of the earlier Sufi tradition to which he was heir.

Fasting stands as one of the most widespread religious practices in human history. Undertaken as a form of penance, a preparatory rite before initiation, a method to induce visions and veridical dreams, a means to avert natural catastrophes, an expression of either mourning or thanksgiving, or simply as a mechanism to control and tame the passions by curbing their sources of nourishment, it is found in virtually every culture and society.' While the forms it has assumed have varied considerably across time and place, at the heart of the ritual lies a desire to approach the world of spirits, and beyond that, ultimate reality itself, through a conscious, voluntary, and self-imposed experience of hunger. (2)

In Islam fasting (sawm) is collectively undertaken during Ramadan on a scale that, in the modern world, is perhaps unmatched by any other religious community. (3) "Fasting is prescribed for you," the Quran declares, "as it was prescribed for those before you, that you might grow in God-consciousness" (2:183). (4) But for many devout Muslims the subjugation of the body to hunger and thirst through fasting goes well beyond the holy month, and extends to the recommended days of (c) Arafa, (c) Ashura' the "white nights" (days 13, 14, and 15 of the lunar calendar corresponding to the full moon), the six days of Shawwal after Ramadan, the first ten days of Dhu al-Hijja, the first day of Muharram, the alternating fast on Mondays and Thursdays, the fast every other day (termed "the fast of David"), and beyond that to just about any day of the year on which one might feel inspired--excluding the two Eids when it is explicitly prohibited. (5)

The value ascribed to sawm is attested to in both the example of the Prophet as well as his many counsels. "Everything has a door," he once said, "and the door of devotional worship ((c) ibada) lies in the fast." (6) He also said, "Patience is half of faith," and "Half of patience lies in the fast." (7) Once a companion belched crudely in his presence, leading the Prophet to warn, "Those of you most satiated in this world will be hungriest in the next." On hearing this the man replied, "By God, from this day on I will never fill my belly to its full." (8) So proverbial was the austerity of the Prophet that (c) A'isha (d. 678), his youngest wife, complained, "The first innovation (bicfa) introduced after the death of the Messenger of God was satiety (shah')." (9) This is not to suggest that he denied himself the pleasures of life, discerning in them divine gifts, as is attested to by numerous traditions. In the words of Valerie Hoffman, the "overall attitude of HadTth is that the Muslims should be neither too worldly nor too other-worldly: they should take, in the words of one hadlth, from both this world and the next." (10) Nevertheless, the Prophet's moderation certainly tilted in the direction of abstinence, and it was this propensity toward abstention that became the basis for the emphasis placed on sawm and hunger in the Sufi tradition, particularly among the early ascetics, the zuhhad. The present article examines two very short chapters from Ibn al- (c) ArabT's (d. 1240) al-Futuhat al-makkiyya on the trials and virtues of abstaining from food and drink, respectively entitled "On knowledge of the hunger that is sought" (FT ma'rifat al-ju (c) al-matlub) and "On abandoning hunger" (FT tark al-jii (c) ). (11) While the mystic addresses the question of fasting extensively in chapter seventy-one on the "mysteries of fasting" (asrar al-sawm), our focus will remain principally on the two chapters under consideration with a few excursions into other sections of the text. The two terse chapters fall within the broader section of the Futuhat devoted to the stations of the way, where Ibn al- (c) ArabT examines in great length the metaphysical foundations of Sufi ethics.

Ibn al- (c) ArabT opens the first of the two chapters by delineating the four deaths (arba'a mawtat) that the spiritual itinerant must undergo on the journey to God, (12) each of which forms an indispensable element in the Sufi tradition of the maw/ alluded to in the well-known hadith, "Die before you die." (13) These deaths (14) include the "green death" of wearing patched clothing as a mark of renunciation, similar in many ways to the "vow of poverty" found among Christian monks. (c) Umar ibn al-Khattab (d. 644), we are informed, wore a robe of thirteen patches. (I5) The symbolic significance of the color lies, according to some authorities, in its power to bring to life an essential inward beauty of the soul, which is free of the need of outward ornamentation. (16) Then there is the "black death" of patiently enduring the offenses and injuries of others (tahammul al-adha), without seeking retaliation or retribution. The harm (adhan) the wayfarer endures in a state of patience is similar to that which God himself patiently endures at the hands of humans, as Ibn al-'Arabl explains in his chapter on the station of patience. (17) In addition, there is the "red death" of opposing the soul's desires and baser inclinations (mukhalafat al-nafs fi aghrddiha), often explored in Sufi literature within the context of mujahada and the "inner jihad." (18) A tradition of (C) A1I (d. 661) describes "red death" as death "by the sword" (19)--a death that may be interpreted in a more mystical sense as by the sword that bleeds and slays unruly passions. Red is after all the color of blood, the life-force that animates and sustains the body, and is sometimes associated in Persian color symbolism with "cheeks and bridal veils," (20) and beyond that, erotic love, although the association with Eros cannot be pressed too far due to the noncelibate nature of Islamic spirituality, one that frequently combined detachment with married life. (21) Finally, there is the "white death" (al-mawt al-abyad) of hunger (ju)--its whiteness at least partially the result of the pale complexion or loss of "vital redness" of the one deprived of food and drink. (c) AlT's description of "white death" as death by plague (ta (c) un) seems to complement this view, since plague often brings with it famine and starvation. (22) Those versed in the medieval Islamicate folkloric tradition may also recall the story of Adam fasting in repentance after the Fall on the three "white days" of the full moon of the lunar calendar, through which he regained the lightness of a skin tone that had turned black from disobedience. (23) While there is no evidence to suggest that Ibn al- (c) ArabT himself draws on this tradition, at least in its literal sense, and while the "spiritual racializing" in the story reflects certain ethnocentric undercurrents within Near Eastern culture that long predated Islam, and which are absent in Ibn al-'Arabl, the noncanonical tale may nevertheless be interpreted symbolically as a reference to the inward illumination brought about through voluntary hunger. This is because the soul purified through such a practice may be said to reflect the radiance of the divine light--much as the moon reflects the sun on the nights of the "white days" on which Adam fasted--thereby allowing the human being to realize her theomorphic nature as imago del on earth. The close relationship between fasting and interior illumination finds confirmation in Kashanfs (d. bet. 1329 and 1335) Istildhdt al-sufiyya, where he explains that the hunger of the Sufis is named "white death" because it "whitens the interior and illuminates the face of the heart." (24)

Ibn al- (c) ArabT's debt to the early tradition is revealed by the fact that in his stipulation of the necessity of traversing four deaths, he is almost certainly drawing on al-Qushayn's (d. 1072) Risdla, a manual he...