The Symbols in the Fig Chapter

God’s-eye view. “A Flight Through the Universe,” by the Sloan Digital Sky Survey, displays close to 400,000 galaxies, each with one or two hundred billion stars, some many times the mass of our sun. And please bear in mind that there are maybe a hundred billion of these galaxies. Click here for the 3D version (you will need anaglyph 3D glasses).

God... created [Mohammed] as a light within a column of light, a million years before creation... (Re 53:13)

—Sahl al-Tustari

(on the Light of Mohammed, in the first Sufi Commentary on the Koran)

(In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.)

By the Fig and the Olive,

and Mount Sinai,

and this land secure (Mecca):

We indeed created Man in the fairest stature,

Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low,

Save those who believe and do good deeds, and theirs is a reward unfailing.

(The Fig, 95:1-6)

Over the centuries, a literal reading of the Fig Chapter in the Koran does not seem to have produced much light. Taking the words at face value has yielded references to trees and mountains, or at best, to the prophets with which these are related. The fig and the olive are associated with Jesus, Mount Sinai (quite naturally) with Moses, and the secure land or territory with Mohammed.

In what follows, I would like to suggest an alternative reading. I propose to treat the named entities as symbols. Perhaps this approach will yield a more satisfying explanation as to why God wishes to swear an oath by them rather than directly by the prophets involved. There are two reasons for this:

• God does not take an oath idly. Among other things, an oath in the Koran is intended to draw our attention to some subtlety which may otherwise be missed.
• The Koran has already named these prophets explicitly elsewhere. Why, then, refer to them obliquely here?

First, of course, we must define what we understand by “ symbol.”

To paraphrase Martin Lings, a symbol is a shadow or projection of a higher reality. It is a metaphor, a “bridge” (majaz) to understanding something that is more complex, elusive, and abstract.

A reality can be expressed by more than one symbol. Put another way, different symbols can point to the same reality. Similarly, the three-dimensional complex object (call it “Geb”) at the left has three different two-dimensional projections on three mutually perpendicular planes. So Geb can be represented by G, E, and/or B in two dimensions. Likewise, the object at right can be represented by U, D (or A), and T. (Front cover design, 20th Anniversary Edition of Douglas R. Hofstadter, Gödel, Escher, Bach: An Eternal Golden Braid [1979].)

Let, us, therefore, investigate the items named in the chapter for their symbolic content, in the order of their appearance.

The Fig

The first item on our list is the fig, from which the chapter (sura) also gets its name. What could it be referring to? Let us approach this question by means of the World Tree. (Added emphases are in bold.)

[The notion] of a cosmologically sacred tree, or tree of life, is found throughout the world. In the ancient Brahman tradition of India, and among Shamans of Central Asia, the sacred tree was considered the symbolic axis of the [world]. … The cosmic tree appears as an inverted tree with its roots in heaven growing downward towards the earth as depicted in the Upanishads of India and medieval Cabbalistic writings (Wikipedia, “Tree of Life,” 2013). A symbolic Mountain of Paradise and the four rivers of life are also motifs found beyond Persia.¹

The idea of an erect [upright] and of an inverted Tree is met with over a range of time and space extending from Plato to Dante and Siberia to India and Melanesia.²

Of paramount interest to us is the identification of the World Tree with the fig tree:

the World Tree, the cosmic and supracosmic Tree of Life, which stretches along the length of the Axis Mundi [World Axis] passing through and connecting all of the created order—all worlds and beings—at the centre… is described in its inverted aspect in the Upanishads, ‘Its root is above, its branches below—This eternal fig-tree (asvattha)! That indeed is Pure. That is Brahma.’ … [And also in the] Bhagavadgītā, ‘Men tell of the changeless Fig-tree, with roots that upward rise and branches that descend’…³

“This is an eternal Ashwattha tree whose root is above, but its branches are downward. It is He that is called the Bright One and Brahman, and Immortality, and in Him are all the worlds established, none goes beyond Him. This is what you seek.”⁴

Ananda Coomaraswamy provides some more information:

the One Asvattha is identified with Brahman … A twofold division, cosmic and supracosmic, of the Axial Column … stands in part within the cosmos and in what is a greater part also out beyond the sky. … the Axis of the Universe is, as it were, a ladder on which there is a perpetual going up and down. … ⁵

 

The word Miraj (Ascension) literally means “ladder.” A chapter in the Koran is named “Ascensions.” “…the angels and the Spirit descend, by the leave of their Lord, for every errand” (97:4).

Coomaraswamy also reminds us that “This pillar is omnipresent and passes through the centre of every being.” Keith Critchlow adds that this ‘is described as a “ray joining every being to the spiritual sun”.’⁶ And Plato—whom a great Sufi, Jili, once saw in a vision as “filling the world with light”—compared man to an upside-down tree, whose roots are in the heavens and whose branches tend downwards to earth.⁷

Now a tree with its roots in heaven and its branches downwards is also known in Islam. It is called the Tree of Bliss or the Tree of Happiness (tūbā). Thus, we may read the Fig tree (in its inverted form) as an equivalent symbol of the Tuba tree.*

Another tree, the Shajarat-al Tūbā … is prominent in aḥādith [Sayings of the Prophet] and in the writings of later mystics. The Shajarat-al Tūbā was described by Ibn al-ʿArabī [the great Sufi mystic] in his Futūhāt al Makkiya as growing down from the roof of Heaven and penetrating all of the spheres of Heaven. … This tree he calls the Tree of happiness or bliss (tūbā)’ …⁸

The word tūbā (pronounced “two-baa”) occurs in the Koran (13:28) without reference to a tree. However, the tree of that name is well established in the Prophet’s Sayings: for example, “the Tuba is a tree in Paradise.  God planted it with His own hand and breathed His spirit into it.”⁹

The inverted tree, with its roots in heaven and its fruits on earth, or (according to Ibn Arabi) growing down from the roof of Heaven and penetrating all of the spheres of Heaven. Right: picture of the Tuba Tree (circa 1900), with the 99 Beautiful Names of God written on its leaves and the Banner of Praise (liva al-hamd) of the Prophet on its right. Whoever holds on to one of its leaves (that is, recites one of God’s Names) is said to be pulled up to Heaven. At the bottom are the Eight Gates of Paradise.

Here is Ibn Arabi on the Tuba in his Meccan Revelations (Futuhat-ul Makkiya):

The Tree of Tuba compared to all other trees of Paradise is like Adam who was the origin of mankind, for when [God] planted and set it right, He blew of His spirit into it… He adorned it with decorations and garments that beatify their wearers. We are its earth as He has made ‘whatever is on the earth an adornment for it’ (18:7). It gave the fruits of Paradise all the truth they have, as a stone of date produces a palm tree, and the light which those fruits carry.¹⁰

 

Sometimes the Cosmic Mountain (see below) and the Cosmic Tree symbols are combined, as in the Scandinavian World Tree Yggdrasil. Of the Tuba Tree, Laleh Bakhtiyar states: “Tuba, in its macrocosmic form, grows at the uppermost limits of the universe.  In its microcosmic form, its cultivation depend[s] upon the mystic. … Ibn ‘Arabi describes this symbol in both its forms.  In its macrocosmic aspect, it is associated with the Cosmic Mountain on top of which the Cosmic Tree grows.”

Bakhtiyar continues:

The whole of the cosmos is seen as a tree, the Tree of Knowledge, which has grown from the seed of the Divine Command, “Be”.  The Tree has sent down its roots, sent up its trunk, and spread out its branches, so that this world, the world of Symbols, and the world of Archetypes, are all contained by this Tree.

As the Tree is manifest in a macrocosmic aspect, so it is hidden in the microcosmic form.  It is the symbol of wisdom which, through roots in meditation, bears fruit of the Spirit.¹¹

Because the Tree of Bliss grows downwards from the roof of heaven, many domes of mosques and shrines in Islam have highly abstract, stylized representations of the Tuba. The dome itself symbolizes heaven. (Left: Tilla-Kari Medrassah at Registan, Samarkand, Uzbekistan. Right: interior of Taj Mahal mosque, India.)

 

The dome of this mosque is distinguished by the fact that the Tree of Happiness is depicted both on its exterior and its interior. Note the sunburst design with an eight-pointed star at its apex, and the daisy-like, mirrored spiral pattern. (Dome of Shaykh Lutfullah mosque, Isfahan, Iran.)

A Fibonacci Spiral is duplicated and the circular pattern is mirrored. When assembled, the result forms the pattern seen in sunflowers.

(The Tuba tree has also been associated with the Indian Kalpavriksha tree because it fulfills all desires.)

Finally, Henry Corbin equates the Tuba Tree with Ibn Arabi’s Cosmic Tree (shajarat al kawn): “…the Tuba tree; now, we know that this is the name of the tree that shades Paradise; it is the Tree of Being [another name for the Cosmic Tree].”¹² But Ibn Arabi claims that this tree stands for the Perfect Human (see below). We have, then, established a link between the Fig and the Perfect Human, which is also the Light of Mohammed.

The Olive

The treatment for the Olive follows closely upon that for the Fig. Let me quote from an earlier article:

In his treatise on Cosmic Unification (al-Ittihad al-Kawn, translated as The Universal Tree and the Four Birds), the famous Sufi, Ibn Arabi, equates the Universal Tree (al-shajara al-kulli) or World Axis with the Perfect Human Being. (Ibn Arabi’s other “tree,” the World Tree or Cosmic Tree (Shajarat al-Kawn), also symbolizes the Universal Human.) In addition, the Tree stands for eternal life, and is called the Tree of Life in some traditions. Another name for it is the Tree of Light (A. J. Wensinck, Tree and Bird as Cosmological Symbols in Western Asia (1921)). That light beam (also called the Ray of Creation) is, in Sufism, the first-created light, the First Intellect (Universal Mind) or the Light of Mohammed (these occur in the Prophet’s own Sayings). This is the light that is referred to in Genesis: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3).

For Islam, the olive is the central tree, The World Axis, a symbol of Universal Man and of the Prophet. The ‘Blessed Tree’ is associated with light, since its oil is used as lamp fuel. (The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, p. 716.)

And this brings us to another part of the Light Verse: “[The lamp] is lighted from a Blessed Tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West [hence of the center], whose light would well-nigh shine out even if it were not lit by fire” [hence self-luminous] (24:35).

The first Arabic letter, the Alif, also represents the Cosmic Pillar because of its shape. …¹³

Here we need only add that in Islam, the “Straight Path” to be followed (sirat al-mustaqim) is not only a road without bends, but also means the “Ascending Path” along the vertical axis, because of the root word qam (“to raise oneself”).¹⁴ Hence the Alif also represents the Straight Path itself, namely, elevation along the axis of consciousness or spirituality, which is perpendicular to all dimensions.¹⁵

Mountains, trees, and pointed man-made structures are all equivalent symbols for the Cosmic Mountain or Pillar of the Universe. (From left: Mt. Machapuchare, Nepal; pine tree; Wat Arun, Bangkok; Cheops Pyramid, Egypt)

Mount Sinai

According to psychologist Carl G. Jung, “The mountain stands for the goal of the pilgrimage and ascent, hence it often has the psychological meaning of the self.” ¹⁶

Mount Sinai is, of course, the mountain specific to Moses, but before we talk about that, we must talk about mountains in general, which lead to the archetype of the Cosmic Mountain.

What is the Cosmic Mountain? It is a mode of, or an alternate symbol for, the World Axis. It represents the cosmos. Not confined to the physical universe, it spans the whole of existence—“the eighteen thousand worlds,” as the Sufis call it.

At its base and beneath it are the various hells. Below the clouds that surround it, there is lightning, thunder and rain. But above the clouds it is always sunshine. According to scholar of comparative religion Mircea Eliade,

In several traditions, the Cosmos is shaped like a mountain whose peak touches heaven: above, where the heavens and the earth are reunited, is the Center of the World. This cosmic mountain may be identified with a real mountain, or it can be mythic, but it is always placed at the center of the world.¹⁷

The ziggurat was literally a cosmic mountain; the seven stories represented the seven planetary heavens; by ascending them, the priest reached the summit of the universe.¹⁸

As for the peak:

The summit of the cosmic mountain is not only the highest point of the earth; it is also the earth’s navel, the point at which the Creation began.¹⁹

According to Indian beliefs, Mount Meru rises at the center of the world, and above it shines the polestar. The Ural-Altaic peoples also know of a central mountain, Sumeru, to whose summit the polestar is fixed. ²⁰

 

Mount Meru or Mt. Sumeru (“Beautiful Meru”), the Hindu conception of the Cosmic Mountain. Above are the heavens, below are the hot and cold hells. Its height was said to be more than a million kilometers, a large enough number in an age when people had not yet heard about billions of light-years. At the top is the City of Brahma (God).

 

The World Axis is considered to pass through the Pole Star, and the Center of the World to be its terrestrial footprint, because the axis of the Earth’s rotation points towards the Pole Star, “the center of heaven.” In this case, the Axis of the Universe becomes identified with the Axis of the Earth. Naturally, the situation depicted in this time-lapse photo can be observed everywhere north of the equator, so that on this basis, any location in the northern hemisphere can be called “the Center of the World” with equal justification. (The star cannot be seen from the southern hemisphere.) Please bear in mind that this is, again, symbolic. The Pole Star is also the star at the top of a christmas tree, which has the shape of a mountain.

As for the Sufis, they consider the mountain to represent the human body, and more specifically the head, with all its equipment (sense organs, brain, mind, etc.). For example, Yunus Emre ²¹ says:

Within a mountain, I beheld
The eighteen thousand worlds

where “mountain” means the body.

Now as for Mount Sinai, its story is too well-known for repetition. Moses retired there twice for forty days each, returning with the tablets on which the Ten Commandments were inscribed. What we shall focus on here is the Koranic version of what transpired on the mountain. When Moses was approaching the Burning Bush for the first time, he was instructed: “Take off your sandals” (20:12). According to Master Kayhan, “the sandals are his self.”

The really important event occurs when Moses implores God, “Let me see You.” God replied, “You cannot see Me. ²² But I shall manifest Myself to this mountain and if it can stand it, then you can see Me” (7:143). But the mountain shattered and Moses was knocked unconscious.

Here is what the Master had to say:

Mount Sinai is mentioned in the Torah, but it’s not a mountain – it’s Moses’ ‘mountain’! Moses’ Mount Sinai is his head.

Is there anyone who has seen this mountain, this Mount Sinai? Show me this mountain. Here is that mountain [the head], it’s this, this.

Let’s work on this mountain a little bit, okay? This head is the antenna of the eighteen thousand worlds, it’s the antenna of the Torah, the Psalms, the Gospel and the Quran. ²³

 

Mount Sinai (left, otherwise known as Jabal Musa, the Mountain of Moses); Mount Hira (right, otherwise known as Jabal Nur, the Mountain of Light; so called because fires used to be lit on its summit as a beacon for travelers)

The Secure Land

The “land secure” has traditionally been accepted as Mecca and its environs. Here there are three noteworthy locations: Mount Hira, the Cave of Hira, and the mosque of the Kaaba.

Mount Hira and the Cave

We have already dealt with the case of Mount Sinai. The case of Mount Hira is quite similar. Both are versions of the Cosmic Mountain. Furthermore, the first is the retreat of Moses, the second that of Mohammed. And in that mountain there is a cave. It is where the Truth was revealed to the Prophet of God.

Traditionally, the cave has also been considered as a symbol for the Heart. ²⁴ If we follow this line of reasoning, there is something quite remarkable about the Cave of Hira. It is a very small cave, more like a niche (mishkat) or alcove, barely enough for one person. There is an opening at the bottom of the cave, oriented towards the Kaaba. Light streams in through that crack. So the main entrance of the cave is for people, the far end is for light. And the same holds for the Cave of the Heart: one end is your side, through the other end enters Light (the Light of God).

The Master used to relate how the Prophet of God used to leave the bosom of his beloved wife, Khadija, and go to that cave to meditate. He told of his asceticism, his hardships. On at least one occasion, he added the following concerning the cave:

And in some parts of Sufism—and so it is in reality—Sufis consider this body a cave. They consider this body, from head to foot, a stupendous cave. The caves outside, you can visit those too, but before we do that, let’s build up this cave.

The spirit is in this cave.

Let’s appreciate the spirit, let’s appreciate this cave. [Pointing to his chest:] This is the great cave, the cave of the spirit/of life. The others are external caves. When we train the Base Self in this cave, it’s done. There is also the path [leading up to the cave], the Prophet of God comes by that path.

The cave of the body. Don’t sleep, think about this for two-three days, because you haven’t heard it [before]. This cave is the seat of the Real (of God), the seat of the Koran, the seat of the Prophet of God. If, together with the Prophet of God, we train this cave, we will progress, Godwilling.

What shall we do? I’m always telling you. From here [the neck]  upwards, quit the Forbidden. Whether sight and hearing, smell, or food and drink, stop the Illicit. Down [there], stop Forbidden Lust. Do these two, and you’ll find that the cave is filled with light. Do this—I’m telling you for God’s sake.²⁵

The Kaaba

The “Cube” (Kaaba) is the world center for Hajj, the Pilgrimage of Islam. Of a series of “centers of the world,” it is the last and, according to Muslims, now the universally valid center. (The Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, where the Dome of the Rock now stands, was its predecessor.)

To recap “The Symbolism of the Center” from Mircea Eliade:

1. The Sacred Mountain — where heaven and earth meet — is situated at the center of the world.

2. Every temple or palace — and, by extension, every sacred city or royal residence — is a Sacred Mountain, thus becoming a Center.

3. Being an axis mundi, the sacred city or temple is regarded as the meeting point of heaven, earth, and hell.²⁶

The Kaaba corresponds to the  “navel of the earth” (omphalos) also found in other traditions.

The Kaaba is situated on the ‘axis of the world’ and its four corners are oriented towards the cardinal regions of the sky. The rite of circumambulation expresses with precision the relationship existing between the sanctuary and the celestial movement; it is accomplished seven times to correspond with the number of the celestial spheres. [The lowest of these “heavens” corresponds to the observable physical universe.] ²⁷

Cities and sacred places are assimilated to the summits of cosmic mountains. … According to Islamic tradition, the highest point on earth is the Kaaba, because “the polestar proves that … it lies over against the center of heaven.”²⁸

“Highest point” spiritually, that is.

According to the Ancient Chinese, Chen-Jen, the True Man or Real Man, connects heaven and earth, and hence is identified with the World Axis. It is the same in the case of the Perfect Human in Sufism:

Thus the seat (the Arabic Word is markaz, which strictly means ‘centre’) of the supreme Pole (called al-Qutb al-Gawth…) is described symbolically as situated between heaven and earth, at a point which is exactly over the Ka‘bah which, precisely, has the form of a cube and which is itself one of the representations of ‘the Centre of the World’. ²⁹

The Kaaba is considered to be the projection on earth of its heavenly archetype, the “Prosperous House” (bayt al-mamur, also called the “Visited House”).

Even more importantly, for Sufis the Kaaba is a symbol of the human Heart—not the physical heart that pumps blood, but its spiritual conjugate that keeps it beating. A Sufi story illustrates this nicely:

God said to David, “Build a house for Me.” David replied: “My Lord, you have no abode. You are beyond all and present everywhere. How should I build a house for You?” God said, “You are My abode. Keep My house free of everything other than Me.” So we should let nothing but God into our hearts. This is why the Prophet threw all idols out of the Kaaba, the House of God, and why it remains empty to this day: because it represents the condition our hearts should be in. As the Patriarch Abraham advises in Ibn Arabi’s Meccan Revelations:

“Make your heart like this Visited House, by being present with God in every state. Know that of all that you see, nothing contains the Real God except the heart of the believer, and that is you!” ³⁰

(Note: This doesn’t mean we should love nothing else. We should love God more than anything else, love everything for the sake of God, and steer clear of the things God does not love. Paramount among these last: having other idols beside God, Illicit Gain and Illicit Sex.)

The Master said: “Mend a heart, you build the Kaaba. Break a heart, you wreck the Kaaba.” He also said:

My last will to you: Build a Heart, don’t break it. Don’t tear down the Kaʿba [the sacred sanctuary of the Heart]. Serve the Heart you’ve broken until you mend it. If you demolish the Kaʿba, how can you prostrate towards it?³¹

Like many others, I was brought up with a secular education. They taught us that Islam was the Five Pillars (saying the Word of Witnessing, performing the Prayer, Fasting, giving the Alms-tax, pilgrimage of the Hajj) and perhaps the Creed of Six Precepts. They didn’t teach us that Islam was also the above. Neither did they teach us the following:

If but once you break a heart
This Prayer you perform is void.
Even the seventy-two nations
Cannot wash your hands and face.

Knowledge is to know science
Knowledge is to Know Thyself
Whereas you don’t know yourself
What use is all this studying?

What you think for yourself
Think also for others
The meaning of the Four Books
Is this, if there is any.

Come, let us know each other
Let us make things easy
Let us love and be loved
Nobody survives this world. (—Yunus Emre)

Before going on, let us summarize the correspondences:

Fig: World Tree, Tuba Tree

Olive: World Tree, light

Mountain: body, head, World Mountain

Cave: body, Heart

Kaaba: Heart, World Center

The Universal Man

All this leads up to Verse 4 of the Chapter of the Fig: “We indeed created Man in the fairest stature.” This is what all those symbols have been referring to: the Universal Man or Perfect Human.

“Is Man a guest to the Universe, or is the Universe a guest to Man?” Master Kayhan posed the question, and he also supplied the answer (I am translating his speech about this for the first time):

If we look at its outward face, its appearance, Man is a guest to the Universe. First the Universe was created, then Man came. But on the other hand, God created the Light of Mohammed first, and created all the worlds from that. So the Universe came as a guest to Man.

He also wrote:

What are Man and Universe? The two are like twins, two lovers that complete each other. From another angle, Man and Universe are like a tree and its flower, its fruit.

What would the Universe do without Man? What would Man do without the Universe? The two complete one another. …

Man and Universe are like the two faces of a leaf; they can’t be separated.³²

Alif, the Cosmic Pillar that some have viewed as the spinal cord of the universe. Although it is depicted above in the direction of the time axis, it should be kept in mind that it is orthogonal (perpendicular) to all dimensions, including time.

(Incidentally, note the resemblance of the cosmos, as depicted above, with the headpiece of a whirling dervish. Sufis also had a two-pleated “crown of Alif” which resembled the flame of a candle. A sharper-tipped version of this was called the “swordlike cap.”)

The candle of the spirit has such a flame
That it cannot fit under the bell-jar of the [universe].

—Shaykh Galib

The Fall

The next verse (Verse 5) reads:

“Then We reduced him to the lowest of the low.”

And that is our sorry state today. This is the Fall of Man.

But fear not! For Verse 6 gives good tidings of our redemption: “Save those who believe and do good deeds, and theirs is a reward unfailing.” Another Chapter adds: “Surely Man is in loss, except for those who believe, do good works, and counsel Truth and patience to one another” (103:2-3).

So even in our fallen condition, the door of hope is open to all of us.

——————

*But of course, God knows best. Even if this conjecture is incorrect, at least it has led us to the contemplation of sublime matters.

---

^{1. Karen Shoren Strawn, “Growing a Taproot in Shaky Ground: The Use of Healing Gardens in Places of Suffering,” Thesis 2011-2013, Upaya Zen Center, Santa Fe, New Mexico, p. 9.}

^{2. A.K. Coomaraswamy, “The Inverted Tree. The Tree of Brahma. The Bodhi Tree.”}

^{3. Emily Pott, “The Zaqqūm Tree,” p. 102 & 102n10.}

^{4. Katha Upanishad, II, iii, 1.}

^{5. Coomaraswamy, “The Inverted Tree…”}

^{6. Pott, “The Zaqqūm Tree,” p. 102n10 and p. 105n20.}

^{7. Plato, Timaeus 90a7-b2.}

^{8. Pott, “The Zaqqūm Tree,” p. 102n8.}

^{9. Laleh Bakhtiar, Sufi: Expressions of the Mystic Quest, section entitled “Cosmological Symbols.”}

^{10. Quoted in Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm Ṣadr al-Dīn Shīrāzī, (Mulla Sadra Shirazi), Divine Manifestations Concerning the Secrets of the Perfecting Sciences … p. 152.}

^{11. Bakhtiar, “Cosmological Symbols.”}

^{12. Henri Corbin, “Mundus Imaginalis, or the Imaginary and the Imaginal.”}

^{13. H. Bayman, “Star Wars and Sufism.”}

^{14. René Guénon, Symbolism of the Cross, Ghent, NY: Sophia Perennis, 1996 [1931], p. 113.}

^{15. H. Bayman, “Superheroes and Sufism.”}

^{16. C.G. Jung, quoted here (p. 87).}

^{17. Mircea Eliade, Patterns in Comparative Religion, quoted here (p. 87).}

^{18. Eliade, The Sacred and the Profane, p. 40.}

^{19. Eliade, The Myth Of the Eternal Return, p. 16.}

^{20. Eliade, The Myth Of the Eternal Return, p. 12.}

^{21. Pronounced as “You-noose Am-ray,” with the ending “y” inaudible. Famous Turkish Sufi poet.}

^{22. “But you cannot see My face, for no one may see Me and live.”—Exodus 33:20.}

^{23. From Henry Bayman, The Teachings of a Perfect Master, Oxford, UK: Anqa Publishing, 2012.}

^{24. René Guénon, Fundamental Symbols, Cambridge, UK: Quinta Essentia, 1995 [1962], pp. 145-148.}

^{25. Ahmet Kayhan, videotaped conversation, March 6, 1998. (This is being translated for the first time.)}

^{26. Eliade, The Myth Of the Eternal Return, p. 12.}

^{27. Titus Burckhardt, “The Universality of Sacred Art,” p. 6n9.}

^{28. Eliade, The Myth Of the Eternal Return, p. 15.}

^{29. René Guénon, Fundamental Symbols, pp. 79-80.}

^{30. Stephen Hirtenstein, “The Brotherhood of Milk.”}

^{31. H. Bayman, The Teachings of a Perfect Master, p. 12.}

^{32. Ahmet Kayhan, Adem ve Alem (Turkish: “Man and Universe,” 1989), p. 7.}

Star Wars and Sufism

YOUR CHOICE

Click below to listen to Star Wars theme music

(Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra)

Introduction

The phenomenal success of the Star Wars movies goes without saying. It is well-known that George Lucas was influenced, among other things, by Akira Kurosawa’s film The Hidden Fortress and Joseph Campbell’s study of myth, The Hero with a Thousand Faces. Lucas draws from various myths and religions in weaving his saga, so that everyone can find something familiar in it. Lucas is quite conscious of what he’s doing: “I’m telling an old myth in a new way,” he says. Here, we shall be concerned to unpack his work from a Sufic perspective. This, of course, is not intended to invalidate other approaches to the series of films.

A note about the order of the movies. Originally, the movies in the first Star Wars trilogy were numbered as 1, 2, and 3. After the prequels were released, these became 4, 5, and 6, and the prequels began to be counted as 1, 2, 3. It is this latter, updated numbering that we will use below. The order in the storyline rather than the order in which the films were made will be used. In other words, the very first Star Wars movie (1977), later referred to as A New Hope, will count as number 4.

The Force

“I put the Force into the movie in order to try to awaken…a belief in God… I think it’s important to have a belief system and to have faith. … I think there is a God. No question. … Ultimately the Force is the larger mystery of the universe. … I would hesitate to call the Force God. It’s designed primarily to make young people think about the mystery.”—George Lucas

Indeed, the Force, as it emerges throughout the series, is more akin to the Chinese conception of the Tao. If it is a Deity, it is an impersonal one. Obi-wan Kenobi describes the Force as “an energy field created by all living things” which “binds the galaxy together.” This sounds much like the Chinese life-force, Qi or Chi. Its parallels can be found in other cultures as well. Furthermore, the “Dark Side” and the “Light Side” of the Force are very similar to the Chinese concepts of Yin and Yang. But then, the concepts of good and evil—or correlates thereof—exist in all cultures.

Viewed from a Sufic standpoint, the Force represents not only God, but also baraka, the spiritual power bestowed by God on a Sufi Saint or “Friend of God,” by which s/he is enabled to perform miraculous deeds (karamat). “Use the Force, Luke!” says Obi-wan Kenobi. (In Sufism it is important to distinguish between miraculous deeds and outright miracles (mujiza), which are considered to be granted exclusively to prophets.)

Lightsabers

Lightsabers are the weapons of choice for Jedi knights. They can be seen in combat scenes all through the Star Wars series of movies. Contrary to some opinions, these swords are not laser beams, but swords of plasma. Quick refresh: plasma is the fourth state of matter after liquid, solid and gas, and consists of a soup of subatomic particles at superhigh temperatures, where they cannot exist in the bound form of atoms or nuclei. It is this intense heat which gives a lightsaber its “cutting edge,” so to speak.

(Actually, if real lightsabers are made one day, they will probably employ both. A laser beam may be used to open an ionized path for keeping the plasma beam straight. See also this recent article, original here. If this becomes further feasible, lightsabers may really be made of light someday.)

Plasmas are notoriously difficult things to contain in a stable form, so one of the solutions proposed for creating and maintaining them has been the Tokamak design. This is basically a hollow doughnut where heavy-duty magnets are used to keep the ionized particles trapped in a “magnetic bottle.”

Conceptual design of a Tokamak; experimental realization of a plasma beam

Although the plasma is white (because it’s white-hot), the lightsabers we see in the movies are variously colored, mostly blue (for friendly forces), red (for evil or “Dark Side” forces) and green (Yoda’s). These are the three primary colors for light. Other colors are used for lightsabers as well in the Star Wars expanded universe (SWEU), which includes video games, cartoons, toys, comic books, and other storylines. So let’s continue our subject with light.

Here we shall be concerned with lightsabers primarily for their symbolic value. According to Martin Lings, a symbol is “a reflection or shadow of a higher reality” (Symbol and Archetype, p. 1). In the Imaginal World, for instance, milk is a symbol for Knowledge, because like milk, spiritual knowledge nourishes us, gives us life, and helps us grow. The lightsaber is a very good example of a symbol, both because it is a sword and because it is made of light. It is a symbol for the Axis of the Universe, which is the axis of spirituality or the axis of consciousness. (For this, see Superheroes and Sufism.)

Let’s begin with the famous “Light Verse” of the Koran: “God is the light of the heavens and the earth… Light upon light” (24:35). This light, we must not forget, is divine light,  spiritual light (Arabic Nur, Latin lux), not physical light (Ar. ziya, Lat. lumen) made up of photons. So whenever we speak about light, it’s always in this sense, unless indicated otherwise. Examples from physical light are meant as analogies.

The prism block of a Foveon digital camera splits white light into its primary colors: green, red, and blue (below, far left). A prism disperses a white light beam into the colors of the rainbow. However, if the colored beam is refocused with a lens onto another prism, it can recombine the colors to yield the original white beam (far right):

In terms of Sufism, this is very much like the creation of the universe. According to the Sufi mystic Ibn Arabi, there exist “immutable entities” (ayan al-thabita). These are the ways in which God knows Himself. When God’s Light illuminates God’s Knowledge (the realm of the Immutable Entities), this is very similar to a beam of white light striking a prism (or prisms). The universe is created in a way that is analogous to white light producing the colors of the rainbow.

In a similar way, the various colors of lightsabers can be recombined to obtain white (at right):

And indeed, from the SWEU it appears that the lightsabers of the Old Republic were originally white. (The color of the sun, too, is actually white when seen from outer space. It is because the atmosphere scatters its light that the sun is seen as yellow and the sky as blue.)

Combining the various colored lights together to again obtain the one white light is called Unification (tawhid). That is when one may perceive the spiritual sun.

Just as a beam of white light can be split into millions of hues when it passes through a prism, the light created at the beginning of the universe, laden with infinite possibilities, engendered the countless beings (indeed, countless worlds) we observe around us today. Similarly, white-hot plasma, containing energy of all frequencies, can be viewed as the originator of rays covering the entire electromagnetic spectrum. It, too, can be compared in analogy to the original light that engendered creation at the origin of the universe.

Hugh Everett III (famous for the Everett-Wheeler-Graham (EWG) or “many-worlds” interpretation of quantum physics) once said that it made sense to talk about a wave function for the entire universe. In that case, and again by analogy, the First Light could spawn dizzying infinities upon infinities of possible universes—though not haphazardly, but ordered in accordance with the infinite wisdom of God (His Attribute of Omniscience (ilm)).

I keep saying that we are not going to understand the Koran unless we use the tools made available to us by Sufism. Now here is a good example: “The Compassionate established Himself upon the Throne” (20:5). What do you make of that? We are not going to understand it unless we remember that istiwa also means “straightened,” and Arsh, the Throne, also means the Highest Heaven (Empyrean). What does the verse’s interpretation then become? “The Compassionate straightened (stood erect) upon the Highest Heaven.” And this has something to do with the Axis of the Universe, hence also with the genesis of the universe. We would not be able to reach this conclusion if we had stuck with the customary interpretation. But of course, one should also beware of making arbitrary interpretations.

D.T. Suzuki, who was instrumental in introducing Zen and Zen swordsmanship to the West, spoke of “the Sword of No-Abode” (Zen and Japanese Culture, pp. 170-182). In The Black Pearl, I have already indicated that this is a reference to a key Sufic concept: Nonspace, la makaan, which is the domain of Divinity (pp. 35-6). (“The Sword of No-Abode” would then translate as al-sayf al-la makaan.)

René Guénon tells us that the sword and the lance (and by extension the arrow and the staff) are symbols for the World Axis (Symbols of Sacred Science, p. 183). The sword, the World Axis, and the World Tree are interchangeable symbols in the Chinese tradition, as indeed in all traditions:

The World Tree is described in several Chinese mythical narratives under two distinct names:

- Kien Mu, the Erect Tree, naturally evokes the World Axis;

- Jian Mu, the Builder Tree (of the World), also refers to the World Axis, for Jian equally means the sword, the Axis symbol par excellence. [Emphases added.]

In his treatise on Cosmic Unification (al-Ittihad al-Kawn, translated as The Universal Tree and the Four Birds), the famous Sufi, Ibn Arabi, equates the Universal Tree (al-shajara al-kulli) or World Axis with the Perfect Human Being. (Ibn Arabi’s other “tree,” the World Tree or Cosmic Tree (Shajarat al-Kawn), also symbolizes the Universal Human.) In addition, the Tree stands for eternal life, and is called the Tree of Life in some traditions. Another name for it is the Tree of Light (A. J. Wensinck, Tree and Bird as Cosmological Symbols in Western Asia (1921)). That light beam (also called the Ray of Creation) is, in Sufism, the first-created light, the First Intellect (Universal Mind) or the Light of Mohammed (these occur in the Prophet’s own Sayings). This is the light that is referred to in Genesis: “God said, ‘Let there be light,’ and there was light” (Gen. 1:3).

For Islam, the olive is the central tree, The World Axis, a symbol of Universal Man and of the Prophet. The ‘Blessed Tree’ is associated with light, since its oil is used as lamp fuel. (The Penguin Dictionary of Symbols, p. 716.)

And this brings us to another part of the Light Verse: “[The lamp] is lighted from a Blessed Tree, an olive neither of the East nor of the West [hence of the center], whose light would well-nigh shine out even if it were not lit by fire” [hence self-luminous] (24:35).

The first Arabic letter, the Alif, also represents the Cosmic Pillar because of its shape. I have already dealt with the relationship between the Alif and the ancient Egyptian Djedi or Djed Column, from which the Jedi take their name, elsewhere on this site. Here, I will merely recall that Alif is the first letter of God’s Name of Majesty, Allah.

... when God... wanted to create Muhammad, He made appear a light from His light... God created an immense crystal-like column of light, that was inwardly and outwardly translucent, and within it was the essence of Muhammad. (Re 7:172)

—Sahl al-Tustari

(on the Light of Mohammed, in the first Sufi Commentary on the Koran)

To summarize, the following symbols are all equivalent:

Lightsaber/Sword ~ World Axis ~ World Tree (of Light) ~ Perfect Human ~ Alif ~ Djedi Column.

Djedi Column with “cutaway” view showing “magic fluid” within; white lightsabers; Axis of the Universe: the Alif on a backdrop of 10,000 galaxies (courtesy NASA Hubble Ultra Deep Field)

Finally, it is this Column of Light that acts as a “tractor beam” or elevator that draws the Sufi “up” in his Ascension (miraj) towards God. And it is the Five Daily Prayers that, if properly performed, facilitate this action, for as the Prophet has said, the Prayer is Ascension. Since I have already dealt with this topic in “Superheroes and Sufism” (under the heading “Adam Strange”), I shall not repeat myself here.

The Jedi

The Jedi is an order comprised of warrior monks. Their pros can use psychokinesis (move material objects with their minds).

The excerpt below gives a good idea about the Order:

Where did Lucas get his idea for the Jedi?

In a Discovery Channel documentary entitled “The Science of Star Wars,” Lucas reveals…that his idea came from studying the Shao-Lin monks of China. The Shao-Lin monks are priests known for originating and becoming the masters of the martial arts. [The martial arts of East Asia are said to have come about when wandering monks found the need to protect themselves against bandits.] Their fighting skills were legendary throughout the land of China.

Not only are the Shao-Lin monks skillful fighters, they were also men who mastered the use of the Chi force. As previously mentioned, Chi is believed to be the cosmic energy that flows through all things including individuals. The Shao-Lin monks teach that through altering one’s consciousness in meditation and other exercises, one can tap into the power of the Chi resident in each individual and use it to perform superhuman feats. [It is also utilized in the Japanese Aikido and the Chinese Tai Ji Quan martial arts.]

Although Sufis are by and large a peaceable lot, there have been times in history when they were forced into combat. One example is the famous Shaykh Shamil, who was forced to defend his Caucasian people against Russian onslaught in the 19th century. Such examples are rare, however, and although comparisons have been drawn between the Jedi and Islamic chivalry (futuwwat), the Sufis did not develop independent martial arts techniques of their own. It’s not surprising that Sufism met with the martial arts in places like Indonesia and Malaysia, where Chinese influence is strongly felt, and Sufis developed a local form of martial art called silat.

Zen favors intuition over intellect, and not surprisingly, the Jedi exercises are also based on cessation of mental activities and greater reliance on sensory and intuitive cognition, which means minimizing the interference and disturbances created by the ego, the Base Self:

(In this connection, it may be useful to remember that some blind persons can navigate by clicking their tongues or tapping their canes and listening intently for subtle differences in the echos, just like bats do. It’s called echolocation. See this, for example.)

In addition to their martial arts, the Jedi have a philosophy of life. Their code of conduct is summarized in the two versions of the Jedi Code:

1. Jedi are the guardians of peace in the galaxy. Jedi use their powers to defend and to protect. Jedi respect all life, in any form. Jedi serve others rather than ruling over them, for the good of the galaxy. Jedi seek to improve themselves through knowledge and training.

 2.   There is no emotion, there is peace.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

There is no death, there is the Force.

Replace “Jedi” with “Sufis” (and “the Force” with “God”) in the above, and you wouldn’t know the difference.

Darth Vader

 

The whole Star Wars saga is based around the fall and eventual redemption of Anakin Skywalker. After he succumbs to the Dark Side, he becomes Darth Vader, the “dark father” (from the Dutch word for “father”). The Emperor Palpatine (formerly a Sith Lord named Darth Sidious—or should I say Dark Insidious), who subverts Anakin, represents the external principle of evil. But Anakin’s greatest foe lies within: his Base Self (12:53). And as Darth Vader, he becomes the Base Self personified.

The tragedy of Anakin/Darth Vader, especially as it unfolds through Episodes 2 and 3, ranks as a classic case study of the Base Self. Other villains in the movies are also of the same nature: for instance, Lucas has said of Darth Maul, the Satan-faced Sith in Episode 1, that “he’s the evil within us,” and that he and Darth Vader are “essentially the same.” But of course, the main story revolves around the latter.

Here are a few highlights:

  The first major incident is Anakin’s revenge massacre of an entire village:

  Here comes the Great Temptation from the Master of Deceit:

The external principle of evil, represented by the Chancellor/Emperor Dark Insidious, cunningly recruits Anakin for his designs (Anakin’s Base Self “makes a pact with the devil”). Anakin is now ready to massacre all the Jedis at the temple:

 

 

And now, “the birth of Darth Vader:” 

 

Finally, “Darth Vader’s redemption:” the Base Self is redeemed only at the end of Episode 6, when it rebels against the devil and does the opposite of its bidding, casting it to the bottom of the Axial Pillar, as shown below. In the moment of his death, his mask is removed, his humanity is restored, and he says that he is “saved.”

 

There are lessons in this example for all human beings. The Master never tired of telling people that the Base Self has two tricks up its sleeve that it uses to trap even the best: Illicit Gain and Illicit Lust. He said:

The first is: if you know that the tea I offer you is bought with illicit earnings, don’t drink it.

Don’t touch what is prohibited. If you fall victim to hunger and thirst, and there is money by the thousands strewn on the street when you go out, and you’re hungry, still don’t take it.

The second is very dangerous. It is worse than the first. Lust is such a powerful drive that it can destroy a human being if not used properly. I call this ‘the two fire channels’ (in man and woman).

You’re single. Until you get married, until you marry a suitable woman [or vice versa], everything is ruled out. She can come and sit on your leg, she can arouse your lust beyond endurance, yet you should still see her as your mother or your sister. …

You can’t find this in books. You won’t find any of this in any book. … Whoever pulls in these two brakes—in terms of illicit eating and drinking, and lust—Sainthood will be yours immediately.

(The Teachings of a Perfect Master, pp. 123-4.)

This is valuable advice: neither total celibacy, nor wanton lust, but divinely ordained and socially approved marriage with the opposite sex. First you wed them, then you bed them. (And this calls for considerations beyond those of casual sex.)

Curb these two cravings (of Unclean Gain and Unclean Lust), said the Master a thousand times, and the Base Self will be at your mercy. You will be the victor, and it will be the vanquished.

Luke Skywalker

Anakin’s son, Luke (G. Lucas?) Skywalker is, by luck or by fate, everything his father isn’t. According to Lucas, Star Wars is “about how young Anakin Skywalker became evil and then was redeemed by his son.” Luke does not succumb to the Dark Side of the Force. Lucas: “it’s only in the last act—when he throws his sword down and says, ‘I’m not going to fight this’—that he makes a more conscious, rational decision. And he does it at the risk of his life because the Emperor is going to kill him. It’s only that way that he is able to redeem his father.”

Luke does not fall into the trap of the Great Temptation. When Darth Vader tries to tempt him in the same way he was once tempted by Darth Sidious, Luke refuses. Lucas again: “The film is ultimately about the dark side and the light side, and those sides are designed around compassion and greed. … These are the two sides—the good force and the bad force.” It is greed that causes the desire to obtain things in Unclean ways.

Luke’s name means “Light Ascension”—Luke is from Lux (see above). And who can walk in the sky other than the Ascended? He is trained, first by Obi-wan Kenobi and then by the grand master Yoda. After his death, Obi-wan’s spirit continues to guide him. In Sufism, likewise, it is not unheard-of for a disciple to be trained by the spirit of a dead (sometimes even long-deceased) master. These are called Uwaysi, after Uways al-Qarani, a contemporary of the Prophet who loved him very much, but never got to see him with earthly eyes.

Yoda

Yoda is, apparently, far and away the grand master of all the Jedi. He conforms to the Jungian archetype of the Wise Old Man. In Sufism, his direct correlate is the Sufi master, while in other paths he fulfills the role of the guru or spiritual mentor.

Some aspirants in the spiritual path who cannot find a Sufi master in the flesh are trained by Khidr, “the Green One” (after the color of his garments). Long ago, the tradition goes, Khidr drank from the Water of Immortality and was stripped of his human attributes. Now, he wanders the earth and helps those in distress who call out to him. In addition, he trains eligible students who cannot otherwise find a living master.

Now Yoda, too, has green skin, and his lightsaber is colored green (the color of spring, of nature, and of Islam). And while he is not immortal like Khidr, he has lived hundreds of years. So from a Sufic point of view, Yoda can be considered as both: either as a model of a living master, or else as representing Khidr.

The following video emphasizes Yoda’s function as teacher:

 

On the other hand, the video below brings out his warrior aspect:

We do not have any records of Sufis engaging in remote weight-lifting (psychokinesis) in this manner. We do, however, have the following account concerning the Grand Shaykh Abdul-Qadir of Jilan (Abdulqader Gilani):

Sheikh Umru Osman Sairifini and Sheikh Abdul-Haq Harini deposed as follows:

On the third day of the month of Safar, in the year 555 of the Flight [02/13/1160 AD], we were in the presence of our Master [Sayed Abdul-Qadir] in his school. He rose and put on wooden sandals, and performed an ablution. Then he performed two [cycles of] prayers and gave a loud shout, throwing one sandal into the air, when it seemed to disappear. With a further cry the Master threw the second sandal into the air and this also vanished from our sight. None of those who were present dared to question him about the event.

Thirty days after this incident a caravan arrived in Baghdad from the East. Its members said that they had some gifts for the Master. We consulted him, and he allowed us to accept the presents. The members of the caravan gave us some silken and some other cloth and a pair of sandals which were the same ones which the Master had hurled from him. Their account was as follows:

On the third day of the month of Safar, that day being a Sunday, we were on the road with our caravan when there was a sudden Arab attack, under two chiefs. The robbers killed some of our number and plundered the caravan. They immediately entered a nearby forest for the purpose of distributing the loot. We survivors reassembled at the edge of the forest. It occurred to us that we could invoke the aid of the Sayed in our calamity, for we had no recourse and no means wherewith to continue our journey. We resolved to offer him presents in token of thanksgiving, should we at least arrive safely in Baghdad—an improbability as the situation then seemed to be.

As soon as we had made this decision, we were alarmed by one, and then another, cry which echoed through the glades. We concluded that the first band of Arabs had been attacked by a second one, and that a fight between them would now follow. Soon afterward a party from the bandits came to us and said that there had been a disaster. They begged us to accept our property back. We proceeded to the place at which our merchandise had been collected by the Arabs, and found that their two captains were lying dead—each with a wooden sandal near his head.

It appears to us indubitable that the Master, having perceived the calamity of the caravaneers, moved by a desire to aid them, had been able to project his sandals in such a way that the leaders of the band, the ultimately guilty parties, were killed.

Preserved by us as a matter of record and committed to writing in the presence of Almighty God, the Distinguisher and Requiter of truth and falsehood.

(Idries Shah, The Sufis, pp. 369-70.)

Perhaps, then, such a person does not need to levitate objects.

Sources

I am indebted to the many sources, mentioned or unmentioned, that I made use of in preparing this article. In terms of Islamic articles, two stand out:

- Mahmoud Shelton,”Star Wars: a Tale of Spiritual Chivalry,” The Muslim Magazine, Summer 1999 (Vol. 2, No. 3), pp. 30-34.

- Irfan M. Rydhan, “Saints, Sufis and Star Wars,” Q-News, June 2005, pp. 36-38.

Quotes from George Lucas are taken from “Bill Moyers interviews George Lucas,” Time, April 26, 1999 (Vol. 153, Issue 16), pp. 92-94