Roundtable Discussion of Mohammed Rustom’s Inrushes of the Heart: The Sufi Philosophy of ʿAyn al-Quḍāt

Mohammed Rustom’s recently published Inrushes of the Heart: The Sufi Philosophy of ʿAyn al-Quḍāt is quickly becoming required reading text in many Islamic mysticism, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic history classes throughout the Western world. However, this work has yet to receive the scholarly attention that it deserves in academic forums such as the AAR. This roundtable aims to rectify this problem by bringing together scholars from various to discuss this text and topics related to this text. Inrushes of the Heart addresses the philosophical and mystical thought of the Persian thinker ʿAyn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī (d. 1131). ʿAyn al-Quḍāt was known for being an accomplished mystic, mathematician, poet, jurist, philosopher, and theologian. He was executed for treason at the age of thirty-three, and is seen as one of the three Sufi martyrs (the other two being Shihāb al-Dīn Yahya ibn Habash Suhrawardī (d. 1191) and Manṣūr al-Ḥallāj (d. 922)). Rustom’s book is one of a handful of books written in English on ʿAyn al-Quḍāt. It should be noted that Rustom also recently published a critical edition and translation of ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s The Essence of Reality: A Defense of Philosophical Sufism (Zubdat al-ḥaqāʾiq). Inrushes of the Heart contains ten chapters. The first two can be considered biographical and historical chapters which address ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s life, thought, and his relations with different institutions such as government and political leaders. The following chapters address various topics such as his conception of God, the Prophets, the tenets of faith, knowledge, the Qurʾān, and love. Each of these topics are addressed at length. One of the most impressive elements of this work is Rustom’s ability to convey complex ideas that ʿAyn al-Quḍāt writes about in simple language that is coherent for the undergraduate reader. The panel contains four speakers. Each address topics related to Rustom’s book. The first speaker will address ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s conception of love in the context of the Persianate school of love (madhhab-i ʿishq). She addresses ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s approach to love with respect to earlier thinkers’ conception of love (chapter X) such as Aḥmad al-Ghazzālī (d. 1126) and Fakhr al-dīn ʿIrāqī (d. 1289). By doing this, she aims to shed light on ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s voice and contribution–especially in Tamhīdāt. She will also address ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s conception of ethical self-confidence (chapter V). Finally, she critically examines Rustom’s methodological and translation choices that capture ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s unique style. The second speaker will address ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s conception of imaginalization (khayāl) (chapter V). ʿAyn al-Quḍāt responds to how imaginalization was often questioned by philosophers, jurists, theologians, and sceptics who believed that it was dangerous in its role dream and vision interpretation. She also address the important role that imaginalization plays for humanity today. The third speaker explores ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s exposition of the purpose of the cosmos and and his exposition of unbelief (kufr). He examines how ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s Sufi philosophy widens Islamic notions of the outer aspects of religion (dhāhirī) and deepens perceptions of the inner aspects of religion (bāṭinī). He thus concludes that ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s Sufi philosophy is an important contribution to understanding the interplay of the inner and the outer aspects of religion. This presentation also studies how ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s approach to epistemology can be seen as inherently Qurʾānic and mystically Sufi. The last speaker addresses ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s intellectual and philosophical importance in the twelfth century. ʿAyn al-Quḍāt lives during a unique period in which Islamic philosophy as a whole was under severe attack by theologians such as Abū Ḥāmid Muḥammad al-Ghazzālī (d. 1111), and other philosophers such as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1150) who believed that Aristotelianism was congruent with Muslim beliefs. ʿAyn al-Quḍāt combined Neoplatonic, Aristotelian, and Sufi ideas in a manner that addressed many of these concerns and critiques. The last speaker thus brings ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s thought in conversation with many of the ongoing trends of his own contemporary time and addresses how earlier figures addressed his thought. Each of these talks do not only aim to speak about the book itself, but the role of these topics in classical and modern conceptions of Islamic mysticism and philosophy. In his Inrushes of the Heart, Rustom provides another model from which mystical thinkers in Islam can be examined. This work provides an example of what kind of role culture, language, philosophy, and scripture can play in a mystic’s worldview.