著者

小田 淑子

出版者

一般社団法人 日本オリエント学会

雑誌

オリエント (ISSN:00305219)

巻号頁・発行日

vol.18, no.1, pp.27-41,159, 1975-08-31 (Released:2010-03-12)

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Rumi's religious thought is based on the sufism developed by Ibn 'Arabi. The pivot of his thought is the idea of the union with God. According to his view, it is not the abstract thought separated from reality but the subjective and existential one. It is concerned with what the true and fundamental self of man should be. The idea originates from the Unity of God (tawhid), the basic doctrine of Islam. I think his idea occured when “tawhid” was earnestly and thoroughly sought.God is the only true Being. Beings other than God are nothing but Divine Manifestation (tajalli). The true Unity of God is found, I think, in Divine Act in the eternal Now which Rumi calls the “new creation” (khalq-i jadid). This Unity cannot be known by means of ordinary knowledge. Man can know it when he dies to his self. Dying to his self is “fana'”.Why must he die to self in order to know God? God gives man both body and soul (ruh, jan), the latter of which is one with God. Man is the only creature that is created to know God. Though everyone is created and given life at every moment by God, he separates from God before reaching fana'. It is the separation from God to live without knowing that fundamental fact. This is no other than the sin of man. Forgetting that God is his fundamental (asl), he regards his self as his own. Rumi names this self “nafs”. To regard his self as what is in and by himself is at the same time to set it up against God. That means to rebel against the Unity of God.The awakening of sin makes him a seeker (talib). The seeker must be guided by the master (shaykh, pir) who is one with God, for “nafs” remains in the seeker. The only purpose of this search is to die to his self. So he must make himself lower and lower. God pours his Love on the one who makes himself lower.Dying to self takes place in the very self, but it is not due to man's own act. Only Divine Love can do it. This is fana'. Man can reach the union with God at the moment of fana'. Therefore, the union never means that two kinds of being, God and man, become one by such means as fusion. We must regard Rumi's idea of union as the realization of the Unity of God, where man is dead and only God exists. At the moment of fana' he can know God and find his fundamental self which participates in Divine Act. He can find God nowhere but in his own fundamental (asl), his soul.But fana' is not the final stage. He must pass away from fana'. Passing away from fana' (fana' al-fana') is baqa'. In this stage he can realize the true unitive state. At baqa' he can live the life of his fundamental self and his life is one with Divine's. Rumi expresses this situation as “ham-dami”, which literally means “to participate in breath”. Man's every act participates in Divine Act.