HUMANS FROM THE ASPECTS OF ULWIYY (LOFTY) AND SUFIYY (LOWLY) IN THE SUFI/ISHARI TAFSIR TRADITION
AbstractIt can be said that Qur’an also emphasizes the dualism of humans, which can be summarized and generalized as material and spiritual, as well as humans having many different aspects from many viewpoints as a being with curiosity and competence to know and discover himself and other beings. Both the narrative of Qur’an and the discoveries of humans, increasing day by day, regarding their own being and nature are such as to increase their curiosity on these two aspects even further. Since they cannot be free from this situation and due to summarizing one of these foundational matters with the principle of “He who knows himself knows his Lord”, the Sufis also shared their theoretical and empirical knowledge in the ishari interpretations of some of the ayahs (verses) which they associated with this context in their Tafsirs. We also have thought that it will be beneficial to put forward some of the findings from evaluating and examining humans who are potentially equipped with ulwiyy and sufiyy characteristics while being relative, and who can actualize these, as well as being believed that both aspects have dimensions of perfection (kamal) and deficiency (naqs), from the view point of Sufism within the tradition of theology/wahy (revelation). We limited our resources to an anthology of printed Sufi Tafsirs within a wide range from As-Sulami to al-Bursawi, and including ishari interpretations of some of the ayahs thought to be relevant. We planned this as our subject includes abundant materials and it can be examined not only as an article but a book. We did not include in our resources the other works of Sufis which mention the Tafsirs of distinct surahs and ayahs or the ishari interpretations of ayahs as they have materials relevant to our subject abundantly and as they need to be examined in a book instead of an article. We endeavored to first put forward which concepts cover these two aspects of humans in the Sufi Tafsirs, since the Qur’an’s doctrine calls for sociologic normativity and rehabilitation from the dimension of psychology, law and ethics instead of belief and prayers, and then to put forward the findings related to how their ulwiyy, advancement and improvement can move forward on the road to kamal (perfection) and how to control and educate the sufliyy, lowly and coarse side of humans. Furthermore, we endeavored to emphasize the fact that the tradition of wahy in ethics and social matters have great significance for the education of humans, who have two directions and two main stages, earthly and otherworldly lives, not only in terms of their creation but also in terms of continuing their existence in the Sufi traditions by investigating the other questions and issues in the light of the selected resources.