Page 8 - Pakistan Link - January 29, 2020

P8 – PAKISTAN LINK – JANUARY 29, 2021 OPINION

n Dr Akbar Ahmed The Pakistani Champion of Ibn Arabi the feminine, which is fascinating as it came
American University so many centuries ago. For Ibn Arabi, the
Washington, DC feminine, or jamali, and masculine, or ja-
lali, are “divine traits” that are part of a larger
n the city of Islamabad, dominated by whole and are “responsible for the creation of
dull bureaucrats and ambitious politi- everything in the universe.”
Icians, live many unsung heroes of the “God,” Dr Leghari explained, “has given
land. One such hero is the scholar-activist precedence to His jamali traits of love, mercy,
Dr Ayesha Leghari, the champion of the compassion, wisdom, etc., as compared to His
great Sufi scholar-saint jalali traits such as The Avenger, The Abaser,

Sheikh Ibn Arabi. The Wrathful, the Mighty, etc., so that hu-

She is a voracious reader: man beings too learn to use these feminine

“My favorite book,” she ex- nurturing traits to find peace and harmony
plained to me, “is of course on earth and the hereafter.”

the Qur’an followed by Th e “But it is important to realize,” she add-
Life of Muhammad by Mar- ed, “that the masculine traits such as the ones
tin Lings. These days I am mentioned above also need to be used by fol-

reading The Study Qur’an edited by Seyyed lowing God’s laws as laid down in the Qur’an

Hossein Nasr. It is a phenomenal contribu- and Sunnah, in times of threat, war and abuse
tion to the English-speaking world for a bet- of one’s rights. In fact, it is the balanced use
ter understanding of the Sunni, Shia and Sufi of both of jamali and jalali traits that saves
Qur’anic translation and commentary tradi- people from falling into error, extremism,

tion.” Her influences are expectedly broad, militancy, and cruelty (zulm).”
from Bulleh Shah, Shah Abdul Latif Bhitai, Dr Leghari has translated this principle
Hafez, and Rumi to Shakespeare, Victor into action in her struggle for the rights of
Hugo, Voltaire, and the Brontë sisters. women and families in Pakistan and heads
Dr Leghari is grateful to many mentors the “Ammaji Project” dedicated to the uplift
for her scholarship, including her paternal of women.
uncle, Sardar Farooq Khan Leghari, the for- When I asked her what was the rel-
mer President of Pakistan: “He always en- evance of Ibn Arabi’s thought for Pakistan
couraged his daughters and nieces to excel, and the world today she replied: “It is es-
he was an extremely bright, upright, honest, sential in this day and age, where materialism
patriotic man.” is inverting the order of values. The physical

But it is to Ibn Arabi that Dr Leghari world is given central importance and the
constantly returns. Her PhD from Melbourne spiritual world is considered ephemeral and

University in Australia is based on the study unimportant. There is a negation of the con-
of Ibn Arabi and she has written extensively cept that the cosmos has a living spirit and

on the Sheikh; her magnum opus is Creativ- soul which is affected by the human spirit and
ity: Ibn Arabi’s Traditional Islamic Philoso- soul.”
phy of Education (2017). Ibn Arabi is almost Hence, education is a key component of
unknown in Pakistan, and Dr Leghari has Leghari’s advocacy, and she has specific sug-

emerged as one of the preeminent scholars of with reality is stronger, the soul is an inter- tecting the environment, as “Such people are gestions about how education in Pakistan, for
his philosophy. mediate reality and body is the least real of shepherds whose work is to protect not just example, can be transformed for the better.
Ibn Arabi lived in Andalusia, Spain, in all. When the body is given paramount im- human beings but the mineral, vegetable and Leghari promotes an enriching and expan-

the twelfth and thirteenth centuries at a time portance, running after power and pelf, the animal kingdoms. The preservation of the sive vision of education shaped by her study

when Jews, Muslims, and Christians lived, lowest egotistical levels of the soul, known environment should be given highest priority of Ibn Arabi. “My work,” she told me, “deals

worked, and created together in Europe. A as nafs e ammara, become the center. This is as we are linked organically with the cosmos with Islamic philosophy of education and it
Sufi mystic, he earned the titles Sheikh al- how the spirit and soul become corrupted.” around us.” clarifies the goals and sets the ideal. If one

Akbar, which means the “greatest master” Our “primordial human nature” which is A third core concept of Ibn Arabi is that is not clear about the ideal, beautifully ex-
and Muhyiddin, or “reviver of religion.” He given to us by God, Dr Leghari explained, is of “knots” which is significant for inter-faith pounded by Ibn Arabi and other great saints,

traveled widely across the Muslim world and “treating all of God’s creatures as being mani- relations. Ibn Arabi believed, Dr Leghari philosophers and polymaths of the Islamic

wrote over 350 works, including some of the festation of the One True God. All humane noted, that “God reveals Himself to differ- intellectual tradition, then it is impossible to
finest poetry in the Arabic language. traits are developed when we treat everyone ent people in different ways. This means that attain it The big gaps in our education system

There are at least four main points de- else as we would like to be treated ourselves God cannot be limited by any one belief those are: the lack of language and mathematical

rived from Ibn Arabi which Dr Leghari because each human being is made in the people who only focus on outer rituals with- skills, creativity, adab or manners, and char-
stresses and which need to be widely known: image of the One Almighty God.” If people out giving due emphasis to the inner charac- acter building.”
First, is Ibn Arabi’s core concept of the do not follow their natures, “the result would ter building aspect of religion deny the pos- Dr Leghari’s voice should be widely
notion of Tawhid or the unity of the universe. be the distortion and inversion of values that sibility that God could manifest Himself in heard both in Pakistan, in the region, and
Dr Leghari felt that Ibn Arabi’s greatest con- make us human.” other forms of belief other than the ones that in the wider world which is so troubled by

tribution to Islamic thought was “his mas- The second core concept of Ibn Arabi is they themselves possess. But the arifi n, those violence and intolerance. There is no doubt
terly articulation of the core Islamic concept that of Al insan al kamil, or the perfect human who have realized the truth, know that ‘God that Ibn Arabi’s message of love, unity, and

of the Oneness of God known as Tawhid in being. These are those people, Dr Leghari ex- never discloses Himself in a single form to compassion is desperately needed.

Arabic. God is Transcendent, beyond all of plained, who have “attained enlightenment… two individuals, nor in a single form twice.’” (The writer is the Ibn Khaldun Chair
creation like the purity of Light.” God grants them the ability to guide souls A fourth key concept of Ibn Arabi’s work of Islamic Studies at American University,

“God is Al-Haq, the Truth, the spirit is towards higher levels of light.” This concept is the balance between the feminine and the Washing-ton, DC, and author of Journey into
closer to God and therefore its connection shapes Dr Leghari’s ideas of activism like pro- masculine and the particular importance of Euro p e : Islam, Immigration, and Identity)
Will the New Silk Road Help Revive the Islamic Golden Age?
n By Riaz Haq Ed in the New York Times:

CA “The Islamic Golden Age of science and art that pre-
dated the Italian Renaissance by 400 years was illuminated by
ational Geographic’s Paul Salopek recently came Turkic and Persian thinkers from the eastern rim of the Abba-
upon a site in Pakistan’s Salt Range where Muslim sid Caliphate, in what is today Central Asia, western China and
Nscientist Abu-Raihan Al-Biruni accurately mea- parts of Iran. ..... Muhammad al-Khwarizmi, a ninth-century
sured the size of the earth in the 11th century. In it, Salopek genius who helped formulate the precepts of algebra, has lent
sees the revival of the Islamic Golden Age. his name to the word “algorithm.” A century later, the brilliant
He thinks it is linked to “China’s 21st century polymathic Abu Rayhan Muhammad al-Biruni wrote more
version of the Silk Road”. than 140 manuscripts on everything from pharmaceuticals to
Salopek believes that President Donald the anthropology of India. (A typical al-Biruni title: “The Ex-

Trump’s four years in the White House and the haustive Treatise on Shadows.”) Probably the most celebrated
COVID19 pandemic have accelerated Ameri- Silk Road sage of all was Abu Ali al-Hussein ibn Sina, revered
ca’s decline and China’s rise. Here’s how he de- in the West as Avicenna, who in the 11th century compiled an
scribes it in a recent opinion piece in the New York Times en- encyclopedia of healing that was still in use by European doc-
titled “Shadows on the Silk Road: Finding omens of American tors as late as the 18th century. Avicenna’s “Canon of Medicine”
decline on a long walk across Asia”: accurately diagnosed diabetes by tasting sweetness in urine. Its

“The most memorable archaeological ruins from the Silk pharmacopoeia cataloged more than 800 remedies. A millen-
Road’s glory years rot atop a hill about 60 miles southeast of It was Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi who took Al-Biruni nium ago, Avicenna advocated quarantines to control epidem-

Islamabad (the Capital of Pakistan). No monuments or signs along with him after his conquest of India. Al-Biruni trav- ics. What would he make, I wondered, of the willed ignorance
mark the Nandana Fort. Few people go there. But it was where, eled all over India for 20 years, and studied Indian philosophy, of today’s anti-maskers in the United States?”
in the early 11th century, the Central Asian scholar al-Biruni Mathematics and Geography. Pakistan issued a postage stamp Salopek sees parallels between America’s Trumpism and

became the first person to measure, with astonishing precision, honoring Al-Biruni in 1973. The stamp has a picture of Al- India’s Hindu Nationalism. He is just as pessimistic about India
the size of Earth. His calculations, based on brilliant trigonom- Biruni with the ruins of Nandana Fort in the background. as he is about his home country of the United States. Here’s
etry, landed within 200 miles of the 24,902-mile circumference Salopek found a lot of history of the Islamic Golden Age as what he sees from the top of Nanada Fort ruins:
of our shared planet”. he traveled along the Silk Road. Here’s a brief excerpt of his Op ROAD, P24
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