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Man of Light or Superman? a Problem of Islamic Mystical Anthropology

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 April 2024

Annemarie Schimmel
Annemarie Schimmel*
Affiliation:
Harvard University
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Extract

What is man? “The feather of an angel was brought and tied to a donkey's tail that the donkey perhaps might turn into an angel”.

Thus writes the greatest of all Persian-writing mystical poets of Islam, Maulânâ Jalâladdân Rûmî (1207-1273) in his conversations, Fîhi mâ fîhi, when pointing to the mystery of man's existence : man is able to attain a rank superior to that of the angels (who have no free will and are eternally good) provided he develops his God-given faculties of reason and love; but he can sink lower than a beast if he neglects his spiritual powers and falls a prey to sensual pleasures and crimes owing to the misuse of his rational faculties.

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Type
Research Article
Information
Diogenes , Volume 37 , Issue 146 , June 1989 , pp. 124 - 140
Copyright
Copyright © 1989 Fédération Internationale des Sociétés de Philosophie / International Federation of Philosophical Societies (FISP)

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