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A Sufi of Turkish origin known for his treatise on divine unity; the shaykh of Damascus remembered as the protector of Damascus for his struggle against the Crusaders. His full name is Shaykh Arslan b. Ya'qub b. Abd Allah b. Abd al-Rahman al-Ja'bari al-Dimashqi al-Turkmani; in Arabic sources his name also appears as Arslan, Raslan and Ruslan.
He was born in the fortress of Ja'bar. His name and the epithet al-Turkmani show that he was of Turkmen origin. His family belonged to the Turkmen warriors settled in the region of Damascus after its conquest by the Seljuk sultan Malikshah in 479 (1086). His childhood and youth were spent in the fortress of Ja'bar.
Later he migrated to Damascus with other Turkmens and began to earn his living as a carpenter. The continuing Crusades did not allow him a regular education. Because he waged material and spiritual struggle against the Crusader occupation of Damascus he became known as "the protector of Damascus". Taking an incident the source relates (see Wonders) as a spiritual sign, he devoted himself wholly to attaining perfection on the Sufi path.
His master on this path was a Sufi named Abu Amir al-Mu'addib. Through his sincerity and seriousness he became Abu Amir's foremost disciple, and after his death he took his seat of guidance. The source states, on the basis of the report concerning Khidr (see Wonders), that it is possible to say he received his spiritual training not only from his shaykh but also from Khidr, and that he was an Uwaysi.
He began to devote himself to worship in a corner of the nearby mosque known as Darb al-Hajar. It appears that he was a friend of Shaykh Abu al-Bayan, one of the important Sufis of the age, who worshipped in the same mosque.
He died between 550 (1155) and 560 (1165) and was buried beside his shaykh in the tomb he had built for Abu Amir.
His Circle of Influence — Although he did not win the fame of his contemporaries Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani and Ahmad al-Rifa'i, he made important contributions to the Sufi culture of his time. According to the source, all the sources agree that he was one of the great shaykhs of Damascus, a man of spiritual authority. Ibn Tulun says that there was an order called the Raslaniyya named after him, that he himself joined it, and that he received the Raslaniyya cloak from Abu al-Fath Muhammad b. Muhammad al-Iskandari (see Multiple Perspectives).
His Poetry and Sufi Line — He is not known as a poet; his line is carried by his treatise. According to the source, the treatise's central themes are hidden associationism (shirk khafi) and annihilation (fana): for Shaykh Arslan the chief goal of the path is for a person to be freed from hidden associationism; the wayfarer must not only extinguish his selfish desires and fancies but also be freed from the illusion of having an existence of his own. The source regards the treatise as important as a text grounded in the unity of being from the period before Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-Arabi. From his words expressing his understanding of the path — "Our path consists of love, not of works; it is annihilation, not subsistence" — it is understood that he adopted the Shuttar way, which gives priority to love and rapture, and the path of blame (malama).
His Works — Risalat al-tawhid: a short treatise; its brief yet powerful expression and its masterly use of Arabic despite the author's Turkish origin are among the main reasons for its fame. It deals with hidden associationism, faith and certainty, law and reality, the believer, the gnostic, the stations, knowledge, action, annihilation, the degrees of sincerity, love, affliction, blessing, the servant, the path, gnosis, the common people, the elect and the elect of the elect. There are many manuscript copies and commentaries in the libraries of Istanbul. Its most important commentary is Zakariyya al-Ansari's Fath al-rahman bi-sharh Risalat al-Wali Arslan (Cairo 1317), which has been translated into English together with the commentary of Ulwan al-Hamawi. The Syrian researcher Izzat Husriyya published four commentaries in a single volume — Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi's Khamrat al-han, al-Ansari's Fath al-rahman, Ali b. Sadaqa's Nihayat al-bayan and Ulwan al-Hamawi's Sharh al-Raslaniyya (Damascus 1389/1969). Abu al-Safa Ibrahim al-Iraqi's Lamh al-burhan al-farid is another important commentary, while that of Ahmad b. Allan al-Makki al-Naqshbandi is a short one. The text of the treatise was printed with al-Nabulusi's commentary (Istanbul 1321).
His Tomb and Complex — Shaykh Arslan was buried beside his shaykh Abu Amir in the tomb he had built for him. According to the source the tomb still stands today and is visited.
Miracles
The following are reports that appear in the source as TRANSMISSIONS; the atlas records them not as 'this is what happened' but as 'this is what the sources relate'.
Stones thrown at the Franks — Ibn Tulun relates on the authority of Abu Ahmad Mahmud al-Kurdi al-Shaybani that he once saw Shaykh Raslan outside Damascus throwing the stones in his hand forward and asked what he was doing; the shaykh said, "These are arrows I am shooting at the Franks." In those days the Franks had occupied the coasts and Muslim soldiers were fighting them. Some soldiers said that these stones fell on the heads of Crusader horsemen, killing both rider and horse; according to the report, many Crusader horsemen were disposed of in this way. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, ŞEYH ARSLAN, EK-2)
The speaking saw — Again according to Ibn Tulun's report, one day the saw with which he was cutting trees said to him three times, "Is it for this that you were created?", and broke into three pieces, becoming unusable. Shaykh Arslan took this event as a spiritual sign. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, ŞEYH ARSLAN, EK-2)
Meeting Khidr — Shaykh Abd Allah al-Bataihi relates that Shaykh Arslan and Shaykh Abu al-Bayan would sometimes go to the Cave of Blood, where they met Khidr, knelt before him like students and asked him about what they did not know; that they addressed Khidr as Abu al-Abbas; and that Khidr came to them flying like a bird. (Source: TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, ŞEYH ARSLAN, EK-2)
Differing Scholarly Views
Date of death — The source's heading gives the year of death, with a question mark, as 550 (1155); the body, however, states that he died between 550 (1155) and 560 (1165). The exact year is not known; the atlas records both.
The location of the grave — The source says that Shaykh Arslan was buried beside his shaykh Abu Amir in the tomb he had built for him and that the tomb stands today; it does not state in which quarter of Damascus the tomb lies or by which building it is known today. The atlas marker points to the tomb of Shaykh Arslan in Damascus; the quarter is not verified by this source.
Where the chain of information comes from — The source states that a significant part of what is known of his life rests on Shams al-Din Ibn Tulun's (d. 953/1546) Ghayat al-bayan fi tarjamat al-Shaykh Arslan al-Dimashqi. The atlas does not conceal this chain: the information rests on a biography written centuries after the shaykh.
The Raslaniyya order — Ibn Tulun says there was an order called the Raslaniyya named after Shaykh Arslan and that he himself joined it. The source, however, states that no such order actually took shape, or if it did, it did not continue.
Sources
- TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (DİA) · vol. EK-2, p. 559, entry “Şeyh Arslan”
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