APPENDICES CHAPTER 5
THE passage from _Pages dédiées à Mercure_ of Abdul-Hadi reads as follows:
The two initiatic chains: One is historical, the other spontaneous. The first is spread in known and established Sanctuaries under the direction of a living authorized Shaykh (Guru), who possesses the keys to the mystery. Such is the _At-Talīmur-rajāl_ or instruction of men. The other is _at-Talīmur-rabbāni_ or dominical or lordly instruction, which I venture to call 'Marian initiation' since it is that received by the Holy Virgin, mother of Jesus, son of Mary. There is always a master, but he can be absent, unknown, even dead for several centuries. In this initiation you draw from the present the same spiritual substance that others draw from antiquity. It is presently rather frequent in Europe, at least in its lower degrees, but it is almost unknown in the East.
This text was published in the review _La Gnose_, num. 10, of January, 1911. When we decided to reprint it in _Études Traditionelles_ we asked René Guénon if he would be willing to write a note in order to prevent possible errors of interpretation. He sent us the following note, to which he alludes in chapter 5, note 11 of the present work.
As this paragraph might occasion certain misunderstandings, it seemed to us necessary to clarify its meaning a bit. First of all, it must be understood that what is involved here is nothing that could be assimilated to a 'mystical' way, which would obviously be contradictory to the affirmation of the existence of a real 'initiatic chain' in this case as well as in that which can be considered 'normal'. In this connection we may cite a passage of Jalāl al-Din Rumi which relates to exactly the same thing: 'If anyone by a rare exception has traversed this [initiatic] way alone [that is to say without a Pīr, a Persian term equivalent to the Arab Shaykh], he has arrived by the help of the hearts of the Pīrs. The hand of the Pīr is not refused to one who is absent; this hand is nothing other than the embrace of God.' (_Mathnavī_ 1, 2974–5). In these last words can be seen an allusion to the role of the true interior _Guru_ in a sense perfectly in conformity with the teaching of the Hindu tradition; but this takes us rather far from the question that directly occupies us here. We will say that from the point of view of Islamic _tasawwuf_, what is involved is the way of the _Afrād_, whose Master is Seyyidna Al Khidr,[1] and is outside of what one might call the jurisdiction of the 'Pole' (_al-Qutb_) which includes only the regular and usual paths of initiation. It cannot be too much emphasized that these are only very exceptional cases, as is expressly declared in the text just cited, and that they occur only in circumstances which make normal transmission impossible, for example in the absence of any regularly constituted initiatic organization. On this subject, see also the closing pages of _East and West_.
On the same subject we extract a few lines from a letter René Guénon addressed to us on March 14, 1937:
Al-Khidr is properly the Master of the Afrād, who are independent of the Qutb and may not even be known by him; it is indeed as you say a matter of something more 'direct' and in a way outside defined and delimited functions no matter how elevated they may be; and this is why the number of the Afrād is indeterminate. This comparison is sometimes used: a prince, even if he exercises no function, is nonetheless higher in himself than a minister (at least if the minister is not himself a prince, something that can happen but which is not at all necessary); in the spiritual order the _Afrād_ are analogous to princes and the _Aqtāb_ to ministers. This is only a comparison, of course, but all the same it helps somewhat in understanding the relation of the ones to the others.
CHAPTER 28
We know give extracts from the study by Abdul-Hādi entitled _al-Malamiyah_ to which René Guénon returns in note 2 on page 143.
On this subject, here is an extract from the _Treatise on the Categories of Initiation_ by Muhyi 'd-Din ibn al-'Arabī:
'The fifth degree is occupied by "those who bow", those who humble themselves before the Lordly Grandeur, who take on themselves the priestliness of worship, who are exempt from every claim to any recompense in this world or in the other. These are the Malāmiyah. They are the “trusted men of God" and they constitute the highest group. Their number is not limited but they are placed under the direction of the _Qutb_ or "spiritual Apogee".[2] Their rule obliges them not to display their merits or to hide their defects. . . . They say that Sufism is humility, poverty, the 'Great Peace', and contrition. They say that “the face of the Sufi is downcast [literally 'black'] in this world and in the other," thus indicating that ostentation falls with pretension and that sincerity of adoration is manifested by contrition, for it is said, "I am near those whose hearts are broken because of Me." What they possess by grace comes from the very source of divine favors. Thus they no longer have either name or personal traits, but they are effaced in the _true prostration_.'
Abdul-Hādi next cites fragments of the treatise entitled PRINCIPLES OF THE MALAMATIYAH by the learned Imam, the wise Initiate, Sayed Abu Abdur-Rahman (grandson of Ismail ibn Najib): As they have realized (the ‘Divine Truth') in the higher degrees (of the Microcosm), as they have been affirmed among 'the men of concentration',[3] of the Al-Qurbah, the Al-Uns, and the Al-Wasl,[4] God is (so to speak) too jealous of them to let them reveal themselves to the world as they really are. So he gives them an appearance that corresponds to the state of 'separation from Heaven',[5] an appearance made of ordinary knowledge, of Shariite preoccupations—ritual or priestly—as well as the obligation to work, to follow a profession, and to act among men. Nevertheless, their interiors remain in continual connection with the 'True-Divine', as much in concentration (_al-jarq_) as in dispersion (_al jam'_), that is to say in all the states of existence. This mentality is one of the highest man can attain even though nothing of it appears on the outside. It resembles the state of the Prophet—may Allah pray for him and proclaim him!—who was raised to the highest degrees of the 'Divine Proximity' indicated by the Koranic formula, ‘And he was distant by two lengths of a bow or even closer.'[6] When they turn toward creatures they speak with them only of outward things. Of their intimate conversation with God, nothing appears on their person. This state is higher than that of Moses, whose face no one could look upon after he had spoken with God. . . . The _Shaykh_ of the group of Abu-Hafs en-Nisaburi said: 'The Malamite disciples progress by exerting themselves. They care not for themselves. The world has no hold on them and cannot reach them, for their outer life is all uncovered while the subtleties of their inner life are rigorously hidden. . . .' Abu-Hafs was one day asked 'why the name Malamatiyah?' He responded: 'The Malamatiyah are continually with God by the fact that they always dominate themselves and never cease to be conscious of their _lordly secret_. They blame themselves for all that they cannot prevent from showing with regard to their “Divine Proximity”, in the office of prayer or otherwise. They conceal their merits and expose what is blameworthy in themselves. People then make their outward appearance a point of accusation; they blame themselves inwardly for they understand human nature. But God favors them by uncovering the mysteries, by the contemplation of the hypersensible world, by the art of knowing the intimate reality of things from outward signs (_al-ferāsah_), as well as by miracles. The world finally leaves them in peace with God, removed from them by their display of what is blamable or contrary to respectability. Such is the discipline of the _tariqah_ of the people of blame.[7]