A literary history of Persia

422 THE StfFf MYSTICISMthan the great theologian al-Ghazzali, " The Proof of Islam "(t A.D. 1 1 11-1112), and this is how he describes his eagernessto understand every point of view in his treatise entitledal-^iunqidh mlnad-Dalal ("The Deliverer from Error") :" In the prime of my youth,since I was come to full understandingand ere I reached my twentieth year, until this present time,when my age exceedeth two score and ten, I have never ceased toexplore the depths of this deep sea, or to plunge into its expanse asplunges the bold, not the timorous and cautious diver, penetratinginto every dark recess, attacking every difficulty, braving everywhirlpool, investigating the creed of every sect and unravelling themysteries of every school, in order that Imight learn to distinguishbetween the true and the false, the observer of authorised practicesand the heretical innovator. Wherefore I never meet a Biilini(" Esoteric," i.e., Isma'ili) without desiring to inform myself of his"Esotericism (Batiniyyat), nor a Dhahiri (" Externalist," Litteralist ")without wishing to know the outcome of his Externalism (Djhahiriyyaf),nor a philosopher without endeavouring to understand the essenceof his philosophy, nor a schoolman (Mutakallim) without striving tocomprehend the result of his scholasticism (Kaldm) and his controversialmethod, nor a Siifi without longing to divine the secret of hismysticism, nor a devout believer without wishing to ascertain whathe hath gained by his devotion, nor a heretic (Zindiq) nor an atheistwithout endeavouring to discover behind him an admonition as tothe causes which have emboldened him to profess his atheistical orheretical doctrine. A thirst to comprehend the essential natures ofall things was, indeed, my idiosyncrasy and distinctive characteristicfrom the beginning of my career and prime of my life : a naturalgiftand temperament bestowed on me by God, and implanted byHim in my nature by no choice or device of mine own, till at lengththe bond of blind conformity was loosed from me, and the beliefswhich I had inherited were broken away when I was yet little morethan a boy."Suflism, then, by reason or that quietism,eclecticism andlatitudinarianism which are itsamongst most characteristicfeatures, is the very antithesis, in many ways, to such definitedoctrines as the Manichaean, the Isma'ili, and others, and wouldbe more justlydescribed as an indefinite immobility than asa definite movement. This pointis often overlooked, and