The heart according to Seyyid Al-Shirwânî Al-Bakuvi

Abstract

The notion of heart plays a major role in the classifications of the inner subtle organs in Sufism. These organs establish a type of geography that maps the path that the Sufi dervish has to walk on. The heart is seen has the center or the main turning point of this way and thus of the journey. Bakuvî, in his book Safâ al-asrâr, offers a very interesting and specific understanding of this notion. As most of the great thinkers of Sufism he establishes first a basis for understanding this notion. His basis is that the heart offers itself a picture and can thus be represented, while most of the Sufi thinkers consider the heart as being an empty vessel for seeing things that show themselves to be known when seen. Hence, Bakuvî considers the heart as being a complete drawing with its own geography that allows understanding the whole process of the Sufi way. The heart is itself what gives sense to the whole spiritual journey, and it is thus because it can be represented. It is what allows to define the ways that lead to spiritual realization. One of the most interesting things that are offered to our thinking is the four drawings of the manuscript that represent the four rivers leading to the heart, a representation that will be repeated in Melâmî stories in Anatolia. The paper thus will try to give an interpretation of Bakuvi's representation of the heart's geography so as to show the originality of his thinking.

Key words: Bakuvî, Safâ al-asrâr, islam, Melâmî, Sufism