Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli
Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli (alive until 787 AH) was a prominent Shia mystic of the eighth century AH, who authored Jami' al-asrar (The comprehensive book of secrets), Tafsir al-muhit al-a'zam (The exegesis of the supreme ocean), and a commentary on Ibn 'Arabi's Fusus al-hikam titled Nass al-nusus (The text of the texts). Among his distinctive views is the doctrine of existential unity of God (al-tawhid al-wujudi), which he regarded as exclusive to those close to God (awliya'), who perceive existence solely in Absolute Existence. He deemed only the Shia Sufis as authentic, maintaining that Shiism and Sufism point to a singular truth: the Muhammadan Sharia.
Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli served as the minister of Tabaristan’s ruler for a while; however, as he himself mentioned, after some time, he withdrew from the position of minister and all worldly benefits, and set off for pilgrimage to the holy sites of Shia Islam, then to Jerusalem (Bayt al-Maqdis), and later to Mecca.
Afterward, he went to Iraq, where he stayed and studied mystical texts in Najaf under a little-known mystic named 'Abd al-Rahman b. Ahmad al-Maqdisi. He also learned the teachings of Nasir al-Din al-Kashani al-Hilli and Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin, the son of 'Allama al-Hilli.
Biography
Seyyid Haydar b. 'Ali b. Haydar al-'Alawi al-Husayni was titled Baha' al-Din and was commonly known as Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli. The most reliable sources on the life of Sayyid Haydar are two autobiographies that he included in his books: the first in Tafsir al-muhit al-a'zam and the second in the introduction to Nass al-nusus. According to the genealogy he mentions in Tafsir al-muhit al-a'zam, his lineage traces back to Imam al-Sajjad through eighteen generations.
Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli was born in the city of Amol, and his year of birth is approximately 720 AH. This is because he himself states that at the age of thirty, he set off from Amol with the intention of performing the pilgrimage to the Kaaba. He also mentions that, before going to Mecca, he had lived for a full year in Iraq, and he performed the Hajj pilgrimage in 751 AH.
Education
Sayyid Haydar began his studies at around the age of ten in Amol. After some time, he traveled to Khorasan, Astrabad, and Isfahan to pursue his studies. This period, according to his own account, lasted twenty years, during which he was engaged in studying both transmitted (naqli) and rational ('aqli) disciplines.
As a Minister
After Sayyid Haydar returned to Amol, the ruler of Tabaristan, Fakhr al-Dawla Hasan, the son of Shah Kaykhusrow b. Yazdgerd, honored him. He placed Sayyid Haydar among his close associates and confidants, and eventually appointed him as his minister.
According to Henry Corbin, during this period, Sayyid Haydar had all the worldly blessings of life; however, at the height of this comfortable life, he realized its bitterness and emptiness. As he himself said:
It was like this until the call to truth overcame my inner being. God revealed to me the corruption of the state I was in; that is, ignorance, forgetfulness, and negligence, and showed me how far I had strayed from the path of truth, as well as my waywardness toward rebellion and misguidance. Then, I secretly supplicated to God and asked Him for liberation from all of this. A deep longing arose within me to abandon all worldly attachments, to embrace isolation, and to focus on the Divine Presence, on the path to divine unity (tawhid). I knew that as long as I remained among kings in my homeland, in the company of friends and brothers, this would be impossible.
Journey to 'Atabat and Mecca
Henry Corbin wrote that after Sayyid Haydar left his position in Amol, he kept only a worn-out shirt and set off to visit the holy sites of Shia Islam, Jerusalem, and then Mecca.
On his journey to Iraq, Sayyid Haydar stopped in Isfahan, where he visited the mystics. There, he made a brotherhood pact and an oath of chivalry (futuwwa) with Nur al-Din al-Tihrani, whom he described as a great mystic and ascetic, highly esteemed by the elite. Under his guidance, Sayyid Haydar donned the Sufi cloak and spent nearly a month learning from him.
In 751 AH, Sayyid Haydar went to Mecca and performed the Hajj pilgrimage. He then traveled to Medina, intending to stay there, but due to illness, he had to return to Najaf.
Residence in Iraq
From 751 AH until the end of his life, Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli lived in Najaf, Hillah, and Baghdad. In Najaf, he studied mystical books such as Manazil al-sa'irin (Stations of the wayfarers) by al-Harawi and Fusus al-hikam by Ibn 'Arabi, along with their commentaries—Sharh al-Qaysari and Sharh al-Tilmisani—under a little-known mystic named 'Abd al-Rahman b. Ahmad al-Maqdisi until 753 AH. During his time in Iraq, he had interactions with prominent Shia scholars, including Muhammad b. Hasan al-Hilli (Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin), the son of 'Allama al-Hilli, as well as Nasir al-Din al-Kashani al-Hilli, and other Imami jurists and scholars. He also received permission for hadith transmission from Fakhr al-Din and Hasan b. Hamza al-Hashimi. The date he received his permission from Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin was 761 AH. He wrote the treatise Rafi'at al-khilaf (on justifying the positions and actions of the first Shiite Imam in relation to the first three caliphs) at his request, and had several scholarly correspondences with him.
Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli, as he himself mentioned, benefitted from divine inspirations during his time in Najaf. He writes in the introduction to his Nass al-nusus:
Just as the sojourn in Mecca brought about the opening of the esoteric knowledge of the Meccan Openings (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya) on the heart of the great Shaykh (Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi) in one night, and Medina was the cause for the Medinan Openings to his heart, and similarly for the hearts of such servants of God as him, the sacred Gharawi shrine, where the shrine of our master and lord, the Commander of the Faithful 'Ali b. Abi Talib, lies, also led to the opening of divine secrets on my heart, first in a condensed manner, and later in more detail. Among the fruits of these openings are my book on the exegesis of the Quran and others.
Death
According to Corbin, the exact date of Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli's death cannot be determined with certainty; however, it is reported that one of his last books, Risalat al-'ulum al-'aliya (Essay on the supreme sciences), was written in 787 AH. This suggests that he was alive until that year.
Teachers
The well-known teachers of Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli include:
Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin, the son of 'Allama al-Hilli: He wrote the book Jawabat al-Sayyid Haydar ibn 'Ali ibn Haydar al-'Alawi al-Husayni al-Amuli in 759 AH, responding to the questions posed by Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli. Sayyid Haydar also received permission for hadith transmission from him.
Nasir al-Din al-Kashani al-Hilli (d. 755 AH): Aqa Buzurg al-Tihrani, in Tabaqat al-a'lam al-Shi'a, mentions Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli as one of his students.
Shaykh Nur al-Din al-Tihrani (Tirani): Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli benefited spiritually from him in Isfahan for a short period and also received a written permission from him. However, according to Reza Ostadi, no detailed biography of this teacher of Sayyid Haydar has been found. Ostadi notes that Sayyid Haydar mentions the loss of Shaykh Nur al-Din al-Tihrani's permission for hadith transmission, reporting the content of that permission.
Shaykh 'Abd al-Rahman al-Qudsi (or al-Maqdisi): Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli studied books such as Fusus al-hikam by Ibn 'Arabi, al-Qaysari’s Sharh al-fusus, and Manzil al-sa'irin in Najaf under him. In his permission to Sayyid Haydar, al-Qudsi writes: "My benefit from this student was greater than his benefit from me."
Sayyid Hasan b. Hamza al-Hashimi: Al-Afandi, in Riyad al-‘ulama, considers him one of Sayyid Haydar’s teachers and mentors.
Works
Sayyid Haydar, as he himself mentioned, authored more than forty books and treatises; however, according to some reports, only the following seven works are available:
Jami' al-asrar wa-manba' al-anwar (The comprehensive book of secrets and the source of lights)
Nass al-nusus fi sharh al-fusus (The text of texts in exposition of the bezzles [Ibn 'Arabi’s Fusus al-hikam or Bezzles of wisdom) (incomplete)
Tafsir al-muhit al-a'zam (The exegesis of the supreme ocean) (incomplete)
Risala naqd al-nuqud fi ma'rifat al-wujud (Critique of the critique in knowledge of existence)
Asrar al-shari'a (Secrets of the religion)
Al-Masa'il al-Haydariyya (Haydari questions)
Al-Kashkul fi-ma jara 'ala Al al-Rasul (The miscellaneous on what happened to the Prophet’s household)
Although the book Al-Kashkul fi-ma jara 'ala Al al-Rasul has been published as a work of Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli, Henry Corbin speculated that this book might actually be the work of an author with the same name as Sayyid Haydar.
Views
Only Shia Sufis Are Authentic
According to the view of Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli, the Imami sect is divided into two groups: one that upholds the outward knowledge of the Imams, which include Sharia, Islam, and faith, and another that upholds their inward knowledge, which are the path (Tariqa), truth (Haqqiqa), and certainty (Yaqin). The first group is considered simply as "believers" (Mu’min), while the second group is referred to as "tested believers" (Mu’min Mumtahan). He believes that the term “Shia” applies to the believer, and the Sufi is the "tested believer," as both Shia and Sufi are two names pointing to one truth, which is the Muhammadan Sharia. He views Sufism and Shiism as identical and considers the Shiite Imams as the true followers of the path (Tariqa).
Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli explicitly considers only the Shia Sufis to be on the true path. He maintains that, although Sufism, like Shiism, has many sects, the only true sect within Sufism are those who carry the "secrets of the Imams" and who believe in them both outwardly and inwardly.
Theological Divine Unity and Existential Divine Unity
According to Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli, there are two types of Tawhid (divine unity):
Al-Tawhid al-Uluhi (Theological Divine Unity): This is the outward tawhid, the unity to which the Prophet called all human beings. It is the confession to the absolute oneness of God, which means the belief in one God without any limitations or conditions that bind Him to temporal or spatial determinations. This is summarized in the phrase La ilah illa Allah (There is no god but Allah).
Al-Tawhid al-Wujudi (Existential Divine Unity): This is the inner, esoteric tawhid, which is worthy of those close to God (awliya'). The awliya' invite humans to see existence within the Absolute Existence, free from the determinations that give them actuality, because no existence can be other than His. In Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli’s view, understanding the meaning of the verse "Everyone on it is ephemeral, yet lasting is the majestic and munificent Face of your Lord," is to grasp the truth of the unique existence.
Philosophical Knowledge and Divine Knowledge
Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli considers philosophical and theological knowledge as forms of acquired knowledge, which can only be attained through significant effort and study. However, in his view, divine knowledge is a type of knowledge that the spiritual heir discovers within themselves in an intuitive and revelatory manner, as this knowledge, in essence, is their own being, a treasure that has been entrusted to them directly by divine grace.
Bibliography
Henry Corbin, the French Orientalist, wrote two articles on Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli and his mystical perspective, which Nozar Aghakhani translated into Persian in the book Sayyid Haydar Amuli: sharh ahwal, athar, wa ara' wa jahanshinasi (Sayyid Haydar Amuli: biography, works, views, and worldview). This book provides a biography and introduction to Sayyid Haydar. Another book, Sayyid Haydar Amuli and Tafsir muhit a'zam (Sayyid Haydar Amuli and the exegesis of the supreme ocean), written by Ali Awjabi, Abdollah Salavati, and Akbar Saghafian, examines both the life of Sayyid Haydar and his Quranic exesis, Tafsir al-muhit al-a'zam.
The Tomb
The tomb of Sayyid Haydar al-Amuli is located in the city of Amol, in the lower Bazaar neighborhood, at the Maqbara-yi Si Sayyid (Three Seyyids' Tomb). This tomb was registered as a national monument of Iran in 1931 (1310 Sh) under registration number 61.
"… My state was such until I arrived in Mecca. I performed the obligatory Hajj, along with the obligatory and recommended acts, both related and unrelated to the rites, in the year 751 AH, and I intended to stay in proximity there. Later, a desire to stay in Medina arose within me because I had not yet visited the tomb of the Messenger of God, along with his family and companions. So, I journeyed to Medina, visited the Prophet’s tomb, and intended to stay there, but obstacles arose, the greatest of which was a physical and bodily illness. Due to this, I was compelled to return to Iraq and my familiar place, the sacred Gharawi shrine (Najaf).
I returned safely, settled there, and engaged in asceticism, solitude, worship, and devotions that were higher and more difficult than any other."
Corbin (p. 72) mentions that two contemporaries of Sayyid Haydar shared the same name, and it makes sense that they could be confused with one another: (1) Sayyid Haydar b. 'Ali, who is said to have written al-Kashkul in 735 AH, and (2) Sayyid Haydar b. 'Ali b. Haydar, who received permission from Fakhr al-Muhaqqiqin in 759 AH. (Corbin, Sayyid Haydar Amuli: The Shi'ite mystic of the world of Sufism, p. 146, fn.)