Ken’an Rifai (1869-1950), is one of the major sufi figures of the 20th century in the history of Turkish Sufism, who understands sufism (tasawwuf) in its broadest meaning as oneness, that is, knowing, seeing and loving this world – which is laid before man as multiplicity- as one. We understand that Rifai, whom we have come across with many detailed explanations about the nature of the world and worldly life in his discourses and works, gives particular importance to worldly life as he sees it as the only opportunity for human maturity He accepts the realm of creation as an important level of existence and handles it mostly positively in terms of being the bearer of gnosis and humanity, and expresses many descriptions and metaphors about it from different aspects. To this end, this article focuses on Ken’an Rifai’s view of worldly life and the reasons behind the importance he places on it. The study examines Ken’an Rifai’s discourses, Mathnawi commentaries, as well as, his poems in order to understand his views about the world as a place of manifestation for the divine names. In his view, the world is the place of manifestation of divine names. It is the place where God’s love is experienced and divine knowledge is attained. In his perspective, heaven, hell, the right path (ṣirāṭ mustaḳīm), mīzān are all realities that can be comprehended in this world, and this world of multiplicity and trial is as much a place of the union as it is the place of education and training. He also believes that for those who recognize the names and attributes of God everywhere, this world is already a paradise and it is the perfect human being (al-insān al-kāmil) who teaches all these to people.
Ken’an Rifai world (`ālam al-mulk wa’l-shahāda) wordly life school of gnosis pure heart (ḳalb salīm) knowledge deed (‛amal) istiḳāma perfect human being.
Primary Language | Turkish |
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Subjects | Religious Studies |
Journal Section | Research Articles |
Authors | |
Publication Date | June 30, 2022 |
Submission Date | April 18, 2022 |
Published in Issue | Year 2022 Issue: 12 |