TUHFAH AL-MURSALAH ILA RUH AL-NABIY AS THE SOURCE OF THE DOCTRINE SEVEN GRADES OF BEING IN THE MALAY-INDONESIAN ARCHIPELAGO

The doctrine of seven grades of Being (Martabat Tujuh) has been widely known to be a sufi interpretation of God’s Oneness (al-Tawhid). It originated in the subcontinent of India in the early of seventeenth century. The doctrine was later introduced in Acheh and gained popularity among the Malay sufi authors and practitioners until the present day. Amid its wide acceptance, the teaching has long been considered by many scholars to be incompatible to the Islamic principle teachings of God’s Unity. The purpose of this article is to give an insight on the background of the writing of the Tuhfah al-Mursalah Ila Ruh al-Nabiyy and to establish its credibility as an authentic Islamic work by a recognized Muslim sufi scholar. In order to achieve its objectives, datas of this writing was gathered through the usage of document analysis and then described using deducted and inducted analysis. This article found that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah was originally written to combatting misinterpretation of the teaching of wahdat al-wujud in the subcontinent India. It was later exported to the Acheh in the early sixteenth century. The work was written by a knowledgeable and an important Indian Muslim sufi scholar. His credentials as a Muslim scholar was testified with few commentaries on the Tuhfah al-Mursalah by famous and well-known Muslim scholars in the Muslim world. Therefore, this work occupies an important place in providing a true comprehension of the doctrine of seven grades of Being.

Seven Grades of Being. 7 In the light of this information, we may say that the teaching of Martabat Tujuh was already known to Syamsuddin and in Acheh as early as 1601 and later won a remarkable degree of popularity in Sumatera and Java.
B. Introduction Tuhfat al-Mursalah ila Ruh al-Nabiy to the Malay-Indonesia Archipelago As far as the evidence permits, the system of Martabat Tujuh in the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago originated from a work by an Indian Sufi, Muhammad bin Fadl Allah al-Burhanpuri, entitled Tuhfat al-Mursalah ila Ruh al-Nabiy (The Gift Addressed to the Spirit of the Prophet). 8 It had occupied an important place in the history of the development of Sufi teaching in the Archipelago ever since it was introduced into the region. Nevertheless, it is uncertain when it first made its appearance in the Archipelago.
Johns suggests that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah was written as early as 1590. 9 It could have become known to the people of the region in the following pilgrimage season after it was written, for Gujarat and other ports of call such as Surat, were only one or two monsoons away from Acheh, the first area to have been under the influence of the Tuhfah al-Mursalah. 10 It has also been suggested that the author himself, Fadl Allah, came to Acheh, where he gained many students which helped to provide perfect platform for his work to be known in Acheh. 11 Although there is a possibility that Muhammad bin Fadl Allah himself might have been to Acheh, the fact that his name is never mentioned in Bustan al-Salatin, written by Nur al-Din al-Raniri, as well as other traditional writings, indicates that it seems highly unlikely that he did ever visit Acheh.
Teosofia: Indonesian Journal of Islamic Mysticism, Vol. 10, No. 1, 2021 63 http://journal.walisongo.ac.id/index.php/teosofia In addition, Drewes has pointed out that Shaykh Ibrahim al- Kurani (d. 1689) composed a commentary on the Tuhfah al-Mursalah specifically for the Jawi students by order of his master, Shaykh Ahmad al- Qushashi (d.1661). Since Ahmad al-Qushashi died in 1661, the commentary must have been written before then, though how long before cannot be ascertained. However, the use of a commentary presupposes a knowledge of the text. Thus, to suggest that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah could have been known in the region during the author's lifetime, that is by 1619 or earlier, is not impossible. 12 The Tuhfah al-Mursalah is a short treatise and eclectic in character which to explain the basic ideas of the Oneness of Being (wahdat al-wujud), a doctrine that has been associated with Ibn Àrabi. Like many followers of Ibn Àrabi's teaching, Fadl Allah begins his Tuhfah al-Mursalah by identifying the Reality with Being, who manifested (tajalli) Itself through six stages. This first stage is named nondetermination (la taàyyun) or Oneness (ahadiyyah), i.e., the Being was the Absolute per se. Fadl Allah maintains, like other exponents of the doctrines of the Oneness of God, that the Being at this stage is unknowable and inconceivable. Therefore, any attempt to know It would be in vain. The six stages of manifestation that proceed from It are wahdah,wahidiyyah, It seems that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah was known to the intellectual community in Mecca and Medina. This is proved from Ibrahim al-Kurani's mention of its author  India, vol. 2 (New Delhi: Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers, 1983), 343. 16 Johns, "Friends in Grace: Ibrahim Al-Kurani and Àbd Al-Ra'uf of Al-Singkili," 480. and a great Sufi of the Naqshabandi-Qadiri order, entitled Nukhabat al-Mas'alah Sharh al-Tuhfat al-Mursalah 18 and Shaykh Àbd al-Rahman b. Àli b. Mar'i al-Duri al-Suwaydi (d.1786) entitled al-Hujub al-Musbalah. 19 The Tuhfah al-Mursalah was also read in the circle of the Emir Àbdu'l-Qadir in Damascus and among the diciples of Shaykh Àbd al-Rahman Illaysh in Cairo. 20 The popularity of the work continued into the eighteenth century wherein many Malay scholars and authors in the period like Abdul Samad of Palembang, 21 Muhammad Nafis of Banjar, 22 as well as Daud of Fatani, 23 referred to Fadl Allah's work. Judging from the wide circulation of the work, we may thus conclude that the work was held in high esteem by the Muslim scholars.
The popularity of the Tuhfah al-Mursalah ever since it first became known to the Malay people is borne out from the statements written by Mustafa al-Hamawi, a disciple of Ibrahim al-Kurani (d.1689), in his biographical dictionary, Fawa'id al-Irtihal wa Nata'ij al-Safar (The Profits of Travel and the Gains of Journeying). According to al-Hamawi, he met and became Ibrahim al-Kurani's diciple in 1675. 24 The dictionary provides revealing insights, not only into the close relationship between his master, Ibrahim al-Kurani and his Jawi students, but also into the popularity of the Tuhfah al-Mursalah in Mecca and Medina as well as in the Archipelago where it was also used as a minor treatise in religious schools to be learnt by young students who had to learn and memorize its contents. In this work, al-Hamawi states: Our Shaykh al-khatimat al-muhaqqiqin Ibrahim al-Kurani told me that one of our Jawi companions-and he was reading the Tuhfah with him at that time, and we 18 Risvi, A History of Sufism in India, 2:343. 19 Abdullah, Pemikiran Umat Islam Di Nusantara, 154. 20 Chodkiewicz, "The Diffusion of Ibn Arabi's Doctrine," 46.  were present-informed him that this treatise and matters it treats was popular and famous in the lands of Jawi, and that it is read in their religious schools, and that youths study it as a minor treatise on the rudiments of their studies. And every reasonable minded man knows that this could only have happened by virtue of its dedication to the Prophet, and the author's (pious) intention, otherwise the best of the Sufi doctors would have rejected it, any more, their followers, nay more their general public, nay more even youths at the schools. But when God desires good for one of His servants, he makes faith loved to him and makes both it and those things conducive to it attractive to his heart. So just as the child learns the basic doctrines and obligations of religion by imitation without understanding them fully, but when he becomes adult and his mind has developed he perceives their true significance, in precise the same way if a person is instructed in the great truths of religion when he is a child, when he is adult God gives the light to understand them fully, and this he finds easy because he is already familiar with the formulations of them that he has learnt by heart. 25

In addition, in his introduction to his commentary on the Tuhfah entitled Ithaf al-Zaki bi Sharh al-Tuhfah al-Mursalah ila al-Nabiy (A Presentation to the
Discriminating in Explaination to the Gift Addressed to [the Spirit of] the Prophet), Ibrahim al-Kurani himself explains the circumstances leading him to write his commentary. He writes: We have had reliable information from a group of Jawi (pl. Jawiyyin), that there have spread among the inhabitants of the lands of Jawah some books on Realities (haqiqah), and esoteric teachings by men attributed with knowledge because of their study and the teaching of others, but who lack any understanding of the Laws of [Muhammad] the Chosen, the Elect [of God], and even less of an awareness of the knowledge of Realities bestowed upon those who follow God's path, may He be exalted, those brought close to Him, those excellent ones, or those who have entered upon anyone of their paths based on the Book and the Sunnah through perfect obedience, outwardly and inwardly[physically and spiritually], as have the devout and pure. This has led many of them to deviate from the right path, and given rise to faulty belief, in fact they have been attracted to camp in the valleys of unbelief and heresy-we take refuge in God from error and from all evil, in sected as in public.
Further, these Jawi have told me that among the best-known books among them was the compendium entitled al-Tuhfah al-Mursalah ila Ruh al-Nabiy [The Gift Addressed to the Prophet] written by the gnostic of God, may He be exalted, Shaykh Muhammad ibn Shaykh Fadl Allah al-Hindi al-Burhanpuri, may Almighty God render him of service. And more than one of then has asked my humble self to prepare a commentary upon it to make clear the conformity of the questions[it discusses] to the basic principles of religion, confirmed by the Noble Book, and the Sunnah of the Lord of the Apostles, may God's blessings and peace be upon him and upon them and their families all of them, a reply came -hoping that, by leave of God, Lord of the world, it will yield a sound fruit, despite the fact that my ability to express myself is slight, and knowing that the communication of Johns says that it is impossible to judge how many years were involved or how many of the Jawis met him nor who they were to determine when the commentary of request, what is clear is that Ibrahim al-Kurani took the responsibility very seriously. He prayed long at the tomb of the prophet in Medina asking guidance and answer before writing the commentary. It was only after receiving an answer that it was right for him to undertake that task that he began writing his commentary. 29 Eventually, what is presented in the Ithaf al-Zakiy is a long presentation on the Islamic mystical interpretion based on the Qur'an and the Hadith. 30 According to Drewes, it is still uncertain whether the classification of the manifestation of God in seven grades was firstly promulgated by Fadl Allah. 31 On the 26  According to Voorhoeve further, it does not seem likely that the extension from six to seven grades by a division of the two world can be attributed to Wajih al-Din al-Alawi, Fadl Allah's master, because there is nothing that suggests a treatment of this theme anywhere in his list of works. Thus, it seems that Fadl Allah was the first to promulgate the classification of the manifestation of God to seven, known later to Malay authors and the people of the Archipelago as the Martabat Tujuh seems justifiable. 33 We do not know for what made the Martabat Tujuh so popular among the Malay authors. It is highly likely that the wide usage of the Martabat Tujuh as offered in the Tuhfa was probably due to its having being written in an easily understandable manner. This would explain the appeal of the system to the Malay authors in the seventeenth, eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Nonetheless, it is particularly interesting that many aspects of the sacred seven are commonly observed in the Islamic tradition: the sevenfold circumambulations of the Kaaba, the seven stonings of Satan near Mina (repeated twice) during the Hajj, the sevenfold meaning of the Qur'an, the seven canonical ways to recite it, the seven gates of Hell and the seven gates of Paradise (Schimmel 1994: 79).

C. The Tuhfah al-Mursalah in the Indian Subcontinent Context
Fadl Allah did not state his reason for writing his book, the Tuhfah al-Mursalah.
This has given rise to various opinions as to his motives. It is obvious from the work that the author's intention was to explain the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud of Ibn al-Arabi by means of the Martabat Tujuh system in an orthodox interpretation. Thus, according to Johns, it was written as an attempt on the part of the orthodox Sufi tradition to restrain the extremist tendencies of certain groups of mystics in India and elsewhere, and to ensure the grasp and practice of the essential elements of Islam. 34 It is as Johns says further "a documentation of the tension between the orthodox and 32 Johns, The Gift Addressed to the Spirit of the Prophet, 126. 33 Johns, 127. 34 Johns,5. heterodox wings of Sufism current throughout the length and breadth of the Muslim world". 35 Questioning Johns' assumption, Drewes writes "it seems a fair question to ask what exactly is meant by 'the orthodox Sufi tradition', which is represented here as some kind of active corporation. Likewise, one would be glad to hear more about these extremist groups our author supposed to combat, since the text contains no specific reference to them. And secondly, on examining the contents of the Tuhfah al-Mursalah one cannot fail to observe that, apart from a number of exhortations to keep to the Law, there is very little of the essential elements of Islam in this tract". 36 Having given the reasons for rejecting Johns' claim, he states: Therefore, I cannot share the editor's conviction [Johns] that the author was prompted by the desire to combat extremist tendencies. His book is a short treatise on Sufi ontology, completely in the vein of thinking of Ibn al-Àrabi and the author of the insan al-kamil, and one gets the impression that the first and foremost incentive for composing it was the author's desire to lay claim to a recognized place for this ontological within the body Islamic. The doctrine was not modified but by stressing the need for keeping within the bounds of the Law the author apparently aimed at making it acceptable (muwafiqah; cf. the title of his own commentary on the text) to the people of the orthodox persuasion. 37 There is, however, another way of looking into the matter concerned. As the work was produced in the atmosphere of the Indian subcontinent, it seems appropriate firstly to understand the religious controversies surrounding Sufism in the second period of the sixteenth century within that geographical context. According to Risvi, Khwaja Baqi` Bi Allah Berang (1563/4 or 1564/5 -1603, a master of Ahmad Sirhindi, relentlessly criticized those Sufis who he believed to be observing the external form of the tawhid (i.e. observing that everything is God). Although he himself was an exponent of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, he argued that Sufis who busied themselves with the external form of the tawhid were wayward and also misled others by identifying everything with God, even believing that the universe was an illusion and a fantasy. This type of philosophy, the Khwaja asserted, was not the way of the Prophet. The truth formulated by Ibn al-Àrabi, according to him, had been misinterpreted. 38 35  The life of the masses was ridden with shirk (polytheism) and bidàh (innovation), due, first to their contact with the polytheistic religions and cultures of India. Ignorant to their faith, Muslims participated in the religious rites of the non-Muslims; prayed to their idols and gods for various purposes; women, in particular, sought their protection against diseases such as smallpox. They joined Hindu festivals such as rakhi and dipavali; celebrated the latter by lighting lamps, cooking rice and sending it as a present in coloured pots to relatives and friends as the Hindus used to do on that occasion. (...) The other cause of the religious degeneration of the Muslim masses was the influence of ignorant and misguided Sufis. At their bidding they made votive offerings (nadhr) to saints (mashayikh) and offered sacrifices on their graves. Women usually fasted in the name of Sufi teachers, even their wives, and observed various rituals in this connection. (...) Those who subscribed to wahdat al-wujud cared little for the Shariàh. They believed that the goal of the Shariàh was to attain knowledge; hence if anyone realized the truth of wahdat al-wujud, he did not have to perform the duties of the Shar. Some of them disparaged salat because it differentiated between God and the servant; others equated resurrection with the Sufi experience of fana', and denied judgement and punishment, Some even loved to gaze at beautiful faces and hear sweet voices, because they were the manifestation of the Eternal Beauty. 39 Ahmad Sirhindi referred to these ideas and practices in his letters and denounced them for shirk (polytheism), kufr (infidelity) and bidàh (innovation). He then urged Sufi teachers to discard these evil practices and reform their lives. 40 In connection with the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud, Ahmad Sirhindi explains that the Creator of the World cannot be identified with His Creations. Thus, according to him, the experience of wahdat al-wujud is not objective but rather subjective experience. In his journey to God, he says, a Sufi will experience that he is identical with God, but in reality, it is not so. In other words, in his rapturous ecstacy, the Sufi gets lost in the object of his love and adoration. He begins to feel as if his self was completely annihilated. This experience of the annihilation of identity is a trancient one, after the Sufi regains his consciousness and comes back to the stage of àbdiyyah (servitude), which is the summon bonum of the spiritual life of one who believes in the transcendental God. 41 Hence, according to Ahmad Sirhindi, the Sufi will then finally realize that his relation to his Creator is that of slave and master, or that of worshipper and the Worshipped, not of a lover and Beloved as many Sufis generally believed. 42 Ahmad Sirhindi also viewed the doctrine as an expression of an immature spiritual experience 39  and frought with danger to Islam and Muslim society because it facilitated the absorption of non-Islamic ideas and practices which ran counter to the monotheistic ideals of Islam. Therefore, according to Ahmad Sirhindi, the doctrine of wahdat alwujud is wrong in the identification of the world with God and in its ideas that the worship of any object is the worship of God provided it is worshipped as a manifestation of God. 43 The doctrine of wahdat al-wujud was firstly introduced into the subcontinent by It was within this context that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah was written. Having considered this, it may be concluded that the main reason for the writing of the work was to attempt to present a true understanding of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud in the framework of the seven grades of Being. It seems that Fadl Allah was a firm follower of Ibn al-Àrabi's "Unity of Being" who worked enthusiastically during his lifetime to correct what he believed to be misinterpretations and accretions of the doctrine in Indian Muslim society. This explains why he sought the support of the Qur'an and Tradition, and thus at the same time rejected any claim that it was against the monotheistic teaching of Islam.
Johns' assumption that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah is a documentation of the tension between the orthodox and heterodox wings of Sufism is thus justified. The fact that there is no specific reference to any extremist group as argued by Drewes does not mean, however, that the work was not written to combat the extremists who misrepresented Ibn al-Àrabi's teachings. There was no need to mention any of them for two reasons: firstly, the doctrine itself was very difficult and bound to be misunderstood as described by Baqi bi Allah and Ahmad Sirhindi in their writings; and secondly, the text is self-evidently very short which its purpose was to elaborate the main principles of the "Unity of Being" so that they can be rightly understood. During his lifetime, Fadl Allah befriended many well-known scholars and Sufis who were not only known in India but also in Mecca and Medina. One of his friends was a great Sufi figure known as Sayyid Sibghat Allah b. Ruh Allah Jamal al-Barwaji (some scholars read his name as al-Baroci or Broach in Gujarat), 51 who is mentioned in the Hikayat Acheh as living in Mecca and conversing with the pilgrims from Acheh.
Sibghat Allah was generally known as a Shattariyyah master as he was initiated, 46 Risvi, A History of Sufism in India, 2:284. 47 Risvi, A History of Sufism in India. 48 Risvi, 2:319-25. 49 Risvi, 2:284. 50 Risvi,  Ahmad al-Qushashi, one of Sibghat Allah's most prominent disciples, reports that his master also initiated his disciples into the Chistiyyah, Suhrawardiyyah, Madaniyyah, Khalwatiyyah, Hamadaniyyah, Naqshabandiyyah and Firdawsiyyah orders, beside the Shatariyyah, on the authority vested in him by his own spiritual master, Wajih al-Din al-Àlawi who had himself been initiated into these eight orders. Basically, according to Risvi, he and his disciples were Shattariyyah. As to Fadl Allah, he was first and foremost a Chistiyyah. Nonetheless, as he was a student of Wajih al-Din al-Àlawi, we may not be far from the truth to say that he also practised other order such as Shattariyyah and many others on the authority vested in him by his master as was his fellow sufi and friend, Sibghat Allah of Broach. 53

E. Conclusion
It is clear from discussion above that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah is undoubtedly responsible for the introduction of the doctrine of seven grades of Being or Martabat Tujuh in the Malay-Indonesian Archipelago in particular and Muslim world in general.
It was authored by known and recognized sufi scholar, Muhammad Fadl Allah of Burhanpur affiliated with Chistiyyah tariqa. The fact that the Tuhfah al-Mursalah was known in Medina, read in the circle of Islamic learning and given commentary by many well-known Muslim scholars show the truthfulness of its contents. Although it was written in a short and concise manner, there were no vivid objection and rejection to its content known to take place at the time and subsequently centuries it was written. Therefore, it is appropriate to suggest that the text's content should be made available and studied to combat wrong interpretation of the doctrine of wahdat al-wujud and Martabat Tujuh in particular.