Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī and the Oneness of Being in al-Muḥīṭ al-Aʿẓam by Dr Zoheir Esmail

Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī was one of the most important, overtly Twelver, pre-Safavid interlocutors of the theoretical strand of mysticism developed by the school of Ibn ʿArabī. He critically contributed to the development of a more precise articulation of waḥdat al-Wujūd and elucidated a project which sought to bridge the gap between Ṣūfism and Shīʿism. Yet his inclusive, synergistic contribution remains understudied, despite an increasing stream of works of varying scope and depth, both within traditional Twelver circles and in modern scholarship. In this paper I trace Āmulī’s use of waḥdat al-Wujūd in his largest surviving work of Qurʾānic exegesis, Al-Muḥīṭ al-aʿẓam fī taʾwīl kitāb Allāh al-muḥkam (completed in 777/1376) which remains an under investigated yet significant contribution to esoteric exegesis (taʾwīl) of the Qurʾān. This paper will show how dependant Āmulī’s esoteric method of exegesis is on the framework of manifestation and correspondence which are key presuppositions of waḥdat al-Wujūd. For Sayyid Ḥaydar, the centrality of waḥdat al-Wujūd to esoteric interpretation is such that an exegete cannot be considered of those who are firmly established in knowledge (al-rāsikhūn fī al-ʿilm), the group identified in the Qurʾān (3:7) as knowing the esoteric meaning, without a sound knowledge if its principles. Thereafter, the paper will show the explanatory power of waḥdat al-Wujūd in positing alternative meanings to the scriptural sources in specific surviving sections of Āmulī’s exegesis.