subjugation of his somatic self and mastery over
in fanāʾ Hence in the same manner as the serpent
his nafs
sloughs its old skin and appears newly robed, the
Following ancient popular beliefs the nafs
mystic annihilates his nafs (lower soul) and lives
(“soul” or “self”) mentioned in the Qurʾān is said
eternally by undergoing a metamorphosis 70
to take the form of a beast, often symbolised as
A similar sentiment is expressed in a couplet
a snake 63 It has to be tamed to eventually over-
of the poet Muḥammad Shīrīn Maghribī born
come the stages of nafs lawwāma (“blaming soul”;
about 750/1350 near Iṣfahān in Central Iran:
sūra 75, 2) and nafs ammāra (“commanding soul”;
Unless you slay the serpent of existence, you
sūra 12, 53) which correspond essential y to man’s
cannot find the way to the treasure;
conscience,64 to reach the state of nafs muṭmaʾinna
Because your existence is a snake upon His
(“the soul at peace”; sūra 89, 27) 65 In Islamic mys-
treasure 71
ticism this serpent can be turned into a “useful
rod” just as Mūsā’s rod turned “on God’s com-
In his prose writings Maqālāt, Shams-i Tabrīzī,
mand” into a serpent 66 The goal of disciplining
the spiritual master of Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, illus-
the nafs is to train it in such a way that all nega-
trates the breadth of the polyvalence of the dragon
tive activities associated with it become extinct;67
in the form of a two-headed serpent that has a
this may be compared with the manner in which
head at either end:
a good snake-charmer who receives a snake, to
The world is a treasure and the world is a serpent
use a metaphor coined by al-Ghazālī, “distin-
Some people play with the serpent and some with
guishes between the antidote and the poison, and
the treasure He who plays with the serpent, must
extracts the antidote while destroying the
bare his heart to its bite It bites with its tail and
poison ”68 This path is ultimately experienced by
it bites with its head When it bites with its tail,
the mystic as being drawn upwards, as fanāʾ
you will not awake, and then it starts to bite with
(“passing away,” “effacement”) in God
its head People who have turned their back on
The mystical path of self-recognition (gnosis),
the serpent, and have not become proud of its
in other words, the return of the self to the Self,
precious stone, mār muhra, and its love, mihr,
have taken elderly reason as their guide – because
is described by al-Biṣṭāmī by means of the anal-
reason regards the glance of the serpent as an
ogy of the sloughing of the outward skin of the
emerald As the dragon-like serpent noticed that
serpent 69 By virtue of this unsheathing, the ser-
elderly reason conducted the leadership of the
pent gains new skin and thereby new life which
caravan, it became dejected, despised, and dis-
is likened to the mystic’s final shedding of his “I”
couraged In that ocean (of the world) the serpent
(noxious creatures) that infest the earth Zaehner, 1955,
ed Badeen, 1999, p 110, n 118; also Ibn ʿArabī, al-Durra
repr 1972, p ix, and idem, 1961, pp 129–30 Moreover,
al-Fakhira, al-Rūḥ al-Quds fī Muḥāsabat al-Nafs, tr and
among the Ahl-i Ḥaqq (“People of the Truth”), a secret sect
ed Austin, 1971, p 53)
prevalent mainly in western Iran and parts of northeastern
68 Al-Ghazālī has employed this imagery when express-
Iraq, both the lion and the dragon guard the first and fifth
ing his social concern about the vulnerability of the general
heavens through which the soul has to pass in order to
Muslim public when reading the works of philosophers; al-
reach the heaven above Idem, 1961, p 130
Munqid min al-ḍalāl (“Deliverance from Error”), tr Mont-
63 Cf Dīwān 458/4856, as cited by Schimmel, 1980, repr
gomery Watt, 1953, p 44 The ongoing relevance in our time
1993, p 112
of the idea of an internal battle to synthesise these forces,
64 Eadem, p 270
emblematised in the figure of the dragon, is reflected in the
65 The association of the human soul’s concupiscent parts
autobiographical records of the twentieth-century shaykh
(following Plato’s division into rational, irascible and concu-
Aḥmad al-ʿAlawī He reports that in his youth he charmed a
piscent souls which correspond with the Qurʾānic souls) with
serpent for his spiritual teacher, the shaykh Sidi Muḥammad
the serpent is a common topos in medieval Islamic literature
al-Būzīdī, whereupon the shaykh made him realise that
Cf Calverley and Netton, “Nafs,” EI² VII, 880a
his own soul was far more venomous and more difficult to
66 Schimmel (1975, p 113) adds that “more frequent,
subdue (Lings, 1961, p 52) In the face of worldly tempta-
how ever, is the idea that the power of the spiritual master can
tions presented by the nafs “the ego is weak and pliant, but
blind the snake; according to folk belief, the snake is blinded
when challenged with the truth of its relativity it resists with
by the sight of the emerald (the connection of the pir’s spiri-
tenacity and cunning” (Ibn ʿArabī, al-Durra al-Fakhira,
tual power with the green colour of the emerald is signifi-
al-Rūḥ al-Quds fī Muḥāsabat al-Nafs, tr and ed Austin,
cant) Thus, his influence renders the nafs-snake harmless ”
1971, p 53, n 2)
67 The twelfth-century mystic ʿAmmār al-Bidlīsī (d be -
69 Rahman, “Abū yazīd al-Biṣṭāmī,” EI² I, 162a
tween 590 and 604/1194 and 1207) analyses the greater
70 Gohrab, 2000, p 86
jihād declaring that man’s lower soul (nafs) is the great-
71 Nurbakhsh, J , Sūfī Symbolism, vol 4, Tehran, 1369/
est enemy to be fought ( Bahjat al-ṭāʾifa, tr and ed Badeen,
1990, p 140; the couplet belongs to ghazal no 186 1 14, in
1999, p 110 Cf Hillenbrand, C , 1997, p 161) This is related
Lewisohn, L , ed , A Critical Edition of the Divan of Muham-
to the saying of the Prophet: “We are returning from the
mad Shirin Maghribi, Tehran and London, 1993 Cited after
lesser jihād to the greater jihād” (see Bahjat al-ṭāʾifa, tr and
Gohrab, 2000, p 89
the dragon as symbol of transformation
203
was like the crocodile forming a bridge under
is found in the so-cal ed Hymn of the Pearl,77 com-
the feet of reason Its poison turned into sugar,
posed before the end of the Parthian-Arsacid
its thorn into a rose It was a highway robber,
period in 224 ad78 in or not far from Edessa (now
but it grew to be a guide It was a cause of fear,
known as Urfa) 79 The hymn, which recounts the
but it grew to be the cause of security 72
story of the quest for a unique pearl guarded by
As mentioned earlier, it is frequently a serpent
a dragon, might reveal further aspects of the trea-
that has the power to confer supernatural knowl-
sure-guarding dragon which are still relevant
edge of the manṭiq al-ṭair, the language of birds,
conceptualisations in Central Asia and the Near
upon a human being The mystics see this as the
East in early medieval times The protagonist, who
language of the soul, an interpretation of the
identifies himself as the son of the “King of Kings,
Qurʾānic verse ( sūra 27, 16–9) which mentions
the great king of the East,” recounts how he was
that Sulaymān understood the speech of the birds,
sent as a young prince by his parents from their
so becoming, in mystical terms “the shaykh who
Eastern kingdom to Egypt (representing here the
converses in the secret language of the soul with
dark demonised world),80 to recover a precious
his disciples ”73
pearl that lay on the sea bed, encircled by a giant
The medieval Jewish philosopher yehuda
hissing dragon 81 The latter appears here as ruler
HaLevi of Toledo ( c 1080–1140) explains in the
of the sea and guardian of a treasure In spite of
Kuzari (4, 25; with reference to the anonymous
the prince’s efforts to disguise himself from the
Sefer Yezirah (“Book of Creation,” 4, 2) that while
Egyptians lest they recognise him as a stranger
the dragon (tᵉli) also has an astrological/astro-
and arouse the dragon against him, he is recog-
nomical significance; it serves above all as an alle-
nised in Egypt, savours the food and falls asleep
gory for veiled metaphysical aspects of the
in the “dragon’s inn ” Only when he receives a
universe and hidden mysteries which cannot be
letter from his parents, which flies to him in the
grasped:
form of an eagle, is he reminded of his mission
The Teli in the world is like a king in his prov-
He instantly puts the dragon to sleep by a charm,
ince, the heart in the soul is like a king at war
snatches the pearl and makes a triumphant return
Teli is the name of the juzhar [ jawzahr]; by this
to the kingdom in the east There he dons the
word one understands the world of the intellect
glittering royal robe he used to wear as a child
because through the juzhar one denotes hidden
and, like a mirror, it permits him to recognise his
things which are not comprehended by the
royal self and be reunited with it 82 The pearl in
senses 74
the Hymn of the Pearl can be seen as a symbol of
The dragon thus serves as mystical vehicle and
the soul itself The story thus presents in alle-
symbol in the path to spirituality, mystical rev-
gorical form the Gnostic doctrine of the soul’s
elation and finally an enlightened state of being 75
heavenly origin and salvation through gnosis 83
In consequence, the dragon that was seen to guard
The prince is represented not only in the tradi-
a worldly treasure can readily be transformed by
tional guise of a hero on a quest, but also as a
the mystic into the dragon that guards divine and
seeker on a spiritual journey 84 The metaphorical
heavenly treasures 76
use of the pearl as “soul, spiritual power, sub-
An interesting literary allegory attesting to the
stance” is attested in the Iranian tradition 85 The
validity of this notion over a long period of time
dragon that guards this soul-pearl has to be
72 Maqālāt-i Shams-i Tabrīzī, ed Muwaḥḥid, M A ,
Great King is identified as Parthia in verse 40; idem, 1959,
Tehran, 1369/1990, p 313, as cited in idem, pp 86–7
p 58
73 Schimmel, 1987, p 89
79 Cf Reitzenstein, 1916, pp 44–5 and n 2 (on p 44);
74 Tr Touati, 2006, p 179
Adam, 1959, p 75; Drijvers, 1991, pp 380–4; Russell, 2004,
75 Cf Daneshvari, 1993, p 24
pp 1261–81; Mastrocinque, 2005, pp 12–4 and n 41
76 Idem, p 23
80 Adam, 1959, pp 56–7 and n 54; Colpe, 1983,
77 The Hymn of the Pearl exists in two versions, Syriac and
p 840
Greek, each represented by a single manuscript dating from
81 Cf Russell, 2004, p 1278
the tenth and eleventh century respectively Adam, 1959,
82 Adam, 1959, pp 66–7 Cf references in early Greek
pp 1–28, 84–9 Cf Parpola, 2001, p 182 Although it appears
and Indo-Iranian literature to a colourful robe which is often
in one of the apocryphal writings of the Acts of Thomas the
likened to the sky; Janda, 2010, p 83 and n 126
Apostle (chs 108–13), it has a non- and pre-Christian char-
83 Cf Parpola, 2001, p 181
acter Adam, 1959, p 61
84 Russell, 2004, p 1284
78 It probably stems from a heroic cycle from Parthian
85 Reitzenstein, 1916, p 46 and n 1; Widengren, 1960,
Iranian culture (247 bc–224 ad) since the kingdom of the
p 27 Colpe, 1983, p 840
204