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Mystical Shakespeare Draws the Audience ‘Through the Rug’
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William Shakespeare
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On
Wednesday November 24, as part of the Islam Awareness Week[1],
Shakespeare’s Globe Theater[2]
hosted a lecture by the venerable Dr Martin Lings[3]
on Shakespeare’s empathy with Sufi philosophy as revealed in Othello and other
plays. Dr Martin Lings (Abu Bakr Siraj al-Din) is known as a Universalist and
has his own following of highly intellectual and educated Muslims. The hall, as
to be expected, was full. Present was Fouad Nahdi of Q-News, who played a great
part in organizing the event, ‘Abd Al-Adheem Sanders, whose photographs are
part of an exhibition at the Globe and Sheikh Hamza Yusuf.
Illuminated
under spotlights, his figure enlarged on a screen at the back of the stage, was
Dr Martin Lings: ninety-six years old, wearing plain, dark clothes, he appeared
as almost half-spirit, half-human. He talked for one-and-a-half hours, but it
seemed that either he had not had time to prepare his speech—although the
lectern in front of him was piled with carefully written notes—or that at
ninety-six years old, his clarity and train of thought are faltering somewhat.
Altogether,
the lecture was an amalgamation of references to various plays, including Othello,
Hamlet, King Lear, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Measure for
Measure. However, these references often turned into lengthy descriptions of
plots, with virtually no mystical exegesis or insights actually related to
Islam. Dr Lings did say that most of Shakespeare’s later plays, the tragedies,
are about the jihad al-akbar, or the jihad al-nafs, in which the
hero, such as Othello or Hamlet, must overcome certain weaknesses in his soul;
but saying that this is what the hero needs to do is different from actually
demonstrating how he does so according to Islamic methods.
Dr
Lings said that it is of no importance whether Shakespeare actually knew
anything about Islam or not; what is important is that his plays contain the
same messages about human nature and the journey of the soul as are found in the
Islamic mystical tradition. Dr Lings said that Shakespeare’s plays contain
either angelic or demonic characters—which is perhaps an understatement. As an
example, Dr Lings mentioned that in King Lear, Cordelia is the angelic character
and her two elder sisters are “bad characters.” He said that Cordelia also
represents “the spirit.” A more precise definition of what he meant by
“the spirit” would have been helpful—whether he meant “the spirit” as
a principle or “the spirit” as an aspect of the human being. He did not
demonstrate how he arrived at this conclusion.
He
then said that Macbeth cannot fit into the category of the hero on the jihad
al-akbar, since he sinks lower and lower into villainy; but nevertheless,
King Duncan represents the Primordial Age. Dr Lings mentioned the millennium
when Christ will return again and everything will become perfect.
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The Globe Theatre
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Dr
Lings then switched to talking about the inner dimensions of Roman Catholicism,
which, given his Universalism, is understandable. He mentioned that the Roman
Catholic Church has always allowed a “third order” for married people. This
third order follows what happens in the convents and monasteries. The Rosy
Cross, one of the Orders of Chivalry, “had the same profound significance as
the turuq [orders] in Islam. They were bent on purifying themselves.” I
can infer from this that he was trying to say that there existed in European
culture, even before Shakespeare’s time, those who followed a similar path as
the mystics and mystical orders of Islam.
Then
Dr Lings asked rhetorically, “But Shakespeare the man—what of him?” And he
went on to describe how some of the characters in Shakespeare’s plays can be
said to be self-portraits, such as Prospero in The Tempest, or the Duke
in Measure for Measure. However, this is something which has been
discussed in detail by scholars for many years. It would have been good here, if
Dr Lings could have given some comparison between Prospero or the Duke and other
similar figures in the Islamic religious and literary traditions. The figures of
Prospero and the Duke contain many contradictions, but these were not mentioned.
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A famous scene from Shakespeare’s play
Hamlet |
Dr
Lings then went on to discuss Hamlet, during which he said that “the
audience wants to see Hamlet alone on stage with his mother,” although exactly
what spiritual or mystical significance this would have had was not explained.
We were then read a section from the play.
Dr
Lings moved on to Othello, for which he said that Emilia, Iago’s wife,
has a great quality which Othello does not have, she can see that Desdemona is a
saint. Did Dr Lings mean a wali (friend of Allah) here? Or did he mean a
Christian saint? Or was he using his own term in a looser sense? Also, saying
that Desdemona is a saint is questionable. There have been many readings and
interpretations of Desdemona, and in one section of the play she uses quite lewd
language, but in Dr Lings’s reading, these contradictory aspects of her
personality were ignored.
Dr
Lings then paused to look through his notes, read the audience the final scene
from the play, and struggled to make some kind of meaningful interpretation out
of it, although he did say that the marital bed, in which Desdemona is murdered,
represents “the end of the lesser mysteries,” which Dante called Hell and
Purgatory, and “the beginning of the greater mysteries,” which are the
ascent through different degrees of Paradise to the meeting with God. Dr Lings
said that most of Shakespeare’s plays deal with the lesser mysteries, but Othello
ends with the beginning of the great mysteries. How exactly, and it what sense,
again was not clarified.
After
outlining the plot of Measure for Measure, during which he said that
Isabella needs to overcome a “hardness of the soul” (again, a far more
complex issue when one actually looks at the play), Dr Lings concluded by saying
that Shakespeare’s plays are like a kilim, a type of rug from
Morocco—one side is beautifully patterned, while the other side is chaotic.
The audience is facing the chaotic side and Shakespeare draws the audience
‘through the rug’ (see Henry Corbin’s essay on the mundus imaginalis
to gain some understanding of this seemingly bizarre metaphor) so that it is
facing the right side, where they see all the beauty and harmony of the
universe. Dr Lings said that Shakespeare’s plays always end by leaving the
audience feeling that “all is well,” even a tragedy like Othello.
Again, this point is extremely difficult to agree with for anyone who has seen
even a handful of Shakespeare’s plays.
Dr
Lings concluded by saying that one thing that God cannot do is to stop the
radiation of His goodness. God is always intervening to remedy the evil in the
world. At this point, Dr Lings said, “I think I’ve said enough,” and the
audience applauded.
Sheikh
Hamza Yusuf came on stage to thank Dr Lings and to express his appreciation, for
it was one of Dr Lings’s books which had brought Islam to his attention when
he was young. Sheikh Hamza then read out one of Dr Lings’s own poems, called
“The Meeting Place.” This is a profoundly beautiful poem and conveys
something of the clarity and insight which are unfortunately no longer apparent.
If only the lecture had been a discussion of Sidi Abu Bakr Siraj al-Din’s own
poetry.
Aisha
R. Masterton holds a BA in Japanese language and literature
and an MA in Comparative East Asian and African Literature from the
School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London. She is
currently working on a PhD on Islamic mystical and philosophical
influences in West African literature. You can contact her at ahabrasul@yahoo.co.uk
[1]
Islam Awareness Week (22-28 November) is part the Globe’s “Shakespeare and
Islam” season. The aim of Islam Awareness Week is to invite Muslims to share
Islam with the public at large, providing information about its message and way
of life, and to remove misunderstandings in the process. Renowned authors,
scholars and creative artists are contributing to a unique programme of events
designed to engage a wide audience in cross-cultural dialogue.
[2]
Built in 1599 in Southwark, a district of London, the Globe Theatre became the
location where many of Shakespeare's most renowned plays were first performed.
The reconstructed Globe was built exactly as it would have appeared over 400
years ago.
[3]
Dr Martin Lings was Keeper of Oriental Manuscripts and Printed Books at the
British Museum, where he had been in special charge of Qur’anic manuscripts
for a number of years. He has a degree in Arabic from London University and held
a lectureship at Cairo University. Born in 1908, he reverted to Islam in 1939.
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