The Eye of the Heart ('ayn al qalb)

Primordial Intelligence

 "... It is not the eyes that are blind, but the hearts.." 

    - Quran 22.46

There is a famous story of Ibn Sina (the great philosopher) meeting Abu Sa'id al Kharraz (the Sufi master):

"A philosopher met a Sufi one day, and they instantly hit it off. The two talked for days on end, completing each others sentences. Finally, when they parted company, the philosopher reported on the conversation:

'All that I know, he [actually] sees'

Next, the Sufi gave his account:
'All that I see, he knows'"1

"The Intellect was originally considered a “seeing” faculty centred in the Heart; it has now been reduced to a purely rational faculty located in the brain. So pervasive has been the impact of Western thought that the original meaning of the word ‘intellect’ is no longer retrievable as a means of distinguishing the higher faculty from the lower one."2

When we say that the Intellect was once a seeing faculty, we are referring to Plato's “eye of the soul”, the “eye of the heart” in Islamic spirituality, the “third eye” in Hindu and Buddhist doctrines, or “the inner eye” (Chante Ognata) in Native American beliefs. This is one reason why traditional sages are always called “seers”. Rene Guenon wrote in 1924,

"...Westerners of today no longer know what pure intellect is; in fact they do not even suspect that anything of the kind can exist; hence their disdain, not only for Eastern civilization, but also for the Middle Ages of Europe, whose spirit escapes them scarcely less completely" 

In Guenon's view, the reduction of intellect to reason should not be regarded as an evolutionary advance. On the contrary, it is a loss of primordial intelligence. 

Notes

* Reason divides and fragments reality. It sees only segments but not the circle.

Imam 'Ali  

"It is reported that Imam 'Ali رضي الله عنه was asked by one of his companions, Dhi’lib al-Yamani, “Have you seen your Lord?” The Imam replied, “I would not worship a lord whom I have not seen.” He was then asked, “How did you see Him?” The Imam replied, “The eyes cannot see Him with a glance, it is rather the hearts that perceive Him through the verities of faith”4

This mode of perception is referred to in Sufism as “unveiling” (kashf). It is to raise oneself above the realms of mundane awareness to a more profound level of perception.

Spiritual “unveiling” leads to the direct perception (‘iyan) of spiritual realities and removes the doubt associated with the rational faculty. Notably, this knowledge has its foundation in the Quranic verse 50:22:

“Thou wast heedless of this; but We have removed thy veil, and piercing is thy vision this day.”

Imam al-Ghazali (d. 1111), arguably the most influential thinker in Islamic history, was the first to insist on “unveiling” as the highest mode of cognition. The ancient Greeks refer to this supra-rational knowledge as 'gnosis' or 'jnana' in Sanskrit. It was this knowledge which gave al-Ghazali the certainty which he sought and cured him of his doubt and scepticism as a philosopher. Rational knowledge is important but ultimately it can only offer probabilities (e.g. ten proofs for the existence of God) which is not the same as certitude, even if it is of a very high order.  

Imam al-Ghazali defined Sufism as 'taste' (dhawq), because its goal could be summed up as a direct experience of the Truth. The Imam says,

"It became clear to me that the Sufis were people who had real experiences, not men of words, and that I had already progressed as far as possible in terms of intellectual apprehension. What remained for me was not to be attained by study, but only by direct experience (dhawq) and by embarking upon the mystical quest."

"He who tastes knows..." - Rabia al-Basri

NOTES

* The Buddha was asked to describe his supreme experience of Nirvana (Enlightenment), but he chose to maintain a noble silence. According to a Zen proverb,

“Those who know don't tell... those who tell don’t know” 

* Almost all Sufi orders trace their origins back to Imam 'Ali رضي الله عنه, who is regarded as their highest authority after the Prophet ﷺ himself and is revered by all Muslims for his profound knowledge.

Faith and Modernity 

Karen Armstrong argues that faith was not based on logical proofs or rational arguments in earlier times; it was something that needed to be cultivated through the rituals of religion. The meaning behind religious dogma would only be revealed when one lived its tradition fully, embracing its truths and rituals wholeheartedly.  "This attitude is foreign to modernity", she says. 

"Today people feel that they can only live a religious life if they first satisfy themselves intellectually of its metaphysical claims. This is sound scientific practise: first, you must establish a principle before you can apply it but it is not the way religion has traditionally worked. In the modern world, faith has come to mean an acceptance of creedal truths as objective facts. When people find that they are not convinced by the co-called “proofs” of God, they think they have lost their faith. Because the doctrines cannot be demonstrated logically and empirically, they seem untrue. Our Western modernity has lead us to an entirely different notion of truth, and, as a result, we can no longer be religious in quite the same way as our ancestors."

    - Karen Armstrong

References

1. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
2.Going Beyond Thinking Skills: Reviving an Understanding of Higher Human Faculties by Jeremy Henzell-Thomas (Paraphrased)

3. East and West 
4. The Sacred Foundations of Justice in Islam: The Teachings of ʻAlī Ibn Abī Ṭālib By M. Ali Lakhani, Reza Shah-Kazemi and Leonard Lewisohn, page 30

5. Faith and Modernity. This Essay by Karen Armstrong can be found in Harry Oldmeadows book titled, The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity, page 73