Ashath (Arabic:شطحšaṭḥ, plural:šaṭaḥāt oršaṭḥiyyāt),[1] in theIslamic mystical tradition ofSufism, is anecstatic utterance which may be outrageous in character. The word is derived from the root š-ṭ-ḥ, which carries the sense of overflowing or outpouring caused by agitation.[1] Famousshathiyat include “Glory be to me, how great is my majesty” byBayazid Bastami and “I am the Truth” byMansur Al-Hallaj.[2][3]Sufi authors sometimes claimed that such utterances were misquotations or attributed them to immaturity, madness, or intoxication. At other times they regarded them as authentic expressions of spiritual states, even profoundest experience of divine realities, which should not be manifested to the unworthy.[1] Many Sufi authors, includingal-Ghazali, showed ambivalence about apparently blasphemous nature of someshathiyat, while admiring the spiritual status of their authors.[1][3]
The heyday ofshath occurred during theclassical period of Sufism from the ninth to twelfth century AD (the third to sixth centuryAH). The principal Sufi interpretation of theshathiyat which took the form of "I am" sayings contrasted the permanence of God (baqā’) with the mystical annihilation of the individual ego (fanā’), which made it possible for God to speak through the individual.[1] They later figured astopoi of PersianSufi poetry (especially that ofFarid al-Din Attar) before being reduced by later Sufis to mere allegories forIbn Arabi's philosophy.[4]
Because the legal notion of blasphemy was not clearly defined in Islamic law,shathiyat were treated inconsistently by legal authorities.[1] In practice, since apostasy was subsumed in the category ofzandaqa, viewing heresy as a political crime,shathiyat were prosecuted only when it was desired by political authorities.[1] Thus, such prosecutions mostly resulted from “personal vendetta, subversion of the state and party factionalism”.[5] Because of their opposition to religious norms, these ecstatic utterances play an important role in the conception ofIslamic Antinomianism.[citation needed]
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