East and West
Kahl% the Mystic and her Fellow-Saints in Islam. By Margaret Smith, M.A., Ph.D. (Cambridge University Press. 10e. 6d.) The Life of Richard Rolle, together with an Edition of his English Lyrics. By Frances M. M. Comper. (Dent and
• Sons. 100.--13d.)
h is said of Rabra the mystic, that she was accustomed to pray in theSe terms : " 0 my God, my concern and my desire in this world, is that I should rediemVer Thee above all the things of this world, and in the next, that out of all who are in that world, I should meet with _Thee alone."
'And Richard Rolle; asking " What is Love ? " replies :— • "Love is a. burning yearning after God, with a wonderful
deliglift-and'eeitainfir. God is light and burning ; light clirifies our reason; burning-kindles our desires, that we desire nought :but.flim."
So closely do' Rut and West, sun and Christian feeling, 'approach one another as they -draw near the summits of the spiritual life. Dr. Margaret Smith's admirable study • ;of
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RAM's and the women saints of Islam gains greatly in significance on one hand through her constant and alert remembrance of this fact ; on the other, by her refusal to be obsessed by it. She has thus made of her work a contribution to the comparative study of religion, at a level where such comparisons are most interesting and valuable : that, namely, of direct experience. Ribi`a, as many readers will like to be reminded, is one of the most eminent of Moslem saints. Attar, writing of her four hundred years after her death, was not afraid to describe her as "that woman who lost herself in union with the Divine ; that one accepted by men as a second spotless Mary "—language which Catholic hagio- graphers would hesitate to apply even to St. Catherine or St. Teresa. Born in Basra about A.D. 717, it is said that she was sold into slavery as a girl ; but her master, having discovered her one night in prayer, surrounded by a super- natural light, released her ; and she then adopted the life of the Moslem ascetic, which she followed till her death in 801. The details of her career are difficult to make out : much that is told of her being obviously legendary. But her enduring influence, and the importance of her teaching for the develop- ment of S6fi mysticism, belong to the realm of fact. Her successors in the Way quote her sayings, as those of a teacher of the highest authority ; and place her among those rare mystics who do not depend on human instruction, but are taught by God alone.
Rilbi`a would have agreed with those Christian mystics who find in mortification and prayer the two-fold pathway to reality ; and in loving union with God the only satisfaction of the soul. She teaches as regards this world an extreme detachment ; whilst as regards the mystic goal, though Dr. Smith insists that she shows no inclination to pantheism, her language—like that of all advanced Siifis—eertainly appears to involve the doctrine of deification. Her closest affinities, among the Christian mystics, seem to be with those who derive from Eckhart ; and this is not surprising, when we consider the influence of Neoplatonism on Sufi doctrine. Nevertheless, whatever the philosophic implications of her teaching, the secret and attitude of 11613i'a are the secret and attitude of all saints. We reach the heart of her spirituality in the words with which she would begin her nights of prayer : " 0 my Lord, the stars are shining and the eyes of men are closed, and kings have shut their doors and every lover is alone with his beloved, and here am I alone with Thee."
In the second part of her book Dr. Smith gives a particularly lucid and sympathetic account of the Sufi " path," illustrated by appropriate quotations from Christian and Moslem mystics. Penitence and Hope are the first degrees of the Way ; larce and Satisfaction -its end. The attraction of the great Sails consists, very largely, in this unswerving theocentric devotion, with its entire aloofness from all question of rewards and punishments other than the supreme consummation of mergence in Deity. In these respects Rtibi`a stands high among the saints. When asked what she had to say about Paradise, she replied, " First the Neighbour—then the house ! " saying which those who busily explore the conditions of " personal survival " might well keep and ponder in their hearts. Dr. Smith ends this very distinguished and valuable monograph with accounts of the present position of mystical religion, and the cultus of the women saints in Islam ; and an estimate of their importance for the future of Moslem piety.
Miss Frances Comper is already known for her modernized versions of several of Richard Rolle's vernacular works. She has now given us, in modern spelling, the text of the lyrics usually attributed to him ; placing together those which are most probably authentic, and giving some account of the chief MS. sources. This is a valuable addition to the accessible works of the early English Mystics ; at last allowing the ordinary reader to estimate Rolle's status as a religious poet. It is true that the strong family likeness existing between most English devotional lyrics of his period makes it almost impos- sible to separate with certainty Richard's own work from that of his contemporaries and imitators. All we can say is that while several of these songs have the strongest claims to authenticity, all are charged with the peculiar feeling charac- teristic of Rolle and his school ; and can be taken together as representative of his poetic style. The larger, but less important; part of the book consists in an elaborate and Cour- ageous attempt to reconstruct the life of Richard and analyse
his mysticism. It is a great misfortune lot Miss Comper that this was practically finished before the appearance of Miss Hope Allen's authoritative work on the Rolle Canon, with its careful estimate of the materials available for his biography. Before Miss Allen published the result of her researches, these materials consisted of the " Legend " as given in the Office composed in Rolle's honour, and the deductions which might be drawn from self-revelations in his works. But the notices extracted by her from the Melutn and other unpublished writings compel us to revise in many important respects our view of his character and career ; and disturb at several points the foundations on which Miss Comper has built. This part of her work has therefore to be accepted with reserve. In- cluded in it is an interesting study of life in Oxford in Rolle's
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