Abstract
Research on the works of the Flemish mystic Hadewijch of Brabant and the Persian Sufi mystic Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī, two 13th century mystics from different cultures and religions, demonstrates remarkable similarities regarding their mystical viewpoints. Both made use of the metaphor of marriage, characteristic of the spiritual tradition of bridal mysticism, to describe the soul’s intimate relationship with the divine. According to Bell (2020) Christian mysticism and Sufism are joined at the heart, and Vaughan-Lee is quoted as follows: “They are kindred pathways of transfigurations through love. Both traditions have an epitomized metaphor of ‘a cosmic love song that begins in exile and ends in divine intimacy’.”
The aim of this article is to highlight and examine Hadewijch’s and Rumi’s shared views on bridal mysticism in particular, but also other striking resemblances in their work. Hadewijch is introduced by way of Tom Gouws’s mystical poem “Hadewijch in die moerbeiboom”, with a discussion to illustrate her mysticism.
Hadewijch and Rumi, their respective cultural backgrounds, biographical details, and works are presented. Though relatively little is known about the beguine Hadewijch, it is clear that she was well educated and that she loved God deeply. Minnemystik, ecstatic love for God, was Hadewijch’s central concept, and it acts as the focal point of her belief system. Scholars have described the Sufi poet Rumi as one of the most outstanding poets, and the greatest mystical poet Persia ever produced. His religion is referred to as that of love. He was a prolific writer, creating more than 60 000 lines of poetry, and is still popular today.
In the works of both poets, embodied love is expressed by eroticism. Hadewijch’s religious love lyrics were forged from two extant and seemingly opposing traditions: the courtly love lyrics of the troubadours and minnesingers, and the theology of the churchmen. However, an amalgamation does not take place; what emerges is a state that can exist in and of itself, resisting synthesis. As with Sufi verses which have a similar secular basis, namely pre-Islamic love poetry (qasida), both meanings remain present.
Both Hadewijch’s mysticism and Sufism share the view based on the Neoplatonic belief that the soul contains something of its origin and longs and desires to be united again.
Three main areas of similarity were identified: annihilation of the ego, the role of the intellect, and that of love and eroticism. These are discussed in detail and illustrated with quotes from their works in each case.
Hadewijch’s mystical path entailed annihilation of the ego, a radical transformation in which the soul approaches a divine likeness, transcends individuality, and reaches a deeper spiritual reality. This resonates with an important Sufi doctrine, namely that the mystic should discard the ego, the lower self or nafs, before union with God can be attained.
Regarding the role of the intellect, Hadewijch emphasised that intellect and love both lead to God, but believed love was superior. Her view was that the intellect was that part of a person that is renewed and enlightened as a result of ecstatic, affective mystical experiences. Sufism emphasises ma’rifa which is direct knowledge of the self and from God. It is called “unveiling”, which is the form of visionary imaginary knowledge. Rumi differentiated between Partial Intellect and Universal Knowledge. Partial Knowledge or the human intellect is veiled by the impurity of the ego, and Rumi believed that only love brings about existential purification. In this way Rumi advances a paradoxical epistemology in which love’s fire does not extinguish intellect but burns away its pride.
A discussion of love mysticism and the use of erotic metaphors, especially in mystical texts, follows. Since ancient times, poets used motifs of human love and erotic metaphors to express love for the divine. Carr (2003:145) calls this phenomenon “cross-over”, which is widespread across world religions such as Christianity (Song of Songs), Sufism (the spectacular mystical visions of Rumi), Judaism, Tibetan Tantric meditation, and Hinduism.
Pseudo-Denys’ (c. 550–610 AD) Neoplatonic view was that love (eros) leads God to move outside of God’s self, without any diminishing of God. As a result, all of creation yearns erotically to return to God. Eros therefore becomes a unifying force within creation, with God moving out of himself in ecstasy, while everything yearns ecstatically to return to God.
The role of Solomon’s Song of Songs with its highly erotic metaphors and long, complex history is at the centre of bridal mysticism in Christianity. Origen of Alexandria (185–254 AD) was the first to interpret it mystically as the love relationship between God and his people.
In the following section the love mysticism of Hadewijch and Rumi respectively is more closely examined.
Hadewijch’s minne is an experience where the soul experiences her relation to God from the dynamics of a relationship. She believed the God-human relationship obtained an erotic character, not in order to serve eroticism, but to be in the service of transcendence. Hadewijch assimilated the mysticism of St. Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153), father of bridal mysticism, and adapted the concepts and terminology of the troubadours’ courtly love for Christian purposes.
Since early days Sufis applied the language of love poetry as metaphor to symbolise the transcendental experience in which the worshipper becomes an ecstatic lover of God. In his great Mathnavī-i’ ma‘anvī, Rumi used the bridal metaphor for the spiritual union of the human soul, symbolised as a bride, and God. This imagery is deeply rooted in other Persian classical mystical texts.
Lastly, seemingly homoerotic language in the quoted verses by both Hadewijch and Rumi is examined. In medieval erotic mystical texts such as those by St. Bernard of Clairvaux, feminine pronouns dominate in descriptions of the contemplative soul who, as bride, enters into marriage with God.
Hadewijch believed that God was above gender, and used feminine terminology almost interchangeably with masculine pronouns. According to Hoyt (2024:14) Hadewijch’s fluid use of erotic imagery enabled her to develop “thick layers of spiritual metaphors and tantalizing descriptions of homoerotic discourse”. By the deliberate use of images of gender reversal and the paradox inherent in such images, Hadewijch underlines the profound otherness of the relationship between the creature and its Creator, a relationship quite unlike any human relationship.
Rumi used both erotic and homoerotic metaphors to express spiritual union and the intense mystical relationship between man and God. This kind of imagery is deeply rooted in other classical Persian mystical texts. As contextual background to Rumi’s homoerotic language, certain sociocultural aspects of the medieval Abbasid era are highlighted. The strict segregation between men and women gave rise to the development of strong bonds between men, especially in Sufi orders where mystical knowledge was conveyed from masters to disciples and rituals were practised together. Praising adolescent young men for their beauty was regarded as praising God. Homoerotic imagery, so prevalent in medieval Sufi poetry, was therefore a natural development in a society influenced by an implicit concept of male masculinity as the normative ideal. Erotic themes in the poetry of the Abbasid and Umayyad courts were sublimated by Sufi poets who thereby expressed a homoerotic longing for God.
What appears to be homoerotic in the works of both Hadewijch and Rumi should therefore be understood in the contexts of their cultural backgrounds.
This article confirms that Hadewijch as well Rumi made use of bridal metaphors in order to express their love for God and becoming one with him.
In the words of Evelyn Underhill (1930:84):
The jewels of mystical literature glow with this intimate and impassioned love of the Absolute; which transcends the dogmatic language in which it is clothed and becomes applicable to mystics of every race and creed. There is little difference in this between the extremes of Eastern and Western thought: between A Kempis the Christian and Jalalu ‘d Din the Moslem saint.
Keywords: bridal mysticism; erotic metaphors; Hadewijch of Brabant; homoerotic metaphors; minnemystik; mysticism; Rumi; Sufism
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