Islamic Mystic Abu Yazid & Advaita

In his insightful treatise "Hindu & Muslim Mysticism", R. C. Zaehner writes about Abu Yazid, the Sufi Mystic. He was born in the village of Bistam in Western Khorasan, Iran, in 804 A.D. His father & uncles were ascetics & so was he, who for the first time in Islam, dared to make himself equal with the deity. It was he who first said "I am He", echoing the famous "Tat Twam Asi" of the Chandogya Upanishad & the "Aham Brahmasmi" of the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad.

He also reportedly said "Subhani" (Glory be to me), which is blasphemous to Muslim ears. But "Mahyam Eva namo namah" says Brihatsannyasa Upanishad, meaning "Homage, homage to me." He is also reported to have said "I have sloughed off my skin like a snake & I am He." Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, (4.4.7, 12) says "As the sloughed off skin of a snake lies, so does this body lie." But a man should know himself & should say, "I am He."

"As soon as I reached God's unity, I became a bird, flew & perched on a tree. I Iooked down & then I knew it was all deceit." says Abu Yazid. So did Shankara in his "Brahma Satyam Jagat Mithya" in his "Viveka Chudamani." Incidentally the Quran (47:36) also says "This world is but a sport & diversion", echoing the "Maya" theory of Advaita. This tree also seems to be none other than the Cosmic Tree of Katha Upanishad (also mentioned in the Mundaka & Svetasvatara Upanishads.)

To avoid a head-on collision with the religious authorities, he encouraged the idea that he was mad. Also Naradaparivrajaka Upanishad says that the perfect sannyasin should behave like an idiot. Dr. Margaret Smith, in her "Early  Mysticism in the near & middle East" writes that early Muslim  Mysticism is, in its overwhelming emphasis on the love of God, so much indebted to the thoughts of the Christian Mystics of a slightly earlier period. On the contrary, mainstream Islam, promises believers the delights of a sensual Paradise, while making it quite clear that Allah does not reside there.

To conclude, Abu Yazid may have absorbed the new (for Muslims) doctrine of "Fanaa" (dying in mystical union with Allah) from his mentor, Abu Ali al-Sindi. He was also born just later than Adi Shankaracharya (8th Century.) Abu Yazid's s ideas seem quite similar to the ideas of "Jeevan Muktas" of Advaita, namely Sri Ramakrishna & Bhagawan Ramana Maharshi.

Bibliography:

The Following Upanishads.

1. Brihadaranyaka.
2. Brihatsannyasa.
3. Chandogya.
4. Katha.
5. Mundaka.
6. Naradaparivrajaka.
7. Svetasvatara.

Others:

1. Adi Shankara, Viveka Chudamani.
2. Smith, Dr.Margaret. "Early Mysticism in the Near & Middle East.
3. The Holy Quran.
4. Zaehner, R.C. "Hindu & Muslim Mysticism."