The Thoughts of Saʿd al-Dīn Ḥammuyyī on Theoretical Mysticism

Saʿd al-Dīn Ḥammuyyī, the well-known mystics of the 7th/13th century, was from a Shāfi'ī family who have had a long history (about 400 years) in Egypt and Syria. Saʿd al-Dīn belonged to the Kābravi Order and was one of the prominent disciples of Shaikh Nadjm al-Dīn Kubrā. He was one of the first Sufis who explicitly confirmed the absolute sainthood of Shiite Imāms. He wrote several books and treatises contained mysterious sayings, mathematical figures and shapes and full of mystical terms, these materials are sometimes hard to understand. Most parts of his writings are unpublished and still preserve in manuscript form in the libraries and it is one of the serious obstacles to survey his mystical thoughts. In this article we review some of his main treatises such as Maḥbub al-ʾaulīā, fī Ulum al-Ḥaqāyiq va al-Daqāyiq, Lataʾif al-Tawḥīd fī Gharāʾib al-Tafrīd and al-Miṣbaḥ fī al-Taṣawwuf. Moreover we survey the words of his distinguished dispel, ʿAzīz al-Dīn Nasafī. We try to describe his teachings on ontology especially his ideas about the theories of oneness of Being, basicality of Being and modulation of existence. We also compare some of his teachings with his contemporary mystic, Muḥī al-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī.