Erotic Spirituality

 

Burning Veils: Erotic Spirituality and Gender Fluid Mysticism in Sufi and Cross-Religious Poetics

By Farheen Bhuiyan Nancy

Timeframe: Mirpur Cantonment, Dhaka | 11:19 AM

Abstract

This essay explores the erotic mysticism of Persian Sufi poets such as Jalaluddin Rumi and Hafiz, and compares them with the Christian mystic St. John of the Cross, focusing on how love, longing, and desire are spiritualized and rendered gender-fluid. It examines how Sufi metaphysics dissolves binary distinctions—between lover and Beloved, male and female, self and God—and uses the language of the body to speak of the soul. Through this lens, eroticism is not merely tolerated within mysticism but becomes a sacred passageway to annihilation (fana) and divine union.

I. The Erotic Turn in Spiritual Poetics

Throughout mystical literature, erotic language has served as a conduit to describe what lies beyond language: union with the Divine. Whether in the moans of Hafiz, the yearning sighs of Rumi, or the dark ecstasy of St. John of the Cross, the body's desire becomes the soul's metaphor.

"I am your lover. Come to my side. I will open the gate to your love."
—Rumi

"I entered into unknowing, and there I remained unknowing, transcending all knowledge."
—St. John of the Cross

Here, the erotic is not about physical gratification—it is mystical disintegration, a longing so overwhelming that it breaks the self into fragments of divine light. Desire is thus sanctified, not suppressed.

II. Gender in Sufi Mysticism: A Dissolution, Not Reversal

In classical Persian Sufism, gender roles are not subverted—they are transcended.

  • The Beloved, though often addressed in male pronouns (as in poems to Shams), is ontologically androgynous, symbolic of Divine Beauty (Jamal).

  • The seeker (salik) is genderless in spirit, though often metaphorically feminized—indicating receptivity, surrender, and longing.

"I am woman in pain for Him, though I am man."
—Attar of Nishapur

This spiritual androgyny aligns with Ibn Arabi’s cosmology, where the Perfect Human (Insan al-Kamil) embodies both male and female principles. In his Bezels of Wisdom, he claims:

"The most complete contemplation of God is through woman."

Thus, femininity becomes theophanic—a mirror reflecting divine beauty, not biological limitation. The erotic, then, is both gendered and beyond gender—a place of transfiguration, not identification.

III. Rumi, Hafiz, and St. John of the Cross: A Comparative Axis

Poet Tradition Eroticism Gendered Symbolism Goal
Rumi Sufi Islam Erotic metaphors (kiss, wine, union) Shams = male Beloved, but God is beyond gender Fana (annihilation in God)
Hafiz Sufi Islam Celebratory sensuality and divine intoxication Wine-bearer is often feminine; ambiguity reigns Joyful merging with the Beloved
St. John Christian Mysticism Erotic longing, body metaphors ("wound", "kiss", "bed") Soul as feminine bride of Christ Union mystica—divine consummation

All three poets speak erotically but mean mystically. They sanctify the language of sensuality not to dwell in the body but to launch the soul beyond it. For each, the erotic is an ontological invitation—a place where veils fall, dualities dissolve, and the seeker burns.

IV. Burning as a Spiritual Process

In both Hafiz and St. John, burning symbolizes purification through love.

“Love lit a fire in my chest, and anything that wasn't love left."
—Hafiz

“O living flame of love that tenderly wounds my soul!”
—St. John

This wound, this flame, is a spiritual orgasm—a rupture that births silence, stillness, and the unnamable. The mystic is not ashamed of longing. In fact, longing is proof of the divine trace within.

V. Contemporary Resonances and Feminist Reclamations

Today, this intersection of eroticism, mysticism, and gender offers powerful models of resistance and reclamation. Feminist mystics (like Fatima Mernissi, Leila Ahmed, and Luce Irigaray) have noted that mystical language often allows women and other marginalized bodies to subvert hegemonic theology through embodied spirituality.

The “female” mystic need not be literal—she can be a man in surrender, a soul in rapture, a poet in flames. Erotic mysticism gives us a fluid, decolonial language of the sacred—a space where love is not censored, and God is not male.

VI. Conclusion: The Veil Between Love and God

In the works of Rumi, Hafiz, and St. John of the Cross, we encounter not forbidden love, but love as the forbidden door—the trembling gate between the soul and the Real. The erotic becomes epistemic: it teaches, reveals, breaks. It is not contrary to mysticism—it is mysticism, when longing is all that remains and language becomes a flame.

References

  • Ibn Arabi (1980). Bezels of Wisdom.

  • Rumi (2004). The Essential Rumi, trans. Coleman Barks.

  • Hafiz (2002). The Gift, trans. Daniel Ladinsky.

  • St. John of the Cross (1991). Dark Night of the Soul.

  • Irigaray, Luce (1985). This Sex Which Is Not One.

  • Mernissi, Fatima (1991). The Veil and the Male Elite.

  • Schimmel, Annemarie (1975). Mystical Dimensions of Islam.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

শিল্পীর মৃত্যু

Image
  কবি ফারহিন আক্তার ভূঁইয়া ন্যান্সি জন্মেছেন মরুভূমির দেশ আমিরাতের ফুজেরার দিব্বা শহরে। বাবা ফজলুল হক ভূঁইয়ার চাকুরি সূত্রে দুবাইতে অবস্থান করেছেন অর্ধেক জীবন। ফারহিন ন্যান্সি , দেশে এসে পড়াশুনা করছেন বর্তমানে , ঢাকা বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের সমাজবিজ্ঞান বিভাগের স্নাতকোত্তর পর্যায়ে। ছোটবেলা থেকে লেখালেখির সাথে সম্পৃক্ত কবির বেশ কয়টি লেখা কবিতা প্রকাশিত হয়েছে বিভিন্ন পত্র - পত্রিকা , লিটয় ম্যাগাজিনগুলো এবং সংকলনে। ইউএসএইড ২০১৯ - এ সেরা পঞ্চাশ গল্পরচিয়তার মধ্যে স্থান পেয়েছেন। এছাড়াও , বিশ্ববিদ্যালয়ের সাহিত্য সাময়িকীসহ , ব্লগে নিয়মিত লেখেন। বাংলা - কবিতা ডটকমে বেশ সরব ছিলেন। দেশ্মাতৃকাকে ভালোবেসে , দেশ ও মাটির মানুষের জন্যে উনি গভীর অন্তর্দৃষ্টি দিয়ে দর্শনসমৃদ্ধ কবিতা রচয়ন করেন। মানুষের মুক্তি ও উত্তরণ তার লেখালেখির উদ্দেশ্য।                   শিল্পীর মৃত্যু                   ...
Read more

Deconstructed love

Image
 This breath is century old- the chilling breeze in the bridge, All the bright stars are covered in silver clouds, I have come across a long way- a long way before any of the bridges were built, Everything was meant to melt away like the snow in my hands near the fireplace, I have run in the woods before, I sang the love song earlier before the morning birds chirped, Will my eyes be tired of seeing the endless beauty that these mornings offer? Will my soul be worn out at the peace of such bliss? Love was never meant to be in partiality but it is, It is not wholesome like the solitary mornings, Even the brightest of all the shades fades away in the cruelest noon, The freezing vibes get itchy, But it's at the sunset point after the foggy morning when we meet at the cleared alley, Before that, every bridge has to be burnt that we have crossed, Before that, every soul should die before we become the awakened one! The falsehood of self portrayed by us in various temporalities,  Bef...
Read more

The fate of the mountain and the fountain

Image
 Ask that rock,  Ask that fountain,  How they moved on! The fountain said, You just accept and move on,  Or you accept and stay still like the rock and become like a mountain,  Standing tall, standing straight, persistent amongst all the odds,  The rock smiled briefly and shrugged,  But, I never knew beyond the storms!  Never discovered new horizons,  And, never did I mark into a land of ooze nor did I step into a flowing river!  I did not know collaboration,  All I knew was to stand alone and strong!  Then, the fountain said,  At least, you are being yourself and your essence is completely yours, you smell like a rock but I smell like a dumpster of algae,  But, I chose to accept it anyways what came into my ways and kept moving on! Now, I lost my essence becoming something else!  My identity is lost,  The rock smirked,  You did not loose your identity, instead embraced a new one,  Your identity is...
Read more