خطبة  الطتنجية 

   [ التطنجية ]

IMAM `ALĪ  IBN ABĪ  ṬĀLIB

        The  خطبة الطتنجية  /  التطنجية  Khuṭbat al-Ṭutunjiyya or Khuṭbat al-Taṭanjiyya (= Kh-T : spelling and pointing uncertain), only loosely and inadequately translated as "The Sermon of the Gulf",  is an Arabic sermon, discourse or oration ascribed to the first Shi`i Imam `Ali ibn Abi Ṭālib (d. 40/661). It is not found in the well-known compilation of around 400 sermons (and other materials) ascribed to Imam `Ali entitled  Nahj al-Balāgha (Path of Eloquence) compiled in about 400/1009-10  by Sharīf al-Radī ibn al-Ḥusayn al-Mūsawī (d.406/1015) or in other well-known collections of materials attributed to Imam `Alī. The Kh-T has been infrequently published in the original although it can be found, however, along with the allegedly Kufa delivered Khuṭbat al-Bayān ( Sermon of the Exposition) also ascribed to Imam `Alī in volume two of the Ilzām al-nāṣib fi ithbāt al-ḥujjat al-al-ghā'ib  (5th ed. Beirut: Mu'assat al-A`lā, 1404/1984) of  Hajj Shaykh `Ali al-Yazdi al-Hā'irī (d. 1333/ 1915).   Very little studied and seldom commented upon in any language, the Kh-T is a challenging, magisterial oration containing important religious doctrines relating to Shi`i walāya (on one level Imam centered "divine providence")  and high imamology as well, for example,  as important Islamo-biblical or Isrā'īliyyāt themes or motifs. Detailed academic analysis of the vocabulary, dating,  style, Islamo-biblical / Isrā'iliyyāt dimensions  and theology-cosmology-imamology of the Kh-T has yet to be befittingly accomplished though Corbin (Annuaire,1969-70) and Lawson (Ph.d., 1987, Pt. ii Chap. 3) (see bibliography below)  have made important contributions. The varied history of the Imami Shī`ī status of the "Sermon of the Gulf"  in the light of  streams of orthodox Shī`ī  thought asserting its heterodoxy or ghuluww  ("extremist") nature is also lacking. There is no critical edition of the KH-T and no full exposition of its key position in al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism) and the sacred writings of the Bābī and Bahā'ī religions. It is hoped that the following notes will make a tentative contribution to this somewhat neglected subject.

           A few years ago I posted a revised translation of a partial rendering the  khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya  of Imam `Alī  by Khazah Fananapazir and myself on the Bahā'ī list serve Talisman.  More recently as will be seen below, I have retranslated this still speculative rendering (Oct., 2005) though it will be frequently corrected and updated on this Website (below). The Arabic text of the Kh-T will also gradually being added  alongside the translation as it is printed in the  recent edition of the Mashāriq anwār al-yāqīn  (Beirut: Dar al-Andalus, nd [199?]) of   Rajab al-Bursi (d. c. 814 /1411). In due course this will be semi-critically assessed in the light of  the text utilized by the second major Shaykhi leader Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī (d.1259/1843) as printed in his lengthy though incomplete Sharḥ khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya  (= Sh-Kh-T) (Commentary on the Sermon of the Gulf"). This later text in its seminal 1270/1853-4 lithograph edition (cf. its Kuwait printed 3 volume reprint) is obviously related to mss. text(s) of the  Mashāriq of al-Bursi which is referred to on its very first page. Select critical notes and exegetical comments will in due course (2007-8) also be added  as an appendix to the translation of the Kh-T detailed below. Therein the textual readings will be commented upon and the position of the second Shaykhi leader  regarding the Sh-Kh-T will be succinctly and selectively noted. .

          In academic sessions on this  Kh-T in the late 1960s the French Iranist Henry Corbin (1903-1978) noted that the earliest known occurrence of the Khuṭbat al-taṭanjiyya (he preferred this spelling and pointing) in Shi`i literatures was in one of the works of the 12th century Shi`i thinker Muhammad Ibn Shahrāshūb al-Māzandarānī (d. c. 588/1192), best known as the author of the Ma`ālim al-`ulamā' ("Characteristics of the Divines") and Manāqib Āl Abī Ṭālib  ("Byways of the Abī  Ṭālib Family"). As noted the Kh-T is also found in a compilation of sometimes arcane and esoteric writings ascribed to Imam `Ali by Rajab al-Bursi a few details about which will be set down.

The five "twin gulf" references in the Khuṭbat al-taṭanjiyya [ṭutunjiyya].

        The word تطنج     (in its various dual forms  with  initial ت t then ط ṭ  -- see below on the spelling) occurs five times in the Kh-T as found in the Mashāriq al-anwār  of  Rajab al-Bursi. Following the spellings in the recent Dar al-Andalus reprinting (+ ADD) the first occurrence of T-Ṭ-N-J [= Ṭ-T-N-J] from which the Kh-T ("Sermon of the Gulf")  derives its name occurs at IV:2 (see trans. below) where we have the dual form تطنجين :

انا الواقف على التطنجين

 "I [Imam `Alī] am the one who is stationed (al-wāqif ) over the two Gulfs" (al-tuṭunjayn).

 This also a few lines later at  IV:7 the word  T-T-N-J occurs in the singular then the dual:

و هي في خزف من التطنج الايمن مما يلي المشرق والتطنجان  

Such is within something earthen ware (khazaf) from the right-hand Gulf (min al-tuṭunj al-ayman)

which faces the East (al-mashriq) and towards the twin Gulfs (al-tuṭunjayn). 

Then again T-T-N-J occurs in the dual in the following line at IV:8 :

   الخليجان من الماء كأنهما أيسارتطنجين

[which are] the twin Bays of water (khalijayn min al-mā')  which seem to be to the left of the twin Gulfs (al-tuṭunjayn).

Finally, of the  five occurrences from the root T-Ṭ-N-J in the "Sermon of the Gulf",  the dual occurs again at V:4:

        لولا اصطكاك رأس افردوس واختلاط التطنجين وصريرالفلك

    يسمع من السماوات والأرض رميم حميم دخولها في الماء الأسود وهي العين الحمئة

 If it were not for the reverberation of  the summit of Paradise, the confluence of the  twin Gulfs (ikhtilaṭ al- tuṭunjayn), and the shrill sound [music] of the celestial sphere (sarīr al-falak), all that are in the heavens and the earth would hearken unto the dissipation of [solar] heat (ramīm al-ḥamīm) attendant upon the descent of the sun into the [cosmic abyss,  the] black,  watery Expanse (al-mā' al-aswad)  which is  the muddy wellspring (al-`ayn al-ḥami`a)  (cf. Q.18:86[84]).

            All these references are rather complicated and attempts to translate and clarify them are not easy. I have attempted to make a straightforward translation without deliberately reading Shaykhi or Babi-Baha'i interpretations into this complex sermon, save for the still provisional synonymous rendering of  طتنج  or تطنج  by  خليج  or "gulf".  To be simplistic and straightforward  it would appear to be presupposed in the Kh-T that there exists in a  primordial, cosmogonic yet terrestrial and supra-terrestrial watery expanse, a dual zoned terrestrial yet supra-cosmic realm over which imam `Alī stands, governs, rules  or presides as the exalted Imam. From thence as the locus of wIlāya ("Divine providence") he can envision all realms, both the "two easts" and the "two wests" of Reality. In these cosmic zones the "earth" is somehow positioned in primordial clay or in an earthen ware state or vessel. It somehow relates to an earthy or clay like vessel (or  perhaps cleft?) deriving  from (or located in?) an area at the right-hand "Gulf" region which faces "East"', as well (it seems) as facing another "two Gulfs" again in the "East". Though these two "Gulfs" seem to be twin watery  streams or "Bays"  they may be thought of as situated to the "Left" of the "East" facing "twin Gulfs". We apparently have here cosmological or cosmogonic, exegetical ramifications of the deep senses of the qur'anic "two Easts" and "two Wests" ( see  Qur'an 55:17, cf. also Q. 55: 15).

The Arabic loanword تطنج  / طتنج  and its variant spellings. 

        As noted, the etymologically opaque, Arabic quadriliteral loan-word (from Greek?)   تطنج  =  T-Ṭ-N-J (= taṭanj or tuṭunj ?) or  طتنج = Ṭ-T-N-J (= ṭatanj, ṭuṭunj or whatever)   has been variously spelled and pointed. Its precise derivation, spelling and pointing remain unknown. As hinted in the Kh-T itself and stated by Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti this word would seem to be is synonymous with the Arabic word for "gulf" (khalīj) and be suggestive of (cosmic)  "waters", "streams", "rivers" or the channels within which such material flows. Both spellings تطنج   and  طتنج  occur in the singular and/or the dual, either  with the emphatic "ṭ"  (ط )  first  and/ or with it  second.  Variant readings evidently exist in both the mss. and the  printed texts of the Kh-T as well as related expository literatures.

        In various Shi`i and Shaykhī printed texts (e.g. Maj-Rasa'il 30:269) we have the two spellings  طتنج in [التطنج [ /ين and  تطنج  as well occasionally  as ططنج . The following notes will attempt to further clarify the spellings in select Shaykhi and  Babi-Baha'i primary and printed sources deriving from the first two Shaykhs of al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism), Shaykh Aḥmad al-Ahsa'i and Sayyid Kāẓim Rashti, as well as from Muhammad Karim Khān Kirmani (d. 1871), Sayyid  Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Bab (1819-1850 CE),  Mirza Ḥusayn Ali Nuri, Baha'-Allah (1817-1892)  and a few others. A full resolution of this issues would require proper consultation of mss. certain of which not available to the present writer. It will be seen, however, that the preferred spelling in a majority of Babi-Baha'i sources can be accounted for.

 

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 The cover page (above-click to enlarge) of the (Tabriz) printed 1270/1852-3 edition of Sayyid Kāẓim's commentary on the "Sermon of the Gulf", has the spelling  شرح خطبة الطتنجية   Sharḥ khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya  (= Sh-Kh-T)  with the emphatic ط = ṭ,  as the first of the two Arabic letter t's. It also occurs spelled in this way  elsewhere in the 1270/1853-4 lithograph edition of this work.  Page one includes another calligraphic heading with the title spelled as on the cover page (above) and,  for example, on page 203 of Sayyid Kazim's  Sh-Kh-T  This spelling is also found on p. 174 where Sayyid  Kāẓim  glosses الطتنجين (al-ṭutunjayn  [loosely] "two gulfs")  with the dual of   خليج   khalīj namely, khalījayn  = "twin bays") in the course of commenting on `Alī's words,  no doubt in the light of  the text  of the Kh-T itself mentioning khalījayn  (= "twin bays") (see below trans. IV:1ff); 

 "I am the one who is stationed over the two Gulfs" (wāqif `alā al-tuṭunjayn)

  الطتنج هو الخليج المتشعب من البحر والطتنجين الخليجين منشعبان من البحرالواحد

"The  الطتنج ( ṭ-t-n-j = ṭutunj) is the gulf [or bay, canal, stream] (al-khalīj)  branching out (mutasha``ib) from the [Cosmic] Ocean (al-baḥr). And the twin gulfs (al-ṭutunjayn) are the twin bays-streams, doubly branching out from a single Ocean; just as the exposition of something is expressed through speech... (Sh-Kh-T, 174)".

Within this website the spelling and pointing   طُتُنْج   = ṭutunj  will be followed  as in numerous Shaykhi and Babi-Baha'i literatures where this spelling is registered and where this pointing would seem to be presupposed. Many if not most mss. and printed texts of the writings of the Bab and Baha'-Allah have dual formations of طتنج  with the spelling taking the emphatic letter "t" first (not second). The Mashāriq  anwār al-yaqīn  of Rajab al-Bursī,  however,   has the spelling  تطنج    (emphatic t second) and some Shaykhi and Babi-Baha'i literatures follow this spelling as does Sayyid Kāẓim when he cites this source the opening section of his Sh-Kh-T.

The Mashāriq  anwār  al-yāqīn fi asrar Amīr al-mu'minin  of Rajab al-Bursī (d. c. 814 /1411).

       Among the numerous often `irfānī  (esoteric-gnostic) collections of tradition significant in esoteric Shiism and in the Bābī-Bahā’ī religions, is that revolving around traditions ascribed to Imām `Alī in the Mashāriq  anwār al-yaqīn fī asrār amīr al-mu’minīn  (The Dawning-Places of the Lights of Certitude in the mysteries of the Commander of the Faithful’) of Rajab al-Bursī (d. c. 814 /1411;  Lawson, 1992:261-276; Borsi [Lorey + Corbin] 1996). A number of arcane Shī`ī traditions cited by the Bāb and Bahā'-Allāh originate with this compilation of Rajab al-Bursī. In his Kitāb-i īqān, (Book of Certitude), for example, Bahā'-Allāh cites a tradition about Imām `Alī having been with one thousand Adams, each  50,000 years apart, and having repeatedly declared his wilāya   (position as a locus of the divine providence and pre-existent "successor" to the Prophet Muhammad) before them (KI:130 /tr. [SE*]107-8).

        Bursī’s Mashāriq  contains important sermons and traditions which were very highly regarded by the first two Shaykhī leaders as well as by the Bāb and Bahā'-Allāh. A considerable number of important Imamī traditions about wilāya, the `ilm al-ḥurūf  (the science of letters) the ism Allāh al-a`ẓam   and other deep, sometimes esoteric matters are scattered throughout the  Mashāriq.  The influence of the Bible and Isrā’īliyyāt is evident throughout this seminal Shi`i work.

        It would seem appropriate at this point to cite from the Mashāriq al-anwar  of Rajab al-Bursi  where he introduces the Kh-T in the following manner :

"ومن خطبة له عليه السلام تسمى التطنجية، ظاهرها انيق، وباطنها عميق، فليحذر قارئها من سوء  ظنه ، فان فيها من تنزيه الخالق ما لا يطيقه احد من الخلأئق، خطبها أمير المؤمنين (ع) بين الكوفة والمدينة "

"And among the Sermons deriving from him [Imam `Alī] -- upon him be peace -- is that named Taṭanjiyya [Tuṭunjiyya]. While its outward dimension (ẓāhir) is delightfully elegant (anīq) its inward dimension (bāṭin) is  profoundly deep (`amīq). So let its reciter beware about adopting a low opinion thereof for therein are negated the anthropomorphisms of the creatures (tanzih al-khāliq) in ways which cannot be adequately encompassed by anyone within the domain of created beings (al-khalā'iq). The Commander of the Faithful [Imam `Ali] delivered this sermon between Kufa [now in Iraq] and Medina [now in Saudi Arabia]" (al-Bursi, Mashariq, 166).

We learn from the above that al-Bursī  thought that the Khuṭba al-ṭutunjiyya / taṭanjiyya  ("Sermon of the Gulf")  was delivered by the first Imam between Kūfa and Medina (Mashariq: 166-170). The Khutba is declared deep and profound. It is . defended  against accusations of an anthropomorphic high imamology and ghuluww  ("extremist") statements. Towards the beginning of his Sh-Kh-T Sayyid Kāẓim cites and comments in detail on these introductory words of al-Bursi in an extremely interesting manner (see  Sh-Kh-T 2nd ed. pp.  39-47 and below).

        As will be seen both the Bab and Baha'-Allah were markedly influenced by the at times  high imamology and abstruse yet suggestive apocalyptic of the Kh.-ṭutunjiyya. It is a sermon which incorporates Islamo-biblical motifs deriving from Isrā’iliyyāt traditions including many Arabic  “I am” sayings,  at times perhaps incorporating Isra'iliyyat motifs. In the Kh-T utterances of an all but deified Imam `Alī echo the gnostic and predominantly  Johannine New Testament  “I am” logion  of Jesus. Like  Jesus, `Alī at one point utters a loose Arabic transliteration of the Greek,  انا عليوثوثا   = Gk. Έγç..[ή] άλήθgια ,  ego eimi  aletheia,  Jn 14:6a. `Ali thus declares “I am the Truth”  (Bursī, Mashriq, 169). Numerous other theophanic claims of the virtually deified Imam `Alī are cast in the form of “I am” sayings  in the Kh-T and elsewhere in the Mashariq  (see Mashāriq, 166-170, etc). A few examples from the Kh-T and other sources in the Mashariq al-anwar of al-Bursi are as follows :

I am the one who presides over the two gulfs (wāqif `alā al-ṭutunjayn)..

I am the Lord of the first flood (ṣāḥib al-ṭūfān al-awwāl);

I am the Lord of the second flood [of Noah?];

I am the one who raised Idrīs [Enoch] to a lofty place   [cf. Q.19:57]

I am  the agent whereby the infant Jesus cried out from the cradle [Q. 19:29, etc]

I am the Lord of the Mount [Sinai] (ṣāḥib al-ṭūr) ..

I am the one with whom are the keys of the unseen  (mafātīḥ al-ghayb)..

I am Dhū’l-Qarnayn mentioned in the primordial scrolls (ṣuḥuf al-awwālī)

I am the bearer of the Seal of Solomon   (sāḥib khātam sulaymān)

I am first First Adam; I am the First Noah...

I am the Lord of Abraham, (ṣāḥib ibrahīm),

I am the inner mystery of the Speaker [Moses]  (sirr al-kalīm)...

I am the Messiah [Jesus] (al-masīḥ)  inasmuch as no soul (rūḥ)  moves nor  spirit (nafs) breathes without my permission...

I am the Speaker  who conversed (mutakallim)  through the tongue of Jesus in the cradle...

I am the one with whom are one thousand volumes of the books of the prophets (alf  kutub min kitāb al-anbiyā’)..   (Bursī, Mashariq, 166ff).

     Shaykh Aḥmad al-Aḥsā'ī (d. 1241/1826) and the Khuṭbat al-Ṭutunjiyya

        The Qajar era generator of that branch of Shi`i thought and mystical philosophy (loosely "gnosis" )which came to be known as al-Shaykhiyya (Shaykhism) and (among other things) Kashfiyya  (the "Movement for Disclosure" of the deeper Shi`i imamological truth ) was the Arab born  mystically inclined sage-philosopher and exegete Shaykh Aḥmad b. Zayn al-Din al-Aḥsā'ī (d. 1241/1826). He and his various Shaykhī and other successors countered the allegedly non-authentic or ghuluww ("extremist") nature of the Kh-T.  They referred to it with awe and reverence.  In a treatise contained in the massive and foundational Shaykhī compilation  entitled  Jawāmi` al-kalim  ("The Comprehensive Discourse")   the great Shi`i sage-philosopher al-Aḥsā'ī himself wrote in defense of the veracity of the Kh-T. He stated that it's allegedly ghuluww  ("extremist") text  is only viewed as such by those who reject what they fail to comprehend. Shaykh Ahmad categorically stated in a Risālah in reply to questions of Shāhzadeh Muhammad Mīrzā  (one of which had to do with the veracity of the ascription of the Khuṭbat al-Bayān "Sermon of the Exposition" and the Kh-T to  Imam `Alī ) that in the Kh-T., there is    فلا عَيْبَ فيها  , "As for al-Khuṭbat al-Ṭuṭunjiyya there is no  imperfection therein". In their ignorance, Shaykh Ahmad continues to observe, some persons reject what they find difficult or incomprehensible without good reason. They take no proper account of the authoritative ḥadith texts which warn about the sometimes abstruse nature of  Shi`i materials or affairs. It was relayed from the Imams that 

    The  خطبة الطتنجية  ("Sermon of the Gulf")  in  the writings of Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī

From an early period Sayyid Kāẓim refers to and cites the Kh-T. Written when he was about 20 years old  his 7,000 verse (roughly 150-200 pp)  تفسيراية الكرسى   Tafsīr āyat al-kursī   ("Commentary on the Chair [Throne] Verse" = Q. 2:255) contains several citations. Commenting in a complex fashion of the letter  ل  lām which follows the letter ا   alif  within the four letters making up the qur'anic personal Name of God  Allah   الله  Sayyid Kazim at one point writes,

و الثاني بالوجود الشرعي و المعني واحد لا اختلاف الا في العبارة فاشار الي الوجود التشريعي يعني بقوله تعالي اللام المذكورة بعد الالف و هي اشارة الي الزام خلقه الولاية اي ولاية الولي عليه السلام فان قبول ولاية الولي و الاقرار بها هو القبول و الاقرار بجميع ما جاء به الانبياء و المرسلون من عند الله تبارك و تعالي فكلما جاء به الانبياء فهو حق فكل الانبياء صادرون عن امر الولي و كلما يأمر الولي و هو امر الله  ...فكل حق فهو من امر الولي و كل باطل فهو من نهيه فالزام الخلق بولاية الولي هو الامر بكل معروف و النهي عن كل منكر و اشار بتكرر اللام الي قسمي العبادات و الاعمال فانها علي قسمين ظاهرية و باطنية و الظاهرية ظاهرة و الباطنية هي اعمال الحواس و القوي و المشاعر و الادراكات الباطنية كالفؤاد و العقل و النفس و القلب و الخيال و الواهمة و الحافظة و المفكرة و امثال ذلك من القوي الباطنية و لهم اعمال من دون ذلك اي الاعمال الظاهرة هم لها عاملون و الالف اشارة الي البرزخ المتوسط بين العالمين عالم الظاهر و عالم الباطن و هو عالم الاشباح و المثال النورانية و الابدان النورانية التي لا روح فيها فان الالف هي السراج و هو ( هو الباب خ ) الواقف بين الطتنجين مس النار و النار و الاشعة و الاظلة كما هو حال البرازخ و المثال مقرب عن وجه و مبعد من كل الوجوه اين حال السراج و البرزخ بينهما بون بعيد كما يعرفه العلماء الراسخون  ...

And secondly as relates to the legislative existence. Here the meaning is one having no difference relative to.. ADD HERE 

 

Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī

The  شرح خطبة الطتنجية   Sharḥ khuṭbat al-ṭutunjiyya  (Sh-Kh-T) has been cited and referred to above. Very early on in his commentary on the opening words of the KH-T Sayyid Kazim has occasion to cite and  comment on Q.  5:64a which is a response to the qur'anic Jewish assertion that “the hands of God are chained up”, namely, “Nay rather!  Both His two hands are widely outstretched (mabsuṭtāni)” . These words indicate the twofoldness of the divine providence, [1]  the “Hand of faḍl (the Divine Bounty) and [2] the Hand of `adl (the Divine Justice) which are explicitly said to be the al-Ṭuṭunjayn (“two Gulfs”) “doubly branching out fro m the Hamd (“Praise”), from its ẓāhir (exterior aspect) and from its bāṭin (interior aspect)

         In the muqaddima (prolegomenon) towards the beginning, on page 7 of the 1^st lithograph edition (and pp. 39-40  of the Kuwait 2^nd ed. )  of his Commentary on the Kh-T.,  Sayyid Kāẓim Rashtī  cites Shaykh Rajab al-Bursi’s introduction to the Kt-T from his Mashāriq anwār … (translated above;  with the same spelling as in the published edition for TTNJ =  taṭanjiyya). He comments on it in some detail. The following paragraphs are of particular interest: [correct this Arabic]

أقول: إنما يقال لها التطنجية لاشتمالها على أكوار ا لوجود وأدواره منحصرة في الكرتين والدائرتين المتعاكستي السيرين المتحاذيتي السطحين والمتقابلتي الميلين، في حال اجتماعهما مفترقتان وفي افتراقهما مجتمعتان، وهما التطنجان أي الخليجان المتشعبان من البحر المحيط، وذلك البحر هو الماء الذي خلق الله منه بشرا فجعله نسبا وصهرا، فجرى خليجان أحدهما من باطنه وهو  الماء العذب الفرات السائغ شرابه ومنه انشعبت أربعة أنهار، فالنهر الذي من الماء من ميم بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم، والذي من العمسل المصفى من هائها، والذي من اللبن الذي لم يتغير طعمه من ميم الرحمن، والذي من الخمر من ميم الرحيم، وثانيهما من ظاهره وهو الماء المالح الأجاج ومنه انشعبت أربعة أنهار، عين الكبريت، وعين أبرهوت، وعين أفريقية، وجمة ماسيدان، وهو الماء الذي نزله الله سبحانه من القرأن فجعل منه خليجين أحدهما شفاء ورحمة للمؤمنين، وثانيهما عذاب ونقمة للكافرين، قال الله تعالى (ؤننزل من ألقرءان ما هو شفآء ورحمة للمؤمنين و لا يزيد الظلمين الاخسارا)

"I say, regarding what he [al-Bursi] says about the al-tuṭunjiyya  [Gulf oriented Sermon] that it pertains to the realms of existence  (akwār al-wujūd) and its cycles (adwār) incorporating two doubly repeating (al-karratayn), doubly counter-proceeding (al-mut`ākisatī al-sayyirayn),  doubly  parallel in outstretched opposition (al-mutaḥadhaytī  al-saṭaḥayn), doubly obliquely opposite each other (al-mutaqābilatī al-mailayn), doubly [expressive of a twofold] cyclic schemata (da'iratayn). In their twofold state of  conjunction they [the twin gulfs] remain doubly disengaged while in their dual disengagement  they remain doubly conjoined. 

        "And the tuṭunjayn ("two gulfs") that is to say the khalijayn  (“two gulfs-bays-canals-rivulets”) do branch out from the all-encompassing Ocean (min al-baḥr al-muḥīṭ). That is the Ocean (al-baḥr) which is the [primordial] “Water” (al-mā’) out of which God created humanity (bashar ^an). He made it generative of affinity (nisab ^an), [that is] maritialy unitative (ṣahr ^an) such that there flowed forth two rivulets [channels-gulfs-bays] (khalījayn), one of the two deriving from its interior (bāṭin) [flow] which is the sweet water of  the [sweet watered] Euphrates (al-mā’ al-`adhb al-furāt), being palatable (sā’igh),  drinkable [wine]  (sharāba)."        

"From it [furthermore] there branched out four streams (anhār). They  are,

• [1] the stream (al-nahr) deriving from the [cosmic] Water which is [generated] from the (letter) “M” ( m = mā’ = “Water”) of the basmala (= bismillāh al-raḥman al-raḥīm , “In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate”). And

•  [2] that [stream] which is of Honey  (min al-`asal al-muṣaffan) from its (letter) “H” (al-hā’). Then

•  [3] that [stream] which  of Milk (min al-laban) the tasteful flavor (ṭa`m) of which never changes,  [generated] through the  (letter) “M” of Raḥman  (= “Divine Mercy”). Again, there is

• [4]  that [stream] which is of  Wine  (min al-khamr) [generated] through the  (letter) “M” of Raḥīm (= “Divine Compassion”).

The second of the two streams [channels-gulfs-bays] (khalījayn) derives from its [the primordial Oceans’] exterior (ẓāhir) [flow] which  is the [cosmic] watery expanse  (al-mā’) that is briny  [salty] (māliḥ), bitter (ujāj) [or ajjāj = “burning hot”]. From it there [further] branches out four  streams [rivers] (anhār), [namely],

[1] the wellspring of Sulphur (`ayn al-kibrīt) and

[2] the wellspring  ابرهوت     a-b-r-h-u-t  (cf. Ethiopia ?),

[3] the wellspring of  Africa (ifrīqīya) and

[4] the waterhole that is blackness (? jammat mā  saydān, cf. Sudan ?).

"Such is the [nature of the primordial] Watery Expanse (al-mā’)  which God sent down, glory be unto Him, through the Qur’ān. And He made from it the two streams  [channels-gulfs-bays] (khalījayn), one of the two is a Healing  and a Mercy (shafā’ wa raḥmat) for the believers (al-mu’minīn) while the second of the two is a torture [agony- punishment-suffering-chastisement] (`adhāb) and a punishment-vengeance-adversity-retribution] (naghma)  for the unbelievers (al-kāfrirīn). God, exalted be He,  [says in the Qur’ān], “We indeed sent down from the Qur’ān what is a healing and a mercy for the believers and it did not increase for the iniquitous anything save loss.” (Q. 17:82)” (Sh-Kh-T., Lith. p. ADD ;    2^nd ed. 39-40)."

"It is the case, furthermore, that this noble sermon (al-khuṭbat al-sharīfah) consists of an explanation of the two cycles of the [letter] Kāf (dūrān al-kāf) [abjad = 20 = 10x2)... ADD   

 

    The "twin gulfs"in other early Shaykhi literatures

        In his lengthy Persian Irshād al-`awāmm  ("Guidance for the Masses"), the polymathic anti-Bābī-Baha'i Shaykhi leader and disciple of Sayyid Kāzim Rashti, Ḥajji Mirza Muhammad Karīm Khān Kirmānī (d. 1288/1871)  had  occasion to comment upon the implications of the twin gulfs spiritual cosmology  and includes a clearly written, annotated Persian translation of Kh-T IV: 2-3 (see below) ...  انا الواقف على الطتنجين..  (note the spelling). This  in the course of discoursing in Persian upon soteriological and related imamological  dimensions of the supreme Paradise of  Bihisht  and of that Hell  which is Gehenna.  Kirmani mentions the Paradise of Bihisht  as the manifestation of the ṣāḥib-i  vilāya  ("Lord of wilāya") along with the appearance of his sovereignty (salṭanat) then adds (obviously translating Kh-T., IV:2-3) that the Commander of the Faithful, his holiness Imam `Ali ( hazrat-i amir) said:

"... طتنج ṭutunj indicates a large river (nahr-i buzurg), that is to say [Imam `Alī implies], `I am standing over two rivers, the River of Raḥmat ("Divine Mercy") and the River of Ghaḍb ("Divine Wrath") and I am gazing (nāzir) on the [Western] Dawning-Place of the Lights of Bihisht  (Paradise) and the East of Gehenna (Hell). So this station (maqām) is the position (maqām) of a Person whose relationship is to the denizens  of Bihisht (Paradise) and equally [also] to [those of] Gehenna (Hell). This inasmuch as he is a Sovereign (padishah) over both [these spheres] and a  co-director of [the realms of] Paradise and Hell. Thus this locale [is representative of] the station [position] of the manifestation of the Sovereignty of the Imams. In consequence, it is the case that God says "and above the Heights [Ramparts] (al-a`rāf) are Men (rijal) who recognize all by their characteristic marks" [see Q. 7:46-8].  That is to say, above the Heights are several "Men" who recognize everyone by their  characteristic marks (sīmā). Those "Men" are the Imams. Now do they stand over the "Heights" and observe and  recognize the denizens of Paradise (bihisht).  And they [also] observe and recognize the inmates of Gehenna [Hell] because both are under their feet, and they are standing on high Hills, which are the stations of Vilāyat  [Walāya] (loci of guidance) and both the Garden (jannat) and Hell-fire (nār) are beneath them. They observe both groups...  (Irshad, vol. 2: ADD)