The mystical union in Sufism and Christian mysticism : inter-experiential reading of Hallaj’s Ḥulūl and Eckhart’s Birth of God

Arifka, Angga (author)

Mystical experience illustrates a fundamental aspect of human relations with the ultimate reality within the framework of religiosity. This article explores the mystical experiences of Hallaj and Meister Eckhart, both of whom came from different religious traditions. Employing a hermeneutic approach, this article attempts to read the experiences of both mystics by interpreting one with the other. Inevitably, although both mystics use different religious language and symbols, there is a strong resonance that allows us for inter-experiential reading of such mystical experiences. This article argues that mystical experience can be the strong basis of interreligious dialogue wherein although each mystical experience is personal and subjective in nature, there is something foundational that can be found as a pulse that is connected and can explain each other, rendering our interreligious understanding richer and more profound.

• Language: English
• Keywords: Eckhart’s mystical experience, fusion of mystical experiences, Hallaj’s mystical experience, inter-experiential dialogue, interreligious dialogue
• Work type: Article
• Typology: 1.01 - Original Scientific Article
• Organization: TEOF - Theological Faculty
• Publication status: Published
• Publication version: Version of Record
• Publication date: 14.09.2025
• Year: 2025
• Number of pages: Str. 297–320
• Numbering: Letn. 80, št. 1
• PID: 20.500.12556/RUL-175359
• UDC: 281:27-587
• ISSN on article: 2335-4127
• DOI: 10.34291/Edinost/80/01/Arifka
• COBISS.SI-ID: 249479939
• Publication date in RUL: 24.10.2025

Record is a part of a journal

• Title: Edinost in dialog : revija za ekumensko teologijo in medreligijski dialog = Unity and dialogue : journal for ecumenical theology and interreligious dialogue
• Publisher: Založba Univerze v Ljubljani, Teološka fakulteta Univerze v Ljubljani, Enota v Mariboru in Inštitut Stanka Janežiča za dogmatično, osnovno in ekumensko teologijo ter religiologijo in dialog
• ISSN: 2335-4127
• COBISS.SI-ID: 268194560

Licences

• License: CC BY 4.0, Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International
• Link: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
• Description: This is the standard Creative Commons license that gives others maximum freedom to do what they want with the work as long as they credit the author.

Secondary language

• Language: Slovenian
• Title: Mistična združitev v sufizmu in krščanski mistiki : medizkustveno branje Hallajevega Ḥulūla in Eckhartovega Rojstva Boga

Abstract

Mistična izkušnja ponazarja temeljni vidik človekovega odnosa do najvišj e resničnost i v okviru religioznosti. Ta članek raziskuje mistično izkušnjo Hallaja in Meistra Eckharta, ki sta izhajala iz različnih verskih tradicij. Z uporabo hermenevtičnega pristopa ta članek poskuša prebrati izkušnje obeh mistikov tako, da jih razlaga enega z drugim. Čeprav mistika uporabljata različen verski jezik in simbole, neizogibno obstaja močan odmev, ki nam omogoča medizkustveno branje takih mističnih izkušenj. Ta članek trdi, da je lahko mistična izkušnja močna podlaga medverskega dialoga, pri čemer – čeprav je vsaka mistična izkušnja osebne in subjektivne narave – obstaja nekaj temeljnega, kar je mogoče najti kot utrip, ki jih povezuje in jih lahko medsebojno razlaga, to pa bogati in poglablja naše medversko razumevanje.

• Keywords: Eckhartova mistična izkušnja, poj mističnih izkušenj, Hallajeva mistična izkušnja, medizkustveni dialog, medverski dialog