Malāmat and the Ethics of Invisibility: Mysticism, Poetic Witnessing, and Moral Critique in Late Modernity
Mahmut Esat Harmancı, Meriç Harmancı
Religions April 14, 2026 DOI: 10.3390/rel17040481 (opens in new tab)
Study at a glance
AI-extracted from the abstract| Characteristics | Theoretical or philosophical paper Peer reviewed |
|---|---|
| Topics | Mysticism |
| Key points | Argues that malāmat, a Sufi ethical tradition, offers a counter-model to contemporary regimes of visibility by grounding ethics in inward vigilance, concealment of virtue, and irreducible personal responsibility before the Divine rather than in public recognition or quantifiable outputs. Contends that ethical subjectivity is constituted through continuous self-critique and that malāmat sustains ethical life as ongoing tension, unlike Aristotelian, Kantian, Kierkegaardian, or MacIntyrean frameworks. |
Abstract
This article reconceptualizes malāmat not as a marginal Sufi discipline but as a distinct ethical paradigm that redefines the relationship between selfhood, action, and moral legitimacy. Situating the discussion within late-modern conditions shaped by technological mediation, algorithmic evaluation, and regimes of visibility, it argues that ethical value has increasingly been externalized through performance, recognition, and quantifiable outputs. Against this background, malāmat is examined as an alternative ethical model grounded in inward vigilance, relational practice, and the deliberate concealment of virtue. Drawing on early Malāmatī texts—particularly al-Sulamī—and their later elaboration in Ibn Arabī, the study demonstrates that ethical subjectivity is constituted through continuous self-critique and responsibility before the Divine rather than through public validation. The argument is further developed through a comparative engagement with Aristotle, Kant, Kierkegaard, and MacIntyre. It shows that, unlike these frameworks, malāmat sustains ethical life as an ongoing tension rather than a state of equilibrium or a universalizable norm. The article also highlights the role of classical Turkish and Persian poetry—especially Fuzûlî, Nâbî, and Şeyh Gâlib—in articulating malāmat as a lived ethical sensibility. Ultimately, the study proposes malāmat as a critical counter-model to contemporary regimes of visibility, offering an ethics grounded in inwardness, concealment, and irreducible personal responsibility.
Comparable studies
Other theoretical and historical papers on mysticism, most cited first.
| Study | Year | Design | Participants |
|---|---|---|---|
| The mystical mind: probing the biology of religious experience | 2000 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Religious and Mystical Experiences as Artifacts of Temporal Lobe Function: A General Hypothesis | 1983 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| The Problem of Pure Consciousness: Mysticism and Philosophy | 1993 | Edited collection of essays | |
| Irreducible Mind: Toward a Psychology for the 21st Century | 2020 | Theoretical or philosophical paper | |
| Mysticism and schizophrenia: A phenomenological exploration of the structure of consciousness in the schizophrenia spectrum disorders. | 2016 | Theoretical or philosophical paper |