Kamoo’s Glass of Permanence (A retrospective look at the life and mystical thoughts of Abdul Salam Kamoo’ee)

Zein al-Din Abdul Salam Kamo’ee (696 AH) was one of the unknown mystics of the late seventh and the early eighth centuries. He was famed for attributes and appellations such as “Zein al-Din” (i.e. the ornament of the religion), “Sheikh of Iraq”, and “the King of Kamoo”. At forty years of age, Abdul Salam experiences some spiritual changes due to austerity and seclusion and since then he seeks for sciences, mysticism, and cosmology. In Tariqa (a school or order of Sufism), Kamooee was a disciple of Shaykh Shahab al-Din Umar Suhrawardi- the author of Awarif ul-Maarif (book)- and could give guidance to others with his permission; it seems that Suhrawardi also devoted special attention to him. This discipleship made Abdul Salam engender thoughts and mystical poetry mirroring those of Suhrawardi’s- averting his eyes from anything relevant or close to the theoretical mysticism of Ibn Arabi and his followers, and even at times to oppose them. Notwithstanding the paucity of sources and references, the writer of this paper has tried, for the first time, to introduce Abdul Salam’s life and mystical thoughts as well as his poetry collection, accentuating elements and concepts such as ‘the significance of patience and tranquility in conduct’, ‘hope and trust in God’s grace’, ‘mystic’s life of seclusion and ephemerality of the mundane life’, and ‘the distinction between obedience and worship’.