The Sufi Path Of Knowledge

Author: William C. Chittick
Editor: SUNY Press
ISBN: 0791498980
File Size: 75,58 MB
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Ibn al-'Arabi is still known as "the Great Sheik" among the surviving Sufi orders. Born in Muslim Spain, he has become famous in the West as the greatest mystical thinker of Islamic civilization. He was a great philosopher, theologian, and poet. William Chittick takes a major step toward exposing the breadth and depth of Ibn al-'Arabi's vision. The book offers his view of spiritual perfection and explains his theology, ontology, epistemology, hermeneutics, and soteriology. The clear language, unencumbered by methodological jargon, makes it accessible to those familiar with other spiritual traditions, while its scholarly precision will appeal to specialists. Beginning with a survey of Ibn al-'Arabi's major teachings, the book gradually introduces the most important facets of his thought, devoting attention to definitions of his basic terminology. His teachings are illustrated with many translated passages introducing readers to fascinating byways of spiritual life that would not ordinarily be encountered in an account of a thinker's ideas. Ibn al-'Arabi is allowed to describe in detail the visionary world from which his knowledge derives and to express his teachings in his own words. More than 600 passages from his major work, al-Futuhat al-Makkivva, are translated here, practically for the first time. These alone provide twice the text of the Fusus al-hikam. The exhaustive indexes make the work an invaluable reference tool for research in Sufism and Islamic thought in general.

Sufi Path Of Love The

Author: William C. Chittick
Editor: SUNY Press
ISBN: 0791498999
File Size: 41,76 MB
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This is the most accessible work in English on the greatest mystical poet of Islam, providing a survey of the basic Sufi and Islamic doctrines concerning God and the world, the role of man in the cosmos, the need for religion, man’s ultimate becoming, the states and stations of the mystical ascent to God, and the means whereby literature employs symbols to express “unseen” realities. William Chittick translates into English for the first time certain aspects of Rumi’s work. He selects and rearranges Rumi’s poetry and prose in order to leave aside unnecessary complications characteristic of other English translations and to present Rumi’s ideas in an orderly fashion, yet in his own words. Thorough, nontechnical introductions to each chapter, and selections that gradually present a greater variety of terms and images, make this work easily accessible to those interested in the spirituality of any tradition.

Traditional Islamic Environmentalism

Author: Tarik M. Quadir
Editor: University Press of America
ISBN: 0761861440
File Size: 59,85 MB
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This work examines the relevance of traditional Islamic thought and practices for a lasting solution to the current environmental crisis. The book argues that only a revival of the traditional worldview which perceives all entities of nature as signs of God can effectively respond to the crisis our planet faces.

The Nature Of The Sufi Path

Author: Anab Whitehouse
Editor: Bilquees Press
ISBN:
File Size: 47,88 MB
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The material in The Nature of the Sufi Path consists of 70 commentaries on a book entitled Sufism: A Short Introduction by Professor William C. Chittick. Many, if not most, of the paragraphs that comprise the 163 pages (preface plus text) of Professor Chittick’s book contain problems, errors, misleading statements, and/or incorrect understandings concerning Islam, in general, and the Sufi path, in particular. This is both surprising and disturbing since the author is someone who, apparently, enjoys a considerable reputation in North America -- and, perhaps, elsewhere in the world -- as an expert on, and scholar of, the Sufi mystical tradition. I do not claim that what I say in this book is a definitive, exhaustive, ‘incapable-of-being-improved-upon’ treatment of the Sufi path. Rather, my hope is that the present book might move a person closer to the truth concerning the nature of that path than Professor Chittick’s aforementioned introduction to Sufism does and, as such, would represent an improvement over his work.

Language Of The Heart

Author: Eva Desiree van den Berg
Editor: Blue Dome Press
ISBN: 1935295950
File Size: 68,12 MB
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This book seeks to examine how Sufi thought might provide critical understanding of contemporary life and a pathway towards the recovery of a more meaningful existence. Rumi’s mystical teachings are of great value at a time of rampant materialism and indiscriminate consumerism, and have the potential to illuminate the precarious state of the world, as well as revitalize contemporary social critique, eco-philosophy and bio-semiotics in what is increasingly being regarded as a post-secular age.

The Essential Seyyed Hossein Nasr

Author: Seyyed Hossein Nasr
Editor: World Wisdom, Inc
ISBN: 1933316381
File Size: 73,20 MB
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This anthology of Seyyed Hossein Nasr's most representative essays, edited by William C. Chittick, distills the essence of this leading scholar's thoughts on the subjects of Islam, Sufism, Tradition, and the Environmental Crisis.

Living Knowledge In West African Islam

Author: Zachary Valentine Wright
Editor: BRILL
ISBN: 9004289461
File Size: 63,50 MB
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Living Knowledge in West African Islam examines the actualization of religious identity in the Muslim community of Ibrāhīm Niasse (d. 1975, Senegal). The realization of Islam was achieved through the enduring West African practice of learning in the physical presence of exemplary masters.

The Taste Of Hidden Things

Author: Sara Sviri
Editor:
ISBN:
File Size: 34,72 MB
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'The taste of hidden things' is a portrait of Sufism as a living mystical system. Sara Sviri brings together the wisdom, metaphysical boldness, and lyrical passion of the great Sufi masters, past and present. A special place is given to al-Hakîm at-Tirmidhî. Excerpts from his work, including teaching dreams of his wife, are published here for the first time in English.

The Self Disclosure Of God

Author: William C. Chittick
Editor: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791434031
File Size: 67,19 MB
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Explicates the cosmology of Ibn al-'Arabi, the greatest mystical thinker of Islamic civilization.

Persian Metaphysics And Mysticism

Author: Lloyd Ridgeon
Editor: Routledge
ISBN: 1136802681
File Size: 23,11 MB
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One of the foremost 13th-century Persian mystics, 'Aziz Nasaffi with his simple manner of explaining God, His Essence, Attributes and Acts provides the western reader with an overview of all the major interpretations of medieval Islamic thought. Providing the first comprehensive selection in English of Nasaffi's treatises, Dr Ridgeon's work offers the western student of Islam a much-needed guide to the speculative and practical dimensions of Sufism.

Piri Muridi Relationship

Author: Desiderio Pinto
Editor: Manohar Publishers
ISBN:
File Size: 56,28 MB
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Sufism in India and Sufi practices in Nizamuddin Dargah; a study.

A History Of Islamic Societies

Author: Ira M. Lapidus
Editor: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 9780521779333
File Size: 14,33 MB
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An accessible worldwide history of Muslim societies provides updated coverage of each country and region, in a volume that discusses their origins and evolution while offering insight into historical processes that shaped contemporary Islam and surveying its growing influence. Simultaneous. (Social Science)

Sufi Narratives Of Intimacy

Author: Sa'diyya Shaikh
Editor: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807869864
File Size: 38,32 MB
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Thirteenth-century Sufi poet, mystic, and legal scholar Muhyi al-Din ibn al-'Arabi gave deep and sustained attention to gender as integral to questions of human existence and moral personhood. Reading his works through a critical feminist lens, Sa'diyya Shaikh opens fertile spaces in which new and creative encounters with gender justice in Islam can take place. Grounding her work in Islamic epistemology, Shaikh attends to the ways in which Sufi metaphysics and theology might allow for fundamental shifts in Islamic gender ethics and legal formulations, addressing wide-ranging contemporary challenges including questions of women's rights in marriage and divorce, the politics of veiling, and women's leadership of ritual prayer. Shaikh deftly deconstructs traditional binaries between the spiritual and the political, private conceptions of spiritual development and public notions of social justice, and the realms of inner refinement and those of communal virtue. Drawing on the treasured works of Sufism, Shaikh raises a number of critical questions about the nature of selfhood, subjectivity, spirituality, and society to contribute richly to the prospects of Islamic feminism as well as feminist ethics more broadly.

Teaching Mysticism

Author: William B. Parsons
Editor: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190208635
File Size: 12,61 MB
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The term ''mysticism'' has never been consistently defined or employed, either in religious traditions or in academic discourse. The essays in this volume offer ways of defining what mysticism is, as well as methods for grappling with its complexity in a classroom. This volume addresses the diverse literature surrounding mysticism in four interrelated parts. The first part includes essays on the tradition and context of mysticism, devoted to drawing out and examining the mystical element in many religious traditions. The second part engages traditions and religio-cultural strands in which ''mysticism'' is linked to other terms, such as shamanism, esotericism, and Gnosticism. The volume's third part focuses on methodological strategies for defining ''mysticism,'' with respect to varying social spaces. The final essays show how contemporary social issues and movements have impacted the meaning, study, and pedagogy of mysticism. Teaching Mysticism presents pedagogical reflections on how best to communicate mysticism from a variety of institutional spaces. It surveys the broad range of meanings of mysticism, its utilization in the traditions, the theories and methods that have been used to understand it, and provides critical insight into the resulting controversies.

Muslim Identities

Author: Aaron W. Hughes
Editor: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231531923
File Size: 40,69 MB
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Rather than focus solely on theological concerns, this well-rounded introduction takes an expansive view of Islamic ideology, culture, and tradition, sourcing a range of historical, sociological, and literary perspectives. Neither overly critical nor apologetic, this book reflects the rich diversity of Muslim identities across the centuries and counters the unflattering, superficial portrayals of Islam that are shaping public discourse today. Aaron W. Hughes uniquely traces the development of Islam in relation to historical, intellectual, and cultural influences, enriching his narrative with the findings, debates, and methodologies of related disciplines, such as archaeology, history, and Near Eastern studies. Hughes's work challenges the dominance of traditional terms and concepts in religious studies, recasting religion as a set of social and cultural facts imagined, manipulated, and contested by various actors and groups over time. Making extensive use of contemporary identity theory, Hughes rethinks the teaching of Islam and religions in general and helps facilitate a more critical approach to Muslim sources. For readers seeking a non-theological, unbiased, and richly human portrait of Islam, as well as a strong grasp of Islamic study's major issues and debates, this textbook is a productive, progressive alternative to more classic surveys.

Sainthood And Revelatory Discourse

Author: David Emmanuel Singh
Editor: David Emmanuel Singh
ISBN: 9788172147280
File Size: 55,39 MB
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A Two Colored Brocade

Author: Annemarie Schimmel
Editor: UNC Press Books
ISBN: 1469616378
File Size: 11,21 MB
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Annemarie Schimmel, one of the world's foremost authorities on Persian literature, provides a comprehensive introduction to the complicated and highly sophisticated system of rhetoric and imagery used by the poets of Iran, Ottoman Turkey, and Muslim India. She shows that these images have been used and refined over the centuries and reflect the changing conditions in the Muslim world. According to Schimmel, Persian poetry does not aim to be spontaneous in spirit or highly personal in form. Instead it is rooted in conventions and rules of prosody, rhymes, and verbal instrumentation. Ideally, every verse should be like a precious stone--perfectly formed and multifaceted--and convey the dynamic relationship between everyday reality and the transcendental. Persian poetry, Schimmel explains, is more similar to medieval European verse than Western poetry as it has been written since the Romantic period. The characteristic verse form is the ghazal--a set of rhyming couplets--which serves as a vehicle for shrouding in conventional tropes the poet's real intentions. Because Persian poetry is neither narrative nor dramatic in its overall form, its strength lies in an "architectonic" design; each precisely expressed image is carefully fitted into a pattern of linked figures of speech. Schimmel shows that at its heart Persian poetry transforms the world into a web of symbols embedded in Islamic culture.

Classical Spirituality In Contemporary America

Author: Michael S. Pittman
Editor: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 1441131132
File Size: 21,79 MB
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G.I. Gurdjieff (d. 1949) remains an important, if controversial, figure in early 20th-century Western Esoteric thought. Born in the culturally diverse region of the Caucasus, Gurdjieff traveled in Asia, Africa, and elsewhere in search of practical spiritual knowledge. Though oftentimes allusive, references to Sufi teachings and characters take a prominent position in Gurdjieff's work and writings. Since his death, a discourse on Gurdjieff and Sufism has developed through the contributions as well as critiques of his students and interlocutors. J.G. Bennett began an experimental 'Fourth Way' school in England in the 1970s which included the introduction of Sufi practices and teachings. In America this discourse has further expanded through the collaboration and engagement of contemporary Sufi teachers. This work does not simply demonstrate the influence of Gurdjieff and his ideas, but approaches the specific discourse on and about Gurdjieff and Sufism in the context of contemporary religious and spiritual teachings, particularly in the United States, and highlights some of the adaptive, boundary-crossing, and hybrid features that have led to the continuing influence of Sufism.

In Search Of The Lost Heart

Author: William C. Chittick
Editor: SUNY Press
ISBN: 1438439350
File Size: 68,50 MB
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Renowned scholar William C. Chittick explores the worldview of Islam in a series of essays written over thirty-six years.

The Paradoxes Of Love

Author: Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
Editor: The Golden Sufi Center
ISBN: 0963457462
File Size: 27,61 MB
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The work of The Golden Sufi Center is to make available the teachings of the Sufi path. The heart's relationship to God is one of the greatest mysteries, for He is both far and near, both awesome and intimate. As he looks at this union's many paradoxes,