"An exposition of Islamic mysticism by a Sufi scholar"--

This book marks a significant contribution to the debate around Ibn ʿArabī’s religious pluralism, focusing on his multifaceted approach to non-Abrahamic religions. For nearly eight hundred years, the writings and ideas of the great Spanish Sufi master Ibn ʿArabī have shaped Islamic intellectual and spiritual culture, from North and West Africa and France on the one hand, to Iran, the Levant, Central Asia, and the Far East on the other. Modern scholarship on the “Greatest Master” is consequently at an all-time high. This book weighs in on a well-known aspect of his religious worldview, namely his perspective on religious pluralism, but does so from an entirely different angle. Offering a very close reading of his major works, newly translated by the author, and paying particular attention to a highly developed celestial metaphor prompted by his encounter with a group of pagan sun-worshippers, the book offers new insights into the nature and scope of Ibn ʿArabī’s understanding of Islamic inclusivism. Ultimately, the book contributes to our understanding of both interfaith dialogue and the history of world religions through the prism of Ibn ʿArabī’s work. The book will be of particular interest to students and scholars working in a range of fields, including Islamic philosophy, Sufism, and intellectual history.

Islamic Thought and the Art of Translation presents a diverse selection of studies, translations, and textual editions in honor of two of the most beloved and productive scholars in the field of Islamic Studies, Professors William Chittick and Sachiko Murata.

The Routledge Companion to the Qur’an offers an impressive and comprehensive overview of the formative scripture of Islam. Including a wide number of scholarly approaches to the Qur’an by both established authorities and emergent voices, the 40 chapters in this volume represent the latest word on the academic understanding of the Muslim scripture. The Qur’an is spoken of in scholarship across disciplines; it is the beating heart of a living community of believers; it is a work of beauty and a basis for art and culture; it is a profoundly significant historical artifact; and it is a mysterious survivor from the Late Ancient Arabic-speaking world. This Handbook accompanies the reader into the many worlds that the Qur’an lives in, from its ancient settings, to its internal drama, and through the 1,400 years of discussion and debate about its meaning. Bringing diverse approaches to the Qur’an together in one volume The Routledge Companion to the Qur’an represents the vibrancy of the field of Qur’anic Studies today. This Handbook is essential reading for students and researchers in religious studies and Islamic studies. It will also be very useful for those in related fields, such as area studies, sociology, anthropology, and history.

This is a chronological history of the Sufi tradition, divided in to three sections, early, middle and modern periods. The book comprises 35 independent chapters with easily identifiable themes and/or geographical threads, all written by recognised experts in the field. The volume outlines the origins and early developments of Sufism by assessing the formative thinkers and practitioners and investigating specific pietistic themes. The middle period contains an examination of the emergence of the Sufi Orders and illustrates the diversity of the tradition. This middle period also analyses the fate of Sufism during the time of the Gunpowder Empires. Finally, the end period includes representative surveys of Sufism in several countries, both in the West and in traditional "Islamic" regions. This comprehensive and up-to-date collection of studies provides a guide to the Sufi tradition. The Handbook is a valuable resource for students and researchers with an interest in religion, Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.

Featuring the work of leading contemporary Muslim philosophers and theologians, this book grapples with various forms of evil and suffering in the world today, from COVID-19 and issues in climate change to problems in palliative care and human vulnerability. Rather than walking down well-trodden paths in philosophy of religion which often address questions of evil and suffering by focusing on divine attributes and the God-world relationship, this volume offers another path of inquiry by focusing on human vulnerability, potential, and resilience. Addressing both the theoretical and practical dimensions of the question of evil, topics range from the transformative power of love, virtue ethics in Sufism and the necessity of suffering, to the spiritual significance of the body and Islamic perspectives on embodiment. In doing so, the contributors propose new perspectives based on various pre-modern and contemporary materials that can enrich the emerging field of the global philosophy of religion, thereby radically transforming contemporary debates on the nature of evil and suffering. The book will appeal to researchers in a variety of disciplines, including Islamic philosophy, religious studies, Sufism, and theology.

Ghouls, ifrits, and a panoply of other jinn have long haunted Muslim cultures and societies. These also include jinn doppelgangers (qarīn, pl. quranāʾ), the little-studied and much-feared denizens of the hearts and blood of humans. This book seeks out jinn doppelgangers in the Islamic normative tradition, philosophy, folklore, and Sufi literature, with special emphasis on Akbarian Sufism. Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) wrote on jinn in substantial detail, uncovering the physiognomy, culture, and behavior of this unseen species. Akbarians believed that the good God assigned each human with an evil doppelganger. Ibn ʿArabī’s reasoning as to why this was the case mirrors his attempts to expound the problem of evil in Islamic religious philosophy. No other Sufi, Ibn ʿArabī claimed, ever managed to get to the heart of this matter before him. As well as offering the reader knowledge and safety from evil, Ibn ʿArabī’s writings on jinnealogy tackle the even larger issues of spiritual ascension, predestination, and the human relationship to the Divine.

The notion of esoteric knowledge is one of the pillars of Islamic intellectual tradition. Though most visible in Sufism, it also dominated the first three and a half centuries of Shi‘ite thought. In this rich anthology, Leonard Lewisohn explores Islamic esotericism through the works of eleven authors who flourished in Persia, Central Asia and Asia Minor from the eleventh to the nineteenth centuries. He presents excerpts from each text in translation, accompanying these with introductions to the author’s life, works and thought. In the course of his erudite and enlightening commentary, he explores the common ground of esoteric thought and terminology, revealing a unity of perspective among Muslim thinkers.

Analyzing the intersection between Sufism and philosophy, this volume is a sweeping examination of the mystical philosophy of Muḥyī-l-Dīn Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 637/1240), one of the most influential and original thinkers of the Islamic world. This book systematically covers Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ontology, theology, epistemology, teleology, spiritual anthropology and eschatology. While philosophy uses deductive reasoning to discover the fundamental nature of existence and Sufism relies on spiritual experience, it was not until the school of Ibn al-ʿArabī that philosophy and Sufism converged into a single framework by elaborating spiritual doctrines in precise philosophical language. Contextualizing the historical development of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s school, the work draws from the earliest commentators of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s oeuvre, Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī (d. 673/1274), ʿAbd al-Razzāq al-Kāshānī (d. ca. 730/1330) and Dawūd al-Qayṣarī (d. 751/1350), but also draws from the medieval heirs of his doctrines Sayyid Ḥaydar Āmulī (d. 787/1385), the pivotal intellectual and mystical figure of Persia who recast philosophical Sufism within the framework of Twelver Shīʿism and ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī (d. 898/1492), the key figure in the dissemination of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s ideas in the Persianate world as well as the Ottoman Empire, India, China and East Asia via Central Asia. Lucidly written and comprehensive in scope, with careful treatments of the key authors, Philosophical Sufism is a highly accessible introductory text for students and researchers interested in Islam, philosophy, religion and the Middle East.

Religion of Love explores the life and work of the Persian Sufi poet and sage Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār. ʿAṭṭār changed the face of world literature, leaving his impact on all cultures that have valued Persian Sufi writings. Considered for the first time through the lens of religious studies, ʿAṭṭār's oeuvre offers much to contemporary readers. ʿAṭṭār's poems cast a light on the relationship between revelation and the intellect. They also encourage liberation from self-centeredness through the fiery path of love. Thus, Religion of Love considers one of Persian literature's greatest poets as more than just a poet, but as a thinker and a commentator on moral psychology, ethics, and the intellectual debates of his age, debates that shed light on today's religious complexities.