Perspectives On Early Islamic Mysticism

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Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism

Author : Sara Sviri
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1134413173
Total Pages : 383 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (344 download)

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Book Synopsis Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism by : Sara Sviri

Download or read book Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism written by Sara Sviri and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2019-10-21 with total page 383 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This monograph explores the original literary produce of Muslim mystics during the eighth–tenth centuries, with special attention to ninth-century mystics, such as al-Tustarī, al-Muḥāsibī, al-Kharrāz, al-Junayd and, in particular, al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī. Unlike other studies dealing with the so-called ‘Formative Period’, this book focuses on the extant writings of early mystics rather than on the later Ṣūfī compilations. These early mystics articulated what would become a hallmark of Islamic mysticism: a system built around the psychological tension between the self (nafs) and the heart (qalb) and how to overcome it. Through their writings, already at this early phase, the versatility, fluidity and maturity of Islamic mysticism become apparent. This exploration thus reveals that mysticism in Islam emerged earlier than customarily acknowledged, long before Islamic mysticism became generically known as Ṣūfism. The central figure of this book is al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, whose teaching and inner world focus on themes such as polarity, the training of the self, the opening of the heart, the Friends of God (al-awliyāʾ), dreams and visions, divine language, mystical exegesis and more. This book thus offers a fuller picture than hitherto presented of the versatility of themes, processes, images, practices, terminology and thought models during this early period. The volume will be a key resource for scholars and students interested in the study of religion, Ṣūfī studies, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam.

Early Islamic Mysticism

Author : Michael Anthony Sells
Publisher : Paulist Press
ISBN 13 : 9780809136193
Total Pages : 420 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (361 download)

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Book Synopsis Early Islamic Mysticism by : Michael Anthony Sells

Download or read book Early Islamic Mysticism written by Michael Anthony Sells and published by Paulist Press. This book was released on 1996 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume makes available and accessible the writings of the crucial early period of Islamic mysticism during which Sufism developed as one of the world's major mystical traditions. The texts are accompanied by commentary on their historical, literary and philosophical context.

Sufism

Author : Alexander Knysh
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 069119162X
Total Pages : 408 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (911 download)

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Book Synopsis Sufism by : Alexander Knysh

Download or read book Sufism written by Alexander Knysh and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-19 with total page 408 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A pathbreaking history of Sufism, from the earliest centuries of Islam to the present After centuries as the most important ascetic-mystical strand of Islam, Sufism saw a sharp decline in the twentieth century, only to experience a stunning revival in recent decades. In this comprehensive new history of Sufism from the earliest centuries of Islam to today, Alexander Knysh, a leading expert on the subject, reveals the tradition in all its richness. Knysh explores how Sufism has been viewed by both insiders and outsiders since its inception. He examines the key aspects of Sufism, from definitions and discourses to leadership, institutions, and practices. He devotes special attention to Sufi approaches to the Qur’an, drawing parallels with similar uses of scripture in Judaism and Christianity. He traces how Sufism grew from a set of simple moral-ethical precepts into a sophisticated tradition with professional Sufi masters (shaykhs) who became powerful players in Muslim public life but whose authority was challenged by those advocating the equality of all Muslims before God. Knysh also examines the roots of the ongoing conflict between the Sufis and their fundamentalist critics, the Salafis—a major fact of Muslim life today. Based on a wealth of primary and secondary sources, Sufism is an indispensable account of a vital aspect of Islam.

Dynamic Islam

Author : Jon Armajani
Publisher : University Press of America
ISBN 13 : 9780761829676
Total Pages : 252 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (296 download)

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Book Synopsis Dynamic Islam by : Jon Armajani

Download or read book Dynamic Islam written by Jon Armajani and published by University Press of America. This book was released on 2004 with total page 252 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynamic Islam analyzes the lives and works of four of the most influential liberal diaspora Muslim intellectuals of the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries--Fatima Mernissi, Leila Ahmed, Fazlur Rahman, and Mohammed Arkoun. These prolific scholars are among the first generation of Muslims writing in Western languages who have intentionally directed their works toward audiences in the West, as well as the Muslim world. Jon Armajani examines the way these cutting-edge scholars have interpreted the Quran, Hadith, and Islamic history as they have constructed their visions for Islam in the modern world. Armajani vividly describes their perspectives on women and gender, veiling, Islamic revivalism, Islam and democracy, and Islamic mysticism. The volume also situates their ideas with respect to conservatively minded western Muslims and Islamic revivalists.

Islamic Mysticism

Author : Alexander Knysh
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 900421576X
Total Pages : 372 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (42 download)

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Book Synopsis Islamic Mysticism by : Alexander Knysh

Download or read book Islamic Mysticism written by Alexander Knysh and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2015-01-27 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book provides a general survey of the history of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) since its inception up to the modern time. It combines chronological and personality-based approaches to the subject with a thematic discussion of principal Sufi notions and institutions. Sufism is examined from a variety of different perspectives: as a vibrant social institution, a specific form of artistic expression (mainly poetic), an ascetic and contemplative practice, and a distinctive intellectual tradition that derived its vitality from a dialogue with other strands of Islamic thought. The book emphasizes the wide variety of Sufism's interactions with the society and its institutions from an ascetic withdrawal from the world to an active involvement in its affairs by individual Sufi masters and organizations. Islamic Mysticism by Knysh is a comprehensive survey of the interesting and fascinating world of Islamic Mysticism.

Re-visioning Sufism

Author : Jonas Atlas
Publisher : Yunus Publishing
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 146 pages
Book Rating : 4./5 ( download)

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Book Synopsis Re-visioning Sufism by : Jonas Atlas

Download or read book Re-visioning Sufism written by Jonas Atlas and published by Yunus Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-28 with total page 146 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sufism is often described as ‘the mystical branch of Islam’. Giving some more attention to this underexposed spiritual side, it is often proposed, could help us to ease certain contemporary societal tensions. One finger then points toward the rigorous religious aggression of fundamentalism as ‘the problem’, while another points toward the soft beauty of mysticism as ‘the solution’. Yet, no matter how well-intended the contemporary focus on Sufism might often be, in the end, it repeatedly portrays a lack of comprehension when it comes to Islamic mysticism. The typical descriptions are full of mistakes, and the conclusions they lead to need much nuance. Those misunderstandings do not simply stem from innocent ignorance. They are misunderstandings with more profound origins and implications. They’re closely tied to enormous blind spots in the contemporary view of religion and deeply entwined with pressing political issues. In fact, the way we deal with mysticism in general and with Sufism in particular actually kindles many contemporary conflicts. This book thus seeks to add the necessary nuances, correct the misunderstandings and unveil the contemporary ‘politics of mysticism’. It seeks to clarify how the growing interest in what is called ‘Sufism’ is connected to both the contemporary demonization of Islam and the modern destruction of profound spirituality in the East as well as the West.

Western Sufism

Author : Mark Sedgwick
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199977666
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

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Book Synopsis Western Sufism by : Mark Sedgwick

Download or read book Western Sufism written by Mark Sedgwick and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2016-10-18 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Western Sufism is sometimes dismissed as a relatively recent "new age" phenomenon, but in this book Mark Sedgwick argues that it has deep roots, both in the Muslim world and in the West. In fact, although the first significant Western Sufi organization was not established until 1915, the first Western discussion of Sufism was printed in 1480, and Western interest in Sufi thought goes back to the thirteenth century. Sedgwick starts with the earliest origins of Western Sufism in late antique Neoplatonism and early Arab philosophy, and traces later origins in repeated intercultural transfers from the Muslim world to the West, in the thought of the European Renaissance and Enlightenment, and in the intellectual and religious ferment of the nineteenth century. He then follows the development of organized Sufism in the West from 1915 until 1968, the year in which the first Western Sufi order based on purely Islamic models was founded. Western Sufism shows the influence of these origins, of thought both familiar and less familiar: Neoplatonic emanationism, perennialism, pantheism, universalism, and esotericism. Western Sufism is the product not of the new age but of Islam, the ancient world, and centuries of Western religious and intellectual history. Using sources from antiquity to the internet, Sedgwick demonstrates that the phenomenon of Western Sufism draws on centuries of intercultural transfers and is part of a long-established relationship between Western thought and Islam.

Mysticism in Iran

Author : Ata Anzali
Publisher : Univ of South Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 1611178088
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (111 download)

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Book Synopsis Mysticism in Iran by : Ata Anzali

Download or read book Mysticism in Iran written by Ata Anzali and published by Univ of South Carolina Press. This book was released on 2017-09-28 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An original study of the transformation of Safavid Persia from a majority Sunni country to a Twelver Shi'i realm "Mysticism" in Iran is an in-depth analysis of significant transformations in the religious landscape of Safavid Iran that led to the marginalization of Sufism and the eventual emergence of 'irfan as an alternative Shi'i model of spirituality. Ata Anzali draws on a treasure-trove of manuscripts from Iranian archives to offer an original study of the transformation of Safavid Persia from a majority Sunni country to a Twelver Shi'i realm. The work straddles social and intellectual history, beginning with an examination of late Safavid social and religious contexts in which Twelver religious scholars launched a successful campaign against Sufism with the tacit approval of the court. This led to the social, political, and economic marginalization of Sufism, which was stigmatized as an illegitimate mode of piety rooted in a Sunni past. Anzali directs the reader's attention to creative and successful attempts by other members of the ulama to incorporate the Sufi tradition into the new Twelver milieu. He argues that the category of 'irfan, or "mysticism," was invented at the end of the Safavid period by mystically minded scholars such as Shah Muhammad Darabi and Qutb al-Din Nayrizi in reference to this domesticated form of Sufism. Key aspects of Sufi thought and practice were revisited in the new environment, which Anzali demonstrates by examining the evolving role of the spiritual master. This traditional Sufi function was reimagined by Shi'i intellectuals to incorporate the guidance of the infallible imams and their deputies, the ulama. Anzali goes on to address the institutionalization of 'irfan in Shi'i madrasas and the role played by prominent religious scholars of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in this regard. The book closes with a chapter devoted to fascinating changes in the thought and practice of 'irfan in the twentieth century during the transformative processes of modernity. Focusing on the little-studied figure of Kayvan Qazvini and his writings, Anzali explains how 'irfan was embraced as a rational, science-friendly, nonsectarian, and anticlerical concept by secular Iranian intellectuals.

The Mystics of Islam

Author : Reynold Alleyne Nicholson
Publisher : Library of Alexandria
ISBN 13 : 1613106637
Total Pages : 154 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (131 download)

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Book Synopsis The Mystics of Islam by : Reynold Alleyne Nicholson

Download or read book The Mystics of Islam written by Reynold Alleyne Nicholson and published by Library of Alexandria. This book was released on 2020-09-28 with total page 154 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity

Author : Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh
Publisher : Routledge
ISBN 13 : 1317329112
Total Pages : 364 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (173 download)

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Book Synopsis Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity by : Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh

Download or read book Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity written by Saeed Zarrabi-Zadeh and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2016-01-29 with total page 364 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Practical Mysticism in Islam and Christianity offers a comparative study of the works of the Sufi-poet Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) and the practical teachings of the German Dominican, Meister Eckhart (c1260-1327/8). Rumi has remained an influential figure in Islamic mystical discourse since the thirteenth century, while also extending his impact to the Western spiritual arena. However, his ideas have frequently been interpreted within the framework of other mystical, philosophical, or religious systems. Through its novel approach, this book aims to reformulate Rumi’s practical mysticism by employing four methodological principles: a) mysticism is a coherent structure with mutual interconnection between its parts; b) the imposition of alien structures to interpret any particular mysticism damages its inward coherency; c) practical mysticism consists of two main parts, namely practices and stages; and d) the proper use of comparative methodology enables a deeper understanding of each juxtaposed system. Eckhart’s speculative mysticism, which differs from and enjoys similarities with the love-based mysticism of Rumi, provides a "mirror" that highlights the special features of Rumi’s practical mysticism. Such comparison also allows a deeper comprehension of Eckhart’s practical thought. Offering a critical examination of practical mysticism, this book is a valuable resource for students and scholars of Islamic studies, comparative mysticism, and the intellectual history of Islam.

Early Ibadi Theology: New Material on Rational Thought in Islam from the Pen of al-Fazārī (2nd/8th Century)

Author : Abdulrahman al-Salimi
Publisher : BRILL
ISBN 13 : 900445957X
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.0/5 (44 download)

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Book Synopsis Early Ibadi Theology: New Material on Rational Thought in Islam from the Pen of al-Fazārī (2nd/8th Century) by : Abdulrahman al-Salimi

Download or read book Early Ibadi Theology: New Material on Rational Thought in Islam from the Pen of al-Fazārī (2nd/8th Century) written by Abdulrahman al-Salimi and published by BRILL. This book was released on 2021-07-19 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this volume newly discovered, re-edited texts by al-Fazārī are presented, with previously lacking fragments included, texts that had already begun to offer new perspectives on Islamic ʿilm al-kalām, including on its origins and the sources of its concepts and debating techniques.

The Cambridge Companion to Sufism

Author : Lloyd Ridgeon
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
ISBN 13 : 1107018307
Total Pages : 331 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis The Cambridge Companion to Sufism by : Lloyd Ridgeon

Download or read book The Cambridge Companion to Sufism written by Lloyd Ridgeon and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2015 with total page 331 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book traces the evolution of Sufism from the formative period to the present.

A Soaring Minaret

Author : Laury Silvers
Publisher : State University of New York Press
ISBN 13 : 1438431724
Total Pages : 155 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (384 download)

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Book Synopsis A Soaring Minaret by : Laury Silvers

Download or read book A Soaring Minaret written by Laury Silvers and published by State University of New York Press. This book was released on 2010-07-16 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The development of early Islamic mysticism and metaphysics is presented through the life and work of theologian Abu Bakr al-Wasiti.

Sufis and Saints' Bodies

Author : Scott Kugle
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 0807872776
Total Pages : 368 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Sufis and Saints' Bodies by : Scott Kugle

Download or read book Sufis and Saints' Bodies written by Scott Kugle and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2011-09-01 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islam is often described as abstract, ascetic, and uniquely disengaged from the human body. Scott Kugle refutes this assertion in the first full study of Islamic mysticism as it relates to the human body. Examining Sufi conceptions of the body in religious writings from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth century, Kugle demonstrates that literature from this era often treated saints' physical bodies as sites of sacred power. Sufis and Saints' Bodies focuses on six important saints from Sufi communities in North Africa and South Asia. Kugle singles out a specific part of the body to which each saint is frequently associated in religious literature. The saints' bodies, Kugle argues, are treated as symbolic resources for generating religious meaning, communal solidarity, and the experience of sacred power. In each chapter, Kugle also features a particular theoretical problem, drawing methodologically from religious studies, anthropology, studies of gender and sexuality, theology, feminism, and philosophy. Bringing a new perspective to Islamic studies, Kugle shows how an important Islamic tradition integrated myriad understandings of the body in its nurturing role in the material, social, and spiritual realms.

Sufi Narratives of Intimacy

Author : Sa'diyya Shaikh
Publisher : Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN 13 : 0807869864
Total Pages : 302 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (78 download)

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Book Synopsis Sufi Narratives of Intimacy by : Sa'diyya Shaikh

Download or read book Sufi Narratives of Intimacy written by Sa'diyya Shaikh and published by Univ of North Carolina Press. This book was released on 2012-03-05 with total page 302 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 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.

Mystical Islam

Author : Julian Baldick
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 0814711391
Total Pages : 225 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (147 download)

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Book Synopsis Mystical Islam by : Julian Baldick

Download or read book Mystical Islam written by Julian Baldick and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 1989 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Covers the origins of Sufism and early influences, particularly from Christianity; the rise of the great Sufi organizations; the thought of Sufism's main theorist and systemizer, Ibn Arabi; Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes; relations with Shi'ism in Iran; Sufism in the heyday of the great empires in Iran, India, and Turkey; and relations with Turkey and Egypt during the nineteenth century as well as Sufi practices in the twentieth century."--Page 4 of cover.

Islam in Historical Perspective

Author : Alexander Knysh
Publisher : Taylor & Francis
ISBN 13 : 1317273397
Total Pages : 552 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (172 download)

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Book Synopsis Islam in Historical Perspective by : Alexander Knysh

Download or read book Islam in Historical Perspective written by Alexander Knysh and published by Taylor & Francis. This book was released on 2016-10-26 with total page 552 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Islam in Historical Perspective provides readers with an introduction to Islam, Islamic history and societies with carefully selected historical and scriptural evidence that enables them to form a comprehensive and balanced vision of Islam’s rise and evolution across the centuries and up to the present day. Combining historical and chronological approaches, the book examines intellectual dialogues and socio-political struggles within the extraordinary rich Islamic tradition. Treating Islam as a social and political force, the book also addresses Muslim devotional practices, artistic creativity and the structures of everyday existence. Islam in Historical Perspective is designed to help readers to develop personal empathy for the subject by relating it to their own experiences and burning issues of today. It contains a wealth of historical anecdotes and quotations from original sources that are intended to emphasize its principal points in a memorable way. This new edition features a thoroughly revised and updated text, new illustrations, expanded study questions and chapter summaries.