The Unveiling of Secrets (Kashf al-Asrār) : The Visionary Autobiography of Rūzbihān al-Baqlī (1128-1209 A.D.) /
:
The Unveiling of Secrets ( Kashf al-Asrār ) is the visionary autobiography of one of the most significant mystics of twelfth-century Iran, Rūzbihān al-Baqlī (522/1128-606/1209). Written in Arabic, it describes the life of the author primarily as comprised of his mystical visions. Rūzbihān depicts himself in the unseen world ( ʿālam al-ghayb ) in the company of God, saints, prophets, and angels. His self-portrait in this manner communicates his special status with God. The sublime quality of these visions is well captured in the style of Kashf al-Asrār : the writing is simultaneously simple and clear, but eloquent and rich with extraordinary images. This is the first critical edition of the manuscipt of Kashf al-Asrār which provides an intriguing case in the genre of Islamic autobiographies.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047417774
9789004144088
Ontological aspects of early Jewish anthropology : the malleable self and the presence of God /
:
In Ontological Aspects of Early Jewish Anthropology , Tyson L. Putthoff explores early Jewish beliefs about how the human self reacts ontologically in God's presence. Combining contemporary theory with sound exegesis, Putthoff demonstrates that early Jews widely considered the self to be intrinsically malleable, such that it mimics the ontological state of the space it inhabits. In divine space, they believed, the self therefore shares in the ontological state of God himself. The book is critical for students and scholars alike. In putting forth a new framework for conceptualising early Jewish anthropology, it challenges scholars to rethink not only what early Jews believed about the self but how we approach the subject in the first place.
:
"This book is a revision of my doctoral thesis, completed at Durham University"--Acknowledgements. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004336414 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The mystery of God : early Jewish mysticism and the New Testament /
:
This book brings together the perspectives of apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticism to illuminate aspects of New Testament theology. The first part begins with a consideration of the mystical character of apocalypticism and then uses the Book of Revelation and the development of views about the heavenly mediator figure of Enoch to explore the importance of apocalypticism in the Gospels and Acts, the Pauline Letters and finally the key theological themes in the later books of the New Testament. The second and third parts explore the character of early Jewish mysticism by taking important themes in the early Jewish mystical texts such as the Temple and the Divine Body to demonstrate the relevance of this material to New Testament interpretation.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [611]-645) and indexes. :
9789047428763 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Pure gold from the words of Sayyidī ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Dabbāgh =al-Dhabab al-Ibrīz min kalām Sayyidī ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Dabbāgh /
:
Around 1720 in Fez Aḥmad born al-Mubārak al-Lamaṭī, a religious scholar, wrote down the words and teachings of the Sufi master ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz al-Dabbāgh. Al-Dabbāgh shunned religious studies but, having reached illumination and met with the Prophet Muḥammad, he was able to explain any obscurities in the Qurʾān, ḥadīth s and sayings of earlier Sufis. The resulting book, known as the Ibrīz , describes how al-Dabbāgh attained illumination and access to the Prophet, as well as his teachings about the Council of the godly that regulates the world, relations between master and disciple, the darkness in men's bodies, Adam's creation, Barzakh, Paradise and Hell, and much more besides. This 'encyclopaedia' of Sufism with its many teaching stories and illustrations provides a window onto social life and religious ideas in Fez a generation or so before powerful outside forces began to play a role in the radical transformation of Morocco.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [933]-944) and indexes. :
9789047432487 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Beyond death : the mystical teachings of ʻAyn al-Quḍāt al-Hamadhānī /
:
The twelfth-century Iranian mystic 'Ayn al-Quḍāt al-Hamadhānī (d. 1131) wrote vividly of his explorations of death as a state of consciousness which he experienced while alive. This state and his visions of Doomsday and the innumerable non-corporeal worlds that lie past the world of matter confront him with paradoxical realities that upset the notional understanding of faith. The present book concerns itself with a discussion on the subject of death as it is viewed by one of the defining mystic scholars of medieval Iran. Based on medieval manuscripts and primary sources in classical Persian and Arabic, this book explores the significance of this important Iranian mystic and his insights on the nature of reality in light of death.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047427599 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Selected studies in the Slavonic pseudepigrapha /
:
This volume is a study of two of the most important Slavonic apocalypses, the Apocalypse of Abraham and 2 Enoch, as crucial conceptual links between the symbolic universes of Second Temple apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticism. The study seeks to understand the mediating role of these Slavonic pseudepigraphical texts in the development of Jewish angelological and theophanic traditions from Second Temple apocalypticism to later Jewish Merkabah mysticism attested in the Hekhalot and Shiʿur Qomah materials. The study shows that mediatorial traditions of the principal angels and the exalted patriarchs and prophets played an important role in facilitating the transition from apocalypticism to early Jewish mysticism.
:
Consists in part of previously published essays.
"This volume is a study of two of the most important Slavonic apocalypses, the Apocalypse of Abraham and 2 Enoch, as crucial conceptual links between the symbolic universes of Second Temple apocalypticism and early Jewish mysticism. The study seeks to understand the mediating role of these Slavonic pseudepigraphical texts in the development of Jewish angelological and theophanic traditions from Second Temple apocalypticism to later Jewish Merkabah mysticism attested in the Hekhalot and Shiur Qomah materials. The study shows that mediatorial traditions of the principal angels and the exalted patriarchs and prophets played an important role in facilitating the transition from apocalypticism to early Jewish mysticism"--ECIP data view. :
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and indexes. :
9789047441144 :
0169-8125 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The mystery of the earth : mysticism and Hasidism in the thought of Martin Buber /
:
Challenging the prevalent view that in order to establish his "Dialogical" thought Martin Buber had to forsake his earlier "mystical" work, Israel Koren demonstrates instead that mystical paradigms serve as the foundation for Buber's dialogue and endow it with greater depth. While most scholars portray Buber's dialogical thought mainly in its Western and modern philosophical background, the author examines Buber's interpretation of Hasidic themes such as Devekut (attachment to God) among others, in order to establish that his dialogical writings evolved out of his interpretation of Judaism in general, his understanding of the Hasidic conception of the world and the mission of man in Hasidism in particular. Buber's work is therefore shown to be original mystical neo-Hasidic thought, which serves as a new link in the historical chain of Jewish mysticism.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [369]-386) and indexes. :
9789004181243 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Unity of Mystical Traditions, The Transformation of Consciousness in Tibetan and German Mysticism.
:
This book argues that mystical doctrines and practices initiate parallel transformative processes in the consciousness of mystics. This thesis is supported through a comparative analysis of Tibetan Buddhist Dzogchen (rdzogs-chen) and the medieval German mysticism of Eckhart, Suso, and Tauler. These traditions are interpreted using a system/cybernetic model of consciousness. This model provides a theoretical framework for assessing the cognitive effects of mystical doctrines and practices and showing how different doctrines and practices may nevertheless initiate common transformative processes. This systems approach contributes to current philosophical discourse on mysticism by (1) making possible a precise analysis of the cognitive effects of mystical doctrines and practices, and (2) reconciling mystical heterogeneity with the essential unity of mystical traditions.
:
1 online resource. :
9789047407218
The Horizons of Being : The Metaphysics of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī /
:
The Horizons of Being explores the teachings of Ibn al-ʿArabī by examining Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī's (d. 1350) Prolegomena ( muqaddima ) to his commentary, Maṭlaʿ khuṣūṣ al-kilam fī maʿānī Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam (A Preamble of Select Discourse on the Meanings of the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam), referred to simply as Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī. While his commentary represents the third in a direct line going back to Ibn al-ʿArabī through Kāshānī, Jandī and Qūnawī, it remains one of the most popular due to its thorough and accessible treatment of the Fuṣūṣ that frequently synthesizes the ideas of his predecessors. The Muqaddima stands on its own as an independent work and has been the subject of careful study. If the al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya contains the entirety of Ibn al-ʿArabī's metaphysics which is distilled in the Fuṣūṣ, then Qayṣarī's Muqaddima can be read not just as a precis of the Fuṣūṣ but a summary of Ibn al-ʿArabī's doctrine.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004425330
9789004425248
Materialien zur alten islamischen Frommigkeit /
:
Arabic texts dating from the Third-4th/9th-10th centuries by the following five authors are here presented: Abū Shaykh al-Burjulānī, Ibrāhīm al-Khuttalī, Ibn al-Naḥḥās, Abū ʿAbd Allāh al-Rūdhabārī and Ibn Ḥamakān. The texts appear in transliteration along with a German translation. Their chains of transmission (isnāds) are analyzed and parallels with other authors are noted. The subject dealt with throughout is mystical piety. These highly interesting materials throw light on Islamic mysticism's early stage of development.
:
1 online resource (xxvii, 374 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [329]-335) and indexes. :
9789047443667 :
1875-0664 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Apocalyptic and Merkavah mysticism /
:
This is a new and revised edition of the book first published 1980. It contains new introductory and concluding chapters as well as a Bibliography and updated Index. Furthermore, substantial corrections, updates, and changes have been made in the original text. The changes concern matters of language and style, they nuance the line of argumentation, and they update the discussion of major issues. The new chapters fill several scholarly gaps that have opened since the initial publication of this book in 1980. The new Introductory Chapter explores new venues and issues in the study and assessment of the Hekhalot literature and relevant passages in apocalyptic literature, and this in light of epistemological and ontological considerations. The Concluding Chapter discusses the ritual praxis of the experience of the Hekhalot mystics and its affitnity to magic, and this in terms of new approaches to ritual theory.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004279209 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Tafsir as mystical experience: intimacy and ecstasy in Quran commentary : the Tafsir Surat al-Baqara by Sayyid 'Ali Muhammad, the Bab (1819-1850) /
:
In Tafsir as Mystical Experience , Todd Lawson shows how the Quran may be engaged with for meaning and understanding, the usual goal of mystical exegesis, and also how it may be engaged with through tafsīr in a quest for spiritual or mystical experience. In this earliest of the Báb's extended works, written before his public claim to be the return of the hidden Imam, the act of reading is shown to be something akin to holy communion in which the sacred text is both entrance upon and destination of the mystic quest. The Quran here is a door to an "abode of glory" and an abiding spiritual encounter with the divine through the prophet, his daughter Fāṭima and the twelve Imams of Ithna-ʿasharī Shiʿism who inhabit the letters, words, verses and suras of the Book. Cover calligraphy by Burhan Zahrai of Quran 53:11
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004385436
Thus spake the dervish : Sufism, language, and the religious margins in Central Asia, 1400-1900 /
:
Thus Spake the Dervish explores the unfamiliar history of marginal Sufis, known as dervishes, in early modern and modern Central Asia over a period of 500 years. It draws on various sources (Persian chronicles and treatises, Turkic literature, Russian and French ethnography, the author's fieldwork) to examine five successive cases, each of which corresponds to a time period, a specific socially marginal space, and a particular use of mystical language. Including an extensive selection of writings by dervishes, this book demonstrates the diversity and tenacity of Central Asian Sufism over a long period. Here translated into a Western language for the first time, the extracts from primary texts by marginal Sufis allow a rare insight into their world. The original French edition of this book, Ainsi parlait le dervice, was published by Editions du Cerf (Paris, France). Translated by Caroline Kraabel.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004402027
Islamic mysticism : a short history.
:
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.
:
1 online resource (358 pages) :
9789004215764 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Mysticism and philosophy in al-Andalus : Ibn Masarra, Ibn al-'Arabi and the Isma'ili tradition /
:
Muslim Spain gave rise to two unusual figures in the mystical tradition of Islam: Ibn Masarra (269/883-319/931) and Ibn al-ʿArabī (560/1165-638/1240). Representing, respectively, the beginning and the pinnacle of Islamic mysticism in al-Andalus, Ibn Masarra and Ibn al-ʿArabī embody in their writings a type of mystical discourse which is quite different from the Sufi discourse that evolved in the Islamic east during the 9th-12th centuries. In Mysticism and Philosophy in al-Andalus , Michael Ebstein points to the Ismāʿīlī tradition as one possible source which helped shape the distinct intellectual world from which both Ibn Masarra and Ibn al-ʿArabī derived. By analyzing their writings and the works of various Ismāʿīlī authors, Michael Ebstein unearths the many links that connect the thought of Ibn Masarra and Ibn al-ʿArabī to the Ismāʿīlī tradition.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004255371
Hidden Wisdom, Esoteric Traditions and the Roots of Christian Mysticism. Second, Revised and Enlarged paperback edition.
:
This book investigates the problem of esoteric traditions in early Christianity, their origin and their transformation in Patristic hermeneutics, in the West as well as in the East. It argues that these traditions eventually formed the basis of nascent Christian mysticism in Late Antiquity. These esoteric traditions do not reflect the influence of Greek Mystery religions, as has often been claimed, but rather seem to stem from the Jewish background of Christianity. They were adopted by various Gnostic teachings, a fact which helps explaining their eventual disappearance from Patristic literature. The eleven chapters study each a different aspect of the problem, including the questions of Gnostic and Manichaean esotericism. This book will be of interest to all students of religious history in Late Antiquity. Revised and extended paperback edition. Originally published in 1996. Please click here for details.
:
1 online resource. :
9789047404774
And they shall be one flesh : on the language of mystical union in Judaism /
:
In "And They Shall Be One Flesh": On the Language of Mystical Union in Judaism , Adam Afterman offers an extensive study of mystical union and embodiment in Judaism. Afterman argues that Philo was the first to articulate the notion of unio mystica in Judaism and is the source of the henōsis mysticism in the later Neoplatonic tradition. The study provides a detailed analysis of the Jewish medieval trends that developed different forms of mystical union and mystical embodiment through the divine name and spirit. The book argues that the development of unitive mysticism in Judaism is the fruit of the creative synthesis of rabbinic Judaism and Hellenistic and Arab philosophy, and a natural outcome of the theological articulation of the idea of monotheism itself.
:
1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004328730 :
1873-9008 ; :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
The Journeys of a Taymiyyan Sufi : Sufism through the Eyes of ʿImād al-Dīn Aḥmad al-Wāsiṭī (d. 711/1311) /
:
The Journeys of a Taymiyyan Sufi examines the life and doctrine of ʿImād al-Dīn Aḥmad al-Wāsiṭī (d. 711/1311), a little-known Ḥanbalī Sufi master from the circle of Ibn Taymiyya (d. 728/1328). The first part of this book follows al-Wāsiṭī's physical journey in search of spiritual guidance through a critical study of his autobiographical writings. This provides unique insights into several important manifestations of Sufism that he encountered as he travelled from Wāsiṭ to Baghdad, Alexandria, Cairo, and finally, Damascus. The second part focuses on his spiritual journey through a study of his Sufi writings, which convey a distinct type of Sufism that was specifically formulated within the boundaries of traditionalist theology as he understood it.
:
1 online resource. :
9789004377554
9789004431294