Dreams, Sufism and Sainthood, The Visionary Career of Muhammad al-Zawâwî.
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Based on Muhammad al-Zawâwî's extraordinary diary of 109 dream conversations with the Prophet Muhammad, this study provides a rare, intimate view of 15th-century North African Muslim life. The study reconstructs Zawâwî's lifestory over a critical ten-year period and examines his career as a sufi in the historical context of North Africa and Mamluk Cairo. Psychological aspects of Zawâwî's religious experience are thoroughly explored. The concluding chapter provides an introduction to the role of dreams and visions in medieval Islam. Particular attention is paid to the way Zawâwî and his successors used their visions to legitimate claims to being awliya' , or living saints.
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1 online resource. :
9789004378926
The Unveiling of Secrets (Kashf al-Asrār) : The Visionary Autobiography of Rūzbihān al-Baqlī (1128-1209 A.D.) /
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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.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047417774
9789004144088
Sainthood and authority in early Islam : how the awliyāʼ of God inherited the Sunnī caliphate /
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In Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam Aiyub Palmer recasts wilāya in terms of Islamic authority and traces its development in both political and religious spheres up through the 3rd and 4th Islamic centuries. This book pivots around the ideas of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, the first Muslim theologian and mystic to write on the topic of wilāya . By looking at its structural roots in Arab and Islamic social organization, Aiyub Palmer has reframed the discussion about sainthood in early Islam to show how it relates more broadly to other forms of authority in Islam. This book not only looks anew at the influential ideas of al-Tirmidhī but also challenges current modes of thought around the nature of authority in Islamicate societies.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004416550
Irshād : Dar maʿrifat u waʿẓ u akhlāq /
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According to Majid Fakhry, ethical theories in Islam may be divided into four categories: 1. scriptural morality (moral precepts and judgments from the Qurʾān and the Traditions); 2. theological theories (rationalist interpretations of scriptural morality based on philosophical or theological methods and categories developed in the eighth and ninth centuries); 3. philosophical theories (ultimately relying on Greek sources, mainly Plato and Aristotle in neo-Platonic interpretations); 4. religious theories (based on the Qurʾānic view of man and his position in the universe, and differing from theological theories in that they were not dialectical, not polemical, and more concerned with moral theory than with questions of methodology). The present work comes under the last category, to which it adds an element of mysticism. Besides the more general sources and authorities, it also refers to scholars and mystics from Transoxania specifically, the work having been written there in the early 6th/12th century. Contains word material from that region.
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1 online resource. :
9789004404823
9789648700237
Ethics and spirituality in Islam : sufi adab /
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The notion of adab is at the heart of Arab-Islamic culture. Born in the crucible of the Arabic and Persian civilization, nourished by Greek and Indian influences, this polysemic notion could cover a variegated range of meanings: good behavior, knowledge of manners, etiquette, rules and belles-lettres and finally, literature. This collection of articles tries to explore how the formulations and reformulations of adab during the first centuries of Islam engage with the crucial period of the first great spiritual masters, exploring the importance of normativity, but also of transgression, in order to define the rules themselves. Assuming that adab is ethics, the articles analyse the genres of Sufi adab , including manuals and hagiographical accounts, from the formative period of Sufism until the modernity. Contributors are: Alberto F. Ambrosio, Nelly Amri, Francesco Chiabotti, Rachida Chih, Ralf Elger, Eve Feuillebois-Pierunek, Maria Chiara Giorda, Denis Gril, Paul L. Heck, Nathan Hofer, Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Annabel Keeler, Pierre Lory, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Erik S. Ohlander, Samuela Pagani, Luca Patrizi, Michele Petrone, Stefan Reichmuth, Lloyd Ridgeon, Elisha Russ-Fishbane, Florian Sobieroj, Renaud Soler, Jean-Jacques Thibon, Mikko Viitamäki.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004335134 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sufism, black and white : a critical edition of Kitāb al-Bayād ̣wa-l-Sawād of Abū l-Hạsan al-Sīrjānī (d. circa470/1077) /
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This critical Arabic text edition of K. al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād min khaṣāʾiṣ ḥikam al-ʿibād fī naʿt al-murīd wa-l-murād (\'The Black and White in the Words of Wisdom by Bondsmen Describing the Seeker and the Mystic Quest\'), a substantial handbook of early Sufism by Abū l-Ḥasan ʿAlī born al-Ḥasan al-Sīrjānī (d. circa 470/1077), is based on three manuscripts and is introduced by a detailed analytical study of the author and his work. The work is written in the tone of a guiding Sufi master and collects the mystical tradition of early Sufis in the form of anecdotes and concise aphorisms to instill guiding wisdom into the hearts of aspiring Sufi adepts. K. al-Bayāḍ wa-l-sawād forms an integral part of Sufi literature and is an essential source for the intellectual history of Islam until the middle of the 5th/11th century.
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1 online resource (582 pages) :
9789004228016 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Ṭuruq and Ṭuruq-Linked Institutions in Nineteenth-Century Egypt : A Historical Study in Organizational Dimensions of Islamic Mysticism /
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Ṭuruq and ṭuruq-linked institutions by Frederick De Jong was first published in 1978. It is largely based on research in public and private archives in Cairo, and on published materials in limited circulation. This study became highly influential in its field. De Jong describes the development of the administration and organization of the ṭuruq and ṭuruq -linked institutions ( takāyā , zawāyā , and shrines) under the shaykhs of the Bakrī family in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Egypt. Central to this administration is the principle of right of qadam , meaning the exclusive right of a ṭarīqa to proselytize and to appear in public in a particular area, if it could be proved that it had been the first to do so.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004449107
9789004449091
The Exoteric Aḥmad Ibn Idrīs : A Sufi's Critique on the Madhāhib and the Wahhābīs /
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The Moroccan mystic and theologian Aḥmad b. Idrīs (1749-1837) was one of the most dynamic personalities in the Islamic world of the 19th century. Through his teachings and the activity of his students important Sufi orders were founded which exerted wide-ranging social and political influence, orders such as the Sanūsiyya in Libya and the Khatmiyya in the Sudan. To date, publications dealing with him have especially focused on his biography and particular aspects of his mystical doctrines. In the present work an Arabic edition and translation with commentary of two texts are made available which throw light on Ibn Idrīs' attitude towards the religious-dogmatic questions of his day and age. The first text, Risālat al-Radd 'alā ahl al-ra'y , provides information about Ibn Idrīs' relation to the Islamic schools of jurisprudence, in particular his position regarding the ijtihād-taqlīd debate which was so significant in the 18th and 19th centuries. Like many similarly minded scholars of his time, Aḥmad b. Idrīs categorically rejects the authority of the established schools of jurisprudence and favors instead the application of personal methods in deriving a legal judgement. The second text presented here is a vivid report by one of his students describing a debate which Ibn Idrīs, at an advanced age, entered into with a Wahhābī theologian in the Yemenite city of sabyā in 1832. The text makes clear with regard to which points Ibn Idrīs hoped to establish agreement with the Wahhābīs, and where it was not possible to reach any mutual understanding. The introduction of the present book examines the tumultuous political circumstances in which both Arabic texts were composed and sketches the larger cultural and intellectual context which shaped Ibn Idrīs' world of ideas.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004492004
9789004113756
The Sufi doctrine of man : ?adr al-Din al-Qunawi's metaphysical anthropology /
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In The Sufi Doctrine of Man , Richard Todd examines the life and thought of Ibn 'Arabī's chief disciple, Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī (13th century C.E.). Making use of manuscript sources, he analyzes and contextualizes Qūnawī's esoteric vision of the nature and purpose of human existence, a doctrine which incorporates core elements of Qūnawī's metaphysics, cosmology, psychology, and eschatology. Qūnawī's thought is placed in relation to Ibn 'Arabī's and that of the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā', and his interaction with the Avicennian tradition is explored by focusing on his dialogue with the philosopher al-Ṭūsī. Although not as famous as his master, Qūnawī is shown to have been a sophisticated metaphysician in his own right, who had a major impact on Sufi thought.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004271265 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
'Ala' al-Dawla al-Simnani between spiritual authority and political power : a Persian lord and intellectual, in the heart of the Ilkhanate, With a critical edition and translation...
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In ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla al-Simnānī between Spiritual Authority and Political Power: A Persian Lord and Intellectual in the Heart of the Ilkhanate , Giovanni Maria Martini investigates the personality of a major figure in the socio-political and cultural landscape of Mongol Iran. In pursuing this objective, the author follows parallel paths: Chapter 1 provides the most updated reconstruction of Simnānī's (d. 736/1336) biography, which, thanks to its unique features, emerges as a cross-section of Iranian society and as a microhistory of the complex relationships between a Sufi master, Persian elites and Mongol rulers during the Ilkhanid period; Chapter 2 contains a study on the phenomenon of Arabic-Persian diglossia in Simnānī's written work, arguing for its socio-religious function; in Chapters 3 to 6 the critical editions of two important, interrelated treatises by Simnānī are presented; finally, Chapter 7 offers the first full-length annotated translation of a long work by Simnānī ever to appear in a Western language.
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1 online resource (525 pages) :
9789004356740 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Unity in diversity : mysticism, messianism and the construction of religious authority in Islam /
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What are the mechanisms of change and adaptation in Islam, regarded as a living organism, and how do they work? How did these mechanisms preserve the integrity of Muslim civilization through the innumerable hazards, divisions and devastations of time? From the perspective of history and intellectual history, this book focuses on a significant, though still largely under studied, aspect of this immense issue, namely, the role of mystical and messianic ferment in the construction and re-construction of religious authority in Islam. Sixteen scholars address this topic with a variety of approaches, providing a fresh outlook on the trends underlying the evolution of Muslim societies and, in particular, the emergence and consolidation of the Ottoman, Safavid and Mughal Empires. Contributors include: Abbas Amanat, Mohammad Ali Amir-Moezzi, Paul Ballanfat, Shahzad Bashir, Ilker Evrim Binbaş, Daniel De Smet, Devin DeWeese, Armin Eschraghi, Omid Ghaemmaghami, Ahmet T. Karamustafa, Todd Lawson, Pierre Lory, Matthew Melvin-Koushki, Orkhan Mir-Kasimov, A. Azfar Moin, William F. Tucker.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004262805
Saints and Sons : The Making and Remaking of the Rashīdi Aḥmadi Sufi Order, 1799-2000 /
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This first history of the Rashīdi Aḥmadiyya argues for a new explanation of the great Sufi revival of the eighteenth century, and also defines a new paradigm of development and change in Sufi orders. In his study of one widespread Sufi order over two centuries and three continents, the author identifies a repeating cycle in which a section of an order rises under a great shaykh, splits, and stabilizes. Though each great shaykh seems to remake the order with little reference to what has gone before, there are in fact two constants through all cycles: the written literature of the order, and the limiting effect on even the greatest shaykhs of their followers' expectations.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789047406075
9789004140134
Islamic mysticism : a short history.
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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.
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1 online resource (358 pages) :
9789004215764 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Islamic sufi networks in the western Indian Ocean (c. 1880-1940) : ripples of reform /
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In the period c. 1880-1940, organized Sufism spread rapidly in the western Indian Ocean. New communities turned to Islam, and Muslim communities turned to new texts, practices and religious leaders. On the East African coast, the orders were both a vehicle for conversion to Islam and for reform of Islamic practice. The impact of Sufism on local communities is here traced geographically as a ripple reaching beyond the Swahili cultural zone southwards to Mozambique, Madagascar and Cape Town. Through an investigation of the texts, ritual practices and scholarly networks that went alongside Sufi expansion, this book places religious change in the western Indian Ocean within the wider framework of Islamic reform.
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1 online resource (pages) :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004276543 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Living knowledge in West African Islam : the sufi community of Ibrahim Niasse /
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Living Knowledge in West African Islam examines the actualization of religious identity in the community of Ibrāhīm Niasse (d.1975, Senegal). With millions of followers throughout Africa and the world, the community arguably represents one of the twentieth century's most successful Islamic revivals. Niasse's followers, members of the Tijāniyya Sufi order, gave particular attention to the widespread transmission of the experiential knowledge (maʿrifa) of God. They also worked to articulate a global Islamic identity in the crucible of African decolonization. The central argument of this book is that West African Sufism is legible only with an appreciation of centuries of Islamic knowledge specialization in the region. Sufi masters and disciples reenacted and deepened preexisting teacher-student relationships surrounding the learning of core Islamic disciplines, such as the Qurʾān and jurisprudence. Learning Islam meant the transformative inscription of sacred knowledge in the student's very being, a disposition acquired in the master's exemplary physical presence. Sufism did not undermine traditional Islamic orthodoxy: the continued transmission of Sufi knowledge has in fact preserved and revived traditional Islamic learning in West Africa.
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1 online resource (xviii, 333 pages) :
Includes bibliographical references (293-321) and index. :
9789004289468 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sufism in an age of transition : ʻUmar al-Suhrawardī and the rise of the Islamic mystical brotherhoods /
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Although the early thirteenth century was a critical period in the development of Sufism, it has received little scholarly attention. Based on heretofore unexplored sources, this book examines a pivotal figure from this period: the scholar, mystic, statesman, and eponym of one of the earliest ṭarīqa lineages, ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī. In situating Suhrawardī's life work in its social, political, and religious contexts, this book suggests that his universalizing Sufi system was not only enmeshed within a broader economy of Muslim religious learning, but also furnished social spaces which allowed for novel modes of participation in Sufi religiosity. In doing so, this book provides a framework for understanding the increasingly ubiquitous presence of intentional Sufi communities and institutions throughout the late-medieval Islamic world.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [321]-337) and indexes. :
9789047432142 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.
Sufi Institutions /
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"This volume describes the social and practical aspects of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) across centuries and geographical regions. Its authors seek to transcend ethereal, essentialist and "spiritualizing" approaches to Sufism, on the one hand, and purely pragmatic and materialistic explanations of its origins and history, on the other. Covering five topics (Sufism's economy, social role of Sufis, Sufi spaces, politics, and organization), the volume shows that mystics have been active socio-religious agents who could skillfully adjust to the conditions of their time and place, while also managing to forge an alternative way of living, worshiping and thinking. Basing themselves on the most recent research on Sufi institutions, the contributors to this volume substantially expand our understanding of the vicissitudes of Sufism by paying special attention to its organizational and economic dimensions, as well as complex and often ambivalent relations between Sufis and the societies in which they played a wide variety of important and sometimes critical roles. Contributors are Mehran Afshari, Ismail Fajrie Alatas, Semih Ceyhan, Rachida Chih, Nathalie Clayer, David Cook, Stéphane A. Dudoignon, Daphna Ephrat, Peyvand Firouzeh, Nathan Hofer, Hussain Ahmad Khan, Catherine Mayeur-Jaouen, Richard McGregor, Ahmet Yaşar Ocak, Alexandre Papas, Luca Patrizi, Paulo Pinto, Adam Sabra, Mark Sedgwick, Jean-Jacques Thibon, Knut S. Vikør and Neguin Yavari"--
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references and index. :
9789004392601
9789004389076
ʿAql u ʿishq yā Munāẓarāt-i khams /
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Ibn Turka Iṣfahānī (d. 835/1432) stemmed from a well-educated family in Isfahan. In 789/1387, following Tīmūr Lang's (d. 807/1405) massacre of the population of Isfahan, he and his older brother were among the artists and scholars whose lives were spared and marched off to the capital Samarqand. Ibn Turka studied the Islamic sciences under this brother for 25 years. He then went on a study tour that took him to the classrooms of such great scholars as Shams al-Dīn Fanārī (d. 834/1451) and Sirāj al-Dīn al-Bulqīnī (d. 805/1403), to finally return to Isfahan. With more than 50 philosophical works to his name, Ibn Turka is seen as a key figure in the amalgamation of voam, Peripatetic and Illuminationist philosophy and mysticism, leading eventually to the Transcendent Philosophy of Mullā Ṣadrā (d. 1045/1635). Written in a beautiful Persian, the present work describes the struggle between divinely-inspired love and reason, ending in their glorious unification.
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1 online resource. :
9789004401778
9789645568274
Pure gold from the words of Sayyidī ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Dabbāgh =al-Dhabab al-Ibrīz min kalām Sayyidī ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Dabbāgh /
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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.
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1 online resource. :
Includes bibliographical references (p. [933]-944) and indexes. :
9789047432487 :
Available to subscribing member institutions only.