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The Classics of Western Spirituality
賮氐賵氐 丕賱丨讴賲
丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 卮丕賲賱 丕氐賱 毓乇亘蹖貙 鬲乇噩賲賴貙 鬲賵囟蹖丨 賵 鬲丨賱蹖賱 丿賴 賮氐 丕賵賱 丕夭 讴鬲丕亘 賮氐賵氐 丕賱丨讴賲 丕亘賳 毓乇亘蹖 丕爻鬲. 丕賮夭賵賳 亘乇 丕蹖賳 賲賵丕乇丿 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 丿丕乇丕蹖 丨丿賵丿 100 氐賮丨賴 賲賯丿賲賴 - 丿乇 鬲賵囟蹖丨 賳讴丕鬲 丕睾賱亘 賲賳賮蹖 丕亘賳 毓乇亘蹖 賵 爻賳鬲 毓乇賮丕賳 賳馗乇蹖 倬爻 丕夭 丕賵 - 丕爻鬲. 丿乇 倬丕蹖丕賳 讴鬲丕亘 賳蹖夭 賲鬲賳 丿賵 爻禺賳乇丕賳蹖 丕夭 丿讴鬲乇 倬賵乇噩賵丕丿蹖 賵 賲賱讴蹖丕賳 亘丿丕賳 丕賮夭賵丿賴 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲 - 讴賴 賴乇 丿賵 倬蹖乇丕賲賵賳 丕蹖賳 丕孬乇 丿讴鬲乇 賲賵丨丿 賵 丕亘賳 毓乇亘蹖 亘賴 胤賵乇 讴賱蹖 爻禺賳丕賳蹖 丕蹖乇丕丿 讴乇丿賴 丕賳丿.
765 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1229
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About the author
Ibn 士Arabi
340听books1,935听followersNote to arabic readers : For the original arabic version of the books, check "other editions" in the book that interests you)
Universally known by the title of "Muhyi al-Din" (The Reviver of the Religion) and "al-Shaykh al-Akbar" (The Greatest Shaykh) Ibn 'Arab墨 (Arabic: 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷鈥�) (July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an Arab Sufi Muslim mystic and philosopher. His full name was Ab奴 'Abdull膩h Mu岣mmad ibn 'Al墨 ibn Mu岣mmad ibn al-`Arab墨 al-H膩峁璱m墨 al-峁�'墨 (兀亘賵 毓亘丿 丕賱賱賴 賲丨賲丿 亘賳 毓賱賷 亘賳 賲丨賲丿 亘賳 丕賱毓乇亘賷 丕賱丨丕鬲賲賷 丕賱胤丕卅賷).
Muhammad ibn al-Arabi and his family moved to Seville when he was eight years old. In 1200 CE, at the age of thirty-five, he left Iberia for good, intending to make the hajj to Mecca. He lived in Mecca for some three years, where he began writing his Al-Fut奴岣ツ乼 al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations). In 1204, he left Mecca for Anatolia with Majd al-D墨n Is岣ツ乹, whose son 峁dr al-D墨n al-Qunaw墨 (1210-1274) would be his most influential disciple.
In 1223, he settled in Damascus, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. He died at the age of 76 on 22 Rabi' II 638 AH/November 10, 1240CE, and his tomb in Damascus is still an important place of pilgrimage.
A vastly prolific writer, Ibn 'Arab墨 is generally known as the prime exponent of the idea later known as Wa岣at al-Wuj奴d (literally Unity of Being), though he did not use this term in his writings. His emphasis was on the true potential of the human being and the path to realising that potential and becoming the perfect or complete man (al-ins膩n al-k膩mil).
Some 800 works are attributed to Ibn 'Arab膩, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscript form, although most printed versions have not yet been critically edited and include many errors.
Universally known by the title of "Muhyi al-Din" (The Reviver of the Religion) and "al-Shaykh al-Akbar" (The Greatest Shaykh) Ibn 'Arab墨 (Arabic: 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷鈥�) (July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an Arab Sufi Muslim mystic and philosopher. His full name was Ab奴 'Abdull膩h Mu岣mmad ibn 'Al墨 ibn Mu岣mmad ibn al-`Arab墨 al-H膩峁璱m墨 al-峁�'墨 (兀亘賵 毓亘丿 丕賱賱賴 賲丨賲丿 亘賳 毓賱賷 亘賳 賲丨賲丿 亘賳 丕賱毓乇亘賷 丕賱丨丕鬲賲賷 丕賱胤丕卅賷).
Muhammad ibn al-Arabi and his family moved to Seville when he was eight years old. In 1200 CE, at the age of thirty-five, he left Iberia for good, intending to make the hajj to Mecca. He lived in Mecca for some three years, where he began writing his Al-Fut奴岣ツ乼 al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations). In 1204, he left Mecca for Anatolia with Majd al-D墨n Is岣ツ乹, whose son 峁dr al-D墨n al-Qunaw墨 (1210-1274) would be his most influential disciple.
In 1223, he settled in Damascus, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. He died at the age of 76 on 22 Rabi' II 638 AH/November 10, 1240CE, and his tomb in Damascus is still an important place of pilgrimage.
A vastly prolific writer, Ibn 'Arab墨 is generally known as the prime exponent of the idea later known as Wa岣at al-Wuj奴d (literally Unity of Being), though he did not use this term in his writings. His emphasis was on the true potential of the human being and the path to realising that potential and becoming the perfect or complete man (al-ins膩n al-k膩mil).
Some 800 works are attributed to Ibn 'Arab膩, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscript form, although most printed versions have not yet been critically edited and include many errors.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
January 31, 2013
Being a Sufi and all, I pretty much have to give Ibn Arabi a five. He pretty much defined what it is to be a Sufi. Even with that aside though this book is amazing. It is hard to find books that really truly make a person drunk with words, but this one manages it. The introduction and translation are both done very well. The only caution I have for the book is that it isn't the kind of book to pick up as an introduction to Sufism. The material really needs a solid grounding in the Abrahamic faiths and Sufi thought. It isn't the kind of book to read in one weekend either. It is best to read it a little bit at a time. I would easily recommend this to anyone looking to delve into the deeper concepts of Sufism.
January 29, 2013
Needs more than one reading. I will soon make a critical edition and translate it into Urdu by the will of Allah.
February 27, 2018
賷賲孬賱 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賰賱 賲丕 兀乇賮囟賴 賮賷 丕賱賮賱爻賮丕鬲 睾賷乇 丕賱毓賯賱賷丞貙 賲賷鬲丕賮賷夭賯賷丕 鬲賯賵賲 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲賳丕賯囟丕鬲 丕賱賲賳胤賯賷丞 賵賴乇賲賳賷賵胤賷賯丕 鬲兀賵賷賱賷丞 賱賱睾丞 丕賱賳氐賵氐 賯丕丿乇丞 毓賱賶 鬲丨賵賷賱 丕賱鬲亘乇 廿賱賶 鬲乇丕亘. 賱賰賳賷 兀毓鬲乇賮 亘亘乇丕毓丞 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 丕賱兀丿亘賷丞 賵爻毓丞 毓賱賲賴 賵賯賵丞 毓賯賱賴 賮賷 丕賱乇亘胤 亘賷賳 丕賱兀賮賰丕乇 丕賱賮賱爻賮賷丞 丕賱賲鬲賳丕賮乇丞貙 賵亘乇丕毓鬲賴 丕賱賱睾賵賷丞 賮賷 鬲兀賵賷賱 丕賱賳氐賵氐 賱賱賵氐賵賱 賱賲乇丕丿賴. 賱賰賳 賷馗賱 丕賱氐乇丨 丕賱賮賱爻賮賷 丕賱匕賷 賷亘賳賷賴 亘丿賵賳 兀爻丕爻 毓賯賱丕賳賷 兀賵 兀爻丕爻 賲賳胤賯賷貙 賲賲丕 賷噩毓賱賴 賯氐乇賸丕 乇丕卅毓賸丕 賱賰賳 鬲賲 鬲卮賷丿賴 毓賱賶 丕賱賲丕亍 兀賵 賮賷 丕賱賴賵丕亍.
February 2, 2016
賷亘丿兀 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賰鬲丕亘賴 亘賯賵賱賴 : "兀賲丕 亘毓丿 賮廿賳賷 乇兀賷鬲 乇爻賵賱 丕賱賱賴 氐賱賶 丕賱賱賴 毓賱賷賴 賵爻賱賲 賮賷 賲亘卮乇丞 兀乇賷鬲賴丕 賮賷 丕賱毓卮乇 丕賱丌禺乇 賲賳 賲丨乇賲 爻賳丞 爻亘毓 賵毓卮乇賵賳 賵爻鬲賲丕卅丞 亘賲丨乇賵爻丞 丿賲卮賯 賵亘賷丿賴 氐賱賶 丕賱賱賴 毓賱賷賴 賵爻賱賲 賰鬲丕亘 賮賯丕賱 賱賷: 賴匕丕 賰鬲丕亘 賮氐賵氐 丕賱丨賰賲 禺匕賴 賵丕禺乇噩 亘賴 廿賱賶 丕賱賳丕爻 賷賳鬲賮毓賵賳 亘賴貙 賮賯賱鬲 丕賱爻賲毓 賵丕賱胤丕毓丞 賱賱賴 賵賱乇爻賵賱賴 賵賱兀賵賱賷 丕賱兀賲乇 賲賳丕"
賷毓鬲亘乇 賰鬲丕亘 賮氐賵氐 丕賱丨賰賲 賱賱卮賷禺 丕賱兀賰亘乇 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賲賳 兀賴賲 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 賰鬲亘賴丕 賵賴賵 禺賱丕氐丞 賲丕鬲賵氐賱 廿賱賷賴
賵賴賵 賲乇噩毓 賱賱毓賯賷丿丞 丕賱氐賵賮賷丞 賱賷爻 賮賷 丕賱丕爻賱丕賲 賮丨爻亘 亘賱 賮賷 賰賱 丕賱兀丿賷丕賳 賵丕賱賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲 賵丕賱賲爻丕賱賰 丕賱乇賵丨賷丞
賮賮賷賴 賷爻鬲賲丿 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賲賳 丕賱賯乇丌賳 賵丕賱爻賳丞 賵毓賱賵賲 丕賱賲賳胤賯 賵丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱兀丿賷丕賳 丕賱爻賲丕賵賷丞 賵賲賳 丕賱賲鬲氐賵賮丞 丕賱爻丕亘賯賷賳 賮賷 丕丿賷丕賳 賯丿賷賲丞 賵賲賳 賮賱爻賮丕鬲 丕爻賱丕賲賷丞 賰丕賱廿爻賲丕毓賷賱賷丞 賵睾賷乇賴丕
賱賷毓胤賷 賱賳丕 氐賵乇丞 賰丕賲賱丞 毓賳 賲賳賴噩賴 賵毓賯賷丿鬲賴 丕賱鬲賷 賷禺鬲氐乇賴丕 賮賷 丕賱亘丕亘 丕賱丕賵賱 賰賱賲丞 丌丿賲 賲賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 亘賯賵賱賴 "賵賱賵賱丕 爻乇賷丕賳 丕賱丨賯 賮賷 丕賱賲賵噩賵丿丕鬲 亘丕賱氐賵乇丞 賲丕 賰丕賳 賱賱毓丕賱賲 賵噩賵丿" 賵丕賱丨賯 賴賳丕 賴賵 丕賱賱賴
賰賲丕 鬲馗賴乇 毓賯賷丿鬲賴 賮賷 丕賱賱賴 賮賷 丕賱賮氐賱 丕賱孬丕賳賷 賰賱賲丞 賳賵丨 丨賷孬 賯丕賱 :
賮廿賳 賯賱鬲 亘丕賱鬲賳夭賷賴 賰賳鬲 賲賯賷丿丕賸 .. 賵廿賳 賯賱鬲 亘丕賱鬲卮亘賷賴 賰賳鬲 賲丨丿丿丕
賵廿賳 賯賱鬲 亘丕賱兀賲乇賷賳 賰賳鬲 賲爻丿丿丕賸 .. 賵賰賳鬲 廿賲丕賲丕 賮賷 丕賱賲毓丕乇賮 爻賷丿丕
賵丕禺鬲鬲賲賴丕 亘賯賵賱賴 :
賮賲丕 兀賳鬲 賴賵: 亘賱 兀賳 賴賵 賵鬲乇丕賴 賮賷 .. 毓賷丿 丕賱兀賲賵乇 賲爻乇丨丕賸 賵賲賯賷丿丕
賵賷賯賵賱 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賮賷 賰鬲丕亘賴 " 賵賱丕 賷毓乇賮 賲丕 賯賱賳丕賴 廿賱丕 賲賳 賰丕賳 賯乇丌賳丕賸 賮賷 賳賮爻賴 賮廿賳 丕賱賲鬲賯賷 丕賱賱賴 ( 賷噩毓賱 賱賴 賮乇賯丕賳丕賸 ) " 賵賷賯賵賱 :
賵賷卮乇丨 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 毓賯賷丿鬲賴 賮賷 丿丕乇 丕賱卮賯丕亍 " 噩賴賳賲 " 賵賷爻鬲卮賴丿 亘丕賱丌賷丞 ( 賵賷鬲噩丕賵夭 毓賳 爻賷卅丕鬲賴賲 ) 貙 賵賷賯賵賱 : ( 賮賱丕 鬲丨爻亘賳 丕賱賱賴 賲禺賱賮 賵毓丿賴 乇爻賱賴 ) 賵賱賲 賷賯賱 賵賵毓賷丿賴 賲毓 兀賳賴 鬲賵毓丿 毓賱賶 匕丕賱賰 " 賵賷賵囟丨 乇兀賷賴 亘丕賱兀亘賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲丕賱賷丞 :
賵賳禺鬲賲 亘賴匕賴 丕賱兀亘賷丕鬲 賱賱兀賲丕賲 丕賱兀賰亘乇 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 丨賷孬 賷賯賵賱 :
賷毓鬲亘乇 賰鬲丕亘 賮氐賵氐 丕賱丨賰賲 賱賱卮賷禺 丕賱兀賰亘乇 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賲賳 兀賴賲 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 賰鬲亘賴丕 賵賴賵 禺賱丕氐丞 賲丕鬲賵氐賱 廿賱賷賴
賵賴賵 賲乇噩毓 賱賱毓賯賷丿丞 丕賱氐賵賮賷丞 賱賷爻 賮賷 丕賱丕爻賱丕賲 賮丨爻亘 亘賱 賮賷 賰賱 丕賱兀丿賷丕賳 賵丕賱賲毓鬲賯丿丕鬲 賵丕賱賲爻丕賱賰 丕賱乇賵丨賷丞
賮賮賷賴 賷爻鬲賲丿 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賲賳 丕賱賯乇丌賳 賵丕賱爻賳丞 賵毓賱賵賲 丕賱賲賳胤賯 賵丕賱賮賱爻賮丞 賵丕賱兀丿賷丕賳 丕賱爻賲丕賵賷丞 賵賲賳 丕賱賲鬲氐賵賮丞 丕賱爻丕亘賯賷賳 賮賷 丕丿賷丕賳 賯丿賷賲丞 賵賲賳 賮賱爻賮丕鬲 丕爻賱丕賲賷丞 賰丕賱廿爻賲丕毓賷賱賷丞 賵睾賷乇賴丕
賱賷毓胤賷 賱賳丕 氐賵乇丞 賰丕賲賱丞 毓賳 賲賳賴噩賴 賵毓賯賷丿鬲賴 丕賱鬲賷 賷禺鬲氐乇賴丕 賮賷 丕賱亘丕亘 丕賱丕賵賱 賰賱賲丞 丌丿賲 賲賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 亘賯賵賱賴 "賵賱賵賱丕 爻乇賷丕賳 丕賱丨賯 賮賷 丕賱賲賵噩賵丿丕鬲 亘丕賱氐賵乇丞 賲丕 賰丕賳 賱賱毓丕賱賲 賵噩賵丿" 賵丕賱丨賯 賴賳丕 賴賵 丕賱賱賴
賰賲丕 鬲馗賴乇 毓賯賷丿鬲賴 賮賷 丕賱賱賴 賮賷 丕賱賮氐賱 丕賱孬丕賳賷 賰賱賲丞 賳賵丨 丨賷孬 賯丕賱 :
賮廿賳 賯賱鬲 亘丕賱鬲賳夭賷賴 賰賳鬲 賲賯賷丿丕賸 .. 賵廿賳 賯賱鬲 亘丕賱鬲卮亘賷賴 賰賳鬲 賲丨丿丿丕
賵廿賳 賯賱鬲 亘丕賱兀賲乇賷賳 賰賳鬲 賲爻丿丿丕賸 .. 賵賰賳鬲 廿賲丕賲丕 賮賷 丕賱賲毓丕乇賮 爻賷丿丕
賵丕禺鬲鬲賲賴丕 亘賯賵賱賴 :
賮賲丕 兀賳鬲 賴賵: 亘賱 兀賳 賴賵 賵鬲乇丕賴 賮賷 .. 毓賷丿 丕賱兀賲賵乇 賲爻乇丨丕賸 賵賲賯賷丿丕
賵賷賯賵賱 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賮賷 賰鬲丕亘賴 " 賵賱丕 賷毓乇賮 賲丕 賯賱賳丕賴 廿賱丕 賲賳 賰丕賳 賯乇丌賳丕賸 賮賷 賳賮爻賴 賮廿賳 丕賱賲鬲賯賷 丕賱賱賴 ( 賷噩毓賱 賱賴 賮乇賯丕賳丕賸 ) " 賵賷賯賵賱 :
賵賷卮乇丨 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 毓賯賷丿鬲賴 賮賷 丿丕乇 丕賱卮賯丕亍 " 噩賴賳賲 " 賵賷爻鬲卮賴丿 亘丕賱丌賷丞 ( 賵賷鬲噩丕賵夭 毓賳 爻賷卅丕鬲賴賲 ) 貙 賵賷賯賵賱 : ( 賮賱丕 鬲丨爻亘賳 丕賱賱賴 賲禺賱賮 賵毓丿賴 乇爻賱賴 ) 賵賱賲 賷賯賱 賵賵毓賷丿賴 賲毓 兀賳賴 鬲賵毓丿 毓賱賶 匕丕賱賰 " 賵賷賵囟丨 乇兀賷賴 亘丕賱兀亘賷丕鬲 丕賱鬲丕賱賷丞 :
賵賳禺鬲賲 亘賴匕賴 丕賱兀亘賷丕鬲 賱賱兀賲丕賲 丕賱兀賰亘乇 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 丨賷孬 賷賯賵賱 :
賱賯丿 賰賳鬲 賯亘賱 丕賱賷賵賲 兀賳賰乇 氐丕丨亘賷 .. 廿匕丕 賱賲 賷賰賳 丿賷賳賷 廿賱賶 丿賷賳賴 丿丕賳賷
賮賯丿 氐丕乇 賯賱亘賷 賯丕亘賱丕賸 賰賱 氐賵乇丞 .. 賮賲乇毓賶 賱睾夭賱丕賳 賵丿賷乇丕賸 賱乇賴亘丕賳賽
賵亘賷鬲丕賸 賱兀賵孬丕賳賺 賵賰毓亘丞 胤丕卅賮賺 .. 賵兀賱賵丕丨 鬲賵乇丕丞 賵賲氐丨賮 賯乇丌賳賽
兀丿賷賳 亘丿賷賳 丕賱丨亘 兀賳賶 鬲賵噩賴鬲 .. 乇賰丕卅亘賴 賮丕賱丨亘 丿賷賳賷 賵廿賷賲丕賳賷
March 7, 2018
Illuminating text on Ibn Arabi's understanding of the essence of the different seals of wisdom represented by some of the major prophets. The seals of the divine wisdoms of Ibrahim (Abraham) , Yusuf (Joseph), Da'ud (David), Sulayman (Solomon) , Isa (Jesus), Musa (Moses), and Muhammad (peace be upon them all) were my favorites this first time reading this text through. I have quoted this text significantly in Good Reads in order to capture some of the gems that struck me as important. Ibn Arabi is known as a highly elevated teacher (in rank and position) and was a proponent of the idea of active imagination and a believer in the spiritual reality and symbols behind manifest creation. Some of the things he believed in would probably be scoffed at nowadays but find their place applauded in the science fiction universe of Star Wars. He spoke of the apparition of mystical teachers ala Obi Wan Kenobi, except in this case it would be Islamic teachers and Prophets. It is said that when he had an important question dealing with life, reality, and the spiritual reality behind existence he would ask for the answer and a teacher or prophet would appear to him, either in actuality or in his dreams or in the presence between this world and the world of imagination. I will not go any further on the subject but have only touched lightly on the subject so that the idea of this book could be somewhat understood. His depth of understanding in certain matters and unique takes on our beliefs leaves me with a sense of admiration and deep respect even if others would not entirely agree with him. There were instances in the lives of the prophets which I was able to look at through a deeper lens than the one I had been looking through. I believe that this was the culmination of his life's work and it certainly shows. Not everything I read, I could entirely understand at this moment in time, but what I could understand struck me as inspired, original and having as its focal point, the Quran and the Sunnah. There were only very rare instances that I did not understand what was being said, and this could just have been a fault of the translation or in the transmission of deep spiritual realities that could not be accessed at this point in my life. I highly recommend this book to anyone searching for deeper meaning within their own lives or in the lives of the Prophets, the Quran, Existence, God, the Universe, Different (Hadarat) presences, Dimensions, etc.
May 14, 2020
亘賴 賳馗乇 賲賳 讴鬲丕亘 賮氐賵氐 丕賱丨讴賲貙 讴鬲丕亘蹖爻鬲 讴賴 亘丕蹖丿 禺賵丕賳丿 賵 亘丕蹖丿 亘爻蹖丕乇 亘賴 丌賳 丕賳丿蹖卮蹖丿. 亘毓丿 丕夭 賲胤丕賱毓賴 丌賳貙 賲蹖 亘蹖賳蹖丿 讴賴 趩诏賵賳賴 亘乇 鬲讴 鬲讴 丕賮讴丕乇鬲丕賳 丕孬乇 诏匕丕卮鬲賴 丕爻鬲. 賵賱蹖 亘丕蹖丿 亘丕 鬲賱丕卮 丕孬乇丕鬲 賲賳賮蹖 乇丕 丨匕賮 賵 丕孬乇丕鬲 賲孬亘鬲 乇丕 丨賮馗 讴乇丿.
讴鬲丕亘 亘爻蹖丕乇 乇賵丕賳 鬲乇噩賲賴 卮丿賴 讴賴 鬲禺氐氐 賲丨賲丿 毓賱蹖 賲賵丨丿 丕爻鬲. 鬲丨賱蹖賱 丿讴鬲乇 氐賲丿 賲賵丨丿 賴賲 亘爻蹖丕乇 乇賵丕賳 丕爻鬲. ( 賲鬲丕爻賮丕賳賴 丿乇 丨蹖賳 禺賵丕賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘丕 丕蹖賳 亘夭乇诏賵丕乇 丌卮賳丕 卮丿賲) 賲賳 讴賴 亘賴 禺賵丕賳丿賳 讴鬲丕亘 賴丕蹖 賮賱爻賮蹖 毓丕丿鬲 趩賳丿丕賳蹖 賳丿丕乇賲 禺賵丕賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賵 賮賴賲 丌賳 乇丕 ( 丕诏乇 賮賴賲賲 丿乇爻鬲 亘丕卮丿) 丌爻丕賳 蹖丕賮鬲賲.
賮氐 丕賵賱 卮丕蹖丿 爻賳诏蹖賳 亘丕卮丿 賵賱蹖 丿乇 丨蹖賳 丌賳 亘丕 賯賱賲 賳賵蹖爻賳丿赖 丌卮賳丕 賲蹖 卮賵蹖丿 賵 亘賯蹖賴 賮氐賵氐 乇丕 乇賵丕賳 鬲乇 賲蹖 禺賵丕賳蹖丿.
鬲丨賱蹖賱 賮氐賵氐 亘賴 氐賵乇鬲 蹖讴噩丕 丿乇 丕賳鬲賴丕蹖 讴鬲丕亘 丌賲丿賴 丕爻鬲. 賲賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 亘丕 鬲乇鬲蹖亘 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿賴 禺賵丕賳丿賲 賵賱蹖 卮丕蹖丿 亘賴鬲乇 亘丕卮丿 亘毓丿 丕夭 禺賵丕賳丿賳 丿乇丌賲丿貙 鬲乇噩賲賴貙 賵 鬲賵囟蹖丨丕鬲 賴乇 賮氐 鬲丨賱蹖賱 丌賳 乇丕 賴賲 亘禺賵丕賳蹖丿 賵 亘毓丿 亘賴 賮氐 亘毓丿 亘倬乇丿丕夭蹖丿.
亘賴 賴乇 丨丕賱 讴鬲丕亘蹖爻鬲 讴賴 丕賳丿蹖卮賴 蹖 賮乇丕賵丕賳蹖 亘毓丿 丕夭 賲胤丕賱毓賴 蹖 賴乇 賮氐 賲蹖 胤賱亘丿.
丕诏乇 亘賴 賮賱爻賮賴貙 賮賱爻賮賴 丕爻賱丕賲蹖貙 毓乇賮丕賳貙 蹖丕 賴乇 賳賵毓 鬲賮讴乇 丕賳爻丕賳蹖 丿蹖诏乇蹖 毓賱丕賯賲賳丿蹖丿 丨鬲賲丕 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 亘禺賵丕賳蹖丿. 讴賲讴 賲蹖 讴賳丿 亘丕 爻丕蹖乇 丕賳爻丕賳 賴丕 丕夭 賴乇 讴蹖卮 賵 丌蹖蹖賳 賵 賮乇賴賳诏蹖 亘賴鬲乇 讴賳丕乇 亘蹖丕蹖蹖丿.
讴鬲丕亘 亘爻蹖丕乇 乇賵丕賳 鬲乇噩賲賴 卮丿賴 讴賴 鬲禺氐氐 賲丨賲丿 毓賱蹖 賲賵丨丿 丕爻鬲. 鬲丨賱蹖賱 丿讴鬲乇 氐賲丿 賲賵丨丿 賴賲 亘爻蹖丕乇 乇賵丕賳 丕爻鬲. ( 賲鬲丕爻賮丕賳賴 丿乇 丨蹖賳 禺賵丕賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 亘丕 丕蹖賳 亘夭乇诏賵丕乇 丌卮賳丕 卮丿賲) 賲賳 讴賴 亘賴 禺賵丕賳丿賳 讴鬲丕亘 賴丕蹖 賮賱爻賮蹖 毓丕丿鬲 趩賳丿丕賳蹖 賳丿丕乇賲 禺賵丕賳丿賳 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 賵 賮賴賲 丌賳 乇丕 ( 丕诏乇 賮賴賲賲 丿乇爻鬲 亘丕卮丿) 丌爻丕賳 蹖丕賮鬲賲.
賮氐 丕賵賱 卮丕蹖丿 爻賳诏蹖賳 亘丕卮丿 賵賱蹖 丿乇 丨蹖賳 丌賳 亘丕 賯賱賲 賳賵蹖爻賳丿赖 丌卮賳丕 賲蹖 卮賵蹖丿 賵 亘賯蹖賴 賮氐賵氐 乇丕 乇賵丕賳 鬲乇 賲蹖 禺賵丕賳蹖丿.
鬲丨賱蹖賱 賮氐賵氐 亘賴 氐賵乇鬲 蹖讴噩丕 丿乇 丕賳鬲賴丕蹖 讴鬲丕亘 丌賲丿賴 丕爻鬲. 賲賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 亘丕 鬲乇鬲蹖亘 賲賳鬲卮乇 卮丿賴 禺賵丕賳丿賲 賵賱蹖 卮丕蹖丿 亘賴鬲乇 亘丕卮丿 亘毓丿 丕夭 禺賵丕賳丿賳 丿乇丌賲丿貙 鬲乇噩賲賴貙 賵 鬲賵囟蹖丨丕鬲 賴乇 賮氐 鬲丨賱蹖賱 丌賳 乇丕 賴賲 亘禺賵丕賳蹖丿 賵 亘毓丿 亘賴 賮氐 亘毓丿 亘倬乇丿丕夭蹖丿.
亘賴 賴乇 丨丕賱 讴鬲丕亘蹖爻鬲 讴賴 丕賳丿蹖卮賴 蹖 賮乇丕賵丕賳蹖 亘毓丿 丕夭 賲胤丕賱毓賴 蹖 賴乇 賮氐 賲蹖 胤賱亘丿.
丕诏乇 亘賴 賮賱爻賮賴貙 賮賱爻賮賴 丕爻賱丕賲蹖貙 毓乇賮丕賳貙 蹖丕 賴乇 賳賵毓 鬲賮讴乇 丕賳爻丕賳蹖 丿蹖诏乇蹖 毓賱丕賯賲賳丿蹖丿 丨鬲賲丕 丕蹖賳 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 亘禺賵丕賳蹖丿. 讴賲讴 賲蹖 讴賳丿 亘丕 爻丕蹖乇 丕賳爻丕賳 賴丕 丕夭 賴乇 讴蹖卮 賵 丌蹖蹖賳 賵 賮乇賴賳诏蹖 亘賴鬲乇 讴賳丕乇 亘蹖丕蹖蹖丿.
February 20, 2012
鬲賵賯賮鬲 賰孬賷乇丕賸 毓賳丿 賯乇丕亍 丞丕亘賳 毓乇亘賶 貙 賮賴賵 賷禺鬲賱賮 鬲賲丕賲丕賸 賳 賰丕賮丞 丕賱賲鬲氐賵賮賷賳 亘乇丐丕賴 丕賱孬丕賯亘丞 賵鬲噩丕乇亘賴 丕賱乇賵丨賷丞 丕賱丨賯賷賯賷丞 貙 丕賱鬲賶 賱丕 鬲鬲賵賯 廿賱賶 丕賱夭賴丿 亘賱 鬲鬲噩丕賵夭賴 丨鬲賶 丕賱賲毓乇賮丞 亘丿乇噩丕鬲 賱丕賴賵鬲賷丞 賵兀賲賵乇 賮丕卅賯丞 .
賰鬲丕亘 乇丕卅毓
賰鬲丕亘 乇丕卅毓
February 19, 2013
賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 賴賵 丕乇賵毓 賲丕 賰鬲亘 丕賱廿賲丕賲 賮賷 賵噩賴丞 賳馗乇賷 賵 賴賵 賲賱禺氐 賱賮賱爻賮丞 丕賱廿爻賱丕賲 賲賳 賵噩賴丞 賳馗乇 丕賱氐賵賮賷丞 毓賱賶 賱爻丕賳 兀賲丕賲賴丕 丕賱兀賰亘乇 賵 賮賷賴 鬲賮爻賷乇 亘丕胤賳賷 賱丿毓賵丞 丕賱兀賳亘賷丕亍 賵 乇爻丕賱丞 丕賱廿爻賱丕賲 賲賳匕 丕丿賲 廿賱賶 禺丕鬲賲 丕賱兀賳亘賷丕亍 毓賱賷賴賲丕 丕賱氐賱丕丞 賵 丕賱爻賱丕賲.
December 24, 2009
Some seriously crazy shit.
Currently reading
August 8, 2010one of the heaviest book I have ever picked up. Insight could only be attained by experience not by reading.
September 12, 2012
賰賱丕賲 丕賱卮賷禺 賱丕 賷丨鬲丕噩 賲丿丨丕 賲賳 丕賳丕爻 賲孬賱賳丕
Read
November 3, 2009This is what you might call very heavy reading. Fascinating, but deeply philosophical. I've decided to return it to the library before finishing it. I think it would be a better book to discuss in a class with a Sufi Master. One bezel that I did garner was: "The Reality wanted to see the essences of His Most Beautiful Names or, to put it another way, to see His own Essence, in an all-inclusive object encompassing the whole [divine:] Command, which, qualified by existence, would reveal to Him his own mystery. For the seeing of a thing, itself by itself, is not the same as its seeing itself in another, as it were in a mirror; for it appears to itself in a form that is invested by the location of the vision by that which would only appear to it given the existence of the location and its [the location's:] self-disclosure to it."
May 23, 2018
Tip for reading - Before starting the book one can listen (youtube) or read lectures by Professor William Chittick on Arabi鈥檚 philosophy.
Here鈥檚 the link which has helped me a lot
December 18, 2019
亘睾囟 丕賱賳馗乇 毓賲丕 鬲馗賳賴 賮賷 丕賱乇噩賱貙 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賷賯丿賲 賰鬲丕亘丕 賯賷賲丕 乇賯丕卅賯賷丕 賯賱 賳馗賷乇賴. 乇丨賱鬲賷 賲毓賴 賰丕賳鬲 賰丕賱鬲丕賱賷:
亘丿丕賷丞 賵丕噩賴鬲 氐毓賵亘丞 賮賷 賮賴賲 賲睾丕夭賷 丕賱賰丕鬲亘. 賵賰丿鬲 兀賳 丕鬲乇賰賴 爻毓賷丕 賵乇丕亍 賰鬲丕亘 (鬲賯賱賷丿賷) 賷爻賴賱 賮賴賲賴 賵丕賱丕爻鬲賲鬲丕毓 亘賴. 賱賰賳賷 賯乇乇鬲 賲鬲丕亘毓丞 丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 賵丕賳鬲賴丕噩 丕賱丕爻鬲賲乇丕乇賷丞 賮賷 賯乇丕亍丞 丕賱氐賮丨丕鬲 丿賵賳 丕賱鬲賵賯賮 丕賱賲鬲賰乇乇 賱賲丨丕賵賱丞 賮賴賲 亘毓囟 丕賱賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 丕賱睾乇賷亘丞 賵丕賱賲毓丕賳賷 丕賱禺賮賷丞 (賵賴賷 賰孬賷乇丞). 亘毓丿賴丕 賱丕丨馗鬲 兀賳 丕賱兀賲賵乇 亘丿兀鬲 鬲鬲囟丨 兀賰孬乇 賮兀賰孬乇貙 賵睾丿鬲 丕賱賲毓丕賳賷 兀爻賴賱 賮賷 丕賱賴囟賲 賵丕賱賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 兀賯賱 囟亘丕亘賷丞. 賵亘賲噩乇丿 賵氐賵賱賷賱 賱賲賲賳鬲氐賮 丕賱賰鬲丕亘貙 兀氐亘丨鬲 賲鬲毓賱賯丕 亘賴 兀賰孬乇 賵鬲丨賵賱 丕賱賳賮賵乇 賲賳 賯乇丕亍鬲賴 廿賱賶 丕賳噩匕丕亘 賱賴. 胤亘毓丕 廿賱賶 賴匕賴 丕賱賱丨馗丞 賱丕 兀噩丿 爻亘亘丕 賲賳胤賯賷丕 賱賴匕丕 丕賱兀賲乇. 賵賲丕 兀賳 禺鬲賲鬲 丕賱氐賮丨丕鬲 賵兀夭賱鬲 丕賱賭 (book mark) 丨鬲賶 丕賳鬲丕亘鬲賳賷 乇睾亘丞 毓丕乇賲丞 賮賷 廿毓丕丿丞 賯乇丕亍鬲賴 鬲丕乇丞 兀禺乇賶. 賱賲 兀賮毓賱 匕賱賰 丨鬲賶 丕賱丌賳貙 賵賱賰賳賴 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 賱丕 亘丿 賱賰 賲賳 廿毓丕丿丞 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕 賵丕賰鬲卮丕賮 噩賲丕賱賴丕 賵乇賵毓丞 賲毓丕賳賷賴丕 賵爻賱丕爻丞 鬲丿賮賯 兀賮賰丕乇賴丕.
丕賱賯丕卮丕賳賷 賯丿賲 卮乇丨丕 賵丕賮賷丕 賵鬲賰丕丿 賱丕 鬲賮乇賯 亘賷賳 丕賱賰丕鬲亘 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賵亘賷賳 丕賱卮丕乇丨 丕賱賯丕卮丕賳賷. 賵賰兀賳 丕賱丕孬賳丕賳 賷鬲賰賱賲丕賳 亘賱爻丕賳 賵丕丨丿 賵賯賱亘 賲卮鬲乇賰.
賯丿 賷賰賵賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 睾賷乇 賲兀賱賵賮 賵賱賰賳賴 亘賱丕 卮賰 賯賷賲丞 毓馗賷賲丞 賱賯乇丕亍 丕賱毓乇亘賷丞.
亘丿丕賷丞 賵丕噩賴鬲 氐毓賵亘丞 賮賷 賮賴賲 賲睾丕夭賷 丕賱賰丕鬲亘. 賵賰丿鬲 兀賳 丕鬲乇賰賴 爻毓賷丕 賵乇丕亍 賰鬲丕亘 (鬲賯賱賷丿賷) 賷爻賴賱 賮賴賲賴 賵丕賱丕爻鬲賲鬲丕毓 亘賴. 賱賰賳賷 賯乇乇鬲 賲鬲丕亘毓丞 丕賱賯乇丕亍丞 賵丕賳鬲賴丕噩 丕賱丕爻鬲賲乇丕乇賷丞 賮賷 賯乇丕亍丞 丕賱氐賮丨丕鬲 丿賵賳 丕賱鬲賵賯賮 丕賱賲鬲賰乇乇 賱賲丨丕賵賱丞 賮賴賲 亘毓囟 丕賱賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 丕賱睾乇賷亘丞 賵丕賱賲毓丕賳賷 丕賱禺賮賷丞 (賵賴賷 賰孬賷乇丞). 亘毓丿賴丕 賱丕丨馗鬲 兀賳 丕賱兀賲賵乇 亘丿兀鬲 鬲鬲囟丨 兀賰孬乇 賮兀賰孬乇貙 賵睾丿鬲 丕賱賲毓丕賳賷 兀爻賴賱 賮賷 丕賱賴囟賲 賵丕賱賲氐胤賱丨丕鬲 兀賯賱 囟亘丕亘賷丞. 賵亘賲噩乇丿 賵氐賵賱賷賱 賱賲賲賳鬲氐賮 丕賱賰鬲丕亘貙 兀氐亘丨鬲 賲鬲毓賱賯丕 亘賴 兀賰孬乇 賵鬲丨賵賱 丕賱賳賮賵乇 賲賳 賯乇丕亍鬲賴 廿賱賶 丕賳噩匕丕亘 賱賴. 胤亘毓丕 廿賱賶 賴匕賴 丕賱賱丨馗丞 賱丕 兀噩丿 爻亘亘丕 賲賳胤賯賷丕 賱賴匕丕 丕賱兀賲乇. 賵賲丕 兀賳 禺鬲賲鬲 丕賱氐賮丨丕鬲 賵兀夭賱鬲 丕賱賭 (book mark) 丨鬲賶 丕賳鬲丕亘鬲賳賷 乇睾亘丞 毓丕乇賲丞 賮賷 廿毓丕丿丞 賯乇丕亍鬲賴 鬲丕乇丞 兀禺乇賶. 賱賲 兀賮毓賱 匕賱賰 丨鬲賶 丕賱丌賳貙 賵賱賰賳賴 賲賳 丕賱賰鬲亘 丕賱鬲賷 賱丕 亘丿 賱賰 賲賳 廿毓丕丿丞 賯乇丕亍鬲賴丕 賵丕賰鬲卮丕賮 噩賲丕賱賴丕 賵乇賵毓丞 賲毓丕賳賷賴丕 賵爻賱丕爻丞 鬲丿賮賯 兀賮賰丕乇賴丕.
丕賱賯丕卮丕賳賷 賯丿賲 卮乇丨丕 賵丕賮賷丕 賵鬲賰丕丿 賱丕 鬲賮乇賯 亘賷賳 丕賱賰丕鬲亘 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賵亘賷賳 丕賱卮丕乇丨 丕賱賯丕卮丕賳賷. 賵賰兀賳 丕賱丕孬賳丕賳 賷鬲賰賱賲丕賳 亘賱爻丕賳 賵丕丨丿 賵賯賱亘 賲卮鬲乇賰.
賯丿 賷賰賵賳 賴匕丕 丕賱賰鬲丕亘 睾賷乇 賲兀賱賵賮 賵賱賰賳賴 亘賱丕 卮賰 賯賷賲丞 毓馗賷賲丞 賱賯乇丕亍 丕賱毓乇亘賷丞.
September 11, 2021
亘賴 賳馗乇 丕亘賳鈥屫关必ㄛ� 亘鬲鈥屬矩必池� 丕诏乇 讴丕賮乇 丕爻鬲 賳賴 丕夭 丌賳鈥屫ж池� 讴賴 亘鬲 賲蹖鈥屬矩必池� 丕夭 丌賳鈥屫ж池� 讴賴 鬲賳賴丕 亘鬲賽 禺賵丿 乇丕 賲蹖鈥屬矩必池�. 讴賮乇賽 賲爻蹖丨蹖丕賳 賳蹖夭 丕夭 丌賳鈥屫ж池� 讴賴 禺丿丕 乇丕 鬲賳賴丕 丿乇 賯丕賱亘賽 毓蹖爻蹖 賲蹖鈥屫ㄛ屬嗁嗀�. 賲爻賱賲丕賳蹖 讴賴 鬲賳賴丕 讴毓亘賴 乇丕 禺丕賳賴贁 禺丿丕 賲蹖鈥屬举嗀ж必� 讴丕賮乇 丕爻鬲 賳賴 賲爻賱賲丕賳. 禺丿丕 乇丕 丿乇 賴乇 噩丕 賵 丿乇 賴乇 爻賵 賲蹖鈥屫促堌� 丿蹖丿 賵 丿乇 賴蹖趩鈥屫� 賵 丿乇 賴蹖趩鈥屫迟� 趩蹖夭蹖 噩夭 亘丕賵乇賴丕蹖 诏賵賳丕诏賵賳賽 賲乇丿賲 賳蹖爻鬲. 賲乇丿賲 亘丕賵乇賴丕蹖 禺賵丿 乇丕 賲蹖鈥屬矩必池嗀� 賵 賴賲賴 亘乇 氐乇丕胤賽 賲爻鬲賯蹖賲鈥屫з嗀�.
November 29, 2015
In all honesty, I am nowhere near the level of this book. The information contained is of the highest caliber, and not for the normal person. I have much to go before I can understand even a decent portion of Ibn AlArabi's words.
However, what tiny little pieces I did understand I enjoyed immensely. Ibn AlArabi gives an incredible perspective, and is most certainly worth trying to understand.
The translation is absolutely wonderful. Although translated from Arabic to English, I feel that the message and meanings of the original author were not faded.
However, what tiny little pieces I did understand I enjoyed immensely. Ibn AlArabi gives an incredible perspective, and is most certainly worth trying to understand.
The translation is absolutely wonderful. Although translated from Arabic to English, I feel that the message and meanings of the original author were not faded.
Shelved as '賮毓賱丕-乇賴丕-卮丿賴-賴丕'
June 2, 2015賲賳 丿蹖亘丕趩賴 賵 賲丐禺乇賴 蹖 讴鬲丕亘 乇丕 禺賵丕賳丿賴 丕賲 賵 亘賴 賳馗乇賲 丿蹖亘丕趩賴 卮丕蹖爻鬲賴 蹖 賲賯丿賲賴 蹖 蹖讴 丕孬乇 賲丨賵乇蹖 賳蹖爻鬲. 賲趩 诏蹖乇蹖 蹖丕 賳卮丕賳 丿丕丿賳 囟毓賮 賴丕蹖 爻賳鬲 毓乇賮丕賳 賳馗乇蹖 诏乇趩賴 丿乇 丕蹖乇丕賳 囟乇賵乇蹖 丕爻鬲 丕賲丕 賳亘丕蹖丿 丌賳 乇丕 丿乇 賲賯丿賲賴 蹖 趩丕倬 蹖讴 丕孬乇 賲孬賱 賮氐賵氐 诏賳噩丕賳丿
August 12, 2013
CLASSICAL ARABIC AND ISLAMIC MASTERPIECES OF WORLD LITERATURE FROM THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE-----"THE KORAN," AL-KHANSA, HAFIZ, ABU-NAWAS, RUMI, AL-JAHIZ, "ONE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS," IBN SINA (AVICENNA), IBN RUSHD (AVERROES),IBN ARABI, IBN-TUFAIL (ABUBACER) & AL-HALLAJ---FROM THE WORLD LITERATURE FORUM RECOMMENDED CLASSICS AND MASTERPIECES SERIES VIA GOODREADS鈥�-ROBERT SHEPPARD, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
"THE INK OF THE SCHOLAR"---THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE
The "Islamic Golden Age" was an historical period beginning in the mid-8th century lasting until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258, generally associated with the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate around 750 AD, and the moving of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, but also including contributions from remnant Ummayad kindgoms in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugul) and North-West Africa. The Abbasids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and Hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" that stressed the value of knowledge and reason, and were also more cosmopolitan than the Umayyads, being allied with the Persian Barmacids and less ethnocentrically focused on the narrower tribal culture of the Kureysh, the original tribe of Muhammad.
The rise of Islam was instrumental in uniting the warring Arab tribes into a powerful empire. The Abbasids claimed authority as belonging to the same family and tribe to which the Prophet Muhammad belonged, and were for that reason considered holy. During this period the Arab world became an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education; the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the House of Wisdom (Bait-ul-Hikmat) at Baghdad, where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic, and also the second court language Persian.
The Arabs displayed a remarkable capacity of assimilating the scientific knowledge of the civilizations they had overrun. Many classic works of antiquity that might otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn re-translated into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, gained crucial familiarity with the works of Aristotle through translations into Arabic and then into Latin accompanied by the commentary of the great Muslim Aristotelian scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
During this period the Arab world was a collection of cultures which put together, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine and Phoenician civilizations. The decimal system and "zero" travelled from India into Arabic culture during this time and in 9th century it was popularized in the Islamic regions by the Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi. Later in 12th century the renown Western monk Abelard introduced what Westerners call "Arabic Numerals" to Europe, but which the Arabs themselves termed "Hindsi" or "Indian Numerals," indicating their true origin. They also began the use of Algebra and advanced logarithims in order to solve complex mathematical problems.
There is little agreement on the precise causes of the decline in Arabic creativity and intellectual leadership ending the Islamic Golden Age, but in addition to the devastating invasion by the Mongols and crusaders with the destruction of libraries and madrasahs, it has also been suggested that political mismanagement and the stifling of "Ijtihad" (independent reasoning) in the 12th century in favor of institutionalised "Taqleed" (imitation and uncritical following of precedent) played a part.
THE KORAN (QURAN) IN WORLD LITERATURE
Any understanding of the literatures of Islamic nations must begin with a familiarity with the Koran, just as any understanding of of Western Literature must include a basic familiarity with the Bible. Muslims believe the Quran to be verbally revealed through Angel Gabriel (Jibril) from God to Muhammad gradually over a period of approximately 23 years beginning from 609 AD, when Muhammad was 40, to 632 AD, the year of his death.
Muslims regard the Quran as the main miracle of Muhammad, the proof of his prophethood and the culmination of a series of divine messages to humanity that started with the messages revealed to Adam, regarded in Islam as the first prophet, and continued with the Scrolls of Abraham (Suhuf Ibrahim), the Tawrat (Torah) of Moses, the Zabur (Tehillim or Psalms) of David, and the Injil (Gospels) of Jesus. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in Jewish and Christian scriptures, summarizing some, dwelling at length on others and in some cases presenting alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance, sometimes offering detailed accounts of specific historical events, and often emphasizing the moral significance of an event.
Regardless of whether one believes or disbelieves in the Koran, equally as in the case of whether one believes or disbelieves in the Christian or Jewish Bible, it is an inescapable necessity for every educated person to read and be familiar with these works as literature if one has any hope of understanding World Literature, Western Literature, Islamic and Arabic Literature, English, French, German, Russian or any national literature of any culture affected by their influence. No one can understand English or American Literature without familiarity with the King James and other versions of the Bible, the words, phrases, style and stories and themes of which permeate and recur in Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, and a thousand believing and unbelieving authors and works. Similarly, any understanding of German Literature is impossible without knowledge of the Bible of Luther. The Koran thus takes its place in World Literature by virtue of its shaping influence on the mindset and consciousness of over one billion Muslims across dozens of nations, cultures and literatures as well as the cultural foundation of dozens of Muslim authors and works of worldwide importance such as Rumi, Attar, Hafiz, the Thousand and One Nights, Mafouz Naguib, Ghalib and others. Thus it is required reading, at least in part, for any Citizen of the Republic of Letters or of the modern world, alongside the Bible, the Buddhist Sutras such as the Fire Sermon, the Bhagavad Gita and the Dao De Ching, as part of the common heritage of mankind.
Compared to the Bible, the Koran is a much shorter work, lacking the extended historical accounts and chronicles of the Old Testament and the multiple repetitive Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of the New Testament, and can be read in a relatively short time in translation by most people for basic familiarity.
The basic theme of the Koran is that of monotheism, an invocation to belief and adherence to the single God, Allah, of Muhammad, who is also conceived as the same God of the Christian and Jewish Abrahamic tradition, albeit with differences of understanding with the other religions. A good deal of the Koran is concerned with laying down rules of behaviour in common life, religious practice and society, as the Suras were broadly used for instruction of the Ummah, or new congregation of Islam in Mecca and Medina during Muhammad's life as he recited them. The Koran also contains repetitions of many famous Bible stories such as Adam and Eve, the Flood, Genesis, Exodus and life of Moses, the conception of Jesus by Mary and others. In the Koran Moses and Jesus are considered fellow prophets of Allah, though Jesus is not considered as the son of God as in the Bible. A large part of the Koran contains exhortations to belief in its one God Allah and adherence to its rules of behaviour, with the bliss of paradise as promised reward and certain damnation in Hell as the consequence of failure to do so. Similar to the Bible, a significant part of the Koran focuses on the coming Apocalypse, or end of time and the consequent Last Judgment of all souls.
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIC POETRY---AL-KHANSA, CELEBRATED WOMAN POET
Even before Muhammad and the rise of Islam Arabic literature had developed a strong poetic tradition. At that time Arabic culture was largely based on oral tradition, with poetry at its center. For a nomadic people such as the Bedoin Arabs, poetry was the main reservoir of the people's knowledge and expression of their very existence. Poets were highly honored, attaining even what today we might term "superstar" status. The poetry was the poetry of the tribe or clan, articulating its legends, heroes, geneology, iteration of its strong "tribal code" of norms and exploits. Celebrated poets included traditionalists such as Imru 'al-Qays, the "Brigand Poets" or poets who individualistically broke with the control of their tribes and lived outside the tribal system, and the celebrated Pre-Islamic woman poetess Al-Khansa.
Al-Khansa (575-646) put women in a central place in her poetry. A traditionalist in one sense, she wrote poems of lament for brave fallen heroes of her tribe, such as her fallen brothers, yet celebrated the women who remained alive and powerful in keeping life going and honoring and transmitting the proud warrior values to their children, despite the vicissitudes of battle, defeat and victory. She made women's role in the symbolic order potent and visible, even in a patriarchal tribal society.
HAFIZ---FATHER OF THE GHAZAL GENRE OF LOVE POETRY
Hafiz is the pen name of the Persian poet Shams al-Din Muhammad Shirazi who is celebrated as the originating master of the "ghazal," a form of poetic artistic unity which is neither thematic nor dramatic in the Western sense, but consists in the creation of a poetic unity by weaving imagery and allusions round one or more central concepts, of which both divine and sexual love are the most common. Hafiz was a master of interweaving the erotic and the mystic through superb linguistic craftsmanship and intuitive insight. Some stanzas from his "The House of Hope" give some feel for his themes, often sensual and melancholy:
The house of hope is built on sand,
And life's foundations rest on air;
Then come, give wine into my hand,
That we may make an end of care.
Look not to find fidelity
Within a world so weakly stayed;
This ancient crone, ere flouting thee,
A thousand bridegrooms had betrayed.
Take not for sign of true intent
Nor think the rose's smile sincere;
Sweet, loving nightingale, lament:
There is much cause for weeping here.
What envying of Hafiz's ease,
Poor poetaster, dost thou moan?
To make sweet music, and to please,
That is a gift of God alone.
ABU-NAWAS---EROTIC COURT POET OF THE CALIPH HAROUN AL-RASHID OF THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
Abu-Nawas (755-815) is perhaps the most beloved of Arab poets of any period. He appears repeatedly as a character in the classic "One Thousand and One Nights," or "Arabian Nights" along with the renown Abbasid Caliph Haroun al-Rashid and his Barmacid Vizir Jafar. He is the archetypal sensual, erotic and profligate poet and Baghdad court favorite of the Caliph. He wrote pangyric poetry as well as heterosexual and homosexual ghazals, and handled Bacchic poems of "wine, women and song" with incomparable skill. He wrote with an existential edge to his Epicurean ethos that embraced every kind of pleasure and satisfaction. His death is a subject of legend, some saying he died in prison for writing blasphemous verse, others that he died in a whorehouse, some saying he was murdered in reprisal for lampooning a powerful court personage, and still others that he died peacefully in his sleep in the home of a learned Shi'ite scholar.
RUMI----SUFI MYSTIC POET OF THE ECSTASY OF LOVE
Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) was renown as both the foremost Sufi mystic poet and the founder of the Mavlevi sect of Sufi dancing dervishes. Originally an academic scholar and professor, he was persuaded by a wandering Sufi mystic, Shams al-Din Tabrizi, to take up the Sufi life and put the love of God at the center of his existence. Striving after divine illumination in diverse ways, from devout meditation to the ecstatic pleasures of wine, sexuality and the Dervish entrancement of dance, he emphasized a devotion to a spiritualized love that disregards rites and convention and concentrates on inner feeling and approach to the ecstatic infinite. His odes have been chanted by Hadjj pilgrims on the road to Mecca for centuries and are sung with the greatest reverence even today.
AL-JAHIZ---THE GREATEST PROSE WRITER OF CLASSICAL ARAB CULTURE
Abu Uthman 'Amr ibn Bahr (776-868) of Basra, Iraq was known as "Al-Jahiz" or "the goggle eyed" due to a malformation of his eyes and was one the dynamic personalities in the Mu'tazilite circles, which met regularly in Basra reminiscent of the famous "salons" of Paris. Basra was also the location of the annual Al-Mirbad literary festival of Arab and Islamic culture that took place yearly featuring competitions and debates on philosophical issues, and at which he was renown for his wit, cutting humor, endless anecdotes and depth of knowledge. His book "Spiritual Leadership" was praised at the court in Baghdad by the Caliph al-Mamun, who appointed him as court scribe, personal secretary and speech writer. His monumental work the "Book of Animals" is the first encyclopedia on animals and zoology. His most famous work is the "Book of Misers" which is a unique portrait gallery of human characters rich in their contradictions and ironies. It features an acute analysis of the passion of avarice, satirical and comic narratives, and cutting insight into human psychology. If the Eighteenth Century is sometimes called the Age of Voltaire, the Ninth Century in the Abbasid Caliphate could be called the "Age of Al-Jahiz"
through his dominance of prose writing in Arabic.
THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ARAB GOLDEN AGE
If Classical Greece had the great triumvirate of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates in the realm of philosophy, the Islamic Golden Age featured Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and Ibn Arabi. Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina played a major role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of both the Christian and Muslim worlds. They would also absorb ideas from China and India, adding to them tremendous knowledge from their own studies. Ibn Sina and other speculative thinkers such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. Avicenna argued his famous "Floating Man" thought experiment, concerning self-awareness, where a man prevented of sense experience by being blindfolded and free falling would still be aware of his existence, perhaps a forerunner of Descartes "cogito ergo sum"----"I think therefore I am."
Ibn Arabi was the foremost advocate of metaphysical Sufism, as expressed in his magnum opus "Bezels of Wisdom" which transformed Islam's personal God into a principle of absolute being, where all is God and God is all, in which humanity in his Sufist interpretation, occupies a central role as revealed divine being, perhaps reminiscent of Bishop Berkeley's pan-idealism.
The Arab philosophers of the Islamic Golden Age also stimulated other non-Muslim philosophers such as Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides.
IBN TUFAIL AND IBN AL-NAFIZ---FATHERS OF THE ARABIC PHILOSOPHIC AND SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS
Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis were pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first fictional Arabic novel "Hayy ibn Yaqdhan" ("Philosophus Autodidactus") as a response to al-Ghazali's "The Incoherence of the Philosophers," and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional novel "Theologus Autodidactus" as a response to Ibn Tufail's "Philosophus Autodidactus." Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in Philosophus Autodidactus and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus) who were autodidactic feral children living in seclusion on a desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story, a forerunner of Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe." However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story, like Mowgli in Kipling's "Jungle Book" in "Philosophus Autodidactus," the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in "Theologus Autodidactus," developing into a story of his re-entry into civilization, the earliest known coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel.
AL HALLAJ---SUFI MARTYR
Al-Hallaj (857-922) was a great Sufi mystic, poet and theologian whose life and spiritual mission was reminiscent of the fate of Jesus Christ. A great spiritual searcher, he attended debates and salons in Basra and Baghdad, then embarked on thirty years of wandering, perpetual fasting, meditation, contemplation and silence in search of Sufi enlightenment. His pilgrimage to Mecca led to further enlightenment and he began to attract large numbers of followers, breaking the normal Sufi practice of esoteric secrecy by public preaching, including reform of corrupt clerics. His movement was perceived as a threat by the highly corrupt religious establishment, and he suffered a fate similar to Jesus and the Apostles. Corrupt clerics accused him of blasphemy and he was imprisoned in Baghdad eight years, tortured, half-killed and exhibited on a scaffold. The Caliph, failing to force him to recant his beliefs, finally had him decapitated, burnt and his ashes scattered into the Tigris River.
SPIRITUS MUNDI AND THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE
The Islamic Golden Age is also reflected in my own work, the contemporary and futurist epic Spiritus Mundi. One of its characters Mohammad ala Rushdie is a novice Sufi of the Mevlevi Order, writer and also an activist for the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. He is taken hostage by terrorists and meets the Supreme Leader of Iran, later reciting to him a short story he has written "The Supreme Leader and the Three Messiahs," reminiscent of Dostoyevski's "The Grand Inquisitor" set in an Islamic setting. Part of the plot of the novel involves a geopolitical conspiracy of an allied China-Russia-Iran to execute a Pearl Harbor-like sneak attack invasion of the Middle-East oil reserves to sever the "oil jugular" of the West, leading to a threatened WWIII. It is foiled by a cosmic quest of the protagonists intoa mythic dimension and a change of heart in the Iranian Supreme Leader following a visit of the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) who commands him to "Open the Gates of Ijtihad" or creative reasoning against the tradition of blind precedent and conformity to the past as a means giving rebirth to the spirit of the lost Islamic Golden Age and preventing Armageddon and World War III.
For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: ...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author鈥檚 Blog:
...
Spiritus Mundi on 欧宝娱乐:
...
Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I:
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved
"THE INK OF THE SCHOLAR"---THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE
The "Islamic Golden Age" was an historical period beginning in the mid-8th century lasting until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258, generally associated with the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate around 750 AD, and the moving of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad, but also including contributions from remnant Ummayad kindgoms in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugul) and North-West Africa. The Abbasids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and Hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" that stressed the value of knowledge and reason, and were also more cosmopolitan than the Umayyads, being allied with the Persian Barmacids and less ethnocentrically focused on the narrower tribal culture of the Kureysh, the original tribe of Muhammad.
The rise of Islam was instrumental in uniting the warring Arab tribes into a powerful empire. The Abbasids claimed authority as belonging to the same family and tribe to which the Prophet Muhammad belonged, and were for that reason considered holy. During this period the Arab world became an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education; the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the House of Wisdom (Bait-ul-Hikmat) at Baghdad, where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic, and also the second court language Persian.
The Arabs displayed a remarkable capacity of assimilating the scientific knowledge of the civilizations they had overrun. Many classic works of antiquity that might otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn re-translated into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin. St. Thomas Aquinas, for example, gained crucial familiarity with the works of Aristotle through translations into Arabic and then into Latin accompanied by the commentary of the great Muslim Aristotelian scholar Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
During this period the Arab world was a collection of cultures which put together, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine and Phoenician civilizations. The decimal system and "zero" travelled from India into Arabic culture during this time and in 9th century it was popularized in the Islamic regions by the Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi. Later in 12th century the renown Western monk Abelard introduced what Westerners call "Arabic Numerals" to Europe, but which the Arabs themselves termed "Hindsi" or "Indian Numerals," indicating their true origin. They also began the use of Algebra and advanced logarithims in order to solve complex mathematical problems.
There is little agreement on the precise causes of the decline in Arabic creativity and intellectual leadership ending the Islamic Golden Age, but in addition to the devastating invasion by the Mongols and crusaders with the destruction of libraries and madrasahs, it has also been suggested that political mismanagement and the stifling of "Ijtihad" (independent reasoning) in the 12th century in favor of institutionalised "Taqleed" (imitation and uncritical following of precedent) played a part.
THE KORAN (QURAN) IN WORLD LITERATURE
Any understanding of the literatures of Islamic nations must begin with a familiarity with the Koran, just as any understanding of of Western Literature must include a basic familiarity with the Bible. Muslims believe the Quran to be verbally revealed through Angel Gabriel (Jibril) from God to Muhammad gradually over a period of approximately 23 years beginning from 609 AD, when Muhammad was 40, to 632 AD, the year of his death.
Muslims regard the Quran as the main miracle of Muhammad, the proof of his prophethood and the culmination of a series of divine messages to humanity that started with the messages revealed to Adam, regarded in Islam as the first prophet, and continued with the Scrolls of Abraham (Suhuf Ibrahim), the Tawrat (Torah) of Moses, the Zabur (Tehillim or Psalms) of David, and the Injil (Gospels) of Jesus. The Quran assumes familiarity with major narratives recounted in Jewish and Christian scriptures, summarizing some, dwelling at length on others and in some cases presenting alternative accounts and interpretations of events. The Quran describes itself as a book of guidance, sometimes offering detailed accounts of specific historical events, and often emphasizing the moral significance of an event.
Regardless of whether one believes or disbelieves in the Koran, equally as in the case of whether one believes or disbelieves in the Christian or Jewish Bible, it is an inescapable necessity for every educated person to read and be familiar with these works as literature if one has any hope of understanding World Literature, Western Literature, Islamic and Arabic Literature, English, French, German, Russian or any national literature of any culture affected by their influence. No one can understand English or American Literature without familiarity with the King James and other versions of the Bible, the words, phrases, style and stories and themes of which permeate and recur in Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, and a thousand believing and unbelieving authors and works. Similarly, any understanding of German Literature is impossible without knowledge of the Bible of Luther. The Koran thus takes its place in World Literature by virtue of its shaping influence on the mindset and consciousness of over one billion Muslims across dozens of nations, cultures and literatures as well as the cultural foundation of dozens of Muslim authors and works of worldwide importance such as Rumi, Attar, Hafiz, the Thousand and One Nights, Mafouz Naguib, Ghalib and others. Thus it is required reading, at least in part, for any Citizen of the Republic of Letters or of the modern world, alongside the Bible, the Buddhist Sutras such as the Fire Sermon, the Bhagavad Gita and the Dao De Ching, as part of the common heritage of mankind.
Compared to the Bible, the Koran is a much shorter work, lacking the extended historical accounts and chronicles of the Old Testament and the multiple repetitive Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John of the New Testament, and can be read in a relatively short time in translation by most people for basic familiarity.
The basic theme of the Koran is that of monotheism, an invocation to belief and adherence to the single God, Allah, of Muhammad, who is also conceived as the same God of the Christian and Jewish Abrahamic tradition, albeit with differences of understanding with the other religions. A good deal of the Koran is concerned with laying down rules of behaviour in common life, religious practice and society, as the Suras were broadly used for instruction of the Ummah, or new congregation of Islam in Mecca and Medina during Muhammad's life as he recited them. The Koran also contains repetitions of many famous Bible stories such as Adam and Eve, the Flood, Genesis, Exodus and life of Moses, the conception of Jesus by Mary and others. In the Koran Moses and Jesus are considered fellow prophets of Allah, though Jesus is not considered as the son of God as in the Bible. A large part of the Koran contains exhortations to belief in its one God Allah and adherence to its rules of behaviour, with the bliss of paradise as promised reward and certain damnation in Hell as the consequence of failure to do so. Similar to the Bible, a significant part of the Koran focuses on the coming Apocalypse, or end of time and the consequent Last Judgment of all souls.
PRE-ISLAMIC ARABIC POETRY---AL-KHANSA, CELEBRATED WOMAN POET
Even before Muhammad and the rise of Islam Arabic literature had developed a strong poetic tradition. At that time Arabic culture was largely based on oral tradition, with poetry at its center. For a nomadic people such as the Bedoin Arabs, poetry was the main reservoir of the people's knowledge and expression of their very existence. Poets were highly honored, attaining even what today we might term "superstar" status. The poetry was the poetry of the tribe or clan, articulating its legends, heroes, geneology, iteration of its strong "tribal code" of norms and exploits. Celebrated poets included traditionalists such as Imru 'al-Qays, the "Brigand Poets" or poets who individualistically broke with the control of their tribes and lived outside the tribal system, and the celebrated Pre-Islamic woman poetess Al-Khansa.
Al-Khansa (575-646) put women in a central place in her poetry. A traditionalist in one sense, she wrote poems of lament for brave fallen heroes of her tribe, such as her fallen brothers, yet celebrated the women who remained alive and powerful in keeping life going and honoring and transmitting the proud warrior values to their children, despite the vicissitudes of battle, defeat and victory. She made women's role in the symbolic order potent and visible, even in a patriarchal tribal society.
HAFIZ---FATHER OF THE GHAZAL GENRE OF LOVE POETRY
Hafiz is the pen name of the Persian poet Shams al-Din Muhammad Shirazi who is celebrated as the originating master of the "ghazal," a form of poetic artistic unity which is neither thematic nor dramatic in the Western sense, but consists in the creation of a poetic unity by weaving imagery and allusions round one or more central concepts, of which both divine and sexual love are the most common. Hafiz was a master of interweaving the erotic and the mystic through superb linguistic craftsmanship and intuitive insight. Some stanzas from his "The House of Hope" give some feel for his themes, often sensual and melancholy:
The house of hope is built on sand,
And life's foundations rest on air;
Then come, give wine into my hand,
That we may make an end of care.
Look not to find fidelity
Within a world so weakly stayed;
This ancient crone, ere flouting thee,
A thousand bridegrooms had betrayed.
Take not for sign of true intent
Nor think the rose's smile sincere;
Sweet, loving nightingale, lament:
There is much cause for weeping here.
What envying of Hafiz's ease,
Poor poetaster, dost thou moan?
To make sweet music, and to please,
That is a gift of God alone.
ABU-NAWAS---EROTIC COURT POET OF THE CALIPH HAROUN AL-RASHID OF THE THOUSAND AND ONE NIGHTS
Abu-Nawas (755-815) is perhaps the most beloved of Arab poets of any period. He appears repeatedly as a character in the classic "One Thousand and One Nights," or "Arabian Nights" along with the renown Abbasid Caliph Haroun al-Rashid and his Barmacid Vizir Jafar. He is the archetypal sensual, erotic and profligate poet and Baghdad court favorite of the Caliph. He wrote pangyric poetry as well as heterosexual and homosexual ghazals, and handled Bacchic poems of "wine, women and song" with incomparable skill. He wrote with an existential edge to his Epicurean ethos that embraced every kind of pleasure and satisfaction. His death is a subject of legend, some saying he died in prison for writing blasphemous verse, others that he died in a whorehouse, some saying he was murdered in reprisal for lampooning a powerful court personage, and still others that he died peacefully in his sleep in the home of a learned Shi'ite scholar.
RUMI----SUFI MYSTIC POET OF THE ECSTASY OF LOVE
Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-1273) was renown as both the foremost Sufi mystic poet and the founder of the Mavlevi sect of Sufi dancing dervishes. Originally an academic scholar and professor, he was persuaded by a wandering Sufi mystic, Shams al-Din Tabrizi, to take up the Sufi life and put the love of God at the center of his existence. Striving after divine illumination in diverse ways, from devout meditation to the ecstatic pleasures of wine, sexuality and the Dervish entrancement of dance, he emphasized a devotion to a spiritualized love that disregards rites and convention and concentrates on inner feeling and approach to the ecstatic infinite. His odes have been chanted by Hadjj pilgrims on the road to Mecca for centuries and are sung with the greatest reverence even today.
AL-JAHIZ---THE GREATEST PROSE WRITER OF CLASSICAL ARAB CULTURE
Abu Uthman 'Amr ibn Bahr (776-868) of Basra, Iraq was known as "Al-Jahiz" or "the goggle eyed" due to a malformation of his eyes and was one the dynamic personalities in the Mu'tazilite circles, which met regularly in Basra reminiscent of the famous "salons" of Paris. Basra was also the location of the annual Al-Mirbad literary festival of Arab and Islamic culture that took place yearly featuring competitions and debates on philosophical issues, and at which he was renown for his wit, cutting humor, endless anecdotes and depth of knowledge. His book "Spiritual Leadership" was praised at the court in Baghdad by the Caliph al-Mamun, who appointed him as court scribe, personal secretary and speech writer. His monumental work the "Book of Animals" is the first encyclopedia on animals and zoology. His most famous work is the "Book of Misers" which is a unique portrait gallery of human characters rich in their contradictions and ironies. It features an acute analysis of the passion of avarice, satirical and comic narratives, and cutting insight into human psychology. If the Eighteenth Century is sometimes called the Age of Voltaire, the Ninth Century in the Abbasid Caliphate could be called the "Age of Al-Jahiz"
through his dominance of prose writing in Arabic.
THE GREAT PHILOSOPHERS OF THE ARAB GOLDEN AGE
If Classical Greece had the great triumvirate of Aristotle, Plato and Socrates in the realm of philosophy, the Islamic Golden Age featured Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and Ibn Arabi. Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina played a major role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of both the Christian and Muslim worlds. They would also absorb ideas from China and India, adding to them tremendous knowledge from their own studies. Ibn Sina and other speculative thinkers such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. Avicenna argued his famous "Floating Man" thought experiment, concerning self-awareness, where a man prevented of sense experience by being blindfolded and free falling would still be aware of his existence, perhaps a forerunner of Descartes "cogito ergo sum"----"I think therefore I am."
Ibn Arabi was the foremost advocate of metaphysical Sufism, as expressed in his magnum opus "Bezels of Wisdom" which transformed Islam's personal God into a principle of absolute being, where all is God and God is all, in which humanity in his Sufist interpretation, occupies a central role as revealed divine being, perhaps reminiscent of Bishop Berkeley's pan-idealism.
The Arab philosophers of the Islamic Golden Age also stimulated other non-Muslim philosophers such as Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides.
IBN TUFAIL AND IBN AL-NAFIZ---FATHERS OF THE ARABIC PHILOSOPHIC AND SCIENCE FICTION NOVELS
Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) and Ibn al-Nafis were pioneers of the philosophical novel. Ibn Tufail wrote the first fictional Arabic novel "Hayy ibn Yaqdhan" ("Philosophus Autodidactus") as a response to al-Ghazali's "The Incoherence of the Philosophers," and then Ibn al-Nafis also wrote a fictional novel "Theologus Autodidactus" as a response to Ibn Tufail's "Philosophus Autodidactus." Both of these narratives had protagonists (Hayy in Philosophus Autodidactus and Kamil in Theologus Autodidactus) who were autodidactic feral children living in seclusion on a desert island, both being the earliest examples of a desert island story, a forerunner of Defoe's "Robinson Crusoe." However, while Hayy lives alone with animals on the desert island for the rest of the story, like Mowgli in Kipling's "Jungle Book" in "Philosophus Autodidactus," the story of Kamil extends beyond the desert island setting in "Theologus Autodidactus," developing into a story of his re-entry into civilization, the earliest known coming of age plot and eventually becoming the first example of a science fiction novel.
AL HALLAJ---SUFI MARTYR
Al-Hallaj (857-922) was a great Sufi mystic, poet and theologian whose life and spiritual mission was reminiscent of the fate of Jesus Christ. A great spiritual searcher, he attended debates and salons in Basra and Baghdad, then embarked on thirty years of wandering, perpetual fasting, meditation, contemplation and silence in search of Sufi enlightenment. His pilgrimage to Mecca led to further enlightenment and he began to attract large numbers of followers, breaking the normal Sufi practice of esoteric secrecy by public preaching, including reform of corrupt clerics. His movement was perceived as a threat by the highly corrupt religious establishment, and he suffered a fate similar to Jesus and the Apostles. Corrupt clerics accused him of blasphemy and he was imprisoned in Baghdad eight years, tortured, half-killed and exhibited on a scaffold. The Caliph, failing to force him to recant his beliefs, finally had him decapitated, burnt and his ashes scattered into the Tigris River.
SPIRITUS MUNDI AND THE ISLAMIC GOLDEN AGE
The Islamic Golden Age is also reflected in my own work, the contemporary and futurist epic Spiritus Mundi. One of its characters Mohammad ala Rushdie is a novice Sufi of the Mevlevi Order, writer and also an activist for the creation of a United Nations Parliamentary Assembly. He is taken hostage by terrorists and meets the Supreme Leader of Iran, later reciting to him a short story he has written "The Supreme Leader and the Three Messiahs," reminiscent of Dostoyevski's "The Grand Inquisitor" set in an Islamic setting. Part of the plot of the novel involves a geopolitical conspiracy of an allied China-Russia-Iran to execute a Pearl Harbor-like sneak attack invasion of the Middle-East oil reserves to sever the "oil jugular" of the West, leading to a threatened WWIII. It is foiled by a cosmic quest of the protagonists intoa mythic dimension and a change of heart in the Iranian Supreme Leader following a visit of the Angel Jibreel (Gabriel) who commands him to "Open the Gates of Ijtihad" or creative reasoning against the tradition of blind precedent and conformity to the past as a means giving rebirth to the spirit of the lost Islamic Golden Age and preventing Armageddon and World War III.
For a fuller discussion of the concept of World Literature you are invited to look into the extended discussion in the new book Spiritus Mundi, by Robert Sheppard, one of the principal themes of which is the emergence and evolution of World Literature:
For Discussions on World Literature and n Literary Criticism in Spiritus Mundi: ...
Robert Sheppard
Editor-in-Chief
World Literature Forum
Author, Spiritus Mundi Novel
Author鈥檚 Blog:
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Spiritus Mundi on 欧宝娱乐:
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Spiritus Mundi on Amazon, Book I:
Spiritus Mundi, Book II: The Romance
Copyright Robert Sheppard 2013 All Rights Reserved
January 30, 2008
best translation. Each prophet as a different Gnosis and practice....
January 12, 2015
(Sendeki) Sorular谋n yerine ba艧ka sorular koyan bir garip kitap. Biraz g眉ncel oldu臒u i莽in burada bir al谋nt谋 bulunsun.
Davud aleyhisselam, Beyt-i Mukaddes鈥檌 in艧a etmeyi dileyip, onu defalarca in艧a ettiyse de in艧aat谋 biten bina her seferinde y谋k谋ld谋. Bu durumu Allahu Teala鈥檡a 艧ikayet edince, Allahu Teala ona 艧枚yle vahyetti: 鈥淏enim bu evim kan d枚ken bir ki艧inin iki eli 眉zerinde ayakta duramaz.鈥� Davud 艧枚yle dedi: 鈥淵arabbi, ben senin yolunda kan d枚kmedim mi?鈥� Hak Teala 艧枚yle buyurdu: 鈥淓vet, ama onlar Benim kullar谋m de臒iller mi?鈥�
Davud aleyhisselam, Beyt-i Mukaddes鈥檌 in艧a etmeyi dileyip, onu defalarca in艧a ettiyse de in艧aat谋 biten bina her seferinde y谋k谋ld谋. Bu durumu Allahu Teala鈥檡a 艧ikayet edince, Allahu Teala ona 艧枚yle vahyetti: 鈥淏enim bu evim kan d枚ken bir ki艧inin iki eli 眉zerinde ayakta duramaz.鈥� Davud 艧枚yle dedi: 鈥淵arabbi, ben senin yolunda kan d枚kmedim mi?鈥� Hak Teala 艧枚yle buyurdu: 鈥淓vet, ama onlar Benim kullar谋m de臒iller mi?鈥�
September 2, 2008
During the period when Ibn Al' Arabi wrote this book, he faced a general climate of backlash against Sufism from the orthodox majority. It is both a description and a commentary on psychological type, couched as a study of the twenty-seven prophets mentioned in the Koran. It is a difficult and powerful book written by the greatest Sufi theorist. The copy I read, translated by R.W.J. Austin, was superior to the other translations I have seen.
September 11, 2017
It was an amazing to read sufi teachings and the way of reaching Allah by all Prophets' stories, abilities.
Moreover than this, I have read in one of the sufi book that ibn arabi's fususul hikem couldnot be understood by 2-3 people through the years, it was saying. In any case, it was worth to read
Moreover than this, I have read in one of the sufi book that ibn arabi's fususul hikem couldnot be understood by 2-3 people through the years, it was saying. In any case, it was worth to read
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October 29, 2009讴鬲丕亘 賮氐賵氐 蹖丕 賮氐賵氐鈥屫з勜┵� 丕孬乇 卮蹖禺 丕讴亘乇 丕亘賳 毓乇亘蹖 丕夭 讴鬲亘 賲卮賴賵乇 鬲氐賵賮 賵 毓乇賮丕賳 賳馗乇蹖 丕爻鬲.
亘賴 禺丕胤乇 丕賴賲蹖鬲 賵 丕乇夭卮 賵丕賱丕蹖 丌賳貙 鬲丕 讴賳賵賳貙 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丕夭 氐丿 賵 丿賴 卮乇丨 賲禺鬲賱賮貙 亘賴 夭亘丕賳鈥屬囏й� 诏賵賳丕诏賵賳貙 亘乇 賮氐賵氐鈥屫з勜┵� 賳賵卮鬲賴 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲.
亘賴 禺丕胤乇 丕賴賲蹖鬲 賵 丕乇夭卮 賵丕賱丕蹖 丌賳貙 鬲丕 讴賳賵賳貙 亘蹖卮鬲乇 丕夭 氐丿 賵 丿賴 卮乇丨 賲禺鬲賱賮貙 亘賴 夭亘丕賳鈥屬囏й� 诏賵賳丕诏賵賳貙 亘乇 賮氐賵氐鈥屫з勜┵� 賳賵卮鬲賴 卮丿賴 丕爻鬲.
June 25, 2008
Best translation and critical edition available of oen of the masterpieces of Islamic mystical thought
March 29, 2012
賲賳 兀賮囟賱 賲丕 賯乇兀鬲 賮賷 2012 ..
November 6, 2014
One of the best books I ever read. Every time you read it, you gain new wisdom. Ibn Al Arabi has a unique style and unique knowledge; controversial, but absolutely great thinker.
July 5, 2014
禺賱丕氐丞 丨賰賲丞 丕亘賳 毓乇亘賷 賵賮賱爻賮鬲賴 丕賱氐賵賮賷丞.
賰鬲丕亘 乇丕卅毓 賱賰賳 賷氐毓亘 賮賴賲賴 賱賱賯丕乇卅 睾賷乇 丕賱賲毓鬲丕丿 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲噩乇亘丞 丕賱氐賵賮賷丞.
賰鬲丕亘 乇丕卅毓 賱賰賳 賷氐毓亘 賮賴賲賴 賱賱賯丕乇卅 睾賷乇 丕賱賲毓鬲丕丿 毓賱賶 丕賱鬲噩乇亘丞 丕賱氐賵賮賷丞.
July 27, 2015
All the question u have in yourself will be replaced by new ones.
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February 9, 2019賳鬲賴丕 讴鬲丕亘蹖 讴賴 丕爻賲 丕亘賳 毓乇亘蹖 丌丿賲賵 賲蹖讴卮賵賳賴 倬丕蹖 亘爻丕胤蹖 禺賵丕賳卮 丕賲丕 賲鬲賳 孬賯蹖賱 丌丿賲賵 亘丿乇賯賴 賲蹖讴賳賴
August 25, 2024
he Bezels of Wisdom is a profound and intricate work of Islamic philosophy, mysticism, and cosmology. This text, often considered one of his most significant works, delves into the nature of reality, the divine, and the human soul.
The Unity of Being: At the heart of Ibn 'Arabi's philosophy is the concept of wahdat al-wujud, or the Unity of Being. This tenet posits that all creation is ultimately a manifestation of the divine essence. There is no fundamental distinction between the Creator and the created, but rather a continuum of being.
The Divine Names: Ibn 'Arabi explores the significance of the divine names as attributes of God. He argues that these names are not mere descriptions but rather active forces that shape and govern reality. The seeker's journey towards divine knowledge involves understanding and experiencing these names.
The Human Soul: The human soul is a microcosm of the divine. Ibn 'Arabi emphasizes the soul's potential for spiritual growth and its ultimate return to the divine source. The soul's journey involves stripping away the veils of illusion and attaining a state of divine consciousness.
Cosmology and Symbolism: The Bezels of Wisdom is rich in cosmological symbolism. Ibn 'Arabi uses metaphors and analogies to describe the divine realm and its relationship to the created world. He often employs alchemical and astrological imagery to convey spiritual truths.
A deeper analysis of The Bezels of Wisdom requires a careful examination of its symbolism and allegories, its philosophical foundations, its mystical experiences, and its place within the broader context of Islamic thought.
Symbolism and Allegory: Ibn 'Arabi's use of symbols and allegories is a key to understanding the depth of his thought. These symbols often serve as vehicles for conveying mystical experiences and spiritual truths.
Philosophical Foundations: Ibn 'Arabi's work is deeply rooted in Islamic philosophy, particularly the Neoplatonic tradition. Examining his engagement with these philosophical sources can provide valuable insights into his thought.
Mystical Experience: Ibn 'Arabi's writings are often based on his own mystical experiences. Understanding his approach to mysticism and his claims of divine revelation is essential for appreciating the unique nature of his thought.
Comparative Studies: Comparing The Bezels of Wisdom to other works of Islamic philosophy and mysticism can help to highlight its distinctive contributions and place it within a broader intellectual context.
The Bezels of Wisdom is a complex and multifaceted work that offers a profound exploration of the divine, the human soul, and the nature of reality. Ibn 'Arabi's unique blend of philosophy, mysticism, and cosmology continues to captivate and inspire scholars and seekers of spiritual truth. A deep analysis of this text requires a careful examination of its symbolism, philosophical foundations, mystical experiences, and place within the broader context of Islamic thought.
The Unity of Being: At the heart of Ibn 'Arabi's philosophy is the concept of wahdat al-wujud, or the Unity of Being. This tenet posits that all creation is ultimately a manifestation of the divine essence. There is no fundamental distinction between the Creator and the created, but rather a continuum of being.
The Divine Names: Ibn 'Arabi explores the significance of the divine names as attributes of God. He argues that these names are not mere descriptions but rather active forces that shape and govern reality. The seeker's journey towards divine knowledge involves understanding and experiencing these names.
The Human Soul: The human soul is a microcosm of the divine. Ibn 'Arabi emphasizes the soul's potential for spiritual growth and its ultimate return to the divine source. The soul's journey involves stripping away the veils of illusion and attaining a state of divine consciousness.
Cosmology and Symbolism: The Bezels of Wisdom is rich in cosmological symbolism. Ibn 'Arabi uses metaphors and analogies to describe the divine realm and its relationship to the created world. He often employs alchemical and astrological imagery to convey spiritual truths.
A deeper analysis of The Bezels of Wisdom requires a careful examination of its symbolism and allegories, its philosophical foundations, its mystical experiences, and its place within the broader context of Islamic thought.
Symbolism and Allegory: Ibn 'Arabi's use of symbols and allegories is a key to understanding the depth of his thought. These symbols often serve as vehicles for conveying mystical experiences and spiritual truths.
Philosophical Foundations: Ibn 'Arabi's work is deeply rooted in Islamic philosophy, particularly the Neoplatonic tradition. Examining his engagement with these philosophical sources can provide valuable insights into his thought.
Mystical Experience: Ibn 'Arabi's writings are often based on his own mystical experiences. Understanding his approach to mysticism and his claims of divine revelation is essential for appreciating the unique nature of his thought.
Comparative Studies: Comparing The Bezels of Wisdom to other works of Islamic philosophy and mysticism can help to highlight its distinctive contributions and place it within a broader intellectual context.
The Bezels of Wisdom is a complex and multifaceted work that offers a profound exploration of the divine, the human soul, and the nature of reality. Ibn 'Arabi's unique blend of philosophy, mysticism, and cosmology continues to captivate and inspire scholars and seekers of spiritual truth. A deep analysis of this text requires a careful examination of its symbolism, philosophical foundations, mystical experiences, and place within the broader context of Islamic thought.
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