Ibn ʿ⁠Arabī on the Circle of Trusteeship and the Divine Name al-Wakīl – Atif Khalil

Abstract:

With special reference to chapters 119 and 558 of the Meccan Revelations, the article draws out Ibn ʿ⁠Arabī’s (d. 638/1240) understanding of the divine Name al-Wakīl (“The Trustee”) and the nature of trusteeship (wakāla). In the process, it demonstrates how for our mystic trusteeship forms a circle that begins with the human being entrusting his affairs to God, and returns to its point of origin with God entrusting him to be His vicegerent (khalīfa). Trusteeship, which finds its archetypical perfection in the divine Wakīl, descends through various degrees of perfection, to all levels and strata of human society. The capacity to embody and manifest the Name al-Wakīl is, for Ibn ʿ⁠Arabī, itself made possible by the theomorphic nature of the human being, a child of the primor- dial Adam fashioned in the image of God.

An Interview with Abdel Baki Meftah,Algerian Master of Akbarian Teachings

Abstract: This interview seeks to introduce English-speaking audiences to the life and work of Abdel Baki Meftah, a major contemporary interpreter of Ibn ʿArabi and his school. To date, he has published nearly thirty books in Arabic on Ibn ʿArabi, which include expositions of his life, in-depth studies of particular themes and concepts in Ibn ʿArabi’s writings, com- mentaries upon some of Ibn ʿArabi’s key works, and a four-volume compilation and discussion of Ibn ʿArabi’s Sufi readings of verses from the Quran. In addition to writing more than ten other books on Sufi concepts, important Sufi orders and practices, and the thought of Amir ʿAbd al-Qadir al-Jazaʾiri, Meftah has also translated into Arabic ten of René Guénon’s writings and compiled two collections of his essays. The interview, which is presented here in condensed form, was conducted in Arabic by Hany Ibrahim and Mohammed Rustom in August 2021 and translated into English by Omar Edaibat.

An Interview with Abdel Baki Meftah, Algerian Master of Akbarian Teachings Hany Ibrahim and Mohammed Rustom

Interview With Abdel Baki Meftah (JMIAS 72, 2022)

Ibn Arabi Treatise on the Knowledge of the Night of Power and it’s timings – Pablo Beneito and Stephen Hirtenstein

Night Of Power In Ibn Arabi - Pablo Benito

Review of The Pure Intention: On the Knowledge of the Unique Name by Ibn `Aṭā’ Allāh (trans. K. Williams; Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society) in JIMS 6, no. (2021): 108-114

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Sufism Revived: A Contemporary Treatise on Divine Light, Prophecy, and Sainthood

Abstract:

“In this compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara), Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari offers a Sufi commentary on the functions, degrees and implications of prophethood (nubūwa), messengerhood (risāla), and sainthood (wilāya). Major themes include the identification of the Prophet Muhammad with “the supreme intellect” (al-ʿaql al-akbar); the manifestation of the all-encompassing Muhammadan Reality through the different prophetic figures; the notion of prophetic inerrancy (ʿiṣma); the doctrine of the Perfect Man (al-insān al-kāmil); and the universality of the Muḥammadan nation. In his discussion on sainthood, the Shaykh offers a commentary on the Path to God as expressed in the well-known Holy Tradition (ḥadīth qudsī), narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, in which God proclaims: “Whoever aggresses against one of My friends, I declare war on them…My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him; and when I love him, I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he clutches, and his foot by which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely give him refuge.” Throughout these discourses, the Shaykh offers practical advice for seekers regarding the complementarity between the exoteric Law (sharīʿa) and esoteric Truth (ḥaqīqa); the love of the Prophet and his descendents; and the attainment of unmediated knowledge of God (maʿrifa). Special emphasis is placed by the Shaykh on the seeker’s visions (mushāhadāt) of God’s Light; recognizing the traces of the Divine Names in creation; and how to derive knowledge of God from one’s spiritual experiences”

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Introduction to Islamic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Sufi Treatise on the Secrets of the Divine Name – Yousef Casewit

Abstract:

“In this masterful treatise of Sufi spirituality and metaphysics, Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari maps out the mystical journey to God as an initiatic progression through seven degrees of realization, or readings, of the divine Name Allāh. These seven degrees encapsulate what it means to read in the Name of the Lord, letter by letter, syllable by syllable, until the Hu, Lahu, Lillāh, ilāh, Allāh, Alif, and the Treasure-Dot are inwardly realized in the heart of the wayfarer. The Shaykh guides the reader from secret to secret, or reading to reading, devoting ten subchapters to each degree of the divine Name. Written with both metaphysical rigor and poetic elegance, the book comprises seventy short chapters that correspond to the seventy veils of Light and darkness between God and creation. Throughout the book, he emphasizes the centrality of directly witnessing the Divine Light, the indispensability of a living spiritual master, the dynamic between transcendence and immanence, the purification of the heart, and wholehearted commitment to practicing the Sunna and continuous invocation as a means of attaining direct knowledge of God. Describing the fruit of wayfaring, the Shaykh proclaims: “[It is] a matter of sheer fruitional experience, tasted only by those who plunge the depths of the kernel of the heart..”

Introduction_to_Islamic_Metaphysics_A_Co

İBN ARABÎ’YE GÖRE TAHKİKÎ İLİM – William C. CHITTICK

Abstract: İbn Arabî, geçen 800 yıl zarfında bir an dü-şünüldüğünde ilk akla gelen en tesirli vehakkında en çok tartışılan Müslüman düşü-nürdür. Tasavvuf geleneği onu Şeyhül Ekberolarak adlandırır. Bu, İslâmiyet’in bâtınî öğ-retilerinin en önde gelen şârihi olduğu anla-mına gelir. Günümüz akademi dünyası haklıolarak böylesine büyük ünvanlara şüpheci bakıyor olsa da bu ünvanın tamamıyla yersizolmadığını gösterir pek çok ipucu mevcut-tur. Nicelik açısından bakarsak İbn Arabî’nindevâsâ eseri Fütûhat-ı Mekkiye, en üretkenyazarların bile bir ömür boyunca yazabilek-leri metinlerden çok daha fazla metin içerir.Kitaplarının ve ilmî eserlerinin çetelesi ya-yınlanmış ve yüzlerce el yazma eseri kütüp-hanelere dağılmıştır

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#055: Wisdom Crystallized: What is Sufi Metaphysics? w/ Mohammed Rustom

via Path & Present Podcast https://soundcloud.com/pathandpresent

Actionless Action – Mohammed Rustom

Abstract:

“It has indeed been a blessing to sit with the great Kenan Rifai’s commentary upon book one of Mevlana’s Mesnevi .Spending time with this book naturally led me to Kenan Rifai’s explanation of a famous tale in the Mesnevi  centered around ‘Ali b. Abi Talib tale is retold from Islamic tradition and is cast in Mevlana’s unique terms and worldview. The long and short of the story is as follows: in the heat of a one-on-one encounter with an enemy of Islam, ‘Ali gained the upper hand and thru this opponent to the ground. Just as he was about to finish him off withone blow from his sword, the enemy spat at ‘Ali’s face. When this happened, ‘Ali immediately dropped his sword and walked away. This per-plexed his enemy, and led him to ask ‘Ali in earnest why he had not killed him at that very moment. ‘Ali then speaks, telling the enemy that he only fights for the sake of God. But, when the man insulted him by spitting at him, the possibility that it would become a personal affair had presented itself to him. So he walked away from the situation. ‘Ali then explains that he never acts out of self-interest, but only for, in, and through God

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