As human beings, we are given the intelligence to know the One who is the Origin and End of all things, who is Sat (Being), Chit (Consciousness), and Ānanda (Bliss). And to realize that this knowledge itself is the ultimate goal of human life, the crown of human existence, and what ultimately makes us human beings—who can discourse with the trees […]
The notion of “playing God” frequently comes to the fore in discussions of bioethics, especially in religious contexts. The phrase has always been analyzed and discussed from Christian and secular standpoints. Two interpretations exist in the literature. The first takes “God” seriously and “playing” playfully. It argues that this concept does not state a principle […]
By Eric Geoffroy While Ibn ‘Arabī (d. 1240) is known as the “greatest master” (al-shaykh al-akbar) of the spirituality and esotericism of Islam, the Emir Abd el-Kader (‘Abd al-Qādir al-Jazā’irī, d. 1883) is better known for his uprising against the French occupation between 1832 and 1847. Yet, he was brought up in a Sufi environment and […]
İslâm dini, insanın hem ruh hem de beden sağlığını önemseyen, dolayısıyla ruh ve beden eğitimine değer veren, bu konuda birçok hüküm belirleyen bir dindir. Buna göre insanın ruh eğitimi ve sağlığı önemli olduğu gibi, beden sağlığı ve beden eğitimi de oldukça önemlidir. bu çalışmada özel olarak beden eğitimi konusunda İslâmî kaynaklarda geçen bilgileri bir araya […]
The Naqshbandiyya Mujaddidiyya order is among the world’s largest and most geographically widespread Sufi orders, but it has long been assumed to be absent among Chinese-speaking Muslims. Despite a handful of isolated references to local Chinese Mujaddidī groups in studies of particular communities, comprehensive histories of Chinese Islams make no mention of the Mujaddidiyya, and […]
Anyone visiting the modern city of Cairo will surely be struck with the impression that medieval Egypt, and particularly the capital city of the Mamluk empire, remains close at hand. In fact, it remains literally at arm’s length through its monumental architecture, its ordering of the cityscape, and even its design aesthetic that in the […]
This book expands upon my doctoral dissertation at McGill’s Institute of Islamic Studies. It is the first comprehensive premodern intellectual and social history of the Bā ʿAlawi Sada and their Sufi tradition in the English language. While the Bā ʿAlawī tarīqa and its premodern origins remains poorly understood, this history addresses that lacuna by closely […]
By Jonathan Brown In the 2010 film adaptation of Murder on the Orient Express—star-studded and far outshining the novel—Poirot discovers that the train’s passengers had planned and carried out the execution of a man who had murdered a child, but whom the court had somehow failed to convict. Poirot’s esteem for the rule of law is passionate. […]
Reviewed by: Asl YILDIRIM * “The Earth is bleeding from wounds inflicted upon it by a humanity no longer in harmony with Heaven and therefore in constant strife with the terrestrial environment.” These are the introductory words of Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who is not only a distinguished member of the philosophical intelligentsia but also […]
Allow me to begin by professing my profound gratitude to my colleagues for their generous engagement with The Book of Clouds, both at the panel at the AAR in 2024 and in this written form. As a poet has said, “It’s ears’ and hearts’ buying that sets words’ price, not what the selling tongues and pens […]
This article examines the narratives that appear in the encyclopedic Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). Written in the tenth century, this multilayered Neoplatonic work contains over 40 narratives-parables, allegories, fables, animal tales, and dialogues. These narratives serve multiple purposes, including the elucidation and illustration of ethical, philosophical, religious, mathematical, and scientific […]