Abstract: The origins of the academic study of Sufism in Western scholarshipmay be retraced to the second half of the 18th century, with the firstindependent work on the subject appearing in 1819 by Lt. James W.Graham (d. 1845), an officer working on the staff of Sir John Malcolm (d.1833), a scholar-general in the British colonial […]
Abstract “I tried to imagine how the authors of the old texts that I read would have reacted to the phrase “the silence of God.” Probably they would have muttered, “Try listening for once.” Or they might have quoted the Qur’anic verse, “They have hearts but they do not understand with them, they have eyes […]
Abstract: Man exists in space and time. At any space and time we can turn in any number of potential directions—but none can bring us fulfillment, for nothing that happens to us is enough in itself. But all boundedness in space and time has the potential to direct us toward the Boundless, that which lies […]
Abstract The problem of evil challenges the conception of a deity that combines the attributes of Omnipotence and Goodness: either attribute alone is compatible with the existence of evil, but the combination of the two is not. And yet it is precisely this combination of attributes that is claimed by the monotheistic God of the […]
Abstract“The Sevillan thinker Ibn Barrajān (Abū al-Ḥakam ʿAbd al-Salām b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Abī al-Rijāl Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Lakhmī al-Ifrīqī al- Ishbīlī, d. 536/1141), much like his Cordoban predecessor Ibn Masarra al-Jabalī (d. 319/931), has appeared in modern scholarship mostly as a silhouette in the penumbra of the great Sufi thinker Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn […]
Abstract “Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Qawami al-Shirazi (1571–1640),1 known as Sadr al-Din al-Shirazi and more popularly as Mulla Sadra, is one of the most prominent figures of post Avicennan Islamic philosophy. His school of thought called‘ transcendent wisdom’(al-hikmatal-muta‘aliyah) has made”(link below)
Abstract: Arabic and Persian terms have been transliterated in accordance with the system employed by the (), with the following major exceptions: (1) no distinction is made in transliterating consonants shared between Arabic and Persian; (2) complete transliterations of book and article titles have been retained throughout; (3) in contexts where transliteration is not an […]
Abstract: Anyone with the vaguest knowledge of Islamic culture knows that it has produced extraordinary works of art and architecture — Persian miniatures, the Taj Mahal, the Alhambra. Few are aware, however, that this rich artistic heritage is firmly rooted in a worldview that highlights love and beauty…….
Abstract: The martyrdom of the Imam Husayn can hardly be called a major theme of Rumi’s works; in over 50,000 couplets he refers to it less than twenty times. Nevertheless, these few lines are sufficient to suggest how the events of Karbala’ were viewed not only by Rumi’s, this great representative of the………….