Entries by Tony Soprano

“Immortality through AI?: Transhumanism, Islamic Philosophy, and the Quest for Spiritual Machines.” In Transhumanism, Immortality, and Religion. Edited by Timothy Knepper. New York: Springer, in press [2026]

This chapter critically engages the transhumanist vision articulated by Ray Kurzweil in works such as The Age of Spiritual Machines (1999), The Singularity Is Near (2005), and The Singularity Is Nearer (2024), wherein he predicts an imminent convergence of human and machine intelligence culminating in the advent of artificial superintelligence (ASI). Central to this vision […]

“Two Types of Inner-Qur’anic Interpretation”, in: Exegetical Crossroads: Understanding Scripture in Judaism, Christianity and Islam in the Pre-Modern Orient, edited by Georges Tamer et al., Berlin: De Gruyter 2018, pp. 253–288

The conference from which the present volume has emerged was entitled Exegetical Crossroads. Unlike other contributions to this book, mine will not examine intersections between post-Biblical and post-Qur’ānic scriptural interpretation in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity; rather, I shall focus on processes of interpretive engagement with Qur’ānic passages that are traceable within the Qur’ān it- self. […]

Pleasures—Sensual and Spiritual: A Chapter from Nāṣir-i Khusraw’s Pilgrims’ Provision By Shafique N . Virani

This article offers a translation and analysis of Nāṣir-i Khusraw’s seminal discourse on pleasure from his philosophical treatise The Pilgrims’ Provision (Zād al-musāfirīn), illuminating the intricate interplay between sensual and intellectual delights in Islamic thought. It situates Nāṣir-i Khusraw within the broader intellectual tradition, highlighting his critique of Muḥammad b. Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī’s Epicurean-influenced conception of […]

al-Haya: The Dignity of Shame By Oludamini Ogunnaike

By Oludamini Ogunnaike It is perhaps not accidental that the Arabic word and central Islamic concept of ḥayāʾ (often translated as “shame,” “modesty,” or “shyness”) is very difficult to translate into modern English, given the profound differences in the world-senses animating the two discourses. Likewise, the modern English notion of “dignity,” although Islamic sources have played […]

Attar Some Philosophical and Theological Passages from Fakhr al Din al Razi’s al Sirr al maktum By Muhammad Fariduddin Attar

 have transcribed some interesting passages in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s work on astral magic, al-Sirr al-maktūm (The Hidden Secret) based on MS Majlis 6853, compared with some other MSS. These passages are taken from the philosophical and theological portions of the work. I also outline the Sirr’s content and method of inquiry. The transcribed passages are […]

“Sufism and the Anthropocosmic Self.” In I of the Heart: Texts and Studies in Honor of Seyyed Hossein Nasr. Islamic History and Civilization Series. Edited by M. Faruque, A. Khalil, and M. Rustom. Leiden: Brill, 2025, pp. 3–39.

It would not be an overstatement to say that the strand of thought now called Sufi metaphysics revolves around two interrelated doctrines, namely the oneness of being (waḥdat al-wujūd) and the perfect human (al-insān al-kāmil ). As is well-known, the expression waḥdat al-wujūd is controversial, which is composed of two words—waḥda and wujūd—both of which […]

Devotion and Metaphysics in a Litany Ascribed to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī

This article examines the status of Sufi devotional literature, a corpus still rarely considered in its own right within the study of Islamic thought. Focusing on the Ḥizb al-naṣr (Litany of Support) attributed to ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī (d. 1166) and still recited today within the Qādiriyya order, it argues that such devotional texts possess a […]