Entries by Tony Soprano

“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 […]

Cosmos as Revelation’: Reason, Imagination and the Foundations of Ibn ʿArabī’s Scriptural Hermeneutics

Ibn ʿArabī’s metaphysical framework demonstrates that his hermeneutical approach to the Qurʾan represents a vision of what constitutes objective reality. Such a vision, though rooted in traditional sources, is explicated in a highly theoretical language, and is ultimately predicated on the epistemic modes of unveiling (kashf) and witnessing (mushāhada) as the most certain forms of […]

Commentary on Sūrat al-Mulk: The Study Quran

Seyyed Hossein Nasr supervised the entire Study Quran, including selecting the editorial board and essay authors; editing the translation, commentary, and essays; and overseeing the style and scope of the translation and commentary. Caner K. Dagli wrote the commentary for sūrahs 2–3, 8–9, and 21–28, was the primary translator for sūrahs 2–3, 8–9, and 22–28, […]

The World, Man and Ritual Prayer according to Ibn al-ʿArabīn – Sophie Tyser

In his ‘introduction à la lecture des Futūḥāt Makkiyyaʾ, Michel Chodkiewicz discerned, among the different ways of approaching the mystery of the walāya, the ‘symbolic meaning of the ritual practices that lead to it’, including ritual prayer, considered by Ibn al-ʿArabī (d.638/1240) as an ini- tiatory journey. The ritual prayer prescribed to Muslims, whose form […]

Representations of Islam in Western Thought By Ian Almond

By Ian Almond What do we understand by the term ‘representation of Islam’? What does it mean to investigate the depiction of the Muslim world – be it the faith, the cultures, the believers, the literature – in non- Muslim discourse? How would studies of the representation of Muslims by non-Muslims differ from their logical inverse […]

Medieval Exegesis The Golden Age of Tafsir

Just as theologians were making bold statements about kalam (theology), claiming that it is the queen of the religious sciences, so Qur’an commentators asserted that tafsir is the most noble of religious sciences

Rethinking the Unio Mystica: From McGinn to Ibn Arabī By Arjun A Nair

By Arjun A Nair Research into the unio mystica has revealed what seems to be an area of “real discussion” between scholars of different traditions of mysticism, particularly those of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Although this research serves as a promising start to the dialogue among scholars, it has also raised many questions about a “shared […]

God as Absolute Existence in Ibn ʿArabī: al-Taftāzānī’s Refutations of Akbarian Metaphysics [in Persian]

Throughout Islamic intellectual history, a wide range of conceptions of God have been articulated, among which the problematic view of Ibn ʿArabī-identifying God with Absolute Existence (al-wujūd al-muṭlaq)-stands out. Numerous critiques have been leveled against this identification, but the objections of Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī are particularly notable for their originality, clarity, and lasting influence on […]