Recognizing Recognition: Ma’rifa in Sufi Thought (Oxford Journal of Islamic Studies, 2026) – By Mohammed Rustom

This article delves into the Arabic noun Marifa as employed in a range of Arabic and Persian Sufi texts. After unpacking the semantics of the –r–f root in the Quran and hadith literature and juxtaposing Marifa with ilm, the piece seeks to demonstrate how Sufi authors specifically conceived of Marifa as a type of recognition of oneself and of God. This recognition is activated by the practice of dhikr or the remembrance of God, which in the end leads the recognizer to self-forgetting, perplexity, and bewilderment.

Marifa is a concept of central importance in Islamic thought. It appears variously in different intellectual disciplines such as hadıth, legal theory, theology, philosophy, and Sufism. In the secondary literature marifa features most prominently in scholarship on Sufism. However, scholars have always been at odds when it comes to rendering the term into English. This is why it is variously translated as ‘knowledge’, ‘gnosis’, ‘esoteric knowledge’, ‘experiential knowledge’, ‘mystical knowledge’, ‘cognition’, and even ‘unknowing’. 1 The same applies to its related Author’s note: I wish to thank Atif Khalil for his encouragement and insightful remarks on this article. 1 See, respectively, Reza Shah-Kazemi, ‘The notion and significance of Marifa in Sufism’, Journal of Islamic Studies, 13/2 (2002): 155–81; Mohammed Rustom, ‘Forms of gnosis in Sulamı¯’s Sufi exegesis of the Fatih : a’, Islam and Christian– Muslim Relations, 16/4 (2005): 327–44; Leonard Lewisohn (ed. and transl.), Esoteric Traditions in Islamic Thought: An Anthology of Texts on Esoteric

Recognizing_Recognition_Marifa_in_Sufi_TDownload

The Tranquility of Remembrance (From Razi to Ibn al-Qayyim) in I of the Heart (Leiden: Brill, 2025), 183-198. Edited by Muhammad U. Faruque, Atif Khalil, Mohammed Rustom

At its heart, prayer is the soul’s effort to communicate with and build a relationship with its Divine origin. Viewed this way, Islam recognizes three primary modes of prayer.

The first is the canonical, ritual prayer known as ṣalāt. This is the familiar practice involving specific movements, postures, and recited verses performed by devout Muslims at prescribed times each day. When performed in congregation, it stands as one of the most visible and universal symbols of Islamic faith.

The second mode is supplicatory prayer, or duʿāʾ—the personal act of petitioning God. In duʿāʾ, a believer may ask for help, guidance, or blessing, whether for matters of this world or the hereafter. While permissible, spiritual authorities caution against focusing these requests solely on transient, self-centered desires. The poet Rūmī illustrated this by comparing worldly desires to eating in a dream: the sensation feels real, but upon waking, it provides no true nourishment. To spend one’s prayers on such fleeting ends is to seek a reward as temporary as life itself.

Yet, even a duʿāʾ for a worldly need holds spiritual value. It reinforces the soul’s fundamental recognition of its own need and dependence, affirming God as the ultimate source of all goodness and blessing.

The_Tranquility_of_Remembrance_From_RaziDownload

Inscriptions of Wisdom: The Sufism of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Mirror of Jāmī By Mukhtar H Ali

Inscriptions of Wisdom brings together, for the first time in English, two pivotal Sufi texts that illuminate Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (d. 1240) celebrated work Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. The first, Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ (The Inscription of the Fuṣūṣ), is Ibn al-ʿArabī’s own distillation of Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, presenting a concise yet profound articulation of its core teachings. The second, Naqd al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ (Selected Texts Commenting on Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ), by ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī, is an anthology of carefully selected passages from the earliest and most authoritative interpreters of Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam, enriched with Jāmī’s own insights. Together, these works explore the quintessential knowledge and divine principles embodied by each of the twenty-seven major prophetic figures of the Islamic tradition, from Adam to Muhammad. If Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam represents the culmination of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s thought, then Naqsh al-Fuṣūṣ distills its very essence and inner mystery. Mukhtar H. Ali’s meticulous presentation of the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam commentarial tradition—featuring the first complete English translation of Jāmī’s Naqd al-nuṣūṣ, chapter-by-chapter analysis, and extensive notes on key Sufi terms and concepts—establishes this volume as a landmark study in Islamic metaphysics and Sufi thought.

Inscriptions_of_WisdomDownload

Perceiving Nature: Rūmī on Human Purpose and Cosmic Prayer

How do we perceive the natural world? According to the famous Persian Sufi poet Jalāl al-Dīn Rūmī (d. 672/1273) the answer to this question tells us not only something about nature but also something about our own humanity. A crucial component of his thought on this matter centers upon the tension between, on the one hand, the scriptural portrayal of
all of nature as worshipping God and, on the other hand, the human phenomenological experience of the inanimate parts
of the natural world as being lifeless. The Quran portrays creation as praising God, and the Prophetic biography includes episodes of non-human creatures—including stones—venerating the Prophet.3 Both imply the consciousness of non-hum-
an creatures. Most human beings, however, seem not to perceive stones as alive, let alone as conscious and as being in pi-
ous devotion. Rūmī offers a reconciliation of this tension in his treatment of human nature, informing us implicitly that the fact that most human beings do not see the inner life of the inanimate in nature is telling of the nature of humanity, of the world outside of humanity, and of spiritual matters.

Perceiving_Nature_Rumi_on_Human_PurposeDownload

The Cruelty of the Way and the Afflictions of Dīn: a Study of ʿAttar’s The Speech of the Birds’ Climactic Moment

Farid al-Din ʿAttar’s Mantiq al-tayr (The Speech of the Birds) has arguably the most celebrated conclusion in Persian Sufi allegorical literature: Thirty birds (sī-murgh) discover that they are the sublime entity that they seek, the mythological Sīmurgh. This article provides an analysis that considers this conclusion in light of ʿAttar’s vision of dīn (religion, or devotional commitments), as well as his view of the “way” of Sufi saints (rāh), one that focuses on matters of meditative breathing techniques. Offering new and lucid translations of this pivotal moment in the tale, this article explores ʿAttar’s literary conclusion as a matter of imaginative orthopraxy. Citation: Zargar, Cyrus Ali. “The Cruelty of the Way and the Afflictions of Dīn: A Study of ʿAṭṭār’s The Speech of the Birds’ Climactic Moment,” Mystical Landscapes in Medieval Persian Literature, ed. Fatemeh Keshavarz and Ahmet T. Karamustafa. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2025, pp. 219-244.

The_Cruelty_of_the_Way_and_the_AfflictioDownload

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 distinctly doctrinal dimension, articulating metaphysical principles akin to those developed in the school of Ibn ʿArabī and his commentators. A close reading of the Ḥizb al-naṣr reveals a sophisticated theological and metaphysical background that contrasts sharply with the anti-intellectual image often associated with al-Jīlānī and his Ḥanbalī milieu. While the litany makes little explicit use of ontological terminology, its underlying vision resonates with Akbarian metaphysical themes and may reflect early intersections between Qādirī heritage and emerging doctrines of the Akbari tradition. By reconsidering the Ḥizb al-naṣr as an instance of “Sufi philosophy” in its own right, this study invites a broader reflection on the intellectual and doctrinal scope of Sufi devotional writing.

Devotion_and_Metaphysics_in_a_Litany_AscDownload

Review of House of the Prophet: Muhammad in Islamic Mysticism by Claude Addas, Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies By Atif Khalil

More than thirty-five years ago, with the publication of Ibn ‘Arabī ou La quête du Soufre Rouge, a revised version of which was introduced to an English audience in 1993 as Quest for the Red Sulphur: the Life of Ibn ‘Arabī, Claude Addas single-handedly transformed the landscape of Akbarian Studies. We now had before us a comprehensive, meticulously documented account of the life of one of the most fascinating, thought-provoking, and influential figures to emerge out of Muslim history. Relying on a broad range of primary and secondary sources, Addas produced what was, and continues to remain, the most thorough biography of the Andalusian thinker ever written. No one who engaged in any serious scholarship on him could thereaſter afford to ignore such a valuable resource

In the present volume, originally published in French in 2015,1 Addas shifts her attention to the veneration of the Prophet in the mystical piety of Islam, or to be more specific, to the reasons behind it in view of his status among Muslims as khayr al-anām (the “best of humankind”) or khayr al-makhlūqīn (the “best of created beings”). In essence, the work examines his meta-historical function in Islam’s economy of being with special attention to questions of soteriology and cosmogenesis, to theories of salvation and origins.

There are two previous studies whose findings, thematically speaking, The House of the Prophet most closely develops. The first, And Muhammad is His Messenger (1985) by Annemarie Schimmel (d. 2003), is an exhaustive survey of the various modes of devotion to the Prophet that have characterized Muslim spirituality from its inception, as embodied and articulated in almost all the major languages of the Islamic world (Schimmel, let it be recalled, was a polyglot)

Review-ofHouse_of_theDownload

“What does the heart want?” Being seen, “heart ethnography,” and knowledge through surrender in a Bashkir Sufi circle in Russia

Drawing on fieldwork in a Bashkir Sufi circle in Russia, this article explores my interlocutors’ mode of experiencing the world and transcendence. By letting myself be seen in the field, I let them shape the terms of our encounter as a way of glimpsing their mode of knowing. I explore my fieldwork experience as a transformation of the self in parallel with my interlocutors’ narrations of encounters with saints. I reflect on field experiences in which the limits of my rational thinking are revealed and mirrored in my interlocutors’ spiritual experiences. Being seen by their sheikh, my interlocutors experience a mode of vision that reveals the heart as an organ of perception. Similarly, as I experience being seen in the field, I am pointed to my own heart and soul. This mode of knowing that I glimpse into sheds new light on encounters with “otherness” and transcendence in anthropology.

A pilgrimage

On a hot day in July, Ildar picks me up in his car, and we drive to a gas station on the outskirts of Ufa, where other Bashkir murids (disciples) join us. 1 As we finish our cof- fee, we see the murshid (spiritual guide), a man in his sixties with a luminous face and trimmed white beard, emerging from a car. As we later arrive at our destina- tion in the Bashkir countryside, on land that once be- longed to the murshid’s Bashkir clan, we see from afar the grave of an ishan (healer) surrounded by trees and a small fence. This gravesite is typical of the sacred places I have visited during my fieldwork among the Bashkir murids of a transnational Naqshbandi tariqa (order) and an example of their work reviving the Bashkir sa- cred landscape. After the ablution in the newly constructed mosque, our small group heads to the grave. At the end of the dhikr (remembrance of God), the murshid says, “We do not see God, but God sees you. Meditate. God is al- ways with you; it is you who are not with Him.” At this moment, I enter a meditation with my eyes closed, the palms of my hands open, and my face directed toward the hot sun. After a long silence, we hear the voices of a family of pilgrims approaching. As we leave the grave, Aisylu, a woman murid with a soft presence, gently asks what I have felt. I respond salam (peace). When I further allude to my difficulty opening up in such moments, she tells me that near holy graves we need to fully let go and surrender in order to let nur (the light) enter us. “Trust in God. Graves of awliya (saints) are pure places; they purify the pilgrim.”

What_does_the_heart_want_Being_seen_heaDownload

Aḥmadu Bamba and the Preceding Sufi Heritage: Tracing the Intellectual Sources of Bamba’s Sufi Writings / Ahmedü Bamba ve Selefleri: Bamba’nın Tasavvufî Yazılarının Fikrî İzlerini Sürmek

This study examines the intellectual formation of Aḥmadu Bamba Mbacke (d. 1927), founder of the al-Murīdiyya Sufi order in Senegal, whose teachings have significantly shaped West African Islamic thought and practice. While the socio-political influence of al-Murīdiyya has been widely acknowledged, the intel- lectual foundations of Bamba’s Sufi thought remain insufficiently explored. This research hypothesizes that Bamba’s thought was profoundly shaped by classical Sufi figures such as Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazzālī (d. 505/1111), ʿAbdu-l-Wahhāb ash-Shaʿrānī (d. 973/1565), Aḥmad Zarrūq (d. 899/1493), Ibn ʿAtāʾ Allah as-Sakan- darī (d. 709/1309), as well as Mauritanian scholars including Sīdī Mukhtār al-Kuntiyyu (d. 1226/1811) and Muḥammad ibn al-Mukhtār ad-Daymānī (d. 1166/1753). Notably, Bamba distanced himself from speculative and philosophical Sufism, instead emphasizing a practical, ethically grounded Sufism centered on spiritual discipline, moral reform, and communal service. Through textual analysis and historical contextualization, this study investigates how these intellectual and spiritual currents informed Bamba’s synthesis of Sufi pedagogy and reform, contributing to a localized yet universal model of Islamic spirituality

Özet

Bu çalışma, Senegal’de Mürîdiyye tarikatini kuran ve öğretileriyle Batı Afrika İslam düşünce ve pratiğini derinden etkileyen Ahmedü Bamba Mbacke’nin (ö. 1927) fikir dünyasının teşekkülünü incelemektedir. Mürîdiyye’nin sosyo-politik etkisi yaygın olarak kabul edilmekle birlikte, Bamba’nın tasavvuf anlayışı- nın entelektüel arka planı yeterince araştırılmamıştır. Bu araştırma, Bamba’nın düşüncesinin Ebû Hâmid el-Gazzâlî (ö. 505/1111), Abdu’l-Vahhâb eş-Şa‘rânî (ö. 973/1565), Ahmed Zerrûk (ö. 899/1493), İbn Atâullah el-İskenderî (ö. 709/1309) gibi büyük sufilerin yanı sıra, Muhtâr b. Ahmed Küntî (ö. 1226/1811) ve Muhtâr ed-Deymânî (ö. 1166/1753) gibi Moritanya kökenli âlimlerin etkisiyle şekillendiği hipotezine dayanmaktadır. Bamba, hususen spekülatif ve felsefi tasavvuftan uzak durarak, mânevî disiplin, ahlâkî ıslah ve toplumsal hizmet merkezli pratik ve etik temelli bir tasavvufu ön plana çıkarmıştır. Bu çalışma, metin analizi ve tarihsel bağlamlandırma yoluyla, söz konusu entelektüel ve mânevî akımların Bamba’nın tasavvufî eğitim ve ıslah anlayışına nasıl yön verdiğini incelemekte ve kökleri yerel ancak nitelikleri evrensel olan bir İslâmî mâneviyat modeline katkılarını ortaya koymaktadır

Amadu_Bamba_and_the_Preceding_Sufi_HeriDownload

In the Name of Letters: Basmala as the Cosmic Design

This paper is a study of Ḥaydar Āmulī’s (d. ca. 787/1385) analysis of the basmala in his commentary on Ibn al-ʿArabī’s (d. 638/1240) Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam. While Āmulī addresses this phrase, which he regards as the foremost verse in the entire Quran, in various sections of his work, his most comprehensive discussion focuses on the basmala with which Ibn al-ʿArabī initiates his Fuṣūṣ. Āmulī thoroughly analyzes the basmala and investigates its diacritical marks, numerical symbolism, lexical components, syntactic structures, and morphological dimensions within a lettrist framework. As will be argued, he transforms the basmala into a formula that cap- tures the cosmic design and serves as a lettrist means of reflection to express physical, spiritual, and cosmological realities. Broadly, the paper contributes to the evolving scholarly understanding of lettrism, the unique place of the basmala in Islamic thought, and the growing body of scholarship on Āmulī’s works.

“In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate (bi-smi llāh al-raḥmān al-raḥīm),” which is known as the basmala (henceforth, basmala) or tasmiya in Islamic literature, is at the beginning of all suras of the Quran except surat al-Tawba (9). 1 It also has a significant presence in Islamic spirituality, practices, and rituals. In a hadith attributed to the Prophet, it is stated, “Every matter that does not begin with ‘In the name of God, the Merciful, the Com- passionate’ is doomed to fail.” 2 It is in this spirit that Muslims often invoke the basmala at the beginning of every important act, sanctifying and consecrating it with this formula. 3 Say- yid Ḥaydar Āmulī (d. ca. 787/1385), one of the leading Shiʿi thinkers and a significant figure in the history of the Islamic intellectual tradition, approached the basmala as a verse that encompasses a wide range of esoteric, philosophical, and lettrist dimensions. He regarded it as the foremost verse in the entire Quran, a recipe that harmoniously unifies the celestial and earthly realms and encompasses both the beginning and the culmination of all creation. This article, firstly, argues that Āmulī’s detailed study of the basmala provides a valuable lens for understanding his intellectual framework. While he interpreted various teachings of the celebrated mystic Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) from a Shiʿi perspective, reducing him solely to a sectarian reader would be inaccurate as he formulated an inclusive,

In_the_Name_of_Letters_Basmala_as_the_CoDownload

Beyond Technical Fixes: Sufism, Contemplation, and Climate Change as Human Predicament ,” Journal of Contemplative Studies, 3 (2025): 1-22

Building on the works of the Sufi philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr and the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, this article argues that the climate crisis signals a deeper spiritual and existential crisis beyond technological solutions and carbon reduction strategies. Departing from conventional problem-solution narratives, it frames climate change as a crisis of human self-understanding and our relationship with the more-than-human world. The dominant mechanistic paradigm, which views nature as a resource for exploitation, has led to environmental degradation and alienation. Nasr critiques this objectification, emphasizing that nature must be seen as sacred rather than as a mere resource. In dialogue with Rosa, the article explores the concept of “resonance” and argues that Sufi contemplative practices cultivate a profound ecological consciousness. By integrating Sufi ontology with ethics, it advocates for an interconnected vision of life by treating everything in nature as alive and spiritually meaningful.

BEYOND THE PROBLEM-SOLUTION NARRATIVE

With the United Nations (UN) Secretary-General calling the present climate crisis a “code red for humanity,” a major UN climate report highlights the undeniable human impact upon our planet and shows we must drastically cut emissions within the next few decades to have a chance of averting catastrophic warming. 1 Yet many neglect the root cause of this crisis, since they frame human-caused climate change as a scientific problem needing technical solutions, while disregarding the fact that the environmental crisis signals a broader social and existential crisis of humanity, one that cannot be surmised in terms of reducing carbon footprints alone. Drawing on the works of the Sufi philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr and the German sociologist Hartmut Rosa, this study first analyzes the nature of the existential threats posed by climate change, before proceeding to argue that Sufi contemplative practices support and foster an active engagement toward the planet’s wellbeing and an ecofriendly life and vision.

Beyond_Technical_Fixes_Sufism_ContemplaDownload

ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī’s Laṭāʾif al-Minan and the Virtue of Sincere Immodesty

The essay below analyzes the substance and rhetoric of ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī’s (d. 973/1565) book Laṭāʾif al-minan wa-l-akhlāq (Subtle Blessings and Morals). While giving particular attention to the text’s introduction and concluding sections, in my analysis here I use the Laṭāʾif as a case study to illustrate how Sufi authors like al-Shaʿrānī attempted to relieve the tension between the antipodal Sufi virtues of, on the one hand, concealing one’s spiritual state to preserve the purity of one’s intention and, on the other, speaking openly about God’s blessings upon one as a demonstration of gratitude to God and a means to guide others along the Sufi Path. ʿAbd al-Wahhāb al-Shaʿrānī was an Egyptian Sufi and legal thinker who lived in Cairo during the fnal years of the Mamlūk Sultanate and the first half-century of Ottoman rule in Egypt. He is best remembered today for his writings in comparative Islamic law (ikhtilāf al-madhāhib), Sufi ethics, and Sufi hagiography. Several of his texts would generate controversy during his lifetime owing to what he claimed

were libelous passages that jealous peers had falsely attributed to him. 1 During his early years, al-Shaʿrānī studied Islamic law and other scholarly disciplines under Egypt’s Chief Shāfʿī Justice Zakariyyā al-Anṣārī (d. 926/1523); a charismatic and illiterate fgure named ʿAlī al-Khawwāṣ (d. 939/1532–3) served as his primary guide in the study and practice of Sufsm. 2 By the second half of his life, al-Shaʿrānī’s acumen and reputation had earned him the attention of Egypt’s Ottoman rulers, who gifted him with a Suf hospice (zāwiya) that made him independently wealthy through the revenues that it generated.

Abd_al_Wahhab_al_Sharanis_Laaif_al_MDownload