APPROACHES TO PROXIMITY AND DISTANCE IN EARLY SUFISM – Mohammed Rustom
Abstract:
“There is a famous tradition in Islam in which an unknown man, fully clad in white and evincing no signs of travel, approaches the Prophet Muhammad and begins to ask him several questions. Prior to his last question, which has to do with eschatology, the man asks the Prophet to define three terms: Islam, Iman, ihsan, meaning “submission,” “faith,” and “doing what is beautiful” respectively. The Prophet tells his interlocutor that”
Themes of Love in Islamic Mystical Theology by William Chittick
Abstract:
“Muslim scholars who talked about love agreed that it is indefinable. In discussions of human love, they typically limited themselves to describing its symptoms, characteristics, and consequences. They summarized these along the lines of “yearning for union.” By using the word union, they were saying that the goal of lovers is to come together, not to stay apart. They understood love as the energy that brings about the encounter of God and man…”
The Bodily Positions of the Ritual Prayer by William Chittick
The Bodily Positions of the Ritual Prayer. –
Prof. William Chittick discusses the inner meaning of the bodily positions of the Salah.