Tag Archive for: Islamic Philosophy
THE TRANSCENDENT ETHICS OF TARBIYA: Ibrahim Niasse’s Maqāmāt al-dīn al-thalāth – Oludamini Ogunnaike
Sufism Revived: A Contemporary Treatise on Divine Light, Prophecy, and Sainthood
Abstract:
“In this compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara), Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari offers a Sufi commentary on the functions, degrees and implications of prophethood (nubūwa), messengerhood (risāla), and sainthood (wilāya). Major themes include the identification of the Prophet Muhammad with “the supreme intellect” (al-ʿaql al-akbar); the manifestation of the all-encompassing Muhammadan Reality through the different prophetic figures; the notion of prophetic inerrancy (ʿiṣma); the doctrine of the Perfect Man (al-insān al-kāmil); and the universality of the Muḥammadan nation. In his discussion on sainthood, the Shaykh offers a commentary on the Path to God as expressed in the well-known Holy Tradition (ḥadīth qudsī), narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, in which God proclaims: “Whoever aggresses against one of My friends, I declare war on them…My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him; and when I love him, I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he clutches, and his foot by which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely give him refuge.” Throughout these discourses, the Shaykh offers practical advice for seekers regarding the complementarity between the exoteric Law (sharīʿa) and esoteric Truth (ḥaqīqa); the love of the Prophet and his descendents; and the attainment of unmediated knowledge of God (maʿrifa). Special emphasis is placed by the Shaykh on the seeker’s visions (mushāhadāt) of God’s Light; recognizing the traces of the Divine Names in creation; and how to derive knowledge of God from one’s spiritual experiences”
In_the_Footsteps_of_Moses_A_ContemporaryIn the Footsteps of Moses: A Contemporary Sufi Commentary on the Story of God’s Confidant (kalīm Allāh) in the Qurʾān – Yousef Casewit
Abstract:
“Moses is one of the most revered Prophets in Islam. The fact that he is mentioned in the Qurʾān more than any other figure bespeaks his eminence and the significance of his prophetic narrative to spiritual wayfaring. His election by God and the unfolding events of his prophetic mission have served as a model for Sufi wayfaring. To this effect, God proclaims: I cast upon you a love from Me, that you might be trained under My eye (Q Ṭāhā 20:39). In the Footsteps of Moses is a compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara) by the contemporary Moroccan Sufi Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. This book offers insights into the key events of the life of God’s Confidant through the first reading of the divine Name. Describing his life, the Shaykh states: “When the Hidden Alif or the staff of Moses appears, union discloses itself in separation, and dry land appears in the ocean. The Pharaoh of the lower self drowns in the ocean of esoteric reality, and the Moses of the heart is delivered.” Key events covered include the spiritual significance of Moses’ birth; his mother’s casting him into the river; being adopted by the Pharaoh’s wife; his years of training under the direction of Shuʿayb in the desert of Midian; communing with God at Mount Ṭūr; the encounter with Pharaoh and his sorcerers; the splitting of the Red Sea; the golden calf; and his encounter with al-Khiḍr“
In_the_Footsteps_of_Moses_A_ContemporaryIntroduction to Islamic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Sufi Treatise on the Secrets of the Divine Name – Yousef Casewit
Abstract:
“In this masterful treatise of Sufi spirituality and metaphysics, Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari maps out the mystical journey to God as an initiatic progression through seven degrees of realization, or readings, of the divine Name Allāh. These seven degrees encapsulate what it means to read in the Name of the Lord, letter by letter, syllable by syllable, until the Hu, Lahu, Lillāh, ilāh, Allāh, Alif, and the Treasure-Dot are inwardly realized in the heart of the wayfarer. The Shaykh guides the reader from secret to secret, or reading to reading, devoting ten subchapters to each degree of the divine Name. Written with both metaphysical rigor and poetic elegance, the book comprises seventy short chapters that correspond to the seventy veils of Light and darkness between God and creation. Throughout the book, he emphasizes the centrality of directly witnessing the Divine Light, the indispensability of a living spiritual master, the dynamic between transcendence and immanence, the purification of the heart, and wholehearted commitment to practicing the Sunna and continuous invocation as a means of attaining direct knowledge of God. Describing the fruit of wayfaring, the Shaykh proclaims: “[It is] a matter of sheer fruitional experience, tasted only by those who plunge the depths of the kernel of the heart..”
Introduction_to_Islamic_Metaphysics_A_CoPhilosophical Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate: The Case of Shaykh Dan Tafa – Oludamini Ogunnaike
Abstract:
It has long been assumed that the discipline of falsafa (Islamic philosophy) died out in the Western lands of the Islamic world after the fall of Andalusia, and that philosophical intellectual work was largely limited to the disciplines of theology (kalām) and Sufism (taṣawwuf). Moreover, the more creative and discursive tradition of theoretical of philosophical Sufism is also supposed to have migrated East in the 13th-C along with figures such as Ibn al-‘Arabi (d. 1240) and Ibn Sab‘in (d. 1271). However, the oeuvre of the Sokoto scholar Shaykh ‘abd al-Qādir ibn Muṣṭafā (d. 1864) (better known as dan Tafa, the grandson of Shaykh ‘Uthmān dan Fodio) poses a significant challenge to these assumptions. Shaykh Dan Tafa’s works include a defense of philosophy, a treatise on universals (kulliyāt), a versified introduction to the study of philosophy, a critical evaluation of materialist and naturalist philosophies, as well as several works of philosophical Sufism, including a treatise on certain topics from ‘abd al-Karīm al-Jīlī’s masterpiece of Philosophical Sufism, al-Insān al-Kāmil. It seems unlikely that Shaykh Dan Tafa studied and produced these works entirely on his own, indicating the existence of little-known West African traditions of Islamic philosophy and philosophical Sufism. This chapter evaluates some of Shaykh Dan Tafa’s works and their ramifications for our understanding of the history of Islamic philosophy and philosophical Sufism in West Africa, and the role of these two traditions in the intellectual history the region.
Philosophical_Sufism_in_the_Sokoto_CalipThe Importance of Sufism in Chinese Islam (with Sachiko Murata)
Abstract:
“Cemalnur Sargut Hocam asked us to say something about the significance of the Kenan Rifai Chair of Islamic Studies at Peking University, which we inaugurated in the Spring of 2012. As many of you know, the Kenan Rifai Chair is housed in Te Institute of Advanced Humanistic Studies. The Institute was founded by Professor u Weiming in 2010 shortly after he retired after thirty years at Harvard. During our timein China we taught one course at Peking University, another at Minzu University, and we participated in several conferences and workshops. We met many of the foremost Chinese scholars of Islam and we had a number of talented students“
The_Importance_of_Sufism_in_Chinese_IslaActionless Action – Mohammed Rustom
Abstract:
“It has indeed been a blessing to sit with the great Kenan Rifai’s commentary upon book one of Mevlana’s Mesnevi .Spending time with this book naturally led me to Kenan Rifai’s explanation of a famous tale in the Mesnevi centered around ‘Ali b. Abi Talib tale is retold from Islamic tradition and is cast in Mevlana’s unique terms and worldview. The long and short of the story is as follows: in the heat of a one-on-one encounter with an enemy of Islam, ‘Ali gained the upper hand and thru this opponent to the ground. Just as he was about to finish him off withone blow from his sword, the enemy spat at ‘Ali’s face. When this happened, ‘Ali immediately dropped his sword and walked away. This per-plexed his enemy, and led him to ask ‘Ali in earnest why he had not killed him at that very moment. ‘Ali then speaks, telling the enemy that he only fights for the sake of God. But, when the man insulted him by spitting at him, the possibility that it would become a personal affair had presented itself to him. So he walked away from the situation. ‘Ali then explains that he never acts out of self-interest, but only for, in, and through God“
Actionless_Action