Tag Archive for: metaphysics

Review of Bedeviled: Jinn Doppelgangers in Islam & Akbarian Sufism (Dunja Rašić)

This book makes a unique contribution as a foundational source on jinn and jinnealogy and as an encyclopedic reference on jinn doppelgangers (quranāʾ) in particular. It succeeds in the author’s aim to discuss quranāʾ in the context of their jinn species, their human relationships, and their place in Akbarian spiritual cosmology. Furthermore, Bedeviled provides a rich, engaging work that illuminates the diversity of thought and practices surrounding jinn within and beyond Akbarian Sufism in the medieval Islamicate world. I would recommend it to graduate students and scholars interested in jinn, Akbarian Sufism, or mysticism and occult studies more broadly, and to those curious about supernatural beings in Islamic imagination. It will also be of interest to those who seek to better understand Ibn ʿArabī’s works and teachings. Bedeviled is

Dreaming Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate: Dreams and Knowledge in the Works of Shaykh Dan Tafa – Oludamini Ogunnaike

This article explores five remarkable works by ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muṣṭafā (known as “Dan Tafa”) (1804–1864), a 19th-century West African Sufi scholar of the Sokoto Caliphate, to examine the ways in which dreams were (and are) theorized in the unique synthesis of Sufi, occult, philosophical/medical, theological, and exegetical disciplines that characterized discourse about dreams and dream interpretation in Muslim West Africa on the eve of colonial conquest. Concluding with a brief discussion of what these texts can tell us about Dan Tafa’s conceptions of cosmology, knowledge, and the human self, and the importance thereof for African and Islamic intellectual history, we will also consider the potential relevance of Dan Tafa’s work for the importance and onto-epistemological status of dreams in contemporary West African Sufi communities and attempt to understand why dreams have been and remain so important in these traditions.

The Shādhilīya : Foundational Teachings and Practices – Lahouari Ramzi Taleb

This paper explores the spiritual chain (silsila), foundational doctrines and practices of the Shādhilīya Sufi order, notably, their Qur’anic and prophetic epistemology, the doctrine of sainthood, spiritual cultivation and Sharia-centered discourse among it prominent representatives.

Introduction: Forms and Functions of Islamic Philosophy – Nora Jacobsen Ben Hammed

his article presents an introduction to this special issue of Intellectual History of the Islamicate World. We suggest that this collection of papers broadens the scope of Islamic philosophy by bringing new insights into diverse forms and affective experiences of philosophy. Together, these papers suggest a way of doing Islamic philosophy that is both living and communal. This issue emerges from the community formed within the Islamic Philosophy in Conversation Working Group. As such, the introduction to the collection also serves as a reminder of the necessity of support specifically for women and nonbinary academics, scholars of color, and other minoritized scholars in our field.

The Heirs of Avicenna: Philosophy in the Islamic East, 12-13th Centuries: Metaphysics and Theology – Fedor Benevich

This is the first in a series of sourcebooks charting the reception of Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d.1037) in the Islamic East (from Syria to central Asia) in the 12th-13th centuries CE. Avicenna was the dominant philosophical authority in this period, who provoked generations of thinkers to subtle critique, defense, and development of his ideas. The series will translate and analyze hundreds of passages from works by such figures as al-Ghazālī, al-Suhrawardī, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, and many more. This volume focuses especially on issues in metaphysics, dealing with topics like the essence-existence distinction, the problem of universals, free will and determinism, Platonic Forms, good and evil, proofs of God’s existence, and the relationship between philosophy and theology.

Rethinking the Unio Mystica: From McGinn to Ibn ʿArabī

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 moment” that is nevertheless expressed in “irreducibly diverse” and distinct ways in each tradition. What purpose, for instance, can generic cross-cultural categories serve when they mean little or nothing to scholars in each tradition? By contrast, tradition-specific vocabularies are profuse and often difficult to represent in interlinguistic contexts without significant explanation. The challenge of translating mystical texts, imagery, and ideas across cultures and linguistic traditions raises obvious concerns about the misrepresentation and distortion of traditions in an environment of post-colonial critique. Nevertheless, the continued promise of dialogue calls for specialists of these traditions—particularly non-western and non Christian traditions—to approach, assess, re-formulate, and even challenge the categories of mysticism from within the conceptual and theoretical horizons of the traditions that they research.

The Sufi Philosophy of ‘Ayn al-Quḍāt w/ Mohammad Rustom

In this episode, we discuss Mohammad Rustom’s new book, Inrushes of the Heart, which delves into the life and thought of the Muslim philosopher and Sufi master ‘Ayn al-Quḍāt Hamadānī. The conversation explores the book’s insights into ‘Ayn al-Quḍāt’s original teachings on topics such as God, human agency, and spiritual practice.

Path & Present is a long form conversation hosted by poet, emcee, and teaching-artist Baraka Blue with friends and guests including artists, musicians, authors, and scholars to collectively explore what it means to walk a path of awakening and spiritual discernment in the modern world. Topics covered include spirituality/religion/metaphysics, community, art/music, psychology, social justice, Islam and Muslims in the West, and earth stewardship.

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LA NARRACIÓNCOMO PEDAGOGÍAFILOSÓFICA:EL CASO DE SUHRAWARDĪ

Entre los escritos de Šihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī (m. 587/1191),fundador de la Escuela de la Iluminación y figura clave de la filosofía islámica post-aviceniana, se encuentran una serie de relatos visionarios. En el contexto de cada una de estas narrativas, Suhrawardī emplea numerosas imágenes simbólicas para transmitir varias ideas clave que marcan su filosofía. Dado su lenguaje concreto, estos relatos añaden una dimensión de profundidad que no es fácilmente discernible en las obras filosóficas estrictamente hablando de Suhrawardī, dada la dependencia de estas últimas de un lenguaje abstracto.

Dreaming Sufism in the Sokoto Caliphate: Dreams and Knowledge in the Works of Shaykh Dan Tafa – Oludamini Ogunnaike

This article explores five remarkable works (currently in unpublished manuscript form) by ʿAbd al-Qādir b. Muṣṭafā (known as “Dan Tafa”) (1804–1864), a 19th-century West African Sufi scholar of the Sokoto Caliphate, to examine the ways in which dreams were (and are) theorized in the unique synthesis of Sufi, occult, philosophi- cal/medical, theological, and exegetical disciplines that characterized discourse about dreams and dream interpretation in Muslim West Africa on the eve of colonial con- quest. Concluding with a brief discussion of what these texts can tell us about Dan Tafa’s conceptions of cosmology, knowledge, and the human self, and the importance thereof for African and Islamic intellectual history, we will also consider the potential relevance of Dan Tafa’s work for the importance and onto-epistemological status of dreams in contemporary West African Sufi communities and attempt to understand why dreams have been and remain so important in these traditions.

Returning to the Central Question of the Humanities: What Does it mean to be Human and to share Human consciousness?

Caner Dagli’s Metaphysical Institutions: Islam & the Modern Project is an interdisciplinary treatise on the nature of shared thinking—with an emphasis on interdisciplinary. What strikes the reader first and foremost is both the many topics Dagli covers—religion, modern philosophy, human consciousness, and of course Islam and modernity, inter alia—and the rationally coherent employment of various disciplines—from various subdisciplines of the humanities and social sciences to linguistics and the physical sciences by which he explores them. Dagli examines the modern academic project of defining and conceptualizing Islam