Tag Archive for: metaphysics

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 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 present study models such an approach to scholarship in mysticism. It offers a (re)formulation of the unio mystica from within the theoretical frame of the 12th/13thcentury Muslim/Sufi mystic, Ibn Arabī (d. 638/1240) and early members of his school of thought. By unpacking the primary terms involved in such an account-“God”, the “human being/self”, and “union”-from within the conceptual and theoretical horizons of that tradition, it problematizes the prevailing understanding of the unio mystica constructed from the writings of specialists in Christian mysticism. More importantly, it illustrates the payoff in terms of dialogue (incorporating the critique of existing theories) when each tradition operates confidently from its own milieu, developing its own theoretical resources for mysticism rather than prematurely embracing existing ideas or categories.

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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 post-classical Islamic thought. In his Sharḥ al-Maqāṣid, al-Taftāzānī formulates several arguments against Ibn ʿArabī’s conception of God, focusing on the philosophical notion of Existence. Al-Taftāzānī regards Absolute Existence as a maʿqūl thānī (secondary intelligible), a universal concept in the mind with no extra-mental reality, which is instantiated only through its particular instances in the external world. He contends that this notion of Absolute Existence cannot be identical with God (or Necessary Existence), since God is an actual entity (ḥaqīqat fī al-khārij) and not merely a mental concept. This article critically examines al-Taftāzānī’s objections, arguing that his reading is misleading and that his refutation is grounded in a conception of Absolute Existence that differs significantly from that held by Ibn ʿArabī and his followers. Having contextualized al-Taftāzānī’s objections, I have sought to reconsider and rearticulate Ibn ʿArabī’s conception of God.

Introduction

Conceptions of God remain an understudied topic in the Persian-language academic literature on Islamic philosophy. Prevailing discussions typically focus on the existence of God, rather than on the more fundamental question of what, or who, the God is whose existence is being proven. In addition to the well-known conception of God as wholly distinct from the world, Islamic intellectual history presents alternative conceptions. Among these, the view advanced by Ibn ʿArabī has proven particularly problematic and controversial. This paper explores Ibn ʿArabī’s conception of God and critically engages with Saʿd al-Dīn al-Taftāzānī’s well-known refutations. The analysis is based on a close study of the primary works of both Ibn ʿArabī and al-Taftāzānī, without recourse to later interpretations or receptions of their positions. Al- Taftāzānī’s critiques of Ibn ʿArabī have become classical, forming the metaphysical foundation for much of the subsequent criticism of Akbarian thought. Prominent followers of Ibn ʿArabī— including ʿAbd al-Raḥmān Jāmī, Ḥamzah Fanārī, ʿAlī b. Aḥmad Mahāʾimī, Muḥammad b. Rasūl Barzanjī, Ibrāhīm Kūrānī, and others—considered these refutations serious enough to warrant extensive responses. This article offers a detailed study of al-Taftāzānī’s objections to Akbarian metaphysics in Persian scholarship.

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Music and Islamic Law


What does music mean in the context of Islamic culture and what fields does music in the English sense cover in this culture? Historical examples are given along with the views of muslim jurists, both Sunni and Shi’ite, about music. Different types of specifically religious music are discussed from Qur’a nic chanting to nawha-kha ni and the fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini and its historical importance mentioned. The essay then turns to sama ‘ and its widespread presence in the islamic world. Different types of music prevalent among muslims are then considered from music for weddings to music associated with different professions to military and music along with their legal aspect. Also both classical and folk music are studied in light of their status in Islamic society. The views of a major Persian religious scholar who was also a master musician, Master Ila hi are summarized and the significance of the fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini for the life of music in present day Iran and to some extent elsewhere brought out.

Introduction

Few issues have caused as many diverse and opposing views as the question of the permissibility or illegitimacy of music from the point of view of Islamic Law and among devout Muslims. Is music ḥalāl (permissible) or ḥarām (forbidden)? And when we say music what kind of music are we speaking about? Such questions have occupied the minds of numerous jurists (fuqahā‟), both Sunni and Shi‗ite, not to speak of philosophers and Sufis, over the ages. Muslim authorities have provided a whole spectrum of responses to such questions and this diversity is due to a large extent to the fact that there is no explicit reference in the Qur‘ān concerning the licit or illicit nature of music; nor is there a definitive edict for or against the playing or hearing of music in the Ḥadīth.

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Islamic Metaphysics with Seyyed Hossein Nasr | Fall 2025 Live Course Trailer

The Tokat Institute for Advanced Islamic Studies is a non-partisan academic body that is informed by a broad and robust approach to Islamic studies. Led by an internationally renowned team of specialists, it draws from the best traditions of scholarship in Islamic thought, taking in fields as diverse and interconnected as philosophy, mysticism, rational theology, science, logic, art, and literature.

We are committed to fostering academic excellence in every domain pertaining to the study of Islam’s rich intellectual and spiritual heritage and are guided by a global perspective on education and learning that seeks to overcome barriers of time and space. This open-border concept ensures the delivery of high-quality lectures and courses in Islamic thought by the world’s leading scholars who combine traditional and modern pedagogical methods.

The Institute is also dedicated to the dissemination of original and relevant research in Islamic studies through the support of academic publications, themed conferences, book completion grants, article prizes, dissertation awards, and writing stipends.

https://www.tokatinstitute.org/

Reason and Belief in an Age of Empirical Science

It is somewhat puzzling that while the vast majority of the world (around 80 percent) believes in some form of supernatural transcendence, the dominant view in many scientific and philosophical circles is that those who affirm God’s existence bear the burden of proof. Meanwhile, atheists, who deny God’s existence, need not prove God’s nonexistence, because theirs is the default position; belief in God is the extraordinary claim.

This assumption gets reinforced by the widespread notion that atheists and agnostics are the “normal” people, but this idea is contradicted by the beliefs of most human beings worldwide. The paradox begs the question: Shouldn’t the burden of proof rightly rest on those who deny God’s existence? Nonetheless, the rise of scientism, agnosticism, and atheism in recent times warrants rational debates about the existence of God or ultimate reality.

New Atheist writers such as Richard Dawkins, Daniel Dennett, Lawrence Krauss, Leonard Mlodinow, and others frequently invoke the authority of science (often equating it with reason) and point out that our best scientific theories make no reference to God; thus, naturalism—the belief that reality consists only of the physical world and that science is the best way to understand it—must be true. These writers assume that empirical and experimental science is the only genuine form of knowledge—a highly controversial metaphysical presupposition not shared by all scientists or based on any “evidence.”

With this assumption, they respond to traditional arguments for God’s existence with a wide range of counterarguments. For example, they contend that if God is the cause of everything, then God Himself must have a cause, which leads to the problem of infinite…

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Farghani on Wahdat al-Wujud in the Four Journeys

Saʿīd b. Aḥmad Farghānī (d. 699/1300) was one of the foremost students of Ṣadr al-Dīn Qūnawī, Ibn ʿArabī’s stepson and primary propagator. He was the author of the first commentary, in two versions, on Ibn al-Fāriḍ’s famous 760-verse qasida, The Poem of the Way. The first version was written in Persian, based on lectures delivered by Qūnawī, and the second in Arabic, with extensive additions and revisions. In the introduction to the Arabic, he provided relatively systematic expositions of many technical terms that were soon to become commonplace among scholars, among which was waḥdat al-wujūd, which had barely been mentioned before him. He also seems to be the first author to describe in detail the four journeys (al-asfār al-arbaʿa), an expression that is famously the short title of Mullā Ṣadrā’s magnum opus. In Farghānī’s understanding, waḥdat al-wujūd cannot be understood apart from the four journey

For the past several centuries in Islamic languages and for decades in the Western secondary literature, waḥdat al-wujūd has been a well-known term, typically understood as a specific doctrine founded by Ibn ʿArabī and supported or critiqued by later scholars. In fact Ibn ʿArabī had no such doctrine, given that he never used the expression. Moreover, everyone who has used the expres- sion, whether supporter or critic, has had some specific or vague meaning in mind, and these meanings have rarely coincided

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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)

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 al-Nūr al-muḥammadi – the Light of the Prophet », Mohammed in History, Thought, and Culture

Al-nūr al-muḥammadī, the “Muḥammadan light”, is an Arabic expression which designates the inner and transcendent reality of the prophetic being, alluding thereby symbolically to the meta-historical significance of the Prophet Muḥammad, especially within Islamic soteriology, cosmology, spirituality and metaphysics. One of the foremost doctrinal implications of the Muḥammadan light is the Prophet’s primordial existence and his spiritual paternity over mankind. The Muḥammadan light is also understood as the universal principle of prophecy of which the pre-Islamic prophets were partial manifestations while the historic Muḥammad corresponded to its full manifestation. Above all, the concept of al-nūr al-muḥammadī plays a central role in Islamic spirituality. Being the light with which God illuminates the heart of his saints, it highlights the intrinsic relation between spiritual illumination, the Prophet and sainthood.

Content Overview:

Discusses the identity and selection of the Imam after Muhammad.

Explores the significance of praise poetry (madih) in Arabic culture, particularly in relation to Muhammad.

Highlights the , a famous praise poem by al-Busiri, detailing its themes and spiritual significance.

Examines early Byzantine literature’s references to Muhammad and Islam.

Describes the maghazi, military expeditions led by Muhammad during the Medinan period.

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Signs and Causes: Astro-Meteorology in Early Islamic Centuries By Razieh S. Mousavi

By Razieh S. Mousavi

Before the existence of weather stations, people relied on a variety of visible and invisible signs to predict the weather. Among Arabs, observing the regular motions of the stars was a common method for weather forecasting, both before and after the rise of Islam. How did they perceive the connection between cosmic and atmospheric phenomena?

In many past societies, including pre-Islamic Arabia, astronomy and weather forecasting were closely connected, and this knowledge played a crucial role in the region’s economic considerations. After the advent of Islam, this understanding was further enriched by the rapid exchange of ideas with neighboring cultures, blending climatic and environmental concepts with astronomical principles, a synthesis that is evident in the literature from that era. While there is some continuity in Arabian knowledge of astronomy and weather between the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, notable differences also stand out.

Pre-Islamic records are primarily archaeological, such as stone inscriptions, 2 and fragmented poetry, much of which was preserved through Islamic manuscripts. 3 In contrast, sources from the Islamic period, particularly from the late eighth
century onward, are far more diverse and extensive. 4 Another significant difference lies in how this knowledge was created and used. In the Islamic period, knowledge production was primarily state-supported, leading to a more formal and elite-driven approach tied to political and administrative needs. On the other hand, pre-Islamic knowledge of the environment was less structured, based largely on individual observations and regional traditions. Modern scholarship
commonly refers to this body of astro-meteorological knowledge in Arabia, as “folk astronomy” to emphasise its informal, observational character compared to the more advanced and systematic studies that emerged in Islamic societies. However, this lable should not obscure the dynamic encounters between different approaches and practices across changing religious and intellectual contexts

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“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.”

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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

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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,

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