Tag Archive for: Sufism

The World, Man and Ritual Prayer according to Ibn al-ʿArabīn – Sophie Tyser

In his ‘introduction à la lecture des Futūḥāt Makkiyyaʾ, Michel Chodkiewicz discerned, among the different ways of approaching the mystery of the walāya, the ‘symbolic meaning of the ritual practices that lead to it’, including ritual prayer, considered by Ibn al-ʿArabī (d.638/1240) as an ini- tiatory journey. The ritual prayer prescribed to Muslims, whose form has been fixed during the celestial ascension (miʿrāj) of the Prophet according to Muslim tradition, is described in a famous hadith as the ascension or ladder of the believer (miʿrāj al-muʾmin). A vector of meditation for Muslim spiritual masters to this day, the ascending dimension of prayer and its movements has caused much ink to flow in mystical literature. It found a resounding doctrinal expression in the teaching of the Shaykh al- Akbar, in which the movements of the whole body of the person at prayer enter into correspondence with the stages of the manifestation of Being.

Conformity to the Muhammadan model in all its aspects, including the states (aḥwāl) of the Prophet, is a cornerstone of the Sufi tradi- tion. 2 As Michel Chodkiewicz pointed out in his article ‘Le modèle prophétique de la sainteté en Islam’, ‘the “adherence” to the Prophet’s states finds its most accomplished fruit in this recapitulation by the walî of the “Night Journey” that led Muḥammad to the threshold of the divine Presence’. 3 An unquenchable source of meditation for the spiritual masters of Islam from the earliest times, the Prophet’s Night Journey during which he completes his ascent (miʿrāj) to God was conceived as the prototype of every spiritual journey. 4 According to Islamic tradition, it was at the summit of his celestial ascent that the ritual prayer was revealed to him during his direct encounter with God. 5 The backbone of the Muslim’s devotional practice, prayer

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World Literature Decentered: Beyond the ‘West’ Through Turkey, Mexico and Bengal By Ian Almond

Cosmologists say that if space-time is infinite, then somehow, somewhere, all possible things exist. As someone who has taught that nebulous entity “world literature” for over ten years, I’d like to begin by sketching out one such alternate world. Think of this alternative world as a kind of World Literature Fantasy. In this parallel world, there is no dominant Western canon: only lots of good Western writers, struggling like everyone else to make their voices heard above the growing crescendo of the planet’s collective murmur. Moreover, the people who live in Western countries actually realize they only form 10% of the planet. They understand that the non-Western is not some misrepresented ethnic minority, but Africa, Latin America, Asia, the Middle East – the overwhelming majority of the world.

There are centers of influence, certainly, but they are multiple and constantly shifting. A decade of readers in Argentina might become obsessed with Middle Eastern fiction; a new generation in China might start to fixate on West African writers. The swirling network of influences – Swedes reading Turks reading Mexicans, Brazilians translating Urdu ghazals and Chinese tanka – forever shimmers, brightens and collapses, reconfiguring itself not in response to power and economy, but through a much more curious, seem- ingly chaotic algorithm. There are certainly books which are read more than others, but they do not subscribe to a common ideology – in the anthologies of this world, Buddhists, Islamists, Anarchists and the occasional Capitalist argue with one another endlessly on contentious editorial boards. Writers in this alternative world feel no compulsion to communicate some anthro- pological information about their community, although many choose to do so

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Representations of Islam in Western Thought By Ian Almond

By Ian Almond

What do we understand by the term ‘representation of Islam’? What does it mean to investigate the depiction of the Muslim world – be it the faith, the cultures, the believers, the literature – in non- Muslim discourse? How would studies of the representation of Muslims by non-Muslims differ from their logical inverse – Muslim representations of Christians and Christianity in texts from Turkish or Arabic literature?

The term has, by now, practically established a genre of its own. Academic books and articles abound in the study of the Muslim world’s portrayal in areas as different as sixteenth century French literature, contemporary cinema, British children’s education syllabi, German drama, medieval thought, many of them preceding Edward Said’s landmark investigation of French and British Orientalist portrayals of their subjects. As a consequence, I’d like to consider some of the things I understand such studies to entail.

First of all, to examine the depiction of the Muslim in Western discourse is to examine the West. To consider the scimitar-bearing Turks and veiled women of Western Oriental landscapes is to consider the anxieties and desires of the gazer, not the gazed upon. This is not to say the Muslim is merely a blank screen upon which the West simply projects whatever facet of itself it happens to be

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Medieval Exegesis The Golden Age of Tafsir

Just as theologians were making bold statements about kalam (theology), claiming that it is the queen of the religious sciences, so Qur’an commentators asserted that tafsir is the most noble of religious sciences

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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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