Ibn Arabi And The Sufis by Binyamin Abrahamov
Description
Ibn Arabi And The Sufis by Binyamin Abrahamov
A fascinating and groundbreaking analysis of the extent to which various major Sufi figures contributed to the mystical philosophy of Ibn al-ʿArabī. While recent scholarship has tended to concentrate on his teachings and life, little attention has so far been paid to the influences on his thought.
Each chapter is dedicated to one of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s predecessors, from both the early and later periods, such as al-Bisṭāmī, al-Ḥallāj and al-Jīlānī, showing how he is discussed in the works of the ‘Greatest Master’ and Ibn al-ʿArabī’s attitude towards him. As Abrahamov makes clear, Ibn al-ʿArabī was greatly influenced by the early Sufis as regards his philosophy and by the later Sufis in matters of practice.
This naturally raises the question: How original was Ibn al-ʿArabī? The author tackles this complex issue in his conclusion. This book brings into sharp relief the highly original nature of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s mystical theory, unprecedented in Islamic Mysticism, and the unique way in which he interwove the ideas of others into his own thought.
Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Sufis will interest students of theology and mysticism, especially those studying in Arabic and Middle East Studies departments, as well as the general reader interested in Sufism and Ibn al-ʿArabī’s teachings.
If you like this, you might also like:
Rumi: The Hidden Treasure by Shems Friedlander
£10.99
Rumi: The Hidden Treasure by Shems Friedlander
Come back, come back,
even though you have broken your vows a thousand times,
Ours is not a house of despair,
ours is a house of hope.
-Jelaluddin Rumi
Shems Friedlander r.a. (May God have mercy upon him) offers us another jewel–unique in that it brings to light hitherto unpublished material on the sacred music and dance, or sema of the Mevlevi Dervishes. We are treated to a wonderful explanation of the significance and symbolism of the dress and movement of the dance performed in the semahane–the Hall of Celestial Sounds.
As Friedlander presents the “Roots of His Thought,” the story of Rumi’s life unfolds in an entirely fresh and accessible manner, sprinkled with the Master’s poetic insights. The work concludes with a most admirable explanation of the inner and outer nature of sacred music and we are shown how a “glimpse of Truth is revealed by vibrations and sound.”
Water by Rumi (Translated by Haleh Liza Gafori)
£13.99
A follow-up to her ground-breaking translations of Rumi in Gold, poet and musician Haleh Liza Gafori translates a new selection of work by the great Persian mystic that will muster the soul and stir the spirit. Water expands on Gold, Haleh Liza Gafori's inspired and widely praised translation of the lyric poetry of the Persian mystic Rumi. As in Gold, Gafori renders with fluid grace and moving immediacy these indisputable masterworks of world literature, drawing on the deep well of Rumi’s work to bring out the worldly wit and wisdom that accompany his otherworldly summons. Behold the divine within and without, he tells us. Question the gnawing hunger for material possessions, fame, and fortune, and the fear of emptiness that drives it. Muster the soul, and experience a more compassionate and liberated state of mind. An eco-poet before his time, Rumi celebrates the immensity and wonder of the natural world while warning us of the havoc that greed and the pursuit of power wreak upon us and our world. His flights of dazzling imagery open up heart-stopping glimpses of the divine, challenging readers to wake from oblivion, and above all, to surrender to the transformative power of Love. Gafori is an acclaimed vocalist and musician as well as a gifted linguist and poet, and in her translations Rumi's poetry sings and beckons as nowhere else. Hers is the work, as the poet Marilyn Hacker has said, ""of someone who is at once an acute and enamored reader of the original Farsi text, a dedicated miner of context and backstory, and, best of all, a marvelous poet in English.
Paperback.
The Way of Mary by Camille Hamilton Adams Helminski
£33.00
The Way of Mary, Maryam The Beloved Of God by Camille Hamilton Adams Helminski
The Way of Mary, Maryam, Beloved of God is a weaving of strands from ancient sources, traditional stories, poetry, and prayers of Islam, Christianity, and Judaism, and beyond (with full colour illustrations), to reveal, through the illuminated being and twelve life stations of Beloved Mary, the palpable Oneness of all Creation, our Oneness in Spirit. Drawing on passages from the Quran, the Bible, poetry of Mevlana Jalaluddin Rumi and inspirations of other mystics (Jewish, Christian, and Muslim), classical Islamic sources and ancient Biblical texts, oral traditions recorded by hearts across the centuries such as the Protoevangelium of James and the Lives of the Prophets of al-Tha‘labi, and Biblical apocrypha such as the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, with awareness of all the elements of nature that rose up in support of Beloved Mary through the stages of her journey, Camille Helminski weaves together a fabric of love to embrace us with healing and new life.