The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism

The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism PDF Author: John O'Kane
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136793097
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
This book provides translations of the earliest Arabic autobiography and the earliest theoretical explanation of the psychic development and powers of an Islamic holy man (Saint, Friend of God).

The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism

The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism PDF Author: John O'Kane
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136793097
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 295

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Book Description
This book provides translations of the earliest Arabic autobiography and the earliest theoretical explanation of the psychic development and powers of an Islamic holy man (Saint, Friend of God).

Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism

Perspectives on Early Islamic Mysticism PDF Author: Sara Sviri
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134413173
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 383

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Book Description
This monograph explores the original literary produce of Muslim mystics during the eighth–tenth centuries, with special attention to ninth-century mystics, such as al-Tustarī, al-Muḥāsibī, al-Kharrāz, al-Junayd and, in particular, al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī. Unlike other studies dealing with the so-called ‘Formative Period’, this book focuses on the extant writings of early mystics rather than on the later Ṣūfī compilations. These early mystics articulated what would become a hallmark of Islamic mysticism: a system built around the psychological tension between the self (nafs) and the heart (qalb) and how to overcome it. Through their writings, already at this early phase, the versatility, fluidity and maturity of Islamic mysticism become apparent. This exploration thus reveals that mysticism in Islam emerged earlier than customarily acknowledged, long before Islamic mysticism became generically known as Ṣūfism. The central figure of this book is al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, whose teaching and inner world focus on themes such as polarity, the training of the self, the opening of the heart, the Friends of God (al-awliyāʾ), dreams and visions, divine language, mystical exegesis and more. This book thus offers a fuller picture than hitherto presented of the versatility of themes, processes, images, practices, terminology and thought models during this early period. The volume will be a key resource for scholars and students interested in the study of religion, Ṣūfī studies, Late Antiquity and Medieval Islam.

Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī’s Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate

Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī’s Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate PDF Author: Aiyub Palmer
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 9004416552
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 233

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Book Description
In Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam Aiyub Palmer recasts wilāya in terms of Islamic authority and traces its development in both political and religious spheres up through the 3rd and 4th Islamic centuries. This book pivots around the ideas of al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī, the first Muslim theologian and mystic to write on the topic of wilāya. By looking at its structural roots in Arab and Islamic social organization, Aiyub Palmer has reframed the discussion about sainthood in early Islam to show how it relates more broadly to other forms of authority in Islam. This book not only looks anew at the influential ideas of al-Tirmidhī but also challenges current modes of thought around the nature of authority in Islamicate societies.

Sanctity and Mysticism in Medieval Egypt

Sanctity and Mysticism in Medieval Egypt PDF Author: Richard J. A. McGregor
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780791460122
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Using the original, little-known writings of Sufis Muhammad and 'Ali Wafa', this book explores the development of the idea of Islamic sainthood in the post-Ibn 'Arabi period.

The Millennial Sovereign

The Millennial Sovereign PDF Author: A. Azfar Moin
Publisher: Columbia University Press
ISBN: 0231504713
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 365

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Book Description
At the end of the sixteenth century and the turn of the first Islamic millennium, the powerful Mughal emperor Akbar declared himself the most sacred being on earth. The holiest of all saints and above the distinctions of religion, he styled himself as the messiah reborn. Yet the Mughal emperor was not alone in doing so. In this field-changing study, A. Azfar Moin explores why Muslim sovereigns in this period began to imitate the exalted nature of Sufi saints. Uncovering a startling yet widespread phenomenon, he shows how the charismatic pull of sainthood (wilayat)—rather than the draw of religious law (sharia) or holy war (jihad)—inspired a new style of sovereignty in Islam. A work of history richly informed by the anthropology of religion and art, The Millennial Sovereign traces how royal dynastic cults and shrine-centered Sufism came together in the imperial cultures of Timurid Central Asia, Safavid Iran, and Mughal India. By juxtaposing imperial chronicles, paintings, and architecture with theories of sainthood, apocalyptic treatises, and manuals on astrology and magic, Moin uncovers a pattern of Islamic politics shaped by Sufi and millennial motifs. He shows how alchemical symbols and astrological rituals enveloped the body of the monarch, casting him as both spiritual guide and material lord. Ultimately, Moin offers a striking new perspective on the history of Islam and the religious and political developments linking South Asia and Iran in early-modern times.

Seal of the Saints

Seal of the Saints PDF Author: Michel Chodkiewicz
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780946621392
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
1 A Shared Name 2 ‘He who sees thee sees Me’ 3 The Sphere of Walaya 4 The Muhammadan Reality 5 The Heirs of the Prophet 6 The Four Pillars 7 The Highest Degree of Walaya 8 The Three Seals 9 The Seal of Muhammadan Sainthood 10 The Double Ladder

Sufis and Saints' Bodies

Sufis and Saints' Bodies PDF Author: Scott Kugle
Publisher: Univ of North Carolina Press
ISBN: 0807872776
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 368

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Book Description
Islam is often described as abstract, ascetic, and uniquely disengaged from the human body. Scott Kugle refutes this assertion in the first full study of Islamic mysticism as it relates to the human body. Examining Sufi conceptions of the body in religious writings from the late fifteenth through the nineteenth century, Kugle demonstrates that literature from this era often treated saints' physical bodies as sites of sacred power. Sufis and Saints' Bodies focuses on six important saints from Sufi communities in North Africa and South Asia. Kugle singles out a specific part of the body to which each saint is frequently associated in religious literature. The saints' bodies, Kugle argues, are treated as symbolic resources for generating religious meaning, communal solidarity, and the experience of sacred power. In each chapter, Kugle also features a particular theoretical problem, drawing methodologically from religious studies, anthropology, studies of gender and sexuality, theology, feminism, and philosophy. Bringing a new perspective to Islamic studies, Kugle shows how an important Islamic tradition integrated myriad understandings of the body in its nurturing role in the material, social, and spiritual realms.

Arguing Sainthood

Arguing Sainthood PDF Author: Katherine Pratt Ewing
Publisher: Duke University Press
ISBN: 9780822320241
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 332

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Book Description
Ewing examines the competing forces behind the formation of a modern western subjectivity in the context of Sufi religious meanings and practices in Pakistan.

Islamic Mysticism

Islamic Mysticism PDF Author: Alexander Knysh
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 900421576X
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 372

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Book Description
The book provides a general survey of the history of Islamic mysticism (Sufism) since its inception up to the modern time. It combines chronological and personality-based approaches to the subject with a thematic discussion of principal Sufi notions and institutions. Sufism is examined from a variety of different perspectives: as a vibrant social institution, a specific form of artistic expression (mainly poetic), an ascetic and contemplative practice, and a distinctive intellectual tradition that derived its vitality from a dialogue with other strands of Islamic thought. The book emphasizes the wide variety of Sufism's interactions with the society and its institutions from an ascetic withdrawal from the world to an active involvement in its affairs by individual Sufi masters and organizations. Islamic Mysticism by Knysh is a comprehensive survey of the interesting and fascinating world of Islamic Mysticism.

Religion and Mysticism in Early Islam

Religion and Mysticism in Early Islam PDF Author: Muhammad Ali Aziz
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0857719602
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 297

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Book Description
Scholar, mystic and visionary, Ibn 'Alwan lived through the transition from Ayyubid to Rasulid rule in thirteenth-century Yemen. He was well known in his time for his critique of the ruling elites and their governance, and left behind a substantial body of writings on Islamic mysticism, theology, law and exegesis of the Qur'an. Here Muhammad Aziz presents a comprehensive portrait of Ibn 'Alwan, delineating the religious and political background in Yemen, the development of Sufi orders, the interplay between Sufi, Shi'i and Sunni traditions, and the impact of Ibn 'Alwan on the history of Sufism and Islam. The first study of Ibn 'Alwan in English, "Religion and Mysticism in Early Islam" is essential reading for all those interested in mysticism, early Islam, Sufism, and religion and history more generally.