Islamic Mystical Poetry

Islamic Mystical Poetry PDF Author: Mahmood Jamal
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141932244
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 425

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Book Description
Written from the ninth to the twentieth century, these poems represent the peak of Islamic Mystical writing, from Rabia Basri to Mian Mohammad Baksh. Reflecting both private devotional love and the attempt to attain union with God and become absorbed into the Divine, many poems in this edition are imbued with the symbols and metaphors that develop many of the central ideas of Sufism: the Lover, the Beloved, the Wine, and the Tavern; while others are more personal and echo the poet's battle to leave earthly love behind. These translations capture the passion of the original poetry and are accompanied by an introduction on Sufism and the common themes apparent in the works. This edition also includes suggested further reading.

Islamic Mystical Poetry

Islamic Mystical Poetry PDF Author: Mahmood Jamal
Publisher: Penguin UK
ISBN: 0141932244
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 425

Get Book Here

Book Description
Written from the ninth to the twentieth century, these poems represent the peak of Islamic Mystical writing, from Rabia Basri to Mian Mohammad Baksh. Reflecting both private devotional love and the attempt to attain union with God and become absorbed into the Divine, many poems in this edition are imbued with the symbols and metaphors that develop many of the central ideas of Sufism: the Lover, the Beloved, the Wine, and the Tavern; while others are more personal and echo the poet's battle to leave earthly love behind. These translations capture the passion of the original poetry and are accompanied by an introduction on Sufism and the common themes apparent in the works. This edition also includes suggested further reading.

The Sufis

The Sufis PDF Author: Idries Shah
Publisher: Octagon Press Ltd
ISBN: 0863040748
Category : Sufism
Languages : en
Pages : 416

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Book Description
This work offers coverage of the spiritual and psychological tradition of Sufism. It shows that Sufism is not the preserve of ecstatic religionists, but has a contribution to make to human culture and philosophy.

Hallaj

Hallaj PDF Author: Husayn ibn Mansur Hallaj
Publisher: Northwestern University Press
ISBN: 0810137364
Category : Poetry
Languages : en
Pages : 268

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Book Description
Winner of the Global Humanities Translation Prize Hallaj is the first authoritative translation of the Arabic poetry of Husayn ibn Mansur al-Hallaj, an early Sufi mystic. Despite his execution in Baghdad in 922 and the subsequent suppression of his work, Hallaj left an enduring literary and spiritual legacy that continues to inspire readers around the world. In Hallaj, Carl W. Ernst offers a definitive collection of 117 of Hallaj’s poems expertly translated for contemporary readers interested in Middle Eastern and Sufi poetry and spirituality. Ernst’s fresh and direct translations reveal Hallaj’s wide range of themes and genres, from courtly love poems to metaphysical reflections on union with God. In a fascinating introduction, Ernst traces Hallaj’s dramatic story within classical Islamic civilization and early Arabic Sufi poetry. Setting himself apart by revealing Sufi secrets to the world, Hallaj was both celebrated and condemned for declaring: “I am the Truth.” Expressing lyrics and ideas still heard in popular songs, the works of Hallaj remain vital and fresh even a thousand years after their composition. They reveal him as a master of spiritual poetry centuries before Rumi, who regarded Hallaj as a model. This unique collection makes it possible to appreciate the poems on their own, as part of the tragic legend of Hallaj, and as a formidable legacy of Middle Eastern culture. The Global Humanities Translation Prize is awarded annually to a previously unpublished translation that strikes the delicate balance between scholarly rigor, aesthetic grace, and general readability, as judged by a rotating committee of Northwestern faculty, distinguished international scholars, writers, and public intellectuals. The Prize is organized by the Global Humanities Initiative, which is jointly supported by Northwestern University’s Buffett Institute for Global Studies and Kaplan Institute for the Humanities.

Islam: The Basics

Islam: The Basics PDF Author: Colin Turner
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1134296916
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 246

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Book Description
With nearly 1500 rich years of history and culture to its name, Islam is one of the world’s great faiths and, in modern times, the subject of increasingly passionate debate by believers and non-believers alike. Islam: The Basics is a concise and timely introduction to all aspects of Muslim belief and practice. Topics covered include: The Koran and its teachings The life of the Prophet Muhammad Women in Islam Sufism and Shi’ism Islam and the modern world Non-Muslim approaches to Islam Complete with a glossary of terms, pointers to further reading and a chronology of key dates, Islam: The Basics provides an invaluable overview of the history and the contemporary relevance of this always fascinating and important subject.

Routledge Handbook on Sufism

Routledge Handbook on Sufism PDF Author: Lloyd Ridgeon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351706470
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 739

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Book Description
This is a chronological history of the Sufi tradition, divided in to three sections, early, middle and modern periods. The book comprises 35 independent chapters with easily identifiable themes and/or geographical threads, all written by recognised experts in the field. The volume outlines the origins and early developments of Sufism by assessing the formative thinkers and practitioners and investigating specific pietistic themes. The middle period contains an examination of the emergence of the Sufi Orders and illustrates the diversity of the tradition. This middle period also analyses the fate of Sufism during the time of the Gunpowder Empires. Finally, the end period includes representative surveys of Sufism in several countries, both in the West and in traditional "Islamic" regions. This comprehensive and up-to-date collection of studies provides a guide to the Sufi tradition. The Handbook is a valuable resource for students and researchers with an interest in religion, Islamic Studies and Middle Eastern Studies.

Persian Sufi Poetry

Persian Sufi Poetry PDF Author: J. T. P. de Bruijn
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136780491
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 149

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Book Description
Focuses on the poems rather than on their authors. Surveys the development of Persian mystical poetry, dealing first with the relation between Sufism and literature and then with the four main genres of the tradition: the epigram, the homiletic poem, love poetry and symbolic narrative.

Negotiating Sexual Idioms

Negotiating Sexual Idioms PDF Author:
Publisher: BRILL
ISBN: 940120652X
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 254

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Book Description
Negotiating Sexual Idioms: Image, Text, Performance affords new theoretical approaches and insights into the complexity of sexual discourse pervading contemporary cultures, exploring sexuality’s role in dominant conceptualisations of self and society, in patterns of political belonging and exclusion, and in societal transformations. Opening with a substantial critical introduction, this collection of twelve essays and creative pieces contributes to significant current debates regarding sexual rights and their violation, queer theory and identity politics, sexual fantasy formations and strategies of pleasure, and the celebration of sexual diversity, topics explored through a variety of disciplinary frameworks, including gender and film studies, religious philosophy, neo-Victorian and postcolonial literature, sociology, pornography, and performance art. The volume positions the subjects of sex and sexuality as crucial to our ethical understanding of the human, both in individual and communal terms, exploring how claims for sexual subjectivity and citizenship are formulated and the entitlements they entail. The analytical insights offered signal important new directions for critical engagement with the socio-political construction of sexuality and its strategic deployment within the cultural imaginary. Designed to appeal equally to scholars, students, and general readers, Negotiating Sexual Idioms will prove essential reading for those interested in multi-disciplinary approaches to reading sex and sexuality within inter-cultural contexts, from the early modern period to the present-day.

The Essence of Sufism

The Essence of Sufism PDF Author: John Baldock
Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
ISBN: 1848584075
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 146

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Book Description
Insight into Life is the real religion, which alone can help man to understand Life.' Hazrat Inayat Khan The Sufis have been using carefully constructed stories for teaching purposes for thousands of years. Though on the surface these often appear to be little more than fairy or folk tales, the Sufis hold that they enshrine - in their characters, plots and imagery - patterns and relationships that nurture a part of the mind not reachable in more conventional ways, thus increasing our understanding, flexibility and breadth of vision. Familiarization with this body of material can eventually provide answers to questions about our origins and our destiny. In this book John Baldock explores the rich body of literature the Sufis have produced to guide spiritual travellers. While explaining the significant teachings and emphasizing their significance for us, he sheds a timely light on the Sufis' fascinating perception of life, revealing it to be a process of the heart and not of the head, and offers intriguing pathways to further study and reflection.

Love and Poetry in the Middle East

Love and Poetry in the Middle East PDF Author: Atef Alshaer
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
ISBN: 0755640969
Category : Literary Criticism
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
Love has been an important trope in the literature of the region we now call the Middle East, from ancient times to modern. This book analyses love poetry in various ancient and contemporary languages of the Middle East, including Akkadian, ancient Egyptian, Classical and Modern Standard Arabic, Persian, Hebrew, Turkish and Kurdish, including literary materials that have been discovered and highlighted for the first time. Together, the chapters reflect and explore the discursive evolution of the theme of love, and the sensibilities, styles and techniques used to convey it. They chart the way in which poems in ancient poetry give way to complex and varied reflections of human sentiments in the medieval languages and on to the modern period which in turn reflects the complexities and nuances of present times. Offering a snapshot of the diverse literary languages and their relationship to the theme of love, the book will be of interest to scholars of Near and Middle Eastern Literature and Culture.

Performing Post-Tariqa Sufism

Performing Post-Tariqa Sufism PDF Author: Esra Çizmeci
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
ISBN: 1000998622
Category : Performing Arts
Languages : en
Pages : 221

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Book Description
This ethnographic research project examines the generation of post-tariqa Tasavvuf (Sufism: a spiritual practice and philosophy recognised as the inner dimension of Islam) in a variety of private, semi-public, public, secular and sacred urban spaces in present-day Turkey. Through extensive field research in minority Sufi communities, this book investigates how devotees of specific orders maintain, adapt, mobilise, and empower their beliefs and values through embodied acts of their Sufi followers. Using an ethnographic methodology and theories derived from performance studies, Esra Çizmeci examines the multiple ways in which the post-tariqa Mevlevi and Rifai practice is formed in present-day Turkey, such as through the authority of the spiritual teacher; the individual and collective performance of Sufi rituals; nefs (self) training; and, most importantly, the practice of Sufi doctrines in everyday life through the production of sacred spaces. Drawing on the theories of performance, she examines how the Sufi way of living and spaces are created anew in the process of each devotee’s embodied action. This book is informed by theories in performance studies, anthropology, religious studies, and cultural studies and places current Sufi practices in a historical perspective.