Words of Ecstasy in Sufism

Words of Ecstasy in Sufism PDF Author: Carl W. Ernst
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780873959179
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This is the first in-depth study in English of the import and impact of ecstatic utterances (shathiyat) in classical Islamic mysticism. It makes available an important body of mystical aphorisms and reveals not only the significance of these sayings in the Sufi tradition, but also explains their controversial impact on Islamic law and society. This study descrives the development and interpretation of shathiyat in classical Sufism and analyzes the principal themes and rhetorical styles of these sayings, using as a basis the authoritative Commentary on Ecstatic Sayings by Ruzbihan Baqli of Shiraz. The special topic of mystical faith and infidelity receives particular emphasis as a type of ecstatic expression that self-reflectively meditates on the inadequacy of language to describe mystical experience. The social impact of ecstatic sayings is clarified by an analysis of the political causes of Sufi heresy trials (Nuri, Hallaj, and 'Ayn al-Qudat) and the later elaboration of Sufi martyrologies. This study also examines the attitudes of Islamic legal scholars toward shathiyat, and concludes with a comparison of Sufi ecstatic expressions with other types of inspired speech.

Words of Ecstasy in Sufism

Words of Ecstasy in Sufism PDF Author: Carl W. Ernst
Publisher: SUNY Press
ISBN: 9780873959179
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 204

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Book Description
This is the first in-depth study in English of the import and impact of ecstatic utterances (shathiyat) in classical Islamic mysticism. It makes available an important body of mystical aphorisms and reveals not only the significance of these sayings in the Sufi tradition, but also explains their controversial impact on Islamic law and society. This study descrives the development and interpretation of shathiyat in classical Sufism and analyzes the principal themes and rhetorical styles of these sayings, using as a basis the authoritative Commentary on Ecstatic Sayings by Ruzbihan Baqli of Shiraz. The special topic of mystical faith and infidelity receives particular emphasis as a type of ecstatic expression that self-reflectively meditates on the inadequacy of language to describe mystical experience. The social impact of ecstatic sayings is clarified by an analysis of the political causes of Sufi heresy trials (Nuri, Hallaj, and 'Ayn al-Qudat) and the later elaboration of Sufi martyrologies. This study also examines the attitudes of Islamic legal scholars toward shathiyat, and concludes with a comparison of Sufi ecstatic expressions with other types of inspired speech.

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.

The Philosophy of Ecstasy

The Philosophy of Ecstasy PDF Author: Leonard Lewisohn
Publisher: World Wisdom, Inc
ISBN: 193659742X
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 346

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Book Description
Jalal al-Din Rumi (1207-73), founder of the Mevlevi Sufi order of “Whirling Dervishes,” is the best-selling poet in America today. The wide-ranging appeal of his work is such that UNESCO declared 2007 to be “International Rumi Year.” However, his writings represent much more than love poetry. Rumi was one of the preeminent thinkers of Sufism, the esoteric form of Islam. In this groundbreaking collection of 13 essays on Rumi, many of the world’s leading authorities in the field of Islamic Studies and Persian Literature discuss the major religious themes in his poetry and teachings. In addition to discussing the ideas of love, ecstasy, and music in Rumi’s Sufi poetry, the essays offer new historical and theological perspectives on his work. The immortality of the soul, freewill, the nature of punishment and reward, and the relationship of Islam to Christianity are all covered, in order to bring Rumi’s poetry properly into the context of the Sufi tradition to which he belonged.

Eternal Garden

Eternal Garden PDF Author: Carl W. Ernst
Publisher: State University of New York Press
ISBN: 1438402120
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
Ernst's research, based on rare Persian manuscripts preserved in Sufi shrines in the medieval town of Khuldabad, a major center of pilgrimage in the Indian Deccan, reveals the mystical teachings and practices of the Chishti Sufi order as taught by the ecstatic Shaykh Burhan al-Din Gharib (d. 1337) and his disciples. The book clarifies the diverse historiographical approaches found in an array of narratives. It redefines major topics in the often emotionally charged study of religion and history in South Asia, and it raises provocative theses on much-argued topics such as the basis of Islamic political power in South Asia and the alleged roles of Sufis as warriors and missionaries.

The Shambhala Guide to Sufism

The Shambhala Guide to Sufism PDF Author: Carl W. Ernst
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN:
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 296

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Book Description
"An essential introduction to the philosophy and practice of the mystical tradition of Islam."--Cover.

Sufism

Sufism PDF Author: Carl W. Ernst
Publisher: Shambhala Publications
ISBN: 0834822970
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 530

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Book Description
The classic introduction to the philosophies, practices, and history of Sufism, the mystical tradition of Islam The Sufis are as diverse as the countries in which they've flourished—from Morocco to India to China—and as varied as their distinctive forms of art, music, poetry, and dance. They are said to represent the mystical heart of Islam, yet the term Sufism is notoriously difficult to define, as it means different things to different people both within and outside the tradition. With that fact in mind, Carl Ernst explores the broadest range of Sufi philosophies and practices to provide one of the most complete and comprehensive introductions to Sufism available in English. He traces the history of the movement from the earliest days of Islam to the present day, along the way examining its relationship to the larger world of Islam and its encounters with both fundamentalism and secularism in the modern world.

Ibn al-'Arabi and the Sufis

Ibn al-'Arabi and the Sufis PDF Author: Binyamin Abrahamov
Publisher: Anqa Publishing
ISBN: 1905937555
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 201

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Book Description
Ibn al-'Arabi and the Sufis is a fascinating and groundbreaking analysis of the extent to which various major Sufi figures contributed to the mystical philosophy of Ibn al-'Arabi. While recent scholarship has tended to concentrate on his teachings and life, little attention has been paid to the influences on his thought. Each chapter is dedicated to one of Ibn al-'Arabi's predecessors, from both the early and later periods, such as al-Bistami, al-Hallaj, and al-Jilani, showing how he is discussed in the works of the “Greatest Master” and Ibn al-'Arabi's attitude towards him. This book brings into sharp relief the highly original nature of Ibn al-'Arabi's mystical theory, unprecedented in Islamic mysticism, and the unique way in which he interwove the ideas of others into his own thought.

Morals and Mysticism in Persian Sufism

Morals and Mysticism in Persian Sufism PDF Author: Lloyd Ridgeon
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1136970584
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 348

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Book Description
Sufism is often understood to be the mystical dimension of Islam, and many works have focused on the nature of "mystical experiences" and the relationship between man and God. Yet Sufism was a human response to a wide range of contexts and circumstances; the fact that Sufis lived in society and interacted with the community necessitating guidance on how to behave. This book examines the development of Persian Sufism, showing it to be a practical philosophy of the everyday rather than just a metaphysical phenomena. The author explores the ethic of futuwwat (or jawanmardi), an Iranian code of honour that emphasised loyalty, humility, generosity and bravery. Although inevitably some Sufis spiritualised this code of honour and applied it to their own relationship with God, the ethic continued to permeate Sufi behaviour on a more mundane level, typified by the strong links between Sufis and certain trades. Drawing on field research in Iran, as well as detailed analysis of both Arabic and Persian texts and new materials that have been published in Iran in recent years, this is the first book in English to provide a history of Persian Sufi-futuwwat, As such, this book is an important contribution to the study of Persian Sufism, and to the fields of Islam, history and religion.

At the Shrine of the Red Sufi

At the Shrine of the Red Sufi PDF Author: Jürgen Wasim Frembgen
Publisher: OUP Pakistan
ISBN: 9780199063079
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
The annual festival celebrated in honour of Pakistan's most popular Sufi saint Lal Shahbaz Qalandar is full of spiritual rapture, ecstasy, trance, magic and devotion. In his vividly written narrative the renowned anthropologist and Islamologist, Jürgen Wasim Frembgen, takes the reader along with him to experience this unique ritual event and spectacle with all the senses. Stefan Weidner, a renowned writer and expert on Islam, has judged this book [German language version] as "one of the most exciting reports we owe to German cultural anthropology in recent decades".

Sufism and the Way of Blame

Sufism and the Way of Blame PDF Author: Yannis Toussulis
Publisher: Quest Books
ISBN: 0835630307
Category : Religion
Languages : en
Pages : 313

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Book Description
Gold Winner of the 2012 Benjamin Franklin Award and the 2012 Independent Publisher Book Award! This is a definitive book on the Sufi “way of blame” that addresses the cultural life of Sufism in its entirety. Originating in ninth-century Persia, the “way of blame” (Arab. malamatiyya) is a little-known tradition within larger Sufism that focused on the psychology of egoism and engaged in self-critique. Later, the term referred to those Sufis who shunned Islamic literalism and formalism, thus being worthy of “blame.” Yannis Toussulis may be the first to explore the relation between this controversial movement and the larger tradition of Sufism, as well as between Sufism and Islam generally, throughout history to the present. Both a Western professor of the psychology of religion and a Sufi practitioner, Toussulis has studied malamatiyya for over a decade. Explaining Sufism as a lifelong practice to become a “perfect mirror in which God contemplates Himself,” he draws on and critiques contemporary interpretations by G. I Gurdjieff, J. G. Bennett, and Idries Shah, as well as on Frithjof Schuon, Martin Lings, and Seyyed Hossein Nasr. He also contributes personal research conducted with one of the last living representatives of the way of blame in Turkey today, Mehmet Selim Ozic.