The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn Al-'Arabi's Cosmology » (1st Edition)

The Self-Disclosure of God continues the author's investigations of the world view of Ibn al-'Arabi, the greatest theoretician of Sufism and the "seal of the Muhammadan saints." The book is divided into three parts, dealing with the relation between God and the cosmos, the structure of the cosmos, and the nature of the human soul. A long introduction orients the reader and discusses a few of the difficulties faced by Ibn al-'Arabi's interpreters. Like Chittick's earlier work, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, this book is based primarily on Ibn al-'Arabi's monumental work, al-Futuhat al-makkiyya "The Meccan Openings." More than one hundred chapters and subsections are translated, not to mention shorter passages that help put the longer discussions in context. There are detailed indexes of sources, Koranic verses, and hadiths. The book's index of technical terminology will be an indispensable reference for all those wishing to delve more deeply into the use of language in Islamic thought in general and Sufism in particular.

Booknews

Chittick (comparative studies, State U. of New York-Stony Brook) continues his investigation into the Sufi theoretician al-Arabi (AD 1165-1240), again drawing heavily from the monumental from which he translates over 100 chapters and subsections as well as shorter passages. He deals with the relation between God and the cosmos, the structure of the cosmos, and the nature of the human soul. He includes indexes of sources, Koranic verses, hadiths, and technical terminology relevant both the Sufism and to Islam as a whole. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.