Widely used for centuries in Sufi circles, the prayer known as "The Most Elevated Cycle" ("al-Dawr al-a'la") or "The Prayer of Protection" ("Hizb al-wiqaya"), written by the great Sufi master Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, has never before been available in English. This book provides a lucid English translation and an edited Arabic text of this beautiful and powerful prayer. It includes a transliteration for those unable to read Arabic, who wish to recite the prayer in the original language. Showing the importance of Ibn 'Arabi's devotional teaching, the book explores the prayer's contemporary life, properties and historical transmission. It gives full details of generations of well-known scholars and Sufi masters who have transmitted the prayer, providing an intimate and fascinating insight into Islamic history.

A masterpiece of Arabic love poetry in a new and complete English translation The Translator of Desires, a collection of sixty-one love poems, is the lyric masterwork of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240 CE), one of the most influential writers of classical Arabic and Islamic civilization. In this authoritative volume, Michael Sells presents the first complete English translation of this work in more than a century, complete with an introduction, commentary, and a new facing-page critical text of the original Arabic. While grounded in an expert command of the Arabic, this verse translation renders the poems into a natural, contemporary English that captures the stunning beauty and power of Ibn 'Arabi's poems in such lines as "A veiled gazelle's / an amazing sight, / her henna hinting, / eyelids signalling // A pasture between / breastbone and spine / Marvel, a garden / among the flames!" The introduction puts the poems in the context of the Arabic love poetry tradition, Ibn 'Arabi's life and times, his mystical thought, and his "romance" with Nizam, the young woman whom he presents as the inspiration for the volume-a relationship that has long fascinated readers. Other features, following the main text, include detailed notes and commentaries on each poem, translations of Ibn 'Arabi's important prefaces to the poems, a discussion of the sources used for the Arabic text, and a glossary. Bringing The Translator of Desires to life for contemporary English readers as never before, this promises to be the definitive volume of these fascinating and compelling poems for years to come.

A major work of mystical literature, this account focuses on 14 visions in the form of dramatic conversations with the divine, interspersed with dazzling visionary episodes regarding the nature of existence, humans' relationship with reality, and the way to achieve true happiness. The introduction presents a resume of Ibn 'Arabi's life and examines in detail the style and symbolism of the contemplations. Presented for the first time in English, this work is a superb example of Ibn 'Arabi's inimitable style and deep perception.

Through the story of the universal tree, representing the complete human being, and the four birds, representing the four essential aspects of existence, Ibn 'Arabi explains his teaching on the nature and meaning of union with God. Providing an excellent initiation into the often complex works of Ibn 'Arabi, this brief, delightful tale is the first English translation of an important, early work, complete with Arabic text, commentary, and notes.

The quest for happiness and fulfilment lies at the very heart of human life, but for Ibn 'Arabi there is a realm beyond our ordinary understanding of happiness, where the human stands truly fulfilled, in vision of Reality. This is a goal within the potential of every person. In this first English translation of a core chapter from the famous Meccan Illuminations (al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya), Ibn 'Arabi comprehensively summarises all his major teachings on human perfectibility and true happiness. Using the imagery of alchemy and ascension, he gives the reader an extraordinary insight into the spiritual journey by contrasting two ways of acquiring knowledge: the rational and the mystical. With an introduction to Islamic alchemy, the Hermetic tradition and the mysterious elixir, this is an important text for anyone interested in Sufism, Islamic spirituality or alchemy.

A masterpiece of Arabic love poetry in a new and complete English translation The Translator of Desires, a collection of sixty-one love poems, is the lyric masterwork of Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240 CE), one of the most influential writers of classical Arabic and Islamic civilization. In this authoritative volume, Michael Sells presents the first complete English translation of this work in more than a century, complete with an introduction, commentary, and a new facing-page critical text of the original Arabic. While grounded in an expert command of the Arabic, this verse translation renders the poems into a natural, contemporary English that captures the stunning beauty and power of Ibn 'Arabi's poems in such lines as "A veiled gazelle's / an amazing sight, / her henna hinting, / eyelids signalling // A pasture between / breastbone and spine / Marvel, a garden / among the flames!" The introduction puts the poems in the context of the Arabic love poetry tradition, Ibn 'Arabi's life and times, his mystical thought, and his "romance" with Nizam, the young woman whom he presents as the inspiration for the volume-a relationship that has long fascinated readers. Other features, following the main text, include detailed notes and commentaries on each poem, translations of Ibn 'Arabi's important prefaces to the poems, a discussion of the sources used for the Arabic text, and a glossary. Bringing The Translator of Desires to life for contemporary English readers as never before, this promises to be the definitive volume of these fascinating and compelling poems for years to come.

Text in English & Arabic. If it is true, as Ibn 'Arabi claims, that voyaging never ceases in all worlds and dimensions, the paradigmatic voyages recounted in this remarkable book offer the reader an inexhaustible source of reflection. As a well-known Sufi saying puts it, 'the spiritual journey is called "voyage" (safar) because it "unveils" (isfar) the characters of the Men of God'. This book explores the theme of journeying and spiritual unveiling as it plays out in the cosmos, in scripture and within the soul of the mystic. Beginning with a series of cosmological contemplations, Ibn 'Arabi then turns to his own selective readings of Prophetic lore, in which he gives profound Muhammad, Adam, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Lot, Jacob and Joseph, and Moses. Angela Jaffray's translation of Kitab al-Isfar 'an nata'ij al-asfar brings this major treatise to an English-speaking audience for the first time. It is accompanied by a new edition of the Arabic text based in a manuscript in Ibn 'Arabi's own hand, an introduction and extensive notes. It also includes a rich in-depth commentary that will guide the reader through Ibn 'Arabi's subtle and allusive writing.

This book is one of two unique versions of one of Ibn al-Arabi's masterworks: the Turjuman al-Ashwaq (The Discloser of Desires) and his own commentary on it: Dhakhair al-Aalaq (The Precious Repository). This great work by Ibn al-Arabi has always been characterized by its bilateral nature; on the outer form it is wonderful pure love poetry, yet it has a distinctive inner interpretation on the spiritual and divine planes. This book has been translated into English at least twice before, but the problem is how to illustrate its two completely different sides at the same time. Therefore, this innovative translation is executed in two different modes; for the poems themselves the rhythmic style was given the priority by concentrating on the sentiments the author desired to disclose, while giving more variations and minutiae when expounding them by translating Ibn al-Arabi's own commentaries and also extensively linking with related concepts from his other books. This first version is published under the title: "The Discloser of Desires," which contains the Turjuman al-Ashwaq alone, and the second takes the title: "The Precious Repository in Expounding the Discloser of Desires," which contains Dhakhair al-Aalaq fi sharh Turjuman al-Ashwaq, and both include an extensive introduction to the book and to the Greatest Master Muhyiddin Ibn al-Arabi. The abridged and illustrated version should be enough for someone who only wants to enjoy reading this inspiring chef-d'oeuvre, while the full version could be nominated to those who would like to explore Ibn al-Arabi's immense knowledge and prominent divine wisdom.

A collection of 101 hadith sayings, this work is one of the most important and influential early collections of hadith qudsi. Falling into three categories, the first 40 sayings each have a full, unbroken chain of transmission that goes back to God through the medium of the Prophet Muhammad. The second category are sayings mostly taken from well-known written collections. The final section is drawn from similar books, with Ibn 'Arabi adding one extra hadith, orally transmitted. Comprised of a full introduction explaining the meaning of Hadith, the text stresses the importance of this tradition in Ibn 'Arabi's writing.

Nachwort Die Majestat und die Schonheit sind die zwei bestimmenden Wesenszuge Gottes. Der Meister der Meister, Ibn Arabi, gibt mit diesem Werk, das in seiner Tiefe alles ubertrifft, was von Menschen, die keine Propheten waren, in schriftlicher Form vorliegt, Einblicke in die Essenz der Attribute des Allerhochsten und Einzigen. Um dem Geist Ibn Arabis moglichst treu zu bleiben, war es notwendig, manche Formulierungen in einer bisweilen befremdlich erscheinenden Weise zu gestalten. Der tatsachliche Sinn der Ausfuhrungen Ibn Arabis erschliesst sich jedoch ohnehin nur durch eingehendes Nachdenken in Verbindung mit einer Offnung des Geistes, die nur vom Wahren allein kommen kann und daher einem Nichtmuslim fur immer verwehrt bleiben wird

'Sufis of Andalusia' consists of biographical sketches of some of the contemplatives and spiritual masters among whom Ibn 'Arabi spent his early years.

-Ich sah dich nicht auf meinem Weg. Gibt es da noch einen anderen Pfad?- // -Ein jeder hat seinen Weg, den niemand sonst als nur er beschreitet.- // -Und wo befinden sich diese verschiedenen Wege?- // -Sie entstehen durch das Reisen selbst.- Zwei Texte des andalusischen Mystikers Ibn Arabi (1165-1240), des -grossten Meisters-, die - in Anspielung auf die beruhmte -nachtliche Reise- oder Himmelfahrt des Propheten Mohammed - die Umstande und Erfahrungen des volligen Aufgehens in Gott beschreiben. Ibn Arabis Bearbeitung dieses Materials widerspiegelt sowohl seinen besonderen Zugang zum Koran und den Hadithen als auch die ganze Spannweite seiner metaphysisch-theologischen Lehren und seines Interesses an praktischer Spiritualitat. Im engeren Sinn eine Erlauterung von khalwa, einer Sufi-Ubung zur Erlangung der Gegenwart Gottes durch absolute Aufgabe der Welt, beschreibt die Reise zum Herrn der Macht den geistigen Aufstieg durch alle Stufen der Existenz bis hin zur Gottlichen Gegenwart. Ibn Arabi ruft den, der den mystischen Weg der Sufis gehen will, dazu auf, sein Herz zu reinigen und eins zu werden mit seiner inneren Essenz. Mit grosser Klarheit und der Uberzeugungskraft autobiografischer Passagen schildert Ibn Arabi die Erfahrung seiner eigenen Himmelfahrt auch im Text Meine Reise verlief nur in mir selbst, einer hier erstmals auf Deutsch vorliegenden, kommentierten Ubersetzung des Kapitels 367 aus seinen umfangreichen Futuhat al-Makkiya