As stated in the introduction, two of the three texts translated in this book focus on the contents of Islamic faith, while the third concentrates on the details of practice--that is, the works that Muslims should perform in order to observe the Shariah.

William Chittick takes-a-major step toward exposing the breadth and depth of Ibn al-'Arabi's vision. The book offers his view of spiritual perfection and explains his theology, ontology, epistemology, hermeneutics, and soteriology.

This title explains the divine attributes by which God manifests Himself in the world, and by which He completes the spiritual life of man. The author describes how, in order to assume the angelic character within, a human must choose from these attributes and live by their tenets in daily life.

The very heart of the Islamic tradition is love; no other word adequately captures the quest for transformation that lies at this tradition's center. So argues esteemed professor of medieval Islam William C. Chittick in this survey of the extensive Arabic and Persian literature on topics ranging from the Qur'an up through the twelfth century. Bringing to light extensive foundational Persian sources never before presented, Chittick draws on more than a thousand pages of newly translated material to depict the rich prose literature at the center of Islamic thought.

Now that Rumi has become one of the best-selling poets in North America, interest in his life and times has increased dramatically. Practically every collection of his poetry provides a thumbnail biography, highlighting his encounter with Shams-i Tabrizi, the wandering mystic who became Rumi's beloved companion. Rumi had been a sober scholar, teaching law and theology to a small circle of students, but the coming of Shams turned him into a devotee of music, dance, and poetry. Three years after Shams's appearance out of nowhere, he abruptly vanished, never to be seen again. It was Rumi's longing for the lost Shams that transformed him into one of the world's greatest poets. Rumi immortalized Shams's name by constantly celebrating him in his poetry as the embodiment of the divine beloved.

Very little is know about the historical Shams--indeed, some have even doubted that he was a real person. Everyone interested in Rumi's poetry has been curious about him, and beginning with Rumi's own son and other hagiographers, a great deal of legend was built up. Over the centuries, Shams became a trope of Persian, Turkish, and Urdu literatures. Modern scholarship has made little headway in explaining who Shams was or how he was able to play such a decisive role in Rumi's life, though a good number of theories have been advanced.

Me and Rumi represents a true milestone in the study of this enigmatic figure. It makes available for the first time in any European language first-hand accounts of Shams that have never been studied by Western scholars. When Rumi and Shams sat and talked, one or more members of the circle took notes. These were never put into final form, but they were preserved andsometimes copied by later generations, ending up in various libraries scattered around Turkey. Fifteen years ago an Iranian scholar completed the long process of collating and editing the manuscripts. The book that he published, called Maqalat-i Shams-i Tabrizi (The Discourses of Shams-i Tabrizi), provides us with an extraordinary picture of an awe-inspiring personality.

In Me and Rumi, Chittick has translated about two-thirds of the Discourses into English and arranged them in a manner that clarifies their meaning and context. He provides notes and a glossary, which will go a long way toward helping readers decipher the more obscure passages. The net result is an exciting and readable book that brings Shams to life. For the first time in Western sources, we are given access to him without the intermediary of Rumi and the myth-makers. Shams appears as raucous and sober, outspoken and subtle, harsh and gentle, learned and irreverent and, above all, as an embodiment of the living presence of God. The book destroys the stereotypes that have been set up by the secondary literature, and it gives access to a far more fascinating and vivid personality than we have any right to expect from what hagiographers and scholars have written.

This book introduces the work of an important medieval Islamic philosopher who is little known outside the Persian world. Afdal al-Din Kashani was a contemporary of a number of important Muslim thinkers, including Averroes and Ibn al-Arabi. In this book, Chittick uses Kashani and his work to introduce the basic issues and arguments of Islamic philosophy to modern readers.

William C. Chittick, the leading scholar in the field, offers a compelling insight into the origins, context, and key themes of this fascinating movement. After a general overview of the tradition, he draws upon the words of some of the greatest Sufi writers - among them Ibn Arabi, Baha Walad and Rumi himself - to give a fresh and revealing perspective on the teachings and beliefs of Sufism and its proponents. Fresh and authoritative, this sympathetic book will be appreciated by anyone interested in Sufism, from complete beginners to students, scholars and experts alike.

The Mosque is an extended meditation on a dimension of Islam unfamiliar to most Western readers. The mosque, Rusmir MahmutAcehajiAc argues, is not an analogue of the Christian church, not least because in Islam there is no priesthood and no institutionalized hierarchy. Rather, every Muslim is his or her own priest, andmost religious obligations are performed in the home. The function of the mosque is thus dispersed throughout society and, indeed, throughout the natural world as well. The Arabic word from which English mosque derives means literally aplace of prostrationaathe place one performs the daily ritual prayer of submission to God, so as to become a guest at the table God has sent down to manifest himself. That table is also the worldas mosque, the world as mosque. Among the many tragic victims of the Bosnian genocide are its mosques; more than a thousand were destroyed. A part of the essential fabric of Bosnian life was changed. With this book, Rusmir MahmutAcehajiAc seeks to rebuild the spirit and majesty of each mosque that was destroyed, the spiritual grace it lent the Bosnian landscape.aBeautifully composed, elegantly written and constructed, this is a primary text of Islamic spirituality, by one of the most significant Muslim European voices of our age . . . . A book to be returned to again and again.aaAdam B. Seligman, Boston UniversityaThis work by one of the leading intellectual figures of Bosnia is one of the finest written in the English language on the spiritual significance of the mosque. It speaks the language of universal spirituality and is able to open a door for Western readers to the relationship between the mosque, as understood outwardly, and the innermosque, which is the heart. The book also reflects in most elegant language the reality of a land where mosques, churches, and synagogues have stood side by side over the centuries, each bearing witness in its own way to the Presence of the One.aaSeyyed Hossein Nasr, George Washington University

The Self-Disclosure of God offers the most detailed presentation to date in any Western language of the basic teachings of Islam's greatest mystical philosopher and theologian. It represents a major step forward in making available to the Western reading public the enormous riches of Islamic teachings in the fields of cosmology, mystical philosophy, theology, and spirituality.

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 complete chapters and subsections are translated, not to mention shorter passages that help put the longer discussions in context. There are detailed indices 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.

Islamic Intellectualism is dead: or so argues William Chittick in this profound new book. Whilst many may say that Islamic studies thrives as a subject, Chittick points to the words of one of his former Professors when describing young colleagues: they know everything one can possibly know about a text, except what it says. Indeed, Chittick states that it is impossible to understand ancient Islamic texts without the years of contemplative study that are anathema to the modern education system. While modern intellectuals with faith often treat their studies and faith in two seperate spheres, Chittick argues that it is essential to return to the ways of the ancient Sufis, who viewed knowledge of the soul, the world, and God as an extension of the same thing.

Liu Zhi (ca. 1670-1724) was one of the most important scholars of Islam in traditional China. His "Tianfang xingli" (Nature and Principle in Islam), the Chinese-language text translated here, focuses on the roots or principles of Islam. It was heavily influenced by several classic texts in the Sufi tradition. Liu's approach, however, is distinguished from that of other Muslim scholars in that he addressed the basic articles of Islamic thought with Neo-Confucian terminology and categories. Besides its innate metaphysical and philosophical value, the text is invaluable for understanding how the masters of Chinese Islam straddled religious and civilizational frontiers and created harmony between two different intellectual worlds.

The introductory chapters explore both the Chinese and the Islamic intellectual traditions behind Liu's work and locate the arguments of "Tianfang xingli" within those systems of thought. The copious annotations to the translation explain Liu's text and draw attention to parallels in Chinese-, Arabic-, and Persian-language works as well as differences.