Something is lost when Western thinkers approach Islam. They seem to see the religion in historical and cultural terms, obscuring Islam's own internal logic and its true beauty and spirituality. This clearly written introduction to Islam changes that, vividly explaining the Islamic perspectives that have rung true for Muslims for nearly 1400 years. The book covers the four dimensions of Islam as outlined in the Hadith of Gabriel: practice, faith, spirituality, and the Islamic view of history. Drawing on the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet and the great authorities of the tradition, the text introduces the essentials of each dimension and then shows how it has been embodied in Islamic institutions throughout history.

Sadr al-Din Muhammad Shirazi (1572-1640), more commonly called Mulla Sadra, was one of the grand scholars of later-period Islamic philosophy and has grown to become one of the best-known Muslim philosophers. "Iksir al-'arifin," or "Elixir of the Gnostics," is unique among Sadra's writings in that it reworks and amplifies an earlier Persian work, the "Jawidan-nama" ("Book of the Everlasting") by Afdal al-Din Kashani, or Baba Afdal.
The underlying theme of Sadra's amplification is emblematic of Muslim philosophy: the importance of self-knowledge in an individual's journey of "Origin and Return," the soul's origins with God and its eventual return to Him. Everything, Sadra says, is on such a path, gradually disengaging from the material world and returning to a transcendent essence--all leading to a final fruition in which everything in the universe returns to God and finds permanent happiness. Philosophy, Sadra argues, is the most direct means to self-knowledge--and thus the best tool for navigating this journey.

"An ambitious and much welcomed series....The books will be welcomed not only by those who are interested in deepening their knowledge of the Western spiritual tradition but also by those who are looking for more than the usual gruel served up by many of our contemporary 'spiritual' writers." The New Review of Books and Religion Fakhruddin Iraqi: Divine Flashes translated and introduced by William C. Chittick and Peter Lamborn Wilson prefaced by Seyyed Hossein Nasr Before this there was one heart but a thousand thoughts. Now all is reduced to There is no god but God. Fakhruddin 'Iraqi (1213-1289) Fakhruddin 'Iraqi was one of the foremost expositors of Sufi teachings and one of the greatest of Persian poets. Born in 1213 (618) in the city of Hamadan in west Persia, he lived during the revival of Islamic spirituality that was shaped by the writings of Jalaluddin Rumi and Ibn 'Arabi'. 'Iraqi's masterpiece "Divine Flashes" became a popular and influential text in Persian speaking Islamic lands. The work's beautiful descriptions of "the mysteries of Union" in the language of love are classic expressions of Sufi love mysticism. In this volume, William Chittick and Peter Wilson present the first English edition of " Divine Flashes" with a sensitivity that conveys both the metaphysical richness and the poetic subtleties of the work. Writing in the preface to this book, Professor Seyyed Hossein Nasr says of Iraqi: "If he sang the love of God in verses of great beauty, it is because his soul had itself become a song of God, a melody in harmony with, and a strain of, the music issuing from the abode of the Beloved".

This is the most accessible work in English on the greatest mystical poet of Islam.