Islamic Mysticism And Abu Talib Al-makki: The Role Of The Heart

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Islamic Mysticism and Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī Both in everyday language and in religious metaphor, the heart often embodies the true self and is considered to be the seat of emotion in many cultures. Many Muslim thinkers have attempted to clarify the nature of Sufism using its metaphorical image, particularly in the tenth and eleventh centuries. This book examines the work of Abū Ṭālib al-Makkī and his wider significance within the Sufi tradition, with a focus on the role of the heart. Analysing his most significant work, Qūt al-qulūb (‘The Nourishment of Hearts’), the author goes beyond an examination of the themes of the book to explore its influence not only in the writing of Sufis, but also of Ḥanbalī and Jewish scholars. Providing a comprehensive overview of the world of al-Makkī and presenting extracts from his book on religious characteristics of the heart with selected passages in translation for the first time in English, this book will give readers a better understanding not only of the essential features of Sufism, but also the nature of mysticism and its relation to monotheistic faiths. Saeko Yazaki (PhD, Edin.) is Lord Kelvin Adam Smith Fellow in Religious Studies at the University of Glasgow, and Research Associate at the Centre of Islamic Studies, University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on mysticism and epistemology of religion, the Judaeo-Islamic tradition, and their continuing relevance to the present. She is also pursuing comparative study of monotheistic and non-monotheistic faiths. Routledge Sufi Series General Editor: Ian Richard Netton Professor of Islamic Studies, University of Exeter The Routledge Sufi Series provides short introductions to a variety of facets of the subject, which are accessible both to the general reader and the student and scholar in the field. Each book will be either a synthesis of existing knowledge or a distinct contribution to, and extension of, knowledge of the particular topic. The two major underlying principles of the Series are sound scholarship and readability. PREVIOUSLY PUBLISHED BY CURZON Al-Hallaj Herbert I.W. Mason Beyond Faith and Infidelity The Sufi Poetry and Teaching of Mahmud Shabistari Leonard Lewisohn Ruzbihan Baqli Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism Carl W. Ernst Abdullah Ansari of Herat An Early Sufi Master A.G.Ravan Farhadi The Concept of Sainthood in Early Islamic Mysticism Bernd Radtke and John O’Kane Suhrawardi and the School of Illumination Mehdi Amin Razavi Persian Sufi Poetry An Introduction to the Mystical Use of Classical Poems J.T.P. de Bruijn Aziz Nasafi Lloyd Ridgeon Sufis and Anti-Sufis The Defence, Rethinking and Rejection of Sufism in the Modern World Elizabeth Sirriyeh Sufi Ritual The Parallel Universe Ian Richard Netton Divine Love in Islamic Mysticism The Teachings of al-Ghâzalî and al-Dabbâgh Binyamin Abrahamov Striving for Divine Union Spiritual Exercises for Suhrawardi Sufis Qamar-ul Huda Revelation, Intellectual Intuition and Reason in the Philosophy of Mulla Sadra An Analysis of the al-hikmah al-‘arshiyyah Zailan Moris PUBLISHED BY ROUTLEDGE 1. Muslim Saints of South Asia The Eleventh to Fifteenth Centuries Anna Suvorova 2. A Psychology of Early Sufi Sama Listening and Altered States Kenneth S. Avery 3. Sufi Visionary of Ottoman Damascus ‘Abd al-Ghani al-Nabulusi, 1941–1731 Elizabeth Sirriyeh 4. Early Mystics in Turkish Literature Mehmed Fuad Koprulu Translated, edited and with an Introduction by Gary Leiser and Robert Dankoff 5. Indian Sufism Since the Seventeenth Century Saints, Books and Empires in the Muslim Deccan Nile Green 9. Sufis in Western Society Global Networking and Locality Edited by Ron Geaves, Markus Dressler and Gritt Klinkhammer 10. Morals and Mysticism in Persian Sufism A History of Sufi-Futuwwat in Iran Lloyd Ridgeon 11. Spiritual Purification in Islam The Life and Works of al-Muhasibi Gavin Pick