The Essence of Reality: A Defense of Philosophical Sufism

**A groundbreaking exposition of Islamic mysticism** __The Essence of Reality__ was written over the course of just three days in 514/1120, by a scholar who was just twenty-four. The text, like its author ʿAyn al-Quḍāt, is remarkable for many reasons, not least of which that it is in all likelihood the earliest philosophical exposition of mysticism in the Islamic intellectual tradition. This important work would go on to exert significant influence on both classical Islamic philosophy and philosophical mysticism. Written in a terse yet beautiful style, __The Essence of Reality__ consists of one hundred brief chapters interspersed with Qurʾanic verses, prophetic sayings, Sufi maxims, and poetry. In conversation with the work of the philosophers Avicenna and al-Ghazālī, the book takes readers on a philosophical journey, with lucid expositions of questions including the problem of the eternity of the world; the nature of God’s essence and attributes; the concepts of “before” and “after”; and the soul’s relationship to the body. All these discussions are seamlessly tied into ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s foundational argument—that mystical knowledge lies beyond the realm of the intellect. Letter from the General Editor Contents Acknowledgments Foreword Introduction Note on the Text Notes to the Introduction Preamble Introduction: The Reason for Writing This Book 1. Who Will Benefit from This Book? 2. A Proof of the Eternal 3. God’s Transcendence 4. Categories of Existence 5. Divine Names 6. Divine Attributes 7. The Divine Names Are Relations 8. Necessity, Contingency, Impossibility 9. Why Did God Effectuate Existence? 10. The Face of God and Existents 11. God’s Infinite Knowledge 12. Knowledge Is a Divine Attribute 13. God’s Knowledge Is Changeless 14. A Glimpse at the Stage beyond the Intellect 15. The Inability to Comprehend God’s Knowledge 16. True Faith 17. The Intellect’s Proper Place 18. The Stage beyond the Intellect and Premises 19. The Inner Eye 20. Longing for God 21. Familiarity with the Spiritual World 22. The Stage of Prophecy 23. Faith in the Unseen 24. The Path to Faith in Prophecy 25. The Stage beyond the Intellect and the Divine Attributes 26. The Intellect’s Relationship to Love 27. The Lover’s Attraction to the Beloved 28. The Last Stage of the Intellect 29. “The Incapacity to Perceive Is Perception” 30. A Transition 31. God’s Essence and Attributes 32. The Divine Essence and Its Standpoints 33. The Way of the Righteous Predecessors 34. Scriptural Evidence 35. The Divine Attributes Are Relations 36. Nonduality 37. A Note on the Eternity of the World 38. Divine Causation 39. The True Nature of Causation 40. An Example Using Natural Phenomena 41. The Oneness of Existence and Causation 42. An Example Using Mirrors 43. The Mirror of the Intellect 44. The Forms in Mirrors Are Relations 45. A Note on the Limits of the Intellect 46. Mirrors and the State of Dreaming 47. Divine Power and Human Power 48. The Possible and the Impossible 49. Possibility Means Contingency 50. The Creation of the World and Time 51. Clarifications on the Term “World” 52. The Eternity of the World in the Eyes of the Recognizer 53. Do “Was” and “Is” Apply to God? 54. God’s Beginninglessness and Time 55. A Hint at Perpetual Renewal 56. Perpetual Renewal 57. Divine Withness 58. A Note on Cosmic Order 59. Witnessing Perpetual Renewal 60. God’s Coextensiveness in the Eyes of the Recognizer 61. The Difference between Knowledge and Recognition 62. God-Given Knowledge 63. Types of Knowledge and Instruction 64. Setting Out on the Path of Recognition 65. The Next Step on the Path of Recognition 66. Spiritual Companionship 67. Felicity 68. God’s Generosity toward Me 69. Finding a Spiritual Guide 70. True Spiritual Guides and False Claimants 71. Self-Admiration and Spiritual Guidance 72. Back to the Question of Divine Priority 73. God’s Withness Does Not Mean Human Withness 74. Categories of Proximity and Distance 75. The Last “Day” 76. The Soul’s Relationship to the Body 77. The Soul’s Immortality 78. Souls Precede Bodies 79. The Diversity of Souls 80. The Relationship between the Soul and the Body 81. God’s Self-Disclosure 82. The Annihilation of My Metaphorical Identity 83. My Yearning to Return Home 84. In the Divine Presence 85. A Final Word about My Journey 86. Fleeing from This World 87. Unhindered Souls 88. Faith in the Afterlife 89. The Intellect and the Afterlife 90. Faith in the Unseen 91. Searching for God 92. Striving for Understanding 93. The Evident and the Mysterious 94. The Coming of the Hour 95. The Stage beyond the Intellect Is Accessible to All 96. The Intellect and the Stage beyond It 97. Overcoming the Desire to Know 98. Freedom from Time and Space 99. Reaching God 100. An Invitation Conclusion: On Yearning Notes Glossary of Names Bibliography Further Reading Index of Qurʾanic Verses Index About the NYUAD Research Institute About the Translator The Library of Arabic Literature