The Self-Disclosure of God: Principles of Ibn Al-'Arabi's Cosmology (Suny Series in Islam)

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 Chapters And Subsections Are Translated, Not To Mention Shorter Passages That Help Put The Longer Discussions In Context. There Are Detailed Indexes 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. I. God And The Cosmos -- Ii. The Order Of The Worlds -- Iii. The Structure Of The Microcosm. William C. Chittick. Includes Bibliographical References (p. 409-411) And Indexes. 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. 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-ʿArabī, 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-ʿArabī's interpreters. Like Chittick's earlier work, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, this book is based primarily on Ibn al-ʿArabī's monumental work, al-Futūḥāt al-Makkīyah'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. 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. CONTENTS......Page 5 INTRODUCTION......Page 9 God and the Cosmos......Page 41 1. Wujud and the Entities......Page 43 2. Perpetual Self-Disclosure......Page 87 3. The Face of God......Page 131 4. Veils of Light......Page 160 The Order of the Worlds......Page 205 5. The Roots of Order......Page 207 6. Divine and Cosmic Relations......Page 241 7. The Worlds of the Cosmos......Page 281 The Structure of the Microcosm......Page 307 8. Spirits and Bodies......Page 309 9. The Natural Constitution......Page 343 10. The Imaginal Barzakh......Page 371 APPENDIX I: IBN AL-CARABI’S VIEWSON CERTAIN SUFIS......Page 411 APPENDIX II: TRANSLATIONOF TECHNICAL TERMS......Page 427 NOTES......Page 429 BIBLIOGRAPHY......Page 449 INDEX OF SOURCES......Page 453 INDEX OF KORANIC VERSES......Page 461 INDEX OF HADITHS AND SAYINGS......Page 475 INDEX OF PROPER NAMES......Page 485 INDEX OF ARABIC WORDS......Page 489