Overview

This rare and important contribution to the field of Islamic studies, philosophy, and comparative religion achieves a twofold objective. First, it draws from a broad and authoritative well of sources, especially in the domain of Sufism, or Islamic mysticism. The scholarship is impeccable. Second, it is an in-depth meditation on the relationship between love and knowledge, multiplicity and unity, the example of the Prophet Muhammed viewed as Universal Man, spiritual union, heart and intellect, and other related themes--conveyed in fresh, contemporary language. The book is as much a work of Sufism as it is a book about Sufism. Many of these themes have a universal appeal for students of mysticism; consequently, there are distinct resonances with other traditions, especially within certain schools of Christian mysticism dominated by the language of love. In our day, when the divisions between many Muslims and many Christians have broadened into chasms of suspicion and fear, books such as this one are especially important for the help they can offer in bridging these rifts. The capacity of scholars to understand these two religions, which stem from the same Abrahamic source, is of the utmost significance, and the best approach to better understanding may be through the mystical traditions, which tend to reflect more tolerance and to recognize a potential for seeing unity in a multiplicity of perspectives. This work conveys the beauty at the heart of the Islamic tradition in a language devoid of technical terminology.

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9780823227518

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Reviews

Beautifully written and skillfully translated, it allows for a fresh understanding of the inner, mystical aspects of the Islamic tradition in the words of a present-day Sufi Muslim.

A tour de force in Islamic theology. -- -Sachiko Murata University at Stoneybrook, State University of New York An expression of prayerful piety that draws uponan ontology of divine love and its centrality to the human condition. -- -Keith Doubt Wittenberg University A mystical text, one that could take its place alongside the great mystical treatises of Islamic spirituality. -- -Maria Lichtmann Appalachian State University A beautiful work, a profound meditation on love, will and knowledge that gives the reader an understanding of that idea of unity, or tawhid...A necessary reading to all who deny the role of love in Islamic thought. LOOK UP DIACRITICAL MARKS FOR TWAHID. -- -Adam Seligman Boston University Beautifully written and skillfully translated, it allows for a fresh understanding of the inner, mystical aspects of the Islamic tradition in the words of a present-day Sufi Muslim. -Choice A rare and important contribution to the field of Islamic studies, philosophy, and comparative religion. -- -Barry McDonald former Managing Director and Senior Editor, World Wisdom Books. Focuses on Sufism in a study of love in the Muslim theological tradition; draws parallels with Christian mysticism. -The Chronicle of Higher Education ...considers the relationships between love and knowledge multiplicity, and unity, heart and intellect. -Publishers Weekly

Author Information

RUSMIR MAHMUTC ' EHAJIC' is Professor of Applied Physics at Sarajevo University, President of the International Forum ""Bosnia,"" and former Vice President of the Government of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The most recent of his books in English are The Mosque: The Heart of Submission and On Love: In the Muslim Tradition (both Fordham).

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