Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary

Tafsir as Mystical Experience: Intimacy and Ecstasy in Quran Commentary
Author: Todd Lawson
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2018-11-26
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004385436

In Tafsir as Mystical Experience, Todd Lawson shows how the Quran may be engaged with for meaning and understanding, the usual goal of mystical exegesis, and also how it may be engaged with through tafsīr in a quest for spiritual or mystical experience. In this earliest of the Báb’s extended works, written before his public claim to be the return of the hidden Imam, the act of reading is shown to be something akin to holy communion in which the sacred text is both entrance upon and destination of the mystic quest. The Quran here is a door to an “abode of glory” and an abiding spiritual encounter with the divine through the prophet, his daughter Fāṭima and the twelve Imams of Ithna-ʿasharī Shiʿism who inhabit the letters, words, verses and suras of the Book. Cover calligraphy by Burhan Zahrai of Quran 53:11

The Bab and the Babi Community of Iran

The Bab and the Babi Community of Iran
Author: Fereydun Vahman
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 427
Release: 2020-11-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1786079577

In 1844, a young merchant from Shiraz called Sayyid ‘Ali-Muhammad declared himself the ‘gate’ (the Bab) to the Truth and, shortly afterwards, the initiator of a new prophetic cycle. His messianic call attracted a significant following across Iran and Iraq. Regarded as a threat by state and religious authorities, the Babis were subject to intense persecution and the Bab himself was executed in 1850. In this volume, leading scholars of Islam, Baha’i studies and Iranian history come together to examine the life and legacy of the Bab, from his childhood to the founding of the Baha’i faith and beyond. Among other subjects, they cover the Bab’s writings, his Qur’an commentaries, the societal conditions that underlay the Babi upheavals, the works of Babi martyr Tahirih Qurratu’l-‘Ayn, and Orientalist Edward Granville Browne’s encounters with Babi and Baha’i texts.

Gog and Magog

Gog and Magog
Author: Georges Tamer
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 1262
Release: 2023-12-31
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 3110720248

The World of the Bahá'í Faith

The World of the Bahá'í Faith
Author: Robert H. Stockman
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 833
Release: 2021-12-30
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 0429648286

The World of the Bahá’í Faith is an outstanding guide to the Bahá’í Faith and its culture in all its geographical and historical diversity. Written by a distinguished team of international contributors, this volume explores the origin of this religion and contains substantial thematic articles on the living experience of the global Bahá’í community. The volume is organised into six distinct sections: Leadership and Authoritative Texts Theology Humanity Society The Contemporary Bahá’í Community History and Spread of the Bahá’í Community These sections cover such themes as the afterlife, artistic expression, Bahá’í institutions, devotional life, diversity, economics, education, the environment and sustainability, family life, gender, human nature, interfaith relations, international governance, law, marriage, peace, persecution, philosophy, race, science and religion, scripture, spirituality, and work. The development of the Bahá’í Faith is outlined in ten regional articles. This volume provides an authoritative and accessible source of information on all topics important to the Bahá’í Faith. The World of the Bahá’í Faith will be essential reading to students and scholars studying world religions and comparative religion. It will also be of interest to those in related fields such as sociology, political science, anthropology, and ethics.

From the Highlands to Hollywood

From the Highlands to Hollywood
Author: Siegfried Gruber
Publisher: LIT Verlag Zürich
Total Pages: 448
Release: 2020-09-24
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 3643911947

This volume is dedicated to the academic achievements of Karl Kaser and to the 50th anniversary of Southeast European History and Anthropology (SEEHA) at the University of Graz. Its editors are collaborators of SEEHA and experts in various fields of Southeast European Studies: Siegfried Gruber, Dominik Gutmeyr, Sabine Jesner, Elife Krasniqi, Robert Pichler, and Christian Promitzer. The Festschrift covers diverse approaches toward the study of societies and cultures in Southeastern Europe, both with respect to history and current affairs, and brings together contributions from several of Kaser's former doctoral students, colleagues, collaborators and friends from across Europe.

Revelation in the Qur’an

Revelation in the Qur’an
Author: Simon P. Loynes
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2021-02-08
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 9004452974

In Revelation in the Qur’an Simon P. Loynes presents a semantic study of the Arabic roots n-z-l and w-ḥ-y, which sheds new light on the modalities of revelation in the Qur’an.

Islamic Thought

Islamic Thought
Author: Abdullah Saeed
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 222
Release: 2006-11-22
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1134225644

Islamic Thought is a fresh and contemporary introduction to the philosophies and doctrines of Islam. Abdullah Saeed, a distinguished Muslim scholar, traces the development of religious knowledge in Islam, from the pre-modern to the modern period. The book focuses on Muslim thought, as well as the development, production and transmission of religious knowledge, and the trends, schools and movements that have contributed to the production of this knowledge. Key topics in Islamic culture are explored, including the development of the Islamic intellectual tradition, the two foundation texts, the Qur’an and Hadith, legal thought, theological thought, mystical thought, Islamic Art, philosophical thought, political thought, and renewal, reform and rethinking today. Through this rich and varied discussion, Saeed presents a fascinating depiction of how Islam was lived in the past and how its adherents practise it in the present. Islamic Thought is essential reading for students beginning the study of Islam but will also interest anyone seeking to learn more about one of the world’s great religions.

Tafsir Al Tustari

Tafsir Al Tustari
Author: Sahl B 'abd Allah Al Tustari
Publisher:
Total Pages: 474
Release: 2019-01-05
Genre:
ISBN: 9781793202000

A collection of the long-unavailable tafasir, or commentaries on the Qur'an, which help to properly explain and contextualize the revelation, this series aims to make leading exegetical works-in translation, unabridged, and faithful to the letter and meaning of the Arabic-widely available for study and research. The earliest surviving Sufi commentary on the Qur'an, this record is not only one of the few authenticated works in Tustari's name but is also a key source for understanding the mystical thought and teachings of this important and influential Sufi. In addition to insights into the spiritual significance of almost 1,000 verses of the Qur'an, this commentary, presented in complete English translation for the first time, includes numerous references to traditions of the Prophet, explanations of the ethical and mystical dimensions of the religious life, stories of the prophets, and anecdotes about earlier mystics. Generously augmented with explanatory footnotes throughout, the book will provide readers with an invaluable introduction to the Sufi tradition of Qur'anic interpretation and acquaint them with spiritual doctrines fundamental to the later development of Sufism.

Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism

Knowledge of God in Classical Sufism
Author:
Publisher: Paulist Press
Total Pages: 472
Release: 2004
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 9780809105366

This volume, the ninth on Islamic material to be published in the Classics of Western Spirituality series, brings to light a highly significant but little known area of Islamic spirituality. Editor John Renard has assembled here a volume of texts, most translated here for the first time, culled from the great Sufi manuals of spirituality, on the theme of the complex and multi-faceted role of knowledge in relation to the spiritual life. He presents excerpts on knowledge from the works of nine major Muslim teachers, most translated from Arabic, but also including important texts from Persian originals. The Introduction offers a survey of the development of Sufi modes of knowing through the thirteenth century in their broader context, and then focuses on the manuals or compendia of Sufi spirituality treated here. Historical notes provide brief identifications of many of the individual sources and personalities mentioned throughout the treatises.E48 +

The Quran, Epic and Apocalypse

The Quran, Epic and Apocalypse
Author: Todd Lawson
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Total Pages: 321
Release: 2017-10-05
Genre: Religion
ISBN: 1786072289

How do people understand the Quran to be divine revelation? What is it about the text that inspires such devotion and commitment in the reader/believer? Todd Lawson explores how the timeless literary genres of epic and apocalypse bear religious meaning in the Quran, communicating the sense of divine presence, urgency and truth. Grounding his approach in the universal power of story and myth, he embarks upon a fascinating inquiry into the unique power of one of the most loved, widely read and recited books in the world.