Upcoming Worldwide Events and Symposiums

20 July 2024 | Online event

Monthly lectures for Arabic speakers

Mystical Journey and Its Manifestations in the Thought of Ibn Al-Arabi

The series of lectures in Arabic which began in November 2022 continues with a talk by Dr Elhoussein Loukili from Morocco, at 12am Morocco local time, on Saturday 20 July 2024. The title of his lecture is, “Mystical Journey and Its Manifestations in the Thought of Ibn Al-Arabi”.

Dr. Loukili is an academic researcher and professor specializing in Sufi thought. He has obtained his PhD in Arabic Literature, specializing in semiotics and discourse analysis. Dr. Loukili has published several articles under the following titles:

“Isolation of the Soul and the Question of Ethics in the Time of Quarantine.” Rafid Journal for Studies and Scientific Research in Social and Human Sciences, – Algeria.

“Semiotics of Humor in the Online Discourse During the Time of Pandemic.” Khitabat Journal.

“The Question of Identity in the Time of Globalization.” Siraj Journal for Research and Studies – London.

“The Image of the Tragic Hero and Temporal Becoming: An Alternative Reading of Al-Mutanabbi’s Poetic Biography.” Adabi Tawasul Journal – Algeria.

“Aspects of Aesthetic Consciousness in Sufi Discourse: Inspiration – the Language – the Feminine. Mutun Journal.

“Imagination in Sufi Poetry: Its Aspects and Manifestations in the Diwan of Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq by Ibn Al-Arabi.” Al-Lugha Al-Arabiya” Journal.

“Poetic Expression as a Tool Against Racism: An Approach to the Poetic Biography of Antarah.” Khitabat Journal.

“Poetic Vision Between Sufi Consciousness and Spiritual Emotion.” Tajseer Journal – Qatar University.

Dr. Loukili’s lecture aims to delve into the concept of “mystical journey” and its realizations in Sufi discourse. A journey that transcends the geographical dimension; viewing travel as a mystical journey.

The distinctive feature of this mystical journey lies in its distribution across two dimensions: a vertical dimension, in which the journey takes two directions: a downward direction from heaven to earth, embodied in the journey of descent, and an upward direction from earth to heaven, which is the journey of ascent. The “ascending” dimension is often associated with the heart or spiritual “tourism”, through which the Sufi works to establish their Sufi identity and replace their real world with an imagined one, traveling to it for the purpose of transcending absences and acquiring divine knowledge. The mystical journey thus becomes a transcendent spiritual model, achieved only by those endowed with miracles, recognizing their worthiness of the grand status of sainthood.

As for the horizontal dimension, it takes a linear path, where the self moves from its point of stability to its goal. This type of journey is often associated with physical “tourism” in the vast land of God for the purpose of contemplation and reflection.

People who would like to attend the lecture can use this link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/83484657052?pwd=M3NSTFhINVl2c1k2ME1JVzRnd092QT09 [/]
Meeting ID: 834 8465 7052 | Passcode: 000000 | Find your local number: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kb23I9qIRQ [/]

For more details of the series of lectures, please see the Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/arabicibnarabi [/]

For further information please e-mail mias-as@nokshee.com.

27 July 2024 | London

The Elixir of the Mystics: Reading the First Heaven in Arabic and English

MIAS Education is presenting a seminar on Saturday July 27, between 10 AM and 1 PM, at Rudolf Steiner House, 35 Park Road, London NW1 6XT.

Join Dr Rim Feriani and others from the MIAS Education Team delving into the profound insights of Ibn Arabi’s work “The Alchemy of Happiness”.

The first heaven will be examined in both the original Arabic and the English translation. This interactive session will offer the opportunity to engage in close reading and discussion of the text in Arabic and English and exchange perspectives and insights with fellow voyagers.

We will be in the STUDIO ROOM
10 AM – 11 AM Meet & Greet and have Coffee/Tea from the Cafe
11 AM- 1 PM Interactive session

Afterwards if it is fine we will picnic in Regents Park nearby – so bring food to share. If not, we can eat at the Wholefood Cafe on the premises.

Admission is free, but prior registration is necessary.

If you wish to attend, please register through Eventbrite: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/the-elixir-of-the-mystics-reading-the-first-heaven-in-arabic-and-english-tickets-950697530907?aff=oddtdtcreator

October 26 – Online talk

The Heart of Azrael: Angelification and Angelomorphism in Akbarian Sufism

More information to come

March 2024

Young Writer Award 2023 – Prize winner

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the 2023 MIAS Young Writers Award is Nur Ahmad, currently a PhD candidate at the University of Leiden. This is the fifth time that the Society has run this competition, which gives an award (this year $1500) for the best essay written by a young scholar under the age of 35 on a theme related to Ibn ‘Arabi or his legacy.

The award was judged by three prominent Ibn ‘Arabi scholars – Professor Michael Sells of the University of Chicago; Dr Aydogan Kars of Monash University, Australia; and Dr Angela Jaffray, who will be best-known to members of the Society for her translations of Ibn ‘Arabi’s works, The Universal Tree and the Four Birds (Anqa Publishing, 2007) and The Secrets of Voyaging (Anqa Publishing, 2015). Many thanks to them for the time and attention they devoted to task of choosing a winner out the eight excellent entries that we received.

The winning essay is entitled ‘Akbarian Hermeneutics in pre-Modern Javanese Literature’. As the title suggests, this is an exploration of Sufi Quranic exegesis in Javanese culture for which, as Ahmad explains, Ibn ‘Arabi’s ideas formed the predominant framework. The judges felt that this is a ground-breaking piece of work, exploring a previously little-known area of study and exhibiting excellent scholarship based on hitherto unstudied sources.

Other entries are also thought worthy of mention. ‘Highly Commended’ are Elif Emirahmetoglu for her essay: ‘The Human Self and Personhood in Akbarīan Sufism and Chinese Buddhism’, which again, breaks new ground in its detailed comparison between these two highly sophisticated traditions; and Sophie Tyser for her essay ‘The World, Man and Ritual Prayer according to Ibn al-ʿArabī’ for its thorough and comprehensive exposition on Ibn ‘Arabi’s understanding of prayer. ‘Commended’ is Farah Akhtar for ‘Cosmos as Revelation: Reason, Imagination, and the Foundations of Ibn ‘Arabī’s Scriptural Hermeneutics’. All four of these essays will be submitted to the Society journal for consideration for publication.

Many thanks to all those who sent in submissions to the award. The hard work and thought that went into all the essays is much appreciated, and it is great to know that there are such excellent young scholars working on Ibn ‘Arabi’s heritage. It bodes very well for the future of Akbarian studies.

Jane Clark

About the young writers

Nur Ahmad is currently a PhD student of Islamic philosophy at Leiden University. His PhD research is a study of Fayḍ al-Raḥmān fī Tarjama Tafsīr Kalām Mālik al-Dayyān (“The Grace of the Merciful in the Interpretative Translation of the Words of the King and the Judge”), a Javanese Ṣūfī tafsīr by Muḥammad Ṣāliḥ al-Samārānī (c. 1820-1903). He argues that this tafsīr points to the shift in the intellectual world of Java at the end of the nineteenth century. He has had a lifelong interest in Ṣūfi thought in Javanese traditional literature and its popular expressions in lived traditions of Sufism in Java. Ahmad’s academic pursuits in the field of Sufism in Java are also motivated by the teaching position he has at Walisongo’s State Islamic University (UIN Walisongo), Semarang, Indonesia. As the chairman (2024-2026) of the Netherlands Branch Nahdlatul Ulama, an Islamic traditional organization, he makes an effort to manifest his interest in Javanese thought and poetry in popular forms, such as working together with Javanese traditional artists in the adaptation of Javanese Ṣūfī poetry into sacred dances and songs.

Elif Emirahmetoğlu is a research assistant at the Berlin Institute of Islamic Theology, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin. Recently, she submitted her PhD thesis, which compared the concept of human beings in Ibn al-‘Arabī (d. 1240) and Shinran Shōnin (d. 1263). Her research interests include Sufism, Islamic philosophy, Buddhism, comparative philosophy, and comparative mysticism. She is currently preparing for her postdoctoral project to explore various dimensions of human subjectivity in classical and post-classical Islamic anthropologies, and aims to reinterpret these perspectives with philosophical discussions on human subjectivity in the 20th and 21st centuries which have taken recourse to German idealism.

Sophie Tyser obtained her doctorate in Islamic studies in 2022 from the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Paris) in France. Her doctoral thesis, entitled ‘In The Horizons and Within Themselves’ : Man, The World and The Revelation in The Teaching of Ibn al-ʿArabī, focuses on the micro-macrocosmic imbrications in the work of the shaykh al-akbar. Since 2022 she has taught Arabic language and literature at the University of Turin in Italy.

Farah Akhtar is a graduate of the M.Div program at the University of Chicago’s Divinity School where she focused on Qur’anic hermeneutics and constructive Islamic theology. Her research interests include examining the literary form and exegetical function of metaphysical literature in the post-classical period and their significance to understanding the life of the Qur’an in Muslim societies. She is also interested in conceptions and interpretations of scripture in Indo-Persian mystical and philosophical poetry, with specific reference to the cosmos and existence. Prior to graduate study, Farah lived in Amman, New York and Lahore, studying Arabic, Persian and various Islamic texts in informal settings, including writings of Said Nursi. She is currently pursuing a doctoral degree in Islamic Studies at the University of Chicago.