The MIAS Blog: News and Views about Ibn Arabi
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Critical Edition of Ibn ‘Arabi’s Diwān
A critical edition of the text of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Diwān, edited by ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Sulṭān al-Manṣūb, has been published by Ninawa, Damascus, Syria; in five hardback volumes.
The Openings Revealed in Makkah
On June 23, Pir Press launched Volume 3 of The Openings Revealed in Makkah, Books 5 & 6 of the English translation by Eric Winkel of al-Futuhat al-Makkiyah.
Translator of Desires – Michael Sells
In The Translator of Desires, Michael Sells presents the first complete English translation of the Tarjumān al-Ashwaq since the 1911 translation by R.A. Nicholson, together with the Arabic text.
Ibn al-‘Arabî – Kıtâb al-’Isrâ
A translation into French of a work by Ibn ‘Arabi about his spiritual ascension (mi‘râj), which also draws on the commentary of his companion, Ibn Sawdakîn.
Shaykh Mahmud Ghurab
We have learned of the death of Shaykh Mahmud Ghurab in Cairo on 31st January 2021. His books in Arabic brought the life and work of Ibn ‘Arabi within reach of a broad public.
From Chapter 52 of the Futūhāt
Understanding the weakness of the human being – and lowliness, needfulness, the human being’s search for its survival, and the need for its Creator.
Sufism and the Perfect Human
Fitzroy Morrissey’s book details how ‘Abd al-Karim al-Jili expanded on this key subject in Ibn ‘Arabi’s writing.
Michel Chodkiewicz – A Legacy
Michel Chodkiewicz contributed immensely to the knowledge of Ibn Arabi in our time. We publish here the opening of Denis Gril’s obituary from Volume 67 of the Society Journal.
Discovering Compassion
James Morris puts in context a quotation from Ibn ‘Arabi on discovering and deepening Compassion.
One of the most neglected issues
Eric Winkel contributes a comment on a quotation from the Futūḥāt to the MIAS blog.
The Horizons of Being
The Metaphysics of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī
Translation and Commentary by Mukhtar H. Ali
The Horizons of Being explores the teachings of Ibn al-ʿArabī by examining Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī’s (d. 1350) Prolegomena (muqaddima) to his commentary, Maṭlaʿ khuṣūṣ al-kilam fī maʿānī Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam (A Preamble of Select Discourse on the Meanings of the Fuṣūṣ al-ḥikam), referred to simply as Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī. His commentary goes back to Ibn al-ʿArabī through Kāshānī, Jandī and Qūnawī, and remains very popular due to its thorough and accessible treatment of the Fuṣūṣ that frequently synthesizes the ideas of his predecessors.
In his introduction Dr Ali says:
“The Muqaddima stands on its own as an independent work and has been the subject of careful study. If the Futūḥāt contains the entirety of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s metaphysics which is distilled in the Fuṣūṣ, then Qayṣarī’s Muqaddima can be read not just as a précis of the Fuṣūṣ but as a summary of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s doctrine.
Qayṣarī writes in the preface to the Muqaddima that without comprehending all of these essential topics, it is not possible to understand the original text of the Fuṣūṣ. It is in light of this approach that he wrote the Muqaddima, which contains what he considers to be the fundamental issues in Sufism, such as Being, the divine names, prophethood, sainthood, unveiling, the Perfect Human and the Muḥammadan Reality.”
It was published by Brill in Hardback and E-Book editions on 18 June 2020. Pages: vi, 257 pp. (English and Arabic)
More information
Two other editions Dr Ali is believed to have in preparation are ‘Abd al-Rahman Jami’s (d.1492) Selected Texts Commenting on “Naqsh al-Fusus” and Haydar Amuli’s (d.1385) The Compendium of Mysteries and Fountainhead of Lights.
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