Method and Mysticism: Cosmos, Nature and Environment in Islamic Mysticism

by Seyyed Shahabeddin Mesbahi

Overview

In this pioneering work, Seyyed Shahabeddin Mesbahi offers a new methodology for approaching Islamic mystical concepts by examining the importance, place, and manifestation of the concepts of cosmos, nature, and environment in Islamic mysticism. The study presents a framework for understanding the exoteric and esoteric dimensions of these concepts, within selected stations (maqamat of the mystical path tariqa), and how, in a reciprocal interaction, they weave a "symbiotic whole." This work also reexamines the concept of "mystical experience" with regards to the Islamic mystics' approach toward the concepts of cosmos, nature, and environment, especially in the thoughts of great masters, such as Hallaj, Bayazid Bastami, Ghazali, Ruzbihan Baqli Shirazi, Ibn 'Arabi, Rumi, and Mulla Sadra.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781891785863
Publisher:	Fons Vitae of Kentucky, Incorporated
Publication date:	01/31/2012
Pages:	112
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.40(d)

About the Author

Seyyed Shahabeddin Mesbahi is currently a visiting fellow at the Oxford Center for Islamic Studies. He is the author of Muqaddama-yi Piramun-i Ravish Shinasi dar‘Irfan (An Introduction to Methodology in Islamic Mysticism).

Editorial Reviews

"Islamic mysticism, most of which is crystallized in Sufism, possesses both an active and a passive aspect, both a preparing oneself to 'wait upon God' and a journey with one's whole being to Him. Therefore, in its totality it involves a method—in both a philosophical and a practical sense—a method that is, in fact, central to Sufism and gnosis or 'irfān. It is this nexus between method and mysticism . . . that constitutes the theme of this short but important work."  —Seyyed Hossein Nasr, University Professor of Islamic Studies, George Washington University



"This book presents a new paradigm and creative approach to the study of Islamic spirituality. . . . This very important book . . . is an original and welcome addition to the contemporary scholarship on Islamic mysticism."  —Mohammad H. Faghfoory, department of religion, George Washington University

From the Publisher