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Lessons from the Mountaintop is an inspiring account of the experiences of modern-day spiritual explorers who have dedicated their lives to the mystic quest to find their own Truth. It is aimed at readers looking for answers in our complex and challenging world. Few of us will ever retreat to a mountaintop or spend decades in monastic silence. Some of the individuals profiled in Lessons from the Mountaintop have done exactly that. Others have spent their lives studying with spiritual masters of multiple traditions. A New York record company art director, a medical doctor from Australia, a formerly unhoused non-binary BIPOC Californian, and other once "ordinary" folk who have carved out their...
This is a book on Rumi's life, his poetry, his thought, and his influence. Rumi's work forms one of the pillars of the Sufi orders, particularly the Mevlevi order, better known in the West as the Whirling Dervishes. In this book Rumi emerges not only as a spiritual master, but also as a fully human being grounded firmly in the Koran and in classical Islamic mysticism. The light of the Divine Sun, in its Beauty and Majesty, manifested itself for Rumi through the person of Shams of Tabriz. Transformed by this light, consumed by this fire, Mowlana Rumi saw the world in a new light. Everywhere he perceived God's Grandeur and his Grace. The book also discusses the theological premises upon which Rumi's work rests, his attitude to the problems of free will and predestination, and his analysis of the mystical stages and stations. The book not only gives a very rich analysis of Rumi's language and poetical art, but also a picture of medieval Konya, whose features the mystical poet transforms and transfigures.
Edward E. Curtis "finds Islam" in the American experience through an unusually personal selection of essays and documents. Sampling from speeches, interviews, editorials, stories, song lyrics, articles, autobiographies, blogs, and other sources, Curtis creates a patchwork narrative of Muslims from diverse ethnic and class backgrounds, religious orientations, and political affiliations. He begins with a history of Muslims in the United States, featuring the voices of an enslaved African Muslim, a Syrian Muslim sodbuster, a South Asian mystic-musician, and Malcolm X. Then he explores contemporary issues concerning Islam and gender, the involvement of Muslims in American politics, and emerging ...
Despite frequent and extensive publications on Islam, very few Americans, indeed very few non-Muslims, truly understand the faith or the more than one billion adherents who live it. This set presents the diversity and richness of Islam, filling in the blanks and expanding our knowledge and understanding. Portraying Muslims in all their humanity and diversity balances the images that have bombarded society and presents the reader with a fuller and more accurate picture of the Islamic faith and what it means to live as a Muslim—in Muslim communities, and as part of a broader tapestry of pluralism in the nations of the world. What does it mean to share Muslim concerns? To experience Muslim sp...
The Turkish Muse: Views and Reviews, 1960s-1990s, collects Talat S. Halman's book reviews written in English and, read chronologically, provides a unique perspective on the development of Turkish literature and criticism during the formative and later years of the Turkish Republic. The new genres adopted from Europe and, to a lesser extent, from the United States include the novel, the short story, the stage play, and the essay. The reviews collected in this volume reflect the way in which these genres developed and matured within their new milieu of Turkish letters. Establishing each book in its literary, social, and cultural Turkish context, Halman then addresses the work's more international or universal importance. Written over a period of four decades, these reviews illuminate the careers of many writers from their early work to their rise as leading Turkish poets, novelists, and dramatists--Ilhan Berk, Melih Cevdet Anday, Güngör Dilmen, Fazil Husnu Daglarca, and Yasar Kemal, to name just a few. More recent reviews discuss the work of such important figures as Hilmi Yavuz and Orhan Pamuk.
"These poems deal with longing for union with God, the desire to know the Real from the false, the inexpressible beauty of creation when seen through the eyes of Love, and the many attitudes of heart, mind and feeling necessary to those who would find the Beloved, The Friend, in this life."--BOOK JACKET.
The classic text describing the core mystical teachings and practice of Islam -- accessible to everyone -- in a beautifully designed volume with names, translations, meanings, and meditations.
Sufism is the esoteric aspect of Islam. Its purpose is to convey direct knowledge of the eternal. The Sufis impart knowledge through lineages that go back to the Prophet Muhammud. In these various Sufi orders, the zikr, the repetition of "la illaha illa'llah" (There is no God but God), is part of initiation ceremonies. In fact, the method of the Sufis is zikr, and the manner in which zikr is performed is the essential difference among the various orders. The Dervishes repeat their zikr as they turn. They empty their hearts of all but the thought of God and whirl in the ecstatic movements of His breath.
A broad-ranging, illustrated, scholarly treatment of the different ways that Sufism is lived out around the world, with attention to the various sects and their writings of core topics in Islamic spirituality.