The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn Al-'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination
By: Chittick, William C.
Publication Date: 07/89
Publisher: SUNY
Binding: Trade Paper, 478pp.
ISBN:0887068855
Our Price: $29.95

Related Texts: Islam and Sufism

Synopsis
This volume contains excerpts from Ibn al-Arabi's discourse on Sufi thought entitled al-Futuhat al-makkiya- (Meccan Openings). "More than 600 passages from {the} . . . work, which by itself consists of four large volumes in the traditional editions, are translated here . . . and explained by way of a .. . running commentary. The material is arranged according to a broad thematic scheme, with the following terms serving as major headings: overview, theology, ontology, epistemology, hermeneutics, soteriology, and consummation." (Middle East J) Bibliography. Indexes.

B.B. Lawrence - Choice  
For those who delighted in the recent English translation of Fusus al-hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom, tr. by R.W.J. Austin, 1980), this rendition into English of Ibn al-Arabi's companion work . . . will be at once welcome and useful. . . . After an insightful introduction to scholarship on Ibn al-Arabi, followed by a comprehensive overview of his thought, Chittick sets out generous excerpts from Openings under six topical headings. . . . The metaphysical imagination of Ibn al-Arabi is challenging, but Chittick rises to the challenge and offers all students of Islam a stunning summation of tawhid by its foremost interpreter.
 
Hermann Landolt - The Middle East Journal  
Exhaustive indices, including a useful list of translated passages, help to make this work--devoted to the teaching of one of the most controversial among all Sufi authorities--an extremely valuable tool for further research. . .. In this introduction, Chittick speaks with admiration and gratitude of . . . Henry Corbin's Creative Imagination in the Sufism of Ibn Arabi {BRD 1970}. .. . Chittick's presentation is more kaleidoscopic in nature, perhaps due to his overriding concern to convey the message of the Futuhat as faithfully as possible. Yet, in the final analysis, one keeps wondering what that message actually is and why the shaykh became so famous with friends and foes alike.