Mystical belief Kabbalah. Gnosticism. Sufism. These are all disciplines which are known as the 'mystical' sects of their religions. What does it mean for a set of beliefs to be 'mystical'? In one sense, these beliefs are religious in the typical way: they posit the existence of God, they make a distinction between the sacred… Continue reading Sufism: the God of the mystics
The Phaedo is the most famous curtain call in all of philosophy. It documents the final days of Socrates' life, spent in rigorous dialogues with his friends and fellow thinkers. It is a testament to his own conviction that the contemplative life, dedicated to the pursuit of truth, is the highest good—even in the face… Continue reading The soul in Plato’s Phaedo and in the Quran
The distinction between the human and the divine is fundamental to religion. In the Abrahamic tradition, man is fashioned from clay and infused with the breath of divine spirit. In ancient Chinese mythology, heaven and earth once intermixed: it took the work of the mother-goddess Nüwa to repair the cosmos and provide a stable inhabitance… Continue reading God as particular form
The source: Futuhat al-Makkiyah Sufi scholar and mystic Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi's life can be divided into two eras; the first spent in his birthplace Andalusia, and the second spent traveling around the East. His major work Futuhat al-Makkiyah, or the Meccan revelations, is a culmination of thought influenced by his Eastern tour, where he performed the Islamic pilgrimage… Continue reading Ibn Arabi on free will
Last week, we analyzed surah al-Qadr and came to some conclusions about the nature of revelation and predestination. We asked the question: how could it be that in the Islamic tradition, two separate events comprise the 'initial revelation' of the Quran? Our answer was that the commands of the Quran, in the sense of the… Continue reading The Preserved Tablet
The source: surah al-Qadr Surah al-Qadr is the 97th chapter of the Quran, containing 5 verses: إِنَّا أَنزَلْنَاهُ فِي لَيْلَةِ الْقَدْرِ وَمَا أَدْرَاكَ مَا لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ لَيْلَةُ الْقَدْرِ خَيْرٌ مِّنْ أَلْفِ شَهْرٍ تَنَزَّلُ الْمَلَائِكَةُ وَالرُّوحُ فِيهَا بِإِذْنِ رَبِّهِم مِّن كُلِّ أَمْرٍ سَلَامٌ هِيَ حَتَّىٰ مَطْلَعِ الْفَجْرِ Indeed, we sent it down [the Quran] on the… Continue reading The Night of Destiny
Despite the fact that Muslims comprise only 1% of the American population, Islam is a topic we frequently encounter in the public sphere: we hear it in discussions about our foreign policy, about the ongoing European refugee crisis, about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and so on. But rarely are we exposed to the religion in an… Continue reading Sufi Sundays: Introduction
Prophemy 