The Vision of Islam

About the Book Jalal ai-Din Rumi, author of a vast collection of Persian odes and lyrics, of which a selection is here offered in translation, was born in 1207 AD at Balkh, which now lies within the frontiers of Afghanistan and died in 1273 at Konya, in Asiatic Turkey. For an account of his life and times, the reader is invited to peruse the preface to my version of Rumi's Fihi maiht, published by John Murray in 1961 under the title Discourses of Rumi; there is nothing I wish to add to what is written there, except by way of stressing the curious circumstances which attended Rumi's transformation from sober theologian and preacher into ecstatic' dancer and enraptured poet.

The intense excitement of these adventures trans exploring the fundamental religious beliefs held by Muslims for nearly 1400 years, The Vision of Islam covers the four dimensions of Islam -practice, faith, spirituality, and the Islamic view of history, as outlined in the Health of Gabriel.

Interweaving teachings from the Koran, the sayings of the Prophet, and the Great authorities of the tradition, the Author introduce the essential of each dimension, then go on to describe how each has been manifest in Islamic institutions through the course of history.

About the Author William C Chit tick (born 1943) is a leading translator and interpreter of classical Islamic philosophical and mystical texts. He is best known for his ground breaking work on Rumi and Ibn 'Arabi, and has written extensively on the school of Ibn 'Arabi, Islamic philosophy, and Islamic cosmology.

Born in Milford, Connecticut, Chittick finished his BA at the College of Wooster in Ohio, and then went on to complete a PhD in Persian literature at Tehran University under the supervision of Seyyad Hossein Nasrin 1974.

An Associate and later on Assistant Professor at the Imperial Iranian Academy of philosophy 1976-79, he became the Assistant Editor of the Encyclopedia Iranica at the Columbia University in 1983. He worked as the Assistant Professor of Religious Studies at the state University of New York, Stony Brook From 1983-1991 where he presently holds the post of the professor of Comparative Studies. He has published numerous books, among them, A Shi'ite Anthology; imaginal Worlds; Faith and Practice of Islam; The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn AI- 'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination; the Sufi Path of Love: The spiritual Teachings of Rumi; The Vision of Islam and Sufism - A Short Introduction.

Sachiko Murata (born 1943) is a professor of religion and Asian studies at the State University of New York at Stony Brook. She is a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow She received her B A from Chiba University in Chiba, Japan, and later attended Iran's Tehran University where she was the first woman ever to study fiqh {Islamic jurisprudence) at that school. She received her PhD in Persian literature, but shortly before completing her PhD in Islamic Jurisprudence, the Iranian Revolution caused her and her husband William Chittick to leave the country.

Murata resettled at SUNY Stony Brook in Stony Brook, New York, where she teaches Islam, Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages