The Essence of Reality : : A Defense of Philosophical Sufism / / ʿAyn al-Quḍāt; ed. by Mohammed Rustom.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter EBOOK PACKAGE COMPLETE 2022 English
• VerfasserIn: al-Quḍāt, ʿAyn,
• HerausgeberIn: Rustom, Mohammed,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2022]; ©2022
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Language: English
• Series: Library of Arabic Literature ; 80
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

A groundbreaking exposition of Islamic mysticismThe Essence of Reality was written over the course of just three days in 514/1120, by a scholar who was just twenty-four. The text, like its author ʿAyn al-Quḍāt, is remarkable for many reasons, not least of which that it is in all likelihood the earliest philosophical exposition of mysticism in the Islamic intellectual tradition. This important work would go on to exert significant influence on both classical Islamic philosophy and philosophical mysticism.Written in a terse yet beautiful style, The Essence of Reality consists of one hundred brief chapters interspersed with Qurʾanic verses, prophetic sayings, Sufi maxims, and poetry. In conversation with the work of the philosophers Avicenna and al-Ghazālī, the book takes readers on a philosophical journey, with lucid expositions of questions including the problem of the eternity of the world; the nature of God’s essence and attributes; the concepts of “before” and “after”; and the soul’s relationship to the body. All these discussions are seamlessly tied into ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s foundational argument—that mystical knowledge lies beyond the realm of the intellect.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Letter from the General Editor -- Table of Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Note on the Text -- Notes to the Introduction -- The Essence of Reality -- Preamble -- Introduction: The Reason for Writing This Book -- Chapter 1: Who Will Benefit from This Book? -- Chapter 2: A Proof of the Eternal -- Chapter 3: God’s Transcendence -- Chapter 4: Categories of Existence -- Chapter 5: Divine Names 28 Chapter 6: Divine Attributes -- Chapter 6: Divine Attributes -- Chapter 7: The Divine Names Are Relations -- Chapter 8: Necessity, Contingency, Impossibility -- Chapter 9: Why Did God Effectuate Existence? -- Chapter 10: The Face of God and Existents -- Chapter 11: God’s Infinite Knowledge -- Chapter 12: Knowledge Is a Divine Attribute -- Chapter 13: God’s Knowledge Is Changeless -- Chapter 14: A Glimpse at the Stage beyond the Intellect -- Chapter 15: The Inability to Comprehend God’s Knowledge -- Chapter 16: True Faith -- Chapter 17: The Intellect’s Proper Place -- Chapter 18: The Stage beyond the Intellect and Premises -- Chapter 19: The Inner Eye -- Chapter 20: Longing for God -- Chapter 21: Familiarity with the Spiritual World -- Chapter 22: The Stage of Prophecy -- Chapter 23: Faith in the Unseen -- Chapter 24: The Path to Faith in Prophecy -- Chapter 25: The Stage beyond the Intellect and the Divine Attributes -- Chapter 26: The Intellect’s Relationship to Love -- Chapter 27: The Lover’s Attraction to the Beloved -- Chapter 28: The Last Stage of the Intellect -- Chapter 29: “The Incapacity to Perceive Is Perception” -- Chapter 30: A Transition -- Chapter 31: God’s Essence and Attributes -- Chapter 32: The Divine Essence and Its Standpoints -- Chapter 33: The Way of the Righteous Predecessors -- Chapter 34: Scriptural Evidence -- Chapter 35: The Divine Attributes Are Relations -- Chapter 36: Nonduality -- Chapter 37: A Note on the Eternity of the World -- Chapter 38: Divine Causation -- Chapter 39: The True Nature of Causation -- Chapter 40: An Example Using Natural Phenomena -- Chapter 41: The Oneness of Existence and Causation -- Chapter 42: An Example Using Mirrors -- Chapter 43: The Mirror of the Intellect -- Chapter 44: The Forms in Mirrors Are Relations -- Chapter 45: A Note on the Limits of the Intellect -- Chapter 46: Mirrors and the State of Dreaming -- Chapter 47: Divine Power and Human Power -- Chapter 48: The Possible and the Impossible -- Chapter 49: Possibility Means Contingency -- Chapter 50: The Creation of the World and Time -- Chapter 51: Clarifications on the Term “World” -- Chapter 52: The Eternity of the World in the Eyes of the Recognizer -- Chapter 53: Do “Was” and “Is” Apply to God? -- Chapter 54: God’s Beginninglessness and Time -- Chapter 55: A Hint at Perpetual Renewal -- Chapter 56: Perpetual Renewal -- Chapter 57: Divine Withness -- Chapter 58: A Note on Cosmic Order -- Chapter 59: Witnessing Perpetual Renewal -- Chapter 60: God’s Coextensiveness in the Eyes of the Recognizer -- Chapter 61: The Difference between Knowledge and Recognition -- Chapter 62: God-Given Knowledge -- Chapter 63: Types of Knowledge and Instruction -- Chapter 64: Setting Out on the Path of Recognition -- Chapter 65: The Next Step on the Path of Recognition -- Chapter 66: Spiritual Companionship -- Chapter 67: Felicity -- Chapter 68: God’s Generosity toward Me -- Chapter 69: Finding a Spiritual Guide -- Chapter 70: True Spiritual Guides and False Claimants -- Chapter 71: Self-Admiration and Spiritual Guidance -- Chapter 72: Back to the Question of Divine Priority -- Chapter 73: God’s Withness Does Not Mean Human Withness -- Chapter 74: Categories of Proximity and Distance -- Chapter 75: The Last “Day” -- Chapter 76: The Soul’s Relationship to the Body -- Chapter 77: The Soul’s Immortality -- Chapter 78: Souls Precede Bodies -- Chapter 79: The Diversity of Souls -- Chapter 80: The Relationship between the Soul and the Body -- Chapter 81: God’s Self-Disclosure -- Chapter 82: The Annihilation of My Metaphorical Identity -- Chapter 83: My Yearning to Return Home -- Chapter 84: In the Divine Presence -- Chapter 85: A Final Word about My Journey -- Chapter 86: Fleeing from This World -- Chapter 87: Unhindered Souls -- Chapter 88: Faith in the Afterlife -- Chapter 89: The Intellect and the Afterlife -- Chapter 90: Faith in the Unseen -- Chapter 91: Searching for God -- Chapter 92: Striving for Understanding -- Chapter 93: The Evident and the Mysterious -- Chapter 94: The Coming of the Hour -- Chapter 95: The Stage beyond the Intellect Is Accessible to All -- Chapter 96: The Intellect and the Stage beyond It -- Chapter 97: Overcoming the Desire to Know -- Chapter 98: Freedom from Time and Space -- Chapter 99: Reaching God -- Chapter 100: An Invitation -- Conclusion: On Yearning -- Notes -- Glossary of Names -- Bibliography -- Further Reading -- Index of Qurʾanic Verses -- Index -- About the NYU Abu Dhabi Institute -- About the Typefaces -- Titles Published by the Library of Arabic Literature -- About the Editor–Translator