The Merciful Door : New,
'Living with a Sufi Teacher in India'
with Pir Rasheed Kaleemi al-Chishti al-Qadiri
[A5+] Large Paperback - 290 pages,
by Scott Siraj al-Haqq Kugle,
Published by Beacon.

 

Now in Stock  - July 2022

Description :
 

'The Merciful Door - Living with a Sufi Teacher in India' is a record of the intimate conversations, mystical teachings and spiritual practices shared between an Indian Sufi master and his American disciple.
 

“Wherever it may be, the candle burns, and in burning it gives others light. That is the way you must be.” When the soul burns with love, the ego softens like wax and dissolves, and others benefit by the light it transmits. So taught Pir Rasheed Kaleemi, a Sufi master who lived in Hyderabad, India. The Merciful Door narrates what his American disciple learned from him over a decade of living in India and translating his teachings into practice in America.
 

This book, born out of a direct request from Pir Rasheed himself, records the intimate conversations, mystical teachings, spiritual practices, and Qawwali songs that they shared. How is the soul related to the spirit? What is the body and how do we discover its hidden treasures? What is the eternal sound and how do we listen of it in music and in nature? How can we navigate interpersonal challenges, gender difference, sexual desire, political conflict and religious fundamentalism?


The Sufi teacher offers his disciple insights from the Qur'an, the Prophet Muhammad’s, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, example, and the rich depths of Sufi poetry in Persian and Urdu to illuminate these questions and other guidance. The book also reveals teachings of the Kaleemi Order, which combines Chishti and Qadiri initiations, with ancient roots in Arabia and India and modern global branches.

About the Author :

Scott (Siraj al-Haqq) Kugle received his PhD from Duke University in 2000 in History of Religions after graduating from Swarthmore College with High Honors in Religion, Literature, and History. His dissertation, In Search of the Center: Authenticity, Reform and Critique in Early Modern Islamic Sainthood, examined Sufism in North Africa and South Asia. His fields of expertise include Sufism, Islamic society in South Asia, and issues of gender and sexuality.


He is the author of seven books and numerous articles, including Sufis and Saints' Bodies: Mysticism, Corporeality and Sacred Power in Islamic Culture (UNC Press, 2007). He conducts research in India and Pakistan; his research languages are Arabic, Urdu, and Persian. Before coming to Emory, Kugle was an Assistant Professor of Religion at Swarthmore College and, most recently, a research scholar at the Henry Martyn Institute for Islamic Studies, Inter-Religious Dialogue, and Conflict Resolution in Hyderabad, India.


He was with the Emory University's Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies in Fall 2010. He was also an Assistant Professor of Religion at Swarthmore College and, most recently, a research scholar at the Henry Martyn Institute for Islamic Studies, Inter-Religious Dialogue, and Conflict Resolution in Hyderabad, India.

Also see Tasawwuf (Sufism),
Also see Chishtiyya
Also see books related to Shaykh 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jilani.

Dimensions : 23.5 x 15.6cm.