Life & Thought of Abu Bakr al-Shibli : NEW,
[A5+] Glossy Paperback - 164 pages,
Compiled by : Kenneth Avery [Sufi Historian]
First English Translation by Suny Press, [Released February 2015]
Published in USA.
Description :
Abu Bakr al-Shibli, may Allah be pleased with him - His Life & Thought in the Sufi Tradition.
Considers what is known of acclaimed early Sufi master Shaykh Abu Bakr al-Shibli, and how he was characterised in various times and places.
Early Sufi master Abu Bakr al-Shibli, may Allah be pleased with him, (d. 946) is both famous and unknown. One of the pioneers of Islamic mysticism, he left no writings, but his legacy was passed down orally, and he has been acclaimed from his own time to the present. Accounts of Shaykh al-Shibli present a fascinating figure: an eccentric with a showy red beard, a lover of poetry and wit, an ascetic who embraced altered states of consciousness.
The author offers a contemporary interpretation of al-Shibli’s thought and his importance in the history of Sufism. This book surveys the major sources for al-Shibli’s life and work from both Arabic and Persian traditions, detailing the main facets of his biography and teachings and documenting the evolving figure of a Sufi saint. Al-Shibli’s relationships with his more famous colleague Al-Junayd al-Baghdadi, may Allah be pleased with him, and his infamous colleague Mansur al-Hallaj are discussed, along with his Qur’anic spirituality, his poetry, and the question of his periodic state of mind.
Table of Contents :
---Acknowledgments,
---[1]. Introduction,
---[2]. The Historical Context.
Al-Shibli in the Classical Sources :
---[3]. Al-Sarraj’s Book of Illuminations, Kitab al-Luma,
---[4]. Al-Kalabadhi’s Book of Understanding, Kitab at-Ta'arruf,
---[5]. Al-Sulami’s Generations of Sufis, Tabaqat al-Sufiya,
---[6]. Abu Nu’aym’s Ornament of God’s Friends, Hilyat al-Awliya,
---[7]. Al-Qushayri’s Treatise, Risala al-Qushayri,
---[8]. Al-Hujwiri’s Revealing the Veiled, Kashf al-Mahjub,
---[9]. Al-Ansari’s Generations of the Sufis, Manazil al-Sa'irin,
---[10]. Al-Ruzbihan’s Explanation of Ecstatic Sayings, Sharh al-Shathiyat,
---[11]. Fariduddin al-‘A??ar’s Memoirs of God’s Friends, Tadhkirat al-Awliya,
---[12]. Al-Jami’s Breaths of Intimacy, Nafahat al-Uns,
---[13]. Two Non-Sufi Historians: Khatib al-Baghdadi and al-Dhahabi,
---[14]. Al-Shibli and the Sources: Conclusions.
Themes and Relationships :
---[15]. Narrative Structures and Styles,
---[16]. The Nature of Al-Shibli’s Sayings,
---[17]. Al-Shibli and Junayd al-Baghdadi,
---[18]. Al-Shibli and Al-Hallaj,
---[19]. The Question of Al-Shibli’s Insanity,
---[20]. Al-Shibli’s Poetry,
---[21]. Al-Shibli and the Qur’an,
---[22]. Conclusion.
---Notes,
---Bibliography,
---Index.
Also see Sufism books.
