Lataif Al-Isharat Subtle Allusions: Great Commentaries On The Holy Qur'an
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Translator
Kristin Zahra Sands
Description
About The Book
Subtle Allusions (Lataʾif al-isharat) is a line-by-line Arabic Qurʾanic commentary by the scholar and Sufi master Abu l-Qasim al-Qushayri (d.465/1074), who was also the author of the influential and widely read handbook on Sufism known as the Risala. Qushayri believed, like other Sufis, that the Qurʾan has layers upon layers of meaning, and that the attempt to reduce these layers to definitive interpretations demonstrates the limitations of the intellect rather than fidelity to the text.
He suggested instead that the meaning of the Qurʾan is something to be discovered on an ongoing basis by individuals who are deeply engaged in reflection and other spiritual practices. Qushayri demonstrates this kind of interpretation in the Lataʾif with his own and other Sufis’ comments and meditations on the entire Qurʾan, not just the passages that would seem to be particularly conducive to a more interiorized or mystical reading. The commentary is noteworthy for its literary quality.
Although Qushayri sometimes writes as the religious scholar he was, he also uses poetry, metaphors, and word play to make his points. It is a literary form of exegesis that is learned, flexible and elegant. The translation here is based on the Arabic printed edition of the Lataʾif edited by Ibrahim Basyuni, with reference to two additional manuscript sources. Part I includes Qushayri’s extensive commentary on suras 1 through 4.
About the Contributor(s)
About the author
al-Qushayri: Imam Abu al-Qasim Abd al-Karim ibn Hawazin al-Qushayri rahimahullah (376-465 AH / 986-1072 CE) was one of the foremost scholars of Khurasan in his era, combining mastery of Shafi'i fiqh, Ash'ari kalam, hadith, and Sufi spiritual training. He received Sufi formation under Abu Ali al-Daqqaq of Nishapur, his father-in-law and spiritual master, and studied kalam under Abu Bakr ibn Furak. His al-Risala al-Qushayriyya, completed in 437 AH, is regarded as the most authoritative classical systematization of Sunni Sufism: it opens with biographical notices of early Sufi imams from al-Fudayl ibn Iyad through al-Junayd and al-Qushayri's own teachers, then provides a systematic exposition of the technical vocabulary of the path, and concludes with an extended treatment of the conduct of the spiritual wayfarer. Later scholars such as al-Suhrawardi in the Awarif al-Ma'arif and al-Ghazali in the Ihya drew upon it extensively. His Lataif al-Isharat stands among the major works of Sufi tafsir, and Nahw al-Qulub and Tartib al-Suluk are widely-read shorter Sufi treatises.
About the translator
Kristin Zahra Sands: Kristin Zahra Sands is a scholar of Islamic studies specializing in Sufi hermeneutics and Qur'anic commentary. She holds the Harlequin Adair Dammann Chair in Islamic Studies at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, New York, where her teaching encompasses the Qur'an, Sufism, contemporary Islamic thought, and contemporary Muslim literature and art. She received her PhD in Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies from New York University in 2000. Her monograph 'Sufi Commentaries on the Qur'an in Classical Islam' (Routledge, 2006) is a major scholarly contribution to the field of Sufi tafsir studies, and she has published additional articles on Sufi hermeneutics. Her translation of al-Qushayri's 'Lataif al-Isharat' brings one of the foundational works of Sufi Qur'anic interpretation into English for the first time.
Specifications
EAN 13 / ISBN
9781891785214
Publisher
Fons Vitae
Author
al-Qushayri
Pages
529
Translator
Kristin Zahra Sands
Year Published
2017
Size
W-7 in | H-10.7 in | D-1.4 in
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