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The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation: The Adornment of the Spiritually Transformed (Hilyat al-abdal)
The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation: The Adornment of the Spiritually Transformed (Hilyat al-abdal)
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Translator
Stephen Hirtenstein
Description
About The Book
This is the first English translation of Ibn 'Arabi’s Hilyat al-abdal, a short work which he wrote in the space of an hour during his Meccan period as something that would be ‘of assistance for those on the Path to true happiness’. Beginning with an anecdote concerning one of his Andalusian companions, Ibn ʿArabi proceeds to explain the exterior qualities of the spiritually transformed (abdāl). He particularly focuses on the four essential prerequisites of spiritual discipline: silence, seclusion, hunger and vigilance, describing how these appear among both aspirants and the spiritually realised.
One of the most popular of his short works, the Hilyat al-abdal was much copied, and this book includes the first critical edition of the text based on the best manuscripts, including one written in Malatya during the author’s lifetime. In addition, it provides a substantial introduction on the abdal saints, and a translation of Chapter 53 from the Futuhat al-Makkiyya, which deals with the same subject-matter.
About the Contributor(s)
About the author
Ibn Arabi: Muhyi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Arabi al-Hatimi al-Taʾi (560-638 AH / 1165-1240 CE) is among the most influential figures in the history of Islamic spirituality, revered by later generations as al-Shaykh al-Akbar, "the Greatest Master." He was born in Murcia in al-Andalus (Muslim Spain) and raised in Seville, where he received a broad education before turning fully to the path of the Sufis as a young man. From the 1190s onward he traveled across the Islamic world, through North Africa to Makka, then Baghdad, Anatolia, and other centers of learning, before settling in Damascus, where he taught, wrote, and was buried. He was one of the most prolific authors of the tradition, and two works stand at the center of his legacy: the monumental al-Futuhat al-Makkiyya ("The Makkan Revelations"), begun in Makka, and Fusus al-Hikam ("The Bezels of Wisdom"), a concentrated meditation on wisdom as embodied in the prophets. His articulation of the unity of being (wahdat al-wujud) and of the Perfect Human (al-insan al-kamil), in whom the divine names are fully realized, reshaped metaphysics, poetry, and devotion from the Maghrib to South and Central Asia. Alongside these great treatises he left prayers, litanies, and contemplative manuals, several of which appear here in English, that continue to nourish seekers today.
About the translator
Stephen Hirtenstein: Stephen Hirtenstein is a British scholar, translator, and editor who has devoted his career to the writings of Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi (560-638 AH / 1165-1240 CE), the Andalusian Sufi master honored as al-Shaykh al-Akbar, the Greatest Master. He read History at King's College, Cambridge, then studied at the Beshara School of intensive esoteric education in Gloucestershire and Scotland, an institution shaped by the Akbarian tradition. Since the Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn ʿArabi Society was founded in 1982, Hirtenstein has served as its editor, and he is a senior research fellow of the Society. He co-founded Anqa Publishing, a press dedicated to making Ibn ʿArabi's works available in careful English editions, and has worked as a senior editor on scholarly reference projects in London. He lives in Oxford. His best-known book, The Unlimited Mercifier, is a spiritual biography tracing Ibn ʿArabi's life and thought. As a translator he has rendered into English several of the master's shorter treatises, including Divine Sayings (the Mishkat al-Anwar, a collection of hadith qudsi), The Seven Days of the Heart, and The Four Pillars of Spiritual Transformation. A consistent thread in his work is the conservation and study of Ibn ʿArabi's surviving manuscripts, and he organizes journeys retracing the master's travels. His careful, accessible scholarship has helped introduce Akbarian thought to a wide English-reading audience.
Specifications
EAN 13 / ISBN
9781905937042
Publisher
Anqa Publishing
Author
Ibn Arabi
Pages
80
Translator
Stephen Hirtenstein
Year Published
2009
Size
W-5.5 in | H-8.2 in | D-0.2 in
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