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The Refinement of Souls: A Translation of Taj al-Arus al-Hawi li Tahdhib al-Nufus (2nd Edition - Hardcover)
The Refinement of Souls: A Translation of Taj al-Arus al-Hawi li Tahdhib al-Nufus (2nd Edition - Hardcover)
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Translator
Amjad Mahmood
Description
About The Book
The Refinement of Souls presents Amjad Mahmood's translation of Tāj al-‘arūs al-ḥāwī li-tahdhīb al-nufūs, a concise manual of spiritual instruction by Imam Ibn ʿAṭā' Allāh al-Sakandarī. Written by this Sufi master of the Shādhilī order, the work gathers spiritual counsels, aphorisms, and private discourses with the Divine, offering a compact but substantial guide to the inner life.
Within its pages, readers will encounter reflections on repentance, sin, the struggle against the lower self, envy, and reliance on divine planning. The material moves between practical counsel and intimate address, giving the text both instructive and devotional dimensions.
This edition is presented as a hardback of 100 pages, making it accessible for sustained study or repeated reading. The work is suited to a wide readership: it serves as a guide for beginners and advanced students alike, and for Sufis and non-Sufis who wish to engage with classical spiritual instruction. Its brevity belies the depth of its subject matter, and it rewards careful, unhurried reading.
About the Contributor(s)
About the author
Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari: Ibn ʿAtaʾ Allah al-Iskandari (c. 650–709 AH / c. 1252–1309 CE), in full Taj al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn ʿAbd al-Karim, was an Egyptian jurist and Sufi master honored as the third great teacher of the Shadhili order. Born and raised in Alexandria during the Mamluk period, he was a Maliki in law and at first devoted himself wholly to the religious sciences, with little inclination toward the Sufi path. That changed when he became a disciple of Abu al-ʿAbbas al-Mursi, the close successor of the order's founder Abu al-Hasan al-Shadhili. Under al-Mursi he matured into a guide who united outward learning with inward realization, and he went on to teach at the al-Azhar mosque in Cairo. He died in 709 AH and was buried in the Qarafa cemetery beneath the Muqattam hills, where his tomb is still visited. His most famous work, Kitab al-Hikam (The Book of Wisdoms), is a collection of concise aphorisms on reliance upon God, sincerity, and the realities of the spiritual life; its beauty and depth have drawn many commentaries across the centuries. Among his other enduring works are Lataʾif al-Minan, a biography of al-Mursi and al-Shadhili; al-Tanwir fi Isqat al-Tadbir, on surrendering self-direction to God; and Miftah al-Falah, a manual of invocation (dhikr). He remains one of the most widely read voices of the Shadhili tradition.
About the translator
Amjad Mahmood: Amjad Mahmood is a contemporary translator and annotator of classical Islamic texts, working chiefly with Heritage Press in the United Kingdom. His renderings give English readers careful access to works of Sufism and Hanafi law, with attention to footnoting, source references, and the Qurʾan and Sunna citations embedded in the original texts. Among his best known works is The Refinement of Souls, a translation of Taj al-ʿArus al-Hawi li-Tahdhib al-Nufus by Ibn ʿAtaʾ Allah al-Iskandari, the Shadhili master. The book gathers spiritual instructions, aphorisms, and intimate discourses with the Divine, treating themes such as repentance, the effects of sin, the struggle against the lower self, envy, and reliance on divine planning. Mahmood has also translated devotional and juristic primers, notably the "A Believer's Guide" series on prayer, fasting, and zakat, which render treatises by scholars including Muhammad Hisham Burhani and Ahmad ibn Zayni Dahlan, and he has worked on creedal material associated with the Hanafi and Maturidi tradition. Working from within the traditional Sunni scholarly current, his translations are valued for plain, faithful English and useful annotation rather than paraphrase. Detailed biographical information about him is not widely published; he is known primarily through his body of translation work.
Specifications
EAN 13 / ISBN
9780993475627
Publisher
Heritage Press
Author
Ibn Ata Allah al-Iskandari
Pages
101
Translator
Amjad Mahmood
Year Published
2019
Size
W-5.6 in | H-8.8 in | D-0.6 in
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