The Divine Names: A Mystical Theology of the Names of God in the Qurʾan

Summary

This book presents a bilingual edition and study of a major Sufi work on the divine names by the North African mystic ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī, a direct intellectual heir of Ibn al-ʿArabī. The author's travels across Sunni-ruled cities from Tlemcen to Konya to Cairo and Damascus formed a pan-Islamic Sufi nexus. Yousef Casewit's edition, translation, and commentary make this philosophically nuanced treatment of the Qur'anic divine names accessible to non-Arabic readers for the first time, situating it within Islamic metaphysics, Qur'anic hermeneutics, and Sufi theology.

Study at a glance

Abstract

The publication of The Divine Names: A Mystical Theology of the Names ofGod in the Qurʾan marks a noteworthy addition to the growing body ofliterature on Islamic metaphysics, Qurʾanic hermeneutics, and Sufi theology.Composed by the understudied yet intellectually formidable NorthAfrican Sufi ʿAfīf alDīn alTilimsānī, this work represents one of themost philosophically nuanced treatments of the divine names (alasmāʾalḥusnā) in the intellectual tradition left by Ibn al-ʿArabī. AlTilimsānīis directly linked to Ibn al-ʿArabī through his master Muʾayyad al-Dīnal-Jandī (d. 690/1291) and his master’s master Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī(d. 673/1274), Ibn al-ʿArabī’s direct disciple/stepson. Casewit’s prefacedetails alTilimsānī’s multi-lingual cosmopolitan training and travels fromZayyanid-ruled Tlemcen to Seljuk/Mongol-ruled Konya to Mamluk-ruledCairo and Damascus. These cities, we are informed, form a pan-IslamicSunni Sufi nexus threaded across a cluster of Sunni dynasties of the time.Contextualized, edited from multiple manuscripts, translated, explicated,and intertextually grounded by Yousef Casewit, this bilingual volumebrings to light a major source that has hitherto remained inaccessible tonon-Arabic-speaking audiences.

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