Islamic Sainthood in the Fullness of Time: Ibn Al-Arabi's Book of the Fabulous Gryphon (Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science)

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Summary: TOO DARN EXPENSIVE!
Review: Someone really ought to tell E.J. Brill about the cost of their books. U$200+ for a one volume translation such as this (even if it is the Shaykh al-Akbar) is ridiculous, given that one can obtain the original Arabic text of Ibn `Arabi's _Kitab Anqa Mughrib_ at any decent book seller in Cairo or Damascus for less than U$15.

Rating:
Summary: "Ibn Al-Arabi" industry
Review: This book is way too expensive. I am glad Ibn Al-Arabi's writings is making some people rich. The poor guy and his writings are turning into an industry. How about creating a site "Arabi.com"and make money selling stocks.

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Summary: epochal translation original interpretation of ibn al-¿Arabi
Review: This is a epochal translation and original interpretation of ibn al-'Arabi's view of himself in relation to Mohammedian Sainthood as he re-conceived it. Like many mystics of genius Muhyi-l-Din ibn al-'Arabi found quite early in his career that his position in the hierarchy of mystics and minor prophets had a unique significance for the symbolic development of Islam, that would deepen and completely redefine the most exalted reaches of Islamic anthropology, philosophy of religion and mysticism. In many ways the west and the east is still in its infancy in approaching the towering edifice of this Saint's encyclopedic reworking of Islam, a reworking that may still proffer unique insights to any future philosophy of religion. In fact it is only with the advent of philosophical hermeneutics and the recent turn of philosophy toward religious studies as suggested by de Vries (PHILOSOPHY AND THE TURN TO RELIGION by Hent de Vries $24.95, paperback, 473 pages, Johns Hopkins University Press, ISBN: 0801859956) that the preliminary tools and attitudes are now possible in the academic discourse study of ibn al-'Arabi's rich and difficult texts. The rigor of interpretation need to approach ibn al-'Arabi's massive literary output is well understood by western scholars who study him. His writings are full of detailed learning specific to his time and high culture, full of allusions unique to the Sufi milieu. William Chittick's works have contributed to a fuller understanding of this thinker who was all but ignored and hardly known in the West just two generations ago. In many ways ibn al-'Arabi offers a unique picture of the inner workings of a mystic because his writings have a autobiographical element to them that most mystical writings from the medieval period do not. Elmore's study is the first concerted effort to deal in-depth with the meaning of ibn al-'Arabi's Andalusian writings, the writings he produced before his hajj and life in Africa and Asia where his major works were composed. One of the more controversial of Elmore's contributions his reworking of the Saint's early life and his self-conceptions of his mystical station as "Mohammedian Seal of the Saints." This topic has concerned many Western excursions into the intricate labyrinth of his thinking. If we understand how ibn al-'Arabi thought of himself and what the scope of his project was then we have a practical key to the enormous reworking of universal Islam, an esoteric vision that few Sufi schools have ever matched or grasped without seriously falling in sectarian and ideological simplifications of ibn al-'Arabi's thought. The current dean of Akbarian studies Michel Chodkiewicz. exemplifies this approach in SEAL OF THE SAINTS: Prophethood and Sainthood in the Doctrine of Ibn 'Arabi. Elmore's study and translation provides a much more focused approach to the Saint's self-definition and the origins of his anthropology. One could say the Elmore's study is laying the groundwork for an historical critical approach to ibn al-'Arabi that attempts to provide a broader cultural as well as biographical context as background to understanding the saints work as a whole. More specifically Elmore offers a plethora of minutia in his notes that should advance Akbarian studies in many small but substantial ways well beyond the competence of this reviewer to consider. So far we have addressed only a few of the central features of Elmore's 226 page introduction. The major value of this work is in its significant translation of the Book of the Fabulous Gryphon (Kitab 'Anqa' Mughrib). Elmore provides this poetic and theosophical work with a clear translation and plenty of guidance in notes and commentary to provide future considerations of the saint's hierarchy of sainthood much serious attentiveness to continuities and variations in ibn al-'Arabi thought. All in all this is a major work of scholarship that any serious student of ibn al-'Arabi's theosophy cannot afford to ignore.