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Sufism: A New History of Islamic Mysticism. By ALEXANDER KNYSH. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2017. Pp. xiv + 389, illus. $29.95 (cloth); $21.95 (paper). Sufism: A New History of Islamic [...]

Repentance and the Return to God: Tawba in Early Sufism. By ATIF KHALIL. Albany, NY: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 2018. Pp. xi + 260. $95 (cloth); $32.95 (paper). [...]

The Translator of Desires: Poems by Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi. Translated by MK'H.AEL SELLS. Princeton: PRINCETON UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2021. Pp. xxxviii +323. $24.95 (paper). Michael Sells's poetically inspired translation and critical [...]

God's 'down-sending' (inzāl/tanzīl) of words in the form of the Quran is arguably one of the most important problems in Islamic theology. Mu?yī al-Dīn ibn al-ʿArabī's views on this topic - as well as his theory concerning the reality of Quranic recitation - inform this consideration of revelation, which responds to positions both contemporary and classical. By investigating a theory attributed to the philosopher Abū Na?r al-Fārābī, one championed by later Muslim philosophers, this paper addresses an ongoing question: What does it mean for the Quran to be revealed to a human being? Ibn al-ʿArabī's distinctive hermeneutics and cosmology help navigate a response that acknowledges the complexities raised in the model attributed to al-Fārābī. In discovering Ibn al-ʿArabī's points of divergence from al-Fārābī, however, the centrality of language to Ibn al-ʿArabī's metaphysics comes to light. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the place of traditional metaphysics in Iranian cinema through an analysis of three films by Majid Majidi. Countering evaluations of Majidi's films as tritely patriarchal or heavy-handedly logocentric, this paper considers images and allegories in Majidi's films as responses to the pains of modernity. Majidi's films, specifically, Children of Heaven, Baran, and the Color of God, draw on Sufi and Shii theologies to locate meaning in a world changed by war, modernization, economic disparity, and nationalism. The result is a sense of ambiguity that aims at both realism and transcendence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the religious and ethical concept of volitional death in the philosophical treatise "al-Us&#016B;l al-'Ashara," by Najm al-D&#012B;n Kubre. The treatise consists of ethical guidelines to Muslims who are on their spiritual journey, which starts by seeking repentance and ends by satisfying the will of Allah. The ontological and eschatological implications of volitional death within the framework of the Koran are considered.