ABOUT US
BOOKS
SUBJECTS
SERIES
PUBLISH WITH US
CONTACT
LOGIN
PROFILE
ORDERS
LOGOUT
0
vikramjain@sanctumbooks.com
×
x
x
LOGIN
PROFILE
ORDERS
LOGOUT
x
ABOUT US
BOOKS
SUBJECTS
SERIES
PUBLISH WITH US
CONTACT
Home:
Subjects:
Islam & Sufism
Literature & Poetry
Religion & Philosophy
Middle Eastern Studies
x
Front Cover
Back Cover
The Essence of Reality: A Defense of Philosophical Sufism
Authors:
ʿAyn al-Quḍāt (author)
,
Mohammed Rustom (translator)
,
Livia Kohn (foreword)
,
Bilal Orfali (editor)
Series:
Library of Arabic Literature
ISBN:
9789395474771
Binding:
Hardcover
Year:
2026
Pages:
270
Size:
15 x 23 x 2 cm
Weight:
480 grams
Price:
INR
1995
1796.00
About the Book
A groundbreaking exposition of Islamic mysticism.
The Essence of Reality
was written over the course of just three days in 514/1120, by a scholar who was just twenty-four. The text, like its author ʿAyn al-Quḍāt, is remarkable for many reasons, not least of which that it is in all likelihood the earliest philosophical exposition of mysticism in the Islamic intellectual tradition. This important work would go on to exert significant influence on both classical Islamic philosophy and philosophical mysticism.Written in a terse yet beautiful style,
The Essence of Reality
consists of one hundred brief chapters interspersed with Qurʾanic verses, prophetic sayings, Sufi maxims, and poetry. In conversation with the work of the philosophers Avicenna and al-Ghazālī, the book takes readers on a philosophical journey, with lucid expositions of questions including the problem of the eternity of the world; the nature of God’s essence and attributes; the concepts of “before” and “after”; and the soul’s relationship to the body. All these discussions are seamlessly tied into ʿAyn al-Quḍāt’s foundational argument—that mystical knowledge lies beyond the realm of the intellect.
About the Authors
ʿAyn al-Quḍāt
ʿAyn al-Quḍāt (d. 525/1131) was a philosopher, mystic, and judge who was born in the western Iranian city of Hamadān. He was the student of Aḥmad al-Ghazālī (d. 520/1126), the brother of the famous Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111). A maverick figure, he was put to death by the Seljuqs at the age of thirty-four, ostensibly on charges of heresy.
Mohammed Rustom
Mohammed Rustom is Professor of Islamic Studies at Carleton University. An internationally recognized scholar whose works have been translated into over ten languages, he specializes in Sufism, Islamic philosophy, and Qurʾanic exegesis. He is author of
The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mullā Ṣadrā
and
Inrushes of the Heart: The Sufi Philosophy of ʿAyn al-Quḍāt
; co-editor of
The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary
; and translator of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī’s
Condemnation of Pride and Self-Admiration
.
Livia Kohn
Livia Kohn is Professor Emerita of Religion and East Asian Studies at Boston University. She is the author of
Sitting in Oblivion: The Heart of Daoist Meditation
.
Bilal Orfali
Editorial Reviews
“Rustom’s new book is a masterful translation, superb critical edition and comprehensive guide to the thought of one of the most prominent Muslim thinkers.”
—
Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations
“
The Essence of Reality
is a clear and fluent translation that successfully transfers the literary power of the original text into English.”
—
Nazariyat
“[Rustom’s] translation strikes a delicate balance between faithfulness to the Arabic original and readability for a wide audience… A historical classic brought back to life by Rustom’s able skills as translator and commentator.”
—
Marginalia (Los Angeles Review of Books)
“Like many readers of Arabic Sufi writings, I have always felt that translations of Sufi texts often miss the subtle beauty of the original Arabic. […] Reading
The Essence of Reality
, I now have a new standard of judgment. […] There is no doubt that
The Essence of Reality
represents a major feat in the field of Sufi studies.”
—
Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies
Customer Reviews
Books of related interest
The Divine Names: A Mystical Theology of the Names...
The Rules of Logic
In Deadly Embrace: Arabic Hunting Poems
Bedouin Poets of the Nafūd Desert
The Philosopher Responds: An Intellectual Corresp...
The Discourses: Reflections on History, Sufism, Th...
The Requirements of the Sufi Path: A Defense of th...
The Book of Monasteries
A Physician on the Nile: A Description of Egypt an...
Love, Death, Fame: Poetry and Lore from the Emirat...
The Yoga Sutras of Patañjali
Fate the Hunter: Early Arabic Hunting Poems
The Book of Travels
The Book of Charlatans
Kalīlah and Dimnah: Fables of Virtue and Vice
The Doctors’ Dinner Party
Impostures
Sufism and Power in the Ottoman Empire: The Writin...
From Ravidas and Nanak to Waris Shah: Texts, Langu...
A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poet...
A Two-Colored Brocade: The Imagery of Persian Poet...
The Failure of Islamic Modernism?: Syed Ameer Ali&...
Kings and Dervishes: Sufi World Renunciation and t...
Religion, Orientalism and Modernity: Mahdi Movemen...
Indian Poetics (Kavya Śastra) and Narratology Towa...
Word, Chant, and Song: Spiritual Transformation in...
Reading across Borders: Afghans, Iranians, and Lit...
City of Lyrics: Ordinary Poets and Islamicate Popu...
Myth and History in Ancient Persia: The Achaemenid...
Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and...
Under Osman’s Tree: The Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and...
Hegel’s Lectures on the Philosophy of World Histor...
India in Translation through Hindi Literature: A P...
Negotiating Historical Change Hindu Style
Ethnic Identity and Christianity: A Socio-Historic...
The Narrative Imagination and Ancient Indian Relig...
Tracing the Contours of the Unseen: Sufi Poetry, M...
The Ethics of Oneness: Emerson, Whitman, and the B...
Nationhood and Identity in Indian Adaptations of S...
Un-Disciplining Literature: Literature, Law, and C...
Cultural Contexts and Literary Forms: Essays on Ge...
Hidden Paradigms: Comparing Epic Themes, Character...
Iran to India: The Shansabānīs of Afghanistan, c. ...
The Indian Renouncer and Postmodern Poison: A Cros...
The Prophetic Novel
Ethnicity and Tribal Theology: Problems and Prospe...
Migrant Epistemologies in Indian Nonfiction of the...
Research as Praxis: Democratizing Education Episte...
The Spirit Lives: A Personal Journey from Loss to ...
Lived Religion, Representation, and Sikh Identity
Translation and the Accommodation of Diversity: In...
God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, an...
Songs of Home and Loss: Reconstructions of a Tamil...
Issues of Identity in Indian English Fiction: A Cl...
Confronting Fear in Faith: A Psycho-Pastoral Appro...
Behind Kṛṣṇa’s Smile: The Lord’s Hint of Laughter ...
The Audacious Raconteur: Sovereignty and Storytell...
The Islamic State in Afghanistan and Pakistan: Str...
Tasting Difference: Food, Race, and Cultural Encou...
The Role of the Petrine Ministry in the Ecumenical...
The Literary Thing: History, Poetry and the Making...
Across Literary and Linguistic Diversities: Essays...
Muslim Cultures of the Indian Ocean: Diversity and...
Release from Life – Release in Life: Indian Perspe...
The Culture Shocks of Rudyard Kipling (American Un...
Emerging South Asian Women Writers: Essays and Int...
D. T. Suzuki on the Unconscious in Zen Art, Medita...
Palimpsests Past and Present: The Sufis and Sultan...
Bishop Stephen Neill: From Edinburgh to South Indi...
God’s Shadow: Sultan Selim, His Ottoman Empire, an...
Parasites, Worms, and the Human Body in Religion a...
Becoming Poets: The Asian English experience
Catching Butterflies: Bringing Magical Realism to ...
A Mandala of Words: Cultural Realities in the Poem...
Evolution of Syntactic Theory in Sanskrit Grammar:...
Towards a Relevant Christology in India Today: An ...
The Politics of Muslim Identities in Asia
The Concept of Man in the Advaita Vedanta of Sanka...
Defining the Indefinable: Delimiting Hindi
Anti-Christian Violence in India
Everyday Islamic Law and the Making of Modern Sout...
The Divine Body in History: A comparative study of...
Midnight’s Orphans: Anglo-Indians in Post/Colonial...
Renunciation and the Making of Social Worlds
The Yoga of Nonseparation: Addressing Yoga’s Deepe...
The House of the Satrap: The Making of the Ancient...
Evolution of Syntactic Theory in Sanskrit Grammar:...
Narayan: A Study in Transcendence (Studies of Worl...
Religion, Society and Economics: Eastern and Weste...
Shelter for the Night: On Afghanistan, Language, a...
The Center of the World: A Global History of the P...
Martin Luther on Social and Political Issues: - Hi...
The Lion's Roar: Actualizing Buddhism in Daily...
The Purāṇic Condition: Textual Identity, Transform...
Self-Transcendence and Prosociality
Moral Order and Political Authority: An Interpreta...
Literary Orientalism, Postcolonialism, and Univers...
Sacred Matters, Stately Concerns: Faith and Politi...
Locating Hybridity: Creole, Identities and Body Po...
Islamic Law on Trial: Contesting Colonial Power in...
Global Literary Journalism: Exploring the Journali...
Panini's Grammatical Architecture: Economy, Ru...
The Global Vision: Karl Jaspers
Brotherhood of the Cross and Star: A New Religious...
Research as Praxis: Democratizing Education Episte...
Outsiders and Insiders: Perspectives of Third Worl...
The Rule of Four: Four Essays on the Principle of ...
Turning Points in the Philosophy of Language and L...
The Mahabharata and the Yugas: India's Great E...
The Literary Thing: History, Poetry and the Making...
Clearing a Space: Reflections on India, Literature...
The Breakup of India and Palestine: The Causes and...
Lineages of the Global City: Occult Modernism and ...
Sufis and Sharīʿa: The Forgotten School of Mercy
On the Outside Looking In(dian): Indian Women Writ...
Recognition: The Poetics of Narrative: Interdiscip...
Parting Gifts of Empire: Palestine and India at th...
Cartografia religiosa- Religiose Kartographie- Car...
Transoceanic Dialogues: Coolitude in Caribbean and...
Requiem for a Lightning Bolt
Exile and the Nation: The Parsi Community of India...
Re/Membering Place
Indian Writers: Transnationalisms and Diasporas
Colonial and Postcolonial Discourse in the Novels ...
Artificially Intelligent: The Very Human Story of ...
The Life of Shariʿa: A Comparative Anthropology of...
Women and Contemporary World Literature: Power, Fr...
The Other Jesus: Christology in Asian Perspective
Serendipitous Translations: A Sourcebook on Sri La...
Emotion, Mission, Architecture: Building Hospitals...
R.K. Narayan: A Painter of Modern India
Studies in Logic: A Dialogue between the East and ...
Yoga and Phenomenology on Consciousness
Ambient Sufism: Ritual Niches and the Social Work ...
The Quest for Postcolonial Utopia: A Comparative I...
Pilgrims and Travellers in Search of the Holy
Sinister Yogis
Religious Journeys in India: Pilgrims, Tourists, a...
Old Stacks, New Leaves: The Arts of the Book in So...
Global Literary Journalism: Exploring the Journali...
Wonder in South Asia: Histories, Aesthetics, Ethic...
Youth Violence and Pastoral Care: Pastoral Respons...
ADD REVIEW
Review Title
Review
Reviewer Name
Email