Self-Disclosure of God, Cosmology Principles of Ibn al-Arabis Cosmology William C. Chittick - Author $30.95 Paperback - 483 pages Release Date: December 1997 Summary Explicates the cosmology of Ibn al-Arabi, the greatest mystical thinker of Islamic civilization. The Self Disclosure of God offers the most detailed presentation to date in any Western language of the basic teachings of Islams greatest mystical philosopher and theologian. It represents a major step forward in making available to the Western reading public the enormous riches of Islamic teachings in the fields of cosmology, mystical philosophy, theology, and spirituality. Chittick has refined his way of translating Ibn al-Arabis terminology to a high degree of perfection. -- Gerhard Bowering, Yale University The Self-Disclosure of God continues the authors investigations of the world view of Ibn al-Arabi, the greatest theoretician of Sufism and the seal of the Muhammadan saints. The book is divided into three parts, dealing with the relation between God and the cosmos, the structure of the cosmos, and the nature of the human soul. A long introduction orients the reader and discusses a few of the difficulties faced by Ibn al-Arabis interpreters. Like Chitticks earlier work, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, this book is based primarily on Ibn al-Arabis monumental work, al-Futuhat al-makkiyya The Meccan Openings. More than one hundred complete chapters and subsections are translated, not to mention shorter passages that help put the longer discussions in context. There are detailed indices of sources, Koranic verses and hadiths. The books index of technical terminology will be an indispensable reference for all those wishing to delve more deeply into the use of language in Islamic thought in general and Sufism in particular. This is the type of work that many will refer to as a tour de force. Among its other accomplishments, it represents a painstaking reading, translation, and analysis of a major Muslim Arab thinker of notoriously intimidating erudition and subtlety. Best of all, it is clear and comprehensible, without sacrificing sophistication and precision. -- R. Kevin Lacey, State University of New York, Binghamton William C. Chittick is Professor of Comparative Studies at State University of New York, Stony Brook. He has published numerous books, among them, Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity; Faith and Practice of Islam: Three Thirteenth-Century Sufi Texts; The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-Arabis Metaphysics of Imagination; The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teachings of Rumi; and A Shiite Anthology, all published by SUNY Press. Table Of Contents Introduction Knowledge of the Cosmos Ibn Basic Themes The Principles of £ Ibn Cosmology The Breath of the All-Merciful Cosmic Language The Translators Dilemmas A Note on Format God and the Cosmos 1. Wujud and the Entities Signs, Marks, and Proofs Selves and Horizons Wujud From Chapter 73: The One Hundred and Third Question Causality Gods Knowledge Chapter 475: Gods Waymarks Chapter 411: The Precedent Book Gods Form The Nonexistent Entities From Chapter 463: The Third Pole Chapter 493: New Arrival From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Lights The Entities and the Names Chapter 406: Nothing Has Become Manifest Chapter 451: The Stairs Thingness of Fixity 2. Perpetual Self-Disclosure Creation From Chapter 73: The Thirtieth Question From Chapter 558: The Presence of the Creation and the Command Self-Disclosure Unending Renewal From Chapter 558: The Presence of Bringing Back Infinity From Chapter 198: The All-Merciful Breath Chapter 524: Gods Infinite Words The One Entity From Chapter 360: The Ninth Deputyship From Chapter 198: The Twenty-First Tawhid Bewilderment in the Many and the One Chapter 507: Shame Chapter 542: Blindness Chapter 391: The Quick-Flowing Course Chapter 430: Bewilderment in Arrival From Chapter 369: Annihilation and Subsistence Chapter 473: Your God Is One God From Chapter 72: Trotting around the Kaabah 3. The Face of God The Face Perishment Chapter 165: Realization From Chapter 73: The Ninety-Seventh Question Discerning the Face From Chapter 351: Yielding Chapter 527: Desiring the Face The Veil Chapter 254: The Curtain Revelation Chapter 384: Mutual Waystations 4. Veils of Light The Veil of Self Occasions From Chapter 198: The Twenty-Fifth Tawhid 127/From Chapter 198: The Third-Second Tawhid The Identity of the Veil and the Face From Chapter 370: The Path of Exaltation Chapter 514: Trust in God The Specific Face From Chapter 198: Depending on What Falls Short Witnessing the Specific Face From Chapter 379: The Servant of the Praiseworthy Chapter 265: The Arriver Chapter 396: The Veils of Knowledge From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Teaching Glories Chapter 458: The Facial Glories From Chapter 558: The Presence of Light Chapter 100: The Station of Fear Chapter 101: The Station of Abandoning Fear II The Order of the Worlds 5. The Roots of Order The Unity of Manyness Unity and Totality The Even and the Odd From Chapter 558: The Presence of Bringing Together Ranking in Excellence Gods Choices From Chapter 73: The Fifty-First Question From Chapter 72: Eating the Forbidden From Chapter 198: The Twenty-Third Tawhid Order From Chapter 360: The Sixth Deputyship From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of the Servants Posteriority 6. Divine and Cosmic Relations The First and the Last From Chapter 558: The Presence of Firstness From Chapter 558: The Presence of Lastness The Manifest and the Nonmanifest From Chapter 558: The Presence of Manifestation From Chapter 558: The Presence of Nonmanifestation Chapter 256: The Shining of the Full Moon Witnessing the Nonmanifest Chapter 472: Following the Most Beautiful Chapter 400: Manifest Mercy Chapter 394: Arrival through Courtesy The Center and the Circumference Chapter 410: The Circle of Mercy Circles of Wujud The Two Arcs Chapter 427: Two Bows Length Modalities of Wujud 7. The Worlds of the Cosmos Absent and Witnessed Chapter 492: Knowledge of the Absent From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Nature Command and Creation Heaven and Earth From Chapter 73: The Forty-Third Question From Chapter 558: The Presence of the Food-Giver Two and Three Worlds From Chapter 69: On the Mysteries of the Night Salat III The Structure of the Mocrocosm 8. Spirits and Bodies Self and Soul Chapter 267: The Soul The Divine Spirit Governance Chapter 447: Essential Governance The Spirit from the Command Chapter 268: The Casting of Knowledge Bodies Corporeous Bodies The Rationally Speaking Soul Chapter 216: The Subtlety From Chapter 373: The Wisdom of the Inheritors Chapter 397: The Souls Ascent 9. The Natural Constitution Spirit and Nature Chapter 225: Increases The Light of Guidance From Chapter 71: Fasting on Sunday Chapter 418: Understanding From Chapter 73: The Twelfth Question Chapter 52: Weakness Constitution From Chapter 558: The Presence of All-Embracingness 10. The Imaginal Barzakh Imagination Appetite Imagination and Understanding Bodies Forever From Chapter 360: The Tenth Deputyship The Trumpet Chapter 302: The Spirits Subsistence From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of the Final Issue From Chapter 369: The Storehouse of Humanity From Chapter 198: The Real Situation Appendix I: Ibn Views on Certain Sufis Appendix II: Translation of Technical Terms Notes Bibliography Index of Sources Index of Koranic Verses Index of Hadiths and Sayings Index of Proper Names Index of Arabic Words Index of Terms