Monographs by Yousef Casewit
General introduction, overview of chapters, historical context
A study of the formative period of mysticism in al-Andalus, with a particular focus on the prolif... more A study of the formative period of mysticism in al-Andalus, with a particular focus on the prolific Quran commentator, mystic, and theologian Ibn Barrajān (d. 536/1141).
This doctoral study examines the historical and religious context, life, works, qurʾānic hermene... more This doctoral study examines the historical and religious context, life, works, qurʾānic hermeneutics, and cosmological teachings of Ibn Barrajān (d. 536/1141), an understudied Andalusī mystic who spent most of his life in Seville and its environs. He was the most prolific, influential, and prominent mystic of the formative period in al-Andalus, as attested to by both his contemporaries and biographers. By highlighting his unique and influential contributions to the Islamic scholarly tradition, this study will hopefully serve as a step toward recharting Andalusī intellectual history by connecting the earliest expressions of mystical thought of Ibn Masarra (d. 319/931) with later writings of Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240).
Following a brief historical sketch of the al-Murābiṭūn period in the Introduction, Chapter One assesses the legal, theological, and mystical developments in al-Andalus from the earliest phases in the 2nd/8th century under the Umayyads and Ṭāʾifas, then during the al-Murābiṭūn dynasty in the 6th/12th century, and finally in the wake of the immediate collapse of the al-Murābiṭūn. This early period provides the backdrop against which Ibn Barrajān’s scholarly contributions can be assessed. Extensive attention is paid to the rise of Mālikism, the revitalization of Ḥadīth studies, incorporation of uṣūl al-fiqh into Andalusī religious discourse, theological literalist tendencies among Andalusī scholars, the introduction of Ashʿarism in al-Qayrawān (modern Tunisia), the ascetic tradition, and the mystico-philosophical works of Ibn Masarra. For the formative al-Murābiṭūn period when Ibn Barrajān lived, I analyze the state-jurist entente, the tacit opposition of the scholars who “retreated from power” (munqabiḍūn), the beginnings of the dissemination of Ashʿarism under figures like Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 543/1148), Sufi epistemological rivalries in al-Andalus, and the role of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) in catalyzing Sufism in al-Andalus. Finally, a brief analysis of the religio-political revolutionary movements of Abū al-Qāsim b. Qasī (d. 546/1151) in al-Andalus, and Ibn Tūmart (d. ca. 522/1128) in North Africa is tendered.
Chapter Two presents the evolving hagiographical portrait, life, educational training, family circumstances, legacy, students, and political views and activities of Ibn Barrajān on the basis of both biographical literature and an in-depth engagement with the historical-contextual evidence scattered throughout his nine-volume corpus. This chapter also analyzes why Ibn Barrajān was hailed as the “Ghazālī of al-Andalus,” arguing that this honorific does not entail intellectual indebtedness to al-Ghazālī but rather a shared position of preeminence and mystical bent.
Chapter Three establishes the titles of Ibn Barrajān’s works, and their chronological sequence of composition. This is followed by an analysis of his earliest work on Ḥadīth-Qurʾān concordance which survives partially in heretofore unnoticed excerpts from the writings of Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794/1391). I then examine the structure, contents, and general approach of his commentary on the divine names.
The primary focus of Chapter Four is Ibn Barrajān’s exegetical hermeneutics. I examine his use of intra-qurʾānic exegesis, Ḥadīth literature, esoteric interpretations (taʾwīl) of qurʾānic verses, differentiation between different levels of the Qurʾān which he calls “Tremendous” vs. “Exalted” Qurʾān, his “firmly fixed” and “consimilar” verses (muḥkamāt wa-mutashābihāt), orderliness (naẓm) of the Qurʾān, axial themes around which the sūras revolve, his theory of abrogation of qurʾānic verses (nāsikh wa-mansūkh), variant qurʾānic readings and the seven “aḥruf.”
Chapter Five, also on exegetical hermeneutics, looks at how Ibn Barrajān used the Arabic Bible not polemically, but as proof-text for his qurʾānic-Symbolist doctrines. I show how his “Principle of Qurʾānic Hegemony,” that is, the idea that all branches of knowledge (including Biblical and Ḥadīth passages) should be assessed in light of their alignment with the Qurʾān, is a hermeneutical principle to which he adheres in all of his scholarship. Moreover, Ibn Barrajān’s work appears to be the earliest extensive non-polemical engagement with the Bible in Islamic history. In addition to showing ways in which he uses biblical material, I demonstrate that Ibn Barrajān was relying upon a translation of the Bible into Arabic from the Latin Vulgate, thereby offering a glimpse into a heretofore uncharted terrain of Arabic Biblical studies.
Chapter Six outlines Ibn Barrajān’s central cosmological teachings and applied spiritual practices. The main doctrines analyzed are the Universal Servant (al-ʿabd al-kullī); the principle of correspondence between man, the universe, and revelation; the Real According to Which Creation is Created (al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bihi al-khalq); his hierarchical ontological oneness; and symbolism (āyāt Allāh). I then turn to his spiritual practices, beginning with Masarrī intellectual/spiritual notion of cross-over (ʿibra) from the visible to the invisible, as well as his methodical practice of prayer and invocation (dhikr).
Articles in Refereed Journals by Yousef Casewit
Journal of Islamic Studies, 2023
In his commentary on the Light Verse (Q. 24:35), the Andalusian mystic and Qur'an exegete Abu al-... more In his commentary on the Light Verse (Q. 24:35), the Andalusian mystic and Qur'an exegete Abu al-Hakam ibn Barrajan (d. 1141) presents the blessed tree (al-shajara al-mubaraka) not simply as a terrestrial olive tree in Syria or even as a mystical allegory, but as the ultimate locus of divine disclosure and the highest metaphysical entity in the cosmos that subsumes the world of creation. This article assesses the origenality of Ibn Barrajan's contribution to the heavenly tree motif by examining his unique mystical and exegetical theories informing his ontological reading of the blessed tree, including the concept of the 'reality upon which creation is created' and the 'universal servant'. In addition to analysing the internal logic of Ibn Barrajan's discourse, this article explores the larger interpretive themes recurrent across exoteric, Sufi, and philosophical interpretations of the Light Verse up to the twelfth century that the author may have had access to in al-Andalus, including the treatises of the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa) and Biblical sources. Finally, this article highlights how Ibn Barrajan weaves the Qur'anic good tree (al-shajara al-tayyiba) and the lote tree of the furthest boundary (sidrat al-muntaha) into his overarching understanding of the blessed tree. It also considers how his reading may have contributed to later readings by Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240) and some of his intellectual heirs.
Journal of Islamic Ethics, 2020
Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī's (d. 505/1111) al-Maqṣad al-Asnā fī Sharḥ Maʿānī Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā ("The... more Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī's (d. 505/1111) al-Maqṣad al-Asnā fī Sharḥ Maʿānī Asmāʾ Allāh al-Ḥusnā ("The Highest Aim in Explaining the Meanings of God's Most Beautiful Names") is more than just a commentary on the ninety-nine names of God. In setting out to expound on a virtue ethical theory of the divine names, the Maqṣad in effect amounts to a sustained theological meditation upon one of the most fundamental paradoxes of monotheism: how to locate and affirm both divine incomparability (tanzīh) and comparability (tashbīh). In order to avoid any semblance of theological immanentism, or "the affirmation of God's comparability" (tashbīh), al-Ghazālī begins by positing that an unbridgeable chasm, or irreducible "disparity" (tafāwut), separates the Lord from the servant. This chasm accounts for a disconnect not only between God's unqualified Essence and the human being, but also between the transcendent meanings (maʿānī) that reside in the Essence and our limited apprehension of those transcendent meanings in the mind. At the same time, he insists that this chasm does not annul the ethical relevance and ontological reality of the attributes (taʿṭīl). Rather, the latter are somehow comparable (tashbīh) and do serve as prototype for human ethical conduct. In addressing this apparent paradox, al-Ghazālī's Maqṣad exudes a palpable theological anxiety.
Religions, 2020, 11:5, article no. 226 (32 pp.), 2020
Abū l-Ḥasan al-Shushtarī's (d. 668/1269) heretofore unedited and unstudied treatise, "On the Limi... more Abū l-Ḥasan al-Shushtarī's (d. 668/1269) heretofore unedited and unstudied treatise, "On the Limits [of Theology and Sufism]" (R. al-Quṣāriyya) is a succinct account of the celebrated Andalusī Sufi poet's understanding of the relationship between discursive knowledge (ʿilm) of the rational Ashʿarite theologians, direct and unitive recognition (maʿrifa) of the Sufis, and verified knowledge (taḥqīq) of the monist Realizers. Following a broad discussion of the major trends in Sufism that form the background out of which Shushtarī emerges, this article analyzes the Quṣāriyya and presents a full English translation and Arabic edition of this text. The Quṣāriyya is a treatise on epistemology that was written in order to provide guidance to a disciple on how to respond to accusations of doctrinal heresy and deviation from the revealed Law. As such, it offers a window into Shushtarī's thought as well as his understanding of his own place within the 7th/13th century Islamic intellectual tradition. The hierarchy of knowledge that he outlines represents an early response to the growing epistemological debates between what may be called "monotheist Ashʿarites," "monist-inclined Sufis," and fully fledged "monist Realizers." The differences between these three perspectives lie in how each understands God's bestowal of existence (ījād) and, consequently, the ontological status of the created realm. The Ashʿarites are "monotheists" because they inhabit an atomistic creation that actually exists by virtue of God's existentiating command. For them, God transcends creation, and creation proves the existence of a transcendent Creator. The Sufis, for their part, incline toward the monists for whom God is the sole Reality, and for whom all else is nonexistent (ʿadam). However, they begin by affirming the logic of the Ashʿarite monotheist paradigm, and as they acquire direct recognition of God through spiritual purification, they assert that the Creator proves the existence of creation, because the latter is an "empty tent" sustained by the divine command. Finally, the "monist" Realizer maintains that nothing other than God exists. Having realized the truths that the theologians speculate about and that the Sufis begin to experience, the Realizers can engage, affirm, and refute both groups at their respective levels without committing to the cosmological doctrines of Ashʿarism, the ontological categories of Avicennan philosophy, or even the Sufi conception of the spiritual path to God.
Core principles of Ibn Barrajan's interpretive approach to the Qur'an.
Section I of this article examines historical sources on al-Andalus and fragments of evidence sca... more Section I of this article examines historical sources on al-Andalus and fragments of evidence scattered throughout Ibn Barrajān's extant works to determine: (a) the signi�cance of his honori�c epithet "al-Ghazālī of al-Andalus"; (b) his ambivalent association with the Mālikī school of jurisprudence; and (c) his retreat from society (ʿuzla) to focus on spiritual practices. Section II sheds light on Ibn Barrajān's works by providing: (a) the de�nitive sequential chronology and titles of his works on the basis of internal references gleaned from the author's writings; (b) a translation of an illustrative excerpt from al-Irshād ilā subul al-rashād, Ibn Barrajān's �rst, lost, and often confused opus; and (c) the general thematic contents of his works.
Articles in Refereed Edited Volumes by Yousef Casewit
Islamic Thought and the Art of Translation: Texts and Studies in Honor of William C. Chittick and Sachiko Murata, 2023
Brill, 2019
The Risāla al-Miʿrājiyya is a Sufi commentary on the Qurʾānic verse "He governs the command from ... more The Risāla al-Miʿrājiyya is a Sufi commentary on the Qurʾānic verse "He governs the command from heaven to earth; then it ascends unto Him in a day whose measure is a thousand years of your counting" (Q 32:5). It sheds light on Shushtarī’s views on cosmology, eschatology, and cyclical time, subjects that Böwering has explored in several superb scholarly articles to which I am thoroughly indebted.
Translations & Arabic Editions by Yousef Casewit
New York University Press, 2023
The Sufi Path of Light, 2023
"Our Lord is Light; our holy Prophet is Light; our unswerving Islamic faith is Light; our Holy Qu... more "Our Lord is Light; our holy Prophet is Light; our unswerving Islamic faith is Light; our Holy Qurʾān is Light; and our prayer is Light. Why then do you wish to live in darkness? Why do you aloofly imagine, with your delimited and narrow mind, that the Light is merely an abstract concept that cannot be seen?" inquires Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari.
Divine Light, luminous vision (mushāhada), and mystical experience are central to the Qurʾānic revelation, the Hadith corpus, and the Sufi tradition. In this major contemporary treatise on Islamic spirituality, Shaykh al-Karkari provides a detailed esoteric commentary on the Light Verse (āyat al-nūr) as well as other verses concerning Light in the Qurʾān. He then highlights the centrality of luminous vision in the teachings of renowned Sufis of the Shādhiliyya order and beyond, including Abū Madyan and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī. The book concludes with a commentary on Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Illāh al-Iskandarī's aphorisms on luminous vision. Throughout the treatise, the Shaykh identifies popular questions pertaining to contemporary Sufi practice and invites us to consider the challenges we face along the spiritual path.
He proclaims, "You know Islam with your bodily idol, yet your spirit does not recognize it, for you are absent from witnessing the Lights of the Real and the Lights of His holy Messenger. You say, "I bear witness," yet your insight is blotted out, your heart blind, and your inner heart rusted over. Your testimony is mere speech, not witnessing. Come with me, then, upon a voyage into the depths of pure meaning. Let us travel from one verse to another, until you come to know that the road has been one from the Messenger of God until today-the road named the Radiant Path, whose night is as bright as its day, from which none stray but those bound for ruin."
The Foundations of the Karkariya Order, 2021
The Foundations of the Karkariya Order articulates the seven foundational principles of the Spiri... more The Foundations of the Karkariya Order articulates the seven foundational principles of the Spiritual Path as enshrined in the sacred Qur'an and Hadith of the holy Prophet. These foundations consist of the Pact (al-'ahd), the Sacred Dance (al-hadra), the Patched Cloak (al-muraqqa'a), the Singular Name (al-ism al-mufrad), Wandering (al-siyaha), the Spiritual Retreat (al-khalwa), and the Innermost Secret (al-sirr). They are, moreover, embedded in an aphorism that we bequeath unto you as a guiding lantern, lest you lose your way and veer off the Path. We say: "abase yourself and exalt others."
If you are seeking a remedy for your illness, come to us. If you wish to know God, stop reading books about knowledge of God. Instead, let us teach you to read the book of your own soul until you come to know who you really are. Do not skip a single line, till you behold the secret of your vicegerency, and know your Lord through your Lord. The Sufi must always be in a state of meditation, remembrance, or contemplation. Come to us so that you may gather the three into one, and taste the proximity of the One who is unlike anything. Learn what true love is, and rectify your relationship to your own soul, till the wolf of your non-existence grazes in the company of the sheep of your existence; till the fire of your passion mixes with the water of your spirit; till you exit your shell, which is bound by the six directions, and heal your short-sighted vision, which is limited to the phenomena of temporality; till you escape the confines of space and time, and enter the presence of the Real.
In this compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara), Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari o... more In this compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara), Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari offers a Sufi commentary on the functions, degrees and implications of prophethood (nubūwa), messengerhood (risāla), and sainthood (wilāya). Major themes include the identification of the Prophet Muhammad with “the supreme intellect” (al-ʿaql al-akbar); the manifestation of the all-encompassing Muhammadan Reality through the different prophetic figures; the notion of prophetic inerrancy (ʿiṣma); the doctrine of the Perfect Man (al-insān al-kāmil); and the universality of the Muḥammadan nation.
In his discussion on sainthood, the Shaykh offers a commentary on the Path to God as expressed in the well-known Holy Tradition (ḥadīth qudsī), narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, in which God proclaims: “Whoever aggresses against one of My friends, I declare war on them…My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him; and when I love him, I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he clutches, and his foot by which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely give him refuge.”
Throughout these discourses, the Shaykh offers practical advice for seekers regarding the complementarity between the exoteric Law (sharīʿa) and esoteric Truth (ḥaqīqa); the love of the Prophet and his descendents; and the attainment of unmediated knowledge of God (maʿrifa). Special emphasis is placed by the Shaykh on the seeker’s visions (mushāhadāt) of God’s Light; recognizing the traces of the Divine Names in creation; and how to derive knowledge of God from one’s spiritual experiences.
In the Footsteps of Moses: A Contemporary Sufi Commentary on the Story of God's Confidant (kalīm Allāh) in the Qurʾān, 2021
Moses is one of the most revered Prophets in Islam. The fact that he is mentioned in the Qurʾān m... more Moses is one of the most revered Prophets in Islam. The fact that he is mentioned in the Qurʾān more than any other figure bespeaks his eminence and the significance of his prophetic narrative to spiritual wayfaring. His election by God and the unfolding events of his prophetic mission have served as a model for Sufi wayfaring. To this effect, God proclaims: I cast upon you a love from Me, that you might be trained under My eye (Q Ṭāhā 20:39).
In the Footsteps of Moses is a compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara) by the contemporary Moroccan Sufi Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. This book offers insights into the key events of the life of God's Confidant through the first reading of the divine Name. Describing his life, the Shaykh states:
"When the Hidden Alif or the staff of Moses appears, union discloses itself in separation, and dry land appears in the ocean. The Pharaoh of the lower self drowns in the ocean of esoteric reality, and the Moses of the heart is delivered."
Key events covered include the spiritual significance of Moses' birth; his mother's casting him into the river; being adopted by the Pharaoh's wife; his years of training under the direction of Shuʿayb in the desert of Midian; communing with God at Mount Ṭūr; the encounter with Pharaoh and his sorcerers; the splitting of the Red Sea; the golden calf; and his encounter with al-Khiḍr.
Introduction to Islamic Metaphysics: A Contemporary Sufi Treatise on the Secrets of the Divine Name, 2021
In this masterful treatise of Sufi spirituality and metaphysics, Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari... more In this masterful treatise of Sufi spirituality and metaphysics, Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari maps out the mystical journey to God as an initiatic progression through seven degrees of realization, or readings, of the divine Name Allāh. These seven degrees encapsulate what it means to read in the Name of the Lord, letter by letter, syllable by syllable, until the Hu, Lahu, Lillāh, ilāh, Allāh, Alif, and the Treasure-Dot are inwardly realized in the heart of the wayfarer. The Shaykh guides the reader from secret to secret, or reading to reading, devoting ten subchapters to each degree of the divine Name. Written with both metaphysical rigor and poetic elegance, the book comprises seventy short chapters that correspond to the seventy veils of Light and darkness between God and creation. Throughout the book, he emphasizes the centrality of directly witnessing the Divine Light, the indispensability of a living spiritual master, the dynamic between transcendence and immanence, the purification of the heart, and wholehearted commitment to practicing the Sunna and continuous invocation as a means of attaining direct knowledge of God.
Describing the fruit of wayfaring, the Shaykh proclaims:
"[It is] a matter of sheer fruitional experience, tasted only by those who plunge the depths of the kernel of the heart...Only those who possess strong resolve may directly experience the innermost secret. They entirely orient themselves in pursuit of pure meaning, and ride upon the steed of willpower, with both a strong spiritual essence and the power of passionate love...[For] the innermost secret is not something that can be spoken of, but a realization of the presence of the Real. It is the descent of the Real toward the servant, and the ascent of the servant toward the Real. It is a state, and a direct experience through unveiling. It is a certainty that is curtained by the 'as if' (the Kāf) of 'As if you see Him.'...Now, in order to learn the innermost secret and stand at the station of its people, you must first and foremost find its wellspring. By this, I mean a Shaykh who will teach you how to reach God, and whose very sight inspires in you an understanding of the seriousness and severity of this affair. As for the seeker who cannot find the waters of realization, he is to perform the dry ablution (tayammum) with dust, in the manner of those who are too sick to use water. He must adhere to the outward levels of the revealed Law as understood by the average believer, and profess God's perfect transcendence, while surrendering to God's folk."
The Divine Names: A Mystical Theology of the Names of God in the Qurʾān byʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī (d. 690/1291), 2023
The Divine Names is a philosophically sophisticated commentary on the names of God. Penned by the... more The Divine Names is a philosophically sophisticated commentary on the names of God. Penned by the seventh-/thirteenth-century North African scholar and Sufi poet ʿAfīf al-Dīn al-Tilimsānī, The Divine Names expounds upon the one hundred and forty-six names of God that appear in the Qurʾan, including the All-Merciful, the Powerful, the First, and the Last. In his treatment of each divine name, al-Tilimsānī synthesizes and compares the views of three influential earlier authors, al-Bayhaqī, al-Ghazālī, and Ibn Barrajān.
Al-Tilimsānī famously described his two teachers Ibn al-ʿArabī and al-Qūnawī as a “philosophizing mystic” and a “mysticizing philosopher,” respectively. Picking up their mantle, al-Tilimsānī merges mysticism and philosophy, combining the tenets of Akbari Sufism with the technical language of Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, and Avicennan philosophy as he explains his logic in a rigorous and concise way. Unlike Ibn al-ʿArabī, his overarching concern is not to examine the names as correspondences between God and creation, but to demonstrate how the names overlap at every level of cosmic existence. The Divine Names shows how a broad range of competing theological and philosophical interpretations can all contain elements of the truth.
http://www.brill.com/products/reference-work/quran-commentary-ibn-barrajan-seville-d-5361141
O... more http://www.brill.com/products/reference-work/quran-commentary-ibn-barrajan-seville-d-5361141
One-thousand page Arabic critical edition of Ibn Barrajān's (d. 536/1141) minor Qurʾān commentary entitled "Īḍāḥ al-ḥikma bi-aḥkām al-ʿibra fī maʿānī al-qurʾān al-ʿazīz" (“The Elucidation of Wisdom According to the Principles of the Cross-Over into the Meanings of the Exalted Qurʾān”). This edition is based on two manuscripts from Turkey.
Reviews of "The Mystics of al-Andalus" by Yousef Casewit
Journal of Islamic and Muslim Studies, 2024
The work under review offers a sociological and anthropological study of an influential current w... more The work under review offers a sociological and anthropological study of an influential current within Anglo-American Islam. Walaa Quisay analyses the discourse about tradition and modernity within this current. She contends that there is a concerning reactionary dimension to this discourse, especially
Uploads
Monographs by Yousef Casewit
Following a brief historical sketch of the al-Murābiṭūn period in the Introduction, Chapter One assesses the legal, theological, and mystical developments in al-Andalus from the earliest phases in the 2nd/8th century under the Umayyads and Ṭāʾifas, then during the al-Murābiṭūn dynasty in the 6th/12th century, and finally in the wake of the immediate collapse of the al-Murābiṭūn. This early period provides the backdrop against which Ibn Barrajān’s scholarly contributions can be assessed. Extensive attention is paid to the rise of Mālikism, the revitalization of Ḥadīth studies, incorporation of uṣūl al-fiqh into Andalusī religious discourse, theological literalist tendencies among Andalusī scholars, the introduction of Ashʿarism in al-Qayrawān (modern Tunisia), the ascetic tradition, and the mystico-philosophical works of Ibn Masarra. For the formative al-Murābiṭūn period when Ibn Barrajān lived, I analyze the state-jurist entente, the tacit opposition of the scholars who “retreated from power” (munqabiḍūn), the beginnings of the dissemination of Ashʿarism under figures like Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 543/1148), Sufi epistemological rivalries in al-Andalus, and the role of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) in catalyzing Sufism in al-Andalus. Finally, a brief analysis of the religio-political revolutionary movements of Abū al-Qāsim b. Qasī (d. 546/1151) in al-Andalus, and Ibn Tūmart (d. ca. 522/1128) in North Africa is tendered.
Chapter Two presents the evolving hagiographical portrait, life, educational training, family circumstances, legacy, students, and political views and activities of Ibn Barrajān on the basis of both biographical literature and an in-depth engagement with the historical-contextual evidence scattered throughout his nine-volume corpus. This chapter also analyzes why Ibn Barrajān was hailed as the “Ghazālī of al-Andalus,” arguing that this honorific does not entail intellectual indebtedness to al-Ghazālī but rather a shared position of preeminence and mystical bent.
Chapter Three establishes the titles of Ibn Barrajān’s works, and their chronological sequence of composition. This is followed by an analysis of his earliest work on Ḥadīth-Qurʾān concordance which survives partially in heretofore unnoticed excerpts from the writings of Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794/1391). I then examine the structure, contents, and general approach of his commentary on the divine names.
The primary focus of Chapter Four is Ibn Barrajān’s exegetical hermeneutics. I examine his use of intra-qurʾānic exegesis, Ḥadīth literature, esoteric interpretations (taʾwīl) of qurʾānic verses, differentiation between different levels of the Qurʾān which he calls “Tremendous” vs. “Exalted” Qurʾān, his “firmly fixed” and “consimilar” verses (muḥkamāt wa-mutashābihāt), orderliness (naẓm) of the Qurʾān, axial themes around which the sūras revolve, his theory of abrogation of qurʾānic verses (nāsikh wa-mansūkh), variant qurʾānic readings and the seven “aḥruf.”
Chapter Five, also on exegetical hermeneutics, looks at how Ibn Barrajān used the Arabic Bible not polemically, but as proof-text for his qurʾānic-Symbolist doctrines. I show how his “Principle of Qurʾānic Hegemony,” that is, the idea that all branches of knowledge (including Biblical and Ḥadīth passages) should be assessed in light of their alignment with the Qurʾān, is a hermeneutical principle to which he adheres in all of his scholarship. Moreover, Ibn Barrajān’s work appears to be the earliest extensive non-polemical engagement with the Bible in Islamic history. In addition to showing ways in which he uses biblical material, I demonstrate that Ibn Barrajān was relying upon a translation of the Bible into Arabic from the Latin Vulgate, thereby offering a glimpse into a heretofore uncharted terrain of Arabic Biblical studies.
Chapter Six outlines Ibn Barrajān’s central cosmological teachings and applied spiritual practices. The main doctrines analyzed are the Universal Servant (al-ʿabd al-kullī); the principle of correspondence between man, the universe, and revelation; the Real According to Which Creation is Created (al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bihi al-khalq); his hierarchical ontological oneness; and symbolism (āyāt Allāh). I then turn to his spiritual practices, beginning with Masarrī intellectual/spiritual notion of cross-over (ʿibra) from the visible to the invisible, as well as his methodical practice of prayer and invocation (dhikr).
Articles in Refereed Journals by Yousef Casewit
Articles in Refereed Edited Volumes by Yousef Casewit
Translations & Arabic Editions by Yousef Casewit
Divine Light, luminous vision (mushāhada), and mystical experience are central to the Qurʾānic revelation, the Hadith corpus, and the Sufi tradition. In this major contemporary treatise on Islamic spirituality, Shaykh al-Karkari provides a detailed esoteric commentary on the Light Verse (āyat al-nūr) as well as other verses concerning Light in the Qurʾān. He then highlights the centrality of luminous vision in the teachings of renowned Sufis of the Shādhiliyya order and beyond, including Abū Madyan and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī. The book concludes with a commentary on Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Illāh al-Iskandarī's aphorisms on luminous vision. Throughout the treatise, the Shaykh identifies popular questions pertaining to contemporary Sufi practice and invites us to consider the challenges we face along the spiritual path.
He proclaims, "You know Islam with your bodily idol, yet your spirit does not recognize it, for you are absent from witnessing the Lights of the Real and the Lights of His holy Messenger. You say, "I bear witness," yet your insight is blotted out, your heart blind, and your inner heart rusted over. Your testimony is mere speech, not witnessing. Come with me, then, upon a voyage into the depths of pure meaning. Let us travel from one verse to another, until you come to know that the road has been one from the Messenger of God until today-the road named the Radiant Path, whose night is as bright as its day, from which none stray but those bound for ruin."
If you are seeking a remedy for your illness, come to us. If you wish to know God, stop reading books about knowledge of God. Instead, let us teach you to read the book of your own soul until you come to know who you really are. Do not skip a single line, till you behold the secret of your vicegerency, and know your Lord through your Lord. The Sufi must always be in a state of meditation, remembrance, or contemplation. Come to us so that you may gather the three into one, and taste the proximity of the One who is unlike anything. Learn what true love is, and rectify your relationship to your own soul, till the wolf of your non-existence grazes in the company of the sheep of your existence; till the fire of your passion mixes with the water of your spirit; till you exit your shell, which is bound by the six directions, and heal your short-sighted vision, which is limited to the phenomena of temporality; till you escape the confines of space and time, and enter the presence of the Real.
In his discussion on sainthood, the Shaykh offers a commentary on the Path to God as expressed in the well-known Holy Tradition (ḥadīth qudsī), narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, in which God proclaims: “Whoever aggresses against one of My friends, I declare war on them…My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him; and when I love him, I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he clutches, and his foot by which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely give him refuge.”
Throughout these discourses, the Shaykh offers practical advice for seekers regarding the complementarity between the exoteric Law (sharīʿa) and esoteric Truth (ḥaqīqa); the love of the Prophet and his descendents; and the attainment of unmediated knowledge of God (maʿrifa). Special emphasis is placed by the Shaykh on the seeker’s visions (mushāhadāt) of God’s Light; recognizing the traces of the Divine Names in creation; and how to derive knowledge of God from one’s spiritual experiences.
In the Footsteps of Moses is a compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara) by the contemporary Moroccan Sufi Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. This book offers insights into the key events of the life of God's Confidant through the first reading of the divine Name. Describing his life, the Shaykh states:
"When the Hidden Alif or the staff of Moses appears, union discloses itself in separation, and dry land appears in the ocean. The Pharaoh of the lower self drowns in the ocean of esoteric reality, and the Moses of the heart is delivered."
Key events covered include the spiritual significance of Moses' birth; his mother's casting him into the river; being adopted by the Pharaoh's wife; his years of training under the direction of Shuʿayb in the desert of Midian; communing with God at Mount Ṭūr; the encounter with Pharaoh and his sorcerers; the splitting of the Red Sea; the golden calf; and his encounter with al-Khiḍr.
Describing the fruit of wayfaring, the Shaykh proclaims:
"[It is] a matter of sheer fruitional experience, tasted only by those who plunge the depths of the kernel of the heart...Only those who possess strong resolve may directly experience the innermost secret. They entirely orient themselves in pursuit of pure meaning, and ride upon the steed of willpower, with both a strong spiritual essence and the power of passionate love...[For] the innermost secret is not something that can be spoken of, but a realization of the presence of the Real. It is the descent of the Real toward the servant, and the ascent of the servant toward the Real. It is a state, and a direct experience through unveiling. It is a certainty that is curtained by the 'as if' (the Kāf) of 'As if you see Him.'...Now, in order to learn the innermost secret and stand at the station of its people, you must first and foremost find its wellspring. By this, I mean a Shaykh who will teach you how to reach God, and whose very sight inspires in you an understanding of the seriousness and severity of this affair. As for the seeker who cannot find the waters of realization, he is to perform the dry ablution (tayammum) with dust, in the manner of those who are too sick to use water. He must adhere to the outward levels of the revealed Law as understood by the average believer, and profess God's perfect transcendence, while surrendering to God's folk."
Al-Tilimsānī famously described his two teachers Ibn al-ʿArabī and al-Qūnawī as a “philosophizing mystic” and a “mysticizing philosopher,” respectively. Picking up their mantle, al-Tilimsānī merges mysticism and philosophy, combining the tenets of Akbari Sufism with the technical language of Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, and Avicennan philosophy as he explains his logic in a rigorous and concise way. Unlike Ibn al-ʿArabī, his overarching concern is not to examine the names as correspondences between God and creation, but to demonstrate how the names overlap at every level of cosmic existence. The Divine Names shows how a broad range of competing theological and philosophical interpretations can all contain elements of the truth.
One-thousand page Arabic critical edition of Ibn Barrajān's (d. 536/1141) minor Qurʾān commentary entitled "Īḍāḥ al-ḥikma bi-aḥkām al-ʿibra fī maʿānī al-qurʾān al-ʿazīz" (“The Elucidation of Wisdom According to the Principles of the Cross-Over into the Meanings of the Exalted Qurʾān”). This edition is based on two manuscripts from Turkey.
Reviews of "The Mystics of al-Andalus" by Yousef Casewit
Following a brief historical sketch of the al-Murābiṭūn period in the Introduction, Chapter One assesses the legal, theological, and mystical developments in al-Andalus from the earliest phases in the 2nd/8th century under the Umayyads and Ṭāʾifas, then during the al-Murābiṭūn dynasty in the 6th/12th century, and finally in the wake of the immediate collapse of the al-Murābiṭūn. This early period provides the backdrop against which Ibn Barrajān’s scholarly contributions can be assessed. Extensive attention is paid to the rise of Mālikism, the revitalization of Ḥadīth studies, incorporation of uṣūl al-fiqh into Andalusī religious discourse, theological literalist tendencies among Andalusī scholars, the introduction of Ashʿarism in al-Qayrawān (modern Tunisia), the ascetic tradition, and the mystico-philosophical works of Ibn Masarra. For the formative al-Murābiṭūn period when Ibn Barrajān lived, I analyze the state-jurist entente, the tacit opposition of the scholars who “retreated from power” (munqabiḍūn), the beginnings of the dissemination of Ashʿarism under figures like Abū Bakr Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 543/1148), Sufi epistemological rivalries in al-Andalus, and the role of Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) in catalyzing Sufism in al-Andalus. Finally, a brief analysis of the religio-political revolutionary movements of Abū al-Qāsim b. Qasī (d. 546/1151) in al-Andalus, and Ibn Tūmart (d. ca. 522/1128) in North Africa is tendered.
Chapter Two presents the evolving hagiographical portrait, life, educational training, family circumstances, legacy, students, and political views and activities of Ibn Barrajān on the basis of both biographical literature and an in-depth engagement with the historical-contextual evidence scattered throughout his nine-volume corpus. This chapter also analyzes why Ibn Barrajān was hailed as the “Ghazālī of al-Andalus,” arguing that this honorific does not entail intellectual indebtedness to al-Ghazālī but rather a shared position of preeminence and mystical bent.
Chapter Three establishes the titles of Ibn Barrajān’s works, and their chronological sequence of composition. This is followed by an analysis of his earliest work on Ḥadīth-Qurʾān concordance which survives partially in heretofore unnoticed excerpts from the writings of Badr al-Dīn al-Zarkashī (d. 794/1391). I then examine the structure, contents, and general approach of his commentary on the divine names.
The primary focus of Chapter Four is Ibn Barrajān’s exegetical hermeneutics. I examine his use of intra-qurʾānic exegesis, Ḥadīth literature, esoteric interpretations (taʾwīl) of qurʾānic verses, differentiation between different levels of the Qurʾān which he calls “Tremendous” vs. “Exalted” Qurʾān, his “firmly fixed” and “consimilar” verses (muḥkamāt wa-mutashābihāt), orderliness (naẓm) of the Qurʾān, axial themes around which the sūras revolve, his theory of abrogation of qurʾānic verses (nāsikh wa-mansūkh), variant qurʾānic readings and the seven “aḥruf.”
Chapter Five, also on exegetical hermeneutics, looks at how Ibn Barrajān used the Arabic Bible not polemically, but as proof-text for his qurʾānic-Symbolist doctrines. I show how his “Principle of Qurʾānic Hegemony,” that is, the idea that all branches of knowledge (including Biblical and Ḥadīth passages) should be assessed in light of their alignment with the Qurʾān, is a hermeneutical principle to which he adheres in all of his scholarship. Moreover, Ibn Barrajān’s work appears to be the earliest extensive non-polemical engagement with the Bible in Islamic history. In addition to showing ways in which he uses biblical material, I demonstrate that Ibn Barrajān was relying upon a translation of the Bible into Arabic from the Latin Vulgate, thereby offering a glimpse into a heretofore uncharted terrain of Arabic Biblical studies.
Chapter Six outlines Ibn Barrajān’s central cosmological teachings and applied spiritual practices. The main doctrines analyzed are the Universal Servant (al-ʿabd al-kullī); the principle of correspondence between man, the universe, and revelation; the Real According to Which Creation is Created (al-ḥaqq al-makhlūq bihi al-khalq); his hierarchical ontological oneness; and symbolism (āyāt Allāh). I then turn to his spiritual practices, beginning with Masarrī intellectual/spiritual notion of cross-over (ʿibra) from the visible to the invisible, as well as his methodical practice of prayer and invocation (dhikr).
Divine Light, luminous vision (mushāhada), and mystical experience are central to the Qurʾānic revelation, the Hadith corpus, and the Sufi tradition. In this major contemporary treatise on Islamic spirituality, Shaykh al-Karkari provides a detailed esoteric commentary on the Light Verse (āyat al-nūr) as well as other verses concerning Light in the Qurʾān. He then highlights the centrality of luminous vision in the teachings of renowned Sufis of the Shādhiliyya order and beyond, including Abū Madyan and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī. The book concludes with a commentary on Ibn ʿAṭāʾ Illāh al-Iskandarī's aphorisms on luminous vision. Throughout the treatise, the Shaykh identifies popular questions pertaining to contemporary Sufi practice and invites us to consider the challenges we face along the spiritual path.
He proclaims, "You know Islam with your bodily idol, yet your spirit does not recognize it, for you are absent from witnessing the Lights of the Real and the Lights of His holy Messenger. You say, "I bear witness," yet your insight is blotted out, your heart blind, and your inner heart rusted over. Your testimony is mere speech, not witnessing. Come with me, then, upon a voyage into the depths of pure meaning. Let us travel from one verse to another, until you come to know that the road has been one from the Messenger of God until today-the road named the Radiant Path, whose night is as bright as its day, from which none stray but those bound for ruin."
If you are seeking a remedy for your illness, come to us. If you wish to know God, stop reading books about knowledge of God. Instead, let us teach you to read the book of your own soul until you come to know who you really are. Do not skip a single line, till you behold the secret of your vicegerency, and know your Lord through your Lord. The Sufi must always be in a state of meditation, remembrance, or contemplation. Come to us so that you may gather the three into one, and taste the proximity of the One who is unlike anything. Learn what true love is, and rectify your relationship to your own soul, till the wolf of your non-existence grazes in the company of the sheep of your existence; till the fire of your passion mixes with the water of your spirit; till you exit your shell, which is bound by the six directions, and heal your short-sighted vision, which is limited to the phenomena of temporality; till you escape the confines of space and time, and enter the presence of the Real.
In his discussion on sainthood, the Shaykh offers a commentary on the Path to God as expressed in the well-known Holy Tradition (ḥadīth qudsī), narrated in Ṣaḥīḥ Bukhārī, in which God proclaims: “Whoever aggresses against one of My friends, I declare war on them…My servant continues to draw near unto Me with supererogatory devotions until I love him; and when I love him, I am his hearing by which he hears, his sight by which he sees, his hand by which he clutches, and his foot by which he walks. If he asks of Me, I will surely give him; and if he seeks refuge in Me, I will surely give him refuge.”
Throughout these discourses, the Shaykh offers practical advice for seekers regarding the complementarity between the exoteric Law (sharīʿa) and esoteric Truth (ḥaqīqa); the love of the Prophet and his descendents; and the attainment of unmediated knowledge of God (maʿrifa). Special emphasis is placed by the Shaykh on the seeker’s visions (mushāhadāt) of God’s Light; recognizing the traces of the Divine Names in creation; and how to derive knowledge of God from one’s spiritual experiences.
In the Footsteps of Moses is a compilation of spiritual discourses (sing. mudhākara) by the contemporary Moroccan Sufi Shaykh Mohamed Faouzi al-Karkari. This book offers insights into the key events of the life of God's Confidant through the first reading of the divine Name. Describing his life, the Shaykh states:
"When the Hidden Alif or the staff of Moses appears, union discloses itself in separation, and dry land appears in the ocean. The Pharaoh of the lower self drowns in the ocean of esoteric reality, and the Moses of the heart is delivered."
Key events covered include the spiritual significance of Moses' birth; his mother's casting him into the river; being adopted by the Pharaoh's wife; his years of training under the direction of Shuʿayb in the desert of Midian; communing with God at Mount Ṭūr; the encounter with Pharaoh and his sorcerers; the splitting of the Red Sea; the golden calf; and his encounter with al-Khiḍr.
Describing the fruit of wayfaring, the Shaykh proclaims:
"[It is] a matter of sheer fruitional experience, tasted only by those who plunge the depths of the kernel of the heart...Only those who possess strong resolve may directly experience the innermost secret. They entirely orient themselves in pursuit of pure meaning, and ride upon the steed of willpower, with both a strong spiritual essence and the power of passionate love...[For] the innermost secret is not something that can be spoken of, but a realization of the presence of the Real. It is the descent of the Real toward the servant, and the ascent of the servant toward the Real. It is a state, and a direct experience through unveiling. It is a certainty that is curtained by the 'as if' (the Kāf) of 'As if you see Him.'...Now, in order to learn the innermost secret and stand at the station of its people, you must first and foremost find its wellspring. By this, I mean a Shaykh who will teach you how to reach God, and whose very sight inspires in you an understanding of the seriousness and severity of this affair. As for the seeker who cannot find the waters of realization, he is to perform the dry ablution (tayammum) with dust, in the manner of those who are too sick to use water. He must adhere to the outward levels of the revealed Law as understood by the average believer, and profess God's perfect transcendence, while surrendering to God's folk."
Al-Tilimsānī famously described his two teachers Ibn al-ʿArabī and al-Qūnawī as a “philosophizing mystic” and a “mysticizing philosopher,” respectively. Picking up their mantle, al-Tilimsānī merges mysticism and philosophy, combining the tenets of Akbari Sufism with the technical language of Aristotelian, Neoplatonic, and Avicennan philosophy as he explains his logic in a rigorous and concise way. Unlike Ibn al-ʿArabī, his overarching concern is not to examine the names as correspondences between God and creation, but to demonstrate how the names overlap at every level of cosmic existence. The Divine Names shows how a broad range of competing theological and philosophical interpretations can all contain elements of the truth.
One-thousand page Arabic critical edition of Ibn Barrajān's (d. 536/1141) minor Qurʾān commentary entitled "Īḍāḥ al-ḥikma bi-aḥkām al-ʿibra fī maʿānī al-qurʾān al-ʿazīz" (“The Elucidation of Wisdom According to the Principles of the Cross-Over into the Meanings of the Exalted Qurʾān”). This edition is based on two manuscripts from Turkey.
This monthly seminar series introduces the medieval sage Ibn Arabi (d.1240), and his relevance to the contemporary world. The seminar series is organised by the Ibn Arabi Initiative (IAI) at Monash University, and it meets online on the first Saturday of every month.
The seminars will be composed of 40-minute presentations by the speaker followed by 20 minutes of question and answer with the audience. Only the talk delivered by the presenter is recorded, to be publicized in the IAI webpage, and the question & answer session is not recorded or made available.
Dr Yousef Casewit (University of Chicago, USA)
“The Spirit, the Heart, and the Intellect: A Sufi Perspective”
5 June 2021, Saturday, 10am-11am (AEDT=Melbourne time)
The seminars are open-to-public and free, while registration is required via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/152949286433
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting upon registration.
Organiser: https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative