Books by aydogan kars
Brill, Studies on Sufism, Volume 7 , 2022
Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī (1145-1234) is the author of a classic work of Muslim piety, a key f... more Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī (1145-1234) is the author of a classic work of Muslim piety, a key figure in the rise of institutional Sufism in the form of “orders” called “ṭarīqas,” and the influential eponym of one of these famous orders. This book presents studies, editions, and English translations of his shorter treatises that were originally penned in Arabic and Persian. Relying on global archival research, the book discovers materials that shed new light on his teachings and networks, as it traces the context, sources, and reception of his works. Carefully identifying the authentic works of ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī, the book presents significant new information on a key moment in the history of Muslim piety and mysticism.
Key terms:
Sufism, Islamic Mysticism, Arabic and Persian Manuscripts, ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī, Sufi Orders, Muslim piety, renunciation, master-disciple relationship
Oxford University Press, AAR Academy Series, 2019
What cannot be said about God, and how can we speak about God by negating what we say? Travelling... more What cannot be said about God, and how can we speak about God by negating what we say? Travelling across prominent negators, denialists, ineffectualists, paradoxographers, naysayers, ignorance-pretenders, unknowers, I-don’t-knowers, and taciturns, Unsaying God: Negative Theology in Medieval Islam delves into the negative theological movements that flourished in the first seven centuries of Islam.
Kars argues that there were multiple and often competing strategies for self-negating speech in the vast field of theology. By focusing on Arabic and Persian textual sources, the book defines four distinct yet interconnected paths of negative speech formation on the nature of God that circulated in medieval the Islamic world. Expanding its scope to Jewish intellectuals, Unsaying God also demonstrates that religious boundaries were easily transgressed as scholars from diverse sectarian or religious backgrounds could adopt similar paths of negative speech on God.
This is the first book-length study of negative theology in Islam. As an introductory work, it aims to encompass vast fields of scholarship, and diverse intellectual schools and figures. Throughout, Kars demonstrates how seemingly different genres should be read in a more connected way in light of the cultural and intellectual history of Islam instead of considering them as different opposing sets of orthodoxies and heterodoxies.
Female Mystics and the Divine Feminine in the Global Sufi Experience, 2022
This book offers a specialized study focusing on the phenomenon of the female mystic and the divi... more This book offers a specialized study focusing on the phenomenon of the female mystic and the divine feminine in the global Sufi experience. Drawing on classical and modern periods, it presents a considered approach to the topic from the disciplines of literature, history, religion, philosophy, language and linguistics, and anthropology. Each author brings to bear expertise in their field of study when addressing the topic. Each piece, therefore, whilst standalone, contributes collectively to understanding about the female and feminine in Sufi experience. The book takes broad interest in subjectivity, literary and artistic productivity, and notable figures of importance, but narrows the purview of its examination to case studies, historical periods, and philosophical concerns of relevance. Focused areas of inquiry include: the economic power of Sufi women in history; the hierophanic dialectics of mystical Islamic poetry with regard to “the feminine” experience in Yunus Emre; the ontology of the sacred feminine and female mystic in classical Sufi poeisis; the mystical autochthonous presence in local Sufi praxis of Indonesia; reconfigurations of gendered understanding in Argentinian Sufism; and symbolism and spiritual psychology in Sufi cosmology. This book is an interdisciplinary publication with an international host of scholars from around the world: University of Amsterdam, University of St Gallen, University of Haifa, Western Sydney University, Monash University, and Australian National University.
Articles by aydogan kars
Religions, 2022
This paper introduces the otherwise unstudied Arabic treatise on knowledge, the Book of Giving, p... more This paper introduces the otherwise unstudied Arabic treatise on knowledge, the Book of Giving, penned by the influential Muslim mystic, Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 1240). It presents a critical edition, English translation, and initial analysis of this short yet original work. It authenticates this work, situates it in Ibn al-ʿArabī's career, and analyzes its content. Combining textual scholarship and intellectual history with a comparative perspective, it discusses some outstanding features of the Book of Giving in light of Buddhism in order to provide an initial philosophical bridge between the two intellectual traditions. It argues that knowledge is presented in the Book of Giving as a causal relationship constructed in the mind. Ibn al-ʿArabī's approach to causality is one of philosophical idealism, and it contains significant parallels with the notion of dependent origination in Buddhism.
Journal of Religion, 2022
This article traces the early transmission for ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī’s (539–632/1145–1234) influent... more This article traces the early transmission for ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī’s (539–632/1145–1234) influential Sufi treatise Benefits of Intimate Knowledge (ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif). Analyzing the biographical dictionaries, authorization certificates (ijāza), and audition (samāʿ) records in the early copies of the work, it aims to produce an initial yet complex map of scholarly networks that formally disseminated al-Suhrawardī’s masterpiece, with a focus on the first two centuries of its composition. These networks, as the article observes, go beyond the transmissions of the initiatic robe and the mystical formula of the Sufi order (ṭarīqa), insofar as some key figures in the early transmission were traditionists who neither received a Suhrawardian initiatic robe nor had any known connection with Sufism at large. The article suggests that the audition sessions of traditionist circles particularly in the Hijaz played a key role in the early transmission of ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif. Its transmission was part and parcel of the circulation of a broader set of works, those on prophetic traditions (ḥadīth) in particular, such as Musnad al-Dārimī, Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, and Ṣaḥīḥ al-Muslim. We find ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif in a long list of transmitted ḥadīth works, often together with another Sufi treatise, Al-Risāla penned by al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072).
Journal of Islamic Studies, Jan 5, 2022
A range of widely copied Arabic works on asceticism and spiritual poverty attributed to prominent... more A range of widely copied Arabic works on asceticism and spiritual poverty attributed to prominent Muslim scholars, Najm al-Dīn al-Kubrā, ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī, Yaḥyā al-Suhrawardī, Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī, and Aḥmad Zarrūq, are either identical, or contain significant overlaps. This paper analyses the content and reception of this work, and the 36 manuscripts of it available, in order to clarify the issues around its authenticity, authorship, and genre. It makes four key arguments. First, it argues that Minhāj al-Sālikīn widely attributed to al-Kubrā is not an authentic work. It is a recent ascription that invents this title and changes the creedal content of an originally longer work. Second, a shorter version of this work can be ascribed to ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī in a particular sense of pre-modern authorship. He compiled a selection from the longer work that was penned by someone else––in the same way his Irshād al-Murīdīn is mostly selections from al-Qushayrī’s Risāla. Third, different versions of the treatise are mistakenly attributed to Zarrūq, Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī, and Yaḥyā al-Suhrawardī in various publications and manuscripts. Finally, the original version was penned by one of the less-known teachers of Ibn al-ʿArabī, Abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān al-Abharī, and soon attributed to more celebrated figures. Through these later agents and their attributions, reproductions, redactions, and publications, the text came to be situated within a Sufi framework and genre. Thus, the epistle on poverty exemplifies not only the construction of "Sufism" as a genre beyond the authorial intention, but also the dispersal of the author-function typical for this genre.
Iranian Studies, 2022
This paper sheds light on Ismāʿīl al-Qaṣrī, his scholarly and pietist networks, Sufi genealogy, a... more This paper sheds light on Ismāʿīl al-Qaṣrī, his scholarly and pietist networks, Sufi genealogy, and its later transmission. Other than his debated role in Najm al-Dīn Kubrā’s initiation into Sufism, very little is known on this understudied yet significant Sufi from Khuzistan. The paper argues that Ismāʿīl al-Qaṣrī and his western Iranian Sufi genealogy was the primary, rather than secondary, initiatory chain claimed by Kubrā, his associates, and the later heritage. Besides, al-Qaṣrī’s robe continued to be transmitted beyond Kubrā’s Sufi chain, and received multiple names in the absence of a prominent, eponymous master to claim it. Also introducing the figures in al-Qaṣrī’s, and hence Kubrā’s, spiritual genealogy, the paper discovers the overlooked yet decisive impact of Iranian masters, most notably the famous pietist of the Fars area, Abū Isḥāq al-Kāzarūnī, on Sufism in the later tradition.
Religions, Nov 17, 2020
This paper introduces an accomplished Ḥanafī traditionist [muḥaddith] named Abū Ṭāhir ʿAbd al-Sal... more This paper introduces an accomplished Ḥanafī traditionist [muḥaddith] named Abū Ṭāhir ʿAbd al-Salām Ibn Abī al-Rabīʿ al-Shīrāzī (b.bef.590/1194, d.661/1263), and two newly-discovered manuscripts that shed light on his life, works, and networks. The first manuscript is an earlier copy of ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī’s (539-632/1145-1234) influential Sufi treatise, Benefits of Intimate Knowledge [ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif] that Abū Ṭāhir copied in 603/1206. In addition to updating the terminus ad quem of al-Suhrawardī’s masterpiece, the manuscript also preserves a significant audition [samāʿ] record. While Abū Ṭāhir transcribed this early copy, he seems to have neither participated in the later transmission of the work nor formed a Sufi identity. A well-connected traditionist who has not yet received scholarly attention, he wrote many works, none of which have been studied so far. This paper introduces his life and works, traces his immediate teachers and pupils in transmitting prophetic sayings, and analyzes a hitherto unstudied manuscript of his Forty Sayings on the Virtue of Praying for the Messenger of God [Al-Arbaʿūn fī Faḍīlat al-Ṣalāt ʿalā Rasūl Allāh]. The paper demonstrates that the study of al-Suhrawardī’s ʿAwārif al-Maʿārif by non-Sufi traditionists can be traced back to its earliest extant copy available to us.
JASR (Journal for the Academic Study of Religion) , 2020
This article examines the conceptions of Sufism and mysticism by the influential Iranian intellec... more This article examines the conceptions of Sufism and mysticism by the influential Iranian intellectual, Abdolkarim Soroush (b.1945). It situates the academic and intellectual products of Soroush in the context of Islamic modernism to study him within the discipline of religious studies in general, and Islamic studies in particular. It traces the evolution of his attitude through two relatively distinct and concurrently interconnected periods of his intellectual development. We argue that the concept of ‘Sufism’ emerged in his thought in the late 1980s as an ideal type that allowed Soroush to pursue multi-layered projects. These projects include a liberal Islam where the privatisation of religion through mysticism plays a key role, and a mild nationalist project where the concept of ‘mysticism’ is universalised in order to imagine an Iranian community that is in conversation with mysticisms of other religious traditions. We also observe that his reading of Sufism suffers from a chronic essentialism, which is exercised through ideal types. His understanding of mysticism also follows a version of experientialism in its early twentieth-century Jamesian fashion. Accordingly, the politicised demarcations of mysticism in his intellectual project are crystallised.
Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, 2020
In early Muḥarram 632 / October 1234, Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) wrote a letter in Damascus to a... more In early Muḥarram 632 / October 1234, Ibn al-ʿArabī (d. 638/1240) wrote a letter in Damascus to an Ayyubid sovereign, giving him a general authorization (ijāza ʿāmma) for transmitting his teachings embodied in his corpus. Known as the Authorization to the Ruler al-Muẓaffar (Ijāza li-l-Malik al-Muẓaffar), the letter listed the names of around 290 of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s writings, and 71 of his teachers. Some of those teachers are well known, while the identities of the majority, especially those who trained Ibn al-ʿArabī in the East, are still vague. This study introduces the life and teachings of one of these foggy figures: Abū ʿAmr ʿUthmān al-Abharī al-Shāfiʿī (fl. 602/1206). The paper argues that al-Abharī is a significant yet neglected pietist, who met Ibn al-ʿArabī in Jerusalem. He was an ascetic traditionist authorized in Damascus by a leading Shāfiʿī expert of prophetic sayings (ḥadīth), and the author of a Sufi treatise that came to be popular with its attribution to the prominent scholars Najm al-Dīn Kubrā (d. 618/1221), ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī (d. 632/1234), Yaḥyā al-Suhrawardī (d. 587/1191), Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī (d. 663/1265), and Aḥmad Zarrūq (d. 899/1494). There are also good reasons to identify this teacher of Ibn al-ʿArabī with the vizier of the last two Great Saljuqī sultans, who chose an ascetic interpretation of the Sufi path after abandoning his political career, although this study does not reveal conclusive evidence for this identification.
Journal of the Ottoman and Turkish Studies Association, 2019
One of the most widely copied works of the prominent Halveti Sufi master Niyazi-yi Mısri (1027-11... more One of the most widely copied works of the prominent Halveti Sufi master Niyazi-yi Mısri (1027-1105/1618-94), the theological treatise on the divine names known as Şerh-i Esma-yi Hüsna or Risale-yi Tevhid exhibits some of the key ideas that ground Ibn ʿArabī's theology. This study introduces a Turkish edition and an annotated English translation of this work, and situates it into the genre of the commentary on the divine names. In order to compare and contrast Mısri's epistle with the foundations of Akbari theology and the influential commentaries on the divine names, the study also translates, largely for the first time, relevant Arabic passages penned by al-Qushayrī, al-Ghazālī, Ibn Barrajān, and Ibn ʿArabī. This comparison aims to add the scholarship on pre-Ottoman and Ottoman Sufism to conversation, and approach Mısri's Sufi theology from a wider intellectual perspective. Such a perspective displays for us not only the enduring impact of Sufism in Muslim theologies, but also the continuities and differences in the genre of commentary on divine names throughout the history, and in Arabic and Ottoman Turkish languages. It invites a broader understanding of theology, reminding the importance of the commentary on the divine names as an influential and experiential method of Muslim theological reflection. Finally, it suggests that the hermeneutical tradition of Ibn Barrajān was transmitted to Ottoman theology not only through Ibn ʿArabī but also through the genre of the commentary on the divine names.
Journal of Sufi Studies, 2018
This article reevaluates Rūmī’s approach to divine union in the light of the larger institutional... more This article reevaluates Rūmī’s approach to divine union in the light of the larger institutional and normative context that orchestrates it. Via key terms “spiritual companionship” [ṣuḥba] and normative Sufi “conduct” [adab], I situate Rūmī within the Khurasanian Sufi milieu wherein divine union was perceived as a communicative and communal process whereby the existentiating divine mercy overflows to, and reflects from, embodied companions. Not only Rūmī’s, but also Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār’s approach to divine union can be better appreciated in this normative Sufi setting where the perfection of human soul, body, speech, and agency coincide with an apophatic communion of companions.
Journal of the American Academy of Religion, 2018
This article introduces the debate of two Andalusian Sufis to address a major theoretical difficu... more This article introduces the debate of two Andalusian Sufis to address a major theoretical difficulty regarding the concept of “negative theology.” It analyzes the encounter of Ibn ʿArabī with a Muʿtazilite Sufi master, al-Qabrafīqī, at the end of the twelfth century in Seville, and delineates the rich intellectual atmosphere of their debate on human ability to emulate divine attributes, which is the very definition of Sufism for Ibn ʿArabī, but impossible and forbidden for al-Qabrafīqī. Careful contextualization not only questions the apparent negative theology of al-Qabrafīqī, but also demonstrates that the trendy term “negative theology” cannot distinguish between the varieties of questions that these scholars asked about the nature of God. Ibn ʿArabī’s encounter with al-Qabrafīqī illuminates the medieval Islamic theological context, and shows that “negative theology,” if a specific theological problem is not well-defined, is a generic concept with limited, if any, explanatory power.
Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society, 2017
This paper introduces Ibn ʿArabī’s depictions of, encounters with, and responses to the preeminen... more This paper introduces Ibn ʿArabī’s depictions of, encounters with, and responses to the preeminent Islamic theological school, Muʿtazilism. Ibn ʿArabī flourished during the eclipse of Muʿtazilism, yet his corpus demonstrates close familiarity with their theological claims. Therefore an analysis of his depictions of Muʿtazilism gives us important insights on the transmission and reception of ideas within the Islamicate world. This study explores six major theological themes that played key roles in his engagement with Muʿtazilism, particularly in the encyclopaedic Meccan Openings [al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya]: (i) divine role in human actions and agency; (ii) epistemological sources of theological speculation; (iii) divine attributes; (iv) divine knowability; (v) vision of God; (vi) divine justice and mercy in the afterlife. In most of these cases, Ibn ʿArabī’s approach to Muʿtazilism is not only well-informed, but also empathetic rather than dismissive. His personal encounter with al-Qabrafīqī, a Muʿtazilite Sufi in Seville, and his corpus indicate Ibn ʿArabī’s informed engagements with both Basran and Baghdadian Muʿtazilite teachings. He took them seriously as a major theological school that relies on legitimate religious precepts, provides compelling and still relevant ideas, and honours divine transcendence and unity.
Iranian Studies, 2017
Much ink has been spilled on the tumultuous life and works of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. This paper re-ev... more Much ink has been spilled on the tumultuous life and works of Naṣīr al-Dīn Ṭūsī. This paper re-evaluates his connections with Sufism and Ismāʿīlism, and challenges the reduction of the former to a late interest, and the latter to an early affiliation abandoned in the wake of the Mongol invasion. The paper argues that Sufi and Ismāʿīlī themes, sources, and ideas are in an organic interpenetration in Ṭūsī’s works throughout his career. While his early Ismāʿīlī eschatology has a fundamentally Sufi nature, his late Sufi treatise adopts the key components of Ismāʿīlī negative theology of the divine nature. The case of Ṭūsī illustrates that the Ismāʿīlī double negation was preserved in Iran and Central Asia, and put into creative interactions with Sufism in the thirteenth century.
International Journal for Philosophy of Religion, 2013
This comparative study juxtaposes two celebrated medieval examples of negative speech, apophasis,... more This comparative study juxtaposes two celebrated medieval examples of negative speech, apophasis, and theorizes the languages of unsaying in the great medieval thinkers, Maimonides (d.1204) and Ibn ‘Arabī (d.1240). The paper coins a distinction between ‘asymmetrical’ versus ‘symmetrical’ approaches to language as a heuristic to analyze the two philosophical apophatic accounts comparatively. While apophatic thinkers in Neoplatonic traditions generally oscillate between these two poles in their various apophatic moments, the paper argues that Maimonides and Ibn ‘Arabī represented the climax of these two non-linear poles in a visible tension and conversant with each other. I frame philosophical apophasis in the medieval Islamic lands in terms of the problem of God’s transcendence versus imminence. Maimonides celebrates apophasis and claims that negative speech, asymptotically approaching silence, is the only genuine praise to God. As an uncompromising exponent of absolute transcendence, and a severe critic of those who ascribe attributes to God, he privileges apophasis to kataphasis; he presents negative speech as a medium of purification and spiritual progress. Ibn ‘Arabī, on the other hand, is critical of this widespread asymmetry, and defends the gathering together of transcendence and imminence for human perfection. His intricate theory of transcendence and imminence appeals to a dialectical logic, explaining why kataphasis and apophasis are symmetrical in front of the Absolute. The productive tension between two apophatic minds challenges Hegelian habits of reading the history of thought, as well as various scholarly prejudices about medieval intellectual landscapes.
Book Chapters by aydogan kars
Maqasid Al-Shari'a and Contemporary Reformist Muslim Thought, Sep 2014
This chapter elaborates on the role of the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa [the higher objectives of Islamic l... more This chapter elaborates on the role of the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa [the higher objectives of Islamic law] in the Islamic reform discussions and movements in modern Turkey. Considering the sustained importance and the pivotal role of the discourse in other Muslim contexts analyzed in this book, I will argue that the Turkish literature on the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa appears relatively recent, abstract, academic, and, more significantly, antireformist. This stands in stark contrast to the conventional employment of the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa in the service of reform. In the last hundred years or so, the maqāṣid al-sharīʿa discourse, however differently understood and conceptualized, was more frequently voiced by a number of different actors as a venue for change rather than what we term “modern reformist projects.” Unlike the accepted traditional concepts of “renewal” and “revival” [tajdīd and iṣlāḥ], reformist projects were viewed as proposals disconnected from and directly attacking the rich traditional legal heritage. In the same vein, a distinguishing feature of one of the most prevalent approaches to the maqāṣid discourse in Turkey today is its self-depiction as the authentic conservative voice of the tradition against reformist proposals, and its deep critique of the idea of “reform,” understood literally as reshaping religion by declaring the classical Islamic legal heritage as redundant if not an obstacle for meaningful reform.
Media & Events by aydogan kars
Lecture by Aydogan Kars: "Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Sufism and Buddhism: Comparative Insights on Knowledge,... more Lecture by Aydogan Kars: "Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Sufism and Buddhism: Comparative Insights on Knowledge, Causality, and Interdependency"
University of Melbourne Islamic Studies Seminars 2022
This study introduces the Book of Giving [Kitāb al-Ifāda], an otherwise unstudied Sufi treatise on knowledge [ʿilm], penned by the influential Muslim mystic and intellectual, Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165- 1240). This short yet original Arabic work sheds new light on Ibn al-ʿArabī's complex conception and classification of knowledge. Combining textual scholarship and intellectual history with a comparative perspective, the study discusses some outstanding features of the Book of Giving in light of Buddhism. It aims to put Islamic and Buddhist intellectual traditions into a fruitful conversation to provide comparative insights into epistemology and ontology.
Venue: Room 321, Level 3, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne
Sidney Myer Asia Centre, 761 Swanston St, Parkville Victoria 3010
Free registration: https://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/s/1182/match/wide.aspx?sid=1182&gid=1&pgid=21160&cid=30038&ecid=30038
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Books by aydogan kars
Key terms:
Sufism, Islamic Mysticism, Arabic and Persian Manuscripts, ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī, Sufi Orders, Muslim piety, renunciation, master-disciple relationship
Kars argues that there were multiple and often competing strategies for self-negating speech in the vast field of theology. By focusing on Arabic and Persian textual sources, the book defines four distinct yet interconnected paths of negative speech formation on the nature of God that circulated in medieval the Islamic world. Expanding its scope to Jewish intellectuals, Unsaying God also demonstrates that religious boundaries were easily transgressed as scholars from diverse sectarian or religious backgrounds could adopt similar paths of negative speech on God.
This is the first book-length study of negative theology in Islam. As an introductory work, it aims to encompass vast fields of scholarship, and diverse intellectual schools and figures. Throughout, Kars demonstrates how seemingly different genres should be read in a more connected way in light of the cultural and intellectual history of Islam instead of considering them as different opposing sets of orthodoxies and heterodoxies.
Articles by aydogan kars
Book Chapters by aydogan kars
Media & Events by aydogan kars
University of Melbourne Islamic Studies Seminars 2022
This study introduces the Book of Giving [Kitāb al-Ifāda], an otherwise unstudied Sufi treatise on knowledge [ʿilm], penned by the influential Muslim mystic and intellectual, Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165- 1240). This short yet original Arabic work sheds new light on Ibn al-ʿArabī's complex conception and classification of knowledge. Combining textual scholarship and intellectual history with a comparative perspective, the study discusses some outstanding features of the Book of Giving in light of Buddhism. It aims to put Islamic and Buddhist intellectual traditions into a fruitful conversation to provide comparative insights into epistemology and ontology.
Venue: Room 321, Level 3, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne
Sidney Myer Asia Centre, 761 Swanston St, Parkville Victoria 3010
Free registration: https://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/s/1182/match/wide.aspx?sid=1182&gid=1&pgid=21160&cid=30038&ecid=30038
Key terms:
Sufism, Islamic Mysticism, Arabic and Persian Manuscripts, ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī, Sufi Orders, Muslim piety, renunciation, master-disciple relationship
Kars argues that there were multiple and often competing strategies for self-negating speech in the vast field of theology. By focusing on Arabic and Persian textual sources, the book defines four distinct yet interconnected paths of negative speech formation on the nature of God that circulated in medieval the Islamic world. Expanding its scope to Jewish intellectuals, Unsaying God also demonstrates that religious boundaries were easily transgressed as scholars from diverse sectarian or religious backgrounds could adopt similar paths of negative speech on God.
This is the first book-length study of negative theology in Islam. As an introductory work, it aims to encompass vast fields of scholarship, and diverse intellectual schools and figures. Throughout, Kars demonstrates how seemingly different genres should be read in a more connected way in light of the cultural and intellectual history of Islam instead of considering them as different opposing sets of orthodoxies and heterodoxies.
University of Melbourne Islamic Studies Seminars 2022
This study introduces the Book of Giving [Kitāb al-Ifāda], an otherwise unstudied Sufi treatise on knowledge [ʿilm], penned by the influential Muslim mystic and intellectual, Ibn al-ʿArabī (1165- 1240). This short yet original Arabic work sheds new light on Ibn al-ʿArabī's complex conception and classification of knowledge. Combining textual scholarship and intellectual history with a comparative perspective, the study discusses some outstanding features of the Book of Giving in light of Buddhism. It aims to put Islamic and Buddhist intellectual traditions into a fruitful conversation to provide comparative insights into epistemology and ontology.
Venue: Room 321, Level 3, Asia Institute, The University of Melbourne
Sidney Myer Asia Centre, 761 Swanston St, Parkville Victoria 3010
Free registration: https://alumni.online.unimelb.edu.au/s/1182/match/wide.aspx?sid=1182&gid=1&pgid=21160&cid=30038&ecid=30038
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 seminar is composed of a 40-minute presentation 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 Eric Winkel (Ibn Arabi Society, USA)
“I am a Buried Treasure, Concealed (in you):” Ibn Arabi’s Role in the (our) Discovery of the Treasure Chest (in our chests)
4 September 2021, Saturday, 10-11am (AEST-Melbourne time)
The seminars are open-to-public and free, while registration is required via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/166369837663
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting upon registration.
Organiser: https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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 Rory Dickson (University of Winnipeg, Canada)
“Ibn Arabi and the Wisdom of Jonah: Compassion, Remembrance, and Life after Death”
7 August 2021, Saturday, 10-11am (AEST-Melbourne time)
The seminars are open-to-public and free, while registration is required via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/163133076423
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting upon registration.
Organiser: https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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 Atif Khalil (University of Lethbridge, Canada)
“Ibn Arabi on Divine and Human Trusteeship”
3 July 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/159063628595
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting upon registration.
Organiser: https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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
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.
Prof Samer Akkach (University of Adelaide, Australia)
“Ibn Arabi’s Tomb and Spiritual Legacy in Damascus”
3 April 2021, Saturday, 7pm-8pm (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/147037640541
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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.
Cecilia Twinch (MIAS, UK)
“Ibn ‘Arabi and the World of the Imagination”
6 March 2021, Saturday, 8pm-9pm (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/141385498833
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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.
Prof Mohammed Rustom (Carleton University, Canada)
“Ibn Arabi’s Invitation to Self-Discovery: A Letter to a Rationalist”
6 February 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/136219545327
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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.
Jane Carroll (MIAS, USA)
“The Point of the Compass: Geometry and Ibn Arabi”
5 December 2020, 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/128998498983
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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.
Jane Clark (MIAS, UK)
“Ibn Arabi on the Idea of Perpetual Progress”
7 November 2020, Saturday, 7-8pm (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/122876760699
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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.
Prof. Pablo Beneito, University of Murcia, Spain
“Letters, Numbers and Lexical Roots in Ibn Arabi”
3 October 2020, Saturday, 7-8pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
The seminars are open-to-public and free, while registration is required via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/120606708913
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
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 30-minute presentations by each speaker followed by 30 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.
The Inaugural Seminar, by Dr. Stephen Hirtenstein (MIAS, UK)
“Opening the Treasure of Compassion: Overflowing and Circularity in the Thought of Ibn Arabi”
5 September 2020, Saturday, 7-8pm (Australian Eastern Standard Time)
The seminars are open-to-public and free, while registration
is required via the following link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/114644083540
You will receive the link to the Zoom meeting two days
before the event upon registration.
https://www.monash.edu/arts/Ibn-Arabi-Interreligious-Research-Initiative
https://www.blackagendareport.com/bar-book-forum-aydogan-kars-unsaying-god
The first two chapters bring a fresh perspective to the field by approaching “apophasis,” and “negative theology” as second-order, scholarly categories that are not sui generis religious, critical, or mystical. This shift in perspective makes clear that contemporary studies on apophasis and negative theologies, as well as their reflections on Islamic Studies and Sufism, are in large part responses to the challenges and demands of modernity. Chapter 3 argues that “negative theology” is a blanket term that cannot distinguish between the varieties of theological questions that medieval scholars asked. I differentiate “negative theologies of the divine essence” from “negative theologies of divine attributes.” Chapters 4-to-7 introduce the formations and historical developments of four prominent negative theological positions on the divine essence that circulated among medieval Sufis. Chapter 8 examines Sufi approaches to the unio mystica in the thirteenth century, in order to display the ways in which negative speech is governed by context-specific norms and institutions.
Enquiries: aydogan.kars@monash.edu
Closing Date: Friday 20 May 2022, 11.55pm AEST