Books, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Islamic

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Lawrence Wright
The Looming Tower: Al Qaeda and the Road to 9/11 (Vintage)
by Vintage (Paperback) (Release Date: 2007-08-21)

National Book Award FinalistA Time, Newsweek, Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, and New York Times Book Review Best Book of the YearA gripping narrative that spans five decades, The Looming Tower explains in unprecedented detail the growth of Islamic fundamentalism, the rise of al-Qaeda, and the intelligence failures that culminated in the attacks on the World Trade Center. Lawrence Wright re-creates firsthand the transformation of Osama bin Laden and Ayman al-Zawahiri from incompetent and idealistic soldiers in Afghanistan to leaders of the most successful terrorist group in history. He follows FBI counterterrorism chief John O’Neill as he uncovers the emerging danger from al-Qaeda in the 1990s and struggles to track this new threat. Packed with new information and a deep historical perspective, The Looming Tower is the definitive history of the long road to September 11.

Henry Corbin
Alone with the Alone
by Princeton University Press (Paperback)

"Henry Corbin's works are the best guide to the visionary tradition.... Corbin, like Scholem and Jonas, is remembered as a scholar of genius. He was uniquely equipped not only to recover Iranian Sufism for the West, but also to defend the principal Western traditions of esoteric spirituality."--From the introduction by Harold Bloom Ibn 'Arabi (1165-1240) was one of the great mystics of all time. Through the richness of his personal experience and the constructive power of his intellect, he made a unique contribution to Shi'ite Sufism. In this book, which features a powerful new preface by Harold Bloom, Henry Corbin brings us to the very core of this movement with a penetrating analysis of Ibn 'Arabi's life and doctrines. Corbin begins with a kind of spiritual topography of the twelfth century, emphasizing the differences between exoteric and esoteric forms of Islam. He also relates Islamic mysticism to mystical thought in the West. The remainder of the book is devoted to two ...

Abu Hamid Muhammad Al Ghazzali, Claud Field, Ghazzali
The Alchemy of Happiness (Sources and Studies in World History)
by M.E. Sharpe (Hardcover)

Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazzali (1058-1111) is one of the most important religious figures in Islamic history. He is particularly noted for his brilliant synthesis of mysticism and traditional Sunni Islam. Ghazzali's "The Alchemy of Happiness", written toward the end of his life, provides a succinct introduction to both the theory and practice of Sufism (Islamic mysticism). It thus offers many insights into traditional Muslim society. This translation is fully annotated for readers unfamiliar with Ghazzali and includes an introduction to his life and historical milieu.

Feisal Abdul Rauf
What's Right with Islam: is What's Right with America
by HarperOne (Paperback) (Release Date: 2005-04-26)

An American imam offers answers for today's toughest questions about Islam, and a vision for a  reconciliation between Islam and the West. One of the pressing questions of our time is what went wrong in the relationship between Muslims and the West. Continuing global violence in the name of Islam reflects the deepest fears by certain Muslim factions of Western political, cultural, and economic encroachment. The solution to the current antagonism requires finding common ground upon which to build mutual respect and understanding. Who better to offer such an analysis than an American imam, someone with a foot in each world and the tools to examine the common roots of both Western and Muslim cultures; someone to explain to the non-Islamic West not just what went wrong with Islam, but what's right with Islam. Focused on finding solutions, not on determining fault, this is ultimately a hopeful, inspiring book. What's Right with Islam systematically lays out the reasons for the ...

Nerina Rustomji
The Garden and the Fire: Heaven and Hell in Islamic Culture
by Columbia University Press (Hardcover)

Islamic conceptions of heaven and hell began in the seventh century as an early doctrinal innovation, but by the twelfth century, these notions had evolved into a highly formalized ideal of perfection. In tracking this transformation, Nerina Rustomji reveals the distinct material culture and aesthetic vocabulary Muslims developed to understand heaven and hell and identifies the communities and strategies of defense that took shape around the promise of a future world.Ideas of the afterworld profoundly influenced daily behaviors in Islamic society and gave rise to a code of ethics that encouraged abstinence from sumptuous objects, such as silver vessels and silk, so they could be appreciated later in heaven. Rustomji conducts a meticulous study of texts and images and carefully connects the landscape and social dynamics of the afterworld with earthly models and expectations. Male servants and female companions become otherworldly objects in the afterlife, and stories of rewards ...

William C. Chittick
The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn Al-Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination
by State Univ of New York Pr (Hardcover)

Henry Corbin
The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy
by North Atlantic Books (Paperback) (Release Date: 1998-09-09)

This work, incorporating previously unpublished interviews and articles, retraces the quest of Henry Corbin into the imaginal realm of the unseen self, the domains of angels and numinous beings. A study of religious philosophy, exploration of visionary faith, these pages offer a superb meditation of the great themes of Perso-Islamic mysticism—the Sufi theory of knowledge, the voyage within the soul, le rituel de la coupe—and an illuminating glimpse into the philosophic universes of Sohravardi, Ibn Arabi, and Molla Sarda Shirazi.

al-Ghazali
The Incoherence of the Philosophers (Islamic Translation Series)
by Brigham Young University (Hardcover)

Although Abu Hamid Muhammad al-Ghazali lived a relatively short life (1058-1111), he established himself as one of the most important thinkers in the history of Islam. The Incoherence of the Philosophers, written after more than a decade of travel and ascetic contemplation, contends that while such Muslim philosophers as Avicenna boasted of unassailable arguments on matters of theology and metaphysics, they could not deliver on their claims; moreover, many of their assertions represented disguised heresy and unbelief. Despite its attempted refutation by the twelfth-century philosopher Ibn Rushd, al-Ghazali's work remains widely read and influential.

Majid Fakhry
A History of Islamic Philosophy (Studies in Oriental Culture)
by Columbia University Press (Paperback)

Islam is the religion of over nine hundred million Muslims, and was the latest of the three monotheistic faiths to appear. Muslims believe the Koran to be the revelation of God through the Prophet Mohammed, and base every aspect of their daily lives upon its teachings. This second edition of Majid Fakhry's highly successful book, first published in 1970, presents the most detailed historical survey to date discussing Islamic philosophy and theology from the seventeenth century to the present. Professor Fakhry descusses the legalism, rationalism, and mysticism of Islamic thought and its impact upon the cultural aspects of Muslim life. He examines the rise of nineteenth-century Pan-Islamism which attempts to unite the politically disunited Islam into a spiritual unity, and he follows that distinct line of development which gave it the unity of form characteristic of all the great intellectual movements in history. The author has based his work on primary sources, chiefly in ...

Thomas Cleary
Living & Dying with Grace
by Shambhala (Hardcover) (Release Date: 1995-05-10)

A book of Aphoristic teachings on how to make one's way in the world--especially on how to bring spiritual insight to the affairs of daily life, this book contains 400 of Hadrat'Ali's teachings of worldly wisdom which show how people can use the everyday realities of their lives to cultivate wisdom and well-being, both temporal and eternal.

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