Ebook: The Heritage of Sufism, Volume III

This final volume of The Heritage of Sufism celebrates the mystical culture and intellectual life of sixteenth- to eighteenth-century Iran and India, an age characterized by a flowering of Persianate culture and which marked the peak of Muslim political power in the region.

In this meticulously researched and erudite collection of essays, twenty-four internationally renowned scholars explore the religious, political, philosophical, mystical, artistic, literary and _ historical dimensions of the period, embracing such topics as:

* Western orientalism and Persian Sufi literature

* Mystical diagrams, meditation practices and symbolism

* Conflicts and polemics between mullas and mystics

* Illuminationism and the school of Ibn ‘Arabi

* Historiography and the political background of Sufi institutions

The result is a comprehensive study that is unique in its chronological breadth, intellectual diversity and historical scope and which demonstrates the central role played by Sufism in Persianate culture in Iran, Central Asia and India. Together with the first two volumes of this classic study — the first ever in any language to give an in-depth account of a millennium of the history of Sufism — this book will inform and fascinate students and all those interested in the place of mysticism in Islamic culture.

LEONARD LEWISOHN is a Research Associate at the Centre of Near and Middle Eastern Studies at SOAS, University of London, and Outreach Coordinator at the Department of Academic Research at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, where he also teaches Persian. His previous books include Beyond Faith and Infidelity: the Sufi Poetry and Teachings of Mahmud Shabistari.

DAVID MORGAN is Reader in the History of the Middle East at SOAS, University of London, and Editor of the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society. His publications include The Mongols and Medieval Persia 1040-1797.