The Sufi Path of Knowledge

This book was a revelation for me when it came out, and I continue to use it as both reference and a source of new ideas and inspiration. The author felicitously combines a deeply personal perspective on Sufism’s greatest thinker Ibn ‘Arabi (1165–1240) with academic rigor and precision in translation. His comments on Ibn ‘Arabi’s teachings are unobtrusive and helpful in navigating the Sufi master’s breathtaking exploration of the universe that he presents, paradoxically, as a giant reflection of the [self-]image and imagination of the Divine Absolute. The subtle interaction of mundane and divine imaginations determines how we ourselves imagine… show more.

This book quite literally rocked my world when I read it in my early twenties, leaving me wondering where the great Sufi philosopher Ibn ‘Arabi had been all my life. In unparalleled fashion, master translator and interpreter of Sufi texts William Chittick takes readers into Ibn ‘Arabi’s universe by carefully outlining the Master’s teachings in his own words, and on his own terms. The only condition I would say one must fulfill before reading this book is to have the willingness to see with what Ibn ‘Arabi calls “two eyes”—the eye of reason and intelligence, and the eye of imagination… show more.