Islamic Studies at Vanderbilt
Islamic Studies in the U.S
You can find here Carl Ernst's .ppt presentation "Changing Approaches to Islamic Studies in the U.S."
"A Prince Visits A Hermit," Mughal Period (ca.1585-1590). (Source: the Online Gallery of the Agha Khan Museum)
Hijri - Gregorian Date Conversion
Gregorian-Hijri Dates Converter
Books in the field of Islamic Studies have two dates to indicate the same event: for example, "al-Ghazali (d.505 AH / 1111 CE)." This does not mean that al-Ghazali died twice, but that there are two calendars used by the scholars. The Hijri Calendar (abbreviated as "AH") is a lunar calendar consisting of 12 months in a year of 354 or 355 days that started in the year in 622 CE. To learn more about the Hijri date, check here.
Welcome!
Welcome to the course guide for RLST4551 / REL8811 / DIV5454, Islamic Mysticism! In this guide you will find information about a number of things, including finding databases, books, articles on topics related to your course. Please let us know if you have any questions about this guide or about finding materials for your research.
"Allegory of Worldly and Otherworldly Drunkenness," ca.1531-1533; folio from from the Divan of Hafiz al-Shirazi (d.1390).
This course focuses on the origins and development of mystical traditions in Islam, the rise of asceticism, the early Sufis, the development and systematization of Sufi orders and teachings, the evolution of theosophical dimensions of mysticism, present day Sufism and its spread in North America, and the comparison of Islamic mysticism with other forms of mysticism.
Need Help?
Please let me know if you have any questions about this guide or about finding materials for your research!
Aydogan Kars, Bibliographer to the Divinity Library
A folio of the Maqamat, ca.1237. One of the greatest Arabic illuminated manuscripts of all time—a compendium of tales by al-Hariri (d.1122) illustrated by Yahya ibn Mahmud al-Wasiti (13th c.).
Journals on Sufism
Journal of Sufi Studies | Brill
For more information on the journal, click on the image
Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society
For the list of all articles, click on the image
For more information on the journal, click on the image
Featured Titles
Studies on Sufism in Central Asia by ISBN: 1409443922Publication Date: 2012Studies on Sufism in Central Asia reproduces 12 studies which explore previously unstudied sources with an eye to identifying prominent developments in the social and organizational history of the major Sufi groupings of the region; The chronological range reflected in the studies included here runs from the 13th to the 17th centuries.
Sufism, Black and White by ISBN: 9789004228016Publication Date: 2012This work is a critical Arabic text edition of K. al-Bayad wa-l-sawad, a substantial Sufi handbook of early Sufism by Abu al-Hasan 'Ali b. al-Hasan al-Sirjani (d.ca.470/1077). The book is available online via Ebrary!
al-Futuhat al-Makkiyyah by Publication Date: 2004The great compendium of Islamic sciences, written by "the greatest master" Ibn 'Arabi, is now available in our library (9 vols, Arabic). This work was written over a twenty-year period as Ibn 'Arabi traveled in the Near East, and revised in a second recension during the time he lived in Damascus.
