Beauty in Sufism : the teachings of Ruzbihan Baqli / Kazuyo Murata.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Murata, Kazuyo (Lecturer in Islamic studies), author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Aesthetics--Religious aspects--Islam.

Aesthetics.

Sufism.

Baqlī, Rūzbihān ibn Abī al-Naṣr, -1209 or 1210.

Baqlī, Rūzbihān ibn Abī al-Naṣr.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (214 pages) : illustrations

Place of Publication:

Albany, New York : State University of New York Press, 2016.

Summary:

According to Muhammad, "God is beautiful and He loves beauty." Yet, Islam is rarely associated with beauty, and today, a politicized Islam dominates many perceptions. This work tells a forgotten story of beauty in Islam through the writings of celebrated but little-studied Sufi scholar and saint Rūzbihān Baqlī (1128–1209). Rūzbihān argued that the pursuit of beauty in the world and in oneself was the goal of Muslim life. One should become beautiful in imitation of God and reclaim the innate human nature created in God's beautiful image. Rūzbihān's theory of beauty is little known, largely because of his convoluted style and eccentric terminology in both Persian and Arabic. In this book, Kazuyo Murata revives Rūzbihān's ideas for modern readers. She provides an overview of Muslim discourse on beauty before Rūzbihān's time; an analysis of key terms related to beauty in the Qur'ān, Ḥadīth, and in Rūzbihān's writings; a reconstruction of Rūzbihān's understanding of divine, cosmic, and human beauty; and a discussion of what he regards as the pinnacle of beauty in creation, the prophets, especially Adam, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, and Muhammad.

Contents:

Discourse on beauty

The language of beauty

The theology of beauty

The anthropology and cosmology of beauty

The prophetology of beauty.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and indexes.

Description based on print version record.

ISBN:

9781438462806

1438462808