The self-disclosure of God
Subtitle: principles of Ibn al-ʻArabī's cosmology
By: William C. Chittick.
Series: SUNY series in Islam
Publisher: State University of New York Press
Published: 1998
Place of publication: Albany
Language: eng
Number of pages: 483
Subjects: Ibn al-ʻArabī, 1165-1240.; God (Islam) -- Early works to 1800.; Islamic cosmology -- Early works to 1800.; Sufism -- Early works to 1800.; Islam -- Doctrines -- Early works to 1800.
Description: The Self-Disclosure of God continues the author's investigations of the world view of Ibn al-'Arabi, the greatest theoretician of Sufism and the "seal of the Muhammadan saints." The book is divided into three parts, dealing with the relation between God and the cosmos, the structure of the cosmos, and the nature of the human soul. A long introduction orients the reader and discusses a few of the difficulties faced by Ibn al-'Arabi's interpreters.

Like Chittick's earlier work, The Sufi Path of Knowledge, this book is based primarily on Ibn al-'Arabi's monumental work, al-Futuhat al-makkiyya "The Meccan Openings." More than one hundred chapters and subsections are translated, not to mention shorter passages that help put the longer discussions in context. There are detailed indexes of sources, Koranic verses, and hadiths.

The book's index of technical terminology will be an indispensable reference for all those wishing to delve more deeply into the use of language in Islamic thought in general and Sufism in particular.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 409-411) and indexes.