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Stations Of Desire: Love Elegies From Ibn 'Arabi And New Poems
Poetry. Translation. One of the great mystics of all time, Muhyiddin Ibn al-'Arabi was a prolific author who wrote on every aspect of medieval Islamic thought. Michael Sell's STATIONS OF DESIRE contains the first translations of Ibn 'Arabi's TURJUMAN into modern poetic English. Sells, one of the most distinguished contemporary translators of classical Arabic poetry, carries into his translations the supple, resonant quality of the original Arabic. The book also includes a selection of Sell's original poems, which are modeled on the Turjuman and serve as a further commentary on the medieval odes and their extension into the present climate of poetry.
151 pages, Paperback
First published September 15, 2000
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About the author
Ibn ʿArabi
377 books1,974 followersNote to arabic readers : For the original arabic version of the books, check "other editions" in the book that interests you)
Universally known by the title of "Muhyi al-Din" (The Reviver of the Religion) and "al-Shaykh al-Akbar" (The Greatest Shaykh) Ibn 'Arabī (Arabic: ابن عربي) (July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an Arab Sufi Muslim mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-`Arabī al-Hāṭimī al-Ṭā'ī (أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن العربي الحاتمي الطائي).
Muhammad ibn al-Arabi and his family moved to Seville when he was eight years old. In 1200 CE, at the age of thirty-five, he left Iberia for good, intending to make the hajj to Mecca. He lived in Mecca for some three years, where he began writing his Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations). In 1204, he left Mecca for Anatolia with Majd al-Dīn Isḥāq, whose son Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qunawī (1210-1274) would be his most influential disciple.
In 1223, he settled in Damascus, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. He died at the age of 76 on 22 Rabi' II 638 AH/November 10, 1240CE, and his tomb in Damascus is still an important place of pilgrimage.
A vastly prolific writer, Ibn 'Arabī is generally known as the prime exponent of the idea later known as Waḥdat al-Wujūd (literally Unity of Being), though he did not use this term in his writings. His emphasis was on the true potential of the human being and the path to realising that potential and becoming the perfect or complete man (al-insān al-kāmil).
Some 800 works are attributed to Ibn 'Arabā, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscript form, although most printed versions have not yet been critically edited and include many errors.
Universally known by the title of "Muhyi al-Din" (The Reviver of the Religion) and "al-Shaykh al-Akbar" (The Greatest Shaykh) Ibn 'Arabī (Arabic: ابن عربي) (July 28, 1165 - November 10, 1240) was an Arab Sufi Muslim mystic and philosopher. His full name was Abū 'Abdullāh Muḥammad ibn 'Alī ibn Muḥammad ibn al-`Arabī al-Hāṭimī al-Ṭā'ī (أبو عبد الله محمد بن علي بن محمد بن العربي الحاتمي الطائي).
Muhammad ibn al-Arabi and his family moved to Seville when he was eight years old. In 1200 CE, at the age of thirty-five, he left Iberia for good, intending to make the hajj to Mecca. He lived in Mecca for some three years, where he began writing his Al-Futūḥāt al-Makkiyya (The Meccan Illuminations). In 1204, he left Mecca for Anatolia with Majd al-Dīn Isḥāq, whose son Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qunawī (1210-1274) would be his most influential disciple.
In 1223, he settled in Damascus, where he lived the last seventeen years of his life. He died at the age of 76 on 22 Rabi' II 638 AH/November 10, 1240CE, and his tomb in Damascus is still an important place of pilgrimage.
A vastly prolific writer, Ibn 'Arabī is generally known as the prime exponent of the idea later known as Waḥdat al-Wujūd (literally Unity of Being), though he did not use this term in his writings. His emphasis was on the true potential of the human being and the path to realising that potential and becoming the perfect or complete man (al-insān al-kāmil).
Some 800 works are attributed to Ibn 'Arabā, although only some have been authenticated. Recent research suggests that over 100 of his works have survived in manuscript form, although most printed versions have not yet been critically edited and include many errors.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 27, 2016
I wasn't convinced that the translator's poems needed to be sandwiched in between much superior poetry...
October 18, 2022
Unfortunately just because I trust Sells as a translator of Arabic that doesn't mean I want to read his original poetry. Apparently he has another translation of this collection called "Translator of Desires" that I'll look into.
May 11, 2013
I told them of a lover
strange and lost,
Surrounded by yearnings,
struck by their arrows
on target always,
wherever he goes.
She smiled, showing her side teeth.
Lightning flashed.
I couldn't tell which of the two
split the darkness.
Isn't it enough she said
I am in his heart
where each moment he sees me,
isn't it, no?
Ibn 'Arabi "As Night Let its Curtains down in Folds"
"Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq"
The book has a great introduction and a few selections of Ibn 'Arabi's sublime poetry. There is, however, not enough. I had thought that this work would have more of Ibn 'Arabi's poems in it, and I was disappointed that there were not more, and that Sells inserted his own personal poetry into the collection as well--his poetry was fine, but I intended to buy a collection of the poetry of Ibn 'Arabi, not to read poems about trains and such.
But, again, the introduction was very good, as were many of the selections of poetry, though I now need to purchase a larger connection, as this was more of an advertisement for the "Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq" than the work itself.
strange and lost,
Surrounded by yearnings,
struck by their arrows
on target always,
wherever he goes.
She smiled, showing her side teeth.
Lightning flashed.
I couldn't tell which of the two
split the darkness.
Isn't it enough she said
I am in his heart
where each moment he sees me,
isn't it, no?
Ibn 'Arabi "As Night Let its Curtains down in Folds"
"Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq"
The book has a great introduction and a few selections of Ibn 'Arabi's sublime poetry. There is, however, not enough. I had thought that this work would have more of Ibn 'Arabi's poems in it, and I was disappointed that there were not more, and that Sells inserted his own personal poetry into the collection as well--his poetry was fine, but I intended to buy a collection of the poetry of Ibn 'Arabi, not to read poems about trains and such.
But, again, the introduction was very good, as were many of the selections of poetry, though I now need to purchase a larger connection, as this was more of an advertisement for the "Tarjuman Al-Ashwaq" than the work itself.
January 14, 2020
I'm entranced by this work. It flows to and from Sells' "Mystical Languages of Unsaying" as the poetic plays across the inarticulate and yet mediates the lover/beloved dynamic, necessarily unsatisfied--for how else could the reach stretch toward the Eternal. Some reviewers question the inclusion of Sells' own poems. Since I'm not looking for a literal rendition, I'm not troubled by this and am moved by Sells' explanation in the introduction. For example, "If translation is not a word-for-word rendition of a static image, but an attempt to reflect the transformations of the beloved in every new form and gesture, then the boundary between translation and creation is no longer very clear..." (p. 42).
October 18, 2015
Just to give you some idea: First, let us hear from R. A. Nicholson, translating a passage he titles "O Doves that Haunt":
"O doves that haunt the arak and ban trees, have pity! | Do not double my woes by your lamentation!"
Now here is Sells, his title, "Gentle Now, Doves": "Pasture between breastbone | and innards! | Marvel, | a garden among the flames! "
"O doves that haunt the arak and ban trees, have pity! | Do not double my woes by your lamentation!"
Now here is Sells, his title, "Gentle Now, Doves": "Pasture between breastbone | and innards! | Marvel, | a garden among the flames! "
March 18, 2016
The poetry here is profound. I feel overindulged by reading it. Ibn Arabi's ideas are simultaneously beautiful and distasteful (because of the narrative voice's egotism).
August 29, 2011
Beautiful book, beautiful poems. I loved the translations, but I have no idea why Michael Sells felt justified putting his own verse in the middle of the book.
February 7, 2017
Minus one star for the completely unnecessary insertion of the translator's own poems in between the poems I actually wanted to read.
September 15, 2017
Weird to have the translator's poems stuck between historic poetry of Ibn Arabi
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews