Ranks of the Divine Seekers A Parallel English-Arabic Text. Volume 1 (Islamic Translation)

Ranks of the Divine Seekers #1

by Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya, Ovamir Anjum (translator)

This is an unabridged, annotated, translation of the great Damascene savant and saint Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya’s (d. 751/1350) Madārij al-Sālikīn. Conceived as a critical commentary on an earlier Sufi classic by the great Hanbalite scholar Abū Ismāʿīl of Herat, Madārij aims to rejuvenate Sufism’s Qurʾanic foundations. The original work was a key text for the Sufi initiates, composed in terse, rhyming prose as a master’s instruction to the aspiring seeker on the path to God, in a journey of a hundred stations whose ultimate purpose was to be lost to one’s self ( fanāʾ) and subsist ( baqāʾ) in God. The translator, Ovamir (ʿUwaymir) Anjum, provides an extensive introduction and annotation to this English-Arabic face-to-face presentation of this masterpiece of Islamic psychology.

Genres: Islam

926 pages, Hardcover

Published May 7, 2020

Reviews

[Abu Kamdar · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent translation of one of the greatest classical works on orthodox spirituality.

[Umm Isa · Rating 5 out of 5]

How wonderful it is to read a book on Islamic spirituality that does not transgress the limits set by the Qur’an and Sunnah!

Many books on Islamic spirituality are written by those immersed in Sufism, and therefore contain many errors and absurdities. A few examples mentioned and refuted by the author are antinomianism; ‘‘the idea that one is not, or no longer, obliged to abide by the commands and prohibitions of the divine Law, often because one has risen to the rank of a saint’’. And also ecstatic outbursts; ‘‘mystic utterances that are insensible or make grandiose claims that are usually blasphemous or heretical, emitted by a mystic in intoxicated state’’. Outright kufr…

Those who are acquainted with Ibn Qayyim’s works recognize his outstanding rhetoric; the intellectual analyses, evocative parables, convincing arguments and comprehensible analogies. As mentioned before, the Qur’an and Sunnah form the basis on which something is accepted or rejected. Complimentary to those he adds sayings of the Salaf and other pious predecessors, anecdotes and poetry.

My favorite part was the chapter on repentance, the main theme of the second portion of the book. Never before have I read such a thought-provoking and detailed discourse on this topic. It challenges the intellect, touches the heart and subdues the ego. The first part of the book was a bit more difficult to read through sometimes. All that is required is a little persistence, as do most valuable and rewarding things in life.

Note: The translator mistakenly calls ‘Alī ibn Abī Ṭālib the third caliph. He was the fourth caliph, succeeding ‘Uthman ibn ‘Affan.

[Neo Raskolnikov · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ignoring the flaws in underlying rationale of his argument, Ibn Qayyim has presented the alternative beautifully.

[Muntaha Mona · Rating 4 out of 5]

the book everyone should read