The Letters of Ahmad Ibn Idris

by Einar Thomassen (Editor), Bernd Radtke (Editor), R.S. O'Fahey (Editor)

A collection of letters from the Moroccan Sufi mystic and teacher Ahmad Ibn Idris (1749-1837) to his students, family and others, presented in facing pages of edited Arabic and English text, 

Genres: Islam

184 pages, Hardcover

First published February 16, 1993

Reviews

[Jonathan Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fine edition of some letters (both in the original Arabic and in English translation) of letters sent by Moroccan Sufi scholar Ahmad ibn Idris (1760-1837) to various disciples of his. Some of what he offers is good general wisdom - for instance, some of his profound benedictions (e.g., "May God Most High lead you to know all that is good, and lift from you every worry and distress, evil and harm, and may he turn your bitterness into sweetness, your veil into revelation, your negligence into remembrance of God..."). Some is good Islamic teaching, as I've been given to understand it.

Other passages are mystical in ways that may well exceed what's permissible in Islamic discourse (e.g., Ahmad's remarks on certain brethren who "transmit hadith directly from God" and so wrote down "the direct words and good tidings that God revealed to him" as "revelations that dazzled the minds"). And then other mystical passages are, at times, nearly impenetrable and possibly devoid of content.

But it's interesting to eavesdrop on a Sufi master's counsel to his disciples, even so!