Table of Contents

List of Illustrations Acknowledgments Note on Transliteration Introduction 1. Tirmidhi, Ibn 'Arabi, and Others on Sanctity Tirmidhi on Walaya Sahl Tustari on Walaya Lesser Treatments of Walaya Walaya and Shi'ism Ibn 'Arabi and Walaya 2. The Early Shadhiliyya and Sanctity Literature and History of the Shadhiliyya Al-Shadhili, Tirmidhi, and Ibn 'Arabi The Early Figures of the Order The Writings of Ibn Bakhila Proximity to the Divine The Levels of Walaya Sanctity and Prophecy 3. The Wafa'iyya in Time and Space Arriving from the Maghreb Among the Elite of Cairo 4. The Writings of the Wafa's Poetry Supplications (du'a) Jurisprudence (fiqh) and Exegesis (tafsir) Mystical Treatises (Muhammad Wafa') Mystical Treatises ('Ali Wafa') 5. Sanctity and Muhammad Wafa' Absolute Being and Its Self-disclosure The Preexistential and the Everlasting Spiritual Anthropology Cosmology The Teaching Shaykh and Beyond The Muhammadan Reality and the Pole Sanctity, the Renewer, and the Seal 6. Sanctity according to 'Ali Wafa' Divine Oneness, Self-disclosure, and Creation The Teacher and Oneness On Walaya and Nubuwwa The Seal of Sainthood The Seal and the Renewer of Religion Conclusion Notes Bibliography Index

About the Author

Richard J. A. McGregor is Assistant Professor of Religion at Vanderbilt University.

Reviews

"An excellent book. With care and insight Richard J. A. McGregor illuminates the personalities, cultural context, and intellectual cu rents surrounding the Wafa' Sufis, revealing a remarkable chapter in the history of Sufism and in the development of mystical philosophy and cosmology in Islam."