Beshara and Ibn 'Arabi: A Movement of Sufi Spirituality in the Modern World

492 Pages·2007·3.79 MB·English

by  Suha Taji-Farouki

Suha Taji-Farouki is Senior Lecturer in “A marvellous book … historically and ethnographically well- Investigating sufi -inspired spirituality in the

Modern Islam at the Institute of Arab and informed, with equally well-informed use of theory – modern world, this interdisciplinary volume
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Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, and handled with very considerable sensitivity – and lucidly written.” focuses on Beshara, a spiritual movement
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Research Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Paul Heelas that originated in Britain in the 1970s.
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Studies, London. She has published widely author of The New Age Movement and The Spiritual Revolution Beshara’s main inspiration is the
on modern Islamic thought, including (ed.) a Andalusian mystic Muhyi al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi
Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century “A masterful and multifaceted study. This important book opens B T (d.1240), possibly the most infl uential
and Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the out to provide a much-needed critique of the sociology of Islam thinker of the second half of Islamic history.
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Qur’an. Her most recent work is a study and in the age of globalization.” ej Ibn ‘Arabi’s teaching was brought to Britain
translation of A Prayer for Spiritual Elevation Victoria Rowe Holbrook i S uh a Taji-Farouki by Bulent Rauf (d.1987), a descendant of
author of The Unreadable Shores of Love and Beauty and Love -
and Protection by Ibn ‘Arabi. s the Ottoman elite, and discovered there by
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counterculture youth searching for new
ha B e s h a r a
“Empathetic in approach and immensely well-documented, this is spiritual ways. Beshara is their joint legacy.
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an exemplary work. Its great importance for akbarian studies is o The fi rst detailed analysis of the adoption
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its discussion of the way in which Ibn ‘Arabi’s teachings have been u and and adaptation of Ibn ‘Arabi’s heritage by
received and transformed in the modern world.” rk I b n ‘A r a b i non-Muslims in the West, Beshara and Ibn
Michel Chodkiewicz i ‘Arabi is a study of the movement’s history,
author of Seal of the Saints and An Ocean Without Shore a teachings and practices. It explores the
interface between sufi sm and the New Age,
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A Movement of Sufi Spirituality and the broader contemporary encounter
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d in the Modern World between Islam and the West. Investigating
I from a global perspective the impact of
cultural transformations associated with
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modernisation and globalisation on religion,
this timely volume concludes by tracing
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possible futures of sufi spirituality both in
the West and in the Muslim world.

‘ This book is essential reading for anyone
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interested in religious studies and the
sociology of religion, Islamic studies and
Sufi sm, and issues of cultural and spiritual
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dialogue between West and East.
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www.ibn-arabi.com
[email protected]
Anqa Publishing Oxford
ANQA PUBLISHING ANQA ANQA PUBLISHING
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Beshara and Ibn ‘Arabi

Beshara and Ibn ‘Arabi
A Movement of Sufi Spirituality
in the Modern World
SUHA TAJI-FAROUKI
·
ANQA PUBLISHING OXFORD
Published by Anqa Publishing
PO Box 1178
Oxford OX2 8YS, UK
www.ibn-arabi.com
© Suha Taji-Farouki, 2007
Suha Taji-Farouki has asserted her moral right under the Copyright, Designs
and Patents Act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a
retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior
permission of the publisher.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 1 905937 00 4
Cover design: www.doppelpunkt.com
Printed in Beirut by Al-Furat
www.alfurat.com
These times now are not like times gone by. This is because today is closer
to the Hereafter. Hence people today experience abundant unveilings, and
flashes of light have begun to appear and become manifest. The people of
our time enjoy more rapid unveiling, more frequent witnessing, a richer
gnosis and a more perfect knowledge of divine realities, but they practise
fewer works of devotion than in previous times …
Such practice predominated in the past, but in our times knowledge has
gained ascendancy, and this situation will continue to expand and intensify
until the descent of Jesus, upon whom be peace, such that our performance
of a single prayer-cycle today is equivalent to a whole lifetime of worship by
someone of an earlier time …
Knowledge is one and spread wide, and calls for those who can carry it.
When these grow in number by virtue of their righteousness – for it is the
knowledge of the righteous – it is apportioned among them … Knowledge,
opening and unveiling are abundant among men of later times. When
someone has a portion of this, it becomes manifest in him, because today
knowledge predominates … Glory be to the One who gives freely to all!
Ibn ‘Arabi, Kitab al-Isfar, pp. 9–11
Our happiness and completion lies in facing Unity with the totality of
ourselves, in standing for the truth of humanity, its singularity and large-
ness, and by denying any limited or diseased identity.
Peter Young, ‘Ibn ‘Arabi: Towards a Universal Point of View’, p. 94
The future of the entire human race may depend on whether large numbers
… can now take the Direct Path into claiming humbly their divine humanity
and acting from it in order to preserve the environment and see that justice
is done to the poor and starving and depressed. What is needed on a large
scale … is … an army of … active mystics who work in every field and in
every arena to transform the world.
Andrew Harvey, The Direct Path, p. 26

Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Note on spelling and transliteration x
1 Setting the scene 1
Sixties Britain as historical context 2
Sufism and sufi spirituality in the modern West 8
Beshara as a movement of sufi spirituality 10
Introducing Ibn ‘Arabi and the Oneness of Being 14
Concerning methodology, data collection and sources 18
2 Emergence and history 23
Rauf in London: a chance meeting? 23
Coalescence: the establishment of a spiritual centre 28
Reorientations 32
Emergence, consolidation and expansion of the
Beshara movement 35
3 Spiritual education: texts and contexts 45
Study texts in English 45
Inside the School of Intensive Esoteric Education 54
4 Bulent Rauf as guiding figure 69
Origins 69
Approach as adviser and guide 81
Legacy 91
5 The Beshara perspective and the teaching of Ibn ‘Arabi 97
Why Ibn ‘Arabi? 98
Ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics as exposition of Absolute Truth 99
Ibn ‘Arabi’s teaching as universal 102
A direct personal message 104
The spiritual evolution of man 107
Preparing for the Second Coming of Christ 116
The Second Coming as new age: ‘universality’
and global unity 122
viii contents
6 The spiritual life: culture and practice 135
The end of religions and spiritual orders: a direct
realisation of Truth 135
Spiritual practices: origins and adaptations 141
Islamic–sufi forms and interior realities 151
The cult of saints 156
An Uwaysi culture? 164
7 Projecting Ibn ‘Arabi for today’s world 171
Beshara and Ibn ‘Arabi 171
Avenues of engagement: bringing Ibn ‘Arabi
into the wider culture 173
Scholarly dissemination: the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi
Society, Beshara and ‘sufi academia’ 177
Ibn ‘Arabi and his readers: spirituality for the elite? 184
Ibn ‘Arabi (re-) constructed? 188
8 Beshara and sufism in the modern world 195
Situating Beshara 195
Sufism and the shifting sands of the West 207
Modern Muslims, spiritual seekers and sufism 214
Epilogue 233
Notes 241
Appendices
1 Sufism and sufi spirituality in the West: a working typology 405
2 The life and thought of Ibn ‘Arabi: recommended reading 406
3 A Beshara study session: Bosnevi’s Commentary
on the Fusus al-Hikam 408
4 A Beshara dhikr 415
5 Life stories 417
Select bibliography 451
Index 470
Acknowledgements
Sincere thanks are due to all those in the UK and Istanbul who gave their
time for interviews or to respond to questions; The Institute of Ismaili
Studies (London) for generously supporting this work; the Beshara School
and the Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi Society for their hospitality and help; Michel
Chodkiewicz, Paul Heelas and Victoria Rowe Holbrook for their helpful
comments; and last but not least, Stephen Hirtenstein and Michael Tiernan.