Table Of Content

i Western Sufism ii iii i Western Sufism From the Abbasids to the New Age Mark Sedgwick i 1 iv 1 Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and certain other countries. Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America. © Oxford University Press 2017 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 in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by license, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reproduction rights organization. Inquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above. You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Sedgwick, Mark J., author. Title: Western Sufism : from the Abbasids to the new age / Mark Sedgwick. Description: New York, NY : Oxford University Press, [2017] | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2016008846 (print) | LCCN 2016011517 (ebook) | ISBN 9780199977642 (hardback : alk. paper) | ISBN 9780199977659 (updf) | ISBN 9780199977666 (epub) Subjects: LCSH: Mysticism—Islam—History. | Mysticism—History. | Sufism—History. | Sufism—Europe—History. | Sufism—North America—History. | Neoplatonism. Classification: LCC BP188.5 .S43 2017 (print) | LCC BP188.5 (ebook) | DDC 297.409—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016008846 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed by Sheridan Books, Inc., United States of America v For Lina vi vii i Contents Introduction 1 Part I | Premodern Intercultural Transfers 1. Neoplatonism and Emanationism 15 Plotinus: The Key 17 Emanation Explained 19 Neoplatonism Spreads 24 2. Islamic Emanationism 30 Arab Neoplatonism 31 The First Sufis 36 Sufi Classics 40 3. Jewish and Christian Emanationism 50 Jewish Neoplatonism 50 Jewish Sufism 56 Latin Emanationism 58 Conclusion to Part I 66 Part II | Imagining Sufism, 1480– 1899 4. Dervishes 71 Angels and Deviants 72 The View from France 79 Sufism as Mystical Theology 82 viii v iii i Contents 5. Deism and Pantheism 85 The prisca theologia in the Renaissance 86 Universalism: Guillaume Postel and the Jesuits 89 Deism Demonstrated by Arab and Turk 93 Pantheism and Anti-Exotericism 97 6. Universalist Sufism 102 Sufism as Esoteric Pantheism 103 Perennialism and Universalism in India 106 The Dabistan and After 108 7. Dervishes Epicurean and Fanatical 113 Dervishes in Drama, Painting, and Verse 114 The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám 121 Fighting Dervishes 125 Conclusion to Part II 130 Part III | The Establishment of Sufism in the West, 1910– 1933 8. Transcendentalism, Theosophy, and Sufism 135 Transcendentalism and the Missouri Platonists 137 The Theosophical Society and Carl- Henrik Bjerregaard 142 Ivan Aguéli, the Western Sufi 148 9. Toward the One: Inayat Khan and the Sufi Movement 156 Inayat Khan Visits America 157 The Sufi Message is Spread 162 The Continuation of the Sufi Movement 170 10. Tradition and Consciousness 172 René Guénon and the Traditionalists 173 George Gurdjieff and Consciousness 176 The Early Years of John G. Bennett 181 Conclusion to Part III 183 Part IV | The Development of Sufism in the New Age 11. Polarization 189 Toward Islam 190 Reorientation with Meher Baba 191 The Travels of John G. Bennett 194 The Maryamiyya and the Oglala Sioux 202 ix Contents j ix 12. Idries Shah and Sufi Psychology 208 Shah and the Gurdjieff Tradition 209 Shah’s Sufism 213 Followers and Opponents 217 13. Sufism Meets the New Age 222 Traditionalism and the New Age 223 The Sufi Movement Conserved 223 Sufi Sam in San Francisco 225 Vilayat and the Sufi Order International 231 Fazal and Mystical Warfare 233 14. Islamic Sufism 236 Ian Dallas and the Darqawiyya 237 Ibn Arabi and Beshara 240 The Murabitun and Sufi Jihad 243 John G. Bennett at Sherborne 246 Conclusion to Part IV 247 15. Conclusion 249 Notes 263 Selected Bibliography 319 Index 333

Description:

Western Sufism is sometimes dismissed as a relatively recent "new age" phenomenon, but in this book Mark Sedgwick argues that it has deep roots, both in the Muslim world and in the West. In fact, although the first significant Western Sufi organization was not established until 1915, the first Weste