| Quest for the
Red Sulphur
The Life of Ibn Arabi
CLAUDE ADDAS
Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn Arabi
is undoubtedly a landmark in Ibn Arabi studies. Until the publication
of this book, anyone who wanted to learn about the life of Ibn Arabi
has had little choice of material to work from. This major study
by Claude Addas is based on a detailed analysis of a whole range
of Ibn Arabi’s own writings as well as a vast amount of secondary
literature in both Arabic and Persian. The result is the first-ever
attempt to reconstruct what proves to have been a double itinerary:
on the one hand, the journey that took Ibn Arabi from his native
Andalusia to Damascus - and on the other hand, the ‘Night
Journey’ which carried him along the paths of asceticism and
prayer to the ultimate stage of revelation of his mystic quest.
‘I read it like a novel, a novel written in captivating
style and with a seeming infinite love for its hero - a novel distinguished
by its meticulous care for details and full of trustworthy information
taken from manuscripts and printed sources...It is more than a translation:
with the author’s help some additions have been made, some
points clarified.’
Annemarie Schimmel (Journal of Islamic
Studies)
‘The first serious biography of the most influential
figure in the history of Islamic mysticism. It is based on an enormous
amount of documentary evidence...In his voluminous writings Ibn
`Arabi recounted his visionary experiences, his journeys, real and
imaginary, and his meetings with other mystics, both alive and dead.’
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