How to Read the Qur'an: A New Guide, with Select Translations

For anyone, non-Muslim or Muslim, who wants to know how to approach, read, and understand the text of the Qur'an, How to Read the Qur'an offers a compact introduction and reader's guide. Using a chronological reading of the text according to the conclusions of modern scholarship, Carl W. Ernst offers a nontheological approach that treats the Qur'an as a historical text that unfolded over time, in dialogue with its audience, during the career of the Prophet Muhammad.

Religion & Spirituality

Carl W. Ernst

Islam

Edinburgh University Press

With new translations of 725 verses, this compact introduction and reader's guide to the Qur'an gives non-Arabic speakers the most precise translations available together with the tools they need to understand the text. It deals with sensitive issues regarding the interpretation of sacred texts and helps students to understand the differing points of view and major debates. A substantial explanatory introduction summarises the historical and literary issues and engages with the religious and political context of understanding the Qur'an today, including an appreciation of the ritual and oral uses of text.

Ruzbihan Baqli: Mysticism and the Rhetoric of Sainthood in Persian Sufism (Routledge Sufi Series)

Routledge

The soaring voice of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the ecstatic dance of the Whirling Dervishes, the rapturous verse of Jalaluddin Rumi—all are expressions of Sufism, often regarded as the mystical tradition of Islam. Who are the Sufis? They are more than mystics; they are empowered by the Qur'an and the Prophet Muhammad. They are guided by saints and masters. They belong to orders ranging from North Africa and Turkey to India and Central Asia. In addition to prayer and fasting, they practice techniques of meditation. They recite poetry, delight in music, and perform dance, all towards one goal—union with God, the Divine Beloved. This comprehensive introduction clarifies the concept of Sufism and discusses its origin and development. In addition, the author discusses the important issues of Sufism's relationship with the larger Islamic world and its encounters with fundamentalism and modern secularism, along with the appropriation of Sufism by non-Muslims and the development of Sufi traditions in the West.

The Shambhala Guide to Sufism

Shambhala

Like Rumi, Hafiz and Attar, al-Hujwiri was one of the great saints of Sufism. Revelation of the Mystery, or Kashf al-mahjub, has been revered by students of Sufism for nine centuries. This classic text contains biographies of the saints, including Fudayl, the brigand who became a great spiritual teacher; Ibrahim Adham, the prince who renounced everything when he received the divine call; and al-Hallaj, the great Sufi martyr. Al-Hujwiri also offers the spiritual seeker universal and timeless advice on many subjects, such as contemplation, generosity, spiritual courtesy, prayer, love and distinguishing false spirituality and false teachers from the real, a discernment just as important today as then.

Revelation of the Mystery

Biographies & Memoirs

Reynold A. Nicholson

Al-Hujwiri

Leaders & Notable People

Pir Press

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Books by Carl W. Ernst