A survey of the Muslim, Jewish, and Christian debates and mystical discussions about Muhammad's heavenly journey that took place in early medieval Spain.
This book demonstrates how Muhammad's heavenly journey, as discussed throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the western Mediterranean, was the site both of polemical religious debates and of a rich and varied tradition of mystical commentary. Out of these fertile contexts sprang two very influential sets of ascension discourses: First, the growth of the ""Perfect and Complete"" version of the Islamic ascension tale that spread throughout the Muslim world; second, the complex and multidimensional mystical interpretations of Muhammad's journey by one of the most famous Sufis of all time, the ""Grand Master"" Muhyi al-Din Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240 CE). This work surveys key sources of this Andalusi contemplative tradition and also includes a complete translation of one of its very earliest written texts, preserved in a unique fragmentary Arabic manuscript, making this important historical document accessible to scholars, students, and general audiences alike for the very first time.
By:
Frederick S. Colby (University of Oregon)
Imprint: State University of New York Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions:
Height: 229mm,
Width: 152mm,
Spine: 16mm
Weight: 372g
ISBN: 9798855800746
Pages: 178
Publication Date: 01 February 2025
Audience:
General/trade
,
ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active
Acknowledgments Introduction 1. Antecedents, Commentaries, and Fragments 2. Shared Discourses and Polemics of Ascent 3. Emerging Andalūsī Mālikī Traditions 4. Intertextual Qurān and Prophetic Reports: Ibn Barrajān 5. Contemplation of the Visionary Experience: Ibn Qaī Conclusion Appendix: Translation of Real Academia de la Historia MS Codera 241 Notes Bibliography Index
Frederick S. Colby is Associate Professor of Religious Studies at the University of Oregon. He is the author of Narrating Muhammad's Night Journey: Tracing the Development of the Ibn ʿAbbās Ascension Discourse, also published by SUNY Press, and the editor and translator of The Subtleties of the Ascension: Lataʾif al-Miraj: Early Mystical Sayings on Muhammad's Heavenly Journey..
Reviews for Muhammad's Ascension in Muslim Spain: Elaborations and Contestations of the Miʿrāj in the Eleventh- to Twelfth-Century Maghrib
"""This remarkable study introduces a little-known body of Islamic ascension literature. Colby's nuanced approach, which situates this literature in relation to Sufism of the central Islamic lands along with a careful exploration of the theological and philosophical milieu of medieval Spain, makes this a valuable contribution to the study of Sufism and the western pietistic Islamic traditions."" — Richard J. A. McGregor, Vanderbilt University"
