Patterns of Contemplation

"""a comprehensive introduction to sacred geometry, symbolism, and numerology articulated against the backdrop of a well-known Akbarian prayer on the blessed Prophet. As such, this book is a guiding light for those travelling from the darkness of the periphery to the luminous Muhammadan Centre""Mohammed Rustom, Carleton University ""This fascinatingly complex volume, as its long title already suggests, actually covers a wide range of subjects that are all connected in various ways to a metaphysically complex invocation (the Salat Faydiyya or ""Blessing-Prayer of Effusion"" of the title), attributed ostensibly to Ibn 'Arabi, which first appears in a commentary by his well-known later commentator al-Nabulusi-some five centuries after the Shaykh's passing-and which the authors of this volume persuasively attribute to Abdullah Bosnevi, who wrote roughly a century earlier than Nabulusi. This short prayer is of such density and richness of allusions that the authors have provided the Arabic text, literal English and Spanish translations, a fully annotated commentary, and detailed transliterated versions that allow readers without specialized background or Arabic to more fully appreciate its poetic and aesthetic depths. It provides, firstly and most importantly, the most elaborate English introduction to the Arabic 'science of letters' and a host of closely related poetic features, devices and symbols which are central to deciphering and fully understanding both Ibn 'Arabi's immense poetic production and his prose; secondly, a previously unstudied window on the study, ongoing contemplation and spiritual interaction with Ibn 'Arabi in the Ottoman realms (from the Balkans to the Arab heartlands); and thirdly, a quite different historical tradition of related metaphysical poetry and prayer-blessings, which gradually spread in devotional settings across North and West Africa down to the present day"" James Winston Morris, Boston University ""At once mathematical and spiritual, Patterns of Contemplation is a uniquely rich introduction to the science of letters and number symbolism, and itself a rare expression of artistic and scholarly devotion to the study of our human mystical heritage"" Aydogan Kars, Monash University ""An extraordinary achievement. The Science of Letters combined with numerical and geometric symbolism in particular is treated with thorough investigation and deep insight. The reader is taken by the hand, and even those who do not possess a specific training, nor that particular aptitude that would be desirable for such a peculiar and essential field, should be able to follow and appreciate the articulated dimensions of this 'Pythagorean' vision of existence. At the same time, one should also be able to understand that Ibn ʿArabi's treatment of this Science and, consequently, of a Master of his school like Abdullah Bosnevi, goes far beyond what may have ever been produced in the West, and reveals the heights of the Muhammadian doctrines"" Paolo Urizzi, Perennia Verba"