Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn 'Arabi (Islamic Texts Society) [Paperback]

Claude Addas (Author), Peter Kingsley (Translator)

Book Description

Series: Islamic Texts Society | Publication Date: January 1, 1993

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.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'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 authors 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.' TLS.

Product Details

• Paperback: 347 pages
• Publisher: Islamic Texts Society (January 1, 1993)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0946621454
• ISBN-13: 978-0946621453
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,220,440 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Tedious in the extreme, February 20, 2009

By 

B. Braun (San Francisco) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn 'Arabi (Islamic Texts Society Golden Palm) (Hardcover)

I bought this book in high hopes of learning more about sufism and about Ibn 'Arabi. The cover art is fabulous, and the title quite provocative, with its alchemical implications (which would be highly relevant to this time period). Yet what the red sulphur means in this instance is not chemical at all, but a person of rare worth, which is what 'Arabi spent his life seeking, and also what he apparently became, at least to many students. Author Addas adds a few pages here and there of general historical background, mostly about Andalusia and Islamic Spain which had reached its pinnacle right around the lifetime of 'Arabi. But by far most of the book is the painful recounting of who 'Arabi met, who he might have met, or possibly not met, where he went, what month it may have been, what other scholars got wrong about the year or location of one of these speculations or facts, and other endless tedious detail. For scholars, this may be rich and fertile material; for the general reader it is not. And most unfortunately, in marked contrast to the nitpicking historiography, there is neither a properly critical attitude towards the endless grandiloquent claims 'Arabi made about talking with Jesus, to God, being the second coming of Muhammad, being one of the four pillars of Islam, taking night journeys to heaven and so forth and so on, nor does this book present a truly inspired rendition of 'Arabi's philosophy, as one might find in "The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition", by Seyyed Hossein Nasr, at least in its first few chapters. The Garden of Truth: The Vision and Promise of Sufism, Islam's Mystical Tradition

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The biography of ibn Arabi, July 21, 2007

By 

Gogol (England) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn 'Arabi (Islamic Texts Society Golden Palm) (Hardcover)

This is the most comprehensive biography in the English language. The detail of this book is realy remarkable. Not only does the author cover the life and teachings of ibn Arabi but also places him in his historical context.

The book details the social and political climate of the time that ibn Arabi lived from where he grew up, his ancestors, his teachers, what he studied and who he studied with, the subjects taught at the time, the places he travelled and the Sheikhs that he met with.

There is a comprehensive study of the teachings of ibn Arabi such as wahdat al-wajud and to some extent his influence on the later Islamic tradition.

Well worth buying, probably the best you can find.