Customer Reviews

Satan's Tragedy and Redemption: Iblis in Sufi Psychology (Numen Book Series)

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is one of the most beautiful and profound academic books I have read in ten years of Religious Studies (and I am an Indologist). Sufism's interpretation of one of my favourite literary characters, Iblis or Satan, is rational, lucid, poetic and ultimately beautiful. I am moved by Iblis' perennial love for God and his hatred of Adam. The mythology, philosophy, and internal logic is both thought provoking and aestheticly quickening. Awn has sympathetically presented Sufism's enlightened theology on a figure much maligned by the mainstream Semitic traditions. He is to be very much congratulated!

This is one of my favourite books on religious studies. I came across it by chance while taking a course on world religions. Initially, this work was presented as a doctrol thesis at Harvard University and eventually was published as a book. It explains the personification of Satan within Islam in detail. The introduction is excellent, with a brief reference to pre-islamic motif of Satan, or Diabolus (as known by Christian theology). The sound biography of Satan is followed by its image as viewed by the Islamic mystics. This constitutes the main body of the book. It ends with a separate chapter which summarizes the concept of Satan/Iblis/Diabolus as beautifully as the begening. I'm glad that I read this book, and I would recommend it to anyone who has an interest in looking at Satan from a different perspective.