The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic ThoughtState University of New York Press, 1992 M03 23 - 410 pages The Tao of Islam is a rich and diverse anthology of Islamic teachings on the nature of the relationships between God and the world, the world and the human being, and the human being and God. Focusing on gender symbolism, Sachiko Murata shows that Muslim authors frequently analyze the divine reality and its connections with the cosmic and human domains with a view toward a complementarity or polarity of principles that is analogous to the Chinese idea of yin/yang. Murata believes that the unity of Islamic thought is found, not so much in the ideas discussed, as in the types of relationships that are set up among realities. She pays particular attention to the views of various figures commonly known as "Sufis" and "philosophers," since they approach these topics with a flexibility and subtlety not found in other schools of thought. She translates several hundred pages, most for the first time, from more than thirty important Muslims including the Ikhwan al-Safa', Avicenna, and Ibn al-'Arabi. |
Contents
1 | |
The Three Realities | 23 |
Divine Duality | 49 |
The Two Hands of God | 81 |
Heaven and Earth | 117 |
Macrocosmic Marriage | 143 |
Human Marriage | 171 |
The Womb | 203 |
The Heart | 289 |
Postscript | 321 |
Chronological List of Authors Cited | 327 |
Notes | 333 |
Bibliography | 357 |
363 | |
379 | |
385 | |
Other editions - View all
The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought Sachiko Murata Limited preview - 1992 |
The Tao of Islam: A Sourcebook on Gender Relationships in Islamic Thought Sachiko Murata No preview available - 1992 |
Common terms and phrases
Abū Adam al-Din all-comprehensive All-merciful angels animal Avicenna barzakh beauty becomes manifest body brings called chapter character traits commands to evil cosmos created creation creatures darkness differentiated dimension divine names dominated ence engendered entification entities Essence everything existent things Farghānī feminine Futūḥāt Ghazālī gnostic God's godfearing hadith hands heart heaven and earth Hence Ibid Iblis Ibn al-'Arabi Ikhwan incomparability intellect Islamic Kāshānī knowledge Koranic verse light locus of manifestation Lord macrocosm and microcosm majesty manyness marriage Mathnawi means mercy microcosm mother Muslim Nasafi nature ness nondelimited nonmanifest perfect human pertains Prophet qualities Qūnawī Rāzī Real reality receiving activity receptive refers relationship respect root Rūmī Satan says servant Sharia soul soul's spirit Sufi Sufism ta'wil Tablet tawhid Tehran tion tradition turn unseen vicegerent woman womb women words wrath yang and yin yin and yang