I’ve recently added several new books to my library:
1. Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light: Wang Tai-yu’s Great Learning of the Pure and Real and Liu Chih’s Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm by Sachiko Murata with a foreward by Tu Weiming and a new translation of Jami’s Lawa’ih from the Persian by William C. Chittick
Note:This book essentially deals with the influence of Persian Sufism on Chinese Muslims and the how the rich 1400 year history of Islam in China has appropriated much of Chinese culture into their Islamic practice. (ISBN: 0791446367)
2. Prophetic Traditions in Islam: On the Authority of the Family of the Prophet by Shaykh Fadhlalla Haeri
Note: A brilliant explanation of Islam through traditional sources and according to the holy Ahlul-bayt (may Allah bless them and grant them peace). This book is originally written in English by a Shaykh that I highly recommend and admire for a firm grounding in sufi thought and practice according to the light of Ahlul-bayt. The book even explains its own purpose in eloquent terms that are beyond my scope:
“The first person to attach importance to the collecting of prophetic traditions was Imam ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib. Adhafir al-Sirafi has described how he once saw al-Hakam ibn ‘Uyaynah quesiton Abu Ja’far Muhammad ibn ‘Ali al-Baqir. The latter was feeling averse to him and they fell to arguing over something. Abu Ja’far then sent his son to go and get the book of ‘Ali. He took out a great rolled up scroll and opened it, examining it until he had found the explanation of the matter in dispute. Abu Ja’far then said, ‘This is the hand of ‘Ali and the dictation of the Messenger of Allah.’ Then he went up to al-Hakam, saying, ‘Go with Miqdad and transmit it as you wish to the right and the left, for by Allah, you will certainly not find more sure knowledge amongst the people which has been revealed through the words of Jibril (Gabriel).’” (pg. XVIII)
(ISBN: 0946079870)
3. A Bundle of Flowers: from the Garden of Traditions of the Prophet and Ahlul-bayt (a.s.) compiled by Ayatullah Sayyid Kamal Faghih Imani .
Note: I have loved this book for years and have read it several times on al-islam.org, but I wanted my own copy. There is something so much better about holding a book in your hands, flipping the pages, even smelling the aroma of the paper. Nothing beats that experience. (ISBN: 9645691028)
4. Forty Hadiths: An Exposition of Ethical and Mystical Traditions by Imam Khomeini.
Note: This is another one that I have read pieces of online, but it’s simply too massive to comfortably read on a computer screen or print out on paper. I have searched for this book for years and never found it in print, until I finally found it at al-khoei center. It only has forty ahadith, but Imam Khomeini’s commentary is phenomenal, both from an exoteric Islamic perspective and an esoteric sufi perspective. (ISBN: 9643353583)
That’s all I can offer on the books now as I have not read them, but I will reveal more as I plow through them, insha’Allah.
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