It’s Not Just Academic!
Essays on Sufism and Islamic Studies
- Carl W. Ernst - Kenan Distinguished Professor of Islamic studies, Department of Religious Studies, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA
Introduction to Cultural Studies
This collection of articles by Carl W Ernst summarizes over 30 years of research, recovering and illuminating remarkable examples of Islamic culture that have been largely overlooked, if not forgotten. It opens with reflections on teaching Islam, focusing on major themes such as Sufism, the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, and Arabic literature. The importance of public scholarship and the questionable opposition between Islam and the West are also addressed. The articles that follow explore multiple facets of Sufism, the ethical and spiritual tradition that has flourished in Muslim societies for over a thousand years. The cumulative effect is to move away from static Orientalist depictions of Sufism and Islam through a series of vivid and creative case studies.
This book caters to the cerebral needs of scholar and advanced students of Islam. This book delves into Sufism, Islamic Calligraphy, art and Literature and elucidates these aspects in a manner that only a man of Ernst’s caliber and understanding will be able to relate to it. The author brings out the hitherto unknown facts and fecundity of Islam’s very rich theo- spiritual legacy.
This book opens with reflections on teaching Islam, focusing on major themes such as Sufism, the Qur’an, the Prophet Muhammad, and Arabic literature. Ernst has enumerated upon all embracing, spiritual quality of Islam that’s far removed from the stereotypical image of this faith today. Islam is an Arabic word which connotes ‘submission’ to the Almighty and when one submits oneself to the Almighty sans even a scintilla of doubt and resistance, only the very best is bound to blossom.