THREE EARLY SUFI TEXTS – 1. A TREATISE ON THE HEART 2. STATIONS OF THE RIGHTEOUS 3. THE STUMBLINGS OF THOSE ASPIRING
The three Sufi texts published in this volume all deal with some aspect of the Sufi path to God. The Sufi path is marked by a number of different stag-es or stations which the Sufi traveller passes through as he advinces on the path. On his way the Sufi also experiences various psychological and emotional states. These states differ from the stations through which the Sufi passes in that the states are transitory experiences granted to him by God and over which he has no control, whereas the stations are permanent stages on the path. Of these three Sufi works, Bcycin al-Farq, attributed to al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi (d. 300/912), and Darajdt al-Sadiqin of Abu Abd al-Rehman al-Sulami (d. 412/1021), deal primarily with the stations and states of the Sufi traveller on the path to God. Al-Sulami’s Zakil al-Fugarci; on the other hand, deals with the disciplining and abasement of the ego-self or self that incites to evil. Nicholas Heer’s and Kenneth Honerkamp’s masterly translations of Sufi treatises from the formative period of Sufism display in English these dazzling pearls of Sufi wisdom with all the luminosity that the texts have in their original Arabic. *** “These long awaited translations are a must for the library of every serious student of Sufism and provide excellent texts for use in the university classroom.” -Vincent J. Cornell
