Acknowledgements
This book is an output of the âThrough the Lens of Sufismâ project funded by the Australian Research Council (DE220101517). We had the pleasure of working on it for around five years. During this period, the world has changed drastically, occasionally overshadowing the pleasure, and creating, inter alia, significant challenges for the archival research required for our project. Still, various libraries around the world kindly shared digital copies of their manuscript collections, making this study possible. We are thankful to the libraries mentioned in the book, particularly to the dedicated librarians at the Manuscript Institution of Turkey [Türkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu BaÅkanlıÄı] in Amasya, Manisa, Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa, Konya, and Ãorum, who kindly and readily responded to our endless queries. They must be the happiest with the completion of this book.
We acknowledge the support of the Ibn Arabi Interreligious Research Initiative at Monash University. We cherish the friendship and energy brought to us by the cohort of the Initiative, especially by Frank Youakim, Mark Temple, Deidre Aitken, Nur al-Alam, Patricia Benstein, Devaki Muller, Din Diradji, and Anne-Marie Morrissey. We also had the luxury to be surrounded by excellent colleagues and mentors, who read parts of this book, and shared their feedback: Richard McGregor from Vanderbilt University, Stephen Hirtenstein from the Ibn Arabi Society UK, Raphael Dascalu from Monash University, Milad Milani from Western Sydney University, Kinda Alsamara from Deakin University, Arin Salamah-Qudsi from the University of Haifa, and Abdurrahman Aliy from Istanbul University. The editors of Brillâs Studies on Sufism Series also helped us substantially by providing constructive feedback to improve the book. We are thankful to all of them for their generosity.
This book is a fruit of long-lasting comradery. Our loved ones, Asli, Elham, Noyan, and Rayan, tolerated both of us while we enjoyed working on this book together, often at awkward times of the day and night. We thank them for their patience with us.
Aydogan Kars (Melbourne, Australia)
Ashkan Bahrani (Nashville, USA)