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Lost in a Sea of Letters
Saʿd al-Dīn Ḥamūya and the Plurality of Sufi Knowledge
Series: - Islamicate Intellectual History, Volume: 14
Author:
In Lost in a Sea of Letters, Cyril Uy explores the life and work of SaÊ¿d al-DÄ«n ḤamÅ«ya (d. 1252), a Mongol-era Sufi whose arcane treatises inspired generations of mystics and messiahs. Reading ḤamÅ«ya in dialogue with contemporaries across Central Asia, Iran, and the Eastern Mediterranean, Uy excavates a world in which knowledge was an embodied sensibility: a way of being that could improvise across all dimensions of human experience. ḤamÅ«yaâs performative writing reworked the foundations of this knowledge, provoking readers to live reality through the cacophony of his Sufi free jazz. Foregrounding ḤamÅ«yaâs deconstructive ethos and radical openness to interpretation, Uy reveals how embracing plurality could thrive as a mode of social, intellectual, and spiritual competition.
Cyril V. Uy II, Ph.D. (2021), Brown University, is Assistant Professor of Religion at James Madison University.
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Note on Transliteration and Usage
Introduction
â1âEcce homo
â2âTheory and Method (or, How to Read ḤamÅ«ya)
â3âProgression of Themes (Lead Sheet)
1 Riffing on the Real: Letters and the Language of God
â1â(In)coherence of the Philosophers
â2âḤamÅ«ya and the ḤurÅ«f
â3âThe Science of Letters in Ibn Ê¿ArabÄ«âs Meccan Revelations
â4âDynamism and Difference
â5âConclusion
2 Sufi Free Jazz: Prayer, Deconstruction, and Boundless Play
â1âBody and Soul: The Sufi Manuals of Najm al-DÄ«n KubrÄ, MuḥyÄ« al-DÄ«n Ibn Ê¿ArabÄ«, and ShihÄb al-DÄ«n Ê¿Umar al-SuhrawardÄ«
â2âBoth Directions at Once: The Levels of Joy as Sufi Free Jazz
â3âMeditations: Prayer as Spiritual Technology?
â4âAscension: ḤamÅ«yaâs Prayers as Free Jazz Improvisation?
â5âConclusion
3 Calculating Infinity: Diagram and/as Devotion
â1âRepetition and Difference: The Mirror of Spirits as Sufi Devotional Text
â2âDada Talismans? Deconstructing Visual Language
â3âDiagramming Devotion: The Mirror of Spirits as Abstract Machine
â4âConclusion
4 Genealogies of Knowledge: Shaykhs, Sufis, and Spiritual Inheritance
â1âSaÊ¿d al-DÄ«n ḤamÅ«ya and the All-Powerful Sufi Shaykh
â2âNajm al-DÄ«n KubrÄ and Ê¿AmmÄr al-BidlÄ«sÄ«
â3âá¹¢adr al-DÄ«n al-QÅ«nawÄ« and MuḥyÄ« al-DÄ«n Ibn Ê¿ArabÄ«
â4âSpiritual Inheritance and the Politics of Citation
â5âThe ḤamÅ«ya Clan
â6âThe AyyÅ«bid Context: ḤamÅ«ya and the Chief Sufis of Egypt and Syria
â7âThe Mongol Context: ḤamÅ«ya and the âGolden Kinâ
â8âConclusion
5 Real Talk: Language, Revelation, and Human Perfection
â1âProphecy and Sainthood: An Overview
â2âProphecy and Sainthood as Relational Principles
â3âEndless Deferrals in The Book of the Beloved
â4âInimitability, Incomprehensibility, and Wonder
â5âConclusion
Coda
Appendix1: Biographical Essay
Appendix2: Literature Review
Appendix3: List of ḤamÅ«yaâs Works
Appendix4: Mirror of Spirits Structure
Bibliography
Index
List of Figures
Note on Transliteration and Usage
Introduction
â1âEcce homo
â2âTheory and Method (or, How to Read ḤamÅ«ya)
â3âProgression of Themes (Lead Sheet)
1 Riffing on the Real: Letters and the Language of God
â1â(In)coherence of the Philosophers
â2âḤamÅ«ya and the ḤurÅ«f
â3âThe Science of Letters in Ibn Ê¿ArabÄ«âs Meccan Revelations
â4âDynamism and Difference
â5âConclusion
2 Sufi Free Jazz: Prayer, Deconstruction, and Boundless Play
â1âBody and Soul: The Sufi Manuals of Najm al-DÄ«n KubrÄ, MuḥyÄ« al-DÄ«n Ibn Ê¿ArabÄ«, and ShihÄb al-DÄ«n Ê¿Umar al-SuhrawardÄ«
â2âBoth Directions at Once: The Levels of Joy as Sufi Free Jazz
â3âMeditations: Prayer as Spiritual Technology?
â4âAscension: ḤamÅ«yaâs Prayers as Free Jazz Improvisation?
â5âConclusion
3 Calculating Infinity: Diagram and/as Devotion
â1âRepetition and Difference: The Mirror of Spirits as Sufi Devotional Text
â2âDada Talismans? Deconstructing Visual Language
â3âDiagramming Devotion: The Mirror of Spirits as Abstract Machine
â4âConclusion
4 Genealogies of Knowledge: Shaykhs, Sufis, and Spiritual Inheritance
â1âSaÊ¿d al-DÄ«n ḤamÅ«ya and the All-Powerful Sufi Shaykh
â2âNajm al-DÄ«n KubrÄ and Ê¿AmmÄr al-BidlÄ«sÄ«
â3âá¹¢adr al-DÄ«n al-QÅ«nawÄ« and MuḥyÄ« al-DÄ«n Ibn Ê¿ArabÄ«
â4âSpiritual Inheritance and the Politics of Citation
â5âThe ḤamÅ«ya Clan
â6âThe AyyÅ«bid Context: ḤamÅ«ya and the Chief Sufis of Egypt and Syria
â7âThe Mongol Context: ḤamÅ«ya and the âGolden Kinâ
â8âConclusion
5 Real Talk: Language, Revelation, and Human Perfection
â1âProphecy and Sainthood: An Overview
â2âProphecy and Sainthood as Relational Principles
â3âEndless Deferrals in The Book of the Beloved
â4âInimitability, Incomprehensibility, and Wonder
â5âConclusion
Coda
Appendix1: Biographical Essay
Appendix2: Literature Review
Appendix3: List of ḤamÅ«yaâs Works
Appendix4: Mirror of Spirits Structure
Bibliography
Index
All interested in medieval Sufism, Islamic philosophy, Islamic intellectual history, religious studies, hermeneutics, performativity, or the history of knowledge.