Ibn Arabi's Small Death (CMES Modern Middle East Literatures in Translation) Paperback – February 15, 2022
by Mohammad Hassan Alwan (Author), William M. Hutchins (Translator)
5.0 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
4.2 on Goodreads
9,051 ratings
Kindle
from $28.50Read with Our Free App
Paperback
$30.00
8 Used from $21.2015 New from $30.00
Ibn Arabi’s Small Death is a sweeping and inventive work of historical fiction that chronicles the life of the great Sufi master and philosopher Ibn Arabi. Known in the West as “Rumi’s teacher,” he was a poet and mystic who proclaimed that love was his religion. Born in twelfth-century Spain during the Golden Age of Islam, Ibn Arabi traveled thousands of miles from Andalusia to distant Azerbaijan, passing through Morocco, Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey on a journey of discovery both physical and spiritual. Witness to the wonders and cruelties of his age, exposed to the political rule of four empires, Ibn Arabi wrote masterworks on mysticism that profoundly influenced the world. Alwan’s fictionalized first-person narrative, written from the perspective of Ibn Arabi himself, breathes vivid life into a celebrated and polarizing figure.
Read less
Report incorrect product information.
Print length
426 pages
Language
English
Publisher
Ctr for Middle Eastern Studies UT-Austin
Publication date
February 15, 2022
Next page
About the Author
Mohammed Hasan Alwan is a Saudi novelist with a PhD from Carleton University. He is the author of four previous novels, including al-Qundus (The Beavers), which was shortlisted for the IPAF in 2013 and won the Arab World Institute’s Prix de la Littérature Arabe.
William M. Hutchins is a professor in the Department of Philosophy and Religion at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. He is an award-winning translator, best known for his translation of the Cairo Trilogy by Naguib Mahfouz.
Product details
Publisher : Ctr for Middle Eastern Studies UT-Austin (February 15, 2022)
Language : English
Paperback : 426 pages
ISBN-10 : 1477324305
ISBN-13 : 978-1477324301
Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
Dimensions : 6 x 1.3 x 9 inchesBest Sellers Rank: #1,284,756 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)#2,909 in Biographical Historical FictionCustomer Reviews:
5.0 out of 5 stars 4 ratings
Customer reviews
5 out of 5 stars
5 out of 5
Sponsored
Top reviews
Top reviews from the United States
There are 0 reviews and 1 rating from the United States
Top reviews from other countries
Dalakouras
5.0 out of 5 stars A must for all Ibn Arabi aficionados.Reviewed in Germany on May 26, 2022
Verified Purchase
This is the story of Ibn Arabi’s quest for his four Pillars in order to become a Pole (you certainly must be familiar with Sufi terminology in order to appreciate the book). From Andalusia to Fez to Mecca to Damascus, a fascinating trip through space and time and metaphysical insights. The Shaykh is portrayed in his human-all-too-human aspects (his fears, his mistakes, his unfulfilled love affair), which, nevertheless can not overshadow his extraordinary grandeur (Ethos and Gnosis). An exciting novel about a most exciting Man.
PS. According to Ibn Arabi himself, “every love is a small death”.
Report
===
===
Ibn Arabi's Small Death
محمد حسن علوان
,
William M. Hutchins
(Translation)
,
Mohammad Hassan Alwan
4.22
9,055 ratings2,073 reviews
Ibn Arabi’s Small Death is a sweeping and inventive work of historical fiction that chronicles the life of the great Sufi master and philosopher Ibn Arabi. Known in the West as “Rumi’s teacher,” he was a poet and mystic who proclaimed that love was his religion. Born in twelfth-century Spain during the Golden Age of Islam, Ibn Arabi traveled thousands of miles from Andalusia to distant Azerbaijan, passing through Morocco, Egypt, the Hijaz, Syria, Iraq, and Turkey on a journey of discovery both physical and spiritual. Witness to the wonders and cruelties of his age, exposed to the political rule of four empires, Ibn Arabi wrote masterworks on mysticism that profoundly influenced the world. Alwan’s fictionalized first-person narrative, written from the perspective of Ibn Arabi himself, breathes vivid life into a celebrated and polarizing figure.
Genres
Novels
Fiction
Literature
Historical Fiction
Religion
Philosophy
Spirituality
...more
426 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2016
Book details & editions
1,323 people are currently reading
16.1k people want to read
About the author
Profile Image for محمد حسن علوان.
محمد حسن علوان
10 books6,343 followers
Follow
روائي سعودي ولد في الرياض، 27 أغسطس 1979م.
صدرت له ست روايات: سقف الكفاية (2002)، صوفيا (2004)، طوق الطهارة (2007)، القندس (2011)، موتٌ صغير (2016)، جرما الترجمان (2020)، بالإضافة إلى كتاب نظري بعنوان: الرحيل: نظرياته والعوامل المؤثرة فيه (2014).
عام 2010، تم اختياره ضمن أفضل 39 كاتب عربي تحت سن الأربعين، وأدرج اسمه في أنطولوجيا (بيروت39).
عام 2013، رشحت روايته (القندس) ضمن القائمة القصيرة في الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية (البوكر العربية).
عام 2015، حصلت النسخة الفرنسية من رواية (القندس) على جائزة معهد العالم العربي في باريس كأفضل رواية عربية مترجمة للفرنسية.
عام 2017، حصلت روايته ( موتٌ صغير ) على الجائزة العالمية للرواية العربية (البوكر العربية).
عام 2019، حصلت النسخة الإيطالية من روايته ( موتٌ صغير ) على بجائزة الشارقة للترجمة (ترجمان) كأفضل رواية عربية مترجمة للإيطالية.
يحمل شهادة الدكتوراة في التسويق وإدارة الأعمال الدولية من جامعة كارلتون الكندية، والماجستير في إدارة الأعمال من جامعة بورتلند في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية، وبكالوريوس نظم المعلومات من جامعة الملك سعود بالرياض.
Show more
Readers also enjoyed
Items 1 to 4 of 20
Book Cover
ثلاثية غرناطة
رضوى عاشور
4.3
46.1k
Book Cover
ساق البامبو
سعود السنعوسي
4.21
56.3k
Book Cover
دلشاد: سيرة الجوع والشبع
بشرى خلفان
4.2
1,217
Book Cover
خرائط التيه
بثينة العيسى
4.12
11.4k
All similar books
Ratings & Reviews
My Review
Profile Image for Sejin.
Sejin
3 reviews
Want to read.
Rate this book
Write a Review
Friends & Following
No one you know has read this book. Recommend it to a friend!
Community Reviews
4.22
9,055 ratings2,073 reviews
5 stars
4,455 (49%)
4 stars
2,880 (31%)
3 stars
1,162 (12%)
2 stars
340 (3%)
1 star
218 (2%)
Search review text
Search review text
Filters
English
Displaying 1 - 10 of 21 reviews
Profile Image for David.
David
254 reviews
523 followers
Follow
November 15, 2022
Ibn Arabi's Small Death is William M. Hutchins's excellent translation of Mouton Sageer (موتٌ صغير in the original Arabic) by Mohammed Hasan Alwan (محمد حسن علوان). There are outstanding reviews from Arabic readers, which is a testament to how powerful this work is for the original audience. Ibn Arabi is an immensely influential figure in the Islamic world, particularly among practitioners of Sufism. There is a tendency for many of us to devote our energies to learning great religious texts while the lived experience of those writing the texts gets lost to history. Alwan has done a tremendous service by crafting a gorgeous historical novel, following Ibn Arabi's life, where greatness and earthiness are both ever present. There is no sugar coating the grotesqueness of the 13th century (CE) world - slavery and misogyny were part of the fabric of daily life, as was poverty, war, and the everyday struggles of households and kingdoms alike. Alwan reimagines this world in detail, providing a grounding and context for Ibn Arabi's teachings. Hutchins's translation captures all of this beautifully, including a sly sense of humor and a whole range of emotions. I'm not usually a fan of long historical novels, and my attention did tend to drift as the work became more preachy, but this is an absolute gem of a novel and a gift to readers worldwide.
60 likes
7 comments
Like
Comment
Nuha
5 reviews
1 follower
Follow
April 12, 2020
Must read when you feel you are mature enough.. A book you need to be ready for.
5 likes
Like
Comment
Profile Image for Tahani Naji.
Tahani Naji
53 reviews
5 followers
Follow
January 6, 2019
It is a must read!
4 likes
Like
Comment
Jiminbapo
1 review
Follow
December 9, 2018
Good a book
3 likes
Like
Comment
Profile Image for Tiba Nihad.
Tiba Nihad
16 reviews
4 followers
Follow
December 15, 2020
i miss you already. i dont have words to describe it tho.
3 likes
Like
Comment
Profile Image for Laury.
Laury
Author
8 books
49 followers
Follow
May 30, 2022
This is an exquisite novel of the life of Ibn al-Arabi, known as the greatest shaykh of Sufism and for very good reason. Even though many of the core insights he articulated were said from the earliest period of Sufism onward, his massive comprehension of all matters of divine and created existence from every possible outlook and the details of the path to realization including its risks are unfathomably unique. He was also a human being. This novel is about Ibn al-Arabi, the man. He was a man chosen by God for perfection, but who, like all other human beings on the path, is subject to its dangers as well as its openings. The novel is formed around a spiritual quest and begins with some indication of what is to come for him, but turns its focus to his daily life, some of which may surprise and disconcert those readers who have turned him into some kind of angel. His loves, his kindnesses, his loyalty, his genius, and all that is good in him is there. But Alwan also depicts a dissolute youth, drinking and carousing. An Ibn al-Arabi who owns and sells enslaved people, including a man who is “like family” to him, as if it were nothing. A man who does not consider what publishing his poem, “The Interpreter of Desires,” would mean for the life of the young woman whom he names in it, the glorious Nizam, or her father. He marries woman after woman, leaves them with children, then heads off to another city with his Sufi companions as if he had no responsibility towards them other than a home and the finances to run it. His deepest relationships are with the men who travel with him. But even there, for example, the choices Ibn al-Arabi makes with respect to his friend Badr during his decline are troublesome. These matters are not explained away with any of the usual deflections. They are not excused nor condoned. Rather, they are presented matter-of-factly as the full context of a life in which divine deception and guidance as well as the soul’s lowest inclinations and its highest are in play on the path. (For me, these extremes were most powerfully depicted in Ibn al-Arabi's passionate relationship with Nizam.) Certainly, the author imagines details of Ibn al-Arabi’s life that historians can only draw with broad strokes. But through these fictions, Alwan truly depicts the danger and difficulty, and so the majestic beauty of the terrain of the path and the lives of those who traverse it.
3 likes
Like
Comment
Fadl
62 reviews
1 follower
Follow
July 23, 2018
This is a very nice and articulated novel about the life of Ibn Arabi. The author has made some changes to suit the novel, which is acceptable. Yet, again, like the Forty rules of love, the author had Ibn Arabi to drink Alcohol. I really don't know why most of the authors who write about Sufis insist on showing them as individuals who can transgress the rules. This is neither true nor accurate.
Nevertheless, It is still an enjoyable read.
3 likes
Like
Comment
Profile Image for Wisam Winila.
Wisam Winila
17 reviews
11 followers
Follow
January 18, 2018
One of the best things that happened to me at the beginning of 2018.
it is about instability and a life journey to free your soul, to find the real you within.
3 likes
Like
Comment
Profile Image for Olla Alkalas.
Olla Alkalas
142 reviews
Follow
June 19, 2022
3.5 stars
Beautiful and engaging writing
+short chapters and I Love short chapters
3 likes
Like
Comment
Khulood Saeed
19 reviews
Follow
June 30, 2017
A journey full of love and wisdom.. Must read x1000
2 likes
Like
Comment
Displaying 1 - 10 of 21 reviews
===
