As a result of world events over the past few years, Islam has entered our consciousness in an unprecedented way. The Qur’an, guiding text for over one billion Muslims, is being looked to for answers to questions like: does the Qur’an promote peace and harmony or discord and conflict, does it contribute to pluralism or exclusivism, is its message spiritual or fanatical?

In The Other in the Light of the One, Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi illustrates how, throughout the centuries, Sufism has traditionally been a bastion against two tendencies: worldliness and literalism. Based on a profound study of the Sufi perspectives of the like of Ibn Arabi, Kashani, Rumi and Ghazali, The Other in the Light of the One is an attempt to answer the above questions and is an invitation to study the universality that is undoubtedly present in the Qur’an. Its aim is to relate some of the most profound interpretations of the Qur’an to philosophical and spiritual questions concerning interfaith dialogue. However, the purpose is not to just reproduce the ideas of the Sufis, but to build upon principles, to take advantage of insights, and to apply them creatively to contemporary conditions. Shah-Kazemi illustrates how a universalistic perspective based on Sufi hermeneutics provides a third way between secular pluralism and religious exclusivism.

The Other in the Light of the One provides the faithful of all the different religious communities with the basis for dialogue and mutual enrichment within dimensions of religious life and thought that go beyond the outward forms of belief, yielding fruit not only in the practical domain of peaceful coexistence, but also and above all, in the fertile fields of metaphysical insight, immutable values, contemplative inspiration and spiritual realization. For Muslims, The Other in the Light of the One offers a pioneering view of da‘wa, in that it proposes effective ways of putting into practice the many Qur’anic verses that commend discourse with others in a manner that is ahsan ‘finest, most beautiful’.

Dr Reza Shah-Kazemi is a Research Associate at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, London, United Kingdom. His areas of research are Comparative Religion, Islamic Studies, and Sufism

ISBN: 1903682479
Publisher: Islamic Texts Society (2006)
Format: Paperback, 309 pages