Ibn Arabi and the Contemporary West

Isobel Jeffery-Street studied for a BA Honours degree in Theological Studies and a doctorate in Islamic Studies at the University of Exeter. She has tutored in Islamic Studies for the University's distance learning course as well as being co-ordinator of the Exeter Inter-Faith Group. She has a particular interest in religious experience relative to religious pluralism as a contribution to Inter-Faith Dialogue. She is soon to embark upon research for a study in an aspect of contemporary paganism.

• Introduction 1. Bulent Rauf 2. The Beshara Trust: Early Years 3. Chisholme and Sherborne: The Introduction of Structured Residential Courses 4. An Introduction to the Texts and Teachings of Ibn 'Arabi Used for Study by the Beshara School 5. Recent Beshara Education: The Curses and their Aims 6. Student experiences During and Following the Courses 7. The Pilgrimage through Turkey 8. Outreach 9. The Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi Society Conclusion

'Ibn Arabi and the Contemporary West tells several remarkable and intertwined stories. In the context of Islamic Studies, it recounts the recent transmission of universal spiritual teachings that were once central to the spread of Islam as a world religion and civilization, but then were lost and often rejected in the aftermath of colonialism, to the UK and the wider English-speaking world; and it concludes with the unexpected ways that spiritual heritage is now being rediscovered by new generations across the Muslim world. In that new, global setting, this study also sketches the background of the multi-faceted, increasingly global adaptation of Ibn 'Arabi's teachings - which for centuries had helped integrate and inspire the burgeoning creative expressions of the Islamic humanities and spirituality across Asia and Africa - by contemporary artists and thinkers working in many of those same fields today: including philosophy, ecology, architecture, psychology, spirituality, and religious thought. And on a more human, immediate level, this is the story of the lasting inspiration and personal influences of a single quiet spiritual teacher and those he inspired, detailing the formation, teachings, and expanding development and outreach of the Beshara movement.' Professor J. W. Morris, Boston College