Aisha al-Ba'uniyya: A Life in Praise of Love

Th. Emil Homerin

Hardback

9781786076106

Aisha al-Ba`uniyya (c.1456-1517) was one of the greatest women mystics in Islamic history. A Sufi master and an Arab poet, her religious writings were extensive by any standard and extraordinary for her time. In medieval Islam a number of women were respected scholars and teachers, but they rarely composed works of their own.

Aisha al-Ba`uniyya, however, was prolific. She composed over twenty works, and likely wrote more Arabic prose and poetry than any other Muslim woman prior to the twentieth century. The first full-scale biography of al-Ba`uniyya in the English language, this volume provides a rare glimpse into the life and writings of a medieval Muslim woman in her own words.

Homerin presents her work in the wider context of late-medieval Islamic spirituality, examining the influence of figures such as Ibn al-`Arabi, al-Busiri and Ibn al-Farid, and emphasising the role of the person of the Prophet Muhammad in her spirituality. This book is a fascinating introduction to a figure described by a sixteenth-century biographer as `one of the marvels of her age'.

Contents:

1: God’s Blessings

2: Aisha al-Ba’uniyya and the Beloved Prophet

3: O My Love and Happiness

4: Tree of Mystical Life

5: Gathering Union