Librarium: Shelf I

A multi-part tour of my bookshelf and an introduction to valuable works worth reading.

‘Librarium’ is a series to catalogue books in my collection and expose the invaluable written works that have brought joy, illumination, and otherwise enriched the ‘vita contemplativa’. They will range from well-known to the obscure, from fiction to historical, anthropological, philosophical, religious, scientific, and miscellaneous works. Each post will showcase approximately one ‘shelf’, share the titles and authors, offer a short description, and my impressions of the value I’ve found in it.

By the very fact I have these books I consider them all ‘worth having’ and recommendable; so I will also ‘rank’ each work on two scales. First, on ease of access: ‘accessible’ - ‘intermediate’ - ‘advanced’ - ‘traveller’s beware’. Second on a non-ordinal scale of ‘aspirational’ [e.g. I haven’t read or finished it yet], ‘an enjoyable read’ - ‘specialist interest’ - ‘essential knowledge [for it’s field/topic]’ - ‘life-changing’ - ‘world-changing’.

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Shelf I

On this shelf: Manuscripts • Bahá’í Studies • Islamic Philosophy & Sufism • the Qu’rán • Bahá’í Writings • Commonplace Journal • Hermeticism • Gnosticism

From Left to Right

1. Linen archival box

   • Handmade, gift from my grandmother containing: (a) leafs from an early 1900s atlas, (2) miscellaneous leaves from 19th c. Persian manuscripts, (3) miscellaneous 19th c. etchings/engravings of locations related to the Bahá’í Faith (Haifa, Akká, Istanbul)

2. حضرت باب (Ḥaḍrat-i Báb), by Nosratollah Mohammadhosseini

   Intermediate. Essential knowledge.

   • Persian Language only. The most comprehensive book on the life, Writings, Teachings, and notable persons of the Báb’s Dispensation.

3. Sufism and Taoism: A Comparative Study of Key Philosophical Concepts by Toshihiko Izutsu

   Advanced. Life-changing.

   • A groundbreaking comparative study of Ibn ʿArabī’s mystical metaphysics with Taoism, principally via Lao Tzu, exploring how both traditions articulate unity and the ineffability of the Absolute.

4. The Study Quran: A New Translation and Commentary, by Seyyed Hossein Nasr (ed.),

   Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

   • A modern English translation and extensive commentary on the Qur’an from a team of renowned Muslim scholars, integrating traditional and academic perspectives from a wide range of schools, emphasizing traditional commentaries from across Sunni, Shi’a and Sufi perspectives. This is, in my opinion, the best available translation of the Qur’an for those seeking a scholarly view on the Qur’an and features a superb introduction and collection of thematic essays at the end of the work.

5. The Philosophy of Illumination (al-Ḥikmat al-Ishrāq) by Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardī, transl. by John Walbridge and Hossein Ziai

   Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

   • Dual language Arabic-English. The masterwork of Shaykh al-Maqtul Suhrawardī, master of and founder of the School of ‘Illuminationist’ philosophy, presenting a metaphysics of lights-essences and formulating a mystical epistemology centered on ‘knowledge by presence’ [al-’ilm al-huduri]. Suhrawardī’s work, while affirming much from Ibn Sīnā and Aristotelian philosophy, also contests the Peripatetic philosophy and sought to recover what he understood as the core of original Platonism, fusing this with influences from across religions and philosophical/mystical movements, especially Zoroastrianism, Hermeticism, Manichaeism, Sufism, Neoplatonism, and Ismaili thought. His ‘Illuminationist theosophy’ emphasizes a metaphysics of essences verse one of existence, and the fusion of intellectual and mystical knowledge through a mode of knowledge referred to as ‘direct tasting’ or knowledge by presence. He drew widely

6. The Philosophical Allegories and Mystical Treatises by Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardī, W.M. Thackston (transl.)

   Accesible-Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

   • Dual language English-Persian. An accessible collection of short-form allegorical treatises, featuring Suhrawardī’s fascinating symbolic and allegorical mystical philosophy conveying his metaphysical insights through visionary narratives and allusive allegories.

7. The Book of Radiance (Partaw-Nāma) by Shihab al-Din al-Suhrawardī, Hossein Ziai (transl.)

   Accessible-Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

   • Dual language English-Persian. An ‘epitome’, a concise exposition of Suhrawardī’s illuminationist doctrines, which works great as a philosophical primer to his larger works.

8. The Elixir of the Gnostics [Kitāb al-Iksir al-’Arifeen] by Mullā Sadrā, transl. by William C. Chittick

   Intermediate. Specialist Interest.

   • Dual language Arabic-English. Mullā Sadrā is perhaps the most important Islamic philosopher of the past 4 centuries, known for his creative systematic integration of the Illuminationist philosophy of Suhrawardī, the rational metaphysics of Ibn Sīnā, and the theosophical mysticism of Ibn ʿArabī. What emerged is a unique school of thought known as ‘Transcendent Wisdom’ [al-hikmat al-muta’āliyah] that remains widely studied and still defines Shi’a thought to this day. The Elixir of the Gnostics is a recapitulation of an earlier work by the 13th. c. Persian philosopher Afdal al Din Kashani, known as ‘Baba Afdal’. It focuses on a major theme in Mullā Sadrā’s philosophy, the importance of self-knowledge and the movement of all creation on the path of recognition of the Origin and the Return [al-mabdā w’al-ma’ād] of all things to their Creator.

   • Discussed and quoted here:

9. The Metaphysics of The Healing [al-Ilahīyāt] from the Kitab al-Shifāʾ by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), transl. Michael E. Marmura.

   Traveler’s Beware. World-Changing.

   • Dual language Arabic-English. A rigorous scholarly translation of Avicenna’s metaphysics, expounding his philosophy of ‘being/existence’ [al-wujud], causality, necessity/contingency, emanationist doctrines, and more. This edition covers the ‘Metaphysics’ [al-Ilahīyāt] portion of his monumental encyclopedia of science and philosophy, the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ [The Book of Healing]. Interfaces with Aristotle’s Metaphysics but expands far beyond it with Ibn Sīnā’s characteristic and near matchless philosophical mastery.

10. The Physics of The Healing, Vol. II from the Kitab al-Shifāʾ by Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna), transl. Jon McGinnis

    Advanced. Specialist interest.

    • Dual language Arabic-English. A rigorous translation of Avicenna’s treatment of natural philosophy, the ‘Physics’ portion of his monumental encyclopedia of science and philosophy, the Kitāb al-Shifāʾ [The Book of Healing]. This work in two volumes roughly approximates Aristotle’s Physics, elaborated with Ibn Sīnā’s characteristic philosophical mastery, expanded with Islamic metaphysical principles. This portion discusses natural causality, motion, the principles of science, and all the fundamental categories of natural philosophy.

11. The Book of Metaphysical Penetrations [Kitāb al-Mashā’ir] by Mullā Sadrā, transl. by Seyyed Hossein Nasr

    Intermediate-Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

    • Dual language Arabic-English. The Kitāb al-Mashā’ir is among Mullā Sadrā ‘s most concise expositions of central themes in his school of thought, especially the concept of the ‘primacy of existence’ [asālat al-wujūd].

11. Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb by Nader Saiedi,

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • Remains the most comprehensive study in English of the breadth of the Báb’s Writings, interpreting His doctrines, ethics, laws, theological foundations, and hermeneutics of ‘the Heart’, situated within the broader framework of Islamic eschatology and the succession of His Revelation within Bahá’í the Dispensation. It features a wealth of provisional translations of the Báb’s works and is an indispensible companion for studying the Báb’s Revelation.

12. Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam by Todd Lawson

    Advanced. Essential Knowledge.

    • Currently, the only academic monograph on the Qayyúm al-Asmá’ of the Báb, Todd Lawson’s work here is a superb and in-depth exploration of this unconventional but electrifying exegetical text. An essential work for gaining a deeper perspective on the Báb’s Writings. As the Qayyúm al-Asmá’ remains only translated in excerpts in English, Lawson’s ‘Gnostic Apocalypse’ remains the best way to familiarize yourself with the work in full.

13. Qayyúm al-Asmá’ [“The Self-Subsisting Lord of All Names”] by the Siyyid ‘Ali Muhammad Shirazi, the Báb

    Traveller’s Beware | World-Changing.

    • A printed and bound copy that I personally prepared of the Qayyúm al-Asmá’, also known as “The Commentary on the Surah of Joseph”; this is the first major work revealed by the Báb after His Declaration to Mullá Husayn, the subject of Lawson’s monograph “Gnostic Apocalypse and Islam”, known as the “Qur’an of the Babis”, declared by Bahá’u’lláh as “the first, the greatest and mightiest of all books”, and described in its own words as “the Tafsir of All Things”. This print text draws on the manuscript sourced from INBA vol. 3, and typescript by Ocean of Lights.
      

14. A Most Noble Pattern: Collected Essays on the Writings of the Báb, Todd Lawson & Omid Ghammaeghami (eds.)

    Intermediate. Life-Changing.

    • Description: A collection of scholarly essays examining the literary, theological, and symbolic dimensions of the Báb’s Revelation. After Saeidi’s Gate of the Heart, this remains the most essential work of scholarship on the Báb in English.
      

15. Commonplace Book of Persian and Arabic quotes

    • Leatherbound, handmade, gifted by my grandmother. I use this for capturing quotes (a ‘commonplace book’) in Persian and Arabic works that I read.
      

16. Conversations in the House of Life: A New Translation of the Ancient Egyptian Book of Thoth transl. by Jasnow (Author), Karl-Theodor Zauzich

    Advanced. Specialist interest.

    • A fascinating work establishing some of the earliest discernible phases of what we might call ‘Hermetic’ thought in its indigenous Egyptian form, centuries prior to the later efflorescence of Hermetic literature in the Greco-Egyptian Hellenistic world.

17. The Way of Hermes: New Translations of The Corpus Hermeticum and The Definitions of Hermes Trismegistus to Asclepius by Clement Salaman et al.

    Accessible. Enjoyable Read.

    • An accessible, affordable modern English rendering of the core Hermetic texts that shaped Western esotericism and philosophical mysticism.

18. Hermetica: The Greek Corpus Hermeticum and the Latin Asclepius by Brian P. Copenhaver (trans.)

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • The preeminent scholarly English translation of the main Hermetic corpus with introduction and academic notes that situate it in late antique philosophy.

19. The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind by Garth Fowden

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • The modern classic study of the cultural and religious synthesis behind Hermeticism in late antiquity and recovering the Egyptian context of the figure of Hermes Trismegistus.

20. Hermetica II by M. David Litwa (transl.)

    Intermediate. Essential Knowledge.

    • A follow-up to Copenhaver’s Hermetica, providing new translations and commentaries on later Hermetic and related Greco-Egyptian texts. After the main texts of the Corpus Hermetica, and the Nag Hammadi Library, this is the next most essential collection of Hermetic texts.

21. The Nag Hammadi Library by James M. Robinson (ed.),

    Intermediate-Advanced. World-Changing.

    • The definitive collection in English of long-lost Gnostic and Hermetic texts discovered in Egypt in 1945, the Nag Hammadi find includes codices of essential readings in Gnostic and Hermetic literature such as the Gospel of Thomas, the Apocryphon of John, and the Hermetic ‘Discourse on the Eighth and Ninth’

22. Plato: Complete Works by John M. Cooper (ed.),

    Intermediate-Advanced. World Changing.

    • The first single edition to include the entire surviving corpus of works attributed to Plato in antiquity.