The Sufi Path of Light

Mohamed Faouzi Al Karkari
Yousef Casewit, Khaled Williams
Paperback, 460 pages
9782930978826

Divine Light, luminous vision (mushahada), and mystical experience are central to the Quranic revelation, the Hadith corpus, and the Sufi tradition. In this major contemporary treatise on Islamic spirituality, Shaykh al-Karkari provides a detailed esoteric commentary on the Light Verse (ayat al-nur) as well as other verses concerning Light in the Quran. He then highlights the centrality of luminous vision in the teachings of renowned Sufis of the Shadhiliyya order and beyond, including Abu Madyan and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali. The book concludes with a commentary on Ibn ʿAtaʾ Illāh al-Iskandarī's aphorisms on luminous vision. Throughout the treatise, the Shaykh identifies popular questions pertaining to contemporary Sufi practice and invites us to consider the challenges we face along the spiritual path.