Overview

Widely used for centuries in Sufi circles, the prayer known as "The Most Elevated Cycle" (al-Dawr al-a’la) or "The Prayer of Protection" (Hizb al-wiqaya), written by the great Sufi master Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi, has never before been available in English. This book provides a lucid English translation and an edited Arabic text of this beautiful and powerful prayer. It includes a transliteration for those unable to read Arabic, who wish to recite the prayer in the original language. Showing the importance of Ibn ‘Arabi’s devotional teaching, the book explores the prayer’s contemporary life, properties and historical transmission. It gives full details of generations of well-known scholars and Sufi masters who have transmitted the prayer, providing an intimate and fascinating insight into Islamic history.

Reviews

"The importance of having a stable text with full vocalisation based upon the best manuscripts is evident. But the author's careful study of the chains of transmission and the detailed information about the recitation of the prayer in the contemporary world are also of the highest interest." —Professor Michel Chodkiewicz

Author Biography

Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi was a Sufi master. Suha Taji-Farouki is Senior Lecturer in Modern Islam at the Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, the University of Exeter, and Research Associate at The Institute of Ismaili Studies (London). She has written extensively on modern Islamic thought, including (ed.) Islamic Thought in the Twentieth Century and Modern Muslim Intellectuals and the Qur'an.