Love in Sufi Literature: Ibn ’Ajiba’s Understanding of the Divine Word

Focused on Aḥmad Ibn ’Ajība - an eighteenth-century Moroccan Sufi scholar renowned for his contribution to Sufi Qur’ānic exegesis - this book engages critically with his theory of divine love to elucidate his impact on the wider field of Qur’ānic scholarship.

The principal source of analysis is Ibn ’Ajība’s Oceanic Exegesis of the Qur’ān which connected theoretical works on the concept of divine love to their practical application, a breakthrough in Sufi literature. Close analysis of this text is supplemented by a comparative approach focusing on several other eminent Sufi commentaries, including those of Abū al-Qāsim al-Qushayrī and Rūzbihān Baqlī Shīrāzī. This comparative approach situates Ibn ’Ajība’s thought in theological and historical perspective, engaging with his mystical approach which integrates his theory of divine love with other Sufi doctrines in an accessible manner. This approach, it is argued, left an indelible impact on future generations of Qur’ānic exegetes within North Africa and across the Islamic world.

The book will prove an important resource for academic researchers who wish to explore the vast intellectual heritage that Ibn ’Ajība left, as well as to those interested in Sufi literature and Islamic theology in general.

Omneya Ayad is currently Assistant Professor of Sufi Studies at the Institute for Sufi Studies at Uskudar University. She completed her PhD at the University of Exeter. Her latest article is ＂Abū Madyan al-Ghawth and Divine Unity in His Lāmiyya Ode＂ for the Journal of Islam and Muslim Studies.