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The Sufi Doctrine of Man: Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi's Metaphysical Anthropology. By Richard Todd. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science, Texts and Studies, vol. 90. Leiden: Brill, 2014. Pp. 240. Hardcover $138.00, isbn 9789004271234.
The examination of the works and views of Muy al-Din al-'Arabi's spiritual heir Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi, due to the notorious terseness of his style, is an extremely difficult task. In addition, al-Qunawi expected the reader to be acquainted with the entire corpus of his works, since many important ideas are mentioned in only one of them, without ever being repeated elsewhere in his writings. In many cases, he limits himself to a brief allusion or hint, without discussing the point at issue in detail. Furthermore, not infrequently he warns the reader that, for certain reasons, one or more important aspects of the issue are not mentioned at all, since they must be kept secret. In his last will, he instructed his students to pack the copies of his works and send them to Damascus to his friend and opponent 'Afif al-Din al-Tilimsani, since, after his death, these works would have been of no use to them.
In short, for an average student of philosophy, he was probably the most terrible type of teacher. That said, his teachings are considered to form an important link between Ibn al-'Arabi and the later Akbarian tradition (which deals predominantly with the Fusus al-?ikam). However, given the terseness and sometimes intentional obscurity of his style, can we be sure that we have understood al-Qunawi's point and message properly? This is the question that I have asked myself many times and that I would also like to ask Richard Todd, who has written a short but interesting book on the enigmatic Anatolian thinker.
The Sufi Doctrine of Man: Sadr al-Din al-Qunawi's Metaphysical Anthropology consists of a glossary of philosophical and Sufi terms, placed at the very beginning of the book; an introduction; two parts, each of which is divided into four chapters; a conclusion; and three appendices. In the introduction, Todd briefly discusses the current state of al-Qunawi studies, justly pointing out the elusive character of the thinker, and formulates the principal theme of his research as "al-Qunawi's anthropology (or doctrine of man) in context." He explains that the...