Table of Contents (v)
Acknowledgments (vii)
Introduction (1)
Previous studies (5)
The sources (13)
Approach and Structure (23)
Chapter 1. An attempt at reconstructing ʿAbd al-Qādir al-Jīlānī’s life (27)
Gīlān (27)
The early years in Baghdad (39)
Withdrawal (52)
Later years in Baghdad (55)
Chapter 2. Inner purity and desiring God (69)
Basic requirements (69)
The first stage of the mystical path: definition (78)
Conduct and practice: original tawba (83)
Master-disciple (85)
Other practices (90)
‘Pure tawba’ (92)
ʿAzīma/rukhṣa (94)
Excursus: Abū al-Najīb al-Suhrawardī (97)
Chapter 3. Inner strength (109)
The second stage: definition (109)
Features: states and stations (114)
Trials and affliction (119)
Practice and conduct (123)
Withdrawal and seclusion (124)
General conduct (128)
Samāʿ (131)
Excursus: Abū Ḥafṣ ʿUmar al-Suhrawardī (142)
Chapter 4. Surrender and revival (163)
The third stage: definition (163)
Features (168)
Theological basis (171)
Encounters with the divine (177)
Love (184)
Excursus: Aḥmad al-Ghazālī (189)
Chapter 5. Return (201)
God’s representative in society (205)
Excursus: Yūsuf Abū Yaʿqūb al-Hamadānī (208)
Contemporary Sufism (219)
Excursus: Ibn al-Jawzī (225)
Conclusion (249)
Bibliography (257)
Index (271)