"The Essence of Reality consists of one hundred brief chapters interspersed with Qurʼanic verses, prophetic sayings, Sufi maxims, and poetry. The book takes readers on a philosophical journey, with expositions of questions including the problem of the eternity of the world; the …
Ḥayṣa Bayṣa (b. c.492/1098–9, d. 6 Shaʿbān 574/11 January 1179) is the nickname of the Arab poet Shihāb al-Dīn Abū l-Fawāris Saʿd b. Muḥammad b. Saʿd al-Sayfī al-Tamīmī. His nickname is derived from the expression fī ḥayṣa bayṣa “in straits and distress” which he once used to de…
Iqtibās , literally “taking a live coal or a firebrand (qabas) from a fire,” denotes a quotation or borrowing from the Qurʾān or ḥadīth with or without explicit acknowledgement. Incorporating Qurʾānic quotations in prose and poetry was a common practice even during the lifetime …
Badīʿ al-Zamān Abū l-Faḍl Aḥmad b. al-Ḥusayn al-Hamadhānī (358–98/959–1008) was an important literary figure of the fourth/tenth century. While he was known throughout his life mainly as a composer of poetry and letters, he is famed for his invention of the maqāma genre—short na…