Sacred Language

A grand tour of some of the most influential thinkers and enduring practices of Islam, exploring ideas about language that continue to shape scholarship, life, and art.

While Islam is almost as varied as its nearly two billion adherents, most Muslims embrace the truth of divine revelation and the Quran as God’s word. This belief in a “speaking God,” one who communicates sublime words to humans, has left its mark everywhere on the Muslim world, including in its philosophies, arts, and cultural achievements.

In this new introduction to Islam, author Cyrus Ali Zargar takes a unique approach by exploring how the power of words has profoundly shaped Muslims’ lives across centuries and continents. From Quranic calligraphy and the powers of prayer with the poet Rūmī to the interpretation of dreams with Sufi philosopher Ibn ʿArabī, readers will come away with a deep appreciation for Islam and its practices.

Cyrus Ali Zargar is Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor of Islamic Studies and Professor of Religion and Cultural Studies at the University of Central Florida and author of several books, including Religion of Love: Sufism and Self-Transformation in the Poetic Imagination of ʿAṭṭār.

Contents 

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments 

Introduction 

Part One: Revelations
1. The Quran
2. The Names 

Part Two: Prayers
3. Prayers and Other Rituals in Islam
4. The Five Pillars as God-Talk 

Part Three: Dreams
5. Muslim Dreams and Dream Interpretation Across History
6. Dreaming as Personal Revelation

Conclusion 

Appendix A: The Life of Rūmī: Courtesy and Proximity
Appendix B: The Life of Ibn ʿArabī: Islam’s Great Dreamer
Notes
Bibliography
Index