The Sufi Journey to the Next World

The Sepulchral Symbolism of Muslim Mystics, Its Context and Interpretations

  • Bronislav Ostřanský
DOI: https://doi.org/10.47979/aror.j.83.3.475-500
Keywords: death, tomb, eschatology, Sufism, symbolism, interpretation

Abstract

Since the very birth of Islam, the Last Things have become a subject of passionate dispute among Muslims. In addition to the “external” approaches of Islamic jurists and theologians with regard to death, funerals, the Hereafter, etc., Sufis have incorporated sepulchral images into their symbolic ways of expression. This article sets out to precisely discuss such Sufi symbolism and the interpretation has a twofold goal: first, to discuss the emblematic approaches to the Last Things, within the framework of Sufi spiritual legacy. The second objective is to prove that symbolic interpretation of the eschatological journey has its demonstrable “earthly counterpart” within Sufi teaching about the spiritual progress of the human being.

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Author Biography

Bronislav Ostřanský

BRONISLAV OSTŘANSKÝ, PhD, is a research fellow at the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Prague. He graduated from Charles University, Prague, specialising in the Arabic language and the history and culture of Islamic countries (PhD in 2005). His research focuses mainly on medieval Islamic thought, especially mysticism (Sufism). He is author and co-author of several monographs devoted to Islamic society – e.g., Dokonalý člověk a jeho svět v zrcadle islámské mystiky (The Perfect Man and His World in the Mirror of Islamic Mysticism, in Czech), Praha 2004. He has also translated an anthology of Sufi writings into Czech – Hledání skrytého pokladu (The Quest for the Hidden Treasure), Praha 2008, and selected chapters from al-Maqrīzī’s work Popsání pozoruhodností Egypta (The Description of Sights of Egypt), Praha 2012. Currently, he is focusing on the so called “Sufi psychology of the Path,” as depicted in various medieval treatises.

Published
2015-12-04
How to Cite
Ostřanský, B. (2015). The Sufi Journey to the Next World: The Sepulchral Symbolism of Muslim Mystics, Its Context and Interpretations. Archiv orientální, 83(3), 475-500. https://doi.org/10.47979/aror.j.83.3.475-500
Issue
Vol. 83 No. 3 (2015)
Section
Research Article

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