Chapter I: Front Matter

Transcriber's note: Italic font is indicated by _underscores_.
Bolded and underlined words are indicated by =equals=.

The following two characters may not display as intended on certain
devices:

The Arabic letter _ayn_ or _ayin_ is here represented by the
character ʿ (MODIFIER LETTER LEFT HALF RING).

The Arabic letter _hamza_ is here represented by the
character ʾ (MODIFIER LETTER RIGHT HALF RING).

The Quest Series
Edited by G. R. S. Mead

THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM

THE QUEST SERIES

Edited by G. R. S. MEAD,
EDITOR OF ‘THE QUEST.’

_Crown 8vo. 2s. 6d. net each._

FIRST LIST OF VOLUMES.

PSYCHICAL RESEARCH AND SURVIVAL. By James H. Hyslop, Ph.D., LL.D.,
Secretary of the Psychical Research Society of America.

THE QUEST OF THE HOLY GRAIL. By Jessie L. Weston, Author of ‘The
Legend of Sir Perceval.’

JEWISH MYSTICISM. By J. Abelson, M.A., D.Lit., Principal of Aria
College, Portsmouth.

BUDDHIST PSYCHOLOGY. By C. A. F. Rhys Davids, M.A., F.B.A., Lecturer
on Indian Philosophy, Manchester University.

THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM. By Reynold A. Nicholson, M.A., Litt.D., LL.D.,
Lecturer on Persian, Cambridge University.

London: G. BELL & SONS LTD.

THE
MYSTICS OF ISLAM

BY
REYNOLD A. NICHOLSON
M.A., Litt.D., Hon. LL.D. (Aberdeen)
LECTURER ON PERSIAN IN THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE
FORMERLY FELLOW OF TRINITY COLLEGE

LONDON
G. BELL AND SONS LTD.
1914

EDITOR’S NOTE

If Judaism, Christianity and Islam have no little in common in spite of their deep dogmatic differences, the spiritual content of that common element can best be appreciated in Jewish, Christian and Islamic mysticism, which bears equal testimony to that ever-deepening experience of the soul when the spiritual worshipper, whether he be follower of Moses or Jesus or Mohammed, turns whole-heartedly to God. As the Quest Series has already supplied for the first time those interested in such matters with a simple general introduction to Jewish mysticism, so it now provides an easy approach to the study of Islamic mysticism on which in English there exists no separate introduction. But not only have we in the following pages all that the general reader requires to be told at first about Sūfism; we have also a large amount of material that will be new even to professional Orientalists. Dr. Nicholson sets before us the results of twenty years’ unremitting labour, and that, too, with remarkable simplicity and clarity for such a subject; at the same time he lets the mystics mostly speak for themselves and mainly in his own fine versions from the original Arabic and Persian.

CONTENTS

PAGE
Introduction 1

CHAP.
I. The Path 28

II. Illumination and Ecstasy 50

III. The Gnosis 68

IV. Divine Love 102

V. Saints and Miracles 120

VI. The Unitive State 148

Bibliography 169

Index 173

THE MYSTICS OF ISLAM