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Mystical Islam
"Covers the origins of Sufism and early influences, particularly from Christianity; the rise of the great Sufi organizations; the thought of Sufism's main theorist and systemizer, Ibn Arabi; Rumi and the Whirling Dervishes; relations with Shi'ism in Iran; Sufism in the heyday of the great empires in Iran, India, and Turkey; and relations with Turkey and Egypt during the nineteenth century as well as Sufi practices in the twentieth century."--Page 4 of cover.
Black God
A comparative study of the Afroasiatic traditional religions of northern Africa and Arabia. The author argues that there is a common Afroasiatic language in those regions, so is there a common family of religions. He compares traditions as diverse as those in Yemen and Nigeria.
Imaginary Muslims
"The Uwaysis--who take their name from Uways, a contemporary of the prophet Mohammad who is reputed to have communicated with him telepathically--are Muslim mystics who look for instruction to the spirit of the dead or physically absent person. Julian Baldick here surveys the legend of Uways and the Uwaysi phenomenon within Sufism, Islam's main mystical tradition. Baldick examines the Uwaysi movement in 16th-century East Turkistan (now Xinjiang in northwest China) and then discusses the book the central text in the development of the sect, History of the Uwaysis, written by Ahmad of Uzgen around 1600. Analyzing the intricate combination of Biblical motifs, shamanistic initiation rites, and Muslim, Christian, and Buddhist legends, Baldick argues that an understanding of the Uwaysi sect reveals many of the paradoxes which lie at the heart of Islam. The first definitive study of this important sect, IMAGINARY MUSLIMS will be of central interest to all those concerned with Islamic studies, the Middle East, and the history of religion."--Bloomsbury Publishing.
Animal and Shaman
"Animal and Shaman, a comparative study of the indigenous pre-Christian and pre-Muslim religions of Central Asia, describes a common inheritance among the beliefs of the various peoples who have lived in Central Asia or have migrated from there: Scythians, Huns, Mongols, Manchus, Finns and Hungarians." "Shamans - holy men and healers among the pagan faiths - relied heavily on animal sacrifices to create spiritual purity and to nourish the soul and, as a result, animals and spirituality were locked in a mutually dependent embrace. Julian Baldick demonstrates that in pagan times there were remarkable common features in the forms of worship and spiritual expression and that these similarities were largely based on the roles of animals in the different cultures of Central Asia. He shows that these have not only survived in the myths and legends of the region but have also found their way into the mythologies of the West." "This analysis will be of importance to historians as well as to cultural and social anthropologists."--Jacket.
Homer and the Indo-Europeans
This highly original study in comparative mythology interprets the Greek myths in the light of the mythologies of other Indo-European cultures: Indian, Celtic, Scandinavian, Roman, Greek, Iranian and Ossetian. Julian Baldick uses a modified version of the schema proposed by the French theorist Dumezil - little known and often misunderstood in the Anglo-Saxon world - to consider the profound connections between such works as the Iliad, the Odyssey, the great Indian epics - the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, the Iranian Book of Kings and the Scandinavian Ynglingasaga. The book includes a long critical exposition of the discipline of comparative mythology from its eighteenth-century origins to the revival of the discipline by Dumezil and his followers from 1938 to the present. Also reassessing the profound critique of Dumezil which linked him with far-right ideology, Baldick's book is an important new contribution to work on comparative mythology.
Mystical Islam
Sufism is Islam's principal mystical tradition. To its followers it provides the inner, esoteric or purely spiritual dimension of the faith. It is a centuries-old path to spirituality with devotees throughout the Islamic world, fundamentally influencing Muslim belief. To non-Muslim observers it remains exotic, mysterious and little-understood. Mystical Islam is an accessible introduction that encompasses the history of the Sufi spiritual tradition, ranging from the great Mughal and Safavid empires of India and Persia to the Whirling Dervishes of Ottoman Turkey. Julian Baldick reveals the continuing relevance of the Sufi spiritual experience and introduces some of the great figures of Sufism: al-Ghazali, Ibn Arabi, Hafiz of Shiraz and Rumi. It is the writings of such masters that reveal the inner beauty of Sufism, while offering followers the most profound insights in their quest for delivery from the narrow confines of the material world. At the same time, the author's reflections on recent Sufi scholarship, and his fresh perspectives on this tradition of belief and devotion, will prove essential for students and highly stimulating for general readers.
Ancient Religions of the Austronesian World
Austronesia is the vast oceanic region which stretches from Madagascar to Taiwan to New Zealand. Encompassing both scattered archipelagos and major landmasses, Austronesia - derived from the Latin australis,'southern',and Greek nesos,'island' - is used primarily as a linguistic term, designating a family of languages spoken by peoples with a shared heritage. Julian Baldick, a celebrated historian of ancient religion, here argues that the diverse inhabitants of the Philippines, Taiwan, Indonesia, New Guinea and Oceania show a common inheritance that extends beyond language. This commonality is found above all in mythology and ritual, which reach back to an ancient, prehistoric past. From arou...
The World's Religions: Islam
The theological and philosophical bases of the beliefs are clearly presented with their history, development, expression and everyday practice. It is written by international specialists in a scholarly but non-technical style.
The Sacred Tree
The fundamental nature of the tree as a symbol for many communities reflects the historical reality that human beings have always interacted with and depended upon trees for their survival. Trees provided one of the earliest forms of shelter, along with caves, and the bounty of trees, nuts, fruits, and berries, gave sustenance to gatherer-hunter populations. This study has concentrated on the tree as sacred and significant for a particular group of societies, living in the ancient and medieval eras in the geographical confines of Europe, and sharing a common Indo-European inheritance, but sacred trees are found throughout the world, in vastly different cultures and historical periods. Sacred...
