The Mystics of Islam

When this book appeared in 1914 there was no introduction to Sufism in English at all. Nicholson, who had spent twenty years among the Arabic and Persian manuscripts at Cambridge, wrote it for readers who knew nothing of the subject, and it has never really been displaced. He does not smooth over the hard parts, and where he can he stands aside and lets Rūmī, Hallāj, ʿAttār and Jāmī speak, in his own versions from the originals.

About this edition

This edition reprints Nicholson’s English as published in the Quest Series (G. Bell and Sons, 1914), edited by G. R. S. Mead. Nothing is abridged: Mead’s editor’s note, Nicholson’s introduction, the six chapters and the bibliography. His thirty-one footnotes appear as linked endnotes at the close of each chapter.

Nicholson also wrote Studies in Islamic Mysticism and translated the Kashf al-Maḥjúb and the Tarjumán al-Ashwáq; all three are on this site.

Contents

The whole book is free to read online, with no signup.

1. A Note on the Text
2. Editor’s Note
3. Introduction
4. I. The Path
5. II. Illumination and Ecstasy
6. III. The Gnosis
7. IV. Divine Love
8. V. Saints and Miracles
9. VI. The Unitive State
10. Bibliography

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