Sayyid Mu?ammad ?usayn ?aba?aba'i

An English translation of a seminal book on Sufism from a Shi'i perspective by an eminent Muslim thinker.Kernel of the Kernel is an authoritative work on Sufism from a Shi'i perspective that is not only fascinating, but also contains much practical advice. In addition to providing a theoretical discussion of spiritual wayfaring, it is also the account of a personal fifty-year spiritual journey by Sayyid Mu?ammad ?usayn ?aba?aba'i, a renowned Iranian-Shii scholar and spiritual master. In Kernel of the Kernel, ?aba?aba'i discusses the doctrinal foundations of spiritual wayfaring as well as processes and stages that an aspiring wayfarer must go through in order to attain spiritual realization. He discusses the relation between the exoteric and esoteric aspects of Islam and clearly demonstrates that these inward and outward dimensions of Islam complement each other. The book also provides information on the Quranic origins of Sufism and its special relations with Shi'ism as well as the role of Shi'i Imams in the spiritual realization of a sincere wayfarer.

Despite a growing interest in the last hundred years in both orientalism and comparative religions, and the fact that there are over fifty million Shi'a Muslims, until now there has been no thorough and objective study of that part of Islam called Shi'ism for Western scholars. The present work provides a clear account of the origin, history, and doctrines of an important sector of the Muslim religious community. It is written by a distinguished leader of that community, who, in addition to possessing a thorough knowledge of its traditional history and literature, presents its rational-philosophic, traditional-legal, and gnostic-mystical elements with warmth and sympathy. The result is a well-integrated general picture which succeeds in giving the reader a clear and comprehensive picture of how the Shi'ite Muslim views his religion.