Quest for the red sulphur : the life of Ibn ʻArabī / Claude Addas ; translated from the French by Peter Kingsley.

Includes glossary.

Translation of: Ibn ʻArabī, ou, La quête du soufre rouge; but "this is not just a translation of the book which appeared in French in 1989 ... but effectively a second edition. The author has modified a number of passages; sometimes new material has been added ..."--P. [vii].

Includes bibliographical references (pages 322-329) and indexes.

Introduction ---- 1. Home Land --- 2. Vocation --- 3. Election --- 4. Ibn 'Arabi and the Savants of Andalusia --- 5. God's Vast Earth --- 6. Fez --- 7. Farewells --- 8. The Great Pilgrimage --- 9. 'Counsel My Servants' --- 10. Damascus, 'Refuge of the Prophets' ---- Conclusion ---- Appendices.1. Chronological table of Ibn 'Arabi's life --- 2. Ibn 'Arabi and his links with the various Sufi currents in the Muslim West --- 3. The teachers in traditional religious disciplines frequented by Ibn 'Arabi in the Muslim West --- 4. The men of letters frequented by Ibn 'Arabi in the Muslim West --- 5. The four 'silsila's of the 'khirqa akbariyya'.

Quest for the Red Sulphur: The Life of Ibn Arabi is undoubtedly a landmark in Ibn Arabi studies. Until the publication of this book, anyone who wanted to learn about the life of Ibn Arabi has had little choice of material to work from. This major study by Claude Addas is based on a detailed analysis of a whole range of Ibn Arabi's own writings as well as a vast amount of secondary literature in both Arabic and Persian. The result is the first-ever attempt to reconstruct what proves to have been a double itinerary: on the one hand, the journey that took Ibn Arabi from his native Andalusia to Damascus - and on the other hand, the 'Night Journey' which carried him along the paths of asceticism and prayer to the ultimate stage of revelation of his mystic quest.