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This story begins with a divine unveiling: In 1220, a mysterious youth took the Sufi scholar, poet, and philosopher Muhyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī behind the veil of the night. There, Ibn ʿArabī first came face to face with advanced and morally ambiguous spiritual practitioners known as the Nightfolk.
In The Nightfolk, Duja Rašić offers a pioneering historical and conceptual analysis of the once-widespread beliefs about the night and its people in Muslim cultures and societies. Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, Rašić traces these beliefs from their origins in the seventh century to their most prominent form in the thirteenth-century works of Ibn ʿArabī. Re-examining common notions of spiritual authority, ascension, self-isolation, moral choice, and transgression in Muslim cultures and societies, The Nightfolk is a crucial read for those interested in philosophical Sufism and Ibn ʿArabī’s attempts to bridge the gap between the visible world and the realms of the unseen.
In The Nightfolk, Duja Rašić offers a pioneering historical and conceptual analysis of the once-widespread beliefs about the night and its people in Muslim cultures and societies. Drawing on a wealth of primary source materials, Rašić traces these beliefs from their origins in the seventh century to their most prominent form in the thirteenth-century works of Ibn ʿArabī. Re-examining common notions of spiritual authority, ascension, self-isolation, moral choice, and transgression in Muslim cultures and societies, The Nightfolk is a crucial read for those interested in philosophical Sufism and Ibn ʿArabī’s attempts to bridge the gap between the visible world and the realms of the unseen.
Price: $95.00
Pages: 244
Publisher: University of California Press
Imprint: University of California Press
Publication Date:
12 August 2025
Trim Size: 8.50 X 5.50 in
ISBN: 9780520422612
Format: Hardcover
BISACs:
“The Nightfolk is an original, carefully researched and intellectually demanding work. Its strengths lie in its meticulous engagement with primary sources, its refusal of reductive interpretations and its willingness to dwell in conceptual ambiguity…. It is a valuable and thought-provoking contribution that will likely shape future discussions of the night, sanctity and moral ambiguity in Islamic studies."
— The Muslim World Review
Dunja Rašić is a Sufi scholar and author of The Written World of God and Bedeviled.
Contents
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Transcription and Transliteration System
List of Symbols and Abbreviations
Introduction
The Topic
The Sources
The Chapters
1. The Luminous Darkness
The First Night
The Dominion of the Unseen
The Dark Light
2. The Night and Its People
The Nightfolk in Islamic Religious Literature
The Nightfolk in Akbarian Sufism
Among the Second-Best Friends of God
The Poles of the Nightfolk
Ascetics
Ascenders
The Blackened Imam
3. Behind the Veil of the Night
Supererogatory Acts of Worship
Night Vigils
Prayers in the Night
Spiritual Retreats of the Nightfolk
Conclusion
Appendix A. Innovative and Recurring Elements of Ibn ʿArabī's Writings on the Nightfolk
Appendix B. Qurʾanic Verses, Hadith, and Sayings
Notes
Bibliography
Index
List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments
Transcription and Transliteration System
List of Symbols and Abbreviations
Introduction
The Topic
The Sources
The Chapters
1. The Luminous Darkness
The First Night
The Dominion of the Unseen
The Dark Light
2. The Night and Its People
The Nightfolk in Islamic Religious Literature
The Nightfolk in Akbarian Sufism
Among the Second-Best Friends of God
The Poles of the Nightfolk
Ascetics
Ascenders
The Blackened Imam
3. Behind the Veil of the Night
Supererogatory Acts of Worship
Night Vigils
Prayers in the Night
Spiritual Retreats of the Nightfolk
Conclusion
Appendix A. Innovative and Recurring Elements of Ibn ʿArabī's Writings on the Nightfolk
Appendix B. Qurʾanic Verses, Hadith, and Sayings
Notes
Bibliography
Index