58. Dāwūd al-Qayṣarī: On Recognizing Real Love
A Sourcebook in Global Philosophy - Mohammed Rustom
Noah H. Taj [+]
PhD candidate, Carleton University
Description
Dawūd al-Qayṣarī (d. 1350 CE) was the head instructor of the Ottoman Empire’s first madrasa, and played a major role in Ottoman intellectual and spiritual life. He is especially known for the manner in which he was able to systematize the teachings of Ibn ʿArabī and his students. To this day, Qayṣarī’s works in philosophical Sufism are read throughout the Islamic world, particularly in Iran and Turkey. True to the perspective of the school of Ibn ʿArabī, Qayṣarī was concerned with explications of Sufi metaphysics as well as the lived reality of Islamic practice, which is fundamentally oriented towards the relationship between the Divine and the human. Among Qayṣarī’s writings in this regard is his treatise entitled On Recognizing Real Love, a section of which is presented here in translation.