Spiritual Insights: The Threaded Pearls & Other Ba-A’lawi Treatises Mostafa al-Badawi (translator)

Spiritual Insights presents five classic treatises from the illustrious tradition of the Bā ‘Alawī Sayyids, scholars and spiritual masters of Ḥaḍramawt in southern Yemen, expertly translated with full commentaries.

The various aspects and levels of the ‘Alawīs’ teaching activity are amply reflected in this selection. ‘The Threaded Pearls’ describes how their methodology combines the complementary approaches of Imam al-Ghazālī and Imam Abū al-Ḥasan al-Shādhilī. ‘Insights for the Brethren’ expounds the bases of the religion as ‘The Four Circles’: Islām, Īmān, Iḥsān, and ‘Irfān. ‘Unveiling the Truth’ answers four questions from correspondents about the legitimacy of certain individuals’ actions and sayings. ‘Prayer of the Drawn-Near’ discusses the difference between rational knowledge and deep cognition gained through direct, experiential ‘witnessing’. Lastly, ‘The Seven Stages of a Human Being’ explains the correspondences between the sensory and the Unseen and between the different hierarchical levels of Existence.