Call for Papers

Date: April 26-27, 2019

Venue: University of Birmingham, Birmingham, UK

Abstract Submission Deadline: November 15, 2018

The aim of this conference is to provide a forum for a cross-disciplinary exploration and re-examination of the relationship between Sufism and philosophy. Key discussion-points include: A) Sufism’s reception of ancient and late antique philosophical traditions. When did this process begin, how did it manifest itself, and through which channels did it occur? B) Falsafa’s interaction with classical Sufism. What impact did the mystical aspects of Avicenna’s thought have on the subsequent development of Islamic philosophy? Have such aspects been over-emphasized or under-estimated? C) ‘Philosophical Sufism’ in the post-classical era. How apt is this label? To what extent did the members of Ibn ʿArabī’s school adopt or engage with theories propounded by al-Fārābī, Avicenna, Suhrawardī or the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ?

Confirmed Speakers

– Mohammed Rustom (Carleton University / New York University Abu Dhabi)
– Cyrus Ali Zargar (University of Central Florida)

Call for Papers

We invite abstracts for short papers on any aspect of the historical relationship between Sufism and philosophy. Possible topics include, but are not limited to:

• Epistemology
• Metaphysics
• Noetics and the topos of conjunction with the active intellect
• Psychology
• Ethics
• Cosmology and physics
• Sufism in the thought of Avicenna and Ibn Ṭufayl
• Sufism and the legacy of Greek/Hellenistic philosophy
• Polemical encounters and debates
• Sufism and Hermetic philosophy
• Ghazālī and philosophical Sufism
• Sufism and Suhrawardī’s Illuminationist school
• Sufism and Indian philosophy
• Philosophical Sufism in the Ottoman era
• Safavid philosophy and Sufi thought

Source: University of Birmingham