The "Scholastic Problem" was the focus of much debate in Islam for some centuries before it became the chief crux of learned discussion in medieval Christianity. When originally published in 1957 this volume was the first survey of the subject to appear in English. It reviews the conflict within Islam between Revelation and Reason and examines the attempts made by theology, philosophy, mysticism and authoritarianism to resolve the dilemma.

Originally published in 1964, this volume gathers together extracts from many of Arberry’s best-known works and supplements them with a selection of previously unpublished translations. The material therefore presents a vivid picture of the richness and variety of Islamic civilization from its origins to the late twentieth century.

A. J. Arberry is one of Britain’s most distinguished and celebrated Orientalist scholars. This set contains five of Professor Arberry’s works: Scheherezade: Tales from the Thousand and One Nights (1953); The Seven Odes: The First Chapter in Arabic literature (1957); Classical Persian Literature (1958); The Romance of the Rubaiìyatì (1959); Oriental Essays: Portraits of Seven Scholars (1960); More Tales from the Masnavi (1963). These titles include translations of key middle-eastern texts and informative works on Persian literature as well as the European scholars that paved the way for 20th century Orientalist study. This set will be of interest to those studying Middle-Eastern literature and history.

Originally published in 1950.Thinkers such as Ghazali and Ibn `Arabi, poets such as Ibn al-Farid, Rumi, Hafiz and Jami were greatly inspired by the lives and sayings of the early Sufis. This book was the first short history of Sufism to be published in any language, illustrating the development of its doctrines with numerous quotations from literature.

Reprint of the 1961 classic study of the discourses of the founder of the order of Whirling Dervishes.

Despite being revered as the Holy Book by Muslims throughout the world, the Koran is the least known and least understood in the West of all the great religious books. In this volume A J Arberry examines this paradox and explains the qualities of the Koran which have made it acceptable to so many people. The selections have been chosen and arranged to illustrate the religious and ethical message of the Koran.

First published in 1963, this work puts into clear and rhythmical English one hundred stories and apologues of the Masnavi of Rumi. Composed over a period of many years during the thirteenth century, as a manual of instruction and initiation into spiritual life, the Masnavi has long been acclaimed the greatest mystical epic of Islam. The tales were designed to illustrate in human terms the often complex doctrine, and this they do with a wealth of beauty, honour and pathos, as appealing to the modern reader as to the medieval audience to which they were originally addressed. The volume, like its predecessor Tales of the Masnavi, is included in the UNESCO list of representative great works of world literature. This work will be of interest to those studying Islam and Middle Eastern literature.

Originally published in 1965, this is an introductory book for university students of Arabic literature. It begins with a substantial introduction in English by Professor Arberry on the development, nature, forms and rhythms of Arabic poetry. The main body of the book is an anthology of Arabic poems in the original, from the sixth century onwards, giving examples of the work of some thirty of the greatest Arab poets. Each poem has a literal English translation on the facing page; the notes, on points of language and style, are placed at the foot across the whole opening. Biographical notes on the poets are placed at the end of the book.

Originally published in 1969. This volume was composed by an eminent Sufi mystic whilst in prison in Baghdad, awaiting execution, in a vain attempt to overthrow his sentence; he was put to death in AD 1311 at the age of 33. This apologia is a document of great poignancy, composed in most elegant Arabic and translated with the customary skill and elegance for which A J Arberry became so well-known.

Reprint of a classic text, this volume gives an insight into the rebirth of national literature in the national language and traces the course of its development and full maturity from the beginning of the ninth to the end of the fifteenth century.