Ghouls, ifrits, and a panoply of other jinn have long haunted Muslim cultures and societies. These also include jinn doppelgangers (qarīn, pl. quranāʾ), the little-studied and much-feared denizens of the hearts and blood of humans. This book seeks out jinn doppelgangers in the Islamic normative tradition, philosophy, folklore, and Sufi literature, with special emphasis on Akbarian Sufism. Muḥyī al-Dīn Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) wrote on jinn in substantial detail, uncovering the physiognomy, culture, and behavior of this unseen species. Akbarians believed that the good God assigned each human with an evil doppelganger. Ibn ʿArabī’s reasoning as to why this was the case mirrors his attempts to expound the problem of evil in Islamic religious philosophy. No other Sufi, Ibn ʿArabī claimed, ever managed to get to the heart of this matter before him. As well as offering the reader knowledge and safety from evil, Ibn ʿArabī’s writings on jinnealogy tackle the even larger issues of spiritual ascension, predestination, and the human relationship to the Divine.

The evolution of Hinduism has been a saga of continuous progression from the unreal to the real, from the profane to the profound, in successive stages of human development. Hinduism has withstood challenges of all hues, both within and without. It has had its periods of light and shade, occurring concurrently, through the course of history. Sometimes shady aspects assumed vast proportions and enveloped the lofty ideals of the Vedas, but prophetic souls appeared to redeem the society of evil, from Adi Shankaracarya to Bhakti reformers of medieval India, and from Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Swami Dayananda and Swami Vivekananda to Mahatma Gandhi. Like any other human faith, Hinduism has its philosophical and practical sides, called “the kernel and the husk” respectively. The survival of Hinduism has been due to its ability to separate the former from the latter, in an unending process, and to withstand challenges of all types by adhering to the timeless principles of truth (satya) and righteousness (dharma). Hinduism has been open, flexible and adaptable. It has discarded outworn ideas and institutions, absorbed the best elements of fellow cultures, and reinterpreted itself in changing milieus. The present publication by Advaita Ashrama, a branch of Ramakrishna Math, Belur Math, India is an attempt to explain the quintessential of Hinduism within the orbit of time and beyond it, involving an explication of the eternal values and principles which sustain existence. It explores the dynamics of Hinduism in religio-historical framework through the second millennium of the common era. About the Cover:The image of Lord Shiva as Nataraja, the king of dancers. As the Cosmic Dancer, his dance represents the five cosmic activities of creation, preservation, destruction, concealment of Truth behind apparitions, and divine grace. He dances on the prostate body of the demon, Apasmara. Apasmara symbolises man's ignorance or forgetfulness of Truth. Shiva is Time (kala), and he is also the Great Time (maha kala), i.e. Eternity. This is the dance of the Cosmic Being, eternally going on.

Explore the Book is not a commentary with verse-by-verse annotations. Neither is it just a series of analyses and outlines. Rather, it is a complete Bible survey course. No one can finish this series of studies and remain unchanged. The reader will receive lifelong benefit and be enriched by these practical and understandable studies. Exposition, commentary, and practical application of the meaning and message of the Bible will be found throughout this giant volume. Bible students without any background in Bible study will find this book of immense help as will those who have spent much time studying the Scriptures, including pastors and teachers. Explore the Book is the result and culmination of a lifetime of dedicated Bible study and exposition on the part of Dr. Baxter. It shows throughout a deep awareness and appreciation of the grand themes of the gospel, as found from the opening book of the Bible through Revelation.

Thomas Merton was recognized as one of those rare Western minds that are entirely at home with the Zen experience. In this collection, he discusses diverse religious concepts-early monasticism, Russian Orthodox spirituality, the Shakers, and Zen Buddhism-with characteristic Western directness. Merton not only studied these religions from the outside but grasped them by empathy and living participation from within. "All these studies," wrote Merton, "are united by one central concern: to understand various ways in which men of different traditions have conceived the meaning and method of the 'way' which leads to the highest levels of religious or of metaphysical awareness."