Ibn 'Arabi Society Selected speakers

Dr. Amer Latif is an interdisciplinary scholar specializing in comparative religion and Islamic studies. Broadly speaking, his research revolves around issues involved in the translation of cultures. Having grown up in Pakistan and with an undergraduate degree in Physics, Dr. Latif thrives on studying and creating containers that are capacious enough to hold seeming contradictions such as science and religion, East and West. Dr. Latif joins Emerson after having taught for many years at Marlboro College.

Rosabel Ansari's areas of Specialization include Classical and post-classical Islamic philosophy; Graeco-Arabic Studies.Her research involves the transmission of Ancient Greek philosophy into Arabic, Arabic and Islamic metaphysics in both the classical and post-classical periods, the philosophy of language, and the relationship between rational and supra-rational forms of knowledge in Islamic philosophy. Her forthcoming monograph is on metaphysics and the philosophy of language in the philosophy of al-Fārābī.

Pablo writes: This presentation analyses the content of Ibn ʻArabī’s lesser-known work, Kitāb Manzil al-manāzil al-fahwāniyya (“The Mansion that Gathers [the Keys to All] the Mansions in Which Direct Speech Descends”), which is devoted to Quranic hermeneutics and structured on symbolic principles derived from the science of numbers and the abjad alphanumeric system. It explores the author's unique correlation between the 114 ‘mansions’ or ‘stations’ and the 114 suras of the Quran, classifying them into 19 major mansions based on the introductory text of each sura. Conceived as a journey of ascension (miʻrāj) through the Quran's 'citadels', this book is intimately related to chapter 22 of Ibn ʻArabī’s major work, al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya. In this presentation, I intend to address some of the implicit, yet unexplored, questions raised in this book. I propose that Ibn ʻArabī employed strategic ambiguity in his writing, using misleading elements and deliberate omissions to avoid undue attention.
Pablo Beneito is a Professor of Translation and Interpretation at the University of Murcia. He has served as an Invited Professor at institutions such as the École Pratique des Hautes Études (Sorbonne) and the University of Kyoto (ASAFAS), among others. In his study of Ibn Arabi’s thought, Pablo has extensively researched, edited, and translated several of his works and other texts related to him. His English-language publications include Contemplation of the Holy Mysteries (co-authored with Cecilia Twinch); Kashf al-ma‘nâ, The Secret of God’s Most Beautiful Names (forthcoming with Anqa Publishing), and both The Seven Days of the Heart and Patterns of Contemplation (co-authored with Stephen Hirtenstein). Since 2011, he has been coordinating the activities of MIAS-Latina. Starting in 2014, he took on the role of Editor for El Azufre Rojo: Revista de Estudios sobre Ibn Arabi published by EDITUM at the University of Murcia, and he curated the "Jayal: Creative Imagination" exhibition at Casa Árabe in Madrid and Córdoba from 2016 to 2017.

Mohammed Rustom is Associate Professor of Islamic Studies at Carleton University. He is the author of the award-winning book The Triumph of Mercy: Philosophy and Scripture in Mulla Sadra and Assistant Editor of The Study Quran: A New Translation with Notes and Commentary (Editor-in-Chief, Seyyed Hossein Nasr)

Marlene DuBois is Professor of English at the State University of New York at Suffolk County Community College. Her research interests are in comparative religion, Sufism,
and mythic narratives.

Dr. Dakake researches and publishes on Islamic intellectual history, Quranic studies, Shi`ite and Sufi traditions, and women's spirituality and religious experience. She is one of the general editors and contributing authors of the The Study Quran (HarperOne, 2015), which comprises a translation and verse-by-verse commentary on the Qur'anic text that draws upon the rich and varied tradition of Muslim commentary on their own scripture. Her most recent publication, The Routledge Companion to the Qur'an (September 2021), is a co-edited volume with 40 articles on the Qur'an's history, content, style, and interpretation written by leading contemporary scholars working from different methodological perspectives. She is currently completing a monograph, Toward an Islamic Theory of Religion, and has begun work on a partial translation of a Persian Qur'an commentary written by the 20th century Iranian female scholar, Nusrat Amin.