Episode Four: Aesthetic Thought in the Writing of Ibn al-Arabi, with Professor Cyrus Ali Zargar

What is the nature and significance of beauty in Islamic theology and intellectual thought? To what extent did theological, philosophical, and mystical ideas inform the production and reception of Islamic material culture? These and other questions will be the focus of the English interview series "Beauty and Islamic Theology", a series that explores the rich and diverse relationships between theology, art, and aesthetics in the Islamic world.
In this week’s conversation, Dr Bilal Badat talks to Professor Cyrus Ali Zargar about some of the fascinating ideas that emerge in his book,' Sufi aesthetics: Beauty, Love, and the Human Form in the Writings of Ibn 'Arabi and ‘Iraqi' (University of South Carolina Press, 2011). Professor Zargar describes the ways in which the writings of Muhyi al-Din ibn al-'Arabi and Fakhr al-Din ‘Iraqi contribute to an understanding of Islamic aesthetics, and explores the rich and diverse intersections between theology, cosmogony, and aesthetic thought.
Cyrus Ali Zargar is Al-Ghazali Distinguished Professor of Islamic Studies at the University of Central Florida. His first book, Sufi Aesthetics: Beauty, Love, and the Human Form in Ibn ʿArabi and ʿIraqi, was published in 2011 by the University of South Carolina Press. His most recent book, The Polished Mirror: Storytelling and the Pursuit of Virtue in Islamic Philosophy and Sufism, was published in 2017 by Oneworld Press. His forthcoming book, Religion of Love: Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār and the Sufi Tradition, will be published by the Islamic Texts Society.
The interview series concludes the one-year AIWG project workshop "Beauty and Islamic Theology", a joint research program of the Centre for Islamic Theology at the Eberhard-Karls-University Tübingen and the Chair of Islamic Religious Studies at the Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg.