Book Description

Liberated Soul, a translation of the Persian work Ruh-i Mujarrad, is a tribute to a less-known, yet profound Muslim mystic of the twentieth century, Sayyid Hashim Haddad (1900-1984), written soon after his death by one of his top students in spirituality. The author introduces and expounds on Haddad’s character and principles as he discusses his journeys to Karbala to meet his spiritual master. The book also includes a rich selection of Arabic and Persian mystical poems which have been elegantly rendered into English, enabling the reader to have a taste of the mystical tradition. The book features an extensive section on Ibn ʿArabi’s Shiʿi inclinations, and his theory of wahdat al-wujud. There was a man who did not want to lose his ‘self’. So he pierced a gourd and hung it around his neck with a string so that he would be able to find and identify himself… Until one night, when he was travelling with a friend, his friend got up in the middle of the night, gently took the gourd off his neck, put it around his own, and went back to sleep…. - From the book A superb translation of a major work on the gnostic dimension of Shiʿi Islam. Rarely has such eloquent, and credible, tribute been paid by a disciple to his master. - Prof. Hamid Algar, University of California, Berkeley Sayyid Muhammad Husayn Tihrani was certainly one of our contemporary mystics. His Ruh-i Mujarrad is surely accessible to everyone. - K. M. Haqiqi, former student of Ayatollah Ansari Hamadani and Ayatollah Najabat Shirazi I found Haddad to be a paragon of annihilation in God, and I found myself like a child in his mother’s embrace. He trained me with his breath, his intimations, and his spiritual manipulations. Once I saw him, I couldn’t see anyone else. Even now, many years after his death, I seek assistance from his noble soul and benefit from his unending effusions. In one word: Haddad is to be imbibed, not described! - M. S. Kumayli Khurasani, former student of Sayyid Hashim Haddad