logo

Suche:

PREFACE

 

It is with a feeling of hesitation that I publish this work. I must confess that the author’s intention has not always become clear to me. I hope that some of the readers may be in better condition. The reason why I have yet decided to trust this book to the press, is that Isaac may be called one of the most genuine and profound representatives of Oriental mysticism.

There is another ground that induced me to undertake the present translation. Isaac stands chronologically and materially on the threshold of Muslim mysticism. He has developed some essential features which have become prominent among the Muslims. I only mention his view on the ,means’ – the vW*"’ – and on the value of seaking disdain, x–o^U. So I hope that this publication will prove to be of some use for the history and understanding of one of the most important departments of Islam.

It would have been impossible for me to prepare an English translation of Isaac’s work without the assistance of an English scholar trained in Oriental mysticism. Professor D. B. Macdonald of Hartford was so kind as to draw my attention to one of his former pupils, the Reverend William Thomson, B. D., who undertook to correct the English style with painstaking care. Moreover he collated some of the Mss. in the British Museum and provided me with valuable suggestions. I am anxious to express to him publicly my sincere thanks.

The present translation is as literal as seemed compatible with an English style. It may be considered as a compromis between my point of view and Mr. Thomson’s.

If there have remained expressions which are rather Syriac than English, they are due to my stubbornness. The rendering of some of the technical expressions gave a good deal of trouble. refju–cu* e. g. is usually translated by Deliberations’ or ,thoughts’. Mr. Thomson often suggested ,intuitions’ which in some cases would perhaps suit the context, but in other instances expresses more than the word contains. I hope that the reader gradually will grasp the meaning of this and similar terms.

I gratefully acknowledge the liberality of our Royal Academy in giving the present work a place in the series of its publications. The ,Leidsch Universiteitsfonds’ kindly complied with my request to grant the sum necessary for the final preparing of the manuscript. I beg the syndics to agree my warmest thanks.

 

Leiden, 1922.