The Twenty-Nine Pages

8th September, 2021 – 24th November, 2021

A 12-week online course by the Beshara Trust studying ‘The Twenty-Nine Pages’, which serves as an excellent introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics of unity.

Course Description

This is a course studying The Twenty-Nine Pages, which serves as an introduction to Ibn ‘Arabi’s metaphysics of Unity

Drawn from The Mystical Philosophy of Muhyiddin Ibn ‘Arabi by A.E. Affifi, originally published by the Cambridge University Press in 1938, the extracts presented in this short book as a continuous text were arranged many years ago by Bulent Rauf, consultant to the Beshara Trust until his death in 1987.

His intention was to provide a complete introductory guide to the language and thought of Ibn ‘Arabi, particularly those aspects of his doctrine which refer to the unity of being and the perfectibility of man.

The rich content, inclusiveness and extraordinary scope of the passages from Ibn ‘Arabi make it an invaluable reference for students of mysticism and the spiritual life, whatever their background. Themes include the one and the many, immanence and transcendence, sainthood, knowledge, the heart, the soul, good and evil, and love and beauty.

Peter Coates, author of Ibn ‘Arabi and Modern Thought (2002), states: ‘This is no dry theoretical piece of metaphysicalising but rather an invitation to each reader to benefit from an acquaintance with one of the most complete and universal mystical visions of reality we have at our disposal.’

The course will be held over 12 sessions with a weekly Zoom seminar on Wednesdays at 19:30 – 20:30 BST/GMT. All Zoom seminars will be recorded should you miss one.

The course will be guided by facilitators who are long-term students of the work of Ibn ‘Arabi.

Students will be expected to have a copy of the book which is available from Beshara Publications.

Booking & Fees

Fees: The course is free but participants will be expected to have purchased a copy of The Twenty-Nine Pages – available from
Beshara Publications

Please contact besharacourses@beshara.org to apply for a place on the course.

Jami: Lawa‛ih (Flashes)

Weekly from 27th August, 2022
Sundays 13:30–15:30 BST/GMT

Online study of the Lawa’ih (“Flashes”) by Jami, an exposition in poetry and prose of the Unity of Existence as expressed in the work of Ibn ‘Arabi and his school.

Mysticism in Comparative Perspectives

December 14 – 16, 2016

A conference at the University of Glasgow seeking to renew the comparative study of mysticism

Ibn ‘Arabi Study Day

May 25, 2019 (11am–5pm)
The October Gallery, London

A day of study of the chapter on ‘The Wisdom of Beneficence in the Word of Loqman’ from Ibn ‘Arabi’s Fusus al-Hikam (The Bezels of Wisdom).

Seven Days of the Heart

‘Seven Days of the Heart’ Study Retreat

September 30 – 7 October, 2017
Armagh, Melbourne, Australia

An intensive, non-residential study retreat, led by Stephen Hirtenstein.

Application deadline: June 30th, 2017

Robert Louis Stevenson’s Fables as Contemplative Wisdom

“How if this be the truth – that all are a little true?”

Sunday, 30th October 2022
15:00–16:30 GMT (online via Zoom)

Robert Louis Stevenson’s fables are little-known masterpieces by this supreme story-teller.

This online seminar is the latest in a series under the general title Unity in Diversity.

Led by Robert-Louis Abrahamson

Kabbalah: The Mystic in the Marketplace

30th January, 2022
15:00 – 16:30 GMT

An online seminar via Zoom

Kabbalah, meaning ‘receive’, is a living tradition concerning life – its Source, purpose and its Divine plan. In its classical and contemporary form, the Tradition is relevant to all humanity, providing a path to Self-realisation. This online seminar will give a brief introduction to the Tradition and aim to show how the teaching is made real in the marketplace of life; providing perspective and hope for ourselves and our world.

Registration via Eventbrite

The Poems of Uftade

Üftade: The Nightingale in the Garden of Love

Weekly on Saturdays/Sundays from 19th March, 2022
18:00 – 19:00 Saturday CDT
10:00 – 11:00 Sunday AEDT (09:00 – 10:00 AEST from 1st April)

A reading group for online study of the spiritual poems of Üftade, one of the greatest Ottoman Sufi masters, in English translation from The Nightingale in the Garden of Love.

Contact: Mary Boyd-Brent at boydb002@umn.edu

“Differing Voices Make Sweet Music”: Unity in Diversity in Dante’s Divine Comedy

27th June, 2021
15:00 – 16:30 BST

An online seminar with Robert-Louis Abrahamson

Running throughout the three canticles of Dante’s Divine Comedy (Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso) is the importance of community, that is bringing together the diversity of individuals into one unified society, all the varieties of humanity conjoined in the Divine Unity. The talk will trace the journey through these three regions, focusing on Dante’s poetic (even mythic) rendition of the soul’s relation to these three aspects of Unity in Diversity.

Registration via Eventbrite

Letters by Bülent Rauf

Weekly on Tuesdays
21:00–22:00 BST/GMT

An online study and reading of the Letters of Bülent Rauf. This is an existing group with a limited number of places. New participants are very welcome.

Contact: Yafiah Katherine Randall
yafiahkatherine@gmail.com

Nestled in the Womb of God

Hindu-Muslim comparative inquiry

9th December 2023
14:00–17:00 GMT
The October Gallery, London

A seminar by Hina Khalid

This seminar ventures into the relatively unexplored terrain of a Hindu-Muslim comparative inquiry into the intimate presence of the divine reality to the finite world. It offers a comparative analysis of the conception of the infinite in the worldviews of two major philosopher-poets of the Indian subcontinent – Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941).

The Kernel 246

Kernel of the Kernel

Weekly from 27th February 2022
Thursdays
16:00–17:30 PST
Fridays 10:00–11:30 AEST

A study of Ismail Hakki Bursevi’s translation of Ibn ‘Arabi’s exceptional treatise for those who undertake the journey with the aim of Union.

Jonah and the whale

Beyond Religion?

Saturday March 11, 2017

A seminar exploring the relevance of the story of Jonah to the contemporary world, facilitated by David Hornsby at the October Gallery, London.