Muhammad's Ascension in Muslim Spain

<p><b>A survey of the Muslim Jewish and Christian debates and mystical discussions about Muhammad's heavenly journey that took place in early medieval Spain.</b></p><p>This book demonstrates how Muhammad's heavenly journey as discussed throughout the eleventh and twelfth centuries in the western Mediterranean was the site both of polemical religious debates and of a rich and varied tradition of mystical commentary. Out of these fertile contexts sprang two very influential sets of ascension discourses: First the growth of the Perfect and Complete version of the Islamic ascension tale that spread throughout the Muslim world; second the complex and multidimensional mystical interpretations of Muhammad's journey by one of the most famous Sufis of all time the Grand Master Muhyi al-Din Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240 CE). This work surveys key sources of this Andalusi contemplative tradition and also includes a complete translation of one of its very earliest written texts preserved in a unique fragmentary Arabic manuscript making this important historical document accessible to scholars students and general audiences alike for the very first time.</p>