{"collection":"Texts of Islam","full_text_available":false,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_omy_omy22_htm/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/sacred_texts_v1_isl_omy_omy22_htm","id":"sacred_texts_v1_isl_omy_omy22_htm","license":"unknown_pending_legal_review","rights_basis":"sacred_texts_v1_preview_gate_primary_text_only; acquisition-method/ToS and compilation-copyright questions still open, not resolved by this gate","source":"sacred_texts_v1","source_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/browse/isl/omy/omy22.htm","summary":"This is a 19th-century scholarly summary (1867) by E.H. Palmer introducing Sufism \u2014 Islamic mystical philosophy \u2014 to a Western audience, drawn from the tradition's own theological framework. The central argument is that Sufi metaphysics rests on a single premise: the universe is a manifestation of God, and humanity's purpose is to come to know God through the divine Intelligence from which all creation proceeds. Palmer outlines the Sufi conception of human existence as a circle \u2014 a Descent from divine Intelligence into material form, and an Ascent back toward reunion with God \u2014 and maps out the eight progressive stages of this spiritual journey: Worship, Love, Seclusion, Knowledge, Ecstasy, Truth, Union, and finally Extinction (Fan\u00e1), meaning total reabsorption into the Deity. A distinctive feature is Palmer's attention to Sufi allegorical poetry, explaining that mystic poets encode this theological journey as a love narrative \u2014 man as lover, God as beloved \u2014 and he promises an appended glossary to help readers decode writers like Hafiz. The work closes with a notably devotional turn, dropping scholarly distance to urge the reader toward the same humble submission to God that the system itself prescribes. It would suit anyone seeking a concise, sympathetic Victorian-era entry point into Sufi cosmology and its literary expression.","tags":[],"text":null,"title":"Oriental Mysticism: Part V. The Study of Man: Chapter V. Conclusion","tradition":"Texts of Islam","translated_text":null,"word_count":869}