Atif Khalil
Biographic Data
| ID | 3830959 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Atif Khalil |
| GIVEN NAMES | Atif |
| FAMILY NAME | Khalil |
| SIGNATURE | KHALIL A |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Lethbridge |
| VERIFIED | No |
| TOTAL WORKS | 20 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 7 |
| WORKS AS AUTHOR | 20 |
| WORKS AS EDITOR | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2004 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2025 |
| H-INDEX | 2 |
A Very Short History of the Israel Palestine Conflict by Ilan Pappe (review)
The House of the Prophet
Fasting in Early Sufi Literature
This article offers an analysis of conceptions of fasting in early Islamic spirituality. By drawing on the literature of Sufism, with special attention to the writings of al-Sarrāj (d. 378/988), al-Makkī (d. 386/996), al-Kharkūshī (= Khargūshī; d. 407/1016), al-Hujwīrī (d. ca. 465/1071), al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072) and al-Sīrjānī (d. 470/1077), it thematically outlines (1) the value placed on fasting in early tradition, (2) the dangers believed to …
Ibn ʿ Arabī on the Circle of Trusteeship and the Divine Name al-Wakīl
With special reference to chapters 119 and 558 of the Meccan Revelations , the article draws out Ibn ʿ Arabī’s (d. 638/1240) understanding of the divine Name al-Wakīl (“The Trustee”) and the nature of trusteeship ( wakāla ). In the process, it demonstrates how for our mystic trusteeship forms a circle that begins with the human being entrusting his affairs to God, and returns to its point of origin with God entrusting him to be His vicegerent ( k…
Rabi'a From Narrative to Myth
Rabi'a From Narrative to Myth:The Many Faces of Islam's Most Famous Woman Saint, Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Atif Khalil (bio) Rkia Elaroui Cornell London: Oneworld Academic, 2019. 402 + xiv Pages. Ever since Margaret Smith (d. 1970) published Rabi'a the Mystic A.D. 717–801 and Her Fellow Saints in Islam almost a century ago, Rabi'a has remained a figure of abiding interest in the study of Islam in the West. For Muslims, she has often embodied the archet…
Atonement, Returning, and Repentance in Islam
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how in Islam the principle mechanism for atonement lies in tawba (returning, repentance). Divided into four sections, and drawing primarily on the literature of classical Sufism, the analysis begins by defining some key terms related to the idea of atonement, with special attention to the language of the Quran. Then it outlines three conditions of returning, repentance, and atonement, delineated by classi…
The Pure Intention
Reviewed by: The Pure Intention: On Knowledge of the Unique Name by Khalid Williams Atif Khalil (bio) The Pure Intention: On Knowledge of the Unique Name (Al-Qas.d al-Mujarrad fī Ma‘rifat al-Ism al-Mufrad by Ibn ‘At.ā Allāh al-Iskandarī) Khalid Williams (translator) Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2018. xii + 86 Pages. In his Comfort of the Gnostics (Salwat al-‘ārifīn), Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. 1077 CE) opens his chapter on dhikr by declaring w…
Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam
Reviewed by: Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate by Aiyub Palmer Atif Khalil (bio) Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate Aiyub Palmer Leiden: Brill, 2019. 219 Pages. In 'Aṭṭār's Tadhkirat al-awliyā', he recounts a story from al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's (d. 907–912 CE) youth. Des…
White Death
The article presents an analysis of Ibn al-ʿArabī's (d. 1240) treatment of fasting and hunger as it appears in chapters 106 and 107 of al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya (Meccan revelations). In the process of examining this very short section of the encyclopedic text, the essay both draws out the deeper theological significance of hunger and fasting and highlights the virtues and trappings of the spiritual exercise in the mystic's thought. An attempt is als…
Aḥmad al-Ghazālī, Remembrance, and the Metaphysics of Love, written by Joseph E.B. Lumbard
A Note on Interior Conversion in Early Sufism and Ibrāhīm b. Adham’s Entry into the Way
In the early Sufi tradition tawba was conceived not simply as repentance, or returning to God from a particular sin, but as a broader and much more encompassing process of “interior conversion” in which a nominal allegiance to the religion of one’s birth was replaced by a complete and unwavering commitment to the spiritual life. Ibrāhīm’s b. Adham’s (d. 161/778–9) tawba remains perhaps the most well-known of such accounts. Found in virtually all …
The Embodiment of Gratitude (Shukr) in Sufi Ethics
On Cultivating Gratitude (Shukr) in Sufi Virtue Ethics
Gratitude or shukr is one of the most central of Islamic virtues, the importance of which is underscored by the fact that the defining notions of “faith” and “disbelief” revolve around the pivots of shukr and kufr (= ingratitude). The article focuses on treatments of the virtue within the Sufi tradition, and even here, with a concentration specifically on the importance attached to its cultivation within the inner life of the spiritual aspirant. …
The Comfort of the Mystics
The early period of Sufism still remains insufficiently explored within westernscholarship. Despite the contributions of a range of academic authorities overthe past two centuries, stretching back to the publication of Lt. Graham’s 1819essay, “A Treatise on Sufism, or Mahomedan Mysticism,” followed by the firstmajor European study of the subject two years later by the young Friedrich A.Tholuck, Ssufismus, sive Theosophia Persarum Pantheistica (Su…
Contentment, Satisfaction and Good-Pleasure
The article examines early Sufi notions of rida, usually translated as "contentment," "satisfaction," and "good-pleasure." It does so through a close textual analysis of some of the most important works of the tradition authored up until what has been identified as the "formative period of Sufi literature," a period which ends in the 11th century. In the process, the article situates rida within the larger context of early Islamic moral psycholog…
Abū Ṭālib al‐Makkī & the Nourishment of Hearts (Qūt al‐qulūb) in the Context of Early Sufism
Al-Ghazali’s Unspeakable Doctrine of the Soul
Gianotti’s purpose behind this monograph is to draw out Ghazali’s positionon the vexed question of the true nature of the soul and its state in the afterlife.Ghazali’s actual views on this question have been a point of seriousdebate in both the Muslim intellectual tradition and Ghazali scholarship inthe West. At the heart of this debate lies the question of his true allegiance:Was the man, widely held to be the mujaddid (renewer of religion) of t…
Ibn al- c Arab on the Three Conditions of Tawba
Although generally translated as ‘repentance’, tawba, like its Hebrew equivalent, teshuvah, simply means ‘turn’ or ‘return’. It is used in the Qur'an to describe actions of both human beings and God. Even though the idea of tawba subsumes the notion of ‘repentance’ (from the Latin paenitere, ‘to be sorry’, ‘to grieve’, or ‘to regret’), its meaning is not limited to that. The tendency within much of Western scholarship on Islam to understand tawba…
Is an Intra-Islamic Theological Ecumenism Possible? A Response to Sherman Jackson
It is rare to find within contemporary Islamic thought writers who are conversantin both the classical Islamic theological heritage and recent developmentsin philosophy and theology. More often than not, those who doattempt to engage in Islamic theology display either an ignorance of the pastor the present. This is not, however, the case with Sherman Jackson, whojoins a small handful of others, such as S. H. Nasr, Khalid Abou Fadl, andAbdal Hakim…
Beyond a Western Self and non-Western Other
This article explores the central arguments Edward Said puts forward in his Orientalism on the epistemological problems surrounding the "West's" knowledge of the "East," particularly the Islamic "East." It then proceeds to examine some of the responses these arguments have elicited from those who object to Orientalism's underlying critique, as exemplified in the writings of Bernard Lewis, and those who accept it with certain qualifications, as ex…
The Embodiment of Gratitude (Shukr) in Sufi Ethics
Ibn al- c Arab on the Three Conditions of Tawba
Although generally translated as ‘repentance’, tawba, like its Hebrew equivalent, teshuvah, simply means ‘turn’ or ‘return’. It is used in the Qur'an to describe actions of both human beings and God. Even though the idea of tawba subsumes the notion of ‘repentance’ (from the Latin paenitere, ‘to be sorry’, ‘to grieve’, or ‘to regret’), its meaning is not limited to that. The tendency within much of Western scholarship on Islam to understand tawba…
Contentment, Satisfaction and Good-Pleasure
The article examines early Sufi notions of rida, usually translated as "contentment," "satisfaction," and "good-pleasure." It does so through a close textual analysis of some of the most important works of the tradition authored up until what has been identified as the "formative period of Sufi literature," a period which ends in the 11th century. In the process, the article situates rida within the larger context of early Islamic moral psycholog…
Is an Intra-Islamic Theological Ecumenism Possible? A Response to Sherman Jackson
It is rare to find within contemporary Islamic thought writers who are conversantin both the classical Islamic theological heritage and recent developmentsin philosophy and theology. More often than not, those who doattempt to engage in Islamic theology display either an ignorance of the pastor the present. This is not, however, the case with Sherman Jackson, whojoins a small handful of others, such as S. H. Nasr, Khalid Abou Fadl, andAbdal Hakim…
Beyond a Western Self and non-Western Other
This article explores the central arguments Edward Said puts forward in his Orientalism on the epistemological problems surrounding the "West's" knowledge of the "East," particularly the Islamic "East." It then proceeds to examine some of the responses these arguments have elicited from those who object to Orientalism's underlying critique, as exemplified in the writings of Bernard Lewis, and those who accept it with certain qualifications, as ex…
Beyond a Western Self and non-Western Other
This article explores the central arguments Edward Said puts forward in his Orientalism on the epistemological problems surrounding the "West's" knowledge of the "East," particularly the Islamic "East." It then proceeds to examine some of the responses these arguments have elicited from those who object to Orientalism's underlying critique, as exemplified in the writings of Bernard Lewis, and those who accept it with certain qualifications, as ex…
Is an Intra-Islamic Theological Ecumenism Possible? A Response to Sherman Jackson
It is rare to find within contemporary Islamic thought writers who are conversantin both the classical Islamic theological heritage and recent developmentsin philosophy and theology. More often than not, those who doattempt to engage in Islamic theology display either an ignorance of the pastor the present. This is not, however, the case with Sherman Jackson, whojoins a small handful of others, such as S. H. Nasr, Khalid Abou Fadl, andAbdal Hakim…
Al-Ghazali’s Unspeakable Doctrine of the Soul
Gianotti’s purpose behind this monograph is to draw out Ghazali’s positionon the vexed question of the true nature of the soul and its state in the afterlife.Ghazali’s actual views on this question have been a point of seriousdebate in both the Muslim intellectual tradition and Ghazali scholarship inthe West. At the heart of this debate lies the question of his true allegiance:Was the man, widely held to be the mujaddid (renewer of religion) of t…
Ibn al- c Arab on the Three Conditions of Tawba
Although generally translated as ‘repentance’, tawba, like its Hebrew equivalent, teshuvah, simply means ‘turn’ or ‘return’. It is used in the Qur'an to describe actions of both human beings and God. Even though the idea of tawba subsumes the notion of ‘repentance’ (from the Latin paenitere, ‘to be sorry’, ‘to grieve’, or ‘to regret’), its meaning is not limited to that. The tendency within much of Western scholarship on Islam to understand tawba…
Abū Ṭālib al‐Makkī & the Nourishment of Hearts (Qūt al‐qulūb) in the Context of Early Sufism
The Comfort of the Mystics
The early period of Sufism still remains insufficiently explored within westernscholarship. Despite the contributions of a range of academic authorities overthe past two centuries, stretching back to the publication of Lt. Graham’s 1819essay, “A Treatise on Sufism, or Mahomedan Mysticism,” followed by the firstmajor European study of the subject two years later by the young Friedrich A.Tholuck, Ssufismus, sive Theosophia Persarum Pantheistica (Su…
Contentment, Satisfaction and Good-Pleasure
The article examines early Sufi notions of rida, usually translated as "contentment," "satisfaction," and "good-pleasure." It does so through a close textual analysis of some of the most important works of the tradition authored up until what has been identified as the "formative period of Sufi literature," a period which ends in the 11th century. In the process, the article situates rida within the larger context of early Islamic moral psycholog…
On Cultivating Gratitude (Shukr) in Sufi Virtue Ethics
Gratitude or shukr is one of the most central of Islamic virtues, the importance of which is underscored by the fact that the defining notions of “faith” and “disbelief” revolve around the pivots of shukr and kufr (= ingratitude). The article focuses on treatments of the virtue within the Sufi tradition, and even here, with a concentration specifically on the importance attached to its cultivation within the inner life of the spiritual aspirant. …
A Note on Interior Conversion in Early Sufism and Ibrāhīm b. Adham’s Entry into the Way
In the early Sufi tradition tawba was conceived not simply as repentance, or returning to God from a particular sin, but as a broader and much more encompassing process of “interior conversion” in which a nominal allegiance to the religion of one’s birth was replaced by a complete and unwavering commitment to the spiritual life. Ibrāhīm’s b. Adham’s (d. 161/778–9) tawba remains perhaps the most well-known of such accounts. Found in virtually all …
The Embodiment of Gratitude (Shukr) in Sufi Ethics
Aḥmad al-Ghazālī, Remembrance, and the Metaphysics of Love, written by Joseph E.B. Lumbard
The Pure Intention
Reviewed by: The Pure Intention: On Knowledge of the Unique Name by Khalid Williams Atif Khalil (bio) The Pure Intention: On Knowledge of the Unique Name (Al-Qas.d al-Mujarrad fī Ma‘rifat al-Ism al-Mufrad by Ibn ‘At.ā Allāh al-Iskandarī) Khalid Williams (translator) Cambridge: Islamic Texts Society, 2018. xii + 86 Pages. In his Comfort of the Gnostics (Salwat al-‘ārifīn), Abū Khalaf al-Ṭabarī (d. 1077 CE) opens his chapter on dhikr by declaring w…
Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam
Reviewed by: Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate by Aiyub Palmer Atif Khalil (bio) Sainthood and Authority in Early Islam: Al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's Theory of wilāya and the Reenvisioning of the Sunnī Caliphate Aiyub Palmer Leiden: Brill, 2019. 219 Pages. In 'Aṭṭār's Tadhkirat al-awliyā', he recounts a story from al-Ḥakīm al-Tirmidhī's (d. 907–912 CE) youth. Des…
White Death
The article presents an analysis of Ibn al-ʿArabī's (d. 1240) treatment of fasting and hunger as it appears in chapters 106 and 107 of al-Futūḥāt al-makkiyya (Meccan revelations). In the process of examining this very short section of the encyclopedic text, the essay both draws out the deeper theological significance of hunger and fasting and highlights the virtues and trappings of the spiritual exercise in the mystic's thought. An attempt is als…
Ibn ʿ Arabī on the Circle of Trusteeship and the Divine Name al-Wakīl
With special reference to chapters 119 and 558 of the Meccan Revelations , the article draws out Ibn ʿ Arabī’s (d. 638/1240) understanding of the divine Name al-Wakīl (“The Trustee”) and the nature of trusteeship ( wakāla ). In the process, it demonstrates how for our mystic trusteeship forms a circle that begins with the human being entrusting his affairs to God, and returns to its point of origin with God entrusting him to be His vicegerent ( k…
Rabi'a From Narrative to Myth
Rabi'a From Narrative to Myth:The Many Faces of Islam's Most Famous Woman Saint, Rabi'a al-'Adawiyya Atif Khalil (bio) Rkia Elaroui Cornell London: Oneworld Academic, 2019. 402 + xiv Pages. Ever since Margaret Smith (d. 1970) published Rabi'a the Mystic A.D. 717–801 and Her Fellow Saints in Islam almost a century ago, Rabi'a has remained a figure of abiding interest in the study of Islam in the West. For Muslims, she has often embodied the archet…
Atonement, Returning, and Repentance in Islam
The aim of this article is to demonstrate how in Islam the principle mechanism for atonement lies in tawba (returning, repentance). Divided into four sections, and drawing primarily on the literature of classical Sufism, the analysis begins by defining some key terms related to the idea of atonement, with special attention to the language of the Quran. Then it outlines three conditions of returning, repentance, and atonement, delineated by classi…
The House of the Prophet
Fasting in Early Sufi Literature
This article offers an analysis of conceptions of fasting in early Islamic spirituality. By drawing on the literature of Sufism, with special attention to the writings of al-Sarrāj (d. 378/988), al-Makkī (d. 386/996), al-Kharkūshī (= Khargūshī; d. 407/1016), al-Hujwīrī (d. ca. 465/1071), al-Qushayrī (d. 465/1072) and al-Sīrjānī (d. 470/1077), it thematically outlines (1) the value placed on fasting in early tradition, (2) the dangers believed to …
A Very Short History of the Israel Palestine Conflict by Ilan Pappe (review)
Islamic Studies and History (18 works) · Philosophy (18 works) · Theology (16 works) · Education and Islamic Studies (13 works) · Islam (13 works) · Philosophy (13 works) · Religious studies (9 works) · Art (8 works) · Medieval and Classical Philosophy (8 works) · Religious Studies (8 works)