Biography
Dr. Mukhtar Ali is a scholar of Islamic Studies, specializing in Sufism, Islamic philosophy and ethics. His areas of interest include Arabic and Persian literature, Qurʾānic studies, theology and comparative religion. He is the author of Philosophical Sufism: An Introduction to the School of Ibn al-ʿArabī (Routledge, 2021) and The Horizons of Being: The Metaphysics of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī (Brill, 2020) and his forthcoming work is an annotated translation of Jāmī’s Naqd al-nuṣūṣ fī sharḥ naqsh al-fuṣūṣ (Selected Texts Commenting on the “Engraving of the Fuṣūṣ”). He has also translated works in classical and contemporary Islamic metaphysics, which include The Law of Correspondence (2021) and The New Creation (2018).
While his teaching includes Islamic Studies and Arabic language, he is also a practitioner of Traditional Chinese Medicine, having earned a master’s from Emperor’s College of Traditional Oriental Medicine (2011) and his doctorate from Pacific College of Oriental Medicine (2017).
Education
Ph.D. University of California, Berkeley, 2007
B.A. University of California, Berkeley, 1998
Highlighted Publications
Philosophical Sufism: An Introduction to the School of Ibn al-ʿArabī. London: Routledge, 2021.
The Horizons of Being: The Metaphysics of Ibn al-ʿArabī in the Muqaddimat al-Qayṣarī. Leiden: Brill, 2020.
Recent Publications
“Prophetic Archetypes in Sufi Hermeneutics: The Allegories of Abraham, Joseph and Moses.” Journal of the Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society, 70 (in press, 2022).
“The Hermeneutics of Mullā Ṣadrā” in Handbook of Qurʾānic Hermeneutics, edited by Georges Tamer. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter (in press, 2021).
“The Chinese Classics in the Light of Ibn al-ʿArabī’s Metaphysics” in Mysticism and Ethics in Islam, edited by Bilal Orfali, Atif Khalil and Mohammed Rustom. Beirut: American University of Beirut Press (in press, 2021).
“Futuwwa as the Noblest Character Traits (makārim al-akhlāq) in Anṣārī’s Manāzil al-sāʾirīn with Kāshānī’s Commentary.” Journal of Islamic Ethics 4, no. 1-2 (2020): 8-24.
“Ibn al‐ʿArabī, the Greatest Master: On Knowledge, God, and Sainthood” in A Companion to World Literature,edited by Ken Seigneurie. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Ltd, 2020.
“The Power of the Spoken Word: Prayer, Invocation, and Supplication in Islam” in Spirituality and the Good Life: Philosophical Approaches, edited by David McPherson. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2017, 136-154.
“The Doctrine of Love in Khwāja ʿAbd Allāh al-Anṣārī’s Manāzīl al-sāʾirīn with a Critical Paraphrase of ʿAbd al-Razzāq Kāshānī’s Commentary.” Brill Journal of Sufi Studies 5, no. 2 (2016): 140-155.
“The Concept of Spiritual Perfection According to ʿAlī ibn Sīna and Ṣadr al-Dīn al-Qūnawī.” Journal of Shiʿa Islamic Studies 2, no. 2 (2009): 141-158.