The Elixir: A Posthumanist Approach to Alchemy in Akbarian Sufism and Islam (Elements in Magic) - Softcover

Rašić, Dunja

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1009777017 ISBN 13: 9781009777018

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2026

Synopsis

Step outside laboratory, and into the world of nature. The books on cannon law can be left behind as well, for Ibn ʿArabī (d. 1240) believed there is one Sharia for humans and another for minerals. This Element rethinks what it means to be an alchemist and Muslim, by shifting its focus to the religious practices of sentient minerals, as described in Ibn ʿArabī's oeuvre and the Qur'an. Common stones and metals undergo their spiritual feats with the single goal in mind: to gain proximity to the Divine by turning themselves into gold. Alchemists sought to facilitate this process through elixirs and sorcery. Setting allegories and metaphors aside, this Element examines ontological principles governing the struggles of iron to become gold, and the human strivings to better the world of nature.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2026
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1009777017
• ISBN 13: 9781009777018
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 80