The Lamp of Mysteries

‘Wherever we set foot, it was Your street.
Whatever corner we turned, it was Your name in the air.
We said, ‘Surely there must be a road leading elsewhere?’
But every road we found, it led to You.’

This book unearths a hidden treasure from the golden age of Ottoman scholarship, an original Arabic commentary by Ismaʿil Anqarawi on the Light Verse of the Quran, presented here in English for the first time.

A devoted follower of Rumi and Ibn ʿArabi, Anqarawi was a highly influential figure in the 17th-century Ottoman world. Perhaps best known as a charismatic and beloved shaykh of the Sufi Mawlawi (Mevlevi) order, he was also a renowned author. The Lamp of Mysteries reveals profound insights into the famous and mysterious Light Verse.

Bilal Kuşpınar has also provided a detailed account of Anqarawi’s life and works, an analysis of the Commentary, and a critical edition of the Arabic text.