William Clark Chittick (born June 29, 1943) is an American philosopher, writer, translator, and interpreter of classical Islamic philosophical and mystical texts. He is best known for his work on
Rumi and
Ibn 'Arabi, and has written extensively on the school of Ibn 'Arabi,
Islamic philosophy, and
Islamic cosmology. He is a Distinguished Professor in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at
Stony Brook University.
Biography
Born in
Milford, Connecticut on June 29, 1943,[1][2] Chittick earned his B.A. in history in 1966 from the
College of Wooster in
Wooster, Ohio.[3] As part of his undergraduate program, he undertook the study of Islamic history at the
American University of Beirut during the 1964–1965 academic year. During this time, he became familiar with
Sufism as he chose to focus on the subject for his junior year independent study.[2] Following a period of scholarly inquiry into the precepts of Sufism, he attended a public lecture by
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, who was then the Aga Khan Visiting professor of
Islamic studies at the American University of Beirut.[2] This lecture deepened his interest in Sufism, and, upon his graduation from Wooster, led him to pursue graduate studies at the
University of Tehran's Faculty of Letters, where he spent eight years (1966-1974) working towards his doctoral degree in
Persian literature.[2][4] He earned his PhD in 1974 under Nasr's supervision.[2] His PhD dissertation, which was published in 1977 and later reprinted in 1992, focused on
Jami's Naqd al-nusus. This work is a critical commentary on Ibn 'Arabi's Naqsh al-fusus, which is a shortened version of his Fusus al-hikam. While pursuing his studies at the University of Tehran, Chittick also served as a research assistant at the Center for the Study of Islamic Science from 1971 to 1972.[4]
Prior to the
revolution in 1979, Chittick returned to the
United States with his wife, and served as an associate editor for
Encyclopædia Iranica in the early 1980s.[2] Chittick began working at Stony Brook University in 1983 as an assistant professor in the Department of Religious Studies.[4] He is currently Distinguished Professor in the Department of Asian and Asian American Studies at Stony Brook University.[6]
Chittick has been the recipient of several academic honors throughout his career. These include the Kenan Rifai Distinguished Professorship at the Institute of Advanced Humanistic Studies at
Peking University, as well as an Honorary Professorship at the School of Philosophy and Religious Studies at
Minzu University. In addition, he has been awarded fellowships from a number of esteemed organizations, such as the
National Endowment for the Humanities, the
John Simon Guggenheim Foundation, the Harvard Centre for the Study of World Religions, and the
Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales (EHESS).[4][7]
Influence
William Chittick is “renowned for his translations and interpretations of classical Islamic philosophy and mystical texts”.[8] He has been variously called “one of the most important contemporary translators and interpretors of Islamic mystical texts and poetry”,[9] “arguably the leading scholar of Ibn al—Arabi writing in English”,[10] "a well known scholar on Rumi and Sufism”,[11] “one of the leading American scholars of the Sufi mystical tradition”,[12] “a leading Western scholar of Islamic spirituality”,[13] “One of the most prominent scholars of Sufi Islam and of the concept and practice of Ihsan” [14] “a distinguished scholar on Sufism”,[15] “a leading and greatly respected scholar in the field of the classical Muslim intellectual tradition”,[16] and “one of the major scholars of Islamic thought” in the contemporary world.[17] According to
Mohammed Rustom, Atif Khalil, and Kazuyo Murata, "Students of Islamic thought are, in one way or another, indebted to Chittick’s writings".[2] Taneli Kukkonen of New York University states that "Over the course of four decades, William Chittick has done more than anyone to elucidate for an Anglophone audience’s benefit the theosophical side of Sufi literature and later Islamic philosophy".[18]
Major works
Chittick has published 30 books and numerous articles on Islamic intellectual history, Sufism and Islamic philosophy.
Books
The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: An Introduction (Tehran: Aryamehr University Press, 1974). A new edition, The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi, released in 2005 (see below).
The Sufi Path of Knowledge: Ibn al-'Arabi's Metaphysics of Imagination (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 1989). It has been partially translated into
Indonesian (2001) and fully into
Persian (2010).
Varolmanın Boyutları (The Dimensions of Existence) A collection of seventeen essays edited and translated by Turan Koç (Istanbul: Insan Yayınları, 1997).
Ibn 'Arabi: Heir to the Prophets (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005). It has been translated into
German (2012),
Albanian (2012),
Turkish (2014),
Persian (2014),
Arabic (2015) and Urdu (2022).
The Sufi Doctrine of Rumi: Illustrated Edition (Bloomington, IN:
World Wisdom, 2005). It has been translated into
Spanish (2008) and
Albanian (2009).
Science of the Cosmos, Science of the Soul: The Pertinence of Islamic Cosmology in the Modern World (Oxford: Oneworld, 2007). It has been translated into
Persian (2009),
Indonesian (2010),
Turkish (2010) and
Albanian (2011).
With
Sachiko Murata and
Tu Weiming, The Sage Learning of Liu Zhi: Islamic Thought in Confucian Terms (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Asia Centre, 2009).
In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations in Islamic Thought. An anthology of Chittick's writings (from 1975 to 2012) edited by
Mohammed Rustom, Atif Khalil, and Kazuyo Murata (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2012). It has been translated into Persian. (2017)[19]
Divine Love: Islamic Literature and the Path to God (New Haven:
Yale University Press, 2013). It has been translated into
Persian (2016).
Rumi et Shams: la voie spirituelle de l’Amour. A collection of Chittick's writings translated into French by Jean Annestay (Paris: Editions i Littérature, 2021).
Muqarabat fi l-tasawwuf wa-l-hubb wa-l-insan. Several articles translated by Muhammad ‘Ali Jaradi and Dima El-Mouallem (a special issue of al-Mahajja 36 [2021], edited by Ahmad Majed).
L’Âme et le Cosmos: Miroir et unite. A selection of articles translated by Ghislain Chetan (Paris: Les Lumières d’Orient, 2023).
Dirasat fi fikr al-Shaykh al-Akbar Muhyi al-Din Ibn al-‘Arabi wa-madrasatihi. A large collection of articles on Ibn 'Arabi and his school translated by Naser Dumairieh and edited by Abdel Baki Meftah (Kuwait: Dar al-Ma'ani, 2023).
Edited volumes
With Seyyed Hossein Nasr (vols. 1–3) and Peter Zirnis (vols. 2–3), An Annotated Bibliography of Islamic Science (Tehran: Imperial Iranian Academy of Philosophy, 1975–78, vols. 1–2; Tehran: Cultural Studies and Research Institute, 1991, vol. 3).
Javad Nurbakhsh, Sufism [II]: Fear and Hope, Contraction and Expansion, Gathering and Dispersion, Intoxication and Sobriety, Annihilation and Subsistence (New York: Khaniqahi-Nimatullahi, 1982).
Ali ibn Abi Talib, Supplications (Du'â), (London: Muhammadi Trust, 1982).
Zayn al-'Abidin, The Psalms of Islam. Translated and introduced (London: Muhammadi Trust, 1988). Reprinted as The Psalms of Islam: English Version (Birmingham: al-Mahdi Institute, and Marsta, Sweden: Me'raj Educational Publishers, 2007).
'Abd al-Rahman Jami, Gleams. Translated in Sachiko Murata, Chinese Gleams of Sufi Light: Wang Tai-yu's Great Learning of the Pure and Real and Liu Chih's Displaying the Concealment of the Real Realm (Albany:
State University of New York Press, 2000).
Shams al-Din Tabrizi, Me and Rumi: The Autobiography of Shams-i Tabrizi. Annotated and Translated (Louisville, KY: Fons Vitae, 2004).[20]
Ibn 'Arabi, select translations from The Meccan Revelations. Translated by
Michel Chodkiewicz (ed.), The Meccan Revelations (New York: Pir Press, 2004).
^ʻIrāqī, F.D.I.; Chittick, W.C.; Wilson, P.L.; Nasr, S.H. (1982).
Divine Flashes. Classics of Western spirituality. Paulist Press. p. viii.
ISBN978-0-8091-2372-8.
^Kukkonen, Taneli (2014). "In Search of the Lost Heart: Explorations in Islamic Thought by William K. Chittick". Journal of Shi'a Islamic Studies. 7 (2). Project Muse: 239–244.
doi:
10.1353/isl.2014.0023.
ISSN2051-557X.