Suluk and the Way of Return| Dr. Yusuf Jha| Lecture in EnglishISIP-International Students of Islamic Psychology-May 15, 2025

 YouTube Video:

https://youtu.be/UCmMBuY6Frc?si=Cum95lcILJ8fptEM

ISIP-International Students of Islamic Psychology hosted the International Book Launch of Sulūk and the Way of Return: A Thematic Analysis of Ibn 'Ajiba's Commentary on the Hikam of Ibn 'Ata'illah by Dr. Yusuf Jha on Saturday, May 3rd, 2025. Dr. Yusuf Jha is a Specialist in Religious Sciences, Lecturer at Cambridge Muslim College for their Islamic Psychology Programme, and a certified holistic life coach and counsellor trained in various trauma counselling modalities. He provides Islamic psycho-spiritual guidance and coaching to an English-speaking community worldwide. His expertise integrates traditional Islamic teachings with contemporary psychological practices, making his sessions instrumental for personal and spiritual growth. ISIP has been successfully facilitating a Halaqa on the Psychology of Sulūk under Dr. Yusuf Jha’s brilliant leadership since January 2025.

Amazon Book

Sulūk and the Way of Return: A Thematic Analysis of Ibn ʿAjībah’s Īqāẓ al-Himam- Yusuf Jha

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F4FH7SK1

This book thematically analyses Ibn ʿAjībah’s (d. 1224/1809) commentary on the Aphorisms (Ḥikam) of IbnʿAṭāʾAllāh (d. 709/1309), entitled Īqāẓ al-Himam fī Sharḥ al-Ḥikam (The Awakening of Spiritual Aspirations in the Commentary of the Ḥikam). The analysis uses Toshihiko Izutsu’s methodology of semantic analysis to read and thematically parse the Īqāẓ into core thematic content under the analytic categories of teleology, ontology, soteriology and epistemology. Collectively these analytic categories encompass the notion of the ‘origin and the return’ (al-mabdaʾ wa al-maʿād), being a comprehensive way of looking at the subject of spiritual wayfaring (sulūk).
The book fills two significant gaps within western academic literature on Islamic spirituality. Firstly, it demonstrates an effective and rigorous method for reading and studying Sufi texts in the form of semantic analysis. Secondly, by performing such an analysis on a commentary of the Ḥikam, the book highlights the role of how a commentarial tradition within Sufism can clarify meanings of otherwise terse source texts. In doing so, it demonstrates the pedagogical importance of structural textual correspondence, and the need for a continuity of spiritual lineage within Sufi literature as evidenced through the case study of the Īqāẓ.

PhD Thesis: PDF

A Thematic Analysis of Īqāẓ al-Himmam:  Ibn ʿAjībah’s commentary on the Aphorisms (Ḥikam) of IbnʿAṭāʾAllāh. By Sumit Jha A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy (Department of Theology and Religious Studies) University of Nottingham