This 1935 English translation of a classic Arabic text in S f sm, the mystical aspect of Islam, by A. J. Arberry preserves the beauty and simplicity of the original without departing from a literal translation. Little is known of the author of this treatise Ab Bakr al-Kal b dh, except that he was a lawyer and died in Bukh r in about AD 990. This book is the work on which his fame rests, and is important because it is the earliest extant text to reconcile the position of S f sm and orthodox Islam. The book consists of five parts: a general introduction to the term S f and an enumeration of the...