All the King's Falcons

Rumi on Prophets and Revelation

By John Renard

Subjects: Islam
Paperback : 9780791422229, 238 pages, October 1994
Hardcover : 9780791422212, 238 pages, October 1994

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Table of contents

Foreword

Preface

One · Rumi in the History of Islamic Prophetology

Qur'anic Prophetology

Historical Prophetology

Philosophical Prophetology

Theological Prophetology

Theosophical Prophetology

Mystical Prophetology

Two · Flight of the Royal Falcons: The Dynamics of Prophetic Revelation

The Falcon on the Minaret: Prophets in the World

The Call of the Falcon Drum: The Nature of Revelation

To the Forearm of the King: Functions in Relation to God and Believer

Three · Abraham and Sons

Abraham the Man of Faith

Abraham the Prophet

Abraham the Exemplar

Four · Joseph and His Family

Beauty and Beast

Pit and Prison

Shirt and Scent

Light and Dream

Five · Moses and Company

Birth and Infancy

First Encounter with God

Moses and Pharaoh

Khizr the Prophet and Guide

Six · Jesus and the Other Gospel Figures

Zacharia and John

Mary

Jesus

Theological Dimensions

Seven · The Muhammad of History

Muhammad's Personal History

Muhammad's Personality and Teachings

Eight · The Ahmad of Faith

The Prophet's Relationship with God

Proof of Muhammad's Prophethood

Ahmad's Prophetic Attributes

Afterword

Appendix: Other Prophets in Rumi's Work

Abbreviations

Notes

Selected Bibliography

Index of Qur'anic Citations

Index

This book looks at Rumi’s insights into the meaning of the second half of the basic Muslim creed, namely, the nature and function of revelation through prophets.

Description

All the King's Falcons draws out Rumi's distinctive and creative insights into Islamic religious culture by focusing on his treatment of prophets as instruments in God's communication with humankind. But there is more to Rumi's views of revelation than meets the eye, for he does not view the prophets, from Adam to Muhammad, merely as historic individuals who lived and died. Stories and images of the prophets provide this mystic and poet with a way of communicating his rich awareness of the reality of the divine message.

John Renard is Professor of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University. He is the author of In the Footsteps of Muhammad: Understanding the Islamic Experience and Islam and the Heroic Image: Themes in Literature and the Visual Arts.