Editor's Preface vii Metaphysics Oneness of Being 3 The Symbolism of the Letters of the Alphabet 13 Hermeneutics The Truth of Certainty 27 The Fall 35 The Symbol 41 The Seal of Solomon 43 The Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil 53 What is Symbolism? 56 The Decisive Boundary 65 The Symbolism of the Pairs 70 Tradition and Modernity The Past in the Light of the Present 81 The Spirit of the Times 94 Do the Religions Contradict One Another? 121 Traditional Psychology The Secret of Shakespeare 133 Why "With All Thy Mind"? 141 Islam The Spiritual Master 159 The Originality of Sufism 183 The Universality of Sufism 188 The Heart 194 Introduction to Splendours of Qur'an Calligraphy and Illumination 209 The Qur'anic Art of Calligraphy 212 The Qur'anic Art of Illumination 218 Selections from Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources I The House of God 230 VIII The Desert 234 X Bairà the Monk 239 XIII The Household 242 XV The First Revelations 248 XXXVII The Hijrah 252 LXVII "A Clear Victory" 259 LXXV The Conquest of Mecca 265 LXXXI The Degrees 274 LXXXIV The Choice 279 Art and Poetry Hamlet 289 The Meeting Place 327 Translations from the Arabic Al-Ghazali, Deathbed Poem 329 Umar Ibn al-Fari, The Wine-Song (Al-Khamriyya) 330 Amad al-Alawi, The Path 334 Amad al-Alawi, The Wine 335 Amad al-Alawi, Layla 336 List of Sources 337 Bibliography 339 Biographical Notes 341 Index 342.