Michel Chodkiewicz (13 May 1929 – 31 March 2020) was a French author and a scholar of

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

, especially Akbarian teaching.

Biography

Chodkiewicz was from the

Chodkiewicz The House of Chodkiewicz ( be, Хадкевіч; lt, Chodkevičius) was one of the most influential noble families of Lithuanian- Ruthenian descent within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th century.Chester S. L. Dunning, ...

family, a noble family of the

Polish Polish may refer to: * Anything from or related to Poland, a country in Europe * Polish language * Poles, people from Poland or of Polish descent * Polish chicken *Polish brothers (Mark Polish and Michael Polish, born 1970), American twin screenwr ...

aristocracy who settled in France in 1832. He was born in Paris in 1929 and completed most of his education there. He was Director-General then President and CEO of ''

Editions du Seuil Edition may refer to: * Edition (book), a bibliographical term for a substantially similar set of copies * Edition (printmaking), a publishing term for a set print run * Edition (textual criticism), a particular version of a text * Edition Recor ...

'' from 1977 to 1989. He became director of studies at the

Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales The School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences (french: École des hautes études en sciences sociales; EHESS) is a graduate ''grande école'' and ''grand établissement'' in Paris focused on academic research in the social sciences. The ...

where he conducted seminars on

Ibn 'Arabi Ibn ʿArabī ( ar, ابن عربي, ; full name: , ; 1165–1240), nicknamed al-Qushayrī (, ) and Sulṭān al-ʿĀrifīn (, , 'Sultan of the Knowers'), was an Arab Andalusian Muslim scholar, mystic, poet, and philosopher, extremely influenti ...

. He converted to Islam as the "outcome of a personal search begun as a teenager ..because Catholicism did not provide satisfactory answers". During a trip to the Arab countries, he discovered Sufism and converted to Islam around the age of seventeen. His daughter is Claude Addas.

Main publications

* Émir Abd el-Kader, ''Écrits spirituels'', presentation, translation and notes, Seuil, 1982 ; reprint 1994. * Awhad al-Din Balyani, ''Épître sur l'Unicité absolue'', presentation, translation and notes, Les Deux Océans, 1982. * ''Le Sceau des Saints, Prophétie et Sainteté dans la doctrine d'Ibn 'Arabî'',

Éditions Gallimard Éditions Gallimard (), formerly Éditions de la Nouvelle Revue Française (1911–1919) and Librairie Gallimard (1919–1961), is one of the leading French book publishers. In 2003 it and its subsidiaries published 1,418 titles. Founded by Ga ...

, 1986; reprint 2012. * Ibn 'Arabî, '' Les Illuminations de La Mecque'', texts chosen from ''al-Futûhât al-Makkîya'' (in collaboration with W.C. Chittick, C. Chodkiewicz, D. Gril and J.W. Morris), Sindbad, 1988; reprint with subtitle ''Anthologie présentée par Michel Chodkiewicz'', Albin Michel/Spiritualités vivantes, 2008. * ''Un Océan sans rivage. Ibn 'Arabî, le Livre et la Loi'',

Éditions du Seuil Éditions du Seuil (), also known as ''Le Seuil'', is a French publishing house established in 1935 by Catholic intellectual Jean Plaquevent (1901–1965), and currently owned by La Martinière Groupe. It owes its name to this goal "The ''seuil'' ...

, 1992.

Bibliography

Chodkiewicz's books were written in French. Below are some of his books that have been translated into English. * The Spiritual Writings of Amir 'Abd al-Kader (1982). * The Seal of the Saints: Prophethood and Sainthood in the Doctrine of Ibn Arabi (1986). * Ibn 'Arabî: The Meccan Revelations (translation of selected chapters, 1988) * An Ocean Without Shore: Ibn Arabi, the Book, and the Law (1992)

Biography

Main publications

Bibliography

References

See also