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

Sufism Sufism ( or ) is a mysticism, mystic body of religious practice found within Islam which is characterized by a focus on Islamic Tazkiyah, purification, spirituality, ritualism, and Asceticism#Islam, asceticism. Practitioners of Sufism are r ...

, particularly the works of

Ibn 'Arabi Ibn Arabi (July 1165–November 1240) was an Andalusian Sunni scholar, Sufi mystic, poet, and philosopher who was extremely influential within Islamic thought. Out of the 850 works attributed to him, some 700 are authentic, while over 400 ar ...

Biography

Michel Chodkiewicz was from the

Chodkiewicz The House of Chodkiewicz (; ) was one of the most influential Szlachta, noble families of Grand Duchy of Lithuania, Lithuanian-Ruthenians, Ruthenian descent within the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth in the 16th and 17th century.Chester S. L. D ...

family, a noble family of the Polish aristocracy who settled in France in 1832. He was born in Paris in 1929 and completed most of his education there. Chodkiewicz converted to Islam at age 17. He began studying Ibn 'Arabi under the Romanian traditionalist Michel Valsan. He served as Director-General and then President and CEO of '' Editions du Seuil'' from 1977 to 1989. In 1982, he became director of studies at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales where he conducted seminars on

and Abd al-Karim al-Jili. He died 31 March 2020 in the town of Les Hauts-d'Anjou.

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 G ...

, 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'' (th ...

, 1992.

Translations

* ''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

Publications

Translations

References

See also