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All Outputs (37)

Arabic Poetry and Neoplatonic Poetics (2025)
Journal Article
Sperl, S. (2025). Arabic Poetry and Neoplatonic Poetics. Journal of Arabic Literature, 56(3/4), 207–230. https://doi.org/10.1163/1570064x-12341545

The paper argues that a Neoplatonic reading of classical Arabic poetry can help to understand the cosmological implications of its figurative language and provide a new conceptual framework for comparisons between Arabic literature and other literatu... Read More about Arabic Poetry and Neoplatonic Poetics.

Review of: The Cooing of the Dove and the Cawing of the Crow: Late ʿAbbāsid Poetics in Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Saqṭ al-Zand and Luzūm Mā Lā Yalzam, written by Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych (2023)
Journal Article
Sperl, S. (2023). Review of: The Cooing of the Dove and the Cawing of the Crow: Late ʿAbbāsid Poetics in Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Saqṭ al-Zand and Luzūm Mā Lā Yalzam, written by Suzanne Pinckney Stetkevych [Review of the book The Cooing of the Dove and the Cawing of the Crow: Late ʿAbbāsid Poetics in Abū al-ʿAlāʾ al-Maʿarrī’s Saqṭ al-Zand and Luzūm Mā Lā Yalzam]. Journal of Arabic Literature, 54(3-4), 464-472. https://doi.org/10.1163/1570064x-12341504

Islamic Spirituality and the Visual Arts (2022)
Book Chapter
Sperl, S. (2022). Islamic Spirituality and the Visual Arts. In B. Lawrence, & V. Cornell (Eds.), The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Islamic Spirituality (pp. 412-431). Wiley. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118533789.ch22

This chapter focuses on the example of an acclaimed Islamic artist of the present time, Dr Ahmed Moustafa (b. 1943). His ideas on the nature of the Arabic script as an art form are discussed and traced back to the classical Islamic intellectual tradi... Read More about Islamic Spirituality and the Visual Arts.

Lyrics of Ascent: Poetry and the Platonic Tradition – An Anthology (2022)
Other
Sperl, S., & Dedes, Y. (2022, March 1). Lyrics of Ascent: Poetry and the Platonic Tradition – An Anthology. The Editors and Contributors of Lyrics of Ascent. http://lyrics-of-ascent.net/

Though designed primarily to complement the published volume, the Online Anthology Lyrics of Ascent is intended to go beyond the scope of the book by including a selection of languages and poems of relevance to our subject which the book does not cov... Read More about Lyrics of Ascent: Poetry and the Platonic Tradition – An Anthology.

Stages of Ascent: Neoplatonic Affinities in Classical Arabic Poetry (2022)
Book Chapter
Sperl, S. (2022). Stages of Ascent: Neoplatonic Affinities in Classical Arabic Poetry. In S. Sperl, & Y. Dedes (Eds.), Faces of the Infinite: Neoplatonism and Poetry at the Confluence of Africa, Asia and Europe (pp. 93-130). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.5871/bacad/9780197267257.003.0003

This chapter argues that the Arabic poetic tradition possesses certain structural, thematic and prosodic features which were combined with the Qur’anic message in order to give expression to notions of the soul’s ascent which may be recognised as Neo... Read More about Stages of Ascent: Neoplatonic Affinities in Classical Arabic Poetry.

İnsanın "Boş Özü": Hadis Literatüründe ve Klasik Arap Edebinde Etik ve Estetik [translated by Suat Koca] (2020)
Journal Article
Sperl, S. (2020). İnsanın "Boş Özü": Hadis Literatüründe ve Klasik Arap Edebinde Etik ve Estetik [translated by Suat Koca]. Hitit Üniversitesi İlahiyat Fakültesi dergisi, 19(1), 506-546. https://doi.org/10.14395/hititilahiyat.674885

Klasik Arapça Hadis literatürü, büyük ölçüde Muhammed Peygamber’in söz ve eylemlerinin kayıtları olan mikro anlatılardan oluşur. Bu çalışma, muteber (canonical) Hadis külliyatında -burada “pratik ahlak” olarak karşılanabilecek ancak genellikle klasik... Read More about İnsanın "Boş Özü": Hadis Literatüründe ve Klasik Arap Edebinde Etik ve Estetik [translated by Suat Koca].

The Qurʾan and Arabic Poetry (2020)
Book Chapter
Sperl, S. (2020). The Qurʾan and Arabic Poetry. In M. Shah, & M. Abdel-Haleem (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Qur'anic Studies. Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199698646.013.16

This chapter reviews recent scholarship on the interface between the Qur’an and Arabic Poetry, from pre-Islamic times to the modern period. It shows that Arabic poetry has for long been engaged in an inter-textual dialogue with the Qur’an which has t... Read More about The Qurʾan and Arabic Poetry.

Darkness Transformed into Light: Ibn al-Mu'tazz on the Pen (2009)
Book Chapter
Sperl, S. (2009). Darkness Transformed into Light: Ibn al-Mu'tazz on the Pen. In C. Allison, A. Joisten-Pruschke, & A. Wendtland (Eds.), From Daēna to Dîn : Religion, Kultur und Sprache in der iranischen Welt ; Festschrift für Philip Kreyenbroek zum 60. Geburtstag (pp. 457-464). Harrassowitz.