Books published by The Matheson Trust

The life of 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, fourth caliph of early Islam and fountainhead of Shi'ite and Sufi lineages, 'is both inspirational and controversial: intrinsically inspirational and extrinsically controversial.' These words set the tone for what is an detailed and penetrating view of the figure of Imam 'Ali on various planes, the spiritual and ethical, the individual, the political and social. The author draws a unique portrait in which the powerful spiritual undercurrents of early Islamic history can be discerned at play, and where the sanctified heart of the Imam is revealed as a fulcrum of the harmony between the most diverse and even divergent tendencies. These spiritual reflections on the life and thought of Imam 'Ali ibn Abi Talib, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet Muhammad, bring to life what is essential and inspirational in his biography. 'Ali is viewed as the paragon of statesmanship, chivalry and mysticism, a man of action and contemplation, the greatest hero of his age as well as its wisest sage. The interplay between his dramatic outward story and his profound inner story heralds the triumph of the human spirit over the difficulties, tragedies and absurdities which are inevitable in 'the life of this world.'This exceptional book may be too Shia for some Sunnis, and too Sunni for some Shia, and it may be too political for some, and too spiritual for others, and so its main value lies precisely in a higher perspective where it reveals harmony, in a keen vision of the forces of tawhid, the drive to union, alive at the centre of historical events as in human hearts. It will have a cathartic effect upon the many, Sunnis and Shia alike, who wish to see 'Ali as a fountainhead of unity in Islam, not as a source of division. It makes accessible to both Muslims and non-Muslims the treasures of loving mercy flowing from 'Ali, a global paragon of initiatic wisdom.

This book presents the worldview and the metaphysics of the Sophia Perennis, the Perennial Wisdom at the heart of all faiths, bringing out their depth and their current relevance as an alternative to the new atheist views from a comparative traditional standpoint, shedding light on the timeless value of all the great religions of the world.After characterising scientism and the modernist worldview from a traditional perspective, the book explains in some detail the spiritual and properly intellectual foundations of the unanimous views of traditional civilizations, including the principles of traditional politics, arts and other domains.It is generally considered in our time that reality extends no further than the "natural world", and that science alone can give us reliable knowledge of it. This is the view of the New Atheists, and in fact it is also the belief of modern man. Above all modern man believes that we cannot have certain knowledge beyond what the scientific method reveals. The possibility of knowledge of an entirely different and superior order all but vanished from the consciousness of Western man after the so-called Enlightenment.The perennial wisdom does not deny any scientific knowledge insofar as it really is knowledge and not ad hoc conjecture or mere hypothesis, but it offers an incomparably more profound view of the nature of reality and of the human being. Above all, the perennial wisdom illumines the essential nature of intelligence and thus points to the true source of certitude.This book offers a much needed insight into the worldview of the Sophia Perennis, and it is a timely reminder of its depth and its urgent relevance to our times.Though many works have been published to refute the excesses and exaggerations of the New Atheism clique, this is the first one to do so starting from a strictly metaphysical and esoteric perspective, as is usual with the authors of the Perennial School, including luminaries such as Frithjof Schuon, René Guénon, Titus Burckhardt and others. In doing so, it is able to elucidate directly and with greater clarity all the problematic theological points and contentions implicit in the modernist misunderstanding of religion.

In-depth exploration of the life and thought of Louis Massignon (1883-1962), a very influential French Islamic scholar and Christian mystic. This is a translation of an original French by an expert on Massignon's life and works, revised and augmented.

An examination of the similarities and differences between Christianity and Islam, especially in the areas of ontology, philosophy and metaphysics. The integration of the heritages of Plato and Aristotle in the Church and in Islam is explored deftly and densely. This book invites adherents of Christianity and Islam to understand more deeply their own respective traditions and on this basis to understand and respect 'the other'. Several chapters are devoted to a comparison between both Sunnite Sufi and Shi'ite Gnostic esoteric traditions, especially in the area of Qur'anic exegesis. This book will be equally challenging and rewarding for the serious reader.

A new translation from Coptic and Greek texts, and an in-depth study of The Gospel of Thomas, integrating philological expertise with historical synthesis, tracing and reconstructing the threads of ancient Jewish esoteric ideas stretching across the millennia in Kabbalah, Jewish-Christian (Ebionite) texts, as well as in Islamic Sufi and Shi'ite gnostic traditions. Zinner's work injects fresh and invigorating ideas into Thomas scholarship and delivers an important contribution to the field of Jewish Studies.